“No food, just coffee”
“Brianna you need to eat” he argued
“I will, just not yet, see you soon”
She shut the bathroom door quietly, he needed to have her focused and alert by the time they had all assembled in the meeting room. The time for planning had arrived, by tonight, if all went well, they would have the women freed and safely back in pack territory. Each and every wolf that had betrayed their kind, would be judged by the packs, yet Marcus knew that execution would be the only justice they would want. Pack law existed for a reason, they dealt with their own kind, it made things a lot easier. Yes there was the high council, but they preferred not get involved at local level if at all possible. They put their trust in the alphas of the lands. Marcus would brief them on events and it would be filed. If it turned out to be much bigger than they thought, the council would intervene. If Rhett thought pack justice was harsh, he would shit himself at the punishment handed out by the leaders.
Walking back into the kitchen he cleared away last night’s mess and set the coffee machine away. He looked at the large measure of beans he put in before adding another. His feisty mate was going to need it.
The meeting room was packed with amber woods enforcers as Brianna looked about the room. At least her head was no longer banging with last night’s alcohol. She sat in the middle of the room, Marcus understood when she refused to sit at the head of the table, she wanted to sit next to Lizzy to offer her support, it would be new territory to her. Marcus was deep in conversation with Justin, but every now and again he would lift his head and smile at her.
Sipping her coffee, she heard her friend come into the room with Connor. They really were spending lots of time together, she just hoped Lizzy at least gave things a try before doubting herself like she sometimes did when her personal history cropped up. Brianna pulled a chair out for her which her friend gladly took.
“I’ll be right up there with Marcus baby girl, don’t worry” Connor said to her, kissing the top of her head.
Brianna raised an eyebrow at her in speculation.
“Oh shut up oh ‘not so long mated one who was only coming up here for business’ I like his company”
“Ah ha, so you say” she winked.
“I do, anyway, how is your head this morning? I thought my head had been used for target practice, that stuff was bloody lethal!”
“I know, I don’t remember much, but apparently I challenged you”
“You did? What do you challenge me over honey?”
“Because, you said I did not know what a thingy was!”
Lizzy pinched her coffee taking a long drink, before looking at Brianna.
“A what?”
“I don’t know I thought you could shed light on it”
“Nope, sorry. Did I win?”
Brianna took her coffee cup back scowling.
“No it was over before we even got started”
Lizzy pulled her hand through her head, shaking her head in confusion.
“We passed out” Brianna chuckled.
“Oh right………”
Marcus addressed the waiting group. His men on one side, the red stone enforcers on the other.
“Thank you for all attending, let me bring you up to speed. Luke can you pull up the frames that we discussed on screen please?”
Luke had set up the screen to show multiple frames alongside each other. The room feel silent, every eye upon the images.
“We tracked the man that Brianna first scented at the service station and after the attempted kidnapping of Anna. For the benefit of red stone pack his name is Bradley turner, a mercenary with a bad history including murder. We tracked him to a complex twenty miles from her. I am sure you alpha has informed you of the reasons we think the women have been taken”
“Fucking strange crazy shit” Justin interrupted.
“It is. The complex has an eight mile perimeter with guards at surrounding it. Two doors visible. The front has four shifters guards and the back three. If you take a look at frame nine, you will see the fucking traitor Rhett with a smaller figure. Brianna has identified this as the missing Mckenzie girl. The biggest problem we have is that every guard is armed with silver bullets using AR12 and AR14, there are also three snipers stationed on the roof”
The room erupted into raucous snarling. Every wolf knew that it was dishonourable to fight amongst your own kind with manmade weapons, it simply was not done. Fighting was primal, instinctive and physical contact in their world.
“I know, believe me it pisses me off as well, but we have a way in”
Marcus looked at Lizzy who blanched under the gaze of tense male shifters. Brianna picked up on her anxiety and gripped her hand under the table, a gentle squeeze of reassurance. As alpha female she took the lead.
“Lizzy has a powerful gift of a telekinetic, she will be able to disarm the weapons first, allowing us to gain access quickly in the way we do best, teeth and claws”
“Are you certain you can disable them Lizzy?” Justin asked.
Connor moved to stand behind her, placing his hands on her shoulders.
“Yes, but I have never done it on this scale before, but with Brianna beside me I have every confidence I will succeed”
Brianna squeezed her hand again in acknowledgement.
“As discussed with my alpha, Lizzy is to be protected at all costs and our alpha female, Brianna must be guarded with the highest level of security”
Connor looked around at each and every wolf. He let his Beta energy roll off him, making sure that they all understood how important his request was.
“So do you have to be close to do this?” Alistair asked, Beta to red stone pack.
“We have a plan which I think will work”
Brianna could feel the anger coming off Marcus and glanced up quickly.
If there was another way Marcus I would do it.
I know Brianna, but don’t expect me to just sit back and let my mate be in danger, it’s pissing me off that you have to be the one to do this.
Marcus I wont let anything happen to me
Be sure of that statement, because if anyone of those scum suckers touch you I will feed them their own shithole
Nice, caveman
Focusing her attention back to the room she continued.
