Chapter Nine
“You sure this is it?” Alex asked.
Rob looked around the area, using every sense at his disposal to make sure that he was in the right place. He and Alex had been tracking Kade for half the morning, since right before sun up. The rest of the family had stayed close by just in case they ended up getting a trail that might lead them to Kade. Rob would be forever in their debt. He would never be able to repay them.
His parents wanted to come along, but he felt that they would be able to surprise Kade more easily with just the two of them. Besides, Kade was not as strong as he was last time; his tribe was gone. He was an alpha without a pack; always a huge vulnerability.
It had taken him a while to pick up Kade’s scent; the man was good at hiding his tracks, but eventually he found it. The scent was very small, almost imperceptible. Alex could not pick it up until they were a lot closer.
But this was the place. It was an abandoned soda bottling plant from the looks of it. Rob had always been amazed at how many abandoned buildings there were in this town. He couldn’t fathom why anyone would just throw them away; why not use them in some other productive manner?
The warehouse looked so empty, so cold even in the bright morning sunlight. It was early morning but the heat was already coming on bringing the morning smell in from the desert surrounding the city. He’d always loved the desert. He often liked to think of himself as a desert wolf, akin to the coyotes that inhabited the area which he often saw when he went jogging outside at dawn sometimes. He was able to reach out with his senses and connect to all the life in his habitat in a way other people were not. To him that had always seemed incredible.
He and Alex made their way to the opening of the warehouse. Alex started to open the door and Rob held out his hand to stop him. He held a finger to his lips and motioned for Alex to be quiet and to come with him. Kade would no doubt be expecting them to come through the front door.
He could feel him; he was waiting on them. Kade could have kept running, he could have kept drawing them farther out to wherever he wanted, but Rob was wise to all of his tricks. Kade thought he was an alpha, and maybe he was by sheer force of will, but he was nothing compared to a pure blood alpha like Rob. Kade’s arrogance was working out in Rob’s favor. The hybrid alpha was so sure of himself, so sure that he knew what Rob was thinking and feeling, that he could anticipate every move he made before he made it. It was all wrong. Rob would prove to Kade exactly how wrong he was.
They made their way to the back of the warehouse where shipments typically would have come in. Rob could see the stations where trucks would back up to the building for unloading of materials. It was actually quite a fascinating thing to see how this whole thing was set in motion to complete a final product. Machinery and systems had always fascinated Rob. The game of baseball, being part of a team—it was actually very similar when you really thought about it.
Rob leapt up onto a platform and stepped in through a broken window, careful not to touch the glass or make any noise as his feet touched down on the broken shards on the ground. Alex followed suit.
The factory was big and wide open, but surprisingly there were several different turns and a lot of materials left behind that had gone to waste. It was not just a big empty building as he’d been expecting. But then again, did he really expect Kade to hide out in plain sight that way?
He knew that Kade was underestimating him, but he did not want to make the same mistake and underestimate Kade, either. The building was much larger than it looked from the outside, several stories high with miniature multi levels within the same floors.
Rob motioned for Alex to go to the left while he went to the right. If one of them found Kade first then they would yell for backup when fighting him. That had been agreed upon on the way over. Even though they were both pure and Kade was a hybrid, he was not to be taken lightly. They had to respect that he had obtained alpha status, even if he did it solely through violent means.
Rob moved slowly down the corridor to his right, weaving between stacks of crates and large boxes. He thought for a moment that Kade could be hiding behind any of them, but then again, he should have smelled him if he was that close. He could pick up the scent and the presence, but he was having trouble pin pointing a direction and a location this close to him for some reason. It was possible that Kade had spread his scent around enough before they arrived that it was throwing Rob’s senses off a bit so he didn’t know which way to go exactly. But he would find Kade. It was a matter of time.
He continued on until he came to the end of a hallway where a set of steps lead to an upper level that looked like it was used mostly for storage. He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply, trying to pick up something specific, but so far nothing was really coming to him. But he thought he might as well check it out and see for himself that there was nothing there. He trusted his nose, but he trusted his eyes more.
While he tried to remain super focused on the task at hand his thoughts kept drifting back to Doria. He felt that she and his sister were safe. If anything were happening to either of them now he would be able to feel it, but of course he would not be able to get there in time.
He loved Doria. And not just because she was destined to be his soulmate; he didn’t think that automatically could make someone fall in love, but he had fallen hard for this woman. He could not imagine living the rest of his days without her. Of course, if they became truly mated then they would both become immortal, and forever sounded like an amazing amount of time to spend with that woman.
He had known it since he first laid eyes on her; she was his one and only soulmate. She was his in every way. It was as if she had truly been created for him and him for her. Perhaps that was what the cosmos had in mind all along for both of them. But he hated to think that she had to endure almost being murdered to become a wolf in the first place. If he ever found the person who did that to her, he knew that he would kill them. Even though it had brought this amazing woman into his life and had promised her to be by his side for eternity, he still would never have wished something like this on anyone who did not want it. That was not right. It was against everything the lycanthropes had always believed.
There was nothing to be found in the upper level storage area so he headed back down and kept searching, moving down another hallway that led past a conveyor belt and some machine pressing equipment. It looked like it was used to stamp or label the bottles after the product was poured into the containers. He could still smell the scent of stale soda. It was invading his nostrils mingling with another scent he could not put his finger on. Was it Kade? Were all of the strange aromas in the factory masking his essence somehow?
