Oh fuck no they didn’t. I don’t even bother to warn anyone. I shift right in my living room and tackle Ziggy through my french doors, dragging him out into the back yard. Why him? He just happens to be the closest to me.
I latch onto his arm and bite down hard enough to feel his bones grind together. He punches me in the face trying to get to where he can shift. My other brothers rushing outside trying to drag me off of Ziggy.
“Damn it Olivia. Get off Ziggy. We are just trying to be your brothers and protect you.” Bryant says as he jumps on top of me, trying to grab my ears. I turn and go to bite Bryant and my paw lands right in between Ziggy’s legs, squishing his valuables. He yells out and curls into the fetal position and the others take it as the time to join in.
By the time it is all said and done. They are walking away with scratches, bite marks and maybe a broken arm or two. I walk away with a bitten tail and two black eyes. I think I won. My wolf struts over to our mates and sniffs Jason to make sure he is ok. He pats my side and grins at my brothers. Everyone else is shaking their heads before turning to survey the damage to the French doors. Chase comes out with a pair of sweatpants and a Scooby shirt. He tosses them to me and waves for me to go change inside. After I am done changing and brushing my teeth, I walk back outside. Chase is already at the shed building another set of doors. While Jason is sitting by Snow listening to what everyone is saying. Morgan isn’t here and neither is Brandon which I find odd.
“Where are Brandon and Morgan?” I ask in a much happier tone than earlier.
“They went to check on the guys in our pack and grab some Chinese food.” Zeldin says coming up behind me to hug me close. I sigh happily and lean back into Zeldin.
“You know when the fighting starts. It’s going to be a massacre.” I say softly as I contemplate how the next week or so is going to play out. My body relaxing as I lean into Zeldin. The tips of his fingers tracing small patterns up and down my arms.
“It won’t be a massacre. You know we won’t let the rogues touch you or what you have created here.” Zeldin says against my ear.
“Sugar… I didn’t mean the rogues hurting us. My pack will decimate the rogues. There won’t be anything left except dead bodies.” I say honestly, not even trying to hide how well my pack is trained. He stops rubbing my arms and turns me to look at him.
“Even if you danced naked in the blood, gore and moonlight, it wouldn’t stop us from loving you. So be dangerous, be uncontrollable, be brutal. Because we will always be here waiting. But just so you know. We will not be stuck in a safe house while our female is fighting for our lives.” Zeldin growls out as he looks into my eyes. I just nod because I already knew they wouldn’t allow me to fight on my own.
I am still talking to Zeldin when my brothers come up behind me and grab my arms and legs. I growl loudly, struggling to get away because I know what’s about to happen. They carry me over to the pool and smile at me before throwing me into the deep end. My body breaks through the water and instantly I can feel the freezing cold stab into my skin. The fuckers added ice into the pool. It is freaking May. My lungs trying to lock up as I kick my feet hard to get to the surface. I finally reach the surface and take a deep breath. My body nearly crying out in relief. I narrow my eyes as I look around for my brothers. I see them hiding out by the grill laughing their asses off.
Oh this means war.
I swim over to the edge of the pool and drag my soaking body out of the depths of the water. I shift instantly and my brothers don’t even wait around. They take off running towards the back door. My wolf growling as she stops, not wanting to follow them. She wants to run.
“I will be back in a little while. I need to burn some pent up energy.” I mind link Zeldin. I turn and run to the back of my property. I jump over the fence, taking off for the thick woods that hold the many secrets of my pack and my town.
No one knows this but it isn’t just us shifters around here. We have vampires, witches, goblins and trolls. Really just a little bit of everything. We don’t hide from the humans but we do have it to were they all have to sign NDA’s. Kind of like one of the towns down in Florida.
