Pride Unleashed (a Wolf's Pride novel, book 2) (34 page)

At the mention of my mother a howl sounds in my throat.
I point to the floorboards above my head.
“He killed
her and you didn’t do anything about it.”

His gaze jerks back to mine and his eyes are pleading.
“I didn’t know, Pride.
It wasn’t until long after
he killed her
that I found out.
”

“Well you
k
now
now
, which makes me wonder how you can even sit and have a conversation with him, acting like you’re old friends after what he did to my mother—
a woman you
supposedly loved.
”

“
Not supposedly.
I did love her.
And I love you.
”

I think about Logan,
S
tone, the elders and all the sacrifices they made for me.
“Don’t talk to me about love. You know nothing about it.”

“
That’s where you’re wrong, my little girl.”

“Don’t call me that.
I’m not your little girl.
I’m not your anything.”

“Pride—”

“If you loved us so much then why did you leave?”

“
Your
master started changing
.
He
bec
a
me greedy, cruel.
Dangerous.
”

Fire erupts in my belly
and I give a hard shake of my head, my blonde curls flying around my face
.
“So you thought it would be a good idea to
just
leave us with a man like that
then
?”

“Do you remember I once said some things are worse than death?”
T
here is something deeply desperate in his voice
that gains my attention.

I don’t answer.
I just stand there and stare at him until he continues.
“I left to protect you.
Your master was becoming strong, more powerful tha
n
I ever would have imagined, and he was learning about us
, learning how to manipulate
the wolves inside us
.
When he realized he could use our empathy against us
,
I knew he could never know how I
really
felt about you or your mother.
You were safer with me gone.”

I
pinch the bridge of my nose and c
an feel the fight drain out of me.
“Why are you here?
What do you want from me?”

“I want to help.”

“It’s a little late for that don’t you think
?
”
I shoot back.

“
You’re smart
,
Pride
.
Y
ou know we’re building an army, but do you know why?”

“I kn
o
w there are panthers stalking the compound.”

He nods.
“There
’s
a turf war going on.
A cartel is moving in from the south and
they want to take over.
They kn
ow we harbor wolves
, and somehow they managed to find and harness panthers to do their bidding.
Your master thought he had more time.”

“Which is why he’s breeding the females and hoping to harness Logan’s family.”

“Right.
But he’s out of time.
We all are.”

My pulse leaps.
“What are you talking about?”

“We’re under attack.”

I hear Sandy make a gasping sound and
my numb feet slide across the cold floor.
I step up to my father
to meet his gaze
, to read his body language
.
But there is nothing to suggest he’s lying.

“What’s going on?”
I ask.

“The panthers are closing in.”

I think back to the gun shots I heard earlier.
“They have guns?”

“
No.
The PTF tracked them here.
To complicate things,
your master has some of th
e PTF officers
in his pocket so we don’t know who’s on our side and who isn’t.”

As far as I’m concerned the PTF are never on our side.
I grip the bars
tighter
as panic erupts inside me.

“
There is one more thing you need to know.”

I swallow, not liking the sound of that.
“Your master has left you all here to
your own fate
.
He’s
in his office making arrangement
s
to get to
his
helicopter
on the
rooftop.”
He goes quiet for a moment then
he says, “And he has Gem with him.”

“Gem!
Why
?
” I blurt out.
“Why would he want Gem
?
”

“
Because he’s broken her, and
now
she can lead him to her family in the Canadian mountains.”

My brain races to catch up because I know I’m missing something here.
“Isn’t it a little too late for that
?
”

“No.
If he can harness them, he can start over again somewhere else.”

I look around frantically.
“
I need to get out of here.
”
I turn
to Sandy.
Her mouth is agape and her eyes are wide.
“Sandy—” I begin but my father cuts me off.

“You’ll need this.”

A cry of relief lodges in my throat when he produces the master key.
“We need to free everyone, but how are we going to get out of here
with the panthers closing in?
”

“The tunnels. I can lead them to safety.”

Then it dawns on me.
That’s how he’s been getting into my quarters, through the underground tunnels.
And
h
e knows about the secret passageways because he
’s
the one who helped the master
design them.

