I nodded, then went to the office door. Heath was already talking to Shamus, beginning the ritual to pull the wolf into his own pack and free him from Tywin’s orders. Tywin yelled furiously. I checked outside the door, glad to see there were still no werewolves out there. The idiots.

  Or maybe not? Maybe they’re trying to drag their feet like Shamus, trying to get out of this. Maybe they want Heath to take the pack tonight, and they’re going to try everything they can to let it happen.

  I found the door to the basement and jogged down the stairs, covering my mouth as the scent of werewolf hit my nose. Dirty, mangy werewolf, wrapped in layers of thick despair, rage, and a sense of betrayal. Heath had a single cage, carefully hidden in his house, and I understood the need for it. There were dozens in this basement. I didn’t understand why a pack would ever feel the need to keep a small prison under their home. I didn’t want to understand.

  Every cage was a unique steel and silver mix, developed by the werewolves to be strong enough to stop a werewolf from going through. It was also effective against werecats.

  The cages were empty except one in the very back. He looked thin and even more like a homeless man than the first time I had seen him.

  Fenris was dangerous. There was no forgetting the werewolf who was insane enough to attack me, even when I was under his Alpha’s protection. My nose caught his unique scent, stronger than most, forcing me to remember in slow motion every terrifying moment of when he tried to kill me. I stopped in front of his cage, looking around for keys. He looked up, and I smelled forests and a scent that made me think of darkness. While light and the lack of it had no scent, something in his scent made me think of a void or dark shadows.

  Danger, my instincts screamed as I met the earthy-brown eyes of the werewolf, which shifted into green as he realized who and what was in front of him. The scars on his face added to the intimidating stare, telling me he had fought great battles before and come out the other side. He did not fear me, not even a little.

  “I’m here to help,” I said, trying to ignore my fear. Helping him get out of this awful cage was worth the risk. “Heath is upstairs and is going to put a stop to this madness.”

  “He’s the madness,” Fenris said, his words hoarse. “He’s sleeping with you, isn’t he?”

  “I could leave you here,” I growled. “Are you so wrapped up in your hate for my kind, you would rather rot in a cell your own fucking Alpha put you in?”

  Fenris tried to stand, snarling viciously. The cage wasn’t as tall as the man, though, another cruel feature of the cell. It was intended to keep people contained and uncomfortable.

  “Let me out, but it doesn’t make us friends. I won’t kill you tonight, as thanks, but don’t think I won’t kill you another night if it comes to it.” Fenris pointed down the long basement again. “You missed the keys over there.”

  I ran for them, yanking off three sets of keys from a series of hooks. So stunned and disgusted by the basement, I had missed them. I ran back to test them on the cage that held Fenris. The house shook, and dust fell on us. Fear raced through me as I fumbled with keys, trying to finish the one thing I promised Heath I could do.

  “What was that?” Fenris asked.

  “I have no idea,” I said, keeping to my task. The sooner I got this done, the faster I could leave with Heath. “Heath was with Tywin and Shamus just a moment ago.”

  “How long have you been here?” Fenris asked, not sounding as hateful, more thoughtful.

  “Probably half an hour,” I answered, still testing keys. Considering Fenris didn’t point out the right one, I assumed he didn’t know. “Had to parley with Tywin. He attacked my territory last night, trying to kill Heath and Landon. It was a bloody mess.”

  “So, that’s where my packmates went,” Fenris whispered, looking beyond me.

  “Ranger told us you were being kept here because you were out of control.” Finding the right key, I slid it in and turned, but didn’t open it just yet. I met the vibrant green eyes of the old werewolf. “You seem okay to me. I’m going to trust you, Fenris. I’m doing this because I want to help.”

  Fenris reached out of the cage, ignoring how the silver burned against his skin, and grabbed the hand I had on the key.

  “I won’t kill you tonight,” he said, holding my stare. “Or tomorrow. Not without cause, at least. You’ve been helpful, but that will only get you so far with me. Let’s hope we never find each other on opposite sides of the battle, Jacky Leon.” He smiled, and his teeth seemed too white in the dark basement. “Nothing will save you then, Jacqueline, daughter of Hasan.”

