by Alisa Woods
Her stomach heaved at the words. She shook her head and took a step back.
Jak reached in, grabbed her arm, and hauled her across the threshold. Just as she was about to yell out her protest, his hand clamped over her mouth, then he dragged her farther from the door, kicking and flailing. She would have screamed, but she couldn’t suck in a breath. When he finally let her go, about ten feet from the door, she tumbled over her own feet and landed in the lawn. Once she was able to pull in a breath, she was about to let loose a yell for help… then stopped.
The grass was wet under her hands. The cool air, perfumed by the nearby forest, bathed her face. The fog in her mind cleared out. Freedom.
The submission bond was still there—she could feel it deep inside her, a tiny tug back toward the house, toward Mace—but it no longer clouded her thoughts. Jak had gotten her out, but it had required him literally dragging her from Mace’s territory. The residual anxiety of leaving turned to disgust. She scrambled to her feet and gave Jak a sharp nod. He was watching her carefully, and Jupiter’s eyes were wide, as if Mia had just lost her mind.
“Let’s go,” Mia said as loud as she dared, glancing around to see if anyone else would hear.
Jak smirked and tipped his head toward the nearby forest. “Follow me.”
Mia took Jupiter’s hand, and the three of them ran for the wall of trees surrounding the estate. Once they had sunk into the cover of darkness, they had to slow down, so as not to trip over the gnarled undergrowth. The moon pierced the canopy overhead, but only in spots, like weak streetlamps that dotted a path through the darkness. They stumbled along in silence for a short while.
“No flashlights?” Mia asked Jak quietly.
He was still smiling. “Too easy for them to find you.”
Jupiter had let go of her hand to keep balance, but now she was ahead of Mia in picking her way through the forest.
Jeeter glanced back. “What in the actual hell was all that back there?” she asked. “Are you okay, Mia?” She looked forward again just in time to duck under a low-lying branch.
A flush of embarrassment ran through Mia. She knew it was the submission bond, but she didn’t know how to explain it to her roommate.
Jak jumped in. “She’s bound to her alpha,” he said to Jeeter. “Leaving his territory causes a lot of anxiety, if it’s contrary to his wishes. Mia knew Mace didn’t want her to leave. Her wolf knew it even more. Even the strongest of wolves would have had a hard time breaking the wishes of their alpha.”
Mia nodded. “It’s a compulsion to obey. Not impossible to break… but almost.” They were Lucas’s words, but she understood them so much better now.
“Good grief,” Jeeter said, aghast. “What is with all this mating and claiming and submission crap? I don’t get it. Like at all.”
It had to seem strange. Mia couldn’t entirely disagree. And Mace really twisted all of it to be just… wrong. “It’s complicated.”
“Yeah.” Jeeter frowned at her. “You say that a lot.” She was miffed, but that sent a strange zing of happiness through Mia. She would rather have Jeeter pissed at her, than crying and screaming and sobbing, like she had been for the past half day they’d been held at the Red pack estate.
Jak held a branch back for Mia to pass. “I didn’t think you were going to make it there for a minute. But the witch wasn’t kidding when she said you were strong.”
She passed him, frowning. “Why exactly are you helping us?”
He gave a sigh. “Not everyone in the Crittenden pack believes in treating females the way Mace does.”
“How many not everyones?” Jupiter asked. “Because as far as I can tell, all wolves are complete assholes.”
Jak gave a light-hearted laugh, and Mia frowned. It had to look that way to her roommate.
A half-beat later, Jeeter seemed to realize what she had said. “Wait… I mean, not you guys. I didn’t mean that, Mia. I just… it’s been so crazy and…”
“Jeeter,” Mia cut her off. “It’s okay. They are assholes.”
Jak was chuckling.
