Her wolf wanted blood, but Ashlee knew it was wise to be prudent and not just assume that all would be better with the witch’s death. They might need the woman. She closed her eyes and let the Aunts’ knowledge flow into her. How did someone pick out a witch from, say, a non-magical person by just looking at them?
Adeline’s voice filled her head.
A witch’s aura is different from the aura of other people. The magic she carries, it alters her. Close your eyes and let your magic open you to the universe. Once you do, you will see auras and you will see hers is different.
Hell. Why couldn’t anything be simple?
A witch will also smell different. She uses many herbs in her potions and spells. Look specifically for valerian; it’s foul-smelling.
Locating valerian was something Ashlee could actually do. Valerian was also found in potpourri; Ashlee had created some one summer at sleep-away camp. It had soothing properties, and when it was mixed with nicer herbs, it picked up the scent of the better smelling plants.
Ashlee opened the door to the office and was relieved to see no one around. It made sense. Kendrick and Claudius wouldn’t want her father to know about the non-legitimate aspect of their clinic; they would never be able to explain armed guards or mercenaries hanging around the hallways. In less than four hours, her wolf scent would return, so Ashlee needed to hurry.
Lit by fluorescent lights, the hallway outside of the office looked institutional; it reminded Ashlee of the countless hospitals she’d visited when her father dragged her all over the country to see gynecological specialists. She closed her eyes and sniffed. Inside she could feel her wolf become alert. Scents were her wolf’s specialty and Ashlee actually looked forward to letting her flex her whiffing abilities.
To the right she smelled nothing, not even the scent of a rodent. She had the sudden urge to turn around and start sniffing at the walls to see if there were any rodents of any kind she could track—for a moment her wolf acted more like a bloodhound. Ashlee remembered the herbs she’d taken to suppress her wolf smell could make her wolf a little loopy. She shook of the feeling and turned her head to the left to sniff in that direction.
Bingo.
All the living and breathing creatures in the building were in that direction. At least it was a place to start. She walked casually down the hallway. She didn’t want to seem like she didn’t belong there.
She wondered what Tristan would say about this whole arrangement, the inside of this world Kendrick had created. Kendrick ran things here and was treated like an important man, while thirty male wolf shifters waited on an island for someone to explain to them what happened to their world.
In thirty years, they hadn’t even done the Alpha ceremony. Technically, the man who created all of this was still their fearless leader. Ashlee’s breath hitched as her wolf howled in discontent. Ashlee, herself, was pissed as hell and had to settle for clenching her hands into fists to handle the rage.
She sniffed the air again. She smelled people behind the closed office doors. They were just humans, probably bad ones, but not the witch she needed to find. Herbs, she smelled herbs, and they were definitely in the direction she walked. She felt nothing but frustration when she reached the end of the hallway and had not located the witch.
This whole thing would go much better if she could just shift into her wolf form. She pushed that thought away. The last time she’d shifted, she was by herself and would still be there if Tristan hadn’t come and rescued her. So she would not attempt the shift here in the middle of this danger zone, by herself, no matter how much her wolf wanted it.
She looked around. The scent was stronger beneath her, which meant the witch was downstairs. Ashlee considered her options; there was an elevator, but she wouldn’t have too many escape options if she got caught. Or she had the stairs. The stairs it had to be.
She took the stairs two at time, the clicking of her heels as she ran the only sound as she descended one level.
She pushed at the door. It opened easily, making a loud bang as it hit the wall behind it. Ashlee grimaced at the sound. She scanned the room, worried someone had heard the door slam. But no one was about. She sighed in relief and wondered if everyone was hidden because of her father’s visit, or if things at IPAG were always this locked up and quiet.
This hallway was different than the one upstairs. It was darker both in lighting and interior design. The walls were a dark, navy blue color and the lights were not working as perfectly as the ones upstairs. Ashlee guessed they would not be showing her father this portion of the ‘hospital’ on his ‘tour.’ She inhaled the air to see what scents she could catch.
