Angel stood alongside Xavier and Isabelle while Cole Miller's men ushered the human captives out of the woods and back to the front of the house. Ava stood in front, helping the men to direct the younger ones to stand by the roadside. He turned back, noting that Blaze, Kurt and the rest of the Weres are still there in the shadows out of sight of the humans.
The little ones all had protective coverings now and he saw that a few of them had bandages on.
"You have a doctor with you?"
"Yes, my mate, Amèlie," Xavier replied.
Angel nodded, impressed at how efficient everyone in the team appeared.
Cole Miller and Blake's brother, Jason, walked to stand in the middle of the stone-paved road, waiting for the cops. The sound of their siren ranting loudly in the air.
Angel felt Isabelle's anxiety and he supposed Xavier did too because the other Were let out a sigh and said, "I recalled he told you to go back to the house. Isabelle, he is fine."
"He is bleeding. Why is he not healing?" Isabelle muttered a reply.
"He was shot more than once," Angel supplied before Xavier could. "And the bullets are specially made to either kill or subdue us."
"Please don't tell me there's wolfbane in it," Isabelle said, searching Angel's gaze anxiously. He slowly nodded.
Xavier cursed.
"There are equally more dangerous substances in the silver casements. Aside from wolfbane, I have seen them ground silver in it with gunpowder and other flesh-eating chemicals. I'm guessing he is bleeding because the bullets are still lodged inside him. And he will need to take it out before he can start healing and the longer it stays in his body the more dangerous it gets. It could poison and kill him," Angel explained. Isabelle nodded and ran her fingers through her hair as her lips shook.
"Let me tell him," she whispered and turned away. He thought she was going to walk to Cole and wanted to warn her the cops' cars were in sight now, but she stood aside and shut her eyes.
"Baby, Angel said you are still bleeding because the bullets are custom-made to kill Weres. We need to have Amèlie take them out of you immediately," Isabelle said, facing Cole Miller's direction.
Angel frowned and leaned sideways to Xavier.
"She can mind-link with him?" he asked, baffled.
"Yes, we have the ability to do that with our human mates. It appeared only Weres with wulfblood can do it," Xavier replied. Angel's frown deepened.
"I'm guessing the lady over your shoulder is your mate?" Angel paused and met his cousin's gaze. Then slowly nodded. "Please tell me she consented," he added. When Angel didn't immediately reply. He rubbed the bridge of his nose like a father would with an overzealous son. Angel almost chuckled. "You have to tell her, man, you need to let her make the choice. Trust me. Their lives are totally different from ours. And forcing them to live ours would be cruel."
"Xavier, I need to tell you…."
"Hey, hey, hey! Get your fucking hands off of me!" Cole Miller yelled. Xavier cursed and took a few steps forward. Angel saw as one cop tried to put cuffs on Cole Miller and was shoved backwards by the big human. When another cop tried to do the same to Jason, Angel saw Cole Miller deftly remove a gun from the officer in front of him, and pointed it at the man behind Jason. "Don't fucking touch him!" he enunciated. The threat in his words was palpable.
The rest of the cops drew their weapons and pointed them at Cole Miller and Jason. The cop in front of Cole Miller slowly raised his hands in the form of surrender, trying to calm the irate human.
"Mr. Cole Miller, I have explained to you, this is protocol. You are way out of your jurisdiction and carried out a rescue mission without any form of corroboration and collaboration with the local authorities!"
"And I told you to call my people to verify my diplomatic status and our rights to extraterritorial diplomacies. Antonio Rufus is an extraterritorial criminal. who has smuggled in American citizens!"
"We will when we get back to the station!"
"And I said do it now! If you have done your jobs...!"
"That is quite enough, sir! We will take you in and talk …"
"Take us in? You and what army?" Cole Miller said in a low menacing tone. His arrogant smirk was evident in the words delivered with so much confidence. Angel thought that was bold for a man losing blood. Jason backed him up, adopting a fighting stance.
"You really think you can take all of us on?" the man replied with great irritation.
