Chapter 3

• Noah stared at the picture Illias held up. His heart seized inside his chest. Normally he’d stay in the back and keep quiet. Planning things like this weren’t for him to do, he was just here to follow the plans laid out before them. This time, he couldn’t stay silent. Before he knew it, he stomped over and ripped the photo from his hand, and spun to glare at Calum, “this is the house we’re hitting?” His breath caught in his throat.
• Calum gave Blair a quick side glance and then turned back to him. “It is.”
• Noah turned the photo around and stared at it. This was the house in his nightmares. He saw it awake too—every door had the potential in his mind to be that door. Every time he walked on wooden steps that sounded hollow; he was right back there. His hand was shaking as he tried not to crumple the photo. He looked at Blair. “Kobie stays outside for this one.” He didn’t know Gia or the other woman from the Incursion team, Sloane, but he looked at both for a second, “none of the women should go in this house.” He held up the photo and then spun around and tossed it on the table in front of Illias.
• “Why?” Blair’s expression was a mix of concern and shock.
• “Because it’s—” he stopped and looked at Kobie and then at Gia, he knew they wouldn’t even consider staying outside unless they knew the truth. Blowing out a breath, he sent the other woman an apologetic look, “it’s a breeding house.” It was much more to him, but that was all they were getting.
• “I’m sorry, a what?” Kobie got up and looked at the photo and then at him, “like a,” she waved her hand around.
• “Just trust me, okay, you don’t want to go in there.” He didn’t want to go back in there. “There are some scents that no amount of cleaning can mask.” A low growl came from his throat.
• “You were a guard there?” Konner leaned back against the wall, not looking as concerned as the others in the room.
• “Briefly.” He couldn’t let the thoughts intrude, the ones of his last time at that house. He wore the reminders of that time in his skin, forever.
• “Did you—help?” Sloane got up and came over to the table and looked down at the photo. “Help them,” she glanced back at him, her baby blue eyes zeroing in on him like he was the devil himself.
• “No.” Noah chuffed and lifted his shirt up and turned slowly for all to see, “and I have these to prove I disobeyed.” He could tell by their expressions that they understood what the scars on his chest and back meant. Shaelan looked aghast. Deacon looked pissed off. The only one that didn’t react was Sloane, and it surprised him, but he didn’t know much about her. He was sure she had her reasons to repress a reaction. Yanking the shirt down, he turned slowly and looked around. “The women should stay outside, if there are any inside, they should see women when they’re coming out.” He looked at Blair and then at Konner. “Don’t touch them if they can walk on their own, don’t walk behind them—give them room.” He nodded, hoping he didn’t need to say more.
• Kobie gave him a heartfelt look and then nodded, “we can keep watch outside.”
• Noah felt relief. Knowing they wouldn’t go inside meant a lot to him. He inclined his head in a silent thanks to her and then went back over to stand at the back of the group.
• “I’ll hang back outside, with Creed on overwatch,” Bear said quietly, “without Jesse and Evanna here, a few more on watch could be good.”
• “It’s a high-traffic area,” Illias told all of them.
• Noah stood frozen in place, staring at the house on the other side of the fence. Inside his head, he could hear the women pleading with him to help them, to get them out. He’d thought about it many times but could never act on it. Did that make him a coward? He still didn’t know. So many were brought here. Young women from different clans, mature enough to carry a child, but before their first change. He remembered Devin and Rayne’s faces when he explained it to them during their first meeting to discuss what he knew. He’d never discussed it with anyone else since. Not until today. Calum and Blair had followed him when he’d stormed out of the house, to help—there was nothing that could help. The last night at this house was the one that fueled his nightmares, and he knew always would. Unable to breathe after the planning was settled. He told them about his time in that house and when he was dragged from it because he finally found the one that he was willing to risk his life to save. Her pale green eyes haunted his dreams and powered his nightmares. They’d said she was his mate and he’d wondered so many times if she’d known he was her mate and if she ever forgave him for not saving her. He rubbed his hand down his throat like the collar was still there, the one he was forced to wear from that day until the day the team rescued him.
• “You up for this?”
• Noah jumped and turned to see Blair standing behind him, a watchful look on his face.
• He nodded. “Yeah, just,” he waved a hand beside his head, “ghosts.”
• Blair rubbed his hand over his hair, “well, let’s free those ghosts then.”
• If only it worked that way, he thought. “I’m ready.” He adjusted the piece in his ear and realized there were voices coming through it already.
