All Hell Breaks Loose (41 page)

Trish looked up to meet his gaze.  She was biting her bottom lip, her eyes bright with tears.

Derek gave her a small smile.  “Then I think I can move forward.  Begin to rebuild my life.  And hopefully be the brother Trish needs right now.”

The noise of a throat being cleared broke the dramatic spell.  Trish ducked back to her work, wiping surreptitiously at her eyes, the rest turned to Liam.

“Sorry to interrupt,” he said, “but I have Patrick on the phone.  He says it’s urgent.”  He held out a phone to Julius.

The next few hours flew past in a blur.  The biggest debate centred
around
how to get Derek into the enemy camp without raising suspicion.  Byron had sent word that he’d a sourced a microchip that could be injected under Derek’s skin.  It would transmit audio back to them, so long as they placed a relay transmitter not too far from the airbase.  The chip was not detectable by 99% of scanners, but there was still a slim chance of discovery.  Marcello was dispatched to collect the microchip while Byron took care of the relay transmitter.

The breakthrough finally came when a report arrived from some
Blackriver
Pack members that several suspicious non-Pack males were prowling the clubs in a seedy part of lower downtown.  The plan became simple after that.  Derek just had to put himself in their path, attract their attention, and then hope they recognised him.  The moment Marcello arrived back with the microchip, Gabi followed Byron’s instructions, inserting it into a specialized syringe and injecting the tiny capsule just under Derek’s skin, behind his left ear.  Gabi had to bite her lip to keep from rattling off a thousand instructions and words of advice as she worked.  Trish was stressed enough without Gabi making the mission seem virtually impossible; she had to at least act like he could pull this off with no problems.  She wished Byron had been able to find some way for them to communicate with him, but anything Derek could hear, no matter how quiet, would be loud enough to attract the attention of another
Werewolf
.  She prayed to the Lord and Lady that his control over his wolf was stable enough.

As Liam prepared to guide him back to the surface through one of the secret escape routes, Gabi suddenly felt a little sympathy for her mother, for all the years of watching first her husband and then her daughter walk knowingly into the jaws of danger.  It was a rare thing for Gabi to be on the other end of it.  As he prepared to leave, Trish came and silently put her arms around him.  He hugged her back fiercely and placed a kiss on the top of her head.

“I’ll see you soon,” he told her.  “Get some rest, okay?” He gently pulled away from her, and Gabi stepped forward to take her shoulders, trying to lend the other woman some strength and reassurance.  It wasn’t something that came naturally to her, comforting others, but Trish brought the dormant need out of her.

“I’ll make sure she rests,” Gabi told Derek.  “Remember two things: keep your wolf under control, and keep your promises.”

“No heroics,” he promised again with a nod and a grim smile.  He pulled the blindfold on as well as a nose clip, to prevent him being able to scent the location of the lair’s secret exit, and allowed Liam to lead him from the room.

With most of the details worked out, Julius called a meeting of the Pack leaders to make sure they knew their positions and to work out any kinks with the plan of attack.  The five
Werewolves
arrived blindfolded and not happy about it.  Gabi was still amazed at how far the Pack leaders seemed to have come in the past few months.  While they still weren’t exactly BFFs, up until a few months ago they had flatly refused to be in the same room together.  They kept strictly to their own Packs, and meetings between Packs frequently resulted in fights.  It had been one of the things that kept Hunters busy.  Even on the slowest night in the dead of winter, you could rely on
Werewolves
to pick a fight with each other.  Now, while the air was still saturated with dominant
Werewolf
scents, enough to make Gabi wrinkle her nose, they were being civil to one another and took seats without trying to be on opposite sides of the room.  Even taking Julius’s immense presence into account, they were behaving particularly well.  Something was definitely brewing, and for once, that could be a good thing.

Without much preamble, Julius and Alexander launched into the outline of the attack.  Even with the new spirit of teamwork between the Packs, they were being careful to give the Packs duties which kept them out of each other’s way as far as possible.

It was vital to ensure that none of the
Werewolves
on the base escaped.  So it fell to four of the Packs to secure the perimeter of the base, containing anyone trying to flee or any returning to the base once the attack commenced.  The
Blackriver
Pack would be going into the facility with two contingents of Vampires and the Hunter squad.  There was the slightest rumble of unhappiness through the four Packs who would not be in the thick of the fight, but a look from Julius quickly quelled any dissent.  They all knew it made sense for the
Blackriver
Pack to go in with the Vampires, as they had already worked together and most knew each other.  A few weak points were noted and quickly dealt with.  Some of the details could only be finalized once they had a better idea of the internal layout of the place, and those would be worked out shortly before the raid, which was scheduled for an hour after full dark.  This gave the Vampires and Hunters enough time to get into the base and into position before the actual assault began.

Trish had been sent to catch up on some much needed sleep before the Pack leaders arrived.  Gabi knew the stress of having five extremely dominant wolves in such a small space would not have been good for her.  But her scent was still lingering in the room, and one of the Pack leaders finally couldn’t resist asking about her.

“The female,” the leader said, his nostrils flaring as though tasting the air.  He was a short, stocky man, who could possibly have been Butch’s older
brother,
Gabi recalled that he was known as
Swamp Dog
, she didn’t know his real name.  “This will be her first Change?”

“Yes,” Gabi answered, a little wary.

“If she needs any help, some guidance, my mate would be more than happy to step in,” he said.  “Females are always welcome in my Pack.”

There was a rumble as the rest put their own cases forward and made similar offers.

