Page 16

I stiffened as I sensed my wolf’s panic and urgency. Something was wrong.

At first, I thought I was just being overly paranoid. Being undercover for a long period of time could make you jumpy even in the best of situations. But the more I tried to dismiss it, the more insistent my wolf became.

I pushed myself up in bed, looking around as I tried to figure out what might be wrong. After a moment, a sneaking unease crept up my spine, as if my wolf was trying to tell me something.

When was the last time I saw Kendra? Normally, I could hear her pacing in her room. This time, however, there was nothing.

Without giving myself time to think, I darted up the stairs to Kendra’s room. The door was locked, but I could tell even through the door that her scent was too stale. Still, I had to be certain. I banged on the door.

“Kendra!” I yelled.

When I didn’t hear so much as a rustle from the room, I slammed my shoulder into the door. The sound of splintering wood rang in my ear as I burst through. The door slammed against the far wall.

Kendra’s bed was unmade but empty. I stared for a long moment, letting the image sink in. My mind raced as my wolf snarled with something like a mix of panic and rage. A cool certainty washed over me. She had gone and done something stupid. She had gone after Morgan.

Rage at her impulsiveness and fear for her safety both swelled inside me, fighting for dominance, but neither taking over the other. With a primal yowl, I screamed as my fist slammed into the wall, knuckles breaking through the plaster.

Footsteps thundered up the stairs. Nolan emerged, his hair still mussed from sleep, but his eyes sharp and alert.

“What’s going on?” he asked. He glanced from me to the open door and back to me.

“Kendra’s missing,” I growled.

Nolan’s mouth dropped open. “You’re sure?”

“Positive.”

Nolan glanced over his shoulder. At first, I thought he didn’t care, and a new rage began building. Then I realized he was searching for someone else who should be here.

“Where’s Chris?” Nolan asked. “There’s no way in hell he didn’t hear that. He’s a lighter sleeper than I am.”

In my panic, it took a moment for the words to register. Then a sneaking suspicion wormed its way into my brain.

“Kendra, tell me you didn’t,” I muttered to myself.

“She didn’t what?” Nolan asked.

Instead of answering, I raced back down the hall to where Chris was supposed to be sleeping. I opened the door to his room and froze. The bed was empty. Hadn’t even been slept in.

“Fuck,” I growled. “Chris is with her.”

Nolan reached out, putting his hand on my shoulder and turning me to look at him. “That’s good. That means she at least has someone looking after her. And that, whatever they’re up to, they weren’t taken. Any idea where they went?”

“Yeah,” I said. “To break her sister out.”

“Ah,” Nolan said. “Right. In that case, anything I say right now is going to go over your head, and you’re not going to listen. So why don’t we go ahead and cut through the bit where I tell you that going in recklessly is a terrible plan, and you say, ‘Fuck that, we’re doing it, anyway,’ and I say I’m going with you to stop you from doing something stupid.”

“Great,” I agreed.

Without another word, I spun on my heels and raced outside. I could smell Kendra and Chris. They couldn’t have been gone for long if their scents were this fresh.

I ran, Nolan on my heels, following the smells, not shifting in case it raised suspicion. Nolan and I followed their scents down the street toward the center of town, into the unlocked back door of a large building, and through the halls. Their scents grew stronger, though now mixed with others.

I knew I was close when I rounded the corner to see Chris and Kendra pinned against the wall, the exit blocked by Lucas and two guards. In the cell in the corner, Morgan watched in horror.

“That’s enough,” I said.

Lucas turned. His eyes went wide when he saw us barge in, then they narrowed.

“I should have guessed there was something suspicious about you,” he said.

“People always say that when they’re not smart enough to figure out we’re undercover,” Nolan said cheerfully. “One of these days, I hope we come across a bad guy brave enough to admit that, yes, we did completely bamboozle them. It would be a nice change of pace.”

Lucas glared, first at Nolan, then at me.

“I wish Pierce had killed you now,” he said almost conversationally. “It would have made things so much easier.”

A flickering fire appeared in his hand. Without a single word, he hurled it toward me, too fast for me to move out of the way.

It slammed into me, but I only felt a pleasant warmth, like sunbeams on a clear summer afternoon. Lucas frowned, then he spun on his heels.

“Little brat,” he snarled at Kendra.

She gave a smirk back at him and waggled her fingers.

While he was distracted, I shifted and lunged forward, knocking him to his feet. Nolan and Chris shifted and sprang into action, going after the other guards before they could escape or sound the alarm.

I acted quickly. As Lucas staggered back to his feet, I slammed into him again. This time, his head hit the wall. His eyes rolled back into his head, and he collapsed like a ragdoll, motionless but still breathing. Nearby, Chris and Nolan had done the same to the other guards. In silent agreement, we shifted back to human.

“Are you guys okay?” I asked, but my eyes were locked on Kendra. Annoyance at her impulsivity and relief that she was okay washed over me in tandem. Her eyes met mine before they darted back to look at Morgan.

“Might be a bit sore in the morning, but otherwise a piece of cake,” Nolan said. “Really, these guards need to up their game.”

“We have to get out of here before anyone else comes in,” I growled. “I don’t care how good their game is. If they overrun us, we’re going to be in a world of trouble. Let’s move.”

“We can’t just leave them alive,” Chris pointed out. “They’re going to know we were here.”

Kendra bit her lip, her hair disheveled. “I might be able to cast a memory spell over them. I don’t know if that counts as using magic against them, though.”

“Worth a shot,” Nolan said.

She crouched down beside the first unconscious guard, touched both sides of his head, and muttered something under her breath. The guard stirred, then went back to being motionless. She did that to the other guard, and then finally to Lucas.

“It worked,” Kendra said. “They won’t remember a thing.”

“I’m surprised no one else has thought of that,” Chris said.

Kendra shrugged. “You’d be amazed how powerful some of the women are in here who don’t try and escape. Either they didn’t think about it, thought about it but assumed it was useless, or resigned themselves to the life and didn’t bother trying because these assholes sapped it out of them.” She glanced over at Morgan, and guilt and regret flickered across her features. “Or they tried escaping, but realized it was pointless and would only put them in a worse position.”

“We can discuss that later,” I said, growing impatient. Kendra’s spell wouldn’t do anything if we were all still standing around like idiots. “Right now, we need to leave before anything else happens.”

“But Morgan—” Kendra protested.

Except her sister was already talking. “Get her out of here. Please,” Morgan begged.

“No!” Kendra’s head whipped around, and she went back to the cell. “I can’t leave you.”

“You have to,” I growled, forcing her to turn around and look at me. Anger blazed in her eyes as I gripped her biceps. “Listen to me. If you stay here, or even by some miracle manage to get her out of there, you’re putting her in even more danger. You aren’t going to help her. Not now.”

“Listen to him, Kendra, please,” Morgan said, giving a shaky smile. “I’ll be fine.”

No, you won’t , I thought with bitter resentment. Not unless we do something soon.

“Kendra, do this for me. Please ,” Morgan begged.

Doubt flickered across Kendra’s face, then resignation. Shoulders sagging, she nodded. She turned back once more to her sister, sticking her hand through the cage. “I love you,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper.

Morgan reached out and squeezed her hand back. “I love you, too,” she said. “Now, get out of here fast.”

“We’ll be back for you,” Chris told Morgan. “We’re going to get you out of there, and soon.”

Morgan nodded and gave a small, sad smile. “I’ll be waiting,” she said.