Soul Enslaved (Sons of Wrath Book 3) (32 page)

“I don’t understand. Who else would care about Cash’s book?”

“The ones looking to make more Purebloods,” he said without turning.

“Why?”

“They’re the only ones resistant to that white creature you saw the other day. The faster it’s discovered what makes them resistant, the sooner every other species, including demons and humans, will be enslaved.”

Demons enslaved by lycans?
“How is that possible?” She frowned. “Lycans are weaker than demons. Always have been.”

“Lycans are comparably weaker to us. But there was a time we were susceptible to the Sang and they weren’t. Should the organism become what it was, the dogs will be holding the leash, and we’ll be tucking our tales.” He shook his head. “It’s frightening when something so primal and uncivil threatens to be a dominant species.”

Sabelle stared out the windshield at the church. “Why isn’t anyone going after Lachlan, then? His rival?”

“The only ones who’d be interested are those who wish to keep it from happening. Demons, at the moment. Humans will fall prey as well, but if they happen to learn of the cure, they’ll be a more powerful player in the game. The one who can control the organism, wins.” He ran a hand through his perfectly groomed hair, mussing it a bit. “I didn’t tell Marrick about the book. He claims to be an ally, but he’s still lycan. I haven’t decided whether or not I can totally trust him, yet. And I don’t want to add further complications to this mission. My objective is getting you in and out safely.”

“If they’re resistant to the creature, why not go directly to the source? What’re they waiting for?”

“There’s another piece to the puzzle. The Alexi possessed a journal that contained the one missing element that would sustain the Sang organism. It would allow it to thrive inside its host. And so you have an army of resistant attack dogs and an organism that can wipe out every other species. Neither camp happens to be in possession of it, from what I understand.”

“Who would want that?”

“Humans looking to wipe out demons. Or demons looking to purify their own kind,” he said, drawing her gaze back round. “You see? This isn’t just about retrieving a book. You’re jumping into the middle of a war.” His earnest eyes tugged at the kinks already twisting in her chest. “Lachlan is untouchable for a reason. He’s being protected by something much bigger.”

Yeah, Sabelle’s stomach sank at the news. Two days before, she’d simply been signing up to grab a book, and had no idea she’d be dipping her hand into a war. Still, all the more reason to go forward with the mission. Her name was in that book. Denya’s name, too. Who knew what the hell the lycans would do with that information?

“He likes succubi. He likes redheads. Getting that book buys my freedom and a whole hell of a lot of other people’s freedom as well.”

Gavin rubbed his temples. “You are a stubborn woman.”

“Yeah? You’d be, too.” She crossed her arms. “If you were a woman.”

He opened the door and slid from the driver’s seat.

Unraveling her arms, she slid forward. “What are you doing?”

“I told you. Scouting. Just stay put. I’ll be right back.”

“I don’t think so.” She threw open the passenger door and climbed out of her seat. “If you go, I go.”

“I had a feeling you were going to say that.” He pointed a finger, his eyes radiating authority. “Stay close and stay quiet.”

Sabelle followed behind Gavin, as they cut through an adjacent yard, hopping the fence that separated the unkempt grounds, taking a roundabout route to the back of the church.

The sound of rustling and a tortured scream from inside the church had Gavin signaling for quiet—could’ve been what scared the bum.

Both Gavin and Sabelle peeked through the broken window, at a group of boys gathered inside. The nave had been cleared out, the pews removed. The concrete floor and elaborately carved walls stood empty.

Dark red pooled on the floor, seeping out from the circle, and an outcry echoed throughout the empty church.

“Is that blood?” Sabelle whispered.

The boys backed away, opening the gap to a large, adult lycan, whose mouth was clamped around a boy’s throat.

The boy must’ve been ten. Like a lamb caught by the wolf.

Gods!
Sabelle lurched to help him, but Gavin threw out an arm to stop her, despite the boy’s cries.

“It’s too late. The change will begin. By this evening he’ll either be dead, or writhing in pain,” Gavin warned.

She stared up at him through the mist in her eyes, hurt tearing through her at the uncharacteristic coldness tainting his words. “Could you so easily tell me this if it was Thomas?”

Gavin’s impassive face twisted to a frown. “Of course not.”

“What would you do?”

His lip peeled back in a snarl.

***

After a quick weapons check—two daggers, a Glock strapped across his chest—Gavin climbed in through the broken church window with Sabelle following behind.

