Chapter 32

Dylan

E ven after being bloodied by her mates' fists, Lloyd was useless when spilling the information needed to know how Lupe was involved. Part of Dylan hoped it was because she wasn't really involved outside of learning about it. Lupe yelled at Cole that she wanted plausible deniability... that could mean she wasn't given much of the details.

What they did find out was enough to track down Cole's sanctum and stop everything. Just as they knocked out Lloyd so they wouldn't need to worry about him alerting Cole, an announcement blared over the system.

"All students must report to their dorms and remain in their rooms. Any student found lurking through the school will be held for questioning and will receive consequences."

Dylan growled while holding her palms over her ears. Once the ringing left, she looked around the room. Serafine's eyes looked as though they would pop out of the sockets. Her mates, on the other hand, looked as though they were going to tie her up next to keep her contained in the room.

"What do we do now?" Serafine asked them, writhing her fingers together.

She was nervous about the announcement. Truth be told, so was Dylan. The implications of that alert could be that another student was taken, and Cole was starting the process again. It could also mean they knew they held Lloyd in their suite, and Lupe would bust them for it.

"Does anyone know which dorm Lloyd's is in? We can at least get him out of our room until we know how to proceed," Dylan answered while looking at the large, crumpled man sitting in the chair. Sure, they could have gone easy on him, but they needed to know everything before they charged in to save the day.

Hunter stepped forward and tied Lloyd's hands together before working on the ones that kept him contained. "I can sniff it out. I'll take him to the room."

"Okay, while he is doing that, we can develop a plan to get out of here so we can find the sanctum." Jackson helped Hunter remove Lloyd's ropes and then opened the door.

Dylan had no idea how to slither into the school undetected. It would have been so much easier if she had been born a witch. Pack magic could only do so much. Even Wilcox hasn't mentioned them being able to use their magic to conceal them from onlookers. It most likely wasn't possible.

"Maybe we can sneak over to the witch dorm and ask one of them to conceal us?" Serafine offered.

A frown formed on Dylan's face. She didn't want to involve other students. What they were planning could get them thrown out of the school. She didn't know what that entailed, but it was possible that they would be outcasted entirely from their packs. Lone wolfing things were too hard to do in their world. No resources or a pack behind someone could mean their death. For the other species? Not a clue.

"I'd rather keep it between us. If we get caught, we put them at risk for things that we aren't even sure of. Hell... they could end up using that student to assist Cole for all we know."

Serafine winced. "Yeah, no use in putting other students at risk."

Dylan started pacing again. They needed to be concealed. The only way for her kind to do that was to go astral. That could be a way for her to use her ability to go through the walls.

"What if... We used my ability to our advantage?"

Jackson and Serafine looked at her with widened eyes. It was even more risky for her to use her shadow wolf since she hadn't learned why she couldn't control the ability, but that did not mean it wasn't worth trying.

"That would mean you would be going in there alone. No, that's not happening. I am not allowing you to risk going into a demented wolf den alone."

The mate bonds. We can push our power into them. We can share the ability.

Really? I didn't know that.

There is no harm in trying.

Dylan smiled wickedly. "I think I just found the answer."

Jackson and Hunter needed far too much convincing to agree to the plan. She could not guarantee that she could push her ability to the mate bonds for them to go astral. It was a scary thing to try because it had never been done before, which led to many questions they didn't have time for. There was a possibility of someone being attacked at the hands of deranged Shadowborn wolves. The Alpha Wolf inside her could not handle hurting someone, and she just sat idly by. Her wolf paced like she did as she waited for her mates to shift into their wolves for her to try this before they left the room.

She could not push her power into Serafine since they were not pack or bonded as mates. Her job was to stay in the dorms and alert the authorities if they didn't make it back. None of them trusted the werewolf guards or teachers to help them. Lupe had been compromised, and they did not know how far that reach had gone. Serafine was to run to the town near the school and tell authorities what was happening to the school if they didn't make it back by morning.

