Page 70 of Wolf Trap

I nodded, my mind a blitz of shock and fear. Gritting my teeth, I tried to concentrate on the job at hand. At least I wasn’t alone though.

“She’s a natural,” Anthony commented.

I glanced back. “Anthony, we were worried, where were you?”

“Well, I heard the shooting. I stopped and switched off the life support to the unfortunate werewolf.”

As we neared the top of the steps, waist high smoke filled the corridor. Shouting and arguing came from the passageway, the escapee vampire lurched past us.

“Hurry!” As he spoke an alarm sounded, pounding through the walls and through my ears.

“Here, take this.” Lycaon thrust his weapon in my hand as he pulled the lock pick from his jacket. Anthony jogged past him. “You won’t need a lock pick, put it away, there’s no time. Austin!”

They ran past the first cell, its open door revealing two dead vampires. Silver and something else congealed from their bullet holes in their skin.

The vampire stood, jaw open, frozen in horror. Hakon touched his shoulder, he jumped, sneering. “I didn’t know them, but I failed them.” Then he was off to the next cell, where Austin was attempting to break the lock using magic.

Anthony brushed past. “Allow me!” Pulling the grisly Hand of Glory from his belt, he placed the withered hand against the lock. It smoked, the metal melting.

I scoured the corridor with Lycaon as Hakon shouted, “we need to cover the doorways! We’ll be breached any second. Does anyone know of more than one way out of here?”

The sound of hooves on metal distracted me, my eyes wide with shock as a centaur of things came trotting out of the cell, followed by a fae man and Bren and Dolph!

“Bren! Dolph, over here!”

Austin beamed patting Bren’s shoulder. “Hey Bren! Go to Elsa, grab a gun. Stay low my friend, we’ve got you.”

Lycaon nodded. “Dolph! I’d ask how but we don’t have time. Here, grab a gun.”

Dolph’s frame almost filled the corridor. I shot him a quick smile. As a surge of relief ran through me, however scared I was right now, which was actually a lot, I was glad we could help them.

Bren, the young shifter, his blond locks a bloody mess along with his face, and eyes that had seen too much pain, shivered and hobbled towards me. Hakon stepped forward, an arm around the young raven shifter. “It’s alright, Bren. That’s it, mate.”

Lycaon’s deep voice rumbled, “Conor? Conor, for the love of Fenrir, hurry, man.”

At each end of the corridor, sounds echoed from outside the doorways of boots trampling, guns loading and shouting. I muttered to Hakon.

“I think we need to use the grenades and pray to any who’ll listen that they don’t destroy the flooring as it looks like it was built on scaffolding.”

“Good plan. Look, we have a few guns each. Everyone, get ready. They’re coming in.”

We waited as we heard the guards who were on the other side of the doorways at either end of the corridors unlocking thedoors. We shielded the demons and angels, the centaur with fear etched on his face as he edged into the wall, and the shifters.

Those of us with guns stood in front of those without. We aimed in both directions. I checked my pockets for the grenades. Whispering to those that I protected, “When we say down, get down! We have a plan! Stay behind us. Help is coming. But we need to get to the top level, to ground level.”

No one argued. Most of them were too bloody, bruised and scared. They all had track marks on their arms from injections. Flinching, anxiety in their eyes, they brimmed with terror. Goddess only knows what they’d seen or experienced.

But for once, I leaned into the fear.

I decidedat that moment to let their fear fuel me so I could stand before them, protect them. I would be their shield. Even if I failed, that’s what I could do. That’s all I had. I couldn’t really think about it. The terror was real, but in the end it was them, Adara, or me. And they hadn’t killed me so far. But I never had time anyway.

At either end of the corridor, the doors flung open and with a blast of gunfire. Austin and Anthony were ready, shielding out a web of light that reflected the bullets back. For the moment we held them off, then a quick nod from Austin and Anthony, we hammered back with bullets. I was quick to notice the werewolves bounding through the doorways above us, and running towards us on the ceiling. Even though Lycaon could technically control them, perhaps as he did before, there was no time now.

Aiming up I pulled the trigger, this time my back foot steadying me as it was against the wall. We formed a semi-circle around the prisoners, and now I shouted, “Fire in the hole!” As the werewolf bodies dropped like rocks, thudding to the ground,I pulled out a grenade, a fast check that Lycaon was doing the same. I only hoped the floors would hold.

They hadn’t expected that. With a gun in one hand, I nudged the shifter beside me. “Pull out the pin!” His shaking hand did just that and I lunged it to the doorway.

“Down!” Lycaon cried as he threw one in the opposite direction.

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