Page 6 of Sold Wolf Slave

“You know Declan wouldn’t do that,” I said.

Still, I had to admit that, as much as I didn’t want to admit it, Nolan and Chris both had points. Our alpha, Declan, had told us yesterday that he had gotten wind of a trafficking ring, a tip from the leader of the retired Silver Wolves, a black-ops group. As such, the Gold Wolves, designated only “semi-retired,” had gotten the job of searching for it. Chris, Nolan, and I were supposed to search for it, find out what we could, and try to eliminate it if possible. The information was scant, and the other Gold Wolves had to stick around town to run things. So, I’d offered to lead the mission and brought Chris and Nolan along with me. I had expected to find something by now that could point us in the right direction, but so far, nothing had emerged.

“We’ll look for a bit longer,” I said. “You guys check that way, and I’ll check this way. We can meet back here in an hour. If none of us find anything by then, we’ll head back to town and report it to Declan.”

“Finally, the man sees sense,” Nolan muttered. I let out a growl, and Nolan held his hands up. “Only joking. We’ll meet you back here in sixty.”

They departed through the brush. I turned and went my own way. As I moved through the woods, keeping alert for any strange scents or unfamiliar voices, my eyes darted all over, looking for anything that might be a meeting place. It didn’t make sense. If there were a trafficking ring going on around here, we would have seen some evidence of it. A structure to keep the slaves in, or at least some sort of house or building for the slavers to operate out of. Since starting, I hadn’t seen anything that looked remotely suspicious.

The only thing that stood out of place was the scents. Even if there wasn’t any sign of anyone, I kept catching whiffs of stale scents. Nothing particularly fresh or trackable, but I could have sworn I smelled dozens—if not hundreds—of different scents, as if people wandered through these woods constantly.

I saw tracks in the soft dirt that suggested similarly, and even something that might have been a path. Except when I followed the path, hoping I might be able to finally catch a break, I just wound up in a random clearing.

Taking a deep breath, I turned and headed back to the rendezvous point. It wasn’t until I had almost gotten back to the meeting point that I heard a group of voices somewhere to my right.

“The women there are supposed to be drop-dead gorgeous,” one voice said. “Like nothing you could ever believe.

“Expensive, though,” another grumbled. “It took nearly a hundred grand just to get the location of the damn portal.”

Portal?I thought, brow furrowed.

“All worth it,” the first voice said. “Seriously, they’ve got all kinds there. I hear they’ve even got witches.”

I moved silently, following the brash voices. After a moment, I saw a group of four shifters walking at a fast pace, glancing around but not bothering to keep their voices low as they talked about the type of women they were interested in getting. This was it, then.

I looked in the direction of the rendezvous point, chewing the inside of my lip as I debated. Chris and Nolan would be getting back soon, but if I turned back now after finding a solid lead, the entire mission could be scrapped.

Not wanting to wait for them to return, and not wanting to give up our one clear lead to our goal, I moved forward through the woods, following the group. My ears pricked as I listened.

“Supposed to be somewhere around here, isn’t it?” One of the guys asked.

“Think so. Though I’ll be damned if I know where. It isn’t as though the instructions were particularly clear.”

“Can’t imagine why,” a third drawled. “What are you planning on doing once you get yours?”

“Who says I’m planning on stopping at one?” the first one said, earning chuckles from the other three. “I’m not stopping until I have a whole harem. I’ve got the money for it.”

“Think you’ll have to put your money where your mouth is there,” said the third. “And I’m pretty sure you’re going to have some stiff competition.”

A snort echoed from the fourth shifter. “Yeah, pretty sure some of the guys in there have got more money than you’ve ever seen.”

“You guys are just jealous you’ll have to use the pits to even have a chance at getting one,” the first said.

“Stop acting like an expert. You’ve only been there the one time,” the second one hissed. “Speaking of, where the hell are we supposed to go?”

“Now you need me,” the first said. “It’s right around here.”

I watched as they took a step forward and vanished.

I stared, my mind trying to reconcile what it had just seen with what it knew about physics. Because there was no way what I had just seen was real. And yet, the next three men vanished in a similar fashion. I remembered what that one guy had called it: a portal.

Magic, I thought as my wolf snarled.We’re actually dealing with magic. Either that, or I’ve gone insane.

Looking behind me, I didn’t see a sign of Chris or Nolan. My ears pricked as I waited, wondering if they would emerge. But there was nothing but the sound of the wind through the grass, scattering the dead leaves as I waited.

I couldn’t wait around for them. I would have to go take care of this on my own.

Stepping into the clearing, I wandered closer to where they had vanished. As I did, the hair on the back of my neck prickled. My wolf growled, sensing something was off. I paused.

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