  He forced my hand to turn, not that I tried to stop him. We didn’t have time to lose. I jumped back from the cage as he shoved it open. He gave me one look and walked to the door. I ran next to him, then got to the door first, making Fenris follow me. I wanted to get back to Heath. I wanted to leave this damn place.

  “Where is Everson? Is his boy here?”

  “Heath is upstairs. He should have Tywin under control now and Shamus out of Tywin’s grip. Landon is keeping others safe in my territory,” I answered, jogging up the stairs. When I reached the door, I yanked it open, Fenris right behind me.

  But everything was wrong. Thick smoke was pouring out of the doors from Tywin’s office.

  “Heath—”

  Fenris slammed the door closed, a hand over my mouth, pulling me away from the door. I fought him, but he was the strongest werewolf I had ever met. He swung us around and nearly threw me down the stairs.

  “Quiet,” he snarled. “We need to wait a few minutes.”

  “What is your—”

  “It wasn’t smoke,” he snarled. “It was sleep gas.”

  27

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  “S-Sleep gas?” I asked softly. “How do you know?”

  “They used it on me when I refused to bow to Tywin and his bitch after learning about her,” Fenris explained, leaning on the door as he looked down at me. “It takes a moment to knock out someone, so I know what it smells like before there’s too much to overcome.” I got to my feet to climb the stairs again, but he stayed in my way. “We should let it dissipate before we try to leave. We might not get out of the building in time before we fall asleep.”

  “I need to get out there and help Heath,” I snarled, trying for the door. I reached around him and ended up with a hand around my throat. He slammed me into a wall hard enough to knock the air out of me.

  “I am not going back into another cage,” he snapped, holding me out of reach of the door. I threw an elbow into his face, and it staggered him enough for me to try the door again. He wrapped an arm around my waist and pulled me back, sending us both down the stairs. My head bounced and rolled, clipping a cage as I slid on the slick concrete floor at the bottom.

  “Then you hide like a coward. I’m going to go out there and—”

  “They will already be captured, little girl!” Fenris yelled, stopping me from getting to my feet by yanking me down by the ankle. My shoulder slammed into the concrete. “The witches will have them.” I tried to move, but Fenris climbed over me, forcing me to look at him as I tried to knock him off. He was physically the strongest werewolf I had ever faced.

  “Unless you want to be captured too, we need to hope they forgot about me and decided only to take the ones they could control! With that much gas, they would have put most of the house to sleep. We’re lucky the ventilation system down here is a closed circuit. We keep that door shut, so we stay out of their cages.”

  “They can’t already have Heath.” I tried to crane my head to look at the door at the top of the stairs. “It’s only been minutes! How?”

  “You’ve been here thirty minutes. Tywin would have reached out to his witches the moment you walked onto the property. He’s theirs. He belongs to them now, cat. Put two and two together,” he snarled, finally moving off me, putting himself at the bottom of the stairs, blocking my path. “The only reason I’m keeping you down here with me is so they forget I’m here. I won’t be brought down by those—”

  “Okay, I get it,” I said, trying to sit up. I wanted to run out there, needed to, but I knew the moment I tried, Fenris would be on me again. I had to get past him but wasn’t sure that was possible. I had to get him to move out of the way and take the first opportunity I had. “Witches… plural. We only knew about one, Madison.”

  “Tywin called in a whole damn coven,” Fenris snarled. “It’s not clear to the other werewolves. They don’t look where he tells them not to look. They believe what he requires them to believe since they’re not more dominant than him. I am. That’s why I’m down here. Tywin can’t kill me without someone noticing, and he doesn’t want anyone sniffing around. He couldn’t let me leave the pack because I would expose him. He had his witches drug me, then they threw me in a cage.”

  “Ranger said you’ve been in and out of them for months, thanks to the control issues the pack was having,” I said, pushing my hair from my face.

