4

Ranger

Chad brushed off the shifter males who'd helped him to his feet. I didn't need to scent them to realize that was the team Daddy Tulia sent to protect the future Alpha of the pack. Chad turned his purple, swollen eyes toward me.

I winced, rubbing the back of my neck and imagining the headache he must be feeling. It'd heal in a few minutes, but I'd been knocked around in the ring enough times to feel sympathy for that sort of swelling.

"You rocked his world." John chuckled as he stood beside me.

"He deserved it." I turned away from the broken glass doors. The victory didn't feel like I thought it would. I knew the Tulia Alpha and his brother would have something to say about me embarrassing their pack on TV by knocking Chad out. They also wouldn't like holding to their end of the bargain in the bet Chad made.

I backhanded another camera drone as it flew up behind me. As much as I hated the things, I was grateful for the recording. My team at home was already backing up the footage from the fight thanks to Ivan's quick thinking. He'd made sure to hack the show's servers and send copies of the live feed directly to our IT department.

I felt the tug of one of my pack members entering the vicinity. Ivan didn't need to announce his presence. I could sense it. Just like I could feel the tension and worry coming from the rest of my pack.

Finally, we'd have some answers.

"Ivan's driving up the road," I told Mattox.

"About fucking time." He jumped off the counter, dialing out on the satellite phone. "We've got him in a rental," he relayed. "No one is following the Russian."

"Is he Russian?" John walked beside us. He'd somehow made himself a third in our little party. I almost pitied the Alpha, knowing he had his own pack back home and was one of the few who didn't bring an escort to the show. If things were different, I'd have been in his shoes. But finding Aspen changed everything. Now I was relying on my pack and their skills more than I'd ever done.

"No, he's not Russian." I shoved the front doors to the resort open, jogging down the wood steps to the gravel drive. "It's an inside joke."

John didn't look amused. "Ivan is a Russian name."

"He's from eastern Oregon," I explained as if that cleared things up. "But he once fought a Siberian tiger."

"So funny," John deadpanned as the wolf shifters outside the resort turned our way. Some of the younger Alphas in training sniffed the air with their half-shifted monstrous snouts while other full wolves stuck their tails in the air.

I'd gathered that most of them were scouting and looking for clues as to where they'd taken the females from the various packs. But the producers weren't complete idiots. Taking the women airborne erased their trackable scents. We needed inside information if we stood a chance at finding our girls before the rut dragged us under.

The males outside edged closer. Anticipation hung heavy in the air as they averted their eyes, continuing to sniff discreetly. My wolf senses perked up as he noticed the tension by the side gardens and I glanced over my shoulder, seeing Chad sulking near the second fountain as Brett and Scott joined him.

"What are they waiting for?" Mattox muttered under his breath.

I turned away, locking gazes with John.

"Don't look at me." The big beast shrugged. "You're the only one here with an informant."

I found it hard to believe that no one else had gotten an operative on the security detail for the show. I hadn't planned on it either, but I wasn't coming here to meet a potential mate. Had I known the woman I planned to spend the rest of my life with would be on the show, the entire security roster would be on my payroll. Maybe I was slightly paranoid.

Don't listen to them. They're all idiots.

I might've questioned the sanity of what my wolf was saying if the crunch of tires flinging bits of gravel hadn't been more important. Growling, I marched to the sedan as it parked and yanked open the driver side door.

"Where did they take her and why weren't you here?" The bark in my tone was coming on strong.

Ivan winced under the power of it. "My apologies, Alpha."

"I don't want apologies. I want answers." I was fuming and barely holding back my beast, trying to let logic guide my actions. This was Ivan. I trusted him with my life. What I couldn't understand was his disappearance today without telling me where he'd gone. It didn't make sense.

Trust no one.

I closed my eyes, taking a deep breath to push away the darkness edging at the sides of my vision. When I opened them again, I took a hard look at Ivan, noticing the redness around his eyes and what could only be tear streaks down his cheeks. I sniffed the air, finding no scent of drugs.

