Azure (The Silver Series Book 5) (16 page)

“
Play along,” the guard
whispered. I looked at him closely, but there was nothing I
recognized about his dark blond hair and brown eyes.

I was about to question him when he held up
something. My heart slowed at Nora's scent covering the scarf he
drew from his pocket. “You're Vance, right?” he whispered. At my
shocked nod, he tipped his head. “Then let's get you out of here.
Unless, of course, you want to stay and get tortured. I hear you're
next in line.”

I shook my head, then met Rex's wide eyes
from the next cage. “What about the others?” My heart balked. “We
have to wait for Gem. We can't leave any of them.”

The pretend guard grabbed my arm in a grip I
couldn't break. I realized with a start that he was also a
werewolf, and probably an Alpha by his strength. His companion, a
black-haired werewolf with dark blue eyes, watched me warily as
though he was prepared to take me down at any sign of a
struggle.

“
I’m Jaze,” the werewolf
who gripped my arm said. The werewolves in the cages around me
stirred at the name and I stared at him. He looked at the others.
“I promise I’ll come back for each of you. Stay strong. You won’t
have to wait long for a rescue.” It was obvious by the tone of his
voice that he didn’t want to leave any werewolf in such horrible
conditions, but he had no choice. He lowered his voice, “But we’ve
got to go now or we lose our window,” he told me in a firm
undertone. “We can't wait for anyone, but I promise we'll return
soon for the others.”

Two more werewolves appeared at his
shoulder. One had dark red eyes that studied me while he listened
to someone speak into his earpiece. “We’ve got to go now,” he told
Jaze quietly.

Jaze stepped back and I moved to follow, but
the thought of Gem returning to her life in the cage and of the
other werewolves being punished just for being born pounded in my
mind. I couldn't step past the cage opening. I grabbed onto the
bars and resisted despite the way they burned my hands.

“
Oh, for heaven's sake,”
the black-haired werewolf said. He raised something and smashed it
against the side of my head. I fell in a heap to the ground and the
world closed over me.

Chapter 14

“
How long do you think
he’ll sleep?” Nora's worried voice pierced my floating
thoughts.

“
I’m not sure,” Jaze
replied. “He’s been through a lot. The conditions were worse than
we feared. My team is working on a strategy so we can rescue the
others.”

A soft hand touched my head. “I wish he
would have come out willingly.”

“
Me, too,” Jaze replied in
a tone laced with regret. “Jet didn’t want to hit him, but he put
up a struggle at leaving the rest of the werewolves.”

“
That’s Vance,” Nora said
with such aching familiarity the last hold of unconsciousness
drifted away. I opened my eyes to see the blond-haired werewolf
sitting on a chair next to Nora. His black-haired friend, Jet,
leaned against the door jamb with his arms crossed. His eyes
flicked to mine and he eased to a standing position. Nora blinked
and tears shone in her eyes. “I can’t believe my father did this. I
didn’t want Vance to get hurt. It’s all my fault. I hate the
thought of other werewolves experiencing what he did.”

Jaze’s voice was touched with understanding,
“I wouldn’t have left them, but I couldn’t risk my team to get
anyone else out. We risked more than our lives going down there. If
we were caught-”

“
What?” Nora asked when he
stopped talking.

He glanced at his friend, then followed his
gaze to me. “Well, looks like we got him out alive after all.” He
gave me a friendly smile and motioned for Nora to turn around.

Nora stood and the tears that had pooled in
her eyes overflowed. She knelt by my side. Her hands hovered over
me for a moment as though she wanted to hug me but didn't know how
to do so without hurting me. She settled for taking one of my
hands. “You're awake, and you're here. I can't believe you're
here.” Her tears ran down her cheeks and fell on my hand.

I rose on my elbows and kissed her; she
started in surprise, then returned the kiss with a longing and
relief my soul echoed. “I missed you,” I said when I finally pulled
back.

She stared at me as though she didn't know
what to say. “I'm so sorry,” she began, but I cut her off.

