The Breed Casstiel's Vow (34 page)

           
“I can’t believe they leave the door unlocked,” Tessa whispered nervously as
they entered the holding room for the prisoners.

           
“Well Lucy, it’s only us two and Casstiel’s team in this entire building, so
why would they lock the door?” Nora snapped at her, “Besides, even I can’t believe
your seriously doing this.”

           
Tessa chose to let her comment slide as she began looking through each cell.

           
Up ahead they heard the soft rustling of clothes, causing them to both jump.

           
“Why do I let you talk me into this shit?” Nora’s nostrils flared and she gave
her a killing glare.

           
The hunter was up ahead in one of the last cells on the right.

           
“He’s probably going to try and provoke us, don’t show any emotion no matter
what he says. He can’t know how much he’s getting to you, or he’ll just keep
going. No matter how pissed off he makes you, don’t react to it,” from the
questioning earlier she had learned that this guy’s favorite thing to do was
work a person’s nerves.

           
 “Oh wonderful, because NOT losing my temper is what I’m best at,” she
already looked grim. 

           
They would only need to talk to him for a few short seconds, just enough to
ease her anxiety, then she would high tail it out, and never have to speak to
him again, and hopefully never have to tell Cass they had come down here.

           
“Let’s get this over with,” Nora ground her teeth at the look of determination
on her face. 

           
“What’s this?” a high pitched voice snaked out of the cell in front of them,
“the men of the Breed have hearts after all, they’ve sent two whores for me to
have my way with before they kill me.”

           
His laugh shrilly bounced along the cinder block walls and echoed back to them,
his dirty hair sticking to his face from all the sweat and grime.

           
The look on Nora’s face said simply that if Cass didn’t already have dibs on
killing this guy that she would gladly do it for him.

           
“We’re here to ask you a few more questions,” she spoke over his laughter and
did her best to seem
unbothered
.

           
“You’re the girl from before,” he wheezed, limping to the bars of the cell.

           
In unison Tessa and Nora took a step back, but stayed stony faced. The lock on
his cell was thick, there was no way he was getting out of there, so all they
had to do was survive talking to him for a few seconds and this would be over
with.

           
“If I didn’t tell anything to your men, what makes you think I’ll tell you
anything?” his eyes inched their way down Nora’s body first than her own,
making her skin crawl, “maybe you can tempt me into it.”

           
She couldn’t fight off the disgusted look that formed over her features as the
hunter licked his tongue suggestively over his lips. Next to her Nora looked as
if she was barely keeping from vomiting. She didn’t want to delve into his
thoughts because she knew they would be filled with rancid sexual ideas, but it
was the only advantage she had over him.

           
“We found the tracking device you planted on the man you call 117,” she pressed
on bravely, the faster she got this over with, the better.

           
Mentally she unfurled the tendrils of her gift and slid her way into the
cesspool of his mind.

           
“A minor setback of no real consequence to us,” he shrugged, but she didn’t
miss the tightening of his eyes, “Your ‘Quinn’ was only a small pawn in a very
big game that minds as small as yours would never understand.”

           
She read his thoughts, but they were still focused on Nora’s curvaceous body.
This line of questioning was going nowhere fast.

           
“Where does the signal to the device lead?” she cut to the point.

           
“Get on your knees and maybe I’ll tell you,” he sneered at her, but his eyes
darkened and finally thoughts beyond lust entered his mind.

           
Unfortunately, she realized he honestly didn’t know where the signal lead to.
The man they had captured truly was one of the lowest men on the hunter totem
pole.

           
She couldn’t decide if this was a good or bad thing; if he didn’t know where
the signal lead to maybe it was because the place was only used by a select few
of the hunters and would be practically empty when Cass got there.

           
“We’re tracing the signal, following it straight to your buddies, so maybe if
you give us some helpful information before we get it on our own, we’ll spare
your life,” she bluffed as convincingly as she could.

           
She just wanted him to somehow reassure her that things would be fine once Cass
got out there. She wanted him to tell her that there were only a small group of
hunters left, all the others had moved on with their lives, and that somehow no
one from the Breed had betrayed them.

           
“They’re following the signal?” he asked coyly, a look of glee entering his
eyes, and a cold feeling crept through Tessa’s veins.

           
“What are you looking so happy about, it’s your friends who are gonna die when
they get there,” Nora growled at him, unable to keep her temper.

           
“No you ignorant bitch, it’s your precious Breed soldiers who are walking right
into a trap,” he screamed back at her, his eyes popping with madness.

           
She didn’t need to read his mind, the hunter spilled out everything in a joyous
rant.

           
“Once again the ego of your little Breed hero’s has gotten the best of them,”
he giggled, rocking himself against the iron bars, “the tracking devices we use
have a hidden security measure. If anyone hacks into them to trace the signal,
it alerts us of what they’re doing and allows us to get prepared. The hunters
already know your genetic filth is on the way! Your men are walking into an
ambush.”

