Pride Unleashed (a Wolf's Pride novel, book 2) (25 page)

With that
h
e closes the door
gently
and my heart beats faster as he secures my
lock.
Then his eyes meet mine, and
he isn’t even trying to mask the worry I see there.

“Do you have a plan?” he
questions
in whispered words.

“I’m working on it,” I assure him
, thankful that Sandy is still in the courtyard and we can talk privately
.

He stands there for a long time, his forehead braced against the cage, then he lifts his head and
the pain I see
on his face press
es
against my heart.
“I’m sorry,
P
ride
.
”

“Don’t,” I say quickly,
holding my hands up to stop him because I’m suddenly not
sure
I can deal with his pain
or
his emotions.
Mine are in enough turmoil as it is
.

But he doesn’t stop.
Instead he says,
“I’m sorry I wasn’t strong enough to stop him from doing this to you.”

His
fingers slip through my metal bars and when his
hands tighten on
them, I
close my small palm over them.

“
Please
,” I say
, tears stinging my eyes
.
“This isn’t your fault.
You had a family to worry about.
I understand that now.”

He gives me a small grateful smile
that doesn’t reach his eyes
when
he whispers
,
“
I don’t want anything to happen to you.”

I push the words past the lump in my throat.
“I’ll be fine.”

After a long moment he breaks the quiet
, gives a slow sure nod of his head a
nd says,
“If anyone can pull this off
,
Pride
, i
t’s you.”

As his words ring in my head—words I once heard from
Clover
before I bolted
three weeks ago
—it does something to me.
Without consci
ous thought my hand
fists over m
y heart.
Even though
Clover is
gone,
I know she’s still with me
,
here in my heart
,
u
rging me
to do the right thing
.
It was h
er
confidence
in m
y abilities
that
helped me
escape the first time and
t
he
faith both she and Mario have in me will he
lp me
do what needs to be
done
a second time
.
I’m sure of it.

“Just be
careful
, okay
?
”

I nod but a
bang at the top of the stairs has us both stiffening
.
Mario steps back.
His back goes straight and his face hardens, then after returning to handler mode he
twists
and takes the stairs two at a time.
A moment later
I listen to the door
slip
shut, and the deadbolt slide home.

With chaos erupting inside me,
I
push down
my
emotions
and
turn to
find bread and bacon wrapped in a small napkin
.
My stomach takes that moment to grumble, b
ut before I dive into it
and devour it like a starved dog
, I
hurry to the corner of my cot,
lift
it slightly, and gingerly place the key underneath.
I don’t dare try it
on the lock
just yet
,
not
when anyone could come sauntering down the stairs
and catch me
.
No, I’ll have to wait until
after
dark, when the house is quiet
and my bunkmate is asleep
.

Once the key is hidden,
I
lower myself onto my cot.
As I carefully peel open the nap
kin
, I
wonder who could have delivered
this food t
o me.
If I didn’t know better I’d think I had my own little guardian angel.
But I do know better.
With the exception of a few, in this place it’s pretty much every wolf for himself.

I breathe deep to see if I can catch any unfamiliar
scents
lingering
in the air
but when I find none
I
peer into
Sandy’s
empty
cage.
Not that I think she’d share her
victor
’
s winnings
with me, anyway.

I don’t spend too much time thinking about who gifted me with this
much needed
nourishment, not with the way my belly is growling loudly.
I
take a bit
e
and
force myself to
chew
slowly, otherwise
I know
my empty stomach will rebel.
The dry bread lodges in my throat
,
and without water I have to work extra hard to swallow
it down
.

Once I’m finished I lay on my cot, and soon Sandy returns.
She comes bounding down the steps like an exuberant puppy, and a
fter Lawrence deposits her in her cell, s
he
crawls into her bed
without s
aying a word to me.
I note the
curious
way she’s watching me
, like she
suspects
I’m up to something
.

Keeping my pulse steady and the blood flowing slowly through my v
e
ins
to avoid raising her suspicions
I turn from her, and
use that time to
think about my next move
.
But as I stare at the ventilation system overhead and think about the twists and turns I’ll
have
to take to make my way around the upstairs, I wonder about my father’s scent.
Will I pick up on it again
?
If
I
catch a whiff
, do I dare follow it?
W
ill it lead me to
answers
?
Or will it lead me to danger?

My heart pounds
at that thought and my
restless
wolf
,
anxious to break free from her cell
, howls for me to make my move.
As impatience thrums through her I try to soothe her
, to remind her that we can’t
ever
act on impulse
again.
The
noises ringing out upstairs are
a sign that the household is still awake
and we need to exercise
both caution and
restraint
.

I close my eyes to rest
them
and a
long time later, when I
finally
hear
the upstairs settle, I turn to Sandy to find her
breathing
softly, a
good
indication
that she’s fallen asleep
.
I wait a moment l
onger
just to be sure then
ease myself from my cot
.
I
drop to my
knees
,
suck in air and
quietly lift
the corner of
my cot
.
Even though
I
know it has to be there, I still
breathe
a sigh of relief when my gaze lands on the shiny new
key.

I
wrap my palm around it and ho
ld it tight
while
I stuff my pillow under my ratty blanket to make it look like I’m
still
in bed asleep.
Stepping back, I observe my handiwork.
It’s not
convincing by any mean
s,
but it’s the best I can do with limited supplies.
With that
I tip
-
toe
to my
cage
door
and
as I mentally rehearse my plan, I
can hardly believe what I’m about to do
.

Quieting my heartbeat I use
slow,
careful movements
and
slip
my
small
shaky
hands through the
narrow
bars
until the key is aligned with the lock
.
Despite the cold room, beads of moisture pool on my forehead, and I
use my arm to
wipe
them away
.
I
push the key in and
a
lmost howl with joy when it
easily slips inside
the keyhole
, a perfect match
.

I hold still for a minute and my
ears
twitch, half expecting the master to come barreling down the stairs
because
I’ve set off some sort of alarm.
When nothing happens
, and knowing I can’t afford any distractions
—a
nything
that can
rattle my
hard earned
focus
—I
return my
full
attention to the
lock
.

I give the key a quick twist and
cringe when
the bolt
makes a loud clicking sound.
Sandy rolls in her cot, the coils squeaking beneath her tiny frame.
I
hold my breath and remain
still
and the joints in my neck crack slightly as I angle my head to see her, to assure
myself
the s
ound ha
s
n’t dragged
her
from her
slumber
.
When I find her eyes shut and her
breathing slow and steady, I
relax slightly and
take a moment to
regroup.

I take three deep breaths, then a
fter getting myself under control I w
ork quickly,
pull the cage door open just enough to slip out, then I
secure it
shut
behind me
.
I drop to the floor and hide the key between the cement
pad
and the bottom metal
rail
of my cell
before I stand back up
.
Pushing myself further into the shadows, I
brush the dirt from my hands
and
look overhead
.

In the darkened room my eyes follow the path of the ventilation ducts and I somehow have to find the
route
that will lead me to Gem.
But the first thing I need to do is get up high
so I can reach it
.

I
move back to my cage,
grip the metal bars and
pull myself upward until I’m on the top of my cage.
I rise up and s
tand
on the
long, narrow
rungs.
Spreading my arms to balance myself, I slowly
put one foot in front of the other,
my toes
curling
around th
e
cold metal.
I walk steadily, shoulders back and head held high, like Miss Kara taught me,
until I’m directly beneath the ventilation duct.
Without
making
a
sound
, I grip the jagged edge and wit
h
every ounce of strength I possess, I pull myself inside.