by Cheree Alsop
He led the way back. “I’ve cleared the rest of this level.”
“Finish with the basement,” Jaze told them in their headsets. “We’ll meet back at the doors.”
Chapter Twenty-two
Alex followed Kaynan numbly down the stairs. He couldn’t stop picturing the tables filled with the General’s experiments. Nausea made his stomach roll.
“It’s horrible,” Kalia whispered, grabbing his arm. “How do things like that happen?”
“Bad people who don’t care who they hurt to get the power they crave,” Alex told her.
A check over her shoulder showed Torin glowering at him. He remembered his promise to help the werewolf gain her trust.
“I’d better catch up to Kaynan,” Alex said. “I don’t think he’s taking it well.” He shrugged out of her grasp and hurried down the rest of the cement steps. The professor had already vanished into the darkness.
Alex followed him for a few paces, then froze. In front of him was a round hole sunk into the warehouse floor. Memories flooded over him, images of falling into a hole so similar he couldn’t stop the shudders that ran over his skin. He heard Siale’s whispered pain, and felt the pile of bodies beneath him. He was overwhelmed with stench, the smell of death and decay so thick it felt like it was choking him.
“Alex, I don’t know what you’re doing trying to stick me with Torin, but it’s not going to...” Kalia’s voice faded away when she realized he wasn’t listening to her. Kalia followed his gaze to the pit. “What is that?” she asked. She took a step forward.
Alex couldn’t move. He couldn’t tell her to back away. His voice caught in a throat choked tight with remembered fear. Death had been so close. The bodies overwhelmed him, pulling his thoughts down the cement hole Kalia stood over.
“Alex, what’s wrong with you?” Kalia asked. She turned to face him.
Images warred in Alex’s head. He was pinned, trapped beneath cement and wooden beams. He held Siale, trying to slow her bleeding wounds while shielding her from the pile of tortured, lifeless bodies.
He watched in horror as forms rose out of the pit behind Kalia. He tried to call to her and tell her to run. He tried to pull his gun from his holster, but could only succeed in clenching his hands into fists as his heart thundered and skipped, making it hard to breathe.
“I don’t understand what’s going on,” Kalia said, putting her hands on her hips.
The bodies reached up and grabbed her. Kalia let out a scream as she was pulled backwards into the hole. Alex collapsed to his knees on the floor, lost in the clash of memories and reality that threatened to tear his consciousness apart with madness.
“Alex, was that Kalia?” Torin demanded, rushing past him. Torin stared into the cement hole. “Did she fall down there?”
Alex couldn’t speak. He kept seeing the bodies reach up and grab her. It couldn’t be true.
“Kaynan!” Torin shouted.
The red-eyed werewolf ran into view.
“Something happened to Kalia,” Torin said, staring from Alex to the hole. “I heard her scream and she’s gone. I can smell other people here.”
Kaynan jumped into the hole. The sight of the professor disappearing from view jolted Alex out of the grasp of his fear. He ran to Torin’s side.
“You let them take her!” the Alpha shouted. He hit Alex with a haymaker that sent him staggering. “You let her go!” He hit Alex again.
“What is going on?” Jaze demanded in their earpieces.
As Torin quickly explained, Alex heard the drum of footsteps on the stairs. Someone touched his arm. He could tell by the scent that it was Cassie without turning to see. He couldn’t tear his eyes away from the hole in the ground.
“Alex, are you okay? Where’s Kalia?” Cassie asked.
“The bodies...” Alex’s words choked off. He rubbed his eyes. “I don’t know.”
“You look like you’re going to fall over,” Tennison said, grabbing his elbow to steady him.
Jaze and Chet ran past them to the cement hole. Before they could climb down, Kaynan called up, “The General’s men were here, but they’re gone, and they took Kalia. The tunnel leads to a sewage out near the river; it’s some sort of drainage tube. There are imprints from a helicopter’s skids.”
Alex blinked and the sides of the cement hole changed from the decay-covered lining of the body hole to a mesh-sided tube with a grate on top that had been removed. The unemotional side of him spotted the grate leaning near the wall. The other side couldn’t process what he had seen; the image of the cement pit and the mesh tunnel clashed in his vision.
