I cut Steel a look again, saw he was just as uneasy as me.
A noise whispered through the trees as I was about to clear my throat, trying to get shit moving. It was quiet. Like a shushing sound, but it was high-pitched too.
I tensed and so did my brothers, and my brother’s woman, who scrambled off the bike at the noise. Nyx had her back a second later.
“What was that?” I rasped, even as I started to climb off my bike too. I pulled off my helmet and hung it from the handlebars as I straightened up.
Steel, peering through the trees where only the faintest of light was bleeding through, muttered, “I heard it too.”
“Well, if you heard it, then it must be real,” I snarked at him, earning myself the bird he flipped my way.
I took another look around, sweeping my phone’s flashlight in the area. Steel, evidently doing the same, mumbled, “Some kind of truck has been here. SUV maybe. Something heavy.”
I stared where his light was directed and saw what he was seeing and agreed, “SUV. I recognize those tires.”
Giulia snorted. “Of course, you do.”
Nyx tapped her leg. “Link runs the garage for a reason, babe.”
My lips twisted. “Just ‘cause I hate cages doesn’t mean I don’t know how to fix them.” I knew how to fix them too fucking well. Meant most of our customers wouldn’t be coming back as often as they should because I knew my shit.
Of course, I’d tried not to work at the garage. When Rex had dumped the MC’s new businesses on the council’s shoulders, I’d hoped some other fucker would want to run it. No dice. I was stuck getting engine oil in my asscrack for the rest of my natural life.
“That bodes well though, doesn’t it? If there are tracks that means someone’s come here recently.” The hope in Giulia’s voice was painful to hear.
I sucked in a breath. “Could be anyone. Could be hunters.”
To counter my words, there was that noise again.
I whipped around, my phone with me, trying to fucking see where that goddamn sound might be coming from.
“Never heard a bird sing like that before,” Steel grumbled as he slowly turned, his gaze drifting along the tree line. “Something’s here.”
“If that isn’t the creepiest thing you could have said,” Giulia retorted, shuddering as she wrapped her arms around her waist. “This is like the setup for a horror movie.”
Nyx snorted and hauled her into his side. “You’re safe with us.”
“Yeah,” I teased. “Giulia, ain’t you realized it yet? We’re the boogeymen.”
Her only response was to huff, which either meant she thought I was full of shit or she was agreeing. Never could tell with Nyx’s bitch.
“We’re going to have to go into the woods,” Steel stated grimly, and I knew he was just as freaked as Giulia but he wouldn’t say shit.
I’d have goaded the motherfucker for being a pussy but hell, it was creepy. It reminded me of the opening scenes of a horror movie too. When the director was setting shit up to get the audience in the mood. Even the lighting wasn’t on our side. It was bleak and there was a haze to the air. Plus, knowing that some women might be held in captivity around here didn’t exactly make the place fucking cheerful.
Grunting at my thoughts, which were goddamn stupid, I strode forward. The crunching of grass beneath my feet was a giveaway—there was more crunching when my brothers and Giulia joined me. Three more streams of light joined mine as we pushed between the trees and began walking over the soil. It was pretty peaceful in here, but there was a low mist that made it hard to see the ground.
Okay, so this place was beyond creepy as shit.
I’d admit it.
Even if it was only to myself.
As we walked, our feet making too much noise as we stomped through the forest, it was a miracle we heard that weird ass sound again, but we did.
And we all froze.
I thought about what it sounded like, and could only compare it to the clank of a wrench or something clanging against the body of a car. Metal against metal. A dull whine.
Ears pricking up, I peered through the mist, then groaned with relief when a shard of light from the sinking moon pierced the trees.
Giulia whispered, “Oh my God, over there.”
I followed the direction where she pointed with her finger and grimaced at the sight of a shack. Fifteen by fifteen, minimum.
As we processed its sudden appearance, we took off at a run. The sound echoed again, and my belief that it was metal ringing against metal was reiterated as the dull, shrill whistle seemed to be on repeat.
My heart began to race with hope. Someone who was being held captive, who’d managed to hear someone in the vicinity, who was trying to call for help…they’d make that kind of noise, wouldn’t they?
I heard the click of a gun behind me and dug into the back of my jeans where I kept my weapon. Knowing Nyx had armed himself made me want my gun in my paw too, and when I heard Steel’s safety snick off, I knew we were all feeling the same vibe. The same hope. The same concern. Especially as we slowed down the second we got to the shack.
It was made of wood, almost entirely, except for a window beside the door—four dirty glass panes held together by a cross, loaded with spiderwebs and filth. There was guttering around the roof that quivered when a gust of wind whispered through the trees.
“Shit, did we bring anything with us? Food? Fucking clothes?”
Steel’s remark had me jerking in surprise. I twisted around to glower at him. “You serious right now?”
“Yeah. If there are women in there, we need to help them.”
“Yeah, by not shooting the shit,” I ground out, even as I strode forward and pulled the door. It was, not surprisingly, locked. “There are space blankets in each of our saddlebags as well as water and protein bars,” I informed him absentmindedly. The door rattled and shook under my grip, the padlock old and rusty, but there was some wear around the hinges that told me it was used.
“When did you do that?”
“When you were taking a leak before we set off,” I muttered. Twisting to Nyx, I ordered, “Hold the light steady so I can shoot off the padlock.”
The second the stream of his flashlight hit it, I angled myself so it wouldn’t ricochet into my damn face and shot it off. That clanging sound appeared again, confirming that someone was behind it.
Someone in the fucking shack.
Breathing in sharply, I pulled open the door, and the second I did, the stench hit me.
I was a hardened criminal. I’d killed. I’d watched Nyx torture fucking pedophiles. I’d helped torture them. I would kill and kill again for my MC, but that smell? It had me staggering back with my hand to my face to try to cover it.
“Holy fuck!” Nyx spat, and Steel’s curse echoed at the same time.
I wasn’t surprised when Giulia dashed off and the sounds of her puking soon followed.
That stench?
It was death.
We were too late.
Too fucking late.
Then the clanging sound came again and fuck, I realized someone had to be alive in there.
Someone had been living with that goddamn stench.
The prospect of heading toward the smell made my stomach roil like I’d eaten ten ghost chili peppers, but step forward I did. I tried to breathe through my mouth, tried not to inhale the scent, but it was impossible. And then the humming started.