Page 11

Mateo

Mateo sat pouring over the papers they’d found at Valentine’s mansion, trying to find more information on a lycan hideout.

They’d seen it scribbled in the margins of a diary entry.

Lycans were basically extinct. At least, that’s what they’d been led to believe.

They were a valuable asset. Their blood could mask a hunter’s scent, and witches would go feral for anything from a lycan’s body.

The door crashing open made Mateo flinch. Vince rushed over, holding his phone out. Through the bond, he could feel him call for Ezra who immediately sprinted down the stairs. Staring down at the screen, Mateo’s heart cracked in half.

Scarlett laid in the trunk of a car, her head bleeding and an IV in her arm that seemed to be keeping her sedated.

“George and two of his friends managed to get to her.”

The three of them were out the door before that bastard’s name left Vince’s mouth. They strapped on their weapons and filled up on ammunition as Vince continued to explain.

“They ambushed her on the way home from the Wolfmoon ceremony. I think he might be taking her to Glent to his slaughterhouse.”

“Fuck!” Mateo spat, hastening to the truck. They sped off, not caring that they didn’t have time to conceal their plates. Their mate was hurting, and she needed them.

Ezra’s mind raced as Vince merged onto the highway.

Mateo tried to stay focused, but he couldn’t stop thinking of the horrible things George could do to her.

They weren’t close but from what Mateo had heard, George was one of those hunters who enjoyed the thrill of the chase without much care about the rules.

By hunter law, wolves could only be hunted if they became a threat to the human population.

How was taking Scarlett in line with that?

“We should’ve stayed with her,” Ezra growled. Though Mateo wanted to argue against it he knew his friend was right.

Ezra had hated the idea of not following her, but he and Vince had argued to give her space and not to crowd her. They’d expected her pack’s warriors would protect her. After all, she had been on pack land.

Ezra’s blade sliced into his thigh, bringing physical pain to match with their shared mental turmoil. The drive was torture, and by the time they approached the building that they knew George used as his slaughterhouse, Mateo’s muscles ached from being clenched so tightly.

The warehouse was in the middle of nowhere and with the tarnished walls and roof that threatened to crumble at any given moment, most assumed it to be abandoned.

As they rounded the bend, they saw the idiot’s car parked by a slowly opening garage door.

Vince revved the engine and rolled to a stop behind them.

Ezra’s door was open and he was out of the car before it was put into park.

Mateo approached the car on Ezra’s heels.

“Oh, gorgeous George,” Ezra sang in that devilish tone, swinging his silver baseball bat. “I believe you have something that is ours.”

George jumped out of the passenger seat; gun drawn as the car drove into the large hall behind them. “What the fuck do you want?”

“The man of the hour,” Ezra snarled. “C’mon, I wanna see our little princess.”

“She’s ours .”

Ezra gave him the sweetest of smiles, while his eyes were fixed on the object of his rage. “Of course she is.”

The gate was nearly shut, but Vince was already inside.

“You’re fucking crazy.”

“What a sweet compliment,” Ezra purred, the tone in his voice turning dangerous.

“Are they onto you?” Mateo asked, playing into George’s massive ego.

“Fucking idiots have no clue,” he said lowering his gun.

“How did you know it was her?” Mateo asked, stepping under the closing gate beside George. He tried to be as leisurely and calm as he could, but his heart was racing. “I thought no one knew what she looked like.”

George scoffed. “One girl and three warriors? Dead giveaway.”

Still twirling his baseball bat, Ezra stepped up to the open trunk, his features hardening as he admired their unconscious mate. “So precious,” he hummed, though only Mateo and Vince knew his true meaning.

George rolled his eyes. “You’re such a fucking freak.”

A sickening crunch echoed through the garage as Ezra brought his bat down on George’s knee. Vince and Mateo felt the rage before it exploded, and were already firing rounds into George’s lackeys.

Their three opponents fell to the floor.

Vince’s target died instantly, if his brains scattered across the floor were any indication.

