Chapter Fourteen

W hen they arrived in Chicago, Talon felt the pulse of his Guardians and Protectors as they prepared themselves to take down the hospital where Rose was bred and raised. Everyone there knew the infiltration of the building was going to be one of the biggest fights of their life.

Rose was with them, and she had given him a sketch of what part of the hospital she was familiar with, but everything else would be them going in blind. She’d stressed several times that they might be outnumbered, but Talon had a card he hadn’t told anyone he was going to play.

Once they gathered behind an abandoned building Diesel had checked out before they even left home, Talon checked his watch, noting how they only had twenty minutes until sunset. There was already snow on the ground. If the night cleared up, which it shouldn’t, they’d have a hard time staying hidden. The glow of the moon on the bright white ground was not good for their task.

“Let us know when you’re ready to go,” Axel, the younger Guardian, said.

“Not quite yet,” he smirked, hearing a truck arrive. He held out his hands, sending a calming wave of magic to his pride. “We have backup.”

“What?” Winter asked.

“Who?” It was Hope that asked that question, and he had no way of explaining it, but he’d let the sheriff explain.

Garrett stepped out of the driver’s seat of the truck, closing the door behind him. Talon could see four other beings but they didn’t make a move to exit just yet. Rightly so.

“Garrett,” Talon acknowledged. “I haven’t said a word to anyone about you being here. So, I think it’s best you tell my pride what you’ve done.”

“You make it sound like it’s a bad thing,” the sheriff chuckled.

“For you, it could be,” he replied, knowing what Garrett was doing was against his gods. But really, Talon could give a fuck less about the gods and their rules.

“Well, I guess you’re all wondering why I’m here.” The sheriff paused to let the pride finish their rumbling of questions and shock at seeing him in Chicago and not back home where he was sheriff to the humans in Mississippi.

“I’m curious,” Savage grumbled.

“I’ve gathered others of my kind,” he smirked, taking a moment to look at all of the shifters and Rose. “We’ve had visions of what’s to come, and while we know these MODs are being bred for war, we all agree this is not of the gods’ doings. The leader must be taken down, and from what Rose has told us, we are up against some dangerous adversaries.”

“They’re all angels?” Diesel gasped.

“They are, and while we are not supposed to gather like this, we are putting our human lives in danger to take down the male who created the MODs.” Garrett had explained to them many years ago that the angels were to stay apart and not congregate for too long or they’d piss off the gods and lose their supernatural powers.

“How much time do we have?” Talon asked.

“About an hour until our strength starts to wane,” Garrett admitted, looking over his shoulder at the setting sun. The area was dark, the street lights blaring to life. “Let’s go.”

“You and your people lead the way,” Talon suggested.

Garrett turned to the truck and gave his friends a nod. When they all piled out, every single one of the pride members bristled from the blast of power coming from the angels. The sheriff had told him in private how the gods didn’t want them together because their powers would be too much. It was a safety hazard, because if the angels wanted to riot, the gods would be gone…for good.

Talon was just glad they were risking everything to help save a new breed of shifters.

Rose steeled her spine as they started their march toward the hospital. She was going back into the place she’d desperately left. Her hellhound stirred with each step, and she didn’t miss how the angels kept glancing in her direction. She assumed Garrett told them she was no danger.

“Stay close to me, remember?” Kraven whispered as they walked, taking her hand into his and giving it a little squeeze. “Don’t let any males touch your exposed skin.”

She nodded, knowing she was dressed head to toe in gear that would keep her body mostly covered. The only thing that could happen was if one of the Trackers grabbed her face, but she and her beasts were already prepared to fight them before they could do that.

She had to call on all of the training she’d received at the hospital to fight, but a part of her was focused on finding MOD-122101. Gods, please let her still be alive.