“
Don't apologize. I know
you had nothing to do with it. Believe me, your father cleared that
up many times.” I sat up gingerly and she rose anxiously as though
she should help but didn't know how. I took her hand and held it.
“I'm alright.” Her eyes ran over the charred, healed skin that
striped my chest. I took her chin gently in my free hand and moved
her eyes to meet mine. “It's not as bad as it looks, trust me. I
don't really have much pain right now except for a splitting
headache.” I shot Jet a glance and he met my gaze directly. Surety
of his own strength wafted from him and I knew he had to be another
Alpha by his unflinching manner. Alphas were scarce. Besides being
at Two, it was strange to find even this many working
together.

“
It could have gone
smoother,” Jaze replied. “We didn't plan on having to knock you out
to get you out of there.”

My heart clenched at the thought of the
werewolves I had left behind. “We’ve got to rescue them.” I glanced
around and found that we were in a small room in a house that
smelled of werewolves, humans, and the unmistakable odor of
gunpowder and iron. By the scent of other werewolves who had stayed
in the room for short periods of time, I guessed we were in one of
Jaze’s safe houses. It felt surreal and wrong to be safe when the
others were still trapped at Lobotraz. I rose from the bed and
stood a moment to let the brief dizziness pass.

“
Where are you going?” Nora
asked.

“
I can't relax here while
they're suffering.”

Jaze blocked my path and when I moved to
walk past him, he put a hand on my chest. “You're not in any shape
to help anyone,” he pointed out.

At my look, he dropped his hand, but didn't
move out of the way. “I'm in better shape then they are. I can't
leave them there!”

His eyes met mine with sympathy. “I
understand what you're going through, trust me. Freeing werewolves
and helping them return to their homes is what I do.” His gaze
darkened. “We've been searching for the entrance to Lobotraz for
months. When Nora contacted us, she made us agree to look for you
immediately if she gave us the info we were lacking. We upheld our
end of the agreement, but also found out how under prepared we were
to storm the place.”

“
That doesn't matter,” I
said stubbornly. I heard myself, but the image of Gem hunched in a
dark corner in pain after pointless interrogations refused to leave
my mind. Nora’s hand slipped into mine and I longed for a brief
moment that it was Gem’s. The thought surprised me.

“
It does.” Jaze frowned
slightly, his brown eyes dark. “I'm not going to risk my pack or
our support if we can get through this without putting lives in
danger.”

“
Lives are already in
danger,” I said quietly.

“
And we're preparing to
rescue them. I need you to trust me and give me the time I need to
gather additional information.”

He held my eyes until I finally nodded. It
wasn't until he turned away that I noticed Jet had fallen silently
back to my left side to easily defend Jaze if I became a
threat.

The red-eyed werewolf came to the door.
“Jaze, there’s a problem with Jerome’s pack. He’s wondering if he
could speak to you.”

Jaze nodded and glanced at me as if he
wanted to say something, then he gave me a smile and turned away. I
watched until they left through the door and closed it behind them,
then I sank onto the bed and buried my head in my hands.

“
We'll go back,” Nora
promised softly. She brushed my unruly hair from my face with
gentle fingers. “We've got to stop my dad.”

“
He's a cruel man,” I
replied quietly.

Her fingers traced one of the many black
scars across my back. “Did he do this to you?” Her voice carried
pain at the thought, but also defiance as though she needed to
know.

I nodded without speaking. She put her
forehead against my back and I relished the touch of her breath
against my bare skin. “I can't let him do it to others.”

“
I know,” she breathed. “I
feel the same way.”

The touch of her hand against my skin
brought back memories of Gem’s small hand held in mine, my arm
wrapped in tattered cloths to prevent it from being burned by the
silver bars. The thought of holding her hand each night had kept me
going. I felt like I betrayed her now, feeling Nora’s reassuring
touch while she was still beaten and tortured. One part of my heart
ached for that hand in mine again. The feelings warred against each
other, confusing my motivations and what I thought I knew about
myself. I shoved the emotions deep down and allowed myself for that
instant to just be safe.

