“Hear what?” Justice asked.
“Oh, just that a group of werewolves snuck outside the border to try to catch the apparent killer on the loose.”
Aedan swore under his breath. “Damn it. Who all went?”
“Some classmates of Justice’s and some of the juniors.”
“Alright, let’s bring them back,” Aedan growled. “Gia, stay with Lucie.”
Gia smirked as the boys ran off in the distance, then turned and looked at Lucie. “Well, he told me to stay with you, so wherever you lead, I’ll follow.”
CHAPTER 6
Lucie and Gia headed toward the edge of pack territory. The sun had set, and even the moon was not giving them light tonight. The crickets and tree frogs sang their songs, battling for the lead. The wind hissed around the two girls as they stood at the border.
“You know how much trouble I’m going to get in, right? I’m going to be shackled to my bed for the rest of the summer.” Lucie looked at Gia, who shrugged her shoulders.
“Well, we can always go back to the house and wait for everyone else to come back.” Gia smiled, knowing Lucie would never do that.
“Let’s get tracking, Gia.” Lucie watched as Gia grinned widely and headed over the border. She couldn’t just sit there knowing a bunch of kids went across the boundary. She probably should have notified Sam, her father’s beta, or at the very least Winstonand Adam, her father’s gamma and delta. She knew she was going to get reamed over this, but it was too late now.
Gia sped through the woods. She was a fast runner and an excellent tracker. Lucie jumped up into the next tree and quickly raced through the branches, jumping from limb to limb silently. Her mother had taught her how to be a silent assassin at a very young age and how to use her lycan strength in her human form, since there were times when you couldn’t shift.
Lucie had never been in a real fight, but she was well trained. She often sparred against her stronger brother, which only helped prepare her. She felt confident that if they ran into any trouble, she would be able to neutralize the problem.
After running for several hours, Lucie was getting concerned about not running into anyone yet. She raced to the top of the trees so that she could see farther, but what she saw in the distance confused her. She could see several silhouettes in a clearing that were carrying a couple of bodies back with them.
Gia, wait,Lucie called out through their mindlink.
What is it?
I see something strange up ahead. Stay here. I’m going to check it out.
Lucie swiftly and silently closed the distance, wanting to listen to them. She halted a few trees away and took in quiet, shallow breaths.
“We have a couple of vampires, but I’d like to bring a werewolf back, too. I know she would like to test it out on one,” a raspy-voiced man said.
A werewolf? Lucie looked at the two other bodies in black sacks. Those must be the bodies of the vampires. What were these people doing?
“Yes, I agree. It will be beneficial when she goes after the Black Ice Pack,” another voice said.
Wait, the Black Ice Pack? Her pack? Who was going after her pack? Lucie clenched her fists, then made a rash decision. She would allow herself to be taken so she could discover who was after them.
She jumped down to the ground and ran, jumping through the brush, and feigned surprise as she ran into the people on the ground.
“Ask and you shall receive,” the raspy-voiced male said with a chuckle.
Someone grabbed her from behind and placed a cloth over her mouth and nose. It was a drug to make you drowsy, so she quickly held her breath. She faked going limp and felt the man behind her catch her before she fell.
“Put the scent blocker on her and cover her. We don’t need her pack trying to follow us.”
Lucie felt them spray her down with a strange liquid, then cover her in a dark blanket of sorts. She had to fight herself to remain limp, even as her body was hoisted over the man’s shoulder. Soon, the man carrying her took off running. She had to let her head bob around as if she didn’t have control, which was a bit painful. In the moment, she’d forgotten to mindlink Gia, and now she was afraid to because she didn’t want to give herself away.
They ran for hours … all night, in fact. She could tell by the change in sounds that morning had come when the men slowed down. Birds were now singing, and the night chorus had ended. The fresh scent of the morning permeated the air, and the smell of dampness hit her nose. She could feel the chill around her as they headed into a building of sorts.
“Put her in there and bind her with silver. She won’t be waking up anytime soon, but even if she does, she won’t be able to leave her silver cell,” the raspy voice called out.
“I’ll notify Beryl of the new test subjects we have available. We’ll be back this evening. Can you handle things until then? It isn’t like they can go anywhere anyway.” The raspy voice chuckled.
