Chapter 164

[ 1,433 words ]

Liam

The humans don’t make any effort to disguise their movements or make sure they aren’t being followed.

This disturbs my wolf on several levels.

And me if I’m being honest.

If what Kade implied is true then that means that these men are either too cocky to believe they will be caught or too sure that what they are doing is right.

They drive to the town’s edge towards the lower income side. Winding down streets trickling with the random group of pre-teens or men who look like they are up to less savory endeavors.

“Well, if we had any doubts about the kind of viewing they were going to the area would have answered that question,” Hazam says blandly.

Kade looks around. “Yeah, this place doesn’t exactly scream family friendly.”

“Did you message Ronan and let him know we would be back late?” I ask Kade.

“Taken care of. He wasn’t too happy about it. He wants a full report when we get back.”

“Easy enough,” I turn down the street, staying far enough behind them not to arouse suspicion.

When their car pulls up to an old bowling alley I debate following them inside the lot but think better of it and keep on driving.

If they are here for something illegal,chances are someone could be watching the arrivals.

“We’ll park a few blocks down then head that way on foot,” I say.

“Let me out here so I can go scout the area,” Kade says.

I slow down that car but don’t stop it. Kade slips outside and disappears like smoke into the small patch of forest on the road.

“Ten miles should be a good enough distance,” Hazam says.

I agree. Once we reach a nicely dense area of foliage, I pull the car off the road and park it in-between two massive oaks.

Hazam and I exit the car, taking a moment to cover it with some shrubs that are lying around.

Moving stealthily we cross the distance between the highway and the bowling alley, careful to move around the back of the property.

“There are two guards by the front doors and one that circles the perimeter,” Kade says, coming out of the shadows.

“Did you get a look inside?” Hazam asks.

“A quick one. There are about thirty inside. Men and women. It’s set up like an indoor movie,” Kade says.

I raise my brow at him, my beast coming to the foreground, ready to shift and tear through our enemies if need be.

“There’s a window up here,” Hazam calls from on top of stacked industrial crates.

Kade and I lift ourselves on top, and when I peer through the window, it gives us a perfect view of the screen and the people chatting and laughing below.

The way they interact with each other lets me know that this is a regular occurrence for them. Something they come together as a community to do.

Suddenly the light dims, and the huge projector screen goes white.

A man steps in front of the room. His hood is up preventing me from seeing any identifiable features of his face.

My wolf goes still.

“Brothers and sisters, You’ve all joined in order to celebrate the achievements that we have made this month. Unlike the rest of the world, we are no fools. There are monsters among us. Lurking in the shadows. Luring our wives and children into the jowls of death.”

There are murmurs of agreement from the crowd.

“Unlike the sleeping sheep the public have become, we won’t turn a blind eye to the truth!” The man yells all self-righteousness evidence in his voice.

A paralyzing sort of dread starts to build in my chest.

The man steps aside as the screen illuminates the image of a dark room. Is concrete on the floor another far left, I can see the hint of bars.

“It’s a live recording,” Hazam says, anger turning his words from frosty.

“Just like the human said,” Kade adds.

A female shifter is dragged onto the screen by a thick chain latched around her neck.

She’s beaten, bloodied, and looks to have a broken bone or two which must be fresh. If it were old, her natural healing would have fixed it already.

The people inside are shouting insults at the screen, calling her a demon, an animal, and an abomination.

My anger rises, burrows deep into the cold stillness that removes me from my conscience.

Several other men join the screen and proceed to beat and torture her. When they start to rape her I can’t look anymore.

The wood panel snaps and when I look I see Kade holding Hazam back.

“We can’t go down there,” Kade says, dropping his phone in the process of restraining the Alpha.

Hazam’s eyes blaze with wrath and vengeance.

“Like hell we can’t. Those sick bastards will pay for this with their lives.”

Goddess knows that all I want is to join Hazam and take out our anger on those celebrating the sick, twisted display.

But the other side of me, the side that’s starting to connect bigger pieces of this puzzle. Realizes that doing so would only give us another dead end.

I turn toward the alpha. “Think. Stop and think about it. Does it look like anyone down there is The Mastermind behind this show? Killing them now. Won’t tell us where that live feed is coming from or if there are more like that female. It won’t tell us who is running this.”

My words seem to help bring Hazam back.

His eyes flick back from Wolf to Human as he says. “What about the man in the hood?”

“He’s worth pursuing,” I admit. “But we should let Rick know because this is his territory and the other Alphas need to be aware of what they’re doing with our people.”

“Liam is right,” Kade says. “The victims on that list… not every single one of them had remains. Some just vanished. What if this was their fate?”

There is a roar from the humans and I know in my gut that the female is finally, blessedly, dead.

“I recorded most of it as proof,” Kade says.

“Good thinking. It will be easier to show the others than to explain it.”

The images of what they did to her face around my head like poison.

Her suffering has ended, my beast says, but there’s has only begun.

He’s right, because even as the people celebrate a dark thrill races through me.

These people don’t know that they’ve just become our biggest lead.

And once we find the answers we need. Nothing will keep me from them.

***

When we reach out quarters inside the capital building accommodations, Ronan looks furious.

At first I think it’s because of the emotions he felt through the bond, but then he opens his mouth to speak.

“Rosa’s been killed.”

“No,” Kade says with disbelief in his voice.

Rosa and his aunt have been friends since they were girls and they always mothered Kade.

“How did this happen?” He asks at the same time as I said, “Is anyone else hurt?”

Anxiety spikes as I think about Hazel and our pups.

I’m too far from them.

Ronan holds up a hand. “Everyone else is fine. Barric has the pack on lock down and the grounds are being searched to find out how they got in. Thomas confirmed it was poison, one that slows down the nervous and respiratory system, which would explain why no one heard anything.”

“Fuck,” Kade says almost to himself. “ Have they found anything else?”

Kade shakes his head. “Barric is going to keep us updated.” His dark eye is on us. “Now are you going to tell me what happened out there today? I felt your suppressed battle adrenaline.”

“We…” suddenly words don’t feel like they are enough to describe what we found. I look at Kade. “Show him the video.”

Kade pulls up the video and gives Ronan the phone.

I watch as Ronan’s face goes from confusion to annoyance to shock to hot liquefied rage.

The sounds of the females scream brings me back to that bowling alley and it is like watching the horrific display all over again.

The need to protect makes my claws shift out and it’s a struggle not to shift and hunt them down.

“How far is this place from here?”

“About ten miles, it’s right on the edge of town near the highways.”

I watch as Ronan’s mind races, trying to put together this new information with what we know.

It could be completely separate.

Or it could be related to everything that’s been going on.

But either way it’s another pile of crap on the already steaming load we got going on.

“I’m calling an emergency meeting. We need to make sure everyone knows what’s going on, then we need to get the fuck back home.”

My sentiments exactly.

Because if whoever is behind this has already managed to get onto our land, it means they’ve been watching us.

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