Pack Ruin (The Splintered Bond #3)

24. The Worst Plan in the History of Plans

24

The Worst Plan in the History of Plans

FLOR

H er words pounded into my mind like sledgehammers, changing not only my plans for the near future, but my memories of the years I’d lived here before. So many small things I’d noticed and dismissed while I was being hunted began to make sense. The bleachy smells had been them. The windows left unlocked. Who even knew what else.

The pack protects. I’d thought it was a lie for so long. But what if I’d only been seeing the worst parts of my pack? If they’d been helping me all along, how could I leave them to suffer here now? Even with Holly taken care of, they were caged in this building.

I was their hope. That word taunted me like a pissed-off mockingbird dive-bombing my focus.

I closed my eyes and sent my attention to the bond with Glen. Huh. He wasn’t scared anymore. He felt wary, excited… fascinated, even. But not afraid. That meant I had time. It wasn’t even midnight yet. I could get clear.

At that exact moment, Delia let out a tiny, snuffled sob as she slept. The sound was like a silver dart in my chest. Not just me. I had to get the women in this building out, too.

My throat tried to tighten, but I forced out a question. “How many?” Iris raised an eyebrow. “How many girls, how many unranked women are in this building? How many need to get out?”

“Get out—” Her jaw snapped shut. With tears shining in her eyes, she rasped, “Twenty-four, besides us.”

I had no idea how I could get twenty-nine girls out. But I’d have to. From the sounds of the muttered, “Oops,” and the sudden absence of Holly’s muffled shrieks, we had a dead body. The guards would notice her absence in the morning.

“Can they be trusted? Can they all run? Or climb?”

“Flor, if it means getting out of Southern, they could fly.”

I walked to the window and thought. I had to get Luke out. That was my primary goal. But I couldn’t leave these girls here to die, either.

Fuck. What should I do? I stared outside for a moment. Brand would let them live inside Mountain’s borders. But that was too far from here. There was only one place, one group, close enough to hide them. Sergeant’s rogue pack.

“How much time do we have?”

Iris answered quickly. “Five hours. The bell rings at four-thirty.”

Five hours to get twenty-nine women out of this dorm, across miles of guarded packland, outside the fence, and underground. It would take a miracle.

I glanced up at the sky outside. The clouds were obscuring the moon, keeping everything dark. I could see some lights on in one of the houses, and in the Pack House. I closed my eyes, trying to think of a plan that didn’t end in death for me, Glen, Luke, or these brave women.

The answer came in a flash. Grigor. He was here, somewhere. He’d been weak; I’d felt it. Maybe even dying. But now, I didn’t feel the weakness, that diminishing of my power. My wolf was strong, like she was ready to emerge. Except for the place where Finnick was connected to me, the bonds—even the ones I hadn’t completed with Luke and Grigor—felt steady for the first time.

I set my hands on the metal of the window frame, closed my eyes, and focused on that place inside me where I’d felt him, heard him. He’d sent words to me. Could I send them back?

Grigor, help. Help me.

Of course there was no answer. How could there be? I wasn’t some powerful witch wolf. Or was I?

I was connected to Brand, who was moonblessed and could hear my thoughts, or at least he could when I was back at Mountain. And I was connected to Glen.

Glen! I focused on the bond there, pressing against it.

It felt… odd. It had felt strong before, but not like this. Now it had a strange texture, like it was a braided rope of spirit. I repeated Glen’s name in my mind, and felt a surge of affection that was undeniably him. But the staticky whisper of a voice that replied wasn’t my Northern mate.

Yes, my queen? An odd shiver ran down my spine at hearing his voice in my head, almost like an invisible hand was stroking me.

I have to save the girls here. I tried to think of all the things that had happened. How I needed Grigor’s help to find Luke and Glen, and get them out to join me and the others, and what I needed to do next.

Grigor’s reply was a wave of confusion. I let out a shuddering breath, focusing on Delia. Blood was leaking from the edges of her bandages, and her sleepy whimpers tugged at my heart. I had to get her out of here.

His voice was faint, and I felt a strain on the bond, but heard, Peace, little queen. We will come. No. Not here.

Where? I got a sudden mental image of pink flowers. The bouquet he’d made for me. I felt my cheeks heat up, and hoped the thought I sent back was gratitude.

Perfect for me. For us.

My blush deepened, and the sensation of a hand stroking my spine returned, stronger, lighting up all my nerves. My wolf whined, and I opened my eyes when a cracking sound at the window got my attention.

I’d broken the weld. I had no idea how. It almost looked melted, allowing the window to slide open noiselessly.

“Whoa,” Iris whispered. “I guess we’re going out the window after all.”

“I guess so.” I filled her in on the worst plan in the history of plans. So much could go wrong. But I had to hope it wouldn’t.

Iris and Courtney volunteered to sneak into the other rooms and bring the other girls to this one, since the window was unlocked. “How do we get down?” Deb asked. She and Tami had wrapped Holly’s body in a sheet and left her in the shower.

“We go up,” I said. “I left rope and leather up there. As long as the wires have held up for the past few months, we can slide down. I know every single way out of this pisstrap of a pack. I’ll get us out.”

I hoped I wasn’t lying.

