A Place to Call Home (Hollow Crest Wolf Pack Book 3) Read online

  “I know,” Kannon replied with a sigh. “And we won’t be able to make a run for it, because the humans will be searching for Corey for skipping out on his bail bond.”

  I looked up sharply. “I hadn’t thought of that.”

  Kannon looked at me regretfully. “We wouldn’t just be hiding from the lamia, we’d have to hide from the whole world.”

  Nausea hit me in the pit of my stomach. I’d thought that we just needed the lamia to take their eyes off of us for a few hours so that we could leave the state and get under the protection of another pack. I imagined that our new pack would prevent the lamia from taking us, but I was starting to realize how unrealistic that fantasy was.

  Any pack that took us in was going to be risking the wrath of a powerful group of lamia, and there was no guarantee that they simply wouldn’t hand us back to the lamia. What could we offer another pack that would convince them to help us?

  It was going to be even more of a challenge when Corey was an outlaw from the human world. Our potential new pack would have to be willing to take on both the lamia and the humans to keep us safe. The amount of bribery and negotiation necessary would be excessive.

  The more I thought this through, the more I realized just how hopeless our case was.

  “Gray wants to send just you and I to safety,” Kannon told me hesitantly. “He doesn’t think all of us can get away.”

  “No,” I said sharply. “Absolutely not.” I didn’t care who heard me say those words out loud. There was no way I would leave any member of my pack behind.

  I swallowed nervously when the truth hit me. Grayson and the others were willing to sacrifice themselves for me. I should be prepared to do the same.

  “Dr. Green would probably let the rest of you go if I-”

  “Nope,” Kannon interrupted.

  “So it’s okay for you all to sacrifice yourselves for me, but not the other way around?” I asked defiantly. “This goes both ways. It’s smarter to leave me behind. I’m the one he wants,” I said bitterly. “He probably wouldn’t even send someone after the rest of you.”

  “I doubt that,” Kannon said quietly. “We know too much for him to let us go at this point.”

  I inhaled sharply at that revelation. Kannon had a point. Would Dr. Green really want us to tell the other wolves about what we witnessed at the university? Had our death warrants already been signed?

  Chapter 26

  Lori

  Kannon and I returned to an empty suite. Even after we had showered and changed, there was no word from Grayson and the others.

  “Are you sure your phone is on?” I asked Kannon impatiently. “Maybe you need to reset your network connection.”

  Kannon raised an eyebrow at how ridiculous I was being. “Give them some time. They’ll contact us when they can.”

  I sighed when there was a knock at the door, and reluctantly got up to answer it. This was probably yet another lamia checking to see if I had ‘come to my senses’ and was willing to cooperate with Dr. Green.

  I rolled my eyes when the door swung open to reveal Pierce. “The answer is still no,” I said dismissively as I walked back to the couch. Kannon looked up from where he was working on his laptop but didn’t get to his feet.

  “Dr. Green wanted me to deliver a message,” Pierce said. “Your deadline is tonight.”

  “Deadline for what? We’ve already been kicked out of our home and our school. Plus, Corey was arrested again,” I snarled.

  “Whoa, little wolf,” Pierce said with a smirk. “Feeling feisty today?” He leaned against the wall and crossed his arms.

  Kannon tugged me back by the shirt, and I plopped down on the couch next to him.

  “You want to explain what’s going on?” Kannon asked Pierce tensely.

  Pierce gave a casual shrug, but there was an intensity in his eyes. Something else was going on. I narrowed my eyes, trying to figure him out.

  “Lori will be beginning the preparation for this procedure tonight. The rest of you will be kept on the premises, secured if necessary.”

  Pierce’s phone pinged to signal he received a text, and he glanced down. Once he read the message, his entire body language changed. His smirk was gone, and his lazy stance had disappeared. “Security just lost their feed. We have less than two minutes until it’s back online.”

  I stood up abruptly but regarded him with suspicion. “Why are you telling us this?”

