Page 19 of Alpha Wolf (Return To Fate Mountain #6)
Chapter
Eighteen
Dom checked his sidearm and radio before opening the cabin door. The morning air was crisp, and the scent of pine filled his nose. His enhanced senses immediately began cataloging the forest baseline. The bird calls, wind patterns, and the rustle of small animals in the underbrush.
Everything seemed normal.
Valeria stepped outside and breathed deeply, her shoulders dropping as tension flowed out of her. “God, that’s better. I was starting to feel like the walls were closing in.”
Dom positioned himself between her and the tree line. The forest stretched in all directions, thick with evergreens that could hide a dozen shooters. But Valeria needed this, and he could give her ten minutes of fresh air.
Dom kept pace with Valeria as they followed the deer trail behind the cabin. She stepped over roots and ducked under low branches without breaking stride. A jay scolded them from a pine branch, and she laughed.
“This is nice,” she said, pausing beside a large pine tree.
Dom nodded, though his attention remained split between her wellbeing and security. The morning sun filtered through the canopy, painting everything in gold and green. Under other circumstances, it would have been perfect.
That’s when he noticed the change in the atmosphere.
The bird calls stopped. There was no rustling of small animals. Even the wind seemed muted, as if the forest itself was holding its breath. Dom’s wolf went rigid with recognition. There were apex predators in the area. His hand moved automatically toward his weapon.
“We need to go back inside,” he said quietly, not wanting to alarm her but needing her ready to move.
“Why? What’s wrong?” Valeria’s cop instincts kicked in immediately, her posture shifting from relaxed to alert.
Dom’s enhanced hearing picked up the faint scrape of someone adjusting a rifle position. His blood turned to ice as the picture became clear.
“Get down!” Dom roared, launching himself toward Valeria just as the first shot cracked through the morning air.
The high-powered rifle round splintered bark from the tree where she’d been standing a heartbeat before. Dom slammed into her, driving them both behind the thick trunk as more shots erupted from the tree line.
“Stay down!” Dom commanded. Valeria pressed herself against the rough bark, eyes wide with shock but following orders. Good. He needed her compliance while he dealt with the threats.
Muzzle flashes from three different positions.
High-powered rifles with professional marksmen behind them.
Dom’s wolf surged toward the surface, enhancing his already considerable speed and strength without triggering a full shift.
He moved through the forest like a predator, using terrain and vegetation as cover.
The first assassin never saw him coming. Dom struck from behind the cover. His special forces hand-to-hand training combined with shifter strength ended the threat in seconds. The rifle fell silent.
“Viper down!” came a shout from the second position.
Dom used the rocky outcrop to approach the second shooter from an unexpected angle. The man was repositioning when Dom’s enhanced hearing located him. Another quick, efficient kill.
The third shooter had better positioning, an elevation advantage, and clear sight lines to both Dom’s location and where Valeria remained pressed against the tree. Dom’s tactical assessment was immediate and cold.
He used the forest itself as a weapon. A thrown rock drew the shooter’s attention left while Dom approached from the right. The threat was neutralized before the man could adjust his aim.
Dom remained motionless for thirty seconds, listening for additional contacts. His enhanced senses detected no other heartbeats, no breathing patterns, no electronic signals from communication equipment. Three shooters, all down.
Valeria was exactly where he’d left her, pressed against the pine tree. When she saw him, relief flooded her features. Dom scanned the forest one more time before moving toward her. “We need to leave now. They might have backup coming.”
The walk back to his SUV felt like crossing a minefield. Dom checked for tampering, booby traps, and additional surveillance. The vehicle appeared clean, but his wolf remained on high alert as they climbed inside.
The engine roared to life, and Dom pulled away from the compromised safe house. The mountain roads twisted through dense forest. In his rearview mirror, headlights appeared.
“They found us,” Dom said, taking a sharp curve.
“How is that possible?” Valeria gripped the door handle as Dom’s evasive driving threw her against the seat.
“That’s the question.” Dom’s mind raced through possibilities while his hands worked the steering wheel. “The safe house location was need-to-know. Either they have surveillance technology we didn’t detect, or there’s an intelligence breach somewhere.”
The pursuit vehicles fell behind as Dom’s superior driving gave them the advantage they needed. But he remained unsettled, processing the implications.
Dom’s encrypted radio crackled to life. “Alpha, what’s your status?”
“Under fire, relocating,” Dom replied tersely. “Three KIA, unknown pursuit elements. Safe house compromised.”
“Copy. Designated fallback is secure.
Dom ended the transmission and focused on the road ahead. His pack would have answers, resources, and a new operational plan. But the questions multiplying in his mind suggested they were facing something far more dangerous than they’d anticipated.