61. Tanner

Carlos's estate was vast, but he relied on electronic surveillance equipment rather than manpower to patrol the perimeter. It was an easy mistake to make. Around here, Carlos was the big cheese. He was arrogant enough to assume there were no major threats. The smaller gangs had been squashed or assimilated, and if he needed to, he could call on other factions within his organization to provide backup.

But backup was several hours away, and no help whatsoever to him right now. By the time he realized there was a problem, it would be too late.

Hacking into Carlos's security system had been easy. The cameras on this side of the property were now running on a loop, so we could enter without being seen from the internal control room. There were still guards patrolling, but not enough to cause us any problems.

I had 23 angry shifters at my back, all of them more than eager to cause carnage. Once Rufus and the other alphas heard about the shifter fight rings, they sent as many wolves as they could to help. More were still on their way and would provide further backup if needed.

Rufus stood at my shoulder. He was the ranking alpha here by virtue of age and experience, but tonight he was ceding control to me, which I appreciated. I was well aware it went against the grain for him to let me be in charge, but it was the sensible thing to do.

I knew Carlos better than anyone, and I was the only one of us who had been to the property before.

"We need to take out the guards as quickly and as silently as possible. Once someone raises the alarm, things will get messy." Carlos had a lot of firepower at his disposal and we wouldn't stand a chance against machine guns and explosives.

Rufus nodded. He quietly directed some of his males to take out the patrolling guards. Two of them shifted and leaped over the security fence effortlessly, moving through the trees like the predators they were; the rest followed in human form, with knives and guns muffled by silencers. My sharp hearing picked up a faint yelp and muffled shriek, then all was quiet.

I remained in human form, even though my wolf was raging to be freed. He wanted to taste blood and sinew and was pissed I was holding him back. A faint whistle told me the exterior guards were now incapacitated.

"Ready?" I asked the guys. They nodded. "Then let's go find our girl."