Hunted Wolf: Moonbound Series, Book Eight (8 page)

Their young lives would never be the same.

“Jeez, dude,” Duke moaned and sagged against him. “If you go any faster, you’re going to be dragging me behind you.”

He paused, re-situating his friend’s arm around his neck. “If you weren’t such a slow-ass bitch, we could go at the normal pace.”

Duke’s laugh was caustic. “You know there are like a hundred kids behind you.”

“Yeah, well, good thing they don’t speak English.”

“You don’t know that.” The smile was evident in his friend’s voice, but Viper wasn’t taking the bait.

He wasn’t in the mood for a sarcasm rally.

“What’s your twenty?” Colt’s voice came over the comm.

Rain answered, and Viper could just hear his real voice echoing over his radio voice. “We’re five minutes out. Coming in slow.”

“I just took the last of the girls from the barracks over to the landing strip.” Colt cut out with a buzz of static.

“Any prisoners?” Rain asked.

“Ten total.”

“We have two more.”

Viper’s ears perked up at that. Two prisoners? He didn’t remember prisoners. Only children. He whirled around, but the moonlight wasn’t bright enough to shine all the way back to the end of the group, and all he saw, besides people he recognized, were tiny heads.

“Come on, Vipe.” Duke winced. “I need to get to the boat.”

The kids began to stream around him and he finally turned back to the road. He didn’t like not being able to see Hannah. Even feeling her physical presence wasn’t enough. He needed something deeper. He needed more.

“Fine, you whiny bitch,” he grunted and kept walking.

“Language, dude.”

“English.”

The tree-line melted away into the night, and the moonlight cut a path along the ocean water
. The beach, at last.

He increased his pace again, chancing Duke’s complaint, and hurried toward the feel of sand under his boots.

Colt stood at the base of the ramp that led up to the boathouse, waving his hands.

Viper kept pushing his pace until he reached his buddy. “Take Duke,” he said when they reached the end of the sand and the wood clomped under his foot.

“We have another boat,” Colt thumbed over his shoulder. “Come with me.”

He touched Dani’s shoulder and pointed down the pier. “Go with him. They’ll get you guys off the island.”

Maria halted hard, pulling Dani back before they could touch their feet onto the pier. “We can’t. If we try to get on a boat, we’ll die.”

“You won’t die,” she said with almost no emotion in her voice. “We fixed it so you can leave.”

“But Nana always told us…” The little girl shook her head and backed away. Many of the kids behind her followed suit.

“We made it safe for you to leave,” Dani said, tugging on the girl’s hand. “You’re not going to die. I promise you.”

The little girl’s lip trembled, and she kept shaking her dark hair back and forth like her dissent alone could stop it from happening.

Suddenly, Hannah’s calm voice cut through the protests of the children. “Look, honey. Maria.” Hannah brushed past Viper and he smelled that scent of hers again.

The coolness, the spice of her hair. It was like a balm to his soul.

Maria’s eyes flew up to meet Hannah’s. “We can’t leave,” she said, her voice still wavering.

“Watch, watch me.” Hannah put her hand on the little girl’s face and smiled. “I have Christina with me, and we’re going to go first. You know Christina, right?”

“Nana?” the girl said. “Yes.”

“She has the same implant that you have. The one that you think is going to kill you. But I promise you, we shut it off so it can’t ever hurt you again. Okay?” She knelt in front of the girl. “I’m going to take Christina to the boat so you can see that it won’t hurt you. Okay? Because she has the exact same thing inside her that you have, that was put there so you couldn’t leave.”

Maria’s lip quavered, but she nodded.

Viper reached for Hannah’s hand as she released the girl’s cheek, and made eye contact for the briefest of moments. Her touch warmed him and he found himself smiling at her.

It’s over
.

She gave him the most peaceful, most reassuring smile, and released him with a squeeze. She pulled the old woman behind her, down the pier, watching the little girl the whole time.

“See, Maria?” she said. “See how she’s okay?”

Hannah walked past the wooden rail that jogged off to the boathouse door, and kept stepping carefully. All of the kids had gathered behind Maria, not stepping onto the ramp.

The sound of her footsteps was almost eerie in the darkness. Like the whole scene was still some surreal dream.

At the end of the pier, the boat waited, and the lights shone out across the ocean, giving just enough light to the wooden dock that they could all see her climbing onboard a big, white yacht with the old woman in her hands.

