Finding Buried Secrets: A Seaside Wolf Pack Novel Read online

  Finding Buried Secrets

  Sam: Seaside Wolf Pack

  By C.C. Masters

  Copyright 2019 by C.C. Masters.

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Dedication:

  Dedicated to everyone who has supported me along this journey! Special thanks goes out to the Seaside Wolf Pack on Facebook for always keeping me inspired and motivated.

  Thank you to Ann Marie Ware, you always push me to be better.

  Thank you to Apryle Smith for reminding me why I started writing, and for giving me a reason to keep doing so.

  Note from the Author

  This book is written so that it could be read as a stand-alone, but it may be best enjoyed if you read it between Seaside Wolf Pack books 5 and 6.

  This book contains some spoilers for the Seaside Wolf Pack books 1-5.

  Happy Reading!

  Note from the Author

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Epilogue

  NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Sneak Peek of Hollow Crest Wolf Pack Book 1 Chapter 1 Lori

  Prologue

  I leaned back against my pack as I sat in the dirt, waiting for my ride into hell along with the rest of my team. The hot sun had already disappeared for the day, and the air was quickly cooling as we sat uncomfortably near the landing zone. We had been sitting here for over three hours, but that was the marines. Hurry up and wait.

  I noticed the guys on the Fire Support team staring in our direction, and I gave them a grin and the middle finger. O’Connor laughed and made a rude gesture in return, but the others didn’t engage. They would all deny it, but I knew their nerves were getting to them. I threw a small rock at Hart, who was sitting less than two feet from me. “Your fan club is staring.”

  Hart didn’t even open one eye to look. “Which one?”

  I snorted, but she wasn’t joking. Lance Corporal Hart was a beauty queen trapped in the life of a marine grunt. Her dark chocolate skin, flawless complexion, and excellent bone structure would make the vainest model weep. Her southern charm and graceful poise made the rest of us look like Neanderthals whenever we stood next to her. Most men were irresistibly drawn to her and disappointed when they found out that she preferred other women. But she was far from just a pretty face; she was one of the most fierce warriors I’d ever met. She was also the only human I considered to be a true friend and almost a sister.

  The other two members of our team, Smith and Haring, ignored our conversation completely. Smith had decided she would be done with the marines the moment this deployment ended - she was counting down the time until she could get back to the States and as far away from the military as possible. Haring was brand-new out of training, and this would be the first time she saw action. By the nervous way she rubbed the straps of her pack, I could tell that she probably didn’t have what it took to do this job. I hoped I was wrong, but my sixth sense tended to be on point when it came to reading people.

  “Birds incoming!” O’Connor shouted. I shot him a jealous look before getting to my feet and slinging my ruck sack over my shoulders. The Fire Support team got all the cool tech stuff because they were our liaisons to aerial support. One member of their team had a high-speed optical device that would show them exactly what the pilots in the air were seeing and allow us to coordinate our movements on the ground. The rest of their team had the upgraded night vision goggles with dual tubes for both eyes, and they had the clip-on thermal imager as well. Lucky bastards.

  The greyhounds of Afghanistan landed in front of us in a cloud of dust, but the crew chief wasn’t about to let us wait for better visibility before he waved us forward. Marines filed into each one of the three helicopters in organized lines, and most of us were somber and silent. I tried to stay focused on the mission and ran through the plan in my head once again.

  We were headed directly into the hot zone and the center of hostile territory. The enemy completely controlled the area, and they quickly executed any American sympathizers in the most brutal ways. The enemy ruled with a heavy hand, and the atrocities that had occurred here were sickening. Our mission was to ‘disrupt enemy operations’ which, translated from marine to English, meant we were there to draw fire and see who took the bait. As much as I wished we were there to save the day and destroy an enemy stronghold, I knew that this would be just another battle in a long and drawn-out war.

  I rolled my shoulders back as the helicopter lifted off into the air. There was always a chance you could die at any moment in life, but it was times like this that you knew that you were challenging fate. I knew the feral grin on my face would be disconcerting to some, but we were about to stare death in the face, and I had no intention of letting him take me today.

  Hart elbowed me in the stomach, but I honestly couldn’t feel it through all my gear. It was too loud to talk without screaming into each other’s ears, but her face said it all. We’re about to tear some shit up. Hart believed if you went into a battle worried that you were going to die – then you probably would. She and some of the other marines would pump themselves up by thinking about the innocent lives that would be saved by our heroic actions in the battle to come. I shot her a grin to let her know I was in this to win it and there was no need for her to worry.

  When I had first enlisted in the marines, I had thought that I was going to save the world. But lately, I had been questioning if anything I did mattered in the bigger picture. We were still fighting the same battles year after year. But this wasn’t the time to question my role in the marines - I needed to give my team the confidence to be able to follow me into battle. There was no room for fear or self-doubt on this ride into the chaos of war and I wasn’t going to let anyone die on my watch. My team needed to be strong and confident if they were going to survive and I needed to set that tone as a leader.

