12. Koit
KOIT
I’d seen many wolves do many things, but leaping over a twelve-foot wall has to be in the top ten.
This chick, on top of being an alpha, is a badass, that’s for sure.
I turned to face the oncoming wolves that’d scared her off.
With good reason, too—there were four of them, and if I was newly shifted, having a showdown wouldn’t be my first choice, either.
Rik had finished shifting, and with a quick shake of his brown-gray coat, he was off. He didn’t give the leading wolf a chance to fight back. He aimed low and caught the wolf by the leg, flipping him while twisting his head. I heard the crack of bone and a howl of pain—one down, three to go.
The next wolf was mine. I pounced and rolled the wolf away from the others while both of us snapped at each other, trying to get a hold somewhere.
He caught me on the cheek and started ripping at it while I dug in with my hind legs, shredding into his soft underbelly.
We both fought mean and dirty—one of us wasn’t going to make it out of this fight alive.
As I continued my attack on his stomach, he finally released my face, leaving me open to grab hold of his neck.
This wolf didn’t have very thick fur, so it was easy to sink my teeth into the back of his neck, right on the spine.
With a sharp yank and twist, he fell limp to the ground.
Looking around, I saw Rik in a fight, and the last two wolves had ganged up on him, one on either side.
They were so focused on him that they didn’t see me coming.
I ran and landed on one of the wolf’s backs, but he reared up, and I could only clamp down on his ear.
We snapped at each other, growling and facing each other on our hind legs locked in a bear hug, trying to knock the other to the ground.
I managed to get the upper hand by maneuvering myself on top of him, forcing his face into the ground.
This time I went for the front of the neck and crushed his airway.
If he didn’t suffocate, then he might be able to heal from the injury.
I hated to take more lives than I had to—these wolves didn’t have a choice in the matter, they were just following their pack leader’s orders.
I could also tell this wolf was submissive enough to know when he’d been beaten and to stay down.
Rik was still fighting a wolf twice the size of the one I’d just taken down, but I knew he could handle it.
Just when I was going to leave out of the sewer drain we’d crawled through to get here, Dr. Faulk decided to make an appearance.
The Collective had ordered that if we could manage to apprehend him, then we were to do so.
Lucky me, I get to take down one of our society’s biggest bogeymen.
For this, though, I was going to need to shift—I didn’t want to kill him, I just needed to knock him out for a while—so I ducked around the corner of the main building and started to shift back.
Once human, I found a large rock conveniently located by the deteriorating wall of the monastery.
Peeking around, I saw Dr. Faulk watching Rik’s fight with glee in his eyes.
He never missed a chance to watch a good wolf fight.
He’d lost the ability to shift after having conducted too many experiments on himself—he’d never know the feeling of being a wolf again.
Dr. Anthony Faulk had been part of The Collective many years ago, a scientist working towards fixing the deterioration of the werewolf gene.
Sadly, one too many experimental drugs later, he’d been shipped off to the loony bin.
We also found out afterwards that he’d performed secret experiments that weren’t approved by The Collective.
Then, thirty years ago, someone broke him out and secreted him away.
Why am I not surprised that it was Vadik, the dick of Russia, who released this crazy-ass wolf on the world?
I silently walked up behind Dr. Faulk and whacked him in the head with the rock. Normally I would’ve just choked him out, but I felt that was too good for him. He gave a grunt of surprise and crumpled to the ground.
“You about done playing with that wolf, Rik?” I hollered across the yard.
Rik artfully slammed the wolf in question into the brick wall, knocking him out. He turned his green eyes to me with a look of irritation.
“No need to get all moody, Alpha. I just happened to pick up a friend along the way and thought we should leave before he wakes up,” I said, lifting Faulk by the collar of his shirt.
Rik trotted over to me and sniffed at Faulk, letting out a low growl, then lifted a leg and peed on him.
“Really, Rik? Was that necessary? That’s something I would do, and that tells me that you, sir, should have risen above the urge,” I teased.
Rik’s response was to lunge in at me, snapping very close to the family jewels.
“Fuck, man, not cool!” I said, jumping back and covering my goods with my hands. “Clearly you need to get laid more often if you think that’s something to joke about,” I hollered after him as he took off in the direction of the exit.
Looking down at the heap that was Dr. Faulk, now covered in wolf piss, I heaved a deep sigh. A beta’s work was never done.
“It’s cool, I got this. I’ll drag the doc all the way there by myself, no worries,” I muttered as I pulled Faulk along behind me.
“Koit, have the others made it out?” an agent of Darius’s asked, jogging up to me.
Oh, yeah, I forgot we brought along help. Maybe I can get him to carry this worthless sack of wolf flesh back.
“Yeah, everyone else left. We just need to make sure we get this guy out as well,” I said, jerking my head to the side, drawing his attention to my tagalong.
“Looks like you’ve got that well in hand. We’ll watch your six while you get him out of here. Alpha is calling us back; they have the female secure in an exit vehicle,” the agent said, waving to three others of our team.
Well, isn’t that just peachy. I do all the grunt work, and they get to be the heroes, protecting the new girl. Why do I always get the short end of the stick? Why can’t I be the hero instead of the faithful sidekick, just for once?
I tossed Faulk over my shoulder, deciding it would be faster than dragging him. On the bright side, I’d get to hit him again if he woke up. On the downside, I was now covered in Rik’s pee.