Taze parked his truck at the usual spot downtown, locking the doors once Evie and Noah were out. He didn’t want to fucking be there, and his mood was getting more sour by the hour since Calla wasn’t back at the pride.
“Agent Tabor sent over surveillance showing some activity close to Fourth and Vance behind an abandoned gas station,” Noah read from the group text he’d received. Taze didn’t even care to look at his phone. He was more focused on taking down as many rogues as he could.
They needed to get to the bottom of this Khat problem and find Holden Manzelli. The leads had run dry on the Amburo family when the brother was reported boarding a flight back to Somalia, and Agent Murdock was heading up bogus stakeouts with Storm and Lucky. Taze had to give the males credit. He didn’t think he could fake it long enough to catch the crooked agent in the act. He’d have just beat the crap out of him until he confessed.
Evie froze as the sounds of a woman screaming filled the night. The female pulled her bandana up over her face and began to run toward the woman. They were two blocks away from the location, and when they arrived, there was movement in a small wooded area behind the building.
“Evie, wait,” Taze called out, feeling a shiver roll down his spine. “Something’s not right.”
“Yeah, wait,” Noah barked, holding his hand out for everyone to slow down.
There was the scent of deceit on the air so thick it was like sticking your nose in a bucket of vinegar. Taze crinkled his nose as he shifted his eyes. Inside the tree line, there was nothing but the sound of the woman’s voice closer than it should be.
“Watch out!” Noah yelled as six males darted from behind the building. The female’s voice was getting closer. She was begging for help, screaming uncontrollably.
Evie cursed as a male wrapped his arms around her body. Taze made a move to assist her, but one of them stepped in his way. He dodged the fist aimed at his face. He took pleasure in returning the favor, knocking him out cold.
When Taze looked up, Evie had flipped the male over her shoulder and slapped a collar around his throat. She was just starting to restrain him with the handcuffs when another male came at him. He tried to keep his eye on the female, but there was no time. There were four males coming at them.
Taze and Noah went back-to-back as they advanced. Noah was the first one to make a move to knock the tall, dark-haired one on his ass. The next guy ran at Taze, breaking him away from his fellow Guardian. Holy fuck, they were strong. The Khat gave them a boost in their already supernatural abilities, but it made them sloppy fighters.
As Noah and Taze dropped them, Evie was there to restrain them. By the time they were on the ground, the screaming female had come crawling out of the woods, blood covering her mouth.
“Please, god, help me,” she cried.
“Call for the van,” Evie yelled. “I’ve got her.”
The female fell into Evie’s arms and screamed as her body convulsed. Their Protector reached into her vest and retrieved the syringe Harold had provided them for when they found females in the midst of their transitions.
“I promise this will help,” Evie cooed as she stuck the woman in the back of the arm. Taze shook his head as the woman didn’t even flinch. The pain of the shot was nothing compared to what her body was going through. “We are going to get you help.”
“Where’s that van?” Taze hollered over his shoulder. Seeing a woman in distress caused a slight panic. It wasn’t as strong as the panic he felt every time he thought of Calla being held by those wolves. If his panic was bad, he had a damned good idea how Calla felt when the memories would come back to haunt her.
“They’re three minutes out,” he replied. “Let’s see what we can find on these males.”
They spent the next few minutes digging through their pockets, and Taze growled low in his throat as he found more and more baggies of Khat. It disgusted him that the alpha was willingly pumping those poor wolves full of the drug against their will. It was cruel.
Kraven Alexander, Hope’s big brother, arrived exactly as he’d said. The woman was wrapped in a blanket and taken to the only cot in the back. The males were cuffed to their seats on the other side of the transport van.
He’d take the female to Harold and the pride after delivering the males to the airport, which was only minutes from their location. The female would stay at the pride until her three days were over. After that, she would be moved to Colorado and given the blood of the alpha there, ensuring Holden Manzelli wouldn’t mind control her either.
“Fuck, this is insane,” Taze said, shaking his head. The wolves were terrible fighters, and it proved the alpha was looking for numbers. He didn’t choose his victims wisely at all. Hopefully, one of the males would be able to give them information on the alpha’s whereabouts. With the mind control, they were brainwashed into not telling the Guardians anything. Holden Manzelli would give them his blood in a darkened room, connecting the rogues to him. He would send out his orders to them through his magic, and after that, they would be pumped full of Khat.
By the time their reports were written, it was close to the end of their shift. The first rays of light were peeking over the horizon, and as Taze drove them back to the pride, he wondered if Calla was awake, watching the same thing.
He was disappointed to see her home still empty when he arrived. Noah didn’t say anything as he left Taze standing in his driveway, staring down the road. He was exhausted, and he had to listen to the healer’s advice. Calla would be back.