Werewolf Academy Book 5: Lost (3 page)

Chapter Two

Alex kept the blade firmly pressed to the man’s throat as they entered the building. Scents of many people, stale food, dusty furniture, and dirty carpets touched his nose. It appeared to have been an office building once. The front doors led to a wide corridor that looked like it had seen far better days. Men and women of all ages stared at Alex as he forced his captive past them. He kept the man close, the blade at his neck visible to anyone who might want to make a move to stop them.

“Dag, what are you—” a man with metal studs through his cheeks stopped talking at the sight of the knife.

“This kid’s looking for someone,” Dag said, his voice tight.

The man took a step toward them.

“Stay right there,” Alex growled in a tone that left no room for argument.

The man with the studs held up a hand. “Okay, take it easy. Who are you looking for?”

“Someone your gang took.”

The man’s eyes narrowed. He glanced behind him. Other members of the gang pressed forward. Alex turned slightly so that his back was protected by a pillar.

“Take me to the people you kidnapped,” Alex demanded.

The sound of quiet footsteps behind him alerted him of the danger.

“We’ll take you,” Studs said. “Just let Dag go and we can—” His eyes flicked behind Alex.

Alex ducked and spun, throwing Dag away from him. A chain slammed into the pillar where he had stood. Alex attacked the man, barreling him into the ground with the force of a bull. Alex rolled back his feet as the gang closed in.

Alex blocked a punch with his forearms and drove a fist into a man’s groin. He slammed an elbow against a nose and followed it with a left haymaker to the next attacker’s jaw. Alex dodged to the right and caught the arm of the man who threw the punch. Spinning to the inside, Alex used his momentum to throw the man into several others, knocking them to the floor.

Someone grabbed Alex from behind in a bear hug. He bent his knees and threw an elbow back, catching the man in the stomach. He slammed a fist to the man’s groin, caught his wrist with his free hand, and stepped around behind the man’s leg. He threw the man forward into two women with bats.

“Who is this guy?” Studs demanded, holding his jaw.

“I’m something you’ve never seen,” Alex replied. He allowed the anger that had been building within him to surface. Blue colored the edges of his vision. His fingers lengthened, his muscles bulged, and his limbs elongated.

The crowd fell back from him in terror. Alex grabbed Dag by the front of the shirt. “Take me to the girl,” he said in a deep half growl, half yell that echoed through the building.

Dag’s face paled and he nodded quickly. “T-that way,” he stuttered.

Alex dragged him in the direction the man pointed. The crowd fell away on either side of them. The scent of their fear tainted the room. Alex followed Dag through a set of doors to a stairway. They walked quickly down. A chill permeated the unheated air. Alex fought back the strange impulse to shiver.

A voice spoke before they reached the bottom. “Go back up,” a man said in a bored voice as though he often told gang members they weren’t allowed to enter the basement room.

“He’s got a gun,” Dag said to Alex. “And trust me, he won’t hesitate to use it.”

Alex’s hand tightened and the man winced at the pressure of his claws. “Do I look afraid?” he asked in a growl.

The man sat in a chair next to the only door. As soon as Dag and Alex came into sight, he jumped up, his eyes wide. He lifted his gun.

“You can shoot me,” Alex told him. “But it will only make me mad. Drop your gun and I won’t snap both of your necks.”

The man’s gaze shifted from Alex to Dag. Dag nodded quickly.

The gun fell out of the man’s hand.

“Open the door,” Alex commanded.

The man fumbled in his pocket. He pulled out a key, then dropped it on the floor. He glanced back at Alex’s approach. His face paled and his hands shook. Alex heard the click of the lock springing free. He pulled the door open and shoved both men inside with him.

“Where are they?” he demanded.

“W-who?” the man with the key asked.

“He wants the girls,” Dag replied. “Give him the girls.”

Doors lined the hallway. Alex could hear whimpers from several of them.

“Give me everyone you have down here.”

“But Taden will kill me,” the man protested.

Alex grabbed him by the front of the shirt and lifted him high enough that his feet no longer touched the ground. “What do you think I’ll do if you refuse?”

The man nodded quickly. “Okay, I’ll do it.”

Alex dropped him. He scrambled back to his feet and pulled out another set of keys. One by one, he unlocked the doors.

Alex stepped into the first room. A girl not much older than his seventeen years cowered in the corner. She hadn’t even looked up to see him, but she was crying. His chest tightened at the thought that whatever they did to the girls was enough to make her huddle in the corner of the sparse room. The scent of fear wafted heavily from her.

“I’m getting you out of here.”

The girl glanced up at the sound of Alex’s voice. Her eyes widened. She looked like she didn’t know whether to scream or run.

“I’m not going to hurt you,” Alex promised. “I want to help you get home.”

Something in her eyes flickered at the word home. Alex crouched slowly, careful to keep his distance. “I know I look scary,” he said. He let out a breath, hoping somehow she would realize she could trust him. “I’m not like them,” he continued, gestured toward the building above. “My friend Sarah is here. I’ve come to rescue her and see all of you safely home.”

The girl blinked in the dim light. Alex could see bruises on her face. Her wrists looked raw as though she had recently been tied up. He couldn’t blame her for not trusting him after all she had been through. He didn’t know how he would get the girls home if he couldn’t even convince them to follow him out of the building. Morphing was one complication he hadn’t foreseen.

“I-I know Sarah.”

Alex turned back around, careful to keep his motions slow. “You do?”

She nodded, her eyes wide as they searched his face. Her gaze lingered on his eyes. After a moment, she rose from her corner and walked to him. She stopped several feet away. It wasn’t all-out trust, but it was better than having to carry them out one at a time.

“What’s your name?” Alex asked as gently as he could.

“Amber,” she replied, her voice timid.

