Page 64 of Fated to the Warrior Wolf

I turned to Kane, and he spoke to us all mentally.Split up. Sergei with us, the rest of you clear the upstairs. We’re making a push to get to our females. Keep an eye out for Dirge. He stayed out to fight and may need medical attention. Do not split up further, and when you’re finished upstairs, wait here unless I call for you.

Sergei stepped up to my other side as the four remaining wolves darted up the stairs on swift paws. Seconds later, the sounds of fighting reached our ears.

We ran deeper into the house, heading straight for the kitchens.

Hang on, Leigh. I’m coming for you.

THIRTY-TWO

Leigh

Ihad no idea how long we’d been down here, but I was feeling antsy. Shouts and loud thuds occasionally made it to us through the thick walls, and once, the castle rocked as if there was an explosion. But still, no sign of our men.

Shay was pacing the back wall, eyes aglow. She’d stripped down to her underthings, in case she needed to shift in a hurry, because we had no spare clothes down here. An oversight we’d rectify when this whole fiasco was over with.

After a while, it grew quiet, as if the action had moved away from wherever we were in the bowels of the castle. But then a scraping sound reached us, and the little hairs on my arms stood on end. There was a sound of crying and muffled footsteps down the tunnel that we’d come through, and I stood with the gun.

Shay was at my side in a heartbeat. “Stay here. Keep a clear line of sight on the tunnel. I’m going to shift and creep up that way. If it’s an enemy, one bark. If it’s a friend, two barks.”

She didn’t wait for me to answer before she shifted into her cocoa-furred wolf with gold eyes, and then she was gone, silent paws carrying her into the tunnel.

I turned to Bri and Olivia. “You two go into the bathroom, turn off the lights, and lock the door.”

“Absolutely not. If you’re staying out here, we’re staying,” Brielle argued.

“Bri, I love you, but if something happens to me, you two can fix me. I will be less than useless if one of you gets hurt. Get in the damn bathroom!” I used my alpha bark, but she just narrowed her eyes at me as Olivia started shuffling toward the bathroom, my order carrying her against her will.

“That doesn’t work on omegas, Leigh, but I take your point. Why don’t you go in with us?”

“Because I’m not leaving Shay up here alone. If she runs down here with people on her ass, I’ll shoot them, and then we’llalllock ourselves in the bathroom.”

“Fine,” she sighed, and followed Oli into the bathroom after grabbing a pistol off the nearest gun rack. A second later I saw the line of light disappear under the door and heard the click of the lock.

I waited on pins and needles for something to happen, but time seemed to turn to molasses. Sometime later, there were two yips from the tunnel, and I could finally breathe again.

My jaw dropped and I lowered the gun when Shay walked in trailing a string of disheveled household staff, at least a dozen chefs and housekeepers in uniform, tailed by Cristian, the butler. He was wearing an impeccable suit with tails as usual, but blood was spattered across his face and smeared over his hands as if he’d stepped out of some weird, pseudo-historical horror film.

“Are you all okay? Nobody followed you?” I asked, setting the gun on the nearest chair, facing the wall.

“We’re all okay, thank you, ma’am,” one of the housekeepers said, and then I swear to the Goddess, shecurtsiedlike I was some sort of princess. We were under attack, there was blood in her hair, and shecurtsied, to me, a half-breed nobody.

“Okay, one, my name’s Leigh, and you’re free to use it. Two, I feel weird when you curtsey, so no need. I’m from Texas, not the queen’s palace,” I joked with a grin, trying to put her at ease before I wrapped my arm around her shoulders.

Her clothes were askew, and I noticed that she had blood smeared down the side of her neck too. On closer inspection, it was a gash that hadn’t closed up yet.

“Bri, we’re going to need you out here. Got some wounded staff that could use your and Oli’s attention,” I called over my shoulder as I guided her to the sofa. Good thing it was black and wouldn’t show blood, because when I cast a glance around the rest of the group, I saw that only two didn’t have blood somewhere on their person. One of those two was buck naked, clearly having shifted to defend herself.

That’s what I’m talking about. We don’t take anybody’s shit in this pack.

“Everybody, make yourselves comfortable, and I’ll see about some fresh clothes and snacks while the docs do their thing.” I used my most soothing cruise director voice and didn’t even jump when Bri and Oli burst out of the bathroom like bats out of hell.

As soon as they started checking folks over, I went into the kitchen and grabbed a bunch of bottled water from the fridge to pass out. A very naked Shay appeared at my side and grabbed a bunch of jerky sticks and followed me back into the main sitting area.

Olivia seemed to have forgotten about her anxiety about the tunnels, because she was all efficiency as she examined wounds and administered first aid from a kit they must have found in the bathroom while they were in there. Pride surged in my chest at how we all pulled together, tending to our new friends seamlessly.

Brielle straightened as I finished handing out my last waterbottle. “Kane and his team have landed. They’re checking the perimeter now. They’ll be heading in shortly.”

A quiet cheer went up around the room, and I smiled as I went on the hunt for clothes.

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