Once the guys were shifted into their wolves, they walked over to her and put their heads against her. She gave them both a few scratches behind their ears, and their tongues rolled out of their mouth. Their chests rumbled with satisfaction at feeling their mate's touch. She smiled at them and tried not to get caught in the moment. Dylan called on her wolf and pulled on her power. She felt her power course through her body, and she sighed at the feeling. It was always a fantastic moment for her to feel the power of her wolf and know that she could not only shift into a wolf but go into an astral form. Once she felt satisfied and allowed her power to roll through the room, Dylan felt her mates' power come through, too. Their energies mixed inside of her soul, and she slowly felt their wolves' power brush against her own. Serafine was on her knees, baring her neck to the three of them. Dylan frowned and commanded the three of their wolves not to allow the power to touch her friend. Soon after, Serafine could at least look at Dylan without having to bare her neck. It was something Alphas were able to do. Channel their power so certain people were unaffected. It took more concentration and control over the power of their wolf, so most Alphas didn't even try. They revealed that many people would have to kneel in their presence. Dylan was not one of them.

Now, it was the moment of truth. Dylan focused on her wolf and the ability to go astral. She pictured the bonds she shared with Jackson and Hunter, feeling their love, devotion, and even their fear of what could happen tonight flow from them to her. With a little more focus, she could pull on the energy that allowed her wolf to become astral. With the picture of the bonds in her mind and seeing the smokey form of the magic inside her wolf, Dylan imagined the smoke flowing through the bonds between her and her mates. Dylan's eyes were closed, and she felt her heart ramming against her chest at the possibility of this working. As her magic seeped into the bonds until it disappeared, she sent a quick prayer to the Great Moon that this would work. She felt herself bounce on her feet, and her hands opened and closed at her sides. Her mates whined at her after a moment of silence, Serafine gasped, and Dylan's breath caught in her throat as she opened her eyes to see why.

Standing before her were her two mates' wolves... and they were looking like a pair of ghosts. Her ability transferred to her mates.

Dylan's knees wobbled at seeing them in an astral form. The wolves were looking at their paws and lifting them in disbelief. She understood doing that since she did the same thing when she first shifted to her astral form. It was a weird feeling. Seeing a body part look like it could fall through the floor at any moment. Thankfully, it wasn't completely like a ghost. They had to focus on keeping that form and going through walls if they wished. They wouldn't just fall down on the floor or through the ground just because they were in this form.

Thank the Great Moon for that. I can hear my damn heart pounding as my wolf just wants to kill something since it doesn't understand this, Hunter growled.

Dylan, this is freaky as fuck. I am a damn ghost. I feel like, if I howl right now, that it will just sound like I am in a damn cartoon.

Dylan laughed at Jackson's statement. Serafine looked up at her, but her eyes were still bugging out of her skull.

"What is so funny? How is that even possible? They are like ghosts. Your form looks different when you do this! You look like you have pink magic or something when you go astral. Why don't they look like that?" Serafine spoke so fast that Dylan barely understood her.

Dylan shrugged her shoulders. "I guess because they aren't Shadowborns, they don't have the actual magic. They are sharing it with me, so it's just their wolves looking like ghosts."

Serafine stared at the ghost wolves again. "This is so damn scary. How is this even going to work anyway?"

"We will jump out of here and then run to the school like this. With how fast we can run, it should look like a blur instead of an actual wolf. That could give us an edge."

"Well, thank the Great Moon that you are this powerful Shadowborn because I don't think anyone else could pull this off." Serafine walked over and embraced Dylan.

Dylan felt herself tighten her grip around her friend. This could be the last time she saw Serafine if things didn't work in their favor tonight. They knew Cole had his four friends from the fire and the two others who were with Lloyd. They didn't know about a roster that told them who was part of Cole's inner group and who could be there tonight. It was three against seven already, and that was going to be tough. Lloyd wouldn't tell them much of what to expect. When they even made it to the room, Dylan saw Cole killing that student.

