Rising Storm (Westin Force #2) - Julie Trettel Page 0,7

hurt her, but it could hurt while checking her. Gage will restrain you if necessary.”

She was a feisty one. I instantly liked her, but instead I snorted and looked her mate over. “I’d like to see him try.”

Clara shook her head knowingly. “Come on.”

Silas barked orders to the rest of us and then Dave divided his remaining crew up and the mission was on.

The cage was empty when we returned, and panic immediately set in.

“Relax. Silas had two other teams monitoring the perimeter. She’s not going anywhere,” Gage informed me. “We had to stop and make contact with each of them on our way in and get updated on the situation.”

The news didn’t do much to help calm me down. I wasn’t going to be able to fully relax until I had my mate, and we were safely far away from this nightmare.

We moved quickly to the back of the room, to the door I’d watched them drag her in from. On the other side of the door the stench of blood hit the three of us hard. I started to panic, but one look down and I immediately saw the poor dog they’d let die in the cage during the first battle. His body was thrown on the floor just out of sight of their audience with no regard or care.

Clara stopped and checked the animal. I knew it was hopeless and we were losing time, but the care and respect she showed the dead animal halted any protests from me.

She whispered a short blessing and then stood.

“Do you want me to take him?” Gage asked.

She shook her head. “There’s nothing we can do for him. Leave the body and let these humans understand what was happening here.”

I was disgusted to find the dog wasn’t the only dead animal around. There were five other dead animals, and my anxiety increased with each lifeless body. I needed to find my mate now.

“I need to find her,” I admitted.

“Of course,” Clara said. “We can come back here if there’s time. We need to rescue those that we can save quickly.”

There was a surprising number of rooms in the back of the building. We went through and cleared each one until at last, there she was. Clara and Gage almost missed her, but there was no way I would.

Sahara, they had called her. She was slinked back in the corner of the room looking frightened. The human that had been handling her in the fight lay nearby on the floor.

“Dead or alive?” Gage asked.

Clara checked. “Dead.”

Seeing the medieval-like instruments on the table and the blood, my mate’s blood I realized, dripping from them, it was easy to figure out what happened. Chances are she was just as riled up as I was. She was a fighter. I smiled at her proudly.

“Are you hurt?” I asked her. When she didn’t immediately respond, I feared the worst and fur started sprouting on my hands as I shook all over. “Is she hurt?” I asked Clara.

My mate shook her head.

“She’s responding. Calm down,” Gage said.

“Don’t tell me to calm down.” I was clenching my teeth again.

“Clara’s the best. Let her do her job.”

I tried to calm down. Ben’s mate was a good person. I had to believe her sister was too.

Clara sat on the floor before her. “Hi, I’m Clara. This is Gage, and the obnoxious one that’s quite protective of you is Painter. He’s very upset right now that you got hurt. Can I take a look?”

She pulled back even closer to the corner she was in.

I hesitated but moved slowly towards her. I sat beside Clara but tried to stay out of the way.

“Hi,” I said, reaching out to touch her. I couldn’t have stopped my hand if I’d wanted to. The second I felt her soft fur, a shiver wracked through me. Mate. “She’s not going to hurt you. I promise. I won’t let anyone hurt you, not ever again. We’re going to get you out of here.”

Her eyes looked wild, filled with uncertainty.

“It’s okay. I’m here now.”

It never once dawned on me that she wouldn’t be happy to have my protection. I was a silverback, and she was my mate. Nothing else in the entire world mattered now. I had to protect her no matter what.

Silas and I thought we were the last two. I hadn’t even allowed myself to dream of finding her someday. Hope could be the most painful thing imaginable. I didn’t dare to hope. But with one