by Lia Davis
Danica peered up at Christa and shook her head, her lips pressed into a frown.
Christa reached out to Brenna and pulled her into a tight hug. Brenna hiccupped. Christa kissed her temple and ran a hand through her hair. Bryce came to them, eyes shiny with unshed tears. He gently took Brenna from Christa and walked her outside.
Danica pulled the sheet up Rick’s chest to his chin. “For what it’s worth, the mutant virus takes over the mind, clouds it in a way they can’t comprehend what’s going on around them. I’ll talk to the Alphas about having a burial ceremony.”
Christa nodded. “The kids would like that. Thank you.” She turned and walked out.
****
Hayden cursed for the third time since he came to the security room on the third floor of the office building. His brother, Dane, had finished searching through the two laptops they’d taken from the Onyx den a couple of weeks ago during a raid to flush out Felix.
On the surface, the computers appeared to be decoys. However, Dane and Alec—Blaine’s younger brother and new Marshal of Ashwood—had discovered the computers had been wiped.
How the two computer geeks knew that was beyond Hayden. He was just glad they did.
Dane found several encrypted files hidden somewhere in the hard drive. After about a week of fucking with the thing, Dane finally broke the codes. The information he uncovered confirmed Christa’s allegations that Ashwood was on their radar and their next target.
“Shit,” Alec whispered from his desk across the room.
Hayden whirled around. “What now?”
He picked up a tiny black square in the air for them to see. Dane jumped up and rushed over. “Fuck.”
He took what looked like a piece of the hard drive and met Hayden’s gaze. Damn it. This was not good.
Dane set the thing on the table, grabbed a hammer from the worktable next to them, and smashed the thing.
“What the hell are you doing?”
Dane ran back to his desk and started taking the laptop he was working on apart. Hayden was growing impatient. “Will someone tell me what the fuck is going on?”
Alec stopped at the door and sent Hayden a murderous glare. “That piece of plastic was a GPS tracker, and it was activated when we started hacking into the systems. We have to evacuate the den. Now.”
Bile churned in Hayden’s stomach. The whole damn thing had been a setup to locate the damn den.
Fuck!
Hayden left with Alec, both of them mind-linking with Blaine and Luna and the enforcers and sentries. The ability to communicate with each other through telepathic means was the product of Keegan—the former Alpha of Ashwood who was a telepath. Their blood link to him allowed them all to use the ability as a form of communication.
“MoonRiver is ready. Keegan and Luna inspected the den last week,” Hayden said as ran down the stairs to the ground floor.
Although his former den wasn’t livable long-term due most of the buildings lay in ruins, it still had electricity, running water, and several safe houses hidden in the mountain at the west end. The safe houses were built several years after MoonRiver and Ashwood merged with the idea that the wolf den would be used for evacuations if they ever needed it.
Today Hayden was grateful for Keegan and Luna’s backup plan.
“Good. What about supplies?”
“There are enough for a few days.”
Alec cursed. “It’ll have to do.”
Once on the sidewalk, Hayden wasn’t surprised to see Alec head straight for the nursery. The male was seeking out the head den mother, Rhea, and his potential mate.
Hayden didn’t blame him. Hell, his own thoughts were filled with Christa and the twins. He pulled out his phone just as he saw Christa come out of the medical center. She frowned and walked toward him. “What’s going on?”
“Onyx has a confirmed lock on the inside of the den.”
“What? I thought they didn’t know where you were.”
“They’ve always known where Ashwood territory was but not the location of den within the property.” Hayden said as he moved down the sidewalk with long strides that forced Christa to jog to keep up.
“They’ve sent scouts out many times and mutants have breached the wards a number of times over the years, but none of them had lived to go back to tell Felix the exact location.”
Christa let out that human-like growl he heard her use a couple of times over the past couple of days. “How?”
“We raided the Onyx den a couple of months ago only to find out it was a trap and rigged to blow. A couple of sentries were able to grab two laptops.”
