Chapter 25
Chapter
Twenty-Five
It was finally the day of the transport job. Nico was trying to convince himself that it was just like any other job. He felt totally normal, and things weren't incredibly strained between him and the other pack betas.
Of course, he was lying to himself about that, but he was lying to himself about a lot of things.
It would be nice if he could get his subconscious to believe any of those lies.
They met at a warehouse on the edge of the city, close to the border with Iron Runner territory. The job would take them through Iron Runner territory and past several different potential points of conflict.
They were moving a family of wolves who wanted to leave the Iron Runner pack without paying the steep exit toll that the alpha, a man named Dawson, required. It was risky business, and if the family got caught, they would face an even steeper fine and some sort of physical penalty.
Nico was more than happy to deprive Dawson of money and people. The Iron Runner pack had enough of both as it was.
A taxi pulled up, and four people got out. A man and woman who appeared to be in their mid-40s and two teenage boys.
According to the information that Nico had, this would be David and Kathleen and their sons, Oliver and Shane. Cole approached David and Kathleen and spoke to them quietly while the taxi drove away. Even from several feet away, Nico could smell the acrid edge of fear each of them was carrying.
Though they were on the edge of the territory nearest the Southern Basin territory, unfortunately, this family's new home lay past the far edge of Iron Runner territory, and going the long way around would take them hundreds of miles out of the way and put them at risk the entire time.
Though it would be harrowing, it was faster and safer for them to just go through the city.
But something felt off about this job.
Not the werewolf family, who was giving off the right amount of fear and hope. Not the setup, because they'd done this dozens of times before, both for members of the Iron Runner pack and other packs.
But Nico couldn't get over the fact that it felt like he was being watched all day.
Like there was someone just out of the corner of his eye staring at him.
The hair on the back of his neck prickled, and he kept suppressing the urge to snap his head back and look for an observer.
Every time he lost the battle, no one was there, except for one time it was Reece, who just scowled at him and looked away.
He knew what it felt like to be glared at by Reece, and this feeling was entirely different.
He hadn't gone near Elise again in the more than a week it had been since his foolish journey to the zoo. But he could feel his resolve weakening. He didn't know how much longer he was going to be able to stay away.
He was an addict hankering for a fix. Or like a wolf desperate to claim and protect his mate.
The back of his neck was still itching, and he clutched it, trying to scratch at the spot where it felt worse.
His fingernails dug into the skin hard enough to leave marks, but the sensation beneath refused to be assuaged.
"Is something wrong?" Reece asked. "Mosquito bite?"
It wasn't a mosquito bite. That would be annoying enough, but he knew what that felt like.
"Does anything about today feel weird?" Nico asked.
Reece shrugged. "No, it's just another job."
Nico hoped he was right.
Cole whistled, and that put the other betas at attention.
The plan was to drive the family through the city in a convoy of three cars. Reece and Javi would be in the front. Nico would be in the center with Hugh riding shotgun and the family cowering in the back of a large SUV with tinted windows. Cole would take up the rear.
Nico wished that Cole didn't take these kinds of risks on himself, but he couldn't tell the alpha what to do. He was in deep enough shit as it was.
Something pricked the back of his neck. His wolf surged forward with a snarl of warning trapped in his throat.
One moment, everything was fine, and then chaos erupted.
The scent of magic bloomed everywhere, and all of the werewolves around him began to yell as a swarm of wolves attacked them.
But no, that wasn't right. At first, Nico thought it was the Iron Runner pack, that they had figured out the plan and were clawing the family back.
Then one wolf got near him, and Nico saw it was made of shadow.
When he tried to fight it, it dissolved into nothingness.
His fist passed through the creature's throat where he'd aimed for a killing blow, meeting air cold enough to burn his knuckles.
The shadow reformed behind him with teeth that felt real enough when they grazed his shoulder.
Illusions. Magic. Coven.
Fuck!
Cole was calling out orders while Kathleen, David, and the boys were screaming and the other betas were trying to fight off monsters that they couldn't touch but seemed more than capable of inflicting damage upon them.
Javi's shoulder was already bleeding from nasty looking claw marks, red soaking his shirt, and Hugh was limping as he swung at empty air that kept biting back.
One of the boys made a run for it, and a moment later, his brother followed. It didn't take more than a heartbeat for the parents to go running after them, back onto Iron Runner territory.
Nico was tempted to chase, but what help could he be? He couldn't protect all of them by himself, especially not on enemy pack territory.
Then a woman screamed.
Not Kathleen. No. A much more familiar, much more dear voice.
Elise.
The sound was a staggering blow, making bile rise in his throat as his wolf demanded he run straight for their terrified mate.
The rational part of his mind knew it wasn't her. Or if it was, it was because she was in on whatever this attack was.
But his wolf was close to the surface in the chaos, and his wolf had only one desire: protect their mate.
Nico couldn't hold himself back. He rushed around the corner, chasing the woman's screams down deeper and deeper into an alley that was surrounded with shadows. His breath came hard and fast, vision narrowing to a tunnel focused only on reaching her.
The screams seemed to be the same distance away, no matter how far he ran, until he ended up standing under a streetlight, and an unfamiliar witch stepped out onto the alley in front of him. She was taller than Elise, with a cruel smile that twisted her features into something predatory.
She held a ball of magic in her hand and grinned, and Nico tried to back up, but something held him in place as if concrete had swallowed up his shoes, and there were invisible chains around his shoulders.
He strained against the binding, but the magical restraints only tightened, cutting into his chest until each breath was a struggle. Fucking magic.
"Hey, asshole," the woman said, "catch," and she threw the magic at him, and everything went black.
Later, he came to.
He had no idea how long it had been, but now he was sitting, and it felt like he was inside.
He opened his eyes to see the cement walls of an unfinished basement.
The air was damp and smelled of mildew. A naked light bulb hung from the ceiling and made the whitewashed brick unnaturally bright.
He could feel rope around his legs and his hands tying him to an uncomfortably hard chair.
His eyes confirmed that the rope was real this time, though he couldn't guarantee that no magic was involved. He struggled against the ropes, but it did no good.
He tried to cry for help, but there was a gag in his mouth. He tasted dirt and soap and tried not to think of just how disgusting a rag could be.
Nico was captured. Trapped by witches.
And he didn't know how he was going to get out of this mess.