Wild Hunt (The Revenant Book 4)

by Kali Argent

  “Good to know.”

  “You’re both insane.” Huffing out a breath that billowed like smoke from his lips, Cade shook off Luca’s hold and came toward her. “Damn, you’re a mess.” He tucked two fingers under Mackenna’s chin and gently stroked the flesh just below her busted lip. “You should know that if anything happens to you, I will burn that entire city to the ground.”

  “Nothing is going to happen to me,” she promised. “If it looks like things are going sideways, or like they don’t believe me, I’ll get out of there.” She leaned forward for a kiss but stopped when her lip throbbed, reminding her why that would be a bad idea.

  Realizing what she intended, Cade sank his fingers into the hair at her nape and pulled her close to kiss the mostly uninjured side of her face. “I love you.”

  “I love you, too. Everything is going to be okay.” Maybe if she said it enough times, she’d start to believe it herself. “I better go.”

  Reluctantly, he released her and took a step back. “One hour. If you’re not at the camp in one hour, I will come find you, and I don’t care who I have to go through to do it.”

  She’d do the same for him, and honestly, she expected nothing less. “One hour.”

  “If anything happens, anything at all, get the hell out of there, even if you have to shift to do it.”

  Mackenna shook her head. “I’m sure it won’t come to that.”

  “Just promise,” Cade demanded. “I know what’s at stake, but we can deal with the fallout later. Whatever you have to do, you do it. Promise me.”

  Only as a last resort would she risk shifting in front of anyone outside of their trusted circle. It didn’t need to be said, because they both knew it. So, she bit back her arguments and gave him the reassurance he needed.

  “I promise.”

  He’d take her place if he could. If it wouldn’t arouse suspicion and jeopardize everything, he’d walked right into that town with her. This was something she had to do alone, though. Not because she had something to prove to herself or anyone else, but because there was no other way.

  She would be a fool not to be frightened, but she’d known the risks when she had volunteered for the job.

  No radios or wires. No one to storm the castle gates if everything fell apart. They couldn’t even stay there at the edge of the highway and wait for her because Coalition patrols would be sweeping the area in approximately seven minutes.

  She was completely on her own.

  “Go.” She backed away, deeper into the forest. “I’ll see you soon.”

  Cade nodded but said nothing as he turned and walked to the SUV.

  “Good luck.” Roux gave her a quick smile, then followed after him.

  From the open driver’s door, Luca called, “We’re counting on you. Try not to get yourself killed.”

  “Good pep talk,” Roux muttered as she climbed into the backseat. “Super inspiring.”

  Mackenna smiled as she took off at a jog through the trees. She liked Roux, and despite being a little rough around the edges, she actually liked Luca as well. Maybe he didn’t play nice with everyone and sugarcoat unpleasant truths, but he did treat them fairly. They might never be friends, but she always knew exactly where she stood with him, and that was good enough for her.

  As the sound of the SUV engine faded into the background, she pushed aside all other thoughts and picked up her pace. Their goodbyes had taken too long. Her face still throbbed like the ten shades of hell, but the gash on her side had already begun to heal. Hopefully, the incredible amount of blood staining her T-shirt would be enough to sell the injury.

  The cold bit at her exposed skin, making her nose run and her fingers sting. Her bare feet protested every hurried step, burning with the pain of a thousand tiny pinpricks. It felt as if she had been running forever, and with each passing minute, her urgency intensified, pushing her on even when she felt like she couldn’t take another step.

  Cresting the next hill, she nearly choked with relief when lights from the town finally came into view. Technically, it had been a ski resort before the Purge, but with restaurants, lodging, retail outlets, and even a medical center, it reminded her of nothing more than a quaint little village.

  She stumbled out of the forest and onto the paved road that led to the entrance of the resort. It was exactly where she wanted to be, but without the cover of the trees, she felt exposed, vulnerable, and twice, she looked over her shoulder as she ran. It wasn’t an act, but to anyone watching, it would look exactly as if someone was chasing her.

