“Marcus, good to see you.” Standing, Stone clasped his hand. “Always a pleasure to see you, Roni. I hear that you’ve mated. Congratulations. It’s good to see a couple that actually suit.”
Shaya winced at the sharp dig, though she looked amused. “Dad . . .”
Tone indulgent, he asked, “Yes, baby girl?” She just shook her head.
Nick, from where he was leaning against the wall, scowled at Roni. “You invited him, didn’t you?”
Roni shrugged innocently. In the beginning, she hadn’t been too sure about Stone, since he hadn’t been very pleasant to Nick. But then Roni had come to learn a few things about Stone: One, he absolutely adored his daughter, and Roni could like anyone who loved Shaya. Two, he was a tough motherfucker with the soul of a predator, and Roni could respect that. Three, he actually liked Nick . . . he just also liked fucking with him.
Basically, Stone’s problem was that Nick hadn’t immediately claimed Shaya. And Nick’s problem was that Stone was . . . well, Stone. The human was an alpha in his own way, and he liked to think of himself as the “main man” in Shaya’s life. Of course, Nick was very much opposed to that idea, so he didn’t like Stone being around. But since Nick always found the time to irritate her, Roni wasn’t above getting a little payback. Pranks didn’t work on Nick, but a condescending father-in-law who believed himself to be the most important figure in Shaya’s life and persisted in calling Nick “kid”? He certainly pushed Nick’s Alpha buttons.
In response to Nick’s question, she replied, “I thought it would be good if Shaya had someone tough with her when we invaded the site. If Brunt gets out on bail later and gives us the info we need, we could actually need to leave tonight.”
“You thought I planned to leave her unprotected?”
“No, but I figured it would be nice for her to have her dad around anyway, so I thought Stone could stay for a few days.”
“A few days?”
Stone sank into the porch swing, arms draping over the back. “You don’t mind, do you, kid?”
“Of course not,” Nick replied through his teeth. His eyes flared with the promise of retribution as they settled on Roni.
Sliding his hand around to rest in the crook of Roni’s neck so he could massage her nape with his thumb, Marcus asked Stone, “How’s your mate?”
“Dying. That was her diagnosis this morning, anyhow.”
Shaya rolled her eyes, groaning. Gabrielle Critchley was quite the hypochondriac.
“She also informed me that she doesn’t want a big funeral. She’s picked out a dress, wrote down what flowers she wants, and even made a CD of the music she’d like to have playing.” He shrugged. “She’s nothing if not organized. So, Marcus, I hear my daughter’s mate put up a bit of resistance when you pursued Roni.”
“Just a little,” said Marcus.
“But you didn’t let it stop you, I see.”
“Not once I’d made up my mind to have her.”
“That’s good. Some males don’t hesitate in going after what they want.”
Shaya closed her eyes. “Dad . . .”
“Yes, baby girl?” Again, she just shook her head.
Suddenly the back door flew open, and Eli stepped outside holding up his cell phone. He pointed at Roni. “You! That’s was evil, Roni!”
She double-blinked. “I’m not sure I know what you mean.”
“Does your cruelty know no boundaries?”
“What did she do?” chuckled Marcus.
“Take a look. Take a long look at who you’ve mated.” Eli tossed his cell to Marcus. “Total. Fucking. Bitch.”
As his mate continued to brush off her brother’s insults, Marcus found himself looking at Eli’s Facebook profile while Nick, Shaya, and Stone peeked at it over his shoulder. Eli—or Roni pretending to be Eli—had posted on his wall at four-thirty in the morning: “I’ve got an announcement to make. I’ve found my true mate. Yep, turns out my mate was under my nose the whole time.” Under the post was a photo of a naked Eli curled up in bed . . . with a grinning Kent spooning him.
Shaya clapped a hand over her mouth, but she couldn’t hold in the laughter. “Oh, Roni, you didn’t!”
Nick gawked at Roni, his eyes glinting with humor. That humor disappeared when a laughing Stone slapped him—a little too hard—on the back. “Your sister’s ruthless. I like that.”