           
Her heart stopped in her chest as she started running.

           
The echo of the
hunters
shrill laughter closed in
around her.

           
“Why the fuck isn’t he answering his phone?” Tessa screamed in frustration as
the automatic drone of Casstiel’s voice mail rumbled in her ear for the fifth
time.

           
“I told you they turn them off,” Nora barked as they raced through the halls,
“they did the same thing in the subway, they use these head set things instead;
they look like blue
tooths
.”

           
Her brain was running into overdrive. Her brother and the love of her life were
walking right into a trap, and there was nothing she could do about it.

           
She had to find a way to warn them. Help them. Stop them. Anything!

           
“Look for weapons,” Nora commanded as they burst through the office door.

           
“What?” her mind was
sluggish,
too bogged down with
fear to think straight.

           
“Tessa,” Nora grabbed onto her shoulders, digging her nails in, “there is no
one here who can help us, we have to depend on ourselves, and they need our
help.”

           
“How can we help them? How can we find them?” she was panicking. If the hunter
didn’t know where they were, what chance did they have?

           
“They’ve got to have a map somewhere, some notes or something,” she replied
desperately as she rifled through desk drawers like a woman possessed. 

           
“I think we can find something at my house,” an idea hit her.

           
“Your house?
Why would we go there?” she asked
confused.

           
“Last night Cass was up all night looking over maps and making plans, he
probably left something there that we could use to figure out where we’re
going,” she replied before Following suit and throwing open all the cabinet
drawers along the walls in search of weapons.

           
Cocking her head to the side Nora stared at her with a mixture of humor and
realization.

           
“What?” she demanded, time was running out and her plan was the best one they
had.

           
“You just called Cass’
house
your house,” she winked.

           
“Yeah I guess I did,” the realization hit her.

           
Shaking her head she got back to work ripping drawers out of desks and dumping
containers over onto the floor.

           
“Shit,” Nora cursed, “every one of these computers is locked, we’ll never
figure out the password in time.”

           
“I think I found where they keep their guns,” Tessa shouted, feeling a moments
worth of relief.

           
Along one of the walls, tucked innocently behind cabinet doors, was a massive
safe.

           
“Rip it open,” she urged frantically.

           
“I can’t,” Nora heaved with all her might, but the thick steel beneath her
hands didn’t budge an inch.

           
Tears threatened to well up as she looked around helplessly… she couldn’t just
sit by and do nothing while the boys were ambushed.

           
“Wait a second,” her eyes had locked onto a small figurine, something that had
looked so ordinary before, but was now glimmering like a beacon of hope.

           
“What?” Nora demanded, as she sprung into action.

~

Casstiel
jammed his foot on the accelerator, his thoughts completely focused on getting
to his men as quickly as he could.

           
Jax had given an estimate of a hundred hunters, which would be a challenge for
them even when the whole group was together. If the hunters somehow found the
wolves out there alone, it would be a slaughter.

           
Despite his concern for his men, his pulse was quickening with the excitement
of the upcoming battle. It had been years since they had found a group of
hunters this large, and he couldn’t wait to use his strength for its true
purpose.

           
He was a natural born predator built to hunt and conquer, and tonight he would
achieve both. 

           
After getting off the freeway and driving down dirt roads they finally came to
the rest of the team standing outside of their SUV.

           
“What do we have?” he demanded flinging open his car door, exhilaration flowing
through him.

           
“Numbers in the high eighties, possibly more inside, all fully equipped. They
knew we were coming, there’s no way this is a coincidence,” Memphis sounded
grim.

           
“Call Thallia and have her do a sweep of the building. We need to make sure
they’re not tapping into our surveillance somehow,” he ordered, and Jax dialed
immediately, “If they’re already waiting for us that
eliminates
any chance of going in quiet.”

           
They had to take this compound down, and they had to do it now, there wasn’t
any time to draw up a complicated plan or call for reinforcements.

           
“I say we start tossing grenades and blow our way in,” Kain suggested.

           
“And with it blow apart any chance of capturing one of them, or learning any
valuable information,” Sebastian shut him down.

           
“How many entrances to the building?” every cell in Casstiel’s body desperately
searched for the right course of action.

           
“Just the front, they’ve bricked up everything else,” Memphis shook his head.

           
“Which also means they can’t get out,” he smiled, feeling the tide finally
beginning to turn.

           
“They’re trying to force us into an ambush by making us come through one
entrance, but if we do this right it’ll back fire,” Ghost caught on to his
train of thought.

           
“How are we going to get in there in one piece if they’re all on the other side
waiting for us?” Quinn asked, not at all used to working with a team.

           
“With these,” a malicious glint passed through Kain’s eyes as he held up two
silver canisters.

           
“Tear gas,” Casstiel explained, “they don’t know we’ve already figured out
there plan, so they’re expecting us to walk into a trap, not make the first
move. Tear gas is really harmful to humans unlike us, so they’ll scatter and by
the time they get their shit together we’ll already be inside.”

