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Vargas

“You sure nobody saw us cross onto the lands? We’d have known if someone entered ours.” Penn crouched beside me in some brush just inside the tree line. We had a good view of the buildings on the land from here.

“No, I can’t be sure of anything,” I murmured in as low a tone as I could manage. “But I don’t see any signs of it.”

“Wilder should be back by now.” He’d gone in wolf form to reconnoiter about fifteen minutes before. “The alpha house is all lit up, and it must be close to dinnertime. Somehow, I doubt they’ve invited our omega to eat with them, so they’ve got to have her stashed around here somewhere.”

We’d been afraid three strange wolves tripled our chances of being caught, and Wilder drew the long straw, but if he didn’t return soon, I was taking my fur.

A crunch in the dry grass off to my left had me on full alert until I spotted the wolf who’d stepped on the stick. Even in his fur, Wilder was less graceful than we were, but he’d won the right to go search fair and square.

Waiting until he was back in his skin, I asked, “What did you find out?”

“She must be in the barn. I just saw her bitch of a sister and her pack leave there. They put a big padlock on the door and headed up the hill to the alpha house, talking about what they were having for dinner.”

“What assholes,” Penn growled.

“Goes without saying,” I snarled. “But that means this is our one shot at getting her.”

“Oh, and listen to this. They are planning to put her on a heat accelerator, and her shift is suppressed as well.”

“Better living through chemistry.” Penn was on his feet. “ Or dying in their case, once we get to them. Let’s go.”

“We need a plan.” I pointed to Wilder. “Get dressed, and we’ll let Penn take his fur for the next phase. Here’s what I think we should do.”

Five minutes later, we’d skirted the barn, keeping to the shadows and the brush as much as possible. The door was indeed padlocked, and we didn’t have a crowbar with us, so we did some more searching of the area to find a useful tool. Farms, at least messy ones like this, always had old tools lying around, and I feared the iron bar we came upon was too rusty to do the job, but when I slid it behind the latch, and Wilder and I each took hold of an end, the hinge popped right off. They really needed to take better care of the barn ,or it would end up falling down around their heads one day.

I didn’t hate the idea as long as our omega was far away when it happened.

Easing the door open, I cringed at each creak, knowing how sound carried in the quiet of the countryside. A soft gasp had me pivoting and leaping on a figure huddled in a nearby shadow.

“Shhh,” I warned. “Another sound, and I’ll snap your neck.”

“Don’t!” Our mate’s voice carried to us from the darkness of the structure. “Lily? It’s you?”

We knew of her friend and how much Rumor worried about her. I placed my mouth near her ear and hissed, “Shhh. If you’re Lily, nod. And if you are lying, well, you know what will happen.” Her form was slight, and she was shaking so hard, my wolf registered no enemy.

She nodded, and I moved my hand. “I was bringing Rumor some food, but then I saw the door was locked and I heard you all moving and…” She whimpered. “You’re hurting me.

I was holding her too tight, her slight form in danger of severe bruising. “Sorry.” I released her.

“Reyna wanted to use Rumor to have babies for her pack.”

So that was it? They’d used her as a servant before and now they intended to…to… “Look, you hide back where you were before until we get Rumor out and it’s safe, okay?

She nodded again, rubbing her arms, still trembling. “Yes.” Melting into the shadows, she made me wonder how often she did that for her own safety or to avoid unwelcome notice.

Penn took up the watch, his wolf’s ears twitching with alertness while Wilder and I slipped inside the barn, following the sound of our mate’s breathing. When we saw her condition, my wolf’s fury was almost beyond controlling. Only the reminder that our mate’s safety could be compromised if we went on a rampage and tried to kill everyone on these lands kept him in check.

“Rumor, querida,” I soothed, slitting the ropes that dug into her skin with the one tool I always had with me, a pocket knife. “We’re taking you home now.”

“I don’t think so.” Reyna laughed, and I turned to see her standing in the doorway with her pack around her. “Leave now, and we’ll let you live. We promise not to beat your little bitch too severely, as long as she follows the rules and doesn’t cause any trouble.”

My wolf burst through the barrier and took control, shredding my clothes as he leapt into battle, followed by Wilder in his fur and Penn. The female stepped back, but her mates also took their fur, and a fierce battle ensured. We were more evenly matched than I liked, but I could see my packmates to either side of me, and I had my fangs poised above one of the male’s jugular when he went limp and begged me not to kill him.

The others were no longer fighting either, the cowards, and we could end it, but our mate lay in a heap, unconscious. I saw what I hadn’t before, the amount of blood she’d lost from the wounds on her limbs. She’d no doubt been trying to get free, and her scent was all distress.

Suddenly, the weaklings we had bested mattered not at all, and I tossed my opponent to the side and shifted, racing to our mate. “Rumor, querida, hang on and we’ll get you out of here.”

Her eyes opened halfway as I lifted her into my arms. “Bring Lily. She isn’t safe here.”

“Yes, of course.” I carried her toward the door and out into the night. The alpha house still glowed above us, no sign that anyone had noticed the kerfuffle below. Did Reyna tell her family what she was up to, or did she somehow think she could kidnap her sister and use her with nobody finding out?

Maybe claim she came back on her own and threaten her with the safety of the children she wanted her to bear or something equally horrible? I wanted to kill them these people slowly and painfully.

“Vargas?” Rumor’s faint voice pulled me back to the moment. “They’re not worth it.”

No they weren’t. “Let’s go home.”

Luckily, we kept some extra clothes in the truck because otherwise we’d have been driving along the highway naked. No shifter let that happen more than once.