“Amber, I’m Alex. Will you help me get the other girls out of here?”

Relief filled him when Amber nodded again. He stepped back so she could pass through the door.

Dag took a step forward as though to force Amber back into her room. When the girl shrank away from him, rage erupted in Alex’s chest. “You will never hurt these girls again,” he snarled. He swung a backhand and caught the side of Dag’s head so hard the gang member spun completely around before he collapsed unconscious to the ground.

Instead of fearing him more after his outburst, seeing her captor knocked out seemed to give Amber strength. She hurried into the next room. A moment later, another girl came out. She shrieked at the sight of Alex, but Amber caught her arm.

“It’s okay. He’s a friend,” she said. “He’s going to get us out of here.”

The girl eyed him uncertainly as he followed them to the next room. Soon, seven girls huddled together in front of Alex. A familiar scent touched his nose. He looked up to see Sarah standing by the last door. One of her eyes was bruised and her wrists were red. She looked as nervous as the other girls at the open door.

“Sarah?” Alex called.

She looked up and her eyes widened. Her gaze traveled from the silver seven on his shoulder to his eyes. “Alex? Is that you?” Her steps forward were hesitant.

Alex nodded, relieved that she recognized him. “Tanner sent me. He didn’t know what to do.”

“I’m so glad you’re here,” she said. She surprised him by wrapping her arms around him and holding him tight. Her hands trembled. He wondered what she had been forced to endure. A small sob escaped her.

Sarah took a few shuddering breaths before she stepped back. “Let’s get out of here,” she said in a voice that was almost steady.

Amber crossed into the next room. She came out again quickly.

“Alex, you’re going to have to carry her. She’s been hurt pretty bad.”

Alex smelled blood as soon as he entered the room. The girl on the bed was naked and had what appeared to be shallow knife wounds along her arms, her abdomen, and down one cheek. Alex could barely contain his rage at the sight of her unbound gashes. He closed his eyes, willing his heartbeat to slow so that it wouldn’t start skipping.

When he opened his eyes again, Amber had wrapped a sheet around the girl’s body. He crouched and gathered her as gently as possible in his arms. She let out a little moan of pain, and rested her head against his neck with her eyes closed. A pool of dark blood covered the bed where she had been.

“We need to get her to the hospital,” Alex said.

“Let’s hurry,” Amber replied.

“I hear footsteps on the stairs,” Sarah called from the hallway.

Alex checked the last two rooms, but they were empty. He led the way back up the hallway and kicked himself mentally when he realized the gang member who had unlocked the doors was nowhere in sight. They entered the room leading to the basement and the thunder of footsteps increased. The door at the top of the stairs flew open.

“What’s going on down there?” a man who appeared to be in his forties demanded. His hand that touched the railing gripped tighter when he got a good look at Alex. “What are you?”

“That doesn’t matter,” Alex replied. “What matters is that I’m taking these girls out of here and you will never bring a girl to this place again.”

“Is that right?” the man asked.

Alex nodded. He could smell the terror of the girls behind him.

“That’s Taden,” Sarah whispered. “He’s in charge, and he’s...cruel.”

All of Alex’s restraint fled at the catch in her voice. He knelt and lowered the injured girl gently to the ground.

“I’ve got her,” Amber reassured him quietly, cradling the girl’s head in her lap.

Alex climbed the stairs in two leaps. Before Taden or his men could so much as tighten their fingers on the triggers of their guns, Alex had Taden by the throat. He lifted the gang leader to the ceiling.

“You think it’s fun to take little girls from their homes?” Alex demanded. “What are they doing here?”

“Ini...initiation,” Taden replied, gasping against Alex’s tight hold.

“You have your gang members kidnap girls for initiation?”

When Taden nodded, Alex’s stomach tightened. He asked the question he didn’t want to. “Then what do you do with them?”

Taden’s face was red and he was struggling for air too much to reply. Alex speared the man closest to them with a glare. The look of anger on his face was enough to make the man answer, “Anything we want.”

Alex threw Taden into his men so hard those hit were pummeled across the room like rag dolls. He crossed to the gang leader and threw him again. He slammed into a wall and fell to the ground, leaving the imprint of his body in the sheetrock.

Alex bent down and grabbed the semi-conscious man by the chest. His clawed fingers dug into Taden’s skin, shocking him awake with pain. “If you ever bring another girl down here, I will tear out your heart and feed it to you. Do you understand?” Alex roared.

Taden nodded and Alex let him go. He fell back to the floor.

No one stood in Alex’s way when he and the girls left the building. Alex squinted in the bright morning sunlight. He hurried to the motorcycle and grabbed his helmet. Holding it to his head the best that he could with a girl in his arms, he said, “Trent?”

“Wha-Alex? Is that you?” Trent responded groggily.

“Yes, it’s me. I need you to get an ambulance to,” he glanced at a street sign, “Chester and Fifth in Greyton.”

“What did you do?” Trent asked, sounding suddenly wide awake.

“I found Sarah and other girls the gang kidnapped. One of them needs a hospital.” He looked over his shoulder. “And possibly a few of the gang members. Tell them to hurry.”

Alex waited impatiently until he heard the headset click and Trent said, “They’re refusing to go to the Saa. What’s the Saa, Alex?”

Alex searched for a lighter way to describe it and settled with, “A cesspool of humanity. Not the best place to vacation.” When Trent didn’t laugh, he let out a breath. “Tell them I’ll protect them from the gangs.”

“Wait, are you in rage mode?” Trent asked, his voice near panic.

“Yeah,” Alex said. “I can’t get it to go away, but maybe that’s a good thing.”

“If they don’t shoot you on sight,” his friend replied, his voice worried. “No one’s ever seen anything like you.”

“Then warn them what to expect,” Alex replied. “Just whatever you do, get them here. These girls need to go home.”