The Rogue Hunter's Mate [Paranormal Protection Unit 10] (Siren Publishing Classic) (2 page)

Humming lightly under her breath she turned and faced the parking lot. Clicking the remote start on her Lexus she started to walk toward it. When she stepped on broken glass, she frowned, looked down and then up. It was only then that she realized that the streetlights had been shot out. “What the…” were the last words that she uttered before a very, very large man stepped before her. Not a word was said. Instead the last thing she saw was a fist flying toward her face.

* * * *

When she woke she felt the dirt under her body and twisted, shifted, and then heard them. She heard the growls. “What the?” Her eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness and she was shocked to be surrounded by Wolves. Wolves of every shape, size, and color. A man stepped from between two Wolves and bent down into her face. The feral look on his face made her cry out and try to back away from him, flashing back to trying to escape Brian once again.

“You have thirty minutes. In thirty minutes the hunt begins. All you have are the clothes on your body. Sorry about the shoes, but my girl loved them, and since you two are the same size…” He shrugged. “She gets them, not you,” he added with a crooked smile. “Run, rabbit, run,” he said and made a hand gesture to the Wolves.

She didn’t need another word. She got up on her feet and began to run. She had no idea where she was. All she knew was that it was dark and she was in the woods and she had to run or die. No choice. She was running!

Bethany’s feet were bloody. Each step onto a rock dug deeper into her feet, but she didn’t stop running. The adrenaline had her numb to everything, everything except running. She heard them then, the howls, and jumped. “Oh God,” she cried out and twisted, turned, and looked around. She was so, so screwed!

She then looked up. “Wolves can’t climb, right?” she asked herself and jumped for the lowest branch. Missing, she jumped again and sobbed when she heard the Wolf’s growl coming even closer. She jumped again. This time her nails snagged the branch and bits of wood embedded under her nails but she didn’t latch on. Once more. She had to do this!

Beth jumped again, giving it everything she had because she had seen the eyes of the Wolves and heard their pants as they came closer, so either she got the branch and climbed, or she was dead. She grabbed it! Grabbing, she began to climb using her feet and toes to do so.

Bethany climbed up as far as she possibly could, climbed until the tree thinned so much she was worried the top would snap and she would fall to her death in the middle of the Wolves. She stopped where she was and shivered in the freezing night air, the adrenaline running out, and her fear taking over. “Please, please, don’t,” she begged as she watched the Wolves snapping at the base of the tree.

What happened next had Beth questioning her sanity. She watched as one of the smaller Wolves, a solid white one with filthy and matted fur, shuddered. Shifted. Twisted. Tilted. And turned into a human male, a young one at that. “Come the fuck down, bitch!” he yelled up at her. “You weren’t supposed to fucking climb a goddamn tree, you fucking idiot!”

“Yeah well, I did and I’m totally staying,” Beth called down and clenched tighter to the tree. Yep, she had lost her mind. No questions about it, she had lost her ever-fucking-loving mind!

“You will have to come down soon, you crazy fucking bitch!” He growled to her.

“Not bloody likely!” she called down to the man, Wolf, whatever it was! And then she held on to the tree and prayed. She prayed like she had never prayed before.

“We have trouble,” Zaidu’s boss said to him in his quiet way.

“What sort of trouble?” he asked in return as he paid for the gas and headed outside for his bike. Digging out the keys he slotted them in and sat down astride his beast of a bike.

“There’s been a report of a kidnapping in your area. Word coming down the wire is that it’s a pack of Rogue Wolves. It sounds like it’s Gordon’s group of thugs again,” Talon told him with a sigh.

“Crap,” he muttered. “Hold on a sec, switching to comms.” Grabbing out his earpiece he switched the call to the comms system and stuck the piece into his ear. “Back,” he said, tugging on his helmet. “Whereabouts am I heading?” he asked, starting the engine up.

“Six miles east of where you are, near the old logging road and Johnson’s farm,” Talon told him as he read the datapad Quincy had just handed over. “Witnesses say that it’s a Bethany Parker that was grabbed, owns the Parker Gallery over on Tenth. Trey and Tryg both were at the scene of the abduction and say it was Wolf. Lights were shot out around her car in the parking lot. Best guess is she was grabbed on her way to the vehicle. Tryg said there were a couple drops of blood, gravitational, likely a bloody nose or lip from the small amount.”

