13. Sam
Chapter thirteen
Sam
Annabella weighed nothing.
That was the thought that kept circling as I moved through the chaos of Adarcan.
Not the alarms screaming overhead, not the thought of guards finding the two dead bodies I had left behind, not the fact that I’d just declared a mate bond to a badly injured woman in a prison cell when she couldn’t even argue with me about it.
She weighed nothing, like she’d burn away to ash if I held her too tight.
My wolf paced under my ribs, frantic, feral. Faster. Move faster. She’s dying.
I knew. I could smell the infection threading through her scent. Her skin burned against my neck where her head lolled, fever-hot. I had to get her away from all this silver so her Shifter healing would kick in.
Prisoners yelled from behind their bars. Some wailed, others wept. Part of me wanted to open every door and let them loose, but the part that was still thinking tactically knew that the distraction Ryan, Mason, and Derek were creating on the perimeter wouldn’t last forever.
First security gate. I shifted Annabella’s weight, pulled Ellington’s access card with my free hand, swiped. The panel beeped green. The gate slid open with a hydraulic hiss.
Through.
The gate clanged shut behind us.
Annabella stirred, her fingers curling weakly against my shirt. “Sam?”
“Right here, Moonbeam. Just keep breathing.”
“The guards…at the gate…”
“Don’t worry about them. I’ve got you.”
She went quiet again. I felt her breath against my throat, fast, shallow, too hot. My wolf whined.
Second gate. Swipe. Beep. Open.
Through.
The corridor widened beyond Alpha level’s containment wing—higher ceilings, fluorescent lights instead of the red strobing behind us.
The silver taste in the air thinned with every step.
I felt my wolf surge closer to the surface, stronger now, and Annabella stirred against my chest like she felt it too.
Every instinct screamed run, but I kept my stride even, purposeful; a man with clearance, a man with authority, a man who absolutely had permission to carry a half-dead prisoner out the front door in the middle of a security breach.
The entrance was ahead. Industrial doors leading to the parking lot. A guard stood at her post, but she was focused on her radio, listening to orders.
“—breach on the west perimeter, all units—”
I walked past her.
“Sir?”
I stopped. Turned. Let my face do the work: Council authority, barely contained impatience, the look that said, “Do you really want to waste my time right now?”
Her eyes went from me to Annabella and back. I could see the gears turning: this couldn’t be a prison break. Nobody would walk a prisoner out the front door.
“Do you have papers, sir?”
I held her stare. Let the silence stretch just long enough to make her second-guess herself.
“I’m on the Council. Sam Shaw. Emergency transfer.”
“I haven’t received—”
The biggest explosion yet rocked the building. Dust rained from the ceiling. The guard stumbled, catching herself against the doorframe. Derek. Had to be Derek. My twin had a gift for demolitions that bordered on concerning.
Her radio went berserk. “All units, Code Red! Major breach, east perimeter! Yellow Team to East Gate, NOW!”
She looked at me. At her radio. Back at me.
“All units,” I said flatly. “That includes you.”
“Where the fuck is Yellow Team? We need backup at East Gate immediately!”
Her jaw worked. Protocol versus emergency. Emergency won.
“Go,” she snapped, stepping aside.
I slipped through the doors. The air hit me, fresh and clean. No silver. No concrete dust. Just balsam fir and spruce sap on the air. My wolf dragged in a breath so deep my chest ached.
The air settled over us and Annabella shifted in my arms, pressing closer. She was still feverish, the warmer night air wrapping around her like a blanket, and yet she turned her face into my neck with a small sound.
The parking lot spread before me under sulfur-yellow floodlights, and there, engine idling, headlights off—
Gideon’s black SUV.
I’d never been so relieved to see that smug bastard’s face in my life.
I crossed the lot in long strides, boots on gravel, keeping my pace controlled even though my wolf was howling at me to run, run, run. Gideon tracked me through the windshield, his expression shifting as he registered Annabella limp in my arms.
“You actually did it.” He was already reaching to pop the rear door. “I was five seconds from leaving your suicidal ass.”