I run past all of the inhabited areas of the forest and pump my legs as fast as they can go. My lungs burning, trying to suck in as much air as possible. I run for a good hour or two, not paying attention to where I am headed. I stumble as my paw catches on something sticking out of the ground. I huff as I turn to see what tripped me up and I stop in my tracks. A bone is sticking out of a shallow grave. I can tell by the shape that it isn’t an animal. I walk up close to it and sniff it. I start sneezing over and over again. I don’t know what it is buried under there but my nose hates it.
I suddenly feel a sharp pain in the back of my neck and stop what I am doing, to look around. I stumble slightly as a wave of dizziness hits me out of nowhere. Well fuck a duck. I think I just got drugged. The edges of my vision begins to blur as a twig snaps close by. I try to run but end up swaying from side to side. My legs not wanting to listen to the commands that are running through my mind. I stumble one last time and land in the dirt, still trying to claw myself away from whatever is about to happen. I feel a hand clamp down on the scruff of my neck as my vision completely blacks out and I slip away into la-la land.
Chapter Nine
Brandon
I couldn’t tell you why but my heart suddenly starts pumping hard. Then I feel a wave of anxiety slam into me. I look around and notice Olivia isn’t here. I can’t remember, for the life of me, where she is. As fast as it starts, it stops. I look around at the guys and see them all except for Jason, gasping for air. Jason not doing that makes sense though. He hasn’t bonded to Olivia yet.
“Guys what the fuck is going on?” Jason ask frantically.
He comes over to all of us and checks us over. Before he can touch me I wave him off. I run into the house looking for Olivia. She isn’t downstairs but I wonder if she is upstairs, taking a bath. Not that she would while her brothers are here. I snarl as I see that she isn’t anywhere in the house. I head back downstairs and run into Snow in the living room.
“Dude is she in here?” He asks probably already knowing the answer before I even shake my head.
“Wait didn’t she say that she was going for a run? That was a few hours ago.” Zeldin says coming into the room with the others right behind him.
“I think so. We should contact Sophie and Miranda.” I say softly thinking of everything that might be happening to her. I scratch at my forearm absentmindedly. I try to mind link her but nothing happens. That means she is further away than we thought or she is unconscious. I tell everyone that and Snow grabs the phone, calling Sophie, panicking slightly. Sophie doesn’t say anything except for us to check the woods behind the house.
She is going to form a search party and make sure all of the other mates are taken care of. We get off the phone with her and strip down as we run outside. Snow and I burst into our wolf forms as Morgan shifts and breaks through the fence in the backyard. Chase takes off into the sky while Zeldin bursts forth into a magnificent african lion. He roars so loud that the birds in the trees shoot off in every direction. Then darts past Morgan, taking off into the forest. His mane bouncing as he runs faster than I thought he would be able to. Jason shifts into his huge polar bear and snarls as he takes off, following Morgan. I sniff the air and pick up her peppermint scent. Snow watches me, waiting for a sign of which way to go. When it comes to tracking, I am the best. I smell her scent heading off a little towards the gym and I run that way. Snow following close behind me.
Every few feet I stop and sniff to make sure that I am still going in the right direction. Her scent should be getting stronger but it’s not. I keep following the scent for a couple of hours, waiting for a sign. I need my mate back with me. A blinding pain shoots through my head but I know it isn’t from me. She needs us. I pick up the pace, running for a few more minutes until a strange scent hits my nose. I stop and sniff around. I find the sc
ent all over hers and I growl. Snow comes over and we start smelling everything that we can see. It goes in every direction and I growl knowing they covered their tracks. I mind link the guys.
“They covered their tracks. We can all go in different directions or we can pick one and go together.” I say and listen to the guys growling and snarling. I bark loudly and they turn to look at me.
“Let’s just pick a track and follow it…” I say as I hear a bunch of paws hitting the ground behind me. I turn and see Sophie and about thirty people in various forms. Some are wolves and some are still human. Snow moves behind a tree and shifts back to human.
“We are going to have to go in a bunch of different directions. We are going to take the path over there.” He says pointing over towards the east.
