Chapter Thirty-Three
Luca
Ryan signals for the warriors to move into the forest, fanning out to the pre-planned positions, strategically placed at equal distances where they will be able to cover a full circle around the building and detect anyone coming or going.
My jaw aches from clenching it. Not because of the mission—though we’re about to walk into a den full of monsters—but because I can still taste how badly I fucked up. She’s not here. I didn’t allow her to be. And every time I try the mindlink, I slam into a wall of silence. She’s blocked me out.
I tell myself she’s safe. That it’s worth her rage to keep her safe. My wolf paces inside me, snapping at my excuses.
“Let’s do this,” Caleb says, checking his watch. “Time to go.”
The four of us—dressed in all black, wearing thermal vision goggles—slip silently into the woods. Staying in human form to keep things quiet, we creep closer to the warehouse. We don’t dare speak aloud, communicating with hand signals for Caleb’s benefit as he’s not able to mindlink with us.
Then—
“What the fuck?” comes a voice from behind.
The warrior doesn’t get another word. Jackson is the first to react, lunging forward and snapping the neck of the shifter who spotted us.
A crack, sharp like a branch snapping, and the shifter’s body goes slack.
Jackson drags the body backwards and props him against a tree, as though he’s merely taking a break.
He unclips the walkie-talkie from his belt and pockets it.
Caleb’s eyes glass over as he communicates with his brothers that we’re in position. We have to wait a couple of minutes before he nods that they are in their position too and he flips the switch on the Wi-Fi jammer, and we pull our masks onto our faces.
We move as a unit, crouching as we run for the side of the building and then sticking close to the wall of the warehouse as we move towards the front door.
Ryan tests it and finds it locked. Not a problem.
He braces, shoulder pressed in, and leans until the frame creaks, then snaps.
Clean and quiet. He eases it open and lobs in a smoke canister.
A tan wolf bursts through the haze, teeth bared, and slams Ryan flat on his back. Jaws snap at his throat.
I don’t think. I leap—claws ripping out mid-air—and land on the wolf’s back, pulling him off of Ryan. My claws sink into his throat, and I rip it open. Blood sprays out across the ground, landing on us both. He thrashes once, then goes limp, and I push him off me.
By the time I look back up, Caleb has another shifter in wolf form with his throat ripped out, and Jackson has already moved in. I push to a stand, and the three of us move in behind Jackson.
We clear the first floor easily; five or six warriors on security didn’t stand a chance against the four of us, let alone Caleb’s four alpha brothers who came in through the back entrance.
The smoke has cleared now, and we can survey the damage.
There’s a second floor that is more than likely empty, but Ryan and I go to check it out to be safe, along with two of Caleb’s brothers: Rafe and Jordan.
There’s a security room with static gray screens thanks to the Wi-Fi jammer, an industrial kitchen that smells of grease, a room with guns and weapons, and a bunkhouse of sorts. I guess this is where the warriors slept between shifts, seeing as it’s so far from any pack boundaries.
Ryan checks in with our warriors on the perimeter, and they report back that all is quiet. It all feels a little anticlimactic. But that’s why we did it this way, isn’t it? Why we attacked on the full moon rather than any other night. Still, I can’t help feeling like this was all way too damn easy.
Maybe that nervous anticipation is my own wolf’s need to run, intensified by both the full moon and the need to return to my mate.
And maybe it’s only my disappointment at realizing how much I might have screwed myself with Sofia for nothing. I push at the mindlink again, but she has me blocked out. We’re probably too far apart, anyway, seeing as our mate bond hasn’t been completed. I just want to know she’s okay.
But I can’t ask Jackson to check with Emily when we’re here to rescue his sister, and Ryan has enough to worry about with holding his wolf in tonight.
She’s safe. She’s in Lunar Eclipse. It will all be okay.
I keep telling myself everything is fine, but I can’t shake the dread that clings to me like a second skin.
We regroup, and all head for the basement, where we suspect the omegas will be. Anticipation churns in my stomach as I consider what condition they will be in. As soon as we open the unlocked door, the smell of old blood and bleach hits us. Sharp and pungent.
I think the entire group collectively holds its breath as we descend the stairs, but nothing could have fully prepared us for what we find.
The stairs lead to a dank hallway with two doors off it.
The only light comes from the door at the top of the stairs, and it’s only because of our shifter vision that we can still see the details of this hellhole.
It feels like a tomb. As if death and despair are embedded in the walls.
The first room is unlocked and looks like a surgical theater from some kind of black-market human organ donation ring I’ve seen in movies. Stainless steel trays scattered with medical tools and equipment.
Behind the door, huddled in a corner, is a crying she-wolf. I can’t see her face, just her dark hair as she raises her hands and cowers behind them. Her scent is heavy with the bitter tang of fear. “P… please don’t hurt me. Please—”
“We won’t hurt you, sweetheart,” Caleb soothes, crouching low to assess her for obvious injuries. She doesn’t look at him. She sobs loudly and recoils when he offers a hand to help her up. “We’re here to get you out of here.”
