Whether Taryn realized it or not, Nick had never worked as hard for anything as he had for Shaya…because nothing had meant as much to him as she did. Sure his mom, Roni, and Eli were important to him, but he needed Shaya. Even with his family around him, he’d always felt alone somehow. Always felt slightly apart from them. Maybe he’d created that distance himself because he felt to blame for how damaged Roni was and for how they had all felt the need to leave their original pack after what had happened. On the other hand, the emotional distance could just be a result of his inability to truly bond—he didn’t know.
With Shaya, it was different because he didn’t want any distance. How could he? She understood and accepted him in a way that no one had done before, not even Derren with his ability to relate to Nick due to their past in juvie. She saw his faults, knew his mistakes, was aware of what he was capable of, yet she didn’t judge or fear him. She stood up to him, she kept him on his toes, and she was a living, breathing challenge—Nick had always loved a challenge. She gave him hope that it might be different this time, that for once in his life, he might truly be able to bond with another person. But that all depended on her, on whether she was willing to accept his claim on her, because a bond required both of them.
Having finished their meal, they both left the restaurant hand in hand. They had only taken a few steps into the parking lot when it happened—a knowing hit him, a feeling of foreboding, an itch at the back of his neck. Slowing his steps, he stretched out his senses and discovered that there were people lurking…but not just in front of him; they were also lurking behind and on either side of him. “Shit.” He dug his cell out of his pocket and pressed the speed dial for Derren’s phone. Quietly, he said, “We have some visitors. Be careful.”
“What’s going on?” asked Shaya in a low voice.
He kissed her temple. “Humans. Don’t worry, we’ll—” That was when four humans began to gather a short distance ahead of them. Another two were then on either side of Nick and Shaya while three more came up behind them. The humans were keeping a fair distance away, but they were also trapping Nick and Shaya. He recognized a few of them as extremists, and though Logan wasn’t present, Nick would bet he was behind the whole thing. He and Shaya were standing back-to-back and being circled by eleven humans.
Any other time, Nick would’ve felt nothing but bored. He’d handled humans before, and he could handle them again. He didn’t relish the idea of harming anybody, but he’d defend himself and his mate in an attack. But this wasn’t just an attack. It was a trap—an attempt at provoking Nick into violence. What male, human or shifter, wouldn’t turn aggressive at the thought of his female being attacked? But humans wary of shifters wouldn’t look at it that way, because it wouldn’t suit them to do so.
He knew how Logan’s mind worked: The bastard would no doubt produce photographs of his fellow extremists—clawed and bitten and wounded badly—to reporters or the court and spin a nice story to accompany those photographs. As such, when Nick fought these extremists off, something he fully intended to do in order to protect Shaya, he would be playing right into Logan’s hands. But there was no other choice, because the very idea of Shaya being hurt wasn’t at all acceptable to him or his wolf. The animal was currently growling and flexing his claws, honing his senses on the humans.
Nick was aware that Derren wasn’t far away, and he would imagine that the humans would be aware of that too, as they knew Derren accompanied Nick everywhere. He would bet they wouldn’t be fazed by that at all—the more shifters involved in the attack, the better for them.
“You should have listened to Logan in the beginning. You should have left town long ago,” the human directly in front of Nick said. Hatred swirled in his blue eyes, twisting his thin face into a scowl. “And you really shouldn’t have pissed off Logan the way you did. So you could say that you brought this on yourself…that it’ll be your fault your girlfriend’s about to be very badly hurt. Don’t worry—she might just enjoy what we have in mind for her.”
Barely restraining himself from bloodying the prick, Nick realized just how good a trap Logan had set. Logan knew Nick’s past, knew what had gotten him sent to juvie. He’d be hoping that if they threatened to do to Shaya exactly what was done to his sister that day, Nick would for sure react. A cunning plan. And it had every chance of working.
