7. Tavas
TAVAS
Why didn’t it surprise me that the wolf I’d been following for that past five days would lead me back to Kursar?
I’d been hiding out in Russia, grabbing anyone that I felt might be high enough in the pack to give me information about Vadik and where he took Viv.
This beta had been a messenger for one of the alpha’s that Vadik took over, a weak leader who rolled over to keep his sorry excuse of a life.
The beta had been given a note, which he read then destroyed and headed off, leading me right to Dr. Faulk’s lab.
I watched as he relayed the information and was brought into the cabin.
There were five other guards hidden around the area.
It didn’t look like this was a normal spot for them, but they were definitely waiting for something to happen.
It was hard to get a good scent with the smell of burnt wolfsbane still lingering in the air.
Low on my belly in my wolf skin I crawled closer to the cabin, trying to catch anything that was being said.
Now that I was no longer fighting the dark desires of my wolf nature, we had blended into one harmonious being, enhancing my senses far beyond what I’d expected.
I cloaked myself in my wolf’s aloof nature, stealing myself against the horrors that I performed in the quest to find Viv.
If only my father could see me now, this is what he’d always hoped I would turn into, an emotionless killing machine willing to do whatever it took to get the job done.
“No that wasn’t the deal.” a woman screamed causing my ears to perk up.
“He is mine and I’m not going to give him up.
I don’t care what he says, Koit will be my mate just like he promised me.
Vadik got what he wanted. I let him have that science experiment and left without causing a fuss.
I’ll kill all the others but not him, it’s not fair. ”
Did she say Koit? Was he here? How could I have missed that Koit was missing?
Granted, I hadn’t looked at my phone in five days I’d been tracking.
Now wasn’t the time to get distracted, if they had Koit then I needed to deal with this situation and fast. The cabin went quiet as the woman went below and I took that time to slaughter all the guards.
It took a little longer than I wanted it to but needing to move silently was more my concern.
Finally finished I shifted back into my human skin, I ripped off the pants from one of the men I’d just killed and tugged them on.
Crouched I crept up to the cabin, my back to the outer wall as I peeked into the window.
The inside of the dilapidated cabin looked much the same, but the pile of junk over and around the trap door had been fully removed.
There were two men standing guard over the trap door. That would be easy enough to handle.
Grabbing a substantial rock, I moved to the side of the house and tossed it through the window.
One of the men came out but I was ready for him, snapping his neck before I removed his head from his shoulders tossing it away from me.
The guard inside went over to investigate what got tossed through the window, putting his back to me.
He never saw his death coming as I ripped his heart out from behind, watching as he crumpled into a heap.
I’d learned quickly that Vadik never shared information with people lower in his ranks.
He was smart and calculated, making me wonder how we had even gotten Viv away from him in the first place.
Out of the many questions I’ve had in the past few months, this was at the top of my list, along with how the hell we weren’t able to make a stronger stand when he attacked us here.
Crouching over the trap door, I listened to make sure no one was standing right at the bottom of the ladder before I dropped down.
I ignored the ladder and just let myself free fall landing on the balls of my feet ready for action, but there was no one waiting.
It seems that they had fixed the electricity, so the chances of them also having fixed and prepped the wolfsbane system was high.
Moving quickly on silent feet, I approached the heavy round metal door that sealed off the lab.
It was open slightly and I was able to tell right away that Koit was indeed trapped in that room once again.
Then a female scent that I knew drifted in the air, I couldn’t place who she was, but I did know she was part of the pack.
“It’s time for the old ways to resurface and put the woman back in power with Vadik as our god.” the woman cried just before I heard a struggle happening.
Bursting into the room, I saw that one of the shopkeepers from town who’d always been way too friendly with Koit was attempting to mate mark him.
My vision went red, and I acted instinctively, killing the man closest to me then grabbing the woman and flinging her away.
The thud told me she’d hit hard but I knew as a werewolf she would be fine for me to deal with later.
Facing off with the last man standing between me and my mate brother and friend, I growled letting it fill the room, causing fear to grow in my victim’s eyes.
Lunging I shifted in the air, tackled the man, and ripped out his throat with my teeth.
I remained on his chest as I watched the life fade out of him, needing to know he was dead before I could deal with Koit.
“Holy shit man, am I glad to see you back,” Koit said grinning up at me from the floor.
I shifted back and reached for him, but he held up his hands showing off his bound wrists.
I went back to the guard and did a pat down to see if he had the keys, when he didn’t I moved on the other but no luck there either.
The woman groaned, reminding me that she was still here and seemed to be the one in charge.
I grabbed her ankle and dragged her from where she was slumped against the wall and started going through her pockets until I found the keys I was looking for.
Returning to Koit, I unlocked his hand and ankles, wincing at the red burned flesh underneath.
“Good thing we have our own personal werewolf doc to take care of us hmm,” Koit chuckled as he sat up. “Although I’ll warn you, he’s turned into a major shit since you’ve been gone.”
I knew he was trying to draw me out, but I just wasn’t ready to talk to him.
Too much had happened since I was gone, and I just didn’t know how they would respond to the man that I’d turned into since Viv got taken.
