Sweeter Tease (Sequel To Sweet Tease)

Chapter Twenty-Nine

{Octavia's Point of View}

It was finally the day we were going to infiltrate the Anuubi, and to say I was excited was an understatement.  I hadn't been able to sleep the night before, so I had spent those hours poring over the maps and books that had been provided to us by our source.  It still amazed me how much information about the elusive cult could be found when they wanted you to find them.

I had curled my legs up under me sideways as I read the first book that the mysterious woman had given us; one of the books about how the ritual was done and performed.  I had been studying that one in particular to find out if there was a way to be able to intervene with the ritual in any way that would not harm my daughter and help us save her.  I sighed, rubbing my eyes.  I was exhausted, but too full of energy to be able to sleep.

I flipped the page in the book and let out a noise of surprise when a cup of strong coffee was placed in front of me.  I placed my finger between the pages I was reading and looked at the person in front of me, both shocked and not that it was the same woman that had been helping us since we got here.  I moved my legs out from under me and leaned forward, to grab the cup of coffee, sniffing it before I drank from it.  I groaned softly, always enjoying a good cup of coffee.

"What brings you here, woman?"

She flinched slightly at the term, but I didn't have anything else to call her, and she hadn't given me a name to call her by, so "woman" would have to do.  She took a deep breath and let it out before looking at me with her dark red eyes and speaking in her modified female voice.

"I came to see if you all are ready for tonight.  I will do my best to keep the way clear, but there is only so much I can do to help before the ritual starts.  The Sabin demands my presence each time we perform the ritual."

I took a sip of my coffee as I listened to her.  I still didn't understand why she was so invested in this particular ritual, but I'd ask her one more time before I gave up asking -- if she gave me no answer this time.

"I understand.  We're as ready as we can be, I suppose, given the fact that we know next to nothing about this cult.  What makes you so personally involved this time around?  What makes my daughter so special?"

I watched as the woman in front of me flinched slightly.  She shifted her weight on the chair in front of me, not wanting to look at me, but knowing she'd have to for me to believe her.  With a soft gulp, she took a breath and looked directly at me.

"Honestly..."

She sighed sadly, what I could see of her face contorting into a grimace before she continued.

"Your family is the only one in all of the years that we have been sacrificing children to the ritual  that has actually come looking for your child.  No other family has done that.  In the past, families have given us their children willingly."

I could hear and feel the shock coming from her as she spoke.  I won't admit how slack-jawed I stared at her as she told me about the families that willingly gave up their kids.  I loved all of my children; there was no way in hell that I'd willingly give up my children without having a reason to.  I still to this day regretted giving up my son, but there was also no other way to get my wife back.

"Well, given us willingly or the Sabin has had us take them from the mother's womb at the time of birth; essentially as soon as the mother's water breaks and she goes into labour.  I cannot tell you how how the Sabin knows which child it is we send our Nus to retrieve, but if your mission goes well tonight, I will gladly show you, Alpha Octavia Montgomery.  I will see you in the ritual chamber at midnight.  Good luck."

Before I could say anything, there was a cracking noise and a puff of thick white smoke and she was no longer sitting in my chair across from me.

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My warriors and I had opted to run on foot in our wolf forms, since if we brought a vehicle we would be noticed immediately, regardless of if we could hide the car or not.  We made our way across the desert as quickly as we could, the loose sand not making it easy at all.  It would have been much easier if we had been able to take one of the camo desert vehicles we had gotten in case we needed them so we could put my daughter in the car, because we weren't sure if she could shift into a wolf or not, but with miles and miles of no vegetation to hide behind, it was smarter for us to run on foot.

Our fur didn't blend into the sand, but we matched the sand well enough that we got within a quarter of a mile of the compound and were still undetected.  I had my small pack stop so that we could make sure that the woman made good on her word to get the guards away from all the doors and the main entrance that we'd need to use to get to the ritual room.

We hunkered low to the ground, the sand touching our belly fur, watching as all the guards stiffened and ran from their duty posts and into the compound, leaving the entrance open for us to go into.  I flicked my ears forward, listening for any kind of noise that would tell us anything about what was going on in the compound.  I didn't hear anything for a few minutes, and it was concerning, but then we all heard pained screaming.  With a grimace, I looked at my pack.

"Let's get in there, guys!"