Sensing Nick’s control quickly splintering, Shaya brushed her hand against the back of his thigh. She kept her gaze trained on the humans in her vision, registering every move they made, fully prepared to defend herself if any one of them took a single step toward her. So far, they had done nothing but glare at her, clenching their fists in an attempt to intimidate her, but that could quickly change.
“I still can’t work out whether she’s a shifter or not,” continued the human. “But if she’s going to fuck one, the slut might as well be.”
A growl poured out of Nick. Reflexively, he moved to rip the asshole’s limbs off, but then there was the sound of the only thing that could have gotten through to him—Shaya’s voice.
“Don’t, Nick,” she said, low enough for only him to hear. She spoke in the same calming tone she used with Taryn and Amber. “He wants you to charge at him so that I’m standing here alone. He’s trying to separate us.”
She was right, Nick realized as the red haze blurring his thoughts began to disperse. “He called you a slut,” he gritted out quietly.
“What’s the big deal? I’m your slut.” Her voice held a tint of amusement.
“You know, coming forward and announcing your existence had to be the dumbest thing your species ever could have done,” said the human. “What made you think you would ever be accepted? You’re exactly what those religious fanatics say you are—abominations. And you need to be destroyed.”
Like Nick hadn’t heard this spiel before.
Clearly bugged that Nick wasn’t reacting, the human snickered. “Not so brave and cocky now that you’re surrounded like this, are you?”
“Don’t mistake my silence for fear,” Nick told him, vibrating with anger. “I can spot a trap when I see one. I know exactly what you hope to do. Don’t worry—you’ll get the response from me that you’re aiming for. But if you think you’ll all get out of this alive, you’re very much mistaken.”
There was a slight unease in the air that made Shaya smile inwardly. There was no doubting that Nick meant every word. The scent of fear surrounded them, pleasing her wolf, who—though not a fan of confrontation—had every intention of standing by her mate.
“If you know anything about shifters,” continued Nick, “you’ll know how vigorously we protect females and children. You’re threatening my female, you intend to cause her physical harm, and I can’t allow that. So if you have it in your head that all that will happen is some of you will go home wounded, you’re very wrong. I’ve killed a human before to defend someone, and I won’t hesitate to do it again. If I turn my attention to you, know it means you’re about to die. Those who value your life over Logan’s plans…you might want to step back.”
Fear wafted from the human, and it was clear that his snigger was forced. “You’re no threat against all of us.”
“There may be strength in numbers, but not against a shifter protecting his female. That has a way of amplifying a man’s strength. I’d tear apart anyone who tried to hurt her. And she’s not exactly an easy target—you should be aware of that before you think of cowardly targeting her rather than me.”
In spite of the situation, Shaya found herself smiling. He had never once disregarded her strength and her capability of taking care of herself, had never once treated her as anything but his equal. Even now, while she was in clear danger, he wasn’t treating her like a damsel in distress.
“Well, well, well, look what we have here.”
At the sound of Derren’s voice, Shaya’s head whipped to the right, and her brows rose in surprise. There he was, slightly outside the circle, smiling in amusement…and recording the
whole thing with his smartphone.
“Eleven humans boxing in and intimidating a shifter and his girlfriend—two people who had been minding their own business. Not just humans, but human extremists.” Derren shook his head in reprimand. “What will the world think when they see this on YouTube, I wonder.”
Three things suddenly happened at once: One of the humans lunged at Derren, making a grab for the cell phone. Nick snatched Shaya’s hand and pulled her to the ground, yelling “Down!” as two bullets whizzed past. And the humans all scrambled away into the dark night. All but one, Shaya quickly realized, as she saw that Derren was not only still in possession of his phone, but he also had an extremist by the scruff of his neck.
Derren tipped his head at the human. “I’m thinking he can answer some questions for us.”
Shaya didn’t enjoy seeing anyone in pain, she really, really didn’t. But as she watched with Taryn and Trey as Nick and Derren circled the human tied to a chair in her spare bedroom, she didn’t feel in the least bit disturbed to know he would soon be in bad shape.