“Lizzy and I are going to ‘happen’ upon the complex after being out running. We will get within a close range to get the guards to notice us. When they start to approach, Lizzy will disable the weapons then you can all make your move”
“I have had a good look at the footage and the best way I can do this is to take down the snipers first then, the perimeter guards then the complex entrance.”
Lizzy smiled confidently, she knew she could do this, just have a little faith she kept telling herself.
Marcus placed his hands on the desk, sighing heavily.
“Justin and I have discussed this and we think the best course of action following that will be for the red stone pack to attack the back half of the property and perimeter and my pack to take the front. We attack in wolf form”
Luke stood up, arms folded.
“How many are combat trained?”
Marcus could not blame the guy for asking, he was a trained warrior and needed to know who he was fighting with.
“All my men are combat trained of the highest level, but not at warrior standard”
“Same here” Justin added.
“That’s good, from watching the footage I don’t think those guards are a particular threat in fighting, I noticed most of them have a leaner build. It is also worth noting that Anna has told me that the man that tried to kidnap her did not smell like a full shifter, so we could be dealing with half breeds as well”
Luke had nearly lost it when Anna had told him that bit of information, his wolf was having a hard enough time processing that some bastard had tried to harm her, but a half breed? There was a faction of extremist bastards that had a hatred for full
shifters. He had worked on cases where one shifter had been tortured with silver chains for six months, slowly and purposefully just so they could see how much a full shifter could take, sick fuckers.
“Have we got the results of the solution that they are using?”
Michael stepped around the group, to stand next to Marcus, Brianna noticed the way they exchanged worried glances. Marcus eyes flicked to hers.
“The solution is a complex mixture, it took a while to filter out. What I have found is that it has chemical in it which only works on female wolves. I performed various tests on it and what was astonishing is that it can mask a female’s scent completely, ensuring that they cannot be tracked by males. The other worrying part is that it has a strong sedative, and I am not talking a few hours sleep, I am talking about days”
“Holy shit, who are these fuckers? That is why only I could detect the smell then?” Brianna snapped.
“Yes, I assumed with your enhanced tracking gift and the fact that you were female made you scent in when all other males could not”
Marcus dragged a hand through his hair.
“These bastards will be brought to justice. We attack tonight, we can only assume that there are more inside. Lizzy can your gift extend to inside the complex?”
She licked her lips nervously.
“I would have to be in the vicinity to make it work, in other words closer”
Before the noise erupted of protests from Connor, Brianna quickly spoke.
“It can still be done, I will be with Lizzy every step of the way, and you will all be right behind us once you have taken the guards down outside. We also have to be cautious as Rhett might be expecting us, we don’t want those women used as bargaining tools or killed because of rash decision making. I have agreed with Marcus that I will approach the women first so that they will be more comfortable and calmer, I can follow the scent of the drug to their location. Again we will have your support at our backs”
Marcus came to stand next to Brianna’s chair, pulling her to stand, curling his arms around her waist.
“Let it be known that every instinct I have is to not let my mate near the complex, but after many discussions, this is the only way. You will all protect her with your life and that extends to her best friend as well, you don’t let them out of your sight, if there is a problem you pull them back and get them the hell out of there, as a fall back we go to plan b”
“Which is?” Tristan asked.
“Rip out the fuckers throats, whilst trying to dodge the bullets” Marcus stated.
16
Lizziy and Brianna went in search of food, ending up in the pack house kitchen. The men were going over the final arrangements and the level of testosterone was suffocating. Home cooking wafted towards them, Brianna found that her appetite had returned with gusto and she was craving anything that could bring up her blood sugars.
Cora was pulling out a tray of freshly baked bread, the aroma so enticing. Seeing them both enter she placed it down, coming to hug both of them.
“It’s about time you two showed up, I need a hand with chopping the veg and blending the soup”
“Cora there is enough food here to feed an army!” Brianna laughed as she put a warm cookie in her mouth.
Pushing a handful of carrots on the table, she shook her head.
“That’s because there is an army out there to feed, an army of wolves, who will be hungry, needing there strength before this mission”
Brianna began chopping, whilst Lizzy stirred the soup.
“Cora, tell me about the women that were taken?”
“Well, two were born in this pack the younger recently joined, very kind and devoted. All quite young, Niamh, only thirty. Anwen and Kyla are a little older, they were due to be mated to two of our enforcers the week before they were taken. We need them back, safe within the pack, god knows what has been done to them, I cannot bear to think!”
Cora wiped her eyes in frustration. Both Brianna and Lizzy wrapped their arms around them.
“We will find them and we will get them out Cora, I am going to do everything in my power to do that” Brianna responded.
“Well you just make sure that nothing happens to you two, or I will come and bray the hide out of Marcus and Connor, those two are your mates to protect you!”
“Whoa back up here, mates?” Lizzy asked.
Cora turned to grab both of Lizzy’s.
“I may be an older wolf now but I still see the pull of the mating call between you and Connor, he cares a great deal for you”
“And I care about him Cora, but mates? That may be some time off yet”
Cora patted her cheek.
