It was just starting to get dark when I made it to Eli’s place. Dorian was already there. He insisted we go over everything from our first trip to Peter’s again as well as anything I learned from Ridley. Also, he told us the plan he had crafted for the night and stressed numerous times how much he wanted us to stick to it.

“We know our point of entry is the basement window. It’s large enough for all of us to crawl through. This makes the whole situation one hundred times safer because we don’t have to travel through the house trying to find our way to the basement. It’s a straight shot. Which means there’s minimal risk you guys will screw up this situation,” Dorian said as he paced back and forth in Eli’s kitchen.

“We didn’t screw up the last time. We rescued Violet, or have you forgotten?” I snapped, hating the way he talked down to us. He was supposed to be our chaperone, yes, but nowhere in the description did it say he needed to be an asshole.

“A human was killed. I’d say that’s a pretty big screw-up.” Dorian’s eyes narrowed.

“Moving forward,” Eli said. He seemed as annoyed as I was Dorian kept bringing that night up.

“Right. One by one, we will enter the basement window. There didn’t seem to be any pets, but that’s something I’ll have to check tonight before we make a move.”

“What do you plan on doing if he does have a pet?” I asked with more attitude than was necessary. Apparently there was no better feeling than grilling Dorian.

He flashed me a wicked grin. “If it’s a cat, nothing. I doubt a cat would do anything to alert him we were there. If it’s a dog, I have a special treat for it.” He reached into the front pocket of his dark jeans and pulled out a Ziploc bag with two dog treats inside.

“What’s so special about them?” Eli asked.

“I purchased some dog tranquilizers and slipped one into each. If he does have any dogs, they won’t be a problem for long. They’ll be sleeping like a baby in seconds.”

Well, at least he wasn’t going to hurt them. I hated to admit it, but Dorian’s idea was pretty good.

“I know we’re there to search for Glenn,” Eli said. “But, like I said before, I’d like to get my hands on the files I saw. I think we would be able to learn a lot from them.”

“The files are a top priority,” Dorian insisted. “We have to find out the inner workings of this situation.”

“Sounds good,” I said as I clapped my hands together. “Let’s get this show on the road.”

I didn’t want to hang around much longer. I was beginning to get antsy. I needed to know if Glenn was there. If he was, I was going to be so pissed at Dorian. I thought of what I’d say to him as the three of us piled into Eli’s truck and headed to Peter’s place.

We parked in the same space as before. This late at night, there seemed to be even less traffic than before, which was a good thing.

“Let’s shift and head to Peter’s the way we did earlier—by sticking to the woods that line the driveway. Be on alert this time, Peter could be home, and there’s a chance he might not be alone,” Dorian insisted as he walked to the end of the truck to take off his clothes again.

My heart dropped to my toes at the mention of Peter possibly not being alone. After the day he had, there was a good chance someone would be at his house, consoling him. It was another reason why we should’ve done this earlier. Screw Dorian and his well-thought-out plan. Sometimes going into things blind was the best way to handle them.

I pulled off my clothes and tossed them onto the seat of the truck. My gaze drifted to Eli. His muscles were tense, and his jaw was hard set. I didn’t think he liked having Dorian give him orders.

Once the three of us shifted, we started up the driveway by keeping to the woods like we had last time. Dorian had the bag of dog treats in his mouth. It crinkled with every step he took, causing him to make more noise than Eli and me. When Peter’s house came into view, I relaxed at the sight of only one vehicle in the driveway. Lights were on inside but only on the main floor. The upstairs was dark. This made me think he was still awake.

Dorian dropped the treat bag and sniffed the air. I knew he was searching for the scent of any pets Peter might have let out when he got home. I sniffed the air too, but didn’t pick up anything.

We were off to a smooth start it seemed. I was grateful.

The three of us rounded the house until we came to the basement window. Dim lighting cast through the space, but it wasn’t enough for me to think Peter was inside. It looked as though one of the machines had been turned on and was casting a glow through the room.