For one thing, the guy—Lee-Roy was his name, according to his driver’s license—was pure evil. He’d spent the past half hour boasting about how many shifters he’d beaten up in his time and about how easy it was breaking into the salon and how much fun he’d had smashing it up. Then there was the little detail that he kept calling her a slut and condemning to hell any “spawn of the devil” she was impregnated with. And why would he be so bold? He was convinced that Nick wouldn’t hurt him for fear of repercussions. Also, he was too crazy to be smart enough to be scared.
“It’s a shame Dante’s not here,” said Taryn. The Beta’s skills as an interrogator were well known. “He could have this guy singing like a canary in no time.”
“We don’t need Dante,” Trey told her. “A male whose mate has been threatened is a force like no other. That son of a bitch over there would have happily hurt Shaya. Nick will easily have him talking. And he won’t let him live long, either.”
As Derren studied the gun he held in his hand that he’d found in Lee-Roy’s pocket, the human smiled evilly. “If you’re thinking that watching you play with it will make me nervous, you’re wrong. You won’t kill me.”
Nick cocked his head at him. “Why would we use your gun when we have these?” The human jerked in surprise as Nick’s claws shot out. He barely refrained from slitting the man’s throat right then and there. The need for information was the only thing that had kept the human alive to that point.
Still, Lee-Roy shook his head, repeating, “You won’t kill me.”
Nick crouched in front of him. “I noticed the ring on your finger. Do you love your wife, Lee-Roy?”
The human’s eyes bulged. “If you hurt her—”
“That thing you’re feeling right there, that clump of emotion…Nothing comes close to it, does it? Fear, fury, and desperation all tangled together. That’s exactly what I felt when you and your friends threatened to hurt Shaya.” Nick’s face hardened, and his voice turned guttural. “So don’t think for one minute that your life means anything to me. I’ll cut your throat without a care in the fucking world, believe me.”
Lee-Roy gulped audibly. “The others will know I’m missing, and they’ll know you have me. They’ll come for me.”
Derren smiled, amused. “You really think so? I wouldn’t be too sure of that. At this moment in time, you and your friends are all very famous. Yes, that’s right. The little video of what happened earlier is on YouTube as we speak. No shifter is going to like that. Every one of your friends now has a big, fat target on their back. They’ll do the smart thing and go into hiding from shifters and the police. If your friends can’t contact you, they’ll assume it’s because you’re hiding just as they are.”
Lee-Roy was silent for a moment, but then he snickered. “My wife won’t accept that I’m gone.”
Derren tsked. “Not if she receives some text messages from your cell phone to say that you’ll be hiding for a while. She’s part of your group, isn’t she? She’s hardly going to go to the police and announce that you’re missing in case they link you with the incident on YouTube. In other words, Lee-Roy, it would be quite simple for you to disappear.”
“And considering my mate was shot at,” rumbled Nick, “I’d like nothing more than for you to disappear.” In fact, Nick was looking forward to it. He knew he wouldn’t regret it either.
Looking slightly nervous, Lee-Roy said, “It wasn’t me who shot at her.”
Nick snorted and got to his feet, beginning to once more circle the human. “Had you been the male who shot at Shaya, you’d be nothing more than a bad smell right now. Trust me on that. I’m curious: Were you planning to attack us before you shot us, or had the plan been to just take us out with a bullet all along?”
“Logan told us to take the guns in case you went too wild or we were disturbed.”
“And he wanted you to shoot Shaya too, right?”
“Our order was to shoot her if you didn’t react.” He jumped at Nick’s growl.
“Tell us about the game preserve,” ordered Nick.
Eyes wide, Lee-Roy gawked. After a moment, he finally spoke. “I don’t know what you’re—”
“Don’t play with me, Lee-Roy,” growled Nick. “I really don’t know how much longer I can stay calm. Answer me.”
“I don’t know where it is—we’re blindfolded the whole way there.” He sounded smug that he didn’t have the answer.
“So you’ve been there?” Derren’s question dripped with anger.
