"Hands where we can see them!"
"Down on your knees!"
"Now!"
The command rent through the night as dozen of men in black tactical gear burst out of the tree line with rifles raised and bright torches cutting through the dark.
"They’re wolves!" one of the soldiers yelled into a comm.
That was all it took. A second later, the entire perimeter was filled with movement as armed units surrounded them, their weapons pointed at them, lasers painting glowing red targets across their chests.
Alaric didn’t bother to fight. None of them did. They did nothing wrong. So one by one, they dropped to their knees with their hands raised and their eyes fixed ahead. The forest fell silent but for the sound of barking orders and boots crunching against leaves.
They cuffed them, the cold metal biting into their wrists. This wasn’t ordinary cuffs but suppressors designed to numb the wolf, and sever the connection to their inner beast completely.
The disorientation hit them.
Asher felt it first, his shoulders sagging like someone had knocked the wind out of him. Alaric winced, his wolf’s presence suddenly dull and distant, like a voice screaming underwater. The connection was gone.
"Clear!" a soldier called out, and then came the dragging.
Each of them were hauled to their feet, none too gently, and shoved toward the armored vehicles waiting beyond the trees. Floodlights hummed above the clearing, showing the way.
It wasn’t until they cleared the last of the forest that the true scale of what happened hit them.
"Holy shit..." Micah stopped in his tracks.
The others saw it as well.
The Pine Ridge Lodge was gone. Yes, it was completely leveled to the ground.
Asher and Alaric shared a look of shock, unable to believe Violet had done that. However, they quickly schooled their expressions as the soldiers dragged them along.
The explosion hadn’t reached the outside of the property, but the force of it had done plenty of damage. Thankfully, no one lived close by and there was no loss of human life — that didn’t deserve it.
More torchlights swept across the ruins as soldiers fanned out, checking for survivors—or bodies — sirens wailing in the distance. Drones hovered overhead, cameras blinking red. The place was crawling.
Asher had no idea if any of Patrick’s men survived but he sincerely hoped they all died in that explosion.
—-----------
Patrick paced up and down the room.
From the velvet couch, Moira sipped her wine lazily, her eyes never leaving her twitching son. "You’re starting to make me dizzy, dear."
Patrick waved her off without breaking stride. "I think better this way."
"Think or losing it?" Vera murmured, balancing a silver knife between two fingers.
Joseph reclined with his boots on the ottoman, his expression bored as he watched the family theater unfold.
Then the knife flew without warning and
Patrick froze. The blade had grazed the side of his neck before embedding in the wooden column behind him with a satisfying thunk. A thin line of blood welled up at once.
Vera stood up in one smooth motion, her grin feral. "Oops."
She sauntered toward him, hips swaying in that dangerous way of hers, plucked the knife from the wall, then wiped the small smear of red from his throat with her thumb. Without breaking eye contact, she licked it.
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