Warren's POV
"What is it, dad?" Chloe asked again, her face creasing with concern.
"A wolf is in danger. We have to go for him."
I pranced around the room changing into my stealth clothes.
"But dad, it's… it's too dangerous," Chloe's lips quivered.
Just then, Brady came into the room all dressed up and ready. A good beta he was. I looked at him.
"I heard it too, sire."
I nodded at him. "We must go for him."
"Chloe…"
"I understand, dad," she held my cheek with her right hand. "Please come home."
I kissed her forehead. "I always do."
"I'm coming with you too, sire," Jason, my most skilled warrior, came up to me as I paced out of my quarters, my beta towing me.
"No. No, you stay. Keep the warriors under control while I'm gone." They tend to get mischievous when their Alpha is away.
We strode very quickly to the entrance to the stronghold. I nodded at the sentry. He pulled the lever. The door hummed as it raised, bringing the dark forest into view. The cold air hit our faces in a rush as we stood there calculating our next move.
"Were you both planning to go get yourselves killed without me?"
I didn't bother to turn around. Such audacity. Only one person dared to speak that way to me in the pack. Cody, my beta's identical twin brother.
I heaved a sigh. I couldn't make him go back. I knew. Not when he was already here.
"Try not to get yourself caught again," Brady tapped his shoulder.
I'd have preferred it if my beta and I alone went on this rescue. He shared the same face with his brother but that was the only thing about them that was the same. Cody was erratic as he was wild. A skilled warrior nonetheless but he sometimes thought with his claws instead of his head.
We stalked out in the cold night, the moon shining generously. The moon goddess must be in a good mood. I inhaled deeply as my wolf stirred inside me. I exchanged glances with Cody and Brady and knew they felt the same way.
It didn't take much time to trail the injured wolf. His blood was pretty much everywhere. I could scent his pain and blood but that was all. No fear. I didn't scent fear. Odd.
We heard shouts and immediately slipped under the shrubbery, stalking quietly and gently towards them. I saw the wolf insignia with the red slash across its face printed boldly on the truck. They were Hale's men. George Hale, the Chief scientist. That pesky, little, backstabbing bitch. I should have known. He'd been hunting my kind since after the battle.
I looked around. The robots were nowhere in sight. I caught Brady's eyes.
"They're not here," he said through the mind link.
"Alright boys," I growled, my eyes glowing red. "It's now or never."
They didn't see us coming as we charged into them. I heard Cody growl as he swiped his claws across the neck of one of the men. His golden eyes shone with glee, his fangs exposed. I saw him dip a claw into his mouth and lick the blood off of it. This was why I never wanted him to come.
"On me," I ordered Brady through the mind link.
I winced as a shot ripped through my shoulder when I held the door. I rushed at the man who had pulled the trigger, swiping at his arms with my claws. His shriek rose above the sounds of gunshots as he fell to the ground gripping his arm. He'll feel that in the morning.
"I'm okay," I grunted to Brady when he came to my side. "Get the man."
He ripped the door of the truck cleanly off its hinges. I got myself busy swiping the guns out of Hale's men's hands. Instinctively, my eyes flicked around for Cody. He was nowhere to be found.
"I got him," Brady grunted, jumping out the truck, a young man draped over his shoulders.
"Let's go!" I ordered lunging towards the shrubbery. "Cody!"
I could see him now. He'd been busy killing as many of them as he could. I saw him twist an arm, the man screaming in anguish as he broke it cleanly off its joint. He pulled the arm off the body and used it to bash the man's head in. I looked away.
"Cody! Don't do it," I warned in a husky voice as he approached the last man. I could scent the fear all over him even at that distance as he peed his pants. His hands shook violently as he pointed his gun towards Cody. He pulled the trigger.
"We got what we came for Cody. Let's go!" Brady yelled at him.
Sometimes, I wonder if they really shared the same womb. Cody's wolf sometimes seemed to have more control over him than he had on his wolf.
The man seeing his shot had no effect on him whatsoever, dropped the gun shakily and raised his hand over his head, his eyes widened in fear and his body trembling.
Cody stalked towards him slowly like a lion would a deer, enjoying every bit of his fear. I saw him hold the man's shoulder.
"Don't be scared. You only did your job. You did what you had to do, right?"
He pulled the man's hands down from over his head, tapping his shoulders reassuringly.
"They pay you to do this, don't they?"
The man nodded, his breathing shaky and ragged. I saw him sniffle.
My eyes caught Brady's own.
"Let's go."
There was no point waiting. That man was a dead man already.
The pain in my shoulder numbed my hand and I couldn't move it. I could feel the wet, sticky blood clustering uncomfortably on my back. I looked at the man on Brady's shoulders and noticed for the first time, the steel rod lodged in his left leg. He had already lost a lot of blood. We needed to get back to the healers and fast.
"Just a minute Alpha."
I turned.
"Cody," I heard Brady call one more time, his eyes filled with hope. His brother could do better than this I bet he thought. How wrong he was.
I saw Cody press a claw into the man's neck, softly at first as he whimpered. The blood trickled down his neck slowly, his eyes bulging. He pulled the claw out and leaned into the man's face.
"Go. I've changed my mind."
Who would have thought. The wolf leaves his prey to go. This was too good to be true.
Brady and I turned to go. A sharp, shrill, unearthly scream stopped us dead in our tracks. I felt my heart skip a bit. I turned around speedily and saw the man's body ripped into half and Cody standing over him, his back hunched. He glanced back at us over his shoulders, his lips curled up showing his fangs. With the moon silhouetting his frame, his hair and face red with blood, bloodied claws and his eyes glowing a bright blue colour, he looked like the devil himself.
Brady fell to his knees, dropping the man he'd been carrying to the ground.
"What have you done, Cody?"