Chapter 11
Chapter Eleven
Iwoke. My heart hammered in my chest. The unease of knowing something wasn’t right had me scrambling out of bed.
My link to Xan was open, but fear for where he was, and if he was in a precarious position that my interruption could cost him his life, or someone else’s, had me pulling back.
I stretched out a tendril in our connection, enough to let me know he was safe and alive.
Dressing quickly in a pair of shorts and a tank after a quick shower, I headed toward the door.
I inhaled the different scents through the walls, waiting to open until I made sure there was no danger.
“See, I listened.” I smiled as Xan’s face popped into my mind.
He was so damn bossy, but I wouldn’t have him any other way.
The hallway was well-lit, clean, and relatively empty. I wondered where all the guards had gone. My eyes drifted around, through the window that served as the office, and found the new manager seated behind a computer. I waved an acknowledgment, continuing on to the bar, my stomach growling.
Noise filtering in from the closed steel door made me feel a little better.
I hadn’t let the panic from the empty apartments get the best of me.
Only a dozen feet from reaching the safety of others, my wolf reared her head.
I stopped, put my back against the concrete wall, and scanned the area behind me.
I allowed my claws to lengthen, my eyes to shift, and more of the wolf to come out, knowing the heightened senses would help.
The first thing I heard was a skittering above me in the ductwork.
At that moment, I realized it wasn’t a mouse.
Something much larger, or several things, were above me, and there was no way I’d make it to the bar before whatever was above me dropped down on me.
“Xan, they are here at the club.” I tried not to sound too frightened in case he was in a position that would get him killed.
I wanted to kick myself for not realizing there should have been people outside my room or in the hallway. But I wouldn’t cry over spilled milk.
If I yelled for help, the others in the club would come running, but would they all get killed?
I didn’t know how many were above, or what kind of weapons they’d brought.
In the end, I decided to call out to Kellen, let him make the choice.
If they wanted me, I wasn’t going to be an easy target.
After yelling through my link to the alpha, I began using the speed of my wolf and ran back the way I came, heading toward the tunnels they’d recently begun digging.
Whoever had betrayed them couldn’t be a true insider.
I thought of the bitch, and her connection, hoping I was correct.
If they were locked onto me, I prayed they would follow and leave the pack alone.
The movement above sounded desperate. Loud
As they began scrambling to keep up, my breath whooshed out of my lungs as I passed the office. The new manager sat sleeping in the chair. Or at least I hoped he was sleeping.
I hit the new reinforced steel door, entering the code I’d been given, and ran through. An unholy series of growls behind me had my wolf growling in response. I recognized the sound. My eyes narrowed. Retribution for past pain had my wolf snarling, but the human in me pushed the animal back.
I fought my animal side, making her listen to the human, not the beast-crazed anger inside.
The twists and turns of the newly made tunnels were dark, sparsely lit, but I was sure-footed as I ran.
Coming to an end, I felt around for the keypad, trying to remember the exit code.
I wondered if it was smart to leave the safety of the compound and the numbers of my pack, but again, the thought of all the people I could be saving kept me going forward.
I knew that growl and the damage the crazed bitch could inflict.
For twenty years, I had lived in fear of my mother’s return.
Why now? I didn’t understand why my own mother hated me.
A mother should never do what my own had.
After a few years, I’d come to terms with the fact that my egg donor was batshit crazy and tried to forget.
A hard thing when you have the constant reminder of scars lacing your back.
Taking a deep breath, I entered the code and pushed the door open.
Woods covered all sides of the entryway.
A deep inhale, and I smelled nothing but trees and vegetation.
I tossed my clothes off, leaving them in the entrance to the tunnel, and shifted quickly.
If my mama wanted to chase me down, then she’d have to do it on all fours.
Gods, I had no plan. Xan, I wanted my mate.
Our home was too far, and I didn’t know where he had gone, or how long it would take him to get back to me.
I promised myself I’d never be a coward, but until I knew what I was facing, or how many, there was only one thing to do. Stay alive.
