Gunnar Read online

  Melanie stirred. She lay curled on her side in her sleeping bag. She reached over and nudged Caroline. “What? What is it?” Caroline yawned and stretched. She at least had the decency to look miserable when her eyes focused in the dim light.

  “Take your hands off me,” I said to Vera, holding my hands up. I wasn’t looking to throw down with her, but I would if she pushed me too hard.

  “You went back there, didn’t you?” she asked. Vera didn’t even bother trying to keep her voice down. For as pissed as she was with me for going off on my own, she seemed ready to attract any stray members of the Pack patrol with her temper.

  I slid the rifle strap off my shoulder and set it down. Pushing past Vera, I took a seat on a boulder close to the fire. Caroline sat up and unzipped her sleeping bag. Melanie helped her, scooping her up in her arms. Caroline’s useless leg dangled over Melanie’s forearm. She’d suffered a bad break a few weeks ago during our last close call with the Pack. We’d tried to set it, but it hadn’t healed right. She grunted from the strain as she helped Caroline to her own spot by the campfire. When Melanie took a seat beside her, it was settled. We were doing this.

  “Yes,” I said, staring hard at Vera. She loomed over me, her toned arms gleaming white. She wore what she always did, a ripped black t-shirt and khakis, her hair shaved close to her head.

  Vera kicked a branch into the fire. Sparks flew all around me. I stayed stone still. Let them burn. Vera didn’t scare me. Well, that wasn’t entirely true. Most days she scared the hell out of me. But, today wasn’t most days.

  “Vera, baby, take a knee,” Melanie said to Vera. Caroline looked downright petrified. She’d been glorious the first day I met her. Tall, blonde, the stereotypical Midwest homecoming queen and cheerleading captain. We met during orientation, both us struggling to find our way around campus. That seemed a lifetime ago. Now, Caroline was pale and skinny. She too had cropped her once shining blond mane close to her head.

  “I’d rather stand,” Vera barked back. Her tone made Caroline jump. Melanie kept calm. It was her way. While the rest of us railed and argued, Melanie Dorchester quietly waited for the storm to pass. She’d then point out the most obvious, reasonable solution to whatever had stoked the flames in the first place. Today, I knew there’d be no such diplomatic counsel. What I’d done was a banishable offense. I did it anyway, and everyone here knew I’d do it again and why.

  “Did you see anything?” Caroline asked the obvious question. That surprised me. She usually hated getting in the middle of Vera and me. She abhorred conflict of any kind.

  I didn’t answer right away. Instead, I kept my gaze locked with Vera’s. She knew what I was thinking. Everyone here, including her, burned with the question Caroline had just asked.

  “Sit down,” I said. “Hear me out. Then if you want to kick my ass, you can try.”

  I knew she wouldn’t sit. She might have if I hadn’t told her to. Everything was a power play with Vera Way.

  “Do you really need me to go over this again? Clearly you don’t give the first shit about what happens to the rest of us. Sure, I can see why you’d probably be happy if the Pack came to rip my lungs out. What about Caro and Mel though? Huh? You realize they’d go down with me if those fuckers captured you or followed you back here?”

  “Well,” I said, “they didn’t. Did they? They never even knew I was there.”

  That was only a half-truth. I’d been seen. I’d let myself be seen. The next time the Pack took Gunnar Cole in for questioning, he might tell them. Vera was right, but it didn’t matter.

  “Jett,” Caroline spoke up. “Tell us what happened. Vera, it’s over now. She’s back. Everything’s fine. Fight about it later.”

  Vera looked at Caroline like she’d just sprouted horns. Melanie put a hand over her mouth to hide her smile. Vera would go ballistic if she realized Melanie was taking sides against her right now. She wasn’t, but Vera wouldn’t see it that way. I didn’t wait for Vera’s permission. I never did.

  “There’s a new one, all right,” I said. “I don’t know how long he’s been there. By the looks of him, it’s probably been a few weeks.”

  “I knew it,” Melanie said. “Vera, I told you! Did you see him? Is he one of them?” Melanie clutched Caroline’s hand. Caroline grew very still. Tears made her eyes glisten. I knew what she felt. Part of her didn’t want to hear my answer. It might let a glimmer of hope back into all of our hearts.

