Authors: Cynthia Shelly; Eden Laurenston

Howl for It (27 page)

BOOK: Howl for It

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Since she and Gage were dressed like hunters about to head out on a mission . . . no one would give them a second look, either. Everything was working as she’d hoped. Now if her racing heart would just settle down.

“They’ll track us once we leave,” Curtis said. His voice broke at the end. Fear was definitely getting to him. He must have gotten too nervous waiting alone in the garage. “As soon as they figure out what’s—”

She shoved him out of the way and ducked her head under the dash. It took her less than sixty seconds to disable the GPS tracker. Piece of freaking cake. “They won’t track you now.”

She popped her head up, and found Gage staring down at her.

And didn’t the wolf look all solemn and determined?

“We’ll come back for him,” Gage promised her. “We’ll get Jonah out, too.”

She blinked. Okay, she hadn’t been expecting that.

“Your brother’s safe. He doesn’t realize what Lyle is yet, so the shifter isn’t going after him.”

Curtis had run off and was punching in security codes, trying to get the gates open. And since no one knew he was supposed to be dead, he was schmoozing his way past the other hunters who’d just appeared. Feeding them some BS line about how he was off on another mission. The hunters were buying every word he fed them, and they were all just seconds away from a clean escape.

An escape that didn’t include Jonah.

No.

“When Lyle finds out that I’ve escaped, he’ll turn on my brother.” She knew it. “I can’t leave him behind.” She wouldn’t. She’d freed Gage’s wolves. Done her part. Now they could get out of there. She and Jonah, well, they’d find a way out, too.

I won’t leave my brother.
Not even for Gage.

Gage lowered his head. “Yes, I figured you’d say something like that.” His voice was calm. Weird. She’d thought he would fight with her. Do . . . something. The wolves in the back were dead quiet.

She stepped away from the SUV. “Go.” She cleared her throat. “When this is over . . .”

What? She’d find her hubby and they could live happily ever after? That wasn’t the way things worked. A hunter and a wolf didn’t have a shot at forever. Besides, she wasn’t even sure he wanted to stay bound to her.

Kayla pulled in a deep breath. So maybe she wouldn’t offer any lines about what would happen when this mess was over. She could just say, “Go take care of your pack.” Then Kayla turned her back on him. Dammit, was she actually tearing up? What in the hell was happening to her? She was a fountain these days.

She took one step, then found her body hauled back against Gage’s rock-hard chest. “Before I found you in that cage”—his breath whispered over her ear—“I made a side trip by the infirmary.”

Kayla tried to jerk free.
No give.
“Gage?” Now she was afraid because his low voice had been so angry. So . . . determined.

“While all the medics were busy stitching up the wounded hunters, I borrowed a few supplies from their office,” he growled the words.

Her heart seemed to stop even as a dark suspicion grew in her mind.

The heavy garage door was opening with a groan and shriek of metal. Curtis was rushing back toward them.

“Sorry, sweetheart, but I’m not risking you,” Gage told her and shoved something sharp—a needle!—in her arm.

No.
Jonah!
She opened her mouth, but Gage put his hand over her lips, smothering her instinctive cry. Her feet kicked back at him. Landed a hit. Another. But he didn’t let her go.

And she could already feel the drug slipping through her system. First her brother, now Gage? Why was everyone drugging her?

“When you wake up, you’ll be safe.”

And he’d be a dead man.

Jonah.
Her eyelids fell closed and a tear slipped down her cheek.

C
HAPTER
E
IGHT

S
he was still out.

Gage paced beside the bed, shooting frowns at Kayla’s unconscious form. Just how long was the woman gonna stay that way? They’d gotten away from the compound. Made it back to the safe houses he’d set up for the wolves.

He’d met with his aides. Gotten extra guards to start patrolling.

And she was still out.

Had he drugged her too much? He put a knee on the bed and leaned over her. She was breathing okay. His hand lowered to her chest. Her heartbeat was good. Steady. No, um, actually, it was picking up now and—

Her eyelids flew open. She kicked out at him and landed an attack right to his groin.

Son of a bitch.

“Tell me you weren’t groping me while I slept!” she yelled.

He sucked in a breath. Well, at least she was awake, and she seemed very, very aware. No gradual waking for her. Just slam-bam, wake-up, ma’am. “No, I was . . . just . . . checking your heartbeat.” He’d been too worried for a grope. But now that she was awake—

Her eyes narrowed. “Where the hell am I?”

Awake and enraged. He’d try to play things cool, for a while. “You’re in a shifter safe house.”

“Oh, hell, no.” She jumped from the bed and rushed to the door. “This place might be safe for you, but I’m not a shifter. I’m a hunter. That puts me at the top of any shifter-kill list.”