“Bullshit. You’d have waited another hour.” I climbed into the backseat, Annabella still cradled against me. Mina was wedged against the far door, pale, shaking, but alive. Zeke slumped in the passenger seat with one hand pressed to his ribs and a gun across his lap.
“You in?” Gideon asked, already shifting into gear.
“Go!”
The SUV lurched forward, tires chewing gravel as Gideon floored it. Behind us, more alarms joined the chorus. They’d found the bodies or noticed their high-value prisoners were missing. Or both.
I laid Annabella across the seat as gently as I could manage, keeping one hand on her shoulder. She was so still. Too still. Her eyes fluttered open, unfocused.
“Where…?”
“You’re safe. We’re getting out.”
Mina leaned forward, tilted her head toward Annabella, then asked me. “How bad?”
“Bad.”
“Perimeter gate coming up.” Gideon caught my eye in the rearview.
Right. Davies had let us in, but getting out during a lockdown was a different game entirely.
“You got a plan?”
Gideon’s mouth curved. “Oh yeah, I’ve got a plan, but you’re going to hate it.”
“I hate all your plans.”
“This one’s special. I’m a Council enforcer transporting high-value prisoners on Talia Johnson’s direct orders. Emergency extraction due to the security breach.”
“They’ll want authorization.”
“Which is why you’re going to sit there and do that terrifying Council power trip thing while I bullshit our way through.”
“That’s the plan? Bluff?”
“Sometimes the simplest plans work best.” His hands shifted on the wheel. “Besides, with the chaos back there, they’ll probably wave us through.”
Mina’s voice came out raw. “And if they don’t?”
“Then we improvise. Violently.”
The perimeter lights blazed ahead. Guards at the gate, weapons ready, radios barking. Annabella’s breathing had gone shallow again. Her skin scorched my palm where I held her.
From the backseat, Mina’s lips were moving, barely audible, rapid-fire. “…sixty-two percent they wave us through during active lockdown, drops to forty if they’ve already flagged missing prisoners, seventeen percent chance pursuit vehicles deploy within—”
“Mina.” Gideon’s voice was surprisingly gentle. “Not helping.”
She swallowed hard but couldn’t stop, the numbers tumbling out softer now, a whispered litany against the dark. “…eight minutes before they cross-reference headcount, maybe twelve if the power’s still—”
“Two minutes,” I said quietly, knowing Annabella didn’t have much time left. We had to get her to Thomas. “That’s how long your plan gets. Then we fight.”
Gideon slowed the SUV and flicked the headlights twice.
A figure stepped into the beam. Davies. Rifle braced against his chest. He shone his flashlight into the car, recognized Gideon, then swept the interior.
“Calloway? I’ve got no clearance for an outbound transport of prisoners.”
Gideon leaned one elbow out the window, casual grin in place.
“Yeah, well, turns out the most secure prison in America is having a really bad night. Lockdown, explosions, someone killed the power grid. Talia Johnson wants these three hauled straight to the Council for interrogation before the place loses what’s left of its five-star rating. ”
“I need the paperwork before you—”
I leaned forward. “Do you know who the fuck I am, Davies?”
He went stiff. Saluted. “Yes, sir.”
“Then do your job and let us through.”
More radio chatter: panic, orders, something about breached containment on Alpha level. Davies swore under his breath. Looked at the prison. Looked at us.
“Go.” He waved the barrier up.
Gideon threw him a salute. “Owe you one, Davo!”
“Fuck that, you owe me ten, Calloway!”
The SUV roared past the gate and down the cracked access road, and Adarcan disappeared behind us, swallowed by the forest.
No pursuit. Not yet.
I kept my hand on Annabella’s shoulder, feeling each breath rise and fall. My wolf prowled under my skin, restless but watchful.
Safe. For now.
Mina had curled in on herself. Zeke was whispering fragments of spells under his breath, his fingers glowing faint green as he worked to heal himself.
“Well, that was fun,” Gideon said. “You owe me new upholstery, by the way. Bleeding prisoners void the warranty.”
The forest opened into a wide dirt clearing where three roads met. Two sets of headlights flashed.
Gideon slowed. “If your brothers shoot me, I’m haunting you forever. And not in a cool ghost way. I’m talking moving your keys, deleting your files, signing you up for every spam email list in existence.”
