“Axel,” Zaria said, softly with a voice that human ears would not understand.
“Thank you for the information,” I said. “It’s gotten us this far.”
Axel nodded at me, then held out the stack of clothes to Lance. Lance smiled and said, “Much appreciated.”
Zaria and I shifted to human form and dressed in the t-shirts and loose pants that Axel had provided. There were no shoes, but staying barefoot would keep the noise level down. It was thoughtful enough that Axel had brought us clothes.
“Where are the others?” Axel asked, looking around the corner toward the door.
“Amy and Witt will catch up.” Lance set down the extra sets of clothes on the head of the unconscious man on the floor.
“How are you holding up?” Zaria asked.
“I’ll be better when it’s done,” he answered, voice taut.
I never thought I would be following Axel's lead, but my step-brother had really come through for me. His instructions for our entry to the town and the guard schedules had been key to our success so far. I would always owe him for helping me save my mate.
“Let’s move,” I said, once we were all clothed.
Axel looked calm and confident as he led us through the halls. Maybe being in this town had helped him somehow. Maybe plotting revenge for Garret's death was what he needed to find purpose and control over his inner beast.
The hallways were eerily clear of Dashiell's men as we followed Axel through walkways and up the flight of stairs. The farther we traveled through the building, the less dirt was tracked on the hardwood. I wondered where everyone else was. It seemed that most foot traffic remained on the first floor, and that Axel knew how to avoid the others. We stopped at a reinforced door, with metal and extra locks recently attached. It looked like a make-shift prison cell. I couldn’t smell her vanilla, lavender scent, but this place was so full of wolves it was disorienting. Hailey wouldn’t have her soaps here, and with this door it had to be the place. She just had to be inside waiting for me.
“He keeps her here,” Axel said, and pushed the door open with ease. “This should be locked,” he said and placed a hand on the pistol holstered on his hip.
I rushed into the room, but I couldn’t smell my mate. The window was crudely boarded shut, and the dim light on the ceiling was caged, like a in a prison cell. I scanned the room and found blankets, pillows, and sleeping bags. She-wolves cowered in the corners by what once was a window; one sobbed loudly. Others laid on the floor, staring off into space. There was a dead man in the corner, throat slit. Hailey’s boots sat on the floor beside the body, but there was no other sign of her.
My head spun. What the fuck was I supposed to do now? Where was she? If she wasn’t here, where was she? “Hailey!” I screamed.
Zaria put her hand over my mouth, stifling some of the noise.
I had to find her. She was supposed to be here.
“Hold it together and go find her,” she said, my voice of reason.
“You're not coming?” I asked.
“Look at these women. You've called in the reinforcements, now get out of here before they show. I’ll make sure these poor girls do too,” she answered.
I looked at the she-wolves, thin and bruised, dirty and broken. How could I have let my Hailey be taken here? Did he put her in a frilly dress and hurt her too? I pictured her among them. My blood boiled. Dashiell would pay for his crimes, and I would get Hailey back.
“Come,” Axel said, looking at me through steady, dark eyes. A man I had considered reckless and volatile stood beside me unruffled, leaving me feeling irrational by comparison.
I looked to Lance. “I'm not leaving them like this,” he said. My brother’s kind, blue eyes were full of sadness and resolve. “Go ahead. I’ll come when they’re safe.”
Fuck. Four had followed me to this hellish place, yet we hadn’t found Hailey and my companions had scattered. I couldn’t do this alone.
I looked to Axel, then I followed him. He was the only one who could help lead me to my mate—the crazy step-brother who hated me.
Chapter Forty-One
Hailey
Troy had stayed in his bed, leaving his sister to die without lifting a finger. What kind of man would do that? I guessed the same kind that let his town burn and let his wife be taken as a sex slave. Trixie stood beside me in the room I had first been brought to when I was kidnapped, the library with the desk chair throne, the place Dashiell would decide our fate.
