by Tigertalez
****
The men opened their doors, one on each side, and ordered the women out of the car. Gale’s breath caught in her throat, and she could feel her heart thumping hard with fear. She stiffened when Havana, who sat in the back, guffawed.
“Not likely. You know, steroids make you stupid and dwarf your dicks? It’s no wonder you’re all crabby and trying to force women to go with you.”
The two men’s faces turned red as they tensed with anger from Havana’s insults. Gale tried reaching into her pocket for her cell phone. She grabbed it, but one of the men grabbed her arm. Bruising pain shot up her arm as he yanked her out of the vehicle, and her cell flew out of her hand and thumped into the dirt. He yanked her closer to him as the other went for her mom.
Gale screamed and struggled, then felt a disorienting jarring when Havana barreled into the brute, and the three tumbled to the ground. Gale clenched her jaw, kicking the man in the leg, and Havana punched him in the face. Gale could see blood running over his cheek.
Movement caught her eye, and she looked up. Two of the enforcers were emerging from the van and converging on the battling women. Gale glimpsed her mother’s way and saw her attacker was rolling on the ground in the road, clutching his junk and shielding his face as Connie was kicking him repeatedly in the head.
The exiting enforcers made a grab for Gale, but another vehicle she didn’t recognize noisily sped up on them. Its wheels squealed over the pavement as they slammed on their brakes behind them filling the air with the smell of burnt rubber.
The van’s wheels spun in the dirt as the driver had stepped on the gas. The two enforcers, at seeing the other vehicle, had started running for the van. Only one of the enforcers was able to jump back inside before it got too far away. Gale watched in a daze as the tires shrieked over the pavement as the van sped away. Looking around, Gale saw Slate wrestle Havana’s attacker while Matteo efficiently attacked the abandoned enforcer into a bloody unconscious state on the ground. Gale looked at the car as Kace got out and almost casually walked over to her mom, who was still kicking the bloody piss out of a now unconscious kidnapper.
Kace looked down at the man and back up at her mom, and in a heavier southern drawl commented, “You can stop now, Connie, or at least wait until he wakes up to feel the beating.” Her mother was breathing hard but must have heard him because she stopped and started backing away.
Gale didn’t know how to process what just happened. How did they find them? She was confused at how they’d expected her to be at the store at that very moment. Were they being watched? Probably. She felt horribly embarrassed and a bit freaked out that she and her family had nearly got kidnapped. Could she have prevented it? Maybe she should have asked Alphy.
Alphy, oh boy, is he gonna be mad. She internally groaned at the trouble she was now in with her mate, who was also her alpha. She might not be a shifter, but she was mated to one now and that made her fall under their laws.
Just as she thought this, another vehicle sped up onto the party. She immediately recognized Alphy’s truck. Worry settled in the bottom of her gut with the subtlety of a jackhammer, and then she saw the look on Alphy’s face as they pulled up. Ok, so a jackhammer being drilled by an elephant. Oh yeah, big trouble.
Alphy thundered out of the truck and ran straight for Gale. For some reason that was when her brain crumpled. Panic seized her chest, and her insides jolted. She threw her hands over her head and gave a startled cry taking a step back. Her foot tripped over something, and she fell to the ground. Thick strong arms gently surrounded her and lifted her up.
Gale wrapped her arms around Alphy’s neck and buried her face. The adrenaline played havoc on her emotions. She cried softly into his shoulder as she curled into a ball in her mate’s arms. She didn’t pay any attention to the commotion that took place around her.
****
Alphy nearly lost control over his bear when they drove near and saw the commotion. Adrenaline rushed through his body, pushed hard by his racing heart. His eyes immediately found his mate, a look of horror and shock replacing the happy glow she’d had when he last saw her. Alphy usually prided himself on his self-restraint, but at that moment, he couldn’t think of anything else but getting her safe in his arms. He’d deal with everything else after that.
