Azure (The Silver Series Book 5) (12 page)

“
Fine,” Ben said, his tone
light as he pretended he wasn't intimidated. “We'll go, but only
because we're tired of Two and your pathetic attempts to act as
everyone's parent to make up for your own.”

I stalked toward them slowly, my teeth
bared, hackles raised, and a low growl that sounded like thunder
grating in my chest. Both Alphas and the two grays behind them left
the room to gather their belongings. I waited at the exit to Two,
my chest tight and the wounds from their teeth throbbing in a
constant reminder of why I was chasing out boys I had grown up
with.

Ben and Brian walked out with unconvincing
nonchalance, while Drake and Max hurried after them throwing
worried glances in my direction. It hurt a bit that the grays would
go, but there were too many males at Two and the fewer egos, the
better. The grays knew better than to butt heads with me directly,
but their internal meddling and constant bickering with the other
grays made their departure easier to accept.

Brian waved with a sardonic smile at the
edge of camp, then the group disappeared through the red pillars
into the starlit night.

I sat down and breathed easier for their
absence. I worried about them because I felt responsible for their
wellbeing, but it was good to let them go and not worry about being
jumped in my own home. I waited until a jeep engine roared to life,
then listened to it fade into the cacophony of desert insects, the
howl of the wind through the myriad of caves along the top of the
red rock ridges, and the cold chill that crept like a finger of icy
flame to steal the warmth that remained of the day's sunlight.

I took a breath of the night air so familiar
I knew it better than my mother's scent; sometimes my brain linked
the two because it had been so long since I had actually seen her.
I sighed and padded softly back through the tunnel to my
quarters.

***

I shrugged gently and Nora lifted her head.
“We're here,” I whispered.

She blinked groggily, then perked up when
she remembered what we were doing. She peered out into the parking
lot and pointed at the lone truck waiting near the other end.
“That's him!” she said.

I chuckled at her enthusiasm. “I assumed as
much, seeing as it's the only other vehicle here.”

She shoved my shoulder, but was too happy to
say anything.

I pulled up a few rows away and put the jeep
in park. Nora opened the door, then hesitated and turned back. My
breathing slowed at the look on her face. “I’m not leaving for
good,” she said; she sounded like she wanted to convince us both.
“I have your number and I’ll call as soon as we get home.” She
glanced back toward the truck. “Even if Dad is against the
idea.”

I watched her, unsure of what to say. I had
never been great at goodbyes because they were too final in my
life. I gritted my teeth against a surge of regret.

She touched my face and her eyes held mine.
“I’ll be back,” she promised. “Nothing could keep me away from
you.” My heart rose with her words and she kissed me, her lips
parting mine. I breathed in her scent as we kissed, and felt
surrounded by every part of her. Her fingers lingered on my
shoulder where she could feel the scar of the bullet through my
thin shirt. “I’ll make up for that,” she promised with a quiet
breath.

She looked as if she wanted to stay, and for
the briefest second I hoped that she would tell me to turn the jeep
around and go back to Two. She looked at the other vehicle, torn,
and we both knew she had to leave. “Go,” I said quietly past the
lump in my throat.

“
I don’t want to,” she
replied. The heartache in her voice held me fast.

“
It’ll be alright. I’ll see
you again soon.”

She nodded at the words she needed to hear.
She pushed open the door and ran across the pavement, her scent a
sweet reminder as her kiss lingered on my lips. The door to the
black truck opened and a tall man with thick muscles barely
contained by his tailored suit climbed out. He held open his arms
and she crumbled into them. I could hear what she said to him even
through the distance and the windshield, but I ignored it to give
them their privacy.

Foreboding rose in my chest. I studied the
landscape around us, but nothing appeared out of the ordinary. I
turned my attention back to Nora's father's truck. The sun rose
slowly behind it, casting the plateaus around us in a wash of red
and gold. I blinked into the rays, wondering if he had chosen the
position strategically. My eyes focused and my heart slowed at
movement from one of the back windows.

