Page 69 of Mated By the Pack
“Oh, no!” I say, moving closer. “Abigail is in that cage!”
“Calla, wait!” Vance calls out, but I’m already barreling down the hill.
I didn’t have many friends in high school or college. Until Abigail came along. We didn’t know each other before that, but we were both on the nursing path, and we had a lot in common. I call the girls behind me friends and feel closer to them than I do most people I knew in Haven North. Except Abigail.
I get to the bottom of the hill before five wolves dash by me like streaks of gold, amber, platinum, onyx, and mossy brown. A Gen-Lynx gets their scent, and the two hybrids meet the wolves head-on. I look down at my bracelet.
“If you’re connected to The Aether…” I trail off, looking ahead, then back at the bracelet. My back stiffens. “I’m not asking for help this time. If you want my bloodline to heal this scar, then you need me as much as I need you. Don’t overwhelm me like you did with the treant. Let me tell you what to do.”
I rush forward, but the wolves have gained some distance. I have no clue what I’m doing. No idea if the bracelet will respond. IfThe Tanglewill respond.
“Take out their arms and legs. Bind them like you did to me last night,” I order, flinging my hand like I’m expecting it to obey.
And it does.
There’s a pulse. A faint green glow. Then tendrils spiral out of my bracelet, dodge the wolves, and immobilize the hybrids. They never see it coming. Vines rip from the soil, joining the tendrils from my bracelet. The combination is enough to hold them still while my mates shred them like paper. Blood and visceraare strewn everywhere, scaring the women in the cage,andthe slavers.
“Fuck! Wolves! Kill them!” a slaver calls out.
Those are his last words. Caleb goes for his throat and nearly beheads him. The other slavers meet similar fates, barely getting a chance to ready their weapons before their lives are snuffed out.
“Calla!” Abigail calls out. “Oh, my gosh, Calla, is that you?”
“Abigail!” I hurry to the cage and climb up on the cart. There’s no key. I don’t need one. I hold my bracelet up to the lock and don’t even have to ask it to open the cage.
The cage swings open and I help Abigail out first. We hug like we haven’t seen each other in years. She sobs, choking on her breath as it comes out in hiccups.
“I was so scared! I had no idea what happened to you!” Abigail cries. “They said… you left.”
“Who said that?” I question, pulling back from our embrace. “Clyde?”
“Director Regina,” Abigail clarifies. “She said you left a note saying you couldn’t handle the pressure and that you recommended Clyde for graduation. I didn’t want to believe it, but you were gone. You didn’t even take anything.”
“Because I ended up in a cage, just like you,” I mutter.
“Are these wolves going to eat us?” a scared girl asks. She’s around Fiona’s age, but I don’t recognize her.
“Only if you piss them off,” Brenna laughs, finally catching up to us with the other girls in tow.
After Abigail calms down, I start searching the cart, tearing everything apart and throwing it into the dirt. Brenna collects a few things. The others just watch me.
“What are you looking for?” Tansy asks.
“This,” I say angrily, holding up a silver case. “Same thing the other slavers had. Sedatives with the Academic Medical Center’s logo on them.”
“Wait, that’s what they used?” Abigail questions. “But how would they get that?”
“Clyde,” I answer, hopping down from the cart. “He must have been supplying them with the drugs, and when they needed a replacement, he was happy to not only volunteer me, but profit from it.”
“He graduated,” Abigail says meekly. “He already started his new job at Haven North General Hospital. He was helping them kidnap people?”
“He’s not going to get away this,” I say, throwing the sedatives in the dirt.
The wolves disappear into the underbrush, and all of them except Caleb emerge several minutes later, wearing the same clothes they previously had on, but they’re dirtier now. I can still see some blood in their beards and hair, but they’ve attempted to clean up. Even Knox.
“Uh, who are these guys?” Abigail asks, her eyes getting wide and taking a step back.
“They’re friends,” I say, patting her arm. “Like the wolves. They’ll get us home.”
