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“There’s people coming out of the trees, too. About twenty of them,” Arthur said.
“So they brought some friends. It’s not unexpected. If one or two make it to the house, they’re not getting in unless they’re brought in, anyway. If you’re so worried, go out there and help,” Phillip growled. He was starting to lose his patience with them, and his civilized act was slipping. The other three men stayed put, as expected. Cowards never fought their own battles.
“What are they doing behind the helicopter?” Richard asked.
“And why have all the men come around the front? What if someone else attacks from the forest behind the house?”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Phillip said, as he stood up and moved over to a window.
“They’re all at the window, watching you. Whatever you’re doing, keep doing it,”I said to Wolf.
“We’re coordinating with the Network team. You’re doing great, Ava. Can you see anything you could use as a weapon?”
I discreetly looked around the room. My eyes landed on scatter cushions and books.Maybe if a book was heavy enough, I could whack him with it?
I was kidding myself. I didn’t have that kind of strength. My eye landed back on my water glass. It looked like heavy cut crystal. If I shattered it, I could turn it into a weapon. Or maybe smash it over his head. I grabbed it quickly and drank the rest of the water in it. Then tucked it down beside me between the chair cushions. Keeping half an eye on the alphas at the window, and the other on Nicole. I didn’t trust her not to tattle on me, but she seemed to have gotten over her tears and was now too busy glaring at Phillip.
When I was sure they were still distracted at the window and hadn’t noticed my movements, I took a moment to run my eyes over Angel. She still wasn’t stirring, but I could see her chest rising and falling steadily. I didn’t dare try to reach for her.
“Is Angel okay?”Wolf asked, guessing what I was looking at by my emotions.
“She’s still unconscious.”If anything happened to her, I would burn this place to the ground, and everyone in it.
I flicked my eyes back to the group by the window and stilled when I noticed Phillip had turned and was now watching me.
“I wondered if one of you would try to escape while I had my back turned, but you’re both such good little omegas. We’ll just have to make things a little more interesting,” Phillip said, as his eyes lit up with excitement. He pulled a switchblade out of his jacket pocket and snapped it open before he casually flipped it between his fingers.
The opportunity for stalling died as the light from the chandelier caught on the wickedly sharp blade.
We were out of time.
forty-one
Samwhiteknuckledthehelicopter controls as he brought it down on the manor lawn and we all let go of whatever we had found to hang on to. It wasn’t the smoothest landing I’d ever experienced, but it wasn’t the worst either. Especially considering the circumstances. Flying at night was incredibly dangerous. Flying at night with no light anywhere in the landscape to identify buildings or power lines, while overloaded with people as cargo, was suicidal. It was a testament to Sam’s skill that we’d made it at all. But the danger was far from over. Sam hopped out before the rotors stopped turning and opened the cargo door from the outside. He’d angled the chopper so we could exit and use the metal body as cover while we got ourselves into some kind of formation.
Damon, Hunter, Leif, Max, Maia, Sam, Pala, Dio, Dave, Lexie, Ghost, and a couple of Sam’s squad mates, who had been in town, had flown with us. To rescue Ava. Maia was wearing a bullet-proof vest that was a few sizes too big for her and covered her stomach. It was duct taped together at the sides.
I hadn’t worked with any of these guys before, apart from the night they freed the town. River and I had mostly been on the fringes of that, our sole focus on Ava. Damon and Sam were warily eyeing Wolf now, not sure if he would take commands. His focus was on the manor, though, not on them.
Hunter was standing slightly between the two groups. He looked torn between needing to stick close to Maia and wanting to reach out to his long-lost brother. Wolf’s body was straining to run, but Cary was standing in front of him with a hand on his chest. Cary had wasted no time settling into his instincts since we’d claimed him, and slotted right into our pack as if he’d always been a part of it. He was finally flowing with us, instead of fighting us, and I was intensely glad. We needed him.
River and Damon had tried to devise a loose plan during phone calls while Sam was traveling back and forth. It currently involved getting here as quickly as possible and assessing the situation on arrival. All while acting as a distraction by landing on the lawn. So it wasn’t really much of a plan. Not knowing what was inside the manor, or what potential defenses it had, made anything beyond that impossible. Now we were standing outside a palatial house with over a hundred alphas between us and Ava.
I didn’t know where they’d gotten so many alphas from, or what they’d bribed them with to get them here. They must have somehow put a call out in the city. I couldn’t make out faces. The floodlights from the manor behind them were too strong. Yet, no-one was charging us. They seemed to be waiting for us to attack, and it made me wonder what lies they’d been told.Had we been portrayed as the enemy?
Movement at the fence behind us had each of the packs instinctively circling Maia and Lexie. No-one was happy having their omegas here, but each had refused to stay behind. It made me ache for Ava. My arms burned to hold her and pull her into the safety of our pack. At least she was awake now, and communicating with Wolf. The blank space that had bloomed in my chest when they knocked her out had gutted me. But she was still in immense danger and it had a growl hovering in my chest.
A voice called out to Sam, and he yelled, “Hurry up and get in here, Gus.”
A beta with a full head of silver hair, who appeared to be in his mid seventies, appeared at the fence. At least twenty people appeared behind him, a mix of betas and alphas. “I’m going to need a boost,” he said dryly as he looked at the chain-link fence in front of him.
“Hang on,” I yelled as I twisted back towards the chopper. We’d put bolt cutters and other tools in a box shoved to the side earlier. So we could be prepared for anything. I grabbed them and hustled to the fence, quickly cutting a hole big enough for everyone to slip through. The noise of the slowing rotors finally faded enough that we could hear each other without yelling. It also potentially meant we were about to lose the only cover we had, if that was all the horde was waiting for.
“What’s the plan now?” Gus asked, not bothering with pleasantries as he joined River looking around the side of the chopper, making sure no-one was advancing on us. They weren’t, but the alphas that had been ringed around the building had joined the others in front. We were sitting ducks here, and we knew it. But that was the plan.
“What do you want to do, Wolf?” Damon asked. “Ava is your omega. We’re happy to take your lead.”
“He’s talking to Ava,” River said, over his shoulder. “I don’t think they’ll shoot. Especially while we’re bundled together. They need Wolf alive, and they want their omegas back, too.” Damon and Sam both growled low in their throats. Electricity crackled in the air, leaking from Damon. Having his pregnant mate in a hostile situation was making him incredibly volatile.
