For the tenth time since parking the truck, I scanned the surroundings. I had watched the place so many times over the past week to determine the best time for the robbery, but a resident could always deviate from their schedule and walk in on us. Just because all the previous jobs had gone smoothly didn't mean this would as well. And if someone got hurt...

I rested my forehead on the wheel for a second and took a deep breath to steady my nerves. In moments like this, I wished my Omega powers could work on me. I would have calmed down in a minute or two and done the job the pack needed of me like a pro.

Then again, this wasn't a job I wished to become a professional in. Six weeks ago, I would have laughed at the very idea of driving criminals around so they could steal whatever they fancied.

Yet, here I was at another crime scene. And just like the previous times, I would get nothing afterwards but snarls and glares my way. Becoming better accepted by the pack, come now. The two hired humans currently loading the motorbikes on the truck were more respected than me. If only my sis would open her eyes to that fact, instead of keep insisting that I do this–

"Wait..." Was that movement by that car?

I did a double take through the front door glass.

Crouched low and moving towards the unsuspecting humans was a woman. The only shifter living in this building – there was no mistaking the lovely female with the curly red hair.

What in God's name was she doing?

She switched to a sprint, charging the human closer to her.

I gasped. "No, no, no..." No one was supposed to be here at this hour! No one was supposed to get hurt!

Two strategic hits in, and the human slumped to the ground, the bike he'd been pushing falling on him. Before it had pinned him down completely, the woman was already jumping over the bike to pounce on the other human. He was too busy gaping to react to the fist flying his way.

"God damn it." I shot out of the truck, my appearance eliciting a growl from the woman. "Get out of here, before it's too late!"

But it was already too late. While I'd been gaping at her impressive moves from the driver's seat, the others had heard the commotion.

My five companions came out of the truck's storage compartment, eyes fixed on the lone female. Teeth bared into amused grins reminiscent of the hyenas they could shift into.

The woman froze like a deer in headlights, staring back at my pack members.

For a moment, no one moved. I might have stopped breathing.

Then she bolted, and they gave chase.

"Guys, let her be!" I shouted after them to no avail, panic rising in my throat.

Lucian has spoken more than once about adding a female to his pack, be she willing or not. Someone for the males to enjoy while he enjoyed his fated mate, my sister.

The red-headed shifter had chosen the worst possible time to play hero.

What should I do? What could I do?

At the moment, I couldn't even move. The sight of my pack members chasing the woman like some rabid animals was a shock to my peaceful nature. It was one thing hearing about their idea to kidnap a female shifter and another, to watch the ugly scene play out before me.

While I stood shell-shocked next to the truck, I saw the woman open a car door only to realize she wouldn't make it inside before her pursuers reached her. She jumped on the hood mere seconds before Lucian tried to grab her. Sliding to the other side of the car, she broke into a run once more, this time towards the exit from the parking lot. Agile and fast, she was adding space between her and the hyenas who were momentarily confused by their prey's change in plans.

Perhaps she would make it? Get outside the underground parking lot where the pack would hesitate to follow?

She reached the exit with a good lead. Started running up the incline to the outside and–

A SUV nearly hit her mid-run. The driver somehow managed to stop in the last moment, executing a sharp turn on their way down. And blocking the woman's escape route in the process.

She turned back to face the parking lot in time to see Ethan reaching for her. She barely managed to avoid his hands by ducking underneath. She then punched Cooper in the throat, elbowed Patrick in the gut and–

Killian slapped her so hard from the side that she lost her balance.

"No! Leave her alone!" tore from me.

Lucian grabbed her before she could hit the ground, dazed. Then all my pack members converged on her, trying to immobilize her while she fought them tooth and claw.

"Release me, you filthy hyenas!" she snarled.

Lucian laughed. "We'll get you filthy soon enough, tigress. You belong to my pack now."

They began to drag her towards the truck, kicking and growling in their grip.

I had to do something. There wasn't a single violent bone in my body. I had never had to fight my way out of a situation, always relaying on my Omega powers instead. But God help me, I was not going to let an innocent person be kidnapped!

That was when two men burst out of the SUV. And slammed into the hyenas at shifter speed.

What the...

The bigger of the newcomers, a bearded mountain of a man, tore through two of my pack members like a bulldozer. His companion began punching his way through Killian and Patrick to get to the woman.

I stopped in my tracks. Who should I fight now to help her?!

Lucian emerged from the melee, the woman in his grip. He had one hand fisted in her curls and the other, keeping her arm behind her back at a painful angle, immobilizing her as he made his way to the truck.

"Get the engine started, you fool!" my pack leader yelled.

"But the others..." A look in their direction showed Killian and Cooper were down, while the other two hyenas were still viciously fighting the newly arrived shifters.

"They'll manage." Lucian proceeded to get the woman in the back of the truck.

She tripled her efforts to get free, risking dislocating her shoulder in the process. She used her legs to push against the truck, trying to take her captor off balance.

Lucian hissed and pulled her away from the truck, only to slam her face against the side of the vehicle. She slumped in his hold, barely conscious. He would have no problem getting her in the back of the truck now.

I attacked.

With his back turned to me, he never saw it coming.

My punch in his kidney had him dropping the woman and roaring in pain.

I didn't get to deliver another hit. His punch in my chest made me double over and next thing I knew, his knee was coming towards my head. I saw stars and fell sideways, my side hitting the truck. The next punch broke my nose, the pain making me see black.

God, I was not built for this...

Dazed, I saw my poor attempt at helping the woman had been for nothing. While I'd been distracting Lucian, she'd recovered from his hit but not enough to run away. He caught her from behind just a few steps away from the truck.

She elbow-struck him in the side of the face before he immobilized her again, snarling like mad. My Omega powers showed me the anger rolling off him in waves. He was so pissed off he would hurt her, more badly this time.

I was lunging at him before I knew what I was doing.

The momentum took both of us down to the ground, the woman falling along with us. Then it was just me and Lucian, his claws slicing at me while I tried to hold on my pack leader with all my strength. Searing pain laced through me but I did not let go, praying this time the woman would escape. I reached for the Omega powers within, to try to calm Lucian down, but his claws shredding my skin wherever they made contact made it impossible to focus. So we just rolled across the ground, locked in a battle of wills.

"Fucking traitor! I'll gut you!" Lucian roared in my face. "Monica will not save you this time!"

My sister... Would she take my side or her fa mate's?

As those claws sank in my oblique, I realized I might not live to find out.

"You traitorous fuck, I'll–"

Just like that, Lucian was torn from my hold.

Through my hazy vision, I saw he was hanging limp in the grip of the newly arrived shifter, the larger one. A tiger, if my broken nose could be trusted.

With Lucian out of commission, the amber eyes of the stranger turned to me.

"Thanks for the save," I said hesitantly, slowly pushing myself to a sitting position so as not to appear as a threat.

The rage I was sensing in him went down a notch. I took that as a sign that I wasn't going to join my pack members as an unconscious puddle on the ground.

Of course, that didn't mean I wasn't going to have a problem with the tiger and his companion. It all depended on what their intentions towards the woman were.

Because as I rose up with a groan, I saw she was still here. Back pressed to a column, she was cornered by said companion.

The newcomers hadn't interfered to rescue her. They wanted her for themselves.

We had a problem, all right. And I feared I lacked the strength to fix it.