Hunting the Rogues (Shadow Claw Book 8)

by Sarah J. Stone

  Viria switched energy spectrums and viewed the skeleton of the place. The vents had been closed, and all exit doors had been barred. All signals were cut off to the outside, which meant she wouldn’t be able to reach out to anyone unless through the computers in this very room.

  Fuck, I’ll have to meditate and get to Yin and Yang, tell them what’s going on and inform Ivanna. This is all just computer systems and Mitch can tamper with the security and get me out of here easily.

  “Everyone can spend the night in the emergency bunks,” the woman continued. “Meanwhile, someone please call in an investigation team.”

  ****

  Luke couldn’t sleep after the attack. Everyone from the pack had been shifted into the sanctuaries, but he was worried about all the others. He couldn’t afford another test run of the chimeras. They were too strong and he’d barely managed to hold them off. Hell, even Viria needed help fighting them. Of course, she understood what their weak spot was, but determining them in each chimera during combat seemed impossible. The anxiety stole his slumber away and he needed to go and find where they came from. The Morbus HQ was too far from them and Viria would have known and warned them if the chimeras had been sent from there. But she didn’t, so there should be a separate base where they were being trained. Maybe the place had a whole army. Who knew? The idea of stumbling into a mass of them was scary, but he had to investigate and make sure to warn remaining packs of any oncoming trouble.

  Shifting, he followed the fading scent. He knew he had to be quick because it would soon disperse and mingle with the smell of the trees and the trail would be lot for good unless he found another way. But the wind had already taken away some of the sand and soil that imprinted the chimeras’ feet. There claw marks on the trees, but theirs wasn’t the only ones so it was hard to distinguish.

  He felt the need to be cautious even though he couldn’t smell an animal around for miles. Most were asleep. It was barely sunrise and the forest life had still a few more hours to go before embracing consciousness.

  This is taking a toll on all of us for real, he realized as he followed the scent.We’ve been stressed for days despite the breaks. It’s like this is never going to end.

  He jumped over a large bush and picked up pace as the scent grew slightly stronger.

  What if they’re still there and camping? What if I run right into them? I should’ve brought back up. Goddammit, I’m not even thinking straight anymore.

  A sharp burn cut across his paw.He hissed and stumbled. Quickly looking around to see who had attacked, he rolled back up on his legs ready for combat. Breathing heavy and every puff coming out like a smoke from a kettle, his eyes raked the clearing he had entered. They finally rested upon a circle of rocks with coals steaming in the middle of it, some still red at the bottom. He calmed down.

  They must’ve packed up recently, he thought and sniffed the air, Definitely recently.

  With a deep breath, he pinpointed the direction and followed as quietly as he could. He could hear their breaths and the noises they were making. Grunts, howls, and growls. Snaps of jaws and abrupt hisses. It sounded something similar to when animals cornered in on a prey, and that alarmed Luke. He hoped it wasn’t an innocent wandering shifter that had fallen into their campsite.

  Luke sensed the danger, hunger, and bloodlust in the air. He knew a fight when he smelled one.

  He knew his mate when he smelled her, too.

  Chapter 16

  Viria knew she had a lot to investigate before she found a place to meditate and transfer information. She needed to know if there were any rogues in the place itself that she could confront in their sub-consciousness.

  Everyone left the place one by one except for the woman. They all stood up one after the other and left in a neat formation. And once all had gone, a large alarm sounded through the place and a heavy iron panel fell over the door.

  “My colleagues,” she called out. The wall behind her opened once again and Viria gasped. People filled into the place, twelve to be exact. One of them was a very familiar Gael. She had to grit her teeth from crying out. She knew something about him was fishy but she didn’t think Gael would stoop this low. But she held herself from making quick assumptions and studied the former vampire. He looked uneasy, unsure, and it felt as if he was new to the place. She could tell looking from the others who belonged to which group of shifters. There were two witches present, too.

  “Please, have a seat,” she said. “I see two people are missing?”