He could see Christa shake her head as she walked beside him. “Let me guess, they had trackers on them.”
This time Hayden growled. “Yes.”
He stopped and gripped her arm gently. “Christa, go get the twins and go to the nursery. Alec is there with a team to take the kids and submissives to a safe location.”
She gave a short nod and turned around. His heart ached to see her go, but he had to make sure she was safe. He didn’t need to worry about his human mate he hadn’t bonded with yet.
When he reached his mother’s apartment, she met him outside in full battle mode. Her long red hair was braided down her back, and her claws were out. A wild hunger lit up her eyes. If she wasn’t his mother, he’d think she was a rogue just by how close her wolf was to the surface.
Torin along with three sentries were by her side. Hayden acknowledged them with a nod before speaking to his mother. “Alec is with Rhea and the kids.”
In groups of two they went from door to door in the southern half of the den, knowing that Blaine and his team was covering the northern half.
It took them about an hour to get everyone to the nursery where the evacuation tunnels were. As they made their way to nursery, Dane met up them. Frantic, Hayden’s brother asked, “Have you seen Jasmine?”
Their mother started walking a little faster. “Have you checked the bar?”
Dane nodded. He was about to say something when he spotted Gina coming out of the bar. “Hey. Have you seen Jasmine?”
Gina froze, fear in her eyes. She nodded. “She was taking her brothers out for a run.”
Dane growled. “How long?”
Gina shook her head. “I’m not sure. Maybe a half hour or so ago.”
Dane took off, calling out Jasmine’s name.
“What is all the fuss?” Jasmine stepped out from behind a home and came face-to-face with Dane. He grabbed her into a hug and held her from several moments. Jas darted her gaze between Hayden and his mother as she stood frozen, her eyes wild as if she sensed the danger. She probably did. She was a wolf after all.
“What’s going on?” she asked after Dane released her, but continued to stand close as if he was afraid to let her out of his sight.
Hayden motioned for her to bring the boys. “The den has been compromised. We’re jumping ship.”
Jasmine’s eye grew round, and she grabbed each of her twin brothers by the upper arms and tugged them toward the nursery.
A whistle cut through the air that sounded too much like an arrow. Hayden looked up, and all his training and instincts took over. He scooped up one of the twins into his arms and yelled, “Run!”
About two dozen arrows lit on fire rained down around them, hitting cars, houses, and trees, and one came too damn close to Hayden.
They were about twenty feet away from the nursery when an explosion sounded off behind them. Hayden felt a wave of heat at his back, and the ground shook. Hayden’s pulse raced, and his stomach soured as a loud crash came from behind them.
A moment later, Jasmine screamed.
Chapter 18
Christa exited from the nursery’s courtyard and her heart dropped to her feet as a large hunk of debris hit Jasmine and her brother, sending both of them to the ground. Jasmine’s terrified scream pushed Christa into motion. She ran to Jasmine and her brother, but Dane reached her first.
Ja
smine shook her head. “It’s Kyle’s leg.”
Christa peered down, and her heart sank. There was a large chunk of wood sticking out of his thigh about four inches. Fuck. She peered at Hayden then back at Jasmine. “Are you okay?”
She nodded. “I believe so.”
“We should be moving. If I had to guess, we have about two minutes, maybe less, to get you and the kids to the nursery.” Christa peered back at Hayden, who stared at her with an expression devoid of emotions.
He was in full Marshal mode.
“Jas, she’s right.”
Jasmine stood and shifted Kyle so she had a better hold on him, and together they ran the last ten feet to the nursery.
Alec and Rhea met them at the main entrance. Quickly the made their way across the gym to the far back corner and through a door that looked like part of the wall. The door opened to a set of stairs that lead down to what Christa thought was some kind of basement. When she reached the bottom, she peered around at the torch-lit tunnel.
“An escape route.”
Hayden nudged her to move forward. “Keegan and Luna had it put in not long after the Packs merged. It has several cut offs. They’re dead ends to confuse anyone who doesn’t belong down here.”
