Balance (17 page)

                I
squared my shoulders. “I’m working on it,” I told her.

                She
rolled her eyes and turned her back to me. My wolf didn’t like that. I grabbed
her arm and spun her around to face me. “If you rush the door or do anything to
endanger Tara, I’ll rip your head off. Are we clear?” My voice was animalistic,
as fear flashed in her eyes.

                With
this many wolves in a room, my dominance was ramped up. There was no leader and
I felt the need to fulfill the spot.

                She
continued to stare at me, no doubt curious of how dominant I was. After a
moment she began to sweat, her breath hitched, and she lowered her eyes and
nodded. “I don’t want to hurt your friend. I just want to get this freak out of
my belly and go home!” She grimaced and pointed at her stomach.

                I
looked at Sadie, eyes wide. “What is she talking about?” No. Don’t say it.

                Sadie
gave the girl a look of pity. “She is carrying the queen’s baby.”

                Shitty
shit shit.

                The
breath whooshed out of me as my mouth hung open in shock. There went my hopes
that none of them had been impregnated yet. I glanced at her baggy clothes and
saw the hint of a bump. Oh God. Then I scanned all of the girls. One of them
was still in wolf form. She must have refused to shift.

                “Anyone
else?” I needed to know just what we were getting into.

                “Not
yet. Just me,” the blonde said, bitterly.

                My
mind was racing. How far away was Tara? The next room? Another floor? Could my
magic reach that far? Could I protect her somehow? Could I protect her while also
killing Layla? I doubted it as I tapped my foot nervously. Sadie tugged at my
arm, leading me into a corner to talk privately.

                “We
need to get out of here,” she told me, looking vulnerable. Her eyes had dark
circles around them; she looked weak. She looked worse than the rest. This was
not the usual Sadie I was used to.

                “We
will,” I told her with confidence. God, please let that be the truth. I was
already feeling claustrophobic under these tons of rock.

                She
gave me a weak smile as I looked closer at her arms; they had pink prick scars.

                “You
look gorgeous,” I joked with her and she laughed. The laugh sounded hollow and
her face looked haunted.

                Then
I became serious. “What happened? Give me the scoop.”

                She
rubbed her arms. “Every few days they switch out which one of us gets tortured.
I was first, then Tara, who knows who will be next. They’re very careful not to
kill us. They won’t hurt blondie because she is pregnant with the queen’s
spawn.”

                Oh,
shit. Now I knew why Sadie was so affected by seeing Tara in there. She knew
what it felt like firsthand.

                “There
are multiple floors to this place. It’s an old cold war bunker or something.
All of us have had our lady parts checked out. One girl was already pregnant
with her mate’s child. They aborted it.” Sadie’s voice shook as she delivered
this last news.

                Evil
bastards! My hand went to my mouth. Suddenly, I feared they would find out I
was pregnant and take my baby. Tears lined my eyes and my throat constricted.

                Sadie
nodded. “They don’t care. They want baby growers. If you aren’t of use to them,
they kill you. If you fight back, they hurt one of us. They have us trapped!” She
pounded her fist on the wall.

                Shit.
I turned and scanned the girls. Some sat together, some alone. The one wolf who
hadn’t changed was staring at me.

                “What’s
her deal?” I gestured to the wolf.

                Sadie
shrugged. “Refuses to shift. Been like that for days.”

                I
frowned. “No one has talked to her? Is she okay?”

                Sadie
rolled her eyes at me. “None of us are pack, so obviously we can’t talk to her
while she is in wolf form. I’m sure she’s fine. The vampires have left her
alone.”

                Something
Sadie said gave me an idea, a crazy idea. Oh, Kai, you aren’t going to like
this.

                “When
will they switch out Tara? How is it done?”

                Sadie
lowered her voice, “I’m pretty sure they are listening. One time we tried to
plan a break out and they were ready.”

                Then
she leaned in and whispered so soft I wasn’t sure I heard her. “Camera’s in the
vent.”

                My
eyes went wide as I nodded and glanced around the room. My gaze settled on the
air vent in the ceiling and the red glowing dot that lurked there. Shit, these
bastards were smart; they had thought of everything. I lightly squeezed Sadie’s
arm and then walked off to the opposite corner of the room to be alone.

                ‘Any
news?’
I asked Kai.

                ‘Sylvia
said your location is still blocked. She thinks a spell has been put over the
building which would live on even after Prudence’s death. Spells put on people
or living things die but not objects. I don’t understand it. How are you? Are
Sadie and Tara still okay?’

                I
sighed. Okay, I was stuck in a room, being watched by a camera, I had no weapons,
back up wasn’t coming and Tara was being used as a very clever way to keep us
all in line. Shit. Think, Think. This was all up to me.

                ‘Sadie
is fine. She’s with me.’

                He
noticed I hadn’t mentioned Tara.
‘And how is Tara? I can’t reach her. It feels
like she passed out.’

                I
sighed. This would kill Max. Kai would never forgive himself for not being able
to protect her.
‘To be honest, Tara is being used for torture if any of the
females act out.’

                Kai’s
rage shot through the mate bond. I had expected that.

               
‘I
have a crazy plan, Kai,’
I told him nervously as I chewed a fingernail and
kept my eyes on the red dot in the air vent.

                                ‘Okay,’
he said with trepidation, waiting for me to
explain.

                                I
looked around to all of the girls, and nodded, this was the only way. We could
be stuck here for years if I didn’t stop this sick game, if I didn’t do
something drastic.