The room smelled like old books and a sweat-filled locker room, a strange combination. The wolves were quiet while we waited for the one-eyed beast to come, at least as far as I could tell with my heartbeat thrumming in my ears.
A sharp impact on the back of my leg dropped me to my knees. The impact hurt and my body lurched forward. I snapped my head back and saw the small blond man with sharp features who had led us here. His beady brown eyes, scraggly whiskers, and pointy nose reminded me of a rat. He held his boot an inch from my back and smiled at me. I worried for the fragile blade in my back pocket. If it broke, I would have nothing.
He forced Trixie to her knees beside me, and I wondered if she had a plan. I pulled from her strength, this she-wolf who didn't flinch at her execution. We would share one last stand, and if we were lucky she would get her revenge. But it would take more than luck for us to survive.
I spun the wooden engagement ring on my finger and pictured my mate. I thought of him in jeans and a t-shirt, wearing his leather jacket and leaning on his Harley as he waited for me after a long day at Rosebuds and Greenery. The sun set behind him, and amber shades in the sky mirrored his gorgeous eyes. I longed to touch him again, to feel his arms around me. I hoped Cole knew how much I loved him, that even in the end he was in my thoughts. Lance would have to help him deal with my death if I didn't make it home, and help him know it had not been his fault.
Heavy boot steps thudded against the hardwood floor by the door. I looked over and saw our enormous, shirtless captor walking from the doorway on the other side of the room. My stomach dropped at his appearance. Dashiell wore nothing but boots and black jeans that hung low on his hips. His muscular frame reminded me of my mate, but that was where the similarities ended. Dashiell bore more scars than Cole. Jagged tears and teeth marks covered his chest, the worst of which was the slice that disfigured his wide nose. His face was split in a wide grin, like everything was always so amusing. It was more disturbing than if he had looked upon us with anger.
Dashiell sat on his makeshift throne, decorated with slivers of metal. All eyes were on him, and his gaze lingered on Trixie.
“I just love your spirit,” he hissed between his crooked teeth.
Trixie leaned forward and spat at the feet of the would-be king of Ellistown. The brown-haired man behind her sneered and smacked the back of her head, knocking her red curls forward.
“Your timing could have been better, though,” Dashiell said. “We're expecting guests.” His one-eyed gaze shifted to me. “And not just for you. It seems we have a bear problem.”
“Bears?” Rat Face asked, voice shaking.
“Can't you smell it in the air?” Dashiell asked, with a wide smile and eyebrows raised. “Tonight will be full of fun. I've always wanted to try bear stew.”
Rat Face shifted his weight between his feet, and his companion, the brown-haired man with the goatee, grasped the gun at his hip until his knuckles whitened. Were bear shifters that intimidating to wolves that the mention of bears would set them on edge? Remembering my encounter with Liam Blake, I could see why. Perhaps the distraction would be enough to give us a chance.
“Now, what to do with you two?” Dashiell looked back and forth between me and Trixie. “Let's have a little fun. Beatrice is mine. You two can have the human. Leave her breathing, remember,” Dashiell said to the men behind us, with a sneer.
My heart raced, and my breath was ragged. Trixie had helped me survive so far, but even together we couldn’t take down all three. Th
e blade of glass felt heavy in my pocket. I didn’t know how long I could wait before I drew it. Could I still follow her lead? How far was she going to let this go before making her move?
Trixie stood and approached Dashiell on his throne, with her hand resting on her skirt, just above the blade I knew hid beneath. Watching intently, I jumped when the man behind me placed his rough hands on my shoulders. I ducked down away from his grasp and crawled on hands and knees toward the open door we had entered through. The goateed man closed the distance, placing himself between me and the door.
“Where do you think you're going? Stay down just like that,” he said, unzipping his jeans. He was the larger of the two, taller and more muscular than Rat Face. I was hyperaware of the shiv in my pocket, but I forced myself not to pull it out. Waiting until the right moment could mean the difference between life and death.
Shifting my focus between the two, I tried to keep my thoughts straight and struggled to take deep, even breaths.