  “In about thirty minutes, security will be lost on the eastern side of the property for around ninety seconds. There will be a diversion at the front gate, and it should be several hours before they realize you’ve gone,” Pierce said urgently. He tossed Kannon a phone. “You’ll get a text alert once it’s safe to cross the fencing. Move quickly because you won’t get a second chance.”

  “And Corey, Grayson, and Wyatt?” I asked. “I’m not leaving them.” I crossed my arms defiantly. There was no way I was going to make a run for it and leave them here to suffer the wrath of the lamia.

  “They’ve been given similar instructions and will be meeting you at the coordinates programmed into the phone,” Pierce replied.

  I opened my mouth to ask why the hell he was helping us, but Pierce kept talking.

  “Lori has contact information in her possession as to where you should head.” He turned to me. “One of their pack mates is expecting you.”

  His phone beeped again, and his entire demeanor changed again. The cocky, arrogant smirk was back on his face, and his eyes were cold.

  “I’ll expect you to report to the lab at nine tonight,” he said coolly before leaving.

  My heart was pounding. Pierce had just set everything up for us to escape, but we had a very short timeframe.

  “What contact info did he give you?” Kannon asked with the bond.

  I shook my head in confusion. “He’s never given me anything.”

  Kannon thought for a moment. “He didn’t say he gave you anything,” Kannon said slowly. “He just said you had it in your possession.”

  I chewed on my lower lip. “I don’t have anyone’s contact information. I don’t even have a way to contact my old pack.”

  Kannon’s eyebrows raised. “Didn’t you say your mom had a plan for when she was going to run away?”

  My thoughts drifted back to that first day I had been on the run. A sharp pain hit me right in the heart as her death flashed before my eyes once again.

  “Lori,” Kannon said softly. “Come back to me.”

  I cleared my throat. “Um, my mom had left me a note and a business card. She wanted me to contact someone in Seaside?”

  Kannon looked at me with wide eyes. “That’s one of the packs I was researching.”

  “But?” I prompted him. I could see the hesitation in his eyes. Something was holding him back from being enthusiastic about the Seaside pack.

  “Well,” Kannon looked down at the ground. “Their pack master is close with the lamia.”

  “And?” I could tell that wasn’t the whole story.

  “They caught me hacking into their servers,” he mumbled.

  “Okay,” I said with a deep breath. “The positive way to look at this is they know you have computer skills that would be useful to them.”

  “I guess,” Kannon mumbled. “But I was caught because I was sloppy.”

  I hugged Kannon. “Don’t get down on yourself. You’re awesome.”

  Kannon gave me a shy smile.

  “And maybe their pack master is friendly with lamia who don’t like Dr. Green?” I said hopefully. I knew it was a big stretch, but I had to have hope.

  “Maybe,” Kannon said doubtfully. “I just don’t like having to trust Pierce.”

  “We don’t have to go there,” I pointed out. “We can see what the others want to do when we meet up with them.”

  “Okay, get the card, but don’t say a word and don’t make it obvious in case they’re watching us somehow,” Kannon told me. “I’m going to wipe my computer and phone. I
don’t want to leave them any traces of what I’ve been doing, and I can’t bring them with me.”

  I nodded and went back into my room. I sorted through a bunch of stuff in my trunk but took out the small backpack that my mother had strapped on my wolf form the night we ran. Inside, I still had her note and the fake IDs she had left me with.

  I tucked a couple more essentials into the pack, and Kannon gave me a nod as I came back into the living room. I sat back down on the couch and cuddled up in a blanket as if I were settling in for a long Netflix binge session. Kannon disappeared into the bedroom, and a moment later, he returned and slipped a men’s watch and a folded-up picture into my bag. “The watch is Corey’s, and the picture is Grayson’s,” Kannon explained. “I know they wouldn’t want them left behind.”

  I took a deep breath. I didn’t have anything but this bag when I came into this town, and here I was with nothing yet again. Kannon caught sight of the devastated look on my face and squeezed my hand.

  That’s when I realized I was wrong. I might have come here with nothing, but I was leaving with everything I could ever want. I had a pack and four wolves that I loved with all my heart.