When they broke the hug, Serafine walked to the door. Dylan stripped out of her clothes and pulled on her wolf to shift. It took a minute or so for her before her paws hit the carpet. She stretched her body, feeling her claws dig into the carpet, and then shook the last tingles of the magic off her. She looked at her mates and opened her mouth to allow her tongue to roll out. They wagged their tails in return.

Okay. Focus on keeping your form astral, but not so much that you forget your surroundings. Your wolf needs to hold onto the magic to keep its form this way. She told them, remembering all her training and even how relaxed Lupe seemed while showing off her abilities.

Dylan has always been too worried about keeping her form astral since she learned how to do it. Lupe never seemed to worry about her magic failing her and was able to do things that Dylan never imagined. If the key was confidence in herself, then that is what she would do.

She looked at the wall after grabbing her clothes into her mouth and knew this was the moment she needed to stop thinking about herself. She wanted to be a good Alpha and didn't want mates because she only wanted to rely on herself. Now that she knows she doesn't have to do this alone, the most important thing to focus on is saving those who need her help. Dylan ran toward the wall, allowing her form to phase through the solid brick that was the building. When she felt the night air brush against her skin, Dylan focused on aiming downward for her body to glide through the air until her paws landed on the ground.

Hell yeah that was awesome!

The impact was not as hard with her astral form, and she didn't feel the reverberations as she would have in her normal, solid form. She felt the air shift around her, and her mates were by her side. They both brushed against her, allowing their strength and confidence this was what they had to do to flow through her. She let out a soft yip and then darted toward the school with more strength than she had before.

I really don't have to do this alone.

Not anymore, love. Jackson said confidentially.

Yeah, we won't leave your side. Hunter added.

There was a chance it wouldn't work, but Dylan still pulled on the bonds to give the magic from her pack a whirl to possibly conceal them. It would at least give people an urge not to look their way if it chose to work. It might not work for Jackson and Hunter, but it would at least work for her, if anything. No one was around as they ran outside, but Dylan knew it would be different once they reached the school.

Sure enough, the guards were walking a perimeter around the school. From their scents, they were both werewolves. Dylan led her mates to a bush nearby to scope it out. They walked in a pattern, passing each other to the end of the school, then met in the middle for around five minutes. When they walked to the edge of the building again, she noticed they were heading around the corner. It didn't take long for them to round the corner again to meet again at the entrance doors.

We will need to dash into that school when they turn that corner. We have like a two-minute window. Dylan did not like the odds she just spoke to her mates.

That's more than enough time to reach the door. Hunter said confidently.

If you say so, Enforcer. Dylan teased him.

She needed to tease him to calm her racing heart. Dylan may have broken actual rules three times in her entire life. She was Alpha's daughter, so a lot was expected of her. That meant following the rules to set an example for the other children in the pack. What she was about to do right now was outside of her norm as a whole. However, she reminded herself this was what a good leader would do. Someone who evil people were hurting needed someone to save them. That was the job of an Alpha.

Granted, that was usually left to the men and not so much the Luna of the pack. Dylan didn't care about that small detail. She was equal to her mates, and they weren't keeping her locked up in her room, trying to tell her this was not her job. Instead, they were by her side and helping her through this.

The guards were now making another round scanning the school. Dylan crouched down, readying herself to run as soon as the guards made it to the corner. Once she saw their black uniform aligned with the edge of the school, she ran. The benefit of being in a form similar to a ghost was that they did not make a sound. As they ran, Dylan kept her eyes on the corners of the school. As they finally made it to the door, Dylan didn't hesitate. She ran through the doors and into the school. She slowed down to make sure her mates were still with her. When they slowed down beside her, they yipped at her, muffled by them carrying their own clothes in their mouth, and started running toward the library.