Damn it.

I was an asshole for thinking the worst.

"Ivan, I…"

"It's okay, Alpha." He swallowed hard and reached for the laptop on the passenger seat. "I failed her."

"No, I failed her." I took a step back, giving room for him to extract his large body from the tiny car. "I shouldn't have gone to the fight. What happened? Where did you go?"

Ivan coughed to clear the emotion from his throat. "I promised I wouldn't let anything happen to her. I swore to–"

"That's enough." I rested my hand on his shoulder, soothing him with my strength as only an Alpha could do. "We're wasting time. Where did they take her?"

"I should've looked sooner." Ivan dragged a hand over his face to compose himself. "When our Luna was packing, she mentioned her Gram's chest. I assumed they moved the crates to a storage facility, so I started searching for the shipping company to find the drop-off location. That's when I saw the work orders put in to clear out the production control room this morning."

At my growl, Ivan looked up. "It happened so fast and I wasn't sure what I was seeing. I didn't want to bother you until I had hard data. I sent the guys back home a link to the live feed so they could monitor the fights while I tried to scope out what was going on with the producers. They sent the stylist teams out by bus and I was following them when the helicopters flew overhead."

"Did you see where they landed?"

"No, Alpha." Ivan hurried to the front of the car and opened the laptop. "But I was able to pinpoint the general location for the nests."

"If they're in the same area, it shouldn't be too hard to scent them out." I rubbed the ache in my chest, trying to tamper down the wave of hope.

"There's more." Ivan sighed.

Of course there was.

Ivan looked around. "I finished checking the footage from the cafeteria. The only people in or out that morning were the production crew," conspiracy laced his tone as he spoke through the pack link. "And I think one of the audio guys slipped the roofie in Aspen's drink."

I glanced over my shoulder, seeing the wolves and shifters edging closer to the driveway surrounding us as my wolf snarled and paced in my mind. "None of the show staff are here."

Which was probably a good thing.

I'll hunt them down. Make them suffer…

"No, but Chad still is." Ivan motioned with his eyes to the trees behind us.

I pressed out with my senses to get a feel for where he was. The Tulias had gathered with the Fraziers and Scott Killian, but none of them were making moves to do anything more than listen to our conversation. Mattox had my back anyway, defensively posturing as he stared them down.

"What does Chad have to do with Aspen?" As if I needed another reason to hate the guy. But Ivan's paranoia was making me nervous.

"I'm not saying he does," he rushed to explain. "But the Tulia Alpha has provisions on the show stating all conversations concerning his son need to be run by his legal team before airing."

Son of a bitch.

I dragged my hand through my hair. We had backups of the footage from the fight thanks to Ivan's quick thinking, but would it be enough?

"I should've killed him." I grit my teeth, reining in my wolf so he wouldn't take charge and follow through with erasing the regret.

Ivan glanced over his shoulder again as a camera drone buzzed overhead. "Not on film. You have to be careful. If you can get more footage of his promises, we can make it all public. Even the Tulias wouldn't be able to cover that up. But the show is in his back pocket. I know it. Which means our Luna isn't safe."

I studied Ivan as he spoke. He looked rough with bloodshot, glossy eyes and he swayed on his feet. Yet I knew him and despite my earlier concerns, he wasn't high again. He was working too hard. For days he'd been monitoring and hacking their systems and taking guard shifts.

Fuck. I was failing him.

"When was the last time you got any sleep?"

"I'll sleep at home." He brushed me off as he powered up his laptop. "First we need to get Aspen."

My beast was growling at the overly familiar use of her name, but I'd have to be blind to not see his attachment to her was more than a job. There was something about her that was making him this focused and intense.

"Are you in love with her?" I had to ask.

The shock on his face was a welcome relief. "Not like that, Alpha." He bared his neck. "It's just…"

"Go on," I prompted.

He lowered his eyes but not before I saw the fresh tears that filled them. "She cares. Before she even knew who I was, she cared. Our Luna deserves better than this."

