Page 28
CHAPTER 28 - RAZE
“W hat did you find?” Gable leaned in, examining the biker’s findings.
By outward appearances, Castor oozed charm, but I sensed the threat not to make him an enemy. He already threatened me not to harm his pregnant wife the first time we met.
From what Gable informed me, Castor’s god was smarter than everyone else in the room and one step ahead, and I made it my mission not to step out of line. I might be faster than humans, more agile, heal quicker and be proficient in Guild spells, but something told me I was no match for the biker, the healer, Aaliyah, or her other husband, Alaric, who stood guard in the corner.
We needed all the leads we could muster when our prisoners refused to talk. Magical interventions failed, since they’d dosed with Fae dust, which gave them immunity to confession spells. Hence why we traded with the Jackals for intel out of our reach. Otherwise, we had to wait out the four days until the dust passed out of their system.
Castor brushed his mate’s lap as he navigated the data flitting over his computer screen. “By the cell tower hits registered, it looks like they’re ferrying the gantii through a portal in an old underground telecommunications tunnel.”
Tunnels. Darkness. Limited room to move. Where the Karvosh lured us last time and broke Tor’s back. Odds I didn’t like nor wanted to contend with a second time. We rounded up all remaining vampires on Earth and hauled their ass back to their planet, which gave me some comfort. But who knew what other tricks the traitors had up their sleeves.
The enforcer’s dark and rich scent, like tobacco—even though he didn’t smoke it like the warlock Gable did—dominated over all others, and I think that was how he liked it. He liked to dominate by the way he fitted his wife onto his lap.
“How are they staying off our radar?” Blaze dropped the question on all our minds since transport through the Veil system was tracked by their computers, flagging any unauthorized crossings.
“Mothman spit is untraceable, and I’ve used it before,” I answered.
“Or with a fire opal,” Castor threw in. “The ancients gave it that name because it burned a pale fire in the air.”
“That could be the red stone Tor mentioned to me,” Cole informed the group of his meetings with my brother in the prison to adjust his exoskeleton.
The mention of his name sent a streak of warmth through my middle that I chased to hold, but it was gone in a flash.
Talon’s green-brown gaze hardened as he delivered what I sensed was bad news. “A fire opal was reported stolen from a far north Queensland Guild vault three months ago. They’ve been planning this for a long time.”
Broad and powerful in his black Tollen uniform—which stretched over his thick, muscular frame, slightly smaller than mine—Talon commanded respect and authority and fought for the Alpha position with Blaze among the team.
Blaze turned to his right-hand man, the soldier dictating any strategy for our safety when it was his duty. “Do we have time to obtain the spit?”
We, too, had to keep our movements off the radar for obvious reasons when we didn’t know who the traitors bribed or whether they reported on Talon’s team’s movements.
“My supply is near the Guardian’s prison,” I said.
“That’s too far away and traveling there will raise eyebrows.” Talon cut that idea short.
Castor previously provided Talon with evidence on traitors within the Academy, but political favors called in saved their asses from a lifetime in the Guardians. It was who you knew, not what you knew, that was currency in this world. Justice would be served one way or the other… it was the natural order of balance the world needed. And the biker’s god, the universal reckoner as Castor called him, would play a key hand in delivering it.
Aaliyah shifted, clutching her swollen belly, uncomfortable by the weight of four quads she bore.
Watching her made me long for my mate and to fill her belly with babies. My fingers twitched to reach out and stroke Aaliyah’s belly, protruding from her maternity shirt, and whisper ancient blessings for a safe birth to the little ones and their ongoing health and strength. Permission I must seek from her mates. By the scowl of the one in the corner, whose laser gray and golden eyes burned into me for daring to look her way, it was likely his hawk shifter would peck out my eyes before granting it.
