RILEY
They moved slowly, and she stayed in front of Thomas. He was covering their flank as they moved, inch by inch, down the hall.
Before they made it to the first turn, a door opened, and she knew to stop moving. She was barely breathing.
“These fucking cats are a problem, Carl.” A male was talking, agitated.
“They’ll be out of our hair soon enough, then we can wash our hands of the entire pride.” Carl wasn’t worried in the slightest.
“People are looking for them! The fucking government is looking for them. When they never made it home, it was like every special task force in the country mobilized. They eve-”
“It doesn’t matter,” Carl laughed. “Our buyer is going to take all of them in only a couple more days. Now, go hang the keys up. I’m going to bed.”
“Fine.”
People were trying to find them? Riley felt a bit more hope creep into her heart, next to her anger. Good. Actually, it was fucking fantastic.
She tried to move but Thomas grabbed her, shaking his head slowly.
“I need to kill that-” she was whispering. She had to put a bullet between that mother fucker’s eyes. She had to. She bared her teeth at Thomas, who pulled her against him and leaned down to talk in her ear.
It brought a rush of fear, but she had to focus.
“If you kill him, they will all come running. We won’t rescue anyone.”
She held onto the tears of fury at what he said. He was fucking right, and she just wanted… she just wanted to get that evil son-of-a-bitch back for what he let the shifter do to her. The rage made her throat work, the pain made her heart race.
And she could do nothing but wait for the footsteps to recede until they were once again alone in the hall.
She peeked around the corner to the right as Thomas checked the left. They entered the second hallway at the same time. Four doors now.
Three.
Two.
One.
They checked the turn and made it into the last hallway. The double doors at the end were only fifteen feet away.
They moved quietly, waiting for anything.
Thomas grabbed a set of keys off the wall when they reached the door.
“So arrogant, they don’t even lock the keys up,” he mumbled as she slowly pushed the door open. She winced at the creak it made, and Thomas took over, pushing through, his gun raised.
The warehouse was dark, but she could see the sleeping forms of everyone who was there when she left. None of them knew that they were about to be released.
Thomas moved quickly and tested keys on his Alpha’s cage first. The wolf woke and shifted back to human, staring blankly at Thomas.
“Hey big brother,” Thomas whispered. “Don’t make a sound. We’re getting you all out.”
The other male nodded. He was the one that was an asshole to her, but she could forget it for now.
Once Thomas was done, he moved to her. She had stopped into front of Brenton’s cage; the lion was not awake yet. He was probably exhausted if he didn’t notice her scent.
“Alphas first,” he mumbled to her. “Always.”
He tested keys and they rattled. This made Brenton’s large lion eye open and he gave a low growl, not realizing who was there yet.
“Brenton,” Riley whispered. The growl had woken up every shifter in the room, who slept in their animal forms for warmth. They were all silent as they shifted back human, eyes wide at possible freedom.
Brenton went back to human form and walked slowly to her at the front of his cage.
“Riley,” her name on his lips sounded like a caress. “Why?”
“You saved me more times than I can count. I wasn’t going to abandon you in return for that.” She heard the cage unlock, and Thomas moved away, to continue opening cages. Sheriff was next.
“Oh, beautiful,” his voice broke and he pulled her to him. “Oh, Riley.” It was like he was praying.
She held back a sob as more of her pride were freed. All the wolves were out by now. The foxes were last.
Each of her pride hugged her quickly.
“Can I have the gun, Riley?” Andrew whispered, trying to reach for it slowly.
“Not this time, Andrew,” she growled at him, stepping back. “I’m not giving this gun away for anything. I’ve got some fucking revenge to get. Plus, I’m the rescuer this time.”
Her men took a minute to look at each other. Brenton gave a heavy sigh, and shook his head in defeat.
“Let’s go. We need to find vehicles or just fucking run for it,” Thomas growled at them. Everyone was waiting. “Let her keep the damn gun. It was her fucking idea to come back and get you all out.”
The wolves all looked at Thomas like he was mad and he shrugged. She nodded to him.
“Me and you in front?” She asked.
“Bear in the back,” Thomas added. “But don’t shift until we’ve been found out.”
“Riley, please,” Zachary growled in her ear. She wanted to be comforted by it, but she wasn’t. The memories were still too close to the surface, instead she tensed and was scared of him. Scared of Zachary. “Let me… let me have the gun.” He was hurt by her fear, she could smell it.
“No,” she hissed. “Trust me to stay alive.”
“You don’t have to keep going like this,” he snarled. “Let one of us-”
“Yes. I do.” She walked off with Thomas. They both held their weapons up, ready for anything. They took the front and they were going to go two wide out into the hall.
Her pride mixed with the wolves and foxes. Sheriff would be a monstrous presence in the back when he was in bear form, walking backwards to cover their rear from being torn open by bullets it they were fired upon.
“Wait,” one of the foxes finally spoke up. “They don’t know we’re out yet. We can steal our shit back.”
“You’re worried about that?” Chris hissed at the fox, who shrugged.
“Why not?”
Riley was amazed by the fox’s foolhardiness.
“Actually,” Gabe spoke up. “We can take this place down, right here and right now.” They all looked at him. “Even if we don’t kill all of them, if I can get into a computer room or an office, I can take everything they’re worth. I could ruin them. I could gather enough evidence to send them away for a long time, even without our testimonies.”
Riley smiled. It would give her the chance to kill Carl. She held her gun tight to herself and waited for the others to put their word in.
“Let’s do it,” Brenton told the wolf Alpha. “We were all going to die in here anyways, why not try to fix the problem? We also need weapons and hopefully some car keys to get out of here.”
“Fuck, you’re right,” Chris growled. “But this is stupid.”
“Damn right it is,” Thomas sighed. “But it’s all we’ve got, it seems.”
“Then let’s hurry,” Riley smiled at her Alpha, whose eyes twinkled in pride. They hadn’t even won, but he was proud of her.
They huddled in a dark corner of the warehouse and made teams.
Foxes and wolves would go for personal effects for everyone. Easy part in Riley’s mind. She and her pride would go with Sheriff deeper into the compound to find out what they could to bring this place to its knees. They would meet the wolves once the foxes were headed out of the building to get them transportation. No big deal… right?