  I swallowed hard, considering the best way to tell them this. A part of me wanted to keep it to myself for just a little bit longer. Gunnar’s face swam in front of me. I’d seen so little of him. His eyes, his bruises. Glimpses of his strong, powerful body bent and broken. My breath caught and a tiny flame flickered inside of me. For the briefest of moments, when Gunnar took my wrist, the world seemed to stop. It was as if all the air left my body and when I inhaled again, my heartbeat wasn’t my own. I felt his. Was that even possible?

  My eyes drifted to Melanie. Of everyone here, she’d be the one to ask. I couldn’t. If I even mentioned it, Vera would straight up lose her mind. I wouldn’t put it past her to grab a stick from the fire and start swinging the glowing end at me. It wouldn’t be me she’d be really trying to hurt. I was just the closest thing.

  “I couldn’t see much,” I said, clearing my throat. “It was dark. I didn’t want to risk shining a flashlight or anything.”

  Caroline reached for her sleeping bag. Unzipping it, she spread it over her legs. Even with the fire blazing in front of her, she had trouble regulating her body temperature. The circulation in her injured leg wasn’t good. Melanie reached over to help her.

  “There are four prisoners,” I said. “The fifth cell is empty, I think. Six guards. Two on standing duty. The other four patrol. They’re getting lazy about it though. There’s a bunkhouse on the north end,” I said. I picked up a stick and drew the layout of the prison camp as best I could remember. Only Vera had ever gotten close enough to see it in detail. And that was briefly and she’d been bleeding from a gunshot wound to her arm at the time.

  “So the tunnels do go all the way to the camp,” Caroline said. A smile brightened her face.

  “They do,” I said. “I surfaced about thirty feet away from the cells. There has to be more. Why would anyone have built the tunnels to the camp but not away?”

  Vera and I had discovered the tunnel system under Carter Hollow near the Rockcastle River a year ago. It had been a game changer. Caroline theorized they’d been built by someone who’d escaped from the prison camp decades before. It mattered. If prisoners made them there was a chance the Chief Pack didn’t know about them. We’d grown bolder over the last few months using them. But, the constant worry was that we were wrong and the Pack itself had built them. If so, it was only a matter of time before we ran into them.

  “I plan to try finding out if there’s another branch,” I said. I purposely didn’t look at Vera, but I could feel her eyes boring into my back nonetheless.

  “You’re back,” she said, her tone softening. “You’re safe. Look, no harm no foul. Let’s just move on.”

  All three of us turned to stare at her. For Vera to have a change of heart that quickly was rare. When she got in a mood like this, she generally sulked for days.

  “You know that’s not going to happen,” I said. This drew sharp gasps from both Caroline and Melanie.

  Vera finally sat. She covered her face with her hands. Melanie reached over and rubbed her back. “Baby,” she whispered. “Let Jett talk. You more than anybody should realize how much this means to her. If there’s a chance that what we heard about Birch Haven is true, don’t we have to find out?”

  “I don’t give a shit about Birch Haven anymore,” Vera said, but her voice was choked. We all knew it was a lie. None of us could ever forget Birch Haven. We’d all gone there, thinking it would give us a fresh start at a better life than the ones we were born into. We’d been lured with scholarships that were too good to be true. At first,
it had been perfect. Then, little by little, our friends started to disappear. Birch Haven College was nothing more than a breeding farm for members of the Chief Pack. Girls were taken against their will and marked by wolf shifters as mates. Three years ago, our group of twelve found a way out. We’d been on the run ever since, never able to get close enough to the border without the Pack finding us.

  “I do care,” Melanie answered for me. “I’m not saying it changes anything. I’m not saying we should be stupid about it.” Melanie leveled a hard look at me. For the first time since I came back, I felt truly guilty. No matter what else I’d done, no matter how noble the cause, these women would have suffered if I hadn’t come back or if the Pack found me.

  “And you care too,” Melanie went on.

  “I made a promise,” I said. They’d all heard this before, but Vera at least needed reminding. “Jade died in my arms, Vera. Her blood was on my hands. Maybe we were wrong. Maybe if we’d just let her go back to Birch Haven, she could have at least seen her sister one more time.”

