by JJ King
She focused her breathing and climbed easily to her feet, lifting her head to catch Katherine’s gaze. In her half-sister’s eyes she saw layers of emotion, not all as easy to gauge as the worry that shone near the surface. She didn’t want Katherine’s worry, didn’t need anything from her but her keen mind and brute force. She needed her friends, too, and they followed her loyally. But, that was it. Katherine was a means to an end, one that would see her real family free and safe.
Squaring her shoulders and pushing down any emotions that weren’t useful, Rose pulled herself up to her full height and met her sister’s gaze. “It’s on.”
♀♀♀
Rose wondered if it were possible to explode with tension, it definitely felt like a possibility, if not a probability. The room had been deathly quiet for the past hour, making the atmosphere almost unbearable. This time Keme kept his requests for television to himself and silently paced the room instead.
At precisely sixty-seven minutes after he’d hung up, the soft sounds of Gabriel’s footsteps alerted them to his approach. Rose strode to the door and pressed her nose to the frame. It took a moment, but a familiar scent permeated the wood enough to ensure his identity. Still cautious, Rose asked, “Who sucks?”
A muffled chuckle was the first response, followed by “Yeats.” Rose unlocked the door and let Gabriel walk into the room.
He paused just inside the door and scanned the room, looking each of them in the eye before turning back to Rose. She raked her eyes over his body and up to his face, “Are you alright? Where’s Sean?”
“I took him down with one of the tranquilizer darts.” Gabriel cocked his head to the side, “You look like crap.”
Rose swallowed hard and swallowed the tears that threatened. “Better than you, asshole.” She stepped into his arms and buried her face in his chest, breathing in his scent. Seconds passed and Rose knew she should let go, but she didn’t, she couldn’t.
It took strength to pull back, but time was of the essence. She turned to face the group and began putting names to faces. She stopped when she reached their half-siblings. “This is Katherine and Ronan, they’re Pierre’s children.”
Gabriel’s eyebrows lifted slightly as he took them in, reaching out a hand to each. “I guess that makes us related.”
Pain flickered in Katherine’s eyes, “I guess so.” Ronan just nodded as they shook hands.
“So,” Gabriel took in the group and frowned, “I’ve got good news and bad news, though, technically, it’s the same news.” His gaze flicked to Rose and stayed, “The old bastard is away, so you’ll not be taking him down today. The good of that is, it’ll be somewhat easier to get the girls out without him mucking things up for us. Still, this isn’t going to be easy.” He wiped a hand over his bearded chin and looked off, apparently worrying the problem over in his mind. “Your best bet is to approach on foot. There isn’t much of a moon tonight so that works in your favor, but there’s also nothing but open fields from here to Classiebawn.”
Rose bit down on her bottom lip, remembering her escape route, “I came across very little coverage when I left.” She struggled to focus on the plan, only the plan, and not her feelings, good or bad, about Raphael’s absence. If he’d been there, she didn’t know what she’d have done, but with him away, the possibility of bringing him to justice was gone. It was a fucked-up situation, either way you looked at it.
“What about patrols?” Quinn asked, directing his question to Gabriel. Every eyebrow in the room lifted as they waited for the answer.
“Two men, every night, like clockwork.” Gabriel responded to a collective inhale.
“Do you know where the patrols will be?” Keme moved up beside Gabriel and held out his phone with a map of the land between town and Classiebawn on the screen.
“Yeah,” Gabriel nodded, his eyes sparking with hope, “yes. I know the spots you need to avoid.” The hope dulled, “But there’s a breeze tonight and your scents will spread across the open fields before you can get anywhere near the castle.”
Rose turned and crossed the room, pulling something from her backpack. She held the bottle up and grinned, “Not with this.” She crossed back to the group and handed it to Gabriel who looked at her with a mixture of admiration and shock.
“How the bloody hell did you get that, little wolf?” He pulled the top off and took a sniff of the clear liquid. He cocked his head to the side and grinned at her, “You must be a fucking ninja.”
“Damn straight,” she grinned back.
Katherine inclined her head towards the bottle, “Is there enough for all of us?”
“Should be,” Rose eyeballed the almost full bottle. “Although he might need his own bottle,” she nodded towards Keme who cracked a smile and chuckled.
Rose turned away from the group, going back to her backpack to give herself a moment free of observation. She needed to focus. Despite the situation and the risks, she was relaxed enough to let a joke slip out and that wouldn’t do. There was too much at stake. She closed her eyes for a moment and breathed in deeply, centering her will, before turning back.
Katherine cleared her throat and drew everyone’s attention, “I think we should split into teams and stay within easy earshot of one another. I don’t feel comfortable splitting up further than that. We don’t know what’s out there. Raphael could easily have any number of traps set up between here and the castle.”
Rose flicked her gaze over the group and noticed the way everyone looked so naturally to Katherine, even though Ronan was present and in line to be the next Alpha. She hadn’t known her half-sister for very long but, already, she could see why they followed her.