  “The vampires,” a boy no older than Viria said, “I heard they’ve been caught from another accomplice of theirs.”

  “Caught? How? By whom?” the woman demanded.

  “They’d teamed up with a witch head for some of her political reasons,” he explained. “She was going to help them hand over two powerful witches in return. Viria and Nina. They failed and were captured by those very two.”

  “Idiots!” she cried out with a fist to the table. “How did they believe they would be handed over those two all so easily?”

  Well, fuck, she knows about Nina, too.Viria almost sighed, but held herself.Next thing I know they’ve got Cassie.

  “The witch must’ve persuaded them well,” he said. “After all, she did belong to the Inner Circle and directly communicated with Nina.”

  “Make sure those two never return should they get away from their capture,” she sighed, “Kill them on the spot. What about the chimeras on their test run.”

  “One of your prime experiments have been killed,” a girl said as she played with a blade, “by Viria herself.”

  “You all said they were powerful enough to even overtake her,” the woman said dangerously. Viria could see the pain in her eyes. “You said they would succeed!”

  “You underestimate the child,” Gael finally spoke. “She isn’t an ordinary teenager. Haven’t you heard? She’s been named a warlord amongst most communities.”

  “I’m sure you would know all about her, Gael,” said the woman. “You were within the Council of Elders once upon a time, were you not?”

  “I’m still in touch,” he said. “One of my students is within the premises.”

  “Gael hasn’t pledged his alliance to the Morbus yet,” the girl with the blade snapped. “You’re not supposed to be here, vampire.”

  “This is not an alliance,” the woman announced, “merely an exchange of information. He’s promised his silence and loyalty.”

  “How can you trust him?” she sneered.

  “He has good reasons as to why he’s here.”

  “Why won’t he join us?” the girl demanded.

  “It was one of your members that brought me a great loss,” Gael interjected. “Asther. I’m sure you know him. I have no interest in joining you in any of your missions. I just want to make sure you keep those meddling kids out of my matters and checking in on the progress to take advantage of any opportunities. I’m not very fond of the Elders and I plan on eliminating them.”

  The girl fell silent and leaned back with a shrug. “You better not double cross us.”

  Viria was fuming under her cloak, but she knew she had to keep her blood pressure down. There were shifters in the place and if they felt the slightest shift in the atmosphere of got a whiff of her scent, she’d be a goner. This form of capture would get her killed instead of caged. Being caged was her goal.

  “Anyway” – the woman clapped – “what else?”

  “Your test run subjects,” a man beside Gael opened started, “it seemed as if they had cornered a Luna recently.”

  Viria’s blood ran cold.

  “She’s held in one of the bases along with her Alpha mate. I say if the Alpha and Luna aren’t all that good at defending themselves, then neither are their packs, or any of the others. And the Shadow Claw pack were the most powerful bear shifters have known.

  Oh, for fuck’s sake!Viria screamed internally. She held her breath and entered a semi-meditative state right there and then to co
ntain and release her rage within. Buildings were collapsing in her mind as she shot at them. People were burning as she hit them and snapped their necks. The lakes and rivers around her were boiling and bubbling, turning into lava and the mountains were splitting and sinking into the earth.

  She needed to contact Ivanna immediately. Viria felt absolutely frustrated.

  I knew I shouldn’t have left them like that before investigating, she yelled internally to herself, but she knew there was no point. She could only hope she could send them help on time and not lose the two.

  “What is being done with them?” the woman asked.

  “They’re just being held hostage,” he said. “We’ll be sending in witches to break into their minds and take as much information as possible.”

  They’ll know about the sanctuaries…Viria realized as her body fell cold. The witches would find out the location since Viria’s essence was within Luke and connects him to the sanctuaries intended for the bear and wolf shifters. The only thing calming her right now was the knowledge that Viria had set up barriers almost impossible to break in every one of her team members. She’d done it whenever she gotten the chance to rest. But Viria was concerned about how painful the whole ordeal would get for the two of them. She hoped nothing had happened to Violet as that would lead to the two giving away everything just to protect her. She wouldn’t hate them for it, of course, but the burden would be hard to bear. They all were dealing with more than they should.