The older boys gathered around the younger had probably been bitten at some point. Not a chance in hell the lycan would allow spectators without tearing through the crowd, unless it was his pack watching him—though Gavin doubted they made up the
entire
pack.

Another mewling cry from the boy steeled his resolve, and Gavin strode forward, but he’d taken only a step when the group spun, bringing Gavin up short. Spreading out, they formed a line, like a defensive wall, between Gavin and the macabre, each of their shoulders bunched and a symphony of growls hitting the air.

A cocky smile inched onto Gavin’s face as he took in their apparent ages close up, their youth that would, undoubtedly, make for an easier fight. “Good evening, boys.”

Two of the younger boys burst into lycan form and barreled toward him.

Careful not to kill
, he reminded himself.
Just boys
.

As a rusty wolf leapt toward him, Gavin caught it in the stomach, sending it flying into the wall, where it slumped to the floor.

A black wolf charged forward. As Gavin threw out his leg to kick, he caught a brown wolf prowling low. With two powerful punches from Gavin, they yelped before retreating.

Half a dozen boys still stood on two legs, seeming reluctant to take lycan form. One bowed his head, taking a step back, as the adult lycan bared its teeth.

Crazed red-rimmed eyes zeroed in on Gavin’s approach while the blood of the injured boy strung from its mouth.

Gavin tugged out and flicked his dagger, and a flash of silver sliced through the space between them.

As a thrash of its claw batted the blade away, sparing the wolf a severed neck, Gavin jogged forward. Second dagger drawn, he ducked low, slicing a cavernous wound up its belly.

Teeth lodged into Gavin’s neck, and he slammed his fist up through the bottom of its jaw. Kicking the wolf’s feet from beneath its body, he leveled his gun inside the beast’s mouth, angled upward toward its brain, two quick shots rendering it motionless.

Gavin spit out the black tarry blood that’d shot into his mouth and spun around to find Sabelle crouched in the center of the remaining boys, with the wounded kid held to her chest with one arm. Even so, she held her chin high while holding one of Gavin’s thrown daggers as though ready to strike.

A blond boy’s eyes flashed silver, primed to attack Sabelle, and Gavin pointed, catching the boy’s attention with a silent warning.

The wounded boy whined and convulsed, and Sabelle’s outstretched arm trembled as she held the dagger.

Gavin pushed a ginger-haired boy back a step. “Back off!”

The remaining boys took off running, toward the entrance, their shoes hitting the tiled floor—but not Ginger. He stayed put.

“He’s … he’s a friend of mine.” Ginger must’ve been fifteen or sixteen. “He ain’t got no family. They all been killed. I take care of him.”

“You stand by while he’s mutilated by the wolves?” Gavin’s lip curled. “Some friend.”

“I told him … they’d protect him if he became one.” Hands stuffed in the pockets of his tattered jeans, the kid kicked at the ground, gaze lowering away from Gavin’s. “Shit’s bad on the streets. You either die, or become one of them.”

Gavin glanced back down at Sabelle as she gently stroked the boy’s brow. “Let’s get him to the hospital.”

“No!” Ginger jumped toward her, halting when Gavin slapped his palm against the boy’s chest. “They’ll track us all down. Throw us in one of their labs. Happened to a friend of mine! He ain’t come back!” He kicked back a step and crossed his arms over his stomach. “His brother got away. They did some messed up shit to him. Injected him with stuff, and now he ain’t right.” Shaking his head, the kid grimaced. “Ain’t right, at all.”

Could’ve been the Alexi he was referring to. Wade Jackson had been well known for torturing lycans while he was alive.

Gavin pulled out his cell phone and dialed Ayden, a client who happened to be an Alexi soldier—a very effective weapon against the lycans. She also happened to be Gavin’s ex girlfriend. “It’s Gavin. I need you to do something for me. I’m at the old church off Van Dyke. Come down, and put a call in to the doc on your way. Have Drechler meet us back at the mansion.”

“Got it.” Ayden rarely questioned him where orders were concerned, a phenomena he’d come to recognize as a form of respect, because the woman rarely followed orders in general.

Sabelle rocked the boy in her arms, stroking his hair, as he arched and trembled. Sweat shined his body, likely from fever and the lycan venom running through his blood.

Slipping his gun back inside its holster, Gavin strode toward the fallen wolf and plucked his blade from its chest.

