CAGED (Mackenzie Grey #2) (20 page)

“Excusez moi,” Lucian blanched as he put a hand to his chest in mock horror. “I merely ask because this would be an excellent ability to hone. Especially if you could reach out to anybody, not just your loved ones.”

“Loved ones?” I smirked. “Is that what you’re calling yourself?”

“Of course,” he deadpanned. “I’m like your British Uncle Lucian,” he suggested. “Yes, I like the ring of that.”

“More like that weird uncle at family reunions you try to avoid,” I said.

He scoffed. “Why must you always rain on my parade, Pet?”

“My bad,” I laughed as I took stock of the library and its overflowing bookshelves. “Hey do you have a lighter?” I thought, off chance.

“A lighter?” Lucian gasped. “I’m a vampire, do you think I’d have such a deadly weapon in my possession?”

I nodded. “Yes, I do.”

He sighed. “Second drawer to the left in my desk.”

I chuckled. “You vamps have this weird obsession with death, it’s predictable.” And it was exactly what I needed for what had to be done next. I stood and opened the drawer where the lighter was being held. It was a sterling silver Zippo lighter that was heavy in my hand. “Thanks!” I yelled to him.

He waved me off. “Go. I do not wish to speak to you anymore.” Lucian shooed us away.

“What’s on your mind, Ace?” Roman asked as he rested his chin on the back of the pew I laid on. “You didn’t come here to take a nap on the most uncomfortable benches known to man.”

“How do you know I didn’t? This could be—”

“From the girl who got pissed when I didn’t buy a pillow top mattress? Yeah, try again, Ace,” he smirked.

I sat up. “Seriously though, who in their right mind doesn’t buy pillow top?”

He sighed. “A lot of people! Okay we’re getting off track, nice try. Now tell me why you’re here.”

“I just needed a break, that’s all,” I murmured as I laid back down and continued to watch the bats that hung from the ceiling. “Aren’t you happy to see me?”

“Of course I am, but you’ve had an eventful few days. You should be resting.”

“Isn’t that what I’m doing?”

“Don’t be a smartass, Ace,” he said.

“Fine. You want to know why I’m here? It’s because of them,” I pointed to the ceiling with my good arm. “Are those vampires?”

Roman looked up at the cathedral and broke into a fit of laughter. “Are you serious? You think we turn into bats?”

“I’ve come to realize that anything is possible.”

“Well no, we don’t. Stop watching crappy vampire movies. Now will you tell me why you’re here?”

I peered up at Rome with a sly smile. “I need a favor, partner.”

“Anything, Ace.”

I nodded and sat up. “I want to go after Logan. Tonight.”

Roman’s face reminded me of the time he ran out of A-positive blood bags, his favorite—like the Anti-Christ had come and it was the end of the world. If he could have gotten paler than he already was, I wouldn’t have been surprised.

“Are you insane?”

“Not more than usual, no.” I played with the strands of my hair, checking for split ends. If I pretended to be cool, calm, and collected, maybe he wouldn’t notice my desperate need for revenge.

“You can’t go after him, Ace. He’s long gone by now anyway.” His hazel eyes pleaded with me to see reason, but all I saw was red.

“Am I supposed to let him go,” I snapped my fingers. “Just like that. The man who…who attacked me? Just let him get away with it? That doesn’t even sound like something I am capable of.”

“You have to be. He will kill you, and if by some miracle he doesn’t, you will start a war that the Lycans will be left to clean up,” he said, his voice as quiet as death.

“I’m a Lone-Wolf, I’ll deal with it.”

He laughed. “They won’t care! I’m not stupid, Ace. If I see how protective the Alpha and Beta of the Brooklyn Pack are with you, so does everyone else. Chicago will declare war on them just by association. Is that what you want to do to your…
friends
?”

The emphasis wasn’t lost on me. I hadn’t been forth-coming with Roman about my past. I’d mentioned James, but never Bash or Jonah. It felt more private and not something to gossip about, but having kept my mouth shut was making me feel like I’d kept a dirty little secret from him. That had never been my intention because I never thought I would be back here.

