He hated having to admit that, especially when he’d seen Beck easily sling Nami over his shoulder one-armed before.
“I’m not a wolf. I’m just a damn computer geek.”
“I’m so tired. And cold.”
He wrapped his arms around her, rubbing his hands up and down her arms. “I know, sweetie. Me, too.” Her flesh felt cold and she trembled.
His even bigger fear than Nami getting down and not being able to help her up again was he feared if they stopped moving and sat still for too long in one place that hypothermia might set in.
He had a thought. “So what kind of wedding dress are we going to get for Malyah?”
She straightened. “This changes nothin’. I’m still gonna kill that boy when I get my hands on him.” She pushed herself away from the tree and started to take a step. Fortunately, Ken was ready to help steady her. “Cain’t believe he just done took her into the woods and had his way with her!”
Righteous indignation, for the win.
He wished he’d thought of that sooner.
Ken glanced back at the wolf. “Hold up.”
“What?” angrily said.
“Shh!”
“What?” she whispered.
“Okay, new rule, let’s keep the evisceration plans to a whisper, all right? I’d rather not announce to the bad guys where we are.”
“Oh. Sorry.”
He turned to the wolf again and patted his thigh, calling to it.
“Uh, you sure that’s a good idea?”
“He could have attacked us at any time. If he’s reasonably tame and wants to stay with us, maybe he’ll help keep us safe. Or snuggle up with us and help keep us warm.”
“Good plan.”
The wolf watched him for a moment before approaching. When it was about five feet away it stopped, staring up at them, nostrils flaring as it sniffed them.
“Good…boy. I think. If you’re a girl, my apologies.”
“You’re talking to it like it understands you.”
“I think it might.”
“If it was a shifter, wouldn’t it have shifted by now?”
“That’s what I was thinking.” The symbolism of having a wolf with them helped calm Ken. Its brown eyes seemed to intently study him. “But maybe if he’s with us, he’ll warn us if anyone’s coming. Or anything.”
“Anything?” She snorted. “Like what, Sasquatch?”
“Bears. Mountain lions. Coyotes.”
She let out a sick-sounding noise. “You coulda just made me happy and agreed with Sasquatch. If we’re gonna keep movin’, we need to keep movin’, or I’m gonna sit down right here and die.”
“We need to try to find shelter. A rocky outcropping or something. To get out of the wind.” He helped her start moving again. The snow, as he’d thought it might, wasn’t sticking. It was melting and making everything wet, as if they were caught in a mist.
“Maybe,” she quietly said, “you should just leave me here and head toward where you think the road is and get help.”
“No. I’m not leaving you alone. You’re Beck’s mate, and I’m staying with you.”
She stopped and looked up at him. “I’m cold and wet and cain’t hardly walk. If you go, at least—”
“Nami, I’m not leaving you. Pack doesn’t leave pack. And you’re a mate.”
She snorted. “So are you.”
“Yeah, but I’m a guy.”
“So?”
“After…after the incident. When I killed Endquist. Beck and I talked. He told me then, before he’d ever met you, that he respected me and trusted me. That if he ever found his mate, he knew he could trust me to help take care of her. I’m not going to let him down now.”
“I’m scared,” she quietly admitted.
“I know. Me, too. I know we’ll find someplace we can stop for the night. Let’s just keep—”
The wolf softly chuffed at them. He’d circled around in front of them while they were talking and now he stood there, waiting, looking over his shoulder at them.
“What’s he doin’?” Nami whispered.
“I don’t know.”
The wolf took a couple of steps forward, looked back, and softly chuffed again.
“I think he wants us to follow him,” Ken said.
“What if he leads us to the guys who are after us?”
Ken stared into the wolf’s eyes. “No,” Ken finally said, “I don’t think he will. Let’s follow him.”
He thought Nami muttered something that sounded like, “Lord, save me from crazy white boys,” but she let Ken help her and they started following the wolf.
It was what Ken’s instinct told him to do, and so far, they were still alive.
Hopefully that wouldn’t change any time soon.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Joaquin was good with killing Segura’s two guys right then, but knew Beck had seniority. If he said they had to stay alive for now, that was it.
They marched the prisoners north toward the main road. By the time they reached it, the two nearly naked men were shivering, their color looking a little on the blue side. Except for the one who’d been shot in the arm.
He looked distinctly paler from blood loss.
Beck and Trent had howled back and forth as they walked, coordinating their meeting place. By the time they emerged at the main road, they spotted Trent and Dewi heading toward them.
Beck pulled out his phone and checked it. “Finally.” Joaquin watched him place a call.
Well, tried to. Apparently voice mail picked up.
“Hey, babe, it’s me. Call me as soon as you get this message, okay? If you can’t get me, try Dewi or Trent. It’s an emergency. Love you.” He looked distinctly unhappy as he put his phone away.
“Where are your guys?” Beck asked Trent as he walked up.
“They’re coming.” He hooked a thumb over his shoulder.
Joaquin looked to see one emerge from the woods, something large slung over his shoulder.
Then he dumped it on the ground.
A body.
The two men they were guarding saw it, too, when the second man emerged from the woods and dumped a second body on top of the first.