Colt took the woman and pushed her onto the boat.

“See?” Hannah held up her empty hands. “Christina is fine. And you will be fine, too. Now, come down here to me so I can take you on the boat.”

The older kids in the front exchanged skeptical glances, but Maria stepped out, her little jaw quavering. Her bare foot made barely any noise on the wood, and Viper held out his hand to her.

She swallowed and took it.

“That’s right,” Hannah said. “Come here, to me.”

Maria ran forward and emotion took Viper’s breath, holding him silent for a long minute. He watched the girl sail into Hannah’s arms and throw her arms around Hannah’s neck, and relief flooded his entire body.

The other children began swarming onto the pier, streaming past him.

They were going to get off the island. He’d saved them.

His team had saved them.

Hannah.

Hannah had saved them all.

V
iper unloaded
the last of the children onto the mainland beach and glanced around at the scene in front of him.

Using Luther’s boat, they’d managed to get everyone over in two trips. But now the beach was crowded with huddled groups of children and young girls.

He had no idea what they were going to do with them all.

The sun had begun to rise up over the mountains behind Choaca, and the morning was almost like a spell. Until he’d seen the first rays of light for himself, he still wasn’t certain they’d really see it again.

Rossi was dead, many of the guards were dead. The island was evacuated. Not everyone had survived. But Hannah was safe.

Hannah.

It was hard to believe that, only twelve hours ago, he’d been blissfully unaware of the fact that his mate was somewhere out there in the world, coming for him.

Fate was a fucking bitch sometimes.

He pulled at the sleeves of his combat jacket and saw the edges of the tattoo in the full light. It was so much like his father’s.

Viper had nearly forgotten what it was like to look at the mate bond tattoos. So many dark mornings, he’d been huddled under a desk with his little brothers, and all he could see of his parents were their hands and their legs, and those tattoos.

The yelling above him, the fighting, the beating. It’d all happened mostly out of sight, but those tattoos had been the handcuffs that wouldn’t let his mother leave his father. The thing that had always made her insist they had to stay. All of them.

His father was the alpha, after all, and a wolf, and
when he wasn’t drinking, he was a good man
.

But that hadn’t mattered.

The tattoos had always represented jail to him.
Death.
But one new sunrise, and all he could think about was that Hannah had these same tattoos under the sleeves of her shirt, and she belonged to him.

And he belonged to her.

He searched the beach for her, and found her already kneeling with a group of children, offering them some of the MREs from the Rangers’ packs.

Poor kids. Hope they like teriyaki.

“What are we going to do with all of them?” Gonzales said from over Viper’s shoulder.

“Not sure.” He signaled to Rain, who had laid out the dead bodies under cover, up the beach from where everyone had congregated. Closer to the landing strip.

“I counted one hundred and twenty-two total.” Banner’s deep voice was full of frustration. No one wanted to think about what that meant. One hundred and twenty-two children, young women, and soldiers, who’d been held prisoner by Rossi or brainwashed by Rossi. They’d all need new homes, maybe new packs.

“How many of those are kids?” Viper asked.

“Eighty-seven.”

“And how many did we lose?”

Banner shrugged. “Given how many were in the one barracks, I’d say we lost about thirty.”

“And then the guards who were killed.”

“And the guards,” Banner repeated.

Gonzales whistled.

Rain jogged up to them and signaled for Warrick and Young, who bounded across the beach. Everyone had unloaded their weapons and packs, and they moved much faster without the weight. It felt strange, still, to be done with the mission and defenseless. Ready for debrief.

“We’ve got a lot of work ahead of us.” The commander crossed his arms. “I’m waiting to hear from the alpha council what they want us to do with all the children.”

The cool morning air turned sour in Viper’s mouth as the enormity of it all settled into his mind. They’d just rescued a family, bigger than most of the packs he knew, from years of isolation. “Shit,” he whispered. “I mean, who’s even their alpha?”

“I don’t know,” Rain said. “It wasn’t Rossi, though. You would’ve been able to sense it if he was an alpha, and he wasn’t.”

“We’re gonna have to get some answers from somebody.”

Gonzales thumbed behind them, toward Choaca. “That Damon kid was answering our questions in the boat, at least. But Alex took him to the hospital with Vadik and Andrea. He wanted to stay with his sister.”

