by JJ King
Katherine pushed to her paws and stepped away from the evidence of her disgust, distancing herself from the scents that were amplified now that she was her wolf.
Although she still couldn’t see anything, Katherine felt the layout of the room more keenly now and padded over to the furthest corner away from the bed and the door. She settled onto the floor, closed her eyes, and focused on Quinn.
Eve was halfway around the world, so reaching her was impossible. She’d tried anyway as soon as they’d changed for the approach to Classiebawn, but there’d been no sign of her bright aura in her mind. Quinn had been there, though, with Ronan and the rest of their group once Quinn had reached out and secured that bond between them.
She searched now for that bond, for any evidence of their minds inside this monolith. Katherine pressed out carefully, not wanting to reach someone she shouldn’t, and found wolves, but not her wolves. She pressed further.
After a few minutes, Katherine sagged onto the floor in defeat. Either Quinn wasn’t being held in the mountain or he wasn’t being allowed to shift and she couldn’t pass through the walls of Raphael’s fortress. He’d done something to cut them off, to hide them from anyone searching for them. He’d thought of everything.
When they figured a way out of here, she was going to take every piece of technology, science, or magic Raphael and his lab goons had cooked up in this place, and she’d use them all for the good of Wolfkind. Katherine let her body revert back, taking comfort in the pain of her shift, then balled up her fists and beat them against the floor, embracing the strength that came with anger rather than fear.
“Fuck this shit,” she muttered to herself and pushed up from the floor. There was nothing to be gained from acting like a frightened little girl, so she’d push that part of her down so fucking deep she’d have to talk to a shrink to dredge it back up. Right now what she needed was a plan.
She loved plans; lists and labels were her life. Katherine refused to cringe as she made her way back to the bed and pulled the sheet free, wrapping it around her like a toga, her first layer of armor.
She searched the area around the bed next, touching every inch. When her fingers brushed against a switch, she stopped breathing for a moment, then steeled herself and flicked it up.
A light hanging from the ceiling illuminated the room, giving Katherine her first look at her prison cell. She’d been right about the door being made of metal. It was a solid monstrosity of bolts and over the top armaments. She wasn’t sure what they thought she was, but apparently they were prepared for a monster to inhabit this room.
Katherine wished she had the strength this room had been prepared for. Then she could rip her way free and find her love, free her friends, and save the day. Instead, she was locked in this room, given a few creature comforts that she was sure her friends were being denied, and all because some sadistic asshole had designs on creating a new race of wolves with her.
The sound of metal on metal sent terror racing through Katherine’s body, but as it pressed on her mind, trying to unravel any sense of logic left in her, she fought back, shoving it violently down. Katherine stood next to the bed and faced the door, waiting for her captor.
Raphael entered the room alone holding a covered platter in his hands. His gaze brushed over the room, landing on her and the sheet she had wrapped herself in. He smiled and nodded towards her, “You look lovely in white, Katherine.” He crossed the room and set the platter on the bed then turned to her expectantly.
Katherine fought to keep her mental balance. He was playing good cop, she recognized the tactic, but inside he was all bad cop, bad man, bad everything. Then again, he had her in his mountain, in the room he’d built for her, and he was insane so there was really no comprehending his actions.
She’d gotten the best of him once, Katherine remembered, her and Quinn. The chances of that happening again, especially without her mate by her side, were slim, but giving up wasn’t in her DNA. She decided to go for the long scam and glanced at the food on the bed, then at her sick on the floor and away, hoping he’d follow her lead.
“You’ve been sick,” Raphael frowned and looked away, disgusted or concerned, she couldn’t tell. He paused for a moment to rake his eyes over her body, then sighed and shook his head. “Here,” he reached into his pocket, pulled out a single key, and tossed it to the bed, “get yourself cleaned up. Someone will take care of that,” he gestured to the mess on the floor with a grimace then turned on his heel and left.
Katherine stared at the door behind him in complete shock. She’d been given a reprieve, thank the Old Ones, even though she knew it wouldn’t last long. The thought of staying filthy, prolonging his disgust at her scent flitted through Katherine’s mind for a second before she dismissed it. Images of him dragging her into the shower then back into the room threatened to take her back under.
She’d take a shower and prepare for the war, Katherine decided, grabbing a few grapes from the platter to ease the emptiness in her stomach. That’s what her mother would do.
The bathroom door locked only from the outside, which left her vulnerable to attack, so Katherine showered in less than a minute with her eyes always open and on the door. Still, by the time she dried off and pulled on the slip dress Raphael had so kindly left for her in the bathroom, the room was cleaned and the bed redressed. She’d also been granted a chair and table, where her food now sat, waiting for her to come and eat.
Her stomach growled as she looked at the food, now wondering if any of it were drugged. Little late for that, dummy. Raphael didn’t need to resort to drugging her food, she rationalized as she put the first bite of spaghetti in her mouth. He’d outright told her he liked his women to fight back, and he’d had no trouble sticking her with a needle the first or second time.
