Pride Unleashed (a Wolf's Pride novel, book 2) (10 page)

When he gestures with a nod, I use
slow careful movements
and
twist on the balls of my feet.
Following his gaze I s
earch t
hrough the throngs of wolves
until
I s
pot
Sandy
smoothing her hair off her face
.
She glares at me then shifts her stance to looks at
Stone
.
W
hen I watch her turn on her puppy charm
in the face of
the compound’s
alpha
,
I
take note of the new scars
decorating
her
flesh.
The sight has my wolf howling and
all I want to do is weep for her.

M
y eyes
flick back to
Stone
’s
.
“
She’s
-”
I stop, unable to bring the words to life,
unable
to give them meaning.

He gives a tight nod and his nostrils flare
wide
as he slides me
a
knowing
look.
“
Yeah,
I know
.”

I lower my head
and frown
.
“
Of course
you do
.”

“
What’s that supposed to mean
?
”

The tension in his tone has my
head jerk
ing
back up with a start.
“
Nothing
.”
I swallow,
not at all sure how it makes me feel to know that Stone
will soon have
pups with
Sandy.
But I do know
that
th
e
unwise
sting of jealousy
I
’m experiencing
makes me uncomfortable
, especially
since I’ve given myself to
another
—a
powerful, caring
wolf who is going against his own best interests
t
o
help
me
.

“
She
wants out of here
,” I say
more to convince myself
than anything else
.
“
She just doesn’t know it yet
.
”

“
Are you sure about that
?”
he challenges.

“
Yes
,” I s
nap
, although I’m not sure about anything.
Not anymore.
Needing to redirect the conversation I rush out,
“
We’ve come with a plan
,
Stone
.
”

His
dark
eyes
are explosive
as they move around the courtyard
and I know
exactly
who he’s looking for
and exactly what he
’ll
try
to do when he
finds
him
.
“
We
?
”

“
Yes, we
,” I
say
,
as I listen to the cannon boom in the distance.

I scan the courtyard and once again notice how much attention we’ve drawn.
But despite the warning glares aimed my way,
I realize it’s too late to turn back now.
I can’t let doubt cloud my mission and
I have to cling to the belief that once we take down the master, it will break the spell he has over the
se broken and abused
wolves.

K
nowing we need to move fast
and get close to the handlers before my team
on the
outside attack
s
,
I step closer
to Stone
and try not to appear conspiratorial when I say,
“
I need you to
pay careful attention to what I’m about to tell you,
because we
’re all going to get out of here today and
we
need your help
.
”
I continue to speak,
but
stop short when I
realize he’s no longer listening to me.

I watch h
is eyes narrow unnaturally,
and note the way
h
e’s sniffing the air
.
W
hen he looks at a
distant
spot
near the master’s private entrance
, the hairs on my nape prickle
and
tendrils of
unease crawl over my skin
like an army of
red hot
fire ants
.

Stone
gives a
slow
shake of his head, and the worry in his voice
scares me
when he
says
, “
Pride,
oh hell, Pride,
what have you done
?”

I spin around in time to see the master,
shielding himself from the impending rainstorm with a black umbrella,
but it’s who he’s with that
sends my heart into overdrive
and
has cold flooding my
veins
.

Darkness churns inside m
y stomach
as the master moves
with purpose,
each
menacing step
meant to intimate, to force me to react.
As he baits me,
his cold
s
hrewd eyes search my face
and it takes every ounce of control I have to keep
my wolf
from
rushing
at
him
when all I want to do is let her off her leash
.

I look right at him,
taking in the hard lines of his profile,
then
sever
his lecherous gaze
as
I
shift my
concentration
to the young girl
anchored to
his side
.

Expression stricken,
the girl
lifts her lashes, and when her
terrified
green eyes
flicker over
mine,
it occurs with dawning horror that
the
master has
captured
none other than
Logan’s
cousin,
the
sweet
and
innocent
Gem.

With her hands and feet in manacles,
she s
huffles
alongside
the master.
I hiss
when I watch her stumble
, a riot of emotions overcoming me
,
congesting
my ability to think with any
sort of
clarity
.

As I stare
at them
from across the courtyard,
I can taste
Gem’s
tension
like it’s my own.
It leaves
a
bitter residue on the back of my tongue
and has sour bile pu
nching
into my
throat
.

I fight for
a measure of
control as I look her over, my brain
registering
the
bright red scar
s
on her forehead a
s well as
the swollen puffy
flesh around her
blood crusted
mouth.
A chill scurries up my spine and air leaves my lungs in a whoosh when I realize just how badly this could turn out.
Because the truth is
,
Gem, who has never known abuse in her entire life, and
who
has never
,
ever
been confined by a cruel master
,
is in way over her head.

We all are.

My breath comes quicke
r, my pulse pounding in my
throat
as I clench and unclench my hands
, berating myself for not calculating this risk
.
How will I ever get her out from his control before
the cannon strikes at
noon?

Thunder rumbles
in the dark sky
and when the clouds split open, the cold rain do
es
little to soothe the hot rage rising inside me.
Fat raindrops cake the dirt on Gem’s torn clothes and dilute
the blood
dribbl
ing
down
her
trembling chin
.
The intoxicating
scent gain
s
the
awareness
of the restless wolves
milling about
and they begin to
circle
like the
ravenous
predators they
’ve become
since capture
—since the master turned them into his puppets.

Guided by instinct, I make a move to go to her, but Stone’s hand comes down on my shoulder to stop me
and
the
sheer strength
of his grip
doesn’t go unnoticed
.
His fingers bite into my flesh, pinning me in place
and when the word
,
“Don’t
,
”
rumbles in
the
air, my footsteps still.

Before I can even think about my next
move
,
the cannon sounds
in the distance
and
my brain registers that
it’s high noon
.
I spin around frantically,
my eyes surfing over the crowd,
except
ing to find a courtyard in chaos
as my team clos
es
in from the outside
.

Except
what I find
instead
has my heart hammering
and
my pulse racing
like mad
.

Panicked
,
m
y glance darts to the
guards
and dread f
loods my lungs, making it difficult to breathe
when I find all six of them
still
s
tanding tall,
their guns directed at the courtyard as they
polic
e
us dogs
from above.

Apprehension surges
through my bloodstream
and
I feel like my world is closing in on me.
The impenetrable fortress walls
seem to be
inch
ing
closer and closer, squeezing the air from the yard
until
and my arteries
I can barely comprehend how quickly things have fallen apart
.
I force myself to breathe slowly, m
y mind
rac
ing
with unanswered questions
.

W
hat happened to my
pack
?

Our plan?

T
hunder claps
loudly
snapping me back to reality
,
and as
lightening streak
s
across the
cloud bloated
sky my nerve endings crackle
in warning, my brain
repeatedly
screeching that
this was
not
supposed to happen!

This was not supposed to happen!

With the world around me collapsing, everything inside me screams in alarm, my senses, emotions and thoughts running circles in my brain until my mind shuts down and my animal impulses come out full force.

Fearing the worst—a failed mission and a life
time
of captivity
for all
—there is nothing I can do to keep my primal side at bay
.
Fully understanding that s
omething has been unleashed inside me, and
that I won’t be able to
stop my
caged wolf
from turning mutinous
, I
deliver
a yelp
.