CHAPTER 1
HUNTER
Kicking through the bodies sprawled at my feet, I ignored the stench of blood, shit, and death permeating the air. I stopped in front of the only one still breathing, blood spattered from his mouth as he coughed, and knowing he wouldn’t be alive much longer, I pressed my boot against his chest. “Who took her? Who took my omega?” My rage was a living entity, seeping into those harshly bitten out words, but he was too injured to even register my lethal intentions.
Behind me, Kellan growled from where he paced, alternating between his own fury, and an overwhelming sorrow that almost brought him to his knees. Finley kept him propped up, focusing on Kellan rather than his own feelings. The bear shifter hadn’t said one word since we’d tracked down everyone involved in the attack on our pack mates, but he’d been by our side the entire time.
The alpha on the ground gurgled once more, and I pressed harder with my boot. “If you answer me, I’ll end your suffering fast,” I promised him. “Or you can feel more agony than you thought was possible in your final minutes.”
Another cough, the blood darker and congealed this time, which meant he was almost done. His pulse was sluggish too.This motherfucker had better not check out on me before I could make good on my promises.
I was an alpha of my word, after all.
“Sil—Silver City.”
I almost missed what he said as he choked on his words, but he got there in the end. I felt a coil of satisfaction—my first emotion other than rage and fear since the attack. I’d been in the final Summit meetings when I’d felt the explosion. I might not have been bonded to Emmeline Anders, the final of our quintet, and our omega, but my wolf had a strong bond to Slade. I’d felt his pain and fury as he’d taken the blast. Not even one minute later, Kellan had rung me in a frantic mess, and we were at the site of the attack twenty minutes later.
But it had been too late.
Slade had dropped a ton of bodies, but not enough to prevent them from being taken.
The attackers must have had a veritable army on their side. I had no idea how they’d even made it into the city. We might have tracked down the rest of these hired mercenaries, but someone from Golden Claw let them into the city. We had a fucking traitor, and while my focus was on finding Emme and Slade, whoever betrayed us would pray to the goddess for death.
“We need to bring in our enforcer squads and go after them,” Warrick said, as he kicked one of the fallen shifters in the side. He was an entitled alpha who had befriended my omega, and while he pissed me off to no end, he was also too powerful to turn away as an ally. Especially while Emme was in trouble.
“We don’t have fucking time,” Finley snarled, and I almost detected a hint of panic in his first words.
Warrick wiped a hand over his face, smearing a few of the spatters of blood he’d picked up in our fights with the mercs. “They’ve got a decent head start on us, but we know where to go now. In Silver City, you’ll be able to track them easier.”
“Fin is right,” I snapped. “If we bring in the squads, we need to go through the Alpha Council or it turns into an act of war. The legal route will take time, and I’m not willing to wait another second. We’re heading to Silver City unofficially, which means weapons and a plan.”
“Weapons aren’t an issue,” Kellan all but howled, his wolf strong in his words. He ran his hand through his hair over and over until it stood on end. “You know I have a decent stash of Reeves Industries tech, along with guns and blades.”
Kellan was a weapons expert. His dad—a former enforcer—had taught him to shoot, wield a blade, crossbow, and multiple other weapons, along with fight training. Kellan went even further by collecting his favorite range of weapons, which would come in handy today.
“Make sure you pack Taser S,” I told him.
Kellan was the inspiration for my patented technology, which could zap a shifter and keep them stuck in a form between beast and man, shifting back and forth constantly. It wasn’t completely debilitating against an alpha—I’d never invent a weapon that could be used to hurt my pack. But it would still stun them long enough to give us an advantage.
We were definitely up against other alphas. I could scent their power all over the scene of the attack.
“I’ll pack everything useful,” Kellan said with a nod, his eyes focusing as he got on board with the plan.
“Go and help him, Fin,” I said. “We’ll head for the airport within the hour.”
Our Gulfstream G700 had been fueled and waiting since the attack. I’d had a feeling the alphas would take Emme and Slade as far from Golden Claw as they could. Get out from under us, and where we were our most powerful.
Silver City was a five-hour flight, and it was already nearing morning—none of us had slept since Emme was taken, and Idoubted I would again until she was safe. Slade too, but my dragon brother was a tough bastard who could take care of himself.
“I’m coming too,” Warrick said shortly. “I’ll be at your place in twenty-five minutes. Don’t leave without me.”
I preferred to keep this within my own pack, but I wouldn’t turn down the help when I had no idea what we were up against. “We won’t wait. Don’t be fucking late.”
With a snarl, Warrick turned and raced toward his Range Rover, disappearing in a cloud of dust. Finley and Kellan slapped a hand on my shoulder and left in Finley’s TRX, and I stood in a field of dust and dead shifters.
The one I’d questioned remained alive and coughing up a lung, and I crouched down until I was eye to eye with him, his body propped against a tree. My wolf claws appeared in a partial shift, and I tore out his throat in the quick death I’d promised.
Wiping my hand on my suit pants, I retrieved my phone from my pocket and dialed my assistant. “Casey, I need a cleanup team out by the racetrack. At least a dozen bodies.”
