Page 63 of Fated to the Warrior Wolf

I nodded. That was good. “What’s the closest entrance to the bunker itself?”

He ran a hand over the back of his neck, his favorite thinking gesture. “From the kitchens. There’s an entrance in the back of the pantry.”

“Perfect. We go in low, check on our perimeter guards to make sure they’re not dead, then arrow to the kitchens. Are we taking prisoners?” My jaw ticked, I clenched it so hard. I knew what my answer would be, but it was his ancestral home under attack, not mine.

“No. A direct assault on the high alpha’s mate isnottolerated.” He growled, his eyes glowing as he spoke.

“Easy, I agree. I just needed to know if our tribunal was growing.”

“Not a chance. These fuckers charged the wrong castle.”

I grinned at that, my own bloodthirsty side coming out. I didn’t give two shits about the castle, but my mate was in it. And these fuckers were about to learn that we didn’t play with our females’ safety.

Too bad they’d be too dead to remember the lesson. The survivors of the Hungarian pack would know, though, and word would spread. Kane might have been a young high alpha, but he was no weakling.

The rig jolted around us as we touched down, and I stripped off my Kevlar vest and helmet as the loading hatchlowered. Kane followed suit, and the rest of our unit mirrored our moves without question.

By the time the door was open, seven snarling wolves stood where the men had once been.

All of us bailed out except Reed, who was speaking into his helmet mic, giving orders to the pilot.

The seven of us moved as one, and I let my wolf’s nose lead the way. We were right outside the castle, on the elevated ground behind it next to the drop-off. It was an unofficial helipad, nothing more than a rough clearing that could be used in case of emergencies.

There was no sign of strangers, which meant they hadn’t flown in. The castle armaments would have prevented them from landing on the official helipad up top.

I ran at full speed toward the nearest guard post, dismayed to find it empty. That was where we picked up the first scent of our enemies. There was no blood or sign of struggle, just a missing guard and the scent of unknown wolves.

We followed the perimeter at half speed, following the scent trail. Sure enough, every guard was gone, including Andrei. But when we reached the main guardhouse in front of the castle where he should have been stationed outside, we found them.

The door hung open, and when I nosed it wider, all twelve men were piled inside like so much abandoned luggage. I yipped, then shifted back to human form. I turned toward Kane and the rest of our party. “I’m going to check their pulses. Fan out and guard our backs, but don’t leave anyone’s line of sight.”

They moved immediately, Kane taking up the position directly outside the door.

To my relief, they weren’t dead. Their pulses were thin and thready, though, with dark lines spreading out from pinprick wounds on each of their necks.

Shit.

I stepped back out of the shack. “They’ve all been darted with wolfsbane. The cowards poisoned them.”

Kane snarled, saliva dripping from his open maw.

There used to be a first aid kit inside the shack. Check it for the antidote,he told me through the pack bonds.

He sent a mental image of the location, and I stepped back inside the building. Sure enough, it was behind one of the monitors, easily within reach but not readily visible to the men who dragged our guards in here. I quickly administered doses to each of them using the autoinjectors I found inside.

When all was said and done, there were only two left, but each man would be on the mend soon enough. Pissed, but alive. I took a second to think, then decided to lock the door before I stepped outside. We could send someone to retrieve them once we’d secured the grounds, and they’d at least have some protection in case any of the attackers fled this way.

With our men secured, I left the two spare injectors outside the shack, behind a rock. Then I shifted back to wolf form, and we headed for the castle.

We followed the scent trail straight to the front doors. It was wide and contained a multitude of scents—if I had to guess, they’d brought at least twenty men, and from the depth of the pheromones, they were all in heightened states of anger.

Brazen motherfuckers.

The double front doors stood open, hanging oddly off the hinges as if they’d been battered. We found the first traces of blood in the foyer, and several mangled bodies. Most were Hungarian pack members I didn’t know, but I spotted one of the housekeepers, her neck twisted at an odd angle.

She must have been the one to answer the door,I thought sadly. There was no sign of Cristian, the butler, but I suspected the bodies were his handiwork.

The trail broke then, scents scattering up the stairs towardthe family wing, while others went forward into the main floor of the house.

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