“Thank you for the offers, gentlemen,” she said, quietening them with a hand motion.  “I will make sure she knows of your generosity, and I will encourage her to make contact with some of your women. 
Perhaps some of the less feisty ones.”
  She grinned a little as reluctant nods and smiles came from some of the leaders.  “But I have to warn you,” she continued, “that I think Kyle has a prior claim to her.  So I wouldn’t be counting on a new female in your Packs just yet.”  The looks of shock and surprise amused Gabi.  They were used to Kyle staying away from
Werewolf
females and not showing any interest in Pack affairs.

“Maybe we shouldn’t be so quick to go and rescue him then, eh?” one of the other leaders piped up with an evil chuckle. “Leave him to the human’s tender ministrations?”

There were a few grunts of agreement around the table, but Gabi knew that none of them were serious.  The man’s comment seemed to remind them that Gabi had been in a similar situation not long ago, and the amusement suddenly died.  One of them cleared his throat.  It was the oldest of the leaders, a bear of a man with a shaggy mane of hair and an attitude of barely leashed aggression.  He looked directly into her eyes as he spoke.

“What about you, Angeli Morte?” he said quietly.  “Are you recovered enough to be going into a mission like this one?”  His eyes flashed for a millisecond to Julius’s face as though wondering if he’d incurred the Vampire’s wrath.

For the briefest moment the man’s question flung open the lid on the ugly, black box lurking in the dark corner of Gabi’s mind. 
The one containing the terror, the panic, the memories of pain and the knowledge of her own vulnerability.
  A sudden surge of warmth and sunshine flooded her mind and slammed shut the lid on the black box.  Julius.  He hadn’t moved, hadn’t flinched,
hadn’t
shown any outward sign of his support.  But he was there. 
Chasing back the
Demons
, the dark, the self-doubt.
  Pulling that strength towards her, wrapping it around herself, feeding it with determination and her own sense of cold, hard justice, she allowed the result to show on her face.  She leant forward, her hands flat on the table in front of her, and stared directly into the Pack leader’s eyes.  No words were necessary.

A grim smile replaced the challenge on the
Werewolf
’s face, and he actually lowered his gaze with a small nod.
Acknowledgement of the greater power.
  As she backed down and the leaders prepared to leave, Gabi felt the strength and warmth flowing from Julius become tinged with pride.  And lust.

Chapter
22

Shortly after the Pack leaders’ departure, a report came in from Patrick to say that Derek had successfully been picked up by a
rogue
team.  They’d staged a perfectly timed chase, as though Derek had escaped the SMV’s clutches and was on the run, and he literally fell over them, trying to run down a side street.  Patrick, who’d been following the action from the rooftops, was terribly impressed with Derek’s acting skills; he’d seen nothing but elation and satisfaction from the group of four
rogues
.  They’d quickly reassured Derek that they could help him, had the perfect place for him to hide, and bundled him into one of their cars.

It would be the better part of an hour before the group got back to the airbase and, hence, in range of the relay transmitter.  Gabi knew it would be an anxious wait to find out if they had a clear audio feed and if the microchip would be discovered.  She stalked back to the catering table to see if anything was left after the Pack leaders had attacked it.

“I’ll send up to the kitchen for anything you like,” Julius purred into her ear.  A delicious shiver ran down her spine.

“How do you manage that without raising suspicion in your hotel staff?” Gabi asked, her tone bland, but she pressed closer to Julius’s body.

“There are several rooms in the hotel which have access to a secret elevator.  This elevator’s last stop is down here.  I simply call up to the front desk for room service and have it delivered to one of those rooms, then send someone to wait for it and bring it down here. 
Easy, really.”
  His tone was politely informative, his true emotion evident only by the firm
bulge pressed
against her hip.

“Hmm,” Gabi mused, “if there’s nothing urgent needing my attention for a little while, I’d kill for a hot shower.”

“I think that could be arranged,” Julius replied, his voice no longer cool or polite.  His hand captured her fingers, and he was soon towing her down the corridor, the ghost of Alexander’s amused catcall drifting after them.

Several twists and turns later, Julius led her into a room at the end of a shorter passage.  Gabi stopped in surprise in the doorway.  Julius turned to smirk at her shock.

“You didn’t really think you’d find rows of coffins or bunk beds for the Master of the City did you?” he teased as she took in the opulent room.

It was nothing short of a five-star hotel room, complete with enormous king-size bed, dressed in chocolate, burgundy and gold. Her leather boots sank into lush, thick-pile carpet, and subtle mood lighting accentuated the decadent feel of the room.  A cream, suede chaise longue dominated one corner, facing a recessed wall unit containing a flat-screen TV and pull-out desk.  A stunningly detailed painting of the City at night almost covered one wall, making up for the lack of windows.  Her bags, which she last remembered leaving in the borrowed Audi, were standing neatly in front of a large oak cupboard door.  It would be nice to get out of her fighting leathers and into something more comfortable for a few hours.  Ignoring Julius’s ribbing, she went to investigate the doorway that she guessed led to the en-suite bathroom.  She almost groaned in pleasure.

She’d been preparing herself for a quick rinse in a communal bathroom. This even put her bathroom at home to shame.  The colours had been carried through from the bedroom, and a large Jacuzzi tub stood proudly to one side of the surprisingly large space.  A huge, glass-fronted shower with multiple shower-heads took up the other side of the room.  The far end held large, oval, granite basins, while soft burgundy towels and robes hung on heated towel rails, and a recess under the basins boasted myriad gels, shampoos, lotions and bath oils.  Placed inconspicuously in a corner near the door, to her profound relief, was Gabi’s first port of call.

“Shoo,” she told Julius, who was standing in the doorway enjoying her amazement.  “This semi-human needs to be one hundred percent human for a minute.”

“Don’t be long,” he purred.  “Vampires are not known for their patience.”