Joaquin noticed how Dewi hung back a few paces from her brother as they walked up. She pulled her phone out, checked it, and tried calling someone. She frowned as she hung up and slipped her phone into her back pocket.
Joaquin didn’t need to be a Prime to guess who she’d tried to call. He suspected she couldn’t get hold of Ken, either.
Trent handed two cell phones to Beck. “Got these off the other two. Maybe we can use them to track the seven we haven’t found yet. Take them back to Peyton. Do you have the phones off these men?”
“Yes, sir.”
The man without the extra hole in his arm dropped to his knees. “Please, we don’t want no trouble.”
Trent already had his gun out. “Yeeeaah, but that’s not why you originally came here, is it?”
He pointed to Joaquin. “FYI, that’s the guy you all were looking for. He rightfully executed the rapist and murderer of a girl. One of ours. By order of the Targhee pack, and speaking for the pack Alpha, I hereby find you guilty of intrusion into pack territory for the express purpose of committing murder of our kind. Blood crimes call for blood. By pack edict, I sentence you to death.”
Trent dropped the begging man mid-plea with a shot between the eyes. The larger man tried to turn to run, but one of Trent’s men stuck out his foot and tripped him.
Trent shot the prisoner in the back of the head.
Joaquin wouldn’t deny he silently cheered Trent on.
Not when he’d never be able to erase the horrible images from Mexico from his mind.
Trent holstered his gun and pulled out his cell phone to make a call. Joaquin assumed Peyton, and his suspicion was soon confirmed.
“Four bogeys verified and terminated. There are three more in a second vehicle somewhere in the compound. They have satellite
photos and maps and were planning on meeting in the vicinity of the great hall… Four others, armed, in a vehicle, sent south down the road after Ken and Nami, but no idea where they are now, if they are in the compound or not. That makes eleven total… Right. Send Paul over to pick everyone up.”
He glanced at the two bodies lying there, then turned to look up the road where his men stood watch over the other two bodies.” And we’ll need a pickup truck. We’re on the main road just east of the 4-11 fire road.” He glanced at Beck. “Any word on Ken and Nami?… Okay, thanks.”
Trent hung up. “Nothing yet on Ken and Nami. We’re to meet back at the great hall to regroup. I’ll be along once the bodies are picked up.”
“Wood chipper?” Joaquin asked.
“Fuckin’ A,” Dewi muttered. She stood there, her arms crossed over her chest, a dark look on her face.
It wasn’t that they made a habit of murdering people, but the pack had learned a long time ago that a wood chipper was the fastest, easiest way of disposing of evidence. Since the sheriff for the area was a shifter from the pack, there were never any questions.
“I’m sure they’re fine,” Joaquin told Dewi. “Your guy, he’s smart, right? A genius. They’re probably in Spokane already.”
Beck reached over and gently clasped Joaquin’s shoulder. He gave Joaquin a quick shake of his head.
Joaquin shut up.
Paul showed up a few minutes later and picked up Beck, Joaquin, and Trent’s man, who’d been with them.
“You coming, Dewi?” Beck asked as he swapped places with Paul behind the wheel.
“No. I’m going to wait with Trent.”
“We don’t need help, Dewster,” Trent told her.
She glared at him. “Do not call me that while I’m working.”
Joaquin stepped around the SUV to the passenger side. He didn’t want to get in the middle of a sibling squabble.
Not between a Prime Alpha and her Alpha older brother.
And especially not when the Prime Alpha was his boss.
“Just drop me back at Jack’s car, please,” Joaquin said. “It should be east of here.”
“Okay,” Beck said.
As they got turned around, Joaquin glanced back to see Trent and Dewi standing there, Dewi with her arms crossed again and staring to the west.
It wasn’t hard for him to follow her thinking.
She was worried about her mate and he couldn’t blame her.
At least Joaquin had that small comfort, that he knew Malyah was safe and protected. He knew exactly where she was, too.
Back at Jack’s car, he got in and followed Beck and the others to the great hall. They were almost there when someone in a pickup truck raced past them going the other way.
There goes the hearse.
The good news was the snow had stopped without turning into rain first.
The bad news was night would fall sooner than normal with the heavy cloud cover. With the breezy and cold weather, while not much of a hinderance for the shifters usually, the darker than normal conditions would slow them down a little with their search, as would the wet ground.
And they still had three armed men somewhere inside their compound, not to mention the four after Ken and Nami.
Joaquin followed Beck and the others inside the great hall. There were at least three dozen shifters there now, including several who were shifted, looked like mostly teenagers, who were curled up in a back corner and staying quiet and out of the way.
Beck put the cell phones they’d taken from the dead men on the table. “Got those off them. Trent and Dewi are supervising the body disposal.”
Peyton’s brow furrowed, his shoulders tense. “What are we looking at?”
Beck repeated what Trent had told Peyton over the phone, since that’s all the info he had.
Peyton grabbed one of the phones and looked at it. “Dammit, a passcode.” He put that one down and tried another, which apparently wasn’t locked. He was scrolling through the call log when Web and eight more shifters ran into the great hall.