It only took an hour to get every one of the females in the dorm onto the roof. So many of the faces I’d expected to see were missing. When I asked Iris where they were, she just shook her head. I used a sheet to tie Delia to her back, and they were the last ones to go out the window.

The others had already filled everyone in on our plan, though a few of the women shook their heads. One of the older women whispered, “It won’t work. They’ve got guards patrolling every street, all night long.”

I took a moment to ask where the patrols were, and how often they passed. “Do they have cameras?”

“Yeah, but only a few that still work. We’ve taken out the ones we can with rocks.” She described where the remaining ones were, and I rethought the escape route. Shit. Going around those would take a lot longer.

“All right. There’s no time. We’ll just do our best.”

“With no weapons? Torran’s guards are all armed. Some have silver-edged blades.”

I shrugged, thinking about the pure silver blade in my pocket that Verona had given me. That was a weapon I’d only use as a very last resort. “I killed Van Blackside with a steak knife. Use anything you can find. A branch can be a staff. A sharp rock can take out an eye.”

“We’re not trained to fight like you,” a younger girl said with tears in her voice. “We’ll just die.”

I caught her eye. “Then die fighting. Don’t lie down for it, do you hear me? If you have to die, let your death have meaning.”

Her jaw dropped, and I turned away before I could say anything else. This girl was probably right. They might all die. But the captivity and servitude that waited for them inside the dormitory was worse than death.

“Let’s go.”

It took another hour to get them all down from the rooftop and hidden in bushes and culverts nearby, rolling in mud on the way to obscure their scents. They hadn’t been lying about the guards; they came past at very regular intervals. What had my heart racing were the patrols that came at unexpected times. Whoever this Torran fucker was, he was smart.

Iris was a natural leader, and the other women, even the older ones, followed her without question. When I asked her to move to the front so I could guard the rear, she shook her head. “We can’t lose you.” She set Delia on the ground, who wrapped her arms around my waist, careful not to touch me with her hands.

I pressed a kiss to Delia’s head, then whispered to Iris, “You won’t. Just stick with the plan if anything happens.”

“The shitty plan.”

We exchanged grins. It really was shitty. If the alarm was raised, I would raise hell, too, luring the Enforcers away from the girls while Iris led them out the hole in the fence behind the remains of Lyndal, and to the forest. She knew how to do a decent barred owl call, as it turned out, and since that would get Sergeant’s attention, I figured he and Mama and their wild boys could take care of the rest. Sergeant would never let these girls be hurt, if he could help it.

“I’m a fast runner, and if I can get to the drainage pipes, I can hide. Just get these girls out. You remember where I told you to go in the forest?”

“You sure they’ll let us in?”

“Just tell Sergeant I sent you.” I’d described both him and Mama to her, and she’d been relieved to hear that the Ghost Lady was on our side.

The wind that picked up as we began our way across the compound in small groups, crouched low, rustled enough leaves that the sounds of our feet moving blended in. We made it without anyone seeing us all the way to the edge of the housing rows, with Iris at the lead carrying Delia, and me at the back. We were still far too close to the Pack House when our luck ran out.

I froze, hearing a growl. The shifter who noticed me was in his wolf form, and that was the only warning I had before he was running straight for me.

Shit. I started to run, away from the girls and in the direction of some trees I knew I could climb. But in a few steps, he was no more than ten yards away, too close to outrun. If he howled for help, the others would be caught. Even if he didn’t call for help, this was one of the biggest wolves I’d seen, other than Brand’s. I didn’t know if I could beat him.

I had to try anyway. And I had to kill him quickly. Silently.

I grabbed the pen from my pocket, popped the cap off, and crouched down just as he leaped for me. When his dark gray body was a split second from landing on me, I extended my hand, the silver blade plunging into his throat.

He fell on top of me, his claws scratching my arms, his teeth snapping too close to my face as I held him up and away the best I could with my elbow.

I didn’t see the silver blade shatter, but I saw the realization in the wolf’s eyes as he felt it. The air around us filled with the scent of blood and silver.

This close, I could see that this wolf was young. For all I knew, he was my age, or younger. The silver burned through his throat, as he tried frantically to cough it up. It smelled wrong. It felt wrong as he staggered and fell into my arms, his eyes begging me for something. To help him.

When I’d killed the first time, I’d been in some sort of altered state. Rage had filled me, and my mind had shut off. Van Blackside had needed to die more than any shifter born, and I hadn’t felt a second of guilt.

When I’d killed Clara, I’d known I was right to do it. She’d deserved it, too. But the way this wolf curled up in my arms, falling on top of me, made me ashamed.

Hot tears stung my eyes as I heard someone call out in the night, an unfamiliar male. “Tanner? Little brother? Brother!”

“Brother?” I repeated in a whisper. His form changed slowly on top of me, fur shifting to flesh, jaws shrinking, until all that was left was a skinny, naked young man. So young, he couldn’t even be twenty. His face was etched with terror and confusion as he fought to speak. The stench of silver wafted from his wounds like invisible, lethal smoke.

What have I done? This wasn’t how shifters were meant to fight, or kill. We’d been given claws and teeth, strength and cunning. We used knives and swords, if we were in human form.

We’d never been meant to use poisons and silver.

The moon came out from behind a cloud for a split second. Then the boy’s eyes went cloudy, and he fell limp. Sliding out from under him, I ran for the closest storm drain like the devil was right behind me.