The door burst open and two male wolves darted into the room. Quinn’s “No!” had one of them skidding to a halt. The other, however, made a grab for Roni. Totally unruffled, the pretty little wolf used her free arm to deal the male a fast, hard blow to the jaw that sent him sprawling on the floor, out cold. Calm as you please, she then turned back to Quinn.
Marcus and his wolf loved her viciousness, and Marcus had to admit to being totally turned on. He sighed sadly at Quinn. “I was hoping it wouldn’t come to this.”
“Let her go. Just let her go.” When Roni didn’t loosen her hold on Lola, Quinn moved toward her.
Marcus quickly blocked his path. “You don’t touch her. Ever.” Quinn’s dominant vibes suddenly slammed into Marcus, smothering him like an oppressive desert heat. It was an attempt to intimidate him, to force him to submit—an insult that could get him killed by Trey. Marcus shrugged off the vibes. Maybe if Quinn were a born alpha, it would have worked. Unfortunately for the Alpha, his level of dominance didn’t exceed Marcus’s. “Are we done playing?”
Wide-eyed in shock, Quinn stepped back, licking his lips nervously.
“You want to get to your mate. I understand, I do. I know Nick was in the same state when he heard that Shaya was battered and bruised after the crash that I’m sure you heard all about. Roni’s also Nick’s sister, so you can imagine how she feels about it, particularly since she was also in the crash.”
Quinn licked his lips again, his eyes darting from Lola to Marcus, wrestling with the decision of what to do.
“Where are they, McGee?” Marcus demanded.
Quinn’s gaze met Marcus’s determined one. “Marcus . . .” But he said nothing more.
“You’re scared of them,” Marcus realized. “Aren’t you?” This wasn’t about protecting the jackals at all. Quinn didn’t answer. Then Lola squealed.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” said Roni. “Did that hurt? My bad.”
Marcus stepped forward, repeating, “You’re scared of them, aren’t you?”
The Alpha swallowed hard. “Yes, and you should be too.”
“Why?”
He stumbled over his words. “They’re not . . . normal, Marcus. They fear nothing. Lives mean nothing to them. They’ll hurt, and they’ll kill, but they won’t care.”
“Where. Are. They?”
“You’ll find them at snm.com.”
As they sat in the Toyota while Marcus reported everything to Trey over his cell phone, Roni found herself unable to stop staring at him. In a word, she was stunned. Totally and utterly stunned. In the short time she’d known Marcus, Roni had sensed three things: he could be playful, he could be charming, and he could be dangerous. But she hadn’t guessed just how dangerous he could actually be.
Faced with an Alpha who had attempted to suppress Marcus with his dominant vibes, Marcus hadn’t buckled. In fact, he’d withstood the power—which was no little thing. He’d been assertive, forceful, and commanding. And she was totally turned on, to her horrified fascination.
She now understood what Trey had meant when he said that Marcus had a way of getting people to talk. It wasn’t how powerful he was that spooked them, it was that he’d originally hidden it. By nature, shifters were brash and bold, particularly dominants. They wore their power like a cloak, warning away any would-be challengers.
As for those who very unnaturally downplayed their dominance like Marcus, the quiet ones . . . everyone knew to be wary of them. They were comfortable being quiet for a reason: they weren’t afraid to be challenged and even welcomed it—often because they were a little crazy. As Eli had once said, “They would soon as cut your throat than look at you.”
Ending the call, Marcus returned his cell phone to his pocket and started the engine. “It all comes back to that fucking website. Rhett’s almost cracked its security, so everyone’s going to reunite back at my territory.” Frowning at her odd expression, he asked, “What?”
“I just watched you withstand an Alpha’s vibes, and it became very clear just how much you downplay your level of dominance.” She shook her head, incredulous. “How is it that most of your pack thinks you’re so laid-back and mellow? I mean, of course they know you’re very dominant, but they don’t see all that intensity and power lurking there.”