“They’re just friends,” I tried to convince him, but I didn’t even believe it.

“Friends like us?” he arched a brow and smirked. “Aren’t you the friendly type.”

My face reddened, not in embarrassment but with anger. How dare he shame me in that way? What we had was not exclusive, and I never said a word when he’d flirt with other women. He wasn’t my boyfriend—he’d made that clear to me more than once.

“Fuck you, Roman,” I stood from the bench. “The nerve of you, I’ve never slept with either of them. And if you think so low of me, then why have you been slumming it?”

“That came out wrong, I’m—”

“Damn right it did, but you know what? Forget it. You don’t have to worry about this
friend
any longer,” I said as I backed out of the pews. “Why don’t you head back to Cali, and keep fucking your way through eternity. I don’t need a babysitter.”

“Ace!” he called out as I sped walked to the exit. “Mackenzie!” he yelled my government name for the first time ever and I almost tripped over myself. Either way, I wasn’t turning around.

I knew my relationships with Bash and Jonah were tricky—there was obvious attraction on both spectrums, but I wouldn’t let anyone shame me of those feelings. I wasn’t sleeping around and I didn’t plan on doing that either.

My own power had been challenged this week, I wasn’t going to let anyone take that away from me again. And the only way I knew how to make sure it didn’t—was to eliminate the threat.

I ran down the cathedral steps and hailed the first cab back to Brooklyn. I knew what I needed to do, and I wasn’t going to do it alone.

***

The taxi sped away as I stood on the sidewalk across the street from the warehouse. I wouldn’t be going inside. I knew if I did, someone would try to talk me out of what I needed to do. Amy’s beseeching eyes couldn’t dissuade me from this—and if Lucian was right, then I could do this again.

I glanced around the empty streets of Dumbo to make sure no one was around. My wolf was inside, tormented from the violation we’d endured and I had to soothe her. Remind myself that we were strong, and it would never happen again. I would make sure of it.

Transforming into a half shift was easy as my wolf begged to go for a run, but she’d have to wait until the full moon. We had other things to take care of. I crouched on one knee, closed my eyes, and thought of Blu, Rachel, and all of the other Lunas within the warehouse that felt powerless and wanted to be set free. I reached for their presence inside as if a tether connected us all, and when I felt them at my fingertips, I raised myself up at the sky and howled.

Adrenaline coursed through me, the anticipation of tearing into the man that had injected fear into my veins and was making me doubt everything about myself. I waited as one by one, Lunas came out searching for the one who called them. About a dozen female wolves crowded the streets of Dumbo as they looked to one another trying to understand what was happening.

“Kenzie?” Blu called out from within the crowd. “What’s going on?” her wide eyes glanced around, not believing what I’d just done.

“I can’t sit back any longer,” I declared. “At first I believed what I had been told—that I was privileged because of my lineage—I wasn’t the same as the rest of you,” I paused, taking in their captivated expressions. “That moment passed when I discovered I wasn’t any different. Who I am, where I originate from means nothing. I may have the blood of a king, but I have the heart of a slave. And I refuse to be caged any longer.”

The whispers in the crowd grew as realization dawned on them.

“Mackenzie, we spoke of this already,” Rachel whispered as she moved up to the front. Her disfiguration another reminder of Logan’s misogyny.

“We did,” I nodded. “You told me Lunas wouldn’t fight because they had much to lose. But we have
everything
to lose if we don’t! Fight to live! We are not fragile beings who should be condemned to glass houses. We are predators, we are wolves—it’s about time we start acting like it. Does your freedom mean anything to you?”

I saw the spark in their eyes as they ignited with a fire deeply rooted within them. The want to speak up and speak out. The right to be an equal.

“I am proof that every single one of you has the power to fight—only question is—will you?”

Rachel turned to the Lunas, but didn’t say a word. She let them deliberate with one another and observed as each one came to the conclusion I knew they would.