Knowing that all of us were hurting just didn’t seem to register in my brain even though my heart, the broken shattered thing it was, told me they would understand.
Hearing footsteps coming down the hall made me spin to guard Koit but then I caught their scents and I relaxed. Rik and Orion walked into the lab, halting when they saw me. Rik looked stunned but Orion seemed far too pleased with himself about something— good to know some things never change.
“I told you he was going to come back soon,” Orion preened.
Rik looked down at him and scowled. “You also said that Koit was safe as long as he wasn’t spending time with that woman. This also isn’t her house or her shop like you said— it’s Dr. Faulk’s old lab.”
Orion just tapped his chin as he looked around the space. “I’m not a crystal ball you know, I see things and then do the best that I can to describe them. This looks nothing like what I saw, so we could have stopped the original attempt but this is something new entirely.”
“Okay, now I feel like I’m trapped in the butterfly effect, it’s hurting my brain,” Koit groaned as I reached down to help pull him to his feet. “How the hell did you two end up here?”
Crossing the space between them, Rik grabbed Koit and pulled him into a bear hug crushing all the air out of Koit’s lungs.
“Can’t breath bro, they kicked my ribs real good,” Koit wheezed. Rik instantly let go of him holding him an arms length away and looked him over. “I’ll be fine. I just need Crabby-Pants-McGee to have a look at me.”
Seeing that they were all going to be fine, I walked over and placed the manacles on the woman just like she had Koit. Then I tossed her over my shoulder and headed out of the lab, I didn’t want to be in this space any longer than I had to.
“You’re not even going to say hello?” Rik called after me.
I paused and looked over my shoulder at him, holding his gaze, and let down the walls I was hiding behind.
Rik’s eyes widened at what he saw, and Orion made a soft whine that caused me to flick my gaze over to him.
Though his reaction was much different because I wasn’t greeted by Orion’s happy go lucky violet gaze, instead I was met with Okami’s.
Before I’d left, we’d worked together a fair amount to track down and extract what information we could, so I knew exactly what was happening— our dark natures were greeting each other.
Not willing to stay and process what that meant, I carried my newest connection out of the lab and up to the surface.
I needed to get her back to the castle so that I could deal with her the way that I wanted to, but I needed to check and make sure she would last that long.
I dropped her on the ground, and I squatted next to her, looking over the head wound that she sustained when I tossed her.
Forcing her eyes open I saw the reaction I wanted and knew that she wasn’t going to die from this particular injury.
“Do you mind if I join you?” Orion asked as he appeared beside me.
It didn’t matter how good your hearing was, Orion could sneak up on you. It was almost like he was a ghost, but no he was a demi-god and I guess that had to have more perks to it than having a second personality.
“No,” Rik snapped. “He’s been gone for far too long just to show up out of the blue, slaughter people, save Koit, and then walk off with the woman who orchestrated the whole thing.”
Heaving a heavy sigh, I turned to face Rik. “What do you want from me then? I thought our only priority was to find Viv.”
“He has a point. That chick might be bat shit crazy, but she for sure is connected to Vadik,” Koit grimaced then straightened his shoulders. “You’re going to need me to get her to talk.”
Orion looked at him with a questioning eyebrow. “The last time you were in an interrogation with me you almost passed out.”
“In my defense, you disemboweled him,” Koit challenged. “How many people have seen that and didn’t get a little sick to their stomach, hmm? I made it through the whole thing didn’t I?”
“I guess,” Orion answered with a shrug of his shoulders. “At least you waited until I was done to lose your lunch.”
Koit waved him off before turning back to me.
“This woman thinks that now that Viv is gone she can make me her mate. We all know that’s a load of bullshit, but she was going to try her damndest. If you have me there to help question her you might get more information faster, if not then I will be more than happy to leave you both to your thing. ”
“So, everyone is just going to ignore the fact Tav’s home and has no clue what’s going on?” Rik interjected.
“Dude you’re sounding like Benny-boo-hoo right now,” Koit smirked, elbowing his brother. “Let’s deal with this then we can catch him up on everything else...well maybe after a shower....and some clothes.”
At his dig at my appearance, I couldn’t help but grin at him, he was right, I looked like a caveman.
I didn’t see the reason to worry about what I looked like, and it helped to keep me blended in the nature around me as I stalked my prey.
Plus, by the sound of it they had a lot to catch me up on that might keep me around here for a little while.
This was the best lead I’d found on my own, so getting new information from them might help change the direction I’ve been searching in.
“Alright, I’ll deal with her, clean up, then you can have my full attention,” I offered, giving Rik an expectant look.
Crossing his arms Rik narrowed his eyes at me. “You better not run off or this time I will send Koit and Orion to bring you back. Hell, I might even throw Tristan in there if I think you’ll resist.”
“You can take the alpha away from his pack but never take asshole out of the alpha,” I muttered as I tossed the woman to Rik and shifted back to my wolf.
If he wanted to play head alpha I’d let him, but he was going to realize that I was no longer the easy going man I was before Viv was taken.
That single event had changed my whole world and I couldn’t say that all of it was for the worse.
I now knew that once we found her, I would never let something like that happen to my mate or family again.