by Alisa Woods
“Should I know what Emergent Technologies is?” Troy asked.
“Not unless you’re in the military or the military subcontracting business.” Daniel shook his head. Troy knew Daniel was in the Army—at least he had been, until he was kidnapped and experimented on by the same military he used to work for. Lately, he’d taken a leave to work with Riverwise and keep the Wilding pack safe… not unlike what Troy was doing. “Emergent Technologies hit it big about five years ago for their innovative security software. It had a special algorithm that made their smart systems more secure. Emergent’s a relatively young company, but it didn’t have a public IPO because of the sensitive nature of their technology. Their tech quickly swept through US military systems, although the details are classified. They recently expanded to commercial uses, but they still have lots of deep contacts in the military on the Top Secret contracting side of things.”
By this time, Troy’s eyebrows had hiked up. “So, if the Wolf Hunter is connected to this Emergent Technologies company, maybe that’s how he manages to have all this private military doing his damn dirty work?”
Daniel nodded. “A bunch of private security coming and going at Emergent Technologies wouldn’t even raise an eyebrow. And just recently, after Emergent bought Serafin Genetics, they moved into the same building.”
“And that’s where we’re headed?” Troy verified.
“Yeah. And get this…” Daniel looked up from his laptop. “The CEO of Emergent? He’s super reclusive. Doesn’t splash his face all over the web, ostensibly because he’s in security. There are no pictures of him anywhere. But guess what his name is?”
Troy just shook his head. “Do not tell me his last name is Wilding.”
“No… Hunter. Declan Hunter.”
Groans of disbelief passed through the van. “You are fucking kidding me,” Troy said.
“Not even a little bit.” Daniel leaned back, consulting his laptop again. “Declan Hunter is apparently some kind of boy wonder. Grew up in the foster system, changed his name when he emancipated out, but he was already working on the technology behind Emergent—the software that would one day help him scrabble up from a nothing dropout kid into an overnight billionaire. A reclusive, faceless, billionaire… with access to military technology and a genetics lab.”
“Fuck.” But it made sense. Someone like that could get away with all kinds of shit.
“He’s our guy.” Daniel looked up. “Zoe said something about him having access to the same data she did. Do you know what data she’s talking about?”
“Yeah,” Troy said. “It’s the data Grace recovered from Agent Smith when she was kidnapped by him. It has all the information about the experiments on shifters.” He shook his head slowly. “This just gets worse and worse. I can see why she was so adamant about getting the mayor out of this guy’s hands.”
Daniel nodded in agreement. “Yeah, I wouldn’t be surprised if Hunter had access to Agent Smith’s data straight up through his military contacts or if he was able to hack his way in. Either way, he has way too many resources to take advantage of that. I don’t like it one bit. “
“So what’s our plan here? Are we actually going to bust into Emergent Technology’s high-rise in the middle of downtown?” Troy asked. “I mean, shouldn’t we call the police or something?”
“We could,” Daniel said, leaning back and biting his lip. “Especially with the mayor involved. I’m sure they’d be willing to bust out the SWAT team. The only problem is, we’re much more likely to get the mayor out alive than they are. And with the magic we have on tap with the white wolves, we’re more likely to do it without other people getting hurt.”
“What about the rest of Riverwise?” Troy asked. “Are they going to be able to help?”
“They should be meeting us at the rendezvous point a few blocks away.” Daniel checked the laptop again. “We’re almost there.” Then he glanced at the girls.
Zoe was frowning even more, and her hand was slippery with sweat. It made Troy’s stomach clench even more. “Can we bring them out of this?” he asked Daniel.
“Are we still on target, Sky?” Daniel asked.
She opened her eyes. “He hasn’t moved in the last half hour.”
“I think if he knew we were coming, he would’ve bugged out by now,” Daniel said.
As the van pulled to a stop, Skylar waved her hand around Zoe’s face. She slowly blinked her eyes open, but she still looked dazed. Troy braced her as people started piling out of the van. By the time they stepped out themselves, she seemed a little more steady.
