Enforcer - 11. Chapter 11

This was so not how Jed imagined his first run as a wolf with Buzz.

Jed took a moment to admire the smaller man’s wolf form. His animal was as beautiful as he knew it would be, big and stocky, with dark charcoal grey fur along with lighter accents of grey. Jed brushed his snout across Buzz’s head, from his neck up to his ear, then back down again, rubbing his scent into Buzz’s fur. After a loving flick of his tongue across Buzz’s muzzle, Jed turned his attention back to his alpha.

The plan was to get in, rescue Shell and the kids, then get the hell out of here and high-tail it back home.

With Colton in the lead, Jed followed the enormous black wolf as fast as his four legs would carry him. The Timber wolves, all in shifted form, were flanking toward the right side of the Quonset hut with a group of the Glacier wolves.

Jed and Buzz boxed Parker in between them, doing their duty to protect the alpha’s mate. If Jed had a mouth instead of a muzzle, he would have been smiling. He didn’t have to guide Buzz; he instinctively did what he was supposed to do. It only cemented how much they were made for each other.

The scent of unwashed bodies, gunpowder and cheap cologne wafted over the forest’s natural scents. These hunters made no effort to disguise their tracks. Jed wasn’t sure if it really was intentional, or if they were just idiots.

A pained howl took Jed’s attention to his left. One of the Glacier wolves had stepped on a steel trap. Two of his pack-mates had stopped to help free his leg. Colton kept going, so Jed turned back toward his alpha and gave chase.

A group of humans emerged from behind the trees, firing their hunting rifles at the approaching wolves. Seeing the wolves outnumbered them, half of them immediately turned to flee.

Colton was the first to attack. His claws lashed out as he leapt into the air, slashing at the unfortunate human at the front of the group. Red bloomed across the man’s camouflage jacket, and he fell to the ground clutching his chest, wailing in pain. It wasn’t a killing blow, but the man wouldn’t be getting up anytime soon.

Gunshots and wolf howls could be heard in the distance and Jed knew that the other half of the rescue team was meeting resistance as well. His father was part of that group, but Jed did not worry about him. John Stone was a badass when he was in hunting mode. Jed had learned from the best.

One of the gray Glacier wolves took the next hunter, leaping on him and tearing his throat out. Following the man’s example, Curtis did the same with the next.

A shot rang out, so close the bullet grazed Jed’s ear, tearing the flesh. Ignoring the sting of pain and the scent of his blood, he let loose a snarl, and turned to see the hunter aiming his rifle once again. Jed would die before he let anyone harm his mate or the Alpha’s mate. With a burst of adrenaline, Jed used his shoulder to push Parker and Buzz out of the way of the next shot. Immediately Jed rounded and took off full throttle, going straight for the hunter. While he foolishly fumbled to reload his shotgun, Jed attacked.

Lifeless, the man fell to the ground. Oddly, Jed did not feel remorse for ending this human’s life, his first kill. The hunter had tried to kill his mate and his alpha’s mate. And he played a part in the kidnapping of Shell and the three Glacier pups. Not to mention that he shot his fucking ear!

Jed turned his attention to the next closest man.

“Oh shit.” The hunter reeked of fear as he backed away. The smell was so strong Jed could practically taste it. One shaky hand held a handgun as the other fumbled with a cell phone.

“Call the boss!” another screamed as he turned and ran, haphazardly pointing his pistol backwards and firing random shots.

“Oh shit, oh shit!” The man with the phone continued to back away. He stumbled on a rock, but got his bearings as he began frantically tapping the screen with his thumb.

Buzz jumped, grabbing the phone with his jaws, breaking the cheap plastic with ease. The man cried out as he yanked back a bloody hand. Jed leapt and clamped down on the hunter’s forearm, using it for leverage to jerk the man and his gun away from Buzz.

The man shrieked in agony as he dropped the gun. The acrid scent of urine filled the air as the man went down screaming.

Jed and Buzz left him clutching his bloody arm, sobbing and begging for his life. They ran toward Colton and Parker, who were back on track, racing toward the Quonset hut.

