Page 133 of Shadow City: Silver Wolf

Pushing the horrible thoughts away, I managed to steady my feet underneath me. If I played off like I was pathetic, this guy would know; I had to come across as strong…but not too strong. Hopefully, he’d think I was weaker due to being female—his followers thought that way, so maybe that was a reflection of him.

A large, one-story brick house sat about a hundred yards ahead. It was easily twice the size of Griffin’s, which wasn’t small to begin with. As we reached the front door, I could see around the edge of the house and saw that there were at least ten cars parked at the side.

This had to be their home base, which meant the rescue mission just got trickier. The sun was beginning its descent from the midday point, which told me it was shortly after noon.

"One wrong move and I’ll make you regret it," Julius promised, as we reached the door. "You may be strong, but between me, the bear shifter, and all my men inside, you won’t make it far. Silver wolf or not."

He was expecting me to fight but, right now, it was more important for me to focus on every single detail I could. I needed to absorb everything and relay good intel to Griffin…and form a plan of escape in case it came down to me having to get myself the hell out of here. "Noted," I snapped.

We reached the large wraparound porch, and he swung open the oak door and pushed me inside. We entered a gleaming, high-ceilinged foyer that led into a modern living room, confirming my suspicions. This house must have been built in the last ten years.

The walls were a light gray that seemed more commercial than homey. The natural wood floors made the room seem even brighter. There were two large, dark-gray couches in front of aflat-screen television centered on one wall. Other than that, the room was bare; I guessed that only men lived here.

No one else was in the room, and some of the tension in my body slackened. Maybe there were only three of them, after all.

"You’re not getting the lay of the land," he said, as he jerked me across the living room to a door in the center of the wall, to the left of the television.

The door swung open, revealing narrow stairs that led down to a basement. Not bothering to turn on the lights, he pushed me forward, making me stumble a few steps down the stairs.

Somehow, I managed not to fall, even though I didn’t have my hands at my disposal. I took the first few steps fast, trying to maintain my balance.

He followed closely behind. "You’re more nimble than I expected."

That was why he was yanking and pushing me along—he was gauging my capabilities. I should’ve realized that, but I had been too shocked by his existence and had let him get the best of me.

Again.

How did this asshole keep getting the upper hand? My connection to him pulsed and nagged at me. I wasn’t sure what was causing it, but it needed to stop. I didn’t want any sort of bond with this monster who was shoving me into a basement so some douchebag could come and force me to be his breeder.

My stomach roiled.

Babe, what’s wrong?Griffin linked, and his anxiety mixed with mine.

I would never shut down our bond, but I did try to even out my emotions so he wouldn’t feel the turmoil that brewed inside me. That was an alpha tip Dad had given me growing up. Our mates could feel our emotions and could be overwhelmed by them when we lost control of our own minds.

That problem had been steadily increasing since I got here—and by losing focus, I’d given Julius more control.Other than being led into a basement by a silver wolf who might be my not-so-dead twin brother, nothing,I tried to joke…but it fell incredibly flat. I should’ve just given him an update.

What?His voice was girl-shriek level through our link.We’re getting you now.

No, not yet.I wanted to get out of here and away from Julius, but we couldn’t be rash.

Rash would get us killed.

He laughed hysterically.Not yet? There’s no way we aren’t.

Just give me five minutes.I took a deep breath as I approached the bottom of the stairs. I focused on calming myself so I wouldn’t upset him more than he already was.Let me see what we’re up against.There are a ton of cars out front. If you come in here and we’re outnumbered, then our worst fear will come true: I won’t get out of here.

This is what I was afraid of.His anger and concern grew thick between us.That we won’t be able to get you out. We just handed you over to them without a fucking fight.

He had every right to be upset. We’d been put in an awful situation. When I thought about the fate of my pack, so much hate rumbled inside me.I know, but we’re going to get out of this.I refused to accept any other option.We’re going to get through it and stay alive. Is Rosemary with you?

Yes, and she said the same thing.He growled, not pleased.That she saw a ton of vehicles when she did her fly-by, and that we needed to wait. There’s a crow on the lookout, too. She was almost spotted.

That confirmed what I’d already suspected.We’re going to have to do the escape at night; otherwise, if there is a bird watching, they’ll be alerted since they can see excellently during the day. I’ll also be at my strongest, since it’s a fullmoon.I hadn’t wanted to remind him of that last night because he’d have wanted to know why I thought I had to be at my strongest. All it would’ve done was add more worry.

Yeah, she said the same thing.

When I took the next step, the entire basement came into view. My stomach swooped and churned with nausea. A group of five men were sitting around a table on the right, and straight ahead were two rows of what looked to be six open, barred jail cells with a walkway in the middle.

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