“Focus, Rose,” Kraven whispered. Her mate knew her so well already. The night before, she’d expressed her concern and desire to find her friend. Kraven talked to her about taking out the man who was responsible first. After that, while the pride was gathering up all of the MODs and staff, she could look for her friend. That was the only thing keeping her focused.

“Kill the Trackers and gather up the MODs,” she chanted softly. “Got it.”

“That’s my girl,” he replied right as they rounded the corner.

There was no time to ask to be let into the grounds. Several Trackers appeared out of nowhere, blocking the gate, but that didn’t stop the pride or the angels.

With one ball of bright white light, Garrett blasted them right in their chests, sending them tumbling across the walkway. Some of them didn’t move…others cried out in pain. She didn’t really care if they were dead or not.

“Entrance is right there,” she advised, pointing to a door with no sign indicating it was the way inside. “It stays locked. You’ll need a key.”

“No key needed, Miss,” Diesel said, producing a crowbar she didn’t even realize he’d had when they marched from their vehicles.

The younger Guardian jammed the flat end into the door frame and used his shifter strength to pop it open from the frame. As soon as the light from inside lit up the walkway, all hell broke loose.

Trackers cursed and rushed for their crew, but Savage, Winter, and Ranger were there to meet them, disabling them. One Tracker’s nose was obviously broken, and the second one was blacked out on the floor. Another one, much like the ones at the gate, was writhing in pain next to the broken nosed one.

“Which way, Rose?” Kraven asked.

“To the left,” she barked. “Third door on the right is the lab.”

At that moment, the team split up. Two angels and several Protectors and Guardians went on the search for Trackers. The Protectors were in charge of gathering up the MODs that might be outside of their rooms. The plan was to tell the MODs to get to their rooms for lockdown, and after the facility was secure, they’d get everyone into the dining hall. She would be the one to talk to them and let them know what was happening and what they’d been bred for.

Kraven intercepted a Tracker, fighting him until her mate was able to subdue him with handcuffs enchanted by the angels. No shifter would be able to break out of them. Their fate would be decided later.

“Rose!” Kraven barked as a Tracker got past him, heading straight for her. She called upon the strength of her hellhound, dropping to her knees so she could sweep her leg out to catch him around the ankles. The male was one she’d seen before, but not the one who beat her almost to the point of death. She had a score to settle with that one.

Talon and Garrett entered the lab to the sounds of curses and glass shattering. When she reached the glass windows to look inside, she noticed all of the doctors knocking test tubes to the ground, shattering them and the contents inside.

“Onyx?” Talon snarled, heading straight for the scientist.

At that point, everyone stopped…except for Rose. Talon must’ve sent out a blast of calming magic, because everyone, even the large Guardian, Savage, halted.

She took the time to rush into the lab, running straight for the doctor who’d created her and every shifter in the building.

“MOD-122532,” he snarled, showing one of his canines as his lip curled. “I thought you were dead. They promised me you were dead!”

“I’m not,” she smirked, but saw her alpha raise his hand to halt any attack she might’ve been planning.

“What the fuck are you doing, Onyx?” Talon barked. She was confused. What the hell was happening?

“Onyx?” Several of the Guardians gasped in shock.

“What the fuck is going on and how do you know this guy?” Kraven asked, shifting from foot to foot as the pride surrounded the doctor.

“Onyx Carmichael,” Talon announced. “He was in our pride when I was just a boy. When he showed signs of being an alpha, my father sent him away when he turned twenty. I was only two years younger than him.”

“Your father was a horrible alpha,” Onyx spat. “I made something of my life once I left. I became a doctor and researcher.”

“You are no healer,” Savage yelled. “You fucking little punk. I should’ve kicked your ass when I had the chance.”

Well, obviously they knew each other, and Rose wasn’t so lost in the ways of the world that she didn’t recognize the bad blood between Talon and the doctor.

“Why are you creating a super race of shifters?” Talon asked. “You know how our kind feels about messing with our species.”

“It’s none of your fucking business, Talon,” he growled, his eyes turning completely amber as his canines grew thick. “My Trackers will kill you all.”

