Page 44 of Alpha Geek

He let her take the lead.

Amelia continued. “We’ll take weapons. But we rely on our shifting abilities. Our strength, our speed. Our hearing and eyesight. I’ll track him using the pack link. It should lead us directly to him. Once we find him, we’ll have two teams going in on the ground. The other two teams will drop in from the air.”

Nick cleared his throat. Amelia whipped around fiercely. But he held his hands up in surrender.

“I just wanted to say that we can use the swat trucks if need be.”

Amelia nodded, trying to soften the expression on her face.

She failed.

“Okay,” she said, inhaling deeply. “Our estimated time to leave is thirty minutes. By then, I should know where he is. You know what to do.”

The shifter teams moved efficiently, hurrying to get their gear. Behind her, Nick arranged for the trucks to be loaded with weapons.

Amelia left the conference room and headed for her office. But a sudden pang of anxiety and fear rushed through her. She staggered slightly, moving to the wall and holding onto it.

Her mate was somewhere, alone and vulnerable. And right then, she was the only one who could save him.

The entire team, including Nick, was depending on her. On her strategic and organizational skills. Sure, they were all skilled fighters. This wasn’t their first rescue mission. But they were relying on her. And so was Tripp.

Amelia took several deep breaths. Her mouth tasted stale, and her forehead was clammy. Her palms were wet with sweat. But she couldn’t let her fear consume her. She took another deep breath and straightened her back. Tripp wouldn’t be hurt at all. Not if she had anything to do with it.

In her office, she changed into her tactical gear. She packed a small bag while waiting for her computer.

It was currently scanning for the nano transmitters in Tripp’s body that came with the serum. Nick had told her it was an experimental addition to the serum’s formula in case something happened to one of their people. Something just like this.

And there her mate was … in a remote location about an hour from here.

She nodded decisively, grabbed her bag, and left.

* * *

The swat truckslanded about twenty miles from the location on the GPS. The point where Tripp was being held.

Thankfully, Nick had invested every penny he had into his equipment, which was why he was staying behind to monitor and facilitate communication from the command center.

She nodded at the others as they climbed out of the vehicles.

“You know what to do,” she said. They had all packed light. Amelia was leaving her bag behind.

“Stay tight. Don’t wait to find out who anyone is. If they’re carrying a weapon, put them down. If they come for you, put them down. Put them down unless they look like they’re in distress.”

They all nodded. And then, in a flurry of fur and claws, they shifted: three wolf shifters, a leopard shifter, and two lion shifters.

The snow leopard inside her purred as she let it out. The animal was restless, ready to fight for its mate.

The building they were heading for was underground. Amelia allowed her shifter senses to take over as she picked up the pace. Soon they were only yards from the building. Several guards patrolled outside, guarding the perimeter.

The three wolf shifters did not wait but took all five of the guards out within seconds. The wolves weighed in at a collective five hundred pounds, and the humans never stood a chance.

They burst through a broken wooden door. Amelia sniffed the air, and the two lion shifters pawed the ground.

She picked up Tripp’s scent easily. But she also heard footsteps, heavy footsteps, coming at them.

Amelia nodded at the lions, and the three cats pounced quickly. The people running toward them were shifters too.

They might have been strong, but they weren’t stronger than three great, military-trained cats.

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