The Beauty and the Biker Alpha

Chapter 6: Rooftop Retaliation

Chapter 6: Rooftop Retaliation

Callum

The Biker Beasts and I had rivals but none of them had ever been this bold or perhaps this stupid. Who would be brave or reckless enough to attack my inner circle in broad daylight? At the very least, they were sensible enough to conceal their identities. Practically every inch of their skin was covered. They were dressed in black with black gloves and black masks.

They couldn’t be vampires. I would’ve smelled them from a mile away. Vampires usually smelled like rust because of their blood diet. Vamps also smelled of petrichor like they’d just been liberated from the damp soil of a freshly dug grave.

They were not human. Of that, I was absolutely certain, but they didn’t quite smell like werewolves either.

They didn’t smell like magic, so they couldn’t be witches or wizards. Those avidly practicing witchcraft tended to smell like gunpowder and herbs.

As an Alpha, I relied heavily on my enhanced senses. The fact that I couldn’t recognize their scent unnerved me greatly, but I couldn’t show any sign of that in my demeanor. Pack members looked to their Alpha for strength, security and stability.

Lucky for us, these rivals had sh*tty aim. Not a single bullet hit any of my wolves or my mate. My mate was exceptionally headstrong, especially for a human. She did whatever she felt like and said whatever was on her mind. She didn’t follow my Alpha command like the other pack members. She was not compelled to follow my orders like the others. A true Luna was always able to resist her Alpha’s commands. She remained standing while everyone else hit the floor for cover. I had to actually grab her, pulling her out of the line of fire just in time.

I had to admit. The acid trick to dissolve the layers of the bulletproof glass was clever. They didn’t capitalize on it though, because they missed every shot. It almost seemed they weren’t even trying to shoot us. That was when it dawned on me. They really weren’t hellbent on riddling us with bullets. This was just a distraction. The drive-by shootout was merely a diversion to keep us busy while they achieved some other goal. But what? What could they possibly be after? What or whom? Maybe they were not after something but rather someone.

I stopped Calla from calling the human police. Now was not the time to explain to her how impossible it would be for human police officers to go up against supernatural beings of any kind. She didn’t even know that supernatural beings existed yet.

I instructed my Luna to get behind the counter. Of course, she had an objection to this, but she obliged me anyway. A girl rushing out of the kitchen sent the door swinging towards Calla’s face. I grabbed the ties of her apron and yanked her backward. She narrowly missed the door.

The waitress who had just come flying out the door confirmed my suspicion. This was indeed a distraction. An elaborate distraction nonetheless. The waitress said the masked rivals were trying to kidnap another waitress, a she-wolf named Sailor.

“Why would they do all of this just to snatch a run-of-the-mill werewolf?” Asked my Beta, Harrison.

Harrison Bradshaw had been my Beta for just a few years, but he had been my friend for my entire life. Our Dads had been friends growing up before becoming the former Alpha and Beta. Each of them had served as best man for the other’s wedding. Our mothers had been pregnant around the same time, and they had given birth within a month of each other. Harrison was exactly one month older than me, a fact which he lauded over me during our childhood. He was taller than most with a hulking frame. He had brown eyes and hair with an olive complexion. I glanced back at him.

“Maybe she isn’t a run-of-the-mill werewolf, Grandpa?” I muttered.

I habitually called him ‘Grandpa’ about being a month older, since he liked to act as though he had learnt all of life’s secrets in that first month of his life, when I wasn’t born yet.

“Who is she, then?” asked Harrison.

“I have no idea,” I said, still clutching the strings of Calla’s apron.

“That apron won’t suit you, you’re a Spring. It’s not your colour,” he said.

Harrison would continue cracking jokes no matter how serious the situation. I looked at the now empty apron. f**k.

How had she slipped away from me? She hadn’t been stealthy before, she had been slipping on the tiled floor earlier and crawling around down there long before the shooting began. I roared in frustration, making several already terrified pack members jump.

“CALLA!” I yelled.

I had a feeling I would be shouting that name a lot from here on out. She was a slippery one.

“Don’t lose your cool, man,” said Harrison.

I ignored him. I ran into the kitchen at werewolf speed just in time to see the back door swing shut. I caught a glimpse of shiny dark waves before the door closed. Calla.

