I walked into the geek chamber—Jonah's natural habitat—and leaned a hip against his desk. The rest of the team were assembling our go-bags and getting ready for the retrieval, but we still needed a pinpoint on the map.

"Talk me to, Jonah. Tell me you've got us a location. We've got less than twenty hours left before those pictures get released and that kid’s life becomes less valuable to his kidnappers."

Jonah looked up from his computer, blinking owlishly a few times as if reorienting himself to human contact after being deep in his computer world for sixteen hours... give or take.

"Not yet, but I'm close. Our source in the FBI told me they'd used satellite images to track him as far as a small airport out of Jacksonville, but they lost him from there."

"Do you need us to go down there and take a sniff around?"

Jonah shook his head. "No, my feeb buddy is a shifter. He was at the scene, and lost their scents outside of a small, abandoned hangar at the far end of the airport. Due to a low coastal fog, the satellite wasn't capturing that area at the time the perps plane took off, so they're chasing other leads. Meanwhile, my dude, Pax, is digging through the satellite feeds while the feebs are sitting with their thumbs up their collective ass."

"Pax. He's the hacker you use from time to time, right? What can he possibly find that the feebs can't? If the satellite wasn't catching images, then that's it, right?"

"Not exactly, bossboy. See, our satellite wasn't. But... the Russian one? It was in a perfect position a few clicks up the coast to catch things ours didn't." Jonah grinned proudly as he rolled back from his desk and spun in his chair to point at another monitor. "See? Pax is minutes away from getting me what we need."

"Wait. Are you seriously fucking telling me that your hacker friend is getting us images from a Russian satellite? Jonah…” I blew out a breath. “He could get in deep shit if he gets caught—I mean.. you get that, right?"

Jonah turned to smirk at me. "There are no rewards without a few risks, bossboy. Do you want to find the omega or not? The feebs will get there with other cameras eventually, but this is our chance to get a step ahead."

Before I could answer, Jonah's phone rang at the same time as his monitor started flashing with different files randomly popping on the screen. Jonah punched the air in a victorious cheer as he reached up to accept the call via his headset.

"See, bossboy? You can unclench, he's got our information."

Ignoring me then, he accepted the call and began speaking rapid fire in some dialect of Chinese. I watched him for a minute as he juggled between three monitors, typing on his keyboard while talking to who I could only assume to be his mysterious hacker friend. None of us had met this Pax, only Jonah knew him—but he'd helped us out on more cases than I could count. I turned to leave the office when Jonah stopped me.

"Hold up, bossboy. I'm sending the coordinates to the team now, you guys need to be wheels up in ten, because you're heading to North Carolina."

"Seriously? On the coast, or inland?" I was already pulling out my phone to look at the info he'd just sent us via group text.

"Nope, not coastal. Sorry. Once you land, you've got to go on foot for about twenty-four clicks. And tell the guys to suit up, there's snow in them thar hills," he added with a sarcastic drawl.

"Twenty-four clicks... Shit, that's fifteen fucking miles, Jonah! Can't we drop in closer?"

"Not with the snow, bossboy, sorry."

"Copy that," I muttered as I headed for the door. "Just send me everything you've got. I guess we need to hit the road."

"You got it, bossboy." Jonah returned to his call, his fingers once again pounding away on his keyboard as I made my way back to the equipment room where the rest of the squad was busily condensing everything into smaller bags.

I took one look at them, and nodded with satisfaction. "So you guys got the message? And we’re about ready to hit the road?"

Boomer looked up from packing detonators into the back pouches of his tactical vest. Beside him, his bandolier was already full of grenade shells. "Yep, we're good. Once we saw the plan, we knew we needed to travel lighter."

I shook my head. No matter how many times I told Boomer we didn’t need grenades for every mission, he insisted.

"At least we'll be able to get in and out without leaving a scent trail," Zeke offered. "I mean, if we have to shift, snow is a forgiving medium for covering us, and the feebs won't suspect a thing. In and out. It’ll be smooth and easy as a lubed fist, am I right?"

