Page 46 of Howl For A Kiss
"So, let me break down the standard Alpha stronghold protocol," he said, tracing the perimeter with one finger. "Guards rotate every four hours, with skeleton crews after midnight. But there will be extra security now given the high-value prisoners."
Elena leaned over the map beside him, close enough that her warmth seeped through his thermal shirt. "I know the internal layout from Fiona's mating ceremony. The holding cells are in the basement level, accessible through the main house or the service tunnels."
"Service tunnels?" Daniel asked, the senior fighter's scarred face intent.
"Emergency escape routes," Elena explained, pointing to a section of the map. "They lead from the basement to an exit near the stables. Fiona and I almost made it out that way before..." Her voice trailed off.
Damon felt the spike of remembered pain and rage through their bond. His mate had been forced to abandon her sister to save her life—a choice that would haunt any protective soul, especially one as fierce as Elena's.
"The Beta's quarters are here," Damon said, indicating a section of the estate. "Marcus Tidewater. He'll be the one coordinating security for the executions."
Elena's eyes went flat and cold. "Good. I have unfinished business with him."
The temperature in the room seemed to drop several degrees. Damon recognized that look—he'd worn it himselfduring his darkest moments as Beta. Elena was slipping into the mindset that had allowed her to survive her brutal childhood, the place where mercy became weakness and vengeance justified any cost.
"Elena." His voice cut through the planning discussion like a blade. When she looked up at him, he held her gaze steadily. "This is a rescue mission. We get in, extract the prisoners, and get out. We're not there for revenge."
"Speak for yourself," she said, ice crystallizing around each word.
"I am speaking for both of us," Damon replied with quiet authority. "You're not facing this alone anymore. I'm here with you now, and I'll be here always. But I won't watch you become the monster they tried to make you into."
The cabin fell silent. Elena's fighters exchanged glances, clearly recognizing the tension crackling between their leader and her new second-in-command. Damon felt Elena's anger warring with something deeper through their bond—the part of her that had always craved someone strong enough to pull her back from the darkness.
"Fine," she said finally. "Rescue first. But if the opportunity for justice presents itself..." She shrugged with deceptive casualness.
Damon studied her face, reading the stubborn set of her jaw. His mate had agreed to the mission parameters, but she hadn't promised to abandon her thirst for retribution. He'd have to watch her carefully once they reached the Alpha's estate.
"Three teams," Elena announced, turning back to the map. "Insertion team goes through the service tunnels. Extraction team secures the prisoners. Diversion team creates chaos topside to draw attention away from the real objective."
"I'll take insertion with you," Damon said.
"Maggie and I can handle extraction," Daniel offered. "We know prisoner rescue protocols."
Elena nodded, already distributing weapons from their arsenal. As Damon watched her preparing for their mission, he felt a spike of fierce pride mixed with protective concern. His mate was a warrior born, deadly and beautiful in her element.
As they all prepared to leave the cabin, Elena checked her weapons one final time. In the lamplight, her face carried the cold determination of someone who had waited years for this moment. This wasn't just a rescue mission for her—it was personal reckoning, the chance to face the people who had torn her family apart.
"Remember," Damon said quietly as they stepped into the November night, "you're not the same woman who had to walk away that day. You're stronger now. We're stronger together."
Elena glanced at him, and for just a moment, the ice in her expression thawed. "Together," she agreed.
But as they disappeared into the forest with her fighters, Damon couldn't shake the feeling that tonight would test every bond between them—including the mate bond that was still so new and fragile.
The Tidewater Alpha's stronghold loomed before them through the snow-laden pines, a massive stone fortress that spoke of centuries of dominance and oppression. Damon crouched beside Elena at the forest's edge, studying the imposing structure with the analytical eye of someone who had visited countless such strongholds in his fifteen years as Beta.
This is it,he thought, feeling the weight of the moment settle over him.After tonight, everything changes.
Next to him, he could feel Elena's coiled tension—part anticipation, part barely controlled fury. Her sister was somewhere behind those walls, and nothing in hell would stop his mate from reaching her.
"Three guard rotations on the perimeter," Damon murmured, his breath forming small clouds in the frigid air. "Standard stronghold protocol, but they've doubled the usual numbers." His eyes tracked movement along the tower battlements. "They're expecting trouble."
Elena's jaw tightened as she checked her weapons one more time—guns secured in her shoulder holster, knives at her hip, and extra ammunition strapped to her thighs. "Good. They should be."
Damon felt another surge of fierce pride watching her prepare for this infiltration. His mate was magnificent in her element—deadly, focused, and beautiful in the moonlight despite the cold fury radiating from her every movement. She was everything he'd never known he needed, and after tonight, he would officially choose her over everything else in his structured, duty-bound life.
The realization should have worried him. Instead, it felt like a homecoming.
"Remember," he said quietly, addressing Elena's thirteen fighters gathered in the shadows around them, "this is extraction, not revenge. We get the prisoners and disappear before anyone realizes they're gone."