  “I was,” Fenris agreed. “But…” He looked up. “That wasn’t why I was down here this time. I figured out what was going on with Tywin and his whore and was a threat. I’m an old wolf. I’ve seen some of this shit before. After Emma’s bullshit, finding out Tywin was fucking a magical bitch crossed a line. I stewed on it for a few weeks before deciding what I wanted to do. I let him know, told him I was leaving this shithole of a pack. The entire coven exposed themselves to me when they captured me before I could get out of the house.”

  “You’re more dominant. Why didn’t you just take the pack?” It seemed like an easy solution.

  “I’m like Heath’s boy,” he growled, looking at me again. “You’re sleeping with Heath. You must know Landon.”

  “Yeah. Second, strong, a good man, but never wanted to be an Alpha. Doesn’t mean he’s incapable of it. He’d do it if he had to.”

  “Oh, he’ll do it if his daddy needs him to. Heath taught him well. I’m not as well-trained as Landon, and he probably wouldn’t be any fucking good at it. If someone gave me a pack, I’d conquer the known fucking world, kill anyone who looked at me the wrong way, then run the damn pack into the ground without a second thought.” He gave me a twisted smile. “Landon’s a good boy, though, and his father being his Alpha is good for everyone. He has a sense of familial duty he honors that I don’t. Enforcers need that… attachment, or they’re dangerous.”

  “What’s an Enforcer?” I knew a lot about werewolves, but obviously, I didn’t know nearly enough. Fenris had the gall to laugh at me. Hearing anyone say Landon was well-trained horrified me.

  “Little girl, you’ve been sleeping with an Alpha, and he never told you his second wasn’t his second?” He laughed until he wiped his eyes. “You should ask him when you see him, Heath or Landon. You’ve done me one favor tonight, but that doesn’t mean I’ll betray werewolves and tell you something most of the world already knows.”

  I drummed my fingers on the floor.

  “Still, it doesn’t make a lot of sense if you could have stopped this and didn’t,” I snapped.

  He snarled, cutting off his laughter.

  “I have no loyalty to this pack. It hasn’t earned my loyalty. Heath Everson did during his time as Alpha, but only him. He was a werewolf I could respect, and he knew how to manage me even though I was the stronger and more dominant werewolf. I made him work for it, but he did it. Tywin and the pack?” Fenris snorted. “Not worth dying for. Idiots and cowards, every one of them.”

  I knew an asshole, trying to stay out of something that would give him a bad day, when I saw one, so I tried poking holes in his bullshit. It was probably unwise, and it definitely wasn’t nice, but I was locked in the basement with him while witches took Heath and everyone else. I didn’t know if they were captured or if I was going to find Heath’s body once the gas upstairs was gone.

  I wasn’t feeling wise or nice.

  “Even Teagan?” I picked the Beta wolf first, knowing most werewolves were protective of their peaceful ones.

  “Ah, well, Teagan is something else. Teagan’s got a steel spine, and he’s no idiot,” Fenris grumbled.

  “And the kids? Teagan was helping a few,” I pointed out.

  “Kids are innocent idiots, but what can ya do? Dumb kids are going to be dumb kids.”

  “Didn’t feel like dying for any of them?” The implication was enough to push Fenris over the edge.

  Fenris jumped on top of me faster than I could react. He snapped, his teeth too close to my face when they came together. He could have bitten my nose off if I hadn’t been able to hold him. I shoved him back with a snarl, this time summoning all the strength I had, but he was fucking strong. It was like trying to wrestle with one of my brothers. Jabari could take me easily. Niko and Fenris were about the same, and Niko was definitely the winner when I tried to take him on. That was too much power in a werewolf for me. Most never got as strong as Fenris.

  “Don’t fucking try to guilt me,” he snarled.

  “You fucking deserve it,” I hissed, holding one of his hands from my neck as the other kept his face from mine. I moved a leg between his and sent it up into his groin with as much power as I could. He screamed in pain as he pulled back, holding himself. I got to my feet, glaring at him.

