Ice_Reaux - Laura Wright Page 0,21
back his head, sniffing the air. He’d caught the hint of musk the moment he’d stepped into the room. “You’re as much an animal as I am,” he taunted.
The younger male stiffened. “I might have Pantera blood, but I’m not a savage. We all know you’re determined to kill the hybrids.”
Ice’s brows snapped together at the accusation. “Don’t be stupid. Why would we destroy our own people?”
Karen turned toward her son, her hand settling lightly on his shoulder. “He’s telling you the truth, Ward. The Pantera have welcomed all people into their pack. Including humans.”
He stepped away from her touch, his expression wary as he focused on Ice. Like most humans—or Pantera raised in the human world—he no doubt assumed Ice was the more lethal. The idiot clearly didn’t realize that Cammy could rip him apart with her bare hands.
“How can I believe you?” Ward demanded.
Ice ignored the question. He wasn’t without sympathy for Karen, but his duty was to rescue her and return home. It wasn’t to convince her son that they weren’t evil savages. Still, he hesitated.
The male might have information. Beginning with whether or not Benson Enterprises was declaring open war on the Pantera, or if it’d been a mere ploy so Ward could get his hands on his mother.
“Why did you come to the Wildlands?” he abruptly demanded.
The male hesitated before giving a tilt of his chin. “I discovered my mother was there, along with my half-brother. I wanted to know why she’d left me.”
“So you sent in a suicide bomber to destroy us?” he snapped.
Karen made a sound of distress, her eyes darkening with genuine concern. “Oh my god. I thought I heard an explosion. Was anyone hurt?”
Ice’s jaw tightened at the memory of the chaotic fear that’d been spread through his homeland. The Wildlands had always offered a sense of peace to his people, even when it was being destroyed by Shakpi. It was the one place they would always be safe.
That’d been stolen from them by their enemies.
“There were injuries, but no fatalities, thank the Goddess,” he said, his gaze locked on the young male. “Not that they didn’t intend to kill as many of us as possible.”
Ward lifted a slender hand. “That wasn’t me.”
Ice narrowed his gaze. “You had nothing to do with it?”
The male hesitated, no doubt trying to decide if he wanted to tell the truth or not. At last he gave a lift of one shoulder.
“I knew it was planned, so I took the opportunity to slip in and bring my mother here,” he admitted.
Ice’s lips parted to demand why they’d been attacked, only to be interrupted by the sharp sound of an alarm ripping through the air.
Shit. The guards had been missed.
Karen paled. “What’s that?”
“Trouble,” Ward muttered, holstering the gun he probably thought Ice hadn’t noticed before he was turning to head toward the back of the room. “Follow me. I can get you to the escape tunnels.”
“Wait,” Ice commanded as Karen moved to join her son. “This could be a trap.”
Ward sent him an impatient glare. “The alarm has sounded which means they know you’re here. The facility is on full lockdown,” he warned. “You’ll never get out unless you come with me.”
Ice scowled. His acute hearing had picked up the sound of locks clicking in place. That didn’t make him any more trusting of Ward and his sudden eagerness to help them escape.
“Fine.” He pointed his gun directly at the male’s head. “But remember this. I’m not your mother. I won’t hesitate to shoot you in the head if I sense you’re leading us into danger.”
“Savage,” the male muttered, laying his palm on a small scanner set on the back wall. Silently a panel slid to the side, revealing a narrow corridor. “This way.”
Allowing Ward to take the lead, Ice indicated for Karen to go next, and then Cammy, while he brought up the rear.
***
Cammy didn’t miss Ice’s piercing gaze as she passed by him to enter the corridor. He intended to remain on alert for any danger. It was now her duty to take the lead on discovering what Ward knew about Benson Enterprises’ plans for the Pantera.
Ice slid the panel shut behind them, wrapping them in darkness. Cammy instinctively stepped beside Karen to wrap an arm around her waist. The human woman didn’t possess the same night vision as a Pantera. Ward, however, moved with an ease that proved he was as much cat as he was human.
“You said that you weren’t involved with