  Across from me, LT Woodill was looking at a photo of his wife and new baby. He prepared for every battle by telling himself that he needed to do whatever it took to get back to them. Beside him, O’Connor had his headphones in and was mouthing the words to what was probably Five Finger Death Punch. Smith had a disgruntled look on her face, and I smiled, knowing that she was too stubborn to die. Haring was the one who worried me. She was chewing on her lower lip and rubbing her thighs nervously.

  The thirty-minute flight to our destination was too short and too long, all at the same time. The helicopters hovered in the air for a few minutes above where we were about to land. This was designed to create a dust cloud that would hide our movements for a short time. When we disembarked from the helicopter, we were going to be in a wide-o
pen area and which left us exposed and vulnerable – perfect targets. I could feel Haring looking at me, and I sat up straight to project an air of confidence. I needed my team strong and determined to win if we were going to make it through this.

  The bird settled down on the ground and the crew chief waved us forward, wanting us gone ASAP so they could get out of the hot zone. My heart rate sped up, and my adrenaline spiked – it was go time. In the moments before walking into imminent danger, my body always did this weird flip-flop between fight and flight, but my predator instincts always won out. A sense of calm settled over me, and all of my senses were heightened and focused on detecting potential threats. I was born to do this.

  I dropped my NVGs over my left eye but didn’t bother to turn them on. They were mostly useless, and I could see better in the dark with my shifter eyes. The problem with using a cloud of dust to hide your movements was that you couldn’t see anything through the dust either. Plus, the noisy CH-53s were hardly stealthy – our enemy knew we were here, and they knew the drill.

  I squeezed Haring’s arm before we filed out and she gave me a nervous smile. I barely kept sight of her back as I jogged out of the helicopter and into the night. Well, jog would be an exaggeration. I was wearing fifty pounds of body armor and carrying close to seventy pounds of gear and ammo in my pack, so an elderly woman could probably power-walk faster than I was going right now. My shifter genes gave me an advantage over the other humans, but there were still limits to what my body could physically do.

  Even though no one could see through this cloud of dust, that wouldn’t stop the enemy from lobbing a few RPGs or mortars in here and hoping to hit someone. I hated the feeling of being completely vulnerable, and knowing there would be no way to stop a bullet or a bomb with my name on it. Excitement and dread warred within me. This was the moment when all our training and prep work came together. We were on the frontlines of the battle to fight for our country and our fellow Marines. We would live or die by our actions today.

  The sound of the helicopters faded as we took a position in a ditch near the compound we were going to be taking as a base of operations for this mission. Our radio operator, Stevens, hurriedly set up the satellite antenna so we could have access to comms. LT confirmed that there were no heat signatures inside, indicating the first building we wanted was empty. O’Connor had already started a nine-line to get us Close Air Support on the buildings around us.

  My superior hearing had been blown out by the deafening noise of the helos over the last half hour, so I would have to wait a few hours until I healed enough to use it. My sixth sense as a predator wasn’t tingling, and I couldn’t sense anyone else around us. I could usually feel the humans and other supernaturals who were in close vicinity to me and get a vague read on if they were a threat or not – which was not a typical shifter ability.

  I not only had to hide that I was a shifter from humans, but I also needed to conceal my unusual abilities from other shifters. I just didn’t fit in anywhere, which is why I always kept my distance. Hart was the only one who had gotten close to getting past my walls, but because she was human, I could never let her see the real me.

  I heard heavy breathing from my left, and I scooted closer to Haring. “Hey, you ready to kick some bad guy ass?”

  She smiled at me, but I’d never seen anything more fake. Her eyes were wide with fear, and her hands were shaking. “Yeah, boss.”

  Smith scowled derisively. “You know we gotta be tougher than the dudes here,” she muttered to Haring. “If one of them shows nerves, it’s because he’s a newbie. But if one of us does, then it’s because females don’t belong in combat.”

  I glared at Smith. “That’s the worse pep talk I’ve ever heard.” I turned my attention back to Haring. “Listen, Haring. You are a goddam marine. You’ve already pushed to your breaking point in training, and I know you have the physical and mental fortitude to push through anything that’s thrown at you. We are now the fucking tip of the spear, and I need you to show me that you are a real marine down to your bones. We need to stand up for those who can’t defend themselves. Put your head up and get ready, because this isn’t about just you or me. This is about something way bigger, and I need you to stand tall with the rest of the marines here.”

  There was a heartbeat of silence as Haring stared at me. Then she took a breath, and I could see a new sense of calm settle over her.

