Page 82 of Assisting the Alpha
Kit’s eyes are suspiciously shiny. “I’ve literally never said these words before in my life, but don’t make this about me.”
That gets a couple of chuckles.
Even Cal smiles. “They’re right, Alpha. We’ve been a pack for a lot longer than that.”
I huff but tip my head in acknowledgement. “Maybe we have.”
Jet bounces a little in his seat. “I can’t wait for you and Ayo to bond. Tiny sorcerer man is going to make an awesome alpha-mate.”
“Don’t let Ayo hear you call him tiny,” Skye calls from the driver’s seat. “He’ll fireball your arse for sure.”
Banter fills the vehicle, just like it always does right before a mission everyone is nervous about. I lean against Raj and whisper in his ear, “Be my beta? Officially?”
Raj’s scent fills with such a mix of emotions that the others stop talking.
Jet leans over, forcing his face between us. “What did you do? Did you break him? Can you teach me how?”
I shove Jet’s face back none too gently.
Raj presses his shoulder against mine. “Of course I’ll be your beta.”
I scent him even though the angle is awkward. He leans into my touch just like always, but we both quickly straighten because we’re arriving at the warehouse.
“Brace,” Skye says, right before he uses the SUV to ram the warehouse gates. Since he’s probably going about seventy miles per hour despite it being a thirty zone, the gates don’t stand a chance.
It’s something we discovered about wards in a helicopter in Afghanistan. If you’re travelling fast enough, even the strongest ones shatter.
The vamps on guard at the gate scatter as twisted metal screeches and goes flying. Skye easily maintains control of the vehicle and stops in a spray of gravel as the warehouse starts blaring an alarm.
Several vehicles carrying Teo and his people, Zaiden and the wolves, Vittorio, and at least one of the search teams barrel their way in behind us.
The vampire guards are fast, but we outnumber them and our teams rapidly assemble and work together to subdue them. One of Vittorio’s people blurs in with vampire-resistant handcuffs, allowing us to arrest the vamp guards rather than kill them. I’m sure there will be multiple people who want to question them.
As soon as the mayor confirms us as the new task force, I’m putting in an equipment order. Without tranquillisers or handcuffs—except those the vamps can provide—I’m not sure how we’re going to avoid killing some of these people.
Oh well.
Truthfully, every fibre of my being is burning to get to Ayo, to find him and protect him from any further harm. Whatever it takes.
We spread out around the building, locating multiple entrances. We already made the call that speed was more of apriority than stealth, so as soon as we’re all in position, I give the command over the comms.
“Breach, breach, breach!”
We kick in the doors and a shiver runs over me as I pass through a sticky ward, my assigned team of Zaiden, Lexie, Jack—the leopard who works for the human police—and SJ—the tiger security guard from Teo’s hotel—right behind me.Fortunately, that ward wasn’t designed to keep people out.
Surprisingly, the warehouse isn’t one big, open space. We’re in a corridor with a lot of doors as well as branches off it, and at the far end, Cal and his team burst through another door. Of course, there are a lot of shifters between my team and his, all of them intent on taking us out.
We get to work, fighting our way through. There are a lot more guards in here than I expected, and I’m really fucking glad my pack have backup. SJ hesitates briefly when confronted with one of his own in tiger form, so I shift and tear the tiger to the ground. It goes limp when I get my jaws around its neck, shifting back into an older man, maybe in his fifties.
“Get this mutt off me, SJ,” the idiot says.
Jack walks over and kicks the man in the back of the head, knocking him unconscious. “Abusive bastard.”
As Lexie handcuffs the man, I let go and eye SJ, checking we’re not going to have a problem.
“He’s my dad,” SJ says quietly, then straightens when Jack scents him. Both cats seem okay with me for now, but I’ll have to keep half an eye on them.
“This place is a maze,” Lexie says, picking up my earbud, which fell out when I shifted and ripped through all my clothes. “This is Lexie. Ethan is in wolf form. Anyone found Ayo yet?”
