Noelle had been tied to the chair all night. Her wrists were rubbed raw where she'd pulled at the ropes Gabriel had bound her with, but it was all to no avail. He made sure she wasn’t going to worm her way free from her bonds.

Gabriel picked up a tumbler of water. He threw it at Noelle’s face before resting his hands on his knees and staring into her eyes. “Wakey, wakey sleepy head,” he said, with a sadistic grin covering his face.

Noelle could see from the dead glint in Gabriel’s eyes that he'd lost the plot. The power had gone to his head and he thought he was invincible.

“What are you gonna do with Noelle?” Maria asked as she walked from the kitchen area.

Gabriel sniggered as Noelle watched his expression. “I have plans for her, she can be part of the entertainment before the ritual later,” he said, now rubbing his hand across the stubble on his chin. “You better keep an eye on her, and make sure she doesn’t try and escape. If she does, you’ll be in as much trouble as her,” he said, standing while putting his glass on the counter, and pulling on his tight t-shirt.

Noelle stared at Gabriel’s ripped body. She could see he'd done something to make himself much bigger than before. Crap, I hope Declan can handle him, he looks as good a match as ever.

Gabriel turned to Maria and he furrowed his brow. “You know what? I don’t trust you to watch her. We’ll take her to the freezer room and lock her in there,” Gabriel said, pulling at the ropes that held Noelle to the chair. “She can sit with the rest of tonight’s food.”

Gabriel dragged Noelle to her feet. He handed the rope to Maria and ordered them to walk in front of him. Maria wanted to tell Noelle she'd been in contact with Declan, yet Gabriel was watching her like a hawk. She had no way to communicate, so Noelle would have to sit there and stew over what was going happen to her, for a few hours, at least.

Gabriel marched them both to the basement level. Maria reached for the freezer room door and found it was locked. “Hey, the door’s locked,” she said turning to Gabriel.

He stepped forward and pushed on the handle. He pushed with all his strength without ripping the handle from the door. “Who the fuck has locked that?” he muttered. “Wait here, I’ll go and get my master set from the reception.”

Gabriel walked to the stairs, and now Maria took the quick chance to bring Noelle up to speed and tell her what was happening with Declan. “Declan has a chance to get his inner wolf back,” Maria said.

Noelle had a look of amazement on her face as she replied. She said, “You’ve spoken to Declan? Oh God, how is he? where is he, is he coming?”

Maria made a quick reply because Gabriel wouldn’t take long to reach the reception desk. “I haven’t spoken to him, but I managed to contact a female alpha who was helping him, and she told me he'd set off from Miami a couple of days ago, and that he had to find Dustin,” Maria replied, watching the end of the hallway.

“Miami’s miles away and I know he won’t fly, that means he’s driving,” Noelle added. “Is he gonna get back before tonight?”

Maria took another glance over her shoulder. “That’s not the biggest problem. As far as I know, Dustin’s dead.”

Noelle’s face dropped, and she looked scared. If Dustin was dead and Declan needed him to get his powers back, all of them were in the same boat —and in the same pile of shit. Gabriel would take the crown of true alpha, and he’d have his alpha mate to concrete his position, once and for all.

“What are we gonn…” Noelle started to ask as Gabriel appeared in the hallway walking toward them.

“What were you going to say, Noelle?” Gabriel asked, fingering through the keys to find the freezer room matchup.

“I was asking what would happen tonight, that’s all,” Noelle said calmly.

Gabriel slid the key in the lock. The key halted halfway. He pushed and twisted again and heard a tiny clank inside the freezer room. He pushed open the door and saw the lights on the freezers sitting opposite.

“The dumb fucks, I told them to turn all the freezers off. There are only two that’ll have meat for tonight,” Gabriel said in an angered tone. “What’s puzzling though, is how the door was locked from inside. For fuck’s sake.”

Maria pointed to the door at the far end of the freezer room. “Where does that go?” she asked, pushing Noelle into the room.

Gabriel opened the door and stood to listen. He pulled his head from back in the passageway as the smell of rotting meat wafted into the room.