“Sounds like Gordon to punch a woman.” The man was psychopathic on the best of days. Pulling out of the gas station he headed up the highway toward the old Johnson farm. “Anything else at the scene to tell us anything?”

“Her purse was still there, kicked under the car likely when they decked her. No one bothered grabbing it after the fact. She must have dropped the keys as well because they were found under the car along with her purse. From the sounds of it, between three and five were there to grab her.” Passing the pad back to Q, Talon shifted in his chair. “She’s been missing for two hours now. You know Gordon’s Rogues better than us. Any idea what he’s got planned?”

“Nothing good,” Zaidu told the man flatly. “Gordon loves getting his pack of misfits revved up. He’ll likely make her rabbit for them and let them run her to ground. Depending on her smarts and wilderness knowledge I’ll either find her alive and giving them hell or dead.” If he could find a body, that was. Wolves were pretty good at stripping down a carcass, especially a pack of Wolves with human brains in their heads.

“I’ll get a medevac helicopter on standby but leave it out of range of their hearing.” Talon motioned for Mac to get the pilots and crew on the move. Covering the phone he looked to him. “Call in Davyn, just in case,” he said softly, knowing the Wraith could pull miracles out of his ass more times than not. “Med team is getting ready. A second copter will be carrying in two Teams. They’ll drop in downwind and wait for your signal to round up the Rogues.”

“Keep them at least three miles downwind. Out in that area the winds shift direction on a bloody whim,” he said as he cranked the engine up higher and grinned at the surge of power. “Gordon and his Rogues might be psychotic and complete sociopaths, but that hasn’t stunted their sense of smell. If anything, it’s likely heightened it. They know they are wanted, hunted, and they know what happens to those termed Rogue.”

“So noted. The Teams will rappel in three miles out from wherever the Rogue camp is and move only on your signal. How are you going to get in there without spooking them?” Talon asked, his tone sounding curious.

“I plan on walking right on in.” He smiled faintly. “Besides, me and Gordon have a few things we need to clear up before his life is terminated.” The past could only be laid to rest with him beating the fucking snot out of the sadistic bastard. “Who’s on the Teams coming in?”

Snapping his fingers, Talon took the datapad of Team members on standby and ready to rock and roll. “Trey, Mac, Tryg, Aiden, Markus, Phillip, Drake and Morgan. We’ll have Pete, Jack, and Davyn on medical,” he said, handing the pad back over to Skittles, who was still frowning at his laptop.

“Make sure Aiden and Drake stay at the back. Don’t need Gordon getting a whiff of Dragon blood.” No better way to make a lesser changer turn tail and beat trail to fight another day than that. He checked the sign as he whipped past it. “I’m three miles out and closing in. Where do I go once I hit the logging trail?”

“Head north on the logger for about a mile.” Quincy took over, pulling up the maps he had layered on one another. “The camp is a mile west at that point but the bulk of the bodies are another half mile north and about three quarters of a mile west. Given current wind conditions your best bet is to stop on the logger just out of the camp and hoof it in. We’ve also got a weather advisory, snow storms coming in hard and fast off the Rockies. We’re looking at a full white-out blizzard in under three hours.”

“Fuck me,” he breathed out softly. Blizzards were bad enough in the cities. Out in the middle of God’s country and you were asking for trouble. Especially with helicopters in the mix. “Keep the medical on standby north of the storm,” he said to Quincy. “If we don’t need them pull them out and get them grounded ASAP.”

“Already on the same page with you, Zaidu,” Quincy muttered. “We’re sending in the Teams on a modified copter so they won’t need to worry about the storm. They’ll have a fucking nasty ride if they’re caught in it, but they’ll live,” he added.

“We’ll keep you updated on the storm. Keep your comms open on channel one. Teams will be on two and medical will be listening in on three,” Talon ordered him. “Update us when you’re on site,” he said before hanging up and looking to Mac. “Full armament and tranqs for any of the women and children they may have on site. Any of the males come at you, use deadly force as necessary.”

“Understood, boss.” Mac nodded and left to go and brief the Teams as well as their pilots.

