8. Darius
DARIUS
Iwatched the footage of Vivianna fighting at the boxing gym again on my table, furious that we hadn’t been fast enough to save her.
After Rik and Tav managed to convince the other members of leadership that we needed to go after her, I’d been up nearly all night trying to play catch-up on the situation.
If anyone had doubt that this woman was a force to be reckoned with, they only needed to watch this. Then again, she’d have to be for The Collective to agree to making their first move against Vadik on his own turf.
Vadik hadn’t wasted any time in triggering the transformation. All we could do now was hope she’d survive the first shift and that we’d find her in time to help her through the bonding.
In a matter of hours, Vivianna would meet her wolf mind.
The goal, for any werewolf, is to live harmoniously with the wolf inside you.
Those of us that have grown up knowing we are werewolves learn what to expect and how to share brain space with another consciousness, but those that are bitten or forced into the transformation sometimes lose their minds trying to battle against the second entity living with them.
Females already had a hard enough time surviving the pain and agony that the first shift put them through, then trying to wrap your mind around sharing your innermost space? It just added another level of stress.
Would she be strong enough to survive until we got to her? I knew she was strong in body, but the mind was another matter. How long would it take us to locate where Vadik and that whack-job Dr. Faulk took her?
Thankfully we had eyes on her to know that she had been bitten and tossed into a van, otherwise we would have failed entirely.
Having the plate number at least led us to the airport, but the private jet had submitted a false flight plan.
Now we’d have to track it the old-fashioned way with satellites.
I hope to god that Rik was right about her being worth it.
A knock sounded on the door to the suite that I stayed in at Collective headquarters. “Alpha, we found them.”
I threw open the door and glared at the man standing at attention in front of me. “Where are they?”
“Just as you suspected. They are in Russia, and we’ve traced them to just south of St. Petersburg. It looks like they have a connection with the Iversky Monastery—it’s where they have her locked up,” the agent reported.
“Do we know if she survived her shift?” I asked, heading down the hall to my war room.
“I’m sorry, alpha, we have not been able to confirm that as of yet. We have men on the ground that are trying to give us more intel. They have no modern security for us to hack into, which of course makes progress slower,” the agent said, bowing his head in submission.
I pushed open the doors to the war room and walked up to the wall of screens that showed images of the monastery, the surrounding area, and any other useful information we could get our hands on.
Another agent handed me a dossier, which I scanned over, sorting out what I already knew from the new information.
We hadn’t gotten much more since I left a few hours ago; we needed to get this working faster if we were going to make it in time.
“How fast can we get the helicopter ready?” I asked the room.
“It can be ready in thirty minutes, alpha,” an agent answered behind me.
“Are Alphas Rik and Tav still here?” I inquired, knowing they would want to be updated.
“If you took a moment to check your surroundings, you would know we’re sitting right here,” Rik said, pulling my attention to him and Tav sitting at the conference table to my left.
I smirked at Rik. Most alphas didn’t like how direct he was, but I loved it.
I never needed to ask Rik how he felt about things—he just laid it all out there.
Tav, beside him, looked like he was sleeping on his folded arms on the table.
Leave it to Tav; he could sleep anywhere, no matter what was going on.
I’d learned, though, that just because he’s sleeping doesn’t mean he won’t bite you if you try and mess with him.
I’m speaking from personal experience, of course.
“I’m assuming you both want to join me on this extraction?” I asked, knowing the answer.
“I want to go too,” Koit said, entering the room with a tray full of coffee cups.
“Koit, you know I don’t allow any liquids in the war room,” I growled, narrowing my eyes at the beta.
I’d never warmed up to Rik’s best friend and second.
He was too unpredictable for my liking. He didn’t follow orders well and seemed to forget his place in the pack hierarchy.
This wasn’t the first time that we’d talked about having drinks in the war room, but he never seemed to remember.
Maybe I need to challenge him; then he’ll understand that my word is law in my territory.
The only reason I hadn’t before is it was rude to discipline another wolf’s pack member unless they’d done something directly to you or another pack member.
And bringing coffee into the war room wasn’t reason enough to issue a challenge.
“Oh, is that a new rule?” Koit asked, blinking at me, but I could see the glint of humor in his eyes.
My growl deepened as I took a step closer to the offending wolf.
“Knock it off, Koit, or I’ll let Darius challenge you,” Rik chastised, taking a cup from the tray. “How is it that trouble follows you everywhere?”
“You’re not helping the situation either, Rik. You’re encouraging him by taking the coffee you know isn’t supposed to be in here,” Tav said from where he was resting.
“Thank you, Tav. Now, all you and your hazardous liquids, get out of my war room. We’ll meet up on the helipad in thirty minutes,” I said, waving them off with a hand.
“Oh, so you don’t need my help figuring out how to get her out?” Tav said, lifting his head and looking at me innocently.
As much as I didn’t want to admit it, I was going to need his help on this. “Fine, stay. But the rest of you—out.”
“I’ll need blueprints, maps of the area, and whatever else we know about the monastery,” Tav directed as he pulled his hair back from his face into a haphazard man bun.
Seeing Tav in his element made me wonder what was really keeping his dad from giving the pack over to him.
There had to be more to the situation than met the eye.
He was sharp, efficient, and took total command over whatever predicaments The Collective assigned him to.
Yeah, he was more of a bleeding heart than most alphas, but everyone ran their packs differently.
For the next twenty minutes, Tav and I hashed out a plan as best we could without much current intel to go on.
The men on the ground were able to confirm that Vivianna was still alive, but they didn’t have much else.
We also learned Vadik and Dr. Faulk were accompanied by none other than Vivianna’s father.
As much as I would’ve liked to take out her father, I didn’t want to have a war with Russia and the United Kingdom. Faulk, however… leadership had given us clearance to capture that piece of scum.
“It looks like this is the best we can do for now,” Tav pointed out. “We’ll have Koit track her scent and get her the hell out while we cause a distraction.”
He knew that the beta and I didn’t get along well, so he was trying to show his value in coming with us. I couldn’t argue his point—Koit was the best tracker we had, and I was never one to let my personal feelings get in the way of a job.
“Alright then, let’s get this show on the road. We have a two-hour flight ahead of us and then another thirty minutes driving,” I said as I signaled to one of my agents. “Tell Beta Force that we’re ready and to gear up.”
Leaving Tav to fend for himself, I jogged down the hall to change out of my suit. As much as I always felt a suit could work in any situation, a covert extraction might be one of the few where it didn’t. I clipped on my tactical belt and sheathed my military-issue knife.
Ready to leave, I took the secure elevator up to the roof and found two S-97 Raider helicopters ready and waiting.
Six Beta Force boarded one, and the other alphas and I took the other with two more from Beta Force.
Eight elite werewolves, one super tracker beta, and three alphas would have to be enough to make this work.
Hang on, Vivianna, if you’re worth all this, you better be willing to fight for your life.