Eli pushed on the window with his snout. It popped open with ease. I held my breath as Eli leaped into the basement. Dorian went next. I hung around outside, staring in the window and listening. Eli’s green eyes locked with mine. They seemed to beckon me. I finally gave in and leaped through the window after them. Once I was inside, I headed for the cages. There were three, exactly like in Drew’s basement. Each of them seemed made of the same material. There was still a bucket in the corner, but instead of a blanket on the cold concrete floor, there were cots.

Glenn was lying on one.

He didn’t look as banged up as what Violet had when we first found her, but he still had seen better days. Bruises lined his inner elbows. Were they track marks? I was sure they weren’t self-inflicted, but he did look like a junkie. Peter must have been doing some heavy testing on him or keeping him drugged.

I couldn’t believe he’d been here the entire time. My insides burned with anger. Before I realized I was doing it, I’d pushed my wolf to the side and shifted back into human form.

“He’s been here the whole time,” I said in a hushed whisper as I took in the sight of Glenn. “We could have easily gotten him out earlier.”

A familiar charge zipped through the air as Eli shifted back as well.

“Glenn. Hey, buddy,” Eli said as he rushed to his cage. “We’re here for you.”

There was no response from him. I wondered if he’d been drugged with the same stuff Violet had when we’d rescued her. If so, it was going to make it ten times harder to get him out of here quietly. At least Dorian was here to help Eli carry his dead weight, because I wasn’t sure I would be much help getting him through the basement window.

Speaking of Dorian, where was he?

I glanced around, searching for him. He’d leapt through the window before me so I knew he was here somewhere. I spotted him near the basement window, gazing out as though he was making sure the coast was clear. I wasn’t sure when he’d done it, but at some point between entering the basement and now, Dorian had shifted back into his human form as well.

“We might want to get out of here in a minute,” Dorian said as though he could feel my heated gaze on him.

“Wasn’t that the plan all along?” I snapped. “Get in and get out as quickly as possible?”

I couldn’t stand to breathe the same air as him right now, let alone speak to him.

“Yeah, well.” Dorian shifted around to face me. The worried gleam in his eyes sent alarm nipping at my insides. “We’ve got company.”

“What do you mean?” Eli asked. He abandoned Glenn and headed for the basement window.

Headlights shifted through the room. Both Dorian and Eli jumped out of the way before the light could reach them. I remained still, frozen.

Someone was here. This was so not good.

“Two people. Both men. I’d say about six-foot-tall each,” Dorian whispered as he glanced out the window, carefully assessing the new people who had arrived. “Shit.”

“What?” I asked in a hushed whisper.

“Both of them are vampires,” Dorian answered.

Vampires? What the hell were vampires doing at Peter’s house?

“They don’t look like they’re from the Montevallo family either,” Eli added. “I’ve never seen these guys before.”

My heart raced inside my chest. The only thing I could think about was getting Glenn out of here. I jerked at the bars of his cage door, praying it wouldn’t be locked. The thing didn’t budge. I glanced around the metal shelving unit closest to me, searching for something I might be able to use to pick the lock with quickly. We had to get Glenn out of here. He had to come with us. There was no way I was going to leave him again.

“Help me find something to pick this lock with,” I insisted. Didn’t they understand we needed to move, we needed to act? We were here to rescue Glenn, not stare at vampires all night.

“No,” Dorian said. “As soon as they step into the house, we need to get the hell out of here.”

“What?” I snapped. I glanced over my shoulder at him. He couldn’t be serious. Glenn was right here. We needed to get him out. Who knew if we would have another chance? “No. We have to rescue him.”

Eli jumped into action and searched through the drawers to one of the stainless-steel tables. When he found something that looked sharp, he stepped to my side. “Watch out. Let me see if I can get it unlocked with this.”

I stepped out of Eli’s way, grateful he was at least on my side. He fiddled with the lock but didn’t seem to be having any luck.

“It’s too thick. I need something thinner,” Eli insisted as he threw what he’d been holding down and begin searching frantically for something else.

“We don’t have time for this,” Dorian insisted from where he stood at the window. “They just went inside. And from the looks on their faces, I’d say they aren’t happy to be here.”