I averted my gaze back to the computer screen that Blaze, Talon, Gable, Cole, Luna, and I huddled behind, forcing aside thoughts of birth and child-rearing to focus on the task at hand. Apprehend the last vestiges of Brotherhood filth auctioning off innocent gantii captured from off-world. Imprisoning them, starving them, and demoralizing them enraged my wolf and I had to hold him in my skin or risk taking on the two male avatars.
“Negative,” Castor interrupted with a new update, flashing on his screen. “They just got wind that the aunt didn’t show at a meeting, and it triggered a warning to be sent out to the top silo. They’re on the move.”
Talon swiped along his powerful jaw. “We’ll have to go in via the Veil.”
The hunter in me preferred the element of surprise, but we had to go with the options we had, and without Mothman spit to cover our tracks, we fell back on the portals.
“Give us the coordinates, Knuckle Duster,” Gable muttered, on a roll with his silly nicknames like Covalent Bonds for my mate.
Castor earned the term for the set of rings he stored in his Jackals’ vest.
He jabbed a key on his keyboard, printing out schematic plans of what looked like tunnels as well as the numbers and names of who the phones belonged to. The printer clunked and whined as it worked.
When it finished, he shoved the paper in Talon’s hands. “You need to get going if you want to detain them and get them into custody.”
Talon reviewed the data and gave the order. “Let’s get back to the Academy, gear up, and get ready to apprehend these traitors.”
* * *
By the stench in the tunnel, a combination of stale beer, cigarettes, and tinned food, the escaped prisoners holed up here for weeks. They were close. Close enough to taste their blood soaking into my tongue, satiating the craving of my wolf to lap up every last drop.
One scent in particular narrowed into the primary target of my wolf. Eduardo. I’d finish what I started in the prison’s laboratory when he came after my mate and sent in his minion to extract my blood and expose me to the Guild authorities. Rules that applied to the rest of my crew didn’t apply to me when my record and membership got wiped. I was free to exact my own form of justice. Death… the Lycan way, to avenge Little Wolf.
Predatory senses assumed control of the wheel, and I let my beast surge to the surface, needing him near for what was to come. Gray soaked over my vision and swallowed any color of the red brick walls, dusty brown floor, black and white signs, rust of the iron, steel of metalwork, green cabling, and stained pipes. Not that I needed color vision when I distinguished friend from foe by scent.
With the height restrictions in the tunnel clocking in at six feet, most of the males hunched over, me by the most, and I couldn’t let my wolf out completely. Only Luna fit comfortably at her shorter five feet three stature.
By the plans provided by Castor, four branches of tunnels met up in a grid, verging off in a twenty-feet square storage room, formerly used to house spare telecommunications equipment for repairs. Talon appointed Tollens to every branch to prevent the escape of any traitor we encountered.
“This will be over soon big guy, and we’ll get your mate back.” Luna’s whisper sharpened my hunger to eliminate my enemy with both the warrior spirit of my former tribe and my Lycan heritage.
Little Wolf’s spirit brushed against the edges of my mind in longing for our reunion and unifying our pack.
Talon lifted his arm and crunched his hand into a fist, communicating to us for silence from here in out. Fine by me. I directed all my attention on the upcoming room we were about to pounce on. Our leader raised pronged fingers, ordering Cole to take a closer look and report back.
Luna’s man crept closer to our target, staying within sight range, absorbing all the details he could. He hurried back and typed out a message of his observations.
They’re packing up all their belongings. Watch out for the sleeping bags across the floor, cartons of water bottles and boxes of non-perishable food. They’re armed with Guild stun weapons, gin and tonic grenades. The ruby portal device is by the far wall, and we have to cross them all to get it.
Excellent intel.
Talon nodded, clutched his weapon in his fight hand, and uncurled his other fist, motioning for Gable to do his thing.
The warlock removed a stick and wound a white ribbon around a crystal and sprig of herbs, preventing the prisoners from unleashing any spells to vanish. Veil light blinked and crackled around it, locking anyone within a fifty-feet radius into place. He gave a nod to Talon.
