Even the dark of night could not hide the wretched appearance
of the ramshackle house. It might once been a large homestead. But neglect and
nature took its toll on the property. The house, or what’s left of it, stood almost
fully covered by ivy, thick weeds, and small trees. Several sections of the
roof had caved in and one side had a large gaping hole. The former owner had
put pillars in front of it, probably an attempt to make it look more like a
plantation house often found in the South. But just like the rest of the house,
it was rotting and barely holding up the roof it was attached to. The outlying
barn and buildings were overgrown with tall grasses, shrubs, and trees and
looked as dilapidated as the house.
The place looked abandoned. Only the unmistakable
stench and the sickly miasma of evil that permeated the place substantiate it
was inhabited by the rogues. The worn trail of trampled vegetation around the
house was another evidence of their presence.
Rance and Damian waited at the edge of the forest as
the betas and enforcers with them got into position. His scouts had counted at
least ten different rogues come and go in the past two hours prior to them
getting there.
He was alarmed at the proximity of this lair to the
Estate. Admittedly, thousands of acres separated the property, but still, his
ignorance of this place grates on him.
As for now, nothing stirred or broke the stillness and
quiet of night. The occasional call of the nocturnal bird and animal foraging
in the forest was the only sound to be heard. The Weres moved stealthily and quietly as they waited for the signal to
swarm the place and commence their attack.
The scents carried by the slight breeze confirmed that
the rogues held female humans with them. The strong metallic smell of human
blood worried him. He hoped like hell that the female humans are not too far
gone to rescue. Based on Grace’s condition; the various injuries she had, when
she first reached the estate, these rogues did not deserve any leniency. They
merit the just desserts he was eager to mete out.
Knowing that the element of surprise was on their side,
they made sure they approached the isolated house downwind. Rance didn’t want
them to be sniffed out by the rogues even before they were in position, making
it more dangerous to the female human captives.
After ascertaining that everyone was in position, Rance
looked up. Above them, perched on the tree branch, were Jake and Andrew. The
brothers were camouflaged and ready to pick out rogues who’d try to flee with
their powerful rifle. Jake gave him a thumbs-up while Andrew tilted his head in
acknowledgement.
Giving the signal, they swarmed the building. Running
with fleet and sure feet, they made their way down to the basement. Most had
already shifted in hybrid form in preparation for battle. Rance and Damian
remained in their human form. Being the Alpha and Prime, they were powerful
enough to do partial shifts when needed.
Rance led the attack followed closely by Damian. Encountering
two rogues immediately after entering the house, Rance dispatched them quickly
with a slash of his shifted hands. Not even slowing down, he ran down the
rickety stairs that led to the bowels of the house.
The basement was empty and dark as night, but it was
not a deterrent for the shifters as they can see clearly even in the dark.
Rance saw a narrow tunnel dug on one of the basement walls on the far side of
the room. It led away from under the house. Using his senses and following the
stench of unwashed bodies and cloying air of misery, he signaled his betas to
follow as they broke into a fast lope.
Soon enough, after rounding a corner, the tunnel branched
into two. The smell of human misery was strong on the left mixed with the faint
scent of the rogues, while the stench of rogues came from their right. Not
wasting precious time, Rance instructed three of his betas to free the frail
female humans and escort them safely out of the lair while the rest of them
continued on to confront the rogues.
As they got nearer to the heart of the den, Rance acute
hearing picked up arguments between the rogues.
“…that is bullshit! How much longer do we need to
wait?” One rogue growled in anger.
“We wait as long as we need to until the right time
presents itself!” Another answered brusquely.
“We’ve been in this shit hole forever! I want what was
promised to us!” Yet another broke out aloud. “If he was truly the Promised One,
how come our attempt to snatch those female mates was a complete failure?” He
continued snidely. “We’ve lost a lot of our soldiers. And now there are only a
handful of us left.”
“Shut your mouth!” The second rogue continued. “Our
Alpha had enhanced us. We are stronger and more lethal than an average shifter.
And there’s more of us…more and more are joining our ranks in our quest. We
just need to have more faith in our Alpha.”
“Not all of us like what we’ve become,” muttered
another, “we looked like freaks! We’ve become a mishmash of parts that neither
resembled any known animal, who’d want that?”
“You knew what you we’re getting into.” The first rogue
asserted. “You were nothing but a puny human before the alpha bestowed you with
our gift.” His voice dripped with disgust.
“Much good did it do us….”
A satisfied smirk appeared on Rance lips. From the
sounds of things, some of the rogues were already questioning the validity of
this Pretender’s claim. Nodding his head, he signaled for them to rush into the
room.
“What the fu----?!,” exclaimed one rogue who saw the
betas rushing out of the tunnel.
The surprised rogues didn’t have the chance to
adequately defend themselves. Besides being caught unawares, they were
outnumbered three to one. A token attempt at breaking away was quickly
thwarted.