  No gate greeted her. No guards. Nothing to stop her from running straight into the village. Colorful neon gleamed from storefronts, and fairy lights had been strung between the lamp posts that lined the streets. Upbeat music played from hidden speakers, and the aroma of rich, warm chocolate filled the night.

  A group of people gathered on the patio of a restaurant, laughing as they huddled together around a firepit. It was like something out of a magazine. Cute. Peaceful. Unlike anything Mackenna had ever seen before. She felt kind of bad about what she had to do, but not enough to stop her from doing it.

  Slowing to a walk, she staggered toward the patio. “Help,” she called, her voice tight and croaky from the cold and exertion. “Please! Help me!”

  Everyone in the group jerked around to stare at her, but their shock lasted only a heartbeat. Without hesitation, the four males rose from their seats and leapt over the railing to run to her. One even removed his jacket and wrapped it around her.

  “I’m Tony. What’s your name?” He appeared to be the oldest of the group, maybe in his early forties, and his scent proclaimed him to be a shifter.

  “Ma…” Shit. Not a good idea. “Mariah. They took me.” She gasped through each syllable, making sure her voice quavered in all the right places. “Please, you have to help me.”

  “It’s okay.” The group flanked her protectively as they led her toward the patio. “You’re safe now.”

  “Oh, my god,” a young shifter female gasped when she got a good look at Mackenna. “You poor thing. What happened?”

  “They kidnapped me. I barely got away.”

  The girl tilted her head and leaned forward so that her honey-colored hair framed her face. “Who took you, honey?”

  Mackenna sniffled. “Hunters.”

  A collective gasp went through the group, and one of the males growled as his eyes flashed a bright, luminous green.

  “Please,” she continued to plead. “You have to help. There are others. They have a whole basement full of Gemini.”

  “Felicity?” Tony called.

  A vampire with dark hair and even darker eyes nodded, then disappeared through the back door of the restaurant without a word. More people had started to spill out into the street now, gathering in small groups and whispering amongst themselves. Mackenna kept her head down and did her best to look meek and afraid.

  A minute later, the vampire returned with two guards dressed in black from head to toe. Neither one of them looked particularly alarmed to see a stranger covered in blood standing before them. A thread of genuine fear coursed through Mackenna’s veins. Did they know? Could they tell she was lying?

  “More Raiders?” The disgust in the female guard’s voice was palpable, but at least it wasn’t directed at Mackenna.

  “Hunters,” Tony responded. “She says they’re holding more in a basement.”

  Both guards went rigid, and the male’s eyes glowed with an intense amber light. “Where?”

  “I don’t know.” It would be so much easier if she could just give them GPS coordinates and be done with it. “I think it was some kind of camp or something.”

  “How far from here?”

  She shook her head. “I don’t know. I got away, and I just ran until I saw the lights here.”

  The female guard took a step toward her. “How many Hunters are there?”

  “Thirty or forty, maybe more.” She ducked her head and avoided making direct eye c
ontact. “They have at least a dozen Gemini in cages. I heard them talking about culling them tonight.”

  “Shit.” Unclipping a radio from her belt, the female rushed off, likely to gather reinforcements.

  “Is there anything else you can remember?” the male guard asked. “Anything that will help us find this place?”

  Mackenna bit the inside of her cheek to hold back a smile. “No, but I can show you.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  There was a hush in the forest, an eerie, unnatural quiet that made the hairs on the back of Cade’s neck stand on end. The hands on his watch showed twelve minutes until midnight, forty-eight minutes since he’d left Mackenna alone in the woods.

  What kind of mate was he? What kind of man was he for that matter? He’d stood by while she’d stabbed herself, and he hadn’t done anything to stop Roux from tenderizing her face.

  Then, he’d just left her.

  “Head in the game,” Lynk whispered as they crouched together atop a wooded hill just off the narrow service road. “Showtime in one minute.”

