Page 120 of Claiming the Wolf Daddy

My heart broke, and guilt skewered me right through the gut. If I’d been smarter and more careful, Rosie would have been out of this place a week ago. Maybe even sooner.

“We’re very much alive,” I said. “We got really lucky. Curt and his band of misfits came to help us.”

“I didn’t know you got caught,” she said, looking over my shoulder at Curt.

I nodded. “They’ve got things down to a science.”

Curt came over and started trying keys in the lock on her foot. We were running out of keys to try, so we released her pretty quickly. When Curt was done, I moved to pick her up, but he stopped me.

“Let me get her out of here,” he said. “I know the way out, and I don’t think she should be in here any longer than she needs to be.”

“Well, look at that. You do have a heart.”

“Fuck you,” he snapped, moving to Rosie’s side and putting her arm over his shoulder. “Come on,” he said to her. “Let’s get you out of this stinking shit-hole.”

Rosie looked from him to me. I knew she recognized him, so I gave her an encouraging little nod to let her know he was safe—at least for now.

They left the room and vanished down the corridor. I picked up the keys and kept going.

I systematically cleared everything. Some shifters stuck with me, helping me intimidate other non-shifters into backing down as we released the captives. Some took the opportunity to run. There were a few shifters I found who said they’d been stuck under Lanyon Clover’s thumb for nearly three months. They were mostly lone wolves who’d made the mistake of pulling into the wrong town and getting swept up into something they’d wanted no part of.

After about an hour, the place got very quiet, and I was finally able to locate Paulette. She looked much more worn-down than Rosie, but far more fiery. I wondered if that was what had gotten her into her current condition—if she’d been fighting tooth and nail to get back to my sister and gotten the shitty end of the stick because of it.

I entered and walked toward her. Her gaze was downcast, but her lips were etched in a permanent, angry frown. I got close to the seat she was bound to in the same way I had been. I kneeled right before her, putting a gentle but firm hand on her leg.

She looked at me and blinked quickly, as if trying to clear dust out of her eyes. She let out a soft breath before her expression finally changed to something fragile and scared. “Oh my god,” she wept softly. “I thought I was going to die in here.”

I nodded, biting my lip and feeling my own eyes burn with tears. “I know,” I said. “I’m so sorry.”

“Can you get me out of here?” she asked. “Please?”

I took the final key and unlocked her shackles. When I was finished, I mustered my strength and picked her up, then started walking in the direction I’d seen everyone exiting through.

As we got closer to getting out, we started running into shifters with fresh faces. They were familiar to me from the Georgia pack or my own. They gestured to tell us where to go and asked if there were any others. I couldn’t really make myself answer. The fact that I was about to leave this hell and see my sweet Marley was all I could really think about.

I stepped outside onto the soft, worn wood, letting my legs lead me as I took in the magnitude of the rescue mission. Massive industrial fans blew the stench away from the shoreline. Gas masks had been discarded in a pile near the doors. There were pop-up tents with pack healers, people handing out food and water, and several young shifters running through the area frantically.

Off toward the ocean, I saw Houston and a handful of other lawyers handling citizen’s arrests.

I saw Lana weeping and holding on to Travis like she was trying to melt into him. Curt must have gotten to him first.

But I didn’t see Marley.

Ginger approached me, her expression stoic but her eyes wet with tears. “Hey, you big dummy.”

“Which dummy are you talking to?” I asked.

“The other one,” she said, nodding toward Paulette. She smiled and let out a quiet sob, her composure failing. “Are you okay? I’m so sorry that this happened while I was right next to you. I should have been protecting you—”

“Shut up, dummy,” Paulette said quietly. “Just get me a burger and take me the fuck home.”

Ginger took Paulette into her arms, giving me a nod of thanks. “Your mate is over by the chain-link fence, trying to get the police to take her seriously.”

“Sounds like her,” I said with a chuckle.

I walked slowly, body aching, toward the gathering of uniformed men. I couldn’t see Marley past them—she was so small in comparison—but I could hear my fierce, beautiful, unrelenting mate.

“Do you hear yourselves?!” Marley shouted. “If this shit-show had happened to humans, it would be national news. You would be frothing mad, and now you’re saying you might not even arrest them? You have to. This is kidnapping, false imprisonment, assault and battery, and—”

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