Rack or Ruin (The Desecrated Pack Book 3)

by Jude Marquez

  He cursed and looked around. “We could hide?”

  I shook my head.

  Eli’s shoulders slumped. “There’s a lot of them, Lou. If you aren’t a full strength-”

  “I am,” I said. I nodded, confident. “We can do this.”

  I felt more than ready to take them on. I felt like I could take on an army. I didn’t know what made me feel like this suddenly, but I would not look a gift horse in the mouth.

  Eli, not convince, nodded. He turned towards the door and stepped in front of me. I couldn’t help but remember what Azolata had said once about him.

  “You couldn’t design a better guardian than Elias Ortega.”

  They started banging on the door.

  “FBI! Open up!” Someone shouted on the other side.

  I watched Eli’s shoulders thicken with muscle and saw him grow in height. His claws descended from his nails and I knew that there were razor-sharp teeth filling his mouth now too.

  “Open up or we are coming in!” The man on the other side shouted.

  “Are they the FBI?” I asked, suddenly worried.

  Eli shook his head.

  “Okay. Get ready,” I muttered.

  I meant to open the door, but the door blasted outward, thrown off its hinges and slammed into the wall opposite our room.

  Eli didn’t waste any time. He ran for the opening, one hand on my wrist.

  On the other side of the door, the Ascendancy lay scattered on the floor, more than a few of them unconscious.

  But there was still the other group to deal with.

  Down the hall, the explosion had gotten their attention.

  Eli turned towards them for a split second and then turned away, headed in the opposite direction.

  I stumbled after him as he pulled me, but he must have realized that I was only slowing him down. He stooped, threw me over his shoulder and ran.

  Looking behind us, I raised a shield just as the Ascendancy began to fire.

  I grinned and started to laugh until I felt a familiar sting in the shield.

  Jessica.

  The witch from Glenwood Lock. She was powerful, knowledgeable, and part of the reason that we had lost that night.

  She stepped to the front lines of the Ascendancy and just as Eli hit the stairs, she caught my eye. She waved goodbye, but she didn’t look disappointed.

  Eli didn’t stop until we were on the second floor. He got us down much faster than I would have. He finally put me down as he slowed.

  “Are you okay?” He asked.

  I nodded.

  He pulled me close and kissed me firmly.

  The door banged open that led to the second floor and we both startled.

  A bunch of guys were standing there, staring at us. They looked just as confused as we were, though their confusion probably had something to do with the large bottles of alcohol in their hands.

  “Hey man. Love is love. Get you some,” one of the said and the group behind him nodded.

  There were about seven of them and an idea struck me. I looked at Eli and he glanced at me, curious.

  “Can I ask you guys a favor?” I said.

  I was getting a feeling off of them. An emotion of fierce support, somewhat fueled by alcohol.

  “Sure man. Hey you guys getting married? Do you need witnesses? Cause we are so down,” the guy in the front said. He had white blonde hair that kept falling in his eyes.

  “Actually, it’s not good. You see-” I cleared my throat and grasped Eli’s hand in mine. “My family, they are very religious. They don’t-”

  My voice trembled and Eli squeezed my hand.

  “They don’t support us. Me and him. Because we’re guys,” Eli explained.

  “Man, fuck that,” one guy shouted from the back. The group rumbled in agreement.

  Eli nodded.

  “But they’ve sent people after me. They want to hurt him and they want to take me,” I explained.

  The guys’ jaws dropped. “No way. Like a pray away the gay thing?”

  I nodded.

  “We can fight,” one guy from the middle said.

  “No, it’s not that,” I said in a rush. “We don’t want to draw any attention to ourselves.”

  The thought of these guys getting caught up in the Ascendancy bullshit made me slightly ill.

  “If you guys could just help us get out of here, we got it on our own. We’re just worried that there are more people in the lobby looking for us,” Eli said in a rush.

  “Hell yes.”

  “Mission Impossible shit.”

