Pack Bonds, page 33
part #4 of Amarok Series
He turned toward her. “Get out.”
“I will if you tell me there is nothing I can do. Tell me that I’m fucking powerless to protect my city and my friend. I’ll believe you and I’ll go hide myself away like a good little civilian and let you handle it.”
Each word came out harsher than the one before it. Her eyes bored into his own, her expression purposely controlled despite her turbulent emotions. In the close confines of the car, Morgan could smell the fear and aggression radiating off her in waves. That, combined with years of working together, told him it would kill her if he said she couldn’t do anything.
What was worse, shattering her perceptions or endangering her life?
Maybe, if he was someone else, if he were something else, he’d have chosen to protect her. But he was a changer. By their standards, the Freewood wolves could be considered pampered. Franklin had seen to it that they avoided problems and worked actively to modernize them. Despite that, certain truths still held. There wasn’t a changer alive who didn’t understand that risking their life was not only a possibility but a requirement for their survival.
“Fine.” Morgan ignored her smile as he started the car and pulled out onto the street. “Only because we’re dealing with hunters. Bullets work on them. But you need to follow my lead.”
“Got it. Where are we headed?”
“I told you, we’re clearing out the last of the rogues today. If this, what did you say his name was?”
“Gordon Graft.”
“If this Gordon guy wants to record evidence of our existence, this would be the prime time to do so. I’m not bringing you anywhere near the operation area--”
Katherine burst out laughing. “Come on. You make it sound like your people are some kind of special ops.” Her laugh petered off when she saw the deep frown creasing his face. “…Seriously?”
“I don’t think we’re as far-reaching as the military, but we’re an organized, armed force. So, we’re not going anywhere near the operation zone but we need to sweep the area, see if we can find anyone trying to sneak a peek at something they shouldn’t be seeing.”
Morgan pulled out his phone again and dialed.
“Look at you, breaking the law.”
“Fine me. Hello, Rosa?” He waved off her disbelieving stare as she recognized the name. “I was wondering if you have some of your people available? We might have some hunters poking--ah, I’m glad you’ll have so many volunteers. We think they’re skulking around the operation zone. I’m on my way to help out. Thank you.”
He hung up. “I’ll explain later,” he said, cutting off her question before she had a chance to ask it. “To sum it up, Rosa Salvatore is one of our, hmm, politicians. Yeah, that’s a good word for it. She’s got the means to call in some extra bodies.”
“I never say no to reinforcements.”
Chapter 20
Morgan cleared his throat as he pulled up to a red light. “Before we meet up with the others, there are a few things we need to go over.”
Katherine snorted. “Proper werewolf etiquette, huh?”
“We’re not werewolves. No full moon transformations and no ripping out hearts. And we’re not all wolves. There is a corresponding changer for every large mammal in the world. Well, some people believe that. There’s a lot of us.”
“Wait. Anything? Lions, tigers, and bears?”
“You’re not funny.”
“Okay. Fine. I’m being serious now. What did you want to tell me?”
A series of loud honks blared behind them. Morgan pressed down heavy on the gas, sending the car lurching forward. “They’re people. Changers may have a few quirks but they’re the same as everybody else. What pisses you off pisses them off. Except they have quick tempers, questionable morals, and superhuman strength.”
She turned to him with an aghast expression. “Did you hear yourself? That sounded horrible!”
“Now you understand how serious this is. No, you don’t but I think you’re starting to. I need you to do two things for me. First, stay behind me. And second, don’t meet anyone’s eyes. Ever. This is life or death.”
“You mean like a cat? I hear they attack if you look at them too long.”
“Like people who live in a culture where eye contact is considered a dominance contest and will rip your head off your shoulders. And here we are.”
He ignored her muttered cursing as he pulled into a parking lot filled dozens of changers milling around their vehicles. Morgan ignored his partner’s mild panic as he jumped out of the car, hurrying over to her side.
Kathrine squeezed through the tiny space between the open door and his body. “Want to give me a little space partner?”
“Nope. Got to stay behind me at all times.”
“Um, okay…” She followed on his heels as they approached the others. Even knowing they weren’t human, she couldn’t spot anything strange about them. They looked like ordinary men and women, though admittedly a bit dangerous with their dark clothing and serious demeanors.
A hand in her hair forced her head down, interrupting her observations. “Hey!”
“No eye contact!”
“Fine, Jesus.” She smacked away his hand and kept her eyes restricted to chin height as she continued looking around. Her eyes narrowed into a glare as she spotted a young blonde man making his way toward them purposely. “Isn’t that Kyle Freewood?”
“I am.” Kyle looked them over with a slight glare. “What are you doing with a…stranger, Lake?”
“She’s got a problem.”
