Della’s eyes flashed open to discover Rue asleep in her bed, the fire almost out, and silence on all sides around her cabin. She stared up at the ceiling, sending a determined push through the bond. A promise. This wasn’t the end, not for him and not for them.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Cal
The shackle closed around his ankle with a sickeningclink, and resignation pinned him like pressure at the bottom of the ocean. Satisfied, the Alphas who’d hauled him into the room slowly backed away, edging toward the doorway of the underground room. Sacks of food and other supplies piled in the space and perfumed the air with spices and the faint vegetal sting of onions. He’d never been down here, but it appeared to be a storeroom of sorts, beneath the mess hall, a single, dusty window the only source of fading daylight.
Storeroom plus improvised prison cell.
Cal swiped the sweat from his brow with his working shoulder; the other hung limply and grotesquely from his side. “I’d like to ask why y’all have a spare shackle and chain just lying around down here, but I’m afraid I don’t really want to know.”
Colt twisted the key in the lock and then stood, the key in his white-knuckled fist. “We figured it never hurt to be prepared.”
“Well,”—Cal bent his knee, and the heavy chain scraped against the concrete—“you’re wasting time with this when you should be preparing for what’s about to happen tonight.”
The Alphas at Colt’s back shuffled restlessly, and Cal shifted his gaze to them. “Y’all shouldn’t be standing here. You should be setting up patrols for every quadrant. Send Heck or Alek up in a tree to be lookout. Get the Omegas and pups hidden and secured somewhere safe.”
“You said they were coming from the north?” An Alpha with rich brown skin stepped forward, his eyes serious but wary.
Cal nodded. “I saw them in the area near the hot springs, but they could be clever and come from any direc—”
“Shut up,” Colt snapped, flashing a glare between Cal and the question-asker. “We got it under control.”
“Do you?” Cal lifted a challenging brow. “’Cuz it seems to me you got four guys down here going to a lot of trouble to restrain a wounded Alpha when you should be making arrangements to keep the Pack safe.”
A muscle ticked in Colt’s cheek. “The Pack’s safety is not your business.”
“Della’s my mate,” Cal seethed. “And if something happens to her because of y’all’s negligence, I swear to you, there will be no safe place for you to hide on this entire green earth.”
Colt scoffed and shook his head. “Yeah, wouldn’t want to see anything happen to Della, right? Like her getting abducted from her Pack, you mean? Stolen away and dragged over hell’s half acre, returned half-starved with a claiming bite and reeking of Alpha seed? Something like that, you mean? Wouldn’t want to see anything like that happen.”
Cold shame poured into his veins like oil, and anger lit the match behind it. No denying he did those things, but fuck this asshole for throwing it in his face like he was in the wrong when he didn’t know the first thing about it. What he had with Della was the furthest thing from wrong.
Cal took a fortifying breath, striving for patience. “We can rehash all that once this threat is dealt with. Della ain’t no wilting flower. She’ll tell you herself what happened between us.”
A look of pure contempt darkened Colt’s face. “Della is a hysterical mess. She’s not in any condition to talk to anyone. Another thing she can thank you for, I suppose.” With a disgusted shake of his head, Colt turned to leave. “He can’t do any more damage down here. Let’s go.”
The Alpha who’d spoken earlier flicked a worried glance between Colt and Cal. “Someone should stay with him, don’t you think? A guard? Just in case?”
Colt threw of smirk over his shoulder and stuffed the key deep in his pants pocket. Cal’s stomach bottomed out, a nightmare he hadn’t even considered playing out.Coltwas keeping the key to his restraint? Dread engulfed him like a bag thrown over his head.
He was never leaving this room.
“You heard him,” the Second sneered, “he says we gotta prepare. So, let’s go prepare.”
He strode toward the door, his big feet tromping up the short set of stairs to the outside, taking the key to Cal’s freedom with him. Ignoring the spiraling panic of being left alone in the dark basement with the key walking off in Colt’s pocket, Cal shouted one last warning to the Alphas queued up to follow, his voice thin and strained. “They got Omegas with them. Don’t know how many, but don’t let them get away without rescuing those girls.”
“You sure about that?” The Alpha who spoke up turned and met his eyes, looking less wary and more alarmed.
Cal dipped his chin, his gaze never wavering. “Swear on my Omega’s life. They were talking about having Omegas but wanting more. I got no idea what they’re doing with ‘em, but it didn’t sound good.”
The Alpha tensed his jaw, determination squaring his shoulders. “All right, man. You sit tight. I’ll remind Hunt to come take a look at your shoulder.”
“Don’t worry about me.” Cal tried for an unconcerned grin and jiggled the chain. “I’m not going nowhere.”
He held it together until the last Alpha filed out and the door slammed shut. But when the metallic sounds of a second lock snapping closed jangled through the hazy dark, his stomach began to heave. Rolling to his good side and then awkwardly up on three limbs, Cal’s exhausted body labored to expel every drop from his roiling guts. The day’s meager food long digested, so only a revolting thread of bile and stomach acid drooled out of his mouth. A sour taste poisoned his mouth, and he heaved again, so hard his stomach clenched to the point of pain and his throat screamed in abused agony. Spots swam in his vision, the combined sick and weakness finally catching up with him.
Cold sweat prickling on his neck, he sat back on his heels, tilting his head up and pulling in deep, desperate breaths. He had to stay awake, stay alert. No matter how much he hurt or how much he wanted to lie down and pass out. He couldn’t disappear into unconsciousness, not while the bond flailed in his chest. A never-ending symphony of distress howled from Della’s side, so loud and deafening he couldn’t get through to her. If only she’d settle enough to let him through, he could soothe her through the bond. But, at the moment, her anguish blared at top volume and drowned everything else out.