Page 88 of Bad Wolf's Nanny
The women didn’t speak unless they had to. Most of the noise came fromhisalphas, half-feral men with wild eyes and savage grins, pacing like animals that hadn’t been let off the leash yet. They jeered and joked, laughed about “Iron Walker bitches” and “Felix playing the politician.”
“Bet the big bad alpha’s pissing himself right about now,” one said with a grin.
“Think they’ll come crawling? They always come crawling.”
“Red Teeth’ll tear them apart. And then? Then theold wayscome back. No more treaties. No more cowards hiding behind rules.”
Daisy flinched and looked at Lola.
Lola shook her head once, sharply.Don’t react.That was rule number one. If you were prey, you had to act like stone. Not alive. Not weak.
But even she couldn’t suppress the way her hands trembled in her lap.
Her one consolation was that nobody had sniffed out her pregnancy yet. She didn’t know if it was because Dane was the father or just his innate skill as a hunter, but so far, he had been the only one to scent it so early in her pregnancy. Even so, she was walking a fine line. If any of the alphas found out…
Red Teeth hadn’t looked at any of them for long. His gaze was heavy, impersonal. He hadn’t even seemed to enjoy the fear.He was here for a reason. Whatever twisted logic drove him, it was ruthless, deliberate, and terrifying.
One of the rogue alphas, tall, sneering, eyes too wide, paced past where Lola sat and muttered to no one in particular, “Always knew this peace crap wouldn’t last. Wolves need blood. Not fucking meetings.”
Another snorted, “Felix and his fucking daycare. All his little toy alphas. You think Dane’s gonna break through those doors like some hero? Be my guest.”
The first laughed, “Yeah. Let him come. I want to watch him bleed.”
Lola’s breath hitched. Something cold swept through her stomach.
She wasn’t the only one who heard. Cassie glanced at her, eyes wide.
They were bait. All of them.
“This is a trap,” Cassie murmured, barely audible, “they want the males to come. Then they kill them all.”
Lola’s chest tightened.
Red Teeth moved, suddenly. Just a slow pivot of his head, his mask shifting to face Cassie’s direction. He didn’t say a word. Just stared at her with those dark, lifeless eyes.
Cassie shut up immediately.
A moment later, he gestured to one of his men, who stepped forward and barked, “Basement. Now. All of them.”
The rogue alphas closed in.
Daisy stood slowly, helping Bree to her feet. Poppy stumbled after them. Lola stood last, her spine stiff, jaw locked.
They moved in a silent group toward the back corridor, past the blood-smeared entryway, down the narrow hall where half the lights flickered and one had shattered.
Cassie caught Lola’s hand. Squeezed it once.
The basement door yawned open ahead.
Lola descended into the basement like she was walking into the jaws of a great beast.
The concrete steps were cracked and steep, worn by decades of use and rot. The air grew colder with every step, and by the time they reached the floor, the temperature had plummeted enough that her breath came out in visible puffs. It smelled like mildew, sweat, and something older, something sour and metallic that turned her stomach.
They were herded without a word. The alphas, brutish and sharp-eyed, didn’t so much as touch them, but the threat lingered in every gesture, every glance. A snap of fingers. A curl of lip. One wrong move and they would strike.
The room was long and narrow, with a low, curved ceiling, like a wine cellar. Stone walls dripped with condensation. Rusted hooks and bolts clung to beams overhead, remnants of a time Lola knew too much about. Her academic research had unearthed the dark, vicious past of the Iron Walkers, their descent into brutality under the old guard. This room had been used for torture. Punishment. Control.
Now, they were back in it.
