Surrogate for My Brother-in-law - Chapter 85: Chapter 85

Leo
It was hard to watch Tessa walk away. He felt stronger when she was with him.
But he couldn’t take her into danger. He knew his wolf would be distracted if she was there.
And they did need her at the hospital. She was the strongest healer in two, maybe three generations. Without her, their fighting forces were cut down by a third. The injured wolves would never recover on time to face the Rogues on their own.
The location in the ransom note was close to his manor. He drove there, and shifted to wolf form. He didn’t stop to inform his beta of the plan.
He trusted Johann implicitly. If he was a Rogue sympathizer, they’d all have died long ago. But he couldn’t be sure of anyone else, and it would be too easy for them to be overheard.
So he’d just have to keep trusting Johann. His beta would lead his wolves in his absence, and keep them safe. If the worst happened, he’d join up with Ethan’s pack and keep them together.
Ethan would take care of Tessa, and the baby, and his pack. Maybe not as well as Leo could, but they’d get by.
The only problem was, Ethan had never been strong enough to take down the Rogue King. They both knew it. That was why Leo led the assault to face him.
If Leo died, and this Rogue King was as strong as the last, what would happen to the packs?
Well, Leo would just have to avoid dying. He had too many responsibilities.
So Leo let out one short, sharp bark, and took off through the woods. He would rescue his pup, and bring her back to her mother. Along the way, he’d kick this new Rogue King’s tail.
Then he could get back to wooing his mate.
Leo stalked along the trail to the location given in the ransom letter. He sniffed for any signs of the Rogue ambush he expected.
Many enemies, his wolf helpfully informed him.
Where were they? He looked around the clearing. It seemed empty, but he knew better.
Wordlessly, his wolf demanded control. Leo allowed it. His wolf knew what it was doing.
Leo’s wolf stalked around the clearing. He came to the first Rogue and leaped. The Rogue fell with a faint thump. A snap of the teeth, and it was done.
Leo’s wolf located the next one. His greater weight in wolf form helped him bring the Rogue to the ground, and his teeth did the rest.
The third Rogue, though managed to get an alarm out before Leo’s wolf ended him.
There were still too many. Leo had only dealt with three. According to his wolf, there were as many as a dozen left. It was hard to be sure. Numbers were not a concept his wolf handled well.
Well, taking them all out wasn’t a part of Ethan’s plan. And he and his scouts could handle a dozen Rogues, probably.
Leo’s job wasn’t to take out his ambushers. It was to keep them busy. So he’d better get to work on that.
He bolted out into view, into the clearing that matched the location in the letter. He waited until he heard shouting, and bolted.
“Damn it, he’s feral!” one Rogue yelled.
“Bring him down, but don’t kill him!” another one shouted. “Rory wants him alive!”
Well that was useful information. Leo would have smirked if he was in human form. As he wasn’t, he opened his mouth in a wolfy grin and dove towards the sound of the first shout.
The Rogue saw him, screamed, and tried to run. Okay, so they knew enough to be afraid of a feral alpha. But the didn’t know enough not to provoke one by kidnapping their pup.
That was fine. He was here to teach them a lesson.
Leo bowled over the Rogue, but didn’t bother to finish him off. Two more came at him from the sides, responding to their comrade's scream. They had wire loops on poles.
Leo had seen those before. Humans used them to capture wild animals. Did these Rouges think something that flimsy would hold him?
He didn’t want to find out. He skittered to the right, and dove forward. One of the poles snapped between his teeth.
The other one, though, snagged him. He felt the wire close down on his neck.
He felt his wolf begin to panic as his breath was closed off. But Leo knew how long he could go without air, and he knew he was much stronger than the Rogue at the other end of the pole.
So instead of thrashing and fighting the loop of wire, he pulled. He bolted forwards, dragging the idiot behind him. He was shocked that the Rogue didn’t have the sense to just let go.
He dragged the Rogue through the underbrush. The wire pulled tight. The world grew fuzzy.
But Leo was not giving in. He kept up a steady pressure, and then took a sudden leap to the left. The Rogue went sprawling and lost his grip.
Leo shook off the wire and snapped the pole in half. Then he twisted around, snake quick, and caught the Rogue’s arm in his teeth. He snapped that in half, too.
“Alpha Leo!” a Rogue’s voice called out, the same one that had said ‘Rory’ wanted him alive.
This must be the one in charge.
Leo paused and turned towards the voice.
“This is ridiculous,” the Rogue said, stepping into the clearing. “You can’t defeat us all like that.”
Leo tilted his head and growled a challenge. He was doing pretty good so far!
“Okay,” the Rogue corrected, “Maybe you can. But that won’t get your pup back, now will it? She’s not here.”
Leo knew that. If she were there, he’d have smelled her.
“She’s not here,” the Rogue repeated, “but she’s safe. So long as you don’t do anything stupid.”
Leo dipped his chin in an nod. Sure. He had no plans to be stupid.
“So why don’t you shift back to human form, and we can have a civilized discussion,” the Rogue said.
Leo wasn’t going to get anywhere staying as a wolf. He needed to buy Ethan more time. So for the moment, he’d play along.
He shifted back to human, and crossed his arms.
“Well, here I am,” he said. “Now where’s this new Rogue King I’ve heard so much about?”
“Rory is waiting for you,” the Rogue said. “He’s looking forward to meeting you face to face.”
“He could have just asked,” Leo said. “There was no need to take Sable.”
“We had to be sure you’d cooperate,” the Rogue said. “After all, you did murder the last King.”
“I defeated him in a fair challenge,” Leo corrected. “He could have surrendered, and kept his life.”
The Rogue shrugged. “That’s not how Rory sees it.”
“It’s the truth,” Leo said. “Now. Where is my daughter?”
“You’ll see her soon enough,” the Rogue said.
“I want to see her n-” Leo’s voice cut off as he felt something prick his neck.
“What?” He reached up and pulled a small dart free.
“Tranquilizer, strong enough to bring down an elephant according to advertisments. Don’t the humans make the most clever things sometimes?” the Rogue asked.
Leo shook his head, and the dart dropped from nerveless fingers.
“It’ll take a minute or two to work,” the Rogue said. “Don’t bother fighting it. If you want, you could sit down.”
Leo staggered forward a step. He was going to punch this smug jerk if it was the last thing he ever did.
“Or you can struggle, and make the drug work faster,” the Rogue said as Leo’s legs lost all sensation.
He collapsed.
“And there we go,” the Rogue said, clapping his hands.
The last thing Leo heard was the Rogue leader’s command to his minions to ‘get him in the truck’.
He just hoped he’d bought Ethan enough time for the plan to work.