Page 82 of Mated By the Pack
“It’s one and the same these days,”I mutter. “Besides, don’t you think she would look fucking lovely in a white dress? Blushing bride on her wedding day?”
“Haven’t thought about it. You really are hiding it well, if you’re already planning the damn wedding,”Jace chuckles sarcastically.“Vance is up ahead.”
“Knox too. I got his scent.”I rush ahead and skid into the darkness once we get close to Vance.
I find a good vantage point and see Vance near several shops. He’s shifted, growling, and backing away from several peace officers. They appear to be armed with rifles, but they’re not firing them. They’re circling our brother, like they’re trying to corral him. Then I notice the cage sitting nearby.
Jace leans closer, growling into my ear. Knox slides in behind us, but doesn’t say anything.
I shift and turn to my brothers. “I’m going up to the roof so I can see what is going on.”
I pause when I get to the side of the building, because I catch Calla’s scent. I curse under my breath when I see a black streakof onyx—and our mate sitting on our brother’s back. I didn’t want her here. If there’s trouble, she shouldn’t be in the middle of it.
“What the hell, Caleb?” I snarl as he stops near me and Calla hops off his back.
He shifts and meets my glare with one of his own. “I’m not going to let something happen to my brothers because you ordered me to protect our mate,” he snaps. “We should have talked about it before you went running off into the darkness.”
“Now isn’t the time,” I mutter. “Keep her out of sight. I’m going up to the roof.”
I easily scale the building in human form and creep along the roof until I get closer to the action. I shift so I can communicate with Vance.
“What’s the problem, brother?”I ask across our mental link.“You could rip their throats out before they could ever get you into that cage.”
“I picked up a couple of peace officers and shifted to lose them. Then I ran into these guys. But I don’t want to leave a bloodbath if I don’t have to,”Vance transmits.“They think I’m a wild wolf, so I don’t want to shift.”
A smart move. A wild wolf in Haven North is certainly cause for concern, but if they see him shift, they’ll have to die. Right now, they’re just trying to trap him, and he’s doing a good job of keeping them at bay with snaps, growls, and maneuvers that utilize his speed.
“I know what to do,”I say, then shift to human form and hop off the roof beside my brothers. “The peace officers just think he’s awild wolf. Let’s take them down. Human form. Just knock them out. Don’t kill them.”
Jace shifts and shakes his head. “That’s no fun.”
Knox shifts and nods. “It’s a good plan. Calla, you should stay back. If they see a woman who isn’t afraid of a wolf and a bunch of naked savages, that will be the first thing on their mind when they wake up.”
We’re not as quiet in human form, but the peace officers are distracted. I lead my brothers around the building, and we close in on the uniformed men. I leap forward and catch one in a rear-naked choke. It wouldn’t take much effort to snap his neck, even in human form, but I restrain myself and clutch his carotid artery, just like they taught us in the military.
My brothers do the same thing, utilizing different takedowns. Caleb slides, kicks out a leg, and knocks the peace officer out with an elbow to the skull. Hopefully, he pulled it, so he didn’t fracture the man’s skull.
The peace officer Knox goes after is a woman. He’s gentler when he snatches her around the waist, then he hurls her overhead with a suplex that sends her crashing into the wall behind us. Not only does she squeal before she gets knocked out, but it alerts the other two peace officers.
Jace bursts from the darkness with a punch that could level a hybrid, sending blood flying from the man’s mouth.
“What the hell?” the other peace officer calls out. “Security has been breached! Sound the alarm!”
But there’s nobody to sound it. All of his fellow officers are on the ground, and just when he raises his rifle, Vance shiftsand wraps his arm around the man’s neck. It only takes a few seconds for our youngest brother to choke the bastard out.
“We can’t leave them in the streets,” I bark. “Grab them.”
“Back to the warehouse?” Jace asks.
“No.” I shake my head. “I was in the College District. There was a lot of talk about the missing women. Someone might start checking the tunnels.”
“Sorry, guys,” Vance sighs. “I thought I was staying out of sight, but someone noticed me.”
“It’s fine. We handled it. Let’s find somewhere to stash the bodies and get the hell out of here.” I motion to my brothers.
“Wait, aren’t we going to deal with that bastard who sold Calla to the slavers?” Knox questions, glancing at our mate.
“It was foolish,” Calla sighs. “I don’t need revenge, and from what Caleb told me, it won’t help anyway. Not worth the risk.”
