Chapter 101: Chapter 101

“You can’t, not yet.” Ethan hissed, wrapping his arm around my waist to hold me against his torso.

That was the first thing I had felt from him since they took him, and now the bond between us was propelling me forward.

I only stopped squirming when I noticed Aly’s flushed face and how she was currently pressed against Nicolas Zoe. The two of them were pressed up against the house. I didn’t miss how his arm was wrapped around her waist, his fingers just an inch above the line of her shirt.

His other hand still rested over her mouth, an attempt to silence her as the guard went out to investigate. His heart sounded like a distant helicopter, echoing the sound of Nicolas.

“Are you okay?” I asked, as both Ethan and Nicolas finally let us go.

“I’m fine,” Aly muttered under her breath, which was a good enough answer for me at this point.

“Guys, I have the window open.” Lucy’s sudden burst made me jump and instinctively put a hand against my chest. Lucy came closer to the four of us, apparently unaware of what had just happened. “I opened it while you were… busy.”

Nicolas went through the window first, before helping Aly and me pass through. Lucy was next, and then Ethan.

I was surprised that Nicolas could get his hands dirty, but that in no way changed my opinion about the man. His styled hair and tailor-made suits made him look neat and untouchable. This was the side of Nicolas that I rarely got to see, I suspected. The side that got his hands dirty, the side that had helped free countless white wolves. Nicolas Zoe wasn’t black or white but various shades of gray.

He helped the white wolves in his father’s clutches, the ones who would go unnoticed. He even helped Erika and Martin escape with their son, something that David surely noticed. However, even with those good deeds, he remains by his father’s side. Although, I’ll always be a bit biased, considering he rejected my best friend.

The bathroom we were in was small. We fit all five of us, but barely. The floor tiles were broken, and the toilet was stained from years of dust and dirt.

“There are three in the living room,” Nicolas murmured, opening the door just an inch. “You’ll have a chance before they rush you, Lucy.”

“I’ve got this.” Lucy nodded confidently, ripping the earpiece from her ear to coil the cable around her neck.

Just as Lucy maneuvered through the narrow bathroom towards the door, Nicolas leaned in to get closer. It was impossible not to hear what he was saying, even though I knew the words weren’t meant for our ears.

“Don’t mess this up and let me tell your parents they lost another child,” he said, his voice firm but not cruel.

Lucy stared at him for a long moment before nodding. Then she grabbed the doorknob with her hand, her knuckles white around the tarnished metal. She opened the bathroom door and slipped out. Fused into Ethan’s hard planes, I looked through the thin c***k in the door.

The three men in the living room were sitting at a cheap folding table. A deck of cards was spread among numerous beer bottles. There were some half-eaten pizza slices on plastic plates, all of which seemed to be at least a day old. A small television in the corner of the room played an old football replay. All three men had that bulky build of most werewolves, even if they weren’t openly muscular.

Lucy was right at the beginning of the hallway, just a few meters from where the men were sitting. The speaker on the television was the only thing covering the sound of her heartbeat.

I noticed the moment the men caught her scent and realized someone had entered the house. One by one, they all stiffened. They were trying to feign indifference, so Lucy could keep believing she hadn’t been caught yet.

Lucy anticipated that and spread her arms wide.

One of the men was about to rise from his chair, but he froze halfway. Three thuds sounded as the two slumped from their seats, and the third fell to the floor.

“Did she kill them?” I asked, wide-eyed.

Even this far into the world of werewolves, violence still surprised me. I tried not to think about what she had done to Maurice and instead forced myself to think about Liam.

“No, she didn’t kill them,” Nicolas said determinedly, opening the door even though he hadn’t seen Lucy complete the job. Clearly, he had some faith in the girl. “Lucy is young, so her abilities are still growing. All we know is they have something to do with the mind. She’s capable of knocking out almost anyone for at least half an hour. Resisting her abilities isn’t about being physically strong but mentally strong.”

Indeed, the three men were face down on the half-finished living room carpet.

“Easy,” Lucy shrugged, pushing one of the unconscious men with the tip of her boot. “Big muscles, small brains.”

“There will be more here,” Nicolas warned her, frowning at the man on the floor. “Let’s hope they haven’t thought anything about the noise.”

I can’t prevent everything,” Lucy rolled her eyes, making a dramatic gesture for the four of us to leave the cramped bathroom. “Besides, I like how it sounds when they fall.”

We searched through the lower floor of the house, through the moldy kitchen with leaky ceilings and the dining room the guards used as a sleeping area. Once we were sure there were no more guards on the lower half of the house, each of us headed upstairs.

Nicolas stayed close to Lucy. I wasn’t sure if it was some strange protective side of him or if he really didn’t want to tell his parents they’d killed her.

I could smell the men before I saw them. One of the showers upstairs was running, sputtering and splashing out water that smelled a bit strange. I figured the shower was a blessing. There’s nothing like being trapped in a rundown house with ten men and a broken shower. With just the scent of mold, it was a miracle they smelled anything at all.

