Goodbye
forty-seven
*MARTIN*
I blink at the voice. Did I say the last word out loud? No way, I didn’t! My head snaps up just as the sound of a bullet being fired echoes through the air, but instead of hitting me, it hits the wall next to me.
“What the fuck is going on?” Jordan exclaims.
Before he can spin around, Forest has grabbed him and smashed his forehead against Jordan’s, knocking him over.
A whole group of our warriors pours into the room.
Before any of Jordan’s men can react, Forest sneers.
“I would think twice before I did that,” he says.
“You are pretty much surrounded, and I won’t hesitate to take anyone down. ”
“None of us would,” Griffin adds.
“There is no way you have us surrounded,” Jordan hisses. “And even if. We are strong and up for a fight.”
“Against Leonard’s snipers,” Forest asks, raising his eyebrows.
One look at him tells me he is telling the truth. I know Leonard has insanely well-trained warriors, and while usually wolves don’t like to handle weapons, he once said that as alpha of a pack the size of his, he needed to be prepared for everything.
Upstairs, I can hear screams all of a sudden.
“Oh, he must have started already,” Forest says. “We don’t mind some collateral damage.”
“Don’t listen to him,” Jordan shouts, scrambling up to his feet. “He is nothing compared to me.”
Before he can turn towards Forest, the latter has already kicked him hard. “Let’s play by Jordan’s rules,” Forest says.
“It’s my pleasure,” Griffin says.
A group of warriors hurries forward, pressing Jordan into the ground while Griffin takes out a syringe, pressing it against Jordan’s neck.
“Just so you know,” Forest says to Jordan’s men. “I couldn’t give a flying fuck about you and whether you live or not. But if you don’t step down now, you will die. And Jordan is not going to help you, not now, not ever again.”
“He is nothing without his backup anyway,” I mutter. “His punch is weak as fuck.”
Forest grins. “I figured.”
More warriors hurry downstairs. They seem to be from other packs, but I recognize Tristan’s beta. Forest must have had a kick-ass backup plan. If he had told me beforehand, I might have said it was too much, but that’s what I’d get for questioning an alpha.
For a moment, no one speaks or moves, then all of a sudden the guard that Jordan punched before raises his hands and gets down on his knees. One by one, the others follow.
“Pity,” Griffin mutters.
“Tie them up and make sure they can’t run. Then free the victims,” Forest commands. “The cells we can use for our new prisoners.” He turns to look at me now, frowning. “You don’t look too good,” he mutters. “It’s my fault. I forced you to take a huge risk.”
“Don’t worry. Your training helped,” I chuckle.
“What are you laughing about?” Griffin groans. “You are bleeding like fuck.”
“Eh, nothing that won’t heal.”
“Really, man?” Griffin sounds exasperated. “The guy clawed you.”
“We’ll get you first aid immediately,” Forest promises. “Oh, and just for the record: Good job, Martin.”
“How were you so quick?” I ask, more surprised, when I see how warriors from other packs appear to free the locked-in victims. “I figured I had bought you some time, but…”
“We started moving the moment you stepped into the basement,” Forest says. “I knew there was no way one of my men would just stand by and watch. You wouldn’t be my beta if you hadn’t intervened.”
I smile slightly. “Yeah, I guess.”
Griffin helps me up to a standing position, looking at me with a frown. “I am just that good, huh?” he says, referring to my praise of him from before when I talked to Harry and Jordan. Then he pulls me into a hug. “You scared me a little there.”
“Me too,” Forest says quietly, patting my shoulder. “Fuck, I can’t lose any of you.”
“I am sturdy,” I mutter.
“Yeah, not sturdy enough to keep hanging around any longer,” Griffin mutters. “You need to see Dr. Francis. Is he here yet?”
Forest turns to one of our elite warriors, gesturing for him to check. The man is gone for a few minutes before returning and nodding to us. Together with Griffin, he escorts me upstairs. Meanwhile, Forest stays to keep a watchful eye on Jordan.
The next hour passes in a blur. Dr. Francis checks me over, unhappy that I don’t want to leave immediately, wanting to see this through. More and more of our warriors are coming in on jeeps. Alpha Tristan and two of his alpha friends are there, too.
Eventually, Forest and Tristan come to check on me and to fill me in on what’s going on.
“Two of the girls down there were actually from my friend’s pack,” Tristan tells us.
“No way,” I exclaim.
“Yeah, they went missing. He and his ranked members have been searching for them for a while. His luna actually even talked to mine, which is why I got involved. Consider my surprise when I saw the video stream earlier tonight and spotted them.”
“I had no idea you would show the stream to anyone else,” I say, surprised, but not displeased. It happened to be a good move.
“It was Rose’s idea, obviously,” Forest chuckles. “You know, she has a very good intuition when it’s about security. You were too busy, so we didn’t notify you ahead.”
“It didn’t change much for me anyway,” I say. “I am just glad you did it. Actually, I should have thought about it as well. I am good at strategy but lack a sense of security.”
“Don’t we all,” Griffin says. “We are not used to seeing the bigger picture.”
“We will learn,” Forest says. “The bottom line is that we streamed your recording and Harry’s, not only to Leonard but also to Tristan.”
“And I involved some of my closest allies.”
“Alpha Tristan,” I say quietly.
“Yes?”
“From what I have learned the last couple of weeks, none of the victims Jordan had here, neither the women he forced to work at his brothel nor the ones in the basement, were… people he kidnapped.”
“What are you implying?” Griffin asks.
“He is saying that the two girls from my friend’s pack were sold to Jordan, either to fulfill a debt or for the money,” Tristan says.
“We figured that out while watching. For an alpha, that’s a bitter pill to swallow.
