The blond male pushed her down the hall, his fist still in her back. She wanted to be brave, but she couldn’t help the slight shuffle that started in her feet. His hand dug a little more into her skin as she leaned back into his fist. Jasmine knew she had to be locked up in here, but she sure as hell wasn’t in any hurry to have him toss her into one of these cells. The first metal door they passed looked like something tore it up from the inside as if trying to escape. The latch no longer worked and it hung on its hinges at a slant. What in the hell had happened in there?
A door three up on the left opened and a female wolf exited, capturing Jasmine’s attention. Her red head was bowed low, displaying unruly curls and Jasmine picked up a familiar scent coming from her as she passed, as well as the scent of desire. One of the guards locked the door she’d come from and continued his patrol.
None of these men seemed to comment or react to the smells. For a moment Jasmine found it odd. She stopped worrying about their reactions and concentrated more on the familiar scent as they passed that door. Recognition hit her. Javin. He must be behind that door. And the good news was he was alive. And apparently he was still working his charms on the ladies. She wanted to roll her eyes. Only Javin would be trying to hook up while he was a captive somewhere.
Jasmine wanted to do a double take at the woman who’d passed, but that was impossible with the big blond man steering her forward. It still struck her odd that these men didn’t react to the scent of desire coming off her, or at least question it.
“Were you born a wolf? Or are you one of Arik’s twisted experiments?”
“Shut up,” Misha replied.
Apparently she hit a nerve. But she had an answer to her question. These wolves were young and were still figuring out scent patterns. And being around females in heat probably made it even more difficult. She decided to press him and see if he’d admit it. “What? I figured you’d be proud of your new posts as rapists.”
He jerked her to a stop and spun her to face him. Yep. Definitely hit a nerve this time.
He glanced down the hall and spotted the other two guards near the end of the corridor then focused on her.
A trickle of fear ran over her nerve endings as he put his face right in front of hers and whispered through clenched teeth.
“You don’t know a fucking thing about me.”
Before she could respond, he spun her back around and resumed their former position. He walked faster now, pushing her down the hall toward the metal door at the end.
He made quick work of the lock and pulled the door open. Five females were huddled together in a corner. Misha pushed her inside. She stumbled but she didn’t miss the hopeful look that crossed one woman’s face. There and gone before anyone else seemed to notice.
Jasmine didn’t have a chance to turn and look at her jailer again before the door closed with a metallic boom at her back. Her eyes adjusted to the low light coming from one yellow bulb in the high ceiling. She pulled against the chains binding her arms and wanted to groan. Shadeau still had the key. So far this wasn’t working out exactly the way they wanted it to.
Many scents assaulted her nose at once. A few of these females were in heat, and she could smell other male wolves in the mix as well. Her stomach knotted and she choked back the nausea that threatened.
None of these women looked familiar, but there was that same hint of pine she associated with the alpha Brock. The bitter scent of fear also hung thick in here. It made her want to howl.
No one said anything for a few minutes. The blond man’s heavy booted footfalls could be heard receding down the hallway. Each face in the room turned her way and the women started to move slowly away from the corner of the room. Jasmine inhaled a surprised breath as she noticed that one of the heads she’d counted as a woman was actually a teenage girl.
Dark hanks of hair covered her pale face, but Jasmine could see her bright-green eyes through the curtain. Physically she was developed. Womanly curves adorned her body, but Jasmine figured she couldn’t be very far out of puberty. “How old is she?”
A dark-headed woman on the right answered. “Eighteen.”
Jasmine turned to look at the woman who’d spoken. Her chin-length hair was matted in knots, and her clothes and skin were testament to her treatment since arriving in this hellhole. Not wanting to think what this woman might have endured, she scanned the women in the room. “My name is Jasmine.”
“Piper.” This came from the woman with short dark hair.
“Chandra.”
