Gifted with Hydrangea (14 page)

Rudo
puffed out a breath in
disbelief.
“You say ass as if asses are a
bad thing. I love asses, especially yours, so I feel it is more accurate to
call him a piece of shit.”

A flash of jealousy shot through their mental
connection.
“You better be looking at my
ass only!”

Rudo
fought to contain his
satisfaction and amusement at his little mate’s jealousy, but the emotion still
bled through, and Ryker pinched him.

“
Why are you so amused? I’m serious! Don’t be looking
at anyone else’s ass.”

“
I can’t help it. You are so adorable when you get
jealous. You’re like a little Chihuahua yapping and growling, not intimidating,
but cute as hell.”

A firm smack placed across his right shoulder,
followed by a whimpered, “ow” caused
Rudo
to laugh,
which he fought to smother.

“
Not funny, asshole,”
Ryker grumbled quietly, as he continued to rub his sore hand.

“
Now see, I like assholes too, especially
your
tight lit—”

Another smack along his back forced him to hold a hand
over his own mouth to silence his laughs.

He immediately stopped when
Alphy’s
voice crackled through their headsets. “I just received word, we’re breaching
in five … four … three…”

Rudo
tensed and readied
himself.

“…
two … one … now!”

The black forms snaked forward. All of them carried
rifles pointed forward, locked tight against their shoulders.

Rudo
stepped aside as they reached
one of the entrances. Gavin rushed forward and placed small amounts of
explosive on key points, and everyone backed away. The explosion blew the
hinges and knobs off of the door, causing it to fall out in a swirl of smoke.
The group crunched over the metal and rubble as they continued forward, into
the building.

They could hear explosions rock the building and guns
begin to fire, but his team had one focus only, and
Rudo
was determined to get it done as quickly as possible because the sooner it was
done, the faster he could get his mate out of the building.

Two guards hurried around a corner, and stopped
suddenly when they saw them.
Rudo
aimed and shot them
as both men reached for their weapons. The second man was able to get his
weapon out of its holster before
Rudo
shot him down.

Rudo
kept one arm against his
mate, pinning him to the wall as they reached the corner and looked around.
Alarms blared through the halls, and people dressed in suits and lab coats
rushed through the halls. Once they would spot his team, they would quickly
turn and flee down another way.

Their destination wasn’t far from their entrance,
which was why they entered there. It was a control room that had two guards in
it. As much as he wanted to kill the men, they raised their hands and gave up,
and
Rudo
couldn’t kill someone who wasn’t going to
fight back. He still had morals, even if he believed they didn’t.
Neto
rushed forward and zip-tied the men.

As Ryker quickly plugged in to the system and started
running algorithms and other programs
Rudo
had no
hope to ever comprehend, the rest of the team guarded the door. Whenever they
would spot guards, they would shoot at them. Some were killed, while others
rolled in agony, yelling in pain. He didn’t feel the least bit sorry for them.

A popping sound and a
thunk
sounded in the wall right beside his ear.
Rudo
ducked
back into the room, but had glimpsed a tranquilizer dart stuck into the wall.

“
Fuck! They have tranquilizers and are trying to use
them on us,” he called through his communication device.

Alphy
responded. “Copy that. I just saw a dart gun on one of the white coats.
Everyone watch out for them.”

Another voice
Rudo
recognized as a member from the alpha’s old sleuth, who had ridden down with
the vamps, came through the line. “We need assistance on level three! We’re
pinned down, and two of my guys are down.”

Rudo
grimaced as he listened to
the com while his team fought to protect their position. From the sounds of
things, it was a difficult battle. They were outnumbered, but they were up
against humans, not other shifters, so
Rudo
was
confident they would be successful.

Chapter Twelve

Enzo ran his hands through his hair as he listened to
the battle his pack was in. Ryker had made it possible, somehow, so he and
everyone else in the office were able to hear, and even see video from a cam on
Alphy’s
vest.
Thank
you, Gale, for insisting he wear a vest,
he thought as he saw the bullets
explode around them and tranquilizer darts flying by.
Fucking hell, why can’t he just stay behind the desk like any other
alpha?

He would have paced, but the office was crowded with
pack members, as well as Raymond and some of his coven. They were all anxious
about the raid. Arms snaked around his waist from behind, and his mate’s scent
filled his expanding lungs.

“
I’m here for you, Enzo. You need to relax a little
bit.”

Enzo breathed out a big sigh as he continued to watch
the action play out on the monitor.
Relax?
My best friend is in the middle of a gun
fight, and all I can think about is the boner for my mate.