Mia grimaced. “But there are a whole lot of wolves that are, well, amazing and awesome and…” She stopped because even those words felt inadequate to describe how she felt. “Wolves like Lucas.” Tears jumped to her eyes, making it even harder to stumble through the dark. She might actually get to see him again. And if she did, she was going to spend the next several months apologizing constantly about running off like a child. And begging forgiveness for everything. And hoping he might at least still want to be friends, like she had tried and failed at so miserably. Or maybe just hug him…
“Wait, you mean Lucas is a wolf, too?” Jeeter’s screeching voice pulled Mia out of her crazy thought-train and back into the present: they still had to finish their escape. “Dammit, is everyone a wolf? Because this is starting to really freak me out. I mean, I knew there were shifters out there, but jeez—”
“Yes, Lucas is a wolf.” Mia sighed. She still had to catch Jeeter up on so much. “He’s one of the good ones. And there’s apparently at least one good wolf in the Red pack, too.” She tossed a thank you look to Jak as he led them through the forest.
His grin caught a stray moonbeam and flashed white. “We’re not all bad.”
“So… what are you?” Mia asked. At his arched eyebrow, she elaborated, “You’re not in Mace’s pack, are you?”
“No. I’m his older brother’s beta.” He grimaced.
Mia frowned. “So you’re disobeying your alpha by helping us?” That seemed wrong, not to mention extremely difficult to pull off. Mia had just experienced firsthand how hard it was to go against her alpha’s wishes.
“No.” Jak seemed very clear about that, but took a moment to explain further. “My alpha sent me to keep an eye on Mace during this whole… operation. There’s a lot of infighting. And that was before we knew you were a shifter. Securing a female like you as a mate would be a big boost for Mace within the larger structure of Red Wolf. My alpha has no interest in seeing that happen.”
“So this is all about a quarrel between the brothers?” Mia was mildly disgusted. Not that Mace didn’t do much worse things, but that seemed so… petty.
“I suppose that’s one way to look at it.” He came to a stop, so Mia and Jeeter stopped with him. “But I’m helping you, Mia, because I couldn’t…” He seemed to struggle for words, then glanced back in the direction of Mace’s house. When he looked at her again, his jaw was set, and even with the soft glow of moonlight around him, Mia could see the strength of his determination. “I couldn’t stand by and let another female fall under Mace’s control.”
She frowned, not exactly sure what that was all about, but she recognized the tone and the sentiment: he was what Lev called an alpha-in-waiting. And the kind-hearted, protective type, like Lucas.
“Thank you,” was all she managed to get out.
He dipped his head, but then he reached back to pull something out of his pocket. It was a phone—her phone—and a wad of bills.
“You’re going to need these.” He handed them to her.
“Wait, wait, wait,” Jeeter said, working her way through the undergrowth back to them. “What are you talking about? You can’t just leave us here in the forest.”
“You’re going to be fine,” he said. “I’ve programmed Mia’s phone GPS with a location just beyond the perimeter. I’ve left a moped for you there. Worst comes to worst, you can take the moped all the way back to Seattle. But there’s also money for a cab, which would be better. Harder to track.”
“You’re not coming because you don’t want to be seen helping us,” Mia guessed.
He smiled. “The perimeter has cameras. The section where the moped is stationed should be less visible, but still. I really would rather not have Mace discover who let his prized alpha female loose—for a number of reasons, but not least because he would have my throat for it. Besides, you need to get outside the perimeter fence and it’s electrified.”
&
nbsp; “Okay…” Jeeter said. “Exactly how are we supposed to do that? I can’t just, like, shift and jump over it, you know. We’re not all wolves.”
Jak grinned wider. “Neither could I. It’s about eight feet tall.” He sobered quickly. “Follow the GPS. When you get to the fence, wait for my signal. I’ll relieve the security guy who monitors the fence and the other operations from the command center in the main house. He’ll be happy to go. He likes to take smoke breaks, and our alpha won’t allow smoking in the house.”
“Well, I’m glad you wolves are progressive about that at least.” Jupiter crossed her arms and cocked her hip to the side.
Jak shook his head, but ignored her. “As soon as I have the fence turned off, I’ll send you a text. You’ve got five minutes to get over, then I’ll have to turn it back on. Just make sure you get across in time.”