Jasmine turned and nodded toward the petite woman with long dark hair and light-green eyes. She’d been the one who for a second had seemed to be happy to see the man who escorted her here. She wondered what was up with that, but decided not to inquire about it now.
“Cindy,” a curvy redhead called from the left.
“Sharron.”
Jasmine studied the blonde woman who spoke through gritted teeth. She had a feeling Sharron was only pissed at the situation and wasn’t meaning to sound like a hardass. At least that’s what she told herself. She didn’t need to provoke a fight with any of these women and definitely not while her arms were chained.
“Selena,” the young girl spoke softly in the back.
Jasmine’s heart sank. Could this be the Selena whom Kendall called mate? “Are you Brock’s niece?”
She pushed her hair away from her face and her eyes widened. “You know my uncle? Does he know where I am? Is he coming? They have Kendall too, and—”
Piper approached Selena. “Calm down. You don’t need to have another breathing problem.”
Jasmine raised a brow in question.
Chandra answered. “She hyperventilated when one of the men came in here threatening to take her for…”
Jasmine’s pissed meter reached a new level. “But she isn’t in heat. She isn’t really even old enough to go into heat.”
Chandra swallowed hard. “He didn’t care.”
“But he didn’t take her.”
Jasmine turned to look at Cindy as the redhead began telling the rest of the story.
“When Selena started screaming and yelling for Kendall an awful ruckus erupted down the hall. We think it was Kendall.”
Selena started crying. “It was him, but I haven’t heard him since.”
Jasmine remembered the mangled door and her eyebrows shot up as shock entered her body. Had Kendall done that? Dayum. She approached the young girl. “It’s okay. I’m sure he’s fine. Kendall is pretty strong and I’ve heard Luken talk about him. He has alpha potential, so don’t worry.”
Selena’s shoulders shuddered with a muffled sob as she nodded her head.
Jasmine panned the room with her gaze as she spoke softly to the group. “I’m actually here to do recon.”
A couple ladies gasped.
“It’s difficult to explain, but if things work the way I hope they will, we may be out of here in a few days.”
“Why are you giving them false hope?” Sharron bit out.
Jasmine directed her stare to Sharron. “I’m not.”
“We’ve been stuck here for days without anyone coming for us. What makes you think that is going to change? Why haven’t our alphas come for us?” Sharron demanded in a raised voice.
Cindy placed a hand on Sharron’s shoulder. “Calm down. This woman has nothing to do with what is happening to us here, so don’t take it out on her.”
Sharron cast a cold stare at Cindy. “Whatever.” She marched to the corner and sat down.
“You’ll have to excuse Sharron. They were pretty rough with her. She was the first of us to go into heat,” Piper whispered.
Jasmine swallowed hard as sorrow clogged her throat. These women had been through hell, and apparently some more than others. “Are you saying that all of you have been…?”
Heads nodded in agreement, except one. Jasmine noticed that Chandra hesitated. “Were you raped, Chandra?”
“Of course she was,” Cindy answered. �
�They only put us in here if we are too young to breed like Selena or have already been raped.”
Chandra’s mouth opened and closed.
Jasmine strode over to her and took in her scent. She smelled like honeysuckle and the man who had escorted Jasmine to the room. Something was amiss. This was also the same woman who had looked at Jasmine’s escort with hope-filled eyes as he’d shoved Jasmine into the room. It might not have been the time to ask why then, but it sure seemed like a good idea now.
“Did you willingly breed with him?”
“No,” Chandra replied, her face showing her alarm. “It wasn’t like that.”
Everyone was now staring at her.
“He spared me,” she whispered as she looked down at the cement floor.
Confused looks were exchanged by the group.
Chandra sighed. “He told me he wouldn’t hurt me. He said we had to put on a show for them though. I tried to explain how they would know by my scent that he was lying. He was horrified.”
“So you slept with him willingly?” Piper asked.
“No,” Chandra replied. “He didn’t…that is…we didn’t have sex.”
