Queen of Death

Chapter 13

Ace

Nothing is ever easy when you lead the lives we do. But that fact notwithstanding, we are very good at what we do. The alarm sounds milliseconds after I teleport back into the facility. It's interesting that it would sound on my way in and not on my way out. You'd think they'd have systems in place in case someone escaped, like just now. I don't have time to overthink it, so I tuck that little piece of information away to analyze later.

A loud boom thunders over the noise of the alarm like an explosion followed by footsteps pounding their way down the stairs. My first thoughts are of Solana, Tate, and Hunter, sneaking through the corridors. Logically I know they'll be okay, they can hide and Hunter is a weapons master. It's my wolf that will always need to know that they're safe and need to protect them when necessary.

Where are you three? Are you still with Solana? I link to Hunter.

My relief is immediate when Hunter's voice comes through the link. We found the control room. Tate is combing through their computers now.

I grab my handguns, going through the motions of releasing and reloading the mags to keep my hands busy while I focus on what's next. "The others are safe," for now, I tell the guys. "Let's buy them some time."

Armed and ready, Dean leads us out of one of the laundry rooms into the hallway. The door to the stairwell behind us slams open, leaving a hole in the concrete wall behind it, and out pour at least a dozen guards who open fire.

I draw a ring of flames in the hallway behind me, hoping that it is enough to slow some of them down if not deter them from following us altogether. Half of the guards behind me do not brave the flames, while the other half step through my flames as if they weren't even there. Their uniforms are equally unaffected. Either everyone here is wearing flame resistant threads or we've got both draconic and lupine guards. The latter is far more problematic than the former because it would mean that this operation is much larger than we initially suspected.

We're moving quickly in the opposite direction as the guards, coming up on another corner and another stairwell when that door slams open too. I throw up more flames if only to conceal which way we turn. Eli leads us into the adjacent laundry room and we both bunker down in one of the large floor drains, pulling the grate back into place overhead. I've lost track of Dean in the transition and can't mindlink him. It doesn't worry me though. Even without shadows like his brother he can move seen and unseen when he wants to. Right now he's either tunneling through the drains, up in a vent, or hiding in plain sight.

"Did you see where they went?" one of the guards asks.

"No but it can't be far. Blue team head north for the command room, red team go south in case they tried to back track," a different guard says and by the certainty with which he speaks I'm guessing he's an authority figure here. The floor rumbles with the departure of the two groups of guards. "We'll find them eventually, we've called in every guard we have and more reinforcements are on the way."

"How many are we looking for?" The first guard speaks again.

"Three of them came through here," the confident one responds, his voice getting louder as he stalks through the room looking for us. "But there could be as many as six. Five males and a hybrid female."

"All this for one hybrid?" The first guard scoffs, half-heartedly kicking over boxes and lifting up sheets looking for us.

"Not just any hybrid. She's the one with the bounty," the second guard growls. "So make sure none of these trigger happy idiots accidentally shoot her."

Hunter, it's time to get the fuck out. There are guards everywhere and they know where you guys are. They're coming for her. Eli warns Hunter through our mindlink.