“He let her go,” Torin was saying. “Alex let them take her.”
“Alex, is that true?” Trent asked from beside him.
Alex could feel them all looking at him. He couldn’t reply because he didn’t know what he had seen. The tube interchanged with the image of the body pit. He saw Kalia grabbed over and over again. The memory of the bodies climbing out shifted. He saw men dressed in black with paint on their faces. He could smell the General faintly. Alex’s jaw tightened.
“Alex, no!” Cassie shouted.
Alex jumped into the hole before they could grab him. He half-expected to sink into the pile of bodies. Instead, the impact of the mesh tube along a cement floor jolted through his limbs. He rushed past Kaynan down the tunnel. He couldn’t tell if he was running to find Kalia or trying to escape the image of bodies crawling after him.
Alex burst through the end of the tunnel. The grate that had been on the end was lying in the mud. He could smell Kalia’s honey and clover scent. Toe marks showed where they had dragged her to the helicopter. Alex studied the tracks, running from the tube to the helicopter skid marks over and over again, desperate for any lead.
“She’s not here,” Kaynan said.
“There’s got to be a way to find her,” Alex replied. He shouldered past the professor, his eyes on the ground. “There has to be something.”
“Alex, we’ll find her,” Kaynan told him.
Alex barely heard the professor’s voice. He looked for anything, a hair, a piece of cloth, some sort of indication that she didn’t vanish into thin air, but there was nothing. He couldn’t give up. The mud was churned with his tracks. He couldn’t see the marks from her feet through his tears, but he wouldn’t stop trying.
“You guys need to get out of there,” Brock said into Alex’s earpiece.
Alex ripped it out of his ear and threw it on the ground.
“Alex, we’ll get her back,” Kaynan told him. “We need to leave. We’ve got to let the place blow.”
“There has to be something,” Alex said. He stared at the ground without seeing it, but he couldn’t stop pacing back and forth from the tube to the marks.
Kaynan grabbed him in a bear hug. Alex’s training kicked in. He bent his knees and tried to elbow Kaynan in the chest, then the groin, but the werewolf was ready. Kaynan hooked an arm around his elbow and then the back of his neck, pinning him. Alex tried to struggle, but he couldn’t move. His heart thundered in his chest, skipping beats and pounding harder to compensate.
“Breathe,” Kaynan said into his ear. “Come on, Alex. Calm down. Take a breath.”
“It’s my fault she’s gone,” Alex forced out. His will to fight fled with the words. He sagged in the professor’s hold. “I let them take her. I let the General take her.”
“We’ll get her back, I promise,” Kaynan replied. He let go of Alex slowly, ready to grab him again if he showed any sign of fighting back. “We need to go,” he said urgently.
Alex gave a numb nod.
Kaynan led him back to the tube. Alex stumbled through the opening. He fell to his knees, then pushed back up to his feet. Kaynan waited for him to collect himself. Alex followed the professor through the darkness.
They were almost to the opening when Alex saw something wedged into a seam of the tube. Alex pulled it free, revealing a small folded piece of paper. He quickly opened it.
“Meet at the park in Greyton. Come alone or your girl will die.”
The General’s scent was unmistakable.
“Alex?” Jaze called from the top of the tube.
Alex shoved the paper in his pocket and followed Kaynan to the entrance. He jumped and his hands were grabbed by Jaze and Chet.
Cassie caught him in a hug as soon as his feet were on the ground.
“It’s okay. We’ll find her,” she said.
Alex nodded, unable to speak. When she let him go, Jaze led him up the stairs. The dean’s hand on his shoulder grounded him. He heard the footsteps of the other werewolves as they followed the pair up.
When they were clear of the warehouse, Jaze said quietly, “I don’t know what happened down there, but I won’t give up until Kalia’s back at the Academy.”
“Me, neither,” Alex replied, thinking of the note in his pocket.
