Mack 'n' Me: The Wolves of Alpha 9 by C.M. Simpson (top ebook reader txt) 📕

staring into two flaming yellow eyes, and my body hadn’t frozen.

The whimper that clawed its way out of my throat, was completely unplanned.

With a snarl of disgust, the wolf captain turned away, letting me go as he went. I hit the floor with a jolt that ran up through my boots through the top of my head, and my knees gave way. Varian came to stand beside me.

And just where in the Hell was that timed release Mack spoke of? Because I sure as shit could do with a stim-jolt about now.

“Not gonna happen,” Doc said. “We hit those things with a cancellation order, when the rebels grabbed you.”

They had? They’d what? Why?

“We wanted them alive.”

Oh. Well, that made a crazy kind of sense. I got my hands down, and managed to stay on my knees. Much as I would rather have made it back to my feet, I needed to have less distance to fall. Without the stim pack and its nanites roaming through my system, I’d reached my human limit—and was gonna need time to regroup, before I tried wreaking my next patch of havoc.

I missed a bit of chatter between Mack and the wolf, but tried to pull it enough together to catch what the wolf captain said next.

“You will show my techs the vulnerability in my security, and teach them how to patch it.”

“I can have my technician teach them that,” Mack replied, and I wondered how Tens would react to that.

He didn’t, and the wolf made his next demand.

“And you, your crew, and your ship will give us a month’s delay in your report to Odyssey.”

I held my breath.

That last one was not something Mack could agree to.

“I may not be able to,” Mack said, and I heard movement to my right, tried to brace for what was coming, as Mack raced on to explain. “We have an existing contract with Odyssey regarding reportage. I will need to check to see what leeway I have.”

The boot I was expecting stopped just short of my ribs and Varian looked at the captain. The wolf gestured for Mack to continue.

“Go on.”

And Mack sighed.

“I have to honor my contracts, or my word is worth nothing. You are lupar, and of the clans. You understand this.”

It was a direct appeal to lupar culture, and I wondered when Mack had taken the time to study it so deeply. Again, Mack did not answer, but Tens did.

“Since he knows a lupar hunt pack promised to pay you a visit, once their contract was up—and he wanted to know what to expect.”

Oh. That was... Well, it was something I should have thought to do for myself, but sweet. It was...

“Yeah,” Tens interrupted. “It was sweet, and necessary, and definitely something you should have thought about, but you need to pay attention.”

I did?

I focused on listening to the voices deciding my fate. I also snuck a peek out at the boot hovering off my side. Was not surprised when it was set carefully against my ribs and used to push me over. Well, damn!

I hit the floor with a thump and pain knifed through me. This time, I bit down on the yelp, turning it into a pained growl, as I closed my eyes. Mack and the captain kept right on discussing me, and I decided I’d be having words with my hunt-master-captain. Words with my fists. Yeah...

“In addition, we have a task for you.”

“I don’t hire to just anyone,” Mack told him, and the boot resting on my chest bounced softly in place.

I gasped, as the wolf captain continued.

“If we cannot have a full month’s delay in your reportage, this task will be her price.”

“And if you can?”

“We’ll return the favor by not contracting the Star Shadows to hunt you and your crew out of existence.”

Well. Fuck. Me. That was a pretty solid fee.

“I can’t feed my crew or fuel my ship on freedom. I will send you my rates, and you can negotiate from there.” Mack made payment sound like a non-negotiable, but I knew it wasn’t. We could only hope that the wolf captain would choose to pretend Mack actually had a choice.

“Send them.”

And I felt some of the tension in my gut begin to ease. Maybe we had a chance.

“Kiddo, we always have a chance. If Mack can’t negotiate you free, we’re coming to get you out of there, ourselves, and not a single one of those bastards is going to live to talk about it.”

I knew Tens meant every word, but it still brought tears to my eyes. They’d come against the wolves? Inside a ship that was probably fortified to the hilt? If they did that, people were going to die.

I wasn’t worth a single one of their deaths. Not one.

I was about to say as much, when Tens replied.

“That’s not your decision to make, kiddo. We decide what we’re willing to die for. You don’t get a say.”

And I swallowed hard against the sudden wave of sadness that washed over me. It was... I wasn’t... I had to think of something else, or I was going to start crying, and that was not an image I wanted the wolves to have.

Mack got his fee to cover fuel, wages, food, and weaponry, ammo and armor.

He also got back to the wolf with a loophole.

“We have to report the rebellion, and that we think there is something external behind it, effective immediately,” he said, and I held my breath, “but we don’t have to specify the who or the what, straight away, although it is something we would normally include as soon as we discovered it.”

“And?”

Mack’s next answer surprised me.

“Next time this situation occurs, Odyssey will have renegotiated their contract.”

Talk about giving away intelligence! That sort of information was worth money. Apparently, the wolf thought so, too.

“It is enough.”

And even I could hear the relief in Mack’s voice when he replied.

“What is it you want me to do?”

“The wolves of Rennet’s World have taken my cub.”

I froze. No