AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I turned on my heel, zeroing in on her, knowing my instincts were right. She was on the other side of the wall. I punched at the drywall, not caring if I broke my hand. Then ripped and tore at the sheeting and framework until darkness loomed on the other side.
A beam of light shot past me, illuminating the darkness, as River and Ryder aimed torches through the wall. The beams of light highlighted a sloping roof and a set of stairs. More of the sheetrock tore under my hands. I shoved through the ruin of the wall, too full of rage and fear to keep tearing, and my momentum had me stumbling down the stairs. At the bottom, there was a dank tunnel, but it was wide and paved. I sniffed the air. Her scent was on this side, too. As well as the chloroform and an added smell of gasoline. I ran, following the path her scent had laid. Every beat of my blood called to her, but there was no answer.
“Someone had a vehicle in here,” River yelled, as he came down the stairs silently and tracked along behind me. I could faintly hear the others coming through the wall behind us, too, but I couldn’t wait. There was no sound of a vehicle, which meant they had too big a head start.
I ran. The beam from River’s flashlight weaved erratically in the darkness as he ran behind me. Until it was joined by a second beam and Ryder’s footsteps echoed alongside ours. We ran for about five minutes, and I knew from my wild run that first day that we were well out from underneath the Palace, way past the edge of the Palace grounds, too.
“Stop,” River yelled, seconds before I would have collided with a hulking vehicle in the middle of the tunnel. I skidded to a halt, panting hard, as River flashed his light over it. It looked like an open golf cart with a tray on the back for moving goods. I sniffed it. It reeked of Ava’s cherry scent, mingled with the stinging smell of chloroform. My roar echoed off the tunnel walls.
Ryder ran up the steps behind the cart to the wall at the end and found a lever he pulled. A door swung open, emptying into a building on the other side. He slipped through and I pushed through behind him with a growl I didn’t even try to keep down. It was an empty garage. I ran through and yanked open the garage door, almost pulling it off its hinges. Moonlight bathed the yard beyond it, illuminating a decrepit old house and an empty yard.
Her scent had grown fainter, but it was still there. They’d put her in a vehicle, I was sure of it. I ran down the driveway until I reached the road, looking wildly in each direction for brake lights, tire tracks, anything. But there was nothing.
I vented my rage into the darkness, but it was no use. It didn’t bring them back.
Ava and Angel were gone. And it was my fault.
thirty-eight
Avawasgone.Again.
I gave myself one moment. One breath to let emotions wash over me. Agony. Despair. Desperation. I felt them all as Wolf’s rage battered the world. If anyone who wasn’t pack was anywhere near us, he would have pinned them to the ground.
Ryder was suddenly in front of me.
“She’s not gone,” he said, as he gripped the back of my head and forced me to look into his eyes. Pure conviction shone in them. “We just got her back and I refuse to lose her again. Do you hear me?”
I reached up and clasped his shoulder, giving him a brusque nod as I pulled myself together. For years I had held it together for Ryder, and now here he was, pulling me back from the brink. This pack was good for him and I wouldn’t let anyone tear it apart. We were getting her back. Again.
Ryder strode over to Wolf and hugged him without fear. “They can’t have her, Wolf. She’s ours. So I need you to channel that rage into getting her back. Can you do that?”
Wolf heaved several breaths as he stared down at Ryder until he grabbed him and hugged him back hard. He squeezed Ryder as if someone was trying to take his comfort teddy bear away. I could see Ryder wince, but he took it like a champ.
“Can you sense anyone in the area?” Ryder asked him. Wolf swiveled his head around before he shook it. I don’t think he was capable of words right now.
Movement behind me had me spinning and crouching until I sighted Nick. He stumbled on the rocky ground as he ran out of the garage while talking into a satellite phone. “We’ve come out about half a mile east of the Palace. The tunnel seemed to run in a straight line, but it could have curved subtly.”
“What’s happening?” I asked as he approached, running as fast as he could on the uneven ground.
“I called Max. He found evidence of GPS tracking software for the Palace’s vehicles when spying on their servers once before. When Lexie gave him Wolf’s details for the manor house earlier today, he thought he found the location, but he wanted to be sure. So he turned on the GPS tracking software and was monitoring for any vehicles in that location. He found a bunch. I asked him to point the tracking software here.”
His initiative impressed me. Nick was level-headed and a quick thinker in a crisis.
“Where’s Cary?” I asked. My brain felt as if it was about to fracture. I wasn’t used to having so many people to take care of. It had just been Ryder and me for so long.
“Following us in the tunnel,” Nick answered quickly. “I couldn’t get a phone signal down there. He told me to go, and he’d catch up.”
Fuck.He’d be down there, alone, running blindly in the dark. Not able to feel what was happening with the rest of us.
I felt Ryder and Wolf move up behind me. “Check the house for any clues. Meet me back in the garage,” I ordered Ryder. They both moved off. Wolf followed Ryder like a lost puppy.
A faint voice came from the satellite phone and a look of intense concentration passed over Nick’s face. “White van heading North. That’s the only vehicle in the area?” Nick asked.
“Tell him to stay on it,” I said. “I’ll find Cary,” Nick nodded. He kept talking to Max, but kept pace with me as I took off back up the driveway. When I got to the door above the stairwell, I shone my flashlight down and called out to Cary. My voice echoed down the tunnel. A faint voice yelled back, and moments later, Cary appeared at the bottom of the stairs. He bent over double, looking as if he was about to vomit.
“Ava?” he demanded. I shook my head at him, and he slumped against the cart.
Ryder and Wolf came back through the garage and joined Nick behind me. “House is empty, has been for a long time,” Ryder reported.
