Bonded (36 page)

“And why haven’t
you acted yet?”

Klaus shook his
head. “The time’s not right. This is bigger than I thought.
Victor’s deep into the Purist organization and has picked out
Kolding’s Pass as one of their regional headquarters. He’s been
prepping some of the old mining tunnels; turning them into barracks
and meeting rooms. Sort of like a doomsday bunker for the Purist
elite.”

Reno felt his
heartbeat quicken. This sounded like the break his team had been
looking for. “Are they using the tunnels now?”

“Not yet but
there’s been a steady stream of visitors in and out of town for the
past few months. My spies have told me a big meeting is about to
happen—we just haven’t figured out exactly when. I plan to wait
until a number of them are in the tunnels along with Victor and
then blast the entrance.” He gave a dry laugh. “Payback for what he
tried to do to me.”

The old Alpha’s
plan had Reno chuckling even though he couldn’t officially approve
of the method. “So you’re lurking under the town hall to...?”

“Pay a visit to
Peter. I check on the prisoners every few days. Victor’s had him
and the others locked up for weeks now. Thankfully we’ve been able
to maintain enough rumbles of dissent within the pack to keep them
safe—”

“And you don’t
dare just help them escape in case there’s retribution against
their families.”

“You know about
the children?”

“I scouted out the
town earlier this evening and located them living only with
full-blooded weres. That made me wonder where the human parents
were.”

“You’re good at
this, boy.” Klaus sounded impressed.

“It’s my job.”
Reno bit back his ire over being called ‘boy’ again. What was with
these people?

“Klaus?” A man’s
voice—the human, Peter—sounded from above. “I’ve been listening to
you two yammer away long enough. Brandi and I want to know what’s
going on.”

Klaus chuckled.
“Hold your horses, Peter. You got company, in case you haven’t
figured it out yet. Says his name is Reno and he’s a friend of
Brandi’s.”

“That’s what I
thought.”

The scraping sound
of furniture being pulled across the floor echoed through the
cellar. Reno looked up at the grate to find the pale face of a
middle-aged man looking back down at him.

“Hi! I’d shake
hands but...” Peter indicated the grate ruefully.

Reno nodded while
trying to look beyond the man. “Where’s Brandi?”

“In the room next
door. And before you ask, there’s no floor grate in her room. We’ve
been talking through an air vent near the ceiling.”

“Glad your jailers
are stupid.” Reno grunted.

“Or they just
don’t have very high expectations of a mere human and a female
were.” Peter added.

“Whatever.” Reno
shrugged off the information and reached for the grate. “I can pull
this loose, shimmy my way up and get Brandi out.”

Klaus’ hand landed
heavily on his shoulder. “Not so fast, boy. If Brandi disappears,
they’re going to wonder how it happened and I can’t have them
discovering this access. Right now it’s the only means of escape
Peter and the others have if something goes wrong.”

Reno let his arms
drop to his sides. As much as he wanted to get to Brandi and rescue
her, he couldn’t endanger the others.

“So what do you
suggest? I’m not willing to leave without making sure Brandi is
safe and—no offense—leaving that job to someone else just doesn’t
sit well with me.”

“Best bet is for
you to leave town in the morning, then circle back through the
mountains and head for the mines. I can have my granddaughter meet
you near the base of the mountain and lead you back. We can
formulate a plan then.”

“This
granddaughter, is she about twelve or thirteen with blonde hair and
lots of ambition?” Reno thought back to the youngster he’d
encountered earlier. “I think I met her today near the old coal
conveyor.”

Klaus shook his
head. “That’d be her. The minx isn’t supposed to be there but she
keeps wanting to help and has decided that guarding my temporary
home is her job.”

“Well, she did her
best to scare me away,” Reno chuckled thinking of her tales of
ghosts and falling into mine shafts.

“Humph. I’ll still
have to speak with her. She’s going to get into trouble one of
these days.” Klaus grimaced and then sighed. “Well, you’d best be
off before Walt comes by for his three o’clock inspection.”

Reno hesitated
then looked up through the grate. “Peter, tell Brandi I’m here and
that I’ll get her out of this and I said she shouldn’t do something
stupid like agreeing to mate Victor.” The last words left a bitter
taste in his mouth and he fought the urge to spit after uttering
them.