  “You’re a cu—”

  “Heath was trying to help the pack, and he’s not even in it anymore!” I screamed. “You’ve trapped me down here with you because you’re a goddamn coward. You, Fenris, have no fucking honor. You figured out something was wrong but didn’t do a damn thing about it. You were going to run off, tell someone else to fix it, and disappear while people died. Fuck you, Fenris. You want to kill me for being a werecat as though I did something to you, but you’re the one who instigated the fight the last time we met. I’m not the one letting werewolves die. You are. I’m not the one who is trying to destroy the pack. Tywin is.”

  “To think one of Hasan’s brats has the balls to talk to me about honor.” He pointed at his scars. “Bitch, one of your brothers did this to me.” He took a step back from me. “And Heath is sleeping with you now. I should have known it would go that way and put you out of your misery the last time we met to stop a good wolf from…” The way his lip curled in rage, revealing partially Changed fangs, told me I needed to deescalate or leave.

  Fuck it.

  “You tried,” I reminded him. “If my memory is right, Heath beat the shit out of you. How did that leg heal? They said it was so bad, you would be out for a couple of months. That’s a nasty injury for a werewolf, especially one your age.”

  “Good as new,” he growled, slapping one of his thighs. “How’s Daddy? He’s probably not too happy one of his little girls is sleeping with the enemy.”

  “My father doesn’t make those decisions for me. He’ll live with it, or I’ll never speak to him again,” I said, shrugging a shoulder. “We don’t all cling to the idea old people are always right because they’ve lived a long time. The wars fought before I was born aren’t mine to keep fighting.”

  Fenris narrowed his eyes and started stalking around the basement, never taking his glowing green eyes off me.

  “Tywin attacked your territory. There were nearly forty werewolves down here last night. You’re here to war with Tywin.”

  “With Tywin, yes. I’m not here to fight every werewolf who breathes, to fight every werewolf in Dallas, or I wouldn’t have come down here to help you. I would have shot you and left your body to rot in the cage,” I countered. “That was the safer option, too.

  “Sure, there might be some Alpha out there who would take offense to my reaction to Tywin, but then, all I had to do was call my family, and they would have been here, too. I didn’t call them. This was between Tywin and me. I’ll tell that to any werewolf or werecat who tries to continue this fight. I’d rather have peace, but I won’t be a pushover. Someone attacked me, tried to kill people I care about who live in my territory and have my protection. Damn right, there’s going to be a fight.”

  Fenris opened his mouth, but I continued, not wanting to hear whatever bad faith argument he wanted to try. I didn’t have the patience to hear any more of the hateful rhetoric. I didn’t care that the ancients walking around the world had once nearly destroyed each other. That was their problem, not mine.

  “When Heath and I discovered Tywin sent werewolves he considered dissenters to his plans to die, we started making plans to come in and help everyone. We were forced to kill innocent werewolves because we didn’t know any better. We don’t want to kill anymore. I don’t want to!” I poked myself hard in the chest, hoping beyond hope that anything I was saying was sinking in with this dense madman.

  “He asked me to come down and let you out.” I spread my hands, then let them fall to my side. “Here I am. I don’t hate you because you’re a werewolf, Fenris. I dislike you because you’re a madman who tried to kill me the moment we met. I might hate you now that I know you’re a coward who is completely okay with a werecat coming to save your pack and still want to kill her every step of the way. We both know I’m not as evil as the ones who put you in that cage!” I pointed at it, snarling as Fenris stopped pacing. “You old ones are all so goddamn stuck in your ways. Guess what? I don’t fucking care what you are except a spineless bastard.”

  Fenris paused halfway across the basement, but I was closer to the stairs, and I was fucking tired of being trapped down here by a powerful coward.

  I ran up again, hearing him follow me, but he didn’t make it in time to stop me from opening the door. I was out of the basement into the smoke before he could grab me. He viciously cursed as I tried to hold my breath and went into Tywin’s office, finding no evidence of the werewolves I had left there. There was blood on the floor in some spots, but it was all Tywin’s, based on where it started and how it moved across the hardwood, but I couldn’t be sure. Taking tiny sniffs, trying to limit what I inhaled, I found there was blood from Shamus as well, which worried me. He hadn’t been hurt when I left.

 

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