Pride Unleashed (a Wolf's Pride novel, book 2) (33 page)

With my mind
sorting things through,
I
keep my head down as I’m led back inside.
I hate myself for my moment of weakness, hate
that I let everyone down
and
while I might have saved Logan and Stone,
I’ve put so many more wolves in danger
.

As I leave the courtyard,
I
can’t bring myself to look at my mate
and while
I can hear Stone calling out to me I don’t
dare
look at him either.
The disappoint
ment
in their eyes would kill me as surely as a silver bullet.

I avoid Mica’s
worried stare
as
she passes me a few scraps of food
on my way though the kitchen.
I
fold
the napkin around her offerings and hold them tight
as
Mario
takes me to my cell.
He’s speaking quietly to me, but with the pounding in my head, I can’t quite make out what he’s saying.
He leads me down the stairs and goes instantly silent when he sees Sandy in her
cell.
That’s when his words register
in my brain
.

I still have the key!

Thinking about it now renews my purpose and fills me with
a measure of
hope. I can use it tonight to get to the master’s
main
office
.
O
nce I get
hold of
the master key
,
I’ll be able to free everyone and
flee this place
before I’m forced to
lead a team of handlers
to Logan’s family.

My wolf howls and
m
y heart races as I settle on my cot.
The master might have
won the battle of wills
today
in the courtyard, but
if he thinks he’s
beaten me
,
or
worse
broken me
, he has another thought coming
.

There
’s
still hope.

With Sandy watching me, I try to keep my blood steady and
work to wipe
the excitement from my face, but when Mario meets my glance,
and I see a glimmer of understanding in his eyes,
we exchange a knowing look.

We’re getting out of here tonight.

Once Mario is gone, I tuck into my food, and even though my stomach is clenching, I know I’ll need the energy for tonight
and all the roadblocks I’ll have to
find a way to
cross
.
Knowing Sandy has eaten well today
after winning her race
,
I nibble slowly on the cheese, and place the me
a
t on the warm slice of bread before I eat it.

I turn to look at
the young wolf
.
She’s
lying
on her side, her head propped on her hand, and she’s giving me an odd look
, like she senses a change about me
.

“Sandy,” I begin
trying to keep my voice steady as I prepare her for tonight’s events, being careful not to give
away
too much information
, or frighten
her
off
.
“Have you ever thought about getting out of here?
Of running in the mountain
s
?”

Something flickers in her eyes, and for a moment I recognize the old Sandy, the young pup with so much hope and life.
“It’s too dangerous out there
. There are too many threats
,” she answers and rolls onto her back
and her wild curls fall around her shoulders
. “The master keeps us safe inside here.
You should be grateful.”

“What if I can take you to a place where it is safe?
Where you can run free and not worry about any threats.
”

Her gaze jerks back to mine.
“Where’s that
?
”

I go quiet for a moment, worried about how much to reveal.
“Just say I can.
Would you go?”

She rolls until her back is facing me, but I
see
the fear in her eyes before she turns away, and it’s that fear that tells me she’s been through so much
in the last month
.

Her tone is clipped when she says,
“We shouldn’t be having this conversation.”

My heart drops into my stomach and
the worry I
hear in her voice
makes me
ever determined to help her.

Time passes slowly as I wait for Sandy to fall asleep, and when I finally hear her breathing level out and regulate, I know it’s time to make my move.

My pulse jumps as I push off my ratty blanket and drop to the floor.
I give Sandy one quick last
look
before I lift the corner of my cot to retrieve the hidden key.
Except when I pull the mattress back, I can’t
quite
seem to locate it
.

Panic sets my heart racing, and I push the cot back even
fa
r
ther
, thinking perhaps it had
shifted
beneath the mattress
, or fallen to the floor.
I search frantically
in the dark
, but when my hands come out empty, a cry lodges in my throat.

It’s gone!

I jump up, and search around my
dusty cement
floor, not
wanting
to
believe
I’ve lost it, or worse, someone found
it
.

But who?

“It’s for your own good,” Sandy says
, without turning to face me
.

I run to the cage and grip the bars. “Sandy, no.
You have to give it to me.”
I rattle
the bars
hard, demanding she turn to look at me so I can convince her
that I know what’s best
.

