“Not a chance, baby,” Marco said. “Where I’ll be is too damn dangerous, and besides, Evan will need you. No, I’ll take Zack and Ian and. . . ”
“And me,” Logan said quietly. “I have the right to be there, Marco, when you go after my father. I’ll be able to keep up just fine. ” He glanced over at Ian as if to gauge his support, but Ian was smiling warmly at him.
Marco considered it gravely for a moment. The pack had never willingly put a pet in such jeopardy before, but Logan had a point. After all the things his father had done to him, he did deserve a chance. “All right,” he said, nodding. “We’ll make sure our contacts are in place and we’ll attack at dawn tomorrow. Any questions?” He looked around the table, but found only determined faces staring back at him. “All right, get some rest. See you in the morning. ”
Logan was pressed up t ight against Ian’s big body in the trunk of the doctor’s car. He could feel the slow, steady heartbeat of his mate,and it calmed him. Soon now, they’d be passing through the checkpoint at the gate, and he had to be ready. Zack and Marco were folded up between the back seat and the floor board under some blankets, and he knew it had to be uncomfortable for them. The guards rarely stopped Dr. Cornsilk’s car, but if they did, they had to be ready. Logan’s finger rested lightly on the safety of his assault rifle as he felt the car slow to a stop. He could hear some muffled conversation and a snatch of a short laugh. Then the car started up again, and he breathed a deep sigh of relief. He felt Ian’s hand on his thigh, gripping him tightly in reassurance, letting him know he was there and would protect him with his life.
Logan felt the same way toward Ian and pressed his body back into him for a second. He felt a soft kiss graze his temple and smiled to himself. How many other soldiers about to go into battle stayed up half the night making love, he wondered? The time spent with his lover had strengthened and sustained him through the night, and he felt ready to face whatever he had to this morning, no matter how difficult.
The car came to a stop and in a few seconds, the trunk opened so they could crawl out. They stood stretching for a moment before following Marco’s hand signals and moving into the building that housed the generals. Marco had the codes to the door and punched them in quickly. Once inside, Marco and Zack nodded to show they were headed to the upstairs quarters of Elias Winters’ next in command while Ian and Logan moved quietly to Winters’ door.
Breathing a quick prayer that Winters hadn’t changed his keypad code, Logan punched it in , and they flung open the door and dived inside, each one rolling to either side of the door before jumping back to their feet. As expected, Winters had heard the slight tones of the keypad and had been ready for them, firing the pistol he kept on his night stand and missing Logan by inches. Logan had actually felt the breeze of the bullet as it passed his face.
Before Logan could make another move, Ian had fired, striking Winters in the chest. He fell back against the pillows and lay still, his face drained of color. Logan approached the bed cautiously and stood over his father. He was aware of shouts coming from the hall and Ian running to secure the doorway. Winters opened his eyes and stared directly at Logan.
“You,” he said bitterly. “I might have known it would be you, you bastard. ” “Your bastard,” Logan said quietly.
Winters gave a short bark of laughter, but Logan could see the light fading from his eyes. “I wonder if that’s even true. Your mother always was a whore. ”
“Father, don’t. . . ”
“Don’t what?
Speak the truth? She was a filthy whore, and I’m glad I killed her. You didn’t really think she died in any car accident, did you? She wanted to protect her little sissy boy. Well,I showed her and I’ll show you too! Nobody gets the best of Elias Winters! Nobody!” He raised the gun he still had clutched in his hand and pointed it straight at Logan’s heart.
Before Winters could make a move, a red spot of blood blossomed in the center of his forehead, as Ian killed him with a single shot. He pulled Logan into his arms and pressed his face against his chest. “I’m sorry, sweetheart, but he had it coming. ”
“I know,” Logan said softly. “I thought I could do it, but. . . ”
“No one expected you to—nobody’s that strong. ” Ian turned him away from the bed. “C’mon. let’s go find Marco. ” They found Marco coming down the stairs, pushing the general, his hands tied in front of him. Marco looked a little shaken, and Zack was behind them speaking urgently on his radio.
“Are you all right, Marco?” Ian noticed the paleness on Marco’s face and was a little alarmed.
“Some bastard surprised me on the way to the general’s bedroom. Came out of nowhere and jabbed me with a hyprodermic needle. ”
“A hypodermic needle? What was in it?”
“No idea. Not poison, thank God, or I’d be dead by now. Probably some of their crazy concoctions—like most of them, it didn’t work. I’m fine. I’m sure it was nothing, just made me feel a little woozy. ”
“Yeah, and he didn’t live long enough to tell us much. I’m afraid I just reacted when I saw him stabbing at Marco. I killed the son-of-abitch. ” He looked remarkably unrepentant as he turned to Marco. “They’re inside the compound, Marco,” Zack said with obvious excitement. They’ve already secured two buildings with minimum casualties and Hunters are surrendering all overthe place. ”
“Any word on Nicky?”
“Rory’s group has entered the prison building. Only minimal resistance, with a few casualties—Nicky’s not one of them,” he said quickly at the look on Marco’s face. “He and Evan and Gabe are on their way down with Rory andthe wolves to find Brett. ”
“Thank God,” Marco said softly as Ian slapped him on the back. “Never again,” he said with a laugh, shaking his head. “I’m a nervous wreck. ”
“They’ve done well so far, though,” Ian said with pride, looking at Logan. “You have to admit that. ”
“I do admit it,” Marco said. “But I still wish this was over with so I could get my hands on him again. You do realize what this means, don’t you, Ian? From now on, Nicky will want to sit in on all our council meetings. ”
Ian regarded him with horror as Logan stood beside them and smiled a little as he leaned against the wall.
Evan followed Rory and the other two gammas down the dark, familiar hallway of the prison where he’d first seen Brett only a few months ago. Then he’d been shackled to the floor in chains. He wondered what condition he would find him in this time. They checked each cell as they went down the hall and found them empty until they reached the third door down. From within they could hear what sounded like an animal in pain, howling and whimpering. The sound made the hair stand up on the back of Evan’s neck. Nicky squeezed his arm reassuringly as they waited for Rory and the others to get the door open. When they did, all three of the wolves rushed inside and over to a figure chained to the wall. Evan caught a glimpse of something not quite human and couldn’t be sure if it was Brett or not.
They wrestled with the creature, forcing him to the ground and trying not to hurt him, though he fought them desperately. One of the big gammas got the creature in a headlock so that Rory could inject him with the sedative prescribed by Dr. Cornsilk. It took almost five minutes for it to calm him down enough so that some of the hair and claws receded from him and Evan was finally able to recognize Brett. He ran over to him, but he saw no recognition on his face as he growled at him from beneath the press of arms holding him down. Evan put a hand on his thigh and spoke to him softly, calling his name, but he shut his eyes tightly and screamed so loudly Evan drew back his hand.
Finally, the sedative took full effect and Brett’s big body relaxed into a deep sleep, only twitching occasionally. They picked him up carefully and carried him outside to lay him on the grass. There was a kind of controlled chaos all around them as Evan knelt down next to Brett and held his hand, with Nicky by his side. Evan was shocked by Brett’s appearance. He was filthy and gaunt, with almost purple shadows under his beautiful eyes, now sunken and hollow. There were deep cuts all along his arm, which were crusted with blood, swollen and infected. He was burning with fever, and his body jerked from time to time and shuddered.