Wolf Betrayed (Talon Pack #4)(56)

His gaze locked with hers when her eyes widened. “Yes, I know much more than you think. I saw the way you leaned into him and that other man on the feed when you blew up my compound. You think I’d have left it without someone watching it beyond those guards you took out? You aren’t as smart as you think you are. I want Shane back, and now that I have you, he’ll come right to me. I would have preferred not to have to bother with you, but the man refused to leave the den. He didn’t even budge when we tested the wards.”

He had to be talking about the bomb they’d dropped right on top of the den that the wards had barely been able to hold back. But even as her mind worked through that, she could only think of one thing.

Shane.

Montag wanted Shane.

Of course, the man wanted Shane. Her mate was the only thing left of Montag’s experiments. At least, that was what they had thought before, and from the manic way the former General was acting now, she had a feeling the Packs had been right. Montag needed Shane’s blood to continue his experiments.

Only the other man didn’t know the serum hadn’t worked. It had only brought Shane closer to what he could have been if he’d been bitten. The whole process had almost killed him multiple times, and the ramifications of a man-made serum being introduced into the Pack bonds weren’t even known yet. This human, this Montag, had forever changed the Packs, yet he didn’t even know it.

She wouldn’t be telling him, though. Giving him that much information would be deadly.

And if they didn’t take care of him and make a stand, she knew her people would never have a fighting chance. They would forever be throwing new ways to torture at them and take them out in any way they could.

“While we wait for Shane to show up so I can get what I need from his blood, we might as well begin.”

He tilted his head, studying her, and she wanted to punch him in his too smug face. “This should be interesting.” But he didn’t stay to see what would become of her. Instead, he left, taking one of his men with him.

Maddox and Ellie had been through something like this before when they’d first been mated, and their captivity was how they’d found Charlotte and saved her life. When the human male put the collar around her neck, chaining her to the wall behind her but still keeping her on the table, she knew she’d come full circle.

But she wouldn’t let the others save her this time.

Instead, she would save herself.

It was the only way to make sure Montag never got his hands on Shane.

The woman who had been standing at the edge of the table came forward then, her hand outstretched, and Charlotte held back a growl. The knife in her hand was coated with something, and she couldn’t sense what it was, but it couldn’t be good.

She let out a low breath, relaxing her body as much as she could. It would take almost every ounce of her strength to do what she needed to do next.

The woman passively placed the knife on Charlotte’s temple, and that’s when Charlotte moved. The blade dug in, and excruciating pain slammed into her. But instead of weakening her, she pushed through the pain, letting it help her. With all of her strength, she pushed up with all four limbs at the same time, using her claws to cut through what she could.

Once she got through the rubber that had been touching her skin, she screamed. They had coated the chains with the same substance they had the knife, but she pushed through it and got her arm out of the strap.

She was one of the fastest wolves out there, and right then, she knew she was faster than she’d ever been before.

Her hand shot out and took the knife from the other woman. Before the soldier could gasp, Charlotte had stabbed the other woman through the neck with the blade and rolled off the table. Her body was bloody, cut up, and she wasn’t healing yet thanks to the multiple shrapnel wounds and whatever had been on those chains.

She knew she’d bear these marks forever, as well as the one on her temple from where the knife had dug in, but it didn’t matter.

Charlotte would not be bound.

She would not be caged.

She would fight. And she would be free.

And she would kill anyone in her way.

****

Shane’s blood boiled, but he didn’t growl, didn’t scream, didn’t say a word. Instead, he focused deep inside on that tiny thread that connected him to the two people who had become the most important things in his world.

“Turn left here,” Bram growled out. “We’re getting closer.”

Kameron turned and let out a breath. “I wish I had the ability to use a GPS tracker like the two of you seem to have right now.”

Shane let out a breath. “I hope you mean in general, because I wouldn’t wish this feeling of being so out of your depths you can’t breathe on anyone if they’re trying to find their mate.”

Kameron met Shane’s eyes, a newfound respect shining in them. “Truer words…” the other man whispered. “We’re going to find your mate, damn it. We’re not going to let Charlotte be hurt.”

Bram, who was in the front seat, kept silent at the exchange as Walker shifted slightly next to Shane in the back seat.

“I still can’t believe you got Maddox and Ellie to stay behind and go back to their den,” the Healer said.

Shane focused on the frail bond again as Bram spoke. “We all know this is a trap of some kind. Everyone was needed back at their dens since we don’t know which one they could attack. And they trusted us to find their daughter and bring her home.”