by Jana Leigh
Kiki looked at him in surprise and with his eyes open wide he said, "No, asshole."
Calli laughed. Thomas blushed, and the rest of the room was silent and watching to see what happened. There was going to be a big blow up. Kade stood up and said, "Okay, let's stay on track."
"We're trying to find this shithead in like a million faces, even the computers take time to find that, so we need to keep his photo with us, and make sure we're checking people out around us," Kade said and then looked around the table. He hated that they were going to be in the open, but they couldn't stay in the apartment forever. They had plenty of guards, and they weren't dressed in their normal garb for Enforcers. They dressed like normal shifters, so at least they weren't drawing attention to themselves.
"So now the rest of this shit. Calli and I talked last night, and this is how we are going to handle this. Calli and I are, of course; the Alphas, then Cherri and Rissa are the Betas. When they mate, it will stay the same, unless we change Cherri to the medical supervisor. But we will take that as it comes. We aren't sure who the Omega is because so far we haven't talked about it. So the Omega wolf is the one who feels the Pack, they are in touch with every single one of us, and our emotions. Such as if Calli was pissed at me, the Omega would know it and also be able to soothe her feelings."
He saw Sabrina biting her lip with a worried expression. Kade knew what was going on, he had felt that Sabrina could be the Omega but needed her to accept it. Finally, she raised her hand.
"Um, I think maybe that's me. But I'm not going to give up being a guard for Cherri," she said quickly.
Kade nodded. "That's fine; we can't afford to lose you anyway. But just so we know who everyone is. Thomas and Trina, are going to be the head Enforcers, you will share this position. Organize the guards and all the Enforcers, please. Right now, we have the main positions filled. I think as time goes on, we will find that others may actually have positions too. I have only been able to read a small portion of Calli's book, so we have a lot to learn. I have a lot to learn about being the Alpha. Together we are going to make this work. Now, about the humans, still keeping this to ourselves until I talk to Brooks and Ms. Praton. Hopefully, they will have more answers."
Calli's communicator went off, and she reached to see who was calling. It was the Drekinn headquarters, so she answered it, "Yeah."
"We have found one of the men who has been hired to kill you. He's located at the address sent to your communicators. Brooks is sending a team in, and he said to let me know if you're going too."
"Tell him, fuck yes," Calli growled into the phone.
"Thomas, you stay with Kiki; you do not leave here unless we call, we are taking the guards and Enforcers. Cherri and Rissa, what do you want to do?" Calli said.
Both of the girls replied by standing up and getting their gear on. Kiki stood up and said, "No, wait a fuckin' second. I'm not sitting here while my Pack is out there running willy nilly around trying to save us all. I helped when Kade needed it, and damnit, I can help now."
The room stood still as they felt her power from Kiki flow out through them. "What the fuck was that?" Kade said.
"What?" Kiki said.
"We can talk about it later, for now, I think we can assume you're correct, but you need to stay with Thomas. He is your backup, right? And willy nilly, seriously?"
"Fine, I will stay with the guard, but where's my weapon? And fuck off Kade, I can talk like I want," Kiki said.
Calli stood and looked at Kiki and then threw her one of her smaller guns. They were all shocked when he grabbed it out of midair and cocked it. "What? I have one at home, just didn't get a chance to pack it."
Kade shook his head and said, "Don't make me regret this."
Kiki, who was wearing one of her regular outfits that consisted of a scary green shirt, and black satin pants, grinned and said, "I won't."
Chapter 14
Calli hoped the day was going to get a lot better than when it started out. Her morning romp with Kade was interrupted by Kiki, who was making a huge breakfast for the Pack. Not wanting to upset her, they had stopped what they were doing and dressed.
