Chapter Four

The next morning had Noah, Dax and about fifteen other Pack members traveling, caravan style, up 131 North. The mood was very different from the joviality of the previous night. Ryker and Malachi had given them a very basic description of the building’s layout and location, based on their intel. Unfortunately, the need to get back and report to their Alpha had kept them from being able to follow up on the information and actually locate the facility.

“All right, guys,” Dylan announced, turning around to face them. “I’d love to tell you that we have a foolproof plan and that this mission is going to be a breeze, but I try not to make a habit of lying to people. In truth, this whole mission is a clusterfuck. The intel we have is sketchy at best and the man who provided it is the scum of the earth. He came to us, not out of a need to do the right thing, but to save his own ass. We honestly don’t know what, if anything, we may be walking into. I want you all to be on your guard.”

The closer they got to Petoskey, the more anxious Noah became. Rubbing the back of his neck, he couldn’t shake the feeling that they needed to hurry. The way Dax was wringing his hands and cracking his knuckles showed him to be in a similar state. Dylan and the other guys in the vehicle seemed to be unaffected so he tried to ignore the feeling, but by the time they reached the city limits, Noah’s skin was crawling like he was on the verge of releasing his wolf. As an Alpha, he’d had complete control of his change since the age of eleven, so this overwhelming urge to shift against his will was a completely foreign sensation.

“Dylan, I think the facility is nearby.” Noah’s voice wavered, coming out rough and slightly unhinged.

Dylan gave a quick look over his shoulder then had his eyes back on the road. “Our informant says that the facility should still be another twenty miles to the north.”

“I don’t give a shit what that asshole told you,” Noah thundered. “The facility is here, close by.”

Trying to calm himself, he closed his eyes and focused on his breathing. Suddenly, his body was overcome by a cold wave of dread. Dax cried out, his features ashen, letting Noah know that he was not experiencing it alone.

“Noah? What’s going on?” Dax sounded like he was going to lose his shit. With his size, build and near Alpha tendencies, if he lost control in a moving vehicle, he could get them all killed.

Gripping the back of his seat, Noah leaned forward toward Dylan.

“You need to pull over,” Noah barked.

“Excuse me?”

“I said, you need to pull over, right fucking now!”

“What the hell, Noah?” Dylan snapped. “You don’t give the orders here. You may be an Alpha, but you’re not my Alpha.”

“I don’t know what’s happening, but if you don’t get us stopped and out of sight, I can guarantee you’re going to end up with a back seat full of pissed off, half-crazed wolf.”

Dylan must have sensed the seriousness in Noah’s voice. Luckily, they were coming up on some kind of old service road. Jerking the steering wheel, Dylan drove the SUV down the barely visible dirt track that led into the woods and out of sight. When they were far enough back that they were out of sight from anyone driving by on the main highway, he came to a stop and shut off the vehicle.

Noah didn’t wait around to give explanations. Between the way Dax’s skin was pulsing and the noticeable elongating of his limbs, it was clear that he was losing the battle to fight off his shift. Noah pushed open the door, grabbed Dax by the collar of his shirt and dragged him from the car. He could feel the man’s entire body trembling as the need to shift tried to overwhelm him. Knowing his mate was fighting a losing battle, he gripped Dax’s shoulders and forced him to look him in the eyes.

“Dax, I want you to stop fighting it and just let it happen. Do you understand? Shift.”

Dax shook his head vehemently, his eyes filled with panic. “I can’t. Have to fight it. Can’t let us be exposed.” He muttered the words and other incoherent nonsense, completely focused on his internal fight.

“Dax,” Noah placated, “I think there’s a reason our wolves are trying to get out. I think we need to trust their instincts and see where they lead us. Trust me. I will protect you.”

Dax froze, his expression wary. After a moment, he sighed and the tension slowly drained from his body. The shift came over him fast and was done almost as quickly as it began. In the blink of an eye, a massive tawny wolf was standing before Noah, shaking its body like a dog might do to shed water off its coat.

