30. Chapter 30
Achillestoldusto be ready, so we are. He rang Jax an hour ago to tell him the preparations were complete and he was starting the spell to locate Demi. Bane and I left the room, heading for the basement and our weapons store before the call even ended. I finish strapping silver daggers across my body. I may have claws, but you can never have too many weapons, plus silver burns hurt like a bitch to wolves. I look over to Bane. He”s dressed all in black, the same as me. A thick silver chain wraps around his chest and he secures it to a loop on his belt. When he spots me looking, he grins. He”s ready to kill.
The door opens and Jax walks in. He”s not in his usual suited attire; jeans cover his legs, and a t-shirt stretches across his chest. He has a sword strapped to his side, and when his eyes catch mine he gives me a nod.
”We”ll get her back,” Jax announces, ”or we die trying.” Bane grunts as he straps a gun to a holster on his leg. Magic permeates the air, and a portal opens behind me.
Achilles.
”I found her. She”s not far.” He humphs. ”Stupid wolves should have run, not that it would have stopped me.” His purple eyes glitter with mischief.
Before the portal can close, Achilles rubs his hands together, and the magic within the portal shifts. Beyond the portal is now a forest instead of Achilles” home.
”Ready?” Jax steps closer to the portal and I give him a nod.
”We must hurry. Tonight is the blood moon, and the next one isn’t for a few months. It”s the only time a wolf can make a blood bond.” Achilles says, and I can’t stop a snarl from escaping my lips. That piece of trash is going to force the bond on Demi. We have to stop them. ”When the moon is fully bathed in red, that is when the bonding begins.”
Without another word, Achilles steps through to the other side with Bane hot on his heels. I follow behind and Jax steps through after me.
I step out into a vast expanse of a forest. The sun has long since set, and the glow of the moon is hindered by the trees, foliage preventing the light from fully penetrating to the floor below. There”s not a single sound, animals not daring come near this place. It”s like they know what lurks within the depths of the forest: hunters that will end their lives if they are discovered.
The portal snaps closed behind us with a pop. Hopefully, it”s not loud enough to draw the attention of any wolves who may be lurking. I grab two of the silver daggers from their sheaths and hold the hilts tight within my fists. Jax has his sword unsheathed, and Bane has his claws out at the ready. Black and purple smoke swirls around Achilles” hands as he starts walking.
I look up through the small gaps in the branches of the trees and I can just about make out the moon high in the sky. There are tinges of red at the bottom of it - the blood moon is coming. At least now I know for sure Demi isn”t dead. The wolf always wanted her for this purpose, and I can only hope we make it in time.
We move on silent feet through the forest, stepping over fallen branches and roots. As we journey further in, the scent of the wolves I know we”re looking for gets stronger. My fangs ache to rip through my gums, but I hold them at bay for now.
As Achilles steps out into a small clearing, I spot an opening in the wall of sheer rock. My nose is leading me in that direction. We edge closer, keeping our focus on any movement or sounds that we might come across. As we get closer the sound of music fills my ears; it’s coming from beyond the entrance. I turn and catch one last glimpse of the moon before I step over the threshold into a cave, encapsulated within its darkness.
If it wasn”t for the smell of wet dog, excrement, and human blood, I would have thought this was just a simple cave, but looks can be deceiving. We venture further in, and with my enhanced vision, I can see every tiny crack and rock that makes up the walls. Jax takes the lead, with Bane a few strides behind him. I take the rear, with Achilles just in front of me.
The subtle scent of my mate hits my nostrils and I growl. The closer we get, the stronger it becomes. I”m itching for a fight, and my hands flex over the hilts of my daggers, ready for trouble. At the back of the cave, I can see the outline of an opening, soft light shines from the lanterns on the walls. It takes my eyes no time at all to adjust to the change in light.
Jax holds up his hand and we all stop. He sniffs the air and motions to the left. The rest of the group follows behind him, but Achilles whispers words under his breath and a small pop sounds behind me, drawing my attention. The opening we just ventured through is now covered in a shimmer of black. A barrier to give the wolves no way out of the cave. They will all die here; we”ll make sure of it.
The music I could hear is louder now, echoing off the stone walls. The bass reverberates through the floor and through the soles of my feet. I sense movement ahead and ready my daggers, but Jax beats me to it. A man walks out of a gap in the wall to the right of the hall, a can of beer clutched in his hand.
The man takes a swig as his gaze falls on our group. His mouth drops open, ready to shout a warning to his friends, but with a slash of his sword, Jax silences him. The man”s head parts from his shoulders and falls to the floor with a thud, his body following close behind it.
Jax doesn”t hesitate as he continues down the hallway, leaving the man”s cooling body behind. A few of the arches in the rock have doors made from a mixture of wood and metal. As we pass a door, I can hear faint whimpers from within and the smell of blood. Tapping Achilles on the shoulder, I motion to the door and he nods.
Shifting my daggers into one hand, I place my other one on the door and open it as quietly as it will allow me. There”s a woman on the bed, and a man with his pants down laid over the top, thrusting into her. He doesn”t stop as I cross into the room.
