Alpha Undercover

The target ahead slipped easily through the crowd of foot traffic, but Gage was better. He kept the street urchin in his sight line effortlessly despite the steady stream of pedestrians. Red Mountain, Montana wasn’t a metropolis by any means. Hell, give everyone darker skin and a pet camel and it would look just like his last command post, especially when you factored in the reddish hue of the mountains that rose up around the town like a natural fortifying wall.
Up ahead, the pickpocket he was tailing bumped shoulders with an older woman exiting the drug store, jostling her purse. The kid grunted a half-assed apology from underneath his hooded sweatshirt, as was part of his act, this time coming away with a wallet and a shimmering bracelet. The woman recovered and hurried on, a couple of items lighter and a tad grumpier than before. Gage wasn’t impressed; he was disgusted. And he was sick of tailing the kid.
Luckily, the order had changed today. He was going to enjoy finally being able to bust this asshole. He’d enjoy it all even more when this whole job was over and he could get back on the road. He had no destination in mind after he left, but Red Mountain held nothing for him. He was only here as a favor to his father’s best friend. Hardy Gilbert had been like an uncle to Gage growing up, and he respected the man’s ethics. That was the only reason he’d agreed to come do this job in the first place. When he was finished, he’d have to get back to his real mission: finding a place to settle down now that he was a free man. It was strange not having a home, stranger still being on the search for one.
When the greasy kid with heavy pockets took a left into the shaded alleyway, Gage followed and picked up the pace, his senses alert. His boots made no sound against the cracked asphalt. His breathing, his movements—everything was muted but efficient. Just like the military had trained him for. Mentally, he calculated the timing and the speed versus distance to his target.
The pickpocket slowed his pace, too caught up in counting his loot to even notice he had a tail. Even better.
Gage waited until the noise from the streets and the sunlight had all dimmed and then faded. Here, there was nothing but shadows and nefarious intentions. Red Mountain was nice enough on the surface—a lumber town and, in the summers, a getaway for the wealthier that lived in the big city—but in the two weeks Gage had been here, he’d learned the underbelly of this place was as dark and corrupt as any war zone he’d ever served in.
Somewhere unseen, a cat gave a pathetic meow. The mark didn’t react. Still ogling his take. Either the dumbest pickpocket or the most self-assured. Gage took a deep breath, still following silently, closing the gap.
This was it. And despite the kid being no match—scrawny, human, nothing compared to Gage’s built form or his inner wolf—anticipation sent a jolt of adrenaline through his veins. Finally, some damn action.
He was on the kid in three steps and yanked him up by his shirt sleeve.
“Calm down,” Gage said calmly as the kid struggled and twisted in a too-late attempt to escape.
“Get the fuck off me!” the kid yelled and Gage rolled his eyes.
“Not happening,” Gage said.
The kid, no more than nineteen he saw now, struggled wildly, contorting this way and that. Gage held fast to his sleeve.
A second later, the kid had slid out of his jacket and took off running, the soles of his high-tops slapping the pavement. Gage scowled at the empty hoodie, still laden down with the goods of a morning’s work. He tossed it aside and took off after the mark. It didn’t take long for him to close the gap between them. He rounded the corner just inches from his fingers closing around the kid’s collar but then pulled up short at what he saw.
A woman, curvy, blond, and gorgeous—and currently in distress—was being held down against the wall of a dilapidated brick building by two men. They’d wedged her between themselves and an old metal cargo door and were pawing at her. One already had her purse and still, they kept grabbing at her, roaming her waistline and chest through her thin blouse with their meaty hands.
The one on the left inhaled. “Hot damn, you smell good.” He smiled lewdly as the woman cringed, scrunching her eyes closed and turning her face away.
Gage stopped. His hands fell to his sides, fisting automatically. Vaguely, he heard the slap of the kid’s shoes as the pickpocket sprinted farther and farther away. Finally, the sound disappeared. He’d lost his mark.
He’d find him again later.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Gage asked, finally drawing the attention of the two thugs that held the woman.
He strode over without waiting for an answer.
They scowled at him and one of them—the one with the purse—spit at Gage’s feet, turning fully to face him with fisted hands. “None of your business. Keep it moving, prick.”
The man’s skin rippled with evidence of some inner animal and Gage knew the punk’s beast was close to the surface. Red Mountain was a shifter town, after all, so he wasn’t surprised. In fact, he welcomed the challenge.
Finally, a worthy fight.
“Mistreating and assaulting women… I’d say that’s my business,” Gage said, the words too casual for the boiling rage inside him. He had a particular disgust for men who knocked women around.
The man’s eyes gleamed. He took a step forward.
Gage was ready for him. There was a split of fabric as both men shifted without bothering to undress, and Gage charged. He was met by a snapping-jawed hyena that screeched as its teeth sought purchase on furry flesh. Gage snarled, dipped, and twisted—and finally landed his canines into the hyena’s throat. He sank deep into the bite, dragging the hyena along the asphalt, killing his prey while he chased down the other man who was trying to escape with the woman.
“Agh! Get… off me!” The woman fought back, but he dragged her along toward a doorway Gage hadn’t seen before that led into the brick building behind them.
If the asshole got her inside, Gage might not be able to find them again. Not happening.
Gage gave the hyena’s flesh locked in his jaw a final shake. The hyena yelped sharply and then went silent. Gage released it, hoping it was injured enough not to follow. Sure enough, the hyena fell in a heap against the damp pavement. It didn’t move and Gage’s wolf didn’t sense a heartbeat.
Unmoved, Gage broke into a run, rushing at the woman and her captor at full speed, and caught the man’s ankle just before he crossed the threshold into the inky darkness on the other side.
“Oh!” The woman called out in surprise and fell back, giving Gage the room he needed to take the man down. There was a yell and then a pop as bone gave way, crushed under Gage’s powerful jaw.
When Gage let go, blood streamed from the man’s boot, and the criminal rolled side to side cradling his foot.
Gage snarled at the man, so tempted to give into his animal instincts and finish the guy off. But the woman was crying softly behind him and she’d had enough trauma for one day. He shifted back to his human form and approached her slowly, his hands up to show he meant no harm.
“You’re okay. I won’t hurt you,” he told her. “Neither will they,” he added.