Pride Unleashed (a Wolf's Pride novel, book 2) (23 page)

No!

Thinking quickly,
I
shift my focus
, looking for a key, or an
y
sort of
object
that
I can use to jimmy it open.
With an uneasy feeling c
urling around
me, I hurry to the master’s desk and pull the drawers open, cringing as the metal groans in protest.

I search through the contents, pushing papers aside, but my hands slow
when I see a familiar piece of fabric, the same fabric the master used to bait me in the woods.
I pull it from the drawer and press it to my nose.
As my father’s fresh scent fills m
y senses
, my wolf howls.

Why?
How?

But with the very threat of getting caught hovering over me, I have no time to consider it longer.
That’s when my hand connects with something cold.
I grip the key in my
palm
and rush to the box, hoping and praying it fits the lock.

When it slides in I give a silent prayer of thanks.
I work quickly, my eyes scanning the rows of keys until I come to the brightest and shiniest.
I slip it from the hook, curl my palm around it, and relock the box.
Then I rush back to the master’s desk to ensure everything is back in place.

Once I have everything
in order
I take a quick look around.
With no windows in the
dark dungeon I’m unable to tell what’s going on in the courtyard.
Are the two alphas still causing a commotion or ha
ve
things settled
?
If the
y’ve
settled will the handlers
notice my absence and come
looking for me?

With that thought urging me on, I close the master’s door, and bolt to the elevator.
I
stab the button and
don’t stop to consider why it’s not already there waiting for me.

I press my
palm
into my stomach
and
take deep, slow breaths
to calm myself
, my hand holding the
key close as
I
a
wait
the elevator’s return
.
I almost breathe a sigh of
relief
when
I hear it come to a grinding halt.

B
ut when
the doors ping
open to reveal a set of eyes full of anger
I stop breathing.
And w
hen those dark eyes fix on me
, my
stomach lurches with panic
, because the
look in those dark
, intense
eyes is beyond frightening and I know in an instant
,
I’m in serious trouble.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Mario asks
.
But b
efore I can answer h
e
look
s
past m
y shoulders
to take in the narrow hallway
and I know he’s trying
to
determine what he’s up against.
When he realizes I’m alone he zeroes back in on me.

I take a
small
distancing step back and balance on
the balls of
my toes as my
survival instincts
kick into full force,
scream
ing at me
to make a clean kill and save myself.
But Mario is only doing his job
,
I
quickly
remind myself, and he’s trapped inside this prison every bit as much as I am.
Killing him would make me no better than
the
master or any other drug lord who harbors wolves
to do their dirty work
.
Those are the ones that need to be stopped
and killed
—
every last one of them—n
ot the handlers who are simply
marionettes
under their control
.

“I got lost,” I say
for lack of anything else
and note how breathless I sound
, the threat before me rousing my wolf
.
I realize it’s
a poor excuse but my brain is
currently
on hyper drive and
under the circumstance
I’m unable to come up with anything else
that might sound
credible
.
Not that I think
my
sad excuse
is
in anyway believable
, however
.

Mario
braces on
e
hand on the rubber
track
running the length of the elevator door to hold it open
, his
watchful
eyes
a
ss
essing
me
.
The
fear
I see brimming
in his
dark gaze
has my insides churning.
With his lips pinched tightly he gives a hard shake of his head.

“If you get caught do you have any idea what he’ll do to you?”
he
questions
through clenched teeth.

As the elevator makes a
banging
noise, the doors
trying to slam
shut,
I stand there in shock, hardly able to believe what I’m hearing.
The handler is worried about me
—about my safety—a
nd more importantly h
e’s not going to turn me in.
I can only be grateful that it’s Mario who found me and not Lawrence.
I shiver just from thinking about that outcome,
because I know I
wouldn’t be so lucky.

“How did you know where I was?” I ask
carefully
, maintaining
a safe
distance between us, my body still tensed and ready for combat
.
My
w
olf
is
still
cautious,
unsure
,
and reluctant
to trust anyone
in this prison
.

“It was your turn to go up for the obstacle course and I couldn’t find you.
Then when I saw the two alphas fighting, and
noticed
you
were
missing
,
I put two and two together.”

I frown
, still not convinced
.
“And that led you here?”

“No, Mica told me.”

I lower my head
briefly and frown
. “
So
Mica turned me in,” I say under my breath
, but
I
know better than to be angry at the
aging
housekeeper.
After all,
I
wouldn’t want her to
risk her life for m
ine
.
In fact,
I wouldn’t want anyone to die because of me.
That thought has me remembering Jace and Clover and my stomach twists.

Mario’s
head swishes from side to side
, his long
black
ponytail flickering along his back
.
“
You’ve got it wrong, Pride.
If she turned you in, it would
have been
Lawrence
here
f
etching you
,
not me.”

My heart misses a beat
and my eyes come up to meet his
.
“Oh,” I say
quietly
, and
the
implication that both
Mario and Mica are in my corner
fills me with relief
.

He gestures with a nod for me to climb in
to the elevator with him
.
“
Come on.
We need to get out of here
before anyone notices that we’re gone
.”

I nod and hurry in
side
.
When I
move to the back
corner
,
cool air from the venting system spills over me, but the only scents I catch
in the breeze
are Mario’s.

Pressing my back to the wall,
I fold my hands across my chest a
nd stare at
Mario
’s back as he
jabs
the button
.
When the elevator begins to move, he
turns to me
.
His
dark eyes narrow
as they search my face for answers
.

“What were you doing
down here
?”

I look at him long and hard and consider the handler
’s loyalties
as I deliberate
my next words.
Is he really on my side, or is this a way for the master to figure out what I was doing in his chambers
?
B
ut when I see real warmth and worry
lingering in the depths of his worn and tired
eyes, it
does something to my insides and tells
me what I need to know.

I can trust him.

I
slowly
open my hand to reveal the key
sitting in the center of my palm
, and Mario sucks in a sharp breath
, his eyes widening as the overhead light glints off
the
shiny metal
.

“Do you have any idea
what you’re doing?”
H
is voice is low
and
grave
,
but I don’t let it shatter my focus.
I can’t.

“Yes,” I say
with quiet certainty
.

“Really, so you know what’s waiting for you on the outside?
Or even on the inside?”
When I don’t answer h
e makes a noise in his throat
and I can’t help but think he sounds like a wounded animal
.
“So you think you can just open your cage and walk out of here?”

“Not quite.”

As the elevator
slowly carries us
I think of my army, the panthers
, the gang waging war
against
the
master
.

“Pride—”

I cut him off and ask,
“Why do you put up with what he does to you
?”
I pause to rake my hands over my thin, half
-
dressed
body. “T
o us?”

He
glares at
me
.
His
eyes
turn
h
ard
and
there is
real anger
in his tone when he says,
“You don’t know anything, little girl.”

His words feel like a
sharp
slap and my head jerks back
with a start, but I realize my accusing words have touched on a sore spot and I wonder exactly what it is
.

“I know if we all work together we can change this
.
We can
shift the
balance of
power inside this household and take over
,
”
I
rush out, desperate to convince him
.

“
Did you ever stop to think about his connection
s on the outside
, and what could happen to our families?”

Families?

I study him, and when I see
equal measures of
anger
and
concern
pass over his
dark
eyes, my heart sinks
, because
I know
.
I know
he’s right.
I never once stopped to take his
situation or his
family
’s
into consideration
.