Holding out a hand, Noah allowed Dax’s wolf to scent him, becoming comfortable with the every facet of his new Alpha mate. The large wolf lapped at Noah’s finger tips and gave a sharp yip. It then lowered the front of its body to the ground, while raising its back, presenting itself to Noah.

Noah huffed out a laugh at the wolf’s antics, giving Dax a quick head rub then shifting himself. Seconds later, Noah’s own dark wolf stood next to Dax’s slightly smaller wolf, allowing the beast to continue to sniff and lick him. When Dax’s wolf got a bit frisky, Noah gave him a sharp nip on the nose in warning then turned to meet Dylan’s questioning gaze. The Beta had also exited the vehicle and was standing off to the side with a look of confusion and annoyance on his face.

“There is something here,” Noah sent to Dylan, as only an Alpha wolf could. “I’m not sure what it is, but it’s close. I need you to trust me on this, Dylan.”

Dylan gave an exasperated sigh but nodded. “What do you want us to do?”

“Nothing yet. The man who gave us the information about the location of the facility had to have been planted by my father. That means he’s not going to expect anyone looking around this location. Dax and I will scout ahead. If there’s nothing to find, you have permission to give me shit about this until the day I die.”

“But you’re sure there’s something out there?”

“Yes. I can’t explain how I know that or why, just Dax and I can sense it. All I know is that my wolf is sure the facility is around here and that we need to get inside, soon.”

Dylan hesitated, but after a moment, nodded his agreement. “All right. I’ll round up the rest of the team and fill them in on what’s going on. You guys go ahead. Let us know if you find anything and we’ll meet you at your location.” Dylan squinted, assessing him. “I’m starting to get a bad feeling about this. While I agree there has to be a reason that your wolf would demand that we stop here, I’m worried you may be getting pulled into a trap. Alphas tend to have a better feel for what’s going on around them, so be careful and contact us the minute you know something. We’ll storm that shithole tonight, if we need to. I don’t want anyone else getting hurt if we’re able to stop it.”

Noah gave a sharp yip of agreement, then he and Dax turned and took off into the surrounding forest. They raced side by side, as quickly as they could. The farther they ran, the stronger the feeling of wrongness became. It ate away at him like acid churning in his belly. He was certain that if they didn’t make it to wherever they were going soon, something precious would be lost.

“Something’s very wrong, D. We have to hurry,” Noah pushed urgently.

“I know,” Dax answered. “I can feel it too.”

They ran full out for nearly ten minutes before Noah sensed something was near. He sent a mental warning to Dax, who nodded his acceptance. Slowing their speed, they crept quietly through the underbrush until they came to the edge of a large clearing. As the trees thinned, they were able to make out a large structure built in among the trees. An eerie silence filled the area.

At first glance, it appeared to be an old, run-down hunting lodge. Built right into the side of a hill, the dilapidated building looked like a strong wind could bring it crashing to the ground. However, closer inspection revealed motion sensors and trip wires placed throughout the surrounding foliage. They were extremely lucky they hadn’t already set off any of the alarms. It was times like these when Noah was grateful for the experience he’d acquired working with security systems for Eli’s company, Steele Security. He knew he could disarm most of the alarms and explosives, but he was going to have to be human to do it. While being a Shifter came with many advantages, opposable thumbs wasn’t one of them. To say his wolf was not happy with that idea was putting it mildly. The beast’s sole thought was of protecting their mate, using claws and teeth. Unfortunately, in their current situation, neither were going to help them.

Sending a brief mental shout out to Dylan about their current location, Noah quickly shifted and systematically disarmed the security measures around the building under the watchful, protective eyes of Dax’s wolf. By the time Dylan and the rest of team arrived, Noah had disarmed all of the traps in the surrounding woods and had just finished hotwiring the locking mechanism on the entry door.

Within the span of a few moments, Dax had shifted back and was walking side by side with Noah. Noah had to admit, the guys were fierce as they emerged from the forest, dressed in head-to-toe black, while carrying more fire power than most armories would have at the ready. He observed Dylan’s approach as he walked toward them, just slightly ahead of the rest of the team. With his shoulders back and his head held high, he was the perfect example of a strong leader. The fact his men followed him without hesitation spoke volumes as to the kind of man he was.