“Takin' turns or a twofer?” Rat Face asked his friend. Goatee was bigger, so I had to go for him first. When he was close enough, I would have to make my move. I couldn’t wait any longer.
A horrid cackle filled the room, a pained laugh from behind me.
Both men turned to look at Dashiell. Trixie sat in his lap, legs straddling his. Her hand was on his face as she pulled back, leaving bloody glass sticking out of Dashiell's only eye. He held tight to her waist with both arms as she tried to push away.
“So feisty,” he said, and bit into her neck.
Trixie screamed as his teeth broke her skin.
My attention was pulled back to Rat Face, standing in the doorway, screeching. It took me a moment to realize a giant black wolf stood in the doorway beside him, with his teeth on the man's belly, and his golden eyes fixed on me.
“Cole!” I yelled. My mate had come for me, he made it in time to save me, and everything would be okay. With him here, I knew everything had to be okay.
A thick, hairy arm wrapped around my neck from behind. “You let me out of here, or I kill her,” he said to Cole, and pressed the hard barrel of his pistol to my temple. I recognized Goatee’s voice. His breath was hot and ragged against the side of my face. He knew it was over or he wouldn’t have asked for a way out. There was no way he was more formidable than Cole, I just had to get out of the path of his gun. I looked into Cole’s intense, golden eyes, and inched my hand back toward the blade in my pocket.
A blur of white passed through the door behind Cole and went straight to Dashiell. I froze and followed the movement with my eyes. A white wolf sunk his teeth into the eyeless man's neck, pressing his front paws between Dashiell and Trixie. I didn't recognize him, but I was grateful that he was helping my friend.
Goatee tightened his grip on my neck, and I shifted my eyes back to my mate. Cole stalked forward, head down, his fiery, golden gaze on the man holding me. Rat Face lay collapsed on the floor, grasping at the wound in his side.
“Fuck,” Goatee said.
Looking around the room at Rat Face on the floor and Dashiell, who sat motionless as the white wolf continued his snarling assault, I knew Goatee was desperate. It had to be now. I reached my hand to my pocket and grasped the cloth-covered top of my blade.
Goatee didn’t seem to notice my movement as he slowly backed us toward the other end of the room.
Shiv in my fist, I jabbed my hand downward into Goatee’s thigh. He yelled in pain but held tight.
“Fuck all of you,” he said, backing us through the open doorway Dashiell had used, and away from my mate.
“Cole,” I said in a whisper, reaching my hand toward my mate as the arm around my neck tightened.
Cole stalked forward, keeping our pace as Goatee backed into the hall. Once we got outside, he would have to let me go or kill me, I didn’t know which, but Cole wouldn’t let him drag me out of town. With my only card played, the glass knife sticking out of his leg, I didn’t know what to do but follow and watch my mate.
The man holding me howled in pain and loosened his grip. I didn’t know what happened, but I used the opportunity to press the glass harder into his thigh. Goatee hissed and dropped the gun. I kicked it forward, away from his reach, and ran for Cole. I looked back and saw Goatee on the ground, a large wound in his side. A silver-haired wolf stood with blood dripping from his muzzle, looking at me. Though I had never seen him as a wolf, I knew those deep blue eyes and that silver hair.
“Thanks, Lance,” I said, then turned to the huge, black wolf who stood against my leg. I wrapped my arms around his furry neck—my hero, my love.
A growl turned my attention back down the hall to a big, blond-haired man running toward us. Lance looked to me and nodded, then headed back the way he had come, toward the approaching enforcer.
I remembered the friend I had left bleeding in the other room. “Trixie,” I said to Cole, “I need to help Trixie.”
We ran back into the library and found Trixie holding her neck, sitting on the floor. “Do you need a bandage?” I asked.
“No,” she answered. “The bleeding has stopped.”
We turned toward the growling sound that continued at the throne, as the white wolf tore into the eyeless man that had long since stopped moving.