"One can only hope," I muttered as I grabbed my own vest and began packing MREs, bottled water, and extra ammo. I made sure to add enough for the omega, since he'd be coming back with us, and who the hell knew if he'd been fed recently. After a second’s hesitation, I added in a fat handful of Tootsie Rolls.

* * *

"Fuck this snow, man. I'll take the rain in Chicago over this cold-ass, slick shit any day of the week," Zeke grumbled.

"Aww... is wittle Zekey getting his paws cold?"

"Fuck you, Levi," Zeke replied. "My balls are cold. My paws? Those are fuckin' numb."

"Yeah, I'll give you that," Ezra agreed wearily. "It's colder than a witch's titty out here. Are we sure we're headed in right direction, bossboy?"

"Yeah, Noah." Boomer spoke from my left flank as he mindspoke us all with a whiny tone like a kid on a long car trip. "Are we there yet?”

"Damn, you guys are acting like a bunch of wusses tonight. Yes, we're going the right way and no, we aren't there yet. We've got about five or six clicks left by my best guesstimate." I tried to sound authoritative, but truth be told, my wolf didn't care for this hiking through snow any more than the team did.

"Shit, I'm for sure gonna freeze my balls off by then," Zeke groused as we made our way up the mountain. "Seriously. My dick might not recover. Pretty sure it's frozen to my belly right now."

"Really? Lucky you. Mine turtled up inside me so deep, I might not ever find it again," Ezra whined. "And my poor paws! My famously magic fingers could be damaged when I shift back if my wolf has serious frostbite."

"What's the difference, Ez? Aren't you pretty much dickless anyway?" Zeke snarked at his twin. "I mean... it's not like that thing gets as much use as it should anyway. I gotta admit, I’ve been kinda worried about that, so maybe this will improve things for you."

"Just because I'm more discriminating in my tastes and don't feel the need to broadcast my conquests doesn't mean my cock doesn't get a regular workout," Ezra replied in a bored tone.

"Yeah, but your fist doesn't count. Your brother's talking about letting it out socially, ya know?" Boomer said. “Maybe find a nice omega playmate instead of Rosie Palm and her five frisky fingered sisters?”

"Slow down, guys. Hold up a sec." I stopped suddenly to sniff the air. "I smell wood smoke... there's a cabin nearby. And we're getting close to where Pax traced that phone signal."

"That was a stroke of genius," Levi said, oblivious to the fact that I just basically told them all to shut the fuck up so I could listen to the area. "The satellite images were one thing, but actually tracking that phone while we were mid-flight? That dude needs to come work for us. Him and Jonah could hole up in the geek chamber together and help us get all our shit done a lot faster... it seems like whenever Jo-Jo calls him in, magic happens. Although, if the budget can't give us raises, then it probably can't afford a new hire. Shit, we'd never get a raise."

"Levi?" I growled.

"Yeah, bossboy?"

"Shut. Up. We need to focus."

He went silent as we all stopped and stood still, listening to the woods around us and sniffing the air. I was just about to give up and forge onward when the breeze shifted just enough that I caught it—the faint scent of cat shifters, an omega, and woodsmoke coming from about ten degrees off course and to the right.

"Cats," Boomer said with disgust. "Figures. Can't trust a fucking cat... shit. How do you want to play this, bossboy?"

"Must you guys keep calling me that?" I asked distractedly, my brain working on the best course of action.

"Yeah, I mean... duh. Your dad's the bossman, that makes you the bossboy or baby bossman. Either works—come on, don't fight it, baby. You were born to the title, it's like your birthright and shit," Boomer replied.

Ignoring him, I slowly led them toward the source of the scent. I stopped in a thicket of trees just outside of view of a small cabin. We paused and took stock of the scene. All the bullshitting came to an abrupt halt as my team got serious and focused on the task at hand. Now was when shit got real.

"I only scent two of them in there with the omega; could it be that simple?" I mused over our group telepathic channel.

Ezra pushed closer to me and pointed his gray muzzle toward a Jeep parked beside the cabin. "Yeah, I think it is. I bet they figured they were safe without more back-up since they're in such a remote location. Do we try to bust in and take them in shifted form, or switch back and use our guns? Your call, Alpha."

