I love you…

We had both felt it – I knew that much, but I hadn’t expected Harry to just come right out and say it like that. But when he did, and those words spilled off his sweet lips like an unexpected gift, I felt myself practically melt inside.

For such a…tough guy…I wasn’t used to feeling like this at all. Harry was like an invading army, setting up shop inside my soul with no intentions of leaving, and I was quite happy to surrender my heart to him.

The world seemed brighter as I stepped outside and took a deep breath of the morning air. The sun was shining and warm against my skin and the whole lodge seemed to just exude a sense of family and belonging like never before.

When I was single, I’d felt like a part of the pack for sure, but also a little bit like a guest. There were other alphas with omegas and children, but I was still going solo like I always had. Now, things were different.

I waved at Peter and Timmy, who were playing with their enormous group of pups by the tree line again. Even without their own alphas, those two were doing a great job with those kids, and of course everyone else around here loved to help out.

By the sounds coming from the barn and the smell of pine in the air, I could tell Tate was already hard at work. It was hard to put a price on just how valuable his woodworking was to the lodge.

When he was full-time working as a bouncer down at The Love Knot, he was bringing in more money, but the amount of work he’d put into this place, from the furniture, to the floors and the kitchen, to the walls and the addition, was priceless.

I took the side door and stepped inside to see him sanding down a piece that looked like it was going to become part of a drawer for his new dresser, and gave him a wave. I saw him smile through his dust mask, and stood there a moment while he finished up.

“Seth!” He grinned as he took off his mask and walked over to me. “You look like a guy who had a good night last night.”

“Does it ever stop being this incredible?” I asked him, my mind wandering back to last night’s bliss.

Tate shook his head. “You think it would. But it doesn’t. In fact, it just gets better. Wait until you see his pregnant body!”

“That good, huh?”

“Oh! You have no idea.”

We stepped outside and shut the barn door behind us and I looked out at Peter’s and Timmy’s pups as they scampered around the lawn just at the edge of the trees.

“You know, Tate,” I mused. “You know what I can’t stop thinking about when I look at them?”

“What?”

“Harry, and the rest of the omegas Kade’s got chained up down there at the truck stop.”

Tate sighed, put both of his hands on his hips and looked across the lawn with me. He had his own omega now, and his mate, Kyle, had gone through some serious stuff himself before I arrived here. If anyone could understand what I was feeling, it would be him.

“I mean, Tate, they had him on a mattress in the back of a tractor-trailer,” I told him, thinking back to the night I’d saved Harry.

“It’s a cruel world that allows alphas like that to exist,” Tate replied grimly. “You mentioned another alpha?”

“Matias,” I told him. “He caught me at the trailer trying to take Harry, and he let me go. Harry thinks he’d take over the pack and lead it well if we could just get rid of Kade.”

“Did you see Kade?”

“Only from a distance,” I told him. “He looked…dangerous.”

Tate thought for a while, and I felt myself growing anxious. If it was up to me, we would have already raided the goddamn place, but Tate was our leader and more cautious than I, which was probably a good thing.

“Tell you what,” Tate said finally. “Tonight, after dark, we’ll get the others and scout out the truck stop. If we’re going to do anything about this, we need firm numbers on how many alphas he has, if he has any beta soldiers, and the layout of the place. Sound good to you?”

“That’ll work,” I said with a nod. He was right. Bryce, Tate’s number two, was gone with his omega on a trip somewhere, and Red and Kitchi, the fox alphas, were out hunting. That meant we were down three alphas, and if the number of trucks at the truck stop was any indicator of the size of Kade’s pack, we were going to need all the help we could get.

“All right,” Tate said with a firm slap on my shoulder. “Let the others know. We’ll meet out front just after sundown.”

“Thank you, Tate,” I said as he turned back to the barn.

“That’s what packs do,” he replied.

As the barn door shut behind me, and I heard his sander start up again, I felt renewed. A confidence and purpose filled me. We were going to get that son of a bitch and get those poor omegas out from under his thumb.

We’re coming for you, Kade. I thought as I headed back to the lodge to inform Harry. We’re coming, you son of a bitch!

Chapter18

Seth

“Don’t worry,” I told Harry as he looked up at me from the bed, tears welling in his eyes. “I’ll be fine. It’s just a scouting mission. Nothing more.”

“You say that now,” he whined. “But what happens if he sees you? What happens if you see him? Are you going to be able to control yourself?”

“It’ll be hard,” I chuckled, petting his head gently, smiling at his concern. “And a few days ago maybe I would have just leapt without looking – but now I’ve got something special in my life, and I won’t be taking any stupid risks. Don’t you worry.”

It pained me to see him this upset, but there were just some things in life that had to be done, and this was one of them. I couldn’t sit by knowing what I knew about Kade’s pack and let that continue.

