Kyle drove down the long, silent road towards the pack house of the Black Blade wolves. Shane peered out the window and made a face. “You know, I’ve lived in Nightbrook all my life and I’ve never been out here. This place is really isolated. No houses, no shops, no street lights. Just a long, lonely road edging the forest.”
He let out a wry laugh. “I guess this is the ideal place to bury a body. No one will even find the bones,” he added under his breath.
Ian turned around to scowl at Shane. “Shut up. Hollie’s not dead.”
“I didn’t say anything about Hollie,” Shane spluttered. “I was just saying...”
“Just shut up,” Ian snapped. “You’re annoying my bear.”
“I thought you’re working on your berserker rage,” Shane sneered.
“I want my bear enraged, not annoyed. There’s a difference...”
Kyle tuned out his friends’ banter and squinted down the quiet road. There were just trees, trees and more trees. Where was the pack house?
His bear growled and Kyle drove faster. He was on the right track. He was getting closer to Hollie, and his bear could already sense his mate.
“There.” Kyle pointed.
He parked the car at the side of the road a little distance from the pack house and killed the engine.
The house was a huge, rambling bungalow surrounded by a tall iron fence. It backed into the forest and was almost hidden by the surrounding trees and tall grasses.
Kyle scanned the property and pointed to the forest. “We should get in through the back. The trees will provide us some cover.”
“Yeah. There might be snipers at the windows, waiting to shoot us if we walk in through the front gate,” Ian deadpanned.
They pushed into the forest and made their way to the back of the property.
They scaled the fence quickly and dropped silently to the ground. There was no sound coming from the house. No movement or shadows in the windows.
Kyle tested the back door and the knob turned easily.
He walked through the quiet kitchen and down the hallway. Ian and Shane followed closely behind.
The house was strangely, unnaturally silent.
Kyle sniffed the air. The scent of wolves was all around, but there was another muted scent wafting out from behind those wide double doors at the end of a long corridor.
Soundlessly he made his way to the double doors and tensed.
Wolves, he mouthed to Ian and Shane.
The two men nodded and silently unsheathed their claws.
They were ready for war. They were prepared to fight to the death.
But what they weren’t prepared for was the sight that greeted them.