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Chapter two

Dirus Morales

“Boss, there is a convoy on the ground.” The words from my second in command came through my headset. Sure enough, as I powered down the engines, a black car pulled in behind a line of men practicing their right to bear arms.

One scan of their forces showed me how undisciplined they were. “They sure look fancy in their perfect uniforms. Make sure to play nice with the little kids, pups.”

My guys chuckled as everyone prepared for the doors to open. I took the headset off and walked the short distance to the back.

“Move at your leisure. We don’t know who these people are or what their game is. They can sweat for a second. Trust no one. Say nothing. Keep your eyes open and alert.”

“Sir, yes, sir,” my team answered.

“What’s our mission?” I pointed to the new pup of the group, Lucero Rios.

Protect my team. Lead them through whatever fuckery we walked into. And make sure they always had someone stronger to lean into when shit got too deep.

At least that was my mission as the highest alpha here.

The pup didn’t expect me to call him out like that, but he managed to get himself together in a split second. “To find the source of magic broadcasting to the Grandpack, sir.”

I nodded my approval. “Let’s get this shit done so we can go home. I’m going to be pissed off if I have to do more paperwork, because one of you stupid fuckers died.”

My betas and lower alphas lined up single file. My second in command, Kadeem Wallace, smiled as he ran his check on the pups. “It’s time to come up with a new pep talk, Morales.”

“You know the drill once we open that door. Keep it to the business. Put your morals, your ethics, and who you are in the vault. After we leave, we’ll drink, moan, and groan.” I said mostly for the pup’s benefit, since it was his first real mission. “I’ll buy the booze.”

My team whooped in agreement, but as soon as Wallace hit the button to open the door, they snapped into the facade of what we were trained to be. It was a state of mind that could take decades to perfect, and I was one of the best.

These people eyed my men with a healthy mixture of fear and hostility. More than one finger was itching toward their triggers. A deadly combination. A bunch of rabbits with guns.

Most of them were greener than my new pup. Only a handful of their men were fully trained and had experience. These people weren’t like my wolves, who were born and raised to be soldiers.

Some prick got out of the back seat of the old car, donning a pristine white suit that didn’t match the thick green forest behind him. When we circled above, the trees were pretty much all we could see.

This place wasn’t developed enough for me to think this man was anyone other than their leader.

He gave a wide smile that was faker than the show of power he was putting on.

“Welcome. We are excited to have you on our island.”

“Then why are so many guns pointed at us?” A warning growl rumbled in my chest. I didn’t take well to people threatening my pups.

He waved his hands, and I watched the delayed reactions of the men putting their guns down, fumbling as they put them into the holsters. The general lost expressions in their eyes.

Were these men even soldiers? Or did they pull every blacksmith, farmer, and tanner here for the body count?

“Sorry, we don’t get new arrivals often.” It wasn’t everyday I wanted to smack that smile off a grown man’s face. He really was special.

“I imagine not.” A pocket society holed away in a dimension of magic, invisible to the blind eye, in the middle of the Pacific ocean. They didn’t want anyone sticking their nose into their perfect bubble around this lush island someone constructed.

Places like this existed because someone decided they didn’t want to live by the rules society created. While I could appreciate that, in my experience, societies that went that far out of their way were hiding something gnarly.

Which skeleton was in their closet?

As if he heard my thoughts, Wallace whispered. “A hundred bucks says slavery.”

“I’ll take that bet.” My third, Jonathan Nowak, smirked. “You’ve got at least four or five generations out of society. Their guns are from the eighteen hundreds. Slavery was acceptable in many places back then. Witchcraft.”

Nowak pointed to where some kind of reader was spiking on the new pup’s arm. My guess was there was a lot of magic here.

“Na?ve.” Lots of witches fled the hunts, but most of them blended well enough to hide. These guys didn’t.

“I’m not done.” Nowak put his finger up. “Blood or death magic.”

Even among witches, that wasn’t exactly smiled upon.

“Can you tell us what flavor of witches we’re dealing with, pup?”

“I’m getting readings all over the spectrum,” the pup whispered. “I assume a little of everything. I’ve got three hundred readings.”

