The Alpha Killer
Abducted

Talia’s POV

Copper Mountain, Colorado

I had left my motorcycle at the La Crosse Regional Airport, just north of Interstate 90. Marcy and I then drove her Mercedes sedan straight through to Denver and its coven.

The unique nature of Alpha Justin’s pack was also its weakness. Most Packs were insular, living and working inside the Pack borders. The Copper Mountain Pack lived in a gated community in a remote canyon, but almost all of them worked at the sprawling resort fifteen miles to the northeast. The familiars had been monitoring the Pack for a few days now and noted how the majority of the Pack left during weekdays for work, including the Alpha.

I had left Marcy behind in the Denver coven house; this would have to be done in daylight. The late summer day in the mountains started early and ended at almost nine at night. During the night, there were too many warriors around for me to handle, and I couldn’t involve the Coven in this.

I thought about my plan as I drove out of the Wal-Mart parking lot and headed for their homes. It was simple and bold; I was going to go in, grab my nephew and the Luna, and get out again. I even bought a toddler car seat at Wal-Mart and put it in the back.

Once he was safe, I could go back and take care of the Alpha.

I checked my weapons as I turned down the road towards the entrance to their homes. I had my Glock in a shoulder holster under the blue blazer I was wearing with a white blouse top and grey slacks. Throwing knives were sewn into the sleeves and lining of the blazer. The right pocket contained several autoinjectors filled with wolfsbane-laced sedatives, while the left pocket held two autoinjectors filled with high doses of wolfsbane. I stopped just before the fence and the gatehouse, getting out of the car as the werewolf sentry came out of the shack. “Hi, I’m here to see Luna Rhoda, my name is Amanda King,” I said with a smile as I walked up to him.

He took a good sniff, raising his eyebrow. “I wasn’t notified, I’ll have to check.” As soon as he turned, my hand left my pocket and the autoinjector pushed the fast-acting sedative into his system. His knees buckled, he probably tried to call for help over the link, but the wolfsbane would prevent that. I caught him as he started to crumple and dragged him back to the shack, setting him in the chair. I opened the gate then turned off the breaker, making sure it couldn’t be reclosed.

Getting back in the car, I drove straight to the Alpha home and parked in the driveway. I patted my jacket as I walked to the door and palmed another autoinjector, readying it in my left hand. Knocking, I could hear someone approaching before it opened. “Can I help you,” an older wolf asked me.

“Hi, I’m Amanda King, the Luna is expecting me,” I said as I started walking in past the flustered maid.

“I’m sorry, Ma’am, but…” She stopped talking as the injection went into her neck. I caught her and moved her to a chair, closing the door behind me. I expanded my senses, no one else was nearby, but I could hear voices out back.

I moved through the house, seeing Luna Rhoda sitting on the back patio, watching Phillip play in his sandbox. I opened the door and walked out, the autoinjector from the right pocket in my hand. As she turned around to see who was coming, I plunged the needle into her neck and covered her mouth.

The sedative and wolfsbane coursed through her body as she struggled to escape me, but that wasn’t happening. She went limp in moments, and with her link blocked she couldn’t raise help. I really wanted to take her wolf away, but that would break the link and bring the Pack running. I couldn’t afford that yet, but it was going to happen.

“Mommy?” The little boy had noticed his Mom passing out and had gotten out of his sandbox and come over. He pulled on her shorts, looking up at her with worry in his eyes.

“Mommy is not feeling good, Phillip, but we’re going to take her to the doctor,” I said.

“Who are you?”

“I’m your Mommy’s sister,” I said. “Come on, you can open the doors for me. You’ll be a big helper if you can do that.”

“Okay. Momma wake up?”

“She will later, honey. Come on.” I put an Ace and King of Hearts on the table by her chair, then I picked Rhoda up in my arms. I smiled at my nephew as he opened the door to the house. “Can you get the front door? My car is outside.” He ran ahead to hold the door open, and I brought her out. “Run ahead and open the back door of the car for me, then get into the carseat,” I told him.

He opened the back passenger-side door before climbing in, and was sitting in the chair as I set her in the seat and buckled her in. I pulled out a pair of handcuffs, locking her hands together then attaching the cuffs to a chain I’d installed below the seat. It would let her have some motion, but not enough to reach the door or show the handcuffs to anyone else, not that the tinted windows would allow it.

As soon as she was in place, I closed the door and went around to his side. After buckling him in, I opened a pack of Cheddar Goldfish and handed them to him, then moved the sippy cup I’d prepared with water into his holder. “Thank you,” he said as he grabbed some of the crackers.

“You’re welcome. I need you to be a good boy for me while we drive to get Mommy help,” I said. I closed the door and hopped in, driving back down the road and out the gate. I didn’t relax when I got to the main road; I turned south, following Highway 91 through the mountains. I didn’t know how long it would be before the alarm was raised and the Luna and her son were discovered missing.

It wasn’t as long as I had hoped. We were fifteen miles south of the Pack territory when Phillip’s voice came from the backseat. “Daddy wants to know where I am,” he said.

Well, it was time to let the cat out of the bag. “Tell him Amanda Keller is driving you and Mom to the doctor because she’s not feeling good.” He closed his eyes as he linked back with his father.

I pulled over to the side of the road, taking the needle from the door as I got out. It was a much smaller dose, no wolfsbane, just enough to knock him out for a few hours while I took care of things. I opened his door, plunging the needle into his arm before her could react.

