Underground

35

I flicked the last curl in place on the blonde wig and fluffed it up a bit before reaching behind me and grabbing my heels. I peeked up to see Staci and Cherine finishing their makeup. Joel gave us the bedroom to get ready while the boys changed downstairs. Looking in the mirror, I tugged down the skirt on the dress with a frown.

"You look hot as a blonde," Cherine commented.

"Joel doesn't like the wig," I mumbled.

It wasn't a lie. Everytime he looked at the wig he would growl at it like a dog would. If we weren't going out of the apartment he would snatch the wig off my head and massage my scalp for me. I think the real reason was because he wanted to touch my real hair. Staci smoothed out the tight white dress she put on and looked over at Cherine. "Don't forget your job, Cherine. You have to take out all the security guards," Staci warned which made Cherine roll her eyes.

"Well duh. I know that."

I walked out of the room, shaking my head and went down to the livingroom where Tommy had his computers and other equipment set up. When he looked up at me a smirk played on his lips which made me blush. "I almost didn't recognize you," he chuckled and I flipped him off, walking around the table to look at the cameras.

"Okay, there are forty cameras in his whole mansion put together which I'm not surprised about. I've looked in every nook and cranny to make sure I have fully access to the feed," Tommy explained. "In the hard to reach areas there are five guards per area."

"Nothing we can't handle," Cherine said walking down the stairs. I didn't miss the look Tommy gave her before he cleared his throat.

"What about the hostages?" I asked.

Tommy frowned, leaning back in the chair. I didn't want to guess what the answer could be but I already had a feeling. One of the doors opened and closed and I watched Joel walk over to us buttoning his black shirt. He smelled like wild roses and his pants were doing that thing when it hangs off his hips. "You didn't answer her, Thomas," he said frowning which snapped me out of my daydream.

"I watched Krash kill two of them earlier," Tommy said quietly. "He's keeping them in a locked room in the basement of the mansion."

"Then that's where we are hitting," Jonathan said. I didn't even notice the others walked into the room.

Tommy stood up and handed me an earpiece which he handed to the others as well. Without even having to ask I knew it was only the eight of us going to the party, Tommy was going to stay here and watch the cameras. I pulled my hair to the side to let Tommy put the earpiece in when he froze up next to me. I would have asked what was wrong until I realized he was looking at the ear cuff Joel gave me. I bit my lip as he resumed what he was doing. "Are you not going to say anything?" I asked quietly.

"Are you happy with your choice?" Was all he asked and without hesitation, I nodded. "Then there's nothing else to say. Joel has been my Captain for years and he's a good man so I know he will always do right by you."

There was clearly something else he wanted to say but restrained himself from saying it. I remained quiet while Joel went over the plan for the third time that evening.

•••

The eight of us drove in four separate cars to make it look as if we didn't know each other. We arrived when the party was already in full swing and it only made that much harder to locate Krash. Joel put his hand on my lower back, leading me into the foyer leading off with small talk with some fancy looking men. My earpiece beeped and I walked away from Joel to grab a glass of wine.

"Talk to me, Tommy," I mumbled.

"Eric called and the orders from Valentine just came in. Save the hostages do nothing to expose yourselves," Tommy told us. "Once Cherine gets the guards out of the way I'm going to disable the alarms and then it's all on you guys after that."

That won't be hard. Joel looked over at me and nodded. I gave a stiff nod back and walked over to the grand staircase where I noticed three of Krash's security guards. "Cherine, where are you?" I asked.

"Unlike what my brothers do my process of getting rid of these rats takes a while," I heard her grunt and it was obvious she was in the middle of fighting one of them.

I turned around, "I'm coming."

"No."

I looked across the room at Joel who was looking at me sternly. "Cherine can handle it alone. We need you to handle Krash," Joel said jerking his chin in the direction behind me. When I looked over my shoulder there was Krash, talking to some man with two guards around him. As I got closer, I noticed a tattoo on the man's arm. A wolf tattoo.

"Joel, I think Valentine sent another team here," I said into the earpiece.

"How do you figure that?" Jonathan asked.

"Because there are men walking around with wolf tattoos," Carter confirmed for me. "Of course he would send his own guys. He's probably going to try to kill Krash and stop anyone from finding out what he knows."

I was moving before Carter finished despite Joel and Jonathan's protests and grabbed Krash's arm, smiling at him. Krash's eyes lit up as he looked away from the men. "Allison. I was looking for you earlier," he said.

"I just got here."

He looked over my head, "Is Gideon here?"

"He is but I want to talk to you," I said looking at him and then at the men he was talking to. "You boys don't mind, right?"
Without giving them the chance to answer, I wrapped my arm around Krash's and walked with him up the stairs. "Krash—"

He made a sharp turn and pushed me into a room on the left side of the hall, locking the door. My eyes widened as he ran a hand through his hair and ran to his desk, turning on his computer. Krash was slipping. "Those men belong to Valentine and they are going to try to kill me," he rushed out tapping away at the computer.

I walked over to the desk and frowned, "W-what are you—?"

"I know who you are," he said looking up at me. "I can tell you things about yourself that your own mate doesn't even know."

"My mate—?"

"You are Joel Mason's Airen...his mate," Krash said tapping away at his computer. "Took me awhile to realize I was talking to the Joel Mason but I knew who you were. I just didn't understand why Valentine would send a rookie after me. Grab that briefcase over there."

I turned around and grabbed the briefcase he pointed to. I watched as he pulled a USB out of the computer and shut down the computer, tossing it into the briefcase with the USB. Krash turned to me and handed me the briefcase, "I've studied Valentine and his movements for years. Someone like you might not find this information useful but General Eric Mason will. Make sure it's him who gets this briefcase."

A round of gunshots went off in the hallway and I threw the briefcase strap over my shoulder. "Tommy, what's going on?" I asked into the earpiece.

"The team Valentine sent started rounding off shots but you aren't going to believe what's outside that door," Tommy answered.

Well I'm not going to wait. I unlocked the door and walked out of the room with Krash on my heels and gasped. At the end of the hall was two of Krash's bodyguards, one shooting and the other one in the mouth of a giant grey wolf. "You've gotta be shitting me," I whispered. The wolf threw the body into the nearest wall and then growled at us.