They were definitely downtown, but not in one of the better districts—in fact, this part looked like it’d seen much better days. Several other vans and trucks were gathered in the empty and crumbling parking lot behind what looked like a Mega Mart gone bad. Troy recognized the three River brothers—Jaxson, Jace, and Jared—and they had a pack of at least twenty wolves with them. There was another pack standing slightly separate from them, headed by a younger wolf who had the distinctive black hair and dark blue eyes of the Wilding pack.
Troy gestured to him and asked Zoe, “Is that one of your relatives?”
“That’s Marco Wilding and his downtown pack.”
“Ah.” She meant gang, and Troy remembered seeing Marco in the news when the Wolf Hunter had kidnapped kids out of downtown. Marco and his new mate were going straight with a new toy company that benefited shifters… which was far better than anything Troy had ever seen come out of the gangs before, so he was pretty impressed.
“Well, we certainly have enough people,” he remarked.
“I hope you’re right about that.” Daniel was waving over Grace, who had stepped out of her own stretch limo, which looked seriously out of place here. Owen, Noah, and Kaden formed a small tough-looking trio that stood out even amongst the other bulked up Riverwise security guys.
Skylar was staying close to Zoe, and it made Troy nervous—hopefully they wouldn’t need the women involved in this anymore, now that they’d narrowed down the Wolf Hunter’s location. Troy was up for doing his part, but he was trained as a firefighter, not an assault team member.
Kaden strode over with Owen and Noah and stood next to Daniel—with Zoe and Grace in the mix, all six of the white wolves were here. Between them, they had an impressive amount of magical firepower that probably dwarfed the ammunitions that the Riverwise crew and Marco’s gang had brought along.
“Riverwise has about twenty wolves we can count on for this,” Kaden said gesturing to the River brothers hanging back behind him. “The Wilding pack wolves are in for another thirty. So what’s your plan with this?”
Daniel was apparently in the lead. “Time is against us. We need to move fast before the Wolf Hunter realizes we’re coming for him. Apparently, he’s keyed into this magical network so that could be happening anytime. His name is Declan Hunter, by the way.” That was met with groans from Owen and Noah. “He’s the CEO of Emergent Technologies. We have reason to believe he’s using Agent Smith’s data and Serafin Genetics’ facilities to cook up some serums that will be seriously destructive for all shifters. And the mayor is key to his plans because he’s the original white wolf—you know, the one related to all of us.”
That sobered everyone pretty quickly.
“Is the mayor all right?” Grace asked, her thin hands nervously twisting. One of the River brothers—her mate Jared, if Troy was guessing correctly—was watching her intently, but keeping his distance and holding back while they made the plan.
“As far as we can tell,” Zoe said. “His magical signature is strong.”
“And he’s in very close proximity to the Wolf Hunter,” Skylar added.
“Grace, you need to stay out of this,” Daniel said, which Troy was very glad to hear. He expected all the women would stay behind. “You’re way too valuable as our openly-shifter candidate for the House of Representatives. We need you to be down here, talking to the press when they arrive. And I’m sure they’re
going to arrive before we’re done with this.”
“The police as well,” Kaden said. “Or are we calling them in?” He held his hands out. “Just to be clear, I’m good either way.”
Daniel nodded. “If we call in the police, we’re going lose our element of surprise. I know you’re one of them, Kaden, so you should know they’re not all shifter friendly. If just one of them is in the pocket of this hate group, or one of the Wolf Hunter’s minions, we can’t take the chance they’ll give him a heads up.”
“Roger that,” Kaden said. As far as Troy knew, he wasn’t part of the police force anymore—he’d been with Riverwise for a couple of months.
“Unfortunately,” Daniel said, grimacing as he glanced at Skylar, “we’ll need Skylar and Zoe to guide us in.”
“What?” Troy asked, hardly believing his ears. “What the hell you talking about, Daniel? They’ve no business in there.”
Daniel glared at him. “I don’t like it, either.”
“But you’re right, Daniel.” Skylar cocked her hip to the side and planted her hand on it. “Sorry, boys, but I’m a witch. Ya’ll should get used to the fact that I can pretty much kill all of you with a touch of my little pinkie.”