But I can’t think about that right now.
Right now I have to find the master and stop him before he gets away with Gem.

Once
my father
unlocks our cages, he gestures with a nod.
“
We can get to all the others this way
, and then we can get to safety
at the top of the mountain
.”

My feet come to a skidding halt
as a new plan begins to unravel in my brain
.
“You free your pack of wolves, then give the key to Mario.
The handler is on our side and Stone trusts him.
The
master’s wolves will go with Stone before they’ll go with you.”

I see worry in his eyes.
“What are you saying?”

As hot emotions rush through my blood
I draw a breath to steady myself and remember my purpose.
A new calmness falls over me and
I step away from
my
father.

I think of my mother, Jace and Clover.
They all fought for me, stayed brave for me and I’m not about to cower in
the face of death and let the sacrifices they made
go unavenged.
As I let the decision settle into my brain I think about the vow I made a long time ago.
I came back to get
these wolves out
of this prison
alive, and I plan to do that even if it means trading my life for theirs.

Because I
understand what my father had been trying to tell me and why he left the compound.
Putting
those you love in harm’s way, simply because you love them
is far worse than death
.

Stone understood this very thing.
Which is why he always pretended to be my enemy.

“
What I’m saying is
I’m not going
with you
,
”
I inform him and shudder as the weight of the decision settles around me.

“Pride,” he warns.

“You free the others and get to safety.
I have some unfinished business to take care of.”

Giving my father no time to protest, I climb
to the top of
my cage and disappear into the ventilation system.
As I move through the ducts I feel the house shake from some sort of explosion and as I hold the metal walls to brace myself I realized just how desperate the situation has become.

Once the house stops
vibrating
I bolt forward
on my hands and knees
, twisting and turning until I come upon the master’s suite.
I take a quick look inside and when I see him with Gem, I kick the shaft clear from the wall and drop down in front of them.
I take on a combative stance, and my lips peel back to expose sharp canines.

The master turns on me, and surprise lights his eyes.
My
consideration
goes to Gem, who looks battered
a
nd beaten, the gleam gone from her once vibrant eyes.
The sight of her rouses my wolf and my
nails elongate
.

The master’s dark bark of laughter has my head swinging back to him.
“Well, well,
”
he says as his
focus
goes from me to the broken vent back to me again.
“Let me guess, your daddy had something to do with this.”
He scoffs and continues, “I should have known.
And really, I
never
should have expected a traitor like him to give birth to anything but a runt, anyway.”

I can tell he’s trying to taunt me, to throw me off my game
so he can escape before I shift
.
But what he doesn’t realize is I’m no longer the little girl who thought of her size as a weakness.
Thanks to Logan,
I’ve come a long way since escaping here three weeks ago.

He grabs Gem’s arm harder, hauling her against hi
s chest.
She
makes a frightened
,
squeaking sound
and it
prompts me into action
but I slow a little when he
uses her
small
body to shield his
.
I take
one
threatening step toward him
yet he continues to
hold his ground,
the
laughter fad
ing
from his eyes, which are now hard, raw with anger
.

“
You never were a threat to me, Pride.”

“You
’re
not going to get away with what you’ve done to us.”

I take a moment to assess Gem
, to figure out how to
stage an
attack
on
the master without her getting caught in the crossfire, but when I see h
er green eyes glitter
ing
beneath the black bleakness and she mouths the word grasshopper, understanding hits me over the head like a mallet.

Grasshopper
is her
safe word
!

My heart leaps with joy.
Gem isn’t broken and this is her
way of letting me know she’s okay.
She’s stronger than I ever knew and that she had the
foresight to plant a safe word at the beginning of this journey
shows just how brilliant she really is
.

I give a slight nod to signal my understanding, and don’t miss the small grin that pulls at her lips.
I also realize from the gray pallor of her skin that she’s still feverish, which is preventing her from shifting and fighting back.
But at least I know she’s going to be okay.
Now I just have to figure out how to free her.

I turn my attention back to
the
master and he
gives a shake of his head.
“
You know, your downfall has always been
the way you care for
other
s
.
You might have made a powerful leader
one day
, Pride.
”
He stops to let his disapproving glance rake over me.
“
But then again, how much I can really expect from a runt like you?”