Chapter Four
Aleco cared for Pedro. He soaped him, rinsed him then led him from the shower. After carefully drying him, he ran his fingers through his hair.
“It will be okay,” he murmured.
“We don’t know that.” It was as if the fight was leaving Pedro. “We have no clues, nowhere to turn.”
“Keep the faith. We will. You’ll see.” He kissed the tip of his nose. “Come on, you need rest.”
“No, I need to get back out there.” He reached for his shorts and pulled them on.
Aleco did the same with his jeans then took Pedro’s hand. “No, you lie down for a few hours. I’ll go out, hunt around.”
“I’ll come with you.”
“But what if she comes home? One of us has to be here.”
Pedro paused for a moment. “So, let me go out and search first.”
“No.” Aleco frowned. “As your mate and your Alpha male, I’m telling you that I’m going first. You will rest.”
Pedro glanced away. He knew he’d lost the argument.
Aleco drew in a deep breath, took Pedro’s hand and led him to the chair by the fire. He knew full well that Pedro wouldn’t actually go to bed, but he might get a few minutes’ sleep sitting in the living area. “Sit.”
Pedro did as instructed.
Aleco fetched them both a glass of water. Then when he’d drank his, he pressed a kiss over Pedro’s lips. “I’ll be back in a few hours. I might not come up with anything but at least it will feel like we’re doing something.”
“I can’t believe she’s not here,” Pedro said, staring at the soft red chair Julie liked to sit in.
“But she will be again. Be strong.” Aleco cupped his cheek. “Have faith in her love for us. She hasn’t gone because she wants to. Something has happened.”
“I know she loves us with all her heart.” Pedro banged his chest. “Which, in a way, is scarier, because where the fuck is she? What’s happened?”
“I intend to find out. Davey got stuck in a trap, so he won’t have done as thorough a search as he should have. Not his fault. I’ll go follow his trail then extend it.”
“Yes. Okay.” Pedro nodded, a flash of hope in his eyes. “Good plan.”
Knock. Knock.
They both turned to the door. Aleco was there in an instant, pulling it open. Flo was hopping from one foot to the other. “This just arrived.” She handed over a scrap of paper. “Who delivered it?”
“A young shifter from the Rocky Mountain Pack.”
Aleco frowned and the hairs on his neck tingled. A Rocky shifter had been on their territory? That was stepping way out of line. Their borders and boundaries were sacred, always had been.
He unfolded the paper. Scrawling black writing filled it.
I’m sure by now you’re wondering where your female mate is, Aleco. Do not fear, she is well…for now.
Come to us. We have much to discuss. Titan
“What the…?” Aleco turned.
Pedro was at his shoulder, staring down at the paper. “They have her?” Pedro said, his eyes flashing. “ Titan has her.”
“I’m going to kill him.” Aleco felt as if his blood had turned to lava, his skin itched, his heart raced. How dare the Rocky Shifters steal their woman! This meant war on a scale the shifters had never seen before.
A low, throaty growl rumbled up from his chest as he screwed up the paper and slung it past Flo and into the dark night. “Round up the pack. Now!”
Pedro stepped past him. As he went he shifted. Then, in his dog form he jumped onto the wall near the waning fire and howled. The sound was full of pain and fury, laced with impatience, too.
Aleco hoped the pack would come quickly, because he was in no mood to hang around. He needed to get to Julie. And if that bastard Titan had touched her, scared her, harmed her, there’d be blood spilled before dawn.
Luckily the pack in the camp were quick to assemble. Aleco filled them in on the situation.
“Davey, you stay here,” he said, nodding at Davey’s injured leg. “The camp needs inhabiting by at least one shifter.” Aleco turned to Patrick. “Get to the town. Tell the others to meet us on the southeast border of Rocky territory, near the waterfall.”
“Sure thing, boss.” Patrick jogged toward his Jeep.
“They took the wrong woman from the wrong pack,” Aleco said, then allowed his body to shift.
It was a relief. The emotions blasting through him in his human form were hard to handle. At least now, as a dog, he could race through the woods, burn up some of the adrenaline. Not only that, he could start reducing the distance between him and Julie.
“ What are we waiting for ?” Pedro asked, bounding down from the wall.
“ Nothing .” Aleco turned to the dark woods and raced toward them. Once in the shadows, he galloped along the familiar track. He leaped a fallen tree and scooted around a termite mound.
Pedro and several other shifters were hot on his tail, their breaths loud and their paws snapping twigs as they went.
It would take an hour at a good pace to get to the waterfall and meet the rest of the pack. But that was okay. He might have a few years on most of his men, but he was still one of the biggest and fittest.
Pedro closed in on him when they reached a clearing. “ Why the hell would they take our woman?”
“ I have no idea, but they’ll pay for it. Titan has made a huge mistake.”
“He’ll pay for it with his life,” Pedro replied. “ And if he’s hurt her, if he’s so much as made her cry, it’ll be a long, slow death.”