“That leads to a basement cover, it hasn’t been open for years,” Gabriel said, now taking the rope from Maria and unfastening the binds from around Noelle’s wrists. She stood rubbing the red burn rings on her wrists as Gabriel picked up the key and placed it into his pocket. “There’s no point screaming, either, no one’s gonna hear you in here, and if they could they aren’t gonna help you,” Gabriel replied with a smirk on his face. He ushered Maria to the door and began closing it behind him. “If you feel hungry, there’s plenty of meat in the freezer you can sink your teeth into,” he said laughing. “Oh! I forgot you’re only a humble HUMAN!”

Gabriel slammed the door and Noelle could hear the key turn, and then the lock closed firmly into position. Gabriel’s bellowing laughter echoed as he walked down the hallway with Maria.

Noelle waited ‘till all was silent and pushed on the lever with her hands. It was solid, and there was no way she could pick the lock even if there was anything to use. Gabriel had made sure her pockets were empty before bringing her from Maria’s apartment. Noelle stood in the center of the room staring at the door facing the hallway, and to the cover Gabriel had mentioned. Maybe it was possible to open it, even if he'd said it had been locked for ages.

Noelle opened the door and stepped into the hallway. She raised her arm and held it tight to her mouth and nose. She tried not to breathe in as she stepped forward into the darkness. Her hand brushed the wall as she stepped on things that made her slip. Noelle crashed to the floor with her hands breaking her fall. She started to push herself up as her hand rested on something that felt wet and sticky, and then she held her hand to her nose. The smell of death and decay overwhelmed her senses, and she began retching. Vomit rose up her throat, yet she fought it back and stepped over what she guessed were bones and decaying carcasses.

The floor cleared, and Noelle continued walking into the darkness while shuffling her feet. Her hand rubbed against her jeans to get rid of the gooey mess that had oozed between her fingers. Noelle inched her way forward and heard a noise in front of her. She stood and listened. Can I hear someone sobbing? Has Gabriel locked someone else in here too?

Noelle moved forward more, and saw the outline of a person in a narrow beam of light that shone above them. A thought struck her. What happens if it’s someone who’s halfway through being turned?

Noelle froze.

She heard a voice in the dark. “Who’s there?” the voice asked.

Noelle recognized the voice. “Edmund, is that you?”

“Noelle, what are you doing here?”

Noelle thought it a stupid question. “Same as you, I’m also trapped.”

* * *

Declan made sure Dustin was comfortable. He had food and water at the side of his bed. He could tell he’d be fine, but it was going be a little while before he was back to full strength. Gabriel loaded the crossbow and laid it on the bed next to Dustin. He explained that if anyone came through the door (including him), he would need to shoot. The bolts weren’t silver, so Declan would be able to sustain a shot, and recover. As long as Dustin was safe, that was all that mattered.

“You need to get going if you wanna get to the Towers before dark,” Dustin wheezed from the bed. “You’re lucky it isn’t winter, you would’ve had to run, rather than drive.” Declan smiled and stood up from the side of the bed.

“I had thought about that to flex my legs, but I don’t know what I’m up against, so I want to conserve some energy,” he replied, walking to the bedroom door.

Dustin took ahold of the crossbow in his fingers and Declan stepped to the top of the stairs. As he pulled it close, he was reminded by Declan to shoot whoever entered.

Dustin acknowledged with the words, “Yeah, I got it,” and a cough. Declan knew Dustin would be okay, and he'd done a pretty good job of recovering thus far, probably because he was a military veteran. He had enough skills to endure the worst of war, and a near-death experience was like another day at the office for Dustin.

Declan tied the string to the door, it was a little, early, warning system for Dustin if anyone entered. They’d hear the clank; the clank of tin cans rattling in their ears, and he’d be ready for them.

Declan stood on the gravel outside of his old home and called for his inner wolf once more, just for practice. The witch was right about him being faster, and he could change in the blink of an eye. No twisting and contorting his bones as he morphed into his wolf this time around. It was literally, “Wham, bam, thank you Ma’am,” and he was ready. Declan changed back as he strolled to his car. He sat in the driver’s seat and took some deep breaths. He made his way back up the track to the main road. His mind was full of thoughts of what eventualities he might encounter, he also had thoughts of Noelle, and if she had arrived yet. If she were there looking for him, she would’ve visited the coffee shop.

