Wild Fire (Wilding Pack Wolves 5) - New Adult Paranormal Romance (21 page)

Kaden nodded sharply. “I’ll relay that to them and be right back.” He ran off to the Riverwise group.

Troy’s hand was itching to hold Zoe’s, but she was busy sending furious glares in Daniel’s direction. She was obviously
pissed
that Troy was coming along, but he really didn’t care. No way would he let her out of his sight, no matter what she said.

Daniel pulled a gun from the back of his pants and handed it to Troy. “You know how to use one of these? Do I have to worry about you shooting me in the back?”

Troy took the weapon. “No, I’ve got this.” All that time trying to stay alive in the downtown gangs was good for more than one survival skill.

Daniel turned to Skylar and dropped his voice to something much softer than he used to command the team. “Are you ready, hot witch of mine?”

Skylar smiled sweetly. “Anytime you are, hot witchy-wolf of mine.”

Daniel smirked, then he got serious again. “You’re to stay to the back at all times, understood? Don’t take any chances.”

She took his hand and gave him a quick peck on the cheek. “Don’t worry about me. And don’t get in my way when I decide to roast that asshole.” While Daniel leaned in to kiss Skylar more seriously, Troy flicked a look to Zoe. Her expression was all tangled up in confusion like she couldn’t understand how Daniel could let Skylar go on the mission. Or how he had agreed so readily to let Troy come along. But Troy knew exactly what Daniel was thinking—Zoe would be safer with Troy by her side, and Troy would kick the shit out of Daniel if he tried to stop him.

And they didn’t have time for any of that.

Plus, Daniel obviously understood what it meant to be a wolf in love with an extraordinary woman who should be his mate—and how trying to protect her was what mattered to him, but was also slightly ridiculous when she had witch-level powers.

Troy reached for Zoe’s hand, but before he could speak, Daniel broke his kiss with Skylar and said, “All right, let’s move this out!”

Zoe briefly squeezed Troy’s hand, then dropped it, heading back for the van.

He followed after her, praying this all wasn’t a giant mistake.

Zoe’s heart hammered in her chest.

For all her brave talk—and especially her insistence that Troy shouldn’t be on this mission—she was glad to have him by her side. A half dozen vehicles were caravanning toward the downtown high-rise building that housed Emergent Technologies. The five vans ahead of them carried Riverwise and Marco’s packs, with only six people in the van with Zoe—Daniel driving, Skylar riding shotgun, and Owen, Kaden, and Noah in back with her and Troy. They were all white wolves or witches of some form or another… except for Troy.

Grace had stayed behind at the rendezvous point, preparing for the aftermath of the assault they were about to conduct—or rescue operation, depending on how it turned out. As they drove into the parking lot near the loading dock, Zoe could see through the windshield that the other vans had already arrived… and whatever fight there had been had already finished. Two security guards were pinned to the ground, being held by several wolves apiece. The one security camera on the dock was dangling from its post, obviously smashed. Jaxson was quietly signaling his men to set up a perimeter with Marco doing the same—between them, there was an overwhelming force of wolves.

Daniel pulled the van straight up to the docking bay. Zoe quickly squeezed Troy’s hand before piling out of the van with the others. He had a grim look of determination, but he stayed close to her as they hustled toward the back door, where four Riverwise wolves were guarding the entrance, heavily armed with very large guns.

“All clear,” Jaxson said. “Keep us apprised.” He handed a walkie-talkie to Daniel, who pocketed it and quickly gave a signal to Skylar.

The young witch had already conjured her seeking spell—Zoe hurried to her side and let her blow the puff of magical smoke in her face. The world tilted and blurred, and Zoe grabbed onto Skylar’s hand. The two of them would be somewhat blind as they were immersed in the spell so Troy would be their eyes and ears. He took Zoe’s other hand, and the hammering in her chest step down a notch with his touch.