  “What’s more?”

  “Well, it’s just this for now,” he said. “The test run chimeras had to retreat because of Viria’s appearance at the targeted pack. I think they will go in after them again the next day when they’ve regenerated well.”

  Regenerated?Viria thought confused.

  “Are you sure the mother chimera will not turn against you at one point?” Gael asked.

  “She’s sedated and in a constant state of processing dark energy to distribute to the chimeras,” the woman said. “She has no way to access coherent thoughts.”

  “What happens if she somehow wakes up?”

  “She won’t.”

  There’s the weak spot.Viria grinned as her heart calmed down.No precautions or plans there. Mitch was definitely right.

  “Lydia,” Gael said, “the mother chimera is one of the evolved species. I am one, so I know how it works. You won’t be able to keep her asleep forever. You may manage to sedate her body, but I assure you, her mind is very much awake and only training and preparing to take over her vessel and break free. We are not easily contained by mere medications.”

  “Her brain scans show otherwise, Gael,” the woman now named Lydia snapped. Viria wanted to cackle. Essences, souls, and auras could not be accessed so simply through science.

  “Suit yourself.” He sighed and sat back. Viria was glad he’d given up. Now that he’d planted uncertainty and doubt in Lydia’s mind, she would surely go ahead to take precautionary measures against the mother chimera first thing the meeting was adjourned. But nothing Lydia could manage could hold back those who had evolved.

  ****

  Diana could not understand why Cassie felt the need to leave, but the news had devastated her enough to prevent her from thinking straight anymore. All she could do was replay everything in her head, wishing she’d said something different to keep her in the den until Luke or Fergus returned. Sure, even Diana felt something was wrong, but after looking at how beat up Fergus and Luke were, she wouldn’t dare put herself out there in case the chimera were still lurking.

  “Calm down, Cassie,” Diana said, holding her shoulders gently. “It’s just patrol. He handled himself pretty well and knows what he’s dealing with now.”

  “What if he gets into trouble?” She sighed.

  “He won’t let himself,” the wolf Luna said. “He’s not dumb, okay? He knows when to stay away from a fight.”

  “I just have a really bad feeling,” Cassie said rubbing her temples. “I don’t know why it feels like we’re going to mess up somehow.”

  “You won’t!” Diana groaned. “Don’t you trust Viria? Do you think she’d let something like that happen?”

  “Viria’s just a kid!” she cried out and got up, “And it isn’t like something shouldn’t mess up, okay? Look, I’m leaving. I need to go and at least check up on Luke. I’ll tell you if Fergus is doing all right, too.”

  “Cassie, no!” she ordered firmly and grabbed her wrist. “As an Elder, I am commanding you to stay put!”

  “As Luna of this pack and territory, I demand to be given due authority to do as I please!”

  “This is why we shouldn’t have all people of authority in one place,” Kayla whispered to her best friend, Ian, who chuckled.

  “You think this is bad? Remember Luke before Cassie came along?”

  The two Lunas turned to the kids and gave them deadpanned looks. They immediately silenced themselves and put their hands up, moving away further into the den.

  “Aren’t those two supposed to be at the sanctuaries?” Diana raised a brow.

  “They’re helping us pack.” Cassie rolled her eyes. “To be honest, everyone knows they’re mates and they just need more sexy time before they have to move into shared rooms there.”

  “HEY!” Kayla yelled from across the hallway and the two Lunas only shook their heads.

  “I need you two out of here in the morning!” Cassie called out to them. With a huff of breath, she turned to Diana with a pleading look.

  “Please…” She sighed. “I need to check up on him. Something is nagging at me. All I’m going to do is have a quick look and come back. Plus, they’re not all that far away, anyway.”

  Diana looked at her unsurely and considered it. With a defeated groan and a shake of her head, she gave in, “If you’re not back in fifteen minutes then I’m letting the alarms go off.”

