An Unexpected Luna

7 - Kill

Jake

I'm finally face to face with the man responsible for all this human trafficking and crimes on Oahu, and I must say, I'm feeling a little disappointed. If anything, this mission will end up being boring, and I kind of wanted somewhat of a more worthy opponent.

I was expecting the elusive head of the snake to be this younger, cockier, man that thinks he is the king of the world. It is my birthday, after all, and I was hoping to have a little fun with an opponent who might at least try to swing a punch when I make my intent to kill him, evident. By the looks of things, this one will cry and drop to his knees to beg for his life, and that only annoys the f**k out of me.

Mr Daniels, Craig Daniels, to be exact, as he introduced himself after the maid left us alone in the study, is basically a short, fat man, who most likely indulges on cheeseburgers rather than sampling the girls he sells to other perverts just like him.

His beady, little eyes sparkle with flashing money signs, and his overly rotund face is turning red from all the talking he did ever since the moment he saw me, very busy explaining why his girls are good for everything, from p**********n, to s*****y.

I cringe, hard, biting my tongue to stop myself from reminding him that those women are not his, they are not possessions, and even if they were, they would be stolen possessions because none of them are here willingly.

Despite this not being my first time having to hear stuff like this, it's proving quite hard not to cut this meeting short and kill him already. While he talks business, I'm straining my ears to make sure I can account for all, or at least most, of the people present on this estate, but even with Fang's sharpened senses, it's still hard to be sure of how many people are around here.

What I do manage to pick up on, are a few sounds almost imperceptible even to most werewolves. From what I can tell, there is definitely a hollowness underneath this room, possibly this whole building, and the sound of it sometimes is different, making me believe there is a tunnel of sorts, and that people are actively walking through it. I'm growing more and more sure that Mr Cheeseburger here, has the girls on the estate, right underneath the house.

One second I'm nodding, agreeing politely, but through gritted teeth at the price he asked for 20 girls, and the next thing I know, I'm growling like the beast that I am, in front of my new victim, or more like prey. Sometime during his 'generous' offer of throwing in 2 extra girls plus the slave he's had for a few years (the same maid that let me in the house), as a bonus for my bulk purchase, I shifted. Yes, I f*****g shifted into my wolf, like an untrained, uncontrollable pup.

It's never happened before that Fang got so invested in a rescue mission and forced a shift on me, but here I am, clothes completely thorn, my muzzle contorted in a menacing snarl, with my teeth barred and saliva dripping like a cobra's venom, with my bright green eyes fixed on the soon to be cheeseburger meat, Mr Daniels.

The short, fat man started shaking life a leaf, despite his large body. With a little luck, I wouldn't even need to stain my claws in the man's blood, for he looks like he is getting dangerously close to having a fatal heart attack. I would laugh if I could, but seeing a man morph into a larger than life wolf, will do that to you, I guess.

Still fixing Daniels with my stare, I quickly check my surroundings, thinking that I might as well jump to the killing part, and roam the estate after, with my team, to find the women. And the maid that let me in the house, I have to find and get her out of here, also. The strong, seemingly random thought surprises me, but again, she is another person that deserves to be saved.

When I lifted my huge paw and revealed my sharp claws, I was sure this part of the house is now empty. Not wanting to waste any more time and completely ignoring the desperate pleas of the heaving man, I slashed his fat padded throat, leaving behind a clean and efficient cut that looks like it's been made by an overly sharpened knife, and not a claw. Impressive, I must say, but boring nonetheless. No birthday action.

But this is perfect, I think to myself, I don't even need to stage this one as an animal attack, though I make a mental note to tell Aron that all the shreds of what was formerly my suit and shoes, need to be meticulously collected and removed from the scene.

I shift back and hurriedly check my phone, despite swearing I could hear the faintest of heartbeats, just a second ago. I eventually convince myself it's just the dead guy's last heartbeat, even though that doesn't make sense, and I breathe a sigh of relief seeing that my phone wasn't damaged during my unplanned shift.

