Prowl (Winter Pass Wolves Book 3) (2 page)

C
hase drummed
his fingertips on the chipped Formica tabletop and stared at the hustle and bustle of Roxie's Diner, the all-night greasy spoon that Avery named as their meetup location. He'd eaten here with Avery once before, back before she'd found out his true nature. It was a hell of a drive from Winter Pass, but a perfect location for a secret meeting precisely because it was so far from the town and the Compound.

Though digging up their past was the last thing Chase had in mind, he could appreciate her choosing a place where they wouldn't be spotted. Not when the Hunters had so many eyes and ears, their spies everywhere…

Staring out the window into the growing morning light of dawn, Chase scanned the parking lot for side of Harlan. The other wolf was here as backup, making sure Chase wasn't walking right into a trap. Harlan was nowhere in sight, which wasn't really surprising. The man was a Marine, after all. Recon was kind of his thing.

Chase’s thoughts shifted. He pictured Avery in his mind. He imagined her as the way he’d first seen her, a sexy blonde in tight jeans and sinfully red lipstick leaning over the counter at The Shanty, Winter Pass’s only decent bar. From across the room, Chase had watched her as she slammed a shot of tequila, lowering the shot glass to the bar with a slam. Then she'd flipped that long, silky mane of cornsilk blonde hair over her shoulder and glanced back at him.

From that first moment, everything about Chase and Avery was pure electricity. Their gazes caught, her chilling ice blue eyes lighting him up in a way that he'd never experienced, before or since. It was just her, the brightness of her spirit spreading like Greek fire and catching up everything around her, bringing it to life even as she razed it to the ground.

Everything about Avery that night was a flirtation, and Chase been all too willing. After the trauma of his parents passing, after the difficulties with losing his career as a Marine, after that fated night in Germany's Black Forest when he encountered a werewolf for the first time… Not to mention the fact that he himself had then been cursed, and turned his two best friends when they came to Winter Pass to check up on him…

His sister had been MIA, he'd been sleeping in the silent and empty main Lodge at Winter Pass, Paxton and Harlan not even speaking to him, spending his days drinking and his nights tossing and turning as he dreamed about snarling wolves and explosions during combat…

Yeah, he'd been more than a little interested in the sexy blonde throwing conspicuous looks his way. Avery had looked like heaven itself, wrapped up in the original sin, and at the moment there was no way Chase could've resisted her. Fuck, not that he wanted to. You have to be crazy to say no to Avery Burke.

So he bought her a shot of tequila, dirty danced with her into late hours, and then went home with her to her apartment. There he was drunk as hell, with Avery only a little less inebriated than him, and he had the best sex of his entire life. Hands down, ever.

Well, until the next morning… Then that was in the best sex of his entire life. Then two hours later… Than an hour after that… So on and so forth, a thirty-six hour bender of unbelievably hot sex the left Chase so satisfied he could barely stand up.

When he did get himself on his feet, Avery was still passed out facedown on her bed, and that's the moment Chase saw the Hunter logo stitched onto the front of her leather jacket. It would've been funny, if it'd been anyone less amazing than Avery. Or maybe if Chase had just left at that moment. If he hadn't fucked her half a dozen more times, if he hadn't taken her out on dates, all the while knowing that the second she found out what he really was it would all be over…

But no. Chase was an idiot. He kept things going until Avery, vulnerable and insecure and distrustful Avery, asked him where things were
going
with them. Asked him if he'd consider joining the Hunters, as she was probably moving to their crazy bunker compound soon. Would he like to come with her?

Only then did Chase drop the truth on her like an atomic bomb. He could still picture the look on her face, the betrayal and fury and hurt that flashed across her expression, confirming his doubts.

That was the end of that.

