“Good thinking.” At least one of them was showing common sense. “Is there a back way out of the palace?” He coughed. His worthless, useless eyes were watering from the soot-filled water. Of course they were.
“Yes.” She coughed, too. “But first, I’m going to see that my family is okay.” The sharpness in her voice told him she meant it.
He set his jaw, preparing in advance for her protest. “Alisa, it’s not safe.”
“You know what?” Her fierce tone had his wolf sitting up and taking notice. “I don’t care. This is my family. I refuse to abandon them.”
He couldn’t exactly blame her. Even his wolf approved. But still, it fell to him to try and keep her from harm. “Try to call your brother again.”
“I will, after we get out of this water and away from this smoke. Let’s go.”
As she spoke, the sprinklers suddenly shut off. It seemed oddly silent without the loud hiss and shower of water.
“Thank the hounds,” she said. “I’m guessing this means the fire is out.”
“Maybe.” He sniffed, inhaling sharply. “Or maybe not. The smoke is getting worse.”
And it was. Though he couldn’t see, he’d smelled this kind of smoke before. Black, roiling smoke, uncurling like a snake, rolling ahead of the storm with a threat of heat.
Which meant that somehow, somewhere, despite the sprinkler system’s deluge of water, it hadn’t been successful in putting out every fire. One, at least, still burned somewhere.
But how? If everything was sodden… Then he realized. An accelerant had been used. The only kind of fire that water wouldn’t extinguish was a grease fire, but that made absolutely no sense. Not in this instance. He’d heard the bombs. If it had been up to him to guess, he’d say gasoline or kerosene had been the accelerant. But if either one had, water should have put it out.
The heat and smoke grew more intense, nearly beating them back. “The fire must be on the other side of a wall,” he rasped.
“It’s bad,” she choked. “I can’t breathe.”
“We need to get low to the ground.” He pulled her down with him into the warm, dirty water. “There’s more oxygen down here.”
Gasping for breath, they huddled together for a moment. Already soaked and chilled, they found the additional dampness made absolutely no difference. Moving as one, they crawled forward until his arms and back and sodden kneecaps ached. And if he hurt, he knew she had to as well. Yet she never protested or complained. His admiration for her grew in leaps and bounds. Had he ever truly thought her a pampered, spoiled princess? Now, when it truly mattered, she did better than him.
She stopped suddenly and he bumped into her. Raising into a half crouch, he lifted his head and sniffed the air. The smoke seemed to be dissipating. Good. The filthy, acrid water, however, was not.
“I feel like I’ll never be dry again.” Her wry tone made him smile.
“I hear you. Are we almost there?” he asked.
Her cough seemed deeper this time. “I’m not sure. It’s hard to see in all this smoke, but it shouldn’t be too much farther. It’s really making my head hurt. I get migraines and I feel one coming on.”
Concerned, he squeezed her hand. She sounded weak, on the edge of collapse. Dizzy himself, he knew if they didn’t get away from the smoke, they weren’t going to make it.
“Can you run?” he asked her suddenly. “It may be our only chance.”
“I think so,” she wheezed. “Hold on to the back of my blouse and we’ll try.”
Heart pounding, he jumped up and leapt forward when she did, willing his air-starved body to press on. He had to—they had to. If they failed, the consequences were too horrible to contemplate.
“Here,” she grunted, gasping as she slammed up against a door. Pushing it open, she pulled him through. He kicked the door closed behind them.
Fresh air. Arms linked, they stumbled forward and both dropped to their knees, dragging in great, gasping breaths. Next they needed to check on her family and then he—or they—had to get Alisa to a safe place. Starting now.
The instant he tried to stand up, dizziness overwhelmed him. Interesting that he could still get dizzy when he couldn’t see. Holding the wall, he struggled to find his equilibrium. But as soon as he did, he doubled over, coughing and wheezing, trying to clear his lungs. Dimly he was aware of her next to him, doing exactly the same.
