I check in with my own wolf at that and find her tense with her hackles raised.
“I haven’t stepped foot in here in…hell, probably a decade,” Rennick adds, glancing over the wire shelves. “Never really paid it much attention.”
That tracks. This isn’t his domain. He wouldn’t have been part of the crews handling supply drops or maintaining the strip back then. Or now.
I know the moment his attention lands on the locked door at the back of the room. The one I’d been staring at when he arrived. He moves toward it, guiding me along by my hand.
“It’s locked,” I warn as we approach. “With two padlocks. Why would it need two?”
He frowns at the heavy-duty metal. “I have no idea. Could be full of chemicals they use to treat the landing strip during the winter months. Might just be locked so curious pups don’t get into it.” He shrugs. “I don’t know where the key would be. One of Gareth’s crew members at the lodge handles shipments, and another does the maintenance for this place.”
He reaches for one of the locks and gives it a sharp yank, like brute force alone might just do the trick.
I snort. “You’reverystrong, but if they wanted to keep people out, do you really think they’d use locks a shifter could break? With just their hands?”
Rennick shoots me a mock scowl before releasing my hand and crossing the room to grab a metal shovel from beside the snow gear.
“Step back, baby.”
I do.
The shovel comes down hard, twice, the padlocks snap and hit the floor with a sharp clang.
He looks over his shoulder at me, eyebrow cocked expectantly.
I squint at him. “What? Do you want me to clap or something? I already told you you’re strong.”
I’m fighting, and losing, to stop my grin from growing as he barks out a laugh, leaning the shovel against the wall beside the door.
“You’re good for my ego, sweet Noa,” he tells me with a fond smile of his own as he shifts to stand slightly in front of me, the move instinctive—protective—before the reaches for the metal handle.
He pushes the door open.
It creaks loudly on its rusty hinges, the sound scraping across my nerves, and the instant it opens, the echo of the wails I’ve heard coming from this building in my dreams rush in too. The noises tangle together in my head, joined by the rapid bear of my heart.
For a tense moment, neither one of us moves or speaks.
“It’s empty,” he finally says.
I step forward, brushing past him so I can see the entire space for myself
He’s right.
The room beyond is completely bare. A perfect square, maybe ten feet by ten feet, made if thick cinder block walls and the same concrete floor. Nothing else.
“I don’t really know what I was expecting to find,” I admit, the words meant more for me than him.
At my back, Rennick inhales deeply. “Do you smell that?”
I frown and draw in a breath too. It takes a moment to get past my dulled senses and his scent, the familiar comfort of vetiver, leather, and mint, before something harsher cuts through.
“Bleach.”
Why the hell does it smell so strongly of bleach?
Chapter 33
Noa
