Being An Assassin...And A Hero

The Attack

A/N:

Okay, I know I was supposed to have this out on Sunday, I'm sorry guys. I had a bit of a rough night Saturday night and it carried over to Sunday morning. I had to work yesterday and now I'm updating before I hit the hay tonight. So...on with the show...or book.

The house worked great for us. The local pack came out, and after the Alpha tried to assert his dominance...and failed...we all got on great. Probably because we left each other alone. They didn't bother us, and we didn't bother them.

The kids had to deal with them at school, but for the most part, they were left alone there too. Where I protected my little group in the real world, Sarah protected them at school. No one, and I mean no one, messed with them at school, for fear of getting the shit beat out of them by her or Devin.

It was great to see the home life. They all pitched in to do something. Some of the women even went out to get jobs. I told them they didn't have to. I made enough and had enough to keep us happy for the rest of our lives, plus some. They wouldn't hear of it. They wanted something to do and if that kept them happy, I was fine with it.

We were here about a month and every Friday we would go out and play football. The women would all cook, even when I tried to help they would shoo me out saying I cooked dinner every other night of the week. The boys would go out in the back yard and we'd set out teams. Kyle and I were always the team captains and we won the right to brag for a whole week that we won. It was all in good fun. Sarah, much to Devin's dismay would always join in, and she was always the first chosen, by whomever won the coin toss.

It was on one of these days, a Friday, that I got a call from Blake. What he told me made my blood run cold. "Derreck, the Council's been attacked. We have one surviving member...well, not really even a member, but someone who is a witness. It's one of the Council member's kids. A little boy. He's not even one yet. The rest of us think this was a coordinated attack designed to weaken us and leave us susceptible to rogues. Normally, since you are not a protecting enforcer, but an attacke enforcer, I wouldn't ask this of you, but you are our best choice. I hate to ask an even bigger favor, but I need more than just you, and most of the rest of the enforcers are dead. They were present when the attack happened and when they tried to fight back, they were killed.

"I need you and a team to hunt these people down. I know, you work alone and all that mumbo jumbo, but there's a kid that must be protected at all cost. We have one enforcer with him now. And while that sounds great and all, he's running for his life with a kid. I want a snatch and grab first. Then hunt them down. I don't care if you are the one doing the killing, but you will need more than you to complete this. Be careful." And just like that, Blake ended the phone call. No waiting for me to answer him, no good bye or how are you. Just gone. A second later, he sent me a text with the information I would need.

"Everyone, inside now. Emergency meeting," I say bluntly.

Without waiting, I head to the meeting room. Once everyone is seated, I explain what is going on. "Now, I know it seems bad, but eveything is going to turn out fine. Now, I'm going to leave you in the capable hands of my mate and Kyle-"

"No." I turn to look at Kyle. "I'll be going with you. As you said, the man told you that you would need a team. I'm going with you."

I nod my thanks at him. "Then, I'll be leaving you with my mate and my little sis and her mate. Now, I know some of you are older than them, but they are strong. If you have any concerns you can go to them. They will listen to you, won't you?" I ask, looking at them.

Devin and Sarah nod, and Abby replies, "Of course. Age produces wisdom. And I don't know everything. I can survive, its what I'm good at. You all...you know how to live. Hopefully I can learn a few things from you."

I smile. Boy did she have a way with words. She could win over the toughest crowd easily. "Well then, Kyle, we need to find someone else. I'll make some calls around. I've met some pretty tough enforcers in the past, some that might have escaped the destruction of the council."

"Okay, sounds great."

Five phone calls later, four of which were not answered which lead me to assume they were either busy or most likely dead, I got ahold of one of the enforcers I had met in the past. I had done three operations with other enforcers in the past, and out of all of them, I liked this...enforcer...the best. I had no intentions of telling Kyle who it was right now.

It was a she. We sort of had a no strings attached thing going for a while, when we were in the same area. Kept both of us from getting too sexually frustrated to work. But I had Abby now, so I had to be careful. I won't be having sex with Casey, but I don't want to tell Kyle its a girl while Abby is around to hear.

"Kyle, make sure you pack. We leave in twenty," I yelled down the hall. I turn into my room and start pulling stuff out of the closet and throwing them into two duffel bags. Shirts, pants, underwear, toiletries, the works. Double checking that I had everything I head back downstairs.

"Der, you weren't thinking of leaving without telling us good bye were you?" Sarah asked, standing next to Abby.

I laugh and look at them. "The thought never even crossed my mind." I pull them into a hug. I place a kiss on Sarah's forehead and get a passionate kiss from my mate.

"Now you make sure to come back safe, or I'm going to come out there and kick your ass myself," she threatens.

I grin as I walk out to the Jeep. Kyle and I toss our bags into the back seat and climb in. Once we're on the road I explain to him who we were going to go see.

"Have you told Abigail?"

"NO! And I don't plan on it. It's in the past. Just like Bailey is. I don't want to dredge up anything. I have a mate now, and won't be doing anything with her now, or ever again. What we had was a no strings attached deal. It kept us from getting too sexually frustrated to do our jobs, but thats all it was. Just something to keep the edge off and keep our minds clear."

Kyle nodded and looked thoughtful but didn't say anything more. We pulled over a few times at rest stops and to get something to eat. We switched off driving every four hours. We had a long way to go.

Fourteen hours later, we arrived on site of the attack. A woman stood in front of us, leaning against a bright red Corvette. "Took ya long enough babe."

"I'm not your babe. I have a mate," I say stiffly.

Her eyebrow goes up, but she nods her head, turning a predatory look towards Kyle. "And how 'bout you big boy?"

I sigh. "Casey, give it a rest. No one can satisfy you. Not every man going one after the other could make you any less sexually active. So how about we get back to what we're supposed to be doing. Finding the bastards that did this..." I point to the house that looked like it was wrecked. "We need to find out where that enforcer went with the baby, and how many guys are following him."

"You are so lucky that I used to be a head tracker of a pack. Look, they went that way, there's maybe ten or so people following him and they are all wolves, but he is a werecat, with a tiger familiar...the enforcer is no enforcer at all. We have a living council member on our hands. The ante just went up."

Kyle and I nod our heads. "Leave the cars here then. We'll shift and head out after them. From the looks of these tracks, they can't have more than a day's lead on us. Blake must have called us an hour or two after the attack took place. My guess is, our incognito council member is going to try and lead them on a marry goose chase and give them the slip and head back here. Which means we will probably run into him on the way."