“You all can go those two directions. Give me a backpack with a phone so we can contact each other. We are going to be running hard and need to stay focused trying to find Olivia. ” He says pointing to the path leading north and the path leading west. Miranda steps forward and places a pack across my back and straps it on.
“There are enough shorts in there for all of you in case you find her first.” She says with a snarl at the end. Her eyes barely giving away any emotion. Olivia has trained her people well. I watch the ones that haven’t turned human, sniffing around, trying to pick up a good scent trail. Once everyone has gotten their orders. We head out. I look around one last time to make sure I did not miss anything. Snow takes off towards the east like we planned. Zeldin close behind him and Morgan beside him. I shoot out past them trying to find a stronger scent trail. We run for another couple of hours when Jason stops and starts going up on his hind legs and slamming his front paws down into the dirt. Morgan shifts as he sees Jason going crazy.
“What’s going on?” He asks in his deep, raspy voice.
“I know where we are at. These are my claw prints in this tree.” Jason says after shifting back into a human. He points at this huge tree off to the side. Its branches are thick and pointing in every direction.
“How do you know?” Snow says shifting to stand beside Morgan, looking at the tree.
“I thought the branches were weird. Oh and I pissed on it.” Jason says honestly.
“We will follow you until Chase can catch a glimpse of something.” Snow says gruffly, switching back into his wolf instantly. We wait for Jason to change back into his giant polar bear. When he is ready he turns and heads northeast. We fall in behind him and we all shoot off further into the forest. Chase circles over head but continues to follow us. About an hour later Chase mind links us.
“Guys I finally see something. There is a cabin up ahead. It looks a little bit run down but there are people all over.” He says flying down to land on Morgan’s back. He turns human and takes the pack from me. I shift to stand beside him, along with the other guys. We grab the shorts and dress. Once we are clothed we begin walking carefully towards the cabin.
“This is Killian’s cabin up ahead. He is the lead guy. There is a town up the road a few miles where everyone else lives. There are no humans there. They either killed everyone or they got out of town. They think this is just a basic 1% motorcycle club.” Jason says softly trying not to disturb the nature around us. I glare at the ground as I hear how many people have been affected by these rogues. No wonder Olivia and her pack stay so busy. Rogues coming into different pack territories, trying to take over. I don’t know where to begin. I wonder exactly how many people have been killed by this particular band of rogues.
While I am thinking we walk up about fifty feet away from the compound and run into a ten foot tall fence. It’s made of wood all the way around. I stop and glare at the structure. I sniff around pausing as I smell our mate on the air. A growl bubbling up from my chest causing me to bite down on my lip to keep it contained. Jason walks down the line of fence before stopping at a certain board. He walks up and picks at the space between the boards. It opens slightly and he peaks through it. He looks at Snow and motions for him to come look. As Snow looks I look around, making sure that no one is coming up from behind. I feel a tap on my shoulder and I turn to see Zeldin. He leans against me while mind linking me.
“Does it seem almost too easy? Where are the guards?” He asks.
“I don’t know man but you’re right. This is almost too easy.” I look around again before coming up behind Jason and Snow.
“What’s going on?” I whisper into Snow’s ear.
“They have security cameras and guard dogs. The cameras are set all around the property but they only have about three dogs. We should call Miranda and Sophie. They may not have a lot of security but they have at least forty people here right now. Some are training and others are snorting cocaine, drinking and fucking all over the place. Jason, I don’t know how you didn’t fall into this horrible life style.” Snow growls out softly.
Jason shakes his head and shrugs like he doesn't know either. We step back further into the trees and call Miranda. She picks up on the first ring and doesn’t say anything.
“Miranda, we found her. If this phone has GPS. Please track it and get here as fast as possible.” I whisper into the speaker on the phone. The next second all I hear is a dial tone and I hang it up. Chase points up into the tree and everyone except Jason crawls up into the top of the trees. Jason cocks his head to the side and watches us before climbing up into the trees too.