I snarled. I’d only brought a handful of my best guards with me, leaving the rest to fight what I knew would be a full contingent of Iron Wolves.
How the hell did my weak-willed daughter know I was there?
We’d followed the tracking device inside the little wolf we’d set up, knowing Kellen would close ranks and make Breezy and her mate stay at the club’s apartments.
We thought it would be safer, but I knew better.
With the McCartneys’ help, we had access to the ductwork above, had already mapped the layout, and were prepared.
Once we had injected what the idiots thought was just a paralytic into Breezy but actually had a microscopic tracking device inside as well, I had confirmation.
Poor dumb Breezy had no clue she was being tracked even as she ran.
All I had to do was get back to the van and find out where she’d run to.
“Pull back, and for all your sakes, you better hope that bitch of a daughter of mine doesn’t get outside your tracking area.
” They’d told me I didn’t need the wide range device, and I’d listened.
If she ran more than five miles away, then we’d lose her from our sight.
I had to hope she was too stupid to leave the safety of her pack.
We scrambled back, uncaring of the noise or damage we were doing to the Iron Wolves’ club as we exited the way we came in.
We wouldn’t be coming back anyhow. I glanced at the unconscious forms of my husband and sons, seeing their broken and bloody bodies, and wondered if I was making a mistake in letting them live.
A sigh escaped me, but I didn’t give the final order to make the kill.
For a moment, I wanted to run back and lick the faces of all three. I turned and raced away. I liked my life the way it was. I was alpha, the leader of the pack, and they would ruin it.
I hit the ground with grace, bent and picked up the bags we’d discarded earlier beneath some bushes.
“Let’s roll. If she gets too far ahead, I’ll kill you all.
” My voice was barely controlled. “You two shift and track.” I held up a shirt we’d taken from the room Breezy had been in.
Each man sniffed, then, without an ounce of modesty, ripped off their clothes and shifted.
The last three men with me filed into the vehicle we’d stashed and powered up the location.
I saw the little red dot that showed my daughter’s location.
The little brat was indeed running and running far.
“We need to hit the road. She’s already close to three miles away.”
Craig, the wolf behind the wheel, nodded, waiting until we were all in, then fired up the powerful van.
Stupid Iron Wolves had no clue we were right under their noses.
My human scientists had created a scent-blocking perfume, along with many other things I could use to take over the worthless pack if I decided to let any of them live.
I couldn’t wait to look Breezy in the eyes and watch the life drain from them.
My entire body froze at the calm voice of my mate in my head. I knew she was trying to keep me from freaking out. I tore the throat out of the wolf who’d jumped on my back, looking around for Kellen, shocked to see all the carnage surrounding us.
Rowan’s team had come in and come in hard. This wasn’t a small pack that wasn’t prepared, nor were they a friendly group willing to make peace. They were trained to kill, and believed there should only be one, and they were it.
I dodged a fist aimed at my head, snapping the arm at the elbow, a satisfied grin on my half-wolven face.
“Motherfucker, you should have stood down when given the chance.” My words came out garbled.
I jerked the man’s body in front of me, letting the bullets from an enemy hit him, using the body as a shield.
I picked the lifeless body up and launched him at the man, following with preternatural speed, roaring as I lashed out with my claws.
By the time I was finished, I felt like I stood in a river of blood and bodies. Looking down, it truly appeared that way. I turned in a circle, cuts and bruises marring my body. “My mate needs me. I’m gone. Anyone going with me can come or be left behind.”
“My team and I will stay here and get this place under control,” Kayan said.
Kellen and the rest of the Iron Wolves nodded, then turned and ran back to their vehicles.
“Somehow they got into the club, Xan. They’ve found your in-laws in one of the unused apartments.
They’re in pretty bad shape, but they will live.
We’ve got our best trackers on it. Breezy left through the tunnels instead of going for help.
” Kellen’s voice held a note of admiration mixed with anger.