Chapter 32
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Knox
A Few Minutes Earlier
The garage smelled like motor oil and mud and the faint copper tang of dried blood.
I sat against the wall, one hand cuffed above my head to a metal hook that had probably been meant for hanging tools. Hunt was in a similar position a few feet away, his entire body caked in that thick layer of mud that masked his scent.
I probably looked just as ridiculous. Mary had done the same thing to me, humming that creepy little tune while she worked. We both looked like swamp monsters, covered head to toe in drying mud that cracked every time we moved.
Blake was somewhere in that cabin. My baby girl, probably crying for me, and I couldn’t get to her. Thomas too, Cole’s son, the baby that had been used as bait to lure us all into this mess.
The thought made my wolf pace inside me, snarling and clawing at my control. I wanted to rip through these cuffs. Wanted to tear down the walls with my bare hands. Wanted to find Lucio and Mary and rip their throats out for what they’d done.
But I couldn’t do any of that while I was chained to a fucking wall.
“How long do you think we’ve been here?” Hunt asked, his voice rough.
I tried to figure out the light coming through the dirty window. It had been afternoon when Lucio drove us here. Now it was dark outside, the moon visible through the grimy glass. “Few hours, at least.”
“The pack will be looking for us.”
“I know.”
“Lina will be losing her mind.”
I closed my eyes, feeling the bond in my chest. It was there, steady and warm, connecting me to my mate across whatever distance separated us. She was scared. I could feel that much. Scared and angry and determined.
That was my girl. Even terrified, she wouldn’t just sit around waiting.
“She’ll find us,” I said. Not a question or a hope. It was a fucking certainty.
Hunt grunted. “Hope you’re right. Because I’m getting real tired of smelling like a swamp.”
Despite everything, I almost laughed. Hunt was my Gamma, my best warrior, the wolf who had taken down more enemies than I could count.
And he’d been taken out by a syringe to the ass, then covered in mud like a kid playing in the backyard.
He was never going to live that down. I was absolutely going to give him shit about it for the rest of his life.
But not now. Now we needed to figure out how to get free.
We sat in silence for a while, both of us listening for sounds from the main house. Earlier, I’d heard babies crying. Blake’s voice and another cry that had to be Thomas. But that had stopped a while ago. Either they’d fallen asleep, or they were in a part of the house too far away to hear.
Or they weren’t here anymore.
I shoved that thought down hard. I couldn’t think about that. Wouldn’t think about that. Blake was here. Thomas was here. And I was going to get them out.
The sound of a door opening made both of us tense.
But it wasn’t the main door we’d been watching. This was a different door, one we hadn’t noticed before, partially hidden behind a stack of old crates in the corner. It swung open and a woman walked through, her movements confident and predatory.
She was pretty, I supposed, if you were into the crazy evil type. Blonde hair, sharp features, a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. She looked us over like we were bugs she was thinking about stepping on.
I made a mental note of that door. Based on where it was, it had to lead directly to the main house. Good to know.
“So you’re the one who ruined Mary’s life,” she purred, her voice dripping with fake sweetness.
“She ruined that herself by being a bitch,” Hunt said from his spot against the wall.
The woman’s head snapped toward him, her pretty face twisting with anger. “Shut the fuck up. I’m not talking to you.” She took a step toward him, her hands curling into fists. “You want me to knock you out again? Is that what you want?”
Hunt scowled, his mud-caked face somehow managing to look offended. “Next time try it without drugs and we’ll see who wins,” he growled.
I had to bite my cheek to keep from laughing. My best warrior, taken out by a needle. I was so going to tell Noah and Cole about this.
But not now. Now I needed information.
“You’re the famous Mira?” I interrupted, pulling her attention back to me.
The woman smiled, clearly pleased to be recognized. She practically preened, smoothing down her hair with one hand. “Yes, that’s me. I see my reputation precedes me.”
“That you attacked Moonfang’s Luna and repeatedly threatened her and her kid, so much that you had to be exiled from the pack?
” I tilted my head, keeping my voice casual even though my wolf was howling for her blood.
“And that even your own father disgraced and disinherited you? Yeah, you could say it precedes you.”
The smile dropped off her face like I’d slapped it away. Her eyes went cold and hard, all that fake sweetness disappearing in a second. This was the real Mira. The dangerous one.
