Crimson (The Silver Series Book 3) (25 page)

Jet used the distraction of the absent light
to overpower the two men closest to him and slam their heads
together. He then attacked the next guards with such fierce
brutality and a grace I had never before seen in human or animal.
He slashed a hamstring with the knife he pulled from his boot,
spun, and buried the hilt into the stomach of the next man. He
ducked under a third who attacked with his own set of knives, used
the man's body to bowl over two more which he quickly dispatched
with slashes across the throat, then threw the man's knives into
the stomachs of two more. He rolled to the left and pummeled
another guard with three swift punches to the head and an uppercut
to the stomach that left the man motionless on the ground.

Several guards pulled out guns and started
shooting whether they could see or not. Hunters and werewolves fell
under their bullets as well as other guards. Jet took down as many
of the shooters as he could, flowing through the men with a
polished destruction that left bodies in his wake and the other men
running for their lives. Jaze and Mouse followed closely behind
while Brock waited near the vehicle wearing night vision goggles
and picking off any who tried to shoot at the werewolves and
Hunters.

He was surprisingly accurate with the gun.
Guards fell motionless to the ground around the gate. Fighting
surged back as guards tried to escape back into the complex, but my
team at the gate only let in as many as they could handle. Gunfire
sparked as guards regrouped and fought back. Werewolves dove behind
cover and Hunters shot who they could find, but the guards showed
no mercy and used the night vision goggles they pulled from dead
Hunters to their own advantage. Though Jaze had brought a small
army with him, the security Dr. Tannin had bragged about
outnumbered them. Hunters and werewolves were dying to save those
behind the laboratory walls.

Adrenaline flowed through me and I couldn't
fight back the urge to join the fray below along longer. I
unlatched my knife, then jumped off the wall and landed on top of
two men running from Jet. Jet grinned, his eyes lit with a wicked
glee I had never seen before, and took off in the opposite
direction. Gunfire sounded around me and dust chipped off the wall
where the bullets hit. A footstep sounded behind me and I spun with
the knife held loose like Jet had shown me. I slashed the man
across the throat, then back across the stomach and stabbed him in
the kidneys. He slumped to the ground at my feet.

“
Kaynan!” Jet yelled across
the clearing.

I looked up in time to duck an attack by a
guard with blood streaking the side of his head. His eyes rolled
wildly and he tried to hit me again with his rifle. I blocked the
blow with my arm and my knife went flying.

“
Stupid werewolves! Always
knew they’d be the death of me!” he said. He hefted the gun like a
bat and slammed it against my chest.

I staggered back against the wall, my
partially-mended ribs on fire as I gasped for air.

“
Never knew when to quit,”
he said in a self-deprecating tone. “Always had to wait for the
next paycheck.”

He swung the gun again and I ducked, but was
too slow. The gun clipped the top of my head and I slid to the
ground, stunned. I reached up and felt blood dampening my hair
where the gun had connected.

“
At least I can take one
with me!” the man said. He lifted the gun above his head to bring
it down in a death blow, his eyes rolling wildly

I tried to think past the fog in my head,
but pain clouded my thoughts. I moved my hand slightly and felt
something cold and metal under my fingers. The touch of steel drew
me back to the moment, but the gun was already bearing down. I
didn't have time to block him.

A gunshot rang out and a bullet tore through
the guard's skull and landed in the wall with a solid thunk that
sent dust into my eyes. The guard collapsed to the ground with his
rifle. I blinked and looked across the field. Mouse stood on top of
Jaze's SUV with a gun pointed in our direction. He lifted a hand. I
could only stare, my heart pounding.

“
Never hesitate,” Jet said,
reaching me and pulling me up to a standing position. “I guess we
didn’t get that far.” Gunshots rang not far from us and someone
called for help. Jet tore off his shirt and phased faster than I
had ever seen possible. His black fur gleamed like liquid midnight
in the light of the waning moon. Men whose eyes had started to
adjust to the faint light backed away in fear. Jet lifted his lips
in a snarl that made the hair on the back of my neck stand up, then
he dove at them. The men scattered and began to run across the lot.
Another black wolf, Jaze, joined him as he took down one man after
another.

