Page 37 of Hunted By the Wolves
“Field medic,” Kairo said, not a question.
Riley nodded.“Trauma and extraction.I don’t get in the way.”
Rylan huffed a short laugh.“Good.We hate obstacles.”
Before the moment could settle, two broader figures moved in behind them, their presence heavier, denser, the air around them seeming to tighten.Razorbacks.Rafe felt his wolf acknowledge them instinctively.
“Razorbacks,” Rafe said.“Jarek and Aleksy Kawolski.”
Jarek dipped his head, eyes flicking briefly to the marks at Riley’s neck before returning to her face, expression unreadable.Aleksy’s mouth twitched, something like approval in his gaze.
“You stay behind the line unless called,” Jarek said calmly.Not dismissive.Protective.
Riley met his stare without flinching.“I’m not stupid.My ass stays where it needs to, to help those who need it.”
That earned her a nod.Not agreement—acceptance.
Rafe watched the exchange with quiet satisfaction.No posturing.No explanations needed.She fit.And everyone in the room could feel it.Riley had met each of them without hesitation, her calm earning instant respect.A few words exchanged.A quick assessment on both sides.
The plan filled the central screen—entry points, blind zones, internal security—layers of information stacking until the building looked less like a structure and more like a problem that needed to be solved.The Bears would stay behind, anchoring Command.Everyone else would deploy.
They approached the facility just before full daylight, when the world was caught between night and morning and sound carried too far if you weren’t careful.It sat at the edge of the industrial sprawl, concrete squatting low and wide among warehouses and loading yards, its walls stained with years of neglect.No signage.No windows at ground level.The kind of place that relied on anonymity more than fences.
“Ugly,” Kairo murmured over comms, voice barely more than breath.“I hate buildings that pretend they don’t exist.”
Rafe felt his wolf come fully awake as they moved in, the air heavy with old oil, damp metal, and something underneath it all that made the back of his neck itch.Wrong.The perimeter was quiet in a way that wasn’t natural—no guards smoking, no idle movement, just cameras sweeping in slow, methodical arcs.
“It’s too fucking clean,” Dorian said quietly.“They’re expecting trouble.Just not us.”
They advanced in coordinated silence, boots whispering over gravel and cracked concrete.Hand signals passed down the line, precise and economical.
“Leopards, eyes forward,” Malik’s voice came through, calm and steady.“Call anything that breathes.”
Leopards ghosted ahead, barely disturbing the air.Razorbacks took the wider angles, heavy presence held in check.
“Left side’s dead,” Rylan reported.“No movement.”
“Copy that,” Jarek replied.“Holding wide.”
Every step forward tightened the coil in Rafe’s chest.The first breach was surgical.A muted charge slapped into place, a brief flash of pressure, and the door folded inward with a sharp metallic crack before it hit the floor.
“Go,” Rafe said softly.
They poured through the opening.
Inside, the air was cooler and stale, recycled too many times, the faint hum of power vibrating through the concrete.A man stepped out of the first doorway, weapon half-raised, eyes wide with surprise.Rafe fired once.The shot punched through the man’s chest and dropped him where he stood, the body hitting the floor with a dull, final sound.
“Contact, right,” Aleksy warned.
Another guard rushed the corner.Jarek met him head-on, driving him back into the wall with brutal force.Bone cracked.The man slid down, unconscious or dead—Rafe didn’t check.
Violence came in tight bursts after that.Gunfire echoed down the corridors, sharp and contained.Leopards struck fast and silent, blades flashing, bodies crumpling before alarms could fully sound.Razorbacks moved like battering rams, clearing space with sheer force, weapons barking in controlled pairs.
Rafe tracked it all at once—the rhythm of shots, the direction of movement, the way resistance clustered and then broke.He dropped a second man as he tried to run, the impact snapping the body sideways.Another went down screaming when Dorian put him through a reinforced door hard enough to cave it inward.
“Multiple contacts ahead,” Kairo muttered.“They’re amped.Heart rate’s elevated.”
They advanced over broken glass and blood-slick concrete, boots sliding, breath loud in Rafe’s ears.As they pushed deeper, the structure itself changed.Walls thickened.Doors were reinforced steel.Weapon emplacements jutted from corners, half-deployed.