Peter nodded and
conveyed the message. Reno strained to hear Brandi’s answer. It was
faint but he was sure she was cursing over him insinuating she’d do
something stupid. Klaus chuckled and Reno grinned, pleased to have
riled her—it would keep her mind off her problems—then he slipped
away. At least she wasn’t losing her fire being locked up, he
thought.

Making his way
back to the hatch, he cracked it open and then froze. Someone was
out there! Peering out, he saw Walt standing near a street light,
examining a large ring of keys. Damn, the man must be early.

After easing the
hatch shut, Reno retraced his steps.

Klaus frowned when
he saw him returning. Reno gave the man no time to talk.

“Walt’s outside. I
can’t go that way and if I stay here he might scent me.”

“Peter, you’ve got
company. Walt’s early. Cover up the grate.” Klaus issued the order
to the man who quickly complied.

“What do you want
me to do?” Reno asked tightly hoping his presence didn’t end up
harming those above. He rubbed his eyes and gave his head a shake.
Two nights without sleep were slowing his thinking.

“We’ll hide in the
entrance to the mine shaft until Walt leaves.” Klaus led the way to
the tunnel he’d used to enter the cellar. “The natural scents of
the cellar and the way the dresser blocks the grate should keep him
from discovering we were here.”

Reno followed,
recalling how he’d frozen in the blackness of the cellar; a tunnel
might even be worse. He swallowed hard but steeled his nerve. There
was no way he’d show weakness in front of the Alpha.

To keep his mind
off the lack of light, he questioned Klaus. “It’s hard to believe
no one has noticed you’ve been down here.”

“It’s usually just
Martha and Walt upstairs. Victor spends most of his time at his
project down by the mines. Martha’s one of my spies so she airs the
place out if my scent is noticeable and Walt... Well, he’s an
unknown factor in all of this.”

“How so?”

“The man’s smart
but he’s weak and he runs with whoever seems to have the power at
the moment. I know he has his suspicions that I’m still around—he’s
alluded as much to Martha. Apparently he hasn’t decided what to do
about it yet. Near as I can figure he’s waiting to see who comes
out on top before making his allegiance known.”

Reno narrowed his
eyes. “Doesn’t sound very trustworthy. Why not eliminate him?”

“He has his uses.
If someone completely loyal to Victor was in charge of the
prisoners, they would have mentioned their suspicions about my
presence already. And if Walt decides to play his hand early, well,
I have people in place who are watching him and they’ll give me
warning.”

Reno grunted.
“Victor doesn’t strike me as being stupid. Why is he putting his
faith in Walt?”

“Victor’s
arrogant; his superiority complex is his weakness. And while I’m
sure he knows Walt can be duplicitous, he doesn’t think the man
would dare double cross him.”

A dim light began
to glow in the depths of the tunnel and Reno stiffened wondering if
it could be Victor’s people, but Klaus gave a string of whispered
curses. “Katherine, I told you to stay behind. I ought to tan your
hide for not listening.”

A young girl
appeared, holding a flashlight and in its glow Reno saw the
youngster he’d met earlier.

She lifted her
chin and tossed her hair over her shoulder then looked the Alpha
directly in the eye. “You always tell me not to go in the mines by
myself so I’m just making sure you follow the same rules.” The
effect of her show was then ruined when she threw her arms around
the man in a bear hug. “Besides, I love you, Gramps.”

Klaus sighed and
returned the hug. “I love you, too. But I still should tan your
hide.”

Reno suppressed a
smile as he noted the girl winking at him over her grandfather’s
shoulder before she kissed the man’s cheek. “But you won’t because
you’re just an old softie.”

Klaus released
her. “Softie or not, I’m still your Alpha and you need to show
respect and follow orders. Someday I won’t be in charge and then
you might find yourself in more than a spot of trouble for your
defiance.”

The gentle warning
had the girl hanging her head. “I’m sorry, Gramps.”

The Alpha accepted
her apology before nodding towards Reno. “Katie, I hear you already
met this fellow out by the mines.”

“But we weren’t
properly introduced.” She held out her hand and Reno shook it,
amused at her boldness. Either she didn’t know he was an Enforcer
or she was very brave. Few greeted him with that sort of
aplomb.

“Reno Smith.”

