betrayed nothing to indicate whether the building was occupied.
All appearances to the contrary, it was the right place. A trace of brood power tickled in his belly. Nothing much, only the barest whisper, but with the moon minutes from full, he could feel the presence of at least one of his brethren within.
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Chapter 11
Brand jumped down from the construction trailer and dropped into a silent crouch on the far side of the fence. He paused to listen once more with a tilt of his head. A light breeze stirred the unkempt shrubs, but nothing felt out of place in the quiet night. He stalked forward until he reached the high brick wall of the Bioden warehouse and leaned against it, taking cover in the deep shadow cast by the building.
He crept along the wall until he came to a door near the corner of the building. He sniffed. No one had used the door in the past few days. He tried the handle, but wasn"t surprised when he found it locked.
The windows along the wall were twenty feet off the ground. With the moon peaking, the jump wouldn"t pose any trouble, but breaking glass might cause more noise than he wanted right now. He had no idea how many potential enemies were inside, and alerting them to his presence wasn"t a good idea.
He peered around the corner of the building, but didn"t find the fire escape he"d hoped to see. A window midway along the wall was propped open, though. He strode forward until he 101
was underneath it. No light showed.
Brand appraised the distance to the sill of the window and plotted how much of an approach he"d need. He paced out ten long strides and looked back at the building. He went out one more, just to be sure.
He raced forward four running steps, then sprang. As soon as his feet left the ground, he knew he"d hit the jump. His hands caught the sill, and his body struck the wall with a solid thump, knocking the wind from him. He took a moment to recover, and he almost lost his grip. Sigga"s terror-streaked scent came out of the window in a cloying cloud.
His angry growl turned into a grunt of exertion as he struggled to pull himself onto the sill. He scanned the interior, a small office with sparse furnishings. Sigga was tied to a metal-framed office chair in the center of the room. A hood covered her head.
Heedless of the presence of others, Brand clawed his way into the room. When he thudded to the floor, Sigga jumped at the sound. He sent a wave of soothing energy toward her as he approached, cursing himself for scaring her even more. She inhaled and the tension seemed to melt out of her.
He pulled off the hood. She stared up at him, makeup smeared over her face, but otherwise unharmed as far as he could tell. Relief eased the edge off his anger. He removed the layers of cloth bandage wrapped around her mouth. She started to speak, but he held his fingers to her lips.
He drew a knife and cut her hands loose, then crept across the room. Cracking the door open, he paused to smell and listen. He didn"t detect any humans nearby. Returning to Sigga, he whispered, “You okay?”
She nodded and kept her voice low. “Gunni told them I was some girl who stalks him. They stuck me in here until they could figure out what to do with me.”
“Do you know where the others are?”
Her head shook. “Downstairs somewhere. I saw a 102
bunch of rooms before they put the hood on me.”
“Did you see Erik?”
The shock that her captors might have her leader froze her until he touched her hand. “No. I"m not sure how many of us they have. I haven"t felt anything.”
“I"m going to boost you out that window. Head south until you hit a fence. Jump that and run across the construction site. Don"t let the guards see you. You should be able to feel Bera from the other side. Go to her.” She nodded, but looked reluctant when he led her to the window. “I can help you…”
It seemed every female he knew was out of her mind today. “You can help me most by getting out of here.” He interlaced his fingers and held out his hands. She hesitated until he frowned. “It"s not up for debate.” She put her foot into the cup of his hands. He lifted her