“We’d both be bored,” Costin said as he and Sally stood up and faced the seething she-wolf.
“Sally, get Titus. Costin and I will escort you to the archives. Then the rest of us are going hunting,” Jen said, her voice filled with a feral growl.
“What’s happened?” Costin demanded.
“Skender and that she-dog escaped. They’re in the mansion. You and I both know what they want,” she said, looking pointedly at Sally.
Costin felt his teeth lengthen as his wolf pushed to be set free. “Who’s guarding the archives?”
Jen rolled her glowing eyes. “Less talkie-talkie and more walkie-walkie. Move it, Healer! Get your son and let’s go.”
Costin rested his hand on his mate’s shoulder. “I’ll get him. You wait here with Jen.” He hurried and was back in a matter of seconds with a sleeping Titus in his arms.
Jen clapped her hands together and then rubbed them as if she were trying to warm them. “Now, let’s get our hunt on.”
Skender watchedas the two wolves who’d been placed in charge of his and Stephanie’s care entered the basement. One of them he knew. The other must have been in the Serbia pack because Skender wasn’t familiar with him.
“How are you doing, Stelian? Found your true mate yet?” Skender asked the younger wolf.
Stelian stopped in front of the door to the cage and met his eyes. Skender was surprised because he’d always been more dominant than Stelian. But the younger wolf didn’t even blink.
“Haven’t found my true mate yet,” Stelian said, still holding Skender’s eyes. “But I also haven’t betrayed my pack, so I’m thinking mate or not, I’m doing a hell of a lot better than you.”
The wolf Skender didn’t know coughed to cover up a laugh. Skender narrowed his eyes on the wolf. “Something funny, pup?” Skender growled.
“Actually,” the wolf said, “I find it hilarious that I used to be in a rival pack and you were a member ofthispack, and now you’re the one in a cell.”
“You have no idea what you’re talking about. You both act like you know what’s happened, but you have no clue what I’ve done or why I did it.” Skender stepped back from the cell door. “Are you going to let us use the facilities, or were you planning on standing out there all day gawking at us?”
“Decebel told us what you did,” Stelian said. “And your reasons for your actions aren’t good enough. You’re a traitor. Spin it however you want to. Doesn’t change what you did.” He unlocked the door to the cage and stepped to the side.
Skender reached out his hand to Stephanie who was standing quietly behind him. She took the offered hand and followed him out of the cage. The unknown wolf led the way into the stairwell that rose to the main floor of the mansion.
When they were all in the stairwell and about halfway to the door Skender squeezed Stephanie’s hand, giving her the signal.
They both lunged. Stephanie toward the wolf in front, Skender at Stelian who walked behind. Skender had no intention of killing either, but he had to get away.
He managed to punch the younger wolf so hard that it knocked him unconscious instantly. Skender turned to see how Stephanie was faring. She’d managed to jump on the wolf’s back and got an arm around his throat, under his chin, and was attempting to put the male to sleep. She jumped off just as he started to crumble, and Skender caught the man before he could hit the stairs.
Within a matter of minutes, he had both males in the cage with the door closed and locked. Skender turned to Stephanie. “You good?”
“Yes, let’s just get this female and get out of here,” she said.
The pair headed for the stairwell once again, this time without the guards. They just had to get the healer, get out of the mansion, then get somewhere Alston could flash to without worry of his magic being traced.
“Try not to kill anyone,” Skender said to the woman he claimed as his mate.
She rolled her eyes. “You still feel sentiment toward them,” Stephanie accused. “You need to let that go. They are the enemy. If the wolves won’t join the Order, then they need to die so they can’t oppose us.”
The pair were out in the hallway now, and Skender was moving to the healers’ laboratory within the mansion. “Maybe, but there is a whole pack of them and only two of us. Let’s try and not piss them off any more than we have to.”
Zara was shaking.Just around the corner, the male called Skender and a female were moving off in the opposite direction. Zara had taken one step into the hallway and seen the back of the two people retreating quickly away, so she ducked back around the corner. She’d also heard the woman chiding the man for being sentimental toward the pack. The woman had spoken so casually about killing that Zara had started shaking.
She yanked her phone from her back pocket and pulled up Jen’s contact information. It was a good thing the she-wolf was pushy because it was the only contact information she had, and that was because Jen had forced Zara to put her number in the phone. Zara could have reached out to Wadim, but it was late and he was sound asleep. He was exhausted. Out of sympathy, he’d been trying to stay awake since she’d had so much trouble sleeping. He’d finally succumbed to his exhaustion, and she’d managed to slip out for a nightly stroll.
Zara txt: 911! There’s been an escape from the cages.
She didn’t know if Jen was awake or if her phone would wake her if she wasn’t. Zara didn’t have to wait long to find out. A few seconds later her phone vibrated in her hand. She looked down at the screen.