It didn't keep Chase from thinking about her, longing for her. He could still imagine the feel of her body under his hands, the warmth of her lips on his…

His phone buzzed on the table, pulling him out of his reverie. It was a text from Harlan, saying he was pretty sure the Avery had arrived, that she seemed to be alone. Chase glanced to the diner’s door, trying to look casual. A woman was entering the building, dressed all black. She was the right height, the right complexion, the right body type, but at the same time she was all wrong. Her hair was cut in a short, severe bob. Black as midnight, her hair barely reached her chin.

The woman stalked towards them, and for a second Chase had the sinking feeling that somehow Avery had set him up. Then she reached up and drew off her dark oversize sunglasses, and Chase had a total moment of disconnection with reality.

It was Avery, all right. But her gorgeous glacier blue eyes were utterly changed, blazing a bright and violence violets, the colors so vivid that there is no doubt…

Avery was a shifter. It could be nothing else. Her dark hair looked to be a wig, but the eyes were all too real.

Chase realizes his expression was probably comical as Avery slid into the booth across from him, tossing her glasses on the table. Once he managed to stop staring at her amethyst gaze, he noticed the dark circles under her eyes, the careworn and wrinkled fabric of her loose long-sleeve black cotton t-shirt, and the vicious looking scar that peeked out from the cuff of her shirt and her wrist.

“You were attacked?" Chase asked.

Avery slid him a look that was nothing short of distaste.

"We're here to talk about Brooke, aren't we?" She asks.

Chase gave her a wry smile.

"I guess I shouldn't have expected you to be excited to see me," Chase said, shaking his head. "Seriously though, Avery, thank you for meeting me. I didn't know who else to call."

“Well don't get excited, because I probably can’t help you. Like I said before… My situation with the Hunters is precarious at best. Seeing as how I'm something that they despise now, I'm not exactly at the top of the list of the people that they trust or even care about at this point."

Chases jaw tensed and he narrowed his gaze at Avery, a flare of anger rising in his chest.

"Speaking of the Hunters, when did your father get into the business of abducting women?" he growled.

Avery pulled a bitter face, her head dropping a couple inches until she stared the table.

"My father is not in charge of the Hunters anymore. A year ago, right after you and I… parted ways, he met with an unfortunate accident. Attacked by a shifter he was hunting, according to the Hunters he was with." There was something about her story that struck Chase as odd, like Avery didn't even believe what she was saying. "At any rate, my uncle is the head of the Hunters now. Our relationship is much more difficult, to put things mildly."

"I wondered about that," Chase said nodding his head. "We've been seeing a lot more Hunter activity lately, even have them coming up to Winter Pass and trying to hunt us openly. For secretive organization, it seems…"

“Bold? You’re right. My uncle is not anything like my father. He's not merely a race purist. He sees shifters as an opportunity, for all kinds of things. Biotech, genetic research, military weaponry. He's not just sitting around and spouting conspiracy theories, either. He's got scientists working on his behalf, and they're actively hunting and trapping shifters now. As for me, he watches my every movement. Cameras everywhere. I have to invent excuses to leave the Compound. He calls me a
vital asset
."

Chase wanted more than anything to ask why she hadn't run, why she would stay with people who clearly despised everything she’d become. Even before she was a werewolf, Avery had always been much more intellectual and open-minded than any of her family or the Hunters. Her involvement with the group had blown his mind then, and now with her father gone it made less sense than ever.

He opened his mouth to ask, then thought about his sister. This wasn’t a time for socializing. This wasn’t a time for wooing Avery, or soothing his conscience. He needed to rescue his sister.

"So what exactly are they trying to do?" Chase prompted her.

"I'm not entirely sure," Avery admitted. "He wants to experiment on shifters, Sell them to… whoever. Probably breed some kind of super shifters that are loyal to the Hunters or the Army or… I really don't even know."

"And part of that plan included you getting turned?" Chase said. "That's crazy."

"It was an accident," Avery said, her tone clipped. “Or maybe not. Let's just say I've learned not to cross my uncle."

"Can you shift?" Chase couldn't help but ask.