“Either way, she can’t be here. De--the others are already on the move. We need to make sure they don’t run into any trouble.”
“That’s exactly why she’s here. The hunters appeared and warned that they had plans to reveal the three races in Freewood.”
“And this would be the best opportunity to catch us with our pants down, but that doesn’t matter. Our job is to keep humans from getting close and containing the fallout. Vikky and Dugen will take care of this but we can keep an eye out for these hunters.”
“The teenager calls the shots around here?” Kathrine looked back and forth between the two changers with an amused smirk. “You okay with that?”
Morgan scratched his ear. “Changers don’t look their ages so it doesn’t matter as much as you think it might. It’s about something different.” He shrugged at the look she gave him. “Submissive. What can you do?”
“The two of you can discuss that later, seeing as we can’t exactly let her go.”
“And what does that--”
“Relax lady.” Kyle rolled his eyes. “No one’s going to do anything to you. Yet. The decision’s above my paygrade and the decision-makers are preoccupied. Keep an eye on her while you check in on the police.”
“Here.” She pulled out a folded scrap of paper and reluctantly handed it over. “Gordon, the guy in charge, told me I can contact him at that number. Maybe I should take it to the department--”
“We have our resources.” Kyle pocketed the note. “Alright, we have to get moving. Get out of here.”
“Sure, sure.” Morgan grabbed his partner by the arm and dragged her to the car. He wasted no time reversing out of the lot. “That went better than I thought.”
“Really? Cause to me it looked like nothing happened. Besides you getting bossed around by a kid half your age.”
“Looks like he’s shaping up to be the next Dugen. Was a little worried for a while there but an ass-kicking does a changer good.”
“Dugen? Why does that name sound…” Katherine gasped and turned in her seat. “You son of a bitch!”
“Whoa!” Morgan yanked hard on the wheel to keep the car under control after she shoved him, swerving under a hail of car horns. “Careful. Superhuman reflexes can only do so much.”
“You helped him escape, didn’t you?”
“That’s why you shoved me?”
“Don’t make it sound ridiculous. So much for not perverting justice.”
“Can you imagine what the station would have looked like if they had to force their way out? People who have claws when they want to and can shrug off bullets. Think about it.”
A scathing reply was ready as she opened her mouth but then a vision of an animal tearing apart men with assault rifles at an intersection flashed through her mind. Her mouth clicked shut as she settled back into her seat. “Dammit.”
“Welcome to my life. For now, we do what Kyle says because he has the full picture. I’m sure our new captain would like an update on the case we haven't investigated.”
“I didn’t come along to be side-lined,” she hissed.
“You asked to come along with me and I’ve been sidelined. Don’t worry. We won’t let those hunters stay here.”
“Sure. Just thought I might be in for a little more excitement riding shotgun with a werewolf.”
-
Viktoriya’s eyes narrowed as she eyed the warehouse. They’d parked at the end of the street but from a distance, she was sure she recognized it. It didn’t take her long to connect it to one of the pictures sent to her by the strays. “Figures.”
The cars emptied. Since the challenge hadn’t been specific, all the relevant targets had been gathered; Dean, Dugen, and Alpine. Dugen was the only leader the rogues had been made aware of and they would have learned of Dean from her fight with Alpine. Rosa was also considered a power, but seeing as she had acknowledged Dean, it gave her the ability to accept any challenges made against the older woman.
Two figures came jogging around the shadow of a nearby building, dressed head to toe in black. No one started as their enhanced hearing had alerted them to the presence of the men several moments before they arrived. They stopped in front of Dugen.
“Alpha. We’ve ascertained the rogues are in the building along with the humans they’ve taken as hostages. Six in total.”
“Six? That has to be all of them,” Viktoriya mumbled, the others nodding.
“This is strange,” Dugen noted, voice low with suspicion. “They should know they don’t have the numbers to fight us and this Beckett leading them doesn’t appear to be stupid. I smell a trap.”
“He’s planning something,” Alpine agreed. “Beckett is tenacious and vicious. He’d stoop to anything to accomplish his goal though I have no idea what that is. I gathered the rogues to me with a mission to save our race. I know some of them were only enticed by the thought of violence, but Beckett was different. Focused. This is not the wild lashing out it seems.”
“We aren’t going to figure out what it is sitting out here,” Dean said, rolling her neck. “Let’s get in there and handle this. Vikky--”
“We're staying here. If this is a trap, we’ll check outside the building and the surrounding area.”
“And my people will get inside the building and check it out as discretely as possible while we grab the rogues’ attention.” He nodded to his people and they ran off. “The area has been contained?”
“My esteemed guards are taking care of it.” Dean grinned. It felt good to delegate.