Shoulders shaking, Marcus threw the phone back to Eli and snuggled tighter into his mate, pressing a kiss to her temple. “I see now that I got off lightly.”
His expression pained, Eli continued ranting at Roni, “Do you know how hard it’s been, thanks to the last stunt you pulled, for me to convince people that I’m not actually gay, and it’s just you messing around?”
“Calm down, Eli,” interjected Shaya. “I’ll bet half those ‘friends’ aren’t really your friends anyway.”
Eli looked at her like she was dumb. “You think this is just about my friends list? Did you not notice how many times that announcement has been shared on Facebook?” He turned his glare on Roni. “I’m now known on a global scale as a gay, submissive, kinky, mated male recovering from an STD!”
Roni tilted her head. “If you’re looking for remorse, you can find it in the dictionary somewhere between rectum and runt.”
Throwing his hands up, Eli made a sound of exasperation. “Don’t think I won’t kill Kent for this when I find him,” he threw over his shoulder before marching back into the lodge.
Lounging back on the swing, Stone sighed. “Glad I came here today.” He flashed a shark grin at his daughter’s mate. “Aren’t you, kid?” Then he chuckled.
Nick snorted. “Keep laughing, old man. Just don’t forget who chooses your nursing home.”
After breakfast, Derren proposed they all go on a pack run. Roni could understand why: restlessness was wafting from all of them as they hoped for the call to say that Brunt had been released on bail. The one thing guaranteed to calm them was the touch and support of their pack.
Roni was one of the first to shift back to her human form, wanting to spend a little time with Shaya—who had opted out of the pack run due to being tired. Then, leaving the Alpha female to have some quality time with her father, Roni went to sit on a fallen tree, watching as the other wolves played. Although . . . she wasn’t sure if Marcus’s wolf was necessarily “playing” when he leaped hard enough at Zander’s wolf to knock him into the stream. That might have been why Jesse’s and Bracken’s wolves dived on him.
A jet-black male wolf and gray-white male—Derren and Eli—joined the fray. It was hard to tell whether they were helping anyone or just plain wanted to play. Caleb and Kent’s wolves were sprawled on the grass, resting, apparently uninterested in the others.
Footsteps coming from behind Roni preceded Nick’s scent. Having shifted back into his human form and redressed, her brother sat beside her on the oak. “Okay, so my own medicine doesn’t taste good. You wanted to give me a little reminder of what it’s like to have family meddle and play games.”
“Yes, and you need to stop,” she said firmly. “Whether you consider him a ‘man-slut’ or not, Marcus is my mate, which means you have to let it go.”
Nick sighed. “I know. At first, I thought I was looking out for you by trying to keep him away. I wanted to keep you happy and safe and—”
“You wanted to relieve your burden of guilt.” He went silent, looking confused and a little off balance. “Nick, whatever you may think, you didn’t traumatize me that day in the woods. I’ve never been anything but grateful to you for what you did. In fact, I’ve felt indebted to you my whole life.”
He reared back. “What? That’s stupid.”
“Then we’re both stupid. Everything that happened . . . it was awful. But it wasn’t my fault, and it wasn’t your fault. Stop trying to make up for something that’s all in your head. All the overprotectiveness ever did was make me feel suffocated, like you didn’t recognize my strength.”
He gave her a poi
nted look. “I’ve never seen you as weak. Never.” Inhaling deeply, he kind of slumped. “I’ll stop the coddling.”
“And you’ll stop toying with Marcus.”
“He’s my sister’s mate—it’s my right to irritate him. It’s what we males do.”
That was the thing about shifter males: no logic was required. “Then I guess you won’t mind Stone spending much more time around here.”
A huge sigh of frustration. “I’ll ease up on your mate.”
“Thank you.” At that moment, Marcus’s wolf came loping toward her, panting. Reaching her, he stood between her legs and nuzzled her breasts. “Typical.” He then licked at her jaw happily as she stroked his flank before delivering a warning growl to Nick.