She finished the plate and got up to look around the room again, this time in the light. It was what she’d felt, a big box made up of limestone with a bathroom and an indestructible locked door. This time, though, she found a few things Raphael’s men must have left while she was in the shower. A comb for her hair, a copy of The Complete Works of William Butler Yeats, and a bag of dill pickle chips.
“Weird,” she murmured, running the comb through her tangled hair. She grabbed the chips and popped open the bag, munching on one as she walked back across the room with the book. Rose claimed it was a good read, but poetry had never really been her thing.
Katherine opened to the first page and froze, remembering the phrase Rose and Gabriel had used to identify themselves. Gabriel couldn’t be here, could he? Was the book a sign or just a big coincidence?
Either way, she could do nothing but wait and prepare. Katherine flipped the delicate pages and began to read.
♀♀♀
“Wake up, there’s something happening.”
Rose opened her eyes and sat straight up, instantly on guard. She stared at the still-closed door to their cell and listened to the sound of feet moving swiftly in the corridor outside. She sprang to her feet and rushed to the door with Daphne when a crash and muffled yells filtered through the metal.
She stared at Daphne whose expression changed with each noise, from hopeful to fearful with each heartbeat. Rose pressed her ear against the door, straining to hear something that would identify…
“Daphne, where are you?” Keme called out, eliciting a cry of triumph from Daphne. She threw herself into Rose’s arms and squeezed her so tightly it took Rose’s breath away, but she didn’t mind.
The door to their cell swung open and a large man stood in relief, backlit by the hallway lights. He opened his arms and Rose was abandoned as Daphne tore herself free and threw herself into Keme’s arms. Rose looked on and smiled, no longer embarrassed by the shows of affection. They deserved every moment of happiness they could find.
Rose blinked as her eyes adjusted to the change in lighting and stepped out into the hall, not surprised to see several guards lying unconscious on the floor, their guns in Quinn’s hands
already. He nodded to her and scanned the cell, closing his eyes when he found it empty.
“Have you seen her?” He asked, his voice threaded with terror.
Rose shook her head and stepped closer to Quinn, “No, we were taken before any of you, but Quinn,” she gripped his forearm to make him look up at her, “he won’t hurt her. He needs her.”
Quinn’s eyes shifted down then locked on her gaze, “But what if…” he couldn’t finish.
“If,” she stressed, “anything has happened to her, then you pick her up and remind her how strong she is and how much that little girl needs her mom.” Rose dug her fingernails into Quinn’s skin, hoping the small pain helped ground him, “You do what you have to do to get her home and deal with the rest later.”
He nodded, his eyes sharpening as he looked at her. She saw thanks in his eyes and nodded her understanding, then raised her eyes and saw Liam.
Relief so strong it felt like a tidal wave of overwrought emotion crashed into her, knocking her off balance. Rose opened her mouth to say his name but no words would come. She stared at him, drinking in every angle of his face, his hair, his blue eyes, and then she was in his arms.
He pulled her into his arms and cradled her, murmuring to her in Gaelic, and covering her hair with kisses as if they’d known each other a lifetime and had been parted for too long. She melted into him, savoring his scent and the comfort of his body wrapping around her. All the doubt and questions she’d had about being one half of a mated pair disappeared as her heart skipped a beat to fall into synch with his. Rose pulled back just enough to rise up on her toes and fit her lips to his.
The world spun. She laughed into his mouth and wove her fingers through his thick hair, tasting him, breathing him in and making him part of her. The cynicism she’d had was wrong after all.
“Thank the Old Ones,” she whispered as she pulled back for a brief moment to just look at his face. He pressed his forehead to hers and just held her.
“As sweet as this moment is, and it’s saccharine, believe me,” Ronan interrupted from a foot away where he stood holding a gun, backed by more than a dozen men Rose had never seen before. She scanned their faces and saw familiar features.
“Your brothers?” She looked up at Liam who glanced over at their army, returned their saucy grins, and nodded.
“My brothers and a few close cousins thrown in for good measure.”
“And your sister, you ugly shite,” a female voice called out from behind one of the towering men. A beautiful redheaded woman shoved her way to the front of the pack and stuck out a hand. “Clare, nice to meet you. I take it we’ll be sisters-in-law soon enough.”
Rose felt herself being sized up and squared herself up for the assessment. She’d never experienced anything like it before, even when Katherine and her brothers had grilled her, and she didn’t much like it. Since she didn’t have much say in whether or not Liam’s sister liked her, Rose decided to just be herself. She clapped her hand to Clare’s and shook. “Thanks for coming,” she nodded her gratitude, “we can use all the help we can get.”