A barrel glinted in the light an instant
before a bullet slammed through the jeep's windshield and into my
arm. Nora screamed and I gazed at the hole in shock. My survival
instincts kicked in above the dull pain. I opened the door and slid
to the ground, then crawled to the back of the jeep amid the
ricochet of more bullets that peppered the pavement around my hands
and feet. Glass flew everywhere as the windows shattered above me.
Shards fell to the ground and bounced around my hands, catching the
light of the rising sun. Bullets tore through the metal doors with
a sound like a tin can ripped open and amplified a hundred times by
my sensitive hearing.

The rocks on the pavement bit into my hands
and knees. The jeep tipped as the right front tire was shot,
followed shortly by the left. Metal rang out when they hit the
brush guard; bullets sunk into the engine with echoing thuds. My
heart thundered in my chest.

I leaned against the jeep and tried to catch
my breath. Pain surfaced from my arm and my side, but it was dulled
by the surge of adrenaline through my veins. I forced myself not to
phase, worried that Nora was in danger, too. I waited until the
spray of bullets stopped, then peered around the edge of the
jeep.

Nora's dad had a firm hold on her arm. She
hit his chest, but he didn’t seem to notice. “You really think you
could kill our Hunters and get away with it?” he asked loudly with
a tone that said how stupid such a thought had been.

I took a deep breath, then shouted, “I
brought your daughter back to you. Let me go and no one gets
hurt.”

He laughed, a deep, dark sound. “One
werewolf against seven armed Hunters? You’re either an idiot or
want to die.”

I had to agree, but decided against saying
so. I hit my head against the back of the jeep, cursing our naive
belief that he would keep his word after all that had happened.

“
Let him go, Dad. You
promised,” Nora shouted.

“
I don't make promises with
animals,” her dad replied calmly.

“
You promised me,” she
said. The scent of her fear and anger carried to me on the morning
breeze. I worried that she would do something rash. “Let me go,”
she demanded. She raised her voice, “Vance, this was a mistake.
This wasn’t supposed to happen!”

“
You’re a fool for trusting
a werewolf,” her dad said in a tone heavily laced with
disgust.

“
I’m a fool for trusting
you,” she bit back.

He didn't respond. Instead, I heard the thud
of several footsteps as his men moved to flank the jeep. I looked
around for an escape, but found none.

“
The men are in position,
Rob.”

“
Good.” He lifted his
voice, “Fight and be shot again, or give up and come quietly,” he
said with an air that indicated he would rather shoot me
again.

“
Dad, no!” Nora protested.
The sound of a struggle ensued followed by a sharp slap.

Nora sobbed softly and I longed to go to
her, but knew any move in that direction would result in death. I
kept a hand on my arm and reviewed my options.

Soft rustling came from the bushes lining
the hill to my right and a slight fall of sand from the plateau on
my left indicated that I was indeed surrounded. If the bullet in my
arm was any indication, they were ordered to maim, not kill, which
meant Rob planned on taking me in regardless of if I surrendered.
None of the werewolves from Two knew I took Nora back to her
father, so a rescue wouldn't come in time. Nora's attempts at
dissuading her father from his plan were obviously in vain, and I
didn't want to put her at risk for further injury.

I could choose to go with him and avoid more
bullet holes which were swiftly becoming my least favorite thing,
or I could wait for them to weaken me with silver bullets to the
point that I wouldn't be able to defend myself. If the numbness in
my arm was any indication, the bullets had been treated with the
same coating that almost paralyzed me when Nora shot me at Two.
Despite the instincts that demanded for me to fight back, I didn’t
stand a chance.

I took a deep breath, then stuck my hands
out to the side of the jeep. “I'm coming out,” I yelled.

“
About time,” Rob replied
in a satisfied tone.

“
No!” Nora protested, but
she quickly fell silent.

I rose slowly and stepped into the open. Rob
gave a minute motion with his hand. A bullet buzzed through the air
and struck my thigh hard enough to knock me against the jeep. Pain
flared through my leg.