He shrugged, pulling onto the highway. “People have a tendency to label others. When you’re labeled the charmer whose main aim in life is to get laid on a regular basis, no one bothers to look deeper because they don’t expect to find anything else.” Sometimes it bothered him, sometimes it didn’t.
Yeah, Roni knew what that was like. People looked at her and saw a quiet, awkward tomboy and thought that was all there was to her. It didn’t occur to them that she might have an extremely high IQ, or that she could wipe the floor with their faces. As such, she should have known better than to make assumptions. “I’m sorry.”
That had to be the most awkward apology he’d ever heard. “For what?”
She shifted uncomfortably. “I misjudged you when I first met you.”
Her apology was unexpected. She looked genuinely upset with herself. “Hey, don’t worry about it. It happens all the time. It’s worse for Dominic. People think he only operates on one level.” There was much more to the enforcer, but people didn’t see it . . . because Dominic didn’t want them to. “Completely off the subject, it was unbelievably hot when you took on the Alpha female. My wolf loved it.”
Roni fought a smile. Ever so casually, she admitted, “It was just as hot when you shrugged off Quinn’s vibes.” Her wolf had growled with arousal.
He laughed. “One minute you were looking defenseless, and the next you had the Alpha female in a fucking headlock. Cute one second, fierce the next. I love it.”
Taking offense, she scowled. “I am not cute.” What was she, five?
“You are many, many things, Roni. And you are definitely cute—especially when you smile.”
“I do not smile.”
“I’ve seen you smile.” It was a rare sight, but a beautiful one.
“No, you haven’t.”
“Yes, I have. It’s a gorgeous smile—there are even cute little dimples involved.” He almost exploded with laughter at the sheer horror on her face.
“I do not have dimples, thank you very much!”
“Oh, here’s that prim, schoolteacher voice again. Makes me feel like a bad little boy about to get taught a lesson.”
She had to bite the inside of her cheek because, dammit, she would not smile. “I have absolutely no response for that.”
“Then kiss me instead.”
Seeing the impish, lighthearted expression on his face, she realized something. “You’re trying to get me to play.” Since she mostly hung out with guys, she was used to joking around. But this was a different kind of play; it was intimate, more personal, yet it was also . . . easy.
“You did play.” And Marcus was smug about that. He was slowly drawing Roni out, just as she was slowing letting him in.
“You’re such a dick, Fuller.” Annoyingly, he just laughed.
A few moments later, he sighed. “I’m hungry.” She rolled her eyes in exasperation. “What?”
Entering Rhett’s room with Roni by his side, Marcus found his Alpha pair, Dante, and Ryan waiting. “Is he almost done?” Marcus asked Trey, referring to Rhett, who was totally engrossed in his computer.
“Almost.”
“Did you get any information from Jackson?”
Taryn sighed. “According to Jackson, Lyle Browne is a decent guy. He was actually shocked to hear that Lyle was behind Kye’s attempted kidnapping. Although he doesn’t know Lyle’s location, he admitted to being in regular contact with him.”
“Did Jackson have a contact number for Lyle?”
Disappointment clouded Taryn’s expression. “Apparently Lyle is a fan of disposable phones, so he doesn’t have a fixed number.”
Marcus turned to Dante. “What about Redford?”
“He said he stoppe
d doing business with Lyle a year ago.”
“Do you believe him?”
“No, so I did what I do best.” The Beta’s reputation as an interrogator was well known—there wasn’t anyone he’d failed to crack.
“What did Redford have to say after that?”
“The same thing that Jackson told Trey—Lyle uses disposable cells, checks in once a month.”
“Not uncommon for a person who’s involved in plenty of illegal activity.” Roni wondered why she wasn’t stepping away from Marcus, who was absentmindedly playing with her hair. She should probably also ask herself why she kind of liked it.
“Jackson promised to speak to Lyle about the incident and convince him to call me,” said Trey.
Marcus arched a brow. “And if he can’t convince him?”
“Then Jackson will give him up. He has pups himself; he knows how it would feel if the situation was reversed.”