  Chapter 27

  Lori

  Kannon and I followed Pierce’s instructions exactly. My heart was beating too fast, and my hands were shaking as we quickly crossed to the eastern part of the property. I kept watching the shadows as if lamia were going to jump out at any moment, but the night was quiet.

  The burner phone in Kannon’s hand beeped, and we glanced at each other for a second. This was our one and only chance to get out of here, and we couldn’t afford to mess up. Kannon and I had a moment of silent understanding before we both burst into action. The cameras were only going to be off for ninety seconds, and we needed to be on the other side of the fencing by the time they switched back on.

  I ran as fast as my human legs could carry me until I came to the fence that separated the university from the rest of the world. Kannon gave me a boost, and I scrambled up the fifteen-foot fence clumsily. Kannon followed much more gracefully – as if he’d done it before. If we got out of this alive, I was going to ask him the story behind that.

  I lost my balance once I got to the top of the fence, and I barely managed to hang onto the sharp wire. Both of my hands were bleeding, and I was breathing hard.

  “Eight seconds,” Kannon told me urgently as he jumped to the ground.

  I looked down, and the ground seemed too far away for me to jump safely, but there was no time. I had to take my chance.

  I half jumped/ half tumbled down the other side of the fence, but Kannon managed to break my fall. He grunted as I crashed into him, and we both collapsed to the ground.

  I clambered to my feet, and Kannon grabbed my hand. “Hurry,” he urged me. We ran as fast as we could, but we were only twenty feet beyond the fence when the phone beeped again to let us know that the cameras were back on.

  I desperately hoped that a small amount of distance was enough. Now that I was so close to freedom, I wasn’t willing to go back. This had to work. We needed to get away from here.

  “Let’s shift,” I murmured to Kannon. We could move faster as wolves, and our senses would be sharper.

  “Are you sure?” Kannon asked, his eyes intense. “We don’t know what’s waiting for us at the coordinates.”

  My face flushed. Once I shifted into a wolf, it would be a while before I would be able to shift back. The other guys would have no problem turning back into a human, but I would be stuck.

  “There’s no time,” I said as I started stripping off my clothes.

  “I’ll carry the bag,” Kannon offered. “Put it on me once I shift.”

  Kannon shifted quickly enough that I didn’t have time to be self-conscious about how we were both getting naked together. I hurriedly shoved our clothes inside the bag and strapped it on Kannon.

  Once in my wolf form, I stretched my legs out in a full run. Kannon and I knew the general direction of the coordinates, and Kannon would be able to sense the guys once we got in range. I would have to be closer before the bond was strong enough for me to detect them because I didn’t have the same abilities as the other guys.

  I stayed close behind Kannon as he led the way through the forest. “They’re nearby,” he said before picking up his pace. I struggled a little to keep up with his rapid gait, but desperation made me move faster than I ever had before.

  My muscles burned as my legs pumped until finally, I felt my pack mates close. I skidded to a stop and almost tumbled into Grayson when we caught up to them. They had also shifted into their wolf forms, but none of them were carrying a pack like Kannon. That was going to be a problem if we didn’t have clothes waiting for us wherever we were headed.

  “You’re late,” Grayson grumbled.

  I ignored him and happily nuzzled Corey as I simultaneously tried to catch my breath. “You made it out of jail.”

  “We can’t stop yet,” Wyatt told us. “We need to make it to the highway where our ride is waiting.”

  My body was growing tired from the frantic run that Kannon and I had just done, but this was no time for weakness. Adrenaline was still rushing through my bloodstream, and I tried to focus on that to keep me going.

  We broke into a run as a group, and I could tell they were holding back to stay at my pace. The other guys were much faster than me due to their longer legs, but we stayed close and ran as a pack.

  We didn’t run into any problems until we came to a wire fence. This one was only about eight feet tall, but it was still an unwelcome obstacle. I stared up at it.

  The other guys could shift into their human forms, climb over it, and then shift back. But for me…

  “We need to go south for a little way,” Wyatt offered. “Let’s run along the fence and see if we come to a break.”