“We shall see” she smirked.
Lizzy looked to Brianna for help who was very interested in the angle in which she could cut a carrot. Huffing she continued to stir the soup.
After half an hour the food for lunch was ready to be taken to the table. Brianna was just about to slice the bread when she heard her phone ringing in her pocket. Both women turned to look at her. The caller ID showed as Lunar Security, so she presumed it was Murdoch.
“How can I get a signal now?” she asked.
“Oh Marcus had some sort of fancy signal booster fitted in the houses so we could communicate better, after your little trip to Katie’s coffee shack, he arranged it quickly after. He had Luke set it up, because of all his knowledge in that area” Cora grinned.
Laughing, Brianna opened the call.
Hello?
Brianna?.......
Yes, Murdoch? I can just hear you, hang on I’ll move outside
Ok………
Gesturing to Lizzy and Cora she trailed out to the back of the pack house, walking to the far end of the property.
Murdoch? Can you hear me better now?
It’s getting better, bloody hell how deep are you in that area?
Very deep, I have some updates for you.
Brianna settled herself on a fallen log, explaining everything that had happened since she last spoke with him.
Shit, the council will probably have to be told, but that will be up to Marcus
Yeah I know
Brianna did not think it was appropriate to mention that she had been mated to her client. That would not go down well with Murdoch at the moment.
Anyway, Bri, I have some further information on that Bradley Turner. Yesterday afternoon, someone tried to access our systems, they were good, using the most advanced software, and they were focusing on one particular section, which was personnel files
Shit! Did they get in?
They only got so far before we managed to lock it down. Jason has been analysing since it happened and he has tracked it to a computer, in the same complex you are investigating. We cracked the ID and it was from someone called Rhett Donovan. More interestingly, Turner received a deposit from him this morning in his account.
What were they trying to find out?
Brianna, don’t throw a fit, I need you focused……….
Murdoch will you spit it out!
Jason traced exactly where the software was trying to infiltrate and it was your staff personnel file. If Rhett had got a hold of that it would have given him everything from your bank account to your past history.
The sneaky piece of shit!
Brianna stood quickly, her mind was racing with possibilities, she was furious that the former head of enforcers was trying to track her, but why? Marching into the woods she kicked some loose branches that were lying on the ground.
I know we are still investigating it but the positive side of it is that he failed. My guess is that Turner may have supplied him with the software to infiltrate our systems and Rhett paid him handsomely.
Ok thanks Murdoch, I’ll be in touch
Okay Bri, and please be safe, Lizzy and Luke as well
We will
Ending the call her wolf was clawing for action, her skin itched, the need to shift immense. Looking around she was still on pack t
erritory, she needed to run, her mood had turned sour and she needed to get rid of the pent up aggression. Stripping her clothes, she lowered herself to the ground and let the shift take over her, her body was so charged from anger that she did not notice the pain of muscles stretching or the dislocation and realignment of her bones. Minutes later she was looking down at her black paws, her vision sharpened and acute, Moving her head from left to right she took off at a run to the right, deeper into the pack forest.
Marcus entered the kitchen with Connor, intent on finding his mate and getting some food in his body. Cora and Lizzy were laying the table in the dining room, adjoined to the kitchen.
“Have you seen Brianna?”
Lizzy looked up and blushed when she saw Connor walk toward her and take the heavy plates out of her hands to help her.
“Erm, she had a call from Murdoch so she went outside to take it”
Marcus nodded his thanks, before following the faint scent of vanilla and honey. When he arrived at the back of the house, he could scent on an old tree branch that she had sat here not long ago. Heading deeper into the woods, he spotted her clothing and her phone piled up on some ferns. She shifted? Immediately he concentrated on their link.
Brianna, where are you?
There was no response initially but eventually he heard her voice.
About two miles in the woods, stop worrying I am still in pack territory
What’s wrong baby? Why did you shift?
Somebody pissed me off, I needed the run
Who pissed you off?
Marcus, it’s a long story I would rather not discuss it like this
Ok, if you don’t want to discuss it like this then that’s ok baby
Brianna dug her paws into the soft earth to slow herself down. Did he just willingly agree to something she asked? Maybe he was learning that he may try and dominate in the bedroom but outside of that she took control. Huffing she picked up her pace again. The early afternoon sun was just starting to dip behind the trees, the autumn leaves cool and crisp on the pads of her paws. Noticing a stream with a grassy embankment she slowed down again, gently walking down to the water’s edge. The water was cold but welcoming after her run. It truly was a special place and made her realise that this is what she had been missing all these years. Stepping back she lay down on the cool blades of grass, breathing in the last of the daylight air. Her nose twitched as she picked up on a different scent, her wolf knew all too well the familiar smell. Turning her head she watched as a stunning enormous black wolf stepped out of the trees, his green eyes focused on her. She realised it was the first time she seen Marcus in his wolf form. Pushing herself to all fours she circled with him never losing contact.
Alpha Scent (Amber Woods Shifters) Page 13