She was crabby and unsatisfied, so when the call came into the apartment, Calli was ready to kick some ass. She was going to take out her sexual frustration on this asshole. Everyone was coming because basically, no one wanted to be left behind. As they got into their separate shuttles, she stared at her new family. They were awesome, and she loved them all already. It was frightening to think that she basically was the parent to all of these people. That was kinda what an Alpha was, from what she could glean from the book she had. Although most of the passages referred to her ancestors, there were snippets of information about the Alphas. Apparently, Josephine was the Alpha Cami's best friend. The tales were too large to believe the shit they did. But Calli enjoyed reading them; it reminded her of the relationship she had with Rissa and Cherri.
Kade was driving this time. She told him earlier that what was hers was his. He argued for a minute, which led to the hot, almost sex this morning, but he finally agreed that they would join accounts when they were claimed. He suggested they make a Pack account also, because he knew some of the people that were going to join were not nearly as wealthy or old as they were. Shit, that sounded bad even when she thought it. She was old.
Kade was talking to the other shuttles on the dash communicator, and they had also joined the conversation with the Enforcers currently on the ground surrounding the building the man they sought was in. One of the Enforcers had already confirmed he was in the small run down hotel that they had identified earlier.
The staging area for the mission was a block away from the hotel. Kade directed all the shuttles where to park, as to keep out of the eyesight of anyone. So they had longer to hump it in when they finally got organized and out of the shuttles.
Rissa and Cherri were armed to the teeth. She was so happy they had gone through the Enforcer training with her. Granted, they had not been as good as she was, but she would not want to meet either of them in a dark alley. Because what they lacked in accuracy, they made up for in viciousness. Calli saw Cherri almost bite the arm off a shifter who refused to cooperate with her. She had latched on and refused to let go, and Rissa could throw a knife with scary accuracy. Calli hated it when there was a fly in the room, she would pin it to the wall. So far, they had their apartment re-plastered eight times, always after the summer. Cherri liked to sleep with her window open.
Kade was directing everyone to go to the main area. When they arrived, there was a flurry of activity going on. Calli looked around and saw the Senior Enforcer standing in the corner looking at a monitor.
"Wic, what the hell is going on?" Calli said. She knew that Kade had not had a chance to actually meet most of these people personally, although he had been introduced at a large meeting.
"Ma'am, we have eyes on the suspect. He's in his room, but we have another suspect who just came in. We are trying to get ears on them right now," Wic, the large Enforcer said.
Calli liked him, he was one of the few men who stood up to her shit. She was planning on promoting him soon to be a Commander of Enforcers, then he would work directly for her. She had thought about setting Rissa up with him, but he seemed way to straight for her air headed friend. But who knew, maybe she would. They had never met, and she wanted to get Rissa out from the computer more.
"How many do we have in there?" she asked and looked closer at all the cameras.
Wic rattled off a list of names, most of them were the elite Enforcers, so that was good. She didn't want any greenhorns being in there and letting the guy escape. It would piss her off.
She introduced Kade, who was standing behind her. Wic nodded and asked if he wanted the mission turned over to him since he was the superior. She wanted to beam with pride when he said, "No sir, you're doing great. I just want to be one of the men going in," but she held back, because they were on a serious mission. Their whole crew was waiting for
them on the other side of the building.
"Thank you, sir, if you get into place here," Wic said and pointed to the north side of the building where the man's window faced and the emergency exit was. The most likely place the man would run for.
"Great, there are sixteen of us, and we will have this whole area covered. So pull your men to the east, they need to cover the other exit heavily, he could rabbit out that way too," Kade said and pointed to the screen with the map of the fleabag hotel. "We have our own ears; we will turn them on when we are on the move."
"Yes, sir," Wic said and practically saluted. Oh shit, really? Calli turned to look at Kade, who was frowning and then nodded to her. Wic was gonna be moving in. Hmmm, maybe Rissa and he stood a chance after all.
Kade and Calli went back to their Pack, and he gave out orders. Kiki and Thomas were going to be across the street to cover the car park entrance, in case he actually got by them. He explained the second man and showed them the picture he had downloaded quickly. Everyone nodded, and they had their game faces on when Kade led them down the street. They kept close to the buildings to not draw any more attention than they were already drawing.
