“Then why did she need us?” I said stupidly.
“You gathered them all up and brought them back here. So, she fulfilled her debt to those rogues, and she still gets to plan how she’s going to kill all of you.”
“The games over,” Theo told her, stepping away from me. He walked up to the bars, breaths away from the silver. “No more tricks. You’re going to die in here, Albia.”
Albia whimpered, and a fresh set of tears cascaded down her face.
“Where is Saskia?” Theo asked darkly.
“She’s here,” Albia said so softly only Theo could hear.
“She’s here?” he asked louder. Gabriel and I were immediately on guard.
“This was my last task,” Albia breathed out. “She was going to kill me.”
“Well, now I’m going to kill you,” Theo hissed lowly. “So, I wonder who you should be more afraid of. Saskia? Or me.”
The few dim lights on the ceiling sputtered and went black as Theo talked. We left the cells quickly, ascending the steps, moving faster when we heard loud noises coming from upstairs.
As we came to the ground level, we were plunged into darkness again. All the lights in the packhouse were out.
Gabriel led us slowly to the medical wing, listening carefully for any suspicious sounds. As we opened the door again, everyone in the room tensed until they smelled our scents.
“The power’s off,” Eli said frantically. The machine that recorded Verona’s heartbeat and administered her medicine and oxygen was off. “We need to get her out of here.”
“Albia told us Saskia was here. That’s what she wants, she wants to flush us out of the packhouse, and that’s when she’ll attack.” Gabriel rushed to where Pilar stood.
“We can’t just sit here!” Eli exclaimed. Theo shut and locked the door behind us, leaning up against the metal surface.
“We need to get the power turned on, that’s the first thing,” Gabriel ordered. In our human forms, our eyesight was better than a normal human’s, but it wasn’t pristine. I could make out shapes and shadows, but it wasn’t much help.
“The power box is in the basement,” Sloane noted. “I’ll go.”
“Mom, you aren’t going,” Theo nearly spat. Sloane came to his side and put her hand on his cheek.
“Sweetheart, you all need to stay here and protect your mates. Let me do this,” she insisted.
“Mother,” Gabriel called. “Saskia is somewhere here, either in this house or outside of it, but either way, you aren’t going to wander around here by yourself. I’ll go with you.”
“Gabriel, with all due respect, you don’t order me around. You said it yourself, I was the Luna of this pack for twenty-six years. I know this house better than any of you. If Saskia wants revenge for something Rush did, let her get revenge on me-not my babies.”
Before anyone could protest, she threw the door open, hitting Theo in the process, and left the room. Theo’s chest rumbled, and he reached for the door. I grabbed his outstretched hand and pulled it close to me.
“Theo, let her go.” He wrenched his hand out of mine. “Theo.”
“That’s my mother,” he said softer. I sighed and let go of his hand.
“We can’t just sit here,” Reese declared. “We’re a pack of werewolves, and we’re going to let one person keep us prisoner in our own house? Let’s go show her exactly who she’s messed with.”
“Easy,” Gabriel warned. “Saskia is dangerous. She’s manipulative and a liar. We don’t know what else she’s capable of. We have more than just us to think about now.”
The air grew thick as everyone clutched their mates close to them. Theo’s hand curled around the curve of my neck and brought me to his chest. I wrapped my arms around him, grabbing onto the thick muscle of his back, not caring if I left nail marks.
“We need to get Verona out of here,” I said, speaking the thoughts of everyone else.
“If we can get Eli and Verona out of here, the rest of us should be enough incentive for her to stay here,” Gabriel said, plans reeling in his mind. “The cars should still be out front, I’ll mind-link the guards in the prison to come and escort them out. We need to keep her inside the house, if she goes after Verona, I don’t know how much longer she’ll be able to hang on.”
Eli took the cords and needles off his mate carefully. He lifted her to his chest, and Pilar covered her with the soft blanket on her bed.
“Let’s go,” Eli said. Theo opened the door and led us outside, looking down every hallway, and peeking into every corner as he walked. We got to the front door and hesitated. We breathed, almost synchronously, as Theo unlocked and opened the door.
The black SUV was running, a guard in the driver’s seat, another waiting near the door to open it. Eli stepped forward with Verona.
Before they exited, Gabriel and Reese stepped back, moving into the open area of the room. Gabriel reached out and grabbed a lamp from the corner before turned and smashing it loudly against the wall.
Reese began doing the same thing with anything breakable. The loud noise was enough of a distraction for Eli to get Verona to the car. He looked back as he climbed in. Theo nodded to him, assuring him we would be okay.
The car started, and Theo closed the door quietly before locking it again. Gabriel and Reese came, and we walked together into the middle of the room.
“Quiet,” Gabriel said, holding up a hand to silence us. We waited and listened closely. There are a few rumbling noises that come from below us and then a few light tapping noises. I could hear the prison bars rattling even though they were two floors under, and I wished my eyesight was as good as my hearing
Someone started