“Damon?” Viper asked.

“One of the guards.”

Rain pointed along the beach, where the sand ended and the landing strip was visible through the trees. “I asked Colt to set up some tents up there. I think our only option is going to be to start debriefing everyone. I need you guys to get some sleep. Four hour shifts. Whoever’s awake will be helping me with information gathering and debriefing. And I’ll call in to Julianna, and see if we can get some real food out here for everyone.”

“I’ll help Colt with the tents,” Warrick said, clomping off through the sand.

“Good,” Rain called after him. “Then you and Colt and Young take the first shift sleeping.”

“What about us, boss?” Hannah’s voice was soft behind Viper, and sent chills through him. She was so calm, and so quiet, she was like a wave of peace washing over them, keeping them all sane.

Or maybe it was just
him
she was keeping sane.

Viper moved aside to make room for her in the circle. When she stepped in beside him, his first instinct was to pull her into his body, but he couldn’t do that with all of his buddies around.

They couldn’t know yet. Until the debrief was done and they were on a plane home, nothing was really safe.

“Have you had a chance to look at the wounds yet?”

Hannah nodded. In the growing sunlight, she glowed. Her features were so delicate, so arresting. He would’ve been hard-pressed not to stare at her openly when they first met if he could have seen her like this.

He might’ve been able to ignore the magick in the dark, on the island, but it was irresistible now. There was no arguing; she was obviously the most beautiful woman ever created.

And that he wanted her.

She was already his.

God.
His
.

That’d take some getting used to. And the way the light played on her cheeks, the way her eyes lit like fiery coals in the morning sun… dammit. It was a good thing they hadn’t met in the daytime. He would’ve been killed for sure, distracted by Hannah.

“I want you to be with me when I question the two women,” Rain said. “Viper, you, too, in case we have to restrain them.”

Hannah and Viper followed him across the beach, back toward the boat, where the two women sat huddled together, under a big, spidery tree.

The older woman let out a hissing
hush
when they approached.

“Can I look at your hand?” Hannah asked in cautious Spanish, holding out a palm to the old woman.

Christina clutched the appendage to her chest. “No,” she said.

“My mother just wants to return home,” Luna said, stroking the old woman’s back and avoiding all their gazes. “And so do I.”

“We just have some questions for you, and then we can talk about that.” Hannah knelt on the ground in front of them and looked up at Rain and Viper, forcing her eyes down to indicate they should do the same.

Viper almost laughed.

These two women were prisoners. And they’d participated in holding children captive. Interrogation techniques told him they’d be more likely to talk if he intimidated them. Not sit on their level. But when Rain knelt down and took a seat next to Hannah, Viper followed suit.

“We’re not allowed to talk to strangers.” Luna’s voice was almost childlike, but her eyes were shifty. She was much smarter than she gave an appearance of being, he had no doubt.

“We’ve already spoken with Clara and Damon, and they’ve helped us understand quite a bit about your island,” Hannah said, reaching out to touch the girl’s arm. “We just want to understand.”

Luna’s shoulders slumped and she held tighter to her mother. “What is it you want to understand?”

“How long have you lived on the island?” Viper sat back on his heels and rested his hands on his thighs, mimicking Hannah’s posture.

Might as well present a united front.

“My entire life.”

“And how old are you?”

“Thirty-three.”

Hannah put her hand on Rain’s arm and Viper saw them exchange a strange glance.

He didn’t like her touching Rain like that… but butting in between them would be a little too mate-y for the moment. Viper could get his shit under control. She wasn’t fucking the guy. Just touching his arm.

Just touching his arm.

“Are you certain that you’ve been on the island your whole life?” Hannah asked, squeezing Rain’s arm.

Viper took in a deep breath.
Just touching his arm
.

“Yes.”

“Because we’ve been led to believe—”

The older woman’s eyes rose to Hannah’s and she shook her head. “She wasn’t born on the island.”

Luna’s brows shot up and she sat back. “But, Mother—”

“Before the island, there was a place in a far away city where we all lived together in a dark little room.” The woman’s voice had a distant quality, like she wasn’t experiencing the memory. “That’s where you were born. You and Gabriel.”

Rain grabbed Hannah’s hand, gripping it hard. They looked at each other and said in unison, “Guadalajara.”

Viper sucked a long gust of air through his teeth.
Stop touching my woman
.

