Page 1 of Corbin (Wild Wolf Pack from the world of Gallize Shifters #2)

Fifty-nine minutes left.

The damn time kept disintegrating faster than his patience.

If Corbin and his pack mates were late to the rescue ... they might find only a few body pieces.

Sweat streaked down his face and pooled around his neck despite cool air in the sixties.

He lowered himself, carefully feeding out the nylon rope a few inches at a time.

Decent summer temperature for rappelling down a difficult face in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia .

.. if he did this sort of thing for fun.

Not in this lifetime.

He’d been an idiot to say he’d done a little mountain climbing in the past. Being a wolf shifter made it damn near impossible to lie to other shifters, but saying he’d done it before had been true.

Although he’d failed to admit he’d been forced to climb and rappel in the past with zero professional instruction.

The climbing rope slipped in his hand, yanking him back to his priority of staying alive.

His heart tried to blast out of his chest. Was he doing this correctly?

He gripped both ropes like he’d been shown, took a breath, and kept easing his way down, or he’d never get to the base of this almost vertical drop.

Agreeing to join Adrian and Ladrón on this mission had sounded like a good way to secure his place in a pack where he could hide from worse dangers than falling off a mountain.

Mated to their female pack alpha, Adrian had asked for volunteers for this operation.

Offering to go didn’t make Corbin special, just stupid.

He flicked a quick look left, but he could not see Ladrón, aka Ghost, who rappelled thirty yards away out of view due to a bulge of mountain between them. Being a better-trained person at this, Ladrón had to be lower down the face than Corbin by now.

Get going. If you fall, I’ll heal the body , Ares bragged telepathically.

Yeah, I bet you will , Corbin muttered back at his arrogant wolf.

Ares snorted.

That offer might sound reassuring and supportive, but his beast would bust free and go homicidal if Corbin ever ended up unconscious.

He spent most of his waking and half-asleep hours keeping Ares locked inside.

As insurance, he wore a braided metal collar when he needed to sleep hard.

If he allowed the wolf to go on a rampage, Corbin would lose his sanctuary and very likely his life.

You too slow. Get off this mountain , Ares demanded, as if he expected Corbin to jump when he shouted in his head.

Still feeding out the rope to keep moving, Corbin sent back a reply lacking any patience . You want me to shift and let you figure out this rappelling bit or have you learned how to fly?

Silence followed for a moment, then his wolf muttered, Shut up and get us down .

Another day in paradise with a combative wolf.

“ Ladrón, check in. ” Adrian’s tense whisper came through Corbin’s tiny earbud with minimum distortion. The device had been specially crafted for their sensitive hearing. They were all three on the same channel.

Mild cursing came back first, then Ladrón said, “ This mountain sucks. ”

Corbin perked up. Could the pro climber be having difficulty? Petty of him to feel a little smug, but with his background, he rarely got that opportunity.

Adrian snapped, “ What’s wrong? ”

“ The trailing rope is bound. Caught in a crack. ”

“ Shit fire! ” Adrian roared softly. “ How’d that happen? ”

“ I slowed to move around an outcropping . Could not see the wide fissure in so little light .”

That’s all Corbin had to hear to convince him not to slow down.

Adrian had skills based on what Corbin had seen on their way climbing up the backside of this mountain.

He sure moved like an expert. Corbin had gained minimal climbing experience while trying to stay alive under the thumb of his Romanian mafia captors.

He knew enough to comprehend Adrian and Ladrón’s instructions but wouldn’t pass a test on terminology.

The main problem was that none of them had prior experience with this mountain range.

Attempting this during daylight when they began the ascent on the opposite side of the peak had been fine. That all changed once twilight had settled in at the top of the mountain and cast a dingy glow over everything. This sucked.

“ What about you, Corbin? ” Adrian asked next.

Breathing hard more from stress than physical strain, Corbin admitted, “I’m still descending, but I’m not the fastest at this.” He felt the need to point out, “We’re running a little behind on time.”

Fifty-two minutes to go, to be exact.

Adrian had quieted. Clicks and thumps sounded as if he were rigging up to descend.

Glancing over his shoulder, Corbin considered the tall evergreens soaked in dark shadows far below and sighed. He’d only volunteered for this crazy stunt to build goodwill with Adrian in case Ares did something stupid.

