Page 78 of Mitchell's Untamed Mate

“About to begin our ascent.What the—!Soldier down.Soldier down.We have hostiles.I repeat we have?—”

“Beta 1, come again?”

“I repeat, come again?”Alpha 1 demanded.

Hyder scanned the area with a frown.“What happened?”

Alpha 1 ignored him and hand-signaled to the two men with them that there was trouble.Both men nodded.Alpha 1 signaled with his hand again for them to spread out and keep alert.Hyder gripped his rifle and fell into position in the rear.

“Charley 1, be advised there are hostiles in the area,” Alpha 1 murmured into his mic.

Hyder glanced at Alpha 1 when nothing but static buzzed over the line.Alpha 1 glanced back and forth before looking up at the trees and walking in a tight circle.He did the same, scanning the trees for anything that looked out of the ordinary.

“Charley 1, status report,” Alpha 1 requested.

With wary eyes, the men flanking them transferred their attention towards Alpha 1, patiently awaiting his guidance.With a shake of his head, Alpha 1 silently communicated that they were now without support and had to rely on themselves.A mysterious presence loomed in the shadows, effortlessly eliminating them with a level of skill and accuracy that even the best team had rarely come across.

Hyder fell back farther, the snow sinking under the weight of his boots with each step.As he watched, the three men ahead of him moved in a halting rhythm, carefully advancing with short steps, periodically pausing to listen for any potential threats.His mind spun with a whirlwind of possible scenarios.Were the humans aware of their presence?Reflecting on the research he had conducted, he concluded that it was highly unlikely for them to possess the advanced capabilities required to face off against this team of mercenary shifters.In addition to himself, there were two other hyenas, a lion shifter, a lynx, two bears, a coyote, and a crocodile.

The air was filled with the echoing sound of automatic weapons.Alpha 1 pressed on, breaking through the dense blanket of snow with each step.The forest was eerily quiet.The dark green evergreens stood tall, their branches weighed down by fluffy snow, creating a striking contrast against the dark brown of their trunks.The silence was broken by the occasional cracking and popping of ice that had formed along the tree limbs.

“To your right,” the soldier next to Alpha 1 murmured.

Alpha 1 nodded.They closed ranks, moving to the downed shifter.It was the croc.The soldier next to them bent and rolled the shifter onto his back.A thin, deep line seeped out blood onto the pristine white snow, coating it a deep, rich red.The shifter’s carotid artery had been cleanly sliced from one side to the other.From the surprised expression frozen on the croc’s face, he had died quickly.

“Keep your eyes open.Find the others,” Alpha 1 hissed.

The two soldiers with them nodded and began moving again.Unease filled Hyder as he rose and scanned the area.Something was off.There was no way in hell that a human could do this.This was a shifter—but what kind, and how did they know they were there?

The vague thought that Isabella had sent another team behind his back settled in his mind.He wouldn’t put it past the bitch to do something like that.Fury welled up inside him.Eric would be pissed that he lost good soldiers and would want answers.

Self-preservation kicked in and he looked at the men in front of him.This was a lost cause.The men were probably dead and didn’t realize it yet.On the off-chance that they were successful, he would wait at the rendezvous site a half-mile away.

He began backing away, allowing the distance between himself and the men to widen.Out of his peripheral vision, he saw a flash of white.The hyena shifter vanished from his view before falling from the sky, his body catching on the limb of a tree ten feet up.Hyder’s breath hissed out of him when he saw the blood flowing like a waterfall to the snow-covered ground.The last thing he heard as he fled was Alpha 1’s roar before a deathly silence permeated the forest once more.

Chapter19

“What was that?”Mitchell asked, looking toward the opening of the cavern.

Tracy had been wrapping some of the carvings she had found and now set them down on the top of her backpack.Others in the group had frozen, their eyes on the entrance to the cavern.She stepped over the log and headed for the opening.Mitchell followed closely behind her.

“That was gunfire,” she said, listening.

“Hunters?”Connell asked, coming up beside them.

Tracy shook her head.“No, automatic artillery, military.”

“I estimate a mile, maybe two from here,” Jace said.

Mitchell glanced around the cavern, silently counting off who was there.He frowned when he saw Mallory, Rand, Elaina, and Cyrus, but not Jayden.He twisted and looked at Thomas.

“Where’s Jayden?”he asked.

Thomas motioned to the entrance.“I don’t know.I haven’t seen her.”

“Jayden went out before the sun came up,” Timmy said.

Mitchell glanced down at the little boy.“Did she say where she was going?”

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