Page 87 of Savage Mates

Or what he hungered to accomplish.

I crept a few feet closer. “What is that sound?”It was a deep rumble unlike anything we’d heard before. At least on the island. It sounded like a truck’s engine.

“Where the fuck did they get a vehicle?”There was no mistaking what I was seeing. A Humvee. Somehow, they’d hidden it from view. Maybe inside one of the dilapidated buildings. A group of marauders had already been here when we’d arrived, more coming only days before Lauren and the others. At least we knew they were all well-trained soldiers. That meant the odds were against us given the number of weapons we’d just seen.

“Not just a vehicle. Look at the large cargo truck.”Zeus was ready to strike.

“Don’t do it,”I snapped.“We need to find out exactly what they are doing.”

Now things were beginning to make sense.

“They’re coming after every lion.”Thor’s body was rigid.

“And they’re going to take the military compound.”Zeus pawed the ground.

“They’re taking us off the island. If that happens, we’ll never see our mate again.”There was no doubt about that in my mind.

Zeus moved on one side of me, Thor on the other. “We need to let Alexander know to move the others.”

“I’ll issue the call as soon as they leave.”

We stood silently, watching them as they loaded weapons into the first vehicle. And in the second?

Capture cages.

“Warn the others,”Zeus directed.“They need to get to the cave.”

“And we need to get Lauren to safety.”Once again, I swung my head toward them. We didn’t need to communicate to be in agreement.

Thor listed his head, his features contorted.“She’s calling us. Can you feel her? My chest is tight.”

“She’s not yet in trouble. Let her finish. We need to distract the fuckers.”Zeus was adamant and while her discovery of what was happening on the small island was important, our little mate losing her life wasn’t going to happen.

“No,”Thor bristled.“We kill them now.”

“We don’t have the manpower. Not yet. We need time to warn her.”We’d need to decide quickly. The soldiers were getting ready to head out. The lions in the cages were still charging the bars.

It was only a matter of time before they’d escape, but by then it would be too late.

“A fire. We set a fire.”

My suggestion brought surprise, but quickly they agreed. And the only way we could do it was by shifting.

With the only indication of our transformation being the ground vibrating beneath our feet, the humans were none the wiser that we would disrupt their plans.

We rushed through the trees, taking our time to creep up on the groups of already mostly burned-out buildings. This encampment had seen its share of warfare.

These humans were arrogant, thinking themselves superior given they only had a limited understanding of our agility and our power. What they didn’t know would eventually get them killed.

With strength, speed, and endurance heightened and our high level of intelligence tossed into the mix, we were close to being invincible.

Yet we could die by bullets, which is why we remained in the shadows, moving at lightning speed.

The urgency was increasing, the need to protect our mate the only thing on my mind.

First, set a fire. Then warn the others while we took her to safety.

It was easy enough to do, finding the resources for their fuel. While they were busy taunting the lions, we were dousing areas of the camp with gasoline. Given they always had a fire going in a firepit even though it was hot as Hades on the island, finding a source for the flame was also easy.