There was no one at the school. Just like it was before, it felt eerie to be inside the walls of such a large place and not hear a sound. Dylan tried not to let it distract her, but she sniffed the air just in case. There was no scent of magic that she could tell, so there wasn't a magical booby trap in the school or an alarm to tell Lupe and Cole they were coming.

Well, here goes nothing.

The library looked empty, and only small lamps illuminated parts of the tables and areas around them. Once inside, the three of them let go of the magic that kept them astral and pulled on their magic to shift back into their human form. Then they pulled on their clothes and looked around to ensure they were alone. There wasn't a notice in the room that told them otherwise, so Dylan made her way over to the area she remembered had the room where she found Cole killing Giana. This time, the door wasn't ajar, making it a little difficult to find. She wasn't sure if it was a lever or just a door, so she started just touching the wall until she felt a breeze from the other side.

There was a whooshing sound when she happened to touch a nodule in the wall when she pressed it too hard. The wall parted enough to give them a peek into the hall behind it. Dylan was pushed slightly out of the way so Hunter could look instead. Dylan rolled her eyes but allowed her Enforcer mate to do what he felt he needed to protect her. They didn't have time to argue.

Hunter pushed open the door, and Jackson held out his hand to tell her to follow them. Dylan quickly walked behind Hunter and heard Jackson close the door behind them. He did it as silently as he could. The clicking noise that sounded through the hall was still loud. It was dark, but not so dark their night vision couldn't see through it. Hunter was already at the next door and opening it before Dylan was in the middle of the staircase. She could see him making precise movements and going slow in case someone was on the other side. If the room was soundproof, they could be walking in on everyone and wouldn't have the element of surprise. Finally, the door was open enough for them to see in, and no one was in the room. Hunter walked and looked around while Dylan stood at the entrance. The stupidity she felt nearly knocked the air out of her lungs.

There was nothing inside of this room.

Well, almost nothing. There was a wolf rug that even had the head with the mouth open at the center of the room. This was not there when she watched Cole drill a hole in the back of the student's head. On the wall off to the left was a fireplace that wasn't lit, and everywhere else was completely bare. There were no chairs, nothing on the wall, and the scent of blood was nowhere to be found.

What the fuck... this was the room I witnessed Cole killing someone! I didn't make that shit up!

Jackson put his arm around her shoulders and coaxed her into the room. We believe you, Dylan. He must have cleaned up in here, so if someone found this room by chance, they wouldn't find anything.

The scent of blood and death should be here! That isn't something you can get rid of easily!

Hunter growled. He could have a witch helping him out. That is an easy thing for a witch to get rid of. I would know.

Dylan stomped around the room and continued to sniff the air. There wasn't even the scent of magic used in here. Whoever was on Cole's payroll or under his influence was a powerful witch to pull that off.

Hunter suggested that we try to find any clue that would be evidence of anything that happened here .

The guys decided to check the outer ring of the room while Dylan looked in the middle. There was no hint of a trap door under the wolf rug like she thought there would be. However, she felt the air colder when she was over the rug's area. Dylan thought of the door that led to this room and looked around again. She was on her hands and knees, pressing down on the floor to find the nodule that could open it. She felt her mates' eyes on her, and the eyeroll happened before she sat on her knees.

Stop staring at me like that.

Jackson chuckled. Stop walking around on your knees to show off that ass of yours.

Dylan growled I think you need to focus on the task at hand and not my ass.

Yeah, you would say that. But you aren't a guy bonded to a sexy ass girl who is on her hands and knees, making her ass pop in all sorts of sexy ways.

Dylan ignored him and then looked at the wolf rug. There had to be a reason why the rug was over the spot where the cold air was coming up through the floor. There wasn't anything on the wolf pelt's fur or stomach. Dylan looked closer to the head, inspecting the ears, eyes, and then mouth. She decided to push her finger on the teeth to see if they wiggled. None of them did, and she let out an exasperated sigh. As she did, her finger brushed against the tongue and felt it move. Dylan pulled the mouth closer to look into its mouth. When she pressed down on tongue, there was a click, and then the stone started to drop down and slide to reveal another staircase.