"No. One of the technologies the scientists came up with is an implant that keeps shifters from changing to their animal form. The full moon is… a painful time for me."

“When I talked to you on the phone yesterday, you didn't sound entirely surprised about Brooke being abducted,” Chase said, changing the subject back to his sister.

"No," Avery said, looking chagrined. "There’ve been whispers… I haven't seen your sister, obviously. But I’ve felt the presence of other shifters on the Compound far too often recently. My uncle is up to something, a new project that's hidden from most of the Hunters."

"What do you know about it?"

"Not much. A new building was constructed at the Compound a few months ago. There's one door in and one door out, no windows, and it's heavily guarded twenty-four hours a day. People have started calling it a black site, like those creepy CIA torture facilities, you know? I've been too afraid to poke around, because I'm pretty sure if I step out of line again I'm going to end up inside that building, and I'm not coming out again."

Chase rocked back in his seat, thrown by her sudden and morbid honesty. If Avery already believed herself to be in danger, bringing her into this mess could have very serious consequences for everyone involved. Then again, for reasons unknown, Avery still chose to be a Hunter. She was already involved, on nearly every level.

"Avery," he said, leaning forward and grasping her hand over the table, squeezing her fingers. "Anything you can do, anything at all… I'm going to get my sister back, with or without you. But my chances of survival and Brooke’s chances of survival triple or quadruple with your help. Please say you'll help me get Brooke back."

Avery hesitated for only the briefest moment.

"You asked before why I haven't run away. I've watched and waited since my father died, hoping that the government or someone would notice what's happening at the Compound, that someone would stop things before they went too far. About a month ago, I realized that no one is coming. No one is going to stop them. So…" Avery looked up at Chase, her eyes blazing bright. "It has to be me. I’m going to take them down."

Chase didn't know how to respond, a thousand new worries swirling through his brain. It took him a moment to formulate the simplest question: “What are you going to do?"

"I haven't worked out the logistics of it all yet," Avery admitted. "I know that I have to free all the shifters. I know that I can't kill all the foot soldiers, because most of them have no idea that the Hunters are even involved in all this. They’re stupid people, following blindly. It's terrible, but it shouldn't be a death sentence. The only other thing I know is that I'm going to have to burn the Compound to the ground and take out as much of the top command as possible, cripple them so they can't regroup."

“Well, three former Marines who can also shift into massive, deadly wolves can’t hurt your cause," Chase pointed out. "You've probably only got one shot at success, and if you've already been trying to find a way out, this is it. This is your chance, Avery."

"Hell of a chance," Avery sighed. "I have to be honest with you, Chase. I think the chances of me successfully taking down the Hunters and the entire Compound are slim to none. Even with you guys on my side, the likelihood that we all walk out intact…"

Chase squeezed her fingers one more time before releasing her hand.

"You don’t have to tell a soldier that," he admonished her. "It only encourages us. We live for that shit.”

In the back of his mind, Chase knew that this was his opportunity to save a lot more than just his sister. If the Triad could pull this off, if they could take on the Hunters, he might just be able to save Avery's life and bring her back into his arms in one fell swoop.

Avery visibly jumped. Pulling a cheap cell phone from her pocket, she stared down at her with a frown.

"I have to go," she whispered. Glancing up at Chase, she gave him a measured gaze. "Don't call me. Don't make a move. Wait for me to contact you."

With that, Avery was up and walking away, heading out the door of Roxie’s Diner without a backward glance. Chase scrubbed a hand over his face, disbelieving.

The girl of his dreams, the nightmare of his sister being abducted, the seemingly unstoppable threat posed by the Hunters…

For once in his life, Chase had no idea how to proceed or what would happen next.

A
very sat
on the very edge of her cramped bunkbed, waiting. When she got back to the Compound after seeing Chase yesterday, she timed her arrival with the changing of the Compound guards at the front gate, intentionally ensuring that her absence would not go unnoticed. Possibly a suicidal action, in retrospect, but Avery needed to draw her uncle's attention without him knowing or understanding that she was driving the whole plan.

