Chapter 48 #2
“Stay with me,” I cautioned and crept closer.
A few minutes later, I took a breath and just walked through what appeared to be solid stone, but where Em’s scent was strongest, and we were inside.
I inhaled, even knowing the silver-skins carried no scent, and while I could scent Em, I could scent someone else familiar. “Who do you smell?”
“Ben,” Matthew said grimly and took off after me.
I kept on determinedly through twisting passages, every second wondering why we weren’t stopped and challenged.
It made no sense. I would never believe they didn’t know shifters were here.
We rounded a corner, and I had a man against the wall by his throat before I recognized he was human and let go.
“Where are they?” I snarled, my words mangled as my fangs had dropped.
My wolf was itching to come out. But he whimpered and just glanced to his right. “How many silver-skins are there?”
He opened his mouth to answer, then shook.
I knew he was scared. “They brought in a human male.”
“He was drained immediately. We buried him.”
I didn’t look at Matthew. I just ran in the direction he indicated, and then we heard the screams.
I burst through what looked like a stone wall just in time to see a silver-skin reaching for Emery, and I was on him so fast he didn’t have a chance to breathe before I’d reached into his chest with my claws and sliced his ribs like butter, ripping out his heart.
It was bedlam. The remaining silver-skins moved so fast I could barely see them, and one touched me from the back just as I saw the woman on the bed.
It startled me, and I slowed enough to feel the sharp sting on my neck as fangs sliced through my skin, and I was caught in strong arms. I knew he would drain me, and my eyes met Emery’s, who had his hands twisted behind his back by another silver-skin.
I felt the hot breath on my neck. “You will die, Alpha,” Alessandro growled. “And your mate will get to watch.”
I met Emery’s beautiful green eyes and saw the agonized tears shining in them, and I knew I had to move.
I would rather my throat be ripped out by Alessandro’s fangs and it be over than Emery be forced to watch as I died slowly.
I prayed to the goddess one last time that Emery would always know how much I loved him and took a breath just as Alessandro’s fangs slid in deeper as the female on the bed moved.
She could do little while collared and chained as she was, but as I felt weakness stealing through me, she grabbed a plate of half-eaten food from the table next to her and flung it at Alessandro.
Rhys appeared, blurred as he sprang for Alessandro.
Combined, they were enough of a sudden distraction, and shocked, he let go and stumbled back.
I fell on the bed, and without any thought, I wrapped my claws around the woman’s collar and tore it from her neck, then turned as Alessandro recovered, swiping at Rhys and flinging him at the wall as if he was inconsequential.
I lunged for him just as Alessandro snarled and came at me a second time, but the woman on the bed leaped for him and shifted.
And the wolf he clearly hadn’t been expecting simply clamped her fangs into his neck and, with deadly claws, ripped into his chest. He lashed out, but the wolf hung on for the second it took, and when he finally ripped her from him, she took his still-beating heart with her.
And then I had my arms full of Emery.
When I’d taken a breath, the other two silver-skins had vanished. Rhys had his arms wrapped around a bloodied wolf, and Ben just sat down next to her. “I don’t care about touching,” he mumbled and wrapped his arms around them both.
Then I glanced around me and gaped at what I was seeing, and Emery looked up and followed my gaze. The room was in ruins. No tapestries, no rugs. Dirt and dust everywhere. One of the walls was even crumbling. Looked like all the illusions died with Alessandro’s death. His body had also vanished.
“I don’t think she can shift back,” Matthew said, bending over Estrelle’s wolf and resting a hand on Ben’s shoulder.
I brushed a kiss on Emery, then let him go and walked over to where the wolf was lying, panting in Ben and Rhys’s arms. I touched her gently, and she changed immediately.
Ben frowned and grabbed a rug to cover her, but there wasn’t much to cover. She was skin and bones.
Matthew gazed around him at the state of the room, then he glanced fondly at Ben, and Ben smiled back at him. “Isla can’t wait to see you.” He eyed Rhys. “Are you coming home with us?”
Rhys glanced at Emery as if for permission, and he nodded. “As if we’re leaving you here,” Emery said, coming up to me and sliding his arm around my waist.
“My dad?”
I shook my head. “I’m sorry, there’s nothing for us here,” I said and watched the sheen of tears bloom in his eyes. I led us out, Rhys cradling Estrelle because he was the strongest, and Ben staying close to his side.
“Tia?”
I kissed Emery. “Safe with Aunty Gemma and her guard dog, Danny.”
And he smiled.
My nose led me home. When we got to the motel, we could have called for more cars, but we all wanted the fresh air, so we left Matthew’s car and carried on.
I didn’t know how the pack would react. I could imagine Esther, but I had no idea about Simeon.
Was it something he could cope with after all these years, or was I asking too much of my sentinel?
I was also bringing two silver-skins home, and I had no idea what the reaction to that would be.
Life was sure interesting.