Oz
I didn’t knowwhat I was expecting, but the hodge-podge of almost derelict cabins wasn’t it. No one should live like this. It was a shanty town, the small homes barely fit for dogs. It made something pang in my chest. This was where Laura had grown up. And she had dedicated her life to providing for her family. Hell, she had been willing to give herself to the pack to be used as a broodmare and all for duty.
I knew all about duty. I lived my life to it. Duty to my country and to my team. And going forward, I would fulfil my duty to Laura as well because she was my mate, and that’s what I needed to do. But it wasn’t the same as this. These shifters, these dire wolves, had twisted family duty into something grotesque.
“Easy, Oz.” Ace’s voice sounded in my ear, a low warning that he could feel my discomfort and knew I was a live wire. And he was right - I was ready to go off at any time. “Remember, non-lethal force. We don’t have orders to kill.”
I frowned. No orders for lethal force. It was almost comical that he thought I would be able to control myself if one of those animals crossed my path. They deserved to die. Especially if his hunch about Laura was true, and even if it wasn’t and she was born within this hell hole, they deserved to perish… My thoughts were cut off as Ace spoke again. “You are no good to Laura if you have to spend the next few years locked up, Oz. Use your head and follow orders. This is a rescue mission. Nothing more. In and out. Quickly and quietly. Is everyone clear on that?”
I mumbled my affirmative. I knew the plan. Get the blonde woman off the mountain. Ideally, before the dire wolves knew we were there. Except they already knew we were there. It was too quiet. It was early, sure, but there should have been some kind of movement. Some sign of life. Which meant they knew we were coming, and we were walking into a trap.
I spotted Ace to my left, moving low and fast. He slipped from the trees and faded against the tin wall of the nearest building. I followed, my eyes trained on the house in front of me, moving with all the stealth of a ghost. Unseen and untouchable. It took me less than a minute to check the one-room shack for any sign of life. There was none, neither in that building, nor the next.
It was the same for my brothers in arms as well. I could hear their steady breathing through my earpiece grow shallower as they came back empty-handed after every house they searched. And it just went to prove my earlier hunch.
The dire wolves had known we were coming, and they had moved the girl.
“Fall back.” Ace hissed, his words cut off by a high, ear-piercing growl. My wolf pricked up his ears as the sound of my commander’s attack hit us. He clawed at my insides, demanding to be let out. I shoved him down. Now was not the time to go full alpha beast. It would draw too much attention to us, and it would end in bloodshed. I had no doubt about that.
Slinking back into the treeline, I ran towards Ace’s scent.
“Oz.”
I froze as Laura’s wail hit me. She was close, much closer than where I had left her, and her voice was high and panicked. I paused and my wolf whined with indecision.
“Go to your mate, Oz,” Ace growled out, his voice a rough gurgle. “I have everything here under control.”
Of course he did. I should never have doubted it. You didn’t get to be a leader of this regiment without being able to handle yourself in battle.
“King, go with him.”
A growl. It seemed the more experienced lion was having a harder time than I was controlling his animal. If the situation had been different, I might have smiled, but I needed to get to Laura. It was obvious she had disobeyed me and left her hiding place. Even after I had expressly told her not to. It both made me proud and mad.
I ran low and fast, heading towards where her cry had come from. But it was strange. I couldn’t smell her at all. Even though I knew she was somewhere close, her scent was masked by a stench so rotten and disgusting that it made my wolf whine.
“I won’t tell you again.” Her voice was closer, and she didn’t sound scared as much as angry. I doubled my pace, my booted feet crunching over the fallen leaves. There was nothing stealthy about it. I launched myself towards her like a man who hadn’t had a second’s training in his life.
I rushed out into the small clearing without heed for my own safety, my body ready to shift if I needed to. And at first, I didn’t see her. Instead, my eyes darted to the five giant wolf creatures in front of me. In my animal form, my wolf was massive, but these throwbacks to an ancient time were even bigger. Their black fur was matted and gathered about their shoulders and necks in clumps that gave them an almost hunchback appearance.
And the stench rolling from them was enough to turn my stomach.
“Get back and leave her alone.”
I found her then. My tiny mate was standing with her back against what looked like an outhouse or shed. There was a slumped bloody figure at her feet. Laura stood there, as brave as any soldier I had ever seen, with her legs spread wide, in a defensive stance and in her hands she held a long tree branch. Despite her best efforts, it was so heavy that I could see her muscles trembling with the strain of holding it in front of her.
“She’s a brave one, that girl.” King whistled low in his throat as he stepped up to my shoulder and it was that whistle that drew the dire wolves’ attention away from Laura and towards us. “You should be proud.” King aimed his weapon at the nearest wolf, not flinching as the beast’s lips curled back to show razor-sharp teeth. A line of drool fell from its lips.
I was proud. My mate had tried to take on five fully grown dire wolves on her own with nothing but a stick. It showed bravery most people wouldn’t be able to muster. But I was also angry. Furious that she had put herself in danger to begin with. Her inability to follow orders was something we would need to talk about…but later.
“Yeah, she is.” I grinned at the dire wolf who took a step menacingly towards me. Lowering my gun, I pressed it between his bulging yellow eyes.
My trigger finger itched to squeeze. Never in my life had I ever wanted to watch someone’s brain explode out of the back of their head before.
“Oz, no.” Laura’s voice was soft. Like she could read my thoughts even in my human form. My eyes flicked towards her for a second, confusion clouding my vision.
“Did they hurt you?” King asked when words failed me. He had been moving around the dire wolves, positioning himself between them and the two women.
“Nothing serious. I think she passed out from shock.”