Our leader flicked two left fingers, motioning for us to move out. Another signal initiated the countdown in feet until we reached our destination, thirty-feet all the way down to one. He motioned for the first half of the team to enter and surprise our enemies.
Talon took the lead with Blaze, me, and Jes, one of his most trusted Tollens. Guns pointed, we inched into the tight space, letting off rounds at anything standing. Three men went down, cigarettes in their mouths, the equipment they crated up tumbling over.
I recognized five inmates from the prison, but not the other two. Guild uniforms gave the officials away. Dumb of them to wear identifying clothing in an operation like this. They went for their weapons first. Rule number-one in Academy training: protect yourself first before you fight. These clowns should never have graduated.
Our team was faster. We picked them off, and they dropped to floor in puffs of dust, weapons clattering along stone. Blasts of magick lit up the space as my companions dealt with Eduardo and two others, rounds deflecting off his shield and hitting the wall.
Only I remained still, one man on my fucking radar. My beast fully emerged, my bones cracking, claws spiking, fangs elongating, muscles flexing with ultimate power.
“Well, well, look what the cat…” He cracked up at his inside joke. “I mean, the wolf dragged in.”
The coward smirked at me and traced a spell to escape the inevitable. Pale light fizzed but went out. He tried again and nada.
Gable laughed at his spell binding them from running. “You’re not getting out of here, asshole.”
My beast roared and charged him, slamming him into the wall. His shield flickered out. I didn’t give up until I rammed the fucker, until his body sagged and he groaned. I patted him down for any weapons stashed on his body, removing another gun strapped to his leg and knives hidden in a pocket and underneath his hoodie.
“Got you now, you dickless asshole!” My thunder reverberated off the wall.
“I’ll feed ya’ your balls for that,” Eduardo grunted from beneath the paw I crushed his face into the brick with. “Watch ya’ choke on them.”
“Big talk from someone with no dick.” I pressed his face harder into the brick until a satisfying crack sounded.
“Don’t kill him, Big Guy,” Luna warned me from behind, stopping me from taking it too far.
Munyara.
I let my wolf’s aggression take me beyond the point of reason. These prisoners had to be taken in for questioning, not brutalized, no matter how much I sought vengeance for my mate. Once my team got these fuckers to turn on their allies, then all bets were off, and revenge was mine.
Lowering my aggression a few bars, I clamped my claws around Eduardo’s neck, drawing blood on purpose, and he struggled against me but wasn’t strong enough to move me.
“My aunt will lock you up in cage for this,” Eduardo spat at me. “How do you like that, doggy doggy?”
I laughed in his face. Clown didn’t know his aunt was locked up safe with allies where the Guild couldn’t touch them. That a trial was pending for her arraignment for charges of treason. That we were this close to our end goal. Castor jammed their communication channels after the alert went out about their aunt failing to show at a meeting. No one was coming to this dickhead or his aunt’s rescue.
Talon came up beside me, clocked my captive in the temple with a stun gun, and released a laser blast. “No one wants to listen to this idiot.”
Eduardo sagged in my grip.
Jes sidled up beside us, locking cuffs on him. “Let me at this one. I want to question him.”
“I want in too,” I growled.
“Me three.” Talon clapped our backs and moved back to deal with extracting the rest of the captives to shuttle them back to the Academy. “Gable, remove your spell to facilitate transport of the prisoners to lock-up.”
The warlock retrieved his stick and unwound the ribbons in a slow, seductive fashion move. “With pleasure, Stoney.”
Talon’s radio crackled with an update. “Darnax, we’ve detected a portal in the tunnels.” The Tollen provided the coordinates. “Ten very large bodies are headed your way.”
I moved back to the tunnel and lifted my nose. Multiple scents hit me at once, and my nervous system went into high alert. Dirt, piss, blood, and fur.
I growled my warning to my leader, “Lycans are here.”
It seemed like we weren’t the only ones launching surprises.