Locke forced the door open. We stood behind our leader, looking into a red-lit room with a desk and a fake backdrop nailed to the wall. The only thing real was the bed behind her and the desk that held a computer and camera staring straight at her.
The female’s head turned, her bouncing curls hitting her perfectly made-up face. Before she could scream for us to stop, her body lifted from the chair.
“Shit,” Locke cursed.
A fae had abruptly appeared from nowhere, pulling her forehead back and slitting her throat straight across her tanned neck.
“NO!” Locke sprang into the room to catch the fae.
Women in the distant rooms cried and shouted for help, and with each passing second, more and more of their screams faded away.
My wolf forced our hearing abilities to increase at the wrong moment—the screams pierced my ears.
As Locke jumped through the air to catch the autumn fae, the fae jumped into a hole beside the body.
“We got portal skippers!” Locke yelled. Screams turned into gurgles and choking. Our team shoved doors open, not moving fast enough. This one fae was portal skipping so quickly, we hardly had time to open the doors to save the dying women.
Men growled, roaring in frustration as they broke down doors. Their animals were outraged. For the first time, we were failing our mission.
Locke pulled out vials of magic, throwing potions and dusts into doors to dissolve them from the frames. Once he ran out, he began blowing entire holes into the walls, but none of it was fast enough.
Twenty-some doors, and with the five men we had, we still could not get in fast enough. It was all a worthless endeavor. The fae that was portal skipping hopped into each room, ruining them one by one.
If we could save just one.
I snarled.
The men in the halls stood back, putting their backs on the walls while I ran down the hallway. My wolf caught a scent that both intrigued and enraged him, but fuck, I couldn’t understand what he was doing.
The jacket I wore fell from my body. The knives clanged together on my utility belt as I ran. Reaching in my pocket to grab my brass knuckles, I dashed around the corner to find another set of doors. I heard only one heart beating from the other side of the last door.
Ignoring the yells of my brothers and Locke screaming for me to wait, I forced it open with a shoulder in one blow. I stumbled, my scarred face looking up to find the autumn fae just coming out of a portal.
Not blinking, I jumped, landing on the fucker’s body. He screamed out, trying to pull an iron dagger from his thigh.
I ripped it from his hand and raked his body from nose to navel with my claws. His screams resonated in the room, and the desk holding the computer and webcam fell to the floor. The desk lamp threw our shadows up on the wall.
My wolf surged forward. I felt the fury to kill. Losing control, not considering we needed this fae to question, my wolf lengthened our fangs, ripping out the lightly colored orange skin of his neck. The fae no longer moved, but that didn’t mean we were finished. My claws ran over the fae’s eyes, pulling them out one by one. It continued as I watched from the inside.
I stayed in the shadows of my mind, disgusted that I was not strong enough to force my wolf back. Was it my strength or was it my will that was not strong enough? I had no will to fight him, no reason to keep living. Maybe this would be the nail in my coffin to rid me of this nightmare that I now lived.
Once my wolf was finished, the entire room was sprayed with blood, my clothes were soaked, and trails of crimson ran down my bearded face. My heavy breathing slowed as I looked up at my brothers in the doorway.
Fear shone in their eyes. Locke tightened his fists, but his shoulders slumped as he looked me over. I knew that look; it was a look he gave when the last man went rabid.
My breathing slowed; Locke entered the room along with Sizzle. Sizzle mouthed if I was alright, but we knew the answer to that damned question.
“We have little time,” Locke muttered to the room. “We got no leads on this and no one to question.”
“Party is cleared out, looks like no one was ever here. Switch texted and said no one left the building either.” Karma added. “Only thing left are the bodies.” The heavily breathing men behind him all looked at each other, all disappointed in our failed mission.
“Must have portal skipped.” Locke kneeled to the floor, glancing over at the fae.
“Looks like a webcam call girl thing?” Karma kicked the camera on the floor.
Sizzle pulled up the laptop, looking at the webpage. “Yeah, they do things for money, private chats, do some private entertainment.” Sizzle continued to scroll on the page. “Making plenty of money, too.”
“Is that legal?” Karma looked at the fake backdrop. The bed was once pristine, with a white comforter and big fluffy pillows in bright colors.
