“Charlie whiskey three, suspect apprehended.”
“Charlie whiskey two, suspect on foot towards the workshop.”
He and Nancy were about to go for the receptionist, when Lucas clapped both of them on the shoulder. “Stay here,” he growled, shoving them towards the police van. Then he withdrew his taser and sprinted after one of the fugitives.
“Lucas—fuck!” Oliver tried to protest, but the alpha was already halfway up the forecourt. With no other choice, he snapped his baton out of its holster, drawing it to its full length.
“Ollie…” Nancy growled. “The sergeant told us to stay here.”
“I know, Nance. But he didn’t say we couldn’t pick off any stragglers that circle back.”
Nancy let out a long breath before nodding and withdrawing her canister of bite-back spray. Because if shifter wolves hated anything, it was having a canister of peppermint haze sprayed up their nostrils.
“Well, isn’t this an interesting turn of events, DC Reed?” She said, bumping Oliver with her shoulder as they watched the Special Branch alphas running around. They were nothing like Oliver had ever seen. Smooth, coordinated… not to mention fit as fuck.
“It certainly is, DC Purslow.”
Suddenly, a wolf flung itself across the bonnet of the van, hurtling straight into them. It was the mechanic, white stripe across his head, fur dripping with sweat, and a feral look in his eyes.
“Hello there,” Oliver said, half grinning as he jumped on the wolf, grabbing its scruff as Nancy leapt onto its back. The wolf snarled, eyes wild as it thrashed.
“Cute,” Oliver growled back, jamming his knuckles behind the wolf's ear and forcing it to shift back into human form.
The now very sweaty, human shaped man was slippery in Oliver’s grasp, but he managed to slap a pair of handcuffs onto the man’s skinny wrists. “You’re under arrest for facilitating the exploitation of a child. You do not have to say anything—ah!” The mechanic somehow twisted in Oliver’s grip, pushing up onto his haunches and head-butting him right between the eyes.
He saw stars for a moment, not knowing which way was up or down. “You… fucking… twatting—” he cursed as the world sizzled back into focus.
Nancy was barely hanging onto the man as he kicked and flailed, one of his feet smacking her square in the jaw.Adrenaline flooded Oliver's veins in a rush of cold-hard focus as he slipped his arms around the man’s body, flipping him onto his front and ramming his knee into his armpit. The man stilled, though his body was tense under Oliver’s weight.
“Charlie papa two, this is charlie papa two,” Nancy shouted over the radio. “Suspect apprehended. Charlie papa one has been injured.”
Oliver was about to bark back that he wasnotinjured, which was when he noticed all the blood covering the front of his stab vest. He ran his fingers under his nose, all five of them coming away coated in claret. Damn, the fucker had popped his nose good and proper.
“Bravo delta one, DS White. Nancy, where are you and DC Reed?” Lucas’ voice crackled over the radio.
“By the van, sarge,” Nancy replied. “You all good, Ollie?” She said, eyeing Oliver’s bloodied face.
He gave her the thumbs up, though he could taste the blood between his teeth. “Yeah.”
“You’ve got red on you,” she said, grinning.
Footsteps thundered around the side of the van, and Oliver just about saw a pair of feet under the sill. He thought for a moment that the Special Branch officers were coming to their rescue, however; the world slowed as another of the suspects rounded the corner, face ablaze and a knife clutched in his hand.
Oliver shot to his feet. “Drop the knife!” he shouted, drawing back his baton in a defensive stance.
“Not a fucking chance,” the man hissed lunging forward.
Oliver dodged to the left, smashing his baton up into the man’s elbow with a sickening crunch. The knife arced through the air, spinning as it landed on top of the van. Then they were on the ground, brawling like two feral alley cats. The man was an alpha. Oliver could smell his scent and feel his strength as ashoulder rammed into his broken nose. They flipped, the alpha gaining the upper hand despite his injured elbow.
“Sigma scum,” he snarled, drawing his head back and smashing it down onto Oliver’s face again.
He yelped as more blood sprayed from his nose, and he thought for one sickening moment that the man had shattered all of his teeth. His survival instincts kicked in and he could feel his wolf snarling and gnashing to be let loose.
Then, someone dragged the man back, a huge hand gripping his neck with unbelievable strength. It was Lucas, eyes ablaze with something Oliver had never seen in him before. Anger, fury, bitter hatred. He shoved the man against the van, and they grappled for dominance for what felt like an eternity, but must have only been a split second.
He was vaguely aware of Nancy shedding her clothes as she prepared to shift, but everything else was tunnel vision as he watched, wide-eyed, as the alpha’s fought.
An ear-splitting howl ripped through the air as Lucas’ stab vest tore open, sending his radio, taser, baton, pava and bite-back canisters skittering across the forecourt. Both the alphas shifted in that split-second. Now a massive muddy brown wolf lay pinned beneath one of pure black. Oliver suspected Lucas had been the enormous ebony wolf from the park, but now he was certain.