“I know.
Everyone’s talking about you.” She giggled but subsided when Klaus
gestured for them to be quiet. The faint sound of footsteps could
be heard. Walt was in the Town Hall.

Chapter
23

Brandi sat on the
lumpy sofa, grumbling under her breath, while she waited for Walt
to finish his ‘inspection of the detainees’ as the man had loftily
put it. Good Lord, why hadn’t she ever noticed what a bag of hot
air the man was when she was growing up?

Walt had already
poked his head in her room and was now checking on Peter. A quick
trip out back to check on the rest of the prisoners and then he
should be gone, which would leave her free to resume finding out
what was going on below her.

As she waited, she
mentally berated Reno. She might love the man, but he still drove
her crazy. Why was he still in Kolding’s Pass when she’d told him
to leave? Was it stubbornness or hadn’t he believed her? A part of
her hoped the latter was the case.

The idea that he
thought she held him in contempt made her stomach ache. She didn’t
want to hurt him. Of course, her words would only have hurt if he
cared about her opinion. But did he? Or had he returned only
because he was stubborn and his sense of duty wouldn’t allow him to
leave before he checked out her story. She knew him well enough to
be certain that he wouldn’t knowingly leave halves in possible
danger, regardless of any danger to himself.

That brought her
to another point. How dare he tell her not to do anything stupid
while he was carousing around a town full of unfriendly Lycans?
Didn’t he realize that someone was bound to pick up his scent? When
she got out of this darned room she’d give him a piece of her mind
over that stupid stunt.

There was a
rattling at her door as Walt presumably double checked that she was
locked in. “I’ll be back in a few hours, so don’t even think of
trying to escape.”

She made a mocking
salute even though he couldn’t see it and then leaned her head back
against the wall and slowly exhaled. Waiting sucked.

Barely a moment
had passed though before the sounds of a commotion outside her room
had her sitting upright and then hurrying to the door. She pressed
her ear to the panel in an attempt to hear better.

“What do you mean,
he isn’t in his room? You told me the three of you had scared him
spitless; that he wouldn’t dare go out tonight.” Walt was yelling
at someone.

A voice she didn’t
recognize answered. “We did. We all beat on him, but when I went
back to check, he wasn’t there.”

“Did he leave
town? Is his car still there?” Walt sounded agitated.

“Yep, and his
suitcase is there, too. He must be snooping around town
somewhere.”

“Well why the hell
didn’t you just track him?”

“I tried, but
there’s no scent.”

Walt must have
started pacing for the clarity of his voice kept changing. “Don’t
be an idiot. Everyone leaves a scent.”

“Well, I’m telling
you he didn’t. Maybe it’s something they teach Enforcers how to
do.”

“Right. As if some
magic button turns our scent on and off.” Walt snorted. “No, it’s
more likely he pulled some fancy trick. Climbed on the roof or
something and you’re just too stupid to figure it out. Get a bunch
of your buddies and hunt him down. He has to be somewhere. When you
find him, bring him here. I’ll get Victor and see what he wants
done. Damn, why does all this have to happen just when we have a
mess of visitors coming?”

The other man
concurred. “Yeah, it was bad enough when we got word that Brandi
was coming for a visit, but at least we could have handled her;
kept her busy and out of the way. Having an Enforcer wandering
around, though... If this meeting gets messed up, Victor will be
majorly pissed off.”

Brandi could
almost picture the man running his hands through his hair or
perhaps wiping the sweat from his forehead. Hmm... Special visitors
were coming and outsiders weren’t supposed to know. Purists? Maybe
even some of the leaders? The thought had her heart pounding.

Walt continued.
“They’ll be here by noon and we need to get this under control
before then.”

“Can’t we just
call and tell them to stay away?”

“Nope. Thought of
that when we heard about Brandi’s visit. Victor says it wouldn’t
look good. He’s trying to impress someone and this has to go
smoothly.”

The sound of the
outer door slamming had Brandi scrambling across the room. Oh God,
the Purists were holding a meeting in town. And Walt was sending
some of the locals out to go hunting for Reno! A sick feeling
filled her stomach as gruesome images flashed through her mind.
While she had great faith in Reno’s abilities, one wolf against a
hunting party didn’t stand a chance! Damn Reno for being so
pigheaded. Why hadn’t he listened when she’d told him to leave? If
he had, he’d be safely out of town right now.