34: Mission Go

Chris and I burst through the door at the same time as Nathaniel, Luke and Fives on the other side of the complex.

I had one hand on the gun at the small of my back, the other hovering over the sheath at my thigh. I’d rather not shift unless I had to, I’d left in too much of a hurry to bring spare clothes.

“Well, well, well, Ophelia,” Edward’s voice came from around the corner. “It’s good to see you.”

“No it’s not, Edward. Now, you can either give me all of my people back, or, I can force your hand. Which is it?”

“I’m afraid I can’t allow that, Ophelia,” Maximillian growled as he came around the corner.

“Try to stop me.”

“I’m not going to try to stop you, but there are a couple individuals that will, ones you might recognise.”

Aaron and Scarlett, call signs sierra three and four. Edward and Maximillian had apparently got their filthy hands on the two of them.

The two of them stepped out of the shadows, their eyes glassy. They were both covered in blood, their clothes torn. They must have shifted recently.

Well, shit.

“Where are the rest of my people, Edward?”

“Our other three playthings are on their way to meet my son. I would say I was happy to find out about you two, but I’d be lying. It just means I am going to have to deal with his threat too, and your little friend Luke.”

I growled at him, whilst shouting down the pack link to Nathaniel, Luke, and Fives. “They’ve taken over everyone apart from Lyla and Ali. Three on their way to you. Do not shoot to kill unless it absolutely cannot be avoided. We need them unconscious but alive.”

“What do you think you’re going to gain from this, Edward?”

I was stalling, but they didn’t need to know that.

I had been pushing extra power through Lyla, so the wolfsbane had started to get out of her system. She’d be able to shift soon, I could feel it.

“I can’t let you take over the pack, Ophelia.”

“You don’t really have much of a choice in the matter, Edward. That tends to be how leadership challenges work.”

“So you admit this is one?”

“I do indeed.”

“You won’t win, Ophelia.”

“You say that now, Edward. I always win.”

“Not today.”

With that, both Edward and Maximillian disappeared before our eyes. Who knows where they ended up. Unfortunately, I couldn’t take over the pack until he was completely out of the picture, so now we had to find him.

One problem at a time though.

First, we had a problem to solve. How to save five supernaturals that have been entirely taken over by an evil wolf and his… whatever Maximillian is, without anyone ending up dead in the process. And, who for good measure, likely have cyanide capsules somewhere in their bodies.

Before even getting to that, Lyla. I freed Lyla from the chains, helping her brush away the leftover wolfsbane stuck to her skin. I stepped over the wolfsbane to reach Ali where he lay on the floor, covered in blood, crouching next to him.

“Chris, can you keep Aaron and Scarlett occupied for just a minute?”

Ali had a pulse, but it was weak, really weak. I looked up, meeting Lyla’s eyes. “What happened to him?”

“They covered us both in both fresh wolfsbane and some kind of wolfsbane concoction. Once we were weak, they injected Ali with whatever it is they’ve created to let them take over the minds of their victims. With Ali, it never took. I don’t know why, but it just didn’t work. They pumped so much into him trying to make it take. In the end, he just collapsed, and he hasn’t changed since. They spent so long on Ali that they didn’t get to me.”

I helped her to her feet, before turning back to face where Chris was staring down Aaron and Scarlett.

As soon as they met my gaze, they attacked, teeth bared. Chris and Lyla shoved me behind them, Chris taking on Scarlett, Lyla taking on Aaron.

I dug around in my pocket to find two of the extra doses of Dr Bauer’s delightful chloroform mix. Whilst Chris and Lyla were distracting Aaron and Scarlett, I snuck around behind them, before simultaneously injecting the mix into both of their necks.

Fortunately, the stuff worked quickly, so they were in a pile on the floor in no time at all.

“Chris, can you just tie them both up, please. Can’t risk them suddenly coming back around.”

“Of course, alpha.”

“Lyla, let’s go save the rest of them, shall we?” She smirked, turning to run down the corridor towards the sounds of fighting.

A growl from the end of the corridor had me speeding up. Nathaniel. Nathaniel was in trouble.

I shifted as I ran, sprinting towards the end of the corridor.

The end of the corridor was carnage. The space was not large enough for five wolves to be jumping around, and once you include Fives attempting to knock out the three that had been taken over by Maximillian… Well, you can imagine the chaos.

Nathaniel. He was limping, a massive bloody wound on his front left leg. He was growling, refusing to back down. There really wasn’t enough space for this fight, especially when wolves like Luke were absolutely enormous.

I darted in front of Nathaniel, growling at the wolves in front of him. Luke shifted back to human, creeping around to the side of the room. My distraction was enough that Lyla was able to jump in from behind, Luke from the left and Fives from the right, each injecting a wolf with the chloroform cocktail.

Once they were in an unconscious pile, Artemis turned back to Nathaniel’s wolf, nudging him to make sure he’s okay. He nodded.

With relief in my eyes, I shifted back. Forgetting, of course, that I completely shredded everything I was wearing. My skin was covered in blood, blood I likely hadn’t noticed when it was streaked through my bright red fur.

“Nathaniel, shift back,” I whispered, staring into his wolf’s eyes. “We need to have a look at your leg.”

He dropped his head on my lap, his fur tickling the inside of my leg.

“Nathaniel, please, let me have a look.”

He let out the biggest sigh I’ve ever heard come from a wolf, before letting himself shift back. When I saw the wound without his fur covering it up, I couldn’t help but wince. A perfect bite mark on his left arm.

“We need to get you back to HQ. We’ll get Dr Bauer to check you over.” I opened up a link to Dr Bauer. “Alpha?”

“Dr Bauer, I have eight patients for you.”

“Eight?!”

I couldn’t help but chuckle. “I have six unconscious, five of which need to stay that way. The sixth is Ali, we need to find out why he’s unconscious and fix it. Then we have Lyla who possibly has wolfsbane poisoning, and Nathaniel’s had a massive chunk taken out of his arm, so probably needs stitches.”

I felt her sigh.

“I’ll get as many hands on deck as I can.”

I closed the connection with Dr Bauer, before getting Luke to help me to my feet. “Okay people. We’ve got six unconscious bodies, five being under Maximillian’s control, plus Ali. We have three cars between us, so two unconscious bodies per car. Lyla, I don’t want you driving yet, so Chris and Fives, you can drive.” Lyla sounded like she wanted to protest, but decided against it. “Nathaniel and Luke with me again, I’m not letting you two out of my sight.”

“Luke, Chris and Fives, please go get the cars and get them as close to the pack house as possible. I’m sure we’d all rather we didn’t have to trek through miles of woodland butt naked carrying unconscious wolves.