  “I loved Jade as much as the rest of you did,” Vera said quietly. “She was my roommate. She was the first person I met at orientation. But she’s gone. We’re not.”

  “Maybe,” I said. “But if this prisoner is who we think he is, if he knows whether the rumors about Birch Haven are true, I need to be sure.”

  “It’s a fool’s errand,” Vera said. “How many girls were still enrolled at that school last year, huh? Hundreds? What are the odds this fucker would even know who Jasmine Russell was?”

  “That’s not the point,” Caroline said. “It’s a lead, Vera. That’s all. If this guy had a hand in liberating Birch Haven...if that really happened, don’t you want to know? I know I do.”

  Vera straightened. She shrugged off Melanie’s touch. “Not this way.”

  “Then how?” I said, throwing up my hands. “This is the way. And I’m sorry, but there are only two people capable of doing this, and I don’t see you stepping up, Vera.”

  Everyone fell silent. I’d told the hard truth that Vera didn’t want to. It was a low blow and I wasn’t proud of it, but it had to be said.

  “Jett,” Melanie spoke up. “Be fair.”

  “I’m being fair. But what are we doing, huh? How long are we going to wander around in the dark? If Birch Haven is gone, we need to know how. We need to know what happened to those girls. We need to know what happened to Jade’s sister. And, dammit, Vera, we need to know if there’s a way to save Melanie.”

  Vera slowly rose. Her jaw trembled as she clenched it hard. Her fingers shook as she curled and uncurled her fists. Oh, she wanted to hit me. Hard.

  “You think this prisoner has the answers to all that?”

  “Maybe,” I said.

  “Did you see him? All of him? Did you see his chest?” Vera’s voice grew quieter.

  I let out a hard breath. I wished I had the answers she sought. The truth was, it had been too dark. I couldn’t be sure whether Gunnar bore the mark of the resistance we’d heard of. Maybe Vera was right. This was a fool’s errand. And yet, I couldn’t shake the feeling that there was...something...something important about Gunnar Cole.

  “I need to go back,” I said. “I can do it. Vera, it was easy. In two hours of quiet waiting, I had the patrols down pat. They’re lazy. It doesn’t occur to them that there will ever be any trouble. The prisoners are weak. There haven’t been any reports of uprisings in like a hundred mile radius. Let me see what I can find out.”

  “What if he sees you?” Caroline asked. “This prisoner. Just because the Pack wants to hurt him doesn’t mean he’s an ally. Who knows how they’ve twisted his mind or even why he’s in their cage in the first place?”

  “I know. I know all of that. And I know how thin my reasoning is going to sound. But, you know me. I’m not reckless. How many times have I proven that? How many times have I put my life before yours? How many times have I saved your lives? Huh? Even yours, Vera. I don’t want to die either. But, I made a promise to Jade that if I ever had the chance, I’d try and find her little sister. She died for us. We all owe her this. So, let me finish what I started. I’ll be back in twenty-four hours. If I’m not, move the camp.”

  Vera dropped her head. Melanie reached up and curled her arm around the side of Vera’s leg. There were tears in her eyes. It was as close to permission I’d ever get from her. Even though we both knew I didn’t need it.

  Five

  Jett

  I left at dusk the next night. I did it when Vera and the others went down to the lake to wash our clothes and bathe. It had been my job to watch the camp, but it was better to have me gone before they came back. I wouldn’t put it past Vera to either try to talk me out of it or brain me with a cook pot when I wasn’t looking just so she could tie me up and keep me here.

  I stayed at the southern edge of the woods away from the known trails. The next town was two miles to the east. The Pack never patrolled this far out. This time, I left the larger rifle behind and settled for the smaller nine. I hoped to God I wouldn’t have to use it. If I did, we’d lose our biggest asset against the Pack. But, I damn sure wasn’t going to die over Gunnar Cole.

  I took to the tunnels about two hundred yards from the prison camp. We’d mapped what we could, but these things could go for miles as far as we knew. I would love to know who built them. Vera and I had worked on expanding them even beyond Carter Hollow. It was brutally hard work and we hadn’t gotten far. But, it gave us both a way to direct our anger and Vera’s hopelessness about Melanie’s condition.