Disgruntled, Nick raised his hands. “All right, I’m going.” As he stood, his cell phone rang, and everyone froze. Digging it out of his pocket, he answered, “Hello.” By the time he’d ended the short call, all the shifters were back in their human form. “That was Trey. Brunt made bail. As planned, Ryan and Dante are covering the exits of the courthouse, ready to follow him wherever he goes. Once they grab him, they’ll take him to their territory.” He danced his gaze along Derren, Roni, and Marcus as he tipped his head and said, “Let’s get going.”
Dante blocked the doorway of the hut with his arm as Roni and Taryn went to walk inside. “Sorry, this one’s for the boys.” The hut, which had been rebuilt after being set on fire by the extremists that invaded pack territory, was where interrogations took place. Dante and Ryan had snatched Noah Brunt from the motel room he was hiding in after he exited the courthouse using the back entrance to avoid the extremists.
Roni removed her black-currant-flavored lollipop from her mouth. “I’ve no intention of interfering. But I want to hear what he has to say.”
“We let you watch when we had our fun with the female jackal,” griped Taryn, “so step aside, Barney Rubble.”
Dante sighed. “Taryn, honey, we both know there is no chance in hell you’ll be able to stand back and just watch.”
“You say that like I have no self-control.”
Nick snorted. “Do you?”
Taryn just huffed at him, like he wasn’t worth explaining herself to. “Dante, just get the fuck out of our way. I’m talking to you as your Alpha female—move.”
Dante appealed to her with a look. “Yeah, but—”
Behind Roni, Marcus spoke to Dante. “I’m really not sure why you’re wasting time out of your life having this conversation. Surely experience has taught you that nothing can stop these two females from doing what they want to do.”
Trey shrugged one shoulder. “He’s right, D.”
“I’m sure the girls promise not to interfere, right?” Derren looked pointedly at both Roni and Taryn.
The Phoenix Alpha female rolled her eyes. “We know the plan, we like the plan, and we have no intention of interfering with the plan.”
Nodding, Dante dropped his arm and stepped aside. One by one, they entered. In the center of the small, empty building was a dark, gangly, male wolf. He was blindfolded, gagged, and bound to a chair.
Once Dante closed the door, he slowly moved toward the wolf. The Beta removed the gag and blindfold, revealing a pair of freakishly dark eyes. “Noah Brunt. You’re not an easy person to find.”
His gloating expression said he knew it. “Who are you?”
“You know.”
Brunt’s eyes skimmed everyone in the room, coming to settle on Trey. “I had nothing to do with what happened with your pup. Or with the attack on your enforcer’s female.” It wasn’t said defensively. It was simply a statement of fact.
Marcus stepped forward. “Would that be my female you’re talking about? She’s actually my mate.” That made things very different, which Brunt would know. A shifter wouldn’t hesitate to kill anyone they suspected of meaning any harm to their mate. Marcus would destroy anyone who so much as threatened Roni, and he wouldn’t miss a minute’s sleep over it.
“I had nothing to do with it,” stated Brunt, looking bored.
Nick snorted. “So you say.”
Brunt’s attention moved to him. “You’re Alpha of the Mercury Pack.”
“If you know that, then you know my pregnant mate and my sister were in the car crash that was nicely orchestrated by your jackal friends.”
“I had nothing to do with the crash. I wasn’t behind it.” Again, it wasn’t said in his defense; he was just stating a fact.
“Then who was?” asked Dante.
A brief pause. “I don’t know.”
Dante folded his arms across his broad chest. “Do you want to know one of the reasons my mate suits me so well? She’s honest. I don’t like it when people lie to me. Why would you want to lie to me, Noah?” The wolf didn’t respond. Dante began to circle him. “We know about snm.com. We know about the Scorpio Pack’s involvement. We know about your involvement. Your technical skills sure are good. But not good enough to save you from shifters whose pups and mates were threatened. They’re a force like no other.”
“We also know you like to watch,” said Nick. “I’m a merciless bastard, and I know it. But I’d never hurt a female. I’d never get off on watching someone else doing it either. In fact, just the idea of it makes me want to . . . kill.”
