My next call was to Twitch, an informant I’d frequently worked with in the past. I trusted him which said a lot given that I wasn’t the trusting type. But he’d proven his reliability on more than one occasion. He was also the one to discover who my mother was and that she’d been alive and working with the H.A.C. all these years when I’d thought she was dead.
I filled him in on our situation, telling him of Melody’s abduction and the possible connection with the H.A.C. It wasn’t much but Twitch didn’t need a lot to go on. A few breadcrumbs and the man could work miracles.
“I’ll see what I can find.”
I thanked him and turned when the door to our room suddenly swung open, a wide-eyed Brock on the other side. “Clan Wolf is under attack.”
Declan was already moving, Robert only one step behind him as Brock filled him in with any relevant information. I swore and jerked a pair of yoga pants out of the dresser, akwardly shoving my legs into them as I ran to keep up. From what I could tell the Clan house for Clan Wolf was taking heavy fire.
“When did the call come in?” Declan asked. We jogged down three flights of stairs when Robert suddenly veered off down a hallway.
“I’ll gather our fighters and meet you at the gates.”
Declan nodded before turning back to Brock as he waited for an answer.
“Five minutes ago. Jordan called it in.”
We both halted. “What do you mean Jordan called?” My voice was sharp as a whip and Brock visibly flinched. “Why isn’t he here? Both of the boys are supposed to be in the Compound.” Jeb and Jordan were twin wolf pups rescued from the H.A.C.. As wards of the Pack, they lived in the Compound.
They should be here where it was safe. Not at Clan Wolf’s home base. All the rescued kids who didn’t have parents or next of kin to go to found homes within the Compound.
Brock scowled and ran his hand through his short brown hair. “He’s a wolf. Derek took him and Jeb for the day. The boys are theirs—”
“No. They’re mine.” Venom laced my words. I’d gotten them out. I was responsible for keeping them safe. They were supposed to be here where they could be protected. What had Derek been thinking?
“You can’t keep taking my kids like—”
Declan’s hand gripped my shoulder and I jerked my face toward him.
“They’re wolves,” he said as if that should mean something to me.
It didn’t.
I turned back to Brock. “I don’t care what they turn into. What animal they are. Every one of those kids we rescued from the H.A.C. is mine. That includes Caden,” I reminded him. “And if a single hair on any of their heads is hurt, you and anyone else who keeps putting them in harms way is going to suffer the consequences.”
Brock nodded though he didn’t look sufficiently cowed. Before I could say anything else, Declan interjected.
“We need to go.”
Not hesitating, we continued our descent to the main floor and the doors that would lead us outside. “What was the boy able to tell you?” Declan’s voice was calm but I could see the fury in the tension of his body, the hard set of his mouth. He took his role as their protector just as seriously as I did.
“He’s a child. He couldn’t give us much but the call stayed connected long enough for me to make out the sounds of gunfire and the screams of death.”
Ice ran through my veins. The boys had to be okay. They had to be.
“We’ll be going in blind,” Declan said. It wasn’t a question but Brock answered it anyway.
“Yes.”
“So be it. Help Robert gather as many able-bodied fighters as the two of you can find. We leave in five minutes.”
Unspoken were the words that any longer than that and we might be too late.
The drive to Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, where Clan Wolf resided took thirty-four torturous minutes. Six Hummers trailed behind us, each packed to the brim with shapeshifters prepared to wage battle. We had twenty-two with us. Twenty-two shifters filled with a rage so deep it was all-consuming.
I’d seen the tell-tale glint of silver and gold in the eyes of every fighter as they climbed into their vehicles and we rode out. Battle fury was riding high and the fight on our end hadn’t even begun.
We didn’t know who our foe was but when we were through with them, they were going to wish they’d never made the mistake of attacking our people.
Bloodlust rode the men inside the SUV with me. It was a tangible thing. Thick within the confines of the Hummer. Declan drove while I sat passenger, and Robert and Jamal—a rat shifter from Clan Muridea—rode in the back.
Despite our accelerated speed, the traffic kept us to little over seventy miles per hour.
It wasn’t fast enough. Not when you considered how much could happen in battle within minutes. I just prayed there was someone left to save when we arrived. There had to be.
These were shapeshifters. Tough as nails wolves and with at least one of their Alpha’s on the premises. They wouldn’t go down without a fight.
Declan’s eyes narrowed on the road in front of us with a white-knuckled grip on the steering wheel. Mile markers flew past us. We had to be getting close.
With a jerk to the left, he took the Coeur D’Alene exit and we flew down the street, making sharp turns at too fast speeds. I gripped the handle on the door to keep myself upright, the two men in the back