“Yes,” I heard the answers being echoed around me. More and more of them cheered as they realized they could be more than a maid and breeder. That they were capable of so much, all they needed was a reminder of what they could do as a group.

Rachel turned to me when they came to a consensus, I couldn’t get a read if she was against the decision or not.

“What’s your plan?” she asked.

“My plan is to send a message to the Lycans. We are no longer going to fear and be put down. We’re going to behead the snake once and for all,” I declared as I ripped off my sling—ignoring the stab of pain. “We’re going to kill the Alpha of the Chicago Pack.”

I had dispersed two teams to find a trail on Logan above ground as I took my team back down to the subway lines. Blu was part of my group and I felt her nervous energy crackle beside me. I reached down for the lid of a pothole that led to the labyrinth of New York City’s underground. As the first one to drop down, my combat boots landed with a loud splash when I hit water. With a raised hand, I helped each of the Lunas climb down. While the rest of the group situated themselves, I pulled Blu to the side.

“What’s going on?” I asked. She needed to be all in or nothing. I couldn’t have her tagging along scared shitless. That indecisiveness would get her killed.

“Are you sure this is something we should be doing, Kenz. There has to be a better way.”

“What? You want to talk it out with The Summit and hope that they’ll change laws that have been in effect for centuries? Let’s get real, Blu.”

She huffed. “That’s not what I meant, but going against The Summit isn’t an easy feat.”

“You’d be one to know,” one of the Lunas snickered behind us.

I stopped and whirled on her. “What is that supposed to mean?” Blu kept quiet beside me.

The Luna who had made the remark was a petite little thing with dark hair, and big doe eyes. They widened further as she took in my demeanor. I was pissed and didn’t need bickering, back-stabbing girls to add to my shit list.

“I didn’t mean anything by it,” the Luna said. “It’s just, this isn’t Blu’s first time rebelling.”

“So?” I asked. I remembered Blu had mentioned to me when I first met her that escaping the warehouse wasn’t her first rodeo. But she never expanded on it and I didn’t push.

“Nothing,” the Luna murmured as she looked away.

“Alright then,” I said. “Keep your ears open, and nose alert. He wouldn’t have left, not until he finished what he came for. Let’s bring the party to him,” I growled as I ran forward, deeper into the sewer.

After many twists and turns, we found ourselves in the abandoned train tracks I had been kept in. Discarded cans of food littered the ground, overturned crates, and claw marks lined the walls, making my skin crawl. There weren’t any bodies, but the smell of blood was strong. I could taste the metallic odor.

“Their scent is gone,” Blu commented. “It would be stupid of him to stay.”

I scrunched my mouth to the side. “I don’t know. Logan seems like a prideful man. Leaving without his prize doesn’t seem like something he would do.”

“How can you be sure, Kenz?”

“I just know!” I bellowed. My gut told me I was right. I had no proof to go by, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that he was still lingering around. He wouldn’t go back to Chicago in defeat. That didn’t seem like his style. The toxic sewer gases masked their scents, so he wouldn’t be going topside for fear of being tracked. He had to still be down here. If only…

“Anyone have a cell phone?” I asked the group. “Who has service down here?”

They all shook their heads when checking their phones. I snatched the phone of the Luna who mouthed off earlier and went looking for another manhole nearby. The Lunas followed behind me once I found one. I climbed up to the top and slowly slid the lid off—making sure I wasn’t opening one in the middle of the street. The late evening moonlight filtered in and I checked the phone—two bars of service.

“Yes,” I whispered as I dialed the number to 1PP. “Detective Garrett Michaels please,” I asked once the operator answered. It rang and rang until the call was transferred to his cell phone. That was the beauty about Michaels—he was a workaholic. All of his desk calls always transferred to his mobile device when he wasn’t in the office.

“Michaels,” his gruff voice answered.

I took a deep breath. “Did you mean what you said about coming to you if I ever needed help?”

“Grey?” Sirens blared in the background and I had to pull the device away for a moment, the sound too loud in my ear.

“The one and only.”

There was a pause. I had almost thought he’d hung up, when I heard him clear his throat. “What do you need?”