When they finally got into place, Kade checked back with Wic on the status, he had acquired a small microphone from the headquarters. Wic informed them the two men were making plans to go somewhere to find someone. So far, they had not said a name, but the place they were going was a club that Kiki listed as a place she worked a few months ago. They were trying to find her still, and now there were two of them. How many guys had the Bondi King hired to find all of them? It must have cost a fortune.
"Sir, we have reports of Ulfer in the area too. One of the men saw them standing guard in front of the hotel," Wic said.
"How many are we up to?" Kade said calmly.
"Seven, Sir, we are going to have to move, the two men inside are preparing to leave. We can't let them get outside with all the humans and innocent shifters in the area."
"Copy, we move in three minutes, starting now," Kade said into the small microphone, then he shut it off and made a motion with his hand that they all knew meant they were moving in.
Slowly, Calli followed Kade to the back entrance of the hotel, and they entered quietly. The Enforcers were to knock on doors as they went by and get the occupants out before the shit went down. Slowly, they made their way to the stairs; they had six people with them now. The rest were helping people get out. They ascended the stairs silently. Cherri and Rissa were in back of her, as were three of the Enforcers they had picked up last night. Sabrina and Trina were helping people get out, and Thomas and Kiki were across the street like they were supposed to be.
Kade got to the floor, and he turned on the microphone again. "On the floor."
"Copy," she heard Wic say. He opened the door a crack and peaked through the slit and then nodded and made the motion for them to move.
"Hallway," Kade said softly.
"They are getting on their coat's, sir," Wic said.
Kade got to the door and Calli and Cherri with an Enforcer took one side, and the rest were on the other, with Kade in the lead. They were ready. Calli held up her stun wand ready to stun the first one out of the door; they needed one of them to interrogate. The other could fuckin' die, for all she cared.
Kade saw the handle turn and nodded. They all tensed up ready for what was coming through the door. A large, ugly shifter was the first one out of the door, and if she was not mistaken, he was a jaguar. She pushed the stunner into his stomach and watched him go down fast. The man they knew for sure was looking for Kiki didn't hesitate, he ran back into the room pulling a gun out of the back of his pants and began to fire. Kade and Calli pushed everyone back.
"Fuck, its silver, and he has a huge gun," Calli called through the noise of the shots. They could hear the window in the room breaking, and Kade took the chance to look around the door. The man had to be a shifter. He stood in the window frame and looked over his shoulder, saw Kade and grinned just before he jumped, shifting in midair. They ran into the room in enough time to see Sabrina, Thomas, Trina and Kiki begin to shift. The other Enforcer held their guns on the man and began yelling for him to stop.
"Get that guy cuffed and secure," Kade ordered the Enforcers and ran out the door. Calli looked one last time and then took off after him. So did her friends.
They made it the street when the Ulfer came around the corner too. It was chaos, what they wanted to avoid. The humans and shifters were caught in the street with them. Calli could see many of them had taken cover in the entryways of the buildings, but they were watching. Shit, this was gonna be on the nightly news. Brooks was gonna be pissed.
Kade jumped toward the shifted jaguar. He shifted as he jumped and Calli grinned. Damn her mate was hot.
Calli and the girls turned to the Ulfer, there were five of them just like Wic had said. And they were pissed. Calli pulled out her gun; they were so fixated on the fight; they were ignoring her and her friends. Mistake number one.
She stepped closer and raised her head, there were two cats, a dog, and possibly a gator, if her nose was right. Mistake number two was when the largest of the Ulfer saw her and laughed.
Calli raised her gun and shot him right between the eyes and dropped his ass. Then mistake number three, the rest of the Ulfer decided to charge. They were so stupid. But a moving target was harder to hit, and Calli's next shot went wide.
Rissa fired and hit one of them in the neck, and Cherri hit one in the leg. It slowed them down but didn't stop them. Calli threw her gun and shifted. She was gonna tear them apart. Rissa and Cherri remained in their human form and kept shooting. One of them shifted into a crazy ass looking dog. She growled and launched herself with her back feet at the creature.
