The sprinkler system ran alongside the vent but higher up the roof, the vents hanging down a little lower, so I would be close enough to climb in if I could break the bracket or bust one side of the vent open. They joined in the center of the cell. A bracket on each side of the joint; if I could break one and pop the vent out, I should be able to climb into the side with the bracket attached still.
Testing that theory, I jumped, clutching the jeans with both hands. I spun for a second before climbing the denim like a rope and wrapping my hands around the sprinkler system. The metal was cool to touch but hard to grip. I kicked at the bracket to find it already loose.Oh, thank the Goddess, I thought to myself and checked how rusted the bolts holding it to the roof were. Instead of kicking the bracket, I started kicking the side of the vent crushing the wall inwards. I knew that by gripping it, the bracket would rip from the roof, and hopefully, my weight would separate the vents.
I kicked the side, denting it all in and the bottom of the vent using my toes. I hissed when my toes broke before healing, only to break again as I kicked the bottom of the vent when I heard a click, the vent popping out from its groove.
Adrenaline coursed through me, and I kicked the bracket a couple of times to make sure it was loose enough before reaching over and grabbing it. The moment I dropped my weight on it, this side ripped from the ceiling, and I barely hung on before dropping down and jarring my feet. I climbed back up, repeating the process, kicking the dented vent to knock them apart enough to get my fingers between them. When I managed that, I gripped the vent; my weight and the missing bracket on that side made the vent bend downward when it pulled out of the wall, and I hit the concrete on my ass. The piece of vent I was gripping fell onto me and knocked the air out of me.
“Are you okay?” Nathaniel coughed. I groaned, and Aliza helped me up.
“You should wait. We haven’t got much more time until the timer goes off and pushes the wolfsbane through the vents again.”
“Are you sure it leads to the laundry?” I asked her.
“Yes. One side would have to lead outside, the other to the laundry,” she said, looking up at the vents. I didn’t have a choice in which one to go through now as half the vent was on the ground, and I couldn’t climb the brick. So, hopefully, the one I was going through led outside.If not, laundry it is, I thought to myself, climbing the bars to my jeans again.
My fingers were cut to pieces as I gripped the lip of the vent. I dangled there for a bit, trying to find a way to pull myself up, managing to get one arm in, and I used my elbow to help pull myself in. The wolfsbane residue on the vent was like acid on my skin.
I coughed and spluttered in the vent; my bare legs felt like the skin was being eaten off. Each second in there, I grew weaker and dizzy, having to stop. I made it to the bend in the vents, but now it went up. I felt like I was playing Tetris, moving my body at odd angles to turn on my back before pulling myself up to a sitting position. It went up a little over a meter before turning flat again. Bent over slightly, I slid into the other vent on my stomach. I groaned when I saw the fan and knew I was in the laundry. The other side went outside. The laundry, though, wasn’t the worst option as it was on the back deck of the packhouse, so also outside the main house.
The grate on the side was covered to stop Wolfsbane from spilling into the laundry, but the covering on the side was thin, and after a couple of elbows, I managed to get one side to break just as the vents groaned and turned on. I gasped as I inhaled a huge breath of wolfsbane before holding my breath and slamming my elbow into the other side, shoving the grate covering the vent hole out. I was surprised no one came bursting in because it was hardly a quiet task breaking into the vents and crawling through. The grate fell to the ground with a clang, and I squeezed out, covering my mouth and nose, trying to find the switch for the fans to the vents. Looking out the window, I looked down to see our concrete prison underneath the back deck and check if anyone was lurking outside.
Luckily no one seemed to be around, making me wonder why no one was at the packhouse today and where Alpha Jamie was. I couldn’t see a single person. Turning back to the laundry, I spotted the switch and shut it off before spotting a 2L bottle of wolfsbane sitting on top of the fan, a hose and funnel coming out of the motor from somewhere, which had to be where they poured wolfsbane in.
Despite this being a laundry room, it was empty. The last time I was out on the back deck here, I saw the washer and dryer on the back deck and thought it was a little odd but never questioned it. To think everyone had been trapped at the packhouse this entire time. That made more sense because the pack believed Aliza was dead, so his Beta must have been the only one to know of the cells under the deck.
Opening the laundry door, I sucked in a deep breath of unpolluted air. My face was burning from the wolfsbane, and I wasted no time rushing down the steps of the back deck to the ground. I looked at the door of the outbuilding that I always thought was for storage as it went the entire length of the deck. I snuck around and saw a huge padlock on the door and a digital key panel. I let out a breath. Now, I just had to throw myself over the borders and hope Ace and Tyson wouldn’t kill me at first glance. Running across the rear lawn, I climbed the fence and darted into the trees.
Chapter sixty-eight
Lucy
Ace wouldn’t even let me in the car with Mitchell, instead forcing me in his while Tyson drove off with Mitchell. I felt sick with nerves about what would happen to him. I had no doubt that my mother would unleash hell on him, but hopefully, my presence would deter her from hurting him. I knew Mitchell wasn’t lying, knew without a doubt.
Ace mumbled under his breath when he suddenly veered off, going in a different direction from my parents’ house.
“Ace, where are you going?” He didn’t answer and just completely ignored me.
“Ace, the packhouse is that way,” I told him, but he continued ignoring me until I grabbed the steering wheel and jerked the car. His growls bounced off the windows.
“You aren’t going there. He deserves what he gets.”
“Pull the fucking car over now!” I screamed at him, knowing he and Tyson were going to just hand him over to my mother and stepfather. They wouldn’t ask questions; they would just kill him.
“He betrayed you. He fucking deserves to die,” Ace snarled. His anger was out of control. I knew he was mad, but this? He wanted to hurt someone; he needed to hurt someone. His fingers white-knuckled against the steering wheel.
“That’s not for you to decide. He is my friend. Pull over, Ace. Now, or so help my god, I will—”
“You’ll what? Hate me? I can live with that, and so can Tyson,” he bellowed. Fur started growing on his arms as his anger became worse.
“Pull over. You said I could go with him. You said I could help him.”
“Yeah, and that was a lie. We don’t want him near you. He deserves to die for helping Jamie.”
“He did it for his mate.”
“Bullshit, he’s just trying to save his own skin, Lucy. Open your fucking eyes. Not everyone is your friend. He betrayed you, end of story.”
I reached for the handbrake, ripping it up, and the car started sliding before Ace corrected it, undoing the handbrake.