Finally, he was able to inhale without coughing.
“Are you ready?” she sputtered.
“Yes. We need to get moving. It won’t be too long before smoke makes its way into the stairwell.”
Taking his hand in hers, she directed his other hand to the rail. “Let’s go.”
“How many flights?”
“We were on the sixth floor.”
Great.
Down they went, the metal stairs clanging underfoot. Around and around at each level, the closer they drew to the main floor, the louder the clanging sirens became.
“I don’t know what floors are on fire,” she said. “Surely they weren’t able to hit everything at once.”
“Unless they had people inside again.”
She went silent, remembering the three men who had posed as security guards.
Finally, they ran out of stairs and came up against the final door.
“This comes out by the kitchen,” she told him. “I don’t think they’ll be looking for us there.”
“Lead the way.”
As soon as she pushed the door open, noise erupted from another part of the building. Screaming and shouting and the panicked sounds of people trying to make sense out of what was happening. Once again, water sloshed underfoot and the air still stank of smoke, though only faintly.
“My father’s offices are on this floor. I’d like to check there first.”
“Let’s go.”
As they darted through the kitchen area, her leading him, he thought again about trying to will his eyes to see, but saw no reason to subject himself to the foolish and completely unscientific hope.
The smoky air had slightly dissipated, which meant the fire had to be out on this floor.
The kitchen appeared to be deserted. Apart from some debris that they had to dodge, they had a clear path to the door.
“We’re almost at the exit,” she exclaimed. “I can see the big red exit sign glowing over the door.”
Saying nothing, he simply continued moving.
“We’re here.” She placed his hand against metal that was still a bit warm. “It seems to be stuck.”
He nodded, thinking of all the action movies he’d seen back in his sight-filled days. “We’re going to have to ram the door. On the count of three.”
“Do you think it will work?” She sounded dubious.
“It has to. One, two, three.” He slammed up against the door in unison with her. Miraculously the metal gave and wedged open, bringing a rush of cooler air though still tainted by smoke.
“We’ll have to try once more.” This time, she counted out and they hit it again. Stepping through, Braden braced himself for what might be on the other side.
To his surprise, they were greeted by the sound of… nothing. The noise they’d heard earlier, the shouts and crashes, had ceased as abruptly as if they’d been only a recording.
“What the…?” Alisa started to ask.
Before she could finish, a woman screamed.
“Wait here,” Braden ordered, and then charged forward, rounding the corner without her.
* * *
“Wait here?” Stunned, Alisa repeated his words. Really? Was he crazy? First off, she’d never been very good at standing around doing nothing. Princess or no princess, she couldn’t hide like a cowering child and let some big, brave, blind man do all the dangerous stuff.
So, after losing maybe three seconds to her understandable confusion, she went after him. Dodging water still spraying from broken sprinklers, past sooty marble that had once been blindingly white, down the long, long hallwa
y that no longer resembled a palace, but instead a war zone in some other country. Or a medieval artist’s version of hell.
Worse, the hallway stretched out in front of her, long and water-filled and clear. Where was he? How had he managed to vanish so quickly? Cursing under her breath, she picked up the pace.
Walking along the hallway as it turned, she still saw no sign of him. Or of anyone else, which was really odd.
Why had she let him go off without her? The man couldn’t even see, for hounds’ sake.
Or could he?
Remembering his brief flash, when he’d claimed the blackness had lightened, she wondered. Had his sight been miraculously restored to him, and if it had, why wouldn’t he have told her?
A sound up ahead—men fighting?—made her try to run, sloshing through the deepening standing water, frantic to get to wherever Braden had gone.
When the man jumped out in front of her, she slammed right into his outstretched arms. Instinctively, she lashed out, fighting with determination born from panic. She landed one good right hook before he grabbed her hands.
“Lisa, Lisa, hold on.” Her brother Ruben’s face swam into focus. Then, before she could get a single relieved word out, he crushed her to him in a giant bear hug.
