mywolfprotector (29 page)

the way, some of them average-sized, while others were large enough for vehicles to pass through.

Many of them had bio-hazard warning signs sealed to the front. “What do you think they are keeping in there?”

“God only knows,” Alexander replied, his voice thick with disgust. “In Hell's Pit, anything is possible. After our men have went through it all, I'm tempted to blow it up. Leaving it in a halfway usable condition is just asking for trouble in the future. If not from another organization like this, than teenagers looking for a little fun. There has been too much evil done down here already, and I'd like to see a permanent end to it.”

“How would the humans explain it, though?”

Alexander shrugged. “I'm sure Alonzo could think of a good explanation. It's not like there are a lot of humans around here. Maybe he could say it was an earthquake, but in all seriousness, I doubt anyone would come looking.”

“Might be for the best,” Marrok responded, his eyes peering into the darkness ahead of them.

He was completely focused on his task, refusing to allow his mind to ponder on the hundreds of things that could possibly be happening to his mate. They were on the road. That wouldn't leave Carlos much room to play.

Alexander stared at him, his eyebrows drawn down in a frown. “I don't know how you did it,

Marrok. All those years you spent without Taylor, but you managed to not only be a guardian, but an outstanding one. How in the hell did you pull that off?”

Marrok dodged a natural rock formation, handing the jeep smoothly in the darkness. “That's an

easy answer. I had nothing left to lose.”

Alexander looked away, shaking his head in bemusement. “I just want you to know I respect

you, and I'm grateful for your years of service.”

“Thank you, My Liege,” he replied formally, slightly embarrassed by the attention. “Are we

having a chick moment?”

Alexander barked out a laugh, the sound forced. “Not hardly,” he replied, grimacing. His voice held an edge of anxiety that Marrok hadn't heard before as he continued, “More like a desperate attempt to hold onto my sanity. You know, I'd rather face a hundred of our fiercest enemies, than have to go through something like this.”

Marrok exhaled deeply at Alexander's words. “I know what you mean. I've been battling guilt

since the moment I learned about Taylor. Doesn't seem right that she was the one locked up and being tormented. It would have been a lot easier had it been me. I've heard her crying, listened to her nightmares, and learned the things she was keeping hidden from me. It's hard to be the one that stands by helplessly, isn't it?”

“We're alpha wolves,” Alexander replied, hoarsely. “Our mates are everything to us, but they

are also our biggest vulnerability. That makes them a target. Most of our foes know if they take down our mates, they've destroyed us.”

Marrok navigated the jeep around a pile of boulders, his expression fierce. “It's getting to be a damned obstacle course in here.” Straightening the vehicle back up, he continued, “There isn't a day I wake up and feel that I haven't failed my mate. Hell, I know I have. Even worse, she does too. I wasn't even half-alive without her, but I was free. I should have tried harder to find her.”

“What did you think happened to her?” Alexander asked, curiously.

“In the beginning, I thought she'd returned home. When I found she hadn't, I went wild, using

every resource possible to locate her. It was like she'd disappeared from the face of the earth. After a year of looking and grieving, I had the lake searched. There was no body, but they did find the clothing she had been wearing. I never really had an explanation, and it ate me up alive. Attempting to live without her was a hell that never faded, despite the years that passed me by. It's not a fate I would wish on anyone, especially one that mates for life like we do.”

Alexander stared straight ahead. His focus shifted, his body growing tense as he leaned forward for a better look. “Is it just me, or do you see the slightest glimmer of natural light off in the distance?”

Marrok narrowed his eyes. “Looks like we're reaching the end of the tunnel. Let's hope it leads us to the place we need to be.”

Marrok drove all the way to the end. It was blocked off by a solid, rock wall. There was

nowhere else to go. A small slit ran down the length of the cavern ceiling, too straight to ever be natural. “What do you think it is?” he asked, eying it with speculation.

“Carlos had to have a way out of here. Let's get out and look around.”