“I’m not happy to be here either,” I snapped as I continued searching for anything that might help open the lock.

Loud footsteps sounded above us. All the breath left the room as the three of us froze, listening to where they were headed. My eyes zeroed in on the basement door at the top of the stairs. The sound of a key being shoved into the door floated through the air. A light flicked on, illuminating the stairs seconds before the door opened.

“We have to get out of here now,” Dorian whispered. The intensity behind his words sent goose bumps pickling across my skin. He was right. We need to get out now or else we risked being caught, but what about Glenn?

“Mina, come on,” Eli insisted. His fingers gripped my wrist and pulled me away from Glenn’s cage toward the open basement window.

Dorian had already slipped outside. He reached through the window for me. Between him and Eli, I barely had to climb out the basement myself. They hoisted me up and pulled me out with little effort on my part.

Footfalls echoed through the basement as more than one person descended the stairs.

“A little birdie told us your brother is no more,” a rough voice said.

“That’s right,” Peter answered. The tremor in his voice was audible. Either he hadn’t been expecting them, or he was scared shitless they were here. Maybe it was both.

“Why do you think that is?” the man with the deep, rough voice asked.

“It was an accident. He was drunk and fell down the stairs.”

“Come now,” the other vampire said. “You don’t believe that. Do you?”

Dorian reached out to help Eli out of the basement, but he didn’t accept it. Instead his gaze snapped to lock with mine. Something shifted through his eyes, but I wasn’t able to decipher what it was before he dashed away from the window.

What the hell was he doing? He needed to get out of there.

My gaze drifted to the stairs. A pair of dress shoes and black slacks caught my attention. Eli was almost out of time.

I opened my mouth to say something, but Dorian’s hand clamped over it. His hot breath warmed my ear as he shushed me quietly. My heart stalled out as I shifted my gaze back to Eli. He’d doubled back for the files stacked on one of the stainless-steel counters. When he passed them through the window, I grabbed them at the same time Dorian gripped Eli’s arms. In seconds, Eli was at my side and the window was closed securely behind him.

Eli’s arms wrapped around me as he pulled me away from the window. I struggled to catch my breath while my fingers dug into his forearm and crushed the files to my chest. I wanted to shout at him. I wanted to slap him silly for having scared me. I did none of those things because even though the basement window was closed, I could still hear movement from inside. This meant any noise I made they would be able to hear. Vampires had just as good of hearing as we did.

“Did your brother piss someone off?” I heard one of the vampires ask.

I wiggled out of Eli’s grip and peeked through the window inside the basement.

“I don’t think so,” Peter said as he moved around the room, clicking on the lights.

Surprisingly, the vampires didn’t seem bothered by the bright florescent lights. I didn’t know much about vampires, but I had always thought they had a sensitivity to light.

“Drew wasn’t much of a people person. There’s a good chance quite a few people in town were pissed at him. But, like I said, his death was ruled an accident. He was drunk and fell down the stairs to his basement.” Peter’s voice still wavered when he spoke. It caused him to fumble on a couple of words.

“Really?” the vampire with the deep, rough voice asked. He had a wide scar that ran along the small section of skin between the base of his nose and his upper lip, disfiguring it. “Because the same little birdie we spoke to earlier said Drew was trying to double-cross Regina.”

My grip on the files tightened as I continued to stare into the window. Who was Regina?

“Drew wasn’t trying to double-cross anyone,” Peter insisted.

“Are you saying he didn’t have any plans to snag another werewolf? One that happened to be female for someone else?” the vampire with the scar asked as he reached inside the drawer on the stainless-steel counter Eli had left open.

“Not that I know of.” There was hesitation in Peter’s voice. Obviously, he wasn’t one hundred percent sure Drew wouldn’t do such a thing. He also knew if Drew had attempted such a feat, he was going to be in trouble for it.

Would Peter pay the consequences for his brother’s actions?

“You’re saying you had absolutely no idea your brother was working with someone else?” the vampire pressed farther. A wild look flared in his dark eyes, as if he enjoyed seeing Peter on edge and having the upper hand.