“Thank God you’re all right.”
Blinking, she hugged him back, then pushed out of his arms. “Ditto. But, Ruben, we’ve got to find Braden.” Quickly, she told him what had happened.
“There’s no way he could have disappeared like that.” Ruben eyed her like he thought she might have hit her head. “Come on, sis. He’s blind. It’s difficult enough to move fast in all this water when you can see, but—”
“I know. And he only got a few seconds’ head start on me. That’s why I think someone got him.” Clamping her teeth together to keep from getting hysterical, she went to move around him. “Either that, or he’s hurt somewhere. We’ve got to find him.”
Ruben didn’t budge. “First, let me tell Father and Mother that I found you and that you’re all right.”
Before she could protest, he dug out his phone and typed in a quick text message. “I’m not calling because you know Father would order me to bring you in immediately and then where would we be?”
As he pocketed his cell, the ringer went off to notify him that he had an incoming call. Glancing at the caller ID, he hit the decline button so the call would go to voice mail. “See? What’d I tell you? That was him.”
Jittery with impatience, Alisa nodded. “Come on. The more time we waste standing here, the less chance we have to help Braden.”
“Fine.” He grabbed her hand. “You really care about him, don’t you?”
Glaring at him, she swallowed hard. “Does it matter? He’s a famous scientist and I consider him…a friend. We can’t just let him die in our home.”
“You didn’t answer my question.”
“Ruben!” She punched him. “Let’s go. Now.”
“All right. But I’m not letting you out of my sight. You check the rooms on the left, I’ll get the ones on the right. Okay?”
Giving him a terse nod, she started forward, hating that she practically had to drag him along with her. If not for the obvious danger, she’d yank herself free and search for Braden alone.
Chapter 14
Braden felt like a fool. Only an idiot would have gone charging after what had sounded like a woman in distress. Really, what had he imagined he would do once he reached her? Fight her assailants effectively despite being blind?
Luckily for him, the sound he’d heard hadn’t been a woman at all. Instead, he’d literally stumbled across a large and very wet dog, trapped and highly distressed. He’d mistaken its whimper for a woman’s cry.
When Braden followed his ears into one of the small drawing rooms, he splashed right into the animal. With a stuck paw, the beast was up to its belly in water in what seemed to be a small closet.
Braden knelt down in the chilly water and reached out. Again, the dog tried to bump him sideways, this time nearly knocking him down with the sheer force of his stocky body. Luckily, the animal was friendly. Despite the pain it must be in, it seemed to recognize that he was there to help.
What had trapped its paw? Feeling along under the water, he found some kind of opening, like a loose board. An opening in the wall that had partially closed on the dog’s foot. He pulled and tugged and finally used his own foot to wedge the board wide enough for the animal to free its paw.
Once he’d done so, the shivering and sodden beast had gone wild with joy, leaping on him hard enough to send Braden back on his butt in the smelly water. Now he just had to find Alisa.
Murmuring soothing nonwords to the animal while it licked his face, Braden heard a masculine voice talking out in the hall. At once, he fell silent, though he continued to hold the dog close by the collar. The last thing he needed was for the dog to begin barking and potentially notify his enemies of his location.
Standing tall and alert, the dog began to wag his tail—his entire body actually, trying to pull away. Listening closely, Braden realized what he’d heard were not enemies at all. The voices belonged to Alisa and Ruben.
Relieved, he rose from his crouch and, keeping one hand on the collar buried in the dog’s scruff to keep him in place, called out.
“Braden?” Alisa cried. “Where are you?”
“Right here.” He leaned partially out of the closet entrance. “I found a dog.”
“York?” Ruben sounded joyful. “You found my York? Come, boy.”
With a joyful yelp, the dog broke away and bounded forward, splashing through the water. Braden had no choice but to let him go. He started to follow, but Alisa beat him to it, running up to him and slamming into him with a full-body hug.