I relaxed against the ladder I held on to. “I need you to send me the subway blueprints for Brooklyn.”

“The what!”

I shut my eyes. “Please, Michaels. I wouldn’t ask if this weren’t life or death. I
really
need them.”

“I need more than that, Grey. You’re asking me to break the law.”

“Am I talking to Garrett or Detective Michaels—I can’t be speaking to the latter,” I muttered into the phone line. If I was going to divulge anything, I couldn’t be speaking to law enforcement, I needed to be speaking to a friend.

“Depends. Are you breaking the law?”

“Aside from roaming the tunnels, no.”

He sighed. “You’re talking to Garrett.”

I sagged with relief. “I need to find somewhere that someone could be hiding down here. Some secret nook that no one is aware of.”

“Do you know how many abandoned subway lines there are in New York City?” he said. “Hold on, I’m walking to my desk.”

“I know but, there can’t be that many in Brooklyn, can there?”

“We’ll see,” he murmured. I could hear him typing away on his computer. In the meantime I looked down and saw the Lunas waiting for me. I covered the mouth piece of my phone and whistled at them. “Get in contact with the others, tell them to come down and to bring a container of gasoline.” Blu nodded and started to look for phone service.

“Alright Grey, there is an unused tunnel under Nevins Street Station—it’s beneath the 4 and 5 train. There’s even an abandoned cart down there,” he said.

“Can you do me one more favor?” I winced when I heard him smack his lips.

“I expect you to tell me exactly what you’re up to, Grey, when you’re down,” he demanded.

“Promise,” I said and I was surprised that I meant it. Would it be so bad to tell Garrett the truth? Maybe.

“Fine. What else?”

“Can you track this phone and tell me how to get there?”

He sighed but I heard him typing again. After a few more minutes, he found my location.

“Okay, head south until Fulton and make a left. It should take you straight there.”

“I owe you big time, Michaels,” I said.

“No. You owe me the truth.”

***

We ran the mile and a half to Nevins Street, meeting up with the rest of the girls on the way. I ordered a few to stay above ground and watch the man hole on both ends to secure our return or our need to escape. With our wolf’s night vision, we were able to walk the terrain easily. Rats scurried around our feet, and graffiti plastered the tunnel walls. With my pointer finger at my lips, I shushed everyone into silence. A couple feet away was the abandoned train cart that Michaels had been talking about. I shut my eyes and honed in on the sounds up ahead. I could hear a heartbeat…two…three…four? I took a step back—he had called for reinforcements. I waved my hand so they would move back. If I could hear Logan and his goons from here, then they’d pick up on us too. When I felt we were a far distance away, I huddled us in a group.

“Okay they’re more of them. I caught about four heartbeats, anyone else?”

“I counted seven,” said one of the Lunas.

“He isn’t alone, but there can’t be more than ten, which still means our odds are pretty good,” I said.

“Are we supposed to fight them?” one of the Lunas asked. “I’ve never fought someone before.” I could see their faces transform from excitement to concern in a split second. Of course they didn’t know how.

The light bulb in my head flickered on. “You two,” I pointed to a pair of random Lunas. “Head to our escape pothole and get ready to help us out of here. The rest of you start looking for wood, preferably pipes lying around. And let’s be real quiet, okay?”

Everyone went off while Blu, Rachel, and I stayed behind to keep an eye on the train.

“Do you think he’s in there?” Rachel asked.

“I’m not sure. I’m hoping he is.”

“What are you planning?” Blu wondered.

“The girls are afraid to fight, and I don’t blame them. But we also don’t have time to give a quick lesson on using your wolf to defend yourself,” I pulled out the lighter Lucian had given me and popped the cap to light a flame, “so we’ll start a fire.”

***

Twenty minutes had passed when everyone returned. I sent a few of them up top, especially the ones who were afraid, including Blu. I wasn’t heartless, I knew this was asking a lot, but their mere presence spoke volumes—they wanted change and we were going to get it.

