Maddy closed her eyes and rested for some time as she caught her breath. She had been sore before even the fight began because of all the workout and on top of that she had to throw a fricking werewolf using just her arms. She was pretty sure that she pulled at least a few muscles.
After two minutes, she got up and started pulling the unconscious man towards the side. If any other werewolf did come here, Maddy didn't want them to see the unconscious man. She then angled herself in such a way that she stood before the body and covered it completely. And the she waited. And waited. And waited for some more time.
Finally, the door opened and Xander and Katie stepped out. Both Xander and Katie had worried looks on their face.
"There was no one in there. We just found a shirt," Xander said as he held up a shirt. "The smell on the shirt is fresh and that is what I scented but there was no one inside. We searched everywhere."
So that explained why the man slumped behind her was shirtless. It was a clever trick. If Maddy hadn't been standing guard, the man could have snuck behind Xander and Katie and killed them. Maddy didn't reply. She was still pissed at Xander and she was going to make him work for her forgiveness. She just stepped aside and let the others see the unconscious man.
"What the—" Xander said as he narrowed his eyes.
"I can't believe a rogue was so weak that he could be beaten by a woman," Katie commented.
Maddy didn't bother replying. Instead, she concentrated on the fact that the werewolf was a rogue. She had been ninety percent sure that he was a rogue. Maybe he was a werewolf from another pack who came to investigate like Maddy had. Now that Katie had confirmed it, Maddy started thinking about the various opportunities that the encounter with the rogue had opened up.
If they could get him to Amalthea Pack, they could interrogate him as well and get information. This could help them a lot. By the way he fought Maddy, she knew that he was an extremely strong fighter, and compared to the other rogues Maddy fought, only tooth-necklace lady was probably equal in strength. The only reason Maddy was able to defeat him was because of the extensive training Maddy had gone through and the fact that silver had weakened him. Tooth-necklace lady was a leader. From the way she talked, it seemed as though she knew the boss and wasn't afraid of him or her. She talked openly and boldly. So, there might be a chance that the rogue that Maddy had knocked unconscious might know the boss. If that was the case, this could help them a lot.
Katie walked over to the rogue and started inspecting him while Xander walked up to Maddy. By the expression on his face, Maddy knew that Xander was going to apologize. "Maddy—"
"We need to take him to the headquarters," Maddy interrupted in a flat tone.
"Listen, I—"
"We should check the trap door. There might be something in there."
"I'm sorry," Xander said in a rush, the moment Maddy stopped speaking. He said something else as well but Maddy couldn't understand because of how fast he was speaking. Probably because he was afraid that Maddy would interrupt him once again.
"We'll have this conversation later. First, let's get out of here."
Xander seemed to be torn between apologizing to Maddy and making sure everyone is safe. Finally, he agreed with Maddy.
The trap door was too high for any of them to reach it. Xander tried jumping and hoisting himself up using his hands like what they did in the movies but even he wasn't tall enough to reach it. All he managed to do was tire himself. After having a go at it for twelve times, he admitted defeat.
"Maddy, I'll hoist you up. You can go and check inside. Is that fine?"
Xander bent down under the trap door and put his hands in front of him. He then interlaced his fingers and turned it so that his palm faced upward. It basically made some sort of a platform for Maddy to step on. Maddy removed her shoes and put one foot on his palms.
Xander counted from one to three and on the third counted, he got up to his full height and Maddy pushed herself up with the leg that she had on the ground. Maddy was thrown into the air like she was some sort of a cheerleader. Since they were directly under the trap door, when Maddy was thrown up, she entered the trap door and using her hands, she hoisted herself up and into the trap door.
Inside, it was completely dark. Maddy couldn't see anything. She took out her phone and turned on the in-built torch. Using the light from her phone, she inspected her surroundings. There was nothing much to see. It was extremely dusty inside. Maddy also caught sight of some spiders in one corner of the shelf. She made sure to stay as away from that corner as possible. The room was mostly empty except for a chocolate wrapper. The rogue must have been eating chocolate inside.
Since she found nothing, Maddy went to the opening and sat down on the edge. With her feet dangling, she inspected the distance between herself and the ground. Would she be able to jump? The rogue had extra abilities that Maddy didn't have. She decided to jump anyway. It wasn't like there was a ladder around. Besides, Maddy was already hurt. What could a little more pain do?
Maddy was proved wrong. When she jumped, she had expected to land on her feet. Unfortunately, she somehow managed to spin herself around or something because she fell down with her face first. At the last second, Maddy managed to put her hands forward to break the fall. Maddy crumpled on the ground in a tangle of limbs.
"Jesus, Maddy are you okay?" Xander said as he rushed forward to help.
Maddy nodded and hastily got up. It was funny how drastically Maddy's definition of 'okay' changed in the past few months. As long as she wasn't dead or majorly injured, she was okay.
Maddy looked that Katie wasn't around. She had expected Katie to make some snarky remark about her clumsiness but she received none. "Where's Katie?" she asked.
"Leia, Alexa, and Katie carried the rogue to the car. Jeremy is waiting in the car for us," Xander said as he grabbed her hand and started walking towards the stairs.