Page 2 of Targeted By Fate
I steeled myself for the dead bodies, contorted on the luxurious sofas, sprawled on the carpet, and crumpled in a heap by the long bar.
I need your help. I couldn’t do this without my beast. He had to filter out the extraneous scents and focus on what was detected on all the victims.
My team and I worked quickly, not taking notes with pen or paper or a phone, but sniffing out the culprits.
“Boss.” That was my number one man, Josh.
I held up three fingers but I had detected it or them too. Three scents, distinct from the others, that mingled with the drug of choice, possibly Duskthorn, and a chemical.
The waitstaff were cowering in a small office at the back and details spilled out of them about what they’d seen and heard.
“I scented those guys near headquarters last week.” That was Josh.
After phone calls and a couple of dead ends at a hotel and guest house, we secured an address.
While I wanted to find out the why, I wouldn’t be taking any prisoners.
We pulled up a block away from a motel. One light shone from an open door as men shoved bags in a car. They jumped in but caught sight of us as we ran toward them. The one behind the wheel reversed—he rivaled any F1 driver I’d cheered on TV—and took off in the opposite direction.
Shit! Now we had to chase them. Thank gods this was a rundown area of town, full of abandoned factories, so there wasn’t much traffic.
Josh jumped in the passenger seat while the other pair got in the second car. I put my foot down, not caring about speed limits or stop signs, and took off. Their tail lights visible in the distance enlarged as we grew closer. Josh wound the window down, and the wind whipped at his hair. He leaned out and aimed his gun. The shot rang out, bursting a back tire, and the vehicle careened across the lane to the opposite side of the road, the driver unable to right it. Another shot shredded the other back tire, and the car skidded.
Two people jumped out as the car slammed into a lamppost, leaving Josh to dispose of the driver. I charged after the other two, my men at my heels. The pair in front kept looking over their shoulders. A rookie mistake.
They veered into an alleyway. Another huge mistake because this wasn’t a thoroughfare but a dead end. Dead being the operative word because that was what they’d be, their bodies splattered over the brick walls and the potholed asphalt they treaded on.
The shrieks when they discovered there was no way out put a grim smile on my lips, and I stopped running. My wolf would take them out, and instead of pulling back as I did when he hunted, I would be at the front of his gaze as his canines tore the flesh from their bones.
“Why?”
But they took their fur, scrawny wolves who were no match for my beast. I’d get the answer somehow but not from these fools.
Not yet, I told my wolf as I stood, arms folded, not bothering to reach for the gun that was always on my hip.
My men surrounded one wolf, playing with it as a cat would a mouse, while I made the other wait. I almost wished I smoked because this would be the perfect time to light up, a nonchalant move that would create more tension and make my soon-to-be victim unsure of my next move.
Leaves on the ground rustled as the wind picked up. It didn’t rate a mention when I was about to end someone’s life except… except… the breeze brought something with it, something unexpected that turned my head one way and the other.
My beast ripped through my skin and sniffed the air.
Mate,he hissed.
No, it couldn’t be. The universe couldn’t be so cruel to show me my mate, knowing I had to kill him.
Get closer.
He padded toward the wolf as my men teased and taunted the second one until a quivering howl echoed around the alley, marking that other wolf’s death throes. He was of no consequence.
My wolf circled the beast who understood he was about to die.
Not him.
Thank gods. End this now.
With no warning, my beast flew at the remaining wolf and sank his teeth into his neck. Blood from an artery spurted over both wolves, fur and flesh flew into the air. Combined with a sickening crunch as bone splintered and what was left of the other beast splayed over the blood-soaked alley.
I took my skin and barked at my men to arrange a cleaning crew.
