Chapter Thirty-Three
Luca
My nose wrinkles at the smell of diesel mixing with nervous anticipation. It’s a little before 10 p.m. when we meet at the rendezvous point. The bus is parked in the clearing, Doc already set up inside with supplies in case anyone needs medical intervention. He won’t be able to do much here. But he’ll triage until we can get them somewhere safer. One of the warriors is staying behind to guard him, and everyone else is ready to move into the forest that surrounds the building we know the omegas are in.
Ryan signals for the warriors to move into the forest, fanning out to the pre-planned positions, strategically placed at equal distances where they will be able to cover a full circle around the building and detect anyone coming or going.
My jaw aches from clenching it. Not because of the mission—though we’re about to walk into a den full of monsters—but because I can still taste how badly I fucked up. She’s nothere. I didn’t allow her to be. And every time I try the mindlink, I slam into a wall of silence. She’s blocked me out.
I tell myself she’s safe. That it’s worth her rage to keep her safe. My wolf paces inside me, snapping at my excuses.
“Let’s do this,” Caleb says, checking his watch. “Time to go.”
The four of us—dressed in all black, wearing thermal vision goggles—slip silently into the woods. Staying in human form to keep things quiet, we creep closer to the warehouse. We don’t dare speak aloud, communicating with hand signals for Caleb’s benefit as he’s not able to mindlink with us.
Then—
“What the fuck?” comes a voice from behind.
The warrior doesn’t get another word. Jackson is the first to react, lunging forward and snapping the neck of the shifter who spotted us. A crack, sharp like a branch snapping, and the shifter’s body goes slack. Jackson drags the body backwards and props him against a tree, as though he’s merely taking a break. He unclips the walkie-talkie from his belt and pockets it.
Caleb’s eyes glass over as he communicates with his brothers that we’re in position. We have to wait a couple of minutes before he nods that they are in their position too and he flips the switch on the Wi-Fi jammer, and we pull our masks onto our faces.
We move as a unit, crouching as we run for the side of the building and then sticking close to the wall of the warehouse as we move towards the front door. Ryan tests it and finds it locked. Not a problem. He braces, shoulder pressed in, and leans until theframe creaks, then snaps. Clean and quiet. He eases it open and lobs in a smoke canister.
A tan wolf bursts through the haze, teeth bared, and slams Ryan flat on his back. Jaws snap at his throat.
I don’t think. I leap—claws ripping out mid-air—and land on the wolf’s back, pulling him off of Ryan. My claws sink into his throat, and I rip it open. Blood sprays out across the ground, landing on us both. He thrashes once, then goes limp, and I push him off me.
By the time I look back up, Caleb has another shifter in wolf form with his throat ripped out, and Jackson has already moved in. I push to a stand, and the three of us move in behind Jackson.
We clear the first floor easily; five or six warriors on security didn’t stand a chance against the four of us, let alone Caleb’s four alpha brothers who came in through the back entrance. The smoke has cleared now, and we can survey the damage. There’s a second floor that is more than likely empty, but Ryan and I go to check it out to be safe, along with two of Caleb’s brothers: Rafe and Jordan.
There’s a security room with static gray screens thanks to the Wi-Fi jammer, an industrial kitchen that smells of grease, a room with guns and weapons, and a bunkhouse of sorts. I guess this is where the warriors slept between shifts, seeing as it’s so far from any pack boundaries.
Ryan checks in with our warriors on the perimeter, and they report back that all is quiet. It all feels a little anticlimactic. But that’s why we did it this way, isn’t it? Why we attacked on the fullmoon rather than any other night. Still, I can’t help feeling like this was all way too damn easy.
Maybe that nervous anticipation is my own wolf’s need to run, intensified by both the full moon and the need to return to my mate.
And maybe it’s only my disappointment at realizing how much I might have screwed myself with Sofia for nothing. I push at the mindlink again, but she has me blocked out. We’re probably too far apart, anyway, seeing as our mate bond hasn’t been completed. I just want to know she’s okay.
But I can’t ask Jackson to check with Emily when we’re here to rescue his sister, and Ryan has enough to worry about with holding his wolf in tonight.She’s safe. She’s in Lunar Eclipse. It will all be okay.I keep telling myself everything is fine, but I can’t shake the dread that clings to me like a second skin.
We regroup, and all head for the basement, where we suspect the omegas will be. Anticipation churns in my stomach as I consider what condition they will be in. As soon as we open the unlocked door, the smell of old blood and bleach hits us. Sharp and pungent.
I think the entire group collectively holds its breath as we descend the stairs, but nothing could have fully prepared us for what we find. The stairs lead to a dank hallway with two doors off it. The only light comes from the door at the top of the stairs, and it’s only because of our shifter vision that we can still see the details of this hellhole.
It feels like a tomb. As if death and despair are embedded in the walls.
The first room is unlocked and looks like a surgical theater from some kind of black-market human organ donation ring I’ve seen in movies. Stainless steel trays scattered with medical tools and equipment.
Behind the door, huddled in a corner, is a crying she-wolf. I can’t see her face, just her dark hair as she raises her hands and cowers behind them. Her scent is heavy with the bitter tang of fear. “P… please don’t hurt me. Please—”
“We won’t hurt you, sweetheart,” Caleb soothes, crouching low to assess her for obvious injuries. She doesn’t look at him. She sobs loudly and recoils when he offers a hand to help her up. “We’re here to get you out of here.”
The second door is locked and reinforced with silver. Designed to keep wolves in—or out.
“I’m going to go try to find a key on one of the soldiers upstairs,” Rafe, one of Caleb’s brothers, says.