“
Dad, he gave up,” Nora
said with tears running down her cheeks.

“
Just making sure,” Rob
replied. He nodded at his men and they advanced.

My instincts screamed for me to phase and
fight, but my brain argued that my odds against seven loaded guns
and apparently trigger-happy Hunters were slim. One man stepped
forward and slapped a handcuff on one of my wrists, then jerked
them roughly behind my back and fastened the other tight enough to
cut into my skin. Blood trickled down my arm and dripped onto his
sleeve. He looked at it in disgust, then wiped it on the front of
my shirt before shoving me forward.

Nora shoved away from her father and ran
across the pavement toward me. She hit the man on my right side
across the jaw hard enough to rock him back, then followed it with
a punch to the groin. He doubled over and she advanced toward the
man on my left. He lifted his gun and took a step back, but glanced
between Nora and her father and turned the gun on me instead.

“
Run,” Nora shouted, her
voice full of pain at her father’s betrayal.

Rob crossed the ground in massive strides
and grabbed her upper arm in a tight grip that made her wince.

“
Vance, I'm so sorry,” she
said, oblivious of the way her dad’s fingers tightened until they
turned white. “I didn't know, honest.”

“
I believe you,” I said.
Her eyes held mine, so green, sincere, and filled with such love it
took my breath away. The man beside me shoved my shoulder directly
on the bullet wound. I stumbled to the side, righted myself, and
walked slowly to Rob’s truck. Rob spoke to one of his men who then
took Nora and led her to a car that appeared at the edge of the
parking lot. I climbed inside the truck and watched her until she
disappeared from view, convinced that it was the last time I would
ever see her again.

Chapter 11

“
Wake up, mutt.” The
sneered words were followed by a kick to my ribs that awoke the
pain in my side with a vengeance. My arms and legs were tied, which
prevented me from defending myself against another kick. I winced
and opened my eyes to see a white-walled room full of cages. “He's
awake,” the one who had kicked me said.

“
Throw him in the cage,”
Rob's low voice answered.

Two men picked me up and threw me in a cage
with bars on all sides and the bottom. My skin burned when I hit
the floor. One of the men stepped in and cut the ropes with a quick
slice of his knife, then slammed the cage door shut behind him. I
stood shakily in an attempt to keep as little of my skin contacting
the floor as possible. My bare feet seared where they touched the
bars. I looked up to see Nora's father on the other side of the
cage door, his arms crossed casually in front of his tailor-suited
chest and his eyes boring into mine.

“
Throw him a blanket,” Rob
said. His dark tone carried a hint of amusement at my
pain.

A gray wool blanket that smelled of unwashed
bodies landed in a heap at my feet. I stood on it, then met Rob's
eyes again. “Where am I?” I demanded.

A humorless smile touched his lips. “The
Werewolf Refinement Center, or Lobotraz, as we've come to call it
thanks to the fact that no werewolf has ever escaped.” He winked at
one of the men next to him. “Alive, that is.”

The three men chuckled and I wanted to smash
their faces in as I had never wanted to hurt anyone before. I
clenched my fists and pain ran up my arm where I had been shot. I
glanced down to find a bandage over the wound. Another one had been
wrapped around my thigh just below the tattered shorts I wore.

“
Heal 'em to kill 'em,” one
of the other men said.

“
Good thing they heal so
quickly,” Rob replied. He turned away, but said over his shoulder,
“Makes torture that much more rewarding.” They walked through the
room and shut a large metal door at the end with a resounding
clang.

I felt like I was going to vomit and sunk
into a crouch on the blanket. I reached out a hand to steady
myself, but stopped just before I grabbed the silver bars.

“
Good move,” a voice said
from across the room.

I looked up to find another werewolf in a
cage. Eight more cages lined that side of the wall and a glance to
my right and left showed the same number on my side. Each cage
contained a werewolf who watched me with mixed expressions of
boredom, empathy, and anger.