Jasmine

Stupid. We're all goddamn stupid. We came here to scout out the place, but now we’re going in to rescue Sabine. This just screams trap to me.

After Liam made his declaration, he and Josh guided me back into the house, so we could all go over the plan for today. There was barely a plan to speak of, because this was supposed to be a recon mission only.

Liam put his foot down and told Neira that while he wanted to help Sabine, he wouldn't risk my safety to do it. I get that the Order is holding her sister hostage, but a suicide mission wouldn't benefit any of us. Yet, that seems to be exactly where we've ended up regardless.

The Order left the house thirty minutes ago. As soon as they were gone from sight, Neira demanded that we do a spell to determine how many people were in the house. When Neira and I came up with only two life signs, we all begrudgingly agreed that now may be an opportune time to get her sister out without any bloodshed.

After some quick planning, it was decided Liam and Josh would scout ahead. Benji was going to go off, too, but I don't think he trusts Neira. He's been looking at her strangely since we came back to the house last night.

Benji stands alert, listening for a howl from Josh to let him know it’s all clear before we start walking across the manicured lawn. For the whole walk to the basement window, the hairs on the back of my neck are standing on end.

If I worked for the Order, the first thing I would do is place spells all over the yard to stop people from breaking in. Why have no magical traps been set off by our presence? No screeching into the night to alert the people inside of approaching enemies?

And worse yet, no one is monitoring the perimeter. Even if I had magical alarms in place, I would still hire people to keep watch over my property. My feelings of unease grow worse the closer we get to the house.

I stop to look up at the rickety house and wonder why on earth the Order lives here. This house with all the boarded up windows looks more like something out of the Addams’ Family, not somewhere the highest members of our society would live.

Suddenly, a hand grabs mine, and I jump to see Benji standing in front of me. I got so distracted staring at the house, that I lost track of where I was and forgot to focus on my surroundings.

Together, we walk around the side of the house to where Josh, Liam, and Neira wait for us, their faces expressing concern. Benji lets go of me as Josh approaches. Josh then pulls me away from the rest of the group, so Neira won't hear what is being said. Benji and Liam keep throwing covert glances my way but I don’t miss the way Neira gently places her hand on Liam’s arm. His gaze softens and I want to storm right back over there and rip them apart but I know Josh had to have a reason for pulling me aside.

Josh glances over to make sure Neira is distracted before he whispers. "Look, I want you to be careful in there. Something about this isn't sitting right with me." He looks back over at the group to see them still deep in conversation. "Benji told me about your concerns regarding Neira. I don't know her as well as Liam does, but just watch your back in there. I don't need two Alphas taking their frustration out on me if something were to happen to you."

I smile at Josh’s words of concern and the look of worry in his eyes. I pull him in for a hug to whisper back, "Thank you for caring. I promise I'll be careful. Besides, I'm a lot stronger than I look."

He smirks at me with laughter in his eyes. "Pretty sure I saw that for myself when you took out that tree."

With that said, we walk back to the group, just as Liam is explaining, "Josh and I will stand guard out here while you three go in and find Sabine. At the first sign of movement, one of us will howl and you better bloody haul ass out of there." He looks over at me pointedly, as if he knows I'd be the one to linger.

Neira places her hand on the window, and it vanishes. Josh grabs onto her and helps lower her into the basement below.

Liam moves in front of me. "I know things aren't quite sorted between us, but you need to know, Jasmine, that I'm not letting you go. If something goes wrong in there, you leave Neira and Sabine and get your ass out here."

I smile up at him, before pressing my lips to his gently. The bite on my shoulder tingles as he traces it absently with his fingers. I pull back with a smile. "No promises," I laugh as I walk to the window and drop down to the room below before he can say a word.

Benji appears in the basement seconds after me and shakes his head, his eyes filled with mirth. "You really just pissed him off, you know? He's going to punish you for that later."

I shrug my shoulders, knowing he speaks the truth. "I know, but it will help him remain vigilant out there until we leave, which was my goal."

Just then, the light in the basement flares on, and I squint at the sudden brightness. It takes a moment for my eyes to adjust, but when I do, I see Neira standing by a light switch. For a moment, I was worried we'd all been discovered, but I heave a sigh of relief, knowing we haven’t been caught yet.

