Leap of the Lion (The Wild Hunt Legacy #4)(107)

Wearily, Gawain leaned against the concrete wall in the dark stairwell as the remnants of the used-up magic stuttered through his body. Using his powers here, far from forests and the Mother, was like pushing water upstream.

“You okay?” Ryder had shifted to human and stood in the doorway.

“Tired.” Gawain motioned to the room. “Did you disable all the guns? We don’t want—”

“It’s done, my friend.” A white flash was Ryder’s smile. “That spymaster guy told me what to do.”

“Good enough.” Despite his exhaustion, Gawain felt impatience flooding through him. His job was complete. Now he needed to find his brother and Darcy. Find them and guard them, the two people he loved most in the world.

He started up the stairs.

Ryder’s hand clamped on his shoulder. “Gawain, I know what you’re feeling. Nonetheless, we wait for Ben’s signal.”

Ryder and his brother ran a building company, Gawain knew. With Wells’ help, the big grizzly cahir and his shifter crew were stealing heavy equipment from a nearby construction site to dozer down the nearest utility poles. If successful, the same dozer would bash through the front gate, providing a way in for Shay and the other volunteers.

Another minute ticked by.

Boom!

The sound was somewhere between a gunshot and an explosion. The floodlights flickered. Off. On. Off. Darkness filled the area.

“By the God, that was a transformer blowing. They did it.” Ryder slapped his arm. “Let’s go, mage.”

Gawain trawsfurred and leaped out of the stairwell. Almost to new moon, the skies were dark. Although the humans would be blind, the ambient light from the surrounding city gave ample light to a shifter.

Hunting time.

*

Outside the shifter-soldiers’ forest camp, Tynan had spent a fair amount of time up in a tree.

Thanks to Owen’s warning, he’d studied the motion detectors that monitored a ten-foot area inside the fence wall, calculated the probable blind spots, then cautiously slow-motioned his way in. Pissed him off, too. Maybe werecats enjoyed creeping an inch at a time, but he was a fecking wolf.

Once past the motion detectors, he ghosted to the barracks building, killed off a poor excuse for a guard, and stepped up to the door. The interior was dark; evidently, shifters had a lights-out time.

The door was locked. Wasn’t it nice he’d learned to pick locks in his early days as a cop?

A minute later, he slid into the room.

The sound of the door—and his scent—alerted the males inside. Thuds sounded as they jumped from their bunks in the dark.

“Dogwood villagers,” Tynan said in a voice only another shifter would hear. “Darcy sent me to get you out. We’re freeing your females in Seattle—right now. We need your help to finish at the prison.”

“Darcy is out?” One male moved forward.

The next voice was harsh. “Bullshit. It’s a trap, Patrin.”

“We can’t—” A third voice held frustration and anguish. “They’ll kill our females if we escape. How can we trust what you’re saying?”

Aye and Darcy’d figured they’d have this reaction. “Now that Darcy is out of the city and off the pills, she’s the shifter she was meant to be.” He pulled a shirt from the tiny pack he’d carried around his neck. “Smell.”

The one named Patrin snatched it. Inhaled. “By Herne, she’s shifted. She’s a cat, Fell.”

In the shadows, a male joined Patrin and sniffed the shirt. “Darcy. She’s healthy. Healthy.” The male choked on the last word.

Another asked, “The females are being rescued?”

“The Seattle attack has been launched. We need you to destroy this camp—and then we go to help free the females.”

Patrin said quietly, “You don’t get it, wolf. We all have trackers in our arms. They’ll know if anyone leaves this area.”

“I do get it. And by the way, you each have two trackers, not one.”

The male’s curse was low and foul.

Tynan continued, “Once the guards are down, we’ll cut the trackers out and leave them in this building to keep the Scythe content. You’ll get patched up on the way.”

In the dim light, Patrin held up his hand, stopping the others. “The staff holes up in their own house. Locked and bolted. You have a plan?”

“I’ve got more shifters to create a diversion at the north edge.” Tynan smiled slightly. “Darcy assured us that if we got the guards to open their doors, you’d deal with them.”

Fell’s laugh was low and deadly. “Our sister is correct.”

*

As Owen carried his armload of tiny cubs out of the cell, the power went out—and the corridor turned pitch black. Well, fuck. Even a feline couldn’t see where there was no light at all.

Vicki didn’t slow, just kept going, following the scent trail Owen had left on the way in. Owen followed her.

Lights appeared at the end of the corridor as several humans with flashlights dashed into the guard station. The lights paused at the desk area. “Jesus Christ, the bastards got Jones and Morris.”

“The door’s o-open.” That human sounded ready to flee.

“Yeah, and if they’re still in there, I’m gonna fill them with lead.” A pistol trigger clicked.