He just hoped Summer wasn’t the one leading the brigade.
“Tell me again why I’m helping you people after you turned me into a damn wolf,” Faith whispered behind Summer as they crawled through the most disgusting, pungent smelling sewer water she had ever encountered, even living in New York City and watching the sewer lid outside of her apartment explode at least once every few months.
She had to admit the layout of IPAG was impressive. It had been built to be entirely self-contained and everyone had seemed relieved to have been able to locate the start of the sewer system on the outskirts of the main building.
“We didn’t make you a wolf. You were already a wolf.” Summer rolled her eyes. She’d been having the same conversation with the woman for the last ten minutes and she suspected the newfound wolf had vented the same complaints to half of the pack.
Faith snorted. “How is that even possible?”
“Look,” she didn’t care that she sounded short. Her entire focus was on rescuing Cullen not explaining the history of Westervelt to Faith. Let Tristan do that, since he seemed to enjoy it. She liked the woman and she hoped later they’d be friends but at the moment there was just no time. “I know Tristan explained what happened thirty-three years ago. I’m not hashing through it again. I need to get Cullen out of here. You have your ax to grind with this place, too. Let’s get this done and then we’ll work the rest out.”
Faith sighed. “Fair enough.”
In all her life, Summer never imagined she’d be crawling through sewer water in the jungle trying to rescue the man who for all intents and purposes was her husband. She’d judged Ashlee so harshly for just this type of behavior. Now she wished she could ask her sister for advice. A heaping helping of humble pie sounded good right about now
But she was in a different sewer line, probably out of telepathic range so she’d have to make do on her own. Cullen would flip when he found out the entire pack, including the Alpha, had put themselves in danger to rescue him. He wouldn’t have believed anyone cared that much. She smiled as she imagined his face when he discovered just how admired he was. Her grin faded as she envisioned a much grizzlier scene.
A scene where she never gets the chance to tell Cullen how much he meant to his pack mates. One that despite her preparation and determination to do things differently than the vision, she was still too late and Cullen died.
She shook her head and reminded herself as she crawled through the sludge that she wasn’t having a vision, not the kind she was used to having anyway, but an ordinary run-of-the-mill anxiety attack. Determination was what called for in this situation. She needed to be strong. Beneath her hands, the slime felt squishy. She closed her mouth and tried not to breath. Too much more of this and she was going to start heaving. That wouldn’t be good for anyone.
Focus. Her Wolf sounded annoyed.
I’m trying. I’m just a human, you know.
You’re a shifter. Think of Cullen
She would get Cullen back. They would have their time together without Kendrick or Claudius or any other psychopath who might interfere in their lives. She’d been born to be with Cullen and she wasn’t ready to die.
“You crawled through all of this muck pulling me in that bag?” Summer was sure, even with the tremendous pain that had been throbbing in her paw, that she would have remembered the smell and the sheer amount of time it was taking to get through the sewer.
“No.” Faith sighed. “I’ll show you what I did with the cameras when we get in there. I set them on a loop so you and I simply snuck out the side door and got lucky.”
“Brilliant.”
Faith laughed. “Thanks.” She looked past Summer, squinting at something in the distance. “The opening that you’re going to push through is about five feet ahead. You’ll see it’s a grated gate. Shove hard or, if you want, let’s switch places and I’ll do it.”
Summer shook her head. She was small but she was tough. Walking up to the sewer gate, she pushed against its center, and it went flying, slamming into the wall across the room.
Up ahead stood a metal door with the words ‘Utility’ printed on it. This door took Summer a little more time but she managed to pull it from its hinges in a matter of moments.
“Maybe in your case I should have told you to go gently. Wow. Wonder woman.”
Summer smiled. “You’ll get used to your extra strength, too. Right after my change, I went home, twisted the top off of a pickle jar and broke the whole thing in half.”
“I’m going to need some help with all of this, I think.”
Summer nodded. “Help me get Cullen out of here and I’ll write you a handbook.” The air around them felt stale. Summer scanned the room. It was some sort of utility room. “Go do whatever it is you do to make the cameras go on loop, please.” She was glad she’d thought of the please at the end of her command. They’d all be screwed if Faith took off and left them here.
Faith nodded and Summer hoped she was as good at accomplishing this type of mission as she seemed to be. Fortifying herself with a deep breath, she let it out slowly. With her wolf returned to her, she could smell an amazing amount of detail about the Institute. The aroma of pain and sickness hit her nostrils first and she squinted, resisting the urge to cover her nose with her hand. That wouldn’t do any good. She needed to smell Cullen. There were hundreds of people in the Institute and she wasn’t all that good at using her wolf senses yet but Cullen’s scent, the familiar bouquet of home and safety found its way to her mind.
He wasn’t far. Summer walked to the hallway door and opened it quickly. It wasn’t locked and she preferred not to pull it from the wall which would have been a dead giveaway that something was going on. She glanced both directions to make sure she wasn’t spotted and was relieved to find it empty.
Ashlee? If her sister was in the building she should be able to hear her telepathically.
We’re here Summer. We just caught his scent and we’re moving into position.
Summer nodded and her shoulder slumped in relief. In her dream, she’d been alone. Now she had the entire pack with her. Did you manage to talk Tristan into staying behind?
Her sister snorted. Are you kidding? He said if I was going, he was going.
Maybe you should have stayed back, too.
The man who is responsible for all the woes of my pack, including the recent murder of our parents is here. Do you think I’m going to let you to have all the fun?
Summer walked into the hall, keeping her footsteps steady. Again, another improvement from her vision, she wasn’t running down the hall at a frantic pace. She made herself keep her speed slow and even.
There is nothing fun about taking a life. I’ve taken one, maybe two today. Cullen tried to warn me but I didn’t understand.
She got it now. Taking Claudius’ life might fill some part of her that needed revenge but the truth was it would also be something she would never be able to let go, whereas her need for retribution might waver in time.
Wow.
For the first time in her life she’d left her sister virtually speechless. She couldn’t remember the last time Ashlee had been reduced to one word answers.
Cullen’s scent grew stronger and she knew she’d soon be in his presence. Her heart fluttered. What had they been doing to him since she’d been taken? She desperately wanted to reach out and speak to him telepathically but she knew what he’d say if she did. He’d order her to turn around.