Wild Hunts (30 page)

“Get her outta here!” Riley demanded. The man holding her whisked her through the battling packs without a word. The second man remained in his human form, following a step behind them. Kasa clung to the man’s neck and pressed her face into his shoulder. The jostling rattled her tender head, threatening to make her sick all over again. Adrenaline drained from her body as quickly as it had come, leaving her weak and tired. Her foot burned fiercely. Her cheek stung as the skin worked to heal.

Her job was done. Far ahead, she saw the two men who had taken Jordan from her hauling him toward freedom. Now all she could do was wait for her mates to return to her, safe and unharmed.

Chapter Fifteen

Slade kept an eye on his feral brother, taking turns at the wolves coming at them. These rebels attacked by the dozens, a swarm of oversized furry roaches pouring from crevices, cracks, and corridors. Every time he turned around, three or four more charged.

With Micah lost to his wolf, the rest of the ally packs making their way through the maze of tunnels, and no Dark Moon sisters among the masses, Slade took to the fight with renewed passion. At least one of the women was nearby. His instinct whispered her presence, cloaked in shadows. She oversaw the carnage happening on her territory, but cowered behind her muscle rather than placing herself in the midst of the battle.

Wait until I get my teeth on you.

Slade dodged a lunging wolf and came up under another’s snout. He latched onto its throat and tore then kicked the doomed beast aside. No time elapsed between each attack. Two jumped him at once. Slade rolled beneath one, wedging his back paws into the rebel’s belly and chest, and kicked him off, throwing him into the wall. The rebel yelped, crumpling to the ground amidst dust and rock, momentarily stunned while Slade fought off the second wolf.

Three more came at him. He cursed to himself, taking on the newest attack with gusto. He leaped over the first, came down on the second, flattening him to the ground, and forced the third to stumble over them. He wasted no time in finishing the enemies with precision, biting and tearing mercilessly into them. These poor bastards suffered enough while in the clutches of the sisters. No need in prolonging their suffering into death.

As the third ceased to breathe, Slade assessed the primitive surroundings. Micah was nearly through with his small army pack. Coal, Riley and a few of the Castrove’s pack members combined forces to hold back oncoming attacks. Jacy worked efficiently with Nox and members of their packs from the opposite end of the tunnel. Luke and Nicco led the allies pouring into the immediate area, eagerly engaging with the enemies, picking them off one at a time.

The hair along his spine prickled, and he looked up.

Slade caught the unusual reflection of night vision lenses from a dark corner of the corridor. He wove between his friends, dodged foes, never once losing sight of the watchful eyes. The closer he drew, the more potent the evil scent of the Dark Moon sister became. His nostrils flared and his mouth salivated. The woman responsible for Reiny’s death and threatening their mate stood a short distance away. Revenge was within reach, a means to an end of this decades old vendetta.

“Micah, come out of the wolf. I’ve found her.
”
Slade didn’t dare battle with the rebels, despite instinct begging him to do so. He gladly tore up the enemy for their part in taking Kasa and Jordan, but his mate would never be completely safe unless the leader of this pack was destroyed.
“Micah.”

He reeled back the urge to look at Micah and kept his eyes on the woman. She wasn’t in her wolf form, an odd choice of coats under the circumstances. Hell, whatever made this night end faster so he and Micah could head back to Kasa and start a normal life with her, he was fine with.

Stay human. You’ll be that much easier to kill.

Slade broke away from the battling wolves and hopped onto a ledge. The woman began to retreat deeper into the darkness. He leaped forward. The woman spun and dove away, initiating a chase he had dreamed of for months.

He followed her scent blindly down the pitch-black passageway. The darkness swallowed everything around him, but it never slowed him down. He scraped the walls every few feet. His paws hit rivulets of icy moisture, splashing mountain water around him, the clean scent a stark contrast to the death and decay permeating every passageway in this place.

Claws scraped the ground. The sound of a body sliding filled the small area. A dim haze lightened the path ahead, highlighting a narrow hole a short distance away. The brown wolf didn’t pause once she reached the other side. Slade picked up his gait. The hole rapidly approached. At the last second, he threw himself forward on the ground and slid through the opening. His hind legs shoved him completely to the other side. He regained his balance and took off after the sister.

They ended up in a small cavern with only a single lit torch. No extending tunnels. No passageways leading out of this room.

The sister backed up into the far wall, teeth bare beneath quivering lips pulled all the way back. Her low, continuous growl vibrated in the room. Her ears pressed flat against her head, her tail lifted high. Slade caught several crude levers and chains, shackles, buckets, and torture devices in his peripheral vision. Nothing could distract him from his target. Nothing could cool the molten rage, the fiery hatred, the toxic taste of revenge that consumed him. That dark poison that had slithered through his brother since their sister’s murder sprang to the surface of his spirit. He embraced it.

Slade stalked toward the wolf, his predatory approach speaking louder than any tone of rumbling could. He bared his fangs. The fur on his hackles bristled.

The wolf lunged to the left, knocked into a lever, and made way toward the tunnel. Slade leaped in front of her, narrowly missing an iron spike that shot up from the floor. He blocked her path. She dodged to his right, hitting another lever. A barred door slid back, opening to an arsenal of silver weapons. She dove into the small closet, transforming to human form.

“You idiot,” she spat.