One even rushed with head hunched down at the betas
blocking the exit. His headlong dash ended when Rance stepped into his path and
did a clothesline move. The rogue hit Rance’s extended arm hard. His feet flew
up as his body was propelled backwards by the force. The crack of bones was
extraordinarily loud in the confines of the cave-like room. The pained howl of
the rogue echoed out even before his ass touched the earthen floor.
With an evil smile, Rance stood over the fallen rogue
and cracked his knuckles.
“Who’s next?” He taunted the rogues. “I really thought you
would give us more of a challenge.”
Scanning the faces of the rogues before him, he noticed
that they all looked scruffy and dirty. Most have the look of hunger and
desperation.
A furtive movement on his left snagged his attention.
With surprise, he noticed a rogue who looked barely out of his teens trying to
hide behind the bulk of a much older rogue. His timid demeanor was completely
out of place in the midst of the company he was keeping.
Walking slowly towards the kids’ lanky form, Rance
noticed that not only was he scruffy looking, but he was also covered in
bruises and welts.
“What have we here?”
Rance murmured.
The kid seemed to shrink in stature as his eyes looked
wildly for an avenue of escape. He was trembling and the acrid smell of fear
exuded strongly from him. The rest of the rogues were staring at the hapless
kid with disgust. One rogue actually spat out in his direction, “piece of
shit!” He grumbled aloud.
Rance watched the situation with interest. With a nod,
he let Damian and the betas secure everyone with the handcuff specially made
for shifters.
Make
sure to keep the young one away from the rest of them, Rance
caught Damian’s gaze and nodded his head towards the boy. I want to know how he ended up with this group of refuse.
Canting his head slightly, Damian acknowledged his
Alpha’s instruction.
Emerging from the dilapidated house, he noticed Jake
and Andrew dragging two other rogues between them. After dumping both down on
the ground, they looked up and waved Rance over.
“What’s this?” Rance asked the two.
“We saw them coming in right after you guys went
inside.” Jake said.
“They were bringing in another human girl with them,”
Andrew spat in disgust. “She looked barely out of her teens.”
With a dark frown on his face, Rance looked around,
“where is she?”
“She’s over there,” Jake pointed at a tree about five
yards from where they were. A sprawled form lay unmoving on the grass on the
base of a tree. “She’s unconscious, but doesn’t look hurt. Her breathing and
vitals are good. Of course, we could not make a clear assessment unless we take
her to a doctor.”
Grunting, Rance turned to the brothers approvingly.
“Great job,” he nodded, “I sure could use you guys in my team.” The brothers
just nodded quietly.
All three watched grimly as the betas rounded up the
rogues and led them past. All were handcuffed with silver to keep them from
shifting and utilizing their preternatural strength. The kid was the brought up
the rear. His unfettered state brought a questioning frown to both of the brothers’
faces.
“What’s the story with that kid?” Jake asked while
Andrew remained silently tracking the progress of the rogues and the betas.
Andrew kept his eyes trained on the group as they were
loaded into an unmarked dark van that would take them to the Estate. His hand
on his rifle remained relaxed but the minute any of the rogues try to make a
break for it, he would be ready to take them down.
“Not sure yet, but I aim to get to the bottom of his
involvement with these scum. He doesn’t look like he belonged with them.” Rance
ran a cursory gaze at the kid being loaded in with the rogues.
Damian walked up to them. “There are fifteen rogues
altogether…” pausing when he saw the rogues at his feet, “make that seventeen including
these two,” he nudged the unconscious rogues with his booted foot.
“Eight human girls are now being transported to the
Estate. Two looked really bad and smelled off. I’m not sure if they’re even
going to make it through the night.” Damian’s voice was dripping with anger at
the condition of the human females.
“What of the other six?” Andrew asked.
“They are badly beaten, but with care, hopefully will fully
recover.”
“Any luck on finding the head honcho?” Jake asked.
“No,” Rance replied grimly. “I hope that the other
teams had better luck. We will find out soon enough after I’ve talked to the
other Alphas.”
“Alpha!” Everyone turned to the rushing shifter.
“There’s something you need to see at the northern edge
of the property.”
“What is it?” Rance asked as they dashed to the place where
the young beta indicated.
“The kid who was with the rogues told us to check on
that side of the property. Malik is there right now –“
“And?” Damian asked with raised brows.
“There are roughly a dozen or so freshly dug graves
over there. As soon as we ascertained what it was, Malik sent me to get you. We
have not counted it all…..” The young beta spoke starkly. Repugnance of the
rogues’ cruelty painted his words.
This day just kept getting
worse, thought Rance. Grim faced, they followed the beta to where the unfortunate
victims laid decaying in shallow graves.*****
Let me know what you guys think. I'd like to get some of your input. Thanks.