He caught her arm. Stopped her before she could race into the hallway. “You’re my wife. None of my wolves would dare to hurt you.”

Or he’d tear them apart. Simple fact of pack life.

Her breath huffed out. “Yeah, well, what about me hurting them?”

“You won’t.” Because she wasn’t a cold-blooded hunter, out to destroy every shifter she saw. She’d never been like that.

Her shoulders fell. “I am so mad at you.”

His aching cock attested to that fact.

“And I
am
going back for my brother.”

Yes, he’d been rather afraid she’d say that.

“Those hunters—they all have to learn the truth, Gage. When they realize what Lyle is, they’ll fight him. I know they will.”

She had an optimistic side. He hadn’t noticed it before. The optimism was cute. Kind of.

He freed her hand. Stared down at her and had to tell her, “Your brother’s gone.”

Her face drained of color. “Wh-what do you mean?”

“When Curtis came back to the SUV, he told me the guards had already reported your brother as missing. Even before we left the compound, he’d already broken out.” He kept his voice flat as he delivered the news she had to hear.

She’d been so worried about leaving her brother, but . . .

He left you.

He didn’t say the words. There was no need. She’d understand.

Now Kayla was the one who grabbed his hand. Her nails dug into his flesh. “Find him for me.”

Uh, he had enough problems of his own right then. A pack to protect. A traitor to smoke out. A wife to woo.

Her dumbass of a brother could wait a bit.

“You
owe
me, wolf,” she said and her voice rose a notch. “You drugged me, you clawed my brother . . . now you
find
him.” She licked her lips, then whispered, “Please.”

Hell. Like he could resist when she stared at him with those big, lost, golden eyes. She looked so sweet and innocent right then, but she’d shot a man less than six hours before.

“Wolves are the best trackers out there,” Kayla said. Damned straight they were. “You can get his scent. You can find Jonah for me.”

She seemed to be missing the point. So he had to say, “What if he doesn’t want to be found?”

Her lashes lowered. “I need to make sure . . . Lyle is so good at lying . . . what if Jonah didn’t leave? What if he—”

Died?

Gage nodded, then realized she couldn’t see the movement. “I’ll find him.” He had to be careful. If he didn’t watch it, the woman would realize just how much control she had over him.

Too much.

“But you have to help me find someone else first.” Because he needed her just as much as she needed him.

A small furrow appeared between her brows as she glanced back up at him. “Who?”

“The mangy wolf who sold out my pack.” He’d rounded up all the men and women in the Vegas pack. A pack he’d assembled.

Wolves on their own didn’t survive. They needed the strength of a family. The security of a pack. Without it . . .

Hello, insanity.

There was a reason most serial killers were actually wolf shifters. They couldn’t control their beasts. Not when they were on their own.

Hell, just look at what had happened to Lyle. The guy was grade-A psychotic, with no pack in sight.

The wolves needed the bond of a pack. Or the bonds of a mate.

Mated wolves never lost their minds. They never went down that slippery slope that led to the total darkness of the beast.

I won’t go now, thanks to her.

Hell, yeah, he owed her. She had no idea how much. When this battle was all over, he’d make sure he paid his debt.

“I didn’t even know there was a wolf giving Intel to Lyle—” Kayla began, but he cut through her words.

“You know now,” he said simply. They both knew for certain now. “You can help me find the SOB. And stop him.”

“Uh, yeah, I do have my awesome days,” she said with a roll of her eyes. “But I’m not psychic. I can’t just magically tell you which wolf has been selling you out.”

“Sweetheart, we don’t need magic.” Because he’d already narrowed the field down to two wolves. The two that he’d trusted the most in the pack.

Those two wolves were being held in lockdown. Contained, away from the others.

His two closest friends.

One would be dying soon.

“Come with me,” he told her and offered his hand. “Because I don’t want to kill the wrong wolf.”

She stared at his hand, hesitated.

Come with me.
He wanted her at his side.

“Fine,” she growled, almost sounding like a wolf, “but if I’m gonna be in a den of shifters, you’d better give me my gun back.”

He almost smiled.

Such a bloodthirsty little hunter.

Lyle stared out at the desert. It just stretched as far as he could see. Appearing empty. Almost never-ending.

The hunters were scrambling behind him. Trying to secure the facility.

The facility could burn for all he cared.

He was tired of it all. He just wanted to shift. To run. To kill.

The quiet kills in secret weren’t good enough anymore. Why should he have to hide? Act like he was something else?

The power was growing within him. The beast wanted
out.

He’d come to this city, planning to take over. The place had been ripe. He’d been ready. No longer just taking orders from dicks in suits, he’d been set to change the game. To show them the real face of the paranormals they needed to fear.

