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I held them close to me for as long as time allowed. But it was a long ride to upstate New York, and Denny had us on a tight schedule.
“Come on, Romeo,” he grunted, smacking me on the back of the head. “You can get right back to sucking face when you get back.”
“Just come home to me safe.” Her hand caressed my face, thumb smoothing up my cheekbone, then down my jawline, like she was committing me to memory. Just in case. “That goes for all of you.”
Dylan, Denny, and I piled into the Impala. I took the back seat while Dylan drove and Denny rode shotgun.
It allowed me to turn around and stare at the porch as we headed down the drive. There was a wistful smile on Felicity’s lips. She took Rylan’s hand in hers, making him wave goodbye as we drove away.
* * *
It was dark out by the time we made it to the Du Pont estate. So dark that I couldn’t even tell what color the manor was. All I could see was how large and foreboding it looked, perched at the top of its hill, surrounded by a thick copse of trees.
We parked on a back road and hiked to the spot on Ava-Rose’s map. The hatch was a good distance from the fence that encircled the estate, so we didn’t have to worry too much about being heard, but we moved quietly and stayed on alert anyway. There was no telling what patrols the Du Ponts might have ordered, or what else might be lurking in their woods.
“There it is,” Denny announced, pulling the last of the brush away from the wooden doors. They creaked on rusty hinges when he yanked them open. The wood was so rotted, chunks of them fell away as they hit the grass on either side.
“Hasn’t been used in a while.” I turned my flashlight on and shone the beam of light down the hole. Stone steps descended deep into the darkness, the light barely kissing the last steps. “Dylan, your reporter friend is sure that these tunnels are still functional?”
“She says she hasn’t used them in a few years, but last she checked, they were good,” Dylan said. “Even if they’re not, can’t turn back now, can we?”
“No, we can’t,” I agreed, turning off my flashlight. “This is where we part ways, then. I’ll be back with Ryder, or I’m not coming back at all.”
The latter wasn’t really an option. Not with my mate and other son waiting for me back at home. I had a pack to lead. A family to rebuild.
With that in mind, my words were more like a promise.
I’m coming back. I’m coming back with my son.
I took a step down into the hatch, but Dylan reached out and grabbed my shoulder, stopping me.
“Xan, come on. You don’t need to go in. I can do this for you. I might’ve failed as a leader when you were away, but this shit is what I was made for.” His eyes locked on mine, earnestly seriously. “It’s like you said. Let me be your hand.”
“You didn’t fail as a leader, dumbass.” I shoved his hand away and punched him in the arm. “You kept the pack together until I came back. That’s not failure. You’ve got nothing to make up for. Now, what I need you for is a lot simpler. Just stay out here and keep watch with Denny. Whatever happens inside the Du Pont house, I need to tackle it on my own.”
I meant it. For too long, I’d relied on others to do my bidding for me. According to Dad, it was what an alpha was meant to do. Delegate.
“If you ask a beta to dig you a hole, he’ll ask you for a shovel,” he’d told me once when I was just a kid. “Ask an alpha, and he’ll have a team assembled on your property within the hour, digging as many holes as you like.”
But tonight, it was important to me that I didn’t put anyone else at risk.
I’d dig my own hole.
“Denny, you still got that perfume?” I asked, holding out a hand. It wasn’t really perfume, we figured, but there was no pretending that the bottle Denny had swiped from Melony’s hotel room wasn’t handy. It had successfully cloaked Melony’s scent the whole time we’d been in Vegas. Here tonight, it would hide mine as well.
“Yep. Half for you, half for me. I’m coming with,” Denny announced, as though he hadn’t heard anything I’d just said. I looked at him, annoyed, and he shrugged. “If shit goes tits up in there, you’re not gonna fight your way out with a baby all on your own. The kid”—he jerked his head in Dylan’s direction—“can stay here, make sure our escape route isn’t compromised. You and me, though? We’ll go in. Together.”
“This wasn’t the plan,” I reminded him. “There’s not much of Melony’s perfume left. Even less if we have to split it between us.”
Denny grinned and started spritzing himself. “Then we’ll just have to be quick about it, won’t we?”
He tossed the bottle to me when he was done. Grudgingly, I gave myself the same treatment with what was left.
Denny’s scent was already covered, and frustratingly, he did have a point. I saw little to be gained from arguing with him.
With our scents masked, we descended into the hatch, entering the catacombs of the Du Pont estate side by side.
* * *
