Page 5 of Mating Season
Water, food, shelter.
Fire if I wanted to stay in human form.
After that… Well…
It’d be time to figure out where the hell I was and what I wanted to do about it.
4
Ranger
Chad brushed off the shifter males who’d helped him to his feet. I didn’t need to scent them to realize that was the team Daddy Tulia sent to protect the future Alpha of the pack. Chad turned his purple, swollen eyes toward me.
I winced, rubbing the back of my neck and imagining the headache he must be feeling. It’d heal in a few minutes, but I’d been knocked around in the ring enough times to feel sympathy for that sort of swelling.
“You rocked his world.” John chuckled as he stood beside me.
“He deserved it.” I turned away from the broken glass doors. The victory didn’t feel like I thought it would. I knew the Tulia Alpha and his brother would have something to say about me embarrassing their pack on TV by knocking Chad out. They also wouldn’t like holding to their end of the bargain in the bet Chad made.
I backhanded another camera drone as it flew up behind me. As much as I hated the things, I was grateful for the recording. My team at home was already backing up the footage from the fight thanks to Ivan’s quick thinking. He’d made sure to hack the show’s servers and send copies of the live feed directly to our IT department.
I felt the tug of one of my pack members entering the vicinity. Ivan didn’t need to announce his presence. I could sense it. Just like I could feel the tension and worry coming from the rest of my pack.
Finally, we’d have some answers.
“Ivan’s driving up the road,” I told Mattox.
“About fucking time.” He jumped off the counter, dialing out on the satellite phone. “We’ve got him in a rental,” he relayed. “No one is following the Russian.”
“Is he Russian?” John walked beside us. He’d somehow made himself a third in our little party. I almost pitied the Alpha, knowing he had his own pack back home and was one of the few who didn’t bring an escort to the show. If things were different, I’d have been in his shoes. But finding Aspen changed everything. Now I was relying on my pack and their skills more than I’d ever done.
“No, he’s not Russian.” I shoved the front doors to the resort open, jogging down the wood steps to the gravel drive. “It’s an inside joke.”
John didn’t look amused. “Ivan is a Russian name.”
“He’s from eastern Oregon,” I explained as if that cleared things up. “But he once fought a Siberian tiger.”
“So funny,” John deadpanned as the wolf shifters outside the resort turned our way. Some of the younger Alphas in training sniffed the air with their half-shifted monstrous snouts while other full wolves stuck their tails in the air.
I’d gathered that most of them were scouting and looking for clues as to where they’d taken the females from the various packs. But the producers weren’t complete idiots. Taking the women airborne erased their trackable scents. We needed inside information if we stood a chance at finding our girls before the rut dragged us under.
The males outside edged closer. Anticipation hung heavy in the air as they averted their eyes, continuing to sniff discreetly. My wolf senses perked up as he noticed the tension by the side gardens and I glanced over my shoulder, seeing Chad sulking near the second fountain as Brett and Scott joined him.
“What are they waiting for?” Mattox muttered under his breath.
I turned away, locking gazes with John.
“Don’t look at me.” The big beast shrugged. “You’re the only one here with an informant.”
I found it hard to believe that no one else had gotten an operative on the security detail for the show. I hadn’t planned on it either, but I wasn’t coming here to meet a potential mate. Had I known the woman I planned to spend the rest of my life with would be on the show, the entire security roster would be on my payroll. Maybe I was slightly paranoid.
Don’t listen to them. They’re all idiots.
I might’ve questioned the sanity of what my wolf was saying if the crunch of tires flinging bits of gravel hadn’t been more important. Growling, Imarched to the sedan as it parked and yanked open the driver side door.
“Where did they take her and why weren’t you here?” The bark in my tone was coming on strong.
Ivan winced under the power of it. “My apologies, Alpha.”