Page 29 of Mated to the Pride

I can see a campfire,said Preston.Surrounded by a thicket of trees. Pretty large fire.

Space for… what? Ten men?I asked.

No, many more. This could be their main encampment.

Stone flashed in with agreement.Agreed. I’m beginning to see defences. Palisade walls. Preston’s right; this is their base.

If they were correct, then this was a fight we weren’t properly prepared for. There was a reason we hadn’t just run out and explored these woods quickly and without care; we had to be methodical and well-informed so that we could stand on the best possible footing for the inevitable fight. Right now, their decision to take Jessica had backed us into a corner. We only had half of the picture here, and the limited amount of equipment we had brought with us when we ran out.

We were going to have to think on our paws, but we had no other choice.

Anyone hazard a guess as to which side they’re keeping her?I asked.

We fell into each other’s minds, quickly comparing the clues we all had. With our information shared, we knew that her voice was loudest for Hale — that they must be keeping her on the far side of the encampment.

I’ll close in on this side, he confirmed.Follow in.

Copy. We’ll move in closer. Just keep your distance, I reminded them all.We don’t have the firepower to back us up if this goes south. Got to even the playing field first.

Most of the time, working jobs like these was just second nature to us. We dealt with some of the most dangerous and amoral individuals the government could send us to meet, so engaging the enemy was never a moral hardship. Right now, though? I could feel that all four of us had hearts pumping full of angry, protective mate’s blood — that the hate we felt for these assholes, whatever their number, had somehow intensified. They were extremists putting the country at risk, yes, but those crimes felt somewhat distant right now. It was secondary to the fact that they had put Jessica in danger. Treated her like some kind of bait or prize.

I hear her,Hale said.Listen.

We all shifted our minds to share his headspace, quickly latching onto the frantic sound of Jessica’s voice.

“I swear, I don’t know!”

“Don’t fuck around with me, girl.” This voice belonged to an older man — hard and gravelly, and as southern as they come. “If you’ve been living there, you know something about ‘em. Let’s start off simple. You know their names.”

“I don’t!” she insisted. “That was always part of the job. No names. Nocodenames. Total discretion. I swear, I don’t know anything!”

I felt my lion’s powerful muscles tighten, tense at the sound of her desperation and bravery. We knew she was made of tough stuff, of course, but to hear her fight to protect our identity like that, even in great danger, was stirring. Even if a big part of me wished she’d just come out with the truth to protect herself.

Soon enough, these bastards wouldn’t be alive to repeat our names anyway.

A beat later, I had to abandon the train of thought to focus elsewhere. As the interrogation continued, I heard a quiet disturbance of the leaves ahead of me. A sentry — off-guard and unaware for now, but he wouldn’t be for long.

I’ve got guards, said Stone.

One here too, I confirmed.Take it easy, everyone. Take them out quiet, but only if they get too close. We don’t want chaos just yet.

Still, no matter what I said, it felt like chaos was close at hand. I could feel that familiar spark of adrenaline in my veins, edging me on towards the oblivious armed guard.

They’d taken her away from us. Now, they’d see what we could take in return.

Stone

Now that I could hear her voice, I could feel anger rippling closer and closer to my surface. Before long, I wouldn’t be able to control myself. Even now, only Blake’s authority over me prevented the thread from snapping. I wanted to run into that place and tear them limb from limb — any of them that had touched her or tried to scare her.

Blake knew what he was talking about, though — and he was right. If we just stormed in there all guns blazing, we’d be outnumbered and outgunned and outmaneuvered within moments. We had to wait until they were off-guard; we had to separate them and pick them off in small numbers. In other words, this wasn’t the time to let our emotions get the best of us.

I paused as one of the guards drew near. He still had no idea I was there; his weapon was slung over his shoulder as though he had never even thought about having to use it, and his thoughts seemed to be occupied elsewhere. He seemed innocent enough — but he was old enough to know better than to fight for an ideology like this.

I part-shifted back to human form, retaining only the sharp claws of my left hand. Silently approaching from behind the cover of a tree, I slipped up behind him and slit his throat.

One down.

Mine’s approaching, said Preston.Any minute now.

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