Page 59 of Daddy's Mail Order Mate

“Shut up,” one of his followers snaps, kicking my side for good measure.

Even though I recoil, the pain isn’t what I pay attention to. Instead, I’m staring past James and watch as another man reaches into the crib to pull out Rowan. The fire within me sparks up from the ashes, all teeth and maternal rage. I need to protect my mate’s child. I need to protectmybaby. Something territorial and profound snaps in me like tearing sinew. They won’t take him, they won’t hurt him. I can’t let them!

This ismyhome,myfamily.

I buck with all the intensity of a rabid animal, which is just enough to roll out from beneath the boot pinning me down. I brace myself on my hands and my knees, and when I snarl at them, it is with a mouth full of fangs. There are no words in this shape, but I don’t need them. A violent yowling cry announces my intent, and I pull my jowls as I pace out from beneath therobe my human form left behind. A few of them look a bit startled, but James just looks bitterly amused at the sight of me.

“Just don’t kill her boys,” he announces in a droll tone.

One remains in human form and pulls a knife, another a gun, and the third who I caught with the lamp shifts to match. He’s so much larger than me, but I don’t care how many of them are or how the odds are stacked. If I have any blood in my body, I will protect Rowan. The two of us pace for a second and I try to get my bearings; the whole world feels so strange and sharp in this body.

But my struggle to keep up with my senses gives him the perfect opportunity to close the distance. I see the wolf rush me, but I’m too slow to respond in time. Jaws lock around my shoulder and my shrill yelping sets off some sadistic chuckling among the crew. I gnash and squirm, but all that does is send us in circles as he crashes me into furniture and spills my blood across the floor. Soon enough I’m left wheezing on the ground, and the only blood I taste in my mouth is mine.

“Grab her and let’s go. We’ve got a lot of ground to cover.”

I’m too delirious and exhausted to track much as I’m practically dragged downstairs. The men are talking, but I can’t make much sense of it anymore, especially when my ears start ringing. The only sound I can truly focus on are Rowan’s cries, which grind the pieces of my broken heart into dust.

I failed him. I failed that poor little boy right when he needed me most…

The world outside is far too bright. It’s hard enough to try and look at anything without all that light forcing me to squint blindly against it. I can feel blood leaking through my fur as I’m dragged across the ground. My vision swirls, but I can tellthat I’m being lifted up a white mass that I blearily identify as a maintenance van of some kind.

But then I hear it: a growl, fierce and ceaseless, roaring right towards us. It must be an absolutely massive wolf, with how loud and deep the sound is—

I turn my head towards the sound and try to stare with these unfamiliar canine eyes.

Ah… It’s not a wolf, I dimly realize.

It’s an engine.

Chapter 19 - Thorn

“Ready to mobilize?”

There’s a curt chorus from the assembled crew of five agents as we pile out of the SUV and move into position along the quiet urban warehouse district.

I’m just grateful that this whole mess isn’t too far from home. The trip was just two hours of high speed car travel and a hop with one of the council’s private jets. It would have been a massive disruption if it’d been something significantly across the country or abroad that demanded a few days away. I only had the trial window with Gwen, so each day was invaluable. That is, I had the two weeks so long as Gwen didn’t decide to just leave. Not that I could blame her for considering leaving with how complicated our history was and how muddled things had become.

The forward team of three moves in silent tandem, each of our movements tactical and precise as the modern wolf warriors we’ve been cultivated into. My thoughts rotate into a flurried sequence flitting between head counts, sightlines, risk factors, and all the other variables of violence waiting to unfurl. I take point as we narrow in on the facility we know the rogues have gotten themselves holed up in; being on the front line of danger is one of my sworn duties in life. I would either be able to protect others properly, or I would spare others from suffering in my stead. And tonight, I also have a level of impatience running through me that makes me cagey to lead and get this handled as quickly as possible.

We stage ourselves stealthily near one of the entrances and I guard my squad as they start to lockpick the door. While I was very tempted to just go in hot and break a window to slip inthrough, it was safer and more efficient to run it quiet if we have the option.

“Movement in the window towards your location,” one of the rearguard agents informs us over our earpieces. “One male, unidentified. Possible contact ETA in six seconds.”

All of us are dead silent. The agent at the door lifts her left hand in a swift series of wordless gestures.Can clear. Prepare to go.We all respectively brace ourselves as there’s the final click of the lock and the sound of footsteps through the door our sharp werewolf senses are able to make out. I don’t hear haste or hesitation in the movements—we might be clear.

“Rogue passing you by unalerted. Recommend you get in there ASAP and get the drop on them.”

Nods are shared between us before we breach the building. The door thankfully isn’t too loud, but it’s loud enough that I see the man who’d passed by start to turn when I step in. But he’s not quick enough to react before I sprint and tackle him to the ground.

“Shit—”

I silence him with a headlock and my superior size keeps him easily pinned. His hands scramble at my arm as he wheezes and chokes. The choked gurgling beneath me indicates that my target’s just on the edge of incapacitation if I maintain this level of force. A few seconds longer and he'll be at risk of brain injury. We need them alive and lucid for questioning, and the council preferred apprehended individuals to be left in decent enough health inmostcases. It helped prevent them from being too resentful towards the council, which promoted rates of individual reform once whatever bad actor organization they were involved with dissolved. And with how important it was to try to retain as much of our population as possible, each wolf wasinvaluable to leave alive so long as they weren’t too great a risk to let roam as they wished.

I drive my knee into the rogue wolf, release the headlock, and let him crash to the ground on his stomach. The split second he tries to get his breath and bearings back is my window to crouch down and lock the silver chains around his wrists to keep him bound and stuck in his human form.

“Proceeding further in,” one of my comrades murmurs as he passes by.

I bring out a cloth gag and cinch it quickly into the rogue’s mouth to keep him quiet.

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