"We are fucking marines! What do you think?"
"Sir, you are wounded and bleeding!"
"He is always bleeding. Your point?" Jason retorted. Angel smirked, loving their quirkiness even in the face of danger.
"Why do I have the feeling he is creating this scene on purpose?" Angel said, sounding quite impressed.
"Because he is…" Xavier said, chuckling.
"He is stalling alright. He is waiting for something—" Isabelle said almost to herself, and then gasped when Cole threatened to shoot one of the cops.
"Then I will have to arrest you and no laws would…." the man Angel guessed must be the commanding officer retorted but was cut short when a military VH-3D Sea King medium-lift with dark-green military camouflage colour sounded and then appeared from the south of the grounds.
Xavier reached for Isabelle and Angel, gesturing for them to hunker down as the copter light flooded the grounds. Angel quickly did the same to Blaze and others. Cole Miller's men were already shielding themselves with the tall trees.
The powerful machine hovered as if they were assessing the situation before it lowered to the ground. Tall, hefty-looking men in marine corps combat utility uniform of a tan and brown variation, streamed out with one man wearing a red beret in the lead.
"Cole!" the man said in a tough commanding tone and they all watched as Cole Miller lowered the gun, emptied the bullet cartridge and handed both the gun and bullets to the cop. The other man glared at him. Cole Miller aggravated him further by patting him on the chest and then cheek.
"He seems to know Cole," Isabelle said.
"I'm guessing very well…" Xavier added as the new guy gestured to one of the military guys he came with to attend to Cole Miller's wound without even enquiring. Isabelle gasped softly when Cole wavered on his feet and then shook his head sharply.
"Please, let them get the bullets out, Cole!" Isabelle muttered and Angel knew she had mind-linked with her mate again. Angel saw Cole Miller smirked, and when Isabelle huffed, her human mate chuckled.
In reflex, the arm Angel wrapped around Nadia tightened. He wondered if their relationship would ever survive long enough to get this dramatic and yet loving. He envied what Isabelle had with her mate.
The man in the red beret handed over papers to the commanding officers and gestured to the human captives.
"We will be taking them with us," he said.
"What?! We can't just allow you to…"
"Maybe you would like to speak with your boss?" the other man countered and brought out a phone. The cop grew red in the face and paused, glowering at the other man before accepting the phone.
"Yes, sir!" he said, standing at attention and listening. After a moment, he said, "I understand, sir."
A few minutes later, another copter lowered to the floor, this one was bigger with space to lift civilians. The human captives were ushered inside it with armed uniformed men flanking them.
Angel saw Ava looking in the direction of the woods before being pulled inside. Angel turned and saw Blaze about a mile away intently focused on the craft.
When Blaze directed his gaze in Angel's direction, he nodded at him and the younger Were returned the gesture. When he reverted his gaze forward, the craft was already ascending.
"Cole wants us to leave before the crafts take off," Isabelle said and turned to hold Xavier's gaze. "They are attending to him," she added with a relieved sigh.
"He will be fine, Belle. He is one of them," Xavier reassured.
"But Jason isn't, how is he able to conceal his true nature?" Angel interjected.
"I suppose by practice. Plus, he has a team looking out for him even though they don’t know what he is. Cole just found out recently and was pretty pissed Jason kept him in the dark about it and despite that, you saw how he got when that cop tried to manhandle Jason? Imagine Jason being surrounded by more than five like Cole," Xavier replied, and made a signal over his head, the five other Weres that came with him appeared in the woods, making themselves visible, and so did Kurt and the others.
The man Cole Miller called Ash took the lead, directing them all towards a tunnel which was completely different from the one Nadia discovered. This one seemed new and cleverly concealed.
"I take it this leads to Alexander Miller's house?" Angel asked.
"Yes, you and your mate have been there with your friends. We perceived your scents earlier," Xavier replied.
"Yes, I have," Angel replied without elaborating, feeling a tad guilty for the guard he killed over there and wondered if he ought to let Xavier know about the event.