Page 52 of Smoke and Moon

“That going to be a problem?”Chanin locked his gaze on the Fang leader.

Faolan’s wolf ears twitched as he snatched his gaze from Minsi and gave Chanin a hard, determined stare.“Never, Alpha.My duty to secure this Pack’s safety is paramount.”

Chanin took the man’s words at face value.“Alright.Let’s get a strategy going and get in there.”He glanced up toward the bright-lavender ball in the sky.The sun was at its zenith, and the longer they waited to attack, the more risk of Farkas and his band of rogues waking.“We need to get in soon.Catch them unaware.”

“Question, Alpha.”Faolan, drawing paired movements in the dirt in the middle of them, stopped and stared at Chanin.

With a short lift of his chin, he gave the Fang Warrior leader permission to ask what was on his mind.

The fierce amber glow that never left a warrior’s gaze locked on to him.“My team will need to know if they have kill orders.Permission to eliminate all threats.”

Chanin knew what Faolan asked.The decision to end the life of a wolf-shifter was a serious thing.However, Farkas and those who followed had long since denounced their allegiance to the Pack.“I give the order to eliminate any wolf who threatens the Omega Pack.However, if anyone locates Farkas, my cousin should be brought before me.My cousin’s life will end at my hand.”

“Understood, Alpha.”Faolan gave a firm nod.

“Alright, assemble your teams.I want to move in ten.Faolan, I want the Fang Warriors to clear paths.Those who came with me will mix in the scout formations.”Chanin dismissed the leaders.

Faolan left first and headed to the septet circle of half-shifted men.

Boris stepped away and made a hand signal to one of his men.That same signal rippled from one scout to another until they had all come in to gather around him for instructions.

“Bleddyn with me.Minsi and Raul, I want you two on the hunt for those two Fae,” Chanin instructed the small group he brought with him.

A few minutes later, Boris came back to Chanin.“We’re set.On your signal.”

Chanin glanced at Faolan, who’d shifted along with his team.The warrior leader had led his group to the edge of the woods, but now his wolf’s head was canted in his direction as if awaiting instruction.

Inhaling deeply, Chanin exhaled and claimed his wolf form.Move your warriors out, Faolan.

Let’s move.The eight wolves peeled off to follow the east path toward the mouth of the cave.Their stealth movements were low and fast.Soon, they entered the mountain.

Everyone in the woods watched and waited until the scout on the cliff made the all-clear signal.Meaning the Fang Warriors had eradicated the Weres at the cave’s entrance.

We’re going in, Chanin directed.

Boris and one of his scouts were the first to dash toward the cave-like opening.Now that those men Farkas set as lookout were taken down, the rest of the teams moved directly toward the target.

Chanin filed into the small opening of the cold storage.Those before him leaped over the two bodies on the floor as they split down the various halls.

He stopped and stared down at the two bodies with their throats ripped to the spinal cord as their blood created large pools on the ground around them.Acwulf and Lobo had once been his friends.Both men had expected to reign over the Pack alongside him, a twin beta set.However, Chanin remembered the malicious behavior that started in their youth and continued after.He would not allow such a malignance in his Pack to lead with him.It hadn’t taken them long to align themselves with his cousin.

Chanin would have preferred to bring them to heel, but the men had made their choices like those who joined Farkas.And just like these two, they would all die.

Which way do you want to go, Alpha?Bleddyn looked left, then right.

Chanin leaned into Lobo and lowered his snout, sniffing long and slow.

All around him, he could hear the moving of his teams along the corridors, so many passages.Chanin isolated out all the other smells of his teams and focused on the dead male below him.The scent of the deceased Were’s stench assaulted his senses, but he pushed past it and focused on a thread of a single trail, a solitary scent, until he hit pay dirt.Farkas.Because Lobo had been around Farkas, it was enough for Chanin to lock onto it to search for his cousin.

This way.Chanin led Bleddyn away from the bodies where his Beta had sniffed along Acwulf.Chanin would collect them and any other dead later.Unless there were warriors or scouts, they would carry them back home.

Some scouts went up the ramp to the left, leading to a dock wide enough for three semi-trucks to pull side by side.On the dock, were three large roll-up doors raised to provide entry into that storage section.Other wolves ran down the long passageway to the right; however, Chanin veered Bleddyn off to a narrow hall toward a room that at some point may have operated as an observation booth to watch what came in and went out.

Chanin lifted his head and clutched the handle with his teeth.Once he had a good grip, he pulled down until the door opened a crack.Chanin’s wolf released the metal handle and then used his head to slowly push the door wider.Like the others, he wanted to try and keep silent.

Standing in the space with a large viewing window, monitors, and a switchboard inside the room, Chanin inhaled, instantly filling his nose with Farkas’s scent.His cousin had been in this room a lot.Since none of the monitors or primary electricity worked, Chanin wasn’t sure what purpose the room held.He didn’t have time to figure out his cousin’s illogical mind.

As Chanin started toward another door on the back end of the room, Bleddyn’s thoughts caught him.

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