We got on the road about nine, and were headed south towards Jackson Hole when my phone rang. I didn’t recognize the number, but I did recognize the voice. “Hello, love.”
“CRAIG! How are you? Is everything all right?” I had bolted upright when I recognized his voice, causing Natalie to wake up since her head was resting on my legs. I patted her hair and she snuggled back in to sleep.
“No, there’s an attack coming on your homes. My father, he found out that you have Olivia, and he’s pissed. He had spies in your town, they know you and most of the wolves with you are gone. They are going after Mark’s parents.”
“Hang on.” I put the phone on speaker and repeated out loud to everyone what he just told us. Moe was already dialing his sons to warn them. “What else?”
“He sent three men this morning to meet up with the two he already has out there. The plan is to kidnap the two humans, and trade them for Olivia.” I looked over at Olivia, she was shaking as she sat in the front seat next to Mark who was driving. He was holding her hand as he tried to calm her. “They plan to hit the house just after dark.”
“What are you doing, then?”
“I’m one of the three men, Ella.” Oh, fuck. “We stopped for gas, I brought a burner and I only have a few more seconds before I raise suspicions. I can’t stop it, Ella, but you can. Just try not to kill me when you do.”
I looked at Moe, he nodded. “Be careful, Craig.”
“I will. I love you, Ella.” He hung up before I could respond.
“Turn us around when you can, Mark. We need to head back.”
Moe was already busy talking to Matthew back home, and I called Doug and Remi and filled them in. It wasn’t long before we had a plan. He was sending a couple warriors in a private plane to West Yellowstone, which was the closest airport to where we were. Moe, Michael and Luke would fly back with them, while Linda, Katy, Theresa, Nadine and Melanie would stay with Natalie, Mark and I as we drove back in the RV. Since we were going out the west end of the park, he was having another warrior drive the Green’s SUV back along with all the luggage we had left at the Pack when we left for our short trip.
When we finally got the calls done, I told everyone to try and get some sleep since most of them had been out running all night. Moe and Theresa took the master bedroom while Nadine took my place on the couch with Natalie. I moved up to the passenger seat as Olivia curled up with Melanie on one of the big recliners. Michael and Linda took the bed where the dining table was, and Luke and Katy took the other recliner. I looked back from the incredible vistas that suddenly held no interest to me, the mountains were in the way of where I wanted to be now. It was quiet.
“It’s going to be all right, Mark.” I put my hand on his shoulder and gently squeezed. I had started to get some motion back in my left thumb with my exercises and physical therapy. It wasn’t much, but it was enough to grip something as small as a wooden spoon. “They won’t be in danger, Moe won’t let it happen.”
He nodded, his hands turning white on the steering wheel as he thought about it. “They’ve done NOTHING, Ella. My Mom, she still can’t go down the hall to my room. Dad, he tries to be strong, but I’ve seen him at night. He wakes up and goes down to the kitchen, and he breaks down when he thinks no one is watching. He killed a man, watched his guts get splattered on the wall. They watched me almost bleed to death.” He let out a slow breath. “We have to end this, Ella.”
“I know.” I wiped a tear away and looked out the window again. “I never meant for you to be involved in this, Mark. I never thought I’d place others in danger.” I banged my good hand on the door. “Fucking soccer, it ruined my life.” He looked over at me, I tried to hold it back but I let out a laugh, and then he couldn’t stop himself either.
“Another reason to hate that game. As if I needed one.” He smiled at me, then looked back to the road. It wasn’t a fast drive, luckily it wasn’t peak tourist season, but the mountain roads and curves were a challenge with the big RV. The sounds of snoring filled the back, as the werewolves recovered from a long night of running.
We finally reached West Yellowstone just after lunch, and the men who were heading back early loaded up into the chartered plane that was waiting. Another warrior had brought down the Green’s SUV, so Theresa, Linda and Katy transferred to their own vehicle after we had a big lunch. We all got back on the road as fast as we could, because the attack was only hours away. Nadine was driving with Mark riding shotgun, so I was in back playing Uno with Natalie and Melanie.
We were just past Miles City when I got the call from Moe. “It’s over, Ella. We’ve got them all in custody, no casualties on our end.”
“And Craig?”
“He’s asleep now, we hit them all with tranquilizer darts as they approached the house, except the two drivers. We took them out as soon as they were linked that the attack had failed. Tom and Shelley are fine, they never even knew something was going on.” He paused for a moment. “Have you decided what to do with them yet, Alpha?”
I thought for a moment. “Are they in wolf or human form right now?”
“Both. The drivers are in human form, the three kidnappers including Craig are in wolf form. It doesn’t matter what form they are in, they will be out for hours.”
They were normal Pack members, I thought, not the ones giving orders. On the other hand, they were going to terrorize and perhaps hurt innocent humans. They needed to be punished. “If we kill them, it will start an open war.”
“Probably. It’s different than the attack on you at the Johnson Pack, you aren’t as strong and they weren’t after you or us.”
“Lock them up together, let them talk to each other all they want. Put Craig down there with them. When they wake up, drag him off because he is the most dominant wolf in the group. We will return them mostly unharmed, but they need to believe that Craig was loyal to the end.”
“It shall be done. Have a safe drive, Alpha Grey.” He cut the phone, probably to call his mate and fill her in.
“The bad men are caught now, Miss Ella?” Natalie was watching me, her wolf hearing meant she had heard the whole conversation. I nodded. “They need a good spanking.”
“I’m not sure a spanking will work on an adult werewolf, Natalie. It would be embarrassing though.” She did give me an idea, though. An evil, twisted, sadistic idea. An idea that would allow us to return them unharmed, yet make the point that they shouldn’t EVER fuck with me or those around me. I called Moe back, we needed to make some arrangements.
We parked the vehicles in front of my house just before midnight. Marge and Mabel helped Melanie bring in the luggage, while Nadine took Natalie for bath and bed. I dropped my bag in the hall and went down to the basement where the men were waiting for me. We had a storage room that was converted into a cell, it had solid concrete walls and a steel door, no windows. They had rigged wireless cameras with infrared so we could watch what was going on.