After a moment, there was silence from the phone. Kay wasn’t sure if the woman was still there and didn’t dare try to look. Even so much as a glance near her pocket might give it away. Then they were being joined by the other two men from the room, neither taking off their masks as they stood behind Trevor and watched silently, waiting for a signal from him.
“I guess we’ll just have to settle this like men,” Trevor said. “You should have never been the alpha in the first place. You knew Walter was considering giving it to me and you lied to get his favor and inherit the ranch. I had so many plans for that place.”
“Plans? Like what, turning it into a giant meth lab? How long dd you think you’d get away with that?”
“I’d have done just fine if you and that uppity omega of yours had minded your own business. First, you burned down my fields and forced me to move out of the safety of the cave system. Now, you are here, messing with this setup as well. It’s going to be a real pisser to have your legacy be my having killed you after I discovered that you and your bride were involved in drug manufacturing and human trafficking.”
“You sick fuck. You took three young girls and killed a fourth, plus all those others you have in there. And you think that you can lay that off on me and on Kay? I don’t think so,” Bradley yelled at him, suddenly shoving him backward as he began to shift.
Kay knew she was no match for the power of male bears, but she couldn’t stand by and do nothing. Instead, she began shifting with him, the sounds of their crackling body quickly joined by Trevor and the two unknown bears that had joined them.
She was barely shifted when one of them lunged at her. She rolled sideways, away from him. She might be weaker, but she did have some skills. She was much more limber, making it easier for her to evade attack as needed. Sounds of growls and violence filled the corridor as the five of them fought violently.
After a bit of the noise, the women inside the room finally summoned up the courage to come closer, looking out the door at what was going on. One of them screamed as the light fell across the massive bears fighting in the hallway. She wondered if they understood what they were, if their captors had shown them to keep them in their place or if they were completely bewildered by what they were seeing.
Whatever the case might be here, questions were brought quickly to an end by the sound of gunfire rippling through the hall. Kay bolted backward as bullets sprayed all around, barely missing her. One of the other bears hit the ground, blood pouring from one eye as his body began to shrink and reform into that of a human. She recognized a young bear named Deacon as he did so.
Kay found herself being nudged backward, away from the fight as the other two bears turned their fight away from Bradley and converged on the girls. Another girl joined the first, pointing the semi-automatic weapon that she had previously seen in the hands of the two bears at them and opening fire before lifting it in their direction.
Normally, shifting in front of humans was a big no no, but this was an instance where it might be their only hope. Kay quickly shifted, and Bradley followed suit, each of them covering themselves as best they could after having shredded their clothes in their unexpected shift.
“My God, there are more of you,” the first girl breathed.
Sirens filled the distance as Bradley and Kay stood there, looking at the group of girls, now all gathered in the hallway looking at the bodies of Trevor, Deacon and an older alpha named Harold. None of them appeared to be alive.
“Did you call the police?” the girl asked.
“I think so. I couldn’t speak to them, but I called 911,” Kay said, slowly reaching into her pocket to pull out the phone and show them. Glancing at it, she saw that it was dead, but those sirens seemed to be getting closer, so it seemed to have worked for long enough.
“It’s going to be hard to explain,” the girl said.
“Yes,” Bradley told her. “We need to get our stories straight.”
“Nah. We need to get our stories straight. You two get out of here before they come in,” the girl told him.
Kay looked her over. Though the rest of the girls seemed scared, she acted as if she was completely calm and collected. The sirens were closer now and there was a faint hint of blue flashing against the windows on the front end of the hallway.