Lee-Roy smiled at Derren. “You really shouldn’t knock something until you’ve tried it. It’s surprisingly addictive. The shifters are drugged at first—something that stops them from shifting for a little while. Then they’re dumped in the middle of nowhere. When they wake up and are finally on the move, a group of us begin to hunt. Slowly at first, not letting them know we’re there. Then we amp it up. Guns, knives, whips, sledgehammers—you name it, we use it. They always beg in the end.”
Oh, the sick bastard. As if he’d sensed Shaya’s impulse to slap the asshole, Nick shook his head slightly at her. She knew why: He didn’t want Lee-Roy’s flow to be interrupted.
“And then they scream,” continued Lee-Roy. “God, how they scream. Especially the females. It’s one of the perks of working for Logan.”
“Youmotherfuckingtwistedpieceofmonkeyshit!” snapped Taryn. Only Trey’s hold on her arm held her back.
Shaking with rage, Nick gritted out, “So Logan is the one behind it?” The crazy bastard laughed. “Something funny?”
“Here you are judging me, calling me twisted, when the person who created the preserve is one of your own.”
There was a boom of shocked silence.
Finally, Nick spoke. “Repeat that.”
“Oh, I was shocked too.” Lee-Roy shook his head, incredulous. “I was just as shocked that Logan would associate with any shifter. But this guy doesn’t consider himself a shifter—hates the race as much as we do, and he’s promised to stand with us against you all.”
“Bullshit,” bit out Shaya.
Lee-Roy laughed again. “Want to know what’s even funnier?” he asked Nick. “You know him.” His smile was cruel and taunting.
“Nick, if you don’t kill him,” rumbled Trey, “I will.”
“That won’t be necessary. This one’s mine.” Then Nick sliced open the human’s throat with his claw. The bastard deserved much worse than a quick, merciful death, but Nick had already traumatized his sister by unleashing his temper in vengeance. He wouldn’t do that to Shaya too. She had a huge heart, and he wanted only to protect it. Worried that even this swift execution had been too much for her, Nick looked at her. There was no revulsion on her face, only concern. For him, he realized. She was concerned that he wasn’t calming.
Knowing and hating that Nick expected her to judge him, Shaya went to her mate and curled her arms around his waist. “He deserved worse.”
Accepting the paper towel Derren handed him, Nick wiped the blood from his claw and then retracted it. Wrapping an arm around Shaya, Nick breathed her in, using her to center him. “I think the bastard was insane.”
“But not a liar,” said Trey. “When he said the preserve was being run by a shifter, he was telling the truth. And he wasn’t kidding when he said you knew him.”
Nick nodded, aware that Trey was right. “That doesn’t exactly narrow it down. I know a lot of people.”
Shaya looked up at Nick. “But if the shifter’s closely allied with Logan, it makes sense that he’s local. At the very least, I’d say we can narrow it down to male shifters in Arizona.”
“Then we need to get a list of the male shifters residing in Arizona,” said Derren.
Nick turned to Derren. “Call Donovan, he’ll be able to get that info for us.”
“Let me guess,” drawled Shaya. “One of your contacts—not your friends.” Derren chuckled while Nick frowned down at her.
“The question bugging me is,” began Taryn, “why would a shifter hate his own kind?”
Puffing out a breath, Derren shook his head. “I’m pretty sure said shifter wouldn’t be dumb enough to let other shifters know about it.”
“If we’re going with the theory that he’s someone local,” said Taryn, “you do realize that places Jesse, Bracken, and Zander under suspicion, don’t you? I mean, think about it: They’ve been supposedly standing guard, but they could just be here to keep watch over us. It also means Hadley’s a suspect. After all, most of the shifters going missing are from his pack, and he’s got a reputation for being a ruthless bastard. Plus, he’s got people supposedly guarding you too, people who are just as capable of reporting back to him.”
Nick nodded, rubbing a hand up and down Shaya’s arm. “When I get the list of names, we can go through them. Until then, we’ll be extra careful about what we allow the rebels and Hadley’s guards to see.”