“Same here. I have to say, though,” began Trey, “I think I might actually enjoy watching my Beta hurt you.”
Brunt’s eyes widened as Dante’s claws sliced out. “Wait—”
Dante cocked his head. “Oh, I’m sorry, you have a few last words?”
Brunt licked his lips, seeming to realize this wasn’t an interrogation that would allow him to play mind games. He’d been brought here to be tortured and killed, nothing more—or so he thought, thanks to Dante’s plan.
It was a fucking good plan, in Roni’s opinion. Dante had pointed out that interrogating didn’t always involve threats. Noah Brunt was very intelligent, and he liked control. He would have stupidly thought he could control the interrogation—that he could play them all like they were puppets because he was too important for them to simply kill him, considering what information he had. Dante had known that the only way he would volunteer that information was if it was on his own terms, if he was trying to prove himself valuable.
“You don’t want to kill me,” Brunt croaked.
“Really?” drawled Dante. “Why is that?”
“I know things.”
“We know things too.”
The wolf laughed. “There’s so much you don’t know. You think it’s simply a website for people to share their vids. It’s not.” He paused, shaking his head. “The jackals’ victims aren’t always random.”
“We know.” Marcus ensured he sounded bored and unimpressed. “Lyle Browne’s often paid to target certain people.”
“But you don’t know who hires him often,” said Brunt, gloating again.
“Someone from the council.” That came from Ryan. “It’s the perfect way to dispose of shifters or packs that draw too much attention.”
Stunned, Brunt stared at Ryan. “How do you know? Only Lyle and I knew that. Not even the rest of the council knows.”
“Wild guess.”
Roni cursed herself for not thinking of it. The council wanted peace above all else—particularly to avoid the attention of humans—so it would make sense for one of them to utilize Lyle’s talents. Well, it was a good thing they hadn’t gone to the council with what they’d found. It would have made them next on their hit list.
Again, Brunt’s eyes glanced at the faces surrounding him, as if searching for a potential ally. They stopped on Roni. “I saw your vid. Did you trace who uploaded it?” A wide smile spread across his face when she didn’t answer—it made her wolf growl. “You didn’t, did you?”
Roni gave a dismissive shrug. “There are far bigger things going on than who managed to illegally get ahold of logged evidence.”
“I know who it was. I could tell you. Just like I coul
d tell you where the Scorpio Pack is.”
“In exchange for what, exactly?” asked Dante.
Suddenly, Brunt’s expression hardened. “I want them dead. The jackals. I want them all dead.”
Trey frowned. “Why would you want them dead?”
“Does it matter?”
“It does if you expect us to believe you. It makes no sense for you to betray them—they’ve been feeding your sick little kink.”
“They killed Margo.”
Playing dumb, Dante said, “Who’s Margo?”
Brunt’s gaze seemed far away. “She was different. She loved me.”
No, thought Roni, the human had cared for who she thought Brunt was.
“They tortured and murdered her just last night—even sent me a picture.” His upper lip curled back in anger and distaste.
Marcus spoke then. “Why would they go after this Margo person?”
“She talked to the extremists about me, about our relationship. She was safe until she did that. They punished her. I want them dead.”
“You always want someone else to do your dirty work,” muttered Derren.
Ignoring him, Brunt concentrated on Dante. “I’m not stupid, and I’m not delusional. You’re not going to free me. You want me as dead as I want the jackals. But I want this over with quickly and cleanly. Agree to make my death quick, and I’ll tell you where the Scorpio Pack is and who uploaded the video evidence.”
Marcus smiled. Yes, Noah Brunt was indeed smart. He knew he’d have to make his offer damn attractive if he wanted a swift death from a bunch of wolves eager to make him pay for targeting pups and mates.
Dante exchanged a look with Trey and Nick before nodding. “Done.”
Brunt nodded. “They’re two hours away from here, by the old fairground exclusive to shifters—the one a pride of lions destroyed in a war with the owners.”