“Here.” Gage helps her with a few last-minute adjustments as Olly comes trotting down the hall. Our beta is already fully armed and armored, and it looks like we’re good to go.
The four of us pile into the Jeep, which someone has cleaned of my blood since I was last in it. Olly, most likely, if the strong odor of antiseptic is any indication. I’m glad he did. Gage is likely to be on edge today, more so than usual. He doesn’t need a constant reminder of my near death in his nose.
As if he can read my thoughts, Gage mutters a thank-you to Olly as he pulls out of the garage.
“It was nothing,” Olly says, though his cheeks show evidence of his pride at the praise from his alpha. “I just thought a clean car would be better for this mission.”
The ride to the woods outside of the Orions’ house is tense. Gage has been slowly unraveling the longer Emmett’s in their clutches, and Auryn seems a bit off, too. I can’t deny that I miss my brother-in-arms, and the guilt of him being caught coming to my rescue weighs heavily on my mind. Even Olly seems out-of-sorts with the loss of Em, and I pray we’re not too late.
Gage cuts the engine about a half mile outside of the Orion pack’s property.
“We’re on foot from here. Let’s go.”
His tone is curt, brisque, and I catch the faintest tremor in his hands as he draws his gun. I put a hand on his shoulder to reassure him, but the only thanks I get is in the form of a warning growl.
Hmm … Do not touch. Noted.
A few alpha scouts try to stop us, but we take them out quickly, preventing them from sounding any alarms. Auryn checks each body, but none of them are Sneed. She slices each throat after her check–vicious for an omega, but not totally unexpected, given what I’ve seen of her thus far. She has endured so much at the hands of these men; I’m honestly more surprised that she doesn’t try to castrate and gut them while they’re still alive.
Gage does nothing to halt her violence. If anything, the look on his face suggests he wisheshewere the one murdering these bastards. I guess he wants to give Auryn this little bit of closure, this chance to make her peace however she sees fit.
Even if she sees fit to slaughter them all.
When we get to the edge of the woods, we see that the Orions sliced the tires of the Humvee and shattered all the windows. They also spray-painted dumb insults and fucking dicks all over it. It’s like someone set a bunch of immature teenagers loose on the thing.
Guess we’re squeezing into the Jeep to get back.
Before we left, we discussed our projected point of entry. Though Olly wanted to go in the back, Gage and I both agreed that, since I have only seen the front of the house, we should go in that way. It’ll be unexpected, we hope, and I can guide us at least partway through. Hopefully Auryn’s memory will take over at some point, or we’ll be able to scent Emmett when we’re in there and find him that way.
As we race across the front lawn, I keep my nose tuned for the scent of burnt cherries …
… Burnt cherries and blood.
I’m not so stupid as to think we’ll find him in one piece. My only certainty is that heisalive, that Auryn would know if Sneed had killed him. The main questions are: How close to death is he, and how broken will he be once we bring him home?
Fighting our way in the front door is not easy, but we manage to take out seven of theirs before incurring our first injury. Auryn snaps at Olly when he tries to bandage her cut arm–literally snaps her jaws at him, spittle flying.
“No time!” she snarls. “Later.”
Olly stuffs the gauze back in his cargo pocket, but I can see the hurt ghosting across his features. Poor guy.
“Hey, man, good looking out,” I say, clapping a hand on his shoulder to reassure him. “We’ll triage later, okay? Let her do this first.”
Olly nods, though I suspect he’s not one hundred percent onboard with this.
As we make our way down the front hall, the faint scent of burnt cherries carries over the overwhelming stench of blood, vomit, and general filth. Sneed must not care too much about housekeeping.
We walk past a closet, and the scent starts to fade a few feet past. I sniff, turn my head, and walk back to the closet. Sniff again.
“He’s in here?” I say, half questioning myself, because why would Sneed stuff Emmett in a closet?
Gage takes point, aiming at the door as I kick it in from the side. No one comes running out, but we’re surprised to see a long, narrow set of rickety wooden stairs leading down to an unfinished basement. Our flashlights barely illuminate far enough down to see the bottom, and in addition to Em’s scent becoming stronger, so does the stench. Whatever’s going on down there, it involves a lot of blood. Blood, sweat, tears, vomit, cum … The overlapping scents war with each other, but I take solace in the fact that Em’s scent is still present.
Auryn bristles as Gage starts down the stairs. “Bad,” she says. Her pupils are blown, and her entire body trembles.
Oh, shit. This is not what we need right now.
“Princesa,mi amor, we have to go down there. I know that bad things have happened there, but that’s where Em is. We have to get Em.”