My fingers trembled and I gripped the knife
tighter to keep from dropping it. Dark blood glistened in the
moonlight. Screams of terror from grown men echoed in the night
until the guards finally surrendered and gave up their weapons. A
wild howl pierced the night sky and reverberated through the
compound. The urge to join it rose in my chest, but I forced it
down, torn by the animal instincts that had made me kill. I walked
slowly back into the complex.

Hunters filed past leading guards to the
corner. The werewolves around me watched them nervously and I could
see the trepidation in their eyes that they had just changed one
prison for another. “These are my friends,” I reassured them.
“They’ll make sure you get back to your packs.”

“
How do we know we can
trust you?” a hulking giant of a werewolf growled near the back of
the group.

I touched my head and brought my fingers
back wet with blood. “If bleeding for you wasn’t enough,” I said
dryly, “I killed Tannin, and no one is leaving this compound
without being held responsible for destroying the lives of
countless werewolves and humans.” I gestured to the Hunters who
wisely left the werewolves alone. “These men and women are Hunters
who have joined forces with werewolves to keep the country safe.
It’s in their best interest to see that each of you returns home in
safety and settles back into your packs.”

The werewolf who spoke looked from me to the
Hunters, then to where Jaze and the others waited. “And if they’re
lying?”

I shrugged. “Then you do what I threatened
to do to Tannin, tear off the car door and throw him under the
first passing vehicle.”

The werewolf cracked a smile and nodded.
“Alright, then.”

He walked passed me through the gate and
several others followed him.

One of the werewolves toward the end
hesitated and turned. “There are other werewolves inside in cages,
the ones too wild to be left in the population. What’ll they do
with them?”

I glanced back at the building. “I’m not
sure, but everyone will be taken care of. Jaze has several
facilities that handle werewolf rehabilitation.”

“
Kaynan?”

I turned with a smile toward the voice of
the person we were just talking about. “Perfect timing as usual,
Jaze.” My smile fell at the worried look on his face. “What’s
up?”

“
It’s your sister,” he
said, his voice tight.

My stomach dropped. “What about her?”

“
She’s just, well, you’d
better come and see for yourself.”

Chapter 24

I followed him to his SUV. When we neared
the vehicle, a growl rumbled through it laced with terror and pain.
My heart sank. “Colleen?” I said quietly, putting a hand on one of
the back windows.

The growl turned into a shriek, then a sob.
“I can’t control it. I’m going to kill everyone,” Colleen’s
pain-wracked voice cried.

“
It’s going to be alright.”
I moved to open the door, but her sob ripped back into a
growl.

Jaze put a hand on the door to keep me from
opening it. “We need to sedate her,” he said quietly, his eyes
holding mine. “She’s a danger to herself and everyone around her if
she can’t control her phasing. She doesn’t know where she is and
what’s going on. We need to get her to a rehab center.”

“
How?” I asked.

He lifted what looked like a pistol. “Mouse
found some of Dr. Tannin’s tranquilizers. It’s the only thing
powerful enough to control her until we get her somewhere
safe.”

My heart slowed, but I knew he was right. I
reached for the gun and his eyes widened. “I’m her brother and I
take care of her. I need to be the one to do it.”

He nodded and let go of the gun. “Be
careful,” he said.

I took a steeling breath and slipped into
the SUV.

Dark purple eyes peered at me from the back
corner seat. Colleen’s fur was long and colored cream and black;
her eyes showed no recognition and reflected only fear. She bared
her teeth and I lifted the gun.

“
I’m sorry,” I whispered.
The dart hit her in the shoulder.

She yelped and dove at me. I raised my arms
to protect my face and her teeth ground down on my arm, her muzzle
inches from my nose.

“
It’s okay,” I said
quietly. “I’ll take care of you, I promise. You’re going to be
alright.” Her grip on my arm loosened, then her eyes rolled back
and she slumped to the side. I gathered her carefully in my arms
and set her back on the seat. I made sure she was breathing
steadily, then opened the door and stepped outside. “She’s asleep,”
I said in as calm a voice as I could muster.

