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They clearly took a break. Try to calm down.

Jon tried and failed. He needed to hit something, anything, and it needed to be soon.

Diego walked over to them as soon as he saw them enter. “What’s going on? You two look ready to brawl.”

Despite his promise to let Isaac talk, Jon replied, “We would love to go brawl, but no one will give us the order.”

“If you had waited twenty more minutes, I would have been at your front door. We decided on a two-team mission. Your team will finally take out Elias, while the other team captures Babcock.” Diego held up his hand to halt their response.

“Before you insist that Babcock needs to die too, let me assure you that we all agree. However, he must be interrogated before we end his life.”

They finally got the kill order, and they were just about to dismantle it themselves. Talk about irony.

“There is a complication,” Isaac admitted with a sigh. “Akari finally let us scan her and the only person she saw clearly was Elias. If we want to find out who else was involved, we have to interrogate him too.”

“Goddamn it,” Diego muttered. “I really wanted to go to sleep tonight knowing that Elias had breathed his last.”

“I guess it’s a double catch and carry mission,” Isaac concluded. “Who else is going?”

“Team Three. Darrell from Two twisted his ankle yesterday,” Diego explained. “I think it will work best if we keep everything separate. No cross communication. Just focus on your objectives. Sneak in, secure Elias, and drag him back here.”

“He might be slightly bloody and bruised by the time he arrives,” Jon warned.

Diego chuckled. “I understand entirely. Just make sure he’s still alive.”

Night had just fallen when Shadow Team One reached the lupine village.

The sun sometimes caused odd distortions in their covert energy fields, so they tended to operate at night.

Jon paused before climbing the tree that allowed them to bypass village security.

The Shadows had been using the tree for three years now.

The wolves were foolish and reckless, more concerned with petty pack conflicts than the safety of the entire village.

Any security weakness in the feline village would have been searched out and rectified after the first raid.

Jon couldn’t believe that the tree was still there, its thick branches spanning the perimeter wall.

Are you coming? Isaac urged from inside the village.

Rather than respond telepathically, Jon scrambled up the tree, over the wall, and dropped down close enough to his coalition mates so they would feel his arrival. He was one of two Shadows that could sense the others even while they were shielded.

This has to be fast and accurate , Isaac stressed. If Elias gets off any sort of alarm, we won’t make it out alive.

Understood , Jon and Kyle responded in unison.

They all knew what was at stake. Elias was vicious and wily.

He wasn’t technically psychic, but his instincts were known to be more accurate than the average wolf.

Unlike the last time Jon crept through the village, they knew exactly where they were going this time.

Elias occupied a cabin adjacent to the large meeting hall.

Locating Elias and securing him for transport shouldn’t be that difficult.

The challenge was going to come when they carried the unconscious wolf all the way through the village and hoisted him up the tree.

They’d prepared as well as possible, bringing magnetic restraints and plenty of sedative mist. Still, Jon had been more comfortable with the mission when it was a fast, clean strike.

There were too many opportunities for things to go wrong with this capture and carry nonsense.

Interrogating Elias was crucial. Still, he wished there was an easy way to make that happen.

As they made their way along the perimeter of the village, tension banded Jon’s chest. They passed no one, and most of the cabins appeared abandoned.

It was not late enough for the entire village to be asleep, so what the hell was going on?

There were no patrolling guards, no inebriated party attendees, no one too restless to sleep.

Why is it so quiet? Jon finally asked. It’s never this quiet here.

Isaac paused and reached out with his mind. Jon could feel the surge of psychic energy, but Isaac didn’t speak for a long, unsettling moment. Then anxiety rushed across their link and Isaac explained, At least half of the wolves are gone. We need to get back, now!

The Shadows bolted toward the front of the village. The gates were secured, but the customary guards were not at their posts. A smaller door, meant for pedestrian traffic, rested beside the gates. Isaac opened the door and the Shadows ran out into the forest.

Jon’s heart thudded wildly in his chest. Needing to run as fast as possible, he released his lion and welcomed the shift.