“Distance on the thing?” I asked.

“Should cover the whole pocket.”

“So it’s probably a decent population count.” I lied and waited for his response. He had the makings of a team alpha. It was my job to teach him how to become that.

“That’s assuming everyone is a witch,” the pup disagreed with a frown. “Don’t want to build on faulty assumptions.”

Nowak chuckled and grabbed the pup by the cheek, like a proud great aunt. “Our pup is already getting so big. Don’t let Morales trick you into making a mistake.”

The pup yanked away, annoyed with Nowak’s antics.

We watched the men sloppily part for their leader to wade through. When the man was finally in front of me, he held his hand out.

“Governor Quinn Gadson.”

“Morales.” I left it at that. With places like this, it was best to treat it like a one-night stand. Come with protection and no second names, so they can’t stalk you later.

I already saw Nowak typing the name into his phone, ready to do just that, once we set up a way to connect to the internet.

Gadson noticed too. “Sorry, phones don’t work here.”

“Yeah, my girl’s gonna have my ass,” Nowak lied, locking the phone to hide what he was doing.

My men chuckled, knowing Nowak couldn’t keep a woman to save his life. None of us could. There was only one woman we could commit to, and most of us hated her guts. The few who didn’t simply didn’t know any better yet.

All hail our omega.

“What can we do for you, gentlemen?” Gadson asked.

“We’re low on supplies and happened upon you.” The years of lying made the words come easy. “You surprised us. This island wasn’t on the map.”

“Come with me, and we’ll get you set up.” He walked to his car, and I followed. “Your men can walk with mine. Perhaps we can go comfortably.”

I scratched my ear, signaling to remain non-violent until the enemy was openly hostile. Nowak and Wallace gave their subtle signals of understanding, and I climbed in the back seat of the run-down limo.

The first thing I noticed was the interior needed upholstering, then the man, who was clearly his second, sat across from us. This man had some real training. He was probably rusty too, but underneath there was actual skill.

So far, he was the only real threat. “I’m Captain Nikolai Zielle.”

His accent was English, with about twenty years of old America layered on top, but I didn’t point that out. Didn’t let him know that I suspected he was probably one of the pioneers that settled the West.

I nodded my acknowledgement to him.

Wallace was going to lose that bet. Nowak was right. Slavery wasn’t what made them go hide from the eye of civilized society.

The car struggled on the crude dirt road, which I suspected someone tried their damndest to even out, but failed. The car grinded on itself when the shocks bounced too hard.

“Perhaps we could talk you into staying. We haven’t had new residents in a while.”

That was one way of saying they needed new breeders to keep things from getting too inbred.

He wasn’t subtle at all. “Perhaps there are women on that plane of yours.”

“Nope. Just a bunch of cocks.” Not that I would tell this asshole if there was.

His interest in us staying plummeted right before my eyes. “Unfortunate.”

So women were rare. That was something wolves understood well enough. The only women we let into our hierarchy was an omega. A job only celestial witches filled, one of the rarest kinds of witch there was.

We cleared some trees and entered a large village hiding underneath the canopy, too obscured by the giant trees to see from the sky. Women saw the car and fled into the shadows, with the children clutched to their chests. Even from the car, I could smell the fear.

Not a good sign.

“How long have you been traveling?”

“A year.” Pretending I hadn’t taken off the ground less than twenty-four hours ago. It wasn’t a total lie. I hadn’t been home in about a year. “That’s a long time without a woman. Perhaps we can make sure your men are entertained tonight.”

“Doubtful.” Considering they were all hiding out of sight.

“Don’t mind them. They are simple women. Your plane probably startled them.”

“I’m sure,” I agreed to placate him, but this was his car, and there was no reason to think a foreigner was in it. They fled with a level of efficiency that showed how much of a joke his army really was.

The women were ten times more coordinated than the men ever would be.

The car stopped, and he gestured to the village. “Get what you need. Tell them to put it on my tab. If you stay the night, make sure you go to our gentleman’s club. It’s the finest entertainment.”

“You’ve clearly never been to Las Vegas.”