Ryan appeared first, composed and controlled, but sweat and smoke streaked his jaw, his shirt torn where a blast had gone off too close.
Derek and Mason flanked him. Mason’s knuckles were split and raw, shirt spattered with mud and blood. Derek’s eyes were steel; calm, assessing, a thin line of blood tracing his temple.
Further back, a second SUV waited half-hidden under trees. Sofia stood beside it, knives sheathed at her thigh, braid loose and streaked with dirt. Jase hovered near her shoulder.
Pack.
Gideon killed the engine.
Ryan strode forward, scanning through the windshield. “Everyone alive?”
Sofia was already moving, braid swinging as she ran for the rear door. The second she saw Annabella sprawled across the seat, she sucked in a sharp breath. “Oh Goddess—Annabella.”
Gideon popped the hatch.
“Help me get her flat,” I said. “I need to see what we’re working with.”
Sofia climbed in beside me, hands quick and steady as she checked vitals. Annabella stirred. “Sof…”
“Hey. You’re okay now. We’ve got you.”
Jase appeared with a medical kit, passed supplies to Sofia, and pulled out his phone. “Thomas, we’ve got her.”
I started cutting away Annabella’s prison jumpsuit, listing injuries aloud for Thomas on speaker.
“Silver burns, both wrists, second degree. Two, no three stab wounds on her left side, infected. Three to four broken ribs. Bruising consistent with kidney damage. Swollen shoulder, possible dislocation. Facial contusions. Right ankle severely swollen. Systemic infection, high fever.”
Each injury was a failure. Mine, the Council’s, the entire system that was supposed to protect people and instead locked them in cages and left them to rot.
Thomas’s voice came through, calm, authoritative, exactly what we needed.
“Keep her flat and her airway open. I don’t know much about half-witches, but if her wolf tries anything, don’t let her Shift.
I need to examine her first. Don’t use salves on silver burns; they’ll blister worse.
Wrap the wrists and the wound. Don’t try to set anything.
For the fever, keep her cool but not cold. Monitor her breathing. Get here fast.”
Sofia and Jase moved in sync, wrapping wounds while I steadied Annabella’s head. “You’re safe, Moonbeam.”
Ryan and Mason helped Zeke and Mina out, moving them to the other SUV.
“We need to move,” Ryan called. “Derek, you and Sofia take Mina. Mason, you’re with me and Zeke. Jase, you drive Sam and Annabella. Stick to the plan—split up, different routes back to Three Rivers.”
Gideon got out of the driver’s seat. His nose wrinkled as he strode to the edge of the clearing and whistled low. “You know there are six unconscious Ironhide guards out here, right?”
Sofia didn’t look up from wrapping Annabella’s wrists. “They crashed the party. Were searching for the phantom army attacking their fortress, got me and Jase instead.”
Gideon turned to Derek. “Remind me never to piss off your girlfriend.”
“Mate,” Derek corrected.
“And she puts up with you? Even scarier.” Gideon grinned at Derek then turned to face me. “You know this is where you’re supposed to punch me, right? Make it look like I got blindsided?”
I didn’t look up. “Bit busy.”
“I’ll do it,” Derek offered. “Added benefit: I’ll enjoy the hell out of it.”
Gid raised both hands. “Whoa, back off, big guy. I’ve decided to see this through.”
My head came up. “You sure? They’ll hunt us. You’ll be rogue. Your career’s done.”
“Of course I’m fucking in. Someone’s got to make sure you don’t screw it all up.”
“Then get in the damn car.”
Annabella’s fingers twitched against my wrist. Her pulse steadied slightly under my hand, and my wolf quieted for the first time in days.
“Let’s get you home,” said Jase as he fired up the engine.
Gideon glanced at me from the passenger seat. “Home, huh? Didn’t think we were still allowed to have one.”
I watched the others’ headlights split and disappear, my brothers scattering into the dark, trusting the plan, trusting me. Annabella’s skin burned against my palm. She was alive. Breathing. Fighting.
That was enough. That was everything.
“We make our own now,” I said.