Page 44 of Blood Lost

“Why are you protecting the girl?” His voice was low and gravelly. If I didn’t know better, I would have sworn he was upset about this.

“Because I love her. She hasn’t done anything to warrant this treatment. None of us have. This goes against the Council’s rules and you know it. Just tell me what’s going on here.” I didn’t flinch when he stepped forward and swung. I didn’t budge when his fist connected with my jaw. I wasn’t going to fight my best friend. “Did that make you feel better?” I snarled as I wiped the blood from my lip.

“You think I enjoy this? I have to get answers. Then you all have to stand trial. My best friend is probably going to be put to death for his involvement in all of this, and you think I’m so sadistic that I would relish it?” Anger sharpened his features. I knew he was close to shifting. It was awe-inspiring to watch, but I wasn’t looking forward to being a chew toy for his inner beast.

“If I’m your best friend, why can’t you just be honest with me?” Kayden swung again, and the punch landed on my temple. “You know I’m not going to tell you anything, no matter how much you hit me.” He growled and stalked forward. I was certain this would be my end, but I wasn’t about to back down. I would face him head-on. If he was going to kill me, he was going to look in my eyes while he did it.

Kayden stopped when his face was an inch from mine. He growled at me again, then turned and ran off. His lackeys took me back to the cage and locked me inside again. What had that been about? Who was he really working for?

Chapter 54

Viktor

I'd lost track of how many days we'd been locked up here. Since the second day, the hunters had kept the four of us together, only taking one of us out of the small cage for questioning. That usually involved some torture, though it only appeared to be the case for Eli, Dec, and myself. They hadn’t taken Delilah anywhere yet, and she wasn’t handcuffed. My suit was filthy and being cramped in here was making me cranky. There wasn't even enough room to take care of our girl. Not to mention the handcuffs binding our hands behind our backs. Even with our enhanced strength, we couldn’t break them.

Then it came… the moment I was most afraid of. One of them came to take Delilah to another area for holding. "Can we have a moment to say goodbye?" Eli begged, somehow convincing the guy to let each of us kiss our girl.

“Make it quick.” Eli let Dec and I give her affection first. What was he planning? Where were they taking her? I put every emotion, love, fear, hate, into the kiss I gave her. Then I stepped back and watched Dec do the same. Eli kissed her first, then nuzzled her neck. The Hunter grabbed her arm and pulled her from the cage.“All right, that’s enough.” He snarled.

"Don't worry; you guys are getting split up next. And they won't be giving you time to say goodbye." His laughter echoed through the empty room.

Delilah watched over her shoulder as she was dragged away, tears streaming down her face. I knew it hurt her to keep silent, but we had agreed it would be best if none of us gave anything away. I would have done anything at that moment to fix this for her. It broke me to see her pain.Another guard came a minute or so later and took Dec away. He looked as broken as I felt. There had to be a way to fix this. Dec walked solemnly, like a man heading down the green mile.Would this be the last time I ever saw them?

Eli took this opportunity to motion me closer to him. "This is going to be weird, don't make it weirder by reacting." He whispered. I raised an eyebrow at him. He backed me up against the bars and pressed his lips to mine.I was shocked and opened my mouth to protest, but that invited his tongue in. It tangled with mine for a moment until I felt something small and metallic slide from his tongue underneath mine. The kiss lingered a moment longer as if he was making a promise for the future.I wasn’t sure how I felt about it, but I wanted to explore the thought further—after we talked to Delilah about it, of course. My heart, our hearts, centered around her.

When he pulled away, another guard was there to take him from the cage. I wondered if I would be left behind or moved. Given what Eli had just managed, I hoped I could keep up my end of the bargain. I would need to keep the hairpin hidden in my mouth until I had time to use it.A few minutes turned into a few hours. Then I was certain I had my answer. I wasn’t going anywhere. I knew that it was dangerous, but I wasn’t going to sit here and wait to be taken out for execution. I carefully brought my hands from behind my back to my front, stepping through the cuffs. I waited a while like that to be sure no one was coming to stop me. When no one came, I dropped the hairpin into my palm and started to pick the lock on the cuffs.