Christa nodded, feeling a hint of relief that the Pack had safeguards in place and they were able to act so quickly.
She followed Hayden down the narrow tunnel, looking behind her ever so often to check on Jasmine and Kyle. Jas gave her a weak smile, but Christa could see the worry in her eyes.
They past three openings that she assumed where the cutoffs that Hayden mentioned before they stopped. Christa was about to ask why, when Hayden pounded on the stone wall with his palm three times, paused then hit it once.
A section the wall the slid to the side and they were greeted by Cameron. Her lips were set in a hard line and a tic formed in her temples. Her eyes glowed gold, and her pupils drew into slits. The eyes of her cat.
The female was ready to fight, yet she wasn’t armed.
Hayden made a low growl. “Put the jaguar away, Cameron.”
“I’m grounded,” she spat as she gently took Kyle from Jasmine.
“For good reason,” Hayden replied and sat Jasmine’s other brother down, taking his hand and placing it in Jasmine’s.
Sasha, the wolf Healer, came out of another doorway from the left of where Christa stood. The Healer rushed over to tend to Kyle’s leg after Cameron settled him on a small cot against the wall.
Looking around the large circular room, Christa asked, “What is this place, and where is everyone else?”
Hayden was the one to answer. “This is one of two hidden rooms.” He pointed to the door to their left, the one Sasha came out of. “That way leads to MoonRiver, which is where the rest of the Pack went. It’s another tunnel that winds it way through the mountain to the other den. It’s about a day’s hike, but there are hidden pockets where the kids can rest.”
He pointed to the door across the room from it. “That leads to three other tunnels that will take us to different sections of Ashwood. They were added after Travis suggested it. It’s what he did to Hunter Ridge, although only the senior enforcers, Marshals, and Alphas knew about it until today.”
Oh wow. Her respect for Hayden and his Pack had just kicked up a couple to notches. That said a lot considering she’d already respected the hell out of them before knowing about the escape route.
“So, you, Luna, Dane, Torin, and me come up in three different areas of the den and take them by surprise?” Christa asked with a glee that came from the hunter part of her soul.
Hayden’s lips twitched, and she swore she saw a flicker of change in his eyes. “Exactly. But we go in groups of two.” He cupped the back of her head, pulled her to him, and kissed her hard and quick. “You’re with me.”
He’d get no argument from her. She didn’t know the others well enough. They didn’t know her or her ability to fight, and they didn’t know they could trust her. She knew it, felt it in the way they looked at her and approached her. There was a hesitation in every word and movement.
So, no, the enforcers and soldiers wouldn’t be comfortable fighting beside her.
Cameron cleared her throat. “Keegan, Blaine, Tanner, and Alec had already gone through the tunnel back to the den. They’re waiting on you guys before going topside.”
Hayden nodded as his mother, Dane, and Torin moved to the door they’d take to meet up with the others. “Keep the Pack calm and safe, Cam.”
She rolled her eyes and turned her back on him to help Sasha with Kyle. Hayden glanced at Christa, then motioned to the door.
The stepped out into the tunnel and saw Alec walking toward them.
Alec stepped around Hayden to stand by the door they’d taken. “Blaine and Luna paired up and are heading up to the west side now.” He held up a hand. “Before you say it, I told them the same thing. I don’t like for them to be paired together either, too risky. Blaine just plain refused to listen to his Marshal, and Luna growled at me. I’m not arguing with mama wolf.”
Hayden shook his head. “Who else has gone up?”
“Ana and Kieran took door number three to the south end.”
Hayden rolled his eyes as they continued down the tunnel a few more feet. “Torin, you, Keegan, and Alec take the north-west end of the den. Tanner, go to the Alphas. Christa and I are going to Ana and Kieran.”
Alec nodded just as another explosion sounded from topside. Pieces of rock and dust fell from the ceilings as the ground beneath Christa’s feet shook. She reached out and gripped Hayden arm out of reflex.