A scream from behind drew Jed’s attention. He turned his head back to see one of Miller’s men taking out the hunter they had left. It was pretty damned cold-blooded, but then these men had been shooting at them. Jed did not feel sorry for them.

In the distance, the sharp cry of a wolf in pain rang out, and Jed did a quick inventory of the nearby wolves, making sure that none of his pack-mates were missing.

They continued on to the metal structure, where they met up with Miller and the rest of his men.

Taking a moment to catch his breath, Jed searched out Parker to make sure the alpha-mate was okay. Colton had already pulled him off to the side. The alpha wolf’s nose sniffed every inch of the white wolf, checking for any signs of wounds, using his tongue when necessary to clean his mate.

Colton always took care of Parker that way after a hunt, and Jed now understood.

He turned to Buzz, assessing him for any cuts or scrapes. His wolf had blood on his muzzle, and Jed leaned in and lapped it away with his tongue. The metallic flavor left a disgusting taste in his mouth, but if Buzz would be clean, then it was a small price to pay. He didn’t want some stupid human’s blood anywhere on his mate. Buzz watched Jed with a careful eye, but he didn’t protest. He simply let the bigger wolf take care of him.

* * * *

Miller and Colton effortlessly took out the two hunters that remained inside the Quonset. When Miller shifted into his human shape, the rest of the men followed his lead and did the same.

Wincing, Jed reached up and touched his ear. The already-healing wound was a tad tender to the touch, but it had stopped bleeding.

“You were hit,” Buzz said. He reached and turned Jed’s head to get a better look.

“I’m okay,” Jed said. He was fine, but to have Buzz fawn over him made him undeniably happy. “It was just a scratch. My shift should have healed it.”

“Let’s hurry and get out of here,” Parker interjected, his eyes darting around between the entrance to the metal building and the surrounding woods. “This place gives me the creeps.”

Jed and the others followed the two alphas into the hut.

“It’s about damn time,” Shell sniped. Tied to a metal chair, she looked more pissed off than Jed had ever seen her. “Get me the hell out of here! The smell of this place is making my stomach turn.”

Curtis and Parker ran over and helped free her. As soon as she was untied, she threw herself into Curtis’s arms, and her attitude took a one-eighty. Burying her face in his neck, her breath came out in shudders. “Thank you,” she whispered, her voice catching. She looked over Curtis’s shoulder and gave the rest of her pack a grateful smile. “I knew you’d come for me.”

“You know it, baby. Always.” While rubbing her belly, Curtis sealed his pledge with a kiss.

The Glacier soldiers filed into the hut, led by Kittner in human form. Holding a pistol in one hand and a knife in the other, his vest was splattered with blood. It was not his own.

“Pup,” Colton barked. “Get behind me.”

Parker let out an exasperated grunt as Colton pulled him close, shielding his naked body from view.

Jed gave Buzz a once over. Damn, his little fireplug was sexy. He had broad shoulders, a muscled chest with a layer of fine dark hair that thickened between his pecs to make a trail down to his dangling cock. Jed smirked and puffed his chest out as he stood next to Buzz, pleased to show off his sexy boy to anyone who wanted to look. It didn’t matter if they did, because Jed knew Buzz was his. However, if they touched, now that would be a problem.

Two of Miller’s men entered the hut carrying military-grade duffel bags. They dropped them onto the floor, unzipped them, and began tossing out clothes so the men who had shifted could get dressed.

As Miller pulled out his clothes, he turned toward Kittner. “Report.”

“Minor wounds, no casualties. The cell was small, unorganized. Amateurs. They were no match.”

After pulling on a tight-as-hell T-shirt and zipping up his military cargo pants, Miller turned toward his men. “Patrol the area. Clean up any bodies. Make sure we got everybody. Track down anyone who might have escaped, or who could be lurking around to ambush us.”

“You want us to set charges?”

“Yeah. Blow this bitch up. We’ll search it and find the kids, then we all get the fuck out of here.”