  Eli looked at me once more and there was that silent agreement. If anything went wrong, we would keep the boys that happily helped us safe, no matter what we had to do. We both knew that. We both agreed to that.

  Then they surrounded us. One guy pulled his beanie over my head and another shoved a hoodie at Eli.

  “Here,” one said and pressed a large bottle of alcohol into Eli’s hand. Eli frowned at it, but the guy patted him. “It’s just a prop. I know guys like you. Hit the gym a lot? Yeah, man. Yeah. It’s cool. Just hang onto it.”

  Then they were guiding us down the stairs. They all surrounded us; a shield of youth and optimism, their raucous laughter and chatter nothing unusual in the Vegas casino. Few people glanced our way and when they did and saw the alcohol the group was clutching, their gazes were dismissive.

  “Is that them?” One said in a low voice and I looked up.

  There was a man standing by the front desk, having an intense discussion with an employee. The employee looked terrified, and I hated that.

  I glared at him and then shifted my eyes to the ATM that was near the front desk. I considered what a delicate electric balance it worked on and how it would barely take anything for it to malfunction.

  Just a little... push.

  The ATM sparked and then began spitting out dollar bills.

  As soon as people noticed what was happening, they rushed the ATM. The machine next to it sparked, and it began to malfunction as well. Then the third one joined the other two.

  “Go,” Eli hissed at the guys.

  They led us through the crush of people. The Ascendancy never stood a chance against people rushing for free money. They were just as lost in the crowd.

  Once outside, we separated from the guys and handed their clothes and alcohol to them.

  “Pretty convenient that the ATMs started blowing up just then,” one guy remarked and studied us.

  I shrugged.

  Eli spun me around and dug in the backpack over my shoulders. When I turned, he was pushing bundles of bills in the guys’ hands.

  “For your trouble. Have a good time. Get drinks on us,” Eli instructed.

  They held the thick bundles in their hands, their mouths agape.

  “Don’t worry. It’s not like drug money or anything. I’m just really rich,” Eli said.

  The guy with the long blonde hair frowned. “We don’t need this.”

  “No. But I would like someone to have a good time here. Take it. Thank you,” Eli insisted and pulled me back. We were disappearing into the crowd.

  “Be safe!” One of them called and waved.

  We waved back.

  Then Eli turned us around and we headed for the street.

  THE CONVERSATION WITH Savannah wasn’t a motivating one. When I hung up with them, the three of us had nothing to say to each other and couldn’t meet each other’s eyes.

  Marcus left and when I found him, he was lining up the guns and ammo against a long wall in the hallway, a pad of paper in his hand. He was doing an inventory. He said nothing when I came out to find him.

  I remembered his words well. I knew he wanted to leave the town more than Dante or me.

  “If you want to go, go. I don’t blame you,” I mumbled.

  Marcus didn’t reply and I watched as he counted ammo and then neatly lined it up, stacked it, made a note, and then sighed. His shoulders hunched and shook his head.

  �
�I never liked Azolata,” he muttered.

  I felt my hackles raise.

  “At first I thought it was because he was weird. I mean if you were human and didn’t know anything about all this,” he gestured to the weapons and ammo in front of us. “Then you would think he was a weird guy. Quirky. I heard ‘mysterious’ a lot. But he was a big part of Celia’s life and so that meant I had to deal with him too.”

  Marcus didn’t turn, but he walked down the hall a bit until he came to another pile of ammo. Dante dumped most of it, not bothering to arrange it any manner. Why would he? He carried his weapons with him.

  Marcus crouched down and began to arrange the ammo again.

  “Then I found out and it made sense that Azolata was something,” Marcus continued.

  “But?”

  Marcus shrugged. “He’s more powerful than all of them put together. Until Lou and Dante came along, I guess. He scared me. I wasn’t the only one who had a dislike. He didn’t like me either. Fair play. That was fine.”

