Upstairs was huge, and I made a beeline straight for the room with the shower going. It appeared to be the master bedroom, and Chad's stench was strong when I nosed open the door.
So the house wasn't Marcos's. That made the whole situation worse; if his men had wolves and other captives, how many were there being held against their will?
A pair of pants was on the bed, and I scurried across the room, jumping on the messy bedspread and cringing at the smell. Chad needed to wash his bedding.
The air in the room was thick and moist from the partially opened bathroom door, spilling steam into the bedroom. I quickly went through the pockets and found nothing other than a condom and a stick of gum. A quick look around at the top of the nightstands and the dresser turned up no keys.
Damn it. I had been hoping it would be easy.
Going back downstairs, I listened carefully once I was in the entryway. The soft sound of snoring was music to my ears, and I carefully padded down thehallway to the great room where Mateo was napping in a recliner.
The giant window in the room looked out on a deck that was surrounded by trees. Wherever we were, it was in the forested area, which could work to our benefit when escaping. They were humans, so sniffing us out wasn't a possibility.
I moved toward the recliner, ready to hide if he woke. His hands rested on his stomach, and I wondered how the hell I was going to slip keys out of his pocket without him noticing. I'd done some sneaky things, but I’d never taken keys from a sleeping man's pocket. If I were planning on still working with the coalition, I'd train in case the situation arose again.
He coughed, and I stopped moving, hoping his snore returned. It took a minute before he was sawing logs again. I was about to jump up on the arm of the chair when his keys and phone caught my eye on the side table. He must have taken them out when he sat down.
It was another small win, but I didn't have much time before he either woke up or Chad was out of the shower.
Placing my front paws on the table, I grabbed the keys as gently as possible in my mouth. They made asmall clinking sound as they slid against one another, but the television drowned out most of the noise.
Mateo didn't move a muscle, and his snores and breathing stayed even. It was morning, judging by the light coming through the windows. If I had to guess, they'd been up most of the night. It would have only taken me six or so hours to recover fully after healing Sullivan.
Where the hell were Sullivan and Kingston? If Marcos's men had me, what did that mean? Kingston wouldn't have given me to them, that was for sure.
I'd have to worry about them later because time was ticking. I could maybe fight off both of them, but it would require me to utilize my speed, and then they'd know I wasn't only a shifter.
Once I was far enough down the hall, I set the keys down on the carpet running the length of the hallway and shifted. The shower upstairs was off, which hopefully meant he was getting dressed and possibly going to sleep too.
Grabbing the keys, I ran as quickly as possible without making noise to the basement and went straight for the wolf, who was looking much more awake than before with the plastic wrap of the muffin sitting empty next to her.
"One of them is asleep and the other just got out of the shower. We need to be quick and quiet. There aren't any cameras inside as far as I can tell, but there might be some outside." I unlocked the cell and she darted out, heading for the stairs with her long claws tapping loudly on the cement. "Woah! Slow down! You need to be quiet!"
She stopped at the top, nearly vibrating with energy and anticipation. She was going to make too much noise, and the last thing we needed was for them to chase us.
"I know you want to get out of here as quickly as possible, but if you aren't quiet, they'll catch both of us and will figure out I can get through the bars. When we're out in the hall, make a left and go straight to the end where there's a garage."
She nodded, and I opened the door.I'd make sure we got out safe if it was the last thing I did.
CHAPTER TWO
Wren
The thing about wolves was, unless you were their alpha, they didn't give a shit what you told them to do. An alpha's job was to keep their pack in line and under the radar. It was one of the reasons lone wolves were closely monitored by the coalition.
And it was exactly why, as soon as there was enough space to squeeze out, the wolf took off to the right instead of going toward the garage like I'd told her to.
Cursing under my breath, I ran after her. Theworst-case scenario was I would have to leave without her. Unless they had guns on them, and then maybe neither of us would be leaving.
She skidded across the entryway as she turned, her paws scrambling to gain purchase on the smooth stone surface. Her nails were loud as she regained her footing and took off down the hall toward the living room.
Left with no other choice but to follow, I figured I could easily get to the kitchen and grab a weapon of some sort. The entire back of the house was windows and doors, which would mean an easy escape, but they would see us leaving instead of the plan of slipping away hours before they noticed.
"What the-" Mateo fell out of the chair as the wolf jumped for him.
She grabbed the back hem of his shirt as he fell to the ground, the loud sound of material ripping filling the room.
"Get off me, you bitch! Chad!" He was yelling with all he had in him and managed to get enough distance to kick the wolf hard in the stomach, sending her toppling over with a yelp a few feet away from him. It was enough time for him to put furniture in between them, and thankfully, he didn't grab for a gun.
