Chapter 20 - Dane
The Iron Walker males paced like caged animals.
Dane could feel it crackling beneath his skin, in the way the air tasted electric, sharp. Rage, fear, desperation. It was all there, woven into the room like a living thing. No one spoke. Not yet. Not while the terror of what was happening still hadn’t settled into something solid.
He was going to lose his mind.
He ran a hand through his hair, rough enough to hurt, and stalked the length of the room for the third time in a minute.
Felix stood at the center of it all, still, focused, his big arms crossed over his chest, his jaw locked.
The twins sat on the couch behind him, kept quiet by a glare from their father.
Rick stood with his back to the window, arms folded, silent and unreadable.
Nicolas was at the screen, already pulling up the footage.
Sam was with Eva and Thea, and the other kids in Rick’s safe room with a couple of trusted enforcers watching them. There were protocols for incidents like this. Plans in place. Contingencies that ensured the safety of the weaker members of the pack.
His son might be safe, but Lola wasn’t. And that was a problem.
Dane’s wolf snarled low and constant inside him, a ceaseless growl that rattled his bones. It was taking everything he had not to tear off toward the club, Red Teeth be damned. But he couldn’t. Not until Felix gave the word. Not until they knew what they were walking into.
“Here it is,” Nicolas said, his voice clipped.
The room tensed as the footage from the club played on the screen.
At first, everything seemed normal. The camera over the bar caught the women laughing and sipping drinks.
Lola was at the edge of the frame; he could just make out her profile, her dark hair twisted up, her hands resting protectively over her belly.
She looked…happy. Or at the very least, like she was trying to be.
His throat closed up.
Then, movement.
The front doors crashed open. Figures surged in, at least six, maybe more. Armed, massive, and moving with coordinated brutality. Red Teeth was at the front. Even through the grainy footage, the jagged bone mask he wore gleamed like something out of a nightmare.
Dane’s hands curled into fists at his sides.
The footage had no sound, but it didn’t need it. Chairs scraped, drinks spilled, women screamed. Red Teeth didn’t flinch. He strode to the center of the club and gestured sharply. His alphas fanned out, dragging cables, planting charges. It was methodical. Fast. Controlled.
Dust billowed from the front door as the entrance caved in, shaking the furniture, clouding the screen.
Then static.
The image went white for a moment, then black.
No feed. No signal. No answer.
Felix didn’t move.
Nicolas swore under his breath, stepping back from the console like it had burned him.
“They knew exactly where the cameras were,” Rick said quietly. His voice was devoid of emotion. He wasn’t even blinking. “They had the layout memorized. This was planned.”
Felix’s eyes narrowed.
Dane exhaled hard, teeth gritted so tightly his jaw ached. He could feel the rage rising again, clawing up his spine, screaming for blood. His wolf was too close to the surface, wild and frantic. He thought of Lola, trapped inside. Of her fear. Of her trying to protect their child.
He thought he might lose his tenuous grip on his sanity.
“They’re baiting us,” Nicolas said. He crossed his arms, face stony. “They knew we’d see this. They wanted us to.”
“It’s a challenge, yes,” Rick added, “they want us to storm in blind.”
“Then we fucking go,” Dane growled. His voice was rough, like gravel. “We go now.”
Felix raised a hand, stopping him. “We don’t rush in without a plan. That’s exactly what they want.”
“So what?” Dane demanded, turning on him, “We sit on our hands while they hold them hostage? While he—”
His voice broke. He couldn’t say her name. Not like this. Not when she might already be—
“We go,” Felix said. His tone was calm. Deadly. “But we go smart. We prep, we gather our best, and we hit them hard and fast.”
Rick finally stepped forward, arms folded, eyes like shards of glass. “I’ll alert the American packs. If we don’t return in two hours, Silvermist goes into lockdown. They’ll need to prepare. If we go dark, it’ll destabilize the international balance.”
Nicolas nodded once, “I’ll authorize full use of our security arsenal. We’ve been stockpiling for a reason.”