He jumped out before the truck came to a complete stop. He continued the momentum to launch forward across the road to his mate but stopped cold when she threw her arms over her suddenly ashen face. The scent of fear slammed into him at the same time she tripped. The fear was to be expected when something this traumatic happened, but he could tell this was directed at him.
Alphy took a quick moment to fill his lungs with air, calming himself before he carefully walked over to her. His bear was pissed at him for scaring their beloved, and it roared at him in his head and paced. The scent of blood from the soon-to-be dead hired brutes wasn’t helping.
He squatted down and wrapped his arms around her sobbing form. Her weight was nothing to his shifter strength. He lifted her easily, but he still went slowly and carefully. He buried his nose in her neck and inhaled her unique aroma. His bear began to settle as he sat down in the cab of the truck and situated her on his lap. He then wrapped his arms around her and rubbed her back with one hand while he used the other to lightly press her head into the crook of his neck.
“Shh, it’s going to be all right. You’re all right now. Your mom is all right. Havana is all right, and everything is going to be all right.” He kept speaking words of comfort to her and kissing her temple until her sobs finally started to subside.
He watched as the men were quickly tied up together, then picked up and thrown into the back of his truck. The truck shook, and the sound vibrated through the cab with a loud banging. Gale jumped violently and shrieked. Alphy was afraid if he growled at his men it would scare her further, so he gave the men a deadly glare, which they read loud and clear. Slate and Kace jumped in the back with the prisoners, and Matteo jogged over to the new vehicle.
Betty jumped into Gale’s car with Connie and Havana. She steered the car back onto the road and pointed it towards home. Enzo jumped back into the driver’s seat and made a U-turn. Both vehicles easily caught up and followed behind Betty.
Chapter Eleven
Gale was completely silent as she held her arms tight around Alphy on the short trip home. With the cell still open and on speaker between them, Alphy kept his voice low as he gave orders to Slate and Kace to take the men out to the barn and watch them. Then he addressed Ryker, ordering him to bring in Nix to help “interrogate” their new prisoners and get word to Tom and Seamus to head straight home once they had the new vehicles.
Enzo didn’t drive home like he had been just moments before. He drove carefully over the ruts and dips until they finally reached the front of the house. As soon as they parked, Alphy carried his mate up the stairs and into their room. After placing her on the bed he wiped her tears away. “I have some things to take care of. Stay in here until I return.” Tucking a blanket around her, he leaned over and placed a tender kiss on the top of her head. Letting out a heavy sigh, he turned and walked out of the room.
Alphy’s insides were threatening to shake in shock. He had almost lost her today, and his sister. Alphy didn’t know how to deal with this situation. He knew his sister was probably the instigator behind convincing them they were following orders, and in a normal pack or sleuth, that would easily be true. But it wasn’t. This was a mixed paranormal pack with humans. Humans were by no means inferior in most respects, but in physical strength, they were. Gale was his mate, and as an alpha mate she was a bigger target and more vulnerable because she was human. He needed to send a statement. He would also bear some of that responsibility, because he should have been slightly more specific.
The steps only lightly squeaked as he descended the stairs. He went in search of Ryker, who was predictably in his room. “Ryker, Alpha David on the phone.”
Ryker quickly dialed
the number and handed it to Alphy. Alphy paced the small space as the phone rang. On the fifth ring, it went to voicemail. Alphy scoffed at the cowardice of the guy.
“Hello, coward, I hereby challenge you. You have twenty-four hours to arrange a meet in a neutral place. If you don’t choose a place by that time, I get to choose by default. If by forty-eight hours you don’t answer, you’d better be already dead because I’m coming for you and there isn’t anything the council can do. You attacked my mate, her mother, and my sister. That isn’t retribution. That’s outright war. It is eleven forty-five. Twenty-four hours starts now.”
After he pushed end, he handed the phone back to Ryker then turned around. Enzo stood in the doorway leaning against the frame.
“What do you want done with those idiots in the barn? The two biggest ones are human.”