-
Viktoriya tapped her foot as she leaned against a broken-down forklift. “I hate staying behind,” she grumbled as her eyes casually swept the area.
“Can’t be helped. We agreed it would be best if we stayed out of her way. Don’t think about it too much.” Rachel cracked open the bottle of water she’d carried with her, offering it to Viktoriya. At the shake of a head she got, she took a large swig. “Honestly, I’m fine not having to tear people limb from limb.”
“Do you mean that? Cause there’s something satisfying about punching someone. Or shooting them.”
“Especially in your case, hmm? Yep, changers love their violence, but I prefer to get my thrills in other places.”
“What places?”
Rachel raised an eyebrow, her eyes crawling up the other girl’s body. “Not a conversation we should have in the middle of an operation. Ask me that again later.”
“Eh-hmm.” Viktoriya snatched the water bottle and took a long swig to combat her dry throat. “You should, um, elabor--”
The ringing of her phone interrupted her. She scowled until she saw the caller ID. “You’ve got something? Oh good, suspicious packages. On my way.” She hung up and walked around the forklift to pick up her tool belt where she’d dropped it earlier, snapping it around her waist. “Claw says they’ve got a problem on the roof. Coming?”
“Think I’ll stay here.” Rachel climbed into the forklift and reclined, motioning for her water bottle. “You go get ‘em, puppy.”
“That doesn’t…you don’t have to sound so sarcastic. I’ll be right back.” Viktoriya mumbled as she jogged off. Close to the warehouse, she partially shifted her fingers into claws, kicking off her boots as her feet changed into a form closer to paws.
Breaking into a sprint, she leaped at it, using her claws to gain purchase.
She scrambled to the top and reversed the change, shaking out her cramping extremities. Leonardo, Rudolph, and Clementine milled around. The three of them looked up as she came over the side.
“Over here, wolf.” Clementine waved Viktoriya over to a small ridged black case, over a half a dozen of which were scattered across the roof. “I know I said it was a suspicious package, but I mean it’s pretty obvious what it is.”
She carefully lifted one of the tops. Viktoriya leaned over her shoulder and looked at the long red cylinders covered in a mass of twisted wires.
“Well.” She pulled out her phone and took several photos before tucking it away. “Rogues didn’t put this together. Think we’ve found what the vampires gave them.”
“Great. So, should we chuck them over the side?”
“No, that’s nuts.” She tapped Clementine’s shoulder to her to move over. “I’m going to disarm it.”
“You can disarm bombs?”
“It isn’t rocket science, especially this mess. All these wires are bogus to make it look more complicated than it is. Only one goes to the detonator…” She trailed off as she took in the look the other changers were giving her. “What?”
“What was your childhood, wolf?”
Viktoriya blinked. “It’s not that strange, is it?”
Leonardo shrugged. “Nope. A little different but not strange. And a good thing now! We’d be screwed if you didn’t know how.”
“Not really. At least a quarter of the Guards could do it. Franklin would always be on the lookout for tutors. He had Dugen lead a group through a course taught by a former K-9 trainer…why are you guys giving me that look again?”
“Did the nice dog trainer give you some treats?”
Viktoriya growled as the three of them snickered. “I’m going to disarm the deadly explosives now.”
-
“Hey. Hey, boss.”
Beckett’s lips twitched as his concentration was disrupted by the squeaky voice. He opened his eyes slowly. For a moment, his surroundings were strange to him, but the details became recognizable shortly; the crumbling structure of their hideout, the whimpering of the humans he’d taken as hostages, and the small form of the rogue addressing him.
He searched for a moment, but the man’s name didn’t come to him. Beckett didn’t feel bad. The rogue was such an unfortunate creature; skinny limbs, yellowed teeth, darting eyes, and greasy hair tangled with unknown things gathered from their time in the sewers. He couldn’t be expected to care enough to learn the name of such a man. It was more than generous that he’d decided to count the mutt as an ally.
Beckett despised him. He hated that the man was a picture of what he could eventually become. Without a pack, without strict order, this is what changers became. Constantly chased out of cities or hospitable land, forced to scavenge scraps and sleep in the dirt.
He didn’t deserve such a fate. He hadn’t done anything wrong. It was their way that the young challenged the old. The strong push each other until the best emerges.
He made his challenge and accepted his defeat honorably, holding no grudge against his opponent. But his brother had the alpha’s ear and for that alone, he was cast out. Forced to roam amongst criminals and madmen who might as well be animals.
“Boss.”
The annoying squeak brought Beckett’s attention back to the rogue. The man looked annoyed, his pinched features scrunched up in an ugly expression. He looked more like a rat than a wolf and the thought caused Beckett to smirk. “What do you want?”
“One of the boys said that Alpine and the others are here. They’re coming for us.”
