Page 74

We travel about forty-five minutes before I stop. The Beta must have heard my footfall decrease, because he too stops. His enormous wolf head turns toward me. Those golden eyes watching me.

I don’t have to be a member of his pack to read his mind. He wants to know why I stopped.

I place a finger to my lips and then point down to the ground. His large eyes narrow. Kneeling on the ground, I push away the debris beneath my feet. The wolf walks back over to me. His enormous nose sniffing the ground where my hands are busy uncovering a trap door.

I didn’t notice him transform. But his whispered voice tells me he has.

“Do you—” I place my hand out over his, stopping whatever he was going to say.

Looking up, his golden eyes stare into mine.

“Don’t speak,”I say inside his head.“He might can hear you.”

The way his face pinches in confusion makes me want to burst out laughing.

“How the hell are you doing that?”

“I have my own tricks.”I wink at him.

I can tell he wants to say more. A bunch of things fly across his thoughts so rapidly I can’t track them all. However, he pushes his thoughts away.

“Do you smell that?”

“No,”I say.

“I smell feral and vampire.”

I can only sense the vampire because I’m tracking his blood.

“How many?”I ask.

“Only two. The vamp and the feral.”

Why the hell would a vampire and a feral be together? Vampires would never work with wolves. I’m an exception at the moment. All that I know about ferals tells me they don’t work well with anybody.

“I’ll go in first. You come in after.”

“No, I’ll go first. You follow.”

Although we play out this entire conversation in our heads, our faces still speak. For instance, right now, he's pinching his brow and thinning his lips.

I roll my eyes.

“I’m the distraction,”I explain.“I need them to think I’m alone. You can come in and surprise them.”

He looks as if he’s going to refuse again, but finally, he nods his head.

“Two minutes,”he snarls in a deeper tone. I’m sure that’s his wolf speaking.

“Five.”

“Two,”he repeats. Realizing I don’t have the time to bargain, I toss my hands up, relenting.

“Whatever.”Letting go of his arm, I pull the latch off the trapdoor, lifting the heavy piece of wood.

I drop into the dark pit, landing on the balls of my feet, keeping my landing silent. Ahead of me is darkness, but my eyesight can see clearly. It looks as if I’m in an old mining tunnel. The iron tracks for the old carts are still intact. Looking behind me there is more darkness and tunnels. I turn back to the front and head in that direction. I know the vampire is up ahead.

Slowly, I make my way through the old passage. Noise up ahead stops me in my tracks.