Page 152 of The Alpha's Second Chance Mate

Itapped the steering wheel with my fingers to keep the nervous energy flooding through me at bay. Thankfully, it hadn’t taken complete hold of me. My mind was still clear and focused. Prepared. I knew we were about to dive into an extremely dangerous situation, but I was ready for it. Anything for my son.

“How do you feel about this?” Langston asked as I pulled onto a dirt road.

“Like shit, to be honest,” I muttered. “The last thing I want to do is hurt my brother, but it’s like I told Farrah. Ashton is the most important thing here. I’ll walk into the deepest pits of hell for him, and if I have to hurt my brother to get him home safe, then…”

I trailed off. Did I really have that in me? Yes, I did.

“Well, so be it,” I finished.

“Fair enough,” Langston said.

Now that I’d come to grips with the weird jealousy that had consumed me when I’d first met him, I actually liked Langston. He reminded me a bit of Trent, which was probably due to their shared experience in the military. He was calm, confident, and from what I’d seen, very competent. Avery had been right to call him. I could admit that now.

At the end of the dirt road, a group of seven men waited for us. The volunteers from my pack. They all looked ready, but I could see some trepidation and fear in a few eyes as I parked the truck and got out.

“Is Porter in place?” I asked as Langston climbed out from the passenger seat.

He glanced at his phone, then nodded. “Says he’ll be at the secondary meeting spot in three minutes.”

“Great.” I strode toward the group. “Afternoon, everyone.”

I was met with a few nods, grunts, and muttered words of welcome.

Placing my hands on my hips, I glanced around at them. “I can’t thank you all enough. You weren’t forced to be here, and you still volunteered. That shows me the type of men you all are. Your bravery will be remembered, I promise you that. Also, the Garrett family will be forever indebted to you.”

The men, obviously unused to such praise from an alpha, looked a bit uncomfortable. One man, David Wallace, stepped forward.

“We appreciate that, Cole. No thanks needed. All we want to do is rain hell down on this son of a bitch.”

The others smiled, murmuring words of agreement.

“Good,” I said, gesturing at Langston. “Wanna go over the plan once more?”

Langston nodded and stepped forward. “First things first. This is only our initial meeting place. Porter is set up at the secondary spot. It’s an old, abandoned gas station right on the border of the Harbor Mills pack lands. It’s the closest spot to North Crest we could find that was secluded. He’s got some weaponry—courtesy of some willing pack members—that we’ll use when we infiltrate. Once we meet up with him and get outfitted, we shift and make our way into North Crest.”

“And we’re going after this Dallas guy?” one of the men asked. “The one that’s, uh, Cole and Farrah’s half-brother?”

Langston nodded. “Our intel is that Kyle’s men are helping him run some sort of racketeering scam. Today is allegedly the day they come to collect theirtaxes. From what we understand, Dallas is more than likely one of the men assigned to this duty. We want to lay in wait, hidden around the town, until we spot him. That’s when we move. Ideally? It’s quick and clean, and we extract Dallas to the secondary location before returning to Harbor Mills. If things don’t go well…” Langston glanced at me first before returning his attention to the others. “Things will get rough. Kyle and his men have already proven they’re capable of murder. I don’t think I have to tell you what else they might be capable of. I truly hope we don’t need the weapons, but it’s better to be safe than sorry. Watch your asses, don’t do anything unless directed by Cole or me, and speak up if you see something that looks sketchy. Any questions?”

There were none, and a few minutes later, nine wolves sprinted through the woods near the highway. Being in my wolf form helped ease some of the tension that had built inside me. The problem was, my wolf was much more animalistic. Aninstinctual rage surged through me, thrumming like a plucked bowstring. My wolf wanted blood, and he was aching to tear his teeth into the flesh of the men who’d stolen our son. That anger threatened to drown out the human part of my mind, but I managed to hold tight even as images of gnashing teeth and screaming men filled my head.

Porter greeted us ten minutes later, handing out rifles and handguns the pack had donated.

“Porter, take your team and set up around the town. We’ll give you a ten-minute head start before we move out,” Langston said.

“On it,” Porter said, slinging his rifle over his shoulder. “Let’s go!” he shouted to the others and led his team into the forest, leaving Langston and me alone.

“Ready?” Langston asked. “It’s just gonna be you for a while.”

“I’ll be fine,” I said. “Text me when you get sight of Kyle’s goons.”

“See you soon,” he called as I shifted and took off toward North Crest.

Arriving at the edge of town, I shifted back and walked in, calm as you please, doing my best to look as natural as possible. As far as anyone could tell, I was nothing more than a visitor. Yet, even though no one on the streets was giving me a second glance, I could see that tension had taken hold of the whole town.

Strolling down the sidewalk, I noticed men and women hurrying to and fro, eyes down, steps fast, fearful expressions on their faces. If that old woman had been telling us the truth, then tax day was even more terrifying for the residents of North Crest than we’d thought.

My phone buzzed.

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