“Is he still on the penthouse floor?” Daniel asked.

Zoe reached out along the web, but they were so close now, that it took no time at all to find the Wolf Hunter, as well as the mayor. Their magical essences were vibrant pulses, powerful and nearby.

Skylar was the one who could follow the thread and map it onto the real world, so she replied, “He’s still on the top floor. Hasn’t moved since the last time we did the spell.”

Zoe cracked open her eyes a little, so she could at least see what was in front of her through the blurriness. It was a weird sort of double vision where the real world looked like she was seeing it through water—vibrating, magical water that was overlaid with the energy web that bound her to all the other white wolves, including the mayor and Declan Hunter.

“All right, let’s go.” Daniel nodded to the small group of Riverwise wolves who were going ahead of them into the building. They busted through the door, advancing with their tactical gear and weapons held forward and hurrying down the corridor.

Daniel beckoned the rest of them to follow. “Keep it tight.” He and Kaden took the lead, hands free of weapons, but spooling up blue orbs of energy in their palms. Noah and Owen flanked them, following a half step behind, but keeping a tight rank and also conjuring their own magic, so they were ready for whatever they might encounter on the way up. Troy had his weapon out, held at the ready in one hand while he led Zoe with the other. She and Skylar were able to keep up, in spite of the hallway looking like she was walking along the bottom of a lake.

They hustled forward, heading for the elevators halfway down the hall.

There were no alarms sounding—it felt strange to creep past ordinary-looking offices to do something as simple as take the elevator to the top floor. But Zoe was glad they were doing this at night—there were no regular workers or commuters in the building, only the security guards and maybe a few night janitors. The elevators were a risk, but it would take too long to hike the stairs, not to mention they would be exhausted by the time they got to the top. So getting into the elevators undetected was key—Jared must have managed to disable the alarms, or the Riverwise group that went ahead had already shut down whoever was manning the security cams, because their tightly huddled group made it to the elevators without being caught.

Daniel punched the button for the elevator, and they waited an interminable time for the car to arrive. Zoe was crawling out of her skin—she could barely see the swimming walls around her, much less any security that might be barreling down the hallway after them. Her nerves were hyped like crazy.

The long ride up to the fiftieth floor was even more nerve-racking—Zoe was convinced that at any moment, the car would come to a screeching halt and trap them somewhere in the middle of the building until security could arrest them. Or at least try to. Between them, they had a hell of a lot of magical firepower.

On the way, Daniel checked in with them again. “Is he on the move? Have we been detected?”

Zoe was keeping a constant watch so she would’ve said something if Skylar missed it. Declan Hunter
was
moving, but it was just a small pacing back and forth all centered around the same small location on the top floor.

“Nope,” Skylar said. “He’s still there.”

Troy squeezed Zoe’s hand in a reassuring way, and it did help, but the ride was still agonizing. Finally, they made it to the top, and the door slid open.

The penthouse floor had luxurious carpeting and glass walls that made the entire thing look high-tech. There was only a single frosted-glass door etched with the symbol for Serafin Genetics. The overhead lighting had been turned down to half strength to conserve energy, but the motion detectors must have sensed them because they were starting to flicker on.

Daniel grimaced. “Let’s move fast. These lights are stealing our surprise.” He pushed open the frosted glass door, revealing a reception area inside, but their group barely made it into the room before two tactical-gear-clad guards burst out of the interior frosted-glass door to the main office. They raise their weapons, but Daniel and Kaden let fly their blue orbs, which splashed against the guards and the walls, knocking the guards back and torching everything they touched. The magic dissipated on contact, but it nearly set the walls on fire and left behind horrible burns on the men, who were moaning and rolling on the ground. Daniel and Kaden rushed them and punched them in the face, knocking them out.

Zoe decided that was probably a mercy with the burn wounds they had.

Troy was swearing under his breath. To Daniel, he said, “Can we bring her out of her trance now?” His voice was tight.