  “I totally have a lady boner right now,” Hart told me with a grin. “You’re no Mattis, but you’ll do in a pinch.”

  Haring chuckled, but I could see that her hands had stopped shaking and she now had a determined look on her face. Mission accomplished. Now, I just had to make sure she didn’t die.

  Stevens got the comms set up and let LT get on the radio with the battalion commander who was running this op from the relative safety of his office. I looked over the decrepit building with mud walls that was going to be home for the next couple of days. I could see the building we wanted to take in detail with my enhanced night vision, but a cold feeling ran down my spine when I saw a hole in one of the walls that indicated marines had been here before. Why not use the door? Because doorways and windows are almost always rigged with IEDs. It was safer to create your doorway to avoid getting blown to pieces the moment you stepped inside. That’s why we had a Breach Team ready for the word from LT that we were good to go.

  It wasn’t a good idea to go back into a building that marines had already taken. Our enemy would have rigged it with IEDs the moment the previous platoon had vacated the space. LT’s voice got louder as he ‘respectfully’ argued with the commander about our point of entry. The commander wanted us to use the entrance that the previous team had created when we were here last to ‘limit collateral damage.’ That was a great idea in theory, but everyone on our team here knew that would be a death sentence for one of us. It was already dangerous to go into a building that marines had occupied in the past, but to also use an established entrance? There was a ninety percent chance that was ready to blow the second someone walked through there.

  “ICOM chatter says they know we’re here,” O’Connor said to LT. “Visuals show men putting weapons into trucks and heading in this direction. They’re gearing up for a fight.”

  LT nodded at O’Connor in acknowledgment. “With all due respect, Commander,” LT said into the radio with gritted teeth. “I’m not sending any of my guys knowingly into a death trap.” There was silence on the other side, and finally, the commander relented.

  It might seem strange and even stupid that we’re going into a building, knowing that it could be rigged to kill us all. It probably seems even more ludicrous that we were going into that building with the sole purpose of allowing the enemy to set up all around us and wait for them to attack us. We were going to do nothing but watch as they set up lookouts, moved their weapons in place, and then scouted the area to mark our positions. But those were the rules of engagement. We couldn’t fire on anyone unless they fired on us first. After all, these guys might be harmless civilians just going about their daily business, who were we to say otherwise?

  War had changed a lot since the days of our ancestors. Enemies didn’t wear clearly labeled uniforms or make their intentions clear. Enemies smiled at you during the light of day and plotted to kill you once the sun sank below the horizon. And at the end of the day, our worst nightmare would be to find out that we harmed someone completely innocent. Something like that would mentally destroy the marine who pulled the trigger with agonizing guilt. I know I’d never recover from it.

  Everyone held their breath as the breach team blew a hole in the side of the building. When the first group of marines stormed the building, and there weren’t any explosions that indicated one of us had been blown into pieces I let out a sigh of relief. We cleared the second and third buildings in the compound without incident and took up our positions. LT had assigned Hart and the rest of my team to building one with the Fire Support team. I was glad for the assign
ment because it meant I might get a turn to monitor air support. I loved expensive tech toys.

  It was early morning when Hart, Smith, and I were assigned to relieve the guys who had pulled security on the rooftop all night. It had been quiet during the night, but I was hoping it wouldn’t stay that way. I didn’t come all this way to bake in the heat for no reason. It was only a little after seven in the morning, but the heat was rapidly taking the place of the freezing cold from last night.

  “Smith,” I called out. “Let’s get a tarp set up for cover.” It wouldn’t do anything to stop a bullet or an RPG, but it would help with the burning sun once the temps hit triple digits.

  Smith gave an irritated sigh but did as I asked. The four of us settled into place to wait. This was the worst part of the operation. We would have to sit here in the sizzling sun and do absolutely nothing until someone tried to kill us.

  Our job was to identify every person who fired a shot at us, call it into LT, and then take them out. If they didn’t attack, we didn’t touch them. They knew the policy just as well as we did and had adopted a strategy to use our own rules against us. They had guys stand out in the open and watch the building to identify where each marine was stationed. Then the lookout would call out our positions to their buddies positioned in murder holes with artillery. We didn’t touch the lookouts, because they weren’t carrying weapons. It didn’t matter that they were doing everything in their power to make sure we ended up dead. We couldn’t take the chance that we would harm someone innocent.

  I tapped my foot where I was sitting with my weapon as I had to listen to the guys on the rooftop next to us return fire at the couple of shooters that had aimed a few test shots at them initially. It didn’t take long before the enemy opened up fire from multiple locations around us, and bullets started flying our way. Now that the enemy was close and focused on us, I had a vague feel for where they were. I could also sense their hate and bloodlust that was tinged by a darkness that I hadn’t ever sensed before coming to the Middle East. I frowned at the intensity, but there was no time for philosophical thoughts.