Marrok grunted in response, quickly sliding out of his seat. When he did his foot pressed down on something lying on the ground. A whirling noise began, the floor vibrating underneath them.

“What in the hell is that?” Alexander yelled out, holding onto the jeep. “What did you do, set off a bomb?”

The floor directly underneath the jeep lifted up, making a slow ascent to the ceiling. At the same time, the split above them began to separate as sunlight flooded the interior of the tunnel. It was nothing more than two metal doors, carefully designed to blend in with the cavern ceiling.

The large, circular, hydrological lift stopped at ground level, completely sealing off the area underneath. Marrok jumped back into the jeep. “We need to get off of this before it decides to go back down. You walking or riding?”

Alexander beckoned for him to move forward, turning to step back onto natural ground. A

gravel road led away from the lift, so he pulled the jeep onto it and killed the engine before climbing out. He surveyed the area, attempting to figure out where they were at. By his guess, they were ten to fifteen miles away from the heart of the research facility.

“Know where we are at?” Alexander asked, squinting at him in the bright light.

“I know the general area, but it's not really someplace I hung out a lot,” he replied sarcastically, gesturing at the isolation surrounding them. They were next to some rocky formations, but otherwise, the land was flat. It was very remote, and not a popular area for the humans to be in.

“I'm going to try to figure out the way to lower that back down,” Alexander told him as he

turned away. “We don't want to leave the others without a way to make it to the top. I hope they can figure it out because we don't have time to wait.”

Walking back to the edge of the lift, Alexander hunkered down in the dirt to look at the pedal.

With one rugged hand, he quickly palm-slammed it before leaping back onto solid ground. The

hydraulic lift came to life, disappearing back into the cold cavern depths. The doors closed over it as both men gaped. Once the doors sealed, they appeared to be nothing more than part of the gravel road.

“Technology like that is just scary,” Alexander muttered, dusting off his hands. He tentatively stepped on the surface of the doors, testing them with his weight. “If I wouldn't have known they were there, I would have never found it from out here. The doors are just as solid as the ground around them.

It makes you wonder what other secrets are out here, hidden in plain sight.”

Marrok shrugged, squinting in the sun. The sage brush and ground seemed to shimmer in the

distance, the daytime heat especially hot. The flat lands of New Mexico could play tricks with a man's mind, sometimes.

A rattlesnake slithered out from behind a cactus, quickly working its way to the next shadowed area of dry ground. It never made it. A large eagle swooped down, trapping it easily in its sharp talons as it viciously attacked it. The rattlesnake fought back, but it was no match for its competitor. In the span of a minute, the eagle flew away, its beak locked securely behind the dead snake's head.

He shook his head before looking back at Alexander. “Even the most dangerous secrets of this

land can't stay hidden forever. They get too secure in their environment, and their awareness grows lax.

Eventually, something more powerful comes along, and when it does, it's all over with. Let's drive around, and see what we can find.”

Jumping in, they took off down the gravel road. He drove slowly, not wanting to stir up a dust cloud. The road only allowed one way out, the other side blocked with rocks.

They followed the road as it winded around the tall rock formations. Coming around a ledge,

Marrok hit the brakes at the same time Alexander gasped, “I'll be damned.”

Both men sat and stared at the sight in front of them, allowing their senses to run freely to detect any danger that might be hidden within.

Their skill and patience had paid off. Out in the middle of nowhere sat a pueblo-styled house, built right in front of a dip in the large rock wall behind it. It was well-maintained, with a few shrubs strategically placed in the front yard. On one side were several steel buildings, otherwise, the area was completely private. As innocuous as the home appeared, nobody would guess it to ever be the

residence of a monster.

“You see the name on the mailbox?” Alexander asked him with a sneer.

“You better believe it,” Marrok growled out, his hands gripping the steering wheel.

“Figured you had. The question is, what are we going to do about it?”

Marrok slammed down the accelerator, pulling up on the sidewalk leading to the front door.

Turning off the jeep, he swung out before meeting Alexander's amused eyes. “What? You asked what we were going to do about it.” he grumbled, turning away as Alexander jumped out. “We are going in.