Gadson laughed at my prodding joke. “Trust me. Experience what our island has to offer.”

I climbed out and let him drive away. I meandered around what appeared to be town central. The silence was carefully calculated. I pretended I couldn’t smell the women watching me from their hiding spots. That I couldn’t hear their even breathing and heartbeats. So many eyes were locked onto me, it was eerie.

I took a step, and every single one of them adjusted their position ever so slightly. Making damn sure I couldn’t see them. Their steps were so soft, I had to strain to hear them. If there weren’t so many of them moving in perfect harmony with me, I would have missed it.

I walked into the wood building next to my left and found a small shop with herbs on the wooden shelves.

A woman sat on a stool at the front of the shop, but she wasn’t near the register. It was almost like she was standing in time out. Her face had a nasty gash across her left eye that was in the last stages of healing.

“Ma’am.”

She cringed and balled up into herself. “Yes, Sir?.”

“He wasn’t talking to you.” A man came from around the corner to slap her across the face. I gritted my teeth to avoid snarling or growling. Focus on the mission.

“Sorry, Sir.” Tears misted her eyes, but she gritted her teeth. Despite the fact there was a clear outline of his hand left on her face, she never so much as whimpered.

The man hobbled over to me with a cane in his hand. “How can I help you?”

“Actually, I was talking to her,” I told him harshly.

“She’s stupid. She doesn’t know anything to be able to help you. My wife knows better than to speak out of turn.”

Fuck, it was gonna be one of these places.

“I’m looking for harcelon.” I pulled the only herb I knew right out of my ass.

“Never heard of it.”

His wife’s mouth twisted, and her eyes went to the corner of the store. I stomped over to where his wife’s glances were aimed and found glass jars clearly labeled; harcelon.

“Seems it’s right here.” I dropped the tiny jar on the counter. “Governor Gadson said to put it on his tab.”

“Oh, how did you find that? We don’t sell this.” The guy laughed.

I wanted to say it was because he’d never worked here a day of his life, but I didn’t. Only because all that would do was make him beat his wife harder. I already had too much blood and dirt on my hands. I didn’t intend to add any more innocent bystanders than absolutely necessary.

I grabbed the jar and slid it into my cargo pants pocket. “Thanks.”

As I left, I saw a little girl tucked under the shelf. She resembled the woman up front. They had the same blue, baby doll eyes and thick red curls. Figuring she didn’t want to deal with her father, I kept walking like I didn’t see her.

I stepped out, and a crowd of men had a screaming woman surrounded. They chuckled.

“She shoved me off of her. Who does she think she is?”

My men walked up, having finally made it into town, and their eyes watched the scene unfolding. The men attacking her ripped her clothes, and the other women watched from the shadows. The other men not involved went about their way, because it was an everyday occurrence.

She didn’t fight them anymore. She knew it was a losing battle. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”

The pup watched in complete horror and took a step forward, as if to do something.

“Hold, Rios.”

“But, boss.”

“Remember what the mission is. Do not interfere. You’re going to have to get used to seeing some disgusting shit in this line of work, pup. The sooner you harden your heart the better.”

Easier said than done, but if I couldn’t at least pretend that the scene wasn’t bothering me, I could never expect him to.

“Right in the middle of town,” Wallace murmured to me. “Not some back alley shrouded in darkness.”

“The herbalist’s husband backhanded her right in front of a paying customer.”

“Fucking hell,” Wallace grumbled, leading the pups away.

Rios turned to look back, but I grabbed his head and forced him to face forward. “Don’t torture yourself by watching.”

The screaming upticked as the men laughed.

“We’re not in Kansas, pup.”

That was when rocks flew through the air. I whirled around to find the rocks flying from every shadow hiding in the nooks and crannies in this village. Then the women who threw them shot off into the woods.

The men chased the shadows, cussing and yelling.

The woman in the herb shop opened her door, waving the assaulted woman into her store. My best guess was to shuffle her out the back. They were the real meat and potatoes of this society, and they’d probably never talk to me.

Guess I was going to have to pry it out of the men.

Great.