Hunting Ground (Alpha & Omega #2)(53)

He shook himself as though he were wet and, as if that were a signal, his Alpha surged forward leaving Anna and Ric to follow. They ran first through a hallway and into a narrow stairway that led down and down, and the scents changed from fresh air to musty and moldy.

AFTER a minute or two the stygian blackness resolved into something more fathomable to Charles's wolf-enhanced vision. A hole in the ceiling let in some starlight, and the monitors began to show orange and red and gold as wolves passed by the infrared cameras scattered throughout the maze and lit the big room with the warmth of their bodies.

Even though he couldn't see her, Brother Wolf told him she'd already completed her change. The first to do so, he thought. He expected her to run immediately, but she waited.

For her guards, said Brother Wolf approvingly. He wasn't happy about Anna running this hunt while they were stuck with the wolves who chose not to go. He wasn't especially happy about missing the hunt himself-particularly with Chastel out there somewhere. Only the knowledge that Anna had allies kept Brother Wolf under wraps.

Groans of pain turned to howls and the sound of claws digging into wood as the last of the wolves entered the hunt, and finally silence descended upon the room. Charles heard a rustle and a click-and a bank of dim lights illuminated the room.

"Lights are still off everywhere else," said Angus. "It'll be a while before we see any of them again, and we might as well be comfortable. Come, my wolves are setting up tables and chairs on the main floor, where we can watch the action.

It took a while, but most of the watchers caught the trick of identifying friends and enemies even on the infrared. Hoots of laughter as traps were sprung and wolves fell into water or garbage or foam packing peanuts. Nets dropped unexpectedly, and one caught six wolves in a net meant for one. When they were finished with it, there wasn't a scrap bigger than eight inches long.

"Way to kill a defenseless net," said Arthur dryly, his crisp English voice carrying over the crowd.

Charles stood in the back, his arms folded and his eyes tracking the heat-trace image of three wolves as they left one monitor only to reappear in the next.

Arthur stood up suddenly, and staggered, knocking over the table next to him. The occupants turned on him with surprised snarls, but he didn't seem to notice them.

"Sunny?" he said, his voice cracking like an adolescent boy's.

The wolves who'd been knocked about stilled their protests. And when his eyes rolled up in his head, and he fell, one of them caught him before he hit the planks of the floor.

Chapter NINE

WHICH way? Which way? Anna, her tongue lolling out to absorb the coolness of the air, decided to let the others choose. Her breath sang out of her throat, and exultation made her shiver.

The hunt.

It didn't matter that the moon's song was only a will-o'-the-wisp chime in her heart, or that the prize was a bag of pork that had been spoiling for two days and might or might not also have a ring inside. For the first time ever, she loved the hunt even when Charles wasn't running beside her.

Because we are with you, Brother Wolf told her. That is what mating means. You are never alone. Never so long as we live.

Good, she told him.

They'd followed Angus's scent for a long time before it ended in a note propped in front of a very small battery emergency light. It read, "I didn't hide any of them-Angus." They weren't the first ones there-she could smell the scents of several other wolves-and another wolf showed up just as they were leaving.

Then Ric had picked up another scent-presumably belonging to another of Angus's pack, though she didn't recognize it. And she'd been hot on his tail when his Alpha threw his weight against her and she stumbled sideways against the wall as a net snapped up and jerked Ric off his feet in a nicely packaged bundle.

Between her jaws and Isaac's, it had taken them only a moment to get it off-after they teased him a little. Five turns later they'd come upon a wolf hanging upside down in a tall shaft that ran all the way to the open air some four stories above their head.

Isaac made a noise in his throat that sounded sympathetic and probably wasn't. The trapped wolf snarled as they left him behind, and Ric's Alpha appeared extremely happy for a while after that.

Anna caught Moira's scent and led them through a tunnel no more than two feet around that was such a tight fit Isaac was very unhappy-and Ric had to drop to his belly to squeeze through.

It dumped them off into a small, almost airless chamber. They were coughing with distress by the time Ric managed to destroy the two-by-six wooden wall lined with a moisture barrier that had kept the air out. Anna and he had to drag Isaac by the scruff of his neck into a place with better air-though it was smelly (not in a good way) and stale.

"ANYONE here have Arthur's mate's cell phone number?" Charles growled. No one answered, and so he took his own cell and dialed his father for it.

"What's wrong?" asked Bran when he answered on the first ring.

"That's what we're trying to find out. Do you have Sunny... Arthur's mate's cell phone number here in Seattle?"

"Yes, give me a second." As good as his word, Bran was back on in a moment and read him off the number.

"I'll call you when I know what's happened," Charles said, and hit the END button.

He called it, but was unsurprised, given Arthur's distress, that she didn't answer. Then he called another number. "I need to know where this cell phone is: 360-555-1834. GPS location, then an address for that if there is one." He didn't bother waiting for a reply, just hung up.