He climbed into one of the waiting SUVs and stared out the window. The image of the bodies pulling Kalia into the tunnel played over and over in his head. He leaned against the window and stared unseeing at the passing forest. The view turned bright and the trees around them tipped slightly forward from the repercussion of the warehouse explosion. He was vaguely aware of Cassie rubbing his back, but he couldn’t respond. The note burned in his pocket. He had to get to her. He had to make sure she was safe.
***
As soon as Alex was left alone in his quarters, he climbed out the window into the night. Alex jumped to the roof of the green houses, then to the ground. He ran to Trent’s workroom and threw the tarp off the motorcycle. Knowing the gates would be closed, Alex pushed the motorcycle through the tunnel that led from the workroom to the Wolf Den cavern beneath the Academy. He shoved his helmet on and sped up the hidden passage to the snow-covered path that led from the forest and met up with the winding road from the school.
“Alex?” Trent’s sleepy voice crackled in his ear. “Where are you going?”
“I’ve got to save Kalia,” Alex answered. He pulled over to the side of the road and turned off the motorcycle.
“You need a team.” Trent sounded more alert now.
“I’ve got to do this on my own,” Alex replied. He used the key to open the gas cap. “I’m leaving the microchip.”
“Don’t do it, Alex,” Trent replied in alarm. “How am I going to help if you need me?”
“I can’t have help,” Alex said. He removed the microchip. Knowing the device was expensive, he pulled a knife from the motorcycle’s saddlebag and walked a few steps to the closest tree.
“What are you doing?” Trepidation colored Trent’s voice.
“I’m hiding the chip so you can find it.” Alex cut a deep grove into an aspen that bent at a strange angle about halfway up the trunk. He slipped the chip inside. “Is that the only one?”
Trent was silent for a moment before he replied, “I can track you through the headset’s signal.”
Alex closed his eyes. “Thank you for your honesty.”
“You can’t take on the General by yourself,” Trent protested.
“I might not be able to take on the General, but I can save Kalia,” Alex said. He took his helmet off.
“Don’t do it, Alex.” Trent’s voice rose. “You can’t do this by yourself. They’ll kill you!”
“Thank you for all you’ve done,” Alex said. “You’ve been a true friend.”
He pulled the headset from the helmet and hung it in the tree. He could still hear Trent protesting, but chose not to listen. He shoved his helmet back on and crossed back to the motorcycle. Alone with only the note in his pocket, Alex drove down the midnight road.
Chapter Twenty-three
Alex pulled alongside the park just before sunrise. The city was quiet. He remembered Cherish’s warnings about gangs. He hoped for their sake that they had the brains to avoid the park that morning.
Alex climbed off the motorcycle. His instincts thrummed; the General’s men were near. He walked slowly to the middle of the park, his gaze on the surrounding buildings.
“Put your hands up,” a voice called.
The irony that the man hid in the same alley that Alex had fought in the previous winter made a grim smile touch his lips. He raised his hands above his head. His breath fogged in the crisp air. A faint hiss reached his ears before a dart hit his back. Alex chose not to fight the silver as it snaked through his veins. His only chance of finding Kalia was to comply with the General’s wishes.
Alex’s knees gave out and he collapsed to the ground. The thunder of footsteps sounded loud in his ears as the General’s men surrounded him. Hands picked him up roughly and carried him through the snow. Doors to a vehicle were opened and he was thrown inside. The doors slammed shut and tires squealed down the road.
***
Alex’s head ached. He kept his eyes closed as he tried to remember what had happened. Unfamiliar beeping sounds, the squeak of shoes on vinyl, the bite of bands around his chest, and a sharp, sterile scent that burned his nose let him know he was in trouble.
He couldn’t move. Even the effort it took to try to open his fingers sapped his strength. The only thing that could have such an effect was silver.
Kalia.
Alex’s eyes flew open. He was in a wide, low-ceilinged white room. Four guards stood in front of every door while others lined the walls. The scent of silver in the room was almost overpowering.
Beeping near his right ear made Alex want to turn his head, but his muscles wouldn’t respond. He shifted his eyes in an attempt to see what was near him.
