“Given where we are, it’s probably a fucking wolf,” says the second man.
“Yes, and…?”
“And you aren’t paying me enough to deal with this bullshit,” he mutters.
“It’s probably our captive’s little friend. He’s no threat,” she says. “We already grabbed him once when we took his brother and it was almost too easy. Just grab one of the dart guns from the back and get in position.”
What they don’t know, is that wasn’t Ollie’s bark. Not only would I have recognized it if it were, the connection between Ollie and I still stretches into the distance behind us.
But the man does as he’s told, jumping out of the cab, and coming around to the back of the truck to grab a slim rectangular case. He opens it up and removes a thin rifle, then positions himself with his back to me, the tip of the rifle peeking around the side of the truck.
The woman jumps down from the cab. “Hello? We’ve got your friend. Why don’t you come out and we can talk?”
There’s another bark, a little nearer this time, and my ears pick up a scraping and scuffling sound under the truck. The barking continues, the sound growing closer while the noise under me moves toward the man standing at the back of the truck.
Another bark, this time right outside. The sound lowers into a growl.
“And who are you?” the woman asks.
She must give some sort of signal because the man with the rifle tenses and starts to inch around the edge of the truck, rifle pointed out in front of him. He makes it less than a foot before a snarl comes from under the truck and the man is yanked downward. His screams cut off with a wet, cracking noise.
Frantic noises come from inside the cab, and the other human jumps out, the sound of him crashing through leaves as he runs away quickly following.
The wolf outside lets out another sharp bark, and I can hear the woman slowly backing up until she has her back against the side of the truck. She’s muttering under hear breath, but I don’t bother trying to decipher her words as the black wolf leaping into the bed of the truck snags all my attention.
The wolf shifts into a naked Smith. “Alpha Anderson,” he says, dipping his chin. “Let’s get you out of here.”
He unlatches the cage door and flings it open. I step out shaking out my fur and stretching my legs. Catching Smith’s attention by nosing at his leg, I tilt my head and bang the collar against the side of the cage. This thing needs to come off.
Smith frowns and crouches down in front of me, his hands moving over the collar. His fingers pause on a section near my nape. “It needs a key to come off.” He glances around the truck bed, brows pulling together. “One of the humans must have it. We’ll find it.”
He jumps off the back of the truck, and I follow, sneezing at the dust kicked up by my paws hitting the ground. The wolf I assume is Yang has the human woman cornered against the side of the truck.
“Where’s the key for the collar?” asks Smith.
The woman glances at him, a contemptuous twist to her lips. She lets out a laugh. “We don’t need keys. The collars get put on before we make the pick-up and we have no reason to take them off before the animals are delivered.”
She could be lying, but do I want to waste time trying to figure that out?Not really. Not when my mate’s in danger.
I debate for half a second, then catch Yang’s eye and jerk my head back toward Rockcastle where my connection to Ollie leads. She dips her head, and I take off at a run.
My wolf is fast, but tonight I’m practically flying, my paws barely touching the ground as I speed through the trees with single-minded focus. My breaths time with the rhythm of my stride, my mate’s name a constant chant in my head, matching the beat of my heart.
I’m coming Ollie.
Thirty-Two
Ollie
Clay pulls me overto one of the kennels and tosses me inside, slamming the door shut. He grabs a padlock to slide into the latch, then walks over to join Wanda in front of a large metal cabinet sitting against the wall.
She crosses her arms over her chest and narrows her eyes at her son. “You could have screwed everything up.”
“I did exactly what you told me to,” he says. “I secured—”
“You didn’t secure shit,” she snaps, gesturing first to me and then toward the door. “If we’d been two minutes later, they both would have been gone and then where would we be?”
“Why does it matter anymore? Aren’t you Alpha now?”