Owen snorted, and Noah looked like he was working pretty hard to keep his laugh inside. Kaden just smiled. All of which was really hilarious… except that Zoe wasn’t a witch.
“That’s fine if you want to take the witch in for firepower back up,” Troy said, angrily. “I’m the last one to object to bringing in more magic, being the only one here who doesn’t have magical powers to contribute, other than my dazzling ability to shoot a gun and not kill myself. Maybe. But Zoe doesn’t need to go in there.”
He felt her hand grip his upper arm. “Yes, I do,” she said softly.
He turned to her, and the serious expression on her face stabbed through him. “Zo, you don’t need to do this. They can find him once they get inside the building. It’s not that big of a place.”
She gave him a soft look like she appreciated his concern, but there was no way in hell he was talking her out of it. “It’s a fifty-story skyscraper. If Skylar and I can give intel real-time on the way in, we’re much more likely to get the mayor out alive… and everyone else, too. The one who needs to stay behind is you.”
His jaw dropped open. “Because I’m just a wolf, right? Useless in this particular situation.”
She cringed. “I didn’t mean—”
He cut her off with a swipe of his hand in front of her face. “Oh no. I don’t care what you say, sweetness, I’m going in. No way in hell am I letting you do this without me. So just put that thought right out of your head.”
“All right, Troy’s in,” Daniel said, matter-of-factly. “I assume the rest of you jokers are too?” There were nods all around—Kaden, Noah, and Owen. Daniel looked to Grace. “You good with staying behind?”
She pressed her lips together and nodded.
“Good. Kaden, let Jaxson know we need his and Marco’s forces working together to get us in. Skylar and Zoe will be guiding with the rest of us five providing cover. We also need someone to either hack security—I’m thinking maybe Jared could get on this—or do something to keep the alarms from tripping too quickly. The police will get called eventually, but if we can slow them down, that would be great. You’ve got ten minutes to pull that together—otherwise, we’re going in without it. There’s a dock in back that looks like a weak point in their security, so we’ll use that as a point of entry. But then we’ll need the Riverwise and Wilding packs to hold that line and keep out any additional security reinforcements, as well as the police, who’re just going to fuck this up when they arrive. To be clear, make sure everyone knows we’re going in fully loaded with witch-level magic to rescue the mayor. Anyone who gets in the way is likely to get cooked. Am I understood?”
Kaden nodded sharply. “I’ll relay that to them and be right back.” He ran off to the Riverwise group.
Troy’s hand was itching to hold Zoe’s, but she was busy sending furious glares in Daniel’s direction. She was obviously pissed that Troy was coming along, but he really didn’t care. No way would he let her out of his sight, no matter what she said.
Daniel pulled a gun from the back of his pants and handed it to Troy. “You know how to use one of these? Do I have to worry about you shooting me in the back?”
Troy took the weapon. “No, I’ve got this.” All that time trying to stay alive in the downtown gangs was good for more than one survival skill.
Daniel turned to Skylar and dropped his voice to something much softer than he used to command the team. “Are you ready, hot witch of mine?”
Skylar smiled sweetly. “Anytime you are, hot witchy-wolf of mine.”
Daniel smirked, then he got serious again. “You’re to stay to the back at all times, understood? Don’t take any chances.”
She took his hand and gave him a quick peck on the cheek. “Don’t worry about me. And don’t get in my way when I decide to roast that asshole.” While Daniel leaned in to kiss Skylar more seriously, Troy flicked a look to Zoe. Her expression was all tangled up in confusion like she couldn’t understand how Daniel could let Skylar go on the mission. Or how he had agreed so readily to let Troy come along. But Troy knew exactly what Daniel was thinking—Zoe would be safer with Troy by her side, and Troy would kick the shit out of Daniel if he tried to stop him.
And they didn’t have time for any of that.
Plus, Daniel obviously understood what it meant to be a wolf in love with an extraordinary woman who should be his mate—and how trying to protect her was what mattered to him, but was also slightly ridiculous when she had witch-level powers.
