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“No!” Some voice said from the other side. “Don’t come in here. I can’t control....”
Ryder picked up the sounds from within the room. Some at least were in wolf form. Had they lost control of their wolves?
“Hungry,” the same voice said. The voice was shaky. “So hungry.”
Ryder’s eyes widened and he turned back to Benny, touching his arm. Benny was shaking. “Feral,” Benny said soundlessly. Ryder could hear his horror, nonetheless.
“Ken,” Ryder said. “Go. Find the ones who are in wolf-form, send them out to hunt.”
“Boss,” Ken protested. “I can’t leave you.”
“Go,” Ryder ordered with more force. “We’ve got to have meat waiting for them when I bring them out.”
“Ryder,” Benny said with sorrow. “You can’t....”
“They’re not there yet,” Ryder said fiercely. “He can still talk. Still warn us off. I’m not going to walk away, Benny.”
Benny took a deep breath. Ryder sensed his reluctant agreement. There were many ways that shifters could lose the balance of power between man and wolf. The most benign really was to go wolf. The wolf took over, and slowly the man faded. There were stories about massive wolves in the Canadian wilderness that shifters thought might be shifters gone wolf. The worst was a berserker wolf — a wolf so angry, so insane, that they would destroy anyone in their way. There were stories about those too. Somewhere in between was a shifter gone feral. Maddened by hunger and trapped like this? Yeah, the wolf would do anything to survive. Even attack their rescuers.
Or worse.
“Listen up,” Ryder said firmly, pushing his voice outward without shouting. “My name is Ryder, I’m the new Alpha of the Penticton pack. And I am here to rescue you. Food is being brought.”
“You’re not strong enough,” another voice growled. “I can feel you. You won’t stand if we attack.”
“I will stand,” Ryder countered, and he repeated part of his speech to the recruits last night. “I’ve been a soldier. I fought in Iraq, in Fallujah, in Mosul. And I will stand.”
“Mosul,” the growler repeated. “The soldier from Mosul?”
Ryder hesitated. He had never publicly claimed that story. Hell, telling it to Jessie was the first time he’d told it all to someone. “Yes,” he said with difficulty. “I’m the soldier from Mosul.”
There was silence. “I’ll stand with him,” the growler said. “Do you hear me?”
Ryder seized on it. “So shift to human, all of you,” he ordered. “Shift and be men, in control of yourselves. Stand with me as men.”
He heard a whimper or two. Then the first voice, firmer now, said, “We’re ready, Alpha.”
Ryder swallowed, aware that not only was his life on the line, but so were the lives of the men standing here with him. “Open the door, Titus,” he said firmly. “You all need to stand back. We’ll have to break it down.”
Titus rammed it with his shoulder, and the door groaned and then shattered. Well, it wasn’t like they were going to ever use it again.
“Come out now,” Ryder re ordered, pushing his dominance. “One at a time. I’m here. I’ll keep you safe.”
Titus stood up the hall a few paces on the other side of the door. Ryder could feel his alertness. He could feel Benny move to stand beside him, ready to attack if necessary. And Mucho’s comforting bulk was at his back.
“Coming out,” said a new voice.
Ryder glanced back at Mucho. “Lead the way to the stairs,” he said. “Mind the first one.”
Mucho backed up slowly, unwilling to turn his back on the men who were coming out of the room, one man at a time. Ryder counted as they slowly walked past him. Eight men. How long had they been trapped in that room without food? It wouldn’t need to be very long. Shifters burned a lot of calories.
Ryder’s eyes burned. Someone needed to pay for this.
Benny followed the last man, then Ryder and finally Titus. At the stairs, he turned and let that sixth sense spread out, making sure there were no others trapped down here. He didn’t feel them if they were.
Come daylight, someone could be sent down with lights to search. And something would have to be done about whatever dead they found. Ryder followed the men up the stairs and into the night.
At the door to the outside, Ryder paused, getting the shakes at what he had just risked. He took in long deep breaths of the fresh air.
