Page 35 of Orion: Galaxy Huntress

Chapter 16

Ace

When my phonerang and I saw my brother’s name on it, I knew I was in deep shit. I hadn’t been back to the pack in days. Stayed at my place in town, keeping an eye on the damn demon, making sure he didn’t skip town with my army.

Fuck, I was going to regret answering. “What do you want, Darius?” I growled.

“Where the fuck have you been these last three days?” Darius growled back, deeper, harsher, telling me I better return before I created more shit to answer for.

“Organizing a response to our little problem.” Hardly little, but whatever. It was more than his sorry ass was willing to do.

“What the fuck have you done?” Darius demanded.

I scratched my forehead. “If all comes off as planned, you won’t have to worry about the Lithgow pack anymore, brother.”

“Get your ass back here,” my brother ordered. “Benji is missing.”

Benji. A border scout. “How long has he been missing?”

“A day.” Fuck. Anything could have happened. An attack by our enemy or by wild dogs in the Newnes Plateau. I had to return to the pack. “I’ll be right there.” I ended the call and got in my dark pickup, driving straight to the packhouse.

Darius waited for me with a group of three other soldiers—our best—all ready and geared with backpacks to take searching. Weapons, food, flashlights, water, and radios stashed in case of emergencies. A bug-out bag of sorts.

“Where was Benji scouting when he went missing?” I accepted a rucksack from my brother, casting off my shirt and throwing the bag over my shoulders to carry.

“Along the eastern pack boundary.” Darius shoved extra knifes in the pockets of his sash. “I want all of you to search for traces of him and report back at midnight at Crest Rock.” A large area to scout, but between the four of us, we could get it done.

“What if he’s been taken?” Sam, one of the soldiers, asked.

Darius tensed, his brows wrinkled, showing the immense weight he carried and the decision dragging him down. He hadn’t decided whether to merge with our rivals yet, but I could tell he leaned toward it heavily. “Then I go to the Lithgow pack to negotiate his release.”

I’d not have my only brother and Alpha go. Our enemies could kill him and take the territory from us, then raid us and kill us. “I’ll go instead. You’re too valuable.”

Darius’ eyes crushed closed and his lips thinned. He didn’t want me to take the fall for him. I might have defied him, pissed him off with my absence, but he still loved me, and I loved him back. “No, it has to be me.”

“Like hell it does,” I growled, the sound stirring the hackles on the backs of the three soldiers’ heads to rise.

“We’ll work it out later.” Darius’ tone brooked no further argument. “We’re leaving. Finding Benji is more important than arguing.”

Without another word, we took my brother’s car to the land bordering both territories and split up. I got assigned the southern path, and we each took a quarter of territory to search, agreeing to report back every hour.

Branches and leaves crunched beneath my feet. Eucalyptus, loam, and animal dropping scents cloyed at my nose. Marsupials, insects and reptiles scurried about the ground, making way for me as I padded through the dry forest. No sign of Benji so far. Bugs clicked and chirped their cacophony and I had to tune them out, seeking beyond the noise for any movement of larger animals. If Benji was missing, there was a good chance that our enemy had crossed into our region, and I had to be alert and ready. Divided, we were each more vulnerable to attack if that was what had happened to Benji. If our enemy ventured across our border, I hoped they didn’t travel in a group for mine and my pack’s sake. Fucking Lithgow rivals broke the pact set up by my father and were asking for war because of this intrusion. Urgency thrummed in my veins, and I picked up my pace to find my missing friend.

The faintest hint of bricks, wood, and mortar hit me. Benji. He traded in carpentry, and built houses for all the pack, and was erecting a new one for Jodie's daughter as a wedding gift. I traced the scent along a stream's edge where moss and water almost masked it. Another mile in, the scent strengthened, and I knew I was close. My bones jarred at detecting the foul odor of intruders. Piss, shit, cum, cheap beer, mining coal, and mud. Filthy mutts. Definitely their scent. Smelled like they worked at the nearby Mount Piper Power Station. Energy pumped into every muscle as I pushed my body harder than ever. Every sense went on high alert and my body tensed to run if I had to signal the others.

A body slumped on its side across the damp leaf litter along the stream. Slashed from neck to flank, bite marks scoring his long, lean body. Dried blood flecked his dark brown fur. Fuck. He was in bad shape and needed attending to. Not something I could do for him in my wolf body, so I shifted out of it.

“Fuck, Benji, I’m here, buddy.” I cradled Benji’s head. “You hold on, okay?”

He growled and snapped his teeth. Pain. Lots of it. He wouldn’t be steady on his feet like this, but I had to get him back to the pack for medical attention with my mother. But first I needed to contact the other searchers then stop the bleeding before he lost too much and the ability to get the fuck out of here.

I retrieved the radio and patched through a call. “Found him by the stream down near the old mill.” The signal for us to rendezvous back at the vehicle. I stuffed the device back into the backpack, fishing out bandages, turning my attention back to my injured comrade. “Can you shift, buddy?”

Benji groaned. Yes. But it would hurt like a mother. Had to be done. I couldn’t leave him to die slowly and painfully out here.

“I need you to do it, buddy.” I stroked his coarse head. “It’ll be easier for me to carry you back to the SUV to meet up with Darius, Matt, Sammy and Trent.”

Benji gave a short nod, shuddering as he transformed, the pain evident on his face, his rippling, snarling muzzle. Fuck, it was horrible to watch, my guts turning inside out at every keen. I held him tightly, letting him know I had him. He sat up, clutching his side. Sweat drenched his body. Paleness discolored his tanned skin. Infection had set in. Fuck, he’d been out here too long.

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