Broods Of Fenrir - By Coral Moore Page 0,37

until she could reach the window. Pulling herself up, she slipped one leg over the ledge. She glanced down at him once more before she lowered herself out the window.

When he thought enough time had passed for Sigga to have crossed the construction site, he pulled open the door and peeked into the hallway. A wooden stairway that had seen better decades descended to the dimly lit lower level. He waited several seconds, acclimating himself to the native sounds of the building. The walls settled. Heated air rushed through vents. A clock ticked.

Once certain no one was nearby, he snuck into the hallway and approached the railing of the stairway. He peered down at the floor below. A wide hallway split the floor, and the stairway continued downward after a small landing. The doors on the first level were all closed. He crept down the stairs, scanning the dark hallway.

Moving to the first door on the right, he leaned his ear against it. Nothing. Every room on the right was the same—the entire floor seemed deserted. He reached the end of the hallway and peered into a tiny lobby devoid of furniture. The front 103

door was on the opposite wall.

The sound of voices and heavy footsteps on the stairs came from behind him. He darted into the lobby and hid on the far side of the wall. He picked up a conversation between two men.

The first had a nasal voice, as if his nose had been broken too many times. “Maybe we should drug her.” Glad he"d gotten Sigga out of the building, Brand had to concentrate not to rush around the corner and careen recklessly into them.

The second man had a deeper, more resonant voice.

“No way, she"s not one of those things. Let"s wait until he calls us back.”

“Maybe she is. You don"t know.”

“Naw, man, she looked normal to me.”

“That Sorenson guy looked normal, too, until we tased him.”

Brand risked a peek around the corner, anger making him bold. The two men walked up the hallway slowly, not paying much attention. They stopped outside one of the doors on the side Brand hadn"t checked.

“Naw, he had creepy eyes even before that.” The man with the nasal voice was the taller of the two, with more bulk.

The second man was more slender and better dressed.

Brand recognized him as Harris"s associate from the meeting with Erik. “Whatever, want to jump outside for a smoke first?” They continued to walk up the hallway toward him. A moment of doubt troubled Brand. They suspected that those they"d captured were something other than human, but Brand didn"t know for sure if the men had hurt any members of Erik"s brood.

“I don"t understand why we can"t just smoke in here.”

“Mr. Rivera doesn"t want it near the equipment.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

They continued to talk as they walked right by him.

Brand crouched with his knife drawn, ready to spring if they 104

turned around and saw him. The smell of tobacco trailed behind them as they disappeared into the darkness outside.

Brand ducked back around the wall into the hallway and moved to the door they had paused near. He put his ear to the metal surface and listened. The soft sounds of machinery came from the other side.

He pushed the door open a fraction. Before he could see the interior of the room, he smelled brood blood. Inside, a large male was strapped to a hospital bed—Lucas. He knew him by smell. A tangle of wires and tubes snaked into the open cavity of his chest from an array of different machines he couldn"t identify.

The smell of meat and offal hung in the stagnant air.

The slow beeping and chugging of the machinery made his stomach turn, and he swallowed back the urge to vomit.

He let the door close, his hand still braced against the cool metal. The horror on the other side defied sanity. Reveling in torture was an aspect of his kind he had never understood, but what that room contained went beyond what the most depraved of the brood would condone.

The wolf raged, eager for vengeance. He clenched his hands into fists until he attained a measure of calm. He needed to find the others before he could allow himself the satisfaction of a rampage. He thumped his fist against the door. “I"ll be back for you.”

Stalking down the hallway, he paused at the other doors to listen but no sounds came from behind them. When he reached the stairwell, he leaned over the railing. The lower level