Mia nodded. “As soon as you text us, we’ll be out of here.”
“Good.” He pressed his lips together, like he wanted to say something more, then thought better of it and turned to head back the way they came.
“Hey, Jak,” Mia called. She waited for him to stop. “Thanks for yanking me out of the house.”
He smiled wide at that, then ducked his head, like he was shy about what he’d done, which was just crazy. He had saved her life and probably her sanity as well. Not to mention Jeeter’s. Mia watched as he strode back through the forest toward the compound. Then she turned on her phone and quickly navigated to the GPS he had set up for her. The soft glow lit the way through the forest for them. Mia knew that was dangerous, so she took her bearing, then covered the face of the phone with her hand.
“C’mon, let’s go,” she said to Jupiter.
They tromped through the darkened forest. It seemed like it went on forever, and there was no way she could have made it without frequent checks of the GPS, but it didn’t actually take long for them to reach the perimeter. Maybe five minutes.
The fence was tall and hummed, but it looked possible to climb. Beyond it, through another dozen yards of thick undergrowth and trees, the moonlight reflected off a road.
And a moped.
“That Jak guy totally just saved us, didn’t he?” Jeeter asked.
“Yeah. He did.”
“I still don’t really understand why.”
Mia frowned. “You know… I think some wolves are just like that. The good ones at least. Did I ever tell you how I met Lucas?” Of course, she hadn’t—she couldn’t. Until a few hours ago, she didn’t have any friends she could tell anything like that. Not human ones, anyway.
“Did he save you from another pack of bloodthirsty wolves bent on claiming you for their wolfy princess harem?” Jeeter asked suspiciously. “Because I’m starting to think this is like an everyday occurrence for you, girl.”
Mia had to laugh at that. Partly because it was nearly true. And partly because only Jeeter could come out of all this with her sense of humor intact. “Almost. He saved me from Mace and his goons in an alley outside The Deviation.”
“The Deviation?” Jeeter shook her head. “Good thing you quit that job. Place was full of losers.”
Mia grinned.
“So… what do we do now?” her roommate asked.
Mia peeked at the messages on her phone. Nothing yet. “Now… we wait.”
Lucas hunched down behind a fallen log. The forest stretched in front of him to the humming perimeter fence of the Red pack’s compound. He and his father’s pack held back while Llyr and his pack tackled the fence. They all wore a set of infrared LEDs strapped to their foreheads, looking like ridiculous miners wearing headlamps only without the lamps. Lev assured them the infrared signal would disrupt the surveillance cameras, if they happened to sweep by this stretch of the perimeter at the wrong moment. Instead of seeing their stealthy black-clad bodies, the cameras would record a bright-white spot where each pack member’s face should be. It would essentially prevent a recording of their identity while breaking and entering.
Get in, get out, no evidence, no casualties. Those were his father’s orders, and between Lev’s technology, the stun gun weapons, and the grounding device for the electric-fence that Llyr and Colin were setting up, they had a fair chance at it.
The kicker would be the alarm system. It would be triggered as soon as the fence was blown. So they also had to get in fast—which meant shifting, running like hell, and hitting Mace hard where he lived before the rest of the Red pack could be rallied to his defense. From what they could tell from the satellite imagery, the standalone houses were mostly single-family. The majority of the non-mated pack members would be in the main house, which their assault force wouldn’t be hitting at all, if possible. Hopefully having an overwhelming force of wolves descend upon Mace’s house would be sufficient to get the girls out without casualties. And without leaving DNA evidence.
Just to be safe, they would be splitting into two teams: the first with shifters going in fast but weaponless, because carrying a stun gun in your mouth wasn’t the smartest plan; and the second team in human form, coming up from behind with stun guns. While the first team took Mace’s house, the second would search the others, shifting if they found the girls and had to penetrate one of the houses. They would only engage in human form if weapons were needed. Mainly, the second team would serve as cover for the extraction, once the first team had pulled out the girls.
