Ariel watched their silent conversation for a while and then looked at Jon. “It couldn’t hurt to listen to what the kid thinks. Maybe we can embellish his plan in a way that serves us all.”
“Fine,” Jon muttered with a tremendous sigh as he returned to his room to put on proper clothes for a strategy talk with the hybrid wolf children.
Reed woke to find himself draped over a limb high in a tree with his hair slapping at his face. He did not understand how he got there. He pushed off the limb and dropped twenty feet to the ground. Frowning over the white powder that rested on his clothes, he sniffed it and instantly recognized that it smelled like Katarina did when he rescued her.
He looked back up at the tree. How in the world did she get him up there? Because she had to be one that did it. No one else was around. Finally he laughed because he still hadn’t figured out how the petite Russian alpha tossed someone his size out of bed.
He removed his jacket and shook the powder off. The cell phone Brandi had given them fell to the ground. It instantly lit when he picked it up. On the phone screen, shining brightly in big letters, was the word “captured”.
He tried dialing 1, but no one answered. He dialed 2 and this time a man answered.
“Who is this?”
This is Stewart. Who are you?
“Reed,” he answered.
They’re coming back here. I saw it in my dreams. Tell Mom and Dad.
“When I see them, I will definitely share that information. So you’re a visionary like your mother? Trust that gift and it will grow. Is Ariel making a strategy to not be captured?”
Uh… Stewart began, then blew out a breath into the phone. Ariel and Jon are planning to kill them, so it sends a violent message to all the mad scientists in the world. Your entire village is armed and ready for them. Do you know if they will use white dust? I saw that, but I couldn’t tell what it was.
“It’s powdered tranquilizer. They used it here. It’s wicked and knocked me out. I don’t know what precautions you can take against that, but you will need something.”
Ariel’s trying to develop something to spray on us that will nullify the effects. Kent and Jon are looking for volunteers to be wolf guinea pigs who’ve succumbed. The plan so far is to lure them in with a few unconscious wolves. Then we’ll take their weapons.
Reed nodded, even though the boy couldn’t see him. “Tell them I said to check the storage house on the north end of the village. There used to be about fifty gas masks in there. They’re World War II relics, but they might help fight the powder floating in the air. Tell everyone to shed their clothes after the powder settles to the ground. Make sure you let Ariel and Jon know this too.”
“Are Mom and Dad okay?”
Reed paused, then decided. “They’re okay, but they’re captured. I’m going inside and free them. Do you know who Shitty Sheldon is?”
He’s our adopted grandfather.
“If you get hold of him, tell them we need re-enforcements here.”
I’ll have my brother do it. Kent knows the details of the fight plan better than I do.
“Trust your beast to return when you need help. When we get home, I’ve got something interesting to share about your beast. Keep having faith in becoming exactly the wolf you are supposed to be, Stewart.”
Thanks, Reed.
When the boy finally disconnected, Reed starting walking to the facility. He would not bother to change into his devil wolf warrior form until it was critical to do so. His rescue attempt required that he first discovered where Brandi and team were being held. Once the agents were free, he would find Katarina, and everyone in the building better be praying that no harm had come to her. He knew the Russian she-wolf had once again sacrificed her freedom for the good of others.
Rounding the building corner, he came face to face with an assault rifle which he suspected was loaded with silver rounds. Reed held up his hands in surrender. “I’ve come for my future mate. I’ll go along peacefully if you take me to her.”
The guard, some kind of snake hybrid, pushed out his flicking tongue and hissed in approval. He walked behind Reed, using the barrel of the weapon to move him forward.
They stopped in front of a room with no doors. The guard wouldn’t let him in, but that didn’t matter. He could see a fuming Katarina pacing inside the inner challenge circle. The outer circle was empty of challengers, but blood stains covered her face and what was on the floor matched.
Had she’d killed someone already? Had she killed her father?
His last question got answered when he saw the bearded Russian walk to the outer circle. A low growl rose in his throat and barely stifled it. He did not want to disturb her or distract her while fighting that evil bastard.
Reed looked back at his guard. “I can wait until she’s finished. Is there someplace I can watch without her knowing I’m here?”
The softly chuckling guard punched his back with the weapon. Reed stepped away from the doorway and started walking.
The snake guard put him into a small cage, attached a chain, and hoisted the cage into the rafters where twenty plus cages hung with people in them. Everyone looked uncomfortable, but none looked harmed.
Brandi? Reed sent with his mind. He once could only talk to very close family that way, but he’d had that communication with all three of his nano wolves from the beginning.
Reed! Thank God. Katarina had to fight Edward. It looked like she didn’t kill him. It’s hard to tell from this distance. He looks nothing like he used to look.
Reed shifted his weight to one side and got a better view of Brandi and Gareth. Are you ready for us to risk leaving? I want to retrieve Katarina before she has to kill her father.
Brandi’s head hurt from their silent communication. She wasn’t a natural at mind-speak. Gareth sent out a call for more help before the tranquilizer powder took us both out. We’ve been in these cages for hours. I have no idea about what’s happening outside.
Reed peered into the room below. Why didn’t you shift and let your wolf help fight?
Because our cages are genuine silver and so are the bullets in those customized rifles they carry everywhere.
Reed shifted in his cage. He needed time to think, even though he was completely lacking in privacy. He remembered Heidi saying the devil wolf form seemed impervious to silver. Maybe he could use his devil wolf warrior form to free them… or maybe use the one hand he’d been naturally born with.
Reed stood up in his cage and wrapped both his human hands around bars of his cage. He closed his eyes and focused. At first he only felt a mild tingling, but gradually the change in his hands—both hands—then fingers grew into claws that looked sharpened. With a single swipe, he sheared off the lock. Freed now, he leaned out of his cage and jumped onto the chain holding up the cage in the air.
Keeping his claws, Reed jumped from steel chain to steel chain. He shimmied across each cage top while doing the best he could to avoid being burned by the silver. Soon, though, he’d broken the locks. After opening the last one, he jumped to the floor and rushed to lower Brandi’s and Gareth’s down.
“We’ll free our team, then go searching for your grandsons and any other hostages,” Brandi said. She glanced down at Reed’s hands. “Those look lethal.”