We sat in silence for several moments and I
pushed away all feelings of guilt, the lingering pain that never
left my scars and the ache in my side, and the fear of what was
happening to Gem. I took a deep breath and lived just for the brush
of Nora’s lips against my back, the way her long black hair tickled
my skin, the subtle scent of vanilla and sunflowers that
complemented her spring green eyes. The fact that I was surrounded
by her scent made it feel real, like I was home. Except my home had
let me down.

The moment of no regrets faded at the
thought of Two. “Where're the werewolves from Two? Did you talk to
them when I was taken?”

She was silent so long I sat up and turned
to face her. A pit formed in my stomach at the look on her face.
She stared at me for a minute, then shook her head and dropped her
eyes. “I tried, but they gave up when they couldn't find you.”

I forced my voice to remain steady. “They
gave up,” I repeated in a neutral tone. “How long did they
look?”

“
A week,” Nora said so
softly I could barely hear her. “When they gave up, I went looking
for Jaze.”

Rage filled my veins. I pictured myself two
weeks ago at the time they stopped looking, beaten, starving, and
still hanging onto the hope that they would come. I had given them
everything, safety, a life of freedom, education, training,
security, camaraderie, and a group of friends to act as a pack, and
in return they couldn't bother themselves to look longer than the
length of a spring vacation for the one who had given them their
world.

I pushed up from the bed.

“
Where are you going?” Nora
asked.

“
Two. I have some things to
take care of.”

Her hand slipped into mine. “We'll go
together.”

I wanted to argue, but her fingers felt so
good entwined with mine that I merely nodded and led the way.

***

The hurt and rage that started at Jaze's
safe house built during the long drive. When we reached the bottom
of the red rocks and the trail that branched away hidden from view
behind an outcropping, my emotions were a solid knot of fury. The
new hiking boots and clothes I wore felt stiff and rough against my
healing skin. Nora walked beside me with the determined step of an
angry woman, each stride sending up small puffs of sand from her
black boots. I knew the werewolves at Two should fear her as much
as me.

Drake was on sentry duty and let out a yell
when he saw us. He ran down the rocks, took one look at the anger I
could barely contain, and rushed ahead of us to the caves.

I wasn't surprised to see Brian and Ben
waiting beside Thomas at the door. Traer stood in the background,
and the relief in his eyes was so stark when he saw me that it
almost buckled my resolution, but the sight of the two Alphas I had
kicked out standing at my door so smug as though they owned the
place brought it all back. They stepped into the room when I
entered, but didn't give way more than that.

“
You gave up after a week?”
I shouted, too angry to bother lowering my voice.

“
We looked,” Thomas said.
“We just didn't know where to start.”

“
For
one week
?” I demanded.
“Really?”

Brian stepped forward. “That's what you
deserve for putting Two in danger.”

Red flashed before my eyes. “Two is mine!” I
reminded them with a growl so menacing Brian bared his teeth. “It
was built with my family’s money and we've allowed you to stay here
to save your lives.” I stared at him, my chest heaving and so much
rage in my heart I couldn't voice the rest of my thoughts.

“
For no reason,” Brian shot
back. “Alphas aren't being killed off like they were. There are
wolves living normal lives without having to cower in some cave
hideout.”

“
Then why are you here?” I
growled.

Ben met my eyes, his own filled with
defiance and self-righteousness. “Because with you gone, Two needed
a new leader.”

“
Thought waiting a month
was long enough before replacing me?” I asked, loathing thick in my
voice.

Ben's gaze turned smug. “We only waited a
week.”

“
Until you verified that I
was nowhere to be found and hopefully wasn't coming back.” My limbs
shook with the urge to phase, but there was one more thing I needed
to know. I met Traer’s gaze across the room and couldn’t hide the
pain in my voice. “Where were you?”