“Go to sleep, Pride.”

Dark despair churns inside me and
I yell at her
, desperate to get through to her.
M
y heart hammers as I shake the cage harder, but the more I protest the
more
she works at ignoring me.
When she pulls her blanket over her head,
I switch tactics and tell her about my time in the mountains, the running, the freedom, and how her babies won’t suffer the way she’s suffered, but no matter how hard I plead I still can’t seem to get through to her.

I hear a loud noise upstairs and
as fear rushes up my spine I
scurry back to my bunk, wondering what all the commotion is about.
Then I hear what can only be gunshots and I press my back to the cold wall and pull my legs to my chest.
A loud wail rises from my throat and I wonder, wh
o is
the
master
torturing
now?
When the mansion shakes again
I worry for Logan, Stone, all the other wolves and even the staff
who have no more control over their lives than I do
.

Despite the a
drenaline pump
ing
through my veins I suddenly
feel very
weary
, very lost
.
As emotions get the better of me, I can feel tears fill my eyes.
The room blurs before me and I wonder if I’m simply fighting a losing battle.
I look at Sandy, then think of
all
the new wolves in the courtyard, the ones who pushed me around because
I somehow
threatened their master—my father.
Perhaps
S
tone was right all alon
g
.
Perhaps these
broken
wolve
s
can’t be saved because they
don’t want to be saved.

Maybe I never should have returned.
Maybe I should have
heeded Stone
’
s warning and
stayed away.
Then Logan’s family
never would have been put
in
danger,
or worse,
gone
missing.
Gem never would have been captured and my mate never would have been tortured.

Now it was all for nothing, because the key to my escape is just out of reach and come tomorrow morning I’ll have no choice but to lead
the master
to the small colony in the Canadian mountains.
Guilt overwhelms me
and an invisible fist squeezes my heart, because
I might as well be pulling the trigger and pumping Logan’s family full of silver myself.

What have I done?

My tears fall heavier now, soaking my face and blanket and I don’t bother wiping them away.
I sniff loudly but there is nothing I can do to get myself under control.
Soon my soft cr
ies
turn
in
to big hiccupping sobs and I realize I’m falling apart
, completely collapsing under the weight of failure
.

Is this what it feels like to be broken?

I can feel myself sinking deeper and deeper, drowning in pool of despair and this time I let it pull me under like a deadly wave
, let it fill my lungs until they’re starved for oxygen.
As emotions erupt inside me I suddenly hate Logan.

Hate that he believed in me.

Hate that he put th
is
kind of responsibility on me.

Hate that I’m letting him down.

I pound on my bed
and cry harder
.

“Pride.”

I go silent and listen, wondering if I’m hearing things or if someone is in the cellar calling my name.
I swallow and wipe my nose as I peer into the dark and look for movement.

“Pride,” the voice comes again, and I see Sandy sitting up in her cot
, her head darting from left to right, trying to figure out what is going
on
.

I climb from my bed and pad to my door.
“Who’s there?” I ask
quietly
.

When a tall figure comes out of the shadows I suck in air and falter backwards.

When I hit the back of my cage, my body goes instantly stiff, and my heart thunders.
“Go away,” I say
as fresh tears sting my eyes
.

He shakes his head and comes closer
to my cage
.
“You need to hear me out.”

“I
’ve heard all I need to know,” I shoot back
and press against the bars, unable to put any more distance between us
.

“Please let me explain, Pride.”

“Explain?
You want to explain why you left your wife and child in a place like this while you ran a prison of your own.
Do you
somehow
think there is something you can say to make that okay in my
eyes
?”

“It was never supposed to be like this
,” he begins and his voice is low, soft, full of pain.
“For many years
I was
a
rogue wolf
, one who had no morals and didn’t know right from wrong
.
Wh
en I met your master we were both young and hungry for money and blood.”

I think back to what Stone told me.
That my father was a powerful alpha and maybe he was the one controlling
the
master.
I wave my hand.
“So this was all your idea then?”

He nods and
his honesty is like a knife to the
jugular
.
I step farther away from him
, confused
and
fearful but mostly angry
.

“We built an army and we became rich and powerful.
”
He lowers his head like he’s reliving a distant time.
“
Then I met your mother
, and I fell in love
.”