BK 3 - Chapter 51 - Back to Rio
Saxon and Melanie dropped the cubs off at Valerie and Rogers with a promise they wouldn't be gone long. Diana said they could do a quick closing due to them paying cash for the house. So as soon as the inspections, appraisal, and title search were completed, they should be able to close.
Mindy had a hard time saying goodbye to Wesley, but she hoped to get a little further with Valerie while he was away. She and the cubs waved as they left.
"So I heard you two found a house today," Mindy said as they walked inside. Lisa nodded with excitement.
"Yeah, it's so cool. We get our own rooms and everything. There's even a treehouse." Alex said softly.
"That sounds incredible. I can't wait for you to show it to me." She said as they sat in the family room with the twins and the kids from the group home. Mindy had gotten to know some of them and admired what Cat and Trey had done. She hoped they would let her help once they came back for good.
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The plane took off from Sacramento to San Francisco, where they could get a connecting flight to Rio. Once they were in the air again, Wesley stood at the head of the plane. Some had decided to stay back this time, but most still came. They believed there was strength in numbers.
"Thank you, everyone, for coming with us once again. I hope this is our last go-round, and then we can all return home. When we land, we'll be going to where Vincent is supposed to dispose of his merchandise. We know that this will most likely include an unknown number of shifters. The mate of one of the shifters contacted us with the address. To ensure it's not a trap, we'll get to the location a few hours before the meeting and set up a perimeter. I don't know what to expect, so expect the unexpected. After we leave there, we'll be going to break up a shifter fighting ring Vincent's father appears to be running. Then we should be heading home." Wesley sat back down and sighed.
"How are you doing?" Melanie asked him. He smiled slightly.
"I'm okay, but I'll be glad when this is over," Wesley answered. He missed Mindy already, but he had to keep his head clear if he was going to make it back to her.
"Mom, are you serious about opening homes for shifters when we return?" Melanie asked.
"Absolutely. We looked at some real estate while we were home and have a couple potential options." Cat answered. She felt bad that she was only thinking of this now. How many other shifters could she have saved over the years if she hadn't focused solely on humans?
"Like I said before, Saxon and I would like to help. Helping shifters was the reason I came to Rio in the first place. I think it would be good for Lisa and Alex to be around other cubs and pups too." Melanie had been thinking about it a lot. She also considered asking some of the lunas in the wolf packs to help foster some pups. There were a lot more werewolves than there were other shifters being trafficked.
"I think soon Lisa and Alex will be running a group home themselves. It's surprising how mature they are after being kept in cages for the first years of their lives. They must have educated them while they had them." Cat said. She had never seen human or shifter children as intelligent as the cubs.
"I know they amaze us every day. Lisa is smart with lots of attitude. While Alex is a thinker. I can't wait to see what they accomplish." Melanie smiled, thinking of them.
When they landed in Rio, Wesley had buses waiting for them. It was still a few hours until the meeting, so they would have plenty of time to get in place. The buses stopped a mile from the location to let them off. They spread out and walked the rest of the way to the site.
Everyone stayed hidden, which wasn't easy, with a few hundred of them, but they managed. After they'd been in place for about an hour, they saw several buses pull up. It almost felt like deja vu from when they were in Rio the last time. Shifters of all kinds in chains got off the buses and were taken into the long warehouse.
Wesley saw Vincent, Karlee, Eli, and Harper standing back, watching. It made him sick. They were all shifters and treated their own kind like nothing more than products to be sold. The witches were up in the trees. They were going to stay behind in case the others needed a backup exit like last time.
Once those from the buses were inside, everyone moved forward. They had the warehouse surrounded. Two vampires went to the roof to see if they could see inside, but there were no skylights. There were also no windows in the building or on any of the doors. Wesley didn't want to walk into a trap, so he had the group back up. He looked at Vilma and waved her over.
"Can you make everyone inside go to sleep? Then we can go inside, rescue the shifters and capture the kidnappers." Wesley asked her quietly. Vilma smiled and nodded.
"Of course." She flew to the main vent system that was on the roof. Everyone watched as she reached into her pocket, pulled out a handful of dust, and dropped it into the vent. Wesley wondered how she did that. Did she walk around with pockets full of dust to use at her disposal? He shivered slightly, reminding himself never to make Vilma mad.
"They should all be asleep by the time you go inside," Vilma said as she landed beside him.
"What about us? When we go inside, will we go to sleep?" Wesley asked. The last thing they needed was for the rescuers to pass out next to the enemy and become captives.
"No. As soon as you open the door, the dust will disappear." Vilma flew back to the other witches. Melanie giggled slightly, watching Wesley's face. She could tell he was scared of the witch.
"Okay, let's go," Wesley said loudly, waving his arms so everyone would know it was time.
Even though he knew the people inside should be sleeping, Wesley wasn't taking any chances. He had Mario, Alberto, and Saxon each go to a door while he took the front. They each opened them slowly to peer inside before going in. Just as Vilma had promised, everyone was sleeping.
They went inside and quickly removed the chains from the shifters. They didn't know who else besides Vincent, Karlee, Harper, and Eli was behind the kidnappings, so they put chains on everyone who didn't have them. Just as they finished, people started waking up.
The captives were taken out of the warehouse so they could wait for the buses. Cat, Kitty, Janel, and a few others took care of any shifters that were injured.
Melanie and Saxon went to Vincent, Karlee, Eli, and Harper as they woke up. They tried pulling their chains off but couldn't get them to budge. When they saw Melanie and Saxon, they glared at them.
"What are you doing here? You're all going to die for this." Vincent said angrily.
"I don't think so. We've been all over the world stopping everything you've been doing. Raul is dead. Lorin is dead. Brendon from Interpol is dead. Now it's your turn. You're lucky we're killing you because what your dad had planned for you would have been a lot worse." Melanie said, crossing her arms and smirking.
"What are you talking about? My dad is the one that is leading all of this. He wasn't going to kill me. I'll be taking over, eventually." Vincent spat at her. Melanie pulled out the proof of sale showing where the four of them had been sold to the shifter fighting ring. Vincent stared in disbelief.
"You asshole, you're dad was going to have us killed in the shifter ring?" Karlee tried to attack Vincent but couldn't move with the heavy chains.
"You see, you were dead anyway. Oh, I almost forgot. Lisa and Alex wanted me to give you something." Melanie said, walking over to Vincent, who glared at her.
"Who the hell are Lisa and Alex?" He asked.
"They're the cubs from the auction house. Saxon and I have adopted them. They wanted to say thanks for giving them to us, but that doesn't excuse your involvement with killing other shifters." Melanie kicked each of them in the face breaking their noses.
"After we remove all the captives, we'll burn this building down with you inside. So enjoy your last few minutes of life." Saxon said as he pulled Melanie away from them even though Chika was begging to get out so she could have a piece of them. As they walked toward the door to go outside, they saw one of the rescued young men staring at something behind them. He spoke just as they got ready to turn to see what he was looking at.
"Mate."