“I’ll stay in the bathroom while you guys continue. Make sure there are no more guards and then come back for this.” Aly suggested, shrugging. “I’ll let you know if she comes out, but with how fast the water’s coming out, I’d be surprised if it’s done in the next ten minutes.”

Ethan paused before looking at Nicolas. Deep in Ethan’s eyes, there was a certain disappointment. Even with Ethan’s abrasive personality, I knew he liked Aly. It was practically impossible not to get along with her. Seeing my partner’s best friend suffering because of that a*****e didn’t sit well with any of us.

“Stay with her,” Ethan told Nicolas, his voice deep, even gruffer than usual. I could see the challenge in Ethan’s eyes, and I knew soon Ethan wouldn’t abstain from laying his hands on Nicolas. Nicolas seemed to feel the same, but he refused to back down. I’d started to call it the arrogance of an Alpha, but it seemed to be the one universal trait they all had in common.

Nicolas’s sea foam eyes darkened into stormy skies, while Ethan’s hardened to onyx. Aly seemed to feel the same as me, even without the ability to sense emotions.

“You two can finish this later, because right now is probably the worst time for this conversation.” I snapped at the two of them, not bothering to tell either of them to let it go. Both were too stubborn to give up their absolute hatred for each other. I turned and stared into Ethan’s furious eyes, which would have been terrifying if I hadn’t known he’d never hurt me.

“We need to find your brother, and no matter how satisfying this fight might be, it won’t help us get Liam back.”

Ethan’s anger didn’t extinguish easily. That fire simply withdrew, still burning deep within him. For now, though, his focus redirected.

“Let’s go.” Ethan growled, placing a gentle hand on my back as we left Aly and Nicolas, continuing down the hallway.

Ethan followed Lucy and me as we moved forward, still protecting her as Nicolas would. We could hear the low murmur of voices further down the hall and from one of the rooms. At one point, we had to crouch to avoid a large hole in the wall. Through it, I could make out at least four more men.

We stopped just as the hallway ended in a right turn. At the end of that hallway was a door, with four men seated around it. Another plastic folding table had been set up, with beer cans and fast-food wrappers scattered on top. These men were like the others, their guard completely down.

I could understand why they would believe we’d never find this place. Technically, it existed under the name of Maurice Evans, who was rotting where Sven Ross had put him.

The thought still turned my stomach, a side effect I wasn’t sure would ever go away. If it weren’t for Nicolas’s information, would we have found this place? Could Axel, Thomas, or the twins’ resources have discovered this?

“Four?” Lucy murmured softly. “Man, he needs to get me out more to practice. I’ll never get stronger if I can’t flex my abilities a bit.”

She stepped out from behind the corner at the last moment, arms outstretched to her sides. The men didn’t even have time to look at her before their eyes rolled back, and their bodies collapsed to the floor.

Lucy staggered for a moment but caught herself against the wall. She frowned and waved Ethan away when he moved to help.

“I’ll be fine. I just haven’t used my abilities on this many people before.” She huffed, straightening up and smoothing down her skirt. “I’ll knock out that last guy, then I’ll find Nicolas and Aly.”

Lucy walked down the hallway, and I turned my attention to the door further ahead. My heart was now pounding hard, not from adrenaline, but from the heavy scent that still lingered in the hallway. I took a deep breath; my chest hurt as I remembered the night they took him. I could feel the bond that connected the three of us, and right now, it was urging me forward. Toward the door at the end of the hallway, where Liam’s scent was strongest.

I would have stumbled forward if it weren’t for Ethan’s reassuring arm around my waist, guiding me forward and over the unconscious guards.

“Can you feel it?” Ethan asked, his voice unusually low.

“I can,” I nodded, not a trace of doubt in my voice. He may be unconscious, but he’s alive.

“I can feel it too,” Ethan admitted, just a glimmer of hope in his eyes.

When Ethan gripped the doorknob with firm fingers, I took a deep breath. The hinges creaked and g*****d, rusted from disuse. The bedroom was clearly meant to be the master and had no furniture except for a bed.

On that bed, with an intravenous line in his arm, was Liam.

Rage burned within me as I saw him. He had clearly lost weight and was being fed through some sort of tube. There were dark circles under his eyes, his hair messy and greasy, but he was alive. I could hear the strong beat of his heart, and I knew it would keep ringing in my ears for a long time.

I stood there for a few seconds, taking in every inch of him with my eyes. My finger twitched when I found the spot where his dimple was, a few inches from the corner of his mouth. For once, I couldn’t focus on the emotions of the people around me. All I could feel was my endless guilt, smothering me like a thick quilt.

We would get him out of here, and he would never look like this again. I reminded myself of this over and over until the pain lessened enough for me to breathe.

I can remove these tubes. I could hear Aly’s voice from far away, getting closer with every beat of Liam’s heart. Her nervous laughter was nearby.

“Dad taught me something useful after all.”

‘Breathe, sweetheart.’ Ethan’s thoughts mingled with mine, pulling me from the abyss I had nearly fallen into. “‘I know what you’re thinking, and none of this is your fault. You couldn’t hide from the world; it wouldn’t have lasted, and it wasn’t best for you. Eventually, David would.