  “So you’re leaving,” I concluded, trying to figure out where this conversation was headed.

  “No. I know that Dante and I-” Marcus paused and stood up. He turned to me and tapped the pad of paper against his leg. His eyes were distant and he gazed past me, down the hall. “We aren’t like you and Billie. Dante and I don’t get along. We don’t like each other. But that doesn’t mean that he’s not my brother. And if he’s here, then I’m here. I don’t like it, but I think Dante dying is an unacceptable ending to all of this too. So. I’m not going. Not until he does, and I have accepted that he isn’t going until you and Azolata are with us.”

  “How noble,” I muttered.

  I looked up to see Marcus giving me a bitter smile. “I never said that I was. That’s an Ortega pack trait. I’m not pack. I’m more like a groupie. Believe me, I know my place.”

  I opened my mouth to argue with him; he was more important than that, but he shook his head at me. “Don’t. It’s fine. I had my chance and I blew it.”

  I closed my mouth and turned away from him. I went back to the lounge where Dante was pacing.

  “I was thinking-” he began.

  I held up a hand and went over to the broken soda machine. I grabbed a soda and drank it down. The sugar and carbonation burned going down and my eyes watered.

  When I was done, I burped and wiped my mouth. “You were thinking?”

  Dante looked disgusted, but he nodded. “Azolata has to be in town, somewhere right? He can’t leave. I mean, I’m sure over the years, he’s tried so I’m sure they put up something to keep him in, right?”

  I pursed my lips and thought about it. “I guess if you were strong enough, wards could keep him in. His brothers and sisters could do it.”

  He snapped and pointed at me. “Right. Wards. So he’s here, right? And this is Glenwood Lock. Marcus and I grew up here. There aren’t a lot of places to hide. So we look for him. How long could it take? A day? Maybe two?”

  “If we don’t get caught,” I muttered.

  “So we don’t get caught. And we take as many of them out as we can. Disrupt their operation. Become a thorn in their side.”

  “Guerrilla warfare?” I asked.

  “Yes,” he hissed fiercely.

  “How?” Marcus asked from the door.

  Dante turned and began to pace again. “That’s what I was thinking. We could disable their vehicles. Cut lines, ruin the engines. You took that class about the emergency backup systems here, right? We can take out the systems and then the backup ones too. Make this as uncomfortable as we can. Make it as hard as we can.”

  “Anything else?” I asked. I could feel a headache coming on.

  “Feed the forest,” Marcus suggested.

  I glanced at him, astonished. He shrugged. “Don’t act all prim and proper. They came here and invaded. All defenses to the front.”

  I remembered the eyes and teeth of the duende and Dante saying that there wouldn’t be anything left of them to find.

  “They stay away from the forest for a reason,” I realized.

  “We can figure that out later,” Dante said.

  “Then let’s figure out the best places that Azolata might be. Let’s make a list. Start there,” I said.

  Another piece of paper, another pen, and I sat at one table and looked up at the two brothers.

  “The church. I know that the one guy was lying, but it won’t hurt to check,” Marcus said.

  “The preschool. Lots of windows, it would be easy to watch him from the outside.”

  “Town hall. It’s where most of our meetings took place and it would make sense for them to just add a few more wards.”

  The list wasn’t long when I looked down at it. The library was suggested, and I hoped that it wasn’t there. Too many places to hide in the stacks and study rooms.

  “I wish we could talk to Artie. Maybe he could see a big blank spot where he might be. You know what I mean?” Dante said.

  I nodded.

  “I think we should wait for after dark. It’ll be easier on us,” Marcus said and pulled the list from me. He went over it and then began to jot things down. “Let’s do it this way: the church, town hall, the preschool, and then the library. That’s in order of what’s closest to what’s farther. Then we can use the forest to circle back around. It’ll take way longer, but it should be worth it.”

  I nodded.

  “Well, we can split up. I can take two of the places and you guys can take the other two. Meet back here-” Dante started.

