Free On the Hunt by Alexandra Ivy, Dianne Duvall, Rebecca Zanetti Page A

broken window, he glimpsed Wolfe coming in through the back, his gun raised to shoot anything that moved.
    Wisely waiting until Wolfe gestured for him to enter, Mika did a slow sweep of the barren front room that held a low couch, two armchairs, and a stained coffee table. He did a similar search of the two bedrooms and kitchen before returning to the front of the cabin where Wolfe was standing next to the heavy shackles that were bolted to the wall.
    His jaw tightened as he caught a familiar smell.
    “Jacob was here,” he said, watching as Wolfe bent down to lightly touch the pool of blood on the warped wooden floor.
    “And recently injured,” Wolfe muttered.
    Mika grimaced. “Yes.” The blood was the only reason he’d been able to recognize the scent as Jacob’s.
    Muttering a curse, Wolfe breathed in deeply, his senses far more acute than any other Sentinel’s.
    “Humans,” he at last said. “At least six.”
    Mika glanced around the cramped, rapidly rotting room. As far as he could see there was nothing of value.
    The house couldn’t be fully secured. The view was obstructed. He could smell gas that would indicate a generator, but there were few of the usual comforts that most humans desired.
    The only thing it had to offer was privacy.
    “What the hell were they doing here?”
    Wolfe straightened, heading toward a narrow flight of stairs that led to an attic. Mika followed behind, his nose wrinkling at the unmistakable scent of antiseptic.
    “What the hell?” Wolfe muttered, bending low to keep from cracking his skull on the low, open beams.
    Mika joined his leader, his brows pulling together as he took in the metal-framed bed that looked like something that would be found in a hospital and the IV stand that still had an empty plastic bag and a long tube attached to it.
    “Someone was receiving medical attention.”
    Wolfe gave a slow shake of his head. “Jacob?”
    Mika shrugged. “I have no idea.”
    With a growl, the Tagos headed toward a metal cabinet in the corner of the room, pulling out a scrap of wadded-up paper that had been left behind.
    Smoothing it open, the Tagos made a sound of disgust.
    “The Brotherhood.”
    Mika arched a brow. The Brotherhood was a secret society of fanatic humans that had first been formed in ancient Samaria. They believed it was their sole duty to try and rid the world of high-bloods.
    Thankfully, they were usually as cowardly as they were incompetent, and so far they’d proven more an annoyance than a true threat.
    “How do you know?” he demanded.
    Wolfe pointed toward the letterhead that had a stylized arrow running beneath the words:
     
    ONLY THE PURE.
     
    “This is their symbol.”
    “Symbol?” Mika arched a brow. “They sell merchandise?”
    Wolfe gave a sharp laugh, shoving the paper into the front pocket of his jeans.
    “I would find them funny as hell if they didn’t occasionally grow some balls and do something stupid.”
    Mika glanced back at the hospital bed, a bad feeling settling in the pit of his stomach.
    “What interest would the Brotherhood have in Jacob?”
    “Hell, who knows?” Wolfe returned his attention to the cabinet, tossing out the gauze and needles and vials of human medicine as he searched for some clue. “He might have seen something he shouldn’t have. Or he possesses a certain skill they need.”
    “Maybe.”
    The Tagos easily picked up on Mika’s lack of conviction.
    Turning, he moved toward Mika. “What are you thinking?”
    Mika didn’t like guessing. He wanted facts. They didn’t lead a warrior down wrong paths.
    Unfortunately, he knew that expression on Wolfe’s hard face.
    He wasn’t going to stop digging until Mika revealed what was troubling him.
    “If they intended to capture Jacob after they lured him to the swamp, then why did they beat him and allow him to walk away?”
    Wolfe stilled, silently considering Mika’s question.
    “Could he have escaped?” he asked. “The idiots call themselves the