Sin City had been meant to become his. He’d set his little dominoes up, then gotten ready to watch them fall.

Only Gage Riley was in his way.

He’ll fall.

Lyle would make sure of it.

His weapon in this world was his gift at deceit. His mother had been right. He really had been born to lie. He’d fooled the hunters so easily. Would keep fooling them. They were his tools, and he’d bleed them until they were dry.

Then, once the other wolves were gone from Vegas, once the city was his, he’d let his wolf out. He’d let his beast rage, and he’d tear and claw his way through any hunters who were still left standing.

He wasn’t a fucking lap dog. Not anymore. He was alpha.

Time the rest of the world bowed to him.

Psychotic? Insane? Those words had been tossed around plenty by his parents. They’d seen him for what he was long before anyone else did.

So he’d stopped them from seeing. From hearing. From breathing.

Wolf shifters were supposed to maintain their control and balance if they lived in a pack. If they took a mate.

He’d thought about living in a pack once.

Even almost taken a mate . . .

But he’d had more fun killing her than anything else. Kayla’s mother had sure been blessed with one sweet scream.

Mates and packs weren’t for him. He didn’t want the rigid bonds of control that would hold his wolf in check.

He liked the blood. He liked the violence.

The desert stared back at him.

He liked the kill.

The wolves were chained to the wall. Chained with silver. Oh, jeez—who’d been the unlucky shifter who’d drawn that duty?

Kayla walked silently into the darkened room with Gage. Her gun was tucked into the waistband of her jeans. Hell, yes, she’d gotten it back. Like she was gonna just walk into this room unarmed?

She didn’t really know how Gage thought he’d be able to use her, but—damn, that one guy was smoking. Smoke literally rose from the blisters on the blond man’s wrist where he was bound.

Two shifters. One blond and fair. One dark, dangerous.

They’d been at the cabin.
When Gage had first brought her to the desert, these wolves had been there. Like she would have forgotten them so soon.

I’ve narrowed it down to two.
Now she knew what Gage had meant.

“Since you said there was no tracking device on you,” Gage said as he crossed his arms and stared down at the wolves, “that means the hunters found us in the desert by . . . another means.”

A traitor.

“I didn’t sell you out!” The blond wolf yelled as he jerked against his chains. More smoke plumed in the air. The guy should know, the more he struggled, the more he’d burn. “Dammit, trust me, Gage!”

“That’s the problem, Davis,” Gage said quietly, “I did trust you.”

Kayla’s gaze darted between the wolf shifters.

“Just as I trusted you, Billy,” Gage said and his gaze swung to the silent, glaring wolf. “I trusted you both. With my life and the lives of the pack.”

Only his pack members were under attack. Two had been taken.

Where were Shamus and Faye now?

Gage crossed his arms over his chest as he studied the two chained shifters. “Only two wolves knew that Kayla and I took shelter at that cabin.
Just you fucking two
.” Rage snapped through the words.

The dark wolf, Billy, still wasn’t talking. He just sat there, the silver chaining him, and glared back up at Gage with narrowed eyes.

“I’ve been with you for five years,” Davis shouted, spittle flying from his mouth. “Do you really think I’d betray you to a human?”

“No.” Gage spoke so instantly that Davis relaxed. Started to look confident.

But Billy quickly shook his head, obviously thinking the blame was coming his way. “No way, alpha, it wasn’t—”

“I think,” Gage said, cutting through Billy’s words and still staring right at Davis, “that you’d betray me to a wolf.”

Had Davis tensed at that? Yes, he had. His hands were straining against the cuffs. The guy was desperate to break free. Not that Kayla blamed him. If she were burning, she’d be feeling pretty desperate right then, too.

But . . . just how strong were the bonds on him? If another one of his pack mates had chained him, would that person have felt some sympathy for the shifter? Maybe not tightened the silver chains enough?

“A wolf?” Billy asked, frowning. “What the hell are you talking about?”

Kayla stepped forward. Gage had brought her in there, so she figured it was time she did her part. “The leader of the hunters, Lyle McKennis . . . He’s actually a wolf shifter.”

Billy started to laugh. “You’re shitting me.”

“No, I’m not.” Carefully, she studied the chained wolves. Davis had widened his eyes and the guy
looked
surprised. But his hands were still twisting within the bonds.

“And you knew?” Billy threw at her. “You knew what he was and you were still—”

“I didn’t know. I thought he was human.” She’d been blind. Only seeing what she wanted to see.

And was that why Gage had brought her in? Did he think he was blind where these two wolves were concerned?

She could understand the fear. When you trusted someone so much, it was easy for the person to mislead you. To lie right to your face.

BOOK: Howl for It

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