First, the left one clicked, then the right. After that, the only thing left to do was pick the cage lock. With the cage opened, I needed to move quickly. I had to find the others and free them. We needed to get out of here and find somewhere safe. I searched in the direction each member of my family had been taken. There were so many doors. Checking them so was going to take forever.

I heard a noise coming down the hall and ducked into an empty room. I leaned my back against the door and listened as someone passed by. They were headed for the cage I’d been in. I had a choice to make, either lay low and hope I could escape later, or do a quick search now. I kicked myself for not looking out the door to see how many people had passed and if they were armed. Before I could make the decision, an alarm pierced the air. They knew I’d escaped. Where could I hide? I glanced around the room but there was no secret hatch or passage. The only option was to hide here or climb up into the heating duct.

It took seconds to scale the shelves and duck inside before I heard the door open. “Clear, check the next one,” A voice yelled before the door closed again. I wondered how long it would be before they realized their mistake. Hopefully, by then, I’d be long gone with my family. I couldn’t leave without them. I turned around and moved through the vents, searching each room below as I went. I easily found Eli and Declan, but Delilah must have been moved further away. I slid silently through the metal shaft, tracking my love. The alarm had been silenced, but I still heard the footsteps of guards searching for me. I waited until they’d passed by again before I tried to talk to either of the guys.

“Eli, up here.” I kept my voice low, knowing that he could hear me anyway. He turned his head from side to side, looking for where my voice had come from. “In the ceiling,” I whispered again, and his head jerked up. His eye was black and it looked like his shoulder was dislocated. “I’m working on getting us out of here.”

He nodded before lowering his head. “You need to find her. They’re planning to execute us all in the morning. I heard them talking when they thought I was knocked out.”

“I’m on it. I’ll be back as soon as I find her.” I knew I needed to act fast; I just wasn’t aware of how dire the situation was. I crept through the ductwork, searching for our girl.

I searched for hours and couldn’t find her. She must have been in a room without duct access. Would they do that to her? Probably. I stopped when I heard talking. I wasn’t close enough to hear everything, but I got enough to understand what was happening.

“You can’t protect them,” a gruff voice said.

“I just want them to get a fair trial. That’s what we’re supposed to do.” The second voice sounded desperate.

“It doesn’t matter that he’s your friend. They broke the law and have to be punished.” The first voice sounded angry. I wished I could see what was going on down there.

“The Council would never sign off on an execution without a trial. It’s never been done before.” The second voice said something else, but I couldn’t make it out.

A loud bang, a fist hitting the wall maybe, sounded through the ductwork. It echoed around my head. There was more going on here than meets the eye. If the wolves were fighting among themselves, we still had a chance. I needed to find Delilah and get everyone out of here. When I couldn’t find her, I headed back to check on the guys. Eli seemed to be sleeping, so I moved silently to the vent over Dec’s cell.

“You know we aren’t responsible for this. She was drugged and something in it caused the blood lust to take over. I explained it to you before, Kayden. What are you going to do about it?” Dec’s emotions poured into his words.

“I’m working on it, okay? It’s not as easy as it seems. There are other forces at play here. I haven’t been able to get a straight answer. I may not be able to fix this.” The wolf growled. I couldn’t tell if he was angry with Dec or the situation. But he was the first one who seemed to listen to anything we tried to say.

“You can’t let them kill her. We need to find out who’s responsible and make them pay.” Declan was determined to fight for our girl, even though the situation was pretty hopeless. I needed to find a way out of here, but couldn’t stop listening.

“I’m doing everything I can. If I come right out and fight, they’ll lock me up too. I won’t be of any use to you chained to a wall and dosed with silver.”

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