Page 17 of Queen
The older tom was staring up at the house with a grave look on his face. "No," he said in a somber tone. "It isn't."
"Well, since we didn't get an invitation, we’re just gonna have to crash the party," Axel muttered, stalking toward the door.
"Wait," Sterling called, already walking around the other side of the house. "There’s another entrance. Less chance of being noticed."
Axel reluctantly followed him. He definitely knew his way around Felidae better than Axel did. It was something he'd always resented, but now he was thinking he’d gotten the better end of the deal by not being invited to the club at all.
Sterling led them around the back entrance and into the kitchen. It was obvious none of the appliances had been touched in a while, so this clearly wasn't a dining event. Axel didn't hear anyone, and considering how many cars there were in the lot, he'd assumed it would be a raging house party. "Where are they?"
"Most events they don't want the public to know about take place downstairs," Sterling said, looking down at the floor.
Axel rushed for the door, even though he didn't exactly know which room they were in. He'd figure it out. Sterling grabbed his arm, and a snarl tore from Axel's throat out of habit.
"She didn't go of her own free will, that much is clear. There are holding cells in the basement. I'm sure that's where he took her, but we can’t get to them if you just charge in."
"Holding cells?" Axel echoed. "What the fuck is this place?"
"I told you, you’re better off not knowing," Sterling muttered, walking out into the hall. Axel reluctantly followed him to a door at the end of a long corridor. It didn't look like anything special, and Axel would have passed it by, thinking it was just a supply closet. Sterling pulled out his keys and unlocked it carefully.
"I'm surprised you still have those.”
The teacher gave him a look. "Something tells me whatever they're doing tonight, it was rushed. They didn't have time to take care of the details."
Axel followed him down the stairs, realizing he wasn’t used to actually trying to be quiet. He was a tiger, not a house cat, and usually he just strode in.
The stairs were made of concrete, the same as the walls around him. The further down they went, the more like a dungeon the place looked.
Hell, itwasa dungeon. There was no doubting that as Axel looked around and saw the various cells with iron bars. "What the fuck…"
"Come on," Sterling said, heading briskly down another corridor.
There was a part of Axel that wasn't sure he was making the right decision trusting the other tom. For all he knew, Sterling and Bishop were in this together, and this was just a trap. He wasn’t used to trusting people, but if he wanted to get to Ella, he didn't really have a choice.
The thought of her alone and scared and confused was enough to make him sick, so he had to keep his mind on the mission.Straight ahead.
"Sterling?" a familiar woman's voice cried. Not Ella's, but Natalia's.
Holy shit. She was here, too? That made no damn sense.
But she was alive. For now, at least.
"Natalia," Sterling cried, rushing over to the door. There was a square window covered in bars. It looked more spacious than the other cells Axel had seen, but it was still a cage. "What have they done to you?"
The Empress's hands wrapped around the bars, and she glanced over at Axel, clearly surprised to see them both. "How did you get in here?"
"Bishop took Ella from the coronation," Sterling answered. "Natalia, I don't know how to say this, but I believe your son was responsible for your kidnapping as well."
Even Axel wasn't sure he would've put it that bluntly. Natalia fell silent for what felt like forever. They really didn't have time for this shit. "I don't understand. Where are they?"
"I don't know, but we have to get you out of here," Sterling muttered, reaching into his pocket. Axel thought he was going to pull out another key, and would've been more than eager to learn where the fuck he'd gotten that, but instead, he pulled out a long sliver of metal. He fit it into the lock, jimmying it around.
"Where the hell did you get that?" Axel asked.
"I've been in Felidae all my life. You learn to keep certain things on hand," Sterling said in a gloomy tone.
In a matter of seconds, Axel heard the lock click within the door. He just would've broken it down, but that worked too. Natalia stepped back and dove into Sterling’s arms when he opened the door, clinging to him like her life depended on it.
"I'm so glad to see you," she said in a breathless whisper.
