His Unidentified & Untouchable Mate

The Factory (3)

Zahraa POV

I wanted to back up. There was just no way – if the only entrance we’d found had looked like no one else had been so stupid as to god down the hole, and there was so much debris here – too much.

“They must’ve gotten caved in,” Jacob said, an edge of panic in his voice. He rushed up to the barricade of debris and started pulling on the fallen support beam, throwing chunks of shattered concrete behind him. “Hey!” He yelled, and when that went ignored, he yelled some more. It wasn’t until he was pulling on the support beam, which was so embedded in concrete that I doubted some heavy-duty vehicles would be able to budge it – and if they did, it would degrade the structure so much, it wouldn’t be worth it.

“There must be another way in,” I said, grabbing his arm. “You’re only going to hurt yourself.”

“What if someone is already hurt?” Jacob asked, “I’d never be able to forgive myself.”

“You’ll never be able to help anyone like that, either,” I snapped. I immediately felt a rush of guilt, but watching him hurt himself over and over for the sake of making it through a door that was clearly shut and barricaded for a reason…

Well, I couldn’t stand it.

Jacob stilled, then took a deep breath. On the exhale, he nodded. “You’re right. You’re right.” He put his hand against the beam, which kept him a foot away from the actual door. Cupping his hands around his mouth, he yelled, “Hey! I’m going to get you out.”

I thought there was no way anyone would hear him over the shouting and arguing voices from within. The words on the other side had thus far been nothing more than background noise - so many people talking at once that it was impossible to hear any specific person.

Until someone shouted, “Silence!”

“Jared,” Jacob yelled, leaning over the support, “It’s me - it’s Jacob. What’s going on in there?”

There was a pause, and I would’ve died to know what was going on in that room. Then: “It’s not good.”

“What?” Jacob pressed, without giving Jared time to explain. “What’s happening?”

“We’ve got some injured wolves in here,” he called. “And the way in collapsed. We’re stuck in here and…”

The next words were too mumbled for me to hear. But Jacob, with his enhanced hearing, sucked a breath through his teeth as though he’d just been told some horrible news. “What’s the room you’re in like?” he asked. I shot him an inquisitive look - what did that, of all things, matter?

Loud enough for me to hear, Jared described the room in detail. It was a large rectangular room that seemed like it might’ve been used as a break room. There were tables and chairs enough for about half of the wolves to make themselves semi-comfortable. There was an old model refrigerator, a microwave, a pantry. The only door towered high Jared’s head, but the steel was bent, and had started leaking. The water was running down the hallway, luckily, but they didn’t have very long, and they weren’t sure how long that door would hold.

I swallowed. There were only two doors, both blocked, one by steel and one by water. I took a deep breath - there was no need for fear. The Wild Fangs had tons of resources at their disposal. There was no need to fear, especially when we had found the missing wolves - at least some of them. I pulled out my cell phone and checked for signal. I wasn’t the slightest bit surprised to see that I had none. “Jacob,” I touched his shoulder lightly. “We should go alert the High Alpha. He’ll find something to dig them out.”

Jacob bit down on his thumbnail, holding his elbow with his free hand. Everything about him screamed ‘anxious,’ but I wasn't sure how to soothe him.

“She’s right,” Jared said, on the other side. “We’ve been trying to get this door open for two days. We need equipment. Send for dad - he’ll fix it.”

“I’ll be right back,” Jacob promised, but he lingered.

I took his hand in mine and tugged. I expected more resistance, but he allowed me to pull him back to the cables. “I’ll go up first,” he said, but something had shifted in his demeanor. Again, I could sense the gears turning in his mind, an ever cranking, ever clanking wheel of ideas, each probably more dangerous than the last. I watched him climb with ease, a pensive look plastered on his face all the while. Had he not been most of the way up the rope, I might’ve called after him, asking what he was thinking.

“Tie it in a loop,” Jacob ordered.

It took me a moment to realize what he meant. I tied the cable in a loop as best I could. Jacob instructed me to put my feet through the loop and hold on tight so he could pull me up. It worked like a charm, but instead of landing in Jacob’s arms this time, he pulled me up and left me on the ground, turning around and shutting the door to the room.

“What are you doing?” I asked, flustered.

“We don’t need to get anyone,” he said, a strange sort of grim determination in his eyes. “We can handle this on our own.”

I crossed my arms over my chest. “Jacob… I’ve been accommodating thus far, but there are lives on the line here. You heard Jared - it’s flooding, and they’ve got injured wolves.” I almost bit back my last words, but decided I was willing to gamble Jacob’s feelings for the truth as I saw it. “I know you want to be the hero here, but there’s just no time.”

Jacob tried and failed to hide the resulting flinch. “That’s not what this is. Besides. I’m not playing the hero.” H returned his focus to the closed door. “You are.”

That was it - he’d truly lost his mind.

“Jacob,” I said his name in a chiding tone, hands falling to my hips as I stared him down like a disappointed mother.

“Hear me out,” Jacob said quickly, before I could say anything more. “You can open a Door and let them through.”

I opened my mouth to argue, then clamped it shut.

Because he was right. I could.

“We just need to do something about that brace so we can get everyone out…” he paced in front of the door while I walked back to the hole, squatting down and staring into the depths. Again, I wondered how they’d made it into a locked chamber in the bottom of an abandoned mill in the first place. Had that seemingly random beam fallen after they’d all made it out safely? How had it crashed through a wall without wrecking the structural integrity of the entire factory? What were they doing here in the first place?

Jacob stopped his pacing and started coiling up another cord, looping it around his forearm. “I’m going to try to rig something to move that beam.”

I shook my head. “No. If that door is bolted shut, I won’t be able to travel through it. I have to be able to open both doors.”

He slowed, but didn’t stop. “We can’t just leave them. Especially not if we can do something.

I racked my brain - there was something I was missing. I could sense it…

“I’ve got it,” I said, pushing myself up before approaching the door. I took a deep breath - I’d never done this before, but a door was a door, right?

The standard golden glow filled the cracks of the door, and I opened it, revealing the other side of the door we’d found, exposing a crowd of werewolves, milling about restlessly. No one noticed us at first, until Jacob stepped through, hunching to get out of the refrigerator door. “Everyone,” he called, and their attention snapped to him. “I’m here to get you out.”