Peyton looked up. “Good. Perfect timing.” He started going over the compound map again with everyone. “Tell them what car they’re looking for again, Web.”
“Rental. I don’t know what make, but it won’t belong here and probably has Washington state plates on it. They had a black one, a blue one, and a charcoal grey one. I saw the blue one down by the entrance, so that means either the black or grey one is in here. Four-doors, sedan, maybe a Chevy or a Ford from the size. I’d have to go back and pull the security video from the gas station to be sure.”
“Wait,” one of Web’s men said. “I thought you said I was looking for a little two-door Honda.”
Web stared at him. “Yeah, that Beck and Dewi’s mates were driving.”
“Fuck. I passed a four-door black sedan parked on that turn-out a few miles south of town. The one hikers sometimes stage from. It was there when I went by and when I came back. I didn’t see any people around it, though. I thought it was just hikers.”
Joaquin’s blood chilled.
“You didn’t stop and investigate it?” Peyton asked.
The guy glanced around, apparently realizing he’d fucked up. “No, I was ordered to find a Honda.”
Joaquin, Beck, and at least fifteen other shifters, including Peyton, all muttered, “Fuck,” under their breaths.
Peyton scrubbed at his face. “Web, take three armed guys and go check it out. Report back.”
“Cell coverage drops by that point on the road, for at least another ten miles.”
“Then go check it out and get back to where you can call me.” He glanced at Joaquin. “Take Joaquin with you, too. He should be able to know if it’s them or not by the smell. Right?”
Joaquin nodded. “Yeah.”
“Stay together and do not do anything until you call me. Oh, hold on.” Peyton pulled his phone from his pocket. “Joaquin, take down these numbers. They’re for Ken and Nami. Keep trying to call them as you can.”
He read the numbers off to Joaquin, who quickly entered them in the phone Badger had given him. He had Dewi’s number in his old phone back in Florida, but not in the new one.
Web picked his men. “Let’s go.”
Joaquin followed them, taking Jack’s car again. He now had two guns and extra mags taken off the two men he and Beck had located, in addition to the gun and two mags Jack had given him before he’d bolted out of their house following Peyton’s call.
It was going on four o’clock in the afternoon, the weather dreary, damp, and miserable.
At least something was able to take my mind off Malyah for a few little while.
Not that he was happy about that for a myriad of reasons.
* * * *
Beck watched them quickly file out of the great hall, knowing damn well he couldn’t argue with the pack Alpha in front of others.
He wanted to be on that mission.
Peyton apparently read him correctly. “I need you here, Beck,” he gently said. “I’m sorry. You know the compound better than Joaquin does. It’s been a couple of years since he’s been back. I need your eyes and ears here on the ground helping with this.”
“Why can’t Dan get a chopper in the air for us?”
“I called. They have a group of Boy Scouts overdue in the national forest and have every available person focused on that. You know he can’t pull resources from an official operation.”
“Dammit.” Beck scrubbed at his face. “I feel like I’m sitting here jacking off. We should be out there.”
“We have to do this smart.” Peyton pointed at the map. “We know what kind of vehicle we’re looking for now, and depending on what Joaquin reports back, one of two colors.”
Peyton traced the main road with his finger, as well as the largest, most heavily used side roads and trails. “I’m going to start the phone tree again so anyone who sees that car can call in. But we need to sweep from the main road north. Based on what you’
re telling me the four men said, the other car likely went north. There aren’t any homes or buildings south of the main road at this point. We need to start at the main road and work north, a coordinated search grid, so we can pin them in.”
“They’ve been out there nearly six hours now,” Beck said. “They could have broken into a house and be hiding out. They could have made it halfway to the northern boundary. Hell, if they went too far east, they could have gotten into the national forest.”
“I already told Dan to be on the lookout for any vehicles along their western boundary, and why. He’ll investigate if they find anyone.”
Beck realized someone was missing. “Where’s Badger?”
“I’ve got him out rounding up people and sending them out of here.” Peyton turned to Beck. “We’ll find them,” he gently told Beck.
“No offense, Sir, but don’t promise me something you can’t. We don’t even know if they’re still alive.” Beck had dropped himself totally into work mode.
It was the only thing stopping him from disobeying direct orders from his pack Alpha.
“Four down, seven to go,” Peyton said. “With more wolves hunting the three we know for sure are on our land, it’ll go faster. Then we can focus on the last group of them.”
Beck hoped he was right. Because if he lost Nami, he wouldn’t want to live.
He dreaded what might happen if Dewi lost Ken.
For years, he’d silently chastised Duncan Bleacke for killing himself when his wife died. Not when Badger had survived the murder of his mate over a hundred years earlier.
Now…he couldn’t blame the man, and he felt guilty for the years of recriminations he’d silently heaped upon him while he was helping raise Dewi. How it would have been so much easier on her, and better, had there been another Prime Alpha who could have helped.
A Prime related to her by blood, not just someone she loved as adopted family.
How maybe if Duncan had still been alive and in charge of the pack, Charles and Chelsea might not have died.
He shook himself out of that line of thinking. He couldn’t think like that. It would drain his focus and could get people hurt, or worse.
A Bleacke Wind (Bleacke Shifters Book 3) Page 26