Hoping he was right, Marcus continued twirling strands of Roni’s hair around his finger. The scent of her vanilla shampoo mingled with her own delicious scent, teasing him and his wolf. The sound of footsteps approaching through the tunnels made everyone swerve to face the door. Moments later, Nick and Derren walked inside. Nick took a moment to snarl at Marcus before addressing Trey, who quickly filled them in on everything that had happened.
“Did Johnson have anything interesting to say?” Taryn asked Nick.
“He didn’t want to get involved, but he also didn’t want me to smash his face into the wall, so he was quite informative. He said the same thing that Redford and Jackson said. But there was something else.”
The Phoenix Alphas moved closer to him as Trey asked, “What?”
“He said it wasn’t just jackals involved in whatever they’re doing.” Nick’s face hardened. “He said to look more closely at our own breed of shifter.”
Marcus cursed under his breath. Breeds tended to stick together, and it was always a blow to hear a pack of their own breed was working against them.
“Whoever it is,” rumbled Trey, “is dead. I’ll find them, and I’ll kill them.” Marcus’s wolf backed him up with a growl of his own.
Nick took a deep breath. “I’m going to call Shay, update her on what’s happening.” He was just about to leave the room when Rhett spoke.
“Guys . . . we’re in.”
At that, everyone crowded around the computer. Roni read aloud the name of the shifter site. “Show No Mercy.” A chill ran through her at the blood-red lettering splattered over a black backdrop.
She shook her head, confused. But that confusion quickly cleared up as she glanced at the various videos that had been uploaded onto the site: “Tiger gets ripped to shreds by two wolves,” “Bears use wolf cub as a football,” “Two lion prides battle to the death,” “Jackals having fun with drugged female cougar”—it went on and on, with one very familiar theme: violence.
Trey’s voice came out hoarse with anger. “So the jackals have gone from running an illegal fighting ring to setting up a website where they and their members can upload videos of shifter fights and sexual assaults.”
“Read the introduction. They basically see this as porn for shifters,” commented a suddenly ill-looking Rhett. “They’re saying that violence is a way of life for us, but that we suppress that side of ourselves to fit in with humans. To them, by doing all these things, they’re letting out the animal to play.”
“This has nothing to do with the animal inside them,” objected Dante. “This is just a website for sick sons of bitches to congregate.”
Beneath each clip, it stated just how many times the video had been viewed, how highly it had been rated, and showed any comments that had been left by viewers. Disgustingly, these viewers had praised the amount of violence displayed. It seemed that the more violent and bloody it was, the higher the rating. Sexual assault seemed to be a particular favorite among viewers, and even the videos that displayed young shifters being beaten or savaged to death were highly rated.
Rhett double-clicked on a video of two juvenile wolves brutally fighting while their parents, in human form, stood in the background urging them on, telling them what to do. It looked to Roni like the juveniles were being forced to fight for the entertainment of those around them and for the purpose of the video. Nauseous, she put her hand to her stomach.
“That wolf cub used as a football could have just as easily been Kye.” Taryn’s voice was unsteady. “Do you think that’s why they wanted him? To use in one of these videos?”
Growling, Trey held her tight against him.
“We have to go to the council with this,” said Rhett.
Derren pursed his lips. “I don’t think that would be the best idea.” At Rhett’s questioning look, he went on, “You tell the council about this, two things will happen: One, they’ll take the matter totally out of our hands and order us to allow them to deal with it.” Trey growled at that, clearly not liking the idea that he’d miss his chance at revenge. “Two, they’ll be obligated to inform the families of any of the victims they recognize. You know what will happen next.”
“It will risk a number of packs grouping together, declaring war on the jackals,” concluded Dante. “Not only would the jackals then go deeper into hiding, but they would just create another site and the whole thing would start over.”
Derren nodded. “And the last thing the shifter community needs is for humans to hear about this. A declaration of war would most certainly draw attention.”