Noah remembered a time, not so far gone, when he had been exactly like Dylan. When there was nothing more important to him that the well-being of his Pack. He would have done anything for them—would have willingly sacrificed his life for any one of them, if need be. It was the mindset of every wolf of power, a trait born and bred within them. The need to be strong—to protect—to defend.

After his time with spent with Carl, Noah didn’t know if he had it in him to be that man again. The only people he felt driven to protect were his mate and his family. He no longer had the selfless desire to lead and care for a Pack. If they were able to stop his father, the Mason Pack would be left without a leader. Just the thought of stepping in and filling that void had Noah breaking out in a cold sweat.

“Run into any trouble?” Dylan sauntered up to them, a sense of confidence and readiness practically oozing from his pores.

Shaking off his melancholy, Noah shrugged. “Nothing we couldn’t handle.”

“Do I want to know?”

“We’ve got more important things to worry about,” Noah answered, motioning to the lodge at his back.

Dylan frowned. “How the hell are we going to get into that piece of shit without getting caught?”

“Getting in isn’t going to be the problem,” Noah dismissed. “I was able to override the locking mechanism on the door and deactivate the exterior cameras.”

Lips parted, Dylan stared at him in disbelief. “How the hell did you manage all that? You guys have been gone for like five minutes?”

“Don’t get yourself all excited,” Noah muttered. “I do this kind of stuff all the time at work. Knowing the ins and outs of security systems is Steele Security’s bread and butter.”

“Fucking brilliant.” Dylan grinned, giving Noah a hard clap on the back. “Now that all the hard work’s done, what are you worried about?”

Noah sighed. “My concern is for what’s on the other side of that door. Without being able to see it, I have no way to prepare a defense. The main problem is definitely going to be the guards. There’s no way of knowing how many are in there or how well they’re armed. We’re gonna be flying blind and I don’t like it. Especially not when I’ve got my mate with me. It’s a huge risk.”

Dylan pursed his lips and glared at Noah. “You are acting like an idiot. Do you think Dax was sitting back at the Pack House baking cookies before you came along? Trust me, I understand the need to keep your mate from harm, but right now, all you’re doing is hurting him. Your fear is irrational and it’s showing everyone else that you’ve deemed Dax weak. If this continues, it’ll start to undermine his position in the Pack. Dax is a soldier and more than capable of taking care of himself.” The anger in his eyes lessened, allowing Noah to catch a glimmer of regret. “You’re going to lose him if you keep treating him like he’s made of glass and can’t defend himself. I know better than anyone that driving away your mate is something you don’t recover from. It’s not an experience I’d wish on anyone.” Dylan coughed and cleared his throat. “Now, we’re wasting time. We didn’t come all this way to back out once we’ve reached the finish line.”

There was no point in arguing. Dylan had made his point well.

“Fuck,” Noah groaned, closing his eyes and rubbing the bridge of his nose. “This is going to suck.”

Dylan shrugged. “You could always wait here and let the team handle it. We can watch Dax’s back just fine.”

“Now you’re the one acting like an idiot,” Noah snarled, his vision going red as anger rushed to the surface. “No way in hell are you taking my mate anywhere without me. I am an Alpha. None of you can keep him safe the way I can. Where he goes, I go.” With his arms crossed over his chest, Noah heaved in a breath as he struggled to temper his rage.

Laughing, Dylan raised his hands in surrender. “Don’t get your panties in a twist. I was just checking,” Dylan said and nodded toward the door. “Shall we go?”

Noah nodded. “After you.”

A sense of foreboding hung heavy in the air and an unnatural silence settled over the area. Something dark and malevolent emanated from the structure. He didn’t want Dax anywhere near the place, but something pulled at him. The need to enter the building was just as strong as the need to take Dax away from the unknown danger. There was something inside those cursed walls that needed to be found. Unfortunately, he had no doubt that if he entered the lodge, there was no way, short of hog-tying Dax, that he would be going in without his mate. The look of determination in his mate’s eyes had him choking back an order for the other man to remain outside. One look at Dax, and Noah knew he would never forgive him if he forced him to stay behind. Dylan’s warning stayed with him, reminding him that his mate was a strong wolf in his own right. He knew the man would be able to take care of himself.