We sit there waiting on Sophie and Miranda for a few hours. We never take our eyes off of the structures that houses our mate. Blood will spill this night until my mate is back in our care. We refuse anything less. We hear a motorcycle crank up and leave, a blonde guy riding it away from the cabin. I hear rustling in the trees behind us and I turn to look around. Sophie and Miranda are waving to us from the tree directly behind ours. Everyone else are scattered around the other trees, waving, and smiling.
The guys, including Jason, smile in return. A deadly glint of retribution alight in their eyes. Their hands clenching together tightly trying not to shift already. I look at Sophie and nod my head. She grins like a bloodthirsty maniac. She waves her hand in a weird sort of movement, signaling for the others to jump out of their trees and proceed towards the fence.
The guys and me following behind them like harbingers of death. Our feet never making a sound against the dead underbrush.
Miranda places her hands against the wood, when a scream pierces the air all around us. A shiver of fear shooting through my body, hoping that Olivia is ok.
We rush the fence and burst through to the other side, not expecting what we find, waiting for us.
Chapter Ten
Olivia
I wake up with a splitting headache. My brain feeling like Athena is trying to burst forth from my cranium. I try to lift my hand and it jerks against some soft, fuzzy shackles. I narrow my eyes as I try to wake up completely and fail miserably. Where the fuck am I? It doesn’t smell like my territory. I know that for sure. I yank my arm but the fuzzy shackles hold my wrist in an iron grip. I growl out in frustration. I try to lift my legs and the same thing happens. Granted, I approve of the fuzzy handcuffs. But seriously they should only be used during sexy time. I would try to mind link my mates but I have a feeling we are too far away.
I try to yank again but any kind of movement makes my head pound harder than before. I close my eyes on a sigh and gently lay my head back down. Well I guess all I can do is wait. I have no idea how long I have been here either. I’m pretty sure I need to piss too. But if these people had any brains they wouldn’t let me up to use it. In this type of situation, even I wouldn’t allow that and I am usually pretty humane in how I handle my prisoners.
I sit here waiting for someone to come in or someone to at least bring a drink of water. Every so often I hear heavy footfalls, stomping their way through this shitty house or cabin. I don’t know what the fuck it is. I look around my room because I literally have no other choice in what to do. I look at the window and see bars on the outside of it.
Typical. I look over at the closet and it has no door. The walls are painted a nasty looking pea green. I look down at the floor and by what I can see. I see shitty tile work all over the place. Whoever designed this place had some craptastic taste in decor and I haven’t even seen the rest of this place.
I am sitting there for a good three hours, not doing anything except think. My wrists fell asleep a couple of hours ago. My feet too, even though I wiggled my toes trying to keep them awake. I feel like the lady from Kill Bill right now. Granted she was a total badass, but then again... so am I. Another hour passes and I am so fucking bored. I want someone to come in here already, Let’s get this party started. I hear someone stomping up to the door of the grungy room.
Holy shit my prayers were answered.
I close my eyes, slowing my heart rate. I wait for them to open the door as I lay there splayed across this uncomfortable, rickety, queen size bed. It even smells like some weird mix of mothballs and actual balls. It isn’t a good combination. Whoever is there unlocks the door and shoves it open. I keep my eyes closed and my breathing even. Whoever it is stomps over to the bed and pokes my shoulder hard.
“You better wake up. The boss man wants to meet you.” He says gruffly. He leaves before I have a chance to open my eyes. Well, whoever that was, is loud but fast on his feet. He is kind of heavy but not overweight, by the sounds of his steps on the boards. I test my head as I lift it, still trying to see where the hell I am. It doesn’t hurt too bad. Now another waiting game to see what the fuck is going on.
I am nearly dozing off as the door to the room slams open again and a man that stands at six foot three, strides into the room, like he owns the place. For all I know he does own it. He stops and looks at me as he notices me laying there awake. I glare at him from my prone position on the bed.
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