Daniel gave a nod. Skylar passed her hand over Zoe’s face, and it disrupted the magical spell, but she still had to fight to let go of the vibrating magical web. The Wolf Hunter was on the other side of the frosted-glass door his men had barged through.

“You okay?” Troy asked.

She nodded then tipped her head to the door. “He’s in there.”

Troy turned to Daniel. “How about if I pull back with Zoe and Skylar now? You guys go ahead?”

Daniel shook his head. Even before Zoe’s objection could reach her mouth, he was saying, “We stick to the plan. Everyone stays together. Let’s move.” He was conjuring a new ball of magic and creeping toward the door with Kaden.

Troy seem to be grinding his teeth, but he held his weapon in front of him and followed after Noah and Owen, with Troy keeping his body between the advancing guard of wolves and Zoe and Skylar behind. Which was somewhat ridiculous, given that Zoe and Skylar were the most powerful ones in their group.

Daniel and Kaden busted through the door, and the whole group of them advanced through a dimly lit field of cubicles toward a set of large double doors in the far wall. Even though she was out of the spell, Skylar seemed to know exactly where to go—she kept her finger pointing, like a human GPS, and Daniel kept looking over his shoulder for guidance. They were quiet, but once again, the motion detectors were turning on the lights as they weaved past the cubicles.

When they reached the door, Daniel hesitated, a dark look on his face. All four of them had fresh balls of energy ready to fire, but they weren’t immediately storming the room—and Zoe could guess why. There had to be more guards, and the door formed a pinch point where the Wolf Hunter could have his men pick them off one by one. Troy held his hand up to keep Zoe and Skylar from moving forward, even though she had no plan to do so.

Daniel motioned them all away from the door. Standing back, he and Kaden prepared two balls of energy each. Daniel counted down with his fingers… three, two, one… then they blasted the door simultaneously with all their magical energy. The blast had such concussive force that it threw them all back into the cubicle walls they were braced against. The door itself withstood the blast, but it was charred like crazy, and portions of the wall were catching on fire.

“Let’s not burn down the place, boys.” Skylar waved her hand toward the wall with a large sweeping motion, and the fire quenched. Still smoking, the door must have been weakened. Daniel motioned them to either side, lining the wall, then he and Kaden charged the door, launching simultaneous kicks that knocked it open. They jerked back behind the wall, and it was a good thing—a tremendous volley of gunfire sounded throughout the office, and the flimsy cubicle walls that were in direct line with the door popped with a hundred gunshots, torn shreds jumping into the air.

Then all four of them—Daniel, Kaden, Noah and Owen—charged the doorway at once, sending blasts of blue energy ahead of them. They followed the energy in, conjuring new blasts as they went, but Zoe didn’t hear any more shots being fired. In fact, all she could see through the doorway was a glistening, pulsing energy shield of some kind.

“Zoe,” Daniel called, “you better get in here.”

Troy scowled, but this was no time for her to hesitate. She strode toward the door with Troy by her side and Skylar trailing behind. When she stepped through, she saw the room was basically a laboratory—only it was stocked with even better equipment than her own lab. Ostensibly, this was Serafin Genetics equipment, but it looked like it had been tricked out to be the Wolf Hunter’s own private genetics Batcave, complete with computers, a medical bay, racks of glassware, hood, sequencers… and worst of all, some kind of medical torture chair in the middle. And strapped to it was her grandfather, the mayor—Billy Wilding. Standing next to him, a gun in one hand, stood a thirtyish man with black hair and dark blue eyes—clearly, Declan Hunter.
The Wolf Hunter.
The same man who had kidnapped the mayor from the River family estate. He held the gun to the mayor’s head, but the mayor appeared to be unconscious. Worse, the scintillating blue energy shield Zoe had glimpsed from the door surrounded them in a ten-foot bubble that encompassed the mayor in his chair and the Wolf Hunter.