Page 69 of Bonded and Betrayed

The two cars in front of me turn right—of course they do—and I mutter a string of curses under my breath and pull to the side of the road. A few cars go around me as I turn on my hazards, and I wait, my fingers anxiously drumming on the steering wheel, trying to figure out my next move.

I have to follow him, but so far, no one has turned left.

Silver car … right.

Red car … straight.

Green car … left.

I glance in the rearview mirror, but no one else is behind me—shit.

Fuck it.

I hurriedly turn off the hazards and pull up to the stop sign, sending a silent prayer to the goddess that I haven’t lost him.

Itakemyfootoff the gas as the blue SUV in front of me turns left, heading into the small plaza. I’ve been following him for about twenty minutes now as he skirts along the town’s border, seemingly heading nowhere, but I know what’s out here. There’s only one place he could be going.

Memories of our first fight with the bears flash through my mind, but I push them down, unable to relive the night of Oliver’s death again right now. I grip the steering wheel and swallow thickly, desperately fighting off the tears that well in my eyes.

I expected him to turn down the abandoned road a few miles out and head towards the forest, but he didn’t. Instead, he’s in an industrial area where the only sign of life is the small strip plaza we just passed.

“Where are you going?” I murmur to myself and look at the phone on the passenger seat.

I should call Silas. I nearly reach for my phone when Monte takes a sharp right down the driveway of an abandoned warehouse. The grind of metal on asphalt sounds as I spot the warped metal fence being pried open by two men.

Shit.

I ease on my breaks and pull over to the side before I get too close, grateful for the large unkempt bushes along the side of the road that should hide me from their sight for now. Monte drives past the two men, and they close the fencing behind them.

My teeth grind as I look around, attempting to plan my next move.

It’s suspicious enough that he’s meeting someone out here alone, but I need to know who is on the other side of that fence. I squint, trying to see through the thick vines that have woven through the fencing beside me, but it’s no use. I can see over it, but that doesn’t do much good either. The warehouse is decrepit, the thick cement crumbling in spots, and the windows shattered by either time or teenagers looking for a place to unleash their frustrations. I know one thing though, Monte definitely isn’t meeting any teenagers.

I search along the fence, hoping to find a weak point, but it’s hopeless. I can’t see anything with these bush—

I can’t, but my wolf can.

If I can find a hole in the fencing, I guarantee I’ll be able to slip through in my wolf form. I glance back at the strip mall and grimace, unsure if I’ll even have a car to come back to if I leave it there, but it’s my only choice.

I have to do this, for my Alpha, for my pack, and most importantly, for Oliver.

Imoveswiftly,mypaws silent on the uneven pavement as I near the closest door. My eyes flash, adjusting to the darkness, but there’s no use—it’s too dark for even my wolf’s vision to make out the figures inside. I count four of them, three facing me and one with their back to me. The other two figures flanking the one in the middle must be the two men who opened the fencing for Monte earlier, and the one on his own … the traitor himself.

“Did you know about their plans?” a sinister masculine voice bellows into the dark, the form shrouded in too much shadow to make out.

“Of course not,” another man replies sharply—Monte. My lips curl back in a silent growl as I begin to piece the clues together. Silas told me about the attack on the Langley compound, warning me to keep an eye on Monte afterwards. I staked out down the street from his house the entire night, but he didn’t leave. I thought that was a good sign, but clearly not.

“She must’ve told you something, otherwise you would have come to me by now,” the other man shouts incredulously, his shadow looming over Monte judging by the way the shadows shift.

Come to him? Does Monte know that Skylar is suspicious of him?

“She did say something about surveillance, but she didn’t even hint at knowing about the bunker,” Monte chokes the words out and stumbles a step back.

“Why didn’t you come to me?” The words are a growl of accusation, and I hold my breath, silently hoping the man—Aldric, I assume—will end his life right now.

“If I came to you and you were out there waiting for her, she would’ve known it came from me,” Monte says, feigning a confidence I can tell he doesn’t feel. His shaky words betray his fear.

“I’d rather sacrifice you than my weapons,” Aldric snaps. “And my people,” he adds, eyes shifting to the two bears flanking him.

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