When we reached the door, he opened it for me. “The only thing I want served at my funeral is revenge. Invite all my enemies and slaughter them.”
“Right before ‘Amazing Grace,’ I’ll douse the church with kerosene. How’s that?”
I jogged down the hot stairwell until I reached the door. After pressing my ear against it and listening, I cracked it open and peered through.
Christian yanked me away. “Anyone ever told you not to put your eyeball up to a crack?”
“No, but something tells me you’ve heard that a lot.”
“It’s all clear,” he said, jerking open the door.
We both rushed out and split apart, keeping the same stride as we ran toward the crossover. Down below, bodies littered the floor. Each room I passed, I glanced inside the open doorway and looked under furniture to make sure it was clear.
Wyatt jogged toward me, his face sweaty and hat missing.
“I checked the rooms,” I said. “All empty.”
He leaned on the railing to catch his breath. “There’s one more.”
“How do you know?”
He jerked his thumb at nothing behind him. “The freshy said there’s someone on the roof.”
“I was just up there. The guy’s dead.”
“Well, you missed the kid.” He fanned his shirt away from his chest. “All the others are loaded up in the vans. Tell Shep I’ll be right down.”
After he took off, I met with Christian, who had just crossed over the bridge.
“I didn’t hear any wee ones up there,” he remarked, brows furrowed.
“It’s a big roof. Lots of hiding spots. Maybe you were distracted, or maybe Wyatt’s finally lost his marbles.”
We headed toward steps that descended to the first floor. Blue was covered in blood spatters as she searched through a toy pile.
In the center of the room, Viktor’s wolf rose up on its hind legs and savagely attacked another wolf. The vicious snarls and snaps along with three dead wolves made me want to get the hell out of their way.
I reached Blue. “What are you looking for?”
She finally stood with a toy in her hand. “One of the kids wanted her dolly. I hope this is it, because we can’t stay much longer.”
“I’ll take care of the bodies and make sure we didn’t miss any children,” Christian said, stalking off.
I fell into step beside her as we headed back to the garage. “What do you need help with?”
“Getting everyone together, I guess. Once Viktor takes care of that last wolf, Shepherd’s going to set the place on fire to burn up evidence that we were here.”
“That’s a little dramatic.”
“It’s the only way to erase fingerprints in the Breed world. Sensory fingerprints, blood—you get the picture. Claude’s tracking down the women.”
“Are we taking them home?”
“Not the adults.” When Blue reached a well-lit area, she stopped and noticed the blood on her arms. “Viktor wants to give them money so they don’t wind up on the streets. Apparently, none of the kids belong to them. Anyhow, two of them took off, and the other one is sitting outside.”
“Maybe Christian should scrub their memories of us, just in case.”
She bent down and wiped her arms on her pants, trying in vain to get the blood off. “That’s a good plan. Someone might get the bright idea to blackmail us or report the incident to the higher authority.”
