Ranger's End Game (Northern States Pack Book 1) Read online

  Gods, it’s going to be a long week, Aiden thought as he pulled himself up the rope ladder and grabbed the handle for the flying fox. Breakfast was hearty but hours ago and he still had another mile of the “training course” as Ranger euphemistically put it when he sent them on their way, before lunch. “More like torture course,” he muttered as he rubbed his hands on his jeans. The man who went before him was sweaty. Getting a firmer grip, Aiden jumped and pushed over the mud, landing safely on the other side.

  Redhead, turns out his name was Brian, wasn’t so lucky. He was face-planted in the mud as Aiden sailed over him; Cam yelling at him to get up. There was no sign of Ranger. That was a man born to lead the pack. He’d sprinted off in front of everyone, showing them how it was done. Aiden tried to keep pace, and while he had the speed, the obstacles were a different matter. His arms ached in their sockets, his pants were ripped and his elbows and knees were grazed.

  “Keep going,” Cam yelled and Aiden pushed himself forward. “Last one back does the dishes.”

  Oh hell no, I’m not going to be last. Aiden ran another twenty yards, dropped to the ground with a groan and winced as he put his knees and elbows to work. He hated the crawling parts of the course more than anything else. But his slim build worked well for him during this part of the workout. He heard another trainee, Gerald swear as the epaulets on the fancy shirt he wore got caught on the ropes; another man with a temper as big as his shoulder width and ridiculous fashion sense. Aiden was glad he’d opted for comfortable jeans and a muscle shirt.

  Breaking free of the ropes, Aiden staggered to his feet and groaned under his breath as he saw the ten-foot wall coming up. Spring up. Get steady on the top and then jump down on the other side. Not a problem for a shifter. But Aiden’s eyes narrowed as he saw Al sitting up on the wall and his friend Dan standing to one side of it. Al spent last night moaning about assassin high-handedness and how he could ‘take the guy.’ Personally, Aiden didn’t think that was possible. He’d used his time researching the hunky looking man with the star tattoo. Ranger was a living, breathing, walking legend. And totally dreamy, not that I need to be thinking about that right now.

  He took a quick look over his shoulder. Cam was still urging Brian and a couple of the others to move their lazy asses. But they hadn’t made it to the net yet. There was no one in front. Gritting his teeth Aiden ran for the wall and jumped. Shit. His hands were too small to get a grip and he fell back; Al and Dan laughing their heads off.

  Picking himself up, Aiden ignored his so-called teammates and ran and jumped again. This time he got a hold on the far edge of the ledge and he kicked against the wall, trying to get leverage. He was just about to swing his leg over when a strong grip on his wrist stopped him.

  “What ya going to give me, if I give you a hand up?” Al leered.

  “I’m fine, I can do it myself.” Aiden tried to get back on the ground, but Al was strong. He was left dangling and his wrist would be bruised. “Let me go. You heard Ranger. Everyone has to complete the trial on their own.” He tried looking back. Brian was stuck under the rope mat and Cam was losing his temper with him. No help there. He couldn’t see in front of him because he was stuck on the damn wall.”

  “Why listen to Ranger’s crap?” Al snarled. “He’s not your alpha.”

  “Neither are you; let me GO!” Aiden struggled, pushing against the wall, bracing his feet under him so he’d have more pulling power. Al tightened his grip but Aiden had been bullied before. He tugged with his arms, pushing against the wall with his feet and with a cry Al toppled off the wall, Aiden crushed beneath him.

  “Why you little snot.”

  Aiden barely had time to blink and Al’s fist crashed into his stomach; then his face; then his ribs. There was no way he could fight someone fifty pounds heavier and squashing him. Calling on his wolf, he snarled his way through the change; snapping at Al as soon as his snout and teeth appeared.