Alphy let out a heavy sigh, he wasn’t about to let them go. “David probably thought using them would prevent anything from being linked back to him, if it wasn’t for his other lackeys going along with them. But that does pose an issue. He’s possibly exposed shifters to them, so we can’t let them go. As for the shifter, that’s the second attempt. He was given a warning. I’ll take him a little ways from the clearing and complete my retribution.” Enzo only grunted his acknowledgement, but Ryker looked a bit uncomfortable. They knew the retribution was the shifter’s life forfeited. Alphy looked at the pale vampire. “Ryker, what did you find out about the council?”
Ryker seemed to have perked up with the subject change. “It’s run pretty much the way it is in the States, only friendlier.” He wiggled his eyebrows. “I looked into the covens, too. There aren’t as many up here in Canada as the States, and it looks like the one in Toronto is the closest. And here’s an interesting tidbit, there’s a gargoyle clutch staying with them. They are partnered with the coven since they are a pretty small clutch and none of them are mated.”
“That’s a lot of faith put in to the local coven, so that’s good to know. Kace wants to spread the word he needs workers. Maybe you could let them know.”
“Already done.”
Enzo eyed Ryker. “Hey, Rye, got anything that can’t be put off ‘til later?”
“No, why?”
“You look a little hungry.” He gave the little vamp a heated look, and Alphy suddenly got blasted with the scent of lust on both sides.
“On that note, goodnight, Enzo.” Enzo gave a nod as he passed but didn’t take his eyes off the other man as Alphy slipped past and disappeared around the corner.
Alphy made his way to the kitchen, where Betty had both Connie and Havana helping prepare lunch. They had a very large pile of sandwiches next to a large bowl of grapes and another filled with chips.
“Hey, Betty, I’m going to be just a little bit. Could you keep an ear out for Gale for me?”
She didn’t look up right away as she was cutting some tomatoes, but Alphy could feel the subdued tension in the room. “Sure, I was going to have these taken out to the barn. How many do I bring?” Her knife dripped tomato juices as she pointed it at the stack of sandwiches.
Alphy understood what she really meant. She wanted to know if she needed to provide something to eat for the prisoners. “Only two extras will do, and you might want to wait thirty minutes or so.”
She glanced up briefly and lightly tilted her head. “Yes, alpha.”
Alphy looked at the other two, who looked like he was about to reach out and strike them. “I’ll dole out your punishments at a later time. Connie, have Tom meet me out in the barn when he gets back. Tell him if I’m not there, to wait for me.”
“Yes, alpha.” Her voice was very quiet, and she didn’t look up at him. He could smell the nerves rolling off both girls.
“Betty, can you give me directions to a shack that needs to be burned down?”
She nodded, wiped her hands on her apron, and grabbed a paper pad and pen. She wrote down some directions with landmarks and explained how to get there. Alphy nodded and thanked her then headed outside towards the barn.
He couldn’t enjoy the warm sweetened breeze or the beautiful sounds of happily chirping birds. Even though he could take someone’s life quickly and even without hesitancy, he still hated it. He kept thinking of what he saw when they had arrived on the scene. His bear was a little bloodthirsty, but his gut slightly churned at knowing a life would be taken without mercy in the next few minutes. It took the beauty out of an otherwise perfectly beautiful day.
He stepped into the barn and focused on the bloodied group tied together on the floor with four of his men surrounding them. He let his cold side be felt as he approached. He knew it showed on his face and in his walk, as well as in his scent. Even though the two humans couldn’t smell him, the enforcer did. Even his own enforcers and trackers backed up a few feet.
He looked down coldly at the shifter, whom he recognized as the first one he’d met the other day. He looked up at his men. “Nix, keep close and your eye in the sky.”
Nix, who was only wearing a pair of jeans, nodded, turned on his heel and exited the barn. Moments later, Alphy’s shifter hearing picked up the sounds of flapping wings. He turned to his other three. “One of you needs to stay here while I need two of you to untie the small one and follow me.”
“No! Please! I’ll do anything, please don’t!” the guilty shifter begged.