Dane didn’t know if he could wait even another second. His chest felt tight. His hands were shaking.
“We can’t let him win,” Felix said, voice suddenly loud in the silence. “He wants to bring the old guard back. Wants us to play his game. But this is our territory. Our home. And those women are our pack.”
Everyone stilled.
“We move tonight,” Felix said.
And just like that, the room changed.
The feral energy found a focus. Orders were issued, calls made, weapons unlocked. The Iron Walkers were going to war.
Dane turned toward the door before anyone else could stop him. He needed air. He needed her.
He didn’t care if it was a trap.
He was walking straight into it.
Because that was where Lola was.
And nothing, not Red Teeth, not a pack of rogue alphas, not even Felix himself, was going to keep him from her.
Dane stood just behind Felix, jaw clenched so tight it hurt. His fists ached. His pulse was a violent rhythm in his ears. And yet he stood still, because Felix had just turned toward John Heath, and what came next might determine the outcome of this war.
The Green Mountain Pack Alpha stood with his arms crossed, his expression unreadable beneath the long shadows cast by the dying sun. Watching them, Dane realized, watching and waiting.
“We need your alphas,” Felix said. His voice carried the weight of command, but also something more dangerous. Need. “Not just for numbers. For the message it sends. Unity.”
Rick shifted, his jaw working, his eyes flinty as he watched the exchange. No doubt he was seething at the loss of face. Dane didn’t give a shit. Whatever it took to get their people out.
Heath didn’t speak right away. He tilted his head, like he was mulling over whether unity was worth the cost.
Then, finally, “We’ll fight.”
Dane’s shoulders sagged with silent relief, but Heath hadn’t finished.
“In exchange, I want a boon.”
Felix’s head lifted, sharp and still, “What kind of boon?”
“To be named and claimed later,” Heath replied smoothly, “in accordance with inter-pack tradition. One call. One favor. No refusals.”
The silence that followed felt like it stretched for miles.
The wording was deliberate, ancient, and binding. A promise that couldn’t be broken once accepted. Dane felt every wolf in the clearing stiffen. Even the air went quiet.
Heath’s eyes flicked to Rick, and something cunning passed over his face.
Rick stood motionless, arms loose at his sides, but Dane saw the tension lock into his spine. Something old passed between the two of them, and it wasn’t friendly.
Dane took a step forward, voice low, “He’s trying to corner us. You know that.”
“We don’t have a choice,” Felix murmured back. His eyes were still locked with Heath’s. “Not tonight.”
Rick’s voice cut through, quiet but razor-edged, “Let him take his boon. If he tries anything unwise with it, I’ll deal with him myself.”
Heath’s mouth lifted in a small, dry smile. He didn’t reply.
Felix nodded once. “Done.”
There was no handshake. Just silence. Pact made. Line crossed.
“Let’s move,” Felix barked, voice suddenly sharp.
The pack scattered into motion.
Dane moved on autopilot, following muscle memory through Rick’s armory. Weapons, radios, earpieces, packs. The world had narrowed to one singular mission.
Get to the club. Get to Lola.
He pulled on his flak vest and holstered a blade. Nearby, Nicolas snapped on gloves, sleeves rolled up, mouth pressed in a tight line. His eyes were shadowed. He hadn’t spoken since the footage.
Across the room, Felix bent to his bag. Dane watched him reach for something inside, then pause. When his hand came out, it was holding a photo.
Cassie.
Felix stared at it for a moment, unreadable. Then folded it and tucked it into the inner pocket of his vest.
Resolve. Steeled in silence.
Rick sat at the table, calmly sharpening a blade. The rhythmic shink, shink, shink of metal on stone was somehow louder than everything else.
Dane turned away.
He closed his eyes and exhaled, forcing himself to picture Lola’s face. Her smile. Her dry wit. The way she curled around Sam in sleep, arms protective and tender.
He hadn’t said what he needed to say. And he wasn’t sure if he’d get the chance to.
But he would get her out.