Ronan moved to the front of the group, next to Quinn and Keme, and signaled for the group to split around the door leading to the main part of the mountain lair. He counted down from three then pulled the door open.
They were lucky and only two guards swept the halls they swarmed. Rose watched as two of Liam’s brothers or cousins, she didn’t know yet, hauled the unconscious men back to the cells and locked them in with the others they’d knocked out. Then they began pulling weapons from their packs and handing them out. Rose accepted a knife and small revolver from Liam, as well as a quick tutorial on how to shoot.
The group worked their way closer to the lab, taking down wolves and men along the way with the benefit of shock and awe. Rose recognized the path and pointed out their proximity as they moved, never leaving Liam’s side even when they crossed a new guard.
“How’d you guys even get in?” Rose whispered to Liam as they crept closer to finding Katherine and Raphael.
“From beneath.” He grinned at her. “The limestone used for this, whatever the fuck this is, is hard, but underneath it is layers of softer limestone and then shale. We came from beneath the fucker.”
Rose shook her head in awe and pressed her lips to his cheek, “You’re crazy, you know that?”
“Crazy as a stook,” he kissed her quickly on the lips then turned back to the mission.
“Alright Rose,” Ronan looked back as they came to the last turn before the open foyer filled with doors, “do you have any idea what’s behind any of the doors other than the lab?” He chewed on his lower lip, sucking it in just like Katherine did every time she was stressed. Rose felt the need to bust down every door so strongly and she’d only known Katherine for a short time. She couldn’t imagine what Ronan or Quinn were going through.
“There are nineteen of us,” Quinn whispered, “and six doors. We know the lab is past the big “fucker of a door” as Rose called it, but we don’t know what the others hide.”
“I didn’t see any guards in the lab,” Daphne looked at Rose with a frown, “did you?”
Rose shook her head, recalling every detail of the room, “No, there weren’t. But we need a card to get in.”
“Leave that to us,” three of Liam’s family members came to the front, geared up like guards. Rose held back a chuckle at the sight of such big men squeezed into smaller men’s uniforms. Not that the guards were particularly small, they were still big men, but the Dougherty men eclipsed everyone, even Keme. She glanced at Liam and felt a blush stain her cheeks.
“Good,” Ronan assessed them with no sign of amusement and motioned them to the front of the pack. “Did you get their security cards?”
The men checked their pockets and came out with cards. “There’s no guarantee they all have access to the lab, though,” the biggest one said in a hushed tone, “security could be compartmentalized.” He reached for the other cards, “I’ll give them a try. If the scanner goes green, be ready to move.” He waited a moment for everyone to agree, then stepped around the corner.
Rose held her breath as he sauntered across the open room, looking as though he belonged, and casually lifted the first card to the scanner.
The light lit up green.
She didn’t have time to think. Rose was pushed forward with the group, clutching her knife and guided by Liam’s strong grasp toward one of the doors. She braced herself for a fight as they each reached their goal and flung the doors open. She sent a silent prayer to the Old Ones that they all return unharmed and with Katherine safely in tow.
The room was dark. Rose groped for a light along the walls while Liam moved stealthily into the room with his gun raised, his eyes wild with adrenaline. She found a switch and flipped it, flooding the room with bright illumination. Rose cringed away, blinking rapidly until her eyes adjusted, then swung her gaze around the room.
Five wolves climbed out of stacked bunk beds, cursing at the bright intrusion, and froze when they saw Rose and Liam looking at them.
“Fuuuck,” Liam drew the word out, moving closer to her side as the first guard stepped forward.
The guards exploded into action, reaching for weapons they’d removed to sleep. Rose took a deep breath and rushed the guard closest to her, using her momentum to spin around and smash her elbow into his temple. The crunch reverberated through her body, knocking her off balance as the man’s eyes rolled into his head and he slumped to the floor.
Shocked, Rose stared at the fallen guard for a moment before another guard lifted his gun and pointed it straight at her head.
This time she didn’t freeze. Hot anger raced through her veins, filling her with adrenaline. She’d had a gun pointed at her one too many times in recent days. Rose threw up her left hand, knocking the guard’s arm away as she rotated into his body, using her elbow again to attack. This guard was prepared, though, and moved back so her elbow just skimmed his head, knocking him back m
omentarily. His gun went off as he tripped back, sending a bullet ricocheting off the hard limestone.
“Rose!” Liam shouted from across the room. He slammed his fist into one guard’s neck then lunged forward to knock the gun from another’s hand.
“I’m fine” she yelled back, throwing herself on top of the guard. They rolled together, all elbows and fists, while Liam fought on the other side of the room.
The guard was bigger than her and he used his size to crush her against the floor, his thick arms wrapping around her like vises. Rose struggled to breathe and watched in terror as the room began to go dark around her. He laughed as her eyes watered and leaned close to her ear to whisper, “Too bad I didn’t get the chance to fuck you first.”
