Stefan’s POV
When we…dammit. Now I’m referring to ‘we’?
When I get back to the house, everybody is ready to roll. We don’t waste much time. Once they run me through the information they have and the plan, we hit the road.
Levi isn’t happy about being left behind. I’m also not thrilled about going into what’s undoubtedly my most important battle yet without one of my best warriors. But his leg is not healed up yet.
Mari is coming with us. If it was up to me, I would rather she stayed back at the house, away from danger. But she is the only one who’s familiar with Theodore’s hideout, so we can’t go without her.
Also, as a shapeshifter, she can bolster our team in ways we couldn’t. Her unique abilities are why werewolves like Theodore keep shapeshifters–forcefully or otherwise. She can survey places we can’t see and get into nooks and crannies we can’t access, unseen. She is our best chance of infiltrating Theodore’s hideout at such short notice.
“Any lead on Gwen?” Hanna asks, meeting my gaze through the rearview mirror.
She is driving the van, and Andreas is in the passenger seat. Mari and I are in the middle with three warriors in the back. There are two more vans, each with eight warriors.
If what happened at Red Creek and Theodore’s quick retreat are anything to go by, I’d say our numbers are more than enough to take on his warriors. Our biggest challenge is getting inside his hideout. According to Mari, it’s a huge mansion with extensive underground space.
She says it’s the first place he brought her after he bought her. He kept her there for five years before they moved elsewhere, so she knows her way around quite well.
“She was taken by a vampire,” I answer Hanna.
She turns to look at me, completely taking her focus off the road. “What?”
“Eyes on the road,” Andreas reminds her.
“What do you mean a vampire?” she asks, refocusing on the road.
“We…” Dammit. “I recognised his scent. He’s the same one working for Theodore, so I’m hoping we’ll get a lead on him soon.”
“That means he took her to Theodore, right?” Her teeth work her bottom lip. “He is going to use her to threaten you.”
Yeah, that’s what I thought. But my head-buddy doesn’t seem to think so.
“So, should we expect him to make contact soon?” Andreas asks.
“He might not have taken her to Theodore.”
“Why not?” Mari asks.
I haven’t had the chance to tell her about my progress with my search for Gwen. I also haven’t mentioned Eric or his connection to Gwen. So far, only Levi knows about that part of the story.
“They have history.”
History that I’m yet to know. Who was she in her past life? What happened to her? Was she one of us, or a shapeshifter, or human? How did she get tangled up with a werewolf and a vampire?
‘She was human. A chieftain’s daughter.’
“I thought Gwen didn’t know about the supernatural world until she met you,” Hanna comments.
“She didn’t.”
Luckily, she drops it.
Mari doesn’t. “What kind of history?”
“I’m not quite sure.”
Eric doesn’t offer any tidbits about that.
It takes us two hours to get to the jungle where Theodore’s property is. We stop our vehicles about fifteen minutes from the property. Mari changes shape into an eagle and flies towards the property. While we wait for her report, we go over the plan one last time.
We’ll approach the house from all directions with Hanna, Andreas, Max, and I leading groups of at least four warriors.
We want to catch them by surprise and by the time they know what’s hit them, we’ll be inside.
Mari returns a few minutes later. She joins us after dressing up in the van. “The house is surrounded,” she says, shaking her head. “If we go directly, they’ll see us coming.”
I suppose that takes away the element of surprise.
“Let’s go meet them head on, then,” I say. “How many are they?”
“I counted ten patrolling. There are probably more inside the house.”
“I think we are good to go,” Andreas says.
“We can still surprise them,” Mari says. “There’s another way to go in unnoticed.”
“How?”
“There’s an underground passage. It’s used in emergencies. If we are lucky, we can open it from the outside.”
“Why didn’t you mention that before?” Hanna asks. Her tone is accusatory. “Theodore could use it to get away while we ambush the house. Or worse, they could use it to come at us from behind!”
