“Yes, the distraction will help,” he agreed, then addressed the table as a whole. “We located the shifter responsible. He is only twenty minutes’ flight from here…perhaps a two-hour drive, in another most likely abandoned house in the middle of nowhere. I suggest we alert the authorities, but I would also like to ensure that he confesses to setting Sage up to take the fall as well.”
“And how do you propose we do that?” Eric asked, frowning as he also seemed to consider the situation.
“Actually,” I interrupted, leaning forward, malicious energy licking up my spine and making me smirk, “I have an idea for that.”
Three hours later, my plan was in action. I almost expected Eric and Beckett to argue with me, but they hadn’t. Instead, they’d actually agreed that my proposal made sense and was probably the safest course of action. For the first time, I’d actually feltseenby the pack. Valued. The only thing dimming the shine on the feeling was that Sage was not there to see it.
But, if all went well, he would be soon.
Spritzed with legally acquired scent blockers, we parked about a mile away and snuck up on the property, surrounding it before Beck and Eric announced their presence at the front door. It was poetic, in a way, that we’d used the very thing he had been supplying the town to bring him down.
The filthy little creep attempted to escape out the back of the house, shifting into a rat as he threw himself out of the bedroom window, but Rex —already in his puma form— leapt into action, pouncing and pinning the squealing creatureunder his claws.
“Good kitty,” I praised as Brandt and I sauntered over, and I grinned at the snarl my light tease elicited from the shifted alpha.
My heart was racing, but I was already elated at how well our plan (myplan) had gone. There hadn’t been any drawn-out fight, nor had anyone gotten injured,andwe’d cornered our prey. It almost seemed too easy, considering Shifters Sanctuary’s history with ambushes and kidnapping attempts, but we had been the ones in control this time, and our adversary was outnumbered.
Beckett and Eric came around from the front of the house, and Beck scooped the struggling rat up from the dusty ground. “You can try to shift back now,” he warned the shifter who was still shrieking his displeasure, “but you won’t want to see what a shaman, three dragons, a puma, and a wolf could do to you if you try anything stupid.”
The rat continued to screech but remained in his animal form as Beckett carried him back around to the front of the house. We all shuffled inside, knowing our time was limited as the sheriff’s officers were on their way.
Our pack Alpha threw the rat onto the lone, shabby armchair in what once must have served as the living room in the house and commanded, “Shift back.”
The air in the room shuddered with the mystical force of his power, which seemed to be getting stronger over time. Beckett and the other alphas rarely ever used the ability, but it never failed to bring goosebumps to the flesh of my arms, or make the hair rise at the back of my neck when they did.
How will I react to Serge’s alpha commands?
I shivered a little at that thought, another tickle of inappropriate arousal crawling down my spine.
Later, I told myself, thinking that maybe I had finally reached my limit of drama and stress.Hold out until Sage is home safely.
The shivering rat shifted and stretched back into a dirt-streaked, disheveled little man. He smelled terrible, as did the entire house, and I had the sudden urge to drag him out into the darkness and hose him down. I kept those urges contained, though, and let the alphas take over while I remained poised to attack if the sniveling beta tried anything stupid.
Beckett threw a threadbare robe at him. “Cover up,” he spat. “And listen carefully.” The man on the chair scrambled to comply, his hands and arms trembling as his eyes darted around, taking us all in.
“L-listen,” the guy stammered, but Beck cut him off.
“Shut up. You know why we’re here. Who we are.” As the dealer nodded, Beck continued, “You’re going to answer our questions, and then you’re going to confess everything to the police when they arrive.”
The beta whined and began to protest, but snapped his mouth shut at the growls his lack of cooperation elicited from the rest of us. But just as I thought he was going to capitulate, he screwed his face up and whined again.
“C’mon, man, the Moonmusic people paid me a bunch of money to fuck with you. I didn’t want to,” he added as the growling started up again, “but I needed the money, y’know?”
“No,” Beck snapped, “I don’t know. Because no amount of money would make me hurt innocent people.”
“Look at the way I live,” the beta gestured around us wildly, “what was I supposed to do?”
“You could have come to us. ShiftersSanctuaryis named that way for a fucking reason.” Beck growled back, refusing to accept the half-assed excuse.
He was a damn good Alpha.
Even though he looked like he still wanted to argue, the beta seemed to grind his teeth before nodding. He glanced down, shrugging. “Whatever. Like you would’ve helped me anyway.”
“Guess we’ll never know,” Rex snarked, having shifted back to his human form, not seeming to care that he didn’t have clothing to change back into. If anything, he seemed poised to shift again, should the need arise. I caught his eye, feeling the corner of my lips quirk as we shared a silent moment of understanding.
He hated the Moonmusic people for their nearly-successful attempt at kidnapping his son. I had been caught in the crossfire that night, taken by surprise and knocked unconscious, and I couldn’t say I was a fan of what they had tried to do, either.
Outside, the sound of tires on dirt and slamming car doors drifted in from the open front door. Heavy, booted footsteps followed, and a contingent of at least six men with guns burst into the room, demanding we put our hands up and slowly turn around.
