Page 128 of Her Wolf

“Don’t bring Ana. I don’t care if you have to tie her down…Don’t. Bring. Ana.”

So he hadn’t brought Ana, but he’d gathered up Bailey and Kane. Bailey had been the one to find the tunnel entrance, Kane the one to realize that, from its position so close to the Rio Grande, it had to be a conduit between USA and Mexico.

Both had been adamant they’d wanted to see the other side.

But Lars had needed them.

They’d left Ana to keep an eye on Neo. Kane and Bailey rode in the back, silent as the rest. The SUV’s interior smelled faintly of weed; Kane had offered Lars a hit of a joint after they’d inspected the grotesque remains of Zachary’s staff quarters…and the bodies that had still been inside when he’d set fire to the place.

In fact, Finn was the only one who hadn’t taken a hit from that joint. Everyone — even Kane — had seemed shocked by just how many people had been consumed by those flames.

Some had been children young enough to die in their mother’s arms.

Yet Kane, although shocked, hadn’t seemed surprised. According to the DEA agent, Zachary had a history of starting fires. He himself was covered with burn marks from the first fire he set that killed someone. Apparently, he’d had enough of being sexually abused by the man who’d taken him in after his parents had died.

A one Gregory Yule had been the tragic victim of an oil fire back in ninety-eight. Young Zachary, merely a teenager at the time, had barely survived and definitely not unscathed. Burn marks covered most of the left-hand side of his body.

He’d refused skin grafting.

Instead, it seemed, he’d found solace in more violence.

Finn’s knuckles creaked as he tightened his grip on the steering wheel.

Cora was in the hands of the devil himself. Maybe that’s why Lars had taken to silence, and why the air inside the vehicle prickled with dread apprehension.

Finn parked the SUV at the mouth of the tunnel.

It was their last hope.

Kane stirred first, catching Finn’s eye as his reflection moved in the rear view mirror. “Times a-wasting,” Kane murmured, glancing over the faces of everyone inside the car. “Let’s go get our girl, shall we?”

Finn’s beast growled deep and low. Claws clicked as the creature came hesitantly forward and sniffed the air. Then it slunk back to its shadows, nothing but a sullen gleam of its eyes to prove it was there.

It was probably better that way; he couldn’t afford to lose control. Not now. Not with so much at stake.

He would never forgive himself if he did something to fuck this up. If he lost Cora forever.

Four sets of footsteps sounded through the dirt, and then off concrete steps. The four of them spread out into a line; Finn in front, followed by Lars, then Bailey, and finally Kane.

When Finn glanced back, Kane was studying the inside of the tunnel with visible admiration.

“You know El Chapo had one of these too?” Kane said, but more as if to himself. “Several, in fact. Soon as we shut one down, he’d just build another.”

“First time I’ve heard of it,” Bailey said.

“Well, he didn’t have anything on this scale,” Kane said. The man’s voice sounded sonorous how it echoed back to them. “His tunnels were quite small, ill lit. This is…this is downright fucking cocky.”

“Wasn’t like he’d be disturbed,” Bailey agreed somewhat hesitantly. “It’s his own land.”

“Probably owns the property on the other side too. That would be genius. Never worrying that a landlord is going to snitch on you. Not that Zachary West tolerates snitches.”

This brought a wave of stillness crashing over the men again.

Those bodies.

Finn picked up his pace. He knew Cora wouldn’t be waiting on the other side of this tunnel, but the sooner he could get to the next step, the sooner he would find her.

Minutes later, the tunnel sloped up and opened into a field. Yards behind them, the Rio Grande filled the air with the melody of water chafing its banks.

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