98
Callum's POV
When I heard noises coming from the vent, I knew Ryder had arrived. But something baffled me. It had been more than thirty minutes now since the alarm went off, and yet, not a single man from Max's army had showed up.
Climbing down from the vent, Ryder's brows lifted with surprise at the pile of enemy corpses heaped at a corner of the laundry room. "Quite some work you did here," he chuckled.
"Shut up," I mumbled, heightening my senses as the tip of my ears stood on edge.
I went closer to the wall and placed my ear on it, listening carefully.
"They're coming," I blurted out immediately I started hearing footsteps approaching. "A lot of them. I think we're outnumbered."
"That won't be a problem," Ryder said. "I came prepared."
The moment he said that, I heard a heavy bang in the vent and two people murmuring and cussing at each other.
Seeing a smile grow on Ryder's face, I raised a questioning brow.
"They're with us," he said, easing my nerves.
Two soldiers came down from the vent after pushing out a sack that landed with a heavy thud. Opening the bag, my eyes met a load of riffles.
"You don't plan to tear this mansion down, do you?" I chuckled.
"If I have to," he smirked.
Passing an instruction to the soldiers to pick as much arms as they could carry, we headed out to take down the encroaching enemies and find Samantha as well. She was our key to finding Liv.
The corridor extending from the laundry room led out to the main hallway which had a route to the dungeon. But we had to defeat Max's soldiers in other to get across.
We clashed with Max's soldiers when we got to the main hallway. They had the upper hand when it came to numbers, but only a few of them fought like they had some battle experience.
"Are you sure these are the Darkmoon soldiers we grew up knowing?" Ryder asked me after we cleared the first wave.
"There's no time to think about that," I said to him. "Let's move on to the dungeon."
There was only one possible reason why the soldiers fought that way and I knew it what it was. He had forced civilians to join his army without proper training. That wasn't something Ryder would easily look over if he found out.
Ryder and I split from the rest of the soldiers and we ran off to the dungeon to find Samantha. They'd be able to hold their ground until reinforcement came.
The dungeon was a huge place. Not knowing where exactly to find Samantha, I sneaked up on one of the guards and put a knife to his throat.
"There's a lady from the Dark sky pack who was thrown into one of these cells," I said. "Tell me you don't know about her and I will cut your throat right here."
He swallowed a knot in his throat. "Her cell is just by the—"
"Shhh..." I silenced him. "Take us there."
I sheathed my knife and put my gun behind his neck as he led the way, legs shaking from fear of two alphas holding him at gun point.
Samantha sprang up when we got to her cell. "Callum! Ryder!"
I nudged the gun on the guard's nape. "Where's the key?"
Shaking, he fumbled with a bunch of keys until he selected one which unlocked Samantha's cell door.
"You know where Liv is?" I asked her as she came out.
"Yes." She pointed ahead of her cell. "That's her cell right there."
"If you're talking about the lady whom the Alpha ordered to be treated specially, she we as moved some hours ago," the guard revealed. "Alpha Max came here himself and asked one of his men to take her away."
"Pretty obvious that snake wouldn't leave her here at such a time," Ryder said.
I felt a tightening in my chest, fighting had not to think of the odds that Max had killed Liv or sent her somewhere that no one could find her. That psychopath could possibly do anything.
Clenching my fists, I decided to find him and beat out Liv's whereabouts from his mouth.
I turned to the guard and grabbed him by the collar. "One more thing," I said, my eyes darkening as I stared into his eyes. "Where's your leader? Where's Max?"
At the mention of the name, he shook. "I can't—"
I headbutted him before he could complete that statement. "Don't fuck with me!" I yelled, wiping the mixture of saliva and blood that spilled on my forehead.
"Okay, okay," he cried. "He's in the penthouse."
I let go of him. "Motherfucker."
He fell on his knees, crying still. "I'm dead. I'm fucked! Shit!"
I threw my face away, not wanting another glance of how pathetic he was.
"I'll deal with Max," I said to Ryder. "Regroup with the soldiers and call for reinforcement."
Taking a pistol from Ryder and cocked it before leaving to find Max at the penthouse.
It was almost as if the ruckus going on in the Darkmoon had nothing to do with the penthouse. There was silence within the area, except the murmurs of soldiers who were guarding the penthouse, and the distant echoes of bullets coming from the mansion.
The walls of the penthouse was built with tempered glass, and yellow light dazzled from a chandelier which I could clearly see from outside.
My wolf snarled. "Look where the fucker takes shade while his ignorant minions waste their lives on the battlefront."
I took cover behind a barrel taking my gun out and cocking it. "It all ends tonight."
I aimed at a soldier who guarded the stair that led up the penthouse and shot his forehead.
He slumped right before the staircase and I went for the next soldier. There were about nine of them on duty. Assassinating all of them wasn't a difficult job.
After a few minutes, all the soldiers guarding Max were down on the blood, bleeding to death. It was time to face the devil himself.
I raced up to the penthouse and when I got there, I violently kicked the door open. "Give it up, Max. Your tyranny has come to an end. Where is Liv?"