           
“Let’s do this,” Jax jumped foot to foot like a boxer before a fight. 

After
more than four years of suspicious silence the war between the Breed and the
hunters was about to burst wide open. This first battle would set the tone and
pace for the war.

           
They had to win this one, he couldn’t bear the idea of retreating and returning
home to Tessa with his head hung in defeat. He wanted to return victorious and
covered in the blood of his enemies, to show her she had chosen an alpha male,
a warrior. 

           
He shut his eyes and let his senses pick up on anything they could. In mere
minutes the quiet of the woods would erupt into a symphony of gunfire, the
smell of crisp greens and fresh earth would be replaced by gunpowder and blood.

           
In a few minutes the calm, dull life he had been leading for years would
explode into action and violence once again.

           
“Ready my brother?” Sebastian clamped him tight around the shoulder.

           
“Ready,” he replied with conviction.

           
There was no other choice.

~

           
“Which floor is his?” Tessa asked as they raced up the stairs.

           
“No idea, we’ll have to try them all,” Nora grunted in reply, not even winded
by the heavy running they were doing. 

           
She got to the door of the first penthouse leagues before Tessa, and raged when
it wouldn’t budge.

           
“Kick it open,” Tessa gasped out of breath.

           
“See this?” she jabbed a finger at what looked like a key pad, “it’s the same
thing that was on the weapons locker, we need the code to get in, I can’t break
it.”

           
“Shit,” she moaned, “this is probably his house.”

           
“Come on, we’ve got to try them all,” Nora growled, and before she could catch
her breath, they were off running. 

           
Again Nora reached the penthouse door before her, and thankfully this time the
door opened without hesitation.

           
The house they walked into had the same layout as Casstiel’s, but was
drastically different.

           
The living room was covered in every modern electronic known to man; video game
systems were placed neatly around a wall sized
tv
, and every corner of the room held expensive
looking speakers.

           
“It’s not his,” Nora looked murderous as she came bustling out of one of the
back rooms.

           
“How can you tell?” she asked.

           
“He’s got an office back there filled with toys and collectables, Jax told me
he has a home business where he buys and sells antique toys, let’s get out of
here,” she was gone in a flash and Tessa was left running to catch up.

           
As they approached the last door, their last chance, Nora seemed every bit as
worried and anxious as she did.

           
If this door didn’t open they were out of options.

           
Tessa placed her hand on the handle and let out a deep breath.

           
Giving it the slightest push, miraculously it opened.

           
One look around told them they were in the right place. Every five feet along
the walls stood a glass display case showing off guns of different styles and
time periods; No one else but Kain was that interested in weaponry.

           
The only decorations adorning his walls were mounted swords and daggers, each
with glistening handles, as if they were taken down and polished regularly.

           
“This is it,” she breathed a sigh of relief.

           
Nora however was all business as she made a bee line for one of the display
cases and began taking it apart.

           
“Damn,” her nails bit into the glass with frustration, “these are more
decorative than actually useful; he doesn’t even have the bullets with them.”

           
“Check his office, I’ll check his bed room,” Tessa shot off, easily able to
find the bedroom as again, it was the same layout as Casstiel’s house.

           
“If worse comes to worse we could take the guns without the bullets and bluff
our way in,” Nora was truly desperate.

           
Like the rest of the house, the bedroom seemed overly clean and rarely used. It
appeared that besides to store his weapons, Kain hardly ever came home.

           
Tessa opened the night stand and found the hard black barrel of a hand gun.
Finally.

           
“I got one!” she hollered out.

           
Under the hand gun were two heavy looking sets of metal hand cuffs, and she had
a suspicion of what he used them for.

           
She rifled through some of the boxes in his closet and found a shoe box full of
ammunition.

           
Looking through his dresser drawers she found nothing, but hidden underneath
the bed was a black duffle bag she was sure would be useful.

           
“What the hell is that?” Nora asked, coming into the room as Tessa pulled out
what looked like a leather paddle.

           
“Oh god, I don’t want to know,” she dropped the thing like it was on fire, and
noticed before she zipped the bag that it held more heavy looking handcuffs and
a bundle of red rope.

           
“I figured he liked it rough but damn,” I shook her
head,
“anyway I found two more handguns in the office.”

           
“And I’ve got the bullets,” she shook the shoe box.
Time to
save their men.

~

           
“Give them to me,” Quinn held out his hand, “I’m faster than any of you, by the
time you get there the hunters will be scrambling to get away, they’ll be
sitting ducks.”

           
They didn’t really need him to go ahead of them, but Casstiel understood what
he was offering; a test of trust.

           
Quinn needed to prove himself, and as he handed him his tear gas canisters, he
prayed he would actually come through. One fumble now and the game would be
over for them.

           
Like lightning he took off, and it was truly awe inspiring to witness.