Chapter 6 #6
“Gabriel took a team down to investigate,” Victor added. “But the tunnels go on for miles. It could take months to map the entire system.”
“Why would we want to map it?” Raphael objected. “Block off the sections that lead to our village. Or better yet, collapse the whole thing.”
Levi looked uncomfortable. “Gabriel wants more information before he does anything permanent.” He raised his hand when Raphael started to argue and concluded, “If you disagree, take it up with your brother. I just came to tell you guys what we found.”
Raphael backed off. “Is the opening guarded?”
Levi nodded as he zipped up his coat. “And guards swept the entire village to make sure no one else snuck in.” He motioned toward the door, obviously anxious to return to his own concerns. “I better get moving or lunch won’t be ready until dinnertime.”
Victor closed the door behind Levi as Raphael absorbed what they’d just learned.
He first heard about the tunnels from the Shadows, but Claire had been down there.
She’d been held in one of the caverns for several weeks before Alex moved her to the mountain stronghold.
Raphael hadn’t asked her about those weeks.
He knew from experience that captives tended to avoid memories about their captivity.
“If those cursed tunnels stretch from the lupine village to the top of our mountain, then Gabriel is right. We better find out more about them.”
“Should we wake Claire before we go?” Victor motioned toward the bedroom.
Raphael reached for her empathically. He scanned the emotions she emanated without entering her mind.
A deeper scan would have been an invasion, and he refused to violate her trust. She was exhausted, physically and emotionally drained.
He released the link and shook his head.
“She needs to sleep. I’ll summon a security team and notify Jason that she’s going to be late. ”
Retrieving solar-powered lanterns from the storage closet in the back of the cabin, Raphael carried them into the living room and handed one to Victor.
They paused by the door to pull on their coats and Victor said, “I felt a sharp spike in your emotions last night, then Heather’s face flashed into my mind. Did something happen to her?”
Raphael tensed. He should have known that Victor would sense the disruption. “There was an issue, but it had nothing to do with the wolves.”
They stepped outside and locked the door. The security team had just arrived, so Raphael told them what he expected. They were not to enter the cabin, but they were to escort Claire anywhere she chose to go.
“Am I allowed to know what happened to Heather?” Victor asked as they started walking along the main footpath. He sounded slightly annoyed. “Your answer seemed intentionally vague.”
Raphael hadn’t avoided the incident to hide it from his second.
He only knew how the conflict began. He had no idea what had taken place after Patrick carried her off over his shoulder.
“Heather was part of the medical team that was assigned to Patrick’s tribe.
As you can imagine, he didn’t respond well when he saw her in the bunkhouse. ”
“Holy shit,” Victor muttered. “Did anyone else from his tribe see her?” His eyes widened as he asked, “What about Gabriel?”
“He’d already left the bunkhouse when the altercation took place, but I’m sure he’s seen her by now.”
They walked along in silence for a moment, each lost in thought.
Raphael knew damn well that Claire would want him to intervene, and he wasn’t sure he wanted to meddle in such a volatile situation.
Patrick and Gabriel had every right to be furious.
They would find creative ways of punishing Heather for her role in their captivity, but both were honorable.
They would never intentionally harm a female.
Her life would become unpleasant for a time, but that was no more than she deserved.
Compassion softened his anger. He was damning Heather without knowing her side of the story. Had there been extenuating circumstances for her involvement in the experiments?
“This is what Claire was hiding from us,” Victor muttered a few minutes later. “It’s why Heather was so desperate to return to the feline village.”
“Of course it was, but why wouldn’t Claire tell me the truth? I know how much Heather meant to her, and I hope to hell Claire knows how much she means to me.”
Victor’s brows drew together as he shot Raphael a sidelong look. “You would have smuggled Heather out of the village?”
Raphael shook his head with a defeated smile. “I’d do anything for Claire.”
“Well, how the fuck do we tell her now?” Victor shook his head and released a heavy sigh. “This is going to get ugly no matter what we do.”
“I need more information before I attempt the conversation with our mate. She’ll want to know what Gabriel and Patrick intend to do with Heather.”
“You know damn well what they’ll do, and Claire is not going to like it.”
“It’s beyond my control.” Raphael threw up his hands, letting his frustration show. “My ability to help Heather ended the moment Patrick saw her.”
After another tense pause, Victor asked, “How would you react if you came face to face with one of the members of your medical team?”
Raphael let the question resonate. He’d spent half the night imagining his reaction and he still wasn’t sure.
Blind rage would come first, then the consuming need for vengeance.
He was honestly surprised Patrick had been able to control himself well enough to leave Heather alive.
The rest of the emotions would depend on the person.
Some reacted to captivity with hopelessness and grief, while others drew strength from plotting their escape or getting their hands on their captors.
Finally, Raphael took a deep breath and admitted, “They have every right to punish her. I would have done the same, and so would you.”
Victor nodded, but his expression remained grim.
Claire would be furious. There was no way of avoiding her anger. Still, he could not let Heather’s peril compromise the connection they were building. Claire was so close to accepting their claim. He’d have to work with Victor to find a way of defusing her temper.
The entrance to the tunnels was wide open and secured by two armed guards.
Raphael paused to examine the design before entering the subterranean labyrinth.
The cats had found an entrance near their village.
It was concealed by a holo-projection and some sort of matter generator that made the opening appear to be solid rock.
Both were deactivated by a palm scanner.
The technology had been left behind by whatever civilization dug the tunnels.