Slade slid to an abrupt halt when she spun on him, daggers filling her hands. Her dark eyes flared with wild madness. She launched one dagger after another. He moved with agile smoothness, avoiding the weapons as they bounced off the ground or embedded themselves into rock.

Her last attempt missed, the dagger skating across the stone floor.

She grabbed two long, leather bullwhips. The ends were modified, frayed with silver hooks attached to each separated piece. They glinted with an air of menace in the firelight.

The sister controlled the two evil devices like she was born to them. They snaked and twirled then cracked against the walls and the ground. Slade inched backward, observing her movements, detecting by the tension in her muscles where she planned to move next.

One whip lashed out, catching the ground an inch from his foot. Before he could react, the second smacked down, the barbed edges tearing into his front leg. He reared back, the sting in his foreleg burning a vicious path through his body.

“What type of mate are you to let your white come into my home alone?” She cracked the whip again, this time against the wall over his head. Slade ducked and dove away. Damn, he wished the pain would subside long enough for him to get his teeth on the whips. “I’ll ruin you. I’ll turn you into what you hate the most—one of us. I’ll send you back to hunt that little white bitch down, and I’ll force you to tear her open.”

Another crack, barely missing his haunches.

“I’ll force you to kill your brother. I’ll have you programmed to kill everyone you care about.” An evil smirk crept over her mouth. The whips stilled for a moment. “Just as I had my men slaughter your weak little sister, I’ll have you slaughter every…single…white alive. All in the name of avenging Laela and Eliza. Lilia and I will take over the were communities and rule them as they should’ve been ruled all along.”

Slade’s rage exploded. He followed the fluid arc of the plaited whip. As it leveled, he lunged forward, snapping his teeth onto the leather lead. He yanked it out of the sister’s hand, flinging it behind him. She laughed, the dark sound filled with ice-cold promise. She moved the second whip with languid precision. It cracked once, twice, three times. He danced around the forgotten daggers, keeping one step ahead of the barbed end of the whip. His forearm throbbed, blood warm and sticky over the shorter strands of fur covering his paw.

“Mark my words, you pathetic creature. I’ll have you. I’ll tear into your spirit without mercy. I’ll rebuild you from the inside out and watch you suffer under my command. I’ll leave the smallest hint of conscience inside your foolish brain, just to make sure you fight yourself every time you kill someone you know.”

Her smirk melted into a scowl. She lifted the whip over her head, twirled it once, then brought it down. The leather and barbs skated across the ground like a jump rope. Slade followed the rapidly moving weapon. He hopped over it, lunged, and caught the lead in his mouth. With another vicious tug, he freed it from the woman’s hand and cast it next to the first whip.

Turning back to the woman whom he suspected to be Eva, he began his approach of her once more. He had to get between her and the closet of weapons.

No muscles tensed or twitched. Her dark eyes remained closed to emotions, as cold as the snow outside, focused on him before she swept up one of the blades and flung it at him. Slade barked, razor sharp silver biting into his shoulder. He twisted his head, clamping his teeth down on the hilt of the dagger, and yanked the weapon from his body. The muscles in his foreleg went limp, the nerves damaged. Fire spread through his veins, the agony of being injured by silver immeasurable. His vision blurred for a moment. When he looked up, Eva charged at him with a pointed silver rod.

Black exploded from the tunnel. The massive wolf slammed into Eva, bringing them to the ground in a sliding frenzy. Slade stumbled to the wall, using it as support as his legs trembled from the pain. The rod clattered and rolled across the ground. Eva shifted into her wolf, fighting fiercely to regain dominance over Micah. His brother sank his teeth into the wolf’s scruff, lifted her smaller frame, and smacked her against the ridged wall. Eva yelped, her front paw swiping aimlessly at Micah.

He smacked her again. Eva’s fight slowed, crimson seeping from a wound on her temple. Micah dropped her sluggish body, readjusted his bite, and opened her throat.

He turned to Slade, his blue gaze lowering to the wounds on his foreleg and shoulder. Yeah, he’d be getting hell for it in the coming days.

For now, though, the tension that had settled over them for months, developing into a thickening storm over the last few days, finally lifted. Kasa would be safe, as would Shyla and Ayasha. The sisters were dead, with Lilia being the only variable. Somehow, he doubted she’d get out of this alive. They dominated the rebels, if not in numbers, then in strength.

“Thought you were too lost in the wolf,”
Slade finally said, breaking the silence that echoed the crackling of the torch. Micah snorted. Slade couldn’t stop the smile that touched his lips. His gaze dropped to Eva’s lifeless form.
“Guess not.”

“I don’t get lost to the wolf, brother. You should know that by now. I’m always in complete control.”

“Somehow I doubt that.”

Micah trotted over to him and nudged him in the ribs.
“Come on. The boys are feasting on their victory in the tunnels. Let’s help them get some of the captives out of here. I’m itching to get back to Kasa and see how bad her wounds are.”

Yes, so was he. He wanted to yell at her for being so foolish to come to the cave in the first place. He wanted to squeeze her to him, make love to her, and remind himself that everything turned out fine. With emotions running ramped—a side effect of the adrenaline rush, he surmised—he needed some cold,
fresh
air.

Micah helped Slade onto the ledge leading back into the dark tunnel. He nursed his injured shoulder, limping along the black passageway. The narrow hole proved a challenge to get through, but once on the other side, he knew they were home free. Eva would never bring harm to anyone, were or white, again.