I shoot a text to Aron letting him know the main target has been neutralized, to which he swiftly replies that the compound is surrounded. I give him the go ahead to bring the team in and neutralize everyone else that is a foe, while I read over a text from Marnie who has located a hidden entrance to what looks like an underground tunnel or bunker, via satellite footage, and lets me know that a team has been deployed to investigate.

If that doesn't lead to the underbelly of this whole building, and to where this bastard was keeping the girls, I don't know where else I could look. So far it looks like my instincts were all correct.

And speaking of instincts, I can't shake the feeling that I wasn't alone just now. All of the girls the bastard had been trafficking should be out, and if not, at least safe with my team, no longer on their way to being sold to the highest bidder, but still I can't bring myself to leave this study, my ears swearing to me that they can still can hear a faint heartbeat coming from somewhere close, somewhere inside the room even.

I shake my head, thinking I'm going mad, and contemplating Marnie's words that I need to get out more. But before I do that, and before the cleaning team gets in here, I walk to the small closet in the corner and open the door, but there is nothing inside. Still, my senses tell me that somebody was in there a few minutes ago, I can't help the hungry smile that blooms on my lips when I recognise the scent as belonging to the same maid who had let me into the house earlier.

A little wave of panic and dread comes over me. Didn't I tell her to leave? f**k, why didn't she listen? And most importantly, why do I care?

My mind is working in overdrive, coming up with different, yet similar, scenarios where she saw everything, and I mean everything, from the point where I shifted into my wolf, to the point where I had committed a murder and then shifted back into a human. I guess that's why I should care about her staying when I specifically told her to leave.

Fuck, this is a disaster, outing myself like that to a human. It's actually a punishable offence in the supernatural world, and if she goes and tells what she saw to anyone, even if they might not believe her, the Council will catch word of it and they will take action against me.

But what scares me the most even as a grown ass man, is not the stupid Council or what archaic form of punishment they might unleash on me. Oh, no. What scares the s**t out of me is what Bolder would do that word gets out. Him and my mother. Yup, that would be bad for me, real bad!

Yet the heartbeat I heard was faint, but more importantly it was steady. Anyone witnessing all that craziness of a murder being committed, by a werewolf nonetheless, would surely be unable to keep their heartbeats steady, right? f**k! I need to find her somehow, and find out how much she saw.

It's not long until I notice the trap door hidden in an obviously fake wall, so I swiftly open it and find myself walking into some kind of dimly lit tunnel.

I literally look like a caveman right now, given the dingy scenery and my dishevelled appearance, topped with the primal panic that engulfed me and the shreds of what originally was my shirt, draped strategically around my hips. I knew it was smart to wear cheap clothes today.

This must be a servant's tunnel that allowed the servants to move about and carry out their daily and nightly duties without being seen, back when the house was originally built. It kind of reminds me of the rich people that lived centuries ago and had slaves that tended to their house, and my heart constricts and the fresh memory of Daniels calling that maid his slave.

Fuck, I can feel my anger growing, but not towards the woman that might have witnessed me commit a crime, but towards the man I just killed, fighting with the strong desire to kill him a hundred more times.

Following my wolf instincts through this tunnel, and secretly wondering how on Earth I haven't bumped into one of the people in my team by now, I manage to take the right turns and eventually find myself standing, or more like crouching awkwardly, in front of a beat up, almost disintegrated from old age, wooden door.

My body tenses, and I can feel Fang on high alert, pacing around in my mind and causing me a bigger headache than I caused myself.

I can hear a faint heartbeat, despite the person it belong to being just a few feet away from me. An almost silent symphony of soft sniffs can be heard from behind that door, and if not for my wolf hearing, she would have been crying in what looks like complete silence. Damn it, that does something to my heart, something that neither my wolf, nor I can decipher, but for the first time since I first shifted, I feel connected and in tune with him. We both know we want to keep her safe, but how can I do that with the huge c**k up that I did earlier, where she saw me shift into a wolf and kill a man in cold blood?