Guys, I think I found the entrance!

Jackson and Hunter were already running toward her when they heard the stone floor moving. The three of them stared down into the dark hole. They didn't know where this led, but again, there was no sound coming through it. Again, either the group wasn't there, or it was soundproof on the other side of wherever this hole led.

Hunter didn't hesitate and walked down the stairs. Dylan followed him, already knowing Jackson would want her in the middle of them. Jackson quickly followed them as they were all swallowed by the darkness of this new staircase and hallway. Their night vision came in handy again as they descended into a cold, narrow hallway. A flicker of light was ahead once they felt their feet reach a solid piece of ground. The staircase had ended, and now they were in another hall. The light they saw flickered again in an orange glow. It didn't appear to be too far ahead, so Hunter walked toward it. He didn't rush to it since they weren't aware of what was on the side. Yet again, he opened it as slowly as he could. No sound was in the other room outside of some soft swooshes of air. As the door opened fully, Dylan noticed the candle in the middle of the room.

Interesting. Should we proceed?

Yes, the boys said in unison.

Hunter, of course, walked in with no hesitation. From what Dylan could scent, the room was filled with stone and this unscented wax candle that appeared to be at least three inches in diameter. The candle had a deep pool of melted wax in the center, which told her it had been burning for quite a while now. Hunter picked it up and walked around the room. Dylan watched as several stone wolf statues were placed around the room. All of them were sitting on their haunches and howling toward the sky. Dylan looked up and could see stars painted on the ceiling, which was quite high. The candle wasn't strong enough to show her everything that was on the ceiling, so she went back to look at what her mate was doing.

Dylan noticed the stone statues had a hollowed-out section in their chest. Hunter was using the candle to inspect it, and there was a shape on the wall when he was close enough to it. It was faint from the candle being too far away, so Dylan rushed over to him and took the candle from him. A few droplets of wax went down her fingers, causing Dylan to drop it inside the hallowed section nearly. But once the candle sat inside the space, Dylan saw the shape of a full moon on the room's wall.

Each of these statues has a section to place the candle. When the candle is inside, an image of a moon shows up like a projection, Dylan pointed out to her mates.

What does this all mean?

Dylan wasn't sure. She put the candle down and heard a click. Then, there was another click in a space that did not have a statue. When she picked the candle up and used the flame to see what was underneath, she noticed a small circular button on the bottom of the hole.

There are buttons in here.

She quickly walked around to put the flame in each statue. From its looks, it represents the moon's phases. She heard a click each time Dylan put the candle on the buttons, but there was a secondary click in the empty space on the full moon, first quarter, new moon, and third quarter.

We have to put the candle in each statue, triggering the buttons in a certain order. Since it's the moon's phases on the walls, I'm going to wager we need to put them in the right order to unlock the door to either the next puzzle or their sanctum. But I also don't know how much time you have in between each button to trigger the door to open.

Hunter growled and then started to pace; I don't like this. The statues aren't in order. We could be at this for hours if we don't remember what each statue is.

Dylan smiled. Her memory was pretty impeccable, and memory games were always her favorite pastime as a kid. I got this.

Dylan used the candle again to show what each statue represented with its assigned phase of the moon. Dylan used her memory to number each statue and then which phase was on what number. Then she got to work on placing the candle down on each button one after another, wasting no time on each one just in case it was a timed sensor. She heard the four secondary clicks, and then the door sprung open.

The other side of it was dark, but they could smell blood, death, and various stages of decomposition coming rolling through that door. Dylan used her free hand to clog her nose. Hunter made a motion for her and Jackson to stay put as he crossed through the doorway. They heard something crack and then a heavy thump. Dylan and Jackson ran into the next room. A thicker darkness greeted them, and Dylan's night vision was no longer a thing she could use. She held out her hands to see them, and then felt something hit the back of her head.