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There’s the click of a round chambering in a gun. The soft click seems to echo through the hall.

“Fine, fine, I’m gone. This shit isn’t worth dying over.” A second later, a scrawny beta man starts to pass the dark hallway we’re hiding in and his step falters, his eyes coming to dart towards us. His eyes widen in surprise.

Archer waves at him with his gun, telling him to move along and he gives a jerk of his head in understanding.

Archer peeks down the hall and flashes two fingersat us. Two guards then.

“How long do you think the boss is going to take?” One of the guards says.

“Probably a long ass time,” The second one grunts.

I make my way past Archer, peeking past the corner myself, and see two guys in business suits. Far too fancy for a place like this.

Considering the way that those two dudes are the only guards in this entire maze of a basement, I’m assuming they’re guarding something important.

Something like a kidnapped omega.

There’s the sound of a scream. It’s faint like it’s behind a thick steel door, but it’s very obviously a scream of anguish.

Luna. It’s Luna’s scream.

Her poor voice sounds so raw, like she’s been screaming for a while.

“Was that a scream I just heard through the radio?” Madden growls.

Something about that noise makes all of us go ballistic. We throw all our training out the window and instantly rush down the hall, our guns drawn.

“What the fuck!” One of the guards yells before I shoot him in the kneecap.

The other one gets a bit more of a warning from our attack and he starts shooting at us.

“Shots fired,” I grunt into the radio. Kane and Archer move forward to incapacitate the other guard. “Call the police, these guys are very obviously paid Northside goons based on the way they’re dressed. Tell them to come in quietly, though. Not guns blazing, we’ve got the situation under control.”

I slam the butt of my pistol into the head of the first guard, knocking him out. I don’t even turn to Kane and Archer, who are standing above the unconscious body of the second guard, before wrenching open the thick metal door they were guarding.

“Not a single step forward, Ward Pack,” A voice sneers, making the three of us stop in our tracks in the doorway.

Nikolai Leclair, one of Riverwell’s Councilman stands in the corner of the room, holding Luna in a headlock. He has a gun to her head.

The moment I step foot into the room, Luna’s peppermint perfume hits me like a truck. The twisted, sour notes of her fear makes my blood roar in my veins. Her perfume is also ridiculously sweet. Artificially sweet. There’s a pale sheen of sweat covering her face and body, too.

“Is she in heat?” I gasp.

“Shut up!” Nikolai growls, taking a step backward with Luna. He drags her so her toes are barely reaching the floor beneath her.

“Drop her, Nikolai,” Archer growls back. “There’s nowhere to run.”

“Your name is Nikolai?” Luna squeaks, her face twisted in pain.

“You think I’d give you my real name, you stupid whore?” His laughter is a crazed sound. The man has lost his mind if he still thinks he can get away with something like this.

The hair on the back of my neck stands up as a wave of deep dark chocolate scent washes over me.

“Drop her, you fucking bastard,” Madden barks. His dominance is so cloyingly thick it almost has me dropping to my knees.

Alpha barks don’t normally work on other alphas, but remember we were talking about how Madden is kind of inhuman? Well, I guess that applies to his dominance if he really turns it up.

Councilman Leclair moves as if his muscles are mechanical. He must be fighting this shit pretty damn hard, but he drops Luna, who falls to her knees.