Chapter 41

Val had placed spies throughout the town, staying away from both the werewolf and werebear territories. This little town was still considered under their protection, but it wasn’t guarded as much. From what Val saw, it wasn’t guarded as well as it could be, though he still had to be careful.

He found an older, large house on the outskirts of town. It was perfect as a base for him, hidden by a long drive, trees, and overgrown bushes.

There were lots of rooms, and the basement had only one way in or out. He found several strange things in the house that made him wonder about the previous owners.

Some rooms had locks on the outside of the doors; the basement even had shackles and chains still hooked up and ready. Goes to show you never know what goes on behind closed doors. This house had to be one of Alpha Michael’s hideaways.

Who would have thought that the one weakness that both packs had was this sweet little town, filled to the brim with humans? Val had two more aces up his sleeve. He wasn’t entirely sure about them, but he knew he could buy them for a fair price.

Now all he had to do was wait. One thing Val knew he was good at was waiting. The art of the ambush was in his blood, after all.

Duncan and Marco waited on the deck of the pack house as two cars drove up, escorted by Tack on his motorcycle. Duncan always laughed when he remembered how Jack hated riding in a car; he looked so uncomfortable.

Duncan watched as they all got out of the cars and walked up to them. Only one of them stood out to Duncan. He was a big guy, long sandy blond hair, muscles everywhere, and gold eyes. Duncan knew the second he caught his scent.

He was a WereLion. The rarest of all Weres and the most deadly. You did not want to piss a werelion off; it would be a painfully long death. Werelions have been known to eat their kills.

All of their guests gave small bows in respect to Alpha Duncan, who in turn gave them the same respect.

Marco spoke, "Good afternoon and welcome to Storm Raven Moon pack, gentlemen. If you will follow me, I will take us to the Alpha's office, where we will have some refreshments and talk."

Duncan left them to go up to his office first, making sure everything was in order. He sat down just as Marco and the guests came in.

After everyone was seated, the meeting began. Duncan began, "As you all know, we do have a problem with werecats. Though they were only detected once on both Stone Mountain and Storm Raven borders, I do not think that is the end of it."

"A few of my elders believe that it was just a scouting mission to test our security and that once they found it unyielding, they gave up."

"Personally, I think this kind of thinking is dangerous and naive. I have seen too much of this kind of stuff turning into full-blown attacks to not be wary of letting it go."

"When Jack told me that he was calling a friend, I had hoped that not only will they help you, Jack, but perhaps you would also consider helping my pack as well."

"I know that the history between our species isn’t exactly on a friendly basis. I do know that this pack has never had a problem with werecat prides."

The three newcomers looked at each other, the largest of the three nodded.

"My name is Archer Bennet; these two behind me are my twin brothers, August and Ashton Bennet. As you by now know, we are WereLions. Our numbers are smaller in comparison to other Were species."

"We keep our true numbers secret for our own reasons, which will be discussed at a later time. We wish to be taken to your borders, especially where you detected the presence of the werecats."

"Even if the trail has gone cold, we can still detect a few things about them. Things that your species might not pick up. This will tell us if they are loners or in a pride, what type of werecat they are."

"This will also help us with what we might be dealing with, as well as coming up with a strategy. There are rumors in the cat prides that there are some loners making their own pride."

"They are not behaving like normal cats either. They are into all kinds of nefarious activities; they are hunted, just like your species hunts the rogue, because of the things that they do. One of the most dangerous."

Archer was also impressed by the relationship between the Alpha and his beta; you could tell that they were really close. If it came to a fight where both of them fought together, he would hate to be their enemy.

They were at the site, and Archer and his brothers started to check the area. It didn’t take long before he picked up a scent; it was faint, but it was still there. He let out a low rumble of a growl.

"WereTigers."

Marnie and Adira decided that they were going to go shopping. They took two SUVs. The first was security, the second had more security with Marnie and Adira.

They also had two more security males riding motorcycles. They decided that should something happen on the road, the motorcycles had more room and ability to maneuver into key positions.

They were excited to get out for a little bit, though having all this security was causing some anxiety. Though most of the guards they knew, there were two they did not know. The two were of the group the King had sent.

They insisted that they ride with Marnie and Adira. Marnie wasn’t sure about them yet, Adira agreed. They both decided to be wary of them but not let it ruin their trip.

Their first stop was for pizza; Adira had a craving for pizza with extra mushrooms and bacon. After spending an hour with the two new guards, they decided that they were okay guys. Adira still wasn’t sure, though.

So she stayed close to the other guards instead. There were three stores in the town: one was a small mom-and-pop shop that sold a little of everything, another clothing and accessories, and the third was for children and baby clothes.

There was a grocery store as well as a gas station. It wasn’t a really big town, but because it was isolated, it had a well-rounded supply of stores. They even had an antique store/electronic repair shop.

They also had a small diner and a bakery. Both were really good.

Their first stop was the baby shop. They were excited when they saw all the homemade clothing, blankets, and other baby accessories.

Adira picked up several handmade items, as well as a beautiful hand-carved high chair.

Their second stop was the clothing store, where they picked up a couple of outfits for Adira, as well as some loose, comfy stuff to wear after the pup comes.

They decided to go to the antique shop last; it was a small place, so only two guards came in with them while the others waited outside. They browsed for a little while, when Adira noticed that the clerk was no longer with them in the shop.

When she looked out the big shop window, she noticed all their guards were laying on the ground. There was a fog surrounding them.

Right at that moment, Marnie started to growl; there were three males in the shop now, besides their two guards. Without them realizing it, they were herded to the back of the shop. Marnie and Adira managed together to Mind-link Duncan and Marco with three words: ambush, antiques, HELP!

Just as Adira turned around to look at Marnie, she felt a sting like a bee at the back of her neck. As she was starting to fall, she could see Marnie being caught in the arms of one of the guards.

Everything went sideways then to black as she knew no more…