Page 63 of Wolf Trap

We stared at each other.

Lycaon grimaced, his voice a hoarse whisper, “You thinking what I’m thinking?”

I felt a slight dizziness. “They’re using immortals as weapons on a larger scale than we first thought, we’re majorly out of our league here.” The words started to tumble out fast. “I mean we’re likely to end up in a petri-jar, bits of us, weaponised. Oh, my bloody hell…”

I screeched as my brain felt like it was melting in horror. Still, Jax just strode ahead like everything was perfectly normal.

Nothing was normal here.

“I don’t think we should do this! What about the Council of the Supernatural, this is much more their job, isn’t it?”

Austin picked his jaw up from the floor- not literally. “Well, we’re here now. Let’s at least have a peek behind the curtain. We can always leave.”

Rubbing his chin, Lycaon replied, “I’m with Elsa. I think this is too out of our league. All we’ve seen so far, I-”

Hakon cut in, “I agree with Austin. Look, we’ve brought some explosives, we have spells, guns, the Spear of Destiny and thatgrisly hexed hand. Between Anthony, Austin and Elsa, three who can practise magic. I say, I really want to see behind the curtain.”

He was cut off as Jax hollered, actually hollered at us, “You coming, or are you just going to stay there and quake in your little boots? Come on. We’ll be perfectly safe. I’ll ensure it.”

She would?

Somehow, I very much doubted that. Like wearing lead boots, I dragged myself towards my impending doom. Thoughts of moving limbs, like Frankenstein’s laboratory gripped my mind. I just didn’t want to end up like the monster. Nothing good happened in the end to the monster.

Lycaon reached for my hand, his hair curtaining his face as he bent down.

“Hey, look, we’ll be alright. We’ll just run really fast.”

“You don’t believe that.”

He shrugged, blinking. “We could leave right now.”

I rolled my lips. “Don’t say that. No, we’re here.Trying to be selfless. Let’s just, as Austin said, take a peek. Then run. But I want to save anyone they’ve captured. I can’t leave without them, not after, well...”

Nodding, he gripped my hand tighter. “Sounds like a good plan.”

The walls were similar to the tunnel, metallic and as we walked deeper into the complex, a rumbling echoed along them.

Repressing a shudder, Jax’s words replayed over and over in my mind so that my fear almost turned into anger.

I wished I knew more about Adara. They’d already got to my mum and now I was feeling like we were going in blind.

Bio weapons, pharmaceuticals… But my anger alone wasn’t enough to prepare me for what lay ahead.

The first door we came to was metal, but had different locks. Putting my hand to it, I couldn’t feel any power, but then again, it was probably masked. As Austin stepped up, Jax wagged herfinger. “No. This far into the place, any magic probably will trigger an alarm. We need another way.”

“Alright, my turn then.” Lycaon blinked, glancing at Austin and me until we moved. Cringing, Austin squeaked, “You can’t just break it, man! Surely they’ll-”

Putting his hand up, Lycaon whispered as he reached into his jacket. He pulled out his wallet. “It’s alright. I’ve been estranged from this world for a long time. I’ve learned how to pick a lock.”

Then he shot me a look. “I’m no thief, but when you’re deep in a forest and it’s sub-zero temperatures, finding an empty cabin, picking the lock is preferable to breaking the door. Having a broken door defeats the objective of staying warm. And before you all complain, I always left the cabins clean. And locked.”

He pulled out what looked like an Allen key, then narrowed his eyes as he peered into the lock.

Tense, we all waited. I clenched my jaw, hoping no alarms would go off. The energy was electric as we stared, bracing, hearing the clunk, then a click. Lycaon nodded, pushed the handle down, and turned around wearing a smug grin.

He put his lock picks away and cautiously stepped through.

The rumblingnoise was much louder. Generators or something, I guessed.

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