I loved how the obnoxious bossboy shit ended and respect took over once we were in mission mode. Annoying as my team could be with their ribbing, they really were a good squad.

"Any ideas? I'll entertain all suggestions," I replied.

"If we bust in there, five on two, we’d have the element of surprise and there’s always strength in numbers," Zeke said. "But the thing is, what if they have wolfsbane? In this form, we'd be fucked if they threw that in the fireplace and thus powerless to help the omega."

"And if we go in shooting, the omega could be accidentally wounded—if not killed," Ezra added.

"We don't know what kind of cats they are either. Depending on their breed, our numbers still might not be enough," Levi said with a concerned tone. “Some cat shifters are scary strong.”

"I got you covered, Alpha." Boomer said suddenly as he came up on my left. He was panting hard as if he been running. "While you ladies were gossiping, I just did a little recon. The cage is visible on the other side of the cabin, southeast quadrant. The back door opens onto that room, but it's closed off from the main area where the perps are sitting watching fucking TV, if you can believe that shit. I'm thinking, if I set off a small C-4 charge on the northwest corner here where the porch is, the perps will freak and either take off running, or be busy dealing with the small resulting fire. While they're occupied with that, one of you slips in the back door and busts out the omega while the rest of the team covers his back."

"Good plan. But can you contain that blast enough to not blow up the whole area or start a forest fire?" I asked.

"Dude. Seriously? You're questioning my skills? I'm hurt," Boomer teased, then got serious for a moment. "Listen, Noah. I've got this. The snow will keep the fire from spreading. No worries. It won't take much of a blast for a distraction. At most, we'll have a small fire that can be stamped out in a matter of minutes once the initial blast chills out. After that, I vote we requisition their vehicle to get the kid out of here instead of making that cold ass hike back down the mountain."

"Alright then, good plan. Everyone drop your packs and shift back; we'll need our human halves for this one," I said. "Zeke and Ezra, you two fan out to guard the north and south ends of the perimeter. Levi, you get set up with your sniper rifle in a tree or whatever the fuck you need to and cover me. While Boomer blows up the damn porch, I'll slip in the back and grab the kid. Did any of you notice on the video if there was a lock on the cage?"

I was wracking my brain, trying to picture it but Ezra immediately replied, with his perfect recall.

"No lock, it was just a basic hook and latch set-up. Like you said back at headquarters, those bars are silver-coated to keep him in, or it's electrified. Either way, you'll be safe to open it from the outside of the cage if you wear gloves."

"Alright then, let's get to work. I agree with what you guys were saying earlier. My dick is about to freeze off in this damned snow. Maybe Boomer's explosion will warm us up a little."

"Cute, Alpha." Boomer wriggled out of his pack and shifted smoothly back to human form. While he dug clothes and shoes out of his vest, we all followed suit.

"Fuck me, I hate snow," Zeke said in a hoarse whisper, dancing from foot to foot in the snow while he quickly dressed and stepped into his shoes.

"Yeah, I think we all do. Now be quiet, guys. You all know your jobs, go do them. But no more chatter until we're free and clear. We don't want those cats inside to hear us; we all know how adept cat's ears are," I warned them quietly.

While the others made their way silently through the trees to take up their positions, I waited until I saw Boomer toss a small amount of C-4 haphazardly on the ground. Once he'd opened the pouch where his detonators were kept, I left him to it and made my way around to the other side of the cabin.

I sidled along the side of the building and crouched beside the back door where I'd be in position to rush in the moment I heard Boomer's small explosion rock the other side. Several minutes went by and I was just starting to worry that something had gone wrong, when a much larger blast than I'd been expecting rocked the building, followed by several loud BOOMS! of a few lesser accompanying explosions.

The night sky lit up with an orange glow, and while I wondered what the fuck Boomer had done this time, I pushed that concern aside and sprang to action. The sound of shots started going off like Chinese firecrackers as I busted through the door and made straight for the large cage where the omega cowered in abject terror.

I froze for a second, caught completely off-guard by the delicious fragrance of lilacs and pure omega that was layered under the scent of his fear. Oh, fuck me sideways. This little shit was mine? I took another whiff, and was almost too entranced to move as it hit me that yes, I was really scenting my fated mate—the one wolf meant to be mine.