  “If anything happens to her…”

  “Mack knows what she’s doing. She’s going to be fine.”

  “She should have been here by now.”

  “It takes time to assemble an army.” He stretched out his arm and clapped Cade on the back with his massive palm. “She’ll be here.”

  Lynk was right. Mackenna was tough, smart, and as he’d witness for himself, a pretty damn good actress. She’d survived so much, and he had to believe that she’d survive this, too.

  “So, how are we supposed to draw the prisoners to us, anyway?”

  “Webber rigged some kind of SOS radio device. The transmission frequency is too high for the Hunters to hear, but any Gemini in the area will be able to follow it.”

  Cade frowned. “Like a dog whistle?”

  The words were barely out of his mouth when Lynk winced, and his right eye started to twitch. “No, not a whistle. It’s a message.”

  They had just ten minutes to lure the captives to them, load them up, remove their trackers—and possibly shock collars—then get them the hell out of there. Even if everything went perfectly, it still wouldn’t be enough time.

  “What’s the message say?”

  “Who we are. Where we are. That we’re here to help.” Lynk pressed his middle finger to the tragus of his ear and rubbed. “Let’s just hope they don’t think it’s a trap.”

  Cade could see the Hunters playing some twisted game, luring Gemini to what they believed was safety, only to ambush and slaughter them. From the stories Mackenna had told, they enjoyed psychological torture just as much as they did physical.

  With the rest of the team scattered throughout the forest, someone should be close enough to intercept. So, even if the prisoners didn’t trust the broadcast, they’d hopefully believe the word of a fellow Gemini. Well, if they made it that far before the shooting started.

  Seven minutes.

  “Won’t the Coalition here it?”

  Lynk shook his head. “If they come in the front like we expect, they should be too far away. Even if they do hear it, hopefully, they’ll be too distracted with the Hunters.”

  And too distracted to notice Mackenna slip away and circle back around to the west.

  Six minutes.

  Surveillance had shown that while Hunters patrolled the edge of the forest, as well as their southern and eastern borders, they never traveled as far west as the service road. It had, indeed, turned out to be an old ranger accessway. Now, it was slowly being taken back by nature until only the barest imprint of the worn path remained.

  Two cargo vans had been parked under the minimum cover of the barren canopies, their back doors open and waiting. Dr. Lancaster kept watch from one, while Roux had camped out in the second. It would be their job to remove the trackers from the prisoners’ necks, and somehow, keep them from bleeding out in the process.

  Five minutes.

  The weight of the gun in his palm felt familiar, comforting. He knew the weapon better than he knew himself. He knew what it could do…and what it couldn’t. He trusted the hunk of cold steel like he trusted the man beside him.

  He shifted his weight and slowed his breathing, straining to hear something, anything. It was still too quiet, too still. No sounds in the forest. Nothing from the front of the camp. Something didn’t feel right.

  Four minutes.

  “Do you hear anything?”

  Lynk moved his head to the side, a quick, almost imperceptible action. Cade might have missed it if he hadn’t been watching him so closely. The shifter was worried. It was evident in the roundness of his shoulders and the tenseness of his thighs. He rocked forward on his toes, then fell back on his heels. Dropping his head back, he sniffed at the air.

  Something was definitely wrong.

  Three minutes.

  They’d all known it wouldn’t be easy. Even with the most careful planning, too many things could still go wrong. Intercepting the prisoners and leading them to the vans would take time, but they should have heard something by that point. At the very least, Lynk should have been able to pick up distant footsteps in the trees, or the rumble of an engine on the highway.

  Two minutes.

  “What the hell is happening?”

  “I don’t know,” Lynk answered through clenched teeth. He paused, squinting into the darkness of the forest, then shook his head. “Let’s go.”

  Cade followed after him, scrambling down the slope and into the forest beyond. They crept quietly through the trees, weapons at the ready as they looked for any sign of the rest of their team.

  One minute until midnight.