His clothing was shredded in the process, but he didn’t care.

Nothing was more important than the safety of his mate and his village.

A muffled growl told him that Isaac and Kyle had done the same.

Tara was spending the evening with Lexie and her mates. Jon trusted the guardians to keep her safe, unless the village was under attack. The guardians responded immediately whenever there was a threat. If they were off defending the village, that meant Tara was in danger.

The most likely target is the shelter , Kyle pointed out as they sprinted through the trees.

Jon zigzagged through the darkness, darting around trees and jumping over boulders. In that moment, he would have traded all his gifts for the ability to teleport.

Is Tara okay? Jon asked, knowing that Isaac would be scanning.

She’s fine , Isaac assured. In fact, she was unaware that there was a raid until I checked on her.

What about Team Three? Kyle wondered. Did they get Babcock?

Isaac shook his head, but kept running. Their mission failed too. He wasn’t in his cabin. They’re on their way back.

As he crested the final hill, Jon sucked in a shuddering breath.

Chaos surrounded the shelter. Fires had broken out—or more likely been set—along the front of the simple structure.

Feline hybrids crouched behind whatever cover they could find as they fired energy weapons at the lupine hybrids.

Wolves, in animal form, blocked each entrance discouraging the cats from entering the building.

Were more wolves inside with the human females?

It was likely, but they’d have to get closer to know for sure.

Isaac released his shift. His naked form was only visible for a moment before he manifested his energy shield.

Kyle followed Isaac’s example, shifting back to human then disappearing from view. “Where can we do the most good?” Every syllable was tense and guarded.

As Isaac assessed the situation, Jon shifted back to his human form and camouflaged his presence with his Shadow shield.

“The back of the building,” Isaac concluded. “The wolves will try to escape with the women there. It’s the only thing that makes sense.”

Jon agreed, and so did Zion. Armed soldiers were hiding in the trees, and a group of lions had assembled in a line, waiting for the wolves to attempt an escape. “That area is covered,” Jon pointed out. “I say we take a look inside.”

Isaac hesitated, but ultimately agreed. “We still need an entry point, even though we’re invisible.”

“That door looks as good as any,” Jon suggested, pushing the image across their psychic link.

The three Shadows hustled down the hill and approached the shelter as stealthily as possible.

Let me look around , Isaac urged.

Kyle and Jon paused, waiting for their leader to assess the scene.

Isaac flowed through the wall just far enough to see what waited inside. One guard, but he’s well-armed. I’ll go first and take him out. Wait for my signal.

Understood , Jon said.

The fighting seemed to intensify at the front of the building, so Kyle said, Hurry.

Isaac smoothly passed through the wall.

Using their mental link, Jon followed Isaac’s movements, confirming that he had the situation under control.

Isaac jerked the guard’s weapon out of his hands, then used the rifle like a bludgeon to render the hybrid unconscious with one solid whack.

Isaac supported the hybrid as he fell, ensuring that he made as little noise as possible.

After pulling the door open, Isaac waited for his teammates to enter and then took the lead. Isaac could sense danger sooner than Kyle or Jon. It was one of the reasons he had been selected as team leader.

There wasn’t much to the shelter. A row of storerooms and the door through which the Shadows had entered ran across the back wall.

The rest of the space was a large open room.

The women, twenty-six of them, were huddled in the center of the area.

Wolves prowled around them, snarling and snapping at the terrified females.

A group of lupine hybrids stood off to one side speaking in hushed tones or shouting an occasional order.

“We need to draw the cats to the back so we can take the women out the side,” Elias was saying. He stood back from the circling soldiers speaking with a younger male.

“Knife a couple and shove them out the back door,” the younger wolf suggested.

Jon didn’t know his name, but he was frequently seen with Armando.

Or he had been before Diego killed Armando.

Was this Elias’ new beta? “The cats will smell human blood and come running. They can’t help being protective fools. ”

“We need every female,” Elias argued. “I’m not risking another attack this close to their village.”

“Then we have no other choice. It’s better to sacrifice a few than retreat empty-handed.”