Tattooed Luna

“Not sure why you need to see this. You have already been down here.” THe old man grumbled as we made our way down the stairs. Since there wasn't any lights on, it was completely black until he switched them on.

Just like last time, it was like a concrete bunker. Really, | was just wasting time. With my hands in my pockets, | just walked around, pretending to take it all in. “Showin there.” | demanded.

“Show yourself!” He spit as he rolled his eyes and looked away.

“You can either showor | will forced you to show me.” My wolf's voice was deadly calm as | said each word.

Even if | wasn't this angry, there was something about watching someone squirm under my wolf's voice. With his face scrunched up, the old man started limping toward me, incredibly slow.

“There isn’t anything in there.” It was more of a snide remark under his breath but he knew I could still hear him.

“Excusefor not believing you.” There was a little humor in my voice as he turned the door knob. After flipping on the lights, | got my first look into the holding cells. Along each wall was multiple chain-linked cages with locks on the doors. At the end of the room was nothing but concrete. Drains were in every cell but it was the blood stains that really caught my attention. No door, no windows and no ventilation.

The stench was overwhelming as my eyes even started to water. “What is that smell?” “Rotting flesh probably. After you stopped the convoy, the alphas got into a massive fight. Few people died and their bodies only got removed earlier today.” The level of not giving a shit was very high. Death was as much a part of his life as breathing was.

“You don't have anything else schedule for events?” “None. There was going to be a cock fight but not anymore.” He didn’t ask if | was done or not. Flipping the light off, he started walking towards the door.

“What are you going to do now that you are out of business?” | asked once we were up the stairs.

“None of your fucking business.” “Is that what you think?” | asked. Instead of waiting for a reply, | turned and started walking back towards the woods.

“Lose my number! We are done!” He yelled after me.

Turning to look at him, | made sure my wolf was in full control. “We aren't done until | say we are done.” My voice was low enough that he would have barely heard it but there wasn't any pretending to not hear me.

Without waiting a response, it was my turn to walk away from him. It did lift my spirits a little to know that we have bugged his house and that might give us something. Not that | was holding my breath but | was being optimistic that he would give us something.

“Barely got out of there!” Carson joked as he ran past me.

“Losing your touch, old man?” | almost felt like smiling. Almost.

“No, just enjoying sunder cover action. That used to be my thing before | beca dad and alpha.” Carson reached the SUV before | did. He was already taking his ear piece off and getting into the drivers side.

“Ready?” | asked Nora and Hank as | got in the passenger side.

“Ready as I'll ever be.” She sighed.

“Here, Hank. You are in charge of the bugs.” Carson handed Hank a laptop before starting the car.

“Wonderful.” He sighed as he took it and sat back in his seat.

“Okay, we are going to travel down the road that you were on when Colt intercepted it. Do you remember how long you were on it?” Carson had pulled out and was driving down the road. We were about twenty miles away from where | took the convoy down but he needed to get her thinking.

“No. The road had so many sharp turns. We did go over sbumps like maybe railroad tracks.” “That's good.” Carson nodded.

Pulling up the map on my phone, | zoomed out to see the entire road. Looking for srailroad tracks to see if maybe we could find a direction. “Anything else? Sounds or smells?” | asked her.

“Oh... a few skunks. Nothing that | can think of.” Her voice trailed off. Looking behind me, she was nibbling on her lip. Worry plagued her face as she tried to remember what her brain was hiding.

“There are multiple plants around. A Hostess plant will give off a sickening sweet smell or a places Them will Sal of hal animals. Was there a smell that caught you off guard?” | tried to ask in a different way.

“I...” She trailed off and closed her eyes.

Not wanting to push, | kept my mouth shut as we arrived to tn the convoy was, He riphing te t Via te $d6tch marks on the road from the explosion. My wound was fully healed but the memory will haunt me.

“This is where you saved me.” Nora asked, barely above a whisper. Carson had slowed down as he looked around.

“It is. Your vehicle flipped right there and everyone else wrecked therm Pong AeA: Seryane Waker me. “The spike strips didn't get your vehicle so we used a grenade launcher.”Copyright Nôv/el/Dra/ma.Org.

“I survived a grenade launcher?” Nora looked shocked.

“I'm not sure how but you did. Everyone else had died or at least was going to before it exploded. How you didn’t have more injuries, I'm not sure.” “Can we keep going?” Nora asked. Goosebumps traveled up her arms as Carson pushed on the gas.

“Focus now. Think about how far you went. Work it backwards.” Carson tried to coach Nora into remembering.

“I don't see any railroad tracks around.” | whispered as | kept looking at the map.

“Where are Alec’s men?” Carson asked me.