2

Ranger

They played us for fools.

Broken glass crunched under my boots as I walked through the darkened bar. The staff cut the power and water to the resort when they fled on helicopters, taking the females with them, and leaving behind a team of buzzing drones that whipped in and out of the chaos like overgrown mechanical mosquitos. The electronic guts of one device were still plastered against the wall where it met its fate after connecting with my fist.

Killing the cameras was a poor substitute.

I want the producers' blood.

The bumbling idiots outside who were raging without direction wanted it too. Bloodlust from the earlier fights still coursed through their veins, no doubt messing with the timing of the coming rut as their hormones surged. We were going to descend into madness. Kill each other on live television with no way to track the females' scents and ease the biological pull. It was exactly what the humans were counting on. Anything to increase ratings.

But they hadn't thought of everything.

I rubbed the ache in my chest feeling the foreign sensation buried there. When Aspen was close, I hadn't felt it this strongly. If I had any doubts before, they were erased now.

She was my soul mate.

And they took her from us. My beast snarled.

"It'll be okay." Mattox looked up from his spot sitting on the bar counter as he tapped the satellite phone against his leg, waiting for more updates to come through. He wasn't the only shifter who'd broken protocol and come down the mountain at their Alpha's distressed howl. Teams of shifters from some of the closer packs who'd made camp up behind the resort were swarming the grounds and looking for clues.

"You're going to lead this season," I said again, trying to think through any issues that would arise in my absence.

"I understand." He watched me as I walked around the bar. My Beta was always a steadfast presence in my life. I needed it more than ever.

"And you'll get the teams ready to come down on this show. I'm going to ruin them. Make them pay." My jaw ached from how hard I was clenching it. Contingencies. Plans for the future. I focused on what I could control.

"Understood." Mattox studied me. "You know this isn't your fault."

I ignored him as I continued to pace over the broken glass covering the bar room floor.

It was my fault.

I was the Alpha.

I knew better than to let base desires dictate my actions. True, I'd gotten what I wanted by agreeing to fight Chad. But at what cost?

They'd taken my sister.

They'd stolen my mate.

I'm going to kill them all.

Another camera drone buzzed into the room and I bared my teeth. An Alpha followed it.

"Did you find anything else?" John O'Neil asked, beating me to the literal punch as his fist smashed the electronic device. Fur was sprouting along his skin and his shoulders as he spoke through elongated fangs. The beast of a man was worked up. I wondered if it was only his nieces being taken that made him this way.

"Not yet." I looked to Mattox as if he could make things move faster. The cheetah shifter had disappeared. My pack was searching for clues and interrogating the air traffic controllers who'd authorized the flights.

And then there was Ivan.

I needed him here so I could get answers as to why he'd left the resort. If he betrayed me, he'd betrayed Aspen and Fallon…

"It'll be okay, Alpha," Mattox said again as the satellite phone rang.

I stared at the device, knowing whoever was calling would want more information than I was able to give. Mattox handed it over and I answered.

"Someone better tell me what happened to my granddaughter," Papa Nuva's voice was like a whip.

I didn't flinch. "The show took all the females to an undisclosed location. I have a team working to pinpoint the area now. Once my guy gets here, I'll head out to grab Aspen. We'll meet you on my land in Washington soon."

"Can they do that? The show I mean. Is it even legal to kidnap the contestants?" he asked.

I wasn't sure, but I already had the lawyers back home combing through the contracts to find out. Beau was healing up under Jenna's watch after what happened to him earlier. Thinking of what I was going to do to the production team–to the human woman Molly–was the only thing keeping me sane.

Kill them all. Erase their bloodline. Make their children's children pay for what…

I tuned out the rant of my beast and smiled into the phone. "Don't worry, sir. I'll make them pay."

"You better." Aspen's Papa hung up.

I handed the phone back to Mattox. "Current ETA on Ivan?"

"He should be here in a few minutes." My Beta looked around the bar as if trying to find something to do. I could sense his unease with the coming rut tugging at him. Instinct demanded he get back home to his intended mate, but he was stuck with me for the time being. As soon as Ivan arrived, I'd send all the unmated males to our territory.

"Perfect timing." John cracked a beer bottle cap off with his teeth and spit it on the floor. He took a long swig, wiping the foam off his lips with his hand as he motioned through the broken glass doors overlooking the back of the resort.

I stood beside him, staring out at the wolves pacing in a frantic fury around the pool. A group of them were coming down from the makeshift fighting cage. John offered me the beer. I took a swig of the warm brew before handing it back.

"Looks like Chad finally woke up."