“Sorry, it slipped my mind.”
“Is there anything else we should know? If we fail because you forgot something important, will you take responsibility?”
I step between them, shielding Mari from Hanna’s sudden hostility. I get it, she is loyal to Gwen. But that doesn’t mean she should take it out on Mari. “She was last here a long time ago and she was just a kid. It’s normal that she would forget something like that.”
“We are all risking our lives here. I would like to know exactly what I’m walking into. We are already missing Levi. We cannot afford any mistakes.”
“I’m sure she is aware of that. That asshole used her for thirteen years against her will.” Not to mention all the abuse he put her through. “Don’t you think she wants to take him down more badly than we do?”
Hanna tenses her jaw stubbornly. Does she share Levi’s suspicions about Mari’s intentions?
“Everybody, calm down,” Andreas says, stepping up to us. “We are doing this on short notice. There’s bound to be some risks. We all just need to bring our best game.”
Hanna crosses her arms over her chest. “How do we do this, then?”
After confirming that the tunnel is accessible from the outside, we decide to split up and go in from both ways. One team takes on the guards, the other goes through the tunnel. Mari, Max, and I take the passage with five warriors. Hanna and Andreas coordinate the rest to confront the guards.
The tunnel is dark and mouldy and looks like it hasn’t seen any traffic in ages. We take on our wolf forms but Mari stays human.
“This way,” she says as she turns left at a fork in the tunnel. “This will take us straight to the main underground room. If anybody is underground, that’s where they’ll be.”
The passage stretches on for about a hundred feet, and then we come to a heavy metal gate. There’s a chain around the two halves, but it’s unfastened. She pulls it away and it drops to the ground.
“There’s a hidden door on the other side,” she says, pulling one half of the gate open. “It’s so dark. Let me get my phone.”
With my night vision, I don’t need any light, so I go ahead.
“Something doesn’t smell right,” Max tells me through our mind link.
“I’d say. Looks like nobody’s been down here in ages.”
“No, it’s not about that–”
His voice is drowned out by a sudden thud.
We whirl around.
“What’s that?” Max asks as we rush back.
Between us and three of my warriors and Mari is a gate that wasn’t there a few moments ago. Before I can ask what the hell is going on, there’s the sound of movement from the other side.
And then they appear.
Wolves.
And more wolves.
Theodore’s wolves.
“MARI!” I roar in my head as I jump forward. I crash into the new gate and fall to the ground. I feel the pain, and then the smell of burning fur. My burning fur.
“It’s silver!” Max warns.
Silver?
I touch my paw to the metal and pull it away instantly at the sharp burn. It’s silver. It’s what Max must have picked up earlier.
Growls come from the other side. Wolves crash into each other. My eyes look for Mari. I can’t see her. Where did she go?
The wolves around me pace in frustration.
Someone yells in my mind. “There’s no door! It’s a trap.”
This cannot be happening.
I shift forms and call for Mari. But no matter how loud I scream, there’s no response. All I can do is stand here and watch my three warriors fight a losing battle. Finally, when the fight ends, lights bathe the place all of a sudden. Several bodies lie on the ground while three wolves retreat. None of them mine.
No.
Mari appears from the end of the passage.
“It’s not safe!” I scream. “Go back!”
She keeps walking forward.
“Mari!”
Someone else appears behind her. It’s Theodore!
I forget and wrap my hands around the gate’s metal bars. I pull them away a second later, cursing through the pain.
“Touch her and I’ll kill you!” I threaten.
She stops a few feet from the silver gate and he comes to stand right beside her.
“Will you?” he asks, a scornful smile taking over his features. He looks down at her. “Do you think he will?”
She smiles too. “He’d have to get past all that silver first.”
Mari…
He laughs and wraps his arm around her middle. He pulls her into him and bends his head.
No…
“Well done, my love,” he says. “I knew I could count on you.”
And then he kisses her.