I’d found Harry there, which meant there could be more omegas there just waiting for their alphas. But as long as those poor bastards were locked away in the back of those stinking trucks, they’d never be found. They’d never be able to share the happiness that Harry and I now shared.

There were things in life that had to happen, and this was one of them. And it was my duty as an alpha to step up to the plate. Matias had done a huge favor for me, and it was time to repay him. Hopefully Kade hadn’t discovered his betrayal. Him taking over the pack after Kade was gone was what we were hoping for.

“Just be careful,” Harry pleaded with me, squeezing my hand tightly. “You have to come back to me.”

“Don’t even think like that,” I said soothingly. “I’ll be coming back, and it’ll be sooner than you think. You won’t even be ready for bed.”

“Promise?”

“Promise.”

I bent down, kissed my mate on the forehead and headed out the door. It was time to push aside my affections and get focused.

Harry’s concerns were warranted, of course. Things could go sideways really easily on a scout like this. There was no telling what Kade had done to beef up security since I took Harry from him. There could be cameras, perimeter guards or any number of things. We had to scope it out from a distance without being seen and get back here to plan our attack.

Tate, Martin and Carlos were already waiting for me by the barn as I came outside.

“All set?” Tate asked me as I approached.

“Yeah, let’s do this,” I said, nodding at the other alphas. “Little less stylish tonight, Martin?”

It was an easy joke. We were all in our boxers, ready to strip down for the shift to wolf form and save our clothes from being shredded to bits.

“This naked bod is more stylish than anything you can get off the shelves,” he joked as we tossed our boxers aside. My wolf called out as the night air caressed my naked body.

“Okay,” Tate said sternly. “Let’s do this. Remember, do not engage. This is a scouting mission only.”

“Good thing Kitchi isn’t here,” Carlos joked. “He’d be ready for action.”

Tate doused himself with pheromone blockers, then handed the bottle to the rest of us. This would shield our scents from Kade’s pack while we got whatever information we needed.

“Let’s do this,” Tate said and shifted. We all followed suit, and I relished in the strength of my wolf form. Baring my fangs and sucking in a deep lungful of the night air, I leapt forward with the rest of my pack and headed down the slope.

The thrill of tonight was heavy in my chest as I sprang forward, racing beside Tate as I took the lead. He was the leader of the pack, but this was my mission and was all because of me.

As we raced through the woods, I kept replaying the events of that night over and over in my mind, going over the layout of the truck stop again. Not all of the trucks there had belonged to Kade, but they’d definitely grouped up together on their own.

There must have been humans there as well – which would make an all-out shifter war dangerous for both parties. That meant we’d have to hit them hard and fast and keep out of sight.

We reached the main road and kept to the shadows as I lead the other alphas toward the truck stop.

We’re coming for you, Kade, I thought to myself as I ran. It was hard not to think about killing him tonight. That’s what I wanted to do. That son of a bitch shouldn’t even exist in this world, let alone be leading a pack.

But as we approached the truck stop, my nose was filled with the smells of gas, oil, cigarettes and booze, but there was something missing…

There were no scents of any shifters.

I could pick up the scents of some humans there, but at this distance, we should be smelling Kade’s pack – the alphas, his omegas or the betas…but there was just… nothing.

I glanced at Carlos and saw by the look in his eye that he was confused as well as we came to a stop just across the street from the truck stop, keeping to the shadows of the trees.

There it was – the truck stop, just as I’d seen it before. Only now, there was one major difference: Kade’s trucks were gone. All of them.

I shifted instantly and cursed, keeping my breath down. “Fuck!”

Tate shifted beside me.

“They’re gone?”

“Gone,” I muttered, scanning the area for any signs of where they may have gone.

“How could that be?” Carlos asked, shifting back beside me. “There’s not even a trace of a scent.”

“Pheromone blockers I guess,” I spat, shaking my head. “Kade got cautious after someone stole one of his omegas from him. Packed up his shit and headed for the hills.”

“And without a strong scent, there’s no telling where he might have gone.” Martin was looking at me with concern, and I felt suddenly vulnerable. This was all because of me, and now, this scouting mission was a complete failure and waste of everybody’s time.

Not only that, Kade was gone, and we had no idea where he was.

“Goddamn it!” I swore, slamming a fist against my thigh. “We should have come back sooner.”

“Seth—”

“Now they’re gone!” I roared, no longer concerned with the volume of my voice. I saw the other alphas were on edge, but so what? All we were right now was four naked guys on the edge of the road. Weird, but hardly a cause for concern.

“You did all you could do, Seth,” Tate said, placing a hand on my shoulder. My chest was heaving and my heart was knocking like a bass drum. “Come on, guys. Let’s get back.”

The others shifted, but I stood there a moment, my eyes fixed on the empty stretch of pavement where Kade’s pack had been. What had happened? Did Kade realize Matias had betrayed him? There was no sign there had been a fight, but that’s what really worried me – there was no sign of anything.

It was as though the entire convoy had just been swept up without a trace.