  “He’s got a day,” a gruff voice said above my head. I froze as dirt rained down. Had I misjudged? The prison camp should be about fifty yards in front of me.

  “You know what they call you, don’t you?” A second man spoke. His voice had a lilt to it. I didn’t quite recognize the accent.

  The first man let out a bitter laugh. “And why should I give a shit what they call me?”

  “You shouldn’t. But, you might be proud of it, actually.”

  “Proud? You think too highly of them. They’re not people, Mr. Lowell. They shouldn’t even be called shifters. They’re worse than scum.”

  “Maestro,” Lowell said. “I don’t know what it means. But it sounds, I don’t know...respectful.”

  “Maestro means master, you idiot.”

  “No, I know that. I just don’t understand the context.”

  Feet shuffled, more dirt rained down. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t dare breathe. What if they caught my scent? Fuck. After all this, it would kill me if Vera was right all along.

  “Look,” Lowell said. “This isn’t over yet. You haven’t failed.”

  The ground vibrated all around me. For a brief, terrifying moment, I thought the tunnel would cave in under the weight of the two shifters above me. They moved off though. I heard a sickening thud and a grunt of pain.

  “I’m sorry,” came Lowell’s strangled cry.

  “Who the fuck are you to judge success or failure where I’m concerned?”

  The ground shook again. One of the men, Lowell I guess, retched. “You’re taking it wrong. I’m an ass for saying it like that. I’m sorry. Why don’t you just let the Alpha have him? Gunnar’s a pile of shit. I’ve been here a long time. You’re the best there is. Nobody’s gonna deny that. But that fuck has been off the grid for a long time. He’s not like the other pukes that come through here. So, let the Alpha have him. He’s sending for Gunnar tomorrow. You’ll be rid of him. Isn’t that worth something?”

  Maestro’s voice moved further away. “It’s worth nothing. You don’t even know what you’re talking about. If the Alpha subjugates him tomorrow, if he forces Pack control on him, he won’t get the best of his mind. He’ll weaken him. Trust me. We want him strong.”

  “Well, it’s out of our hands. I say good riddance.”

  The two of them moved further away and I couldn’t hear what they were saying. I’d heard enough. The Pack was coming for Gunnar Cole.
One day more and he’d be one of them.

  Six

  Gunnar

  When I closed my eyes, I saw hers, wide and dark. My heart sparked with a tiny flame as I woke from the dream. For the first time since I’d come to Camp Hell, I felt no pain.

  “You feel that?” Finn asked. His voice had a light quality I wasn’t used to. He might be dreaming himself. He talked in his sleep all the time. Though, he usually didn’t ask me questions. Mostly it was incomprehensible mumbling punctuated by brief bits of one-word insults.

  “I’m right here, Finn,” I answered. Reaching over, I tapped my hand under the wall.

  “No, I’m serious. Listen.” So he was awake after all. I went still, pricking my ears. The trees rustled outside as the wind changed direction. Further out, I scented a doe. She was a young one, anxious, scared. My stomach growled and my wolf woke. What I wouldn’t give to hunt. Though, if I shifted now, I couldn’t trust that I wouldn’t bring the entire Pack down on my head. I’d been human so long, I might not be able to control it.

  “I don’t hear anything,” I said. “You’re losing it. Try to sleep.”

  “Sleep? The fuck you talking about? Someone’s coming. Buzzy bash you in the head harder than usual this week? The patrols are out to the south. Somebody’s coming from the north. Can’t make it out. Shifters? Shit. This could be it, Gunnar!”

  Finn let out a guttural cry that ripped through me. He was scared. Terrified. His chains rattled and I heard a commotion on the other side of him. Rackham had to sense Finn falling apart too. Sometimes he was better than me at calming Finn down.

  I left them to it, settling back into the far corner of my cell. It was selfish of me. Finn needed help. I just didn’t have the strength to provide it. Not tonight.

  Whatever Rackham told him must have worked because the next sound to reach me was Finn’s rhythmic snoring. Good. I hoped he had peaceful dreams tonight. I was just about to drift off myself when my heart flared with alarm.