The first team would be Lucas and his father’s pack, including Lev, his father’s beta, Rent, and four of the younger wolves. The second team was Llyr, Colin, and a half dozen wolves from his pack. In wolf form, they would communicate telepathically; otherwise they would rely on the shortwave headsets Lev had obtained for them.
Llyr signaled from the fence that they were ready.
“Hold for my mark,” Lucas’s father said through the headsets, bringing everyone on his team to attention. Scaling the fence would be tough with paws, so they would climb first and shift second, dropping their clothes and gear by the fence. They’d pick their clothes up on the way out, assuming they weren’t hauling ass and didn’t have time to get dressed.
“Now!” His father's voice came through the headset. The hum of the fence crackled and then sparked out with a flash. A few electric bolts arced to the ground near Llyr’s team. They jumped back just as Lucas, Lev, and the others on their team surged forward. By prearrangement, Rent went first, testing that the live wire was dead, then they all took the fence right behind him, wasting no time in scrambling over. Llyr’s team was right on their heels. As soon as Lucas and the first team members dropped to the other side, they shed their clothes, leaving the headlamp for last in case of cameras, finally shifting out of that and leaving it in a pile with the rest of their gear.
Then they ran like crazy through the forest.
Spots of moonlight penetrated the branches above, but the Red’s private forest preserve was deep enough that they couldn’t see the lights from the compound. The pack’s collective sense of direction kept them on a straight line to the estate buried inside. Lucas heard Llyr’s team following them, crashing through the underbrush with their human bodies and boots, but they were much slower. With any luck, the first team would have things wrapped up and well in hand by the time Llyr’s team arrived. The first team quickly reached the edge of the forest, and the lights of the main house shone brightly in the night.
Hold up, Lucas’s father thought, and as a single pack, they came to a stop and kept from breaching into the moonlight frosted lawn. Hug the edge until we reach the target.
The instructions weren’t necessary—they had pre-planned their route, and this path would take them around the main house and closest to Mace’s before breaking cover—but his father’s signal helped to keep them tightly coordinated as a group. As Lucas surged along with them, a part of him drank in the pack unity like a man ten days in the desert. The thrill of moving as one, of having one thought, one purpose, and in this case, such a righteous one… it brought a feeling of completeness he ha
dn’t experienced since Tila died. A sensation of brotherhood and honor he thought he would never have again. He surged to the front of the pack, the exhilaration and adrenaline bringing his strength and speed to the fore.
Hold up, Lucas’s father repeated, and they came to a noisy stop at the edge of the underbrush. They were within sight of Mace’s house now, and every single one of them was on high alert: looking, sniffing, listening for any sign of movement. There were eight of them altogether: even if Mace had a couple of his betas on guard with him in the house, the team should be able to overwhelm them quickly enough. The trick would be getting inside the house without knocking on the front door. For that, Lev carried in his mouth a small pack with an electronic lock scrambler as well as some old fashioned picks. He’d have to shift briefly to human to use them, but he had gloves, and it would allow them to take the place by surprise. They could throw a brick through a window, but that wasn’t going to gain them entry without someone getting hurt.
Lucas pawed the dirt, waiting for his father’s command. If it was up to him, or if Lev took too long, Lucas would just shift and kick the door in. Right as he was about to question why they were waiting, a group of four men broke from the main house and ran toward Mace’s.
Pack of four, Lucas thought.
I see them, his father replied.
The team pawed the ground restlessly as they waited for his command.
We’ll take them from behind as they enter Mace’s house. Gain entry that way, his father thought.
Lucas liked that plan… a lot. Lev spit out the toolkit, and the entire team tensed, ready for the signal. Lucas gauged the distance… the Red pack team was nearly to the lawn of Mace’s house…
Now! his father commanded.
They surged as one, breaking from the cover of the forest and loping with pounding speed toward the house. Because of the angle, they could no longer see the four Red wolves as they approached the front door of Mace’s house, but that was good: it meant the Reds wouldn’t see them either, not until Lucas’s team was right on top of them.