Not that I am one to talk. My beta’s brother was obviously trying to overthrow me. ”
I gaze at the alpha he mentioned before, who is currently talking to some of his warriors and to the doctor who checked on the women from his pack. No surprise he looks so grim. “We have a lot of weeding out to do,” I say.
“Yes,” Forest shakes his head, displeased. “Through your recording, we saw who was attending this evening. You are right, there is a lot of work ahead of us.”
“They are weak; they will break fast,” a voice interrupts us.
We turn around to look at Leonard. He smiles at us. “We are more aware of everything now,” he says. “This was an important lesson for us to learn. Many of us knew how awful Jordan was, but we let it happen. I let it happen, too. And the situation spiraled out of control.”
“We’ll learn from this,” Tristan agrees.
One by one, each victim, beginning with those who were in the basement, then the she-wolves who were forced to work in the brothel, is checked on and brought to safe packs. Tristan, Leonard and Forest each accept a whole bunch of them, as they have the best infrastructure and the funds to help.
Granted, we only have the funds thanks to Rose.
Talking about funds, something tells me she will get a lot richer now that Jordan is going to be imprisoned and dealt with.
Once the victims are safe, there are more jeeps coming with warriors who look hard as nails. “The prison guard is here,” Leonard says.
Tristan raises his brows. “Wow, you really have played all your contacts for it to happen so fast.”
“Just want to be able to look in the mirror again,” Leonard admits. “Rosea’s father was a really good friend, and I let his daughter suffer for years. This is the least I can do.”
“What’s going to happen to these guys?” I ask, watching how the guards escort not only Jordan’s allies and ranked members outside but also the guests.
“We’ll send them directly to prison,” Forest says. “The elders there will deal with the consequences for their actions.”
“I love that for them,” Griffin snorts. “All those rich guys who thought money could buy it all for them, who thought they were invincible thanks to their rank and wealth.”
“It’s good that they are taken there directly,” Tristan says. “I wouldn’t feel safe keeping any of them in my own pack, even if it was just for a short while. Do they have enough space in the dungeons?”
Leonard nods. “One of Forest’s elders—Betty, I think—called in advance. They have enough cells. Also, she has some friends there, from what I know. And they were enraged when they heard what transpired here.”
“What about Harry?” Griffin asks.
Leonard looks at Forest. “That’s your call.”
“Chain him up and bring him back to our pack, but not back to my mom. He is to be kept in the dungeons until tomorrow. Then I will have him transported to the prison.” Forest pauses.
“I want to have a talk with him before that. Make it in the morning hours. I want my mother to be there for it, too.”
“Fair enough,” Leonard says.
The last person the guards escort is Jordan. He looks really roughed up. The idiot probably put up a fight.
“Wait a moment,” Forest says, whispering something to Griffin. The latter briefly disappears, but when he returns, he comes with company.
Rory is with him?
Of course he is.
The broad-shouldered man pauses when he sees me. “Why do you look so shitty?” he exclaims.
I snort. “Sorry for not looking pretty enough.”
Rory looks exasperated, then gestures at Jordan. “Did that asshole here ruin your handsome face?”
My handsome face?
If I weren’t so surprised, I would have probably blushed like a teen.
“I am fine,” I assure him. “Once the wolfsbane is gone out of my system, I will heal in no time.”
“It would be even better if you just left with me and returned to the pack,” Dr. Francis mutters.
“And miss the show?” I ask him.
“Wolfsbane?” Rory looks pissed before he turns towards Jordan. In one swift movement, he rams his elbow into his chest, sending him flying to the ground.
Before he can get up, two of the prison guards press him to the ground. “Is that all?” Jordan laughs. “I thought you would be stronger.”
“Nah, I just promised I wouldn’t rough you up too much,” Rory says before walking to me. He sits down next to me.
“You made a promise?” I stare at him before my eyes widen. “No way.”
My eyes follow Forest as he walks towards the door, talking to someone outside. When he walks back in, Rose follows him. “She is here?” Leonard asks, shocked. “But this is no place—”
“This is exactly the place for me,” Rose interrupts him, walking past Forest and the others to Jordan. “Funny to see you crawling in the dirt.”
“Rosy,” he says, his bloody face turning into an ugly sneer. “I should have killed you.”
“Yes,” she says. “You should have. You were stupid not to.”
For a moment, she just looks at him.
“You are surprisingly pathetic,” she mutters. “I guess I had to meet a real alpha to realize.”
Griffin grins at her words. “Don’t worry, Luna, it happens to the best of us.”
“Without me, you are nothing, Rosea,” Jordan spits. “I gave you everything. You are who you are because of me.”
“Yes, you’re right. I became who I am because you tried to break me.”
He furrows his brows, ready to say something when she suddenly lifts her right leg and stomps down on his face, her pointy heel barely missing his neck. Jordan groans, trying to struggle away from her.
Forest just laughs at the sight. “You are incredibly sexy, babe.”
Rose briefly looks up, smiling, the way she only smiles at him.
“Should have pierced his neck with that heel of yours,” Griffin mutters.
Rose takes a step back and walks around Jordan.
“Where would the fun be in that, Griffin? I don’t want him to die.
I want him to continue living, miserably.
” She presses her shoe against his groin.
“I wonder how much our wolves can heal,” she muses, “if we inflict a major injury while on wolfsbane.”
For the first time that I have known him, Jordan looks terrified. “Wait…” he calls out. “Rosy!”
Rose ignores him, pressing down onto his groin.
“You can’t let her do this,” Jordan exclaims, grabbing onto the leg of one of the guards.
The latter just looks up at the man next to him. “Captain?” he asks.
The answer comes promptly. With one single glance at Jordan, the captain of the guards just snorts. “Who cares?”
Something in Rose’s eyes flashes. “Hello, ex-mate,” she sneers as her wolf comes forward. “Miss me?”