21. Chapter 21

Chapter twenty-one

“ H ow do you know all this stuff?” I asked Gabe as he closed the video program and shut Mike’s camera down.

“I used to be a cop, remember?” Gabe tapped his index finger against his temple. “There’s a lot of information that can be used for nefarious purposes just rattling around in here.”

Armed with the truth we slipped out of Mike’s office, past Amy the concierge, and headed for the holding cells which were in the basement of the administration building inside the tracker compound.

Five densely wooded acres with one narrow access road covered in crush and run separated us from Lucas.

Cutting through the woods at the height of a lunar eclipse would have slowed us down. The gravel road would have given us away. We opted for the lesser of two evils and made our own trail through the trees.

It wasn’t a jailbreak, but I hadn’t been able to shake the feeling that forces within the council were working against us and I feared they would move Lucas to an undisclosed location.

The timing of the questionable loss during the first elimination fight and the challenge against Benjamin wasn’t a coincidence.

Not that I believed in them.

No, everything that happened back at the hotel had been orchestrated from the start. They knew who the contenders were and selected one for elimination. Someone on the council had to be working with the guy in the hat.

How else would he have had access to information about the fight when I had only been given the information hours before the first fight was set to begin?

Maybe the same way I had .

I couldn’t rule out another, more sophisticated security breach, but my gut said otherwise.

Two of Lucas’ teammates stood guard outside the office where Lucas had clocked in every day and housed the holding cells. That left at least four more inside.

We were outnumbered three to one, but that had never stopped me before.

Besides, the only tracker that ever gave me pause was locked up in a titanium cell and I planned to get him released.

Still, I much preferred smooth talking my way inside. For once, the trackers were not my enemy and I had little desire to fight them—again.

I hoped they picked the easy way and chose to listen. Nobody wanted the hard way. Especially them—even if they hadn’t figured that out yet.

The first step in our plan to free Lucas was to show the trackers the footage from the security cameras. Once they knew the truth, gaining access to the council would be a lot easier.

It was getting them to see the truth that proved to be the problem.

With Gabe at my side, I stepped out from the cover of the trees’ shadows and into range of the double flood light fastened to the corner of an innocuous log cabin teeming with highly trained, lethal werewolves.

Cedar Grove had proved time and again that looks could be deceiving.

On the outside the buildings and surrounding property looked like any other rustic retreat, but as the saying went—it’s what’s on the inside that counts.

More than one harmless hiker had lost their way in the neighboring state park, only to find themselves on pack lands. For the most part, people bought into the mountain lodge facade and left without incident.

The ones who didn’t never made it off the mountain.

“Stop right there, Redford.” The same tracker who had been eager to fill Lucas’ shoes when they took him into custody, aimed his taser at me.

“Relax.” I glanced down at the red dot lit up on the center of my chest. “We’re just here to talk.”

“Whatever you have to say, you can say it from there.” His finger hovered over the trigger. “Keep your hands where I can see them. Stop reaching or I will light you up like the Fourth of July.”

“I’m just going for my phone.” I decided to risk being tased and pulled my phone out of the clutch that still dangled from the strap around my wrist. “You need to chill the hell out, seriously.”

“We have our orders.” The second tracker on watch squared up. “Top of the list is to prevent you from entering the building by any means necessary.”

“Let me guess, that directive came from Marianne Redford?” I asked, though I felt certain I knew the answer. “Doesn’t that strike you as a bit odd?”

“We’re an alliance of wolves whose true nature has gone undetected for generations, and we’ve ingratiated ourselves in the local community.” The tracker kept his taser fixed on me. “Everything about this place is odd. I stopped questioning shit a long time ago.”

“Touché.” I hated to admit, but he had me there.

My mother was a vindictive bitch, but she had hit a personal low by using Lucas to get to me. I doubted very much that she was the party responsible for the set-up. It wasn’t her style. My mother’s preferred methods were manipulation and emotional warfare.

Still, I had to give credit where credit was due. She saw an opportunity and she sure as hell seized it.

Her personal attacks were nothing new. It was the fact that she went out of her way to make what had already seemed like an impossible task to begin with, that much harder.

For a woman who had claimed to want the same thing—justice for my father—she had a bizarre way of showing it.

“Look, I need you to see this.” I jiggled my phone back and forth. “Trust me, it changes everything.”

“Redford, I wouldn’t trust you as far as I could throw you.” The tracker held out his arm and blocked his partner from coming down the steps to retrieve my phone.

“I’m pretty light. You might be surprised just how far you could throw me.” I shrugged. “So, maybe you could trust me? Enough to watch one video?”

“Come on man, tase her and get it over with or just watch the damned video.” Gabe had reached the limit of his patience. “Or are we just going to stand around and drag this out all night?”

“Um, speak for yourself. I can stand around a little longer.” I side-eyed Gabe. “Especially since I’m the one who’d be getting tased.”

I had no qualms about a fight, but I was hesitant about being shocked with upwards of seventy thousand volts.

The tracker narrowed his gaze and sized Gabe up. He must have seen something when Gabe stared back that gave him pause, because he holstered his taser and hopped over the porch rail.