The floor she stood on was polluted with scents, one that certainly belonged to a witch. Ashlee smiled; soon this ordeal would be over.
She walked forward, keeping her nose in the air for extra precaution. The longer she used her scenting ability, the easier and broader it became. She caught her father’s scent off in the distance, reminiscent of cinnamon and peppermint gum. Kendrick, and his sick wolf smell, was with him. At least she knew he was still okay.
Ashlee passed by a series of one-way glass windows. She gasped and covered her mouth to muffle the sound. Twenty men were visible, although there were parts of the room she could not see. They were strapped down to beds and intravenous lines fed a blue liquid into their arms. The steel straps that secured them to the metal tables were attached at the forehead, shoulder blade, hip, and foot area. Three men dressed in white lab coats paced the room. A woman wearing a long lavender skirt and a black tank top moved around the patients.
Ashlee inhaled the bitter, foul smell of the woman. There she was—her witch. But what was she doing to those men?
Tristan felt himself plummet deeper into the water. He couldn’t remember how to swim, and that was okay, because the cool water was what he wanted on his skin. Chilled and placated by the feeling, he no longer felt the urge to kill Ashlee, nor could he hear his father’s voice in his head. He closed his eyes and decided he would stay under the water forever. Somewhere inside of his mind, something stirred to remind him that there was some kind of problem with his plan but he couldn’t seem to make out what that was.
Strong arms, four of them, pulled him towards the surface. He struggled. He didn’t want to return to the top; he could just remain where he was. A third set of hands joined the others. Unable to fight off all three of his tormenters, he finally hit the surface. He opened his eyes to see who had captured him and was surprised to see it was Michael, Rex, and Azriel.
Why hadn’t they just left him alone?
Michael, holding onto his arms, dragged him onto the beach. “Are you out of your mind? Your woman is in Mexico fighting for your life and you decide to commit suicide now, dooming her to half-life or death?”
Tristan roared. No one was to speak of Ashlee to him. He wanted her dead. “I was not trying to kill myself. The cold water drowns out our father’s voice. It makes me want to not kill her. I was just going to stay there permanently.”
Azriel, his eyes gone wolf, growled at him. “Has the spell fried all of your brain? You cannot breathe under water, Trip. To stay under water would mean death, you imbecile.”
Rex loomed over him. “What do you hear, Trip? Who is controlling you? Who told you to knock out Parker? Why did you burn down our home?”
Tristan snorted. “Our Alpha told me.”
Michael glared at him. “I have told you no such thing, Trip.”
“You are not my Alpha, brother. You do not want the job. You are nothing.” Rex and Azriel bellowed, the white light forming around them as if they might shift.
“Do I lie, brothers? Could this happen to us with a strong Alpha who controlled and protected his pack? I love our brother, but he is weak, and he has failed us.”
Michael’s eyes were huge as he stared down at Tristan. “I never wanted this job. I am not meant to be Alpha.”
Tristan shook his head. “Then we are all doomed. You shoul
d have left me to drown in the water, where at least Ashlee would be safe.” Kill her.
Tristan shook his head, and his brothers stared at him blankly. “I will not.”
“To whom do you speak, Trip?” Michael stared at him and Tristan didn’t need to read his mind to know that he thought he was crazy.
“My Alpha, my liege, our father.”
Tristan watched as Michael turned to Azriel. “Call Gabriel. Find out if Ash has the witch yet. I don’t think we have much more time.” Kill her.
Tristan closed his eyes as the slow burn started again, and this time when he screamed, three sets of eyes stared down at him in horror.
12
Ashlee needed to get into that room and get the witch out of IPAG before her scent returned and Kendrick could smell her on the premises. The first problem was going to be getting the three men out of the room so she could get to the witch. At least the other men, whatever was happening with them, were strapped down. She had one needle filled with drugs; it had to be saved for the witch.