None of that mattered now. Corbin had to admit the obvious. “Since I’ll land before you two, I’ll take off to locate the kidnapper’s shack.”

Cursing burst in his ear from Adrian and Ladrón arguing about his point.

He whisper-shouted, “Too loud. Cut it out.”

Both quieted.

Adrian grunted something, then came back to say, “ I’m on my way down to free Ladrón. We don’t know what we’re going up against with this bear shifter, Corbin. He could be a behemoth grizzly .”

Corbin’s nylon rope made a soft whirring noise as he kept dropping at what felt like a fast pace, but in truth was more steady than quick. “I’m going to get as close as I can and then wait near whatever structure he’s using to hold the woman captive.”

Damn bear shifter had a human female he’d threatened to kill and eat if her family did not pay the ransom of a million dollars. A private security firm had advised her father to contact Adrian’s boss, the Guardian, for help because he couldn’t get his hands on even half that much cash.

Ladrón spoke up. “ Is good idea, Adrian. You and I would do the same if we landed first .”

Coming from a military background where Adrian had probably led his men into battle, he’d stayed back at the peak to make sure Corbin and Ladrón descended safely first in case someone ran into a problem.

Like the one right now.

A frustrated Adrian agreed. “ Okay, but don’t engage. I didn’t bring you here to be a sacrifice .”

No, that had not been the plan, but they’d had little time to plan at all for more than one option. The bear shifter had holed up in an old shack in the valley below and would likely expect a threat to come from the lowlands spreading outward from his position.

Not the mountain Corbin had just descended.

“I know you didn’t, Adrian.” Corbin chugged deep breaths and kept his boots moving against the mountain with every foot of rope he fed out.

“We volunteered knowing we were going up against a bear.” Corbin would not regret his intention of paying it forward because of the support he might need later.

He still had a deadly group of Romanians hunting him.

If they ever found him after this, Adrian and Ladrón might fight to help him survive.

That was more than he’d expected the day he crawled into the compound.

On the other hand, Adrian’s mate, Jaz, might kill him herself if he brought a deadly threat to the pack.

“ Be careful and watch out for booby traps ,” Adrian sent back between harsh exhales. He had to be dropping at a fast rate.

“Roger that.” Corbin sharpened his focus on making it off this mountain without breaking bones.

Ladrón added, “ Cuídate, amigo .” Take care, friend .

“Thanks.” Corbin smiled to himself. His Spaniard pack mate had barely spoken to him when they’d been paired up to train in mock battles. Adrian worked daily to teach the pack how to win a fight without shifting from human form to wolf.

Corbin won the last match-up with Ladrón, leaving the bruiser puzzled.

Keeping both hands busy, Corbin began considering places he might encounter traps. If the kidnapper anticipated an attack from between the cabin and the mountain, anything was possible.

His feet slid too quickly over a smooth section.

He scrambled to prevent losing his footing where he might land in a worse situation than Ladrón.

Stupid mountain. Drawing in a deep breath to calm his nerves, he tossed another quick look over his shoulder.

Damn, he hadn’t thought the trees would grow so close to the base of the mountain.

Two directly beneath him were forty feet or more tall with an umbrella of leaves preventing him from seeing any opening to the ground.

How was he supposed to get down through that?

“ One more thing, Corbin ,” Adrian said in a tight voice. “ If Ladrón and I don’t make it in time before the bear calls her father ... try to draw him away from the structure if you can but stay ahead of the bastard .”

“Roger that,” Corbin muttered, fingers and arm muscles burning from gripping the rope for so long. He slowed his erratic pace and began a more controlled descent to avoid getting tangled up in tree branches with a backpack adding to the size of his upper body.

Stupid idea to climb mountains , Ares pointed out, since his wolf had nothing better to do than provide commentary.

I’m not getting into this argument again , Corbin sent back. Trying to calm his chaotic pulse, he pulled in deep breaths of crisp air filled with the fresh scent of pines.

Undeterred, his wolf argued, I can sneak up on any bear. Not very smart shifter. Easy to kill .

What an asshole. Corbin wished counting to ten, or even a hundred, would help. You think everything is easy to kill. I’m sick of killing unless we’re trying to survive.

Must kill to survive. Ares lived to get the last word.

Corbin’s back ran up against a bushy branch. He stopped and felt behind him with his boots for a branch that would hold his weight. Nope. No way past these trees unless he could fly twenty feet to either side.