Latching on to the back of the creature's neck she bit down and ripped. The thing tried to buck her off, but she refused to let go. She could hear Cherri and Rissa still firing; she needed to put this asshole down fast. Moving quickly, she dug her claws into the creature's back and ripped open his back. She could feel the blood flowing out of the scratches. Then she opened her mouth for a split second to use her large teeth to bite down on a larger area. The Ulfer howled as she ripped his neck. When she was sure he was hurt bad enough, she shifted quickly and grabbed the gun out of her holster, and shot him in the head.
When she turned, she took in the scene quickly. Rissa and Cherri had taken out two of the assholes, with her two that left one, and Kade had the jaguar on the ground and was waiting for Thomas and Sabrina to force him to shift so they could use the silver cuffs and stunner.
Rissa lifted her hand, there was a flash of silver as the remaining Ulfer drew near, she let it go, hitting him right in the forehead, burying the knife right where it had to go. Shit, she loved her friends.
No one saw the man standing in the background watching the events unfold. If they had, it would have solved all of their problems, because he was Mr. Twisted, and they could have at least identified him. Instead, they were all focused on the jaguar.
The Enforcers thought they were securing the area, but they were really opening them up to danger. As they cleared the street from bystanders, they were not looking in the direction the man had appeared, from the side of the hotel they had just come from. He was dressed in black cargos and a black shirt, but if anyone looked close enough they would see that he did not have the right insignia on the shirt.
Calli stepped forward to call to all of her friends who were circling the jaguar. Kade could take care of it, and she wanted to get them all off the street. Someone probably had a new camera pointed on them. Since four who were standing there had targets on their backs, it would be a good idea to lay low right now.
Before she could even open her mouth, a shot rang out. Everyone ducked but Calli, she refused to react and looked for the person who shot. Then she saw him. The man grinned at her, waved and then disappeared around the side of the building. Calli started to run after him when she heard Rissa and C
herri screaming.
"KIKI! FUCK, KIKI!" Rissa cried. Shit, when her friend used the 'f' word, it was serious.
Cherri was kneeling next to the crumpled form on the ground. Calli turned and saw they had secured the jaguar man, and the Enforcers were running with him into the van that was there. Kade howled and shifted. They reached Kiki at the same time, and Calli yelled at her friends. "Cherri, what the fuck, is he gonna be okay?"
Cherri didn't answer her, so she had no clue until Cherri began yelling for transport to the Drekinn building. It was bad. Kade called into the microphone, and they had a shuttle in seconds in front of them, landing on the street. Cherri yelled at Kade and Thomas to carry Kiki to the shuttle. It took two times to get Thomas to snap out of the stunned reaction he had. If she didn't know any better, she could have sworn she saw pain in the man's eyes. Not wasting time worrying about it, she helped with the rest of them carry Kiki to the shuttle.
When she looked down she saw that it was as bad as she thought, Kiki had been shot in the head, but he was still alive, that meant there was a chance. Cherri grimly shut the door after herself as she jumped in and the shuttle took off. The Pack stood and watched the shuttle fly up to the sky and disappear between the buildings.
Chapter 15
Kade and Calli stood in the entrance of the medical wing of the Drekinn building. They had been cleared finally after answering a million questions. Calli was pissed, how could they have failed so epically? Everyone of them knew how to clear a scene, and yet they had stood and not done it. It was her fault; she was the Senior Operative on scene, well that wasn't shifted and biting a jaguar into submission.
Kade had his arms wrapped around her from the back as they leaned together against a wall. She laid her head back on his chest and let out a sigh. It had been nine hours, and still Cherri had not come out. Rissa was pacing the hallway with the others who had gathered here. Thomas was the only one who was missing, and according to Kade he was in the gym, beating the shit out of the dummies. He had requested updates, but so far there had been none.