Rob moved past the shipping and on to another empty room. He checked a few doors that led to closets and an old bathroom.
So far this was turning out to be a bust, but he knew he had felt Kade here. He knew that his senses were not going to let him down this way; there had to be something that was really altering his perceptions. If anything, his senses should have been stronger since he and Doria had made love and made their union flesh. That was the next step in her obtaining the status of his mate. It was a linear, but natural progression.
The lovemaking was fantastic. It was as if every single ounce of his body, mind, and soul were involved in the pursuit and reception of total bliss. He knew that he had truly already been to Heaven.
Suddenly, he heard a loud screaming roar coming from the other side of the factory. This was quickly followed by a screeching gurgle that ended a moment later.
Alex!
Rob turned on his speed and ripped through the factory arriving to the other side where Alex was within three seconds. He was ready for anything; he was ready to fight whatever Kade could throw at him.
Or at least that’s what he thought.
Standing there was Kade with a smu,g and very satisfied look, on his face.
At his feet lay Alex. A sword was impaled through his heart. It had been attached to a booby trap that Kade had set up so when Alex entered the doorway the sword would swoop down and run him through. Rob could smell that the sword was silver.
Alex was gone. He was dead. His body was lifeless and still; his eyes closed. There was no glow, no light in his body. His brother was gone.
Rob felt sick. He felt like he could hardly breathe right then. Tears assaulted through his eyes and wet his cheeks.
“Aww, that’s a pity,” taunted Kade. “The poor boy was so full of promise and hope of the future. It’s too bad he had to die.”
Rob felt the beast taking over. He transformed into the wolf in less than a second and was flying across the room his right claw aimed right at Kade, ready to rip his throat out.
He was going to end this menace once and for all. This was it.
Kade stepped aside and Rob saw the shiny blade of a long dagger. It was just like the sword that had killed Rob, but shorter and no doubt just as deadly. Kade was aiming it right for his heart.
Rob twisted his body at the last split second as the blade entered his skin and sank into his body deeply. The pain was excruciating and he felt the poison working through his body before he even hit the ground. It felt like burning lava coursing through his whole being, setting him on fire. He thought for a moment that he might black out. He had never experienced anything this destructive and this painful. Was he going to die?
He knew that he would not. The dagger had just missed his heart thanks to the last-minute movement on his part, but it would make him sick for a while. Luckily the dagger had not stayed in his body. But unlucky for him that Kade still clutched it tightly in his hand ready for another blow.
“Well, that was impressive,” Kade said. “But then again everything you do is so impressive. That’s why you are a rich, famous ball player, that’s why you have such a nice family that you became the alpha of despite being the youngest, and you are mated to such an amazing woman. You could say that I am a bit jealous; I’m man enough to admit it. Hell, jealousy is normal; jealousy is needed in this world. That is what makes humans push themselves. But then again, I’m no longer really human. You still get what I mean.”
“You are a monster. That is all you have ever been,” Rob said through clenched teeth. The pain was lessening a great deal, but he did not want to let on to Kade about that. Apparently, Kade had underestimated the healing power of a pure blood alpha as well.
“You can call me names all you like, but it won’t change the fact that you are about to die. And I am going to be mated to Doria. I don’t care what the rules say; if I can’t be spiritually mated to her then I’ll have to settle for physically. She is quite a beauty,” Kade continued.
“You won’t touch her!” Rob screamed.
Kade laughed. “Oh, I will do as I please. That is how I live, which is why I grow stronger and you are about to die. And as far as touching Doria, I’ve already touched her. Oh, not in the way you are thinking—not yet in that way, but soon—but I touched her before. I am responsible for the amazing creature she has become. I didn’t realize it at first, but once I got closer to her I knew it without a doubt.”
Kade leaned close to Rob and smiled. “I transferred the gift to her.”
Rob couldn’t breathe. He was standing right before the wolf that had made Doria a wolf. Kade was her sire.
If he killed Kade then Doria would no longer be a wolf. She would no longer be mated to him. He might lose her. Would she want him if she was a human? Would he still be able to feel the same way about her? Would any of it matter anymore?
He had to kill Kade. The man was a menace to the world; besides if he didn’t then Kade was going to force Doria to be with him or he might grow tired of her and just kill her. He would never stop tracking her down. Rob knew this; Kade was relentless. He had to be stopped.
“I know, it’s quite a shock. I just wanted to have some full disclosure with you before you took your last breath. And now that I have destroyed your will to live, I will take your life from you.”
Kade swiftly brought the dagger down on Rob. He could see the sharp silver coming right at him, aiming for his temple. He was going to put it in his brain.
As the knife came down Rob brought his paw up and grabbed Kade’s wrist. He saw the shocked, surprised, and utterly destroyed look of total fear and regret in Kade’s eyes right before he swiped across Kade’s throat with his other claw.
Kade collapsed to the ground trying to scream, clutching at his sliced, bleeding throat. His body writhed and crawled around on the ground as he desperately searched for air or some way to repair the damage, but it was too late. He’d just been clawed across the throat by an alpha pure- blood wolf.
Kade’s body stopped moving as he lay there bleeding out.
He was gone.
Kade was dead.