Mateo only shattered his target’s kneecap.

The man reached for his own gun, but he was too slow.

Mateo kicked it out of reach, planting that foot on the vermin’s chest. His screams echoed through the hall as he writhed beneath Mateo’s weight.

Ezra unleashed his rage on George, crushing his hand with the heel of his boot. “And you’re so fucking dead for touching what belongs to us .”

“You don’t even hunt wolves,” George whined, his face contorted in pain.

“No, sweet George, we don’t,” Ezra chuckled, latching onto a fistful of George’s hair and jerking his head up. He leaned down with a demonic grin and traced the point of his bat along George’s jaw. “But we don’t like it when someone touches our things.”

Then Ezra smashed the hunter’s skull. Blood sprayed everywhere as he fell dead to the ground. Vince reached into the trunk to free Scarlett from the cannula, but Mateo shot out a hand to stop him.

“Don’t!”

Vince crooked his brow at him, and Mateo didn’t need words to know that look. “ Have you lost your mind ?”

“We can’t wake her up.”

“Why not?”

Mateo sighed and softened his features. He slowly approached them, knowing his words would upset both of them. “If we wake her, she’ll know we came for her. When her pack finds her, her father will know about us.”

“We’re taking her home,” Ezra barked, reaching for her IV, but Mateo had his gun pointed at his temple before he could take another step.

“She has not made that decision. She will stay with her pack until she decides to leave them.”

Vince was the first one to relent and step back, knowing that Mateo was right. Ezra, on the other hand, was fuming.

“Ezra, you heard her: she doesn’t want to lose them. She’ll only resent us for breaking our promise and taking her from them. She has to make that decision.”

Ezra’s body vibrated as he tried to contain his anger, then he exploded a second time. With nothing else to expend his energy on, he began pummelling George’s body, the bones splintering further and breaking through the skin.

The man that Mateo had left alive started to scream in panic and tried to bolt, dragging his injured leg behind him. Ezra went after him too, slowly tracking his prey with his pitch-black eyes. That man was severely beaten as well, only he survived long enough to feel the pain.

Mateo turned to Scarlett, running his fingers over her cheek. “We can slow down the drip, but she can’t see us.”

Vince nodded and went over to the man he’d killed, looking through his pockets and pulling his phone out.

Mateo couldn’t help but hold Scarlett’s hand.

She was probably burning from the inside out, the IV most likely containing enough silver dust to weaken her, but keep her alive.

He hated this, but it was the right decision to make.

Ezra stepped up next to him and ran his fingers through her hair.

He was still upset, but not with her. It was hard to decipher his emotions—it had always been a challenge to understand Ezra—but he cared for Scarlett in a depth that even Ezra himself couldn’t understand or cope with.

“Let your alpha know that his daughter is in an abandoned warehouse south of Glent.” They both turned their heads to see Vince dropping the phone. “Get that IV out of her and let’s go.”

While they waited for her rescue to arrive, they gained access to George’s security system using his phone.

They watched as she woke up first drowsy, then panicked as the recent events settled over her.

Maybe they should’ve gotten rid of the bodies, but it was too late now.

She took a few moments to grasp her situation, and her gaze fell on the discarded phone.

As she dialled, she stepped away from the car, her eyes glued to what was left of the bodies. She was talking to her father, who kept her calm and stayed on the phone until her pack arrived.

While Mateo and Vince relaxed once she was in her brother’s arms, Ezra tensed. They were taking her away from him. In her eyes, they were the ones to save her, and Ezra hated the fact that she’d never know it was her mates who rescued her.

“We’ll tell her soon,” Mateo tried to soothe Ezra.

“She might already know,” Vince added. “Deep down she will have a hunch, she just can’t let herself think of it.”

Ezra ground his teeth, sinking his blade into an old cut on his forearm and reopening the wound.

With their mate safe, they deleted the footage, destroyed George’s phone, and drove home, all three of them ignoring the gut-wrenching sense of defeat.