“Que the video and toss me your phone.” He clapped his tactical gloved hands together and held them at the ready to catch my cell.

Gabe and I knew the second he saw the man in the hat. The tracker’s entire demeanor had changed.

“I need to make a call. You two wait here.” I took the front steps two at a time and instructed his partner to keep his eye on us as he disappeared inside the cabin. “Watch them.”

A minute or so later the main door to the opened, and we were permitted to enter. Trackers shuffled in and out through a side entrance.

“Shift change.” The tracker explained the high foot traffic and jerked his thumb toward the elevator. “The holding cells are two floors down. I’m waiting on clearance from the council to release him, but I thought you might like to deliver the good news.”

“Thanks.” I blinked back my surprise at his level of consideration.

The three of us wedged ourselves like sardines into the tight elevator carriage.

“You transport people into holding this way?” I asked with genuine curiosity as to how they managed a hostile wolf in such a confined space.

“Nah, we walk them down.” The tracker pressed himself against the side wall as if that would have created additional space. “We just use this at mealtime.”

The elevator dinged, signaling our destination.

The doors opened to reveal level B-two which was wasn’t as ominous as I remembered. It could have been the LEDs. The cold, white light chased away the monsters I had imagined lived down here when I was little.

The only big, bad wolf down there was Lucas.

“Lina?” My on-again, off-again boyfriend called my name as he reached his hand between the bars in what could have been a romantic moment had we been any other people on the planet. “What took you so long?”

“Maybe if you petitioned the council for better security equipment things would have gone faster.” I quickened my pace and took his outstretched hand in mine. “As it is, I’ll probably need Lasik from staring at that grainy video.”

“You found something.” Lucas sagged against the cell bars.

“Were you doubting our abilities?” I asked in mock offense. “My pride is officially wounded.”

“I’ve never doubted you.” Lucas laced his fingers through mine and pulled me close enough for our faces to touch between the bars.

He brushed as much of a kiss against my lips as the cell door allowed.

“So, just Gabe then?” I teased and nipped his bottom lip before I pulled away. “Don’t worry. I’ll never tell.”

“I can hear you.” Gabe shook his head and laughed.

The weight of the world shifted as we claimed one small victory with Lucas’ pending release. We had plenty to worry about, but in that moment, we took a collective breath and celebrated Lucas’ freedom.

Too bad the victory was short lived.

“What about the challenge? Have you talked to my dad?” Lucas wanted an update.

I wished I’d the answers.

“No. We didn’t call him. We went straight for the video footage.” A pang of guilt hit me as I second guessed our decision to keep Benjamin out of the loop.

“It’s probably for the best anyway.” Lucas grew up in a political family like I had.

Which meant he knew the drill. Alphas were often put in a position where they had to choose pack over family. Challenge for control of the alliance more than qualified as one of those times.

“Okay, you two. Time to go.” The tracker whistled and pointed toward the elevator. “Wrap it up. Lover boy’s paperwork will be processed, and he’ll be out of here before you know it.

Lucas tugged me against the cell and stole another kiss before I left.

“Wait for me?” Lucas asked with a hint of hesitancy that I knew I had put there the day I ran away.

“I told you I was done running and I meant it.” I gave his hand a reassuring squeeze. “We’ll be right outside.”

I wondered if his scars ran as deep as mine and if the people who caused our wounds could be the same ones to heal them. I hoped so.

For both our sakes.

Gabe and I sat on the front steps of the trackers’ cabin and watched the last sliver of the moon slip behind the Earth’s shadow.

“Thanks for sticking around and helping.” I rested my head against his shoulder and soaked up the warmth that radiated from his body. “I probably would have been locked in a cell next to Lucas if it weren’t for you.”

“Don’t sell yourself short.” Gabe kept his gaze fixed on the eclipse. “You’re resourceful. You would have figured something out.”

The thermostat had dropped a few degrees and my evening attire left me underdressed for the colder temperature.

“It goes against every fiber of my rogue wolf.” Gabe slipped off his suit jacket and draped it around my shoulders. “I’d turned my back on pack life … I can’t explain it, but you and Lucas reminded me of what I was missing being on my own. You feel like pack.”

“You don’t have to explain it. I know exactly what you mean.” I nuzzled my face against the collar of his jacket and breathed him in.

Gabe smelled like the forest. Earthy pine with a hint of smoldering campfire. The heady mix stirred my wolf.

So did his proximity.

She prowled just beneath the surface and for the second time that day made her attraction to him known and he responded in kind.

Gabe leaned in and pressed his lips to mine. Part of me—the part that was still in love with Lucas—wanted to refuse. And I should have, but my wolf wanted more.

The lunar eclipse heightened her carnal nature. Beneath the blood moon she took control of our duality and made the decision to claim a second wolf as her own.

His kiss was soft and sweet, with a graze of teeth against my lip that promised something more.

Some things in life aren’t made to be broken. A promise, trust, and someone else’s heart. When Lucas stepped out onto the porch and saw me with Gabe, I broke all three.