“I agree.”
On and on they went. Aleco’s mind was racing as fast as his legs. It just didn’t make sense. The two packs were enemies, but they’d always kept to themselves. Never seeking out to antagonize each other. Their territories were enormous. It was easy to stay out of each other’s way and to not cross paths. And there was more than enough food for everyone.
Titan had better have a damn good reason for taking their woman, and if not, he’d pay for it big time. The Rocky shifters had better start thinking of a new place to live because he’d kill their leader and take over their territory.
Determination pumped through his veins as he resolved to take revenge.
Eventually, the scent of the waterfall laced the air.
The pack ran on and Aleco was pleased when he detected the rest of his men, in their animal forms, on the wind. They were already there.
When they arrived at the base of the falls, the first thing all the shifters did was drink.
Aleco then shifted and stood, hands on hips, and surveyed the twenty or so dogs before him. They were all beautiful, all big, and each one a skilled fighter who’d go to the death to protect what was theirs and who they loved.
He was one lucky Alpha male to have them in his pack.
“I’m sure you all know by now that Titan has Julie.
Several dogs growled, baring their teeth, just at the mention of their enemy’s name.
“And we’re going to get her.”
Pedro stomped around in a circle, his paws slapping the ground.
“I have no idea why he’s taken her. Why he would do something he knows would incite fury not just in me, but in the Redwood Shifters. But we’re going to find out, and we’re going to let him know this is not acceptable. Our ancestors wouldn’t have stood for it, and neither will we.”
Pedro growled.
“Yes. We’ll go now.” Aleco ran his hand over Pedro’s fur. His hackles were up and tension radiated from him. “But let me do the talking when we get there.” He paused. “Remember I am pack leader.”
Aleco shifted, his body stretching, lowering and becoming warmer as his fur sprang into place.
“ Of course, I’ll remember ,” Pedro replied. “ But I want her back, now.”
“And that’s exactly what’s going to happen.”
With an even bigger pack behind him, Aleco leaped over the stream and landed on Rocky territory.
His senses were on high alert. Passion and rage fueled his galloping paces as he headed east to where Titan’s pack had, many years ago, set up camp.
The stench of his rivals filled the air, mixing with raccoon, deer and the damp forest floor.
But there was no sign of Julie. He couldn’t detect her scent. She’d clearly been brought into the forest a different way from the town, likely up one of the dirt tracks.
“ I can’t smell her yet ,” Pedro declared.
“ No, but she’ll be there. Why else would Titan summon us?”
“ Summon? More like unleash the hounds of hell upon himself. Does he have any idea what a stupid move taking Julie was?”
“ I’m guessing stupid is his middle name.”
Pedro barked, twice.
As they made progress toward the Rocky camp, Aleco was pleased, at least, that something was happening. The thought of spending the night with his mind twisted in worry and his thoughts going in awful directions, wasn’t something he’d enjoyed the prospect of. Now at least, within the hour, and no matter what it took, who he had to fight, they’d have their woman back.
That was non-negotiable.
Traces of Rocky shifters grew stronger as they raced through the forest with just the dappled moonlight to illuminate their way. Aleco didn’t feel in the slightest bit tired from the long run. He just wanted to get there.
Eventually they came to the camp. It was a series of log cabins set, like theirs, around a stone wall and a fire. Though the Rocky Pack had a tall totem pole, with dogs’ faces carved onto it, as a feature at the entrance to the camp.
Beneath the pole were several dogs, standing, teeth bared, hackles up.
Aleco came to a halt and took in the scene. His pack drew up close behind him, Pedro’s shoulder brushing his.
Titan was in his human form, sitting to the left of the fire. He was an imposing man with wide shoulders and a scraggy black beard. He wore a gray vest and black denims. His feet were bare.
Around him, Aleco guessed in pecking order, were several other men, mainly bare chested. A group of women sat to the left of them. Aleco suspected a couple were shifters.
“ I can’t see her,” Pedro snapped.
“ No, neither can I.”
“ But I can smell her. She’s here somewhere.”
Aleco stepped forward, shifting as he did so. He ignored the snarling dog to his right. He knew Pedro would take it down if it took another step toward him. “Where is she?” Aleco barely paused as he straightened in his human form.
“She’s here.”
“Where?” Aleco swung his gaze around the camp again.
Titan stood and nodded at a man to his right. “Go and get the human woman. It seems her shifter wants her back.”
“Too damn right I do.” Aleco walked past the totem and into the clearing beside the fire. The heat of the flames licked over his arms “And I want to know what the hell you think you’re playing at. Do you have a death wish?”
Titan chuckled and folded his arms. “Oh, no, not a death wish, but there is something I wish for.”
“Which is?” Aleco did his best to control the shake in his voice. It was one borne of fury, of rage. He couldn’t remember when he’d last been so angry, and the moment he had Julie back with them, he’d stop bothering to control the urge to throttle the man before him.
“Aleco! Pedro!”