He knocked Rain’s shoulder, but the commander didn’t look away from Christina.

“Adrian brought other wolves in to live with us. And humans. And we were all having babies,” she said. “But then Pamela helped some of them leave and Adrian was angry with her. Very angry.” Her fingers went to her lips and she shook her head. “He took her little girl away from her and he said he was going to kill her.”

“When the women escaped, that was when you went to the island?” Hannah asked.

“Yes. We left the city and traveled for a long time. Gabriel was sick on the boat when we went to the island, and Adrian hit him so hard…” Her eyes glazed with the old memory, touched with fear.

Hannah slid her hand onto the woman’s. “It’s okay, Christina. You’re safe here.”

Viper nodded, but kept a close eye on Luna. The woman wasn’t affected like her mother, and there was something buzzing under the surface with her. Anger? Pride? He couldn’t quite tell.

“What happened after you got to the island?” Viper asked.

“We lived there. He brought us to the house first, until there were too many children. One of the girls tried to escape with her baby, and he couldn’t allow that. So he moved Luna and me down into the bunker with the children so he could control the mothers.” Her tone was so matter-of-fact, it chilled his blood. She talked about the kidnapping, the rape of girls, like she was describing what she had for breakfast.

“Why did he need to control the mothers?” Rain said.

“So he could breed them,” Christina said, shrugging her shoulders. “We’re animals, after all. That’s what we’re made for.”

Luna’s nod was curt and precise.

Viper’s mouth went dry. He tried to wet his lips, but he couldn’t.

Breeding wolves
.

“Who was breeding them?” he ventured.

“Adrian.” Christina blinked at him, as though it was the most natural thing in the world. “He bred me and Belinda and then when he brought Galina. We were the first generation. When my daughters were old enough, if they were the right stock, he would breed them, too.”

Hannah’s jaw was working and Viper wanted to take her hand to calm her. But Rain was between them. He picked at the edge of his jacket that was still hiding his tattoos from plain sight.

“His daughters?” Hannah asked, her voice cracking.

“Of course. They were the best stock, being of his blood. I was only the first generation, so I was never going to be able to give him what he wanted.”

“What did he want?” Hannah said.

Viper swallowed hard. “Pure stock.”

Hannah and Rain stared at him, but Viper nodded. He’d been doing the math about the number of children and their ages, plus the relative stories they’d heard from debriefing Lani and Marco, and from the notes Marco’s mother provided them.

Christina nodded and flashed him a childish smile, almost in solidarity. “Yes. Pure blood. That’s what he was after.” She reached for Luna’s face and stroked the side of her cheek. “Not all of the girls were right for breeding, of course.” A sad note. “And I was only able to give him three. I had mostly boys, and then Luna and Anna weren’t the right stock.”

Rain shook his head. “What made them the wrong stock?”

“They didn’t have enough of their father in them.”

The words hung heavy in the air and Viper tried to wet his lips again to no avail. His stomach was starting to turn. No wonder Gabriel had been in such a fever to kill his father. Viper’s own family was nothing compared to this.

Part of him wished that Gabriel had been able to do it, after all. Living with a past like this was going to be torture for these kids. No matter how old they were.

He wanted to kill Rossi all over again.

“So he would…
breed
…the ones who looked like him, in other words?” Rain interjected in a low tone.

“Yes.” Christina’s smile, again, was a creepy mix of understanding and pleasure. Like she agreed with what Rossi had been doing.

Viper’s fingers itched to be pounding something. This was all so fucked up. To do this to humans, to wolves, it didn’t matter. It was sick.

“And when some of the boys were old enough, he would breed them to the girls.”

He glanced at Rain and loosed a long breath. “Pure blood.”

“That’s right,” Christina said. “He wanted the perfect pure blood.”

Luna’s eyes shifted around the group. “He was trying to breed out the weakness in wolf kind.” Her back straightened and her chin rose up. “And if we couldn’t help with the breeding, then we helped with the care. Or we took care of the island. Or, like some of the boys, we helped keep everyone else out. Some of the girls helped him make money. But we were there to make the race better. More pure.”

Viper swallowed hard and tore his eyes away from the strange mother and daughter, huddled together in the sand under a tree, trying to justify the actions of a madman.

He bounced a few times, trying to get the angst to leave his muscles, but he couldn’t. He jumped to his feet and walked away from the insanity.