                ‘I
love you, Kai. I promise to get all of these females out of here safely and
kill Layla. I’ve got this, it’s my destiny. Don’t worry about me,’
I told him confidently.

                                ‘Aurora,
why are you saying goodbye?’
His
energy bristled and I felt him border on panic. God, I hated this.

                I
didn’t want to tell him my plan, for fear that somehow with his Alpha power, he
could stop me. I also didn’t want to give him a chance to talk me out of it.

                ‘I
love you, Kai. Do you understand that? Do you know how much you mean to me? You
made me trust men again. You’re everything to me.’
Tears began to well in my eyes. It was true,
after my father’s abuse, I never thought I would trust again.

                ‘Aurora,
don’t scare me!’
Kai said weakly
and I felt him grab hold of our pack bond and pull tight. He knew what I was
planning so I needed to act quickly.

                I
wasn’t sure if we would be able to communicate after I did this. Closing my
eyes, I felt for my pack bond, my mate bond to Kai, my Alpha, my husband. It
was a strong, thick, glowing white rope. I yanked at it and it pulled taut.

                ‘No!’
he roared as I pulled harder and felt his
Alpha power saturate me, trying to gain control of me.

                ‘They
need an Alpha if we are going to survive this; they need a pack. It’s the only
way.’
I told him and pulled as
hard as I could, ripping the bond and snapping it in half. A scream ripped from
my throat as I fell to the ground panting, pain saturated my being. My skin felt
as if it was on fire. Oh God, it hurt. It hurt like hell! I felt hollow, empty,
vulnerable, alone. It was like an instant depression took hold of my body. My
hands shook with the strain of going rogue. I tried to take small, deep breaths
and regain composure. Holy Shit. I was a rogue wolf.

                I
listened in my head. Nothing. Static. I felt for Kai; he was there, the mate bond
was still there, but it was damaged. I felt his horror at what I had done but I
couldn’t hear him, only feel him. Wiping tears from my eyes, I turned to face
the females who were all staring at me. No doubt my scream had gotten their
attention. Sadie was watching me with yellow eyes.

                “You
wanna be my second?” I asked her cryptically, hoping the vampires watching the cameras
didn’t know enough about werewolf packs to know what I was up to, or to care.

                She
looked at me incredulously as it dawned on her what I had done. Finally, she
grinned. “I’ve always wanted to be a second,” she said and closed her eyes.

                The
other females were looking at each other in confusion.

                Sadie
was quiet for a few moments and then suddenly cried out and grabbed her chest,
bending on one knee. Her eyes watered as she took a shaky breath. It said a lot
to me that Sadie was willing to rip her pack bond away from Shamus and Brett
and join me. She knew I was more dominant than her; we had already worked that
out in our pack with Kai. She extended her arm to me wordlessly, giving me the
power of the Alpha and asking to join my pack.

                I
smiled and gripped her forearm with my right hand, pulling her in for a hug to
disguise what I was doing from the vampires watching on the camera.

                “Blood
of my blood,” I whispered as I transformed my left hand into a werewolf paw and
swiped her arm, drawing blood. Then I swiped my own and pressed them together
between us. Closing my eyes, I saw a floating white wisp of energy in my mind’s
eye. Reaching out and taking hold, I grabbed it as it slithered past me. It was
strong and pulsing in my hand. Sadie was very dominant, a good second. I pulled
the wisp closer to me and bound it with my own white wispy cord, braiding it
like a thick rope.
Pack.
I let my wolf take charge, she knew
instinctively that this was how you created a pack.

               
All of Sadie’s feelings for me rushed through
the pack bond. She was jealous of my relationship with Kai at first. She wanted
me to know that she had loved him first, longest. She had always wanted him as
her mate, but now that she had Brett, she wouldn’t want it any other way. She
respected me and wanted Kai and I to be happy together. Now that she had gotten
to know me, she thought Kai and I were perfect for each other. I pulled away
from her embrace as our arms healed.

                ‘Alpha,’
she said, using our newly formed pack bonds to
communicate, her lips quirked in a smile.

                I
nodded.
‘Second.’
I never in a hundred years thought Sadie and I would
be head of our own pack. The universe had a funny sense of humor.

                She
gave me a wolfish grin and I could feel that she was wolf born and had no
special gifts.

                “What’s
going on?” the blonde girl who was pregnant said, stepping closer.

                My
arm had already healed; the vampires watching the cameras wouldn’t know what
was going on. It looked like Sadie and I were old friends and shared a long
hug.

                I
looked around the room and ever so slightly flicked my eyes to the camera light
in the small air vent. Then I locked eyes with the blonde. “It’s a shame we
can’t communicate together,
like a pack
.”

                She
frowned, then realization dawned on her face. She nodded and looked at the
others.

                “Go
rogue,” she whispered. I think I had my third, she was already giving orders.

                One
by one, the girls saw what was happening. They bowed their heads in
concentration and then cried out with the pain of ripping away from their packs
by force. Leaving their mates, their beloved Alphas, it hurt, I knew it did,
but in the end it was for the better. As a pack we could be stronger, take care
of each other and have the upper hand. They looked at me like lost puppies.

                I
went one by one and gave them each a hug bringing them into the pack. I didn’t
have time to focus on their thoughts, their rank in the pack or anything yet. I
wanted to bring us all together first in case the vampires caught on and split
us up. I came to the last girl, the wolf who wouldn’t shift. She had been
crouched in the corner watching us the entire time. Eyes yellow, fur standing
on end.