Enzo stared across the room at the flower arrangement
Heath had placed in the middle of the island. He could smell the colorful
display from everywhere in the room, and even from clear back into his office.
At first he had been doubtful about displaying one of the arrangements in the
office since he didn’t expect the survivors to come up to it, but it had a
positive effect on everyone here, and should, by chance, any of the survivors
come up, it would help them.
Never
underestimate the power of scent.

Enzo flinched when he heard another whizzing sound and
watched the wall next to
Alphy’s
neck explode. He
heard
Alphy’s
pained shout. Enzo leaned forward, his
heart racing faster.
Alphy’s
hand reached up, then
was brought back covered in blood.

“
Shit!” Enzo swore loudly.

He watched helplessly as others pulled
Alphy
back. The camera whipped around making the video feed
unrecognizable. They couldn’t see anything other than blurs. The sounds coming
through were loud thumping and scratching against the microphone, with spotty
yells in between. Suddenly the video fell to the ground and was still, giving
them a clear picture of
Alphy’s
giant bear form
shaking himself out. He let out a roar that Enzo knew full well was a battle
cry that made the camera vibrate. It made the hair on the back of his neck
prickle, and he suppressed a shiver.
Alphy
turned and
ran from the room. Soon after, they heard more roaring, and shots, and screams.

****

Alphy
let his bear loose on the men who had them all pinned down. He felt their blood
fill his mouth and their bones crunch between his crushing jaws. His claws
splashed blood and gore around him as he swung them in large, powerful,
death-filled arches that sliced easily through the bodies of those who were now
attempting to flee in panic.

That’s right, run, you
two-legged monsters. Cowards!
he
spat angrily in his mind.

The others who were with him followed behind him with
a mercy equal to his bear’s current mood. It all ended too quickly for his
liking, but he had soon found himself surrounded by only his team, and the
squishy, tattered remains of the enemy under his giant paws.

Alphy
made his way back into the room where his clothes still lay on the floor. After
shifting, he barked out orders for the teams to report as he redressed.

“
Our position is secure, no casualties,” he heard Ryker
through his earbud.

He was only slightly relieved as the other teams
reported the same. He made a quick call to Enzo.

“
Some have gotten grazed by the darts and others
sustained minor injuries, but there are no casualties, and we are ready to
finish securing the building,” he told Enzo.

“
Good. We’ll continue to watch through your vest cam.”

Alphy
disconnected and gathered his team, which included members from both his old
sleuth and the neighboring coven.

****

Enzo, along with everyone in the room, watched as
Alphy
moved past the blood painted walls and over the
shredded bodies, down the halls. Heath looked away at times, but remained
beside him. Enzo rubbed his back and held him closer to his side during those
times, in silent support.

Other reports from the other raids trickled in. Havana
took the calls and wrote down all their information.

“
There were labs at all of the other raids,” she told
him. “The council is sending the survivors to various alphas that Councilman
Black believes he can trust.”

“
What is
Alphy
going to do
with the survivors from this raid?” Raymond asked Enzo.

“
Alphy
told me he is going to
give them the options to either come back here, go back home, or another place
of their choosing, or
Alphy’s
old sleuth, who offered
to take some in.”

Stelios’s wings fluttered a little bit as he pointed
to a screen. “Holy shit! There are so many. They are already up to fifty
survivors.”

Kace
swore and rubbed the back
of his neck. “The numbers coming in from the other raids don’t even come close
to the one
Alphy’s
at. What the heck did they have
going on that required that many shifters?”

Raymond sent him a thoughtful look. “I’ve only known
Alphy
a short time, but he can’t seem to do anything small.
It’s one reason why I like him so much. He is never afraid of the severity, or
numbers. Let him know that if any of the survivors wish to consider our coven
as a home, we will welcome them in.”

Enzo’s brows raised high on his forehead, and his eyes
opened wider. “Your coven going mixed now?”

“
How is that surprising?” Stelios asked, giving Enzo an
offended look. “Since the beginning of his rule in the coven, Raymond sheltered
me and my brothers.”

Enzo bit back his initial response to make Stelios
submit to him, and apologize for his tone. It was just a bit too derisive,
which didn’t sit right with him or his wolf. He outranked the gargoyle, and his
wolf wanted him to remind him of that. But in spite of all that, Stelios had a
point, and Enzo was now concerned he may have unintentionally insulted Raymond.
That took precedence over his wounded pride.

“
My apologies, Raymond. I did not mean any insult.”

Now it was Raymond’s brows that rose, and a playful
smirk tugged at his lips. “You’ve learned humility now? My diversity and your
humility, what a pair we make.”

Enzo smiled and was about respond in kind when
Alphy’s
incessant swearing interrupted them. Enzo looked up
and saw
Alphy
pressing the back of his hand against
his nose. Others around him were doing the same. It looked like they were
nearing the basement of the building.

