Page 33 of Pack Rage
The camera on this side of the compound was supposed to be in a massive pine, and Glen pointed it out silently. It was only seventy-five feet or so ahead of us, and to the right. We climbed down and made our way silently to another tree, going up to get a better vantage point. I pulled a slingshot out of my backpack, tucked a stone into the pouch, and aimed at the camera. The sound of the rock hitting the metal casing was louder than I liked, and it didn’t do any good.
Sturdy fucker.
I motioned for Glen to stay put, then slipped down our tree and made my way to the back side of the huge pine and shimmied up, my nails extending slightly as I had to dig them into the trunk for a grip. I almost grinned. My wolf was so close to the surface, now that I was mated to four of my five guys. Well, mostly mated. I pushed the thought of the conversation I would need to have with Finnick to the back of my mind, focusing on the camera.
A small piece of duct tape over the sensor would be the easiest way to shut it down, but we’d wanted to make it seem like an animal or something natural had caused it to stop working. I laughed when I noticed a large glob of bird shit on a nearby branch. I used a small bunch of pine needles to smear the bird poop over the lens, making sure it covered the whole thing. Glen let out a short chirping sound, and I descended the pine as fast as I could without making noise, then rejoined him in the maple.
I was glad the red leaves matched my hair almost perfectly, as a drone zipped out from the fence line, followed less than a minute later by an Enforcer in a black uniform. He pulled out a phone, snapped a quick picture of the camera, then climbed the tree and cleaned the lens. In less than a minute, both the drone and the Enforcer were gone.
“Shit,” I whispered.
Movement below caught my eye. Mama stood there, a scowl on her face, one hand raised. She muttered something and waved one hand at the camera, and instantly, a small plume of black smoke rose from the device. She stared up at me and Glen. “Stop messing around, you two. We need to move.”
I cringed, following Glen to the ground. “Why didn’t you tell me you could do that?” I whispered when I stood next to her.
“Same reason Del let you fall on your ass a thousand times. How else are you gonna learn?”
Glen was stifling a laugh. I shot him the finger, then followed Mama. She led us straight to the gate, but we only had a few seconds to duck behind a holly bush as another drone shot past, going back to the broken camera.
The gate opened thirty seconds later, and two Enforcers came running back out, sniffing the air.
Now,Mama mouthed. She took my hand, and I took Glen’s, and we crept back around the tree and into the open. We were completely exposed, and I had a feeling my hair was a red candle in the morning sunlight. But no one came after us or called out.
I knew she’d done another look-away, a bigger one. Sweat beaded on her upper lip, even in the chilly morning air, and her hand trembled in mine as she muttered soundlessly the whole time we moved. Hand in hand, we walked straight to the open gate, and right through just as it began to automatically close. The two Enforcers who stood on either side of the gate didn’t even glance in our direction.
But the scent of blood from Mama’s wound got stronger as we moved, and her hand in mine shook like she was holding a live wire. “Help,” she whispered to Glen.He scooped her up with his free arm, and I held onto him as we ran across the clearing, toward the Mansion.
Glen knew where to go, and even though we didn’t see any more drones inside the fence, the grounds were teeming with Enforcers. Without Mama, we would never have had a chance. Finally, he slid to a stop beside a noisy air conditioning unit on the back side of what I thought was the garage building. I checked for cameras, but there were none. I could hear people in the distance, but there were no windows facing out by the industrial-sized AC boxes, and the closest door was the one that led in through the garage. The servant’s entrance, according to Glen.
“Drop the look-away, Mama,” I breathed. “Take a break.”
I knew when she did, since the sounds around us got a little bit louder, the air colder, and… my mates figured out I was close. My bonds started going wild, filling me with alarm and fear. I couldn’t hear their voices, but I could feel Luke, Finnick, and Brand going nuts inside the Mansion.
I reached for Grigor in my mind, but there was…Wait.Something twitched, in the place that had gone numb. The final not-quite-a-bond sputtered like a damp branch catching fire at last. Then it went out.
My wolf whined. I tried not to do the same thing out loud.
My skin itched, like it wanted nothing more than to turn to fur, attack, and run into the Mansion. My mates were inside, too weak to escape. I was strong, but I couldn’t take on a whole pack house, not even if the witch was gone for now.
I was good at waiting. I’d had to sit in treetops until I nearly froze, waiting for hunting males to give up looking for me. I’d had to wait years to escape Southern. But the idea of letting my mates sit in a prison cell for even an hour longer made my stomach churn. Time was running out; I could feel it.
Glen whispered, “What’s wrong, Flor?”
“We need to go. Now. Grigor needs me,” I replied as he gathered me in his arms. I let myself feel his love for a moment,then turned to Mama. “Mama, will you—,” I began, but I was talking to thin air.
She was gone.
Chapter 16
Cellmates
GRIGOR
Ilay quiet in the thick cloth bag Finnick had left me in, harvesting power as quickly as I could, and sleeping. The need to sleep surprised me. As I’d grown older, I’d needed less and less rest, drawing power from the night around me. But here, in this room, the only source of power I could access was the current that flowed through the walls. Soon, I hoped, I would be strong enough to reach for my queen and not harm her. I ached for the touch of her mind, for the fresh, clean sensation of her spirit.
I did not let myself think of the touch of her hands, her lips, though my own burned with remembered fire.
Drawing power from the current in the walls alone was time-consuming and tiring, and I’d been forced to use some of my reserves to remove the final slivers of silver from my body. If only a guard would approach the cell, and linger for just one moment too long nearby…