Almost a full day had passed, and no word from her uncle. Avery wasn't worried; unlike a lot of these new recruits, she'd spent a lifetime watching the man in action. He was just letting her sweat it out, maybe even think that she hadn't been reported, but Avery knew better.

Rolling her neck to ease the tension from her shoulders, Avery let her thoughts wander back to Chase. He’d taken her by surprise yesterday, or rather taken her wolf by surprise. Avery and her wolf were vastly out of sync, due to the implant in her arm that kept her from shifting.

Subconsciously brushing her fingertips over the spot where the implant lay just under the skin of her upper left arm, Avery recalled the visceral reaction that had fired off from both herself and her wolf the second she laid eyes on Chase again.

The moment she stepped into Roxy's diner, it was all she could you not to lunge at him, pressing her body against his, sink her teeth into his shoulder. He was just sitting there sprawled out in the diner booth, his big body eating up all the space around him. That same ash blonde hair, chiseled jaw, his frame still built with thick layers of muscle that strained the simple navy T-shirt that he wore.

And those eyes… She couldn't have forgotten them if she'd wanted to. That verdant splash of green that spoke of wild things rustling in the Amazonian undergrowth, secret gardens tucked away behind high gated walls, a brilliant ribbon of emerald that called to Aubrey and her wolf on the deepest level.

For just a moment, Avery was suspended, existing in a vacuum where there was no question of right or wrong, nothing existing in the entire world except her and Chase.

She’d stepped closer to him, and the perfect moment broke like a bubble popping. Avery was left with an ache in her heart before she even slid into the booth. That was what Chase did to her.

Later that night, Avery had lain awake on her bunk for hours, parsing the entire interaction. Back when she first been attacked, the Hunter scientists gave her a great deal of information about werewolves. Everything from the ideal diet to their hunting practices to the rich background of myths and truths about the rise of shifters in the Greco-Roman era. Avery was to shellshocked at the time to take much of it in, but now one phrase stuck out in her mind strongly.

Fated mates
. Wolves were intended to find their ideal partner just after their late teens, according to the Hunter scientists. They asked Avery a thousand questions about all of her ex-boyfriend and sexual exploits, trying to determine who hers might be. Even back then when she was still on the thrall of her father and uncle, Avery refused to say a word about it. The last thing she needed was them dragging in every boy she'd ever kissed in college, turning them into werewolves in some twisted attempt to find Avery's other half.

That was the beginning of the end of her trust in the Hunters. That was when she started to doubt, when she opened her eyes and saw the true nature of her uncle and the other Hunter commanders. Her father's death only made her feel more certain about it, freed her to start planning the Hunters’ downfall.

Fated mates
. The phrase rang in her mind again, as much a temptation as a distraction. This silly to even be thinking about it really, since she didn't expect to live through the week once she launched her attack on the Hunters. Even with Chase and his friends backing her plan, the odds of survival were desperately low.

If she did somehow make it out alive, unless she killed every single Hunter, unless she ended her uncle's life with her own hands, she'd have to run. Change her identity, walk into the sunset, never return. It was the loneliest of fates, but it was better than looking over her shoulder her whole life, never being able to make friends or even take a lover without knowing she was putting them in terrible danger.

The metallic squawk of the bunk room’s front door swinging open made her jump, the stamp of soldiers boots dragging Avery's gaze up from the floor.

"You have to come with us," an unfamiliar man said to her, his hand resting on a firearm at his waist. Five more soldiers flanked him, a testament to just how scared the Hunters really were of her kind. Six big guys just to escort her across the Compound, though she'd walked right in here yesterday of her own volition?

"Of course." Avery wasn't about to put up a fight. She saw that smug satisfaction on the men's faces, and part of her wanted to laugh. The fools, they had no idea that they were here in front of her right now because of her own machinations. "Where are we going?"