”You”ll have to wait. I”m not done with this one yet.” The woman”s whimpers fill the air and her eyes lock on me. She goes to open her mouth, but I lift a finger to my lips to silence her.
Moving closer to the two, I holster one dagger and stop to the side of them.
”I said you”ll have to wait...” the man”s head turns to me.
Before he can focus on me I grip his head, pulling it back and slice my dagger clean across his neck. His skin sizzles as the silver swipes across it. I drag him away from the woman, his dick still hanging from his pants as his blood pours from the open wound down his shirt. The scent of his blood flooding the air has my features shifting. I drop his body on the floor at the bottom of the bed.
”Wrong answer, fucker.” I turn my red eyes to the woman, and she scrambles back on the bed. Pulling the flimsy dress she”s wearing down to cover herself.
”Please... don”t.” Her words tumble out of her mouth as she raises her hands in front of her.
”I”m not going to hurt you.” I sheathe the last dagger and hold my hands in front of me to placate her. ”I”m looking for my mate Demi. How many of you are here?” I reach for the blanket on the floor and hold it out to her.
”I... I don”t know... too many.” She takes the blanket from me and wraps it around her shaking form. “Demi… she said you’d come.” There’s movement at the doorway and she pulls back again. Looking over my shoulder, I spot the others.
”It’s okay. They”re with me.”
”We need to keep moving.” Jax looks from me to the woman. ”Achilles, stay with her. We”ll bring anyone we find here.”
Achilles nods and steps into the room. The woman eyes him cautiously but he gives her space and stays just inside the doorway.
I walk out of the room and rejoin Jax and Bane. We carry on down the hallway, following the scent of our mate. We pass more rooms but find them all empty. Each one contains a small cot-like bed and clothes strewn across the floor.
As we move further into the caves, the music gets louder, and Demi’s scent gets stronger. We come to a junction, the pathway leading to the right is where the music is coming from with another corridor to the left, but there are no scents or sounds coming from that way. We follow the right path toward the music, Bane stops suddenly and tilts his head to the side, motioning to the door on the left. The need to get to my mate doesn’t want me to stop, but as much as we want to get to Demi, I know she wouldn’t forgive us if we didn’t help any others being held here.
Jax and I pursue Bane as he shoves into a room with a closed door. Snarls and growls fill the room as we breach the doorway. Bane is already attacking, and one man inside is beginning the shift into his wolf form. There’s a shriek as a naked woman scrambles off the bed and further into the room, but the men forget her. My daggers are forgotten as I jump on the half-shifted man and Bane tackles the two facing off against him.
As my body impacts with half fur and half skin, I rip my claws into the semi-transformed body, taking him to the ground. A growl escapes us both, his paws seeking purchase on my skin and his jaws snapping in my face. We tumble across the floor, and I find myself fighting with the now-shifted wolf. His claws rip across my skin, opening several wounds across my arms and chest.
The wolf”s jaws close on my arm, and I grunt as his teeth sink deep. I reach for the dagger sheathed on my leg with my other arm and plunge it into the wolf”s chest; the silver makes the skin sizzle. The smell of burning flesh nearly makes me gag, but the blade hits its mark as it sinks into the wolf”s heart.
Ripping the dagger from the carcass, I wipe it on my pants and clamber to my feet. I swivel to help Bane, but he”s already done. Two bodies lie at his feet. Jax”s sword protrudes from one of their chests, the other is a bloody mess with a caved-in torso. Blood covers Bane”s fists; it drips onto the floor and stains the dirt.
”Savage,” I remark.
I turn my attention to the woman on the floor, repeating the same process as with the other female. I pick up the blanket and hand it to her. She doesn”t take it as she curls up on herself and sobs. I move closer and lay it over her.
”We have to move her, the blood moon will start soon and we need to get to Demi.”
With a nod, I crouch and lift the woman into my arms. She wails and cries, thumping her hands against my chest and shoulders, but I ignore her. I leave the room and head back to where we left Achilles. The female we left with him is sitting on the bed, the blanket pulled tightly around herself as Achilles crouches at her feet, inspecting marks I didn”t notice before on her wrists. Magic shifts over and around each mark. When it fades away, the marks are also gone. Achilles leans back on his heels and gives the woman a small smile.
”Thea here is going to take me to where they keep the other women. I know of a safe place we can take them to.”
The female in my arms squirms as she tries to get free of my hold. Slowly, I lower her to the ground until her feet are on the floor, but she stumbles. I help her over to the bed and she slumps down next to the first woman. Thea is what Achilles called her.
”Sasha.” Thea wraps her arms around Sasha”s shoulders and pulls her close. ”I got you, but we have to move. These men are going to save us.”
Thea rises to her feet and helps Sasha to hers. She wraps an arm around the other woman and makes her way to the door. Achilles follows closely behind them both.
”Go, I”ll take care of them. Any wolves not in their own lairs will be with your mate for the ceremony.”
With one last nod, we file out of the room and head back for the junction we found. This time we take the right with no other detours. When we reach the end of this hallway, there”s one last door, and I know my mate is beyond it.