It's not as if we don't know there's nobody home.”

Stopping in front of the door, he broke the lock by carefully kicking the area next to the

doorknob. He didn't want to break the door down. If his suspicions proved correct, Carlos was headed straight back here. Alexander followed him in, both men immediately going in different directions.

“You know, that key in your pocket probably unlocked the doorknob,” Alexander's voice floated

back to him from another area in the house.

Marrok snorted. “Maybe, maybe not,” he replied, looking in a closet. “It just
felt
better to do it that way.”

The house had an open floor plan with high, airy ceilings. Each room was equipped with a

ceiling fan that spun lazily, circulating the air around the house. It didn't help to dissipate the acrid scent of his enemy, though.

Marrok could smell Carlos, everywhere. It was like waving the proverbial red flag in front of

the bull. His anger increased by the second. The man had lived in comfort, while forcing others into a torturous existence.

Alexander and Marrok met back up in the living room, coming in from opposite directions. The

other man's face was set in hard lines, his eyes as icy as glacier chips. “The bastard's scent is too strong for me to doubt he's headed anywhere but here. He's probably using one of those large metal buildings to hide vehicles and God only knows, what else. We need to get the team over and clear those as soon as possible.”

Marrok quickly called Alonzo, giving them their location. Hanging up, he asked, “Do you want

to wait on checking those buildings?”

“No,” Alexander replied, his eyes cold. “Let's go now.”

Closing the front door, they walked over to the first building. With another well-placed kick, the door flew open. Marrok shook his head as he walked inside. “It's incredible, but I don't think this cocky bastard ever expected to get caught.”

“I know he didn't.” Alexander flipped on the lights overhead. It was nothing but an empty

storage building. “Let's move on.”

The men went from building to building. The last one was big enough to be a warehouse, with

gravel leading up to a large industrial door. The two men moved stealthily around the side, stopping in front of a regular-sized door.

“There's something alive in here,” Marrok hissed, listening carefully. His dark eyebrows pulled together in a heavy frown. “I can hear their heartbeats, but they are muffled. It's almost like they are buried or something.”

“I can, too,” Alexander replied, quietly. “Our reinforcement is here. Let's get them on board

before moving in.”

Alonzo and a group of men came running from the direction of the house. Marrok raised his

arm and waved to attract his attention before holding a finger to his lips. The other man nodded, sending teams of two and three to the other buildings.

With a handful of guardians following him, they ran over to Marrok and Alexander. “What have

you found?” Alonzo asked quietly, his eyes looking past him to the building at his back.

“Heartbeats,” Marrok replied.

Alonzo's eyes widened. “Friends or foes?”

Marrok shrugged. “That's what we're fixing to find out.”

He turned and walked to the door, the men behind him rigid in their stances and ready for

action. They spread out, preparing to storm the building as soon as the door opened. With one powerful thrust of his shoulder, he was in.

Marrok moved to the side and crouched, his senses on red alert for any possible dangers. It was quiet, with no echoing shouts or gunfire in the large, open space. The building was free of any soldiers.

The other men moved in, with Alexander stepping in last. Someone flipped the lights on,

illuminating the windowless building. Standing up, Marrok surveyed his surroundings.

Inside was a variety of warehouse equipment, including cranes and forklifts. The walls were

stacked high with pallets of supplies. His eyes narrowed in suspicion on the rectangular, metal storage trailers in the back of the building.

They were stacked to the ceiling, one on top of the other. In horror, he realized what was stored within them. Charging past the stunned guardians, he ran across the vast, concrete floor, hoping his suspicions were wrong. It wasn't to be. The sound of heartbeats grew louder the closer he got.

Alexander caught up with him, following closely.

“There's bodies in those trailers,” Marrok yelled out, moving to the door of the container closest to them. “Living bodies.” He grabbed the door and pulled hard. Liquid fire shot through his palms and arms as he quickly yanked them back. Turning his palms over, he was stunned to see they were