Enthralled: Tainted Book Four

24. Something Broken and Vulnerable

Josef

Keeping the communication lines organized with so many subteams active in one location at once was always a challenge, but I wasn't the drott for nothing. It helped that the alphas' wolves couldn't wear an devise and Kerry and Kon had refused to. That cut down on some of the voices I had to sort out.

Once the Messengers and Watchers began 'porting people in, my chief aide, Marty, directed traffic with her usual efficiency, funneling the wounded straight to the Healers, and I had no idea what I was going to do without her when she eventually retired.

Beta Emerson was growing more and more restless as the search for Thoreau stretched on, but there wasn't anything I could do for him that his luna and beta brothers weren't already doing.

When Lanie Molina suddenly 'ported in, holding the arm of an unconscious man in an expensive-looking suit, I handed the comms off to Heather, Marty's protégé, and leapt to my feet.

"Got Reginald Hubler here!" she shouted what I already knew before dropping his arm and stepping back.

I hustled over to them, rapid-firing commands to my people.

"Lanie, see if he's wearing a ring."

"No ring, drott. I already looked," she confirmed.

"Hatchet, get him in a maximum security cell and stand guard until Titus or I personally come to relieve you. No one goes in and no one goes out. Understood?"

"Yes, drott." Hatchet gave me a little salute and hoisted Mr. Hubler up in a fireman's carry.

"Lanie, sum it up," I demanded.

"Found him unconscious in what I believe was his office," she reported quickly. "The top floor in the executive offices. His was labeled CEO. The wolves smelled both Thoreau and Gemma in the room. I left the wolves there to find a scent trail."

I nodded at that, then Beta Emerson was there, Luna Posy's arm through his elbow, with the other betas right behind him. I left Lanie to answer their questions and went back to Heather, waving my hand for the comms. The second I had it, I let the subteams know we had Hubler, but before I could say more or take any questions, Darius 'ported in with a curly-haired boy in his arms.

Even knocked out, the boy clung to the hand of a red-haired girl where she lay at their feet, a bloody lump on the side of her face and her eyes closed.

"Reau!" Beta Emerson bellowed, confirming what I'd already guessed. "What did you do to them?"

"Gemma was passed out when I found them, but this boy was fine until I grabbed his shoulder to 'port him," Darius explained quickly. "I think it may be dislocated."

As Beta Emerson tore Reau away from Darius, then dropped to his knees with the boy clutched in his arms, I handed the comms back off to Heather and ran over to kneel next to Gemma. Knowing the weres' priorities lay elsewhere, I took charge of Kerry's girl not only because it was the decent thing to do, but also because she'd been through enough.

And maybe a little part of me acknowledged how Kerry would react if he returned and found her passed out on the floor, all alone and injured, and I had no desire to die today.

"I need a Healer!" I hollered as I arranged her to lie more comfortably. "Right bloody now!"

#

Gemma

I woke up in a room I didn't recognize, surrounded by unfamiliar faces, coated in healing power that wasn't mine. Panic spiked in my chest, cold and heavy. Something had gone seriously wrong.