“What is it?”
“Our wolves are out there. Ravenshollow and Moonfang, fighting together.” He pressed closer to the glass. “But they’re fighting rogues. There’s a whole fucking battlefield out there.”
The rogues. Of course. We were deep in rogue territory. The fighting must have drawn them out, hungry for fresh meat.
“Time to move,” I said. “We need to get Blake and Thomas now, before anyone tries to use this chaos to escape.”
We pushed the door open and stepped into a narrow hallway, dim and dusty, clearly not a main part of the house. Storage or maintenance access, probably. The sounds of the battle outside were muffled here, but I could hear other noises. Footsteps. Voices. Someone moving around in a hurry.
Hunt and I crept down the hallway, moving as quietly as we could with our injured hands and aching bodies. The passage turned once, twice, then opened into what looked like a back room of the main cabin. A mudroom, maybe, with coats hanging on hooks and boots lined up by the wall.
Through the doorway, I could see a larger space. The living room. And standing in the middle of it, his back to us, was Lucio.
He was holding something in his hand. Something metal that glinted in the lamplight.
A gun.
What the fuck was he doing with a gun? Wolves didn’t use guns. We had claws and teeth and supernatural strength. Human weapons were beneath us, tools for the weak.
But Lucio wasn’t acting like a wolf right now. He was pacing, agitated, the gun swinging wildly as he moved. He was talking to himself, muttering under his breath, and I caught fragments of words. “...should have worked... can’t believe... have to...”
He was panicking.
Good.
I stepped into the doorway, making no effort to hide my presence. Hunt flanked me, both of us probably looking like absolute shit with our bloody hands and mud-caked bodies. But we were standing. We were free. And we were between Lucio and the exit.
He spun around when he heard us, the gun coming up automatically. His eyes went wide when he saw us, shock and fear flickering across his face before he managed to control it.
“How the fuck did you get out?” he demanded, his voice cracking.
“I’m very determined.” I took a step forward, watching the gun carefully. I’d never been shot before. Didn’t really want to start now. But a single bullet wasn’t going to stop me. Not when my daughter was somewhere in this house. “Put that down, Lucio. It’s over.”
“It’s not over!” He waved the gun at me, his hand shaking. “It’s not over until I say it’s over!”
“Your rogue buddies are getting torn apart outside. My pack is here. Moonfang is here. You’re surrounded, outnumbered, and out of options.” I kept my voice calm, even though my wolf was screaming at me to attack. “Just give me the babies. Give them to me and walk away. You’ll be in chains soon enough, but at least you’ll be alive.”
Lucio’s laugh was high and hysterical. “Walk away? You think I can just walk away? Mira would kill me. Mary would kill me. There’s no walking away from this!”
“Then make a deal. Give me my daughter and Cole’s son, and I’ll speak on your behalf. Tell them you cooperated. That you helped in the end.” I had no intention of doing any such thing, but Lucio didn’t need to know that. “It’s the best offer you’re going to get.”
For a moment, I thought he might actually consider it. His gun hand wavered, dropping slightly. His eyes darted toward the hallway behind him, toward whatever room the babies were being kept in.
Then we all heard it.
Movement in the hallway. Footsteps. Two sets, moving fast.
Mary and Mira appeared at the far end of the living room, coming from deeper in the house. Mary was carrying Blake, my baby girl clutched against her chest like a shield. Mira had Thomas, Cole’s son, held in a similar position.
The babies were awake now, startled by the noise and the movement. Blake was crying, her tiny face red and scrunched up with distress. Thomas was whimpering, his little fists waving in the air.
The sight of my daughter in Mary’s arms made something inside me snap.
“Give her to me,” I growled, my voice barely human. My wolf was right at the surface now, clawing for control, desperate to tear the woman apart and rescue our pup.
Mary just smiled. That same crazy, unsettling smile she’d worn every time she’d threatened my family.
“I don’t think so,” she said sweetly. Then she turned and ran.