  *****

  “I knew you were going to be a fucking troublemaker,” Ranger muttered as he sprinted around the wall. Al and Dan had the wolf caged against it. The wolf was showing an impressive set of teeth but wasn’t attacking. Which he had every right to do. Ranger wondered what had happened to Al and his crony when they took longer to complete the course than they should have. He’d doubled back, seeing those buttheads causing problems on the last obstacle. He was just about to step in and stop them when it was the pretty blond’s turn. Ranger forced himself to hold back, waiting to see just how bad Al would get. He’d heard the blond’s determination to finish the course by himself, and the leer behind Al’s offer. Ranger hated bullies and sexual predators were road kill as far as he was concerned.

  Deciding words were a waste of breath, Ranger latched onto Dan who was closest and turned him, slamming his face straight into the wall beside the wolf. Dan’s nose made a satisfying crunch and the man fell to his knees whimpering. Al immediately went on the offensive but Ranger was faster, blocking blow after blow, barely breaking a sweat.

  Al on the other hand; Ranger had met his type a hundred times before. Using brawn, not brains, counting on his body weight behind a punch to do the damage. Of course, the punches had to land first and Al wasn’t having any luck with that. Ranger kept countering until Al’s face was bright red and dripping with sweat; then one perfectly executed leg sweep behind the knees and the big man went down with a thud.

  Ignoring the men on the ground, Ranger stepped over to check the wolf whose lips were still curled in a snarl. “You going to take me on?” he said with a smile. The wolf shook his head. “Let me check you over and then you shift.”

  He ran his hands over the wolf’s fur, checking ribs and stomach, shoulder and hip bones. The wolf turned away at first, but then…shit, the realization must have hit him the same time as his scent hit Ranger. Oh crap, this wasn’t meant to happen to me. The wolf had no such reservations. Ranger found himself toppled with a lap full of wolf; the creature happily rubbing Ranger’s face, chest and anywhere else he could reach.

  “Not here,” he warned in the wolf’s ear and the wolf immediately stopped. With a low whine, he backed off but didn’t go far.

  A beefy hand appeared over his shoulder. “Need a hand up?” Cam finally arrived, a mud-splattered, chest-heaving Brian behind him. Ranger took the hand, and hard as it was, he ignored the wolf in favor of the two men on the ground.

  “I see how it is,” Al sneered. “Got your favorites picked out already. No doubts how he’s gonna pass. Puny body, no fighting power, but I bet he sucks like a Hoover.”

  Ranger clenched his fists. Being powerful didn’t mean that power should be used, although his control was becoming an issue. He could cheerfully gut both bullies and not lose any sleep. “There were only three rules I outlined yesterday. Not complicated, yet you broke two of them. What were they?”

  “Follow orders and don’t cause trouble with anyone for anything,” Cam said helpfully.

  “And you went for the double.” It was Ranger’s turn to sneer. “Don’t bother trying to defend yourself. This whole course is monitored electronically and even if it wasn’t, I’ve been watching you two for plenty long enough. You’ve got fifteen minutes to collect your stuff and clear the base. You should cover twenty miles by nightfall.”

  “I’ll call my dad and get him to send someone to collect me at the gate,” Al said, struggling to his feet. “I never wanted to be in this program anyway. I don’t know why Dad sent me.”

  “Personal phones don’t work within a five-mile radius of the base,” Ranger pulled out his phone and clicked a couple of screens. “And as of now, your internet access is revoked. I suggest you start walking unless you want to find yourself in lockup.”

  “You can’t do that, it’s a violation of our rights,” Al was not a happy camper and Ranger decided to make things worse.

  “Your dad signed away your rights when he signed the forms that got you in here. And before you go whinging to Daddy, I suggest you think long a
nd hard why he’d send you here. He agreed to the no return; no restitution clause the same as everyone else. Can you think of any reason why your dad wants you dead? Because anyone with an ounce of sense knows the death rate in council training is approximately fifty percent.”

  Al’s face went white; his mouth flopped about a bit and then he stormed off. It was the wolf’s whine that attracted Ranger’s attention. Shit. Making Al question his family bonds was one thing... “Shift back,” Ranger said quietly. “I don’t want you at the dorms till those goons are gone. Actually, no,” he added seeing the start of the shimmer. “Finish the course on four feet and I’ll take you for a shower and medical attention after that.”

