Enemy Mine

Chapter Fourteen

“I’ll take the back while you watch the front. If anyone exits the building, take them out,” Diskant said to Kinsley and motioned at the pack members venturing inside with him. He stared at the aging apartment complex, knowing his mate was inside.

“You got it,” Kinsley responded, moving back. “You heard him. Follow me.”

The remainder of the pack followed the feline Alpha, stepping behind him.

The back of Diskant’s neck prickled. His senses were on hyperalert. There was no sign of Trey—not even a hint of his scent—and Ava was too close to home, in a location that wasn’t difficult to find. In fact, had he ventured to the spot she was taken, he probably could have tracked her here. He cursed himself for not doing so, for sending someone else and leaving her alone and afraid in the process. The most powerful animals inside him raged—the wolf growling for vengeance, the grizzly lashing out with its claws, the panther baring its teeth.

No longer.

He scented the air as he prowled toward the building, gazing from side to side, and picked up the unique smells of three males. They had been in the vicinity recently, but since the scents were fading he was certain they’d moved on. Nothing made sense. Why bring Ava here only to abandon her? Why not bring Trey? If Shepherds had made the effort to take the two, what possible purpose could they serve in this capacity?

Memories of the past assailed him—of the bodies of his pack mates who had died months before, some of them literally blown to pieces—and he cleared his nose to take another, longer breath. He couldn’t necessarily smell the components of a bomb but the least he could do was try. The only thing that greeted him was New York air, the scent of a nearby dumpster and the rotten stench of decay from an animal that had died within the last few days.

Something was definitely wrong.

He stopped the men with him, lifting his hand as he reached for the handle on the door. “Stay here. Keep an eye out.”

Several of the shifters growled their discontent, wanting to follow him, but they obeyed the command. If there was danger inside—or worse, a device that could blow them all to kingdom come—he wanted to make sure that the pack survived. Another loss like the one before would not only weaken the pack, it might possibly force them to branch out and seek other Alphas for protection. Not to mention they’d have to find a new Omega to keep things running smoothly in the city.

Shit.

There wasn’t even a squatter inside, the building nothing more than walls with flaking paint, dust that littered the stairs and garbage from people who had used the spot for refuge in the past. He thanked his shifter genes as he climbed the stairs, his footsteps blessedly quiet, allowing him to move without detection. Uneasiness continued to ride him, a nagging voice inside his head warning him all was not as it seemed.

Ava’s scent grew stronger as he continued up, making his heart accelerate. His female was in danger and now she was within his reach. Possessive and protective instincts consumed him, making his fingers tingle as his nails became claws.

Anyone near his mate was as good as dead.

He knew he’d made it to his destination thanks to his nose. Drawing a large breath, he scented Ava, hoping to determine if she was injured. If she had been wounded, the damage was minimal. He couldn’t detect the rusty aroma of blood. Of the smells he’d identified earlier—of the men who’d recently been inside the room—only one lingered. However, the scent was fading, telling him the people responsible for his mate’s attack were gone.

Cracking the door open with his boot, he peered inside, making out the edge of a bed. He allowed the wolf to rise, feeling fur brush the inside of his skin. His teeth sharpened, becoming long and deadly.

With a swift kick, he knocked the door inward.

The air shifted, the motion of the door sending a layer of dust spilling through the air but little else. His gaze flew to Ava, her small form resting on the stained mattress atop the cheap metal frame of the bed. Judging by the rust along the head and footboards, the bed had probably been abandoned around the same time the building was.

“Ava?” he whispered and rushed to her.

He growled when he kneeled, finally smelling a hint of her blood, seeing the circular rips in her sweater. Although he wasn’t certain, he had a pretty damn good feeling she’d been shot with darts of some kind. There was also a small circular bruise on her neck, the skin healed over and on the mend. She didn’t stir when he stroked the spot. Thankfully her chest rose and fell, the motions steady and smooth. Apparently the sedative was still working on her system, meaning the Shepherds had given her something strong enough to last.

The heavy weight on his shoulders disappeared. Ava was here, and she was safe.

Thank fucking Christ.

He forced his claws to retreat as he turned her to her stomach and untied the ropes holding her hands at her back. Then he lifted her and brought her tiny body to his chest. “Let’s get out of here, Pinkie.”