“Preacher was just trying to help.” Ginger shook his head. “Thought he was too young, but did it, anyhow.”

Gavin twisted toward the adult wolf still bleeding out of his wounds, slightly surprised to hear of any logic stemming from a lycan. Most of them simply devoured the young.

“He didn’t mean no harm.”

“Where are the rest? Why haven’t they attacked?”

“The lair ain’t in the church.” Ginger gave a nod toward a door in the back. “There’s a bunch of tunnels that connect to the school down the street.”

“Tunnels?” The word piqued Gavin’s interest—the more he learned about the place, prior to the mission, the better.

“Underground. Old steam tunnels I guess.”

“Fights are held here, though?”

“Yeah.” The boy scratched the back of his head, as if nervous about divulging any more information. “You ain’t police, are ya?”

“No. I’m not the police.” Gavin kept his guard up, eyes scanning for silver in the shadows. He’d have moved the kid, except he really wanted to check out the basement of the church.

A flash of black zipped through the window, and Ayden approached, hand on the Beretta strapped across her chest. She hesitated a step when she caught sight of the boys. “What’s going on?”

“It’s all right,” Gavin assured her.

Her mate, Kane, shadowed her, chin lifted, nose sniffing, but the lycan tiger buried within Kane kept him from aligning with the wolves and following their pack mentality. He stopped alongside the wolf on the ground and toed its shattered jaw with the steel tip of his boot. The beast’s bones had scattered across the floor and mixed with the black tarry blood. “Like shells in the yoke. Messy.” Kane’s usual humor didn’t quite hit the mark as it had before, since his full change. His deep voice held too much rasp, delivering his sarcastic quips with less finesse.

Flickers of gold swirled in Ayden’s eyes as she kept her stare flitting between the two boys. “I repeat: what’s going on?”

“I need you to take him back,” Gavin said. “Keep an eye on him. He was just bitten—I think he’s the youngest I’ve seen yet.”

“And him?” Ayden’s head cocked toward Ginger.

“He’s going to give me a tour of the building.”

“There’re more of them.” Ayden sniffed the air. “I can sense it.”

“There are. A lair. But this isn’t the time.” Good thing about Ayden was, she always picked up on that
there’s more to the story but I’m not talking about it here
look in his eye.

She nodded, and Kane bent forward, lifted the boy into his arms, but twitched. He continued to flinch as if batting away something bothering him, and as his nose scrunched, his eyes flickered silver.

Gavin frowned, hands poised to swipe the boy from him if needed. “You okay?”

“His instincts have kicked in.” Ayden slipped her hand beneath the boy, and Kane’s lip curled as a growl rumbled in his chest. “Control it.” Ayden tugged at the boy with one hand, keeping the other on the butt of her gun. “Or this is where I keep my promise.”

As if snapped from a trance, remorse danced across Kane’s face, as he stared down at the boy in his arms. “I’m sorry.”

Ayden worked the boy from Kane’s arms and turned to face Gavin. “I’ll keep an eye on him.”

“My apologies.” Kane frowned, hands balled into tight fists at his side. “I smelled the other wolf. Felt … an urge to finish him off.” He stroked his skull. “I didn’t intend to … hurt him.”

“Once the boy is beyond the initial stages of his transformation, there’ll be less temptation.” Ayden’s gaze fell back on Kane as if some unsaid pact existed between them. “I’m hoping.”

“Look, if you want me to show you where the fights are, let’s go now.” Ginger shifted on his feet. “I don’t want to be down there if the others return.”

Gavin nodded. “I’m gonna scope the basement real quick. Kane, you got my back?”

“Sure.” He shot a look to Ayden and walked off toward the back of the church, where Ginger stood waiting by an open door.

Gavin held out a hand, drawing Sabelle to her feet, while Ayden pushed the boy through a small gap in the particleboard covering the front entrance. “We’ll be right back.”

“No, no. Remember? You go, I go.” She wiped dirt from her jeans, and Gavin’s eyes couldn’t help but follow the path of her hands to the curves and dips of her body. “This is my gig. I should know every aspect of it.”

“All right, but keep in mind, we’re on their turf and they’re not expecting us.”

“Noted.”

Down a darkened staircase, Gavin followed Kane and the young lycan. The basement had been opened, with a high ceiling that accommodated the bleachers set against the wall. In the center of the room stood a cage that nearly touched the ceiling in height.