  The wolf tilted his head as if to say, “you kidding me?” But Ranger didn’t change his expression. Huffing loudly, the wolf backed away from the wall, took a fast run and jump, clearing it completely and headed for the finish line.

  “You and I are having a serious talk when you’ve finished with the little furball. But you’d better run if you’re going to catch him,” Cam said slapping Ranger on the shoulder. “Now come on Brian, let’s get your fat ass over the wall or we’ll miss lunch.”

  Chapter Three

  I’ve got a mate…my dad wants me dead…I have a mate…my dad... Yep, the thinking wasn’t doing Aiden any favors and nor was the enigmatic Ranger. He made the finish line easily enough, and knew with shifting, the grazes on his knees and elbows would be gone too, along with most of the bruising he hoped. But to know that, he’d have to shift. Ranger told him to stay in wolf form and wait for him in a small room by his office. It seemed one of the council members had come to visit and wasn’t happy with the way Ranger was running things. Aiden edged closer to the door to hear more.

  “These men need hand-to-hand, one-on-one training; you’re supposed to be teaching them your skills. Assault courses are for the regular soldiers.” The councilman’s voice was a lot higher in pitch than Ranger’s.

  “Sir, you gave us a week. With all due respect, nobody can learn my skills in that short of time. I thought you wanted me to see how they worked as a team and assumed the best ones would be picked for further training on completion.”

  “I’ve got a hundred soldiers already,” the councilman didn’t sound happy. “These guys are supposed to be an elite task force. They’re not going to get to that point running assault courses.”

  “They’re not going to get to that point in a week, no matter what I put them through. Sir,” Aiden wondered if he was the only one who could hear the tinge of anger in Ranger’s voice. “The assault course taught us a lot about the caliber of the men, in just one session. Some are good – they have strength and speed and once they stopped whining they showed promise. Others will be lucky if they last a week,” Aiden wondered what category he fell into. “We’ve culled two already – I’ve sent them off base. This is working. You’ll get some good men out of this.”

  “You didn’t kill them? What are you doing sending men off base?”

  Aiden was sure he wasn’t the only one reeling in shock. Was Ranger expected to kill his teammates? From the sounds of things, Ranger was just as surprised. “Sir, I did see the contract they signed, but there’s no way any alpha would’ve signed it knowing their men could be killed for insubordination or if they didn’t pass the tests. We don’t do that to our soldiers.”

  “No, but we do it to our assassins and that’s what you’re supposed to be training them for.”

  “None of these men signed up for assassin training.”

  “No one ever does,” It seemed the councilman had a temper too. “There are only four of you in the whole country. Only four who made it through the training. Now Marcus is mated and insists on taking that simpering idiot with him wherever he goes which makes assigning him to anything difficult; Sean is talking about retiring, and you’ve been on active duty over twenty years. I haven’t been able to get hold of Levi in over a month.”

  “If you had work that needed doing, why am I stuck training a bunch of losers? You can use my talents better out in the field.”

  Aiden’s hopes shattered. Ranger thought the trainees were losers and what’s worse, he was trying to get the councilman to send him out on other jobs. He doesn’t want to be mated. Refusing to listen to the rest of the discussion, Aiden moved away from the door and shifted. Carefully opening the small window, he climbed out and unconcerned about his nudity, hurried to his dorm. He had a lot of thinking to do.

  *****

  Fucking hell, I should’ve kept my trap shut. Ranger wasn’t stupid; he’d heard the slide of the window in the room next to his office, although he was glad Dominic hadn’t. Now he had to get Dominic out and drag the blond in for a chat. It would help if I knew his name. Ugh.

  “Look, Dominic,” Ranger reverted to first name basis now he knew the blond wasn’t listening. “I don’t know what your game is. You pulled me off vacation; told me to train these guys for a week for a freaking task force. Now you’re telling me you want assassins. Has the council changed the rules? We don’t train others for our jobs; it’s too risky. Why isn’t Tron doing this?” Tron was his old trainer; brutally fast, hellishly strong and took no shit from anyone. A retired assassin, he put Ranger through two years of hell before he’d been sent on his first job.