Roni knew both Derren and Dante had valid points. The human extremist groups would never stop their campaigns against shifters. The awareness of such a shifter website might certainly be grounds for more appeals to be made—or even worse, it might begin a war between shifters and humans.
“It’s no wonder the jackals are in hiding,” rumbled Marcus. “Can’t run something like this and stay out in the open.”
“But you can track the IP address and find out the location of the bastards, right?” Dante asked Rhett.
The guy looked insulted by the question. “Of course. But it’s probable that they’ve taken measures to mask their IP address—having a website like this, they’d be dumb not to. If they haven’t, it shouldn’t take me more than thirty minutes.”
“And if they’ve masked it?”
“A few days. A week, at most.”
“Get on it,” said Trey. “Then crash the site.”
Nick shook his head. “I don’t think we should crash it. Not yet. The bastards who committed all these attacks need to answer for what they’ve done.” He turned to Rhett. “Can you find the IP addresses of all the people who uploaded the vids? I can get Donovan to help lessen the load.” Donovan was Nick’s main contact.
“I should be able to. But if they’ve used a proxy to do it anonymously, it will take a little time—even with Donovan’s help. And if you’re expecting us to trace the IP address of every single person who uploaded something, it could take months. I mean, look, there’s a whole library of these clips.” Rhett scrolled down a page that listed hundreds of videos. “It might be best to just try to get the list of subscribers and track them down that way.”
“Wait,” said Nick, “go back up a second. There.” He pointed to a certain clip. Curious, Roni leaned forward to get a better look at the freeze-frame image of a video titled “Humans get mauled by wolf.” At Rhett’s click, it enlarged, clearly showing a young female being restrained by an older human boy. The female looked wild, petrified, and enraged. It was . . . it was Roni.
CHAPTER SIX
Her stomach dropped, and her brain . . . it was like it stopped working. Roni was conscious that everyone around her was talking at once, aware that Nick was close to losing his mind and she should probably calm him down. But Roni couldn’t. Rage was coursing through her, heating her up from the inside, demanding an outlet.
Her wolf didn’t understand what was happening, but she responded to Roni’s anger—lunging for the surface, wanting to shift and eradi
cate the threat she couldn’t see.
She needed to get out of that room.
Turning on her heel, Roni raced through the tunnels, out of the caves, and into the surrounding forest. She wasn’t sure how long she ran, but she eventually stopped. Unfortunately, the run hadn’t been an adequate outlet for the rage. It was still there, bubbling, wanting out, making her lungs ache and her breath leave her body in short, anxiety-filled pants. Her wolf was frantic with the need to act, to protect, to defend—her wild agitation only served to feed Roni’s anger.
She punched the nearest tree over and over until her knuckles were bleeding, but the rage still didn’t ease. Nor did her wolf’s attempts to shift. Scrunching a hand in her hair, Roni let her head fall back, sucking in mounds of air in an effort to get her breathing under control. Roni wasn’t quick to anger, but when it happened, she found it extremely hard to calm down, especially with her wolf’s emotions mingled so closely with hers.
Roni had known about the video, of course. The recording had been the evidence Nick needed to prove that he attacked the humans in the defense of both him and her as opposed to cold-blooded murder. Having been tagged as evidence, she’d assumed it was locked up somewhere. Apparently someone had found a way to get a hold of it, because now it was up on a website for shifters all over the world to see. As shame and horror added to the rage curdling inside her, she once again punched the tree.
“Roni.”
She spun to face Marcus, who stood several feet away. “I want to be alone.” The stubborn wolf didn’t move. “Go.”
“No.” As if he’d let her be alone at a time like this. She didn’t know it, but she hadn’t been alone for even one second. Marcus had followed her through the tunnels and out of the caves, staying a safe distance behind her as she ran—giving her solace, but keeping close. “You might think you want to be alone, but you don’t. And that’s not a weakness.”
A tremor ran through Roni as his smooth tone slid over her, soothing her . . . but it also stirred her senses in a major way. “I’m not a good person to be around right now.” Restless with dark energy that had nowhere to go, she began pacing back and forth.