Page 231 of The Alpha's Second Chance Mate

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” I asked.

She slammed the door and buckled her seatbelt. “If you think I’m going to sit here by the goddamn fire like some medieval maiden waiting for the men to come home, then you don’t know me.”

“Farrah, I don’t think?—”

“Shut it, Cole. Ashton is my nephew. And…” She looked away, her cheeks flushing. “Avery is family. Or at least, she will be whenever you finally claim her, dumbass. Let’s go.”

I sighed in frustration, but I knew my sister. Once she had her eyes on the prize, there was no changing her mind.

“All right. Let’s do this,” I said.

We drove to a meeting place two miles from Kyle’s mansion, abandoned the cars, and shifted. In seconds, a mass of writhingmuscle, fur, and glinting teeth swooped into the forest, and we rushed through the woods like silent assassins, tension building with each yard closer to our objective.

Soon, the floodlights and fences of Kyle’s mansion came into view. We stopped at the edge of the forest and shifted back to our human forms.

Langston edged his way toward me and knelt next to me. “Electric fence is still on,” he said.

He was right. Even from nearly two hundred yards away, I could hear the dull hum of the electricity surging through it. I glanced at my watch. Five minutes to midnight.

“There’s still time,” I said. “The note said twelve.”

“Are you sure we can trust this note you got?”

“There’s nothing else to do, Langston,” I said wearily. “It’s now or never. Whether we have help on the inside or not, we go in at midnight.”

“Just wanted to make sure you were on the same page.”

“Trent,” I hissed. “Come here.”

My friend joined me, staying low. “Yeah?”

“Are the new Harbor Mills men armed?”

“I made sure of it,” Trent said.

The newcomers hadn’t had time to train with us and might have been a liability in direct combat, so we’d armed them with pistols and rifles. They’d be the first group to move out, taking position low on the ground, ready to blast any of Kyle’s men who might come out to greet us when we were spotted.

“Tell them to start heading out. Right there, there’s a little berm in the yard that blocks the light of the spotlights. Tell them to group there and get into shooting position.”

“On it.” He moved away, whispering orders to the men.

They moved toward the house slowly and steadily, staying upwind of the men patrolling inside the fences of the mansion. We didn’t want them to catch our scent until it was too late.

The tension in my body built with every passing second. It was two minutes to midnight, and my wolf was thrashing about in my mind, ready to unleash himself on our enemy. I’d never felt so primal in my life. It was almost as though I’d slipped farther into my wolf, a raging animal being held back by the barest hint of humanity.

“Shift,” I whispered as my watch showed one minute to midnight.

Word spread, and the men morphed back into their wolves. My paws trembled, and my jaw ached, the desire to bite and rend flesh almost too much to take. I couldn’t explain the feeling. Iachedto do harm, to do damage. I was not a violent man at heart, but a thrill shot through me at the thought of hurting those who’d hurt me and the people I cared about.

With no warning or preamble, the lights of the mansion went dark. The floodlights shut off, and the hum of electricity vanished. I stood still, shocked that it had actually happened. Part of me, a deep and cynical part, had been worried that this was a trap. Now, through the light of the moon, I wasn’t seeing a mansion. I saw a sheep with its throat turned toward a predator, defenseless and ready for death.

Releasing the loudest howl of my life, I led the pack forward. My paws hissed over the grass as my pack howled like demons sent from the pits of hell.

From the screams and shouts coming from the mansion, those inside it were not prepared to meet our wrath.

55

AVERY

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