  “Everyone in existence knows Tron is the assassin trainer,” Dominic snapped. “The trainees would be out of here in a flash if he turned up.”

  “They know I’m an assassin too,” Ranger pointed to the star on his face. “Maybe this is the reason no one is signing up for the job. You insist on marking us for the rest of our lives making us pariahs in normal society.”

  “But they also know current assassins don’t train the new guys.”

  “So, what’s your plan? I train these guys for a week, point you in the direction of the ones who’ll be useful to you, and then what?”

  “They get thrown at Tron and as for the others; well it will depend on what state they’re in by the end of the week.” Dominic’s voice hardened. Ranger felt a cold chill run down his spine.

  “Assassin’s need a certain frame of mind; an attitude that’s pretty rare among shifters. You can’t just throw anyone into training with someone like Tron without warning them first.”

  “It’s the law of survival, kill or be killed, which is why I want you to retrieve those two men you kicked out of here earlier.”

  No way in hell. “They don’t have the right attitude. They’re bullies and sexual predators. If you bring them back, then you can kiss the effectiveness of this training goodbye.”

  “They can help get rid of the defective ones; the ones that won’t fight back.” Has Dominic always been this callous?

  “I won’t train those two. I don’t care what you say or do; bring in Marcus or Sean, but I’m warning you; if they come back, I walk.”

  “You’re under orders.” Dominic stepped into his personal space and Ranger’s wolf growled.

  “I work under council orders, and the last order I got from them was a three-month vacation because I hadn’t had one in two years; a vacation you interrupted.” The last thing Ranger would ever be was scared of Dominic. “Do they know about your little plan to trick people into assassin training?”

  There. One twitch, right below Dominic’s eye. Ranger knew he’d hit the mark. “I’m not your personal hitman, Dominic. I work for the full council. You push me on this and I’ll take it to the next meeting. The two men I expelled do not belong in this camp and I won’t take them back.”

  “We need more assassins; rogues are getting out of hand. The council will see I’m right when I tell them about my plan.”

  “So go and tell them, and leave me out of it. I will train these guys for the week in general fighting skills and give you my report at the end of it. Then I’m finishing my vacation.”

  “You said you were happy to go back out in the field,” Dominic protested as Ranger steered him towards the door.

  “I ch
anged my mind. I feel the strong urge to get away from political bullshit.” Ranger slammed the door behind Dominic’s retreating ass and then thumped it. Talk to Cam, go after my mate. Shit, I don’t even know his name. His stomach grumbled. Fuck. And lunch. Maybe I’ll find Cam and my mate there.

  Hunting through the application files on his desk, he quickly found the one he was looking for. Aiden. Now, at least he had a name for the face. Stuffing the file into his jacket pocket, Ranger strode out of the office and headed for the mess hall. At least that was his intention. A blushing little omega with a pile of papers put paid to that idea.

  Chapter Four

  Aiden was lucky to find a table by himself. His episode with Al and Dan and the way his wolf reacted to Ranger had him keeping his head down, refusing to make eye contact with anyone. He knew Brian had been there, but there were two other trainees coming up on the scene when he left. With shifter hearing the way it was, chances are everyone knew he’d been bullied and made a fool of himself. He shoveled his food fast, hoping to get five minutes to himself before the afternoon session.

  If I survive the afternoon session, he thought, totally oblivious to the delicious stew for once. He couldn’t believe what he’d heard in Ranger’s office. There was no way he’d ever be considered for assassin training. Hell, he knew he wouldn’t make it into the task force. His only plan had been to survive the week and claim his trust fund. A trust fund his father was supposed to have released three months before on his twenty-fifth birthday. The man had been decidedly cagey about it when Aiden pestered him claiming audits, accountancy forms and all sorts of procedures needed to be gone through first.

  Was he counting on me never coming back? Aiden knew his father was disappointed in him. He was built well enough for a wolf shifter, but his brothers were titans in comparison. There would never be any talk of him running a pack and while there was no abuse when he came out to his father, it was a close thing. His brothers, Patrick’s and Joseph’s reactions were bad enough. Not even a shift got rid of the bruising and he’d been laid up in bed for days.