He took a handgun from one of his men, checked the magazine to make sure it was fully loaded, then tucked it into the back of his pants.

“Yes, Alpha,” Kittner replied. “Already on it.” He left the hut, followed by the rest of the Glacier wolves.

Jed pulled on his boots and tied the laces. As he stood and began to look around, three unfamiliar scents hit his nose. Reeking of fear, the smell was strong. It led Jed deeper into the hut, to a closet.

“Over here!” he called out as he yanked the door open, breaking the piece of shit lock in the process while nearly ripping the door off its hinges.

The three Glacier children were huddled in the unlit closet, two boys and a young girl. The eldest boy was not yet a teen, maybe around ten years old. He had his arms wrapped around the two smaller pups, cradling them against his body. None of them were old enough to shift. It made Jed’s blood boil these humans would use kids like this.

“You pups alright?” Miller asked the trio.

“Yes, Alpha,” the oldest answered for the group.

“You watched over the little ones, Dylan?”

The boy, Dylan, stood up straight and puffed out his chest. “Yes, Alpha.”

“You did good.”

Dylan grinned widely, clearly pleased with his alpha’s praise.

Miller grabbed the little girl and set her on his hip. “Let’s get out of here.”

Dylan tugged at Miller’s arm. “Wait. Alpha, there’s one more. They got another little boy back there. The hunters call him Wylie.”

Jed blinked. “Like the coyote? That’s real fucked up.”

“Go ahead,” Colton offered to Miller. “Take care of your pups. We’ll get him.”

Miller nodded. “Hustle up,” he said before he took the younger boy’s hand and led the kids away.

Jed didn’t have to be told twice. He didn’t want be stuck inside this hut in the event of an ambush, not to mention they were going to blow this bitch up.

Moving quickly, he and Buzz followed Colton and Parker through a metal door, heading deeper inside.

Bang!

Jed whirled on his feet and crouched down in attack position, ready to fight their hidden enemy.

Buzz, his face red, picked up the metal bar he’d knocked over and set it back against the wall. “Sorry.”

Parker grabbed his chest. “You about gave me a heart attack.”

Resuming their search, they found a metal kennel in the darkened back corner. Big enough to hold a large dog, there was currently a little figure huddled inside.

It was not a dog.

“Oh my god.” Parker covered his mouth with his hands.

The toddler couldn’t have been more than two or three years old.

Jed’s heart leapt into his throat as his stomach threatened to empty. If he harbored any guilt about killing these hunters, it was now out the damned window. “Shit.”

He hurried to the cage and yanked opened the door, but before he could pull the toddler out, the pup darted out of the cage at high speed. He scurried under a nearby desk and snarled when Jed moved closer.

Pushing the sliding chair away from the desk, Jed crouched down and held out his arms. “Come on, little dude.”

Jed reached under the desk to grab Wylie. A sharp bolt of pain shot through his hand, straight up his arm. Caught off guard, the enforcer yanked his hand back with a scream. When he looked down at his throbbing hand, he could see little teeth marks embedded in the already reddening skin. “Motherfuck!” he shouted as he shook his hand.

“Just grab him,” Parker said with an exasperated sigh. “I’m ready to get out of here.”

“No way.” Jed shook his head frantically. “Baby Cujo here almost took my hand off.”

Parker pushed past Jed. “Oh my god. You are such a wimp. He’s just a pup.” He squatted down and held out his hand and spoke as if to a wounded dog. “Hey there, Wylie. No one’s gonna hurt you. We just wanna get you out of here. Take you home.” He scrunched his hands back and forth, and continued to speak in his soothing tone. “Come on. We’re shifters, just like you. No one’s gonna hurt you. I promise.”

After several moments of tense silence, the boy finally moved. He scooted forward inch by inch until Parker could scoop him up. The little boy clung to Parker, his arms around the blond man’s neck, his legs wrapped around his body. Wearing only a pair of dirty tighty-whities, his black hair was a ragged mop of mats. He was filthy, covered in grime.

