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“It’s three thirty and not a peep out of anyone,”Alex telepathed to Benson, Zach, and Mason. He hoped they were tuned into his telepathy. They could have been looking for evidence of other wolves and not been paying attention. No one answered, but Alex wasn’t going to worry about their lack of response. Yet.
They’d spread out in the forest in order to catch any wolves—or humans— entering through the woods. They figured that the first wolf or human who showed up would be the one to pick up the cash. However, the only way to grab the bag would be to shift back into his human form. Then he’d have to either return to the woods or climb the embankment and wait to be picked up.
If it went down as they’d hoped, Seth or Trevor would spot the truck and follow.
“They’ll be here,”Zach finally shot back.
At least someone heard him. Mason had already found a place where he could shoot his pictures, but he wouldn’t shift into his human form until the last minute. Hopefully, the person picking up the satchel wouldn’t have great hearing or else he might notice the snap of the shutter. Alex wasn’t all that confident that Mason could handle a well-trained wolf or two.
Alex’s cell phone lit up. He’d placed it in a plastic bag on the ground where the messages would be visible. It wasn’t as if he could text in his wolf form.
The message read:White truck dropped off one shooter thirty yards south of me and another thirty yards north of me. They haven’t seen me yet. I won’t disable them until after the drop. Proceed with caution.—Liam.
Well, damn.That sounded like an ambush to him. In their lengthy discussion last night, they had agreed this whole kidnapping might not be about the money but rather a ploy to pick off as many Grangers as possible. Alex bet they didn’t care if a few of theirs were injured in the process.
Alex didn’t need to remind everyone to stay alert. If this was going to be an ambush, whoever was out there was in for a surprise. He would have telepathed to the others to stay alert, but it would be better to keep his thoughts to himself.
So far, he hadn’t heard or sensed any more shifters arriving in the forest, but he had to assume they would come. He tapped on his phone to see the time. Ten more minutes until the sheriff was due.
Alex inched a little closer to the road, slowly moving from one large tree to another. If the action happened near the accident site, he wanted to be the first to attack. They hadn’t discussed whether the sheriff would fight, but since Tawny was his daughter, he just might try. Hopefully, Preston, who would be in the car with him, would dissuade him.
After the ordeal was over, it might be time to recommend that the sheriff have some fighting lessons. Tawny wouldn’t worry as much if her dad could better defend himself.
The rumble of an engine shot his focus to high alert. Through the barren trees, the sheriff’s cruiser rolled to a stop. Thankfully, with Liam’s text, the sheriff and Preston were aware they were walking into an ambush.
The sheriff opened his car door and quickly rushed from the street side to the forest side. It appeared as if he was wearing a vest. That was smart. Adam Granger opened the passenger side door, extracted the rather large duffel full of the money, and tossed it down the ravine.
That was a nice touch. Whoever came for the money would have to climb down the hill to retrieve it. Alex waited for the snipers to do their thing, assuming this was about taking out the sheriff.
Adam Granger hurried the best he could to the driver’s side, and just as he pulled open the door, several shots rang out. His back arched as if he’d been hit. From the loud metal ping, a few bullets had hit the side of the cruiser. Then the sheriff let out a cry as he dove into the seat and somehow managed to close the door.
Shit.
Thirty seconds later, Preston climbed out of the backseat, keeping out of sight of the snipers across the street. He shifted and raced down the hill into the woods.
Two more shots rang out. Someone yelled out in pain. From the anguish, Alex had no doubt that his friend had hit one or both of them—whoever they were. Alex couldn’t see what was happening, but knowing Liam, he would either contact the deputy to arrest these shooters or climb down the tree and handcuff them to a tree himself. Liam loved his plastic tie wraps.
Sounds of crunching branches came from behind them. Was this the second wave of attackers, here to take the money? Or did they assume the sheriff would have back up, and they wanted to take out those wolves first?
If this was Paul Franklin’s group, surely they’d have to be aware it would not be an easy fight. Or was this a whole new clan?
“Watch out,”Benson telepathed.
Alex didn’t need the warning. He spun around in time to see three wolves charging him. Okay, that was not what he was hoping for.“Preston? You free?”
The three wolves came at him—one gray, one part gray and part brown, and the third one close to black. All were large. Their bared teeth was a scare tactic, but Alex refused to be intimidated. He'd been up against worse.
When they tried to circle him, Alex ran behind one of them and clawed the gray wolf’s hind flank. It didn’t do much to slow him down, but it was enough for the other two to take notice. This was going to be an interesting and challenging fight. The black wolf lunged, but Alex managed to move out the way with barely a scratch.
Just then Preston charged from the side, startling the wolves. One turned to try to take down Preston, but his star pupil lunged at the wolf’s neck. The cry was sickening, but it meant it was now two against two. Alex liked those odds better.
In the distance, from the different yelps and growls, both Benson and Zach were fighting. Alex had faith that Benson could best his attacker, but Zach had only had one lesson.
“Preston, go help Zach. I got these two.”
With blood dripping down Preston’s muzzle, he took off. How he’d know where they were located, he didn’t know. Telepathy might be the best way to find them. Right now though, Alex had to deal with his two wolves. The downed wolf was slowly bleeding out and wouldn’t be a problem.
Alex scooted around the multi-colored animal. Before the animal could turn around, Alex bit his hind leg. While not very damaging, the wolf staggered, giving Alex access to the black wolf. The animal howled and then barred his teeth, as if he was trying to psyche himself up for battle.