The wolves had simply discovered it. This entrance had been covered with dirt and weeds, making it blend in with the surrounding ground.
There didn’t even appear to be a locking mechanism on the inside of the hatch.
“Why did the builders put so much effort into controlling the entrance by the cats, yet this one can be pulled open by anyone? It doesn’t make sense.”
“Our villages weren’t here when the tunnels were built,” Victor reminded. “It must have made sense back then.”
And the builders were long gone, so their motivations were anyone’s guess. The energy source enabling the technology to continue working year after year was much more interesting.
Using the shoulder strap to rest his lantern against his back, Raphael climbed down the stationary ladder and entered the mysterious tunnels.
When he reached the bottom, he turned on the lantern and looked around.
There were three passageways, each branching off in a different direction.
Accessing the telepathic link he shared with his brother, Raphael sent his thoughts to Gabriel’s mind.
We just entered the tunnels. Which route did you take?
We went left, and all we’ve found was more tunnels.
Understood. We’ll go right. He was tempted to ask about Heather, but changed his mind. It really was none of his business.
Heather is unharmed, Gabriel told him. She’s unhappy with her situation, but it’s far less than she did to us.
Not surprised that his brother correctly interpreted his emotions, all Raphael said was, Understood.
He motioned toward the tunnel on their right. “Gabriel’s team went left and found nothing. Let’s try right.” He held his lantern aloft, lighting as much of the passageway as possible. Victor did the same and they began their exploration.
“It all looks the same,” Victor concluded an hour and a half later. “I don’t think it’s a mine. There are no signs of excavation.”
Raphael had been thinking the same thing. The tunnel just meandered on and on with no apparent purpose. “We must be missing something. No one tunnels through miles and miles of earth to take a Sunday stroll.”
“The entrance near the feline village was camouflaged with holo technology. What if the tunnels utilize the same strategy?”
“We’re passing chambers and other tunnels. We’re just not seeing them.” Raphael looked back the way they’d come, but there was no indication of other tunnels.
Victor ran his fingers along the walls as they walked, but felt nothing but roughhewn stone. “Did the cats figure out how the generator concealing their entrance was powered? Our best bet for finding anything meaningful is to deactivate the system.”
“I’ll ask one of the Shadows when we return to our cabin. I’m out of range right now.” He motioned around them. “Too much interference.”
Another hour passed before they emerged into a cavern. Gabriel, Patrick, and a couple of guards were milling about the featureless room looking as frustrated as Raphael felt.
“Did you find anything?” Gabriel asked as Raphael and Victor approached.
“Same as you,” Raphael grumbled. “Long winding tunnel and nothing else. However, Victor has an idea, and I think he’s onto something.”
“The tunnels are disguised?” Gabriel guessed. “We were thinking the same thing.”
“They’re likely using the same tech the cats discovered,” Victor said. “A combination of holographic projection and matter generators.”
“Which means we need one of the wolves to cooperate with us, or we have to locate the power source,” Gabriel realized with a deep sigh.
“And we both know which is more likely.” Raphael crossed his arms over his chest. Tension had been pulsing between Gabriel and him ever since Raphael rescued the human females.
Today was no exception. Gabriel’s hostility was banked, but present.
Raphael could see it in the press of his brother’s lips and the subtle narrowing of his eyes.
“They might be more willing to cooperate than you think,” Gabriel predicted.
“And why is that?”
Their gazes clashed and Gabriel took a step forward as he explained, “I sent a message to Alex assuring him that we have no intention of retaliating. I told him that I felt like he was entitled to one third of the females and that I intended to bring my concerns to the cats.”
Raphael’s jaw dropped and he stared at his brother in shocked horror. “You did what?” The question burst from him propelled by disbelief. “We are allied with the cats and the cats are at war with the wolves.”
“Elias started the war and Elias is dead,” Gabriel insisted. “Alex needs the opportunity to choose a different path. I intend to make sure he gets it.”
“I don’t believe this.” Raphael threw up his hands and shook his head. “Have you lost your fucking mind? Alex is just as vicious as Elias. Wolves were bred to be killers. It is literally in their DNA.”
“We are all apex predators.” Gabriel remained resolute, shoulders squared, chin lifted. “You never should have interfered. You created this mess, not me.”
Raphael’s fist flew before he could stop himself.
Sometimes the only way to dislodge his brother’s stubborn stupidity was to beat some sense into him.
The punch landed squarely on Gabriel’s jaw, snapping his head to the side.
He grunted and then retaliated with anger-fueled speed.
He lunged for Raphael, fists pummeling, feet kicking.
With skillful aggression, Raphael threw Gabriel over his shoulder and slammed him down on the floor of the cave.
A fast sweep of Gabriel’s leg snatched Raphael’s feet out from under him.
He landed hard on his ass then dove on top of his brother.
They rolled one way and then the other, both landing punches.
Suddenly hands grasped Raphael’s arms, preventing him from hitting his brother. He was dragged off Gabriel by Victor and one of the guards, while Gabriel was pulled to the other side of the cavern by Patrick and the other guard.
Panting harshly and wiping blood away from the corner of his mouth, Raphael glared at his enraged brother. “This is the most asinine thing you’ve ever done and that’s saying a lot,” he shouted.
“Fuck you,” Gabriel snarled then stomped off down one of the tunnels. Patrick followed him, but both guards remained behind.
“This was a waste of time,” Raphael stated with a shake of his head. “Let’s go home and tell Claire about Heather. That should add to the drama of this delightful day.”