Disconnecting on his end for the time being, Zaidu revved the engine more. The less time they spent on the ground the better. He did not want to get caught in the storm coming in, not without proper gear to protect himself and anyone they might find alive.

* * * *

Clicking on his comms again, he zipped his jacket up tight. The temperature was dropping, a warning that the storm was inbound. “On site,” he said softly, ensuring he stayed upright with the wind pounding at him. It would get harder the deeper he got into the woods, but he was a trained hunter or, as some referred to him, a dealer of death.

“Teams are in the air,” Quincy reported back, keeping his voice down so he didn’t mess up the Wolf’s hearing. “Medevac is hovering outside the perimeter to the north and the Teams are just circling around for the drop. Two minutes and counting,” he said quietly.

“Copy,” Z murmured back subvocally as he let the Wolf up to the surface. Moving with complete stealth, the animal guiding his movements and steps, he hunted for those he knew were in the woods.

He heard them long before he got close, the wind whipping the occasional taunt and curse his way. Slowing so he didn’t make any mistakes he paused when he heard a woman telling them to stick it where the sun didn’t shine. Grinning, he guessed that was Bethany Parker giving it to the Rogues.

Shaking his head, Zaidu got closer and paused on a small hill to take in the scene below. “Parker is alive and currently treed,” he said softly. “Gordon and twelve other Rogues are circling. Only other one I can identify is Harken. The others are all in Wolf form. Winds are coming from the west with a slight northerly push. Warn the Teams and have them start their approach to camp. If our numbers are right, there should only be six males still in camp with the women and children.”

“Copy,” Quincy said and switched to comms two to pass the information along. Listening a moment longer he switched back to channel one. “Teams are moving in. Storm has picked up speed and we’re under the gun. Do you need the medevac?” he asked.

“Negative, Parker looks a bit scratched up but she’s conscious and giving them hell. She’ll likely be in shock after we get her down but she looks fine from here,” Z reported. “Have medevac return to base. We’ll handle anything on this end on-site,” he said.

“Medevac pulling back,” Quincy said after sending the message to the other copter. “Teams, you are all on your own for medical needs, repeat, medevac is returning to base, you are on your own for medical.”

“Copy,” Z said and knew the Teams would be reporting in the same thing. Licking his lips, he eyed the situation and knew going in alone would be sheer suicide. But if he could pull a few of the Wolves off at a time, weed them down, he knew Gordon would turn tail and run. The Wolf was tough when he had his crew with him, but once it was thinned he developed a chicken complex right fast. “Moving in closer,” he murmured even as he began to work his way stealthily down the hill.

The ground was cold from an earlier frost which was making the mud hard but also made it a little slick going. He made it down to the valley with only minimal near-death experiences and only a bit of lost skin off his left knuckles. Not that bad, all things considered. Now came the hard part, luring the Wolves away one at a time to deal with them.

Getting in closer, he made the smallest of sounds and watched a pair of ears perk. A moment later the Wolf seemed to relax, so he repeated it in a slightly different spot. Ears perked and head turned, sharp eyes searching the darkness. One more small sound, that of material to tree bark, in a different spot had the Wolves’ lips curling in a silent snarl. Then he began to move in Zaidu’s direction, stalking for prey. Once the Wolf was far enough out, Zaidu grabbed the muzzle and throat and squeezed hard, staring into the disbelieving eyes for a long time before all light faded from them.

Dropping the body, he let out a breath, one down and more to go. Over and over he repeated the small moves, always staying downwind so no one had any idea just what was in the dark. But soon enough Gordon noticed the seriously thinned-out numbers. Hell, there were only four left surrounding him and the tree. Deciding the odds were well enough in his favor given the Teams were out in the woods with him now as backup Z stood and walked in closer.

“You’ve been a bad, bad boy, Gordon,” he said in a conversational tone. “And you know what we do with bad boys that abduct women, don’t you, Gordon?”

“Shit, it’s Metzger.” Another of the Wolves had shifted and was looking ready to piss his pants.

Turning from the base of the tree to look toward the man, Gordon growled. “This is not your fucking concern, Hunter.” He wouldn’t give power to the man who stood there, only pithy snark. “I suggest that you leave now while the leaving is good while I deal with my girl, who thought to tree herself instead of coming to my bed.”