Page 31 of Hunted

So would I, Mikey agreed.

Her first sight of the compound in daylight didn’t make as good an impression. The central command buildings were in okay repair, but needed a coat of paint in the worst way.

The cabins and trailers she could glimpse dotted across the valley and up into the woods were run-down, some with leaning porches, and there was a tumbledown old barn at the edge of the woods.

The grass around the main buildings was sparse, crossed by dirt paths edged with weeds.

Nothing like the neat, well-tended compound at Silverlake. It was more like her first memories of Silverlake, when the pack was new and they were still adding people, upgrading cabins. Before they built the rec center and the ballfields; hell, before there were any kids besides her and Brock, Jaeda and Ravenna.

A vision of this place swam into her head—neat paths and new buildings and fresh paint; families and cubs.

For a moment it was so bright and detailed, it seemed real.

Then Gunn said, “We’re here,” and the vision vanished like a popped bubble.

He pulled up outside the medical center and unlocked the truck doors. Michelangela said as she got out, “You better not try and cuff me.”

Gunn’s eyes got the smoky look that always melted her. “I thought you enjoyed that.”

Damn the man. She shoved the memories out of her head. “Not without my safe word, which I’m sure you’ve forgotten.”

He met her eyes over the roof of the truck. “Turtle.”

They gazed at each other for a moment, and then he said, “Time’s wasting.”

He waited for her to come around the truck, and then took her arm and pulled her to a stop. In a soft murmur, so the guard on the porch couldn’t hear, he said, “Be careful. Don’t do anything stupid.”

She pulled her arm out of his grasp. “Be careful. Don’t make me stab you. I still have your knife.”

Unlike him, she spoke loud enough for the guard to hear. He raised his weapon and trained it on her.

Michelangela said to him, “Try it. I kicked your Hounds’ asses last night; I can kick yours.”

Gunn dropped her arm and gave her a little push. “For fuck’s sake, stop messing with my guys and come inside.”

They walked past the guard, who was growling, eyes blazing gold. Michelangela gave him the finger.

Gunn just shook his head.

Inside, she was glad to see Rex sitting by Dobe’s bed, reading to him.

She was not glad to see Sanchez and one of his Hound buddies lounging on one of the unused beds. They growled when they saw her.

“Down, boys,” she said, using a hand signal that dog handlers used. “Stay.”

The Hounds’ eyes flashed wolf-gold, and the growls got louder. She heard Gunn muttering something under his breath.

Michelangela turned her back to the Hounds and opened the secret pocket in her combat vest, retrieving the flat pack that held the antidote.

When she turned back around with it, Sanchez’s buddy said to Gunn, “How did we not find that?”

Michelangela smirked. “Ancient Enforcer secret.”

But she was already pulling out her second syringe of antidote. She pulled the cap off the end and went over to the bed, pulling up a chair on the opposite side from where Rex was sitting.

She gave him a nod. “Hey,” she said.

Her answer was yet another growl. Rex was still pissed at her. “You better fix him this time.”