Avenger(65)

He shook his head, his hair falling into his eyes.

Before he could speak I continued. “I don’t care what you have to say, Caeden. I really don’t. I’m going. So either you’re with me or you’re not. I’m ending this.”

“God, Sophie,” he scrubbed his hands over his face and letting out an animal like growl, “you know I’m with you. We’re stronger together. But we’re so unprepared.”

I so wanted to punch him in the face right now. “Plans and preparedness have never helped us before, so why would now be any different?”

He sighed. “Alright. Let’s do this. I’ll call the pack.”

* * *

We were back at the elders headquarters where I’d been held. We were all in our wolf forms. I smelled around, looking for a trail. I know no one had found anything before, but I was convinced I could find something.

I sniffed around, following the lingering scent that I knew belonged to Travis. The other wolves trailed behind me and Caeden was close by my side.

I headed deeper and deeper into the woods, and like they’d described to Caeden the scent stopped suddenly. It literally just ended and didn’t continue in any direction. I pawed the ground, a whine escaping me.

My act of pawing the ground disturbed the leaves and debris, revealing a trapped door in the ground. I barked in elation. Caeden switched to his human form and lifted the latch. It opened into what looked like a wine cellar. I descended into the depths behind Caeden who had already switched back to wolf form. I looked around at the bottles lining the walls. My guess was that this place had held illegal alcohol in the prohibition era. Only where the cellar wall had once ended, the cement blocks had been broken down, littering the ground and a hallway had been hollowed out.

My heart was racing. This was it. This would lead us to Beau. I knew it. He was close.

The hallway was narrow so Caeden and I couldn’t walk side by side, we all had to fall into a single file line. I didn’t like that fact one bit. If something attacked from in front of Caeden, he was completely alone and none of us would be able to help him. The makeshift hallway dipped down, leading further beneath the surface of the earth.

My sides brushed the walls and dirt coated my fur. Insects crawled along the dirt floor and if I’d been in my human form I would have been grossed out, but as a wolf I didn’t care.

The hallway continued on and on. I knew we’d walked at least two miles and there was no sign of anyone or that we were reaching the end of the tunnel. I was beginning to feel claustrophobic, and feared this had been a trap and that we’d be stuck down here until we ran out of oxygen and perished. Morbid thoughts, but with someone like Travis, it was a completely realistic assumption. I filled my mind with thoughts of Beau so that I didn’t freak out, and it did help.

The tunnel made a sharp right turn and we began to ascend. I saw light from somewhere up ahead and I began to panic. If we were coming to the end of the tunnel, then Travis wasn’t here, and I had no idea what would greet us once we reached the surface. Travis could still be there, wherever there was, but chances were he was long gone and my child with him. How would I manage to go on knowing my child was alive and well, but trapped with a sociopath like Travis?

I see light ahead. Caeden said. We need to be prepared in case they’re waiting for us.

His words made my heart race a mile a minute in my chest. Adrenaline was already coursing through my veins. I was ready for whatever greeted us. My jaw snapped together and my lips pulled back to show off my sharp teeth. This mama wolf was ready to kill whoever stood in the way of her and her child.

Before we reached the opening, Caeden stopped. Brace yourselves.

He surged forward, running as fast as his legs would carry him. I was quick to follow, close enough to him that if I wanted I could bite into his legs. Bentley, who was behind me, was on my heels as well.

Our pack shot out of the tunnel opening like bullets out of a gun. We were nothing but streaks of fur.

And we weren’t alone.

There were mutants everywhere, and they were surrounding a house.

I didn’t wait for orders. I jumped forward, smacking into the nearest mutant and pushing her to the ground. She wrapped her hands around my arms and squeezed, but I felt nothing. The adrenaline had made me numb. I lowered my mouth and bit into her throat. Blood spurted everywhere, into my mouth, onto my fur, and all over the ground. The light left her eyes and her hands fell slack at her sides.

I didn’t wait around. I struck out at the next closest mutant, jumping onto his back and like with the girl, I bit into his throat. My teeth cut right through the muscle and his severed head fell to the ground. I gagged on the sickly tasting blood, trying to spit it out.