Howl For It Page 77
The only ones housed there now were the wolves. Category H—for Hostile Holding. “We have to take out the surveillance first,” Kayla whispered. Her hands were sweating. Her heart beating so quickly. Escape had been at hand, but now they were in the belly of the beast again. All by her choice.
You owe the shifters. Do this.
The door to the surveillance room was shut. Her fingers lifted and punched in the access code. Lyle wouldn’t have been able to reprogram all the access codes, not yet. At least, she hoped he hadn’t.
The lights flashed green. Yes. She shoved open the door.
The hunter watching the monitors for Block B spun toward her in surprise. “Kayla? Why are you—”
Gage lifted his gun. “Don’t move,” he ordered as he stalked toward the blond male.
The hunter froze. “K-Kayla? What’s going on?”
“I’m sorry, Thomas, but those prisoners aren’t being transferred.”
Gage was less than a foot from him now. Could Thomas see the flash of fang? Probably. The guy was sweating. Trying to back up and—
Gage grabbed him and rammed the guy’s head into the wall. One hard rap, and Thomas fell.
Hell. Kayla raced across the room. “You weren’t supposed to hurt him!”
“And he wasn’t supposed to have shifter blood beneath his nails.” Gage’s nostrils flared and she knew he was pulling in the scent. His jaw tight, he growled, “The bastard’s lucky that he’s still breathing.”
He was still breathing. But Thomas was definitely out.
Gage’s gaze rose to the monitors. “Shamus.”
She stood slowly and followed his stare. He was looking at the redheaded male wolf shifter who had been brought in first for containment. She still didn’t know how an Irish wolf had wound up in the new Vegas pack, and from what she’d gathered, Shamus hadn’t exactly been the sharing sort.
Blood dripped from the redhead’s side. He stood just a foot away from the silver bars, and he glared straight up at the camera.
Shamus had put two hunters in the infirmary when he’d been brought in.
An animal. Lyle’s words drifted through her mind. See how wild? How vicious? This one will have to be put down before he can kill again.
“Has he killed?” Kayla asked quietly.
Gage nodded.
So have I. When had the line between good and evil become so blurry? Maybe it had just always been that way. “Has he killed innocents?” she pressed.
Gage’s stare slowly turned to her. “I’m getting him out of there.”
Okay, so that wasn’t the answer she’d been hoping to hear. Kayla grabbed his arm and stopped him. “If that guy is gonna get loose, then turn on humans . . .” She couldn’t let that happen. That would just bemore death on her. Kayla swallowed. “I’ve seen what wolf shifters can do to humans. I won’t let him hurt innocent people like that.”
Gage stared down at her. “When will you stop judging us all, based on what happened to you?”
She felt that hit all the way to her soul. But Kayla didn’t let him go. “Is he a threat to the humans?” Lyle had said so, but now she knew Lyle was a lying sack of shit.
That I trusted for years. That I freaking loved. He’d been a second father to her, only the increasing icy certainty in her gut told her that the guy had quite possibly killed her real father.
No, not quite possibly. You did it. I know you did. Her blinders had been smashed to pieces now.
And I was with Lyle. I fought side by side with him for years and didn’t realize the truth.
She had to clench her teeth to hold back the scream that wanted to break free. She’d been so blind. So driven by rage and anger. Lyle had given her targets, and she’d been only too eager to attack.
“I trust Shamus.” Gage spoke softly to her. His body was tense beneath her hand. “Things . . . haven’t been easy for him. But he isn’t psychotic.”
As wolves were prone to be. Like you, Lyle?
“He’s in control, and as far as I know, Shamus never killed a human in his life, not even those who deserved death.”
Her breath rushed out. Okay, that was something.
“And the woman?” The female wolf. The one with the short, close-cropped black hair, the coffee cream skin, and the dark eyes that looked like she’d seen hell a time or twenty.
“Faye can’t shift.”
That surprised her. “She’s a hybrid?” She had heard about another wolf like that, once, but that wolf shifter had lived way down south.
“No. She’s full-blooded.” His gaze darted to the screen that showed Faye’s image. “But when she was thirteen, a sick prick got hold of her. A doctor who said he could cure wolves. Faye’s parents wanted her cured.”
“Why?” She’d thought wolves loved their beasts.
“Because they didn’t want to be monsters. Didn’t want her to be one.”
Kayla flinched.
“The doctor pumped liquid silver in her veins. Burned her from the inside out. She’s never been able to change.”
Her eyes squeezed shut. She couldn’t even guess the agony a procedure like that would bring to a child. “Wh-what happened to the doctor?”
“The human who got off on torturing wolves?” Fury burned in his voice. “Don’t worry. He’s not ‘curing’ anyone. Not anymore.”
No. She bet he wasn’t.
Not good. Not evil.