Rhett’s smile was smug. “People, meet the Alpha of the Scorpio Pack.” He passed a photo to Dante, who took a hard look at it before passing it on. “Right here is Lyle Browne. The pack was based in San Diego until their territory was stripped from them. Before being blacklisted, Browne did business with a lot of packs and had a good number of alliances with powerful Alphas.” Suddenly looking awkward, Rhett turned to Taryn. “He . . . did a lot of business with your dad, Taryn. I’m sorry.”
Taryn clenched her fist tight, though her expression remained blank. To say that she had a strained relationship with her father would be an understatement. Taryn had been latent—unable to shift—until getting pregnant with Kye, and her father, Lance, had been ashamed of her for most of her life. Worse, he’d tried to force her into an arranged mating, which Trey had thankfully sabotaged.
“There’s nothing to indicate Lance is still doing business with them,” Rhett quickly added. “But it seems like the jackals still do business with some of their old alliances: Samuel Redford, Morgan Johnson, Jackson Griffiths, and Quinn McGee. All four of them are Alpha wolves.”
“We need to question all of them,” said Dante.
Nick looked at Trey. “It’s time we split up. I know Johnson pretty well; he’s allied with my old pack. He’ll be more likely to talk to me than to you, if there’s anything he can tell us.”
“Then it makes sense for you to pay him a visit.” Trey leaned forward. “I know McGee, but I know Griffiths much better—his mother and my mother were close friends; we played together as kids.”
Roni noticed how Marcus tensed at the mention of Trey’s mother, and she wondered at the cause.
“You think Griffiths will talk to you?” Nick asked him. Trey nodded.
“My brother’s allied with Redford,” said Dante. “I’ve met his Beta a few times. I could go with Ryan to speak to him, since I’m guessing there’s no way you’ll part from Taryn.”
Trey snorted. “Damn right.”
Taryn smiled. “Okay then. Flintstone and I will go see Griffiths. Nick and Derren can talk to Johnson. Dante and Ryan will speak to Redford. Marcus and Roni can visit McGee.” Quinn was loosely allied with the Phoenix Pack and had fought alongside them during a pack war with Trey’s now deceased uncle.
“Just remember that Quinn can be cagey,” Trey told Marcus, “and he likes games. But you’ve got a gift for getting people to talk—use it.”
Roni snickered. “You want him to flirt with the guy?”
Trey appeared confused, but it was Trick who elaborated. “People tend to like Marcus, so they tend to talk to him. But when they don’t talk . . . well, Marcus quickly changes their minds.”
Ignoring Roni’s curious gaze, Marcus turned to Rhett. “What type of business did Browne and McGee do together?”
Rhett glanced at his papers again. “They dabbled in illegal activities such as forgery, stealing antiques, selling stolen and counterfeit paintings—” He paused as the sounds of approaching voices caught everyone’s attention.
“I’ll never know what my Dante sees in you,” Greta was growling in the tunnels.
Jaime made a contemplative sound. “Class. Curves. Sparkling wit. A mouth he swears is perfect for s—”
“Enough!”
“I was just going to say ‘smiling.’ Really, Greta, you should just build a cabin in the gutter—your mind is permanently there.” Jaime entered the kitchen with a bright smile while Greta trailed behind her, glowering—a glower that deepened when she saw that Dominic was laughing his ass off.
Greta paused near Marcus. “Make a better choice for a mate than these two idiots.” She gestured at Trey and Dante. It was only then that she noticed Marcus playing with Roni’s hair. And she didn’t appear to like it.
Jaime, now lounging in the lap of a clearly contented Dante, who was nuzzling her neck, looked at Greta. “You can whine all you want, old woman, but I know you secretly adore me.”
Greta humphed, taking a seat beside Tao. “You’re not good enough for my Dante. Just like that hussy’s not good enough for my Trey.”
Taryn tilted her head, regarding Greta with mock pity. “I can’t work out what’s wrong with you. But I’m sure it’s not something that swallowing the chemicals under the sink can’t fix. Want to try it?”
“How about we postpone the conversation of how best to poison my grandmother until later?” suggested Trey with a tired sigh. “We need to get going.”
Serious now, Taryn pushed out of her chair. “Yes. Somebody knows something about what happened to my son, and I want to know what it is.”
Standing upright, Nick turned to Roni. “Be careful.”
“Roni’s always careful.”
Marcus’s words—confident, supportive, and defensive—took Roni by complete surprise. He didn’t appear to be any happier about Nick’s insistence on coddling her than she was. In fact, Marcus seemed offended on her behalf.
Grinding his teeth, Nick went nose to nose with Marcus. “You’d better not touch my sister, Fuller.” That easily, the Phoenix wolves were at Marcus’s back.
“Nick,” Roni drawled warningly.
“I’ve seen the way you look at her, and I don’t like it. Keep this professional.”
Marcus’s smile was a pure taunt. “Since you don’t seem to have noticed, I’ll point out that Roni’s a big girl.” If the Alpha had some strange idea that Marcus would submit to him, he had to be smoking crack.