“Not if we have something to say about it,” Garrett interrupted, coming to stand next to Talon. When the sheriff’s eyes turned completely white, the other angels appeared out of nowhere. Two of them had appeared with a Tracker each, and once she got a good look at them, Rose’s hellhound stirred.

“You!” she cursed, pointing at the one with very short black hair. “You tried to kill me!”

“I thought I did, you fucking traitor,” he snarled, but the angel shook him like he was nothing more than a rag doll.

“Watch him,” she warned. “He’s very strong.”

“Maybe you’re just weak,” he smirked. Rose’s hound was on the cusp of breaking out, and she wasn’t sure how long she could hold her off.

“You watch the way you speak to my mate!” Kraven was the next one to get agitated…well, downright angry. His nose recessed as his eyes glowed amber. She had to put her hand on his forearm to calm him, but it only worked slightly.

“Everyone, gather up the other Trackers and leave me with Onyx,” Talon ordered. “We have some business to discuss.”

The pride did as they were told, leaving their leader alone with the male who’d created her and the others. When Savage and Winter didn’t leave their sentry positions outside the door, Kraven gave them a nod and turned toward her.

“Do you want to look for your friend?” he asked. “I will protect your back while you search. The others will finish rounding up the Trackers.”

“Please?” she replied, walking toward the elevators with him right behind her.

They could hear the sounds of fighting throughout the hospital. With its concrete walls, everything was amplified. Even when the door opened to the third floor, she cringed at the sound of someone yelping in pain. She prayed it wasn’t anyone from the pride.

“Her room is at the end of the hall,” she announced, turning to the right. When she passed her old room, she didn’t even pause. There was no want or need to visit her prison.

Before they could get to her friend’s room, she was knocked off her feet by a Tracker, and he and his two buddies went after Kraven. She jumped to her feet, but one of them came after her again. She ducked, missing his first blow, but the one behind it caught her in the ribs.

“Rose!” Kraven called out after witnessing the strike. She ignored him, because if she took her eyes off the Tracker, he could come at her again.

…but this time, she was ready.

Blow after blow, Rose gave him as good as she was getting. Her left eye was swollen and she swore she tasted blood. Her hound was getting closer and closer to the surface while her other animals held back.

Her heart was beating fast and her adrenaline was reaching the peak where the hound would be in control, but she didn’t want him to take over. She could fight this Tracker without shifting.

But she was wrong.

She heard Kraven curse, and then she recognized the sound of someone being kicked in the ribs. All it took to finally lose control was turning her head away from the Tracker she was fighting and seeing her mate being attacked by two of them.

Kraven was lying in a puddle of his own blood.

“Oh, you fucked up now,” she snarled as the hellhound took over.

Kraven didn’t know how long he’d been out, but when he finally blinked away the fog over his vision, all he saw was the ceiling tiles. They weren’t the white of a normal hospital…they were speckled red. Red wasn’t the right color , he thought.

Something cold nudged his hand, and he gritted his teeth when he turned his head, finally remembering how he was fighting the Trackers…and getting his ass handed to him.

“Shit,” he barked after blinking a few times to clear the blood from his eyes. “Rose?”

A deep, guttural growl told him she’d shifted, and boy had she. The hellhound stood over him in a protective stance, keeping anyone from attacking him again.

“I’m okay,” he promised, trying not to sound like he was lying. He wasn’t okay, and he’d have to shift for a solid four hours to repair the broken leg and ribs he knew he had.

When he tried to sit up, a huge paw landed on his chest, pushing him back to the ground. Rose wasn’t going to let him up. “We have to find the others.”

Grrrrrrr.

The sound echoed through the area, and he heard doors opening down the hallway. He couldn’t see anything with the nine-foot-tall hellhound covering him from harm. She snarled again, but she didn’t take off after anyone or anything.