Chapter Forty-Two
Cole
“Axel,” I growled, then shifted back to human form. I touched my step-brother on his white, fur-covered shoulder. “Brother,” I said. “It's over.”
Axel showed me his teeth, red staining his snowy coat.
“It's over,” I repeated, more softly.
He climbed down off of the man that was once Dashiell, then shifted back to his human form.
Axel stood staring at me with his intense, dark eyes. The composure he had shown when he led me here was gone once again. I held out my hand, and he accepted. We shook hands for the first time.
“I couldn't have done this without you. Thank you, brother,” I said.
The side of his mouth lifted slightly in what was almost a smile. Axel nodded at the fiery-haired woman in the blue dress, then walked out of the room the way we had come.
I turned to my mate, who stood before me, as beautiful and perfect as I remembered. She looked exhausted but uninjured. I held her head against my chest, feeling her face against my bare skin. She was warm, and soft, and safe.
“Hailey,” I growled.
She looked up at me with teary blue eyes and a wide smile as she held her arms around my waist. “I love you.”
“I love you too.”
I watched her closely when she released me and walked over to the girl with red hair. “Thank you for everything, Trixie,” she said, and embraced the petite woman in her arms.
“Thank you too,” the woman replied.
“Are you Stratton Walker's mate?” I asked, remembering Harkins's description. I couldn’t imagine what she had been through.
“I was,” she answered.
“If you need anything, let us know. If you helped my mate when I could not, then you are as good as family to me,” I said.
“I think this town is going to need a lot,” she answered.
Then I smelled it. The scent that threatened to make me bolt.
“Am I late?” Liam Blake asked from the doorway. He filled the opening to the room, casually leaning against the doorframe in a plaid red shirt and jeans. I couldn’t believe he showed up. It would have been a lot more useful if he had come with me in the first place. But, the way we had left things, I hadn’t thought he would come at all.
“You missed the whole goddamn party,” I said.
“Is that Dashiell?” he asked, pointing to the mess on the over-decorated office chair.
“It was,” Trixie answered.
I took Hailey's hand, unwilling to be another moment without her touch. “You took your sweet time showing up,” I said to the grizzly.
“I brought friends,” he answered.
So did I, I thought. Since I had Hailey, I didn’
t care about what mess the Tribunal would have to clean up. They shouldn’t have allowed any of this to happen in the first place. I just needed to take care of my mate.
“Can we go?” I asked. “I need to get Hailey home.”
“My unit is clearing the way. We will have questions,” he said.
“Of course,” I answered and led Hailey out of the brick mansion that had been her prison.
Grizzlies surrounded the building, some as beasts, some in human form. Others walked down streets with lamps, knocking on doors. I had never seen so many bears in one place. One thick bear in human form ushered some of Dashiell’s men into the back of a black box truck, each of them wearing zip ties on their wrists. Another paced back and forth behind naked wolves in human form that laid face down on the ground. She-wolves dressed like Stratton’s widow sat on a bench in front of the mansion. Humans lined up and followed another bear down an otherwise empty street.
I couldn't get out of this town soon enough. I walked Hailey to the hole in the wall where I had entered with my pack. It wasn't just a small hole anymore, but a place where the wall had been torn down in sections. There was no way I could leave without my pack, so Hailey and I went to the golden-leafed tree where we had agreed to meet.
Lance, Amy, Witt, and Zaria stood waiting for us below the quaking aspen tree, fully clothed. My pack was bruised and bloodied, but we stood together, more united than ever.
Lance tossed me a pair of pants which I gratefully put on. “Thanks. Where did you get these?”
“Axel,” he answered. Axel, I thought, the key to our success tonight.
“Let's go home,” I said.
“We're going to run,” Amy said with a smile.
“That bear offered a car ride,” Zaria said, pointing to a man back inside the town's walls.
“Thanks everyone for coming, for helping me save Hailey. My gratitude is beyond words,” I said.
Werewolves & Whiskers: Sawtooth Peaks Wolf Shifter Romance Box Set Page 27
