Page 65 of Fated to the Warrior Wolf

They had to be in heresomewherebecause we shifters were always losing our clothes. It would be a massive oversight for whoever set this place up to have forgotten. I poked around in the large bathroom without luck, then headed into the bunk room. It was bigger than it looked from outside, opening up into a room with twenty bunks tidily made up around the walls of the room. The center of the room was open, a large Persian rug making the space look cozier, despite the cold stone walls.

I checked under a bunk or two and then made a beeline for the door at the end of the room.

“Bingo!” I crowed when I found a walk-in closet. Shelves had been drilled into the stone. Each one held clear bins full of clothing all tidily labeled with a size and whether it held shirts or pants.

I grabbed a few sets of medium sweatpants and T-shirts, then headed back to what I’d decided to call the living room. When I walked back out, a large projector screen had been dropped from the ceiling, and Cristian was flipping through security footage with a remote.

“Dude,” I mumbled with my eyes glued to the screen as I offered the clothes first to the naked woman. She accepted them with a smile.

“Thanks, and yes, I didn’t even know this was down here. But I’m sure glad it is,” she said sadly as she glanced around. “I can’t believe they got past the perimeter. And poor Mary let them in before Cristian could stop her, and they killed her.” She choked on a sob as she settled the T-shirt over her head.

“They’re going to get what’s coming to them,” I said with a snarl.

“There were just so many. I don’t know what eight men are going to do against more than thirty,” she whispered.

“Cristian took out at least five himself before we got to the tunnel. Did you have any idea he could fight like that? Because I didn’t,” another woman offered, squeezing the first’s hand. “The high alpha has the power of the packs. He’ll havenotrouble wiping them off the face of the planet,” she said with a bloodthirsty curl of her lip.

“I agree with—” I paused, not knowing either woman’s name.

“Ivy.” She offered me her hand to shake, blood and all. “And this is Gabby.”

I shook it and then turned to Gabby to do the same.

“Nice to meet you both. I agree with Ivy. Kane and his crew are going to wipe these assholes off the map.”

Shay sucked in a worried breath, and I spun around to see what was wrong. Cristian had stopped the video feed on a massive black wolf that could only be Dirge, still holding his ground in the Alpha’s suite.

He had a gaping wound on his side that slowly dripped blood into a good-sized puddle on the ground, but four other bodies littered the floor of the room, all shifted back to naked strangers in death.

“Why would they do this?” I asked no one in particular.

Cristian was the one to answer my question. “With High Alpha Kosta recently murdered, they probably thought now was a good time to strike, before High Alpha Kane could establish a strong foothold in his father’s place. But what they’ll do instead is cement the idea that he’s already stronger than they bargained for. Believe it or not, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, save poor Mary’s loss.” He sounded remorseful for the first time, despite his overall stoicism.

“That’s on them. They didn’t have to kill her,” I remindedhim, grinding to a halt as we all watched in silent horror when three midsized gray wolves charged Dirge.

“Cristian, let me out of these tunnels,” Shay demanded.

“I’m sorry, ma’am, but I’m on strict orders from High Alpha?—”

“That is my mate! I’m a capable fighter, and if he dies, I die anyway!”

“My orders are that you are to remain here with the other females.”

Shay’s eyes turned gold, her wolf shoving her way to the forefront as hair sprouted along her arms, and her fingertips turned deadly sharp with claws.

All that came out when she tried to speak again was a feral canine snarl.

“Cristian”—Brielle spoke cautiously—“I think it’s best we let Shay out, if it’s possible to open the door from the inside?”

He froze, indecision warring with duty, the battle playing out across his features for all to see.

“Shay is capable, and she’s right, she can absolutely help Dirge. He’s clearly injured. Also, she’s immortal.”

“If you give me a direct command, I cannot ignore it,” he said warily, “but I strongly urge?—”

“Let her out, please. Now.”

“As you wish.” He bowed stiffly and ran for the tunnel.

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