My stomach rolled because he looked like the type of guy who got off on inflicting pain on others.

“No,” Peter said with a firm voice. Through the distance, I could see his eye twitch. He was lying.

The vampire with the scar who seemed to be running the show must have noticed as well, because he chuckled. I watched as he took a step back and handed the other vampire a scalpel.

“You had better be glad your brother is already dead, and it happened to be a quick death,” the other vampire said as he pressed the tip of the sharp scalpel to his index finger, slicing it open. Drops of dark blood dripped onto the stainless-steel counter in front of him. “Because if we had taken him in and passed him over to Regina, she would’ve tortured the poor soul until he begged for death for his betrayal.”

Peter swallowed hard, but he didn’t speak. He did, however, take a step back, placing more space between him and the vampires.

“Now, I’m only going to ask you this once,” the vampire holding the scalpel said. “Who was your brother working with?”

“He wasn’t working with anyone,” Peter insisted.

The vampire with the scar across his upper lip laughed, drawing my attention back to him. “Benny, let him know how wrong of an answer that was.”

It happened in seconds. The vampire with the scalpel, Benny, lunged toward Peter. He stabbed him in the hand. The scalpel went so deep it pinned his hand to the stainless-steel counter. Peter screamed. It echoed through the basement, sending a shiver along my spine.

“You should’ve told the truth,” Benny said. “Now, you know there are consequences for lying.”

Peter grabbed the scalpel and pulled it from his hand. Blood splattered across the counter as another scream propelled past his clamped lips. The sight of the blood pooling across the counter had me looking to both of the vampires. A sick sense of excitement twisted the vampire with the scars features.

Who the hell was this guy?

“Let’s try this again,” the vampire with the scar said as he stepped forward and took another scalpel from in the drawer. I was beginning to feel as though he was the boss of the other. Maybe even this Regina chick’s right-hand man. “We know your brother was working with someone and we need a name. Regina does not like to be double-crossed, in case you haven’t figured that out by now.”

“I can’t,” Peter whimpered as he cradled his hand to his chest and shook his head back and forth.

Oh shit, these guys were going to kill him if he didn’t say who Drew had been working with.

“Wrong answer,” the vampire with the scar said before his arm lifted with the scalpel. His wrist flicked, and the thing flew through the air like a throwing knife until it landed in Peter’s shoulder.

Peter cried out. My stomach somersaulted, but I still continued to stare. I needed to pay attention. It was the only way I was going to find out who Regina was. And Glenn, I needed to make sure he was going to be okay. These guys seemed hell-bent on finding out who Drew had been working with. I prayed they weren’t also here to get Glenn.

“I’m starting to lose my patience,” the vampire with the scar muttered as he rummaged through the other drawers of the table. Apparently, scalpels weren’t doing the trick anymore. “You need to tell me who your brother was working for and you need to tell me now. Regina does not value your life anymore. If that’s what you’re thinking, you’re wrong. She doesn’t take kindly to those who double-cross her. Nor does she like their family. Wouldn’t it be a pity if your poor mother had to bury two more sons days after she buried the first?”

“Already have a couple of guys scoping out that younger brother of yours.” The other vampire smirked. “Looks like he’d be easy prey.”

Shane. They were talking about Shane.

While I didn’t like him, it didn’t mean I wanted him to die at the hands of some pissed off vampires. Nobody deserved to go out that way.

“Leave my brother alone,” Peter begged. He backed himself up against a wall and closed his eyes. “Please.”

“Tell me what I want to know, and maybe I’ll consider it,” the vampire with the scar said as he swirled around a pair of pliers in his hand. I didn’t want to think of what he planned to do to Peter with them.

“It’s a friend of our family. Drew was working with a family friend,” Peter said.

“Vague answer. I don’t like vague answers,” the vampire with the scar snarled.

“Better give him a name,” Benny insisted.

Peter opened his eyes, but he didn’t speak. Not until the vampire with the scar took a step toward him.

“David,” Peter shouted. “David Thomas.”

I knew that name. It was Alec’s uncle.

