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To my surprise, the door swung open on its hinges, clearly only held shut by the singular lock. “Careful,” Remus hissed, staring into the dark. “They could have an alarm system.”
I snorted. “If they do, then Dad’s already set it off,” I replied, raising a brow. “We should work fast before any cops show up — or any nearby operatives — just in case.”
To me, it seemed unlikely to have the kind of security that alerted local officials, considering you were conducting less-than-legal business, but I wouldn’t rule out the possibility of an alert system that went directly to someone’s phone or computer. It still seemed the cabin was abandoned — at least for the moment — and I wanted to get any evidence we could from the place without being disturbed.
That peace was quickly shattered.
“What the hell?!” a groggy voice yelled from inside.
My father stormed inside with both of us in hot pursuit. There was a man on the couch, scrambling to grab something on the side table. He’d clearly been asleep, and he was no match for three alphas. He wouldn’t have been even if he’d been bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. My father had him by the wrists in moments, and Remus looked around for something to bind the man while I quickly checked the other rooms for anyone else.
There was no one. I couldn’t smell a second person, either.
While my father moved the man and tied him to a chair, Remus and I quickly went through the other rooms, looking for any sort of evidence we could take. But became obvious rather quickly that this “hideout” was an outpost at best. It looked just as much like a hunting cabin on the inside as it did the outside.
“Useless,” I hissed, bristling at the idea that we’d chased down yet another dead end — and made ourselves known at the same time. We returned to the main room where the man sat, his arms tied behind his back as he glowered up at my father.
“What’s your name?” I demanded.
He sneered. “Go fuck yourself,” he snapped, lifting his chin up. “I don’t answer to you.”
I inhaled sharply as red crept into the corner of my vision. I stormed forward and took a swing at the man, sick satisfaction coursing through me at the sound of flesh on flesh. The man wheezed, his eyes widening in pain. I didn’t even register the fact that one of my knuckles split; I was hitting him again. I would have probably kept hitting him, too, if Remus hadn’t grabbed me from behind and yanked me back.
“Calm down,” he hissed in my ear.
The man was growling and hissing, spitting out a wad of blood before eyeing me warily.
My father watched me for a moment before turning back to our captive, offering the man a grave expression. “Perhaps you’d like to rethink your cooperation,” he growled quietly, folding his arms over his chest. “As you can see, my son has quite a temper on him, and given your people just went after his mate, I can’t say I’m at all obliged to stop him. Young alphas are known for their penchant towards violence, and you haven’t given us any reason at all to go easy on you.” He raised a brow. “In fact, I think you’ve done quite the opposite.”
The man swallowed hard, his gaze flickering back and forth between my father and myself. While I normally would have protested my father’s mention of my “mate,” I didn’t care right now; Iwantedthis man to be afraid of me. Heshouldbe. Nothing my father had said was wrong, and if this little toy soldier was just going to be a whiny pissant, we had no need for him at all. I lifted my upper lip and growled, and the primal part of me delighted at sensing the fear coursing through him. I could smell it in his adrenaline.
“I dunno,” I growled, feeling my wolf press against the surface again. He had no interest in diplomacy or interrogation or anything remotely civil. As far as he was concerned, this man’s pack — or group, or whatever — had hurt Iris. There was no worse crime in his mind, and at the moment, I was struggling to convince him otherwise. “He doesn’t seem like he knows much. We could probably get what we need somewhere else.”
Remus squeezed my shoulder. “Eli,” he rumbled again. “Be calm.”
I felt a cool wave — it wasn’t uncomfortable, like someone dumping icy water over my head, but more of a gentle breeze on a hot summer day. A drink of spring water after a long run. It was a moment of relief, and my wolf took a step back, allowing some of his anger to be quenched by whatever calm our half-brother was offering us. I gave him a sideways look, but said nothing.
The man in the chair licked his lips nervously, his gaze flickering around the three of us without really settling. “My name is Billy. Billy Popp,” he blurted out. “I don’t know anything much at all, promise!”
I gave him a humorless smile. “You must knowsomething, or you wouldn’t be here,” I countered, shaking my head. “How did you get involved with the Raven Brothers?”
“My own brother,” he said, a bit breathless. “Adam Buxton. He was a soldier like you guys. He got killed two years ago. I think a mission went wrong, no one tells me anything — but once you’re in, you’re in. The only way out is death.” He grimaced.
I hummed, glad we were finally getting somewhere. None of us were soldiers, but I didn’t bother to correct Billy. If that’s what he needed to think to keep talking, I was fine with that. “Does he have a tattoo?” I asked my father, raising a brow.
He shook his head. “No.” He then turned his attention onto Billy. “Why don’t you have the bird tattoo, hm?”
Billy swallowed again and shook his head. “You gotta earn it,” he said, starting to babble a little. “But more than that, only alpha wolves get that opportunity. No humans and no other shifters get to wear it, ever, no matter what they do. They’re the ones in charge — the alpha wolves — and they keep us in the dark as much as they can. In case of…uh…situations like this, I guess,” he said, looking at me and Remus again. He swallowed hard. “Look, I just do what they tell me because I don’t wanna end up dead, okay? If they don’t want me to know things, I don’t ask questions. Asking questions is a good way to end up on their bad side.”
He gave a shudder. Remus wrinkled his nose in disgust. “He’s clearly low-hanging fruit,” he scoffed, shaking his head. “Useless.”
“Hey!” Billy protested, looking a little upset to be dismissed so quickly.
Remus raised a brow. “Have you even been to the military facility?” he asked.
“No. No way. I have no idea where it is, and I don’t want to,” Billy replied, shaking his head vigorously. “Once you know, they start expecting more from you, and I ain’t about that. No way I want to get involved with…that.”
My jaw twitched. “And what isthatexactly?”
