Page 15 of Wolf Forsaken

Xander shifted and sat up. "To make an example of us. If he just got rid of us right away, it would look more suspicious. Tonight is the perfect time to escape."

"Cole's too injured. We should wait." I took off my shirt and threw it across to them. "For you to sit on."

"I'll be fine. I'm better than I was earlier. I think Xander is right. If they are not calling a meeting, the storm is going to be bad." Cole winced as he lifted his body for Xander to slide the shirt underneath him. "We need to get out of here and find Ivy."

"What if she's-"

"She's not dead." Xander stopped me from even saying it.

"You can see the monitors better from that cage. We should wait until it's night and the snow is coming down hard," Cole suggested, ignoring the fact that we had no clue where Ivy was or what had happened to her. "Then we get the hell out of here."

It sounded like a horrible idea, but what choice did we have?

* * *

Night came,and it had grown eerily silent in the basement. The monitors had darkened as the sun had set, and the snow was falling hard enough that it was hard to make out anything.

"Are we really going to do this?" I stood and stretched. I was exhausted, but hopefully we'd soon be somewhere safe. I had no clue where we'd go, but there had to be members of the pack that weren't buying Dante's lies and deceit.

"Yes. I've been thinking. We'll get some tranquilizers from the med cabinet, grab a few instruments we can use as weapons, then go out through the house." Cole grunted as he stood. "If there's a lot of men, I'll distract them and you two run."

"We're not leaving you behind." I shook my head at the idea. "We either all escape together or we all stay here."

"Cole's right. They will want to keep him the most. If none of us get away, we're screwed. One of us needs to make it to get help." Xander came to the bars, wrapping his hands around them.

"My sister has probably gotten help if she got away."

"But with the storm, who knows when they'll arrive. This is our opportunity, Eli." Xander stared at me intently, and I nodded. He was right. They were both right.

"If we get separated, we can meet at the treehouse and go from there. No one knows about it except us. And even if they did, they wouldn't guess that's where we were." Cole stood and picked up the shirt from the floor. "Let's do this."

I unlocked my cell as quietly as possible and stopped to listen for any sounds. When I heard none, I unlocked the other cell without a word before heading to the medical room. There were plenty of tranquilizers left, and I took two for each of us. Next, I cut off Cole's bandage and assessed his wound. It was healing, but slower than usual thanks to the poison and the situation we were in. "Why didn't you shift to your wolf to let it heal?" I put medicine over the angry flesh that I was sure would leave a scar and wrapped his wound.

"My wolf is barely holding it together. Can't let him be in control." Cole put his hand on my shoulder. "Promise me you'll run with Xander if things don't go well."

I shut my eyes, not wanting to think about what would happen if there was an army of our own waiting to take us down. "I promise."

"Let's do this." Cole pushed past me, taking two tranquilizers, and went back into the holding room and then up the stairs.

Xander was right behind him, and I brought up the rear. My body trembled with both fear and adrenaline. There was no way no one was in the house.

Cole tried the door, but it was locked. "Xander."

Xander moved in front of Cole, and with one swift kick, the door was open, and we rushed into the hall.

Joseph had been sleeping in a chair in the hall and jumped to his feet, but Xander hit him with a tranquilizer before he could fully react.

Cole and I followed him into the living room where two men who we thought were trustworthy pack mates jumped over the back of the couch. Xander dodged one who then set his sights on me.

For being injured, Cole advanced on them with a swiftness that was what made him the alpha. He dropped low, sweeping his leg out to knock down one of the men before hitting him with a tranquilizer right in the chest.

I swung at the man coming at me, taking a hit in the side, the pain reverberating through my body. I connected with his jaw, but that only pissed him off and he swung again. His fist was caught mid swing by Xander, who twisted his arm until it snapped.

Nausea rolled in my stomach at the sound of the bone breaking, and the man cried out in pain before Xander knocked him out.

"Let's move. That probably woke up anyone sleeping in the rooms." Cole was already moving toward the back door, taking a detour around the island to grab a knife from the butcher's block.

Xander did the same, and I wrenched open the door. The snow was already a foot high.

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