Avery's mouth was a little dry as she said it. This was the tricky part, the part where she assumed that her uncle would summon her into the command center and test her loyalty, rather than just sending her straight to the black site. He was more and more unpredictable these days, so it's hard for Avery not to hold her breath while she waited the answer.

"The War Room. Get moving, and don't try anything. I've been itching to put one of my new silver bullets into one of your kind, bitch."

Avery's brows arched at his language, but she merely rose without a word and followed the men to the main command building. Her fingers itched with the need to slip her hand in her pocket and touch the USB drive she’d tucked away there, which was the last thing that she should do right now. Her uncle was paranoid, in this case rightly so. That USB drive held a ghosted copy of her uncle’s most important computer files, the theft of which had taken Avery over a month. The information contained there was going to start the revolution, the end of his reign with the Hunters and the entire movement as well.

Avery wrinkled her nose at the wash of air-conditioning on her skin as she stepped into her uncle's quarters. Every other building at the Compound was bare-bones, metal furniture bolted into cement. Not the command building though, the place where the men in charge spent all their time. Here it was all dark wood and air-conditioning and Persian rugs, food serves by a private chef, aides and maids and bustling secretaries running around.

One such secretary was waiting just outside the massive oak double doors of the War Room, all done up in a pencil skirt and pearls, the anathema of the female Hunter soldiers. Avery tugged at the hem of her ratty black T-shirt, wondering what it would feel like to wear those kind of clothes again, to put on lipstick in the morning, to dress any damn way she pleased. Must be nice.

Then again, judging by the bitchy smirk on the secretary’s face, this woman probably got her position by sleeping with Avery’s uncle and who knows how many other of his commanders. Yeah, forget it. Avery would rather wear a potato sack the rest of her life think kowtow to the Hunters.

"You can go straight in,” the secretary said, stepping back to give Avery a wide berth. "Dr. Burke is waiting for you."

As the secretary yanked the War Room door open, Avery suppressed a roll of her eyes. Dr. Burke now, was it? She doubted that very much. The thought was swept away when she stepped into the war room and found her uncle at one end of the long steel conference table, flanked by four of his cronies on each side.

Looking like nothing so much as an oversized salt-and-pepper-haired weasel stuffed in a black pseudo-military dictator’s uniform, her uncle waited, fingers steepled and expression unreadable.

To her surprise, her uncle muttered
leave us
, and the War Room quickly emptied. He regarded her with a chilling glance, taking several long moments before he spoke.

"You're very lucky, Avery. You know that, don't you?" he asked.

Avery dropped her head a few inches but didn't otherwise respond.

"You've been chosen for a new project," her uncle said, his eyes glinting darkly. "A project that is going to give us the status and power that we truly deserve. Needless to say, it's very important."

"I'm happy serving as I am, helping with the bookkeeping," Avery said, keeping her gaze lowered.

Her uncle gave a sharp bark of laughter, and his amusement was more chilling than anything he could've said.

"Frankly, Avery, the only reason you're even alive is because the wolf who turned you is a very, very special prototype. He was irreplaceable… attitude problems aside. Lucky for us, you turned successfully."

Avery's heart began to throb in her chest.

"I don't understand," she said. "The attack… It was an accident."

Her uncle rose from his seat with a smirk that spoke volumes. So… not an accident, then. Apparently Avery wasn't the only one with devious intentions, playing the long game.

"Come."

Her uncle led her out of the War Room, startling henchmen and secretaries alike who were hovering by the door, no doubt listening in to every word. Her uncle's face dropped into a scowl and everyone else melted away as if by magic. Avery followed him numbly, out of the command center and across the Compound yard. Her uncle drew to a stop in front of one of the smaller, unused concrete bunkers that would theoretically someday house a specialized unit of Hunter forces.

Her uncle pressed a fingertip to the biometric reader and leaned forward to allow the security computer to scan his retinas as well. With a mechanical whir, the thick steel door swung open a few inches, beckoning.