Declan thought that it was an excellent place to start, he could have a cup of his regular, and stake out the Towers for a couple of hours, just as darkness fell. He had plenty of time for his mind to fill full of thoughts, the trip into town was a comfortable, forty-five minutes. Saying his house was in a remote area was an understatement. He thought back to the night Dustin had found him. That might’ve been why he’d stood on the road freezing his nuts off, for what felt like forever. In truth, the road leading to his old home wasn’t really frequented by much traffic, and that was the reason not many drivers had contemplated stopping to help.

Declan exited the trees and made his way into the outskirts of town, it only took a few minutes to bypass them, and downtown took mere minutes from wherever you were in the Creek. Declan found a parking space a few minutes from the coffee shop, and one that was out of sight. He guessed that some of the pack had sided with Gabriel, and any advance warning he got of Declan’s presence would take away the advantage that he now had. Declan looked to the sky and saw the start of a storm. That might work in his favor because his approach would be masked by the crappy weather.

He stood in the shadow and watched the coffee shop. He stared with his assertive eyes through the glass. It’d been months since he'd been there, so any new tenants in the Towers wouldn’t recognize him. Declan breathed slowly and became motionless. His senses heightened as he focused on the coffee shop. He heard the faint chatting of customers, and laughing as friends gathered for an early, Saturday-evening brew. He recognized a couple of faces, but only by sight, and they wouldn’t associate him with what was going happen at the Towers. Declan sniffed and embraced the smell of the freshly brewed coffee, and a thought crossed his mind. I can’t remember what my regular drink was. He decided on strong and sweet; he could do with another caffeine ‘kick in the ass,’ just to get him in motion.

The old, familiar, bell rang above Declan’s head as he walked into the coffee shop. He saw some of the customer’s nodding their heads as they recognized him before they returned to their conversations or their laptops. He sidled up to the counter and looked at the large menu written on the blackboard, right above the counter. Declan took a stab at one he'd never had before, a Latte Macchiato, but with a double shot of espresso. That should perk me up a little.

“You new around here?” the barista asked?

Declan leaned on the end of the counter shaking his head. “Nah! I used to be a regular in here, but I’ve been out of town for a few months.”

The barista stood at the machine as Declan looked at her slender body from behind. His eyes ran up her skin-tight, Lycra leggings, and her ass looked as if it had to be prized in. Her ass wasn’t large, it was her leggings that were overly tight.

“Double shot you said?” the girl asked. Declan nodded in agreeance.

The girl poured his cup “to go” and slid it across the counter. Declan picked up two sachets of brown sugar, and shook them a couple of times before he ripped the corners off. He crumpled the paper and picked up another two. He shook, just like before, and then did it again, so it was a total of four times, altogether.

“Eight sugars?” the girl asked.

“I’ve got a busy evening ahead, I need some extra energy.”

The girl winked and smiled. “She is a lucky girl, then.”

Declan smiled back at the girl and winked. He wasn’t sure if her knee’s buckled, but she definitely had something running through her mind.

“I might see you again,” he said, popping the plastic cap on his cup and walking to the door. She blushed and batted her eyelashes, just as he expected she would do.

Declan stood on the sidewalk and the hot cup began burning into his hand. Now, he had to position himself to look at where his real home was… Clifton Towers.

He walked the two blocks with the cup resting in his fingertips. He stood at the corner of the street and looked for a prime vantage point to stand to watch. Declan spotted a store that was having some construction work done, and where some scaffolding sat across the sidewalk. It was covered from the road by a large tarpaulin. He walked under the scaffolding, he checked for any holes he could spy from. The tarp was as good as new until he brought his inner wolf to the surface and his nail turned into a claw. He pushed his claw through the tarp and ran it sideways. A narrow gap appeared, as easy as A, B, C. Declan pulled up an empty cable drum and sat with his eyes peering through the slit.

“Right then Gabriel, let’s see what you have in store for me.”

“In life, as in chess, forethought always wins.”