“So what did you do then?” Jasmine asked, hopeful that there was a possibility they may be able to get some assistance from this Misha guy.
“I used my hand and then rubbed it into my skin,” Chandra whispered, mortification lacing her words.
A collective, “Oh,” filled the silence.
Sharron broke into tears.
“I’m so sorry,” Chandra spoke quickly. “I don’t know why I was so lucky and you ladies weren’t.”
“No, Chandra,” Jasmine cut off her rambling. “You don’t have to be sorry for being spared.”
“I feel awful that I was lucky.”
“Jasmine’s right,” Cindy said. “You were lucky. At least one of us was.”
Piper crossed the room and put her arms around Sharron.
“It’s the first time she’s cried,” Cindy said.
“It probably won’t be the last,” Piper whispered.
Chapter Eleven
Shadeau released Jasmine, biting the inside of his cheek as Misha took her away from him. Damn it. He should have stood firm and left her at the barn. But he knew she would have followed regardless. When they returned home, they were going to have a long talk about her stubborn streak.
“So where did you hide while you were gone?” Arik asked.
“In a barn for a few days. Then we had to move around. Your plans to incite the humans worked rather well, so I was having to avoid hunting parties of both varieties.”
Arik clapped Shadeau on the shoulder and steered him away from the bunker they’d taken Jasmine to and guided him toward a mobile home that served as an office of sorts. It took an enormous amount of restraint not to shake that offending hand off as Shadeau walked beside him.
His instincts screamed to run and get his mate. Misha better not hurt one hair on her damn thick head. Shadeau had to give himself a mental shake. Arik was talking to him and he wasn’t listening to a damn word.
“For a few days.”
What? What was for a few days? Shadeau glanced at him. Arik looked as if he wanted some response. Shit. Shadeau nodded his head in agreement, hoping that would be a correct move. He wanted to sigh in relief when Arik continued to talk. Slips like that couldn’t happen again. He needed to be focused.
“I’m leaving Misha in charge. Those bastards in the Ozarks managed to kill Ivan.” Arik stopped to open the door of the office.
Shadeau bowed his head and spoke. “I’m sorry for the loss.” He wasn’t one damn bit sorry. He hated that prick Ivan before the raids, now he couldn’t help the feeling of elation knowing the motherfucker had died.
Arik turned and addressed Shadeau from inside the threshold. “They’ll pay for what they did. Can I count on you to support Misha while I’m gone?”
“Yes.”
“Good. Don’t disappoint me, Shadeau. You have a great opportunity to become higher up in the food chain with me.” Arik closed the door.
Shadeau curbed his urge to run to Jasmine and headed off toward the bunkhouse where he’d spent his nights before meeting Jasmine. Things had started to go south when Misha was asked to escort her, but they were looking up now. With Arik gone, it would be easier to get release the hostages. Shadeau had to figure out how he was going to deal with Misha. He didn’t know anything about the blond-headed man. Only that he was with Arik before their change. Another lap dog of sorts.
He climbed the few wooden steps that led to building where his room was located. It was funny to think of it as his room. When they’d first come here after Arik slaughtered his old alpha, Shadeau had been so excited about this room and all the things inside it. His stomach knotted with nausea as he opened the door and entered the hall.
How in the hell had he ever thought this place would bring him happiness? Had he become numb in his feelings after all these years? He knew what Arik was from the moment he laid eyes on him. A sick, twisted, power-hungry man. Could he have really pretended to stay blind to the butchering of morals?
His heart clenched. The inner questions scared him, because if Jasmine hadn’t come along he was unsure how he’d have answered them.
The door to his room was unlocked. Shadeau had seen no point in locking it before he left. Wolves respected each other’s space. And even though there were a lot of newbies running around, there were still enough of the old guys around to make sure nothing happened. The personal shit he carried with him to this place could fit in a grocery sack. It consisted mostly of clothes and wasn’t worth much anyway.