Nodding his reluctant agreement, Noah joined the rest of the team, ready to start plotting out the next leg of their mission. Noah and Dax had just finished giving Dylan an update on the security measures they had encountered in the woods, when a soul-wrenching scream shattered the silence. It seemed to be coming from everywhere and nowhere, all at the same time. The cry pierced his chest, like a shot straight to the heart, causing something wild and feral to break free within him.

Noah shifted without a thought and ran toward the entrance of the building. He could feel Dax running alongside him, grounding and supporting him. A chorus of curses and shouts sounded out behind them but were ignored. The time for action was now.

He ramped up speed and homed in on the door. With a final push, Noah slammed into it with every bit of strength he could muster. The door had no hope of surviving a direct attack from a two hundred pound Alpha wolf. It buckled under the strain. The guard on the other side never even saw the attack coming as Noah swiped out with his claws. In a matter of seconds, the man’s throat was ripped out and he was left as nothing more than a bleeding carcass on the floor.

The rest of the team was able to infiltrate the building with little difficulty. The handful of remaining guards patrolling the hall were taken out swiftly. Once inside, the team spread out, splitting into pairs to investigate the rest of the structure. Noah and Dax stayed together and cautiously made their way deeper into the building.

While the structure might have had the appearance of a rustic hunting lodge on the outside, the inside was all white walls, metal fixtures and the overwhelming stench of disinfectant. Noah tried to scent the area but quickly found that the noxious scent of the cleaner made it impossible. He might as well be ‘scent dead’. To a Shifter, the inability to scent was akin to blindness, completely disrupting their ability to interpret the world around them.

Dax was becoming more agitated by the second. Pacing back and forth, he whined and scratched at the floor. Giving up on what was usually one of his most useful skills, Noah shifted into his human form, closed his eyes and focused on that strange sense of urgency that had led him to this place to begin with.

At first, Noah felt nothing. He fought the urge to roar in frustration and was about to start a room to room search when the feeling flared back to life, drawing him to a corridor that led down and off to the right. Not bothering to question it, he hurried down the hall, unsure what he would find but convinced that speed was a must.

Reinforced steel doors lined the hallway and were completely at odds with the derelict lodge exterior. The heavy duty doors looked like they would have been more at home in an old warehouse. Making his way down the hall, Noah reached out with his senses, desperate to latch onto some clue as to what had drawn him there. The first few sets of doors they passed held no interest for him. He walked by, giving them no more than a cursory glance. White walls, concrete floors and medical equipment lined counters. It left room to hope that there were still people they could save somewhere within the facility.

Farther down the hall, he was drawn to a large metal door with a glass viewing window, much like someone would expect to find in a hospital or prison. Easing up to the window, he carefully peeked over the edge and into the room.

It had a bare concrete floor and walls, similar to a warehouse. The walls were lined with large metal cages and all of them were full. The cages gave the inhabitants just enough space to crouch and crawl. They couldn’t have been more than five and a half feet in height and width. There was a fairly even ratio of men to woman. All of the prisoners were naked, their cells empty except for a thin, bed roll and a bucket in the corner. From the paleness of their skin and their sunken eyes, it was clear that they were not new ‘guests’ at the lodge.

After doing a quick survey of the room and finding no sign of a guard, Noah silently let himself inside with Dax, still in wolf form, hot on his heels. He walked over to the row of cages, needing to take a closer look at the locks keeping them imprisoned. Noah hadn’t made it more than a handful of steps when a woman in the closest cell stirred. He froze, not wanting their presence to startle the captives to the point where they gave away their location. Quiet was key. The woman gave a slight jerk and sniffed the air then settled back against the cell wall. Noah let out a silent breath, relief washing over him at the near miss.