“This is a stealth mission,” I whispered to the group of six that was left. “We need to find all entrances to the train and seal it off. They typically have handles, so stick as many pipes as you can to lock the door. If there isn’t a handle, you’ll need to wolf out. I have faith in you all. We’re just as strong as them.”

“What about the windows?” Rachel asked.

“They’re practically bullet proof, it will take them a long time before they’ll be able to break through. By then, they might not have the strength to do so. Are you ready?”

They all nodded and it was now or never. Like the ninja team we weren’t, we navigated our way to the train without being seen, which was easier said than done. Our footfalls made noise as we stepped on unavoidable rocks but we stayed in the shadows. Anytime they heard us, one of the wolves would peek out the window but see nothing. We were lucky they weren’t on high alert. The closer we got, the more I recognized Logan’s scent. As the girls dispatched to their assigned locations, I climbed the stairs up to the roof of the train while they secured the exits. I felt a heaviness in my abdomen that I couldn’t name. Logically, I knew what I was doing was wrong, that it would illicit unknown consequences for many involved, including myself. That for the first time, I was committing cold-blooded murder. I’ve always had the excuse of self-defense, but not anymore. If I was being rational, then this was all a selfish act. I was reacting to what Logan had exposed me to and the things he has done in the past. I was functioning on pure revenge and not completely for the rights of Lunas.

As I got the okay from everyone, I turned the wheel of the overhead latch and unlocked the door. Roughly six pairs of wolf eyes zoned in on me as I pour the gasoline down below. Their shock only gave me a few seconds to work with. My hands shook from nerves, anticipation, and overall fear as I locked in on Logan. I reached for the lighter in my pocket and dropped it below just as growls and canines came out. They all ran to their nearest exits and when that didn’t work, they clawed and punched the windows. The fire grew faster than expected and a flame came whooshing out of the roof opening. It threw me back a few, making my head bounce against the metal train. I shook my head to straighten my vision and shut the ceiling door.

I hopped down from the train, not bothering to take the ladder, and went to help the girls. Cries of pain and agony ripped through the cart and out into the tunnel. I tried to tune it out as the smell of burned flesh escaped. The Lunas resolve was declining as I watched the ones in my immediate line of sight start to let go of the doors.

“What are you doing?” I gasped.

“I-I can’t,” one of them stuttered as she let go and ran toward the exit.

“Shit,” I muttered as the door she’d been securing burst open. Huge flames escaped as a body emerged. His clothes were tattered to almost nothing, and his skin was covered in red, blistering welts that looked like boiling water as it sizzled. And with all of that, I still recognized who it was—Logan.

“YOU!” he pointed to me. The Lunas had finally left their positions, with no one else coming out of the train. They all ran to my side, and I pushed them behind me as if I could protect them. Who was I kidding, I could barely protect myself.

“Run!” I yelled to them but not a single one moved a foot. “Run!” I called back, this time I turned to face them and pleaded with my eyes. If anyone deserved to die as a consequence, it was me.

“No,” Rachel stood firm. “We’re in this together.”

I didn’t have time to argue, Logan came for me, his moves sluggish from his injuries. He tackled me to the ground and landed a few blows to my face before his hands wrapped around my neck.

“You stupid bitch! I should have had your ass when I had the chance. Couldn’t stay away, huh?”

I froze in his grasp. Flashbacks of not too long ago crossed my mind and I couldn’t move. Rachel came behind him, she had half shifted as she slashed her clawed hand at the nape of his neck and back. His hold on me loosened and I was able to buck out of his grip. He swatted Rachel like a bug and she went flying back. Another Luna went for him but he pushed her away before she could strike. I jumped to my feet and half-shifted. My wolf giving me the strength I needed, I got one good punch before he took hold of my wrists and pressed me against the tunnel walls. The fire of the train blazed and it was expanding. If we didn’t move soon, we’d all die.

“I am the Alpha! You will respect—”

My canines protruded from my gums as I bit down on his throat and ripped. Flesh and blood filled my mouth as he released me. His eyes had gone still and empty as he fell to a crumpled heap at my feet.