Page 138 of Broken Wolf Heart
And I feel them.
Not just their presence but their anger. Their fear. Their courage.
Then the door looms, and I drop the connection as we push inside and up the stairs to the second floor where our intel says Vincenzo’s lab begins. Levels two through seven, according to the recon Crow and Razor did last night. It’s a lot of ground to cover.
The stairwell is dark and crowded as dozens of wolves race upward. At the second-floor landing, one of our guards, still in human form, holds the door open. We race through to find all the lights out and the entire floor wreathed in shadows.
Unlike at Capo, there are no sterile white lights. No hum of machinery. Instead, red emergency lights pulse overhead like a heartbeat. Someone’s pulled the alarm. They know we’re inside.
Donahue and Camila and my other lieutenants give a snarl. Our eyes meet, and then we split up. Everyone knows their role.
Dutch and Mia take the upper level with Charlie and the rest of their team. Razor and Crow sweep floors in between. Camila and Donahue lead a search team with orders to find Andy and Davina and get them out.
Determined to find Vincenzo and end this, I race forward with Grey at my side, carving a path down the main corridor. We encounter several armed guards. Most of them take one look at our numbers and try to run, but a couple raise their weapons or try to shift. One drops his weapon and holds up his hands.
We let him live.
Another lunges for Grey’s throat.
I kill him before he can touch my mate.
By the time I’m ready to run again, there’s an ear-splittingboom,and the entire building shakes beneath our feet. Parts ofthe ceiling come loose and rain down on our heads. Grey’s teeth snag my shoulder as he drags me into an empty cubicle and shoves me underneath the desk.
Overhead, a siren wails. Glass explodes, and I realize the windows along the far wall have just blown out.
Smoke fills the air, and my wolf whines with the desperate urge to run.
Suddenly, Grey is human again. Naked and crouched beside me. Pure adrenaline coats the bond.
“Are you okay?”
It takes me only a few seconds more to find my human form too. “What was that?” I ask.
“He rigged the entire fucking place,” he says. “It was a trap.”
I blink, dazed to realize he’s right. And we walked right into it. Our entire fucking pack. All our soldiers. Our friends, the city block full of innocent civilians?—
“You have to go,” Grey insists. “Get back outside before this place collapses. Tell them to evacuate the area. My mom?—”
Around us, steel groans. Concrete cracks. More of the ceiling falls on the desk above our heads. I wince.
“What about you?” I ask, tears brimming, both from the smoke burning my eyes and the fear gripping me at leaving him.
“I have to find him,” Grey says, a snarl in those words. “He won’t be far.”
“You think he’s still here?”
“He’s here,” Grey says in a voice that brooks no more doubt from me.
“Then, I’m coming with you?—”
“No!” He grabs my face, kisses me hard, fast. “Get everyone to safety. Find my mom. Tell her—tell her I love her.”
And then he’s gone.
My heart stutters. But I make myself move.
I shift back to my wolf, navigating by scent and instinct. The air is thick now, choked with smoke and ash and something acrid. Chemical.
