Chapter Twenty-One
Rafael
"He's here," Lachlan's voice hissed through the Bluetooth receiver hidden in my left ear.
"Don't make contact!" I growled into the microphone clipped to the inside of my shirt collar.
"Not an option," Lachlan's sighed words barely carried through my earpiece.
Clint and I exchanged an exasperated look as we listened to Lachlan approach Harley and ask if he needed help. Several minutes later Lachlan was back.
"Okay. I got him through the front doors. You got eyes on him?"
I was straining to see through the throng of Alphas when an impressive string of curses from Zade's microphone made me wince.
"You're not gonna fucking believe this shit." He paused, and I almost thought I heard him stifle a laugh. No sooner had we started forcing our way through the horny Alphas than Zane's voice rang through again. "Guys, he's not alone."
"He's not?"
"Nope, but I think y'all better hurry." This time there was a definite laugh. "Rafe, Scott is squaring off against every Alpha in the damned place."
"Let's go!" I started for the steps to the main dance floor at a run with Clint on my six.
"That is not good."
I sighed and kept shoving my way through the throngs. I certainly couldn't disagree with Clint's assessment of the situation, but that was one werewolf with a gift for serious understatement.
The sight that greeted me when we finally made our way to the front of the club was, well, something.
Harley was backed up into the northeast corner of the room, just to the right of the front door. Carefully positioned between him and a row of angry Alphas was Scott who, to my surprise, looked completely at ease as he ducked and feigned, kicked and tripped the men who were challenging him for access to Harley.
I wound my way through to where Zade stood, watching, with his hands on his hips and a surprised expression.
"You're not getting in there?"
Zade shrugged. "So far, they're taking it one at a time and he's holding his own. Kinda figured that I'd wait and see if he needed the help."
"Ass," Clint huffed, pushing past me to the front. Before he could say anything, Scott caught his approach from the corner of his eye and turned to meet the perceived threat, landing his fist against the werewolf's jaw with a solid thud before realizing who he'd struck.
When Scott lowered his fist with an apologetic shrug, Clint laughed out loud and swung in to stand shoulder to shoulder with him.
"That's my cue." Whatever response Zade made was lost in the scuffle as I shoved two bodies out of my way to cover Scott's other side.
The crowd that had been more than happy to challenge Scott individually when it was just him and an Omega, suddenly rushed as one undulating body, fists flying and boots lashing out. I wasn't sure of the exact moment that Zade joined the fray, choosing to fight from within the pack of bodies, but Lachlan's entrance was harder to miss as he slammed the door open, the hard wood colliding forcefully with several attackers and sending them skittering across the tile floor that was already slippery with blood.
By the time that the club's security staff moved in to control the scene, two dozen battered and bloody bodies littered the club floor and we were all starting to tire, which, when I replayed the events in my mind later, was how the entire situation suddenly went bad.
The bouncers began to line the attackers up against the far wall while the manager spoke softly to Harley, so I relaxed my guard and reached for my wallet to bring out my COPSD ID. Zade was mirroring my actions, reaching for his own military identification when his head jerked up.
"Knife!" he bellowed, the words hitting me a split second too late for me to stop the bastard who dove past me, arm extended. The neon lights glittered off the metal as the dagger plunged toward Harley's exposed back.
I knew I would be too late, that I couldn't make it in time, but still I lunged toward Harley, hoping to knock him out of the way just as the blade sank into flesh with a sickening wet, tearing sound. I landed on my knees and slid as blood sprayed out into the air.