Page 13 of Marked By Feral Monsters
The troll catches my line of vision. He moves surprisingly quickly for such a massive beast, then stands in my way. All he does is point in the direction he was carrying me. Further from the club, from my mate.
Nico, Teddy and West are still out there. We will get through this. We will find her.
Reluctantly, thinking only slightly more clearly, Knox and I follow the troll through another set of double doors, into the back of the building, which turns out to be a series of interconnected, stark white halls. It's such a bright contrastto the rest of the club, but I barely notice. My arms ripple between human skin and wolf's fur. The change is close, my wolf demanding, battling with me to find her. Feral beast, patient hunter.
I try to tell him to calm down. If we are killed in a fight, or arrested and taken away, it will only pull us from her further.
He listens, barely. We follow the troll, Knox stomping behind me. The troll leads us past several doors until we reach an office at the end of the hall, the wordscustomer relationsembossed on the glass door.
A woman sits behind a desk. Her hair is tucked into a tight bun, a severe look on her face. She waves at the troll. "Leave us."
He harrumphs and lumbers past us, each step making the ground shake. He barely fits through the door, having to duck and shimmy sideways, and it rattles when he slams it shut.
"Well. This is unfortunate."
Knox snarls, but I step forward, forcing myself to maintain control while fighting off the primal urge to chase. I pull the chair away from her desk and sit, then attempt to explain what happened, starting with the moment we realized who the girl below the deck is to us. Twenty minutes later, after going back and forth, arguing with the woman, just wanting to learn my mate's name for fuck's sake, my three other pack mates join us.
While sympathetic to our predicament, the woman, Mara, refuses to share any information with us. For the employee's safety, she says.
We beg. We plead. We threaten.
She's unmoved.
And just when I think Teddy and Nico—typically the most easygoing of us five—are about to say fuck it and burn the place down in search of her, Mara finally offers a compromise.
"I can speak with her. I will tell her what's happened. And if she agrees—without pressure from you five—to see you, or to share her contact information, then I will oblige."
"You realize we can just return tomorrow and scent her, yes?" Knox scoffs from behind my chair.
Mara raises one eyebrow. "You think after the stunt you two just pulled I'm not well within my rights to ban you?"
There are other ways, I tell myself. But other ways are obstacles. And I'm not interested in more obstacles. So, while the guys argue around me, Mara keeps her eyes on me. I nod once. "Please. Tell her."
"Finally, one sensible wolf. Come with me."
She pushes away from her desk, and with the confidence of a woman who has been wrangling monsters like she was born for it, she walks straight past us all and back out the door. We follow her through the long network of white halls, back through the double doors. My heart races in anticipation as we step back into the club. My dick twitches, but I ignore it. My mouth waters, but I swallow it down.
And as we walk past the tables, monsters glaring at us for breaking the rules, one orc bleeding, with a cloth tied around his neck—I'll apologize later—I can't help but home in on her scent. It's strong again. So strong, she must be close.
We stop at the bar. Mara turns abruptly. "You wait here." She snaps her fingers, and another troll guard waddles over. He crosses his arms and stands at the head of the employees-only entrance.
We wait. A minute. Five. Ten.
Finally, the door swings open. But I don't like the look on Mara's face. "I'm sorry. She went home for the night."
"What!" Nico and Teddy shout from behind me. West tries to hold them back. Knox has to help, and the look on Mara's face isunforgiving, especially when the troll has to step in to keep them from barging into the employee-only area.
Again, Mara speaks directly to me. "I will tell her what happened. You can leave your information with me. But you five have broken the sanctity of our safe space. Violence is not permitted, especially in pursuit of a human employee. You are not welcome back."
And just like that, we're banned.
My heart breaks. My wolf roars.
We will find her. We know where she works. We can just return and wait outside the doors. She will be back. She works here, after all.
West loses it, and with Teddy and Nico barely hanging on, I'm ashamed when I ask the troll for help to throw us out of the playhouse.
Knox and I are the last to step out of the club. The streets are busy. It's late, but that's witching hour. People are drunk and happy, having fun.
