Pride Unleashed (a Wolf's Pride novel, book 2) (24 page)

“He’s threaten
ing
your family?”
I ask quietly
and think about Mica, Miss Kara, and all the others who are in the same situation
.

He nods and rakes shaky hands through his
dark
hair
and I’m not sure what
suddenly
compels
him to open up to me but I
do understand
he’s sharing something very personal when he continues,
“I came here looking for a better life
.
Once I found it
I was going to send for my family.
”
His face softens and I see a slight
smile
when he say
s
, “I have a little girl.
She’s about the same age as you and I wanted to offer her
more
.”

Then, a
s quickly as it appeared, the softness
in his voice
disappears.
His profile hardens
and his head drops
, his eyes go vacant as he stares at the cold
metal floor
beneath us
.
“
But what I found
here
instead has
done the opposite, and now my entire family is in danger.
”
He
stabs
his thumb into his chest.
“
Because of me.
”
He turns worried eyes
my way
.
“
He knows who they are
, Pride.
He knows where
my wife lives
.
Where
my kids
go to school
.”

Tense silence hovers between us for a long time, then h
e holds his hands
out
,
palms up.
“Their
future is in my hands.
If I make one wrong move…”

“
I’m going to kill him,” I say.

His gaze flies to m
ine
.
“Things aren’t that easy, Pride.
You’re still young and
you really
don’t know the ways of the world.”

“You’re wrong
,
you know.
Your family’s
future isn’t in your hands.
It’s in the master
’
s
and it will stay that way unless we do something about it
.
If we kill him,
your family won’t be in danger, and then their future really will be in your hands and you can go get them.”

“I’m not a
n
assassin,” he whispers.

“I am.”

He doesn’t speak.
Instead he just stares at me, then he
asks
in a low, cautious voice,
“Do you really think you can do it?”

I nod.

“How?”

Before I can answer the elevator comes to a halt and Mario
returns to handler mode a
s the doors
slide
open.
He steps off first and I’m about to follow, but when his footsteps still and his body goes stiff, I don’t need to
exit the elevator
to
know who’s waiting for me
in the hallway
.

Acting purely on instinct,
I
quickly
shove the key into my braid
to hide it
, and step
into the narrow hallway
.
I harden myself and
prepar
e
for the worst
,
knowing
I can’t
break cover
.

I keep my expression blank, my eyes hard as I move in beside Mario, showing my obedience.

“Well, well, what
d
o we
have here
?
” the master a
sk
s, his shrewd glance going from Mario to me back to Mario again.

I
don’t want to get the
handler
in trouble, so I
open my mouth to speak
, even though I have no
idea
what I’m about to say, but Mario comes to my
rescue
and speaks first.

“She wanted to speak with you. She said it was urgent and I thought you were in your downstairs chambers, so I brought her to you.”

The master rolls on his feet and juts his chin out as he considers this information. Then after a long agonizing minute he turns to me.
“Is that so, Pride?”

I nod quickly, my brain scrambling to catch up.
Then I realize
that not only has
Mario given me the perfect opportunity to prove my loyalties
, he’s also given me a rare opportunity to
gather information.
I have to clear my head and
struggle to
think straight, because I can’t
screw this up.
I just can’t.
I
have to
give
the master
enough information to appease him,
but
I can’t let him figure out how much I know.
 

“When I was in the courtyard today,” I begin, and work to make it look like my concerns are for the master.

“Go on,” he prompts.

“There was a strange new smell in the air.”

I pause and wait to see if
the
mas
t
er is going to react, but when he just continues to stand there, hovering over me
like a silver bullet
, I continue.
“It was rank, like a cat.”

He waves his hand.
“We’re in a vineyard, Pride.
There are always stray cats about.”

I open my eyes wide to accentuate the importance of what I’m saying.
“This was different.”

“Different how?”

“The scent taunted my wolf.
She gets the sense that whatever is out there is
a
danger.
To all of us.”

“Is that right,” he says
, his eyes narrowing as if to figure out how much I know
.
“How so?”

