Page 58 of Rex's Release

At Rex’s question, Axle gave a nod. “Doc just sent me an address. Let Siren watch over you, and we’ll protect your mate.”

Rex didn’t like that, but they ignored his protests. He didn’t have a choice. They weren’t letting him go anywhere with his injuries.

Ranger stood and said, “I don’t think she needs our protection. Will probably be the last one standing, and most likely, won’t even break a nail.” He looked over at Mama Hen, who was sporting a smirk. “You seem close to Doc.” Mama Hen didn’t reply. “You know more about her than even Rex.” Still no reply. “Is that because the two of you have similar backgrounds?”

Mama Hen hiked a brow. “How many times do I have to tell you boys not to ask questions that could result in your death? Because if I answer them, I’ll have to kill you.”

Ranger was positive that Mama Hen and Doc were in the military or worked for one of the initialed bureaus or agencies, but he wasn’t about to push. There were things civilians could know, but there were things civilians couldneverknow. He would respect that. Not to mention, he wasn’t stupid enough not to take Mama Hen’s threats as promises.

He gave a nod before he followed his club brothers out the door and back to the van.

Twenty-Nine

Jolene

Followingthedirectionsfromher navigation system, Jolene was going well over the speed limit in her little SUV. If the cops spotted her, she would be screwed, but she wouldn’t let the fuckers get away with this. They hurt her mate, and they would pay for that. He was going to be okay, but that wasn’t the point. Not to mention, what they did to Shortcake was beyond cruel.

Jolene could feel it in her bones. Thedemandfor revenge was hot and coursing through her, bits settling in the very marrow of her bones. She couldn’t stop it, not until each of them paid for every slice, punch, and kick they had dared to inflict on her mate. The Howlers and the Claws wouldn’t take it lightly. She wouldn’t even begin to guess what they would do in retaliation, but she knew exactly what she was going to do… and it was not going to be pretty.

When her phone began to ring, she pressed the answer button on the digital display, and Axle’s voice rang out through her speakers. “Doc, where are you? We’re at the address, and you’re not here.”

“Did you find Shortcake?” she asked in a no-nonsense tone.

“Yes,” Axle growled the answer. “Where are you?”

“On my way to some coordinates that I found at the house. Hopefully, they’ll be there. If they are, I promise they won’t be alive when you show up.”

She pressed the button to end the car and pressed harder on the accelerator.

Doc wasn’t stupid. She was well aware that the club had a habit of putting tracking apps on their phones and tracking devices on the vehicles of anyone they cared about. It was with the intention of being able to find them if the family member was lost or in trouble. They probably put one on her vehicle. She hadn’t bothered checking because she knew it would make Rex feel better that it was there. Keys, their resident tech genius, was probably tracking her at that moment. They had better hurry up if they wanted in on the action.

Axle

When the call ended, Axle was pissed. “Fuck!” He turned in the passenger seat of the van and looked back at his IT guy. “Keys, did you put a tracker on Doc’s SUV?”

“No, but give me two seconds.” He pressed some buttons on the laptop that he almost always had with him, then his eyes lifted to meet Axle’s gaze, and he rattled off an address. “Her SUV is stopped there… or at least that’s what her NAV system indicates.”

Axle punched the address in the GPS system attached to the dash and ordered Skull to drive. He could only hope Doc didn’t get hurt. If she did, Rex would burn the world down. Ranger seemed sure that she would be fine, and Mama Hen’s words were cryptic, but he wasn’t going to push. If Ranger felt he needed to know, he would have filled Axle in. His main concern was the safety of their family. Next on that list was revenge.

It might take some time, but that fucking academy was going to find out just how dangerous shifters could be when their family was harmed.Thatwas when they became the monsters they were accused of being.

Jolene

After parking off to the side of the driveway a quarter mile from the coordinates, which satellite maps showed was a cabin, Jolene got out of her SUV and walked the rest of the way, staying in the tree line, attempting to keep herself as hidden as possible. The building was a small shack in the woods that looked like it was probably an old hunting cabin that had long passed its prime, but Jolene didn’t give two shits about the fuckers’ accommodations.

For being trained hunters, they sure sucked at keeping watch. There wasn’t a guard in sight. No one watching from a window. No one patrolling the grounds. No one positioned outside the front door. Nothing.

She walked past the Pathfinder parked in front of the cabin, up the front steps, right to the front door without anyone sounding an alarm. In case they weren’t as stupid as she suspected and actually had hidden cameras or something, she went with the assumption that they knew she was there, so she didn’t give them time to prepare. She just kicked the front door in, gun in hand and ready.

Expecting to be facing shooters, she was surprised when what she saw was one hunter asleep on the couch and another carrying what looked like a plate of nachos in from the kitchen area. At sight of her, he dropped his nachos and shouted in surprise. She shot him in one kneecap and then the other. He dropped to the floor, screaming in pain.

The hunter on the couch came awake and jumped to her feet. When she reached for the gun lying on the coffee table, Jolene aimed for the hunter’s head and fired. She dropped to the ground as Jolene darted for the table and snatched up the gun. After securing the safety and slipping it in the empty slot of her holster, she trained her gun on the one with the bad knees, who was lying on the floor and moaning.

A door opened a crack on the other side of the room, Jolene shifted over so she was hidden from view by the corner of the wall, but she could still keep her gun trained on the idiot on the floor.

“Come out, or I’ll end him,” she called out.

“Who are you?” A male voice asked from behind the cracked door.

---