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“A lpha.” Boris stood beside Faolan talking but glanced back at Chanin, who greeted him when his group approached. The two men nodded at the other three who came with him,

“What’s the status, Boris?” Chanin shifted and stepped closer to the two men dressed in a similar state of undress as he.

Chanin had a slight sheen of sweat coating his skin.

In wolf form, they had a high endurance.

If he had traveled the distance in his human form, he would have been exhausted and needed rest and food before doing anything.

The position the two teams had taken up was downwind to keep their scent away from Farkas’s crew’s detection.

His cousin would need to send out one of his men to check the perimeter to find them.

However, Chanin knew his cousin; Farkas, liked to keep his men around him like a shield to protect him from attacks.

He didn’t care if it made him look weak or about sacrificing others.

Farkas was a selfish bastard, and it was all about him.

Another reason was that Chanin had ensured his victory in gaining leadership over the Omega Pack.

Farkas would have destroyed them through his greed.

Chanin glanced around and saw the ten scout wolves taking up various positions along the tree line staring in the direction of the mouth of a huge-ass mountain.

The seven other Fang Warriors’ wolves, with lime green scarves around their necks, indicating who they were, sat in a circle a distance away, still close enough to hear any commands.

When each of them completed their training, their Pack Shaman gave them a blessed bandana.

It was said to be soaked and buried with a sachet of mysterious herbs such as ashwagandha, ginger, Rhodiola, and calendula for years.

Also, a rumor stated that one of the Shaman’s ancestors collected sweat salt crystals from the back of Samson and Samuel’s brow.

The biggest claim was that it was laced with wolfsbane to keep the warriors from turning berserk or wolfing out.

Chanin believed there was a strong possibility of it being fact since the Fang Warriors were the only ones to have the ability to become Lycans—hindleg walking beasts.

Without the full moon, their abilities were limited, but it didn’t keep them from being ferocious opponents.

But even now, the Fang Warriors could be spotted from miles away in their perpetual half-shifted state.

Rarely were they seen without their wolf ears out, their upper canines lowered, their tails extended behind them, and their claws unsheathed, and never without the lime-green bandana encircling their necks.

As the Pack Alpha, the Shaman bathed him in a similar concoction. Since Chanin didn’t keep those mythical herbs on him, they didn’t have the same body-altering effects.

“There hasn’t been a visual of them since the Fae females broke free but were captured again and dragged back inside,” Boris confirmed. “If not for whatever ingenuity those Fae used to get away, we would not have known they had them.”

“When the Great Spirit gives us a gift, we don’t ask why. We’re certain they’re still there?” Chanin arched a brow.

“If you look to the left of the cave mouth, up on the ridge to the west, you will see Conri, one of my scouts there. The caves let off a good echo from within, and your cousin’s males are chatty.

They’re not giving away any particulars, but it lets us know they are still within. If things change, Conri will signal.”

Listening to his security leader, Chanin peered toward the mountain and the cave opening through the dense trees. At first glance, it seemed that the narrowing of the opening happened from weather erosion over time.

Staring at it, the same niggling thought in the back of his mind started again.

Chanin moved closer but stayed low. He was foremost in the tree line as he tried to get a better look.

However, Chanin noticed something as he assessed it and considered how Farkas had found this place and why his cousin would use this cave instead of others to the south.

The jagged broken rock surfaces in the mountain above and the boulders piled at the opening appeared to be an artificial landslide.

“Water and wind didn’t cause that pile-up.” He spoke more to himself, but he knew the two leaders had followed his movements and now flanked his position on both sides.

“No. You can see how parts have smoothed out over the years, but the depth of the holes the boulders left when it came out is still clear. Those came from detonation blasts manufactured before the catastrophe,” Faolan informed.

Chanin remained crouched as he stared forward. “Why would the humans want to—?” Chanin shoved a hand through his hair as a memory of old news reports flooded his mind.

“What is it, Chanin?” Bleddyn asked from behind him. Chanin wasn’t surprised that his Beta had moved when he moved. Bleddyn took his position in the Pack seriously. Especially during battling times such as the one they were in. He was going to have his back stalwartly.