I watch him carefully and that’s when I
hear
it
—the increased flow of his blood, the elevat
ion of his
heart rate,
and the rapid
jump in his pulse.

He knows what’s out there.
He knows what we
’
re up against.
And
if
he’s
this
afraid
, we’re all in trouble
.

As my wolf howls and feeds off his fear, I wonder who is commanding these panthers and what they’ll do to the master if they get hold of him.

What will they do to the wolves once we escape?

“If something
is
out
t
here threatening us
, we’re all going to have to work together to destroy it,
”
I say, hoping he’ll tell me exactly what were up against but knowing better than to come right out and ask.

“So this is the reason you wanted to see me?
To warn me that something is out there.”

I nod.

“And
to think that
just yesterday you tried to attack me because I wanted to breed you.”
He gives a cruel smirk.
“
Such conflicting behavior does make me question whether you’re working with me, or working against me.”

“With you,” I say and keep the urgency from my voice when I add, “Why would I have come here to warn you about the dangers on the outside.”

“Why indeed
?
”

“
Just because I don’t want to breed doesn’t mean
I’m
not
loyal
and I came to
tell
you because I
don’t want anything to happen to you.”

“Don’t worry, Pride
,” he says, letting me know the subject is closed for discussion
.
W
hile I’m walking away without having gained
much information
at least I’m able to walk away from this, because I know this situation could have gone down a whole lot worse for me.

“
I have everything under control.”
He makes a noise in his throat and takes a step closer to me.
“
If
you
really want to prove you’re loyal then you won’t put up a fight
when I breed you in five days.”

I stare at him and
it suddenly occurs to me that he’s stalling.
Why would he wait for the full moon?
I know it’s when
Stone is at his strongest and when I’m most fertile, but my instincts tell me he’s
putting off the mating for another reason.
He needs something else from me.

“I won’t put up a fight,” I assure him.
And I won’t
, simply
because I plan on being gone from this prison long before then.

His smile is crooked when he
turns to Mario
,
dismissing me like I’m
yesterday’s news
.
“
T
ake her to her cell.”
Dark eyes move to mine when he says, “I’ll see you in the courtyard tomorrow, Pride.
It should be an interesting day.
”

Everything in his cruel gaze tells me he has something planned, something I’m not going to like.

Mario grips my arm, and when
he
gives i
t
a tug
to set me into motion
, my ponytail swishes against my neck.
My heart goes into my throat when I feel the key dislodge, the cold metal scraping over my nape
.
I
suck in a sharp breath and hold it,
just
waiting for
the ball to drop, or in this case, the key to
slip free and clang on the cement floor.

We move past the master, and he stands there watching
, his arms folded across his chest
.
I walk slowly, fearing he’s going to see the key, to know what I’ve done.

Once Mario opens the door leading to the kitchen, I
let the air out of my lungs,
and inconspicuously run my hands along the length of my hair
to
slide the key into my
palm before it falls.

I’m about to breathe a sigh of relief, but turn in time to see the master’s savage smile before the
thick metal
door clicks shut
behind us
.

His
smi
rk
fills me with fear.

What does he have planned for th
e
courtyard tomorrow
?

An uncomfortable silence falls over us as
Mario leads me back to the cellar.
His expression is bored
as we pass by the master’s staff
but I can see the tension in
his
posture.

We reach the long staircase leading to my own personal dungeon and
I
descent the step
s
slowly
, prolonging the inevitable a
s my wolf howls desperately inside me
.
Our plan
was
to get in and out as quickly as possible and after promising her only one night of solitary confinements, it’s slowly killing her to be
back in the dank basement
.

Forcing my legs to carry me into my cage, a cold chill falls over me as I enter
but I embrace the discomfort
.
Once inside,
I quiet my wolf and
turn
to
face Mario, my expression questioning.

Does he know what the master has planned?

I search his eyes for answers,
looking for
something, anything to let me know what I’m going to be up against tomorrow.
But from the
strained
look on his face
, combined with the fatigue in his eyes
, I can tell he’s as in the dark as I am
.
Only the master knows what tomorrow will bring.