For some bizarre reason, Carter believed his pack mate, and he felt a weight being lifted off his shoulders. He nodded at Mike gratefully, then looked at Kat.
“Thank you,” he said.
She gave him a small smile. “Of course. I’ll do anything I can to help find Hadley. I’d like Lydia and Kamden to come with us in case I can come up with a way to transfer Kamden’s skinwalker essence into Strickland at the same time we’re rescuing Hadley.”
“I thought you needed to be at your shop so you can use the warding circle you made,” Mike said.
“I’d like to attempt the transfer inside the circle,” she admitted. “But if we end up finding Strickland in an abandoned industrial building outside the city, I won’t be able to do anything from my shop. I’ll need to do the transfer at the exact right moment, which means we’ll need to be close.”
“How close?” Karissa asked with a worried expression on her face, clearly not liking the idea of Lydia and Kamden being anywhere near Strickland and his spawn.
“A few hundred feet at most,” Kat said. “It’s possible we might even need to be closer than that.”
Karissa didn’t look thrilled with that, but before she could argue, Kamden interrupted.
“No way,” he said to Kat. “Even if we stop them before they start to feed, Strickland will have dosed them with extra venom to prep them for the frenzy. They’ll be as strong as he is. I won’t let Lydia anywhere near that.”
Lydia’s lavender eyes flashed angrily, all that ire focused on her boyfriend. “And you think I’m okay with you being near them? I’ve told you all along that while I support your effort to remove the part you find so disturbing, I refuse to let you risk your life to do it. If it’s too dangerous for me, it’s too dangerous for you!”
“I’m not going to let anything happen to either of you,” Kat promised before the argument got any more heated. “Karissa will be there, too.”
But Lydia wasn’t satisfied until Kamden also promised that they’d leave if it even looked like Strickland or his spawn were coming their way. Carter wasn’t sure if Kamden was being completely honest about what he’d do when the moment arrived, but at least they weren’t arguing anymore.
“If the transfer works, just remember that Strickland could become stronger,” Kat reminded them. “He could end up being too strong for you to fight.”
Carter ground his jaw. “I’ll deal with Strickland. Just promise me that the rest of you will get Hadley out of there.”
“We’ll get her out,” Mike vowed. “No matter what.”
Five minutes later, Carter and Mike were the only ones left in the office. Hale and Trey had headed back to the compound to get enough gear to mount a rescue and work with Gage on finding Strickland. Karissa had gone to talk to Knox and their security company, letting them know what was going down. And Turner was calling in his team as backup.
As for Kat, she went back to her shop along with Lydia and Kamden to pick up the equipment and supplies they’d need to recreate an impromptu warding circle strong enough to protect Kamden while she did the transfer. Even though she hadn’t said as much, Carter got the feeling she was more worried about this whole thing working than she let on.
Carter was worried, too. He didn’t want to allow his mind to even go there, but what if he couldn’t save his soul mate?
“I never got a chance to tell Hadley I love her,” he said quietly, not knowing why he was telling Mike that, but regretting not letting her know with every part of his soul.
“Then you’ll tell her in a few hours after you have her back in your arms,” his pack mate told him firmly.
Carter prayed he got that chance.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Hadley was standing in the middle of the storage room when one of Strickland’s spawn came in to get her. Stocky and on the shorter side, she recognized him as one of the escapees from Coffield. If he noticed the pile of boxes stacked up under the windows, he didn’t say anything. Then again, based on the dazed expression on his face, she wasn’t sure the guy was aware of much of anything.
“Move!” he said, giving her a shove that nearly sent her sprawling.
Apparently, being one of Strickland’s spawn granted him enhanced strength even if his wits seemed severely limited at the moment.
Hadley threw one more glance at the pile of boxes and the windows above it, wishing she’d worked faster. The first attempt to reach the windows had been a failure because the boxes had been too frail to support her weight. So she’d tried again, careful to find the sturdiest boxes she could. Unfortunately, that process had taken longer, and now, she didn’t have any more time.
The spawn dragged her out of the storage room with strong fingers wrapped so hard around her right biceps there’d be bruises later—assuming she lived long enough for them to form.
A hopeful part of her had expected Carter and his fellow werewolves to come charging in to save her. But as the minutes ticked by, that hope had faded and she’d accepted that help wasn’t going to come in time. While she was more than a little terrified, she was also regretting the things she hadn’t said to Carter. She should have told him how she felt about him right from the beginning. The truth was, she’d known there was something special about him from the moment they’d met. She’d simply been too scared to say anything.
She also regretted not spending more time hanging out with her friends, especially Karissa. And her parents too. Their relationship may have been a bit strained since Gideon’s death, but she should have tried harder to stay close.
Hadley turned her head left and right, taking in the wide corridor lit with naked bulbs strung along the high ceilings and the walls dripping with chunks of peeling paint and black mold. As the man pulled her down the hall, she caught sight of several pieces of fancy wainscoting along with several ornate picture frames mounted here and there. The pictures themselves were decayed beyond recognition, but the frames suggested the place had been swanky at some point.