I followed her. Just in the nick of time too. I could see Calla, her stance unsteady. The dry wind blew hot, and the sun scorched the sand. The dark waves of her hair swirled all around her like curtains billowing in the breeze. The dart in her neck and the getaway car in the distance told me all I needed to know. A masked man was running towards my mate at an inhuman speed. I saw red. I had only just found my mate and some scumbag was already trying to take her from me. He was fast but I was faster. I still couldn’t figure out what these rivals were. I got to her before him. I swung Calla over my shoulder with ease. The masked man bumped right into me, unable to stop his trajectory in time. Clumsy. So fast and yet so clumsy. I snapped his neck. The loud sickening crack was followed by the soft thud of him hitting the ground.

The getaway car sped off. They didn’t need to be told twice. I could see that girl, Sailor, in the passenger seat, next to a driver, all in black like the others. Her expression was solemn. Her eyes stared straight ahead.

Sailor! I called out to her over mind-link.

I peered through the clouds of sand carried by the ever-growing winds. Was there a sand storm in today’s forecast? Before they drove out of sight, Sailor seemed to stiffen before she went limp. Her head lolled to one side and slumped onto her shoulder. s**t.

Sailor! I shouted once again over mind-link, using my Alpha voice this time.

Nothing.

“SAILOR!” I yelled out loud again in my Alpha voice.

The ground shook accordingly, sending more dust up into the air. That rumbling always happened whenever I used my Alpha voice aloud. It had been a last-ditch effort either way. The off-road vehicle had no license plate, just like the monster truck out front. I noted the make and general appearance of the car.

“Hold her! Go to the kitchen! Don’t put her down for any reason!” I said, using an Alpha command on my Beta and the waitress from earlier as they came running out of the back door.

Harrison looked surprised, but he dutifully carried Calla back inside.

“Go with him, Sonia,” I said to the waitress, noticing her name tag.

She jumped at the sound of her own name and scurried after him. I dragged the masked man closer to the dumpsters where he belonged. I unmasked him. Who the f**k was this? He had a chiseled face with a strong jawline, but he wasn’t a wolf despite his build and I didn’t recognize him. He would need to be properly examined for clues later. I took the gun he had on him. My own preferred weapon, a revolver, was at home where it was of no use to me. Not my finest moment. I grimaced as I quickly checked that the gun was loaded. I would have to insist that the Biker Beasts (myself included) be armed all the time now, even if we were just grabbing a bite to eat on our territory. The audacity of these motherfuckers. This was Bay Moon Territory. I was the Bay Moon Alpha, and I was not to be trifled with. I jumped, landing lightly on the roof of the diner. I crouched down and moved forwards soundlessly until I had the machine gunman in sight. He was still busy missing every shot. I didn’t miss any shots. I shot him right between the eyes. He fell into a crumpled heap, his hands sliding off of the controls of the machine gun. Several of the masked men who were shooting with rifles and handguns took too long to notice their fallen accomplice. The less oblivious fiends jumped into the monster trucks or hopped onto their motorcycles and took off. They left four shooters behind. One. Right in the forehead. Two. Between the eyes again. Three. In the chest. Four. In the back of the torso as he started running towards the escaping vehicles. I had six rounds and one in the chamber, a grand total of seven bullets. I managed to nick the tire of one of the trucks, but the distance was becoming too great for a relatively small gun like this. I shot at the trunk of the closer truck. Bingo. The bullet pierced the container of acid they had brought. That one was pure luck instead of skill. I hadn’t actually known that this specific trunk contained the acid. I had just been trying to spook the driver and engineer a crash. Kidnap my mate? I let out a humourless laugh. They would all get theirs. I had two more bullets. I mind-linked my beasts to start investigating the bodies. The trucks were far in the distance, but the second one was leaving a sizzling trail of acid. The car with Sailor in it had disappeared beyond the horizon. I had no doubt that we would rescue her. The Biker Beasts were dragging the fallen into one straight line, including the guy I had left by the dumpsters. I jumped off the roof, landing on my feet in the front of the diner.

“Does anyone recognize him?” I said, using the gun to point at the kidnapper whose neck I had snapped.

“No,” said my Gamma, Marco.

Marco unmasked the other four men. None of them were familiar to me and one of them was still alive. The man I had shot in the back coughed.