Page 33 of The Scent of Seduction

“Well, don’t bother. I am the council. We have a task force set up throughout these woods. We’re hitting the compound in an organized strike at exactly twenty-two hundred.” Jaryn looked at the watch on his comm-unit. “That’s five minutes from now.”

“Let me help. I’ve got a pretty good idea of the layout.”

“Yeah, us too.”

“How?”

Jaryn stared into the midnight eyes of the wolf in front of him, refusing to answer. There was no way in hell he’d risk the knowledge of his mate’s existence to this unproven entity.

“Fine. Look, there are a few things you may not know about. The compound has an extremely sensitive alert system. You don’t know where all the triggers are.”

Jaryn hated to admit it, but the wolf had a point. They had a vague idea of Broyles’ security system, thanks to Nicole, but his mate had never had the training that Jaryn and his men had. Therefore, she wouldn’t have even thought to look for the type of clues they really needed to achieve a complete stealth mission.

“Your point?”

“Use me. I’ll set the system off to create a distraction, draw him and his cronies out.”

“If you trip their system, they’ll put the buildings on lockdown and that’ll prevent us from getting inside.”

“No, they won’t. I’ve been fucking with Broyles for the past month by tripping the perimeter at random intervals and in all different locations. He knows I’m out here—we’ve been playing cat and mouse for a while now. The first few times, yeah, they locked the place down, but now he’s become so frustrated that he and his men simply race out into the woods half-cocked. And I make excellent bait. He’s got such a big ego, he’s convinced there’s no way he could lose against one man, but he’s not expecting an entire squad.”

“Sounds like you have experience with this sort of thing.”

“Seventy-fifth Ranger. They granted me emergency leave until I bring my brother home."

“Jaryn Chaunterel, former master sergeant. Nowadays, I’m Alpha of Phantom River, and council member of ASC.”

“What unit were you with?”

Jaryn smirked as he slid the combat knife back into the nylon sheath attached to his belt.

“One of those, huh?”

Jaryn’s head acknowledged with the barest hint of movement and he saw a new respect in the young Ranger’s eyes.

“Well, sir, what do you say?”

Jaryn scented determination and earnestness in the wolf. He believed that the young warrior was here to rescue a family member. Family was all that mattered when it came down to it. Wasn’t that why he was here? Not only to take down a significant threat to his species but also to avenge the treatment of his mate at the hands of the bastard hiding within the walls of the grand limestone building that glowed under the nearly full moon.

“Let’s go find your brother.” He keyed up his comm-unit that broadcasted on a secured frequency to the other task force members. “Be advised, we have a new guest at the party. Clark and Grant, wait for my signal before launching the confetti cannons.”

Jaryn waited to hear an acknowledgement from all the team members before slowly backing away into the forest. Just before he knew the darkness would swallow him up, he flashed a smile at Mac. “All right, kid, do your thing.”

Mac snapped a salute at Jaryn. “Yes, sir!”

Jaryn turned and moved back to his original position. He waited, motionless, for Mac’s diversion. He had no idea what the kid was going to do, and that made the nerves under his skin dance. Normally in these types of operations, Jaryn hated any kind of surprise, but they didn’t have a lot of time on their hands. He had to trust that Mac knew what he was talking about. The team had, of course, expected to find some type of perimeter alarm at the compound, but despite their best efforts, they could not determine exactly what kind of setup Broyles had. If Mac had been truthful—and Jaryn had detected nothing but sincerity from the Ranger—then they now had the last tactical advantage they’d needed in order to make this mission a success.

Nicole had told Jaryn that Broyles had an inner circle he used as guardsmen around the compound, but she said most of them appeared to be nothing more than brutes and sharks.

Each member of the force they’d compiled had a job to do. Shaun and the two coyotes were to release the hostages from the cells located in the buildings on the back of the property. The two cougars, Clark and Grant, were to take out the guard hub that controlled all the security cameras and could trip the security lockdown of the main house. According to Nicole, if the house security was tripped, they’d have zero chance of getting to Broyles inside.

He checked his watch. Thirty seconds to go before their scheduled time of infiltration. Clark and Grant would strike first, and when they gave the all clear, the rest of the team would make their way towards their targets. Jaryn had a clear line of sight to the house, and his enhanced night vision cut through the darkness with ease. The side door to the mansion opened and several bodies ran out into the night. Nicole had given Jaryn a description of Broyles, and judging by the shapes running out into the forest, he didn’t think one of those men was his target.

That was good because Jaryn wanted the wolf all to himself. “We have a green light. Execute, execute, execute,” he ordered into the mic.

If the coyotes did their job right, then they’d complete this mission with a precision strike within the next thirty seconds. Jaryn waited, counting down the seconds. He kept his ears open for any sounds in the forest surrounding him. Where Mac planned on tripping the alarms, he didn't know, therefore the other wolf’s location or the whereabouts of those he’d lured away from the mansion were also a mystery.

Clark’s deep voice came over the comm-unit, signaling that they deactivated the security system. Jaryn took nothing for granted as he stealthily made his way inside the perimeter. He wouldn’t put it past Broyles to have some type of a backup system in place. The hardest part would be making his way across the open land between the tree line and the house. He’d made it about halfway when Shaun’s voice rumbled in his ear.

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