Four physicians in white lab coats were preparing items on a long gray table. Alex’s heart tightened in fear. Past them near the far end of the room was a girl in a chair. Tears streaked her cheeks and her shoulder-length blonde hair was messy. Bruises covered her face and a trickle of blood stained the side of her mouth. Kalia’s icy blue gaze met Alex’s.
“I thought you might remain unconscious for the procedure.”
Alex’s lips pulled back in a snarl at the sound of the General’s voice. He shifted his eyes to the left and found General Jared Carso watching him from a few paces away, his arms crossed in front of his chest and his gaze impassive. The General’s buzzed black hair showed more gray at the temples than Alex remembered. His dark blue eyes held Alex’s. “It’d probably be easier on you, but now you’re awake and we can’t administer more silver, so we’ll test the limits of your pain tolerance.” A slight smile lifted his lips at the thought.
“What do you want with me?” Alex demanded.
“I want my son,” the General replied.
Alex grasped at the chance. “I’ll help you find Drogan if you’ll let Kalia go.”
The General’s mouth curved in a humorless smile. “Not Drogan. My other son. ” His eyes narrowed. “My men have already located Drogan. I’ll have him back at my side shortly. I need my other son.”
Alex’s heart twisted in his chest at the General’s implications. “Why?” he made himself ask.
A hungry light flickered in the General’s eyes. “Think of a werewolf with your abilities under my control. The beast you hold inside is more powerful than a dozen of my hounds. I’ll make you mine, and use you to tear down your little Academy. Without Jaze’s defenses, I’ll have your sister in no time.”
Ice flooded Alex’s veins. He didn’t know how the General had figured out about Cassie and the Academy. No one knew, except... His eyes flickered to Kalia.
“I’m so sorry,” Kalia said. Tears glittered in her eyes. “They made me tell them everything.”
“It’s okay,” Alex told her despite the fear in his heart for his sister. Jaze and Tennison would protect Cassie. Kalia had no one but him. “I’m going to get you out of here,” he told her. “You’re going to be alright, I promise.”
Kalia nodded, her gaze holding him as if he was her only hope. He tried to move, to break free, to do anything, but the silver held him paralyzed. He could barely swallow.
“
As touching as this is, I have a reunion with my son to get to,” the General said. He motioned to his physicians.
The table Alex was on rotated with a mechanical hum. The bands held him tight as he was turned over completely. He stared at the black-flecked white tiles, unsure what was going to happen. Fear made his heartbeat ragged. He tried to force his breathing to calm.
“We’ve never operated on a werewolf that is awake,” a man spoke with a thick accent. “He might not survive.”
“He’s a Carso. He’ll be fine,” the General replied. “Proceed.”
Burning pain tore into the base of Alex’s skull. He tried to move, but he was helpless to do anything but feel the slice of a knife and instruments used to peel his skin back. Something scraped against his skull. Tingles ran down his limbs followed by shards of lightning. Alex gritted his teeth in an attempt not to cry out.
“Leave him alone!” Kalia shouted. The sounds of her struggling came muffled to Alex’s ears. “What are you doing to him?”
“Implanting a microchip that will allow me to control your boyfriend’s brainwaves and muscular activity,” the General replied with a tone of satisfaction. “Alex will be the leader of my hound army.”
Pain flooded Alex’s entire body in waves of heat and cold so fierce he couldn’t think. Yells escaped him and his teeth clenched so hard his jaw felt like it would break. Eventually, the pain subsided. Sharp stabs pierced Alex’s skin. Something cold was swabbed over the wound. Gauze was pressed against his neck, then medical tape.
A physician pressed a button and the table slowly rotated back over. A light shined in his eyes. Alex wanted to blink, but his eyelids refused to respond. He felt separate from himself, as though he watched the scene from a distance.
“It’s done,” the physician announced.
“Alex!” Kalia shouted.
“What should we do with the girl?”
Alex wanted to look at the General, but he couldn’t do even that.
“He’s mine now,” the General replied. “Take her outside and kill her. I’m going to meet Drogan.”