Jaze nodded, his eyes apologetic. Brock
appeared at his shoulder and held out a rag for my arm. I wrapped
it, then watched the brigade of werewolves file into the waiting
vehicles. The brawny, brown-haired werewolf who had helped me hold
the gate lifted a hand in farewell, then disappeared inside.

“
Will we hear back from
them?” I asked Jaze.

He sighed. “Hopefully not. No news means
they’ve reached their packs safely.” He gestured toward the gate
where several Hunters carried cages. Growls issued from them and
the Hunter closest to us yelled, then dropped his side of a cage.
He clutched his hand and glared at the golden eyes within the
shadows. “We’ll have our work cut out with those.”

He went over to help them and I climbed back
into the SUV where Colleen slept. I leaned my head against the back
of the seat and closed my eyes, but a tap on the window startled me
from rest.

Jet stared in at me, his dark blue eyes
serious. “You need to come see this,” he said.

I sighed and opened the door again. He led
me across the clearing and back into the complex. My soul shuddered
at returning, but I followed him down several long hallways, past
the control center that was now empty of lab employees, and to a
low-ceilinged, wide room filled with tables.

The scent almost floored me when Jet opened
the door. Rot and decay along with old blood and antiseptic washed
over us in a wave. I stepped into the room and my heart slowed.

“
What is this?” I
whispered, even though I knew deep down what I was looking
at.

“
Clones,” Jet said quietly.
“Clones that couldn’t survive.” He met my eyes. “That’s why they
needed you back.”

Row after row of cold metal beds held clones
of Colleen and I, but every clone I saw was dead. Shriveled IV bags
containing blood and fluids hung beside the beds, and blank monitor
screens stared like uncaring voids at the bodies below them. The
corpses were in various stages of decomposition and I wondered why
Dr. Tannin had just left them there. It was impossible to miss the
looks of agony on the faces closest to us, faces identical to
Colleen and I. My throat tightened.

“
Can we blow this place
up?” I forced out. “I don’t want Colleen to know about
it.”

Jet nodded and we left the room without
another word. I followed him back to the vehicle feeling heavier
with each step. “They suffered,” I finally said in a voice just
above a whisper.

He glanced at me. “It’s not your fault.”

I shook my head. “If I hadn’t been drinking
and gotten us in that accident in the first place, none of this
would have happened.”

Jet’s eyebrows rose. “Then we wouldn’t know
about this facility and who knows how many other werewolves and
humans would have suffered from Tannin’s experiments.”

I knew he was right, but I couldn’t push
away the throb of guilt in my chest.

“
You have an obligation to
Grace and Colleen. You have to be strong for them.”

I looked up at his tone. “I killed people.
They deserve better.”

A wry smile touched the corners of his lips.
“I’ve killed more humans and werewolves than I’ll ever be able to
reconcile with; my whole life before I met Jaze was killing.”

I studied the ground as the memory of my
knife sliding through flesh and the scent of fresh blood rushed
through me. “How do you keep going knowing you ended someone’s
life?”

He shrugged. “It’s not like we have much of
a choice, is it?” At my look, the smile touched his lips again.
“You live the best you can in their memory. If they died so you can
keep Grace safe and help Colleen cope with being a werewolf, then
that’s what had to happen. Honor their deaths by living your
life.”

His words rang with the heaviness of
personal experience. I took a steadying breath. “I didn’t take you
to be a philosopher.”

His eyes tightened slightly at the corners,
but whether from humor or bitterness, I wasn't sure. “Don’t get
used to it.”

We reached the SUV where Jaze, Mouse, and
Brock waited. A group of Hunters and werewolves stood around Jaze
as he gave orders. “Gather the hard drives and files. We need to
find out who was funding Tannin’s experiments and if there are any
other facilities. Sweep the control center, the hospital, and every
lab room. I need to know if he ever succeeded in making other
clones.” The Hunters jogged toward the labs and Jaze turned back to
me. “Roger’s ready to take Colleen to one of the rehab centers.
We’re sending all the harder cases there for special
attention.”