Beyond the Were War Ch. 01

Home. What a great idea.

The next day, a caravan of vehicles left Denver heading for the combined Pack home in New Mexico. Robert as always was by Renee's side, but this was now in the back of an ambulance rented for the trip. The Pack betas and support staff were in three other large SUV's surrounding it. Renee was sleeping, although Robert could see that the turns and bumps of the road would cause her pain. Their pack nurse Wendy was riding shotgun while Terry, their doctor, sat in back monitoring her condition. It wasn't the honeymoon Wendy and Terry expected, but it was the one they got. If Robert was paying attention he would have seen the blushes and smiles as they teased each other through their mate bond.

By the time they entered New Mexico, Robert was nearly asleep himself. The cellphone ring jarred him upright. The caller ID said "DEA."

"Hello?" What the hell would the Feds want with him?

"Alpha Robert Hastings? This is Special Agent in Charge Miller with the Albuquerque office. We raided a house southeast of Santa Fe an hour ago, and we need your help."

"If you already raided it, why would you need my help?"

"We found someone. A female, injured badly. And she is in wolf form."

"Well, tranquilize her. Use a lot."

"We thought about that, but the doctor thinks using the tranquilizer gun will be too much for her. She's in rough shape, and none of my men can go down to the basement without her being handled."

Robert leaned back and pinched the bridge of his nose. "OK, we're under an hour out of Santa Fe. I'm in a convoy of four vehicles, I'm in the ambulance with my fiance. Can your men meet us?"

"Yes, we'll be on the 285 exit. I'll give you all an escort."

"No, we'll just take one vehicle and a couple of my men. I want to get the rest of them home." He hung up and looked over to see Renee staring at him. "You heard?"

"Yes. Take Doc with you, Wendy can stay back here with me. Use one of your Betas as a driver and take Caleb with you."

"Caleb? Isn't he a little young?"

"He's eighteen, and he's Beta material, he needs some time working with other Betas so he can see the job is more than what he saw in his old Pack. He'll do fine. It will help get his mind off his disappointment at not finding his mate there." That was one of the sad parts, the ones that found mates were so happy it was easy to miss the ache of those that still looked.

Twenty minutes later, he kissed Renee goodbye and moved to the SUV, a DEA agent joining them in back, and from there a quick ride to the house. SAIC Miller met them in the kitchen. "From what we can tell, the house we hit was a headquarters of sorts. We haven't found drugs, but we have found cash, computers and records that we are going through now. It's the basement that is the problem. The wolf is down there outside the cages and is beyond pissed. No one has gone down there."

"What can you tell us about the layout?"

"Take a look." He led them to a cabinet where a surveillance system was monitoring the basement from several angles. He counted four dead guys and one she-wolf. He thought they were guys, anyway- you couldn't tell. The bodies had been mutilated, ripped apart, especially their faces and crotches. The wolf was sitting at the base of the stairs, panting heavily, blood dripping from the cuts on her body and pooling on the floor.

"OK, here's the plan. Joe will follow me down the stairs. I'll use my Alpha influence to get the wolf to calm down and Joe can get her muzzled. Doc and Caleb then come down with the field stretcher and we restrain her and bring her out. Agent Miller, I want everyone out of the house who isn't needed here. Once we open that door, no one who isn't already Were goes down there until I say so. Agreed?" The DEA agents quickly agreed, frankly this situation scared the shit out of them and they were happy to hand it over.

Robert stripped and shifted into wolf form, while Joe stayed human. He would stay at the top of the stairs while his Alpha went down. Robert opened the door and recoiled at the smell- blood, urine, sex and death. The stench was overwhelming to his sensitive nose.

The tan wolf with black patches started to growl as soon as the door opened, but when a large male wolf appeared she stopped and tilted her head. Robert carefully avoided the mess of a body near the top of the stairs and confidently walked down, letting his Alpha influence loose on the frightened young wolf. She whined once, then laid down and showed her belly. Robert came over to her and took her neck in his mouth gently then let go. He could see the relief in her eyes as she relaxed, knowing no Were had been part of her captivity. When her adrenaline from her fight finally wore off, she had been exhausted and now that she was safe she passed out. He gently licked at her wounds for a minute to make sure she wasn't waking up, then called his men down.

Robert shifted and caught the clothes tossed to him by Caleb. Doc frowned as he examined her. "She's lost a lot of blood, she has numerous deep cuts but none appear to be fatal. I need to do some stitching, but I'd like to do it in a cleaner area than this. Let's get her out of here."

Caleb walked forward and set the stretcher on the ground. As the four of them got set to lift her, they froze on a single word he said.

"MATE!"

Robert stared at Caleb for a moment. "Congratulations. Now let's get your mate out of here." They carefully strapped her down and Caleb took the front end, leading the taller Robert up the stairs as they tried to keep the stretcher level. Joe had run ahead and had cleared the kitchen table and turned on all the lights and they set her down. "Agent Miller, the basement is yours. Caleb, stay by her head, your scent will help her remain calm if she wakes up." He stayed at that end, gently speaking in her ear as he wiped the blood from her face and neck using a washcloth Joe handed him. Doc got an IV started, then began cleaning the wounds on her left side and stitching up the more serious ones. They had been working for twenty minutes when SAIC Miller poked his head in the room.

"Alpha Hastings, can I have a word with you?" Robert told them to continue and went to wash up at the sink. Agent Miller took him into the living room. "I need to know what we should do with her. We found her records, she has been a prisoner down there for almost two years. She has been drugged, raped and abused repeatedly. I spoke to the local hospital and they aren't prepared to take a woman who is as unstable as this."

"My pack will take her home. We have medical staff, a clinic, and more importantly we have her mate. She will be given the time and help to recover. My doctor will want any records pertaining to her health or care though."

"I can get you copies by tonight. I'm glad you can help her, she's been through hell. I need you to see something, though."

"What is it?"

"It's for your eyes only, I don't need anyone else, especially an overprotective mate, seeing it. You need to see it so you know what you have on your hands. We found video of what happened in that basement."

"Bad?"

"Worse. I wish we could resurrect those bastards downstairs and kill them all again."

Fifteen minutes later, Robert was forcing his wolf back, his stomach revolting as he threw up into the wastebasket.

He didn't know her name, but in his mind she was Pack, and the rest of those bastards were going to pay for what they did to her.