He wouldn’t let Red Teeth touch her. Not ever.
Felix reappeared at the center of the room, voice clipped. “We go in two teams. Entry from the grounds. Target the back entrance and the emergency access corridor. I want eyes everywhere. No solo movement, no unnecessary shifts unless in combat. We do this smart; we do this clean.”
Everyone nodded.
“You know your roles. You know what’s at stake.”
Dane’s heart thudded like a war drum.
Rick rose, flipping the blade in his hand before slipping it into a sheath at his belt.
“Then let’s hunt,” Rick said.
They moved out.
***
The woods were black and still, the moon low and distant. The Iron Walkers shifted between human and wolf, whisper-quiet through the undergrowth of the Pine Shadow Club gardens. They were trained for this. Had bled for this.
But tonight felt different.
Tonight, they were walking into the mouth of a beast.
Dane’s thoughts were a snarl. He could barely breathe around them.
Hang on, Lola. Just hang on.
The trees thinned as they neared the edge of the neatly kept lawn.
Dane crouched low, his breath steaming in the chilled air, eyes fixed on the looming silhouette of the Pine Shadow Club.
It stood like a ghost, shrouded in smoke and moonlight, the structure battered but still intact.
The front wall bore the scars of the explosion, scorched black, sections sagging, broken glass glinting like scattered stars in the dirt.
He could smell ash. Blood. Fear.
And something worse—Lola's scent, faint but recent, tangled in fear and sweat and smoke. His gut twisted. His wolf surged forward beneath his skin, demanding to shift, to run, to tear through every barrier between him and her.
But he held it down. Barely.
Felix raised a fist, and the line of Iron Walkers stilled. Rick appeared beside him, quiet as death, bracing against the trunk of a pine. Felix leaned close, voice hushed.
“No movement on the perimeter. Whatever guards Red Teeth left behind, they’re inside.”
Rick nodded, scanning the tree line. His expression was carved from ice. “Too quiet. They want us rattled.”
Dane’s hands were fists against the dirt. His breath came hard and hot.
“We need entry points,” Felix murmured, “front’s a death trap. Suggestions?”
“Back emergency corridor,” Nicolas said from behind, his tone clipped, “if the blast didn’t collapse it.”
“What about the sub-cellar?” Rick asked. “Old foundation access? There used to be a storm grate near the loading dock.”
“Blocked,” came a voice, one of the scouts, “collapsed in the explosion. Too much debris.”
Dane moved to the edge of the clearing, eyes narrowed. The Club sat like a beast waiting to pounce, every door and window a snare. His mind churned with every possible path, every likely trap. But the truth stared him in the face. Red Teeth had fortified the place. Deliberately. Thoroughly.
And somewhere inside, Lola was trapped.
He crouched low beside Rick, fists pressed to his knees.
“It’s worse than we thought,” he growled, “he buried them in.”
Rick crouched beside him. “He knew we’d come. It’s bait. I’ll admit, I didn’t think Red Teeth capable of this sort of strategy. It’s a beautiful trap.”
“And we’re walking into it,” Nicolas muttered.
“No choice,” Felix said from behind them. “We let fear dictate our moves; he wins.”
“We’re not letting fear dictate anything,” Nicolas snapped, standing, “but we don’t charge in blind, either. We need a way in that doesn’t get them all killed.”
The team circled the perimeter slowly, whispering, scanning for weaknesses, for movement, for anything. But every possible entry was a dead end. Rubble, flame, unstable beams. A grave, waiting to collapse.
Dane stood in the shadow of a tree, chest heaving.
Lola was in there.
Pregnant. Terrified. Unprotected.
He pressed a hand to the bark, grounding himself.
They had to find another way in.
But right now?
They had nothing.
Felix turned to them, his expression grave.
“We regroup. Ten minutes. Then we decide how to breach.”
Dane didn’t answer. He just kept staring at the ruin, the heat of helpless rage flaring behind his eyes.
The alpha line held, but barely.
And time was running out.