  “Mendez,” Lynk said, his voice hushed. “Collins. Lockwood. O’Malley. Can anyone here me?”

  The supernatural version of a walkie talkie. Cade was five feet away from him, and he had barely caught the words. Hunters certainly wouldn’t be able to detect the sound, but most of the Revenant would hear him loud and clear.

  Lynk jerked his head to the left. “This way. Deke has two of the prisoners about a quarter mile out.”

  The first gunshot tripped Cade’s pulse into a gallop. The scream that followed made his heart stop. He and Lynk looked at each other, their expressions equally grim.

  The Wild Hunt had started.

  Hurrying their pace, they tried to make as little noise as possible as they continued to the north. Within minutes, Cade finally heard footsteps, heavy boots crunching over the ground and moving at a fast clip. A few seconds later, Deke came into view, his eyes glowing a bright, eerie blue as he urged two females along ahead of him.

  They were both naked and covered in filth, even more emaciated that Mackenna had been when she’d escaped. The smaller of the two couldn’t have stood more than five feet at her crown with big eyes that dominated her face. In the darkness, Cade couldn’t tell what color they were, but when she looked up at him, they reflected the moonlight, making her appear almost mystical.

  “Traps,” Deke said as he wiped blood from a gash on his cheek. “The whole fucking forest is rigged with traps. We already lost one.”

  “Ours?” Lynk asked.

  Deke shook his head. “Thea is coming up behind me with three more, and Rhys has two to the east.”

  Another gunshot cracked through the night. This time, however, they all saw the flash from the muzzle high up in the trees. Cowards.

  “We’re on it,” Cade told him. “Get these two to the vans.”

  “I’ll take out the Hunter.” Lynk started backing toward the direction where they’d seen the flash. “You intercept Mendez.”

  Cade still moved quickly, but now, he did so with added caution. Deke hadn’t mentioned what kind of traps they’d encountered in the woods, but he’d heard enough stories from Mackenna to have a pretty good idea. He scanned the forest floor, looking for the gleam of moonlight on metal, a rock that didn’t look quite like a rock, or anything else that seemed out of place.

&n
bsp; Another quarter mile from where he’d left Lynk, he spotted his first trap. It didn’t look like anything special, just a small pile of leaves unnaturally heaped together. To a group of frightened prisoners, it would have certainly gone unnoticed.

  Taking cover by crouching behind the trunk of a large tree, Cade tossed a rock a little smaller than a baseball at the leaves. There was a thud, a whoosh, then a metal zing that followed the activation of the trap. A thin, luminous wire whipped up from the ground and stretched tight between two trees ten feet ahead of him. It wasn’t a type of metal he had ever seen before, but the fact that it had deployed at approximately neck-height for an average-sized man felt pretty fucking ominous.

  Snorting in disgust, he rose out of his crouch and stepped back onto the pseudo path that wound through the forest.

  “I wouldn’t do that, amigo.”

  Cade whipped around, gun raised, the barrel trained at the heart of a man about his height and build. Dressed in black from the soles of his boots to the crown of his thick beanie, the guy strolled toward him, his own weapon held loosely at his side. Seemingly unconcerned about the gun pointed at his chest, he stooped to gather up a handful of loose pebbles. With a level of casualness that Cade found disconcerting, the guy took another couple of steps past him, then tossed the rocks so that they scattered across the path several feet in front of them.

  Cade heard the electronic whirr, but he didn’t see anything. Before he could question what was going on, three silver balls the size of his fist dropped out of the trees and exploded with a series of loud bangs and blinding lights. The flashes weren’t lethal, but given the location of the explosions—only a couple of feet in front of the wire—it wasn’t hard to guess their purpose.

  “Duck the wire,” the stranger said, still oddly calm under the circumstances, “the explosions drive you back for a second go.”

  Cade’s training told him to shoot the guy where he stood and keep going, but his conscience staid his hand. He was supposed to be one of the good guys. Shooting this stranger who had, so far, done nothing threatening didn’t sit right.