It was difficult to swallow, and the movement pained the back of her throat. “You heard what Ally said. Remy blames Dawn for everything. He’s not rational right now.”

“She also said we had to proceed carefully. If he hears us, if he knows we’ve come for him, he’ll hurt as many people as he can.”

Makenna blew out a long breath, knowing he was right. “Calm. I’ll be calm. But Madisyn won’t.” And that was what worried her most of all. “She doesn’t think; she reacts.”

“She won’t endanger Dawn.”

“No, but she might try to kill Remy if he or one of his wolves harm her.”

Unable to deny that, Ryan said nothing. He didn’t know Madisyn well. He wasn’t sure anyone other than Dawn and Makenna could claim to know her well. But he did sense that she was extremely close to those two females, that they were anchors for her. He also sensed that Dawn and Madisyn were equally important to Makenna. If anything happened to either of them, there was no saying what she’d do. That meant he’d have to keep a close watch on his mate. He couldn’t afford for her to lose her shit and get herself killed.

Minutes later, Ryan turned down a dirt path and parked close to the shelter’s perimeter fence. Switching off the engine, he said, “Remember, Kenna—”

“Be calm, I got it.”

But she wasn’t anything even close to calm. So he cupped her nape and kissed her. “You can feel how calm I am, right?”

She could. He was admirably cool and collected, his mind clear and objective. “Yes.”

“Use it. Let it flow through you.” If they could feed from each other’s arousal, they could do this too.

“I don’t know how.”

“It’s already inside you. All you have to do is cling to it. Okay?”

Nodding, she reached for that calm and held tight to it.

When some of the wildness retreated from her eyes, Ryan nodded in approval. “Let’s go. Stay close.” They easily scaled the fence, not making a sound. He was about to head through the trees when he heard slight rustling behind him. It was Makenna, reaching beneath a bush. “What are you doing?”

“You want to go in through the emergency exit, right?” There was a slight grating sound, and she smiled as she flipped back the bush, revealing a downward tunnel.

Jaime’s brows flew up. “That’s seriously smart.”

“About nine years ago, a badger shifter stayed here who’d once served in the army. He was pretty paranoid. Dawn had to keep confiscating his smoke grenades—we didn’t even know where he was getting them from. Anyway, he built tunnels beneath the shelter and the forest, preferred living in his animal form.”

“So there’s a tunnel system under here?” asked Dante.

Makenna nodded. “He also insisted on building this escape route for when ‘they’ finally came for him because he ‘knew too much.’ We never did work out who or what he was talking about.” She swiftly descended the ladder and then shuffled aside to make the room for the others.

Bending to fit into the tunnel, Ryan patted her ass. “Lead the way.” As they advanced through the tunnels, he noticed the little red symbols on the wall that marked the way to the shelter. Makenna didn’t once glance at them; she seemed to know exactly where she was going.

“Almost there.” Rounding a corner, she stopped dead, causing the others to bump into her.

“Makenna!” A teenage girl grinned at the group of people with her. “See, I told you Madisyn would get word to her.”

Moving toward them, Makenna said, “I thought at least some of you would have left.”

A dark woman shrugged one shoulder. “My man’s still up there. I won’t leave without him. Besides, we figured you’d need some help when you got here.”

“Help?” asked Dante.

“You want to know how many people are here and what they want, don’t you? Remy brought about twenty to twenty-five wolves with him. He announced that he’s the Alpha now and that this is his territory. Then he started shouting names, saying they belonged to him and he wanted them back. We have no idea who he means.”

Makenna’s chest clenched. “Dawn and Madisyn?”

“They were alive when we climbed down here. But I don’t trust Remy not to hurt them.”

An elderly male tapped his temple. “He’s not right in the head.” He peeked around Makenna. “You didn’t bring many people with you.”

“Others will come soon. Did all the kids make it to the bunker?”

The dark female nodded. “We all got moving when we heard the alarm. Everyone else huddled in the cafeteria to make it look like they were the only people there.”

The teenager bit her lip. “He won’t hurt Dawn, will he?”

“No, he won’t,” stated Makenna. Her wolf growled, backing her up. The animal wasn’t interested in being calm or thinking clearly. She wanted to rip out the throats of all the bastards who’d invaded the shelter and endangered everyone in it. She kept pushing to surface, wanting to take control so she could hunt them down. Taking a deep breath, Makenna again reached for the calm echoing through her, thanks to Ryan.

“You all wait here,” she told the residents before gesturing for Ryan, Jaime, and Dante to follow her past the group. That was when they came to another ladder. “Okay, this leads to a trapdoor in one of the family rooms. Don’t be alarmed when you get to the top and realize you’re in a closet.”