Chapter 67
THERE'S NO WAY.
The men and women assigned to the ground unit were handpicked by my father himself, comprising of trained officers strictly with the Council's policing unit and members of the local law enforcement unit.
They're led by Rourke Peters - police officer by day, or night, depending on his shift, and a Captain with the Council on special missions.
Rourke Peters is a force to be reckoned with. Kind of a one-man army. There's no way a team of five got the upper hand.
Even if they did, how did they manage to overpower Marcana's beta and gamma?
"Let's move," Ezra commands. He slips right into the role, functioning less like an alpha and more of a soldier with a mission in mind.
His gaze sweeps over his mate and her brother.
"The two of you will stay here with Laken and Jace."
He turns to me and Carter next. "You two, and Asher, will form a barricade around the cabin, twenty meters out. I'm going out there."
"That's insane," Carter protests. "You heard Peters. He said to get them out. And by them, I'm assuming he means Jace and Sky. We should do that."
Ezra checks the belts crisscrossing his torso, fingers touching the sheathed blades and dangling magazines.
"We should. Except Peters has gone radio silent and we have no idea what we're up against. For all we know, there may be more than five men. Maybe they've already got us surrounded. We can't leave yet. Not until we're certain it's safe enough to put some distance between us and this cabin."
"But -" Carter begins protesting again, eyebrows pinched in visible irritation. He hates the idea of us being sitting ducks and while Peters is right in his instruction, Ezra also has a point.
"He's right, Carter," I retort, gritting my teeth because even the words taste like betrayal and abject stupidity.
"I hate the idea myself. Keeping Jace here while danger is outside but there was a thirty-minute stretch of no communication either way. Jessop's people could be waiting for us to step out."
"Then sending you out isn't the smartest idea," Carter retorts. "They're here for you and Jace. Your father's not responding. Assuming he's not..." he trails off, refusing to finish that thought when he catches my glare. He shakes his head and clears his throat.
"If he's unresponsive because of injury, he wouldn't want us risking Jace's life or yours."
He sweeps his gaze over the others. "Let Ash go with me. We'll form a barricade. Dale and Jessica will safeguard the cabin as a diversion and as for Jace and Laken? Sky will get them out once we're able to confirm it's safe to move."
"That plan should work," Dale chimes in. "Laken has been training. He's getting better, and he's good enough right now to defend himself. Jace can handle a gun. They should be all right with Sky."
Ezra pauses. Ponders the plan.
"You know what," he says after a minute or so has passed of him mulling it over, "that'll wo -"
The pressure in my head rises. There's a loud crash and the sound of shattering glass followed by a loud thud. Things getting knocked down and falling.
And then there's a piercing scream.
Jace!
Shouting and screams tear through the cabin emanating from the room where Jace is with Laken and Ash. Heavy footfalls pound the cabin's hardwood floor, almost drowned out by the vicious growls and snarling.
We tear down the corridor just as there's an explosion of gunfire from outside. Bullets smash through the windows, ripping curtains, tearing into walls and destroying the furniture inside. Lights are shot out drowning the living room and part of the corridor in darkness.
Half of us duck to the floor.
Laken comes sprinting out of the room with Jace right behind him. Ash shuts the door to the room and drops to the floor as another spray of bullets begin making quick work of the front of the cabin.
"Ezra!" I shout above the chaos, crawling on elbows and knees to where Jace is lying on the floor covering his head. "Do something!"
"Trying to," he shouts back, his voice almost drowned beneath the ricochet of gunfire and empty bullet casings hitting the wooden deck of the cabin. They're closing in on us, squeezing us tighter inside this cabin that suddenly feels smaller than it already is.
Crawling forward, I reach Jace just as Carter crashes onto the floor beside me, rifle aimed toward the living room. The bedroom door caves, flying off hinges, out into the hallway.
It smashes against the adjacent wall, and a hulking frame of black fur comes charging out, growling menacingly. He tramples over Ash, saliva and blood dripping from his snout, jagged wounds glisten, tearing through fur and flesh across his shoulder and chest.
"Get them out! Now!" Ezra's command carries over the chaos.
That's not going to be so easy anymore.
"I've got it!" Carter bellows, raising the rifle and firing at the Were. He dodges, the bullet going astray and embedding itself into the wooden wall a few inches away from the Were.
The wolf turns and growls. He lunges, going right for Jace who lets out a wailing scream that almost deafens me.
I manage to yank him away just in the nick of time as the wolf is forced back.
Ash has finally gotten to his feet, and he's jumped onto the wolf's back, claws and canines out, arms strapped tight around the wolf's neck in a crushing hold.
A fine dusting of white fur coats his forearms, his face contorted into a vicious snarl baring sharp teeth. In the now dimly lit corridor, his eyes glow amber.
The wolf whimpers. Ash lets out a determined cry.
Jace screams louder but I barely pay mind to the fact that he's slipped into complete confusion, terror, and hysteria.
"We'll make a path!" Ash shouts.
Carter hands me his rifle and charges forward.
He and Ash manage to push the Were back, wrangling him through the door back into the bedroom.
Things crash and break. Grunts and snarls, growls and thuds create absolute chaos.
Wood shatters and splinters, the wall into the room over crumbles under their fight.
"Let's go."
Grabbing Jace's arm, I haul him to his feet, gesturing for Laken to move along as well. He takes up the front and the three of us go sprinting down the corridor, veering left around the corner that leads out to the deck at the back of the cabin and straight into the woodland.
Laken pauses for only a fraction of a second. He casts a cautious glance at me and eases the door open, poking his head out to survey the area.
Gunfire continues to rock the night air and Laken ducks back inside. He makes a small cursing sound, swiping his switchblade from his pocket.
"What the fuck is happening?" Jace exclaims in a hollowed-out whisper. There's a pallor to his complexion, pupils blown wide, sweat coating his face.
Neither Laken nor I have the chance or time to explain. I bet Jace is losing his mind. I can feel it through the bond. He's as confused as he is terrified, but it'll have to wait.
Laken and I exchange glances once more and then he darts outside.
He sprints off the deck, his footfalls light.
He's no more than a blur of black topped by a head of blonde as he charges at the armed gunman in tactical gear.
The man raises his rifle and fires. The bullet goes astray. Laken ducks, slipping behind the man.
He moves so quickly that I barely see his arm raise before the gunman flops to his knees.
The rifle topples to the ground, gurgling sounds - wet and stomach-churning - drowned beneath gunfire from the opposite side of the cabin.
The man's throat is cut open and as he takes his final breath, Laken swipes up the rifle, crouching beside him.
He survey's the surrounding woodland once more while patting the man's body down, nimble fingers swiping blades and magazines.
I pull Jace along and then we're running. Moving farther away from the cabin, gunfire continues to explode. There's a crash of shattering glass. I hear Carter and Ash shouting, vicious snarls of the Were who got in.
For nothing and no one, we don't stop. Even as Jace looks back, I pull him along.
"Just run!" I command.
Laken has taken up the rear. Every now and again, his footfalls change pace as he looks back the way we came. The cabin decreases in size, reduced to an image of points scattered between the trees. We head up an incline, cutting a curved path the higher we go.
"Something's coming!" Laken belts out from behind. No sooner than he says those words, I hear it.
The hurried footfalls of something heavy but nimble crashing through bramble and shrubbery flanking us from the right of the path.
"What?" Jace shouts.
"Something's - Sky watch out!"
In my periphery, a black shape lunges from the shadows of bramble and shrubbery. I have only enough time to react.
I shove Jace out of harm's way as the figure crashes into me.
__________________________________