With the light on, I can see there are two cells in the basement on one side of the wall, and a small room under the stairs that lead up to the house.

There's no one in either cell, so I go over to open the door under the stairs, hoping Sabine may just be tied up in there, but no such luck.

When I look into the room, though, a shiver works its way up my spine, and I freeze. This little space holds so much magic that it makes it almost impossible to breathe.

"Neira, do you know what this room is used for?" I ask, as a shiver of fear runs through me.

Even though my heart is hammering, and my magic is pulsing to be let free, I remain as calm as I can, even though a ball of dread is forming in my stomach. I hope we can get out of here as soon as possible. This house is creeping me the fuck out.

"There's no one down here," Benji murmurs, moving from the cells towards the door where I’m standing. He sees it empty, but Neira refuses to look inside.

"He's right, there's no one down here. That room is probably just used for practicing magic," she says, distracted as she climbs the stairs. "Come on, they're probably upstairs." She begins climbing the stairs before Benji and I have the chance to object.

We share a worried glance and sigh. Neither one of us wants to go upstairs, but she hasn't left us with much of a choice. We have no real option but to follow her and hope we'll find the people we're looking for, without getting caught in the process.

When we come up from the basement, we end up in the kitchen. Neira is standing in the doorway and I have to nudge her out of the way so we can all step into the kitchen. She lingers behind us as Benji and I look out the doorway to the open entry area. Its a wide sparse space and leads to what used to be a grand staircase. Now it's nothing but a remnant of what could have been beauty. Neira seems to find her courage and pushes past us out into the open area and takes the stairs to the second floor.

The dread I feel continues to build as we follow her up the stairs onto the second floor and stop at the sight of an open door directly across from the stairs. Neira is rushing through the room checking for her sister and so Benji and I move on to another room, finding it to be empty. We check the whole floor, a total of four rooms, before moving onto the next floor.

"Maybe we should leave? This doesn't feel right," I whisper to Benji. My voice echoes up the staircase, and Neira turns to glare at me from the floor above.

"We're not leaving yet! My sister's here, I can feel it. Let's just check all the rooms. If none of us find anything, then I'll leave. But I have to at least try. Locator spells don't lie!" Her voice, while laced with anger, is also filled with sadness, and I know that we have to at least try to find her sister.

She's right about locator spells not lying. If you have an item from a person you’re looking for and combine that with the spell, it reveals exactly where that person is. Sure, she may not be here now, but she at least had been when we left the pack. Considering it only took an hour to reach this place on foot, I doubt they could have moved her very far in such a short span of time.

Benji looks over at me and I can tell he sees I've made up my mind about the situation.

"Fuck!" He runs a hand through his hair in frustration. "Ten minutes. You get ten minutes to look for your sister, then we're out of here, whether you're with us or not. My mate is not staying here longer than she absolutely needs to."

With that, Neira turns on her heels and hurries away up to the top floor. We can hear doors opening and slamming shut, and Benji winces at the sound, even as he quietly opens the door before us. I step cautiously into the room, taking a quick glance around only to find it empty.

I can still hear the doors slamming upstairs. We walk out of the room and climb the stairs to the last floor.

We get to the top of the stairs and see three doors left unopened. Finally, this is almost over. I just want to get out of here already.

After finding nothing in the first two rooms, we move to the final door. I reach out to open it, but Benji pulls me back. "This is like every horror movie I've ever seen. Neira has disappeared and all the rooms have been cleared, which means she’s probably behind this door, which also means, most likely, so are the bad guys. Please, just stay behind me."

He pushes me behind him, and takes my place at the door, muttering under his breath, "Can't believe I'm doing this."

He pushes open the door and takes a step inside as I grip his shirt for comfort.

Neira is standing on the opposite side of the room with tears running down her face as she holds a woman who looks remarkably like her in her arms. Obviously, it’s her sister, Sabine.

"They only wanted you. They agreed to let us all leave, as long as we could get you here."

Neira's words are spoken in my mind, although her eyes remain fixed on Benji.

Sabine's eyes lift and meet mine, widening in horror. She turns to her sister, her eyes crazed. "What have you done?" she whispers, her voice breaking as she continues to stare at Neira with heartbreak evident in her expression.

This was a trap all along. Not a trap for my mates, but a trap for me.