This time he didn’t hesitate or proceed with caution. He ran to the stairs and headed down. By now his inner alarm was practically shrilling. Something wasn’t wrong, it was totally fucked-up. Whatever the Shepherds had planned wasn’t good. The sooner he returned to the pack, the sooner he could figure out what was going on. The threat wasn’t visible but he could feel its presence. There was a heightened sense of awareness. The strange turn of events had been organized, a careful plan taking place right in front of him.

And somehow—for some reason he wasn’t yet aware of—he, Ava and Trey were part of it.

Nathan clicked off his cell phone and tossed it on Diskant’s desk. All the calls were made, the Alphas in the areas closest to Shepherd compounds informed of their locations. If the packs were going to move against their enemies, they now had the information to do so. Until Diskant got back, he’d done all he could as the Beta of the pack.

Feminine laughter drifted to the office from a bedroom upstairs, reminding Nathan he wasn’t alone. Although he was accustomed to Diskant and Ava’s mating, Emory and Mary’s pairing was brand new—meaning he couldn’t help but envy the man who’d found his destined female. At one hundred and thirty, he wasn’t as old as Diskant or Emory, but he experienced the need for his mate, the desire to find the one and only person who would complete him.

How long would he wait? A decade? A century?

His lifetime?

He dry washed his face with his hand. Thinking about what he didn’t have would only make him an ass to everyone around him. The pack didn’t need that shit right now. Maybe it was time to take one of the shifter females up on their offer of a night of no-strings sex—sex that would quench his bestial hungers and give him a few months of peace. Lowering his hand, he grinned. Andrea had been pissed as hell when Caden had told her no. She’d probably love the chance to show the human what he was missing. What better way to establish her sexual prowess than a night in the Beta’s bed?

A fracturing noise indicated the door leading to the garage opened. He cracked his neck, hoping for good news, and his sense of smell kicked in. Slowly he rose, forcing the wolf to remain silent instead of exhibiting a low, rumbly growl of warning. The scent was unfamiliar but he knew the intruder—no, he corrected himself as he picked up two other smells—intruders were human.

With a quiet motion, he opened the desk drawer containing a gun. He unlatched the safety and stepped around the desk, walking toward the door. Whispered voices became louder and he heard footsteps approaching.

“I’m going upstairs. Stay here,” a deep male voice instructed.

Nathan almost growled again. Mary and Emory didn’t know they had company.

Shit.

The creak of the stairs as someone climbed put Nathan in motion. Emory needed to be warned there was a threat to his mate. Remaining silent until a window to protect the home arose wasn’t going to happen.

“Yoohoo,” he said softly, getting the attention of two men at the foot of the stairs.

They turned, giving him plenty of access to their bodies. Two shots hit them dead center, bullets piercing their upper torsos. Although the gun had a silencer, the sound of their bodies dropping echoed in the quiet house. Nathan rushed for the stairs, screaming as he went, hoping he was in time.

“Emory! You’ve got company! Get your ass in gear!”

He felt a pinch in his shoulder, knocking him off course, before he heard the poof of the gun obviously equipped with a silencer. He stumbled when the bullet passed through him and embedded in the stairs, cracking and splintering wood. Blood gushed from the wound and didn’t stop, pouring over his shirt. He gazed down at the damage, noting the pain radiating through his torso, the burn spreading through his muscles.

Silver. Fuck.

Just as he spun his head around to look at the Shepherds at his feet, he saw the gun pointed at him. The man Nathan had shot in the chest was almost done for, but not quite. He winced as he pulled the trigger, getting off one final shot.

Lights exploded behind Nathan’s eyes, blinding him as a sharp pain nailed him in the temple. He bowed over with the pain, trying to stay focused. The world rotated, the room spinning beneath him. Warm wetness dripped down the side of his face, the blood hot and pulsing from the wound. He lifted his hand to assess the damage, angry when his arm wouldn’t cooperate. The lights started to dim as darkness took over.

Nathan would have laughed if the situation wasn’t so fucked up. He’d been shot several times in the last few months—each time by Shepherds—while defending females who belonged to other men. As he crumbled to the hard stairs beneath him, he found it ironic that he would think of a mate of his own minutes before he died protecting someone else’s.

Life’s a bitch and then you die.

He groaned, fighting a battle he couldn’t win. As he dove headfirst into the blackness, he hoped Emory had gotten ample warning and was able to protect Mary. At the very least, if this was the end of the line, Nathan wanted the satisfaction of knowing his sacrifice wasn’t in vain.