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“Is she there?” I ask, studying the many faces in the grainy picture.
“We’re not sure,” the guy replies. “But Hekate was spotted in that same location two hours ago.”
Before I can bombard the guy with more questions, Graham pulls me away from him. “Let them work.”
“But Helia—”
“We won’t know for sure if she’s there until we get some feet on the ground,” he tells me, his voice full of patience. “We can only get so much from the cameras. You saw the pictures yourself. They’re not the best quality. It’s extra hard to run it through F-Rec when the pics have been distorted by the glimmer of a car’s windshield. I’ve been trying to get the city to upgrade the system for months. It would bring the crime rates down and help identify the criminals a lot faster.”
“I don’t care about criminals,” I growl back, my frustration getting the better of me. “We need to find her now.”
Graham narrows his eyes at me in a way that makes me feel as if he can see straight through me. He nods at the door. “Take a break. Come back when you’ve cleared your head. We don’t need that kind of energy in here.”
I want to argue with him and tell him to fuck off. I want to yell at someone and punch something. But I can’t because he’s right. They’ve been working hard, relentlessly and without a break, trying to find Helia. They don’t need me around to put even more pressure on them. The stakes are clear, let’s just hope that the odds will be in our favor.
Without another word, I leave the room and its many computers behind. Under different circumstances, I would be impressed by the computer lab Graham has built right under our noses. While I often saw him disappear into one of the six garages on the Grey Manor compound, I never actually considered what he was doing there. I didn’t spare him even a single thought, that’s how unimportant I deemed him to be.
Taking my younger brother’s advice, I decided to go for a stroll through my mother’s colorful gardens. Surrounded by these beautiful plants, I sit down and close my eyes. The flowery scent that hits my nostrils immediately reminds me of Helia and the flowers themselves transport my mind back to her apartment. Right now, I feel closer to her than I have, ever since I last saw her.
Holy fuck, my wolf breathes, feeling the sudden strangeness in our body.
I’m too dumbfounded to say anything. My heartbeat speeds up, my chest fills up, and my legs demand to be moved. I push myself on my feet and begin walking.
Get in the car, my wolf suggests when we come to the driveway. Try to follow the pull on four wheels.
I do as he says and take the SUV closest to me. Thanks to the excellent security on the premises, the keys are safely stored in the glove compartment. I start the car and follow the gut feeling wherever it might be taking me.
My heart is banging in my chest as if eager to jump out and continue on its own. My whole body is aching to be united with the piece that awaits us at the end of the proverbial road. It’s then that it hits me. Helia’s soul is calling to mine. Somehow, I’m being drawn to her.
“I’m coming,” I mutter under my breath, and smash my foot down harder on the accelerator, willing the car to go faster. “Stay strong, baby. Hold on.”
We’re getting closer, my wolf comments, sensing the pull getting stronger and more powerful.
I take a turn and enter a street that looks like a nice and calm urbanization. The houses are of a white picket fence variety with a wooden porch stretching all around, and an American flag flying on a pole in the yard. My eyes instinctively turn toward one house, the magnetic pull yanking me closer. Even from afar, it’s clear that the wood has been rotting for a while. It’s probably a miracle that it still stands.
She’s here, I tell my wolf with unshakable conviction.
Let’s get our girl, he growls back in a mix of determination and encouragement.
I don’t hesitate. I don’t even pause to think as I climb up onto the wooden porch, careful to avoid the cracks, and launch my body forward to slam it against the black door. A distant part of my brain acknowledges the pain that spreads through me, but my heart pushes through it and keeps me moving. Without checking around the house, I go straight to the basement. It’s where her soul is calling to mine.
My knees nearly buckle with relief when I see her, but I do lose my balance a bit, and I barely catch myself on the wooden railing to keep myself from falling down the stairs. It makes a sound, but it holds my weight. When I recover myself, I jump two to three steps at a time to reach the bottom and get to her.
Helia’s in the exact same position as I described her to be to my family. Her hands are chained high above her, holding up her small body. The skin around her wrists is raw with dried specks of blood around several spots. Her head hangs limply with her hair falling forward and covering her face. I’m pretty sure she’s unconscious.
“Helia,” I softly call to her and gently lift her head to look at her.
Her eyes are closed, but there’s a new sharp edge around her face that she didn’t have before. Even the unconscious state can’t smooth it out. The torture that her own sister put her through must’ve been too big for her body to handle without getting scarred in some way.
“Helia, wake up, please,” I plead with her, and gently rub her cheeks.
We need to get out of here, my wolf urges when Helia doesn’t react or show any sign of regaining consciousness.
I obey and lift my hands to check the chains. The steel is thick as well as the two sets of padlocks. In my desperation to free her, I grab onto it and pull as hard as I can, hoping to yank the chains straight off the ceiling. The dust-like specks of the wall that shower down on us are the only indication of my effort. I try again and again, and just as I’m about to give up after my third try, a small crack appears around the link where the chain is set up.
A wave of hope washes over me, and with a newfound energy, I yank again with as much strength as I can, channeling my inner wolf and begging him to help me. I don’t know if we’re successful because something falls on the back of my head, the pain causing my eyes to roll backward and into the cold darkness.
CHAPTER 18