Everyone nodded in agreement and turned to their mate, leaving her and Ronan to pair up. She turned to her half-brother. “Everyone else is paired off, so I guess that means you’re stuck with me.”
“Fair enough,” Ronan replied. He looked at her for a moment then glanced away with a grimace, as if it were painful for him to see her familiar features, which, she supposed, it was. He’d been the one with Pierre when he’d been murdered. She understood the guilt he must be feeling. After all, she’d left her entire family behind.
♀♀♀
Katherine’s paws sunk into the soft Irish fields and cushioned the sound of her approach.
It felt strange, not being able to smell Quinn who ran shoulder to shoulder with her across the fields, but she thanked the Old Ones for the scent neutralizer. Try as she might to keep her mind on high alert, it kept slipping back to the concoction, wondering how Raphael had created it and considering its usefulness. In Raphael’s hands it held the potential to harm, but in the right hands, with the right intent, it could come in very handy.
You’re wandering, Quinn’s voice sounded only slightly reproachful in her mind, snapping Katherine back to the present.
I know, she sent back, focusing her attention straight ahead of them. It’s just… she paused, not wanting to worry him… a lot to deal with, I guess.
The warmth of his love pressed into her mind, comforting her. She hugged it close and let its heat seep into her soul, wishing it could thaw the core. That’s where she held everything she couldn’t deal with on the surface, where she hid the stuff too big to feel. It’s where she’d tucked away the numbness she’d felt after her father had been murdered, where she held onto the heart-stopping fear for Eve’s safety that never went away, and where she now placed both her relief and fury that she wouldn’t get the chance to confront Raphael tonight.
No one expects you to be alright, Katherine, Quinn insisted, pressing the truth of his feelings forward. You’re allowed to grieve.
I have, she insisted, and I will, but right now there’s work to be done and I made a promise. Besides, these are Dad’s children. Like it or not, they’re family, and I have to help save them.
Katherine’s chest tightened as she sent her thoughts to Quinn. They were her family but they were strangers. Not every family was a close as hers, she knew
. Blood didn’t necessarily mean loyalty.
We’ll save them together. He opened his mind further, reaching out with her to the others in the group. Ronan was the first to snap into clarity, probably because they were already connected, but then, one by one, the others joined. Daphne, Keme, and, finally, Rose.
Their minds all spoke as one, overlapping and echoing until there was no understanding. Across the country fields they all came to an abrupt stop as confusion overtook their consciousness. Then Quinn spoke one word, “Quiet,” and silence fell over the group.
We’re connected, Quinn’s voice filled her mind, so familiar now, but not to them, Katherine thought. So, we should be connected. This type of bond isn’t usual outside families, but as my mate just realized, family doesn’t always mean blood. We go in together, agreed?
Agreed, Keme and Daphne replied together.
Agreed, Ronan’s thoughts felt reluctant, but still, he acquiesced.
Rose? Katherine spoke this time, sending out her question through the group to the silent wolf.
The link stayed quiet for a moment, then Rose answered, her thoughts tentative. Agreed.
Good, Quinn shared, then let’s go.
Chapter Six
Rose sunk her teeth deep into the muscle of her tongue and let the pain distract her mind. She focused on the copper taste of her own blood, filling her mouth, and the feel of her body healing the small wounds. Anything to keep her mind from broadcasting her inner thoughts or emotions to her companions, who seemed completely fine sharing themselves with one another.
The smell of blood, not her own, drifted on the wind to Rose. She breathed it in, instantly on alert, then recognized it, as Ronan’s. She faltered, missing a step, and fell slightly behind him as he ran, face pointed straight ahead, towards the castle. Rose studied him, his posture, his face, the fact that, apparently, he was doing exactly the same thing she was. To keep his mind out of the mix? She wondered how deep his agony went that he’d hurt himself to keep it to himself. She was intimately aware of the depth of her own emotional pain and hoped his was less.
Perhaps they had nothing to worry about, it wasn’t as if she was getting the low down on the others’ thoughts. Only purposefully projected thoughts and emotions were usually shared, or so her experiences had proven. On the off chance that she was wrong, though… Rose’s mouth filled with fresh blood again.
Then a new scent or, rather, an old scent, brought her to a complete stop and fear, so intense she couldn’t stop it from flowing like a wild river through the link, overcame her senses. Rose’s heart slammed against her ribcage painfully, but this time the pain did nothing to keep her separate. She felt every one of them freeze and respond instantly to her fear. The cacophony that erupted from them swarmed her, filling her head with noise that overshadowed her reaction and set her teeth on edge. It was too much, she couldn’t take it anymore.
Enough! Rose screamed across the link. You all need to just shut the fuck up. I didn’t agree to participate in some fucking group mind share and I don’t appreciate having all of your voices in my head.
But as she stopped the tirade and shook her head to release tension, Rose realized she wasn’t paralyzed anymore. Their inane reaction had actually done something positive. Fuck if she’d let them know that, though.