Parker turned so that he could look at Colton. His eyes filled with tears as he looked at his mate. “How could they?” he mouthed as he ran a hand in slow circles on Wylie’s back. Parker softly hummed a soothing melody as he gently rocked the boy.

Colton moved to get a better look at Wylie. When Colton came into view, Wylie narrowed his blue eyes into slits, bared what teeth he had, and snarled. He squirmed against Parker in an attempt to get away and flee.

Glaring back at the boy, Colton let his eyes go amber as he let out an alpha-sized snarl. Wylie may have been a young untrained pup, but his instincts took over. He instantly dropped his eyes and settled. He clung tighter to Parker and pressed his face into the crook of Parker’s neck.

Parker shot his mate a frown. “Stop scaring him.”

“He needs to learn.” Satisfied with the boy’s reaction, Colton tipped his head toward the front of the hut. “Come on. Let’s go.”

“Wait.” Parker stopped moving. “What’s that?”

Jed turned to where Parker was looking. A laptop computer sat on the desk. The screen was open to some kind of app that looked similar to an email program. The left side had a list of what looked like message headers. The main view showed a map filled with red pushpin icons.

Just as he was about to touch the computer’s trackpad, the screen blanked and was filled with swirling ribbons of color.

“Shit.” Jed tapped the spacebar and the screen went back to the login screen and requested a password. “Uh…”

“What’d you do?” Colton asked, looking over Jed’s shoulder.

“I didn’t do nothin’,” Jed insisted.

“Did you see what was on the screen before it blanked?” Parker asked.

Jed cringed. He hadn’t really paid that close attention. “No. It looked like messages and a map. You know, like a hookup app.”

Buzz let out a grunt, before muttering, “You better not have any of those.”

“Uh…” Jed made a mental note to clean out his phone immediately if not sooner.

Parker rolled his eyes. “Yeah. Something tells me they aren’t bringing sex buddies to this hut.”

“Just grab the damn thing,” Colton ordered. “We’ll give it to Miller. He can get one of his commandos to hack it. And hurry up. I don’t feel like getting blown up today.”

Jed pulled the laptop’s power pack from the wall and scooped it up, along with a flash drive and some kind of hub or hard drive. “Okay. Got it, boss.”

As they reached the hut’s exit, they found Miller, Curtis, Shell and the three kids held at gunpoint by a man dressed in a camouflage jumpsuit. Tall and well-built, his grimy face was marred by a black eye and scabbed-over split lip.

The pups hid behind Miller, clinging to his pant legs. All three trembled uncontrollably, and the littlest one was crying.

“Shit.” Jed passed the laptop off to Buzz, then moved so he stood in front of both Parker and Buzz, near the kids. Muscles tensed, he was ready to pounce, to defend his alpha’s mate as well as his own.

“You think you won here?” The hunter sneered. “Your kind is like cockroaches, and we’re gonna exterminate every single one of ya’s.”

Shell tried to get around Curtis. “Lemme at him.” She shook her fist at the hunter. “I’m gonna give you another one. A matching set, bitch!”

When the hunter aimed his pistol in their direction, Curtis swept her behind him with his arm. He let out a snarl. “Try it.”

The hunter snorted. “Ha. I’ll fill you with bullets before you can make the change, dog.”

Miller let out an over-dramatic sigh. “I really don’t have time for this bullshit.”

Moving faster than the human could react, Miller freed the handgun from the back of his pants, and shot the man directly in the middle of the forehead.

Blood oozed from the hole and dripped down the man’s face, which was frozen in a wide-eyed stare. The man slumped to the ground in a dead heap.

A series of gasps sounded from behind Jed. It sounded like Parker and Shell. The two youngest kids cried harder.

Stunned silent, Jed just gaped at the alpha. The ruthless lycan had moved fast, aiming and firing his weapon, killing that human without so much as a blink of the eye. This man was a trained killer.

Miller tucked the gun into the back of his pants.

Shell’s shout interrupted the silence. “Ow!” She clutched at her belly and grabbed Curtis’s shirt. “If I have this baby in this hut, I swear to all that is holy, I will rip off each and every one of your faces!”