Even from outside, there is no way to miss the furious snarls coming from inside the building.

Her uncle opened the door, ushering Avery inside. The motion-activated lights flicked on one by one, harsh gray halogen beaming down onto a gleaming wire cage that covered perhaps an eight foot by eight foot area. Inside the cage was the biggest wolf Avery had ever seen up close. He was black as midnight and nearly frothing with fury as he paced back and forth, bright yellow eyes trained on them.

She'd seen werewolves in person a time or two of course, being a Hunter and all, but this one… There is something very different about this wolf. He was… not right. Unnatural, even in the context of werewolves.

Avery could only stare as her uncle continued their conversation from the war room.

"This lovely creature is for you, Avery. Well, more for your child than for your personal edification."

"My— my child?" Avery asked.

"It won't be easy, of course. We've already made all the adjustments we can to wolf boy here, but the scientists assure me that a few prenatal surgeries will achieve the results we want." Her uncle pause, raking his gaze over Avery's form. Looking for weakness. "As I said, this project is very important. Not only will he give us the first of many enhanced shifters that we plan to create, it will also prove your loyalty to the Hunters once more. It might even save your life."

He let that hang in the air for a long time, let his words soak into Avery’s skin. She held in her shudder, unable to respond. It took a moment to get her thoughts together.

"When?" was all Avery asked. Saying anything more would certainly give her away.

Surprise flitted across her uncle's expression before the corners of his lips lifted. He sensed victory, Avery could tell.

"There are three days until the next full moon. We’ll have your implant taken out today, make sure you're ready. Not that you'll be allowed to shift," her uncle said hastily, noting the moment of unabashed excitement that Avery couldn't hide. "Shifting is a death sentence here, Avery. All the guards know that they are to shoot to kill on sight. We just need to take the implant out to make sure that you’re fertile. We'd like to accomplish this in as few takes as possible, as I imagine you will as well."

Avery trembled, and her uncle gave her a genuine grin.

"I'll leave you to two introduce yourselves…" her uncle said with a shrug, turning and heading outside. Leaving Avery with the huge, angry werewolf.

To her surprise, the second her uncle was gone the wolf calmed. He walked right up to where Avery stood, careful not to touch the razor-sharp wire of the cage. He sat, the gesture almost polite, cocking his head as he looked up at Avery.

"Hey," Avery said, crouching before him. From this close up, she could tell that the wolf easily had hundred pounds on her. He was awesome in the truest sense of the word.

The wolf shocked her a second time by shifting, the popping and cracking of his bones reshaping making Avery flinch. He quickly pulled his knees up to cover his own nudity, his cheeks heating with what Avery assume was the indignity of his situation. He was stunningly handsome, beautiful with all his ebony skin and curly dark hair.

"I can't let you out right now," Avery blurted out, feeling ashamed of herself.

"I wouldn't ask it," he said, giving his head a slow shake. "Not for myself. But my mate… They caught her too. She's here somewhere, and it's killing me not to know…"

Avery leaned as close as she could get to the cage.

"They are listening," she warned him. "But I am a friend, I promise. There is a plan in place to end the Hunters once and for all. I can't tell you more, but I assure you that I’ll do everything in my power to make sure that your mate is safe when the Compound walls come crumbling down."

Gratitude flared in the wolf's eyes, but he could only shake his head.

"Thank you," he said after a moment. "I never could have imagined… We've only been mated for three months. I couldn't even keep her safe…"

"Shhh… It's going to be okay," Avery promised.

"Do you have a mate?" He asked, the look in his eyes breaking Avery's heart.

"I —" Avery blew out a breath. "I'll be back for you. You will see your mate soon, that's a promise."

There was every likelihood that Avery was lying, but if she was, he was a dead man anyway. What harm could that tiny bit of hope do?

She left him there, though it nearly killed her, the question he’d asked echoing in her head.