The second door is locked and reinforced with silver. Designed to keep wolves in—or out.
“I’m going to go try to find a key on one of the soldiers upstairs,” Rafe, one of Caleb’s brothers, says.
“I’ll help,” I mutter, heading for the stairs. I need air. The stench claws at me. I need to leave this place as soon as possible. My wolf is itching to get out, pushing me to run. Back to Sofia. Away from this place that reeks of pain and shame.
“You want to go up with them, sweetheart?” Caleb asks before helping the female to her feet.
Her head hangs forward at all times, her dark hair hanging like a curtain in front of her face.
Fates, I wonder what she has been through.
She doesn’t have any visible scars, but who knows what’s hidden under her jeans and sweatshirt.
Rafe offers her his hand and leads her away from the pit of desperation.
“Close your eyes; it’s not pretty up there,” Rafe tells her. “We’ll get you away once we have the other females freed.”
We trudge up the stairs, and Rafe and I head to a body each; I turn over the young shifter in front of me, still in human form and dressed like a soldier.
His jaw is slack, and his eyes are glassy.
Fuck, he can’t be more than twenty-five.
I should feel bad. He’s someone’s son, could be someone’s mate.
But he’s here, and that means he’s rotten to the core.
I don’t give a fuck if his alpha commanded him to be here.
It’s impossible not to follow a clear, direct order from your alpha, but there’s always a loophole with extended commands.
An alpha can command you to go somewhere or do something, but once you have done the task, the compulsion ends.
It’s why the omegas are being kept under lock and key instead of just being commanded not to leave.
And following orders is never a fucking excuse for this shit.
“Got them,” Rafe says, pulling my attention back to what we’re supposed to be doing. Rafe throws the keys to Caleb as we reach the bottom of the stairs, and he takes a breath before turning the key and yanking the door open.
The room behind reveals rows of cots and a huddled group of female omegas wearing next to nothing. Heavy-looking steel collars and sleepwear. A diverse group of females with varying skin tones and hair colors, and right in the center: Katie Clark.
“Shit, you actually did it,” she says, standing up and walking towards us.
Wearing a light slip dress, she’s thinner and obviously a few years older.
She looks the same, and yet somehow completely different.
Same long sandy blonde hair, same brown eyes she shares with Jackson.
But her soft features have hardened; her once warm smile and the way her skin crinkled at the corners of her eyes are gone.
Jackson lets out a choked sob. Tears rim his eyes as he takes in the sight of the sister he spent years believing was dead. “You’re really here. I’m so sorry I didn’t come sooner; I… I thought you were dead.”
Katie’s gaze softens for a second, then hardens again. “We can do the family reunion later. We need to get out of here—”
A loud clang rings out, and we are plunged into darkness, save for the low lights in the room where the omegas are. “What the fuck?” Ryan yells, running up the stairs and finding the door locked. His skin sizzles as he tries to punch through it, meeting the internal silver.
“Who do you have upstairs?” Katie asks, her tone harried and frantic. “Tell me you didn’t all come down here?”
“It’s just the girl, the one who was in the medical room,” Caleb says.
“What girl?” Katie yells at him. “All of my girls are in that fucking room. What did she look like?”
“Dark hair? I didn’t get a good look at her,” I offer, running my hands into my hair and tugging it. What the fuck is happening?
Katie’s face drains of color, and her jaw hangs open for a moment. “Sarah? You left Sarah upstairs alone?” She lets out a bitter laugh as she glares at us. The fire in her eyes is visible even in the low lighting. “How did you not recognize her?”
“Shit. I wasn’t paying much attention; I just knew she wasn’t you,” Jackson answers. His voice cracks at the thought of letting Sarah get one over on him again. She’s the female who distracted him from patrol seven years ago when Lunar Eclipse was attacked and Katie was taken.
“Her hair was covering her face, and I didn’t recognize her scent,” I explain.
“I can’t believe she has fucked me twice with idiot males who can’t fucking think straight!” Katie seethes. “You found her and left her up there unsupervised? What the fuck is wrong with you all?”
“I have warriors on the perimeter. I’ll mindlink them,” Ryan offers.
“You can’t,” Katie cuts him off. “This entire basement is reinforced with silver and magic. Will they move in if they don’t hear from you?”
“I hope so,” Ryan says, his shoulders deflating. We told them to hold their positions until they heard otherwise, so it’s unlikely they will. They have their orders.
The sounds of the omegas fill the silence between our group. Some of them are crying, while others are speaking to each other in hushed tones. I don’t know about the rest of the group, but I’m feeling like a damn fool. And I can’t help feeling Sofia being here could have made all the difference.
“Is Camille here?” Landon, Caleb’s older brother, asks. “Is she alive?”
“Yeah,” Katie replies, her tone defeated. “Come on in, at least this time we will get to say goodbye.”