Alphy turned back to him. “You were warned, and now I have my right to retribution.” He really hated when they begged. It always pulled at his heart that maybe, just maybe, they were good people but were being forced to do something bad or that they may just actually be sorry. Alphy hardened his resolve by reminding himself of the mumbled response he’d heard when he first met the shifter. The lead enforcer had said he didn’t want the family in his territory, that they weren’t worth the trouble, and this one had mumbled “Yeah, one of them’s gay.”
Alphy’s bear growled. This one wasn’t sorry; he just didn’t want to die.
He stood guard as Matteo and Slate untied the ropes then re-secured the two humans. Kace stayed behind with them. Alphy grabbed a few things near the entrance of the barn, then headed out, followed by Slate and Matteo carrying the struggling and now swearing doomed enforcer. He followed the directions and soon found a really old gold rush style shack. More than half of its roof had fallen in from rot, and one of the walls was totally gone, revealing the small insides of dirt, moss, fungus, and rotting wood. Ferns were growing on the mounds of moss on the roof and in a few of the corners, too.
He signaled for the enforcers to release the sifter. “What is your name?” he asked.
“Fuck you! I’m not telling you shit you fag loving prick!” the guy spat.
Alphy shrugged. The man had just made it easy to live with his death. “Suit yourself. You took part in the attempted kidnapping of my mate, her mother, and my sister. You were warned to stay out of my territory, and you were told they were under my protection. I am within my rights to take your life in retribution.”
Alphy felt the sun warm his flesh as he stripped from his clothes. After folding them, he placed them on a nearby log then instigated his shift. His thick brown fur broke through, covering his bare naked skin, and his hands and feet grew in size and thick sharp black claws grew out from their tips. The elk shifter’s eyes grew big, and he started to struggle. Alphy’s bear was bigger than a normal Kodiak bear. They usually stood about five feet tall if they were on all fours but reached about ten feet if they stood on their hind legs. The males usually ran close to fifteen hundred pounds, but Alphy’s bear was large and powerful, the very reason the other sleuths and alphas in general didn’t want him around. He was a whopping eighteen hundred pounds, and stood over five and a half feet on all fours. He reared up onto his hind legs and towered over the others at over eleven feet tall.
Slate stepped away and started to undress, shaking out his blond and black mane after completing his shift. His lion was pretty large and powerful but not an alpha. He stood at a small d
istance standing guard so the shifter couldn’t run.
“You’re freaks. You’re all different shifters! Shifters should stay with their own kind!”
The shrill tone only added to his bear’s resolve to end the shifter, and he bellowed out a roar of distaste of the sound.
Matteo untied the rope and slipped it off the shifter. He stepped away on the shifter’s other side, keeping guard. As soon as the ropes fell away, the other shifter tried to shift. Alphy decided to let him finish before he charged. He always felt it was unjust and cowardly to attack someone mid-shift. It was comparable to shooting someone in the back.
The shifter’s face elongated, and long, delicate legs formed. Antlers poked through his head, but they were small.
When the shifter was done, Alphy’s bear rushed forward and barreled into the elk. He leaped up onto his hind legs as the shifter reared up and tried to bash with his hooves, but it was too easy for Alphy to fall forward and sink his giant maw into the neck of the elk, right below the jaw. Alphy used his weight to ground the elk, while his massive paws held down the victim. With huge claws sinking into the hide, he pulled back, ripping out the elk’s throat.
After the elk went still, Alphy’s bear felt slightly mollified. Their mate was still in danger with the other two enforcers and the alpha still running free. Soon, he told his bear, they would finish their retribution soon.
He used his powerful jaws and bulky form to maneuver the elk into the crumbling shack. While he and Slate changed forms and dressed, Matteo set the shack on fire. They stood back and watched it burn for a little bit, to make sure the fire wouldn’t spread.
Slate turned to Alphy. “Why don’t you two go back? I’ll finish watching this for a little bit longer before I head back.”
“Thanks, Slate. I’ll have Nix bring you a couple sandwiches.”
Slate placed his hand over his stomach. “Good, I’m starved. I didn’t get enough breakfast.”
