Page 63 of Shifter Situations

“No. You’re going to stay with your family. They’re scared; they need you. I promise you, we can handle whatever we find.”

His brow furrowed as he studied me. “Then how do you want me to show you?”

I’d never disclosed any information to the pack members about the powers that I’d grown into. I couldn’t even recall if I’d ever shifted in front of them either. The tug of the full moon hadn’t pulled at me like it did them, so I’d taken to staying to myself.

“Just think about it; that’s all you have to do. Remember all the things about it that you can; smells, sights, noises. And then open your mind to me.”

I eased myself gently into his consciousness, bumping my presence against his. He sucked in a sharp breath, his eyes widening as they searched my face.

“That’s me. You have nothing to worry about. I’m only looking at what you’re showing me, so focus on the captures and the things that you noticed.”

He gave me a quick nod, closing his eyes as he pulled up all his memories.

As I rifled around in Cooper’s mind, I kept listening for the static, but it wasn’t there. From what I could glimpse, they’d sedated him somehow, and he’d been groggy as he fought them. They hadn’t had the opportunity to inject him with SEF47.

His behavior was coming from a place of well-earned paranoia.

“Take him to Dad, please,” I requested, sending the images to my mates. “Meet us there. We’ll wait.”

* * *

The warehouse was close to where Briggs and I had heard Katie talking. Not that it was surprising, but I didn’t think it was smart to be loitering outside of the place where you were conducting illegal activities.

But what the fuck would I know about that…

The guys and I patiently waited for Palmer and Briggs to arrive. None of us spoke aloud, not wanting to alert anyone who could be outside. We couldn’t see anyone patrolling, though.

Novak was filtering through thoughts from inside the building. He frowned before I heard his concerned voice in my mind. “I think we should reach out to Jack and Blaire. This sounds a lot worse than we thought it was.”

Briggs and Palmer stepped out of the Void behind us as I stretched the mental tethers between Jack and me. I summoned him and Grim, urging them to track me down.

I’d have to remember to give Blaire and Baylor tracking marks later. I had a feeling that they might need them at some point.

Another two minutes went by before Jack and Blaire popped out of the Void, followed closely behind by Grim and Baylor.

I tilted my head toward the building, flashing them the images I’d gotten from Cooper. Jack nodded in understanding, and Blaire pushed her thoughts to me.

“We’ll find the back door; there’s got to be one. We should move through the Void to get there. Check for cameras and alarms before any of us go in.”

“Agreed. We’ll head to the front, and we can go in at the same time.

We pushed into the Void as a unit. Once we were in position at the front entrance, I waited for Jack to show me what he was seeing.

The warehouse was pristine on the outside, though something was off about the area in general. It had a haunted vibe to it that I couldn’t really explain.

The oversized metal door boasted a sign saying that it was a chemical company, but I didn’t smell any chemicals. I did hear the sound of low moaning coming from inside when I strained my ears.

Jack opened his eyes to me, letting me see that he was getting ready to snatch a security camera off the wall outside the door. So I mimicked him, stepping out of the Void as nothing but thick, black smoke.

I wrapped my hand around the camera at the front door and jerked. The plastic fixture that it was screwed into came with it, leaving the wires exposed.

We went in the front door as the others went in the back, and Jack reached out to me.

“Quick, Lo. Don’t lose your cool. Grim is already struggling with the number of trapped souls in this room.”

I took a deep breath as Vaughn kicked the door in. Inside, the front of the warehouse was oddly ordinary. There was nothing special about the small reception area. I doubted it had been changed since the previous company that had been in the building.

The smell was what caught my attention.