“I did what I had to do,” she said through gritted teeth. “Ryder was supposed to be mine.”
“That’s the problem with you and Mary, you see.
” I leaned forward as much as the cuff would allow, meeting her eyes with a glare that had made grown wolves back down.
“You think you’re entitled to something you’re not.
And you can’t seem to have enough brain activity to recognize your own mistakes. ”
Hunt snorted from his corner. “Guess that’s why you became friends with Mary. Birds of a feather and all that.”
Mira’s hands were shaking now. From rage or the effort of not attacking us, I couldn’t tell. Either way, I needed to keep her talking. Buy time. Figure out a plan.
“How did you two meet, anyway?” I asked, making my voice casual, almost bored. Like I was just making conversation. Like I actually gave a shit about her history.
The question threw her off. She’d been getting ready for a fight, probably planning to come at us with more threats. But my question confused her. Made her pause.
“Mary came to visit Moonfang when we were younger,” Mira said after a moment.
She seemed almost eager to tell the story, like she’d been waiting for someone to ask.
“We hit it off right away. Saw something in each other, I guess. After she left, we stayed in touch. Letters at first, then phone calls when we could manage it.”
She started pacing, her movements sharp and angry. “When she contacted me through a stolen phone about being imprisoned and with child, I couldn’t just let it slide. She was my friend. She needed help.” Her eyes snapped back to me, blazing with accusation. “You should have married her.”
I shrugged, not even trying to hide my disgust. “She’s not my type.”
“Not your type?” Mira laughed, but there was no humor in it. “She’s beautiful. She’s a wolf. She could give you strong pups. What more could you want?”
“My mate,” I said simply. “My mate is my type. Everything about her. The way she laughs. The way she smells. The way she looks at me like I hung the moon even when I’m being an idiot. That’s what I want. That’s what I have. And nothing you or Mary or anyone else does is going to change that.”
Something flickered across Mira’s face. Not understanding exactly. She was too far gone for that. But maybe she realized she was fighting a losing battle.
Then she smiled, and it was the kind of smile that made my blood run cold.
“We’ll see how much you like your mate once we’re done with her,” she said sweetly.
What the fuck did that mean?
Before I could demand an answer, she turned and walked back through the hidden door, disappearing into the house without another word. The door clicked shut behind her, leaving Hunt and me alone again.
“Well, that was creepy as fuck,” Hunt muttered.
I didn’t respond. My mind was racing, trying to figure out what Mira had meant. What were they planning to do to Lina? She was back at the pack, surrounded by guards, protected by-
The necklace against my chest suddenly grew warm.
Not just warm. Hot. Pulsing with heat that spread through my skin and into my bones. And at the same time, I felt a tug on the bond. A pull that felt like Lina reaching out to me across the miles.
She was coming.
My mate was coming for me.
I pressed my chest against the warmth, willing my own feelings back through the connection. Love. Strength. A promise that I was alive, that I was waiting, that we would be together again soon.
The necklace pulsed once more, then settled into a steady warmth against my skin. An answer. She’d felt me.
“What’s that look about?” Hunt asked, watching me closely.
“They’re coming,” I said, unable to keep the grin off my face. “The pack. Lina. They’re on their way.”
Hunt’s eyes widened. “How do you know?”
“The necklace.” I gestured toward my chest as best I could with my hand cuffed above my head. “It has a tracker in it. And just now, I felt Lina through the bond. She’s close. They’re close.”
For the first time since we’d been thrown in this garage, hope sparked in Hunt’s eyes. “Then we need to be ready.”
“We need to get out of these fucking cuffs.” I yanked at the metal on my wrist, feeling it dig into my skin. The cuff held tight, and the hook in the wall didn’t budge. “There’s got to be tools around here somewhere. Something we can use.”
We both looked around the garage. Tools hung on the walls, sure. Hammers and wrenches and screwdrivers that could easily break these chains. But they were all out of reach, positioned just far enough away that our restrained arms couldn’t get to them.
Mary had planned this well. Bitch.
“Can you shift your hand?” Hunt asked. “Maybe your paw would be small enough to slip through.”
I tried. Focused on just my hand, willing the change to happen only in that limited area. Bones cracked and reformed, fur sprouted across my skin, and my human hand became a wolf’s paw.
It didn’t help.
The cuff was tight enough that it just dug into my paw instead of my wrist. Still stuck. Still trapped.