A plan came to her and she knew right away it was very dangerous. If she got caught, she was dead on the spot. She closed her eyes and thought of Tristan, the way his brown eyes shone when he looked at her, and tears filled her eyes. She searched deeper inside of herself and found his soul. He wouldn’t want her to do what she was about to try to do. He would have objected to the entire scheme from start to finish. But he needed her, and her love for him won over his arguments against doing it.
She knew she was about to run out of time anyway, and her wolf would be better at the fight that was about to come than she would be. She called the shift to her and was surprised at how easily it came this time. Engulfed in a warm, white light, her body painlessly reshaped itself until she was once again a fur-covered wolf.
My turn.
She had to agree, she’d certainly given her wolf leave to control the situation. She looked down at her ripped clothes and picked up the needle she needed to subdue the witch with her mouth. She was particularly careful not to inject herself. The worst thing she could do at that very second would be to knock herself out with the damn thing.
I’ll be careful.
Good. Her wolf looked around and saw her entrance. The door to the room with the witch was open a minuscule amount, just enough for her nose to nudge open the door. She pushed and walked in. No one seemed to notice her entrance; the three men in lab coats and the witch were consumed with looking at one man who had started to scream.
“Do you think he’s going to shift, Mina?” The man to the left of the witch looked at the witch and then back at the strapped-down man.
Mina—the witch now had a name—nodded. “Maybe. We should unstrap him; the shift is too painful when they’re strapped. It killed the last one.” Ashlee’s wolf sniffed the air quietly.
Sick wolves in here.
Wolves, where?
Men on table. Very bad things, not normal wolves.
The men on the table were wolves, but not ‘normal.’ What did that mean?
They make a wolf where no wolf should be.
Oh no. The IVs—whatever was in the IV was turning those men into shifters, sick wolves.
The man to the witch’s right scribbled on a clipboard. “How long ‘til he launches the assault?”
The witch shrugged. “He wants another twenty soldiers, but I think he could take down Westervelt tomorrow with two strong men. Thirty years have passed and they are still demoralized. It’ll be nothing to destroy them.”
I end her.
No. We need her.
I can’t kill her?
No.
Should I get rid of the men with her?
Don’t kill them.
The wolf set down the needle on the floor and crouched as she got ready to jump. Her first target was the man on Mina’s left, and she leapt on him. He barely had time to yelp before the wolf had thrown him down on the ground and, using her teeth, picked up his head and slammed it onto the ground several times. He lost consciousness within seconds.
She turned and surveyed the room. The man to the right of the witch with the clipboard shrieked and jumped up on an unoccupied metal table.
Silly man.
Using her hind legs, Ashlee’s wolf knocked over the table he stood on, he fell backwards to the floor and knocked himself out.
She turned on Mina, whose eyes were huge. She’d backed into the wall. Ashlee called the shift onto herself and embraced the warm white light. The witch opened her mouth but no sound came out. Ashlee knew she was naked and she didn’t mind. If it increased Mina’s shock, and thereby kept her more defenseless, that was fine by her. She smiled and she hoped she looked as crazed as she felt.
Ashlee cocked her head to the side. “Are you afraid?”
“I, ah—” The witch shook in her shoes and grabbed her throat like Ashlee might rip it out in her human form, too.
“It’s very easy, isn’t it? To curse my people, to make them slaughter their mates? Not so easy to see me in person.” Ashlee walked to the side and picked up the needle she’d dropped. She got really close to Mina, placed her face against the other woman’s throat until she could feel her breath in her face. “You took my mate from me; he is rabid right now. I want him back. I’m told you have to die for that, and I’m happy to let my Alpha and his brothers kill you, unless you give me a better option.” Up so close to the witch, Ashlee could see the wrinkles on her face and the grey that had started to expose itself under her hair dye.
