Chapter 26
tweNty-siX
EVEN WITH ROUL'S ARMS wrapped around me, lifting my paws off the ground, I struggled to get free. I was a frenzy of growling, snapping, and anger. "Let. Me. Go!"
"Not until you calm down and promise not to go off half-cocked. We need a plan."
"Fuck the plan! Haven needs me!"
Kragen stepped into my line of sight. "Haven needs all of us. What she doesn't need is you running in blind and getting yourself hurt—or worse."
A tiny part of my mind knew he was right, but worry and fear overshadowed the rest. Red clouded my eyesight. I was close to being lost to the fog. If that happened, nothing would stop me from slashing my way through whoever tried to keep me from her.
"I've got it!," Bacon called from where she sat on my kitchen counter.
Four wyrfangs and two Supernatural Security operatives crowded around her.
"She's still at Novagen headquarters. Stationery in the back right corner. It's a good-sized room."
"Cameras?" Zeus asked.
"Unfortunately, still no."
"Then we go in blind." I managed to snarl without snapping, which I considered an improvement.
Roul must have thought so too, since he eased his hold on me.
"Ingress points?" That from Kragen. Both he and Zeus were leaders of their teams. The best strategists available.
I should listen to them. I kept one ear turned toward the laptop on the kitchen table which still displayed Haven's vitals. As long as her heart beat, no matter how fast, I knew she was alive.
"Interior door."
"That's it?" Zeus, asking the obvious.
Bacon nodded. "We need Wasp."
Zeus was shaking his head. "He's on assignment with Ghost." He turned to the man on his right. "Can you make a hole, Behemoth?"
"How thick is the wall?"
"A foot and a half of concrete brick," was Bacon's answer.
Roul grunted. "We can make a hole."
I nodded with my brothers. We'd gone through thicker walls before. The rest of the planning faded into background noise as I focused on Haven's vitals. They went from 'afraid but coping' to 'stark terror' as I watched.
"We go now." It was little more than a growl, but everyone turned to follow my gaze to the computer. No one argued.
Everyone except Bacon, Kendal, and Jade moved outside and into a transport van.
Zeus behind the wheel, the grizzly shifter Behemoth in the passenger seat, and the wolf shifter Titan squeezed between Drym and Kragen on the middle bench.
The rest of my brothers and I clambered into the remaining open space in the back.
Zeus didn't wait until we'd closed the doors.
He hit the gas as soon as all the bodies were inside.
He slowed when we approached the office building and pulled to the side before we reached the entrance to the parking lot. I was out the door and running around the perimeter before he killed the engine. Roul overtook me and all of us made a beeline for the wall.
I felt more than saw the shifters drop back, but my brothers and I didn't slow down. We just formed a tight line, lowered our shoulders and hit. The wall crumbled.
An acrid scent flooded my nose, making my eyes water. My eyes darted around the space until they found Haven. I paid no attention to the older man standing behind her. One of my brothers would deal with him.
I slid to a stop in front of Haven. She was unconscious, leaned forward in a metal chair, her shoulders angled painfully to where her wrists were bound behind her.
Zip-ties restrained her ankles to the chair legs, and her shirt was torn open and sagging halfway down her back.
Her chest rose and fell, and relief flooded my veins.
If she hadn't been breathing, I would have been lost in the fog forever.
I knew that with a terrifying certainty.
The smell of burned flesh hovered just below the smell of chemicals.
My claws made quick work of her bindings, and I caught her when she began to slump out of the chair. As soon as my hands hit her back she woke with a scream.
"Haven," I shook the growl from my voice and tried again, "it's Quin. I've got you."
"Her back, Quin!"
Drym's shout made my gaze flick down, and what I saw turned my stomach.
Her back and shoulder were a shredded mess.
The edges of the wound were red and angry, but patches of gray mottled the wet center.
I lifted my hand to adjust off of the blistered flesh and took some of her skin with me.
After carefully draping her over my forearm, I looked around the room.
Roul understood what I was searching for and pointed to one of two couches.
Just behind the piece of furniture was the older man's body. He was almost unrecognizable as human. I nodded my thanks to Roul, then stood and walked back through the hole we made, making sure not to jostle Haven.
Zeus and the members of his team hadn't bothered coming inside. We'd worked with them before, and they knew we'd handle it. As I passed them I heard someone say, "Fuck. Tell me they're dead."
"Only one," was Cavi's dark reply.
We all knew there were more. The man standing guard over Haven was just muscle. The lowest rung on the ladder. I intended to climb it all the way to the top.
"Go straight to Damruck Memorial," Kragen said. "We'll stay out of sight while you take Haven in."
"No, we're going back to Quin's house. I've already called the best healer witch I know. Bacon is gathering supplies to make her comfortable until Phoenix arrives." Zeus countered.
I didn't care where we went as long as Haven's whimpers of pain stopped. I hit my front door at a dead run, not stopping until I had her on her stomach in the bathtub. I turned on the shower and she screamed when the water hit her back.
"Shhh, Havoc. This will help."
My claws made quick work of what was left of her shirt and bra. I felt the others hovering at the door. "How long?" I snarled without looking away from her.
Zeus answered. "Twenty minutes."
I nodded and adjusted the showerhead to maximize the cool flow over the wounds. "Get me a pillow." I needed to elevate her head and shoulders. Despite my stopgap measures, the wound continued to grow. The ragged, angry edges continued to spread and the patches of gray became more numerous.
Every so often the smell of chemicals—sharp, metallic and wrong—flared beneath my nose.
I shook my head. "It's still reacting." My hands shook. I didn't bother trying to still them.
Cavi stepped up behind me. "It shouldn't be."
"No shit, Cavi." Flushing the wound should help, but it was growing larger in front of my eyes.
Pain twisted Haven's face. Her small voice choked out, "Nasty acid, worsens over time," between gasps.
"Fuck! Where is that witch?!" My roar reverberated through the bathroom. If water wouldn't neutralize it, there was no point in torturing her with it. I shut off the tap and lifted her. Everyone moved out of my way as I carried her to the bedroom. "Dressings."
By the time I had her on the bed, her shoulders propped by another pillow, someone thrust sterile gauze into my line of sight. I draped it over the wound as gently as I could. That done, I crouched next to her. Her hand came up and I wrapped mine around her fingers.
"The witch is coming. Hold on, little moth."