“It’s a fuckin’ cold storage.”

“What?” Boris inquired as he glanced from Chanin back to the mountain.

“A cold storage. The human state government, in conjunction with federal governments, created cold storages all through the north and central Midwest, which they stockpiled with all kinds of supplies, meds, food sources, seeds, and even biohazard shit and secret research samples.”

“If I am not mistaken, the humans used one of the large ones to build their underground city, which they opened during the catastrophe,” Boris added.

“Yes,” Chanin confirmed.

“Does that mean that the rogue wolves have landed on a gold mine of items in there, including food and other supplies, perhaps weapons?” Faolan shifted forward as if trying to peer inside the opening from this distance.

Chanin shook his head in response to the warrior leader’s questions as he recalled all the news reports present.

“No. This cold storage and several others had severe methane leaks. The government couldn’t control high levels of the lethal gas, untold numbers of workers were dying, and their families were becoming critically ill because of how it clung to the people and their clothing.

The government emptied several facilities and shut them down.

The feds had to seal them off a few years before the catastrophe because addicts and vagrants were breaking in and stealing copper to sell, causing the death rate from methane exposure to spike again. ”

Methane wasn’t an issue for them. It didn’t have the same deadly effect as it did to humans.

“So, are we talking about an open warehouse inside?” Bleddyn asked.

“If I remember, there are tunnels. Multiple long tunnels,” Boris enlightened the small group of them.

Chanin clearly understood what they were up against now. “It’s how Farkas and his crew have been able to get through the other territories undetected.”

“So, it isn’t a matter of taking them down, but one of finding them within a maze,” Minsi declared what everyone was thinking.

“Yes,” Chanin confirmed. “Make sure teams are cognizant of the situation at hand. I want everyone in twos, no lone wolf.”

“Will do, Alpha,” Boris nodded.

“My team is ready,” Faolan declared. However, the elite wolf team leader’s gaze briefly flicked over Chanin’s shoulder.

The other male’s emotions were guarded, but Chanin didn’t need to glance back to know who caught Faolan’s attention.

Minsi’s scent still mingled with the Fang Warrior’s.

Chanin wondered how deep the male’s feelings ran toward the Alpha female.

Like Wolcott, it didn’t bother Chanin in the slightest that his ex-lover got tangled up with Faolan.

Even if Minsi wanted to match with him, he still never harbored any commitment or mate feelings toward her.

Unlike the shy veterinarian who avoided Minsi like parvovirus—a deadly canine virus—Chanin would champion a bond between these two.

Any pups they produced would be strong fighters, and what was suitable for the Pack was good for the Alpha.

“That going to be a problem?” Chanin locked his gaze on the Fang leader.

Faolan’s wolf ears twitched as he snatched his gaze from Minsi and gave Chanin a hard, determined stare. “Never, Alpha. My duty to secure this Pack’s safety is paramount.”

Chanin took the man’s words at face value.

“Alright. Let’s get a strategy going and get in there.

” He glanced up toward the bright-lavender ball in the sky.

The sun was at its zenith, and the longer they waited to attack, the more risk of Farkas and his band of rogues waking.

“We need to get in soon. Catch them unaware.”

“Question, Alpha.” Faolan, drawing paired movements in the dirt in the middle of them, stopped and stared at Chanin.

With a short lift of his chin, he gave the Fang Warrior leader permission to ask what was on his mind.

The fierce amber glow that never left a warrior’s gaze locked on to him. “My team will need to know if they have kill orders. Permission to eliminate all threats.”

Chanin knew what Faolan asked. The decision to end the life of a wolf-shifter was a serious thing.

However, Farkas and those who followed had long since denounced their allegiance to the Pack.

“I give the order to eliminate any wolf who threatens the Omega Pack. However, if anyone locates Farkas, my cousin should be brought before me. My cousin’s life will end at my hand. ”

“Understood, Alpha.” Faolan gave a firm nod.

“Alright, assemble your teams. I want to move in ten. Faolan, I want the Fang Warriors to clear paths. Those who came with me will mix in the scout formations.” Chanin dismissed the leaders.

Faolan left first and headed to the septet circle of half-shifted men.