Mate. Mine.

Before I could take another deep sniff of that glorious scent, a bitchy voice jerked me back to reality, accompanied by the rude snapping of fingers.

"Yo, big guy. I'm guessing my father sent you? If you're here to rescue me, you might want to... I dunno... get to the part where you actually open this cage and we get the fuck out of Dodge before Tweedledee and Tweedledumber come back here? Or the house burns down, since the smoke is getting kinda thick... pick a danger, but neither one sounds overly appealing to me. Hello? Are you brain-damaged? Too many steroids? What the hell, dude?"

I looked over at my mate, and rolled my eyes at the high-handed bitchiness of his sarcastic tone. Oh, yeah. This was going to be fun... not. Shaking off my stupor, I double-timed it to the cage and opened the door.

"Sorry, Princess. Your stench sidetracked me there. Couldn't your captors be bothered to at least hose you off? What did you do, piss yourself?"

"Oh, no, you just didn't," he said as he stood to his full pocket-sized height and glared up at me while he regally stepped out of the cage. "I will have your badge for this, brute."

"Take a whiff, Princess. I'm a shifter, not a regular cop. Drop the 'tude, and let's go—unless you'd rather wait to see if your captors come in to save you from your rescuer?"

I felt like shit the moment I said that, when the stench of fear started rolling off him in a thick wave again. Biting back a sigh, I picked the little shit up and tossed him over my shoulder.

"Come on, Princess. You can bitch at me later. Let me get you to safety."

Surprisingly, he didn't fight or argue while I got the fuck out of there. Once I made it to the trees, I carefully made my way back to our original meeting point, where I found the rest of the team watching the cabin burn with matching expressions of amazed horror etched on their faces.

I turned to see a pillar of smoke rising through the night sky and the cabin itself burning fast.

"Shit! What the hell happened?" I turned to Boomer, since this was far from the contained explosion he'd described.

Boomer shrugged nonchalantly. "I may or may not have forgotten to take the possible presence of propane into account. I saw three small propane tanks, like you'd use for a barbecue, go flying right after the main blast."

"Ah. I guess those would account for the smaller explosions I heard?" I asked with a grin.

Tapping a forefinger to the side of his nose, Boomer let me know I was right on the money. My mate started squirming on my shoulder to get down, but I merely smacked his ass.

"Hold still, Princess. The alphas are talking," I said with a wink to my team. At my mate's intake of breath, I knew I'd gotten the zing I'd been hoping for as payback for his brattiness inside. Ignoring him again, I turned to Levi.

"And what about the perps? Did you get them, or are they inside?"

Levi shook his head regretfully. "I'm sorry, Alpha. Two large, black panthers burst out of there like, well... a house on fire. One was carrying a laptop bag from his jaw, and they took off into the trees while I was watching the car shoot up in the air."

I stared at him for a long moment. "The.. what now?"

He answered by pointing at the burning wreckage of what had been meant to be our escape vehicle. "One of the flaming propane tanks shot out of the side of the cabin and hit its fuel tank. I shit you not, that fucker shot straight up in the air about fifty feet—then crashed back down. Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if those kitties didn't at least singe a whisker or two. Seriously, it just barely missed them."

"Fucking cats have nine lives, remember?" a bratty voice said from over my shoulder. "Can I get down now? I'm sick of smelling your ass. If you fart, so help me… I'm kicking you in the balls so hard you'll sing soprano, brute."

Without comment, I set the little shit down and watched with amusement as he straightened his spine and tossed his chin back to assert himself within this circle of large alphas. My mate was an adorable little shit.

His eyes grew wide as he took in the burning wreckage of the cabin and Jeep. He looked over at me with a haughty glare. "Where the hell are we, and how will we get back to civilization?"

Now that I saw the flames starting to level out and knew we weren't going to start a forest fire if we left it unattended, I turned and swung out a hand toward the downhill slope of the mountain with a wink at my mate.

"Where are we? Bumfuck. How do we leave? Well, now we go for a moonlight stroll, Princess. Try to keep up with us 'roided out brutes, huh?"