Page 39 of Wed Or Dead

Did Gage really think that she was just going to race out of the compound and leave him behind?

Leave Jonah and the others?

I can’t get to Jonah while he’s in the med unit.There’d be too many eyes and ears on him in that place. But while Jonah and the other hunters were getting stitched up…We can save the wolves.

“They’re in containment,” she softly revealed to Gage. She wasn’t looking at him yet because she was still plenty furious.He’d hurt her brother.

Gage would pay for that, but now wasn’t the time to go at him for her pound of flesh. Now was the time for fast action.

Curtis wasn’t with them. He was preparing for their big escape.

Crouching, staying low behind a line of boxes, Gage turned to look at her. “What? Who’s in containment?”

The breath she sucked in felt cold in her lungs.We’re the monsters.Time to be something else. Better. “Your wolves aren’tdead.” She wasn’t a cold-blooded killer. Neither were the other hunters. They were doing their jobs. Or what theythoughthad been their jobs. “They’re in containment at this facility. I don’t—I don’t think they’ve been transferred out yet.”

Shipped out to a far more secure location—one that no one had escaped from since she’d been in Vegas. The hunters weren’t just attacking supernaturals blindly. They had a hit list. Of sorts.

Most of their orders came from Lyle, but he was on a leash, too. Or at least, she’d always thought he had been. The hunters were tied to good old Uncle Sam—or maybe not-so-good Uncle Sam. The government sent them out on missions that normal channels just couldn’t cover.

When they caught their prey, the hunters turned them over to the federal agents for holding. Or for extermination. So the story went. Only now she wondered just how many “exterminations” had truly been necessary?

Her gut clenched. How much blood was on her hands? And could she ever get it the hell off? She was afraid that no matter how hard she scrubbed, the stain would always remain.

“We can get them out,” Kayla said. They had to get them out. Now that she knew the truth about Lyle, leaving the two wolves behind wasn’t an option for her. “We just have to move fast.” Before Lyle realized that Curtis wasn’t dead and that she wasn’t still locked in her own cage.

Gage’s gaze hardened. “When were you gonna tell me they were still alive?”

“Uh, now?” Okay, yes, she should have mentioned it earlier. Would have if it hadn’t been for the whole drugging and gun-in-her face thing. Jeez. She was doing her best.

“Both of them?” Gage bit out. “Shamus and Faye?”

“Yes.” And, well, they’d been mostly all right when she last saw them.

Before she’d headed out to say her “I do” with Gage, Lyle had told her that the wolves weren’t due for transport for another two days. So as long as those plans hadn’t changed, “They’ll be in Block B.” Sequestered. Monitored. Getting inside that area would be tricky, but they could do it.

She wanted this blood off her hands.

Curtis hadn’t returned yet. If they were going, they needed to move,now.They’d get the shifters, then haul ass back for their getaway SUV. If luck was on her side—yeah, right, since when?—they’d bust out of this place before any trigger-happy hunters could spot them.

“Come on.” She barely breathed the words. She had her hair shoved under a black cap and she’d donned the black uniform of a hunter, just like Gage. The better to try and blend in with everyone else. That blending would last only for so long.

But most of the hunters were in the infirmary or out on a mission. Only a skeleton staff walked the hallways and with Gage’s enhanced senses, they would be able to dodge those people easily enough.

He always knew when someone was coming. From what she could tell, Gage seemed to smell the hunters long before she heard them. Such a handy talent.

He nodded, and the hunt started.

Adrenaline raced through her blood, keeping her tense and edgy. But this wasn’t her first op, and she knew how to hold on to her control. They crept soundlessly down the stairs that led to Block B. The transport area. The prisoners housed in Block B were all due to ship off for continued confinement.

The only ones housed there now were the wolves. Category H—for Hostile Holding. “We have to take out the surveillance first,” Kayla whispered. Her hands were sweating. Her heart beating so quickly. Escape had been at hand, but now they were in the belly of the beast again. All by her choice.

You owe the shifters. Do this.

The door to the surveillance room was shut. Her fingers lifted and punched in the access code. Lyle wouldn’t have been able to reprogram all the access codes, not yet. At least, shehopedhe hadn’t.

The lights flashed green.Yes.She shoved open the door.

The hunter watching the monitors for Block B spun toward her in surprise. “Kayla? Why are you?—”