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“Alright?” my Alpha asked, and I nodded because seeing his inner wolf calmed my nerves. I knew without a doubt that he’d do everything in his power to protect me. They all would.

Jason smiled, leaned in, and pressed his lips to mine. When he released me, he bade me return to my spot in the bathroom, then hustled it down to the front door. Auggie settled in, his gaze focused through the scope. Jules and Vance had their guns raised and pointed at the door. Jason had his hand on the knob and was poised to turn it when he panned around the apartment, taking in each member of his team, his pack, his Alpha and Betas… and his eyes lifted toward where I was standing, even though he couldn’t see me. His Omega.

“Weapons on the floor, Captain,” Jason shouted at the soldiers on the other side.

I watched as they complied, removing guns and knives and laying them at their feet. When all four men held up empty hands, I whispered, “Done,” knowing Jason would hear me, and remotely released the deadbolts.

Jason clicked his tongue, signaling and asking for their readiness. Vance answered with a soft chuff. Jules quietly grunted. Auggie whistled under his breath. They were ready. He turned the knob and flung open the door.

“Hands up, hands up!” Vance shouted, inching closer while Jules covered him. “Team leader first!”

The one who’d spoken earlier grimaced and stepped forward. He was completely drenched with water running in rivulets from his shoulders onto my tile floor. Once he passed through the doorway, he shook his head to clear the water dripping off his helmet. He stared straight ahead at Vance, not seeing Jason hidden behind the door. “I’m Captain Jonah Bright.”

Auggie snickered. Yup. Captain Bright wasn’t very bright, was he?

The captain paused, and another soldier stepped over the threshold and stopped shoulder to shoulder with his captain. When the next man entered, he positioned himself directly between the first two, effectively forming a wall that Vance couldn’t see through.

But they forgot about me, or more importantly, they didn’t know about me. I saw it all: the last soldier bending down, scooping up a gun, trying to conceal himself behind the others.

“Gun,” I whisper-shouted, and all hell broke loose. Jason growled, charging in from the side and clocking Captain Not-So-Bright in the head with the grip of his gun. Captain Bright went limp in Jason’s arms. Meanwhile, Vance rushed forward with a howling cry and grabbed the closest soldier by the top of his bulletproof vest. He threw the soldier to the ground, where the guy landed in an ungainly sprawl before he shouted and grabbed his wrist, probably sprained when he fell. Jules ran at the soldiers, his gun raised as he jumped. Using Vance as a ramp, Jules dove over the third soldier, clotheslining the last man and driving him to the floor. The guy’s head bounced on the floor twice, and he lay still, concussed.

The third soldier stood there in stunned silence. Mouth gaping and body shaking, he looked around at his fallen team, then slowly knelt and tucked his hands behind his head in surrender. Jason towered over him, panting roughly, seething with apparent anger.

“They wanted you dead or alive,” the grunt murmured. “‘It’ll be a cakewalk,’ they said, but we knew better. You’re the best team we have.”

Vance huffed. “Damn straight.”

“What now, Alpha?” Auggie called from above, his rifle still pointed at the original four the team had disarmed.

Before Jason could answer, all four of my pack’s phones went off. No one moved to answer. After a minute, the ringing stopped, and my phone started. I stared at the name on the screen in disbelief, but actually it wasn’t a surprise, because how else would these men have known how to find us?

“It’s the rat.”

Jules and Auggie snickered. “Good name for him,” Auggie noted. “He is kinda pinched.”

That drew a round of laughter from the rest of my pack and me. “And blind as well,” I added, staring down at the image of Major Molerato—or as I liked to call him: Major Mole-rat. He reminded me too much of those naked mole-rats, earless, with squinty eyes that had to burrow close to each other for warmth. Yeah, the major was absolutely blind to what was right in front of him, deaf to the advice going on around him, and he stuck close to his superiors hoping they’d rub off on him… in a non-sexual way. Unlike how I wanted to rub against Auggie, since he was the closest to me.

“Alpha?” I leaned over the rail and called down to Jason, who was busy zip-tying the awake and groaning captain while Jules handled the others. Vance stood over all of them, staring them into submission. “Do you want me to answer?”

“No.” He glanced briefly in my direction before finishing his task. “Wait for me.”

Jason shoved Captain Bright, knocking the soldier to the floor, where he fell with a grunt, curses rolling off his lips.

“Christ,” Vance sniggered. “Man up, Bright.”

Bright snapped his mouth shut as he pushed himself upright. He frowned as he looked around at his men, every one of them tied with their hands behind their backs and their ankles locked together. Could they break out of the ties? Sure, but I suspected they knew we wouldn’t kill them because if we wanted them dead, they already would be. Thus, they all sat passively, waiting for their next order.

Meanwhile, I was quickly losing my patience with waiting. The sweet scent of masculinity wafting from my beta was overriding the relief from my heat that I’d gotten from Jason and Vance’s knots. “Alpha…” The whine slipped from me, snapping the heads of my pack in my direction.

“Fuck,” Jason cursed. He gazed up at me with his golden Alpha eyes, but I wasn’t just looking at him. From my vantage point, as I peered down, I saw something my Alpha didn’t.

Captain Bright’s eyes had widened and turned golden, too. His weren’t the only pair of eyes either.

“Oh shit, Alpha,” Auggie barked as zip-ties snapped, the opposing wolves breaking free of their bonds.

Jason growled, the sound low and mean, threatening in nature, dominant in a way that dropped me and every other soldier with wolf blood coursing through their veins to their knees. Everyone except Vance and Captain Bright. When my Alpha threw back his head and howled, the chorus was deafening.

“Oh God,” a soldier moaned, writhing on the ground. The only one not to have broken free of his restraints. The man next to him snapped the plastic at his wrists and ankles before clawing at his clothes, jerking them off with the help of the others before they too shed their flak jackets and uniforms.