Torin let out a soft growl. “Let’s getting moving people.”
Christa agreed and started moving as Hayden did. They cut off to the right and moved down the tunnel a few yards until they came to a dead end. In front of them was a large slab on the ground. Hayden bent and pushed it to the side, revealing a storage compartment loaded with weapons.
“This is handy.”
He peered up at her, one slid of his mouth lifting. “We got taken by surprise once. It’s not happening again.”
A few moments later, they exited the tunnel into the forest just outside the main entrance of the den. Fury burned through Christa as she took in her surroundings. Rogues and mutants were setting fire to buildings as they passed them. A few were breaking windows and smashing headlights on cars.
He gut churned when she spotted a few Shield members helping out in the destruction.
She caught a flash out of the corner of her eye and allowed her instincts, along with years of training, to take over. Spinning around, she kicked her leg out and caught a shifter in the chest with her booted foot. Surprise lit his inhuman eyes, and he stumbled back a few steps.
Then, almost out of nowhere, humans and more shifters that Christa believed were rogues surrounded them. Her assumptions were confirmed when Hayden gritted out, “Fucking rogues. The humans are infected, yet they haven’t changed.”
Yeah, she noticed something wasn’t right with them. Just like her soldiers from Shield. She hadn’t seen it at the time, but now she noticed the dark hunger in their eyes, the zombie-like stares.
Christa didn’t hesitate, her focus sharp and directed at the monsters that had full-out attacked the innocents of the den. It pissed her off they’d come in and destroyed their lives, again. Raising her gun, she fired several rounds, taking out three infected humans. They fell to the ground.
Rogues rushed them then, and Christa was ready.
“Aim for the head,” Hayden shouted from somewhere behind her.
No problem.
She fired again, but the fucker moved too fast. He charged her, and she darted to the left as she released the empty clip and pulled out another from her pocket. Just as she clicked it into place, the rogue barreled into her back, sending them crashing to the ground.
Her shoulder hit the cobblestone street. Pain exploded through her shoulder and arm. Taking deep breaths, she pushed the pain a
way and rolled away from the rogue so she faced him. She gripped the gun tighter, aimed, and fired, hitting the male between the eyes.
Christa pushed herself to a stand and tried to move her shoulder. Sharp, burning pain made her cry out.
Fuck.
Hayden was there in a flash. He gripped her bicep, intensifying the pain.
“You are so not helping,” she ground out. Her chest rose and fell as she tried to breathe through the pain, meeting his green graze. There was no emotion on his face, but his eyes held a tender concern that made her chest tighten.
“It’s dislocated.”
She rolled her eyes. She knew that.
Scanning the area, she saw bodies on the ground but not a rogue in sight. “Where did they go?” He couldn’t have killed them all.
“The rogues ran deeper into the den.”
She met his gaze again. “Pop my shoulder back in place. I want every last one of them dead.”
His lips lifted in a wicked, yet approving, smile. “Brace yourself.”
She did, but nothing could prepare her for the sharp snap of her shoulder being jerked back to where it belonged. She screamed and gripped Hayden’s forearm so tight her nails dug into his skin.
With a finger under her chin, he lifted her head so she stared into his green depths. His expression held concern and hurt. She cupped his cheek and stood on her toes to press a quick kiss to his lips. “I’m good.”
After a brief pause, as if he didn’t believe her, then he jerked his head toward the road. “Let’s go kill some rogues.”
She was on board with that. Yes, her shoulder was on fire, but she could fight.
They took off down the cobblestones into the heart of the den. They found Ana engaged in hand-to-hand with a large-ass mutant. She moved with the grace of her leopard. She ducked when the creature swung an arm rounder than her head while, at the same time, she kicked out and swiped his feet from under him. The mutant dropped to the ground with a loud thud.
Ana placed a foot on the beast’s chest, drew her gun from her thigh holster, pointed it at his head, and fired. She turned then, narrowed her eyes at Hayden, and then raised her gun.