The witch still hadn’t uttered a word. “Nothing to say? What did he promise you to get you to do it thirty years ago? Eternal youth? Power? What?” Ashlee jabbed the needle into the woman’s neck. Mina sucked in her breath in a little whimper before her eyes rolled to the back of her head and she slumped against the wall.
Ashlee let the woman fall to the floor as she walked quickly to the hall and picked up her cell phone out of her discarded clothing. She dialed Gabriel. It rang once and he answered.
There was no time for niceties. “She’s out cold. Are you here?”
“We’re here.”
Ashlee sighed. “One big problem we didn’t think of.”
“What’s that, sister?” Gabriel’s voice had gone hard; he sounded focused. She suspected he would break down the gate of IPAG to rescue Tristan’s mate if he needed to.
“How am I going to get her outside? I’m not strong enough to carry her.”
“Wolf it.”
“Wolf it? You want me to drag her out with my teeth, like she’s a freakin’ tree branch?”
“Yep.”
Ashlee nodded, even though Gabriel couldn’t see her. “All right.”
She called the shift, and this time it was harder because she was tired. The white light hit her and she felt herself change. It was still painless, but her wolf’s first inclination when she appeared was to go to sleep. Ashlee would have liked nothing more than to find a few more wolves and curl up like puppies for a few hours but there was no time for that. She yawned despite her best intentions to act alert.
A scream sounded from one of the strapped beds. A small sound at first, it turned into a large pain-filled roar. He had started to shift and he was strapped to the table. Ashlee couldn’t stand the sight. She trotted to the table and examined the mechanism that held the straps to that bound the man to the table. Once again, she called her shift to become human. All of the shifting around made her feel dizzy. She shook her head to clear the sensation.
She twisted the knobs that controlled the straps that held him down. The straps started to ease up on the man’s neck and head first. He lifted his head off the table and it twisted from side to side. His eyelids were open, but his pupils had rolled to the back of his head so all Ashlee could see were the whites of his eyes.
She twisted as fast as she could. She didn’t want him to shift strapped to the table.
Bad wolf.
Ashlee was so focused on her task that for a moment she did not listen t
o her wolf. Relief swept through Ashlee as she pulled off the last restraint and the man’s screams ceased. In front of her eyes, his body started to twist and contort. There was no white light, no gracefulness about his change. His tongue hung out of his mouth, drool streaming from the sides like a slow faucet.
She hurried to release the rest of the restraints, hating the sound of the man’s screams. When the last one came off, he rolled over onto his stomach and Ashlee backed up. His bones cracked, his head shook back and forth, and he bucked back and forth on the table. Grey fur appeared on his skin, and each new batch seemed to cause the man more and more pain. He rolled onto his back until finally he was quiet.
When he leapt up, he was a large grey wolf and he was mad. He snarled at Ashlee and she took two steps back. He lunged at her, and without thought she shifted back into her wolf form.
Bad wolf.
Ashlee couldn’t think of anything she had done to warrant this wolf’s aggression but she was going to defend herself. She bit at his right ear and growled at him. He drooled and she suddenly worried that he was rabid. She decided not to bite him again.
But how could she fight a wolf that could make her sick? Short answer, she couldn’t.
Flee? Her wolf sounded disappointed.
Yes flee, but don’t leave the witch.
Ashlee’s wolf ran towards Mina and bit down on her hair. The woman didn’t even flinch—her father’s drug concoction must have been powerful. Ashlee pulled on her hair and dragged her along the floor behind her. The grey, crazed wolf growled and lunged at her. Letting go of the witch for just a moment, Ashlee knocked over one of the exam tables. It stopped him long enough for Ashlee to take the witch’s hair back in her mouth and drag her from the room.
She reached the hallway and using her nose, closed the door behind her. She panted and tried to regain her equilibrium. She sniffed the air, noting that her father and Kendrick had returned to the floor where Kendrick’s office was located, where she was supposed to be. Ashlee knew she needed to hurry.