That must be why Eli’s dad had seen him talking with vampires. He was planning to double-cross Regina.

“See, that wasn’t so hard. Now that I have a name, I’ll be taking what we came for,” the vampire with the scar said as he set the pliers down on the counter. I watched as he made his way to Glenn’s cage.

No!

They were going to take him. This was it. The moment where we lost Glenn for good.

Eli grabbed my arm, and I knew he was trying to hold me at bay. I couldn’t look at him. I couldn’t look at Dorian. All I could do was watch as Glenn slipped away.

“Open it,” the vampire with the scar insisted.

Peter made his way to the cage. He pulled out a set of keys from his pocket, and with shaky hands opened the door.

Anger thrashed through my insides. Glenn was going to be taken by these goons right in front of me. A small gasp escaped me when the vampire with the scar over his lip nodded for Benny to retrieve Glenn. He stepped inside the cage and jerked Glenn to his feet. Eli’s grip on me tightened. My wolf howled inside my head, detesting the sight of a pack member being taken to who knew where by vampires. I clamped my mouth shut and squeezed the files tighter against my chest. Surely Dorian and Eli weren’t going to sit here and continue to watch this. Surely Eli was telling me to be quiet and remain calm because he had a plan to stop them, and it involved the element of surprise.

“Oh, and Peter,” the vampire with the scar said as Benny started toward the stairs with Glenn. “We want what Drew got for the other guy.”

Peter shook his head wildly. “He didn’t get anything for them.”

“We know he did.”

“I don’t know anything about that order. I wasn’t a part of it,” Peter insisted.

“Do you think I give a shit?” the vampire with the scar asked. He reached in the open drawer beside him and grabbed out another scalpel. Mischief flashed through his dark eyes as he stalked toward Peter. “Word is, he had his hands on a female wolf. We want one too. Now that your brother is dead, the task falls to you.”

“But that’s not something I do. I’m not a hunter,” Peter blubbered.

“Again, do you think I give a shit?” the vampire asked. He pressed the scalpel into Peter’s neck. A thin line of blood trickled down from the wound. The vampire flicked his tongue out and licked the area clean. “Like I said, now that he’s gone, the task falls to you. Regina wants a female wolf. And she’s giving you one week to obtain one, which is fairly generous, considering.”

“Fine, fine!” Peter shouted as he held up his hands. His head was angled to the side, exposing his neck, and his eyes were squeezed shut. His body trembled with fear. The guy was petrified. I guess I didn’t blame him. After all, he was only human.

A commotion came from the front of the house. Eli released in his grip on me and tapped my knee to get my attention. When I glanced at him, he nodded toward the woods and motioned for me to follow. Dorian was already halfway there. I hadn’t realized he’d left my side. The three of us barely made it to the thicket of the woods before Benny rushed down the porch steps with Glenn.

I held my breath as I waited for Eli and Dorian to do something in order to stop Glenn from being taken.

They did nothing except watch, which was exactly what I did.

“Aren’t you going to do something?” I whispered to Eli.

He placed a finger to his lips as his eyes locked with mine and shook his head. My entire body deflated.

“We have to do something. We can’t just let Glenn be taken,” I insisted as my stomach rolled and my heart thundered against my rib cage. “There are three of us and two of them.”

“Keep your voice down,” Dorian scolded. “I know this looks bad, but the main guy running this is older than he looks, which means he’s stronger than you’re giving him credit for. If we attack, not only is there a risk we might not make it out alive, but there’s also a chance Glenn might not either.”

“So, what are we supposed to do, then? Hide in the woods and watch?” I asked.

Neither Dorian nor Eli spoke. I guess that was answer enough.

My gaze drifted back to Benny. I watched as he lugged Glenn toward a dark vehicle in the driveway. He shoved him in the backseat and then climbed behind the steering wheel. My heart stopped when I heard the engine start. The vampire with the scar came out of the house and situated himself in the passenger seat. All the breath left my lungs as I watched the vehicle turn around and disappear down Peter’s driveway.

The vampires were gone, and so was Glenn.