He closed the door behind him and surveyed the area. Light-blue textured walls surrounded him. His bed was a mess, jumbled with covers that he’d tossed back the morning he left. A few dirty clothes littered the floor. His stare went to the wall with the entertainment center and he wanted to roar with fury. Material things like this had been the payment he’d received to hurt the people Jasmine loved. He clenched his hands at his sides, resisting the urge to grab the piece of furniture and dump it over. The action would only draw attention he didn’t need. His gaze panned the room again. There was no longer anything for him here.
A knock sounded at the door and he jerked around, muscles tense—ready for battle. “Come in.”
The door opened slowly and Shadeau relaxed his guard slightly as he recognized his friend Jason.
“Hey. I heard you were back. I was starting to think we lost you in the attack.”
Shadeau accepted Jason’s offered hand and gave it a quick pump in greeting. “It would take a lot bigger army than that to take me down.”
Jason ran a hand through his thick brown hair as he stuffed the other into his jeans pocket. “I’m glad you’re still around. I actually want to show you something if you’re up to it?”
Going with Jason would definitely beat sitting here alone. Besides, he needed to make sure nothing around the camp had changed. “Yeah.”
Shadeau followed Jason outside. The earlier sunshine was now filtered by gray clouds.
Jason pitched his head back and looked up. “Looks like we’ll be getting some snow.”
Shadeau nodded. He hoped the weather would hold off for a bit. It would be a lot easier to escape and avoid being tracked. They walked in silence. A few people they passed waved and they returned the gesture. But the differences in the pack here and in the Ozarks were notable. Here they worked as a unit, but they lacked the true affection that shined through in all the packs gathered together in the Ozarks. Was the lacking affection what made the difference? Without that sense of belonging, did it make it easier for them to attack and destroy other families? As if they had no clue what they were destroying?
It was sickening to think about. He pushed the thoughts from his head. His past no longer mattered, only his future. And his future was sitting in a cell right now waiting for him.
Shadeau concentrated on his and Jason’s destination. T
hey walked to the far side of the camp, past construction crews, noticing a lot of progress had been made since the last time he’d been here. When Jason continued on beyond the camp perimeter, it intrigued Shadeau. What had his friend found?
The farther they walked the denser the foliage became. The trees were tucked so close together that snow still sat on the ground in places from the last storm. Between the canopy of limbs and the clouds, light became scarce. They continued on for what seemed about a mile before Jason turned and faced him again.
Shadeau didn’t see anything around them that would be considered an amusing find, so Jason must have wanted to talk to him away from all the sensitive ears of the pack.
“What really happened while you were gone?”
Shadeau raised his eyebrow in question. “What do you mean what happened?”
“I could hear you talking to Arik about the female. Something in your voice didn’t sound right. You were on edge.”
The situation had become more serious. Shadeau wasn’t sure how to answer, but he knew he had to tread carefully. The thought of having to take Jason’s life in order to protect Jasmine made his heart constrict, but he would do it. “I think you’ve had too much caffeine and read something into it that wasn’t there.”
“We’ve known each other for a long time, Shadeau. I didn’t read shit into anything. And I sure as hell didn’t miss the way your pulse jumped when Misha was ordered to take the female away.”
Fuck! Shadeau strived to keep a calm exterior. Where in the hell had Jason been when all this happened? He didn’t remember seeing him, but there were a lot of structures around them he could have been hiding behind. He laughed off Jason’s words. “What is with you, man? All these females we’re bringing in are nothing but a piece of ass. A means to create Arik’s army.”
Jason charged at Shadeau and they both went to the ground. What the hell? He had no idea what had set his friend off. As they rolled, Shadeau’s back collided with a tree trunk, knocking the breath out of him. But Jason wasn’t after his throat. As Jason grabbed handfuls of the front of Shadeau’s shirt, he could now see the panic written all over his friend’s face.
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