  Cassie hugged her tight, and she disappeared like the wind.

  Diana was regretting letting her go. She shouldn’t have let her go. She should’ve gone with her at least. Fergus held her tightly as she buried her tears into his shoulder.

  “What’s happened had happened,” he tried to console her. “We can’t do anything right now without Ivanna’s orders.”

  “It’s all my fault,” she choked out.

  “Blaming yourself won’t help us right now, sweetheart.” He caressed her head. “I wish I’d stayed with Luke and known what he was up to and gone with him, but even then it would have been impossible to hold up against them anyway. Listen, let’s call Ivanna and tell her what’s happened, okay? Just calm down.”

  Diana knew Ivanna and Viria would never forgive them for this and it was enough to hold her back from informing them. But she had to. She reached out for her phone and dialed Ivanna’s number. She waited for her to pick up, but it was Mitch instead.

  “Diana, hey, Ivanna’s meditating at the moment,” he said.

  “Get her out of it.” Shesighed. “There’s an emergency and we need her now.”

  Chapter 17

  Luke finally came around and blinked his eyes open. His vision was blurry and blood had drier around his eyes making it hard for him to open them. A sharp pain zipped right through the middle of his head. He couldn’t remember most of the fight, but he’d been outnumbered and had taken a brutal beating.

  Cassie, he thought drowsily, but a sense of alarm overtook him and he forced himself into proper consciousness and tried to access her through their bond. Cassie!

  “I’m here!” he voice called out to his ears, but his hearing was fuzzy and it seemed as if was strained. “I’m okay, Luke.”

  “Cassie…” he forced out, but all that came was a weak whisper.

  “Stay still, lady,” someone ordered. Luke heard footsteps nearing. A hand across his palm turned his face to the sides.

  “We have blood to clean up,” a person said. “Get me another kit here.Some anesthetic, too.”

  ****

  “Why are you helping us?
” Cassie asked through the tremor in her voice. The chimera in the white mask gave her a look and rolled her eyes. She was a strange looking beauty. Her face was exposed by the receding black and silver fur toward the center of her face. She had no snout, but full lips and a wolf’s nose with golden eyes framed by dark lashes and full brows. Her ears stood to attention and gleamed under the fluorescent lighting.

  “We aren’t helping you,” the male chimera said as he tended to Luke who had fallen unconscious again. “We need you in good condition to get some information out of you.”

  “We won’t tell you anything,” she growled. The female chimera only chuckled.

  “You won’t,” she said in a surprisingly deep voice, “your minds will.”

  “There’s nothing there that will be useful to you,” Cassie said just a defiantly, to which the chimeras scoffed and laughed at.

  “You’re cute, sweetheart.” She chuckled with a shake of Cassie’s chin in her palm. The Luna snatched her face away and the chimera only smirked, walking away with a sway of her hips toward a table of medical aid supplies.

  Cassie felt helpless and reached out to Luke through their bond, but it was clear he was in deep oblivion and not waking up anytime soon. She did not dare let her strong demeanor waver, though. She could only hope she’d get help somehow from somewhere. Anyhow, and from anywhere. If there was anyone else she could reach out to…

  And maybe she could, but there was no way she could dare put Violet in any danger. She then remembered Diana’s warning about letting the alarms go off, and she hoped the wolf Luna was serious. Maybe help could arrive soon then.

  ****

  Ivanna breathed deeply as Fergus explained all that had happened over the phone. Nina wanted to know desperately but she couldn’t afford to deal with sobbing messes and simply told her it was an emergency situation within the community. She needed to take immediate action.

  “Mitch, you’re coming with me,” she said darkly as she strapped daggers to her belt. She reached for a tall cabinet and pulled the doors away, taking out a sniper along with a slim box, punching in a code and popping it open and loading the sniper with the bullets in it. Mitch had read a lot about the beings of the realm but seeing that Ivanna had to resort to ammunition now made him uneasy, but also sent a strange thrill through him.