“That hurt,” he said as he looked at me with tears in his eyes.

“I know, I’m sorry. I’ll kiss it and make it better.” I leaned down and kissed his arm, then his forehead as it slumped to the side. I closed the door carefully then got back in and got on the road.

A half hour later, I arrived at the Leadville-Lake County airport where the six-passenger twin-turboprop plane was waiting for me. The human pilot had a flight plan filed and the door open, the engines idling. He was being paid well for his discretion, and I’d used him before. I parked next to the charter plane on the tarmac, then got Phillip out and carried him to it. I handed him and his car seat to the waiting pilot at the door, then went back and got the sleeping Rhoda and buckled her into the leather seat.

When both were secured, I drove the Mercedes back to the lot, leaving the keys in the console. I called Marcy as I walked back in the noontime sun, letting her know the mission was a success and I was getting on board. She told me the Pack was going nuts looking for the Alpha’s family. I just smiled, it was time he experienced some of what MY family had gone through before I killed him.

I got back on board the plane and told the pilot to depart. He closed and secured the door, then a few minutes later we were up in the air and headed for La Crosse.

I couldn’t give Tania back the four years she had lost, but her son would be in her arms by dinnertime.

Randall Meechum’s POV

La Crosse Pack House

Tania was stronger than I expected; the interview continued through lunch, getting her whole story out. Luna Teri was updating her husband with relevant information, but after the Beta took her wolf, things got murky. She could no longer tell who was human or werewolf with her own wolf gone, and the slave traders were expert at hiding their names and locations. The people she encountered only had first names, and she was never outside or exposed to radio or television.

The whole story crushed my soul, it was so similar to other cases my unit had investigated. The slave training and auction ring was a ghost; they had auctions twice a year, and the clientele of these auctions was discreet and deviant. I asked as many questions as I could, looking for details I might use with my team back in Dallas. I called a halt at two in the afternoon, when it was clear Tania was exhausted. Teri took her back to the guest room while Bobby ran outside to take care of business before returning to her room.

I gathered my material and met the Alphas and Betas in his office. “The only werewolves I can verify were part of this right now are Alpha Todd in the Tomah pack, and Alpha Justin and Beta Jack of the Copper Mountain Pack,” I said. “I don’t know how much knowledge Luna Rhoda had of the kidnapping; she might be the ringleader, or she might have thought her mate used a surrogate.”

“She had to feel it over the bond when he was fucking someone other than her,” Luna Teri said.

“I’m surprised he didn’t use artificial insemination, but if he did, we might never know his name,” I said. “Where are we on the Council?”

“The Council Chair is coming along with his Lead Enforcer and Chief Counsel. Their plane will be arriving at the airport at five,” Alpha Clark said. “I will go to the airport and bring them back. Teri, we need to make sure the kitchens are ready to host VIP’s and the rooms are ready for them.”

“Already in progress, we’ll be ready,” she said.

The phone rang, it was a private line only used for official Alpha business. He answered it on speakerphone. “Clark Grissom here.”

“Alpha Clark, good, I caught you at your desk. It’s Chairman Lewis Wolfe. We’re going to have to reschedule our meeting, I’m afraid. The Alpha Killer has struck again.”

“Where,” he asked.

“Copper Mountain, Colorado. She’s kidnapped the Luna and Alpha Heir of Alpha Justin’s pack. We were already in the air when I got the call, so we’re diverting to Cedar Rapids to refuel then on to Colorado.” The Council was headquartered in western Pennsylvania, near Pittsburgh.

“No. Continue here,” Alpha Clark said. “You need to see me before you go to Colorado.”

“Why?”

“You have to trust me, Mr. Chairman. I’d never ask this of you without reason.”

He didn’t respond, we could hear muffled conversations mixed with engine noise. “All right. The pilot can refuel in La Crosse, we’ll be on the ground for thirty minutes. This better be good, Clark. Alpha Justin is going nuts, as are the other Alphas in the area. Having the Alpha Killer around is bad enough, having her kidnapping kids is a whole new level. We’ve got Enforcers who will be in the air within the hour, and we have to get on-scene to coordinate the manhunt. She’s not going to escape us this time,” he vowed.

“We’ll meet you at the airport,” Alpha Clark said. “Thank you.” When he hung up, there was a sigh of relief. “We have to find Talia before the Council does, or she’s dead.”

He was right. There was no more time to build a case, I needed to find my mate before I didn’t have one. “Erica was given a number to call if she ever needed to leave a message for Talia. I think it’s time I called it.”

Alpha Clark just nodded. “We need to leave for the airport in two hours, and we need the evidence to be convincing enough that he stays here,” he said.

“I can edit the files, but nothing is more convincing than Tania,” I said. “She’s stronger than we thought. If we can get her to meet with them and tell them in person her story, it might be enough.”

“She’s exhausted,” Teri said. “Make your preparations as if she isn’t coming, and I’ll wake them in an hour and ask them if they will come along.”

The meeting broke up, and I walked back to my room to start putting things together on my laptop. I found the number in my notes and made the call. “Hello,” a French-sounding voice answered after a few rings.

“Hi, my name is Randall Meechum, I need to get a message to Talia Stillwater. I was told you might be able to do that for me?”

“I can try,” she said.

“Thank you. Please ask her to call Randall Meechum at 555-867-5309.” She repeated the message, then hung up. I looked out the window. “Please, my reluctant mate, PLEASE talk to me before it is too late.”

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