Voices whispered somewhere close, and he wondered if it was her friend calming her down.

“ Oof ,” he grunted. His mate’s hellhound dropped to its belly right beside him, but she was so large that they didn’t fit side by side in that hallway. When he was able to wrench his head around, he noticed several females and two males in scrubs standing there, holding onto each other like they were each other’s only lifeline.

“My name is Kraven, and Ros…MOD-122532 is my mate,” he said, even though it hurt to breathe. “We are here to stop the illegal breeding of your kind.”

“Are you sure? Do you promise?” one female asked, bursting into tears while shock rolled through the others.

“I promise,” he coughed. “There are others who will be here soon. They’ll explain everything, but for now, I need you all to stay in your rooms until we control the situation.” That was all of the breath he had inside his struggling lungs. Those Trackers had broken a few of his ribs, and he was certain one was close to puncturing his lung.

He slid his hand toward Rose, placing it on her huge leg. His mate was a badass. She’d come to his aide, and they were both safe, for now. He just prayed the others faired better than him. Good thing a few shifts would heal him and he wouldn’t need any of the healers.

“Rose, sweetheart,” he paused to catch his breath, “I need you to shift. My ribs are broken and so is my leg. I need to shift.”

Her hound swung its huge head his way, and there was a wetness in her blood-red eyes. He wanted to console her, but he was in no shape. From the tiredness he felt, he was certain he had a concussion, as well.

“Please shift,” he begged again. “I need you back with me.”

She whimpered and began to shimmer. Her hound shrunk, reformed, and then his beautiful mate was there next to him. She shivered from the cold floor, reaching for her shredded clothes. Thankfully, her shirt wasn’t too damaged and she was able to cover herself. Her jeans, however, were destroyed.

“I know where I can get some scrubs,” she said. “But I need to make sure you’re okay.”

“I don’t need a healer,” he panted. “It hurts to breathe. I need to shift, because my panther is pacing in my mind. He wants to heal me.”

“I’m going to find MOD-122101, and there is a clothing closet right next to her room,” she said, climbing to her feet. “Don’t go anywhere without me.”

“I don’t plan on it,” he teased even though it hurt. “Go find your friend.”

When she hurried down the hallway, stopping at a closet to grab scrubs for herself, he called out to Talon through their link, letting him know the third floor was clear. He also told him he was going to shift due to his injuries. His leader replied back for him and Rose to stay put until someone came for them.

A cry came from the room Rose disappeared into, and he rolled to his side, looking for danger. When Rose didn’t emerge from the room, he called out her name. “ ROSE!”

No answer.

“ ROSE!!!!”

Still no answer. His beast was about to burst through his human skin, but Kraven clamped down on the need to transform. He had to get to his mate.

His fucking leg didn’t work, and his ribs protested as he rolled to his good side, dragging his body down the hallway. There were eight rooms between them, but it felt like eight thousand.

Kraven called her name over and over, his voice getting progressively louder. By the time she emerged from her friend’s room, he was halfway there and his mate dropped to her knees. Tears poured out of her eyes as she held the scrubs to her chest.

“Where is she?” he yelled, knowing something was wrong.

Very wrong.

“Rose?” He called her name again, but she bent over at the waist, resting her face on the cool floor. “Rose!”

She wouldn’t answer him, and he had to get to her.

His mate…

His beloved…

Dragging his body, he ignored the protest of his broken leg, making his way toward her at a slow pace. She wasn’t moving. She wasn’t talking to him.

He felt helpless.

One more room to go. Gods, what had she found in that room?

“Rose, what’s wrong? Where is she?” He’d finally reached her and the moment he placed his hand on her arm, his beautiful mate raised her head…her eyes were blood red again, and her face was partially shifted into her hellhound.

“She’s gone,” she gasped. “She’s gone. There’s no evidence of her in that room.”

“Fuck,” he snarled.

“She’s gone, Kraven. They killed her!”

The End…