He remained still until he heard her breathing slow and even out, signaling her return to sleep. Noah took a few steps toward her cell and her head rolled to the side, freezing him in place with an extremely alert set of baby blues. There was a wariness that bordered on hostility darkening her heart-shaped face. Dax stepped in front of him, letting out a low snarl of warning, his narrow-eyed focus completely on the jailed female. Without a word, she nodded in some kind of silent agreement and presented her neck to them both. It was a sign of trust and an acknowledgment of dominance. Her actions seemed to appease Dax. He took a step back and quieted while still keeping her pinned under a watchful eye.

Noah approached her cell door and took the lock in his hand, examining it for possible weaknesses. His father had spared no expense. The man wasn’t taking any chances that his prisoners might escape. The brand of lock Alpha Steele had chosen was known for being nearly uncrackable. Short of a set of bolt cutters, there was no way Noah was going to be able to pick the lock. A glance around the room told him there was no such instrument in their current location. Their best chance to get the cells open quickly and quietly was to somehow find the keys. Unfortunately, that was easier said than done. Cabinets skirted the room, and upon opening them, Noah found they were laden with a multitude of bins filled with miscellaneous medical paraphernalia. Taking in the sheer magnitude of it, he realized it would be a miracle if they were able to find the key without being discovered.

A quiet cough drew his attention back to the female. Looking at him with wide, beseeching eyes, she pointed to a tall storage cabinet, half hidden behind a rack of linens and scrubs. He didn’t bother with any further questions. Crossing the room in just a handful of long strides, Noah pulled open the cabinet with so much force, he almost ripped the door completely off. Inside, he found a metal rack mounted to the cabinet wall. Pegs lined the rack, each holding a simple set of keys. Noah prayed that they went to the cells. If not, they were in deep shit. After grabbing a handful of keys, he headed back to the rows of cages, coming to a stop in front of the cage holding the female.

As he approached, he took in the young woman’s appearance. He realized, upon closer inspection, that she was little more than a child. If he were a betting man, he wouldn’t put her age any higher than sixteen years. The thought of her in this place—of what might have been done to her here—made Noah want to beat the shit out of someone. His only solace was that after today, no one would be able to hurt her, or the others, ever again. They were busting out of this joint and they were leaving no man, or woman, behind.

“Don’t worry, sweetheart,” he soothed as he worked his way through the different keys, searching for the one he needed to set her free.

Reaching through the bars, she grabbed his hand in a tight grip. “Give me the keys and I will get everyone out,” she demanded, her voice surprisingly clear and strong. “You have to get to Landon. They’re going to kill him—or worse.” Her eyes took on a wet sheen and one fat tear escaped down her cheek before she was able to blink them back. “You have to protect Landon—please?”

Confused by her request, Noah was shocked even further when he saw the rest of the inhabitants of the cages awake, alert and nodding in agreement.

“Who’s Landon?”

“We don’t have time to get into this, right now,” she replied, irritation ringing clear in her voice. “For now, let’s leave it at the fact that he is someone very special who needs to be protected. His safety is more important than ours. The assholes running this place think he’s defective and they may just kill him by accident with their ignorance. You have to get to him before they do something irreparable to him. Please—I’m begging you.”

Noah shook his head in disbelief before standing to hand her the keys. “All right, you win. Do you have any idea where they might have taken him?”

“Yeah. Two doors down, on the left. It’s the ‘Breeding Room’.”

The distaste in her voice was palpable and the haunted look in her eyes made him want to kill someone. He hoped he got the chance, and soon. Someone deserved to die for what had been done to these people.

“How will I recognize him? What does he look like?”

She huffed in impatience. “Six foot, blond hair and blue eyes. He won’t be hard to spot. He’ll be the one bleeding.”

Noah gave her a brisk nod, turned on his heel and headed out of the door, Dax right at his side. His hands shook and his heart thundered the closer they drew to the door. A near-constant rumbling emanated from Dax’s wolf, the eerie sound causing the hair on Noah’s arms to stand on end and a shiver to work its way through his body.

As they reached another industrial strength portal, another heartbreaking shriek filled the air. Noah glanced at Dax and knew, between the two of them, that they were going to kill the person or persons who were responsible for those sounds of pain. Pushing open the door, Noah eased into the room and walked into a scene straight out of his nightmares.