****

The building was finally secured for the most part.
The only place left to clear was the basement. However, as the team moved
cautiously closer, the smell of rotting bodies became apparent.

“
I smell dead bodies down there,”
Alphy
said.

“
A lot of bodies.” Someone behind him agreed.

The group descended further until they reached dual
heavy metal doors. A team member on his right opened the door, and he and the
entire team began gagging and coughing from the extreme odor.

Alphy
was the first to regain his composure, and he led the way into a poorly lit
hallway. Most of the florescent lighting overhead wasn’t on. The ones that were
on were inadequate to push away all of the darkness in the windowless hallway.
They flickered and gave off a buzzing sound, some even rattling.
Alphy’s
sense of foreboding grew as the smell increased.
The group stopped at the top of some cement stairs that led down into
a large room.
Alphy
could
see bulky dark shapes draped in piles around the area. Two large metal shapes
were situated in the two back corners. With his enhanced sight, he made out
what he saw, as did the others in his team who began cursing and gagging.

“
This is genocide,”
Alphy
breathed out. His voice was rough and strained.

A light switch was flipped on, illuminating the room
better. A ripple of rage and shock undulated through and around him as they
gazed down at piles of rotting corpses.
Alphy’s
bear
roared in rage inside his head, demanding to kill those responsible.

Alphy
began to slowly walk down the stairs but stopped when one of the members of his
team yelled, “Everyone stop!” The team froze
at the other man’s frantic urgency.
Alphy
looked back. “What is it, Theo?”

“
Something doesn’t smell right about those corpses. I’m
sensing something … odd. I can’t explain it, but I don’t think we should go
near them. We should get a
HazMat
team in here.”

“
How can you smell anything over all of this?” asked
another man as he waved his arms at the horrific scene.

“
Vampires can sense anomalies in blood, even dead
blood,”
Alphy
answered. “Look, those two machines in
the back are for cremation. I will trust him on this. Better safe than sorry,”
Alphy
said, and moved everyone back up onto the top landing,
and further down the hall. As they reached the door,
Alphy
cursed and pulled out his cell. He stared at the two biohazard suits hanging on
the far wall, as he spoke to his second. “Enzo, call the council,” he ordered.
“You see this shit?”

“
Yeah. I’m barely holding on to my wolf, and looking
around the room, I’m not the only one.
Kace
is
calling it in as we speak. It won’t take long for the council to take action.
Their teams have already been on high alert because of these raids.”

“
How did the other raids go?”
Alphy
asked, as he followed his nose to fresher air.

“
Nothing like with yours. They were nearly a piece of
cake.”

****

Enzo and the others watched late into the night as
more bodies were found, and more survivors were found. They watched the council’s
HazMat
team arrive, seal off the building, and put
everyone in isolation. That didn’t go over too well with some of the survivors,
who ended up sedated.
Alphy
held up the cam and spoke
into it. His cell was on speaker and sitting in his lap.

“
It’s a good thing we now have a sedative that works so
well on shifters, and that Sea was here to administer it.”

“
How long will it take for them to decide if you are
safe or not?” Enzo asked.

“
I don’t know. Things are a mess. Our teams were
already transporting survivors to our triage location. Now everyone is
quarantined for the time being. They have us in three different tents, each a
different level of quarantine.”
Alphy
scowled. “And
because she may be compromised, they won’t allow Gale to join me, or vice ve
rsa
.” He watched
Alphy
close
his eyes, and turn his head, then rub his hand down his face.

Enzo felt helpless as he watched and listened to his
friend, and alpha. “Is there anything you would like us to do?”

Alphy
didn’t look at them right away. He just shook his head. “No, not yet,”
Alphy
rubbed his free hand through his hair, “but could you
stick around for a few?” He looked back into the camera. “It should be any time
when they figure out what we’re dealing with.”

There was no doubt he was going to stay, but he looked
around the room before he responded, at
Alphy’s
sister, Havana, and brother, Reese, and Gale’s parents. Then he looked further
around the room at everyone else, and he saw the determination on all of their
faces.

Enzo looked back up at the monitors. “We aren’t going
anywhere,
Alphy
.”

He saw
Alphy’s
shoulders
relax a little bit, and
Alphy
nodded. “Thanks.”

They talked for a while. Enzo sat in a chair and held
Heath on his lap. Eventually, Heath fell asleep. Tiny snores emanated from
Heath’s open mouth. Enzo smiled and kissed the top of his head.
Just too cute,
he thought to himself.

Enzo was nibbling on a muffin when Seamus, dressed in
a large, white, bulky
HazMat
suit, appeared in the
vid feed.

“
Alphy
, we got the results back.”
Seamus’s voice sounded over the link.