“She’s inside,” Jaxson said the moment Trevor and Alina got out of the SUV.
Trevor muttered a curse. The hope that they’d catch up with Sage before she reached the town had evaporated when Tanner had called a few minutes ago to say she’d already jumped the fence and that he’d tracked her to the church.
“Please tell me she’s alone,” Trevor said.
Secretly, he didn’t think they could possibly get that lucky, but hey, this was a church, so maybe his prayers would be answered.
Tanner shook his head. “Afraid not. The good news is that there’s only one other person in there with her. I assume it’s the priest.”
Trevor glanced at Jaxson. “Did you bring them?”
“Yeah.”
Jaxson opened the back of his SUV and took a hard plastic case from the backseat. Placing it on the hood, he lifted the lid to reveal four dart guns. It was amazing how much these things looked like the paintball guns he and Alina had used the other day. All things being equal, Trevor would much rather have been back in the shoot house getting shot with green-dye rounds.
“We’re going to tranquilize her?” Alina asked, looking back and forth between Trevor and the other guys.
“None of us want to, but we might not have a choice,” Trevor told her.
He appreciated the fact that even though she’d never met Sage, Alina was clearly uneasy about the idea of shooting her with a tranquilizer dart. It made him feel a little better about bringing Alina on this rescue mission.
When she’d first confessed to spying for Dick, he’d just about lost it. But after she’d admitted Dick had made it seem like he was a traitor and a murderer, Trevor had cooled off a bit. He’d known Dick for a long time, so he knew what kind of manipulative SOB the man could be. That said, he still wasn’t ready to trust Alina completely. They had a way to go before they could get there. But his gut told him they were on the right track. That was good enough for now.
Trevor pushed those thoughts aside for the moment, needing to focus on Sage and getting her back to the complex before Dick or anyone else discovered she was gone.
“No one wants to shoot her,” Tanner was telling Alina. “But we can’t take the chance Sage might lose control in there and hurt the priest or one of us. Trust me when I tell you this. Hurting someone is the last thing Sage wants to do. It would tear her apart.”
“We’ll try and talk her down first,” Trevor promised as he slid the dart gun inside his belt at his lower back. “We only pull the weapons as a last resort, understood?”
Giving Tanner and Jaxson a nod, he and Alina headed around to the back of the church while Tanner and Jaxson took the front.
They passed a tiny house attached to the rear of the church that was most likely the priest’s residence, then made their way over to the back door of the church. Trevor hoped like hell she hadn’t gone into a rage and killed the poor man already.
“A hybrid’s eyes will turn bright red when they’re on the verge of losing it,” Trevor told Alina. “When they get like that, it’s nearly impossible to get through to them. That’s when they’re really dangerous. If you see her eyes turn red, get the hell out of the way, okay?”
Alina looked like she wanted to argue, but then shook her head. “Fine. But how about we make sure it doesn’t come to that?”
“That’s the plan,” he murmured as he pushed open the door. “But everyone knows what they say about plans.”
Giving Alina a nod, Trevor led the way down the hall, his footsteps silent on the marble floor. Thankfully, he didn’t pick up the scent of blood. Maybe it meant Sage was fully in control.
When they reached the end of the hallway, he heard soft voices coming from the main part of the church. Trevor couldn’t be sure, but it sounded like someone praying.
He stepped into the main part of the church, Alina right behind him. Sage was sitting in the front pew beside an older priest dressed in traditional black garments. Their hands were clasped in front of them as they recited a prayer together.
Sage’s head immediately came up, her eyes glowing as red as two Christmas tree lights. Trevor’s heart sank. If that wasn’t bad enough, her claws and fangs were out, too. Crap, she was in full-on hybrid mode.
Why the hell wasn’t the old priest freaking out? Unless he was blind, he had to have figured out that there was something seriously different about Sage. But the guy simply sat there, softly praying as if he were the only person in the church.
Sage shot to her feet, a growl slipping from her throat. Beside her, the priest’s prayers stumbled to a halt. He looked up, his eyes filling with alarm when he saw Trevor and Alina. He slowly shook his head, like he was trying to get them to back off.
Noise from the front of the church startled Sage, and she whipped her head around to look over her shoulder at Tanner and Jaxson as they slipped through the big double doors and fanned out to either side.
Trevor held up his hand, motioning for them to stay where they were. Taking a deep breath, he stepped a little closer to Sage, hoping she’d turn her attention back to him. As he moved, he caught the priest’s eye, trying to get him to slip away from Sage, but the old guy seemed intent on remaining where he was. It was like he thought Sage was the one in danger.
“It’s okay, Sage,” Trevor said gently. “We’re here to help. No one’s going to hurt you. We’re all friends here.”
Sage didn’t seem to believe that. Eyes blazing, she took three quick strides in his direction, her long, sharp fangs bared in a snarl. Hybrids might not have had much in the way of control, but they definitely had some serious fangs on them. If Sage ever truly lost it and sunk those teeth into someone, it would be all over.