• “I’ll follow you in.” Blair adjusted his own earpiece, then pointed to the fence.
• Before he could overthink it again, Noah hopped the fence and move quickly to the back of the house. He glanced down at the small window as he went past it, hoping there was no one down in the basement at all. Moving with sure steps, until he reached the back door, he crouched low so any guards on the other side of it couldn’t see him through the window beside it.
• He didn’t take his eyes off it as he felt Blair move up behind him, then to the other side of the door. “We’re at the back.” He said quietly for all on the line to hear.
• “Creed landed, so there’s an all-clear.” Sloane’s voice came through the earpiece, soft, but tinged with a lethal edge.
• Blair nodded to him.
• Noah moved back from the door and lowered the dart gun out of his way as he braced to kick the door beside the door handle.
• “Breaching in three, two,” Deacon counted out over the mics, “one.”
• Noah used all the frustration of his nightmares to power the kick that shattered not only the locking mechanism but a good portion of the door. Blair moved fast to hold the door and stay down out of the way as Noah went in and aimed at the chair, he knew a guard would be sitting in, trying to stay awake. The man’s eyes rounded in shock, and he lifted his hands high. As soon as Noah saw the thick band around his throat, he lowered the dart gun. “On the floor.” He rasped, fighting the emotion trying to bleed through his resolve to do this right and not fall apart. He’d been that man, but experience had taught him that not all that wore the collars could be trusted.
• “One for pickup at the back door,” Blair said as he knelt and bound his hands behind his back.
• “I got him.” York came through the door in the hall and toward them.
• “Need a hand upstairs.”
• York lifted the man to his feet, and they disappeared back through the doorway.
• “Coming out the front with two for the center” Calum’s steady tone informed them.
• Blair held Noah’s look, trying to assess his state of mind.
• “I’ll take the basement.” He said to him, then heard his own voice echo in his ear.
• Blair gave him a quick nod and moved to go help Konner upstairs.
• Noah moved along the hall, into the kitchen like he’d been here yesterday, knowing nothing had changed, it never did. When he reached the basement door, his throat threatened to close when he saw the bolt lock was engaged. Someone was down there. The last time he’d seen this door was when he was dragged up from below, barely conscious. His body had finally reached the point of numbness, and the lashes no longer felt. He remembered the blood running down his chest but didn’t know it was real. This door, on the other side of it, was real.
• Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out his flashlight and slid the bolt across before he could start remembering more. The smell of fear and unbathed body odor his hit nose before he could take the first step down. His cat tensed, remembering with him how evil this place was. His cat had been his only comfort through this, but both were prisoners.
• He forced his feet to move until he reached the tiled floor below. Moving the flashlight slowly, he was relieved to see there was only one down here. “One in the basement,” he informed the others. Stepping around the support pole, he shone the light on the wall, hoping he didn’t see what he knew was going to be there. “Chained to the fucking wall.” He growled, “do we have bolt cutters?” He checked the rest of the area, just to be sure she was the only one down here.
• “Bear can rip it from the wall.” Calum’s voice was without emotion.
• “Send him down here.” He turned to where he knew the light switch was. “Watch your eyes. I’m turning on the light.” He told her and flicked the switch without delay.
• “On my way,” Bear announced.
• His nose told him that she’d been down here a long time, which was odd, to say the least. A few days was usually the length of time they were kept down here. He stuffed the flashlight in his pocket, and went toward her, not giving his mind time to recount the past—again. There was no need for it, he would later in his dreams, and the next day and forever after that.
• He couldn’t look her in the face, he just couldn’t do that. “It’s okay,” he tried to assure her, but knew it never could be, “I’m here to get you out.” He kept his eyes on the chain connected to her ankle, it was swollen and bruised, confirming she’d been down here a long time. Still avoiding looking at her face, he held out his hand, “can you get up? Sit on the mattress while we get that off you?”
• A shaking cool hand was placed in his. He squeezed it lightly, hoping to offer her some form of comfort, even though he knew no such thing was possible. When she sat stiffly on the cot, he dropped to a knee to check out her ankle.
• “I remember you.”
• Noah’s head popped up and he looked into the very same green eyes from his nightmares.
• “You tried to save me.” She whispered with a hoarse voice that hadn’t been used in a while.
• Noah’s cat stilled; his muscles locked up with tension. It was her. The one they said was his mate. He swallowed, trying to find his voice. She was alive and was right here in front of him. He blinked and opened his eyes wide. She was real.