After she released him, she took his hand and held on tight. Outside, in the room itself, they could both hear the sounds of Ruben and his pet’s happy reunion.
“York’s been missing for a couple of days now,” Alisa said, a smile in her voice. “We thought he’d gotten outside and run off, though no one claimed to have seen him do so. We didn’t have any idea what happened to him. Ruben feared the worst.”
“I guess he got lost in the palace. It’s certainly big enough to do so.”
“Maybe.” She sounded doubtful. “But we searched every room on every floor. Teams combed the entire palace. Ruben really loves that animal. I’m just glad you found him.”
“What kind of dog is it?”
“A German shepherd,” she told him. “He’s a very large eleven-month-old puppy.”
“What about you?” he asked, curious. “Do you have a dog, too?”
“No. Me, I keep cats. They’re more of a challenge.”
Braden couldn’t help but laugh. Most cats, unless raised around shifters since they were kittens, could sense the wolf inside and took an intense dislike to anyone who was Pack.
Straightening up, he winced as a sharp pain stabbed him across the forehead and eyes.
“Are you all right?” Alisa asked, slipping her arm around his waist and again hugging him close. “You gave me quite a scare.”
“I’m sorry. Bit of a headache, but I’m sure I’ll be fine.”
“Ah, headaches. I certainly can relate to them. Braden, you shouldn’t have run off like that.” Though chiding him, she continued to hold him close.
“I know. But the dog’s whimper sounded like a woman in trouble and I didn’t think, I just reacted.”
“You two look…cozy,” Ruben said flatly, startling Braden. “Mind telling me what’s going on?”
Alisa moved away as though guilty of something. Braden went to shake his head, then winced at the pain. The last thing he needed was Ruben learning that his sister and Braden were lovers. Even imagining this made him clench his jaw. Before he could frame a suitable response, Alisa gasped.
“Ruben, look. Down there, in the left corner. There’s a door in the closet. It’s partly open,” she explained, no doubt for Braden’s b
enefit.
“That’s what trapped your dog’s paw,” Braden said. “What is it, anyway, a secret passageway?” He tried to make a joke to defuse the tension.
“Actually, it probably is.” Rather than angry, Ruben sounded stunned. “Ever since Lisa and I were kids, we’ve heard stories about an interconnected series of tunnels that run throughout the palace. Though we looked, we never had any luck in finding them.”
“Believe me, we looked,” Alisa put in, her relief and awe almost palpable.
“That would explain how York was able to literally vanish right from underneath our noses.”
“And,” Braden said slowly, “this would also explain how the extremists are able to come and go undetected.”
Ruben cursed.
“What exactly has happened out there?” Braden asked. “Were there explosions?”
“Yes. One device was a bomb on a timer. The other appeared to be some sort of Molotov cocktail, though it was tossed by someone inside the palace.”
“Like a mole.” Braden nodded to show he understood.
“A traitor,” Ruben said flatly. “Two people on our domestic staff were killed.”
“But Mother and Father are all right?” Alisa asked.
“Yes, of course. Though Father is spitting mad. On top of trying to secure the palace, we’ve now got to investigate for someone working from the inside.”
“Well, the tunnels can explain a lot of that.”
“Yes,” Ruben agreed, grim-voiced. “They certainly can.”
“Let’s go check this out.” Alisa pushed on Braden’s back, trying to propel him toward the back of the closet and the door.
“Alisa, wait.”
“If you’re worried about our safety, don’t be. Ruben’s armed, so we should be safe enough.”
“Not necessarily.” Braden refused to move. “We have no idea how many of them might be in there or how heavily armed they are. Ruben’s one weapon would be worthless against five or ten armed men.”
“He’s right.” Still sounding grim, Ruben agreed. “Let me call security. We need a small, armed force to accompany us. Perhaps I’ll simply have them investigate these tunnels.”
The Wolf Princess: The Wolf PrincessOne Eye Open (The Pack) Page 17
