“I can help,” Cleo said, forcing herself to stand and walk over to them. “Greg, stay awake, you mean fucker.”
“Escaping?” Greg asked, sinking to his knees despite Cleo, Sebastian and Bart’s best efforts to hold him up.
“Yes, and if you miss it, I’m going to be so pissed.” Cleo sounded like she was in pain, but she was getting steadier.
Greg pushed to his feet with a monumental roar of effort, grabbing the bars of his cell for support and squeezing his eyes shut.
The next werewolf Bjorn pushed toward them fell like a puppet with his strings cut, and nothing any of them did could wake him up.
“You fucker!” Greg growled, punching the unconscious wolf as tears leaked from his eyes. “Wake up!”
The next two wolves managed to stay awake, but Bjorn was already leaving and moving on to the next room.
“With me,” Bjorn barked, everyone who was steady enough to walk following him back into the outer hall.
Sebastian looked at the main door and wondered what Viggo and the two others were up to. He hoped they were okay.
Unlocking the second door, Bjorn walked inside and started unlocking cages. “Cleo and Greg, your pack is responsible for this room. Collars off and moonrock out. Go! Sebastian and Marge with me.”
“What about me?” Bart asked, rushing after Bjorn as he marched to the fourth door and used the access card to unlock the door.
“You’re with Marge,” Bjorn said, as though it were obvious that Bart should follow her.
The fourth room had just two werewolves and one human. The werewolves were shifted, standing well over seven-feet tall, and when Bjorn walked into the room, they growled and slammed themselves into the bars.
“We’re escaping!” Marge declared, heading right for the human. It was a man, maybe a year or two younger than Sebastian, with purple bruising all over his face and a pronounced limp. “We’re going to get that collar off you.”
The man blinked at her, his expression turning cautiously hopeful. The two werewolves went quiet.
Bjorn unlocked the human’s cell and tore off his collar while Marge explained to the two wolves what was going to happen.
The two werewolves were much less accepting of Bjorn’s authority than the ones in the previous room, ignoring him completely until they’d thoroughly inspected their human and whined in distress at his condition, but eventually, they let Bjorn access their backs and carve the moonrock out from under their skin.
After the rocks had clattered to the floor, both giants swayed and had to reach for the bars of their cells to steady themselves, but neither one needed help to keep upright – and neither one let go of their shift, despite the considerable amount of energy it had to take to maintain.
“We’re killing people, right?” the bigger of the pair asked, looking at Bjorn with a furious scowl.
“All of them,” Bjorn agreed.
Sebastian shuddered. He couldn’t imagine killing anyone – not even his kidnappers – but Bjorn and his fellow werewolves looked ready to rip them limb from limb.
Though Sebastian didn’t think he could kill anyone, no matter how much they had hurt him, he wasn’t going to stand in their way.
The bigger of the two werewolves turned to Sebastian and wrinkled his nose. “You pissed your pants?”
Sebastian had almost forgotten about his soggy underwear and wet pants, but the werewolf’s cruel reminder brought the cold, wet sensation into sharp focus. He flushed, humiliated.
Bjorn’s nostrils flared, his fury evident. He looked like he was about to launch an attack before the human they’d just freed interrupted, speaking for the first time.
“Max, don’t be a dick to the people saving us.”
Max jerked his head toward the human, looking embarrassed. “I wasn’t-” he cut himself off, turning back to Sebastian. “Sorry. I don’t always think before I talk.”
“It’s okay,” Sebastian muttered.
“We’re wasting time.” Bjorn walked back to the door, opening it and moving back into the hall with a determined stride. Cleo and Greg were still in the second room, the sound of their voices drifting down the hall.
As he’d done before, Bjorn opened the fifth door and opened all the cells, directing Max and his pack to go inside and rip off collars and remove moonrock implants.