We’re not far away, be careful. She sent the words as calmly as her mind would let her. Acknowledgement came back to her from each of them in the abstract. Not one of them dared to actually respond.
Anticipation, expectation and terror swirled together inside her gut, making it hard to think straight. Rose forced herself to put one foot in front of the other, pushing the bad down deep and focusing on the edginess within, hoping it would help her in the fight to come. She loped up a steep hill, covered in low lying bushes and long grass, with Ronan next to her, silent as ever.
The castle appeared before them like an apparition out of the night as they topped the hill. Rose shuddered and closed her eyes, sending a prayer to the Old Ones that they’d find her family safe and sound inside the stone walls of Classiebawn and maybe, just maybe, end Raphael once and for all.
She walked across the top of the hill to a small copse of trees surrounding a small rock face and pushed aside a pile of branches to reveal a thick blanket of ivy. It’s here.
Rose looked at the façade, trying to see if it had been disturbed since her departure. If Raphael or the boys had figured out her exit route, they’d have a trap set for her or anyone else. It looked exactly as she’d left it, though, save for the growth on the flora around and some animal tracks. No wolf tracks, thank God.
With the others on the way, Rose lowered her head to the ground and let the change begin.
Pain so familiar it felt like part of who she was on a cellular level, filled her body as her bones shifted and reformed. Thick reddish blonde fur pulled back into her changing skin, moving like a wild fire across her sensitive nerves. She didn’t fight it, didn’t try to outrun the pain; that never worked. Instead, she slipped into it, letting the pain guide her change and push it forward. Moments after she’d begun, Rose pushed off the ground and stood, naked and unashamed before the others, who were arriving and starting their own change. While they were preoccupied, she moved to the access door and lifted the ivy.
The ancient door was still there, pushed closed and looking for the world as if it had been created by the Old Ones rather than mankind. It seemed as much a part of the land as the trees and the grass, and it had been her salvation once, just as it would be her family’s now.
Rose gripped the door and pulled with all her might, remembering the hefty weight of it. Slowly, it released, opening enough for her to fit inside. It was small, not meant for big men, as she’d told them, which was why, when she looked back at the group, she saw two naked women and three big, burly, wolves. They’d agreed beforehand that the best and only way for the men to make it through the tunnel was in wolf form, plus their teeth and claws were added protection from whatever may lurk in the shadows.
Katherine stepped up beside her and laid a gentle hand on her arm, “Are you ready for this?”
Her small kindness, a touch and soft voice, made a lump form in Rose’s throat. The only kindness she’d ever experienced had been with her family and they were on the other side of this tunnel. So was Raphael. She nodded around the lump and squared her shoulders, “I’m ready.”
Quinn moved to the front of the group and moved, silently, into the tunnel, followed by Rose, Katherine, Keme, Daphne, and then Ronan, who pulled the door half way closed and lowered the ivy, as they’d planned.
There was no light inside the tunnel, so they walked, or crawled, completely blind. The rough floor tore at Rose’s knees and feet, scraping at her skin and drawing blood before her body could heal the small wounds. Inside the claustrophobic space, she could easily smell Katherine and Daphne’s blood as they, too, crawled through the ruins. She tried not to breathe in through her nose as their combined scents were too muddled, too intense, inside the tunnel.
No one spoke as they made their way towards the castle. At one point the tunnel dipped down slightly, moving further underground. Rose knew that meant they were close, but she kept her mouth shut and followed behind Katherine.
The decline settled just before the entrance to the castle. It was dark here, the entrance blocked off from the rest of the castle by a heavy discarded wardrobe, located in the damp basement of Classiebawn. Rose remembered wondering about the British royal family members that had summered in the only home she’d ever known. It had once been a beautiful summer home, fit for a Queen, but for her, it had been a prison.
As quietly as possible, they pushed the ancient door to the tunnel open and crawled free past the large solid oak wardrobe that, presumably, Gabriel had pushed aside for them. While the men changed, Katherine handed out the clothing she found inside the wardrobe, nothing fancy, but enough to cover their tender bits. Rose pulled on pants that smelled of her family and reach
ed for one of the knives, something else left for them by Gabriel.
They moved silently through the rooms filled with dust covered furniture, some covered in moth eaten sheets, moving steadily toward the center of the castle.
No one ever came down here, not even the other girls, which was why it had been the perfect place for her to go for some peace and quiet. As big as Classiebawn was, it was filled with women, girls, children, and boys of all ages. Even when Raphael was away, as he often was, there was no solitude, though his absence was always appreciated.
She'd discovered the tunnel years ago, long before she'd ever worked up the courage to dream up so elaborate an escape plan. Once she'd opened the floodgates there had been no going back. It was all she could think about, during chores, when the boys tried to break them, when Raphael played his sadistic games. She'd imagined different scenarios but her favorite had been poisoning the boys while their master was away and leading everyone to freedom.