  “No,” I said.

  Marcus was already shaking his head.

  “What? Why not?” Dante asked.

  “It’s too easy to take us down like that. Split up, we can’t offer each other the protection that we have together. We should stay together. It’s safer,” Marcus explained.

  Marcus knew how valuable backup was. But Dante knew more of his own strength and how the odds, even when it looked like they were stacked against him, could shift suddenly.

  “You don’t even care if we find him. You just want to tell Celia that we looked, couldn’t find him, and left,” Dante accused.

  I didn’t know if he was entirely off-base. But it seemed cruel and unnecessary to say so.

  “I want to find him. It would be nice if we had someone on our side that had strength and magic that knows what the fuck they are doing,” Marcus snapped.

  I took one step back. I was tired of defending them to each other. If it came to blows, Dante would win, and I wouldn’t stop him. Sometimes people just needed to beat the hell out of each other and get it out of their systems. I felt like these two were years past that point.

  “You think I don’t know what I’m doing? That’s laughable. You think all those weapons out there will do anything against Savannah’s grandparents? Because they won’t. It’s just you and another one of your plans that will fail again,” Dante snapped.

  “At least I have a plan and I’m not rushing into a bunch of bullets and soldiers just so I can be the hero. Come on, just admit it, you’re jealous because if Lou were here, this would already be taken care of and we wouldn’t be stumbling around like an idiot. If Lou were here, Azolata probably wouldn’t even be hidden,” Marcus replied.

  “Yeah, if Lou were here, then he would have already shut you up and agreed with me. This isn’t about safety; this is about finding a part of our pack, part of our family. I shouldn’t be surprised that you don’t know what that means,” Dante snarled, and I heard that animal rumble in his chest and I saw his eyes change, just barely.

  Then I saw his teeth which were a more obvious change.

  “I’m leaving. If you two make it back, I’ll see you then,” he snarled.

  He left out the door, and I watched him as he disappeared into the shadows of the forest across the field.

  “You two need therapy. Intensive, long-term therapy,” I said after a moment of brittle silence.

  Marcus glared at me.

  I
shrugged. He didn’t scare me anymore.

  “Let’s go. Grab whatever you think we’ll need, and I will write Dante a note in case he comes back before us. Where do you think he will go?” I asked and studied the list of places we had.

  “The preschool and the library. They are farther away than the others and harder to sneak up on,” Marcus said.

  Which left the church and the town hall for us.

  I shivered when I looked down at the church. I didn’t like them. Nothing good ever came out of them, not in my experience.

  “Let’s go,” Marcus said.

  Chapter 8

  The streets of the small town of Yerrington, Nevada were dark and empty. I felt like we had just crossed over into a ghost town.

  “How long will he sleep?” Savannah asked.

  “Until I wake him up,” I said.

  “It’s an old magic. The alphas used to have more, but they were too dangerous,” Gerri murmured.

  I frowned at the dark streets. “What do you mean?”

  “Imagine an alpha having the power that Lou has along with the power that you have,” Gerri said.

  I blinked. “But that wouldn’t make them dangerous.”

  “No, of course not. But one was enough. One wolf with that power that went dark and took his entire pack with him- It was more than enough. One with that power kick started the Ascendancy and the Convocation. I believe that he is still in their jails, deep in their depths,” Gerri said.

  I swallowed. “Great. Now I know who to thank for the mess we are in now.”

  “If he lives,” Gerri said.

  I fell silent and studied the streets. “It’s so frustrating learning about this sort of thing from you. Not that I’m not grateful. But our history, the stories that should have been handed down through families, they were torn from us, burned like we weren’t worthy of them.”

  “Get me into HQ and I will steal it back for you,” Savannah offered.

  I looked over at her. “What- are you serious?”

  She didn’t look over at me. “Yes. I would like to do better than what my family has done. If that means you get your history back, if you learn about all the good and bad of it, then that’s what I’ll do.”