Troy reached for Zoe’s hand, but before he could speak, Daniel broke his kiss with Skylar and said, “All right, let’s move this out!”
Zoe briefly squeezed Troy’s hand, then dropped it, heading back for the van.
He followed after her, praying this all wasn’t a giant mistake.
Zoe’s heart hammered in her chest.
For all her brave talk—and especially her insistence that Troy shouldn’t be on this mission—she was glad to have him by her side. A half dozen vehicles were caravanning toward the downtown high-rise building that housed Emergent Technologies. The five vans ahead of them carried Riverwise and Marco’s packs, with only six people in the van with Zoe—Daniel driving, Skylar riding shotgun, and Owen, Kaden, and Noah in back with her and Troy. They were all white wolves or witches of some form or another… except for Troy.
Grace had stayed behind at the rendezvous point, preparing for the aftermath of the assault they were about to conduct—or rescue operation, depending on how it turned out. As they drove into the parking lot near the loading dock, Zoe could see through the windshield that the other vans had already arrived… and whatever fight there had been had already finished. Two security guards were pinned to the ground, being held by several wolves apiece. The one security camera on the dock was dangling from its post, obviously smashed. Jaxson was quietly signaling his men to set up a perimeter with Marco doing the same—between them, there was an overwhelming force of wolves.
Daniel pulled the van straight up to the docking bay. Zoe quickly squeezed Troy’s hand before piling out of the van with the others. He had a grim look of determination, but he stayed close to her as they hustled toward the back door, where four Riverwise wolves were guarding the entrance, heavily armed with very large guns.
“All clear,” Jaxson said. “Keep us apprised.” He handed a walkie-talkie to Daniel, who pocketed it and quickly gave a signal to Skylar.
The young witch had already conjured her seeking spell—Zoe hurried to her side and let her blow the puff of magical smoke in her face. The world tilted and blurred, and Zoe grabbed onto Skylar’s hand. The two of them would be somewhat blind as they were immersed in the spell so Troy would be their eyes and ears. He took Zoe’s other hand, and the hammering in her chest step down a notch with his touch.
>
“Is he still on the penthouse floor?” Daniel asked.
Zoe reached out along the web, but they were so close now, that it took no time at all to find the Wolf Hunter, as well as the mayor. Their magical essences were vibrant pulses, powerful and nearby.
Skylar was the one who could follow the thread and map it onto the real world, so she replied, “He’s still on the top floor. Hasn’t moved since the last time we did the spell.”
Zoe cracked open her eyes a little, so she could at least see what was in front of her through the blurriness. It was a weird sort of double vision where the real world looked like she was seeing it through water—vibrating, magical water that was overlaid with the energy web that bound her to all the other white wolves, including the mayor and Declan Hunter.
“All right, let’s go.” Daniel nodded to the small group of Riverwise wolves who were going ahead of them into the building. They busted through the door, advancing with their tactical gear and weapons held forward and hurrying down the corridor.
Daniel beckoned the rest of them to follow. “Keep it tight.” He and Kaden took the lead, hands free of weapons, but spooling up blue orbs of energy in their palms. Noah and Owen flanked them, following a half step behind, but keeping a tight rank and also conjuring their own magic, so they were ready for whatever they might encounter on the way up. Troy had his weapon out, held at the ready in one hand while he led Zoe with the other. She and Skylar were able to keep up, in spite of the hallway looking like she was walking along the bottom of a lake.
They hustled forward, heading for the elevators halfway down the hall.
There were no alarms sounding—it felt strange to creep past ordinary-looking offices to do something as simple as take the elevator to the top floor. But Zoe was glad they were doing this at night—there were no regular workers or commuters in the building, only the security guards and maybe a few night janitors. The elevators were a risk, but it would take too long to hike the stairs, not to mention they would be exhausted by the time they got to the top. So getting into the elevators undetected was key—Jared must have managed to disable the alarms, or the Riverwise group that went ahead had already shut down whoever was manning the security cams, because their tightly huddled group made it to the elevators without being caught.