With my jaw muscles tightening again, I nodded. "We'll get her back. Where did they drop the crates?"

Ivan wiped his eyes and powered up his laptop. He opened a few tabs.

I didn't realize how close John had gotten until he was practically up my ass. "You have a map?"

"How are you getting internet?" Tucker Jones stood on his toes near the fountain, holding his phone in the air.

"Satellite link." I growled for the surrounding shifters to back up.

John didn't listen.

Ivan layered two files, zooming in on the forest service map overlayed with the topographic regional one, and circled an area with his cursor. "They're up here."

I elbowed John so he wasn't breathing down my neck. "No service roads." I zeroed in on the multicolored lines. "There's a national forest logging road that ends at the base here, but I'm not sure it's been used recently."

"We travel by paw then." John was so close I could smell the beer on his breath.

"What do you mean, ‘we?'" I glared at John.

He shrugged, stepping back.

I took a good look around. All the Alphas and the few packmates from the woods were gathered in the front yard pacing and trying to get a glimpse of Ivan's laptop. Fur was breaking out in patches and growls sounded as toes were stepped on. The testosterone was as thick as the smell of musty sweat in the air. Andrew from the Yuma Pack was in human form with his wolf's tail swishing behind him like some dominant flag.

They were losing it.

"No," I growled.

"They're just kids," John muttered, but I could sense he felt the same.

"Not my problem," I said, and meant it.

"Hey Ranger," Trenton of all people spoke louder than the crowd of grumbling Alpha mutts. "What's the plan?"

I wanted to wipe the smug grin off his face. He knew exactly what he was doing. Calling me out in front of the pack was a power move, intending to make me seem weak. The joke was on him though.

I had nothing to prove.

"Yeah, Ranger," Colton Penobscot yelled. "Where are the girls?"

I once thought I liked that kid.

"Don't look at me." John chuckled. "They're calling you out by name."

No. No. No.

Goddess help me.

"Mattox, I need you to get Foster and Jones down here with a bag of supplies for the women. See what Jenna can muster up. Get as much food as you can." I looked my second in command in the eye. "Then get the rest of the pack home. Have the teams I need ready to attack. As for mating season, you can handle this year without me."

I knew he felt it, but he refused to acknowledge his relief. "Alpha–"

"Enough," I cut him off before I heard another loyalty speech. Part of my philosophy as Alpha was to train my pack to function without me. It was time to put them to the test. "You've run by my side for the past few years. You know how to lead the pack. Ava can help you with the females. The elders will take care of the rest."

I hoped I'd be home in time to run it with him, but I wasn't leaving anything up to chance anymore. My duty was to my pack. I didn't owe these Alphas anything, but if they wanted to follow me, I didn't care. First, I needed to make sure my shifters were taken care of though.

"Alpha," Ivan started. I whirled on him, anticipating the lecture I'd need to give to send him back to McCaw territory where it was safe during the season, but he wasn't looking at me.

His gaze was trained on the woods where Chad leaned against a tree, smiling. The swelling was almost gone. They always did that; got tough again when the evidence of their loss was wiped away.

"If you can't get more footage, it's okay," Ivan said. "I'll see what else I can do with what we've got."

"All I want from you is to get home and rest before the season starts." I clapped Ivan on the back, ignoring Chad's goading smile. "Don't worry about anything else. I'll take care of it."

Ivan nodded as he slipped away, shifting with Mattox into their wolf forms as they loped back to camp. I wanted to be ready to go within the next ten minutes and told them as much through the pack link. The other Alphas waited, shuffling foot to foot and watching to see what I'd do next as I memorized the maps, sending a file to the base camp tech tent for Jenna to print out.

John clicked his tongue in sympathy. "Are you sure you can take care of all this?"

"I don't have the slightest clue," I answered honestly. For the first time in my life, I stood next to someone who might understand and I knew he wouldn't judge me for it. I liked the feeling more than I should have. "But that's why you're coming too."