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Bella yawned and squirmed, staring up at me for a few moments. She nodded, but made no attempt to get up. I was about to ask her what was wrong when she opened her mouth. “Where’s Mama?” she asked, so softly I almost thought I was imagining it.
I blinked, my mouth snapping shut as a galaxy of thought exploded across my mind’s eye. There were at least seven answers I could think of, but I had no idea which was the correct one — or what was the right story to tell a three-year-old child. I swallowed hard, fighting down the lump forming in my throat as my own parents sprang to mind.What did I want to hear those first few days?
“I don’t know,” I told Bella, offering her a sad smile.
“My daddy?” she prompted, her eyes big and glossy.
I shook my head. “I don’t know,” I said again, holding her a little closer. “I think they’re still at the facility, but I don’t know where that is. Eli and Nic are out looking for it right now, though.”
That wasn’t the whole truth, but it was certainly part of it. I knew the alphas were all hoping any information they got from the Raven Brothers’ hideout would lead them closer to the facility.
“Oh,” Bella said, frowning as she stared down at her toy wolf. I had to strain to hear what she said next, even though she was right by my side. “I wanna go home.”
My heart broke in two in that moment. “I know,” I replied, hugging her close. And Ididknow. The first few weeks — no, months — that I spent in my foster home, I spent wishing I could go back to Alaska. I evenknewthat there was no one waiting for me. I had seen with my own eyes what had happened to my parents and my friend and my pack, and Istilllonged to go back. It was somewhere familiar. I’d felt like I belonged there…I’d felt like I belonged there and nowhere else.
“When can I go?”
I paused, licking my lips. I didn’t exactly have an answer for that. “Where is home, Bella?” I asked instead.
Bella wiggled away for a moment, looking at me carefully. “Where I live,” she replied, as if that were the most obvious thing in the world. “It’s all white. Mama and Daddy are there.”
“I…” My heart ached as I realized she was describing the holding cell.She’s so young, she must not remember where she lived before…“Okay.” I just nodded my head, feeling a little too stunned and raw to reason with that. I squeezed her a little tighter.
I could only hope that, as young as she was, the memory of that horrid place would fade away, too.
Bella wasn’t looking particularly sleepy anymore, and honestly, I didn’t feel that tired anymore, either. I looked at the time again and frowned.What the hell. It’s probably worse for her to lie awake in bed lonely and scared than to sit on the couch awake and at least be distracted.I reached for the remote. “Do you want to watch another movie?”
I’d seenPeter Panon the list when we scrolled. Bella nodded and I clicked the button, starting the opening credits. I struggled to pay attention, though, and at some point, the even sound of Bella’s breathing as she nodded off lulled me to sleep.
20
ELI
Raven Brothers’ Hideout
Travis County, Texas
We were well outside the city of Austin by the time we reached the location Maverick had provided. We were basically in the middle of the woods. If I didn’t know what I was looking for, I’d have assumed this was some sort of hunting cabin or someone’s “off-the-grid home.” I still almost didn’t believe it when we pulled up to the location, my brows furrowing as I leaned forward to study what appeared to be a glorified shack.
“Doesn’t look like much,” I grumbled.
My father shrugged. “It doesn’t,” he agreed, “but it’s supposed to be hidden, so I guess it’s doing its job, right?”
I frowned, but he had a point. Advertising your hideout wouldn’t help you out much, even if you were trying to hide in plain sight. “It just…seems a bit small,” I said after a moment. Perhaps it was bigger if you went around it. The sun had gone down and the woods surrounding the cabin blocked out any moonlight that might have illuminated the spot. “It doesn’t seem like it’d support an operation of the size Mav reported.”
Remus rumbled. “I doubt the entire organization is in one place,” he said, expression darkening. “If it is, we’ll have a lot more trouble on our hands. Either way, though, I can’t imagine they’d house the entire group in one place. Can you imagine how unruly it would be?”
I wrinkled my nose. It wasn’t a pack; it was a ragtag group of who knew how many alphas, betas, and others — and that wasn’t even counting the humans. Being in a special-ops branch also took a special breed of person, and how many of these men thought they were comparable to shifters? I couldn’t imagine trying to keep a group like that orderly. Remus was probably right — safety considerations aside, it just wasn’t plausible to put them all in one place.
“Well, hopefully we can find something out,” I groused, looking around the truck. “Shall we?”
My father nodded, looking between Remus and me. “It does look abandoned at the moment, but remember, if we find anyone inside, we need to take them alive.”
Remus grumbled, nodding despite his scowl. “Bane and the others will keep the outside secure,” he said, nodding to the fourth man in the vehicle. His beta nodded back, slipping out of the door to join the others in the second SUV. I sat and watched the front door for several more minutes, but no one in the cabin stirred. Blackout blinds were drawn, so even if someone was inside, we wouldn’t be able to see them.
“Ready?” Remus finally prompted, moving to open his door.
I nodded, and we all exited the SUV. My father strode ahead of us as we approached the cabin, leaving Remus and I to exchange looks behind his back. Clearly, that was something we’d have to address — later, though. Naturally, the front door was locked, but my father took a step back before giving it one hard kick.
