Page 3 of Wolf Forsaken

"You sound like you speak from experience."

"No. Just... never mind. Is it all of your betas or just the one?" I found myself wanting to tell Cole everything, but now wasn't the time.

"I think it's just Dante, but I'm not sure. I have five. Well,hadfive."

I reached for the bowl outside of the cage and picked up a few pieces of dog food. It was such a sign of disrespect to feed a wolf that stuff, and I sneered at it. I'd had it before, but that didn't mean I was going to eat it now.

"He said to eat it." I sniffed at it. "It's just dog food."

"He said to eat itall." Cole sat up again, and I gave him a look. "It hurts more to lie down."

"Well, if you want some water, you'll have to come to the bars and I'll tip the bowl up for you."

He crawled over, breathing heavily until he could put part of his face between the bars. I lifted the bowl, tipping it so he could drink. When he finished, I did the same. We could use any sustenance we could get. Especially if we were going to make it out of this alive.

Cole reached into the dog food and dug around. "Eli is smarter than he leads people to believe." He pulled out a small, folded piece of paper and a key. "His words and the wink had purpose."

My fingers itched to rip the note from his hand and read it myself, but I waited patiently as he unfolded it like it was a sheet of tissue paper.

"What does it say?" I asked as his eyes drifted down the page. It didn't look like much was written, but it was taking Cole way too long to read it.

"Fuck if I know. My eyes are blurry." He handed me the paper.

It was written as a list and was fairly sloppy. He'd probably rushed to write it. "They took Ivy. Killed Tyson, Santiago, and Bodhi. Manny and Sara ran. Check surveillance before sneaking out. Don't worry about me."

"Let's go." Cole pushed to his feet and unlocked the cell.

I balled the note in my fist and followed him to the small room that had ten large screens mounted around it with multiple images on each screen.

"We can't leave Eli behind." I owed it to him for taking care of me during my weakest moments. If he hadn't been there, I'm not sure if I would have snapped out of the trance I had been in. "Did you hear me?"

"I heard you." Cole's eyes were glued to one screen, and he clicked a few keys on the keyboard to make one of the four images on the screen larger.

"What is it?" I watched as a group of motorcycles stopped on a gravel road, which I assumed led to the house.

Cole cursed as one of the men stepped forward, gun pointed at another man's chest. They exchanged words, and both men put their guns away and extended their hands. If this was Dante, then we were definitely outnumbered and outgunned.

"Cole?" I needed to know what was going on. He was two shakes of a lamb's tail away from passing out, and I was going to have to take the lead in getting us to safety.

"That's the alpha of the other pack. He must be working with Dante." His fists clenched, and I hoped he didn't decide to start destroying stuff because we needed to be quiet. Plus, he was badly injured. "Let's go."

He brushed past me as the men got back on their motorcycles, turning around and going back the way they came from.

We entered the medical room, and I tensed. How many times had I been strapped down in a room just like this one? I shuddered and shut my eyes.

"Hey." Cole was right in front of me. "I don't know what the fuck you've been through, but right now I need you to take these staples out and bandage me up. Do you think you can do that?"

He shoved an instrument in my hand. My eyes opened, and I blinked rapidly, trying to clear the barrage of images that threatened to overwhelm me. "I think so."

He leaned against one of the tables, and I focused on removing the staples, wincing every time I pulled one out. I wasn't squeamish, but I could almost feel them in my own stomach.

His wound was oozing, and as the last staple fell to the ground, he took a scoop of salve and smeared it over the angry skin. He handed me a roll of gauze and I held it while he turned in a circle.

He grabbed another bandage, and we wrapped that around him before heading to a door leading to a tunnel. Whoever had built the property had really put thought into the finer details.

"I didn't see any men in the den or outside the back doors. That doesn't mean they aren't there or won't smell us." His words were sluggish, and I didn't know how far we were going to make it with the state he was in.

"Should I shift and check it out first?" I didn't particularly want to be back in my wolf form, but I might need to if we wanted to escape.

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