  No one mentioned how unlikely that was going to be, probably because we were all clinging to the hope that we were going to succeed in this mad escape.

  Shockingly, we found a hole in the fencing only a mile down that looked like it had been cut by some kids. I slipped through with room to spare, but Grayson stopped as the wire edges dug painfully into his coat.

  “Shit,” Corey cursed.

  “Grab the other side,” Wyatt told his brother, and he bit down on the wire fence and attempted to pull it back for Grayson.

  The twins barely budged the fence, but it was enough to let Grayson through. I could smell the sharp metallic scent of blood on him and leaned forward to gently nuzzle his coat, looking for the wounds.

  “There’s no time,” Grayson said urgently. “A couple of scratches won’t slow me down.”

  Corey nudged me to keep moving, and we set off in a run together. The wooded area we were running through was thick and rife with vines that had sharp thorns. Their barbs were continually catching on my coat and tearing at my flesh. I told myself that it was just like getting paper cuts and that the vines couldn’t really hurt me as we pressed on.

  Wyatt jumped over a log in front of me, and a branch snapped back and hit me right in the nose. I yelped in surprise and pain as I felt my nose swelling. It had been a sharp hit, and my wolf nose was sensitive.

  “Are you okay?” Kannon asked in concern as he stopped next to me.

  “No stopping,” Grayson chastised us. “Keep moving.”

  I picked up my pace but kept my attention focused on the terrain. I didn’t want to be the cause of any more delays. My breath sounded loud in the silence of the night, and that’s when I realized something was wrong. There was always noise around in the forest. Squirrels, birds, raccoons, and all types of creatures made their home here, and most would either hide or loudly object when a pack of wolves came through. This area of the forest was already abandoned. There had been another predator here recently.

  “Something’s wrong!” I called to the others.

  Grayson slowed and looked back at me. “What happened?”

  We still had miles to go b
efore we could make it to the extraction point, but we couldn’t rush there blindly. We needed to be careful if we wanted to get there at all.

  “It’s too quiet,” I explained.

  Grayson cocked his head to the side, and the others froze.

  “She’s right,” Wyatt admitted. “Good catch, Lori.”

  A sharp gust of wind came from behind us and ruffled my coat. It would have been refreshing if the slight scent of lamia hadn’t come along with it.

  “Fuck,” Corey cursed.

  “Stay calm,” Grayson ordered. “The scent is faint, and it’s behind us. We’re going to keep going until we make it out of here.”

  My heart thudded like a drum, and I desperately wanted this escape to succeed. But a sense of hopelessness was welling up inside of me. The lamia were on our trail, and they weren’t going to just give up and let us walk away. They were going to do whatever it took to bring us back to the university.

  I raised my chin. “Let’s go,” I told the others. “We can’t afford to waste any time.”

  The others were close behind me as I darted off toward freedom. I tried my best to keep up my speed, but my stride was growing sloppy because my body was too exhausted to move the way I needed it too.

  “Just a little farther,” Grayson encouraged us. “We can make it.”

  There was a crack and a loud buzzing noise that made all of us freeze. I didn’t realize what happened until I saw Corey stumble forward and then fall to the ground. A red feathered dart stuck out from his flank, and then a second one hit him in the shoulder.

  I crouched down and scooted forward to get to him, but Kannon crashed down next to me. I whimpered and nuzzled him as his eyes stared at me in terror. His voice was silent through our bond, but I knew he was begging me to run.

  I crawled forward and braced myself up against a log. I was hoping it would give me enough coverage to avoid being hit. I’d play dead until our attacker was within reach, and then I’d attack.

  Only it didn’t happen that way.

  We were surrounded on all sides by lamia dressed in black fatigues. They were all wearing masks, but I recognized Blaine’s eyes as the leader. Before I could dart away, I felt a sharp pain in my shoulder, and my muscles froze. I was helpless as they surrounded us. I couldn’t keep my eyes open, but I was still aware of everything happening around me.