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directly, even though such an act could be seen as a challenge for position. I knew then, looking between the man I’d been forced to follow and the one I’d only just met, who the true leader was. And sadly, he was not a Breed member.  
    After several tense moments, Magnus turned toward Sandman and began ranting about being unprepared. The move was meant to be sly, but every shifter in the room knew Wariksen’s son had just bested a leader of the Feral Breed. Magnus had lost any respect the patch on his back had offered him, and sadly, he’d taken the rest of us down with him.  
    Without a single stutter or smirk, Wariksen’s son turned and addressed three other wolves standing guard near what was once a set of French doors leading to a huge deck.  
    “Is everything ready outside?”
    The sentries nodded.
    “Fine.” He turned and strode over to where I stood with Shadow by my side. “My name is some ridiculous Finnish word my father insisted upon but none of you will be able to pronounce. Call me Rex. We leave in five.”

FOUR

Gates
    We parked the cars and bikes about three miles out from a long abandoned copper mine along a stretch of dirt and rock too rough to be called a road. Centuries before, there would have been a bustling town filled with the families of the men working the mines. But, much like me, their time had passed. The area was riddled with abandoned mines and old smelters, often deep in the woods and almost unreachable. At least to humans.  
    The sun hung high in the morning sky, the only sounds in the still air coming from our team as we prepared for a fight. Late morning was resting time for most wolf shifters. Many would be napping in anticipation of their nighttime runs with the other nocturnal creatures. It was a good time to attack—unexpected. I could appreciate the Valkoisus Pack’s desire to go in at this time, as men and with guns. We would likely catch these nomads off guard.
    “Think this is going to work?” Sandman asked as he strapped a holster around his broad chest. Two handguns went into the holders beneath his arms, a shotgun held in place on his back.  
    I loaded the clip in the gun I’d pulled from my saddlebags. “I sure as hell hope so.”
    We checked in with the rest of the teams once we were ready to depart. Rex and Magnus had agreed upon a three-pronged approach. The first wave would sneak close to the mine in groups of two. They would be our backup and outliers, ready to move in should the rest of us fail. The second wave would move in teams of four. This was the offensive line, the ones who would take down our adversaries and create a diversion. This would hopefully offer our third group, made up of four Feral Breed brothers, time to retrieve the women and deliver them to the transport vehicles hidden at the end of the road where Magnus and Wariksen would be waiting.  
    As part of the retrieval team, Shadow and Pup would lead the way into the compound. Where Shadow was super sneaky, almost ninja-like in his stealth, Pup was fast. He could easily outrun any one of us. The two together were perfect for an infiltration—get in unseen and be ready to escape quickly if need be. They would search out the women. Sandman and I would follow the two younger shifters, our goal to infiltrate the den and extract the three women once their location had been identified. As the two strongest fighters of the Breed, we were the best to defend our quarry in case the nomads caught up to us before we could get the girls to the transport vehicle. The second line would be ready to have our backs should something go wrong, but the ultimate goal was to get the women out.  
    The plan was aggressive yet sneaky, something I enjoyed. The hunter in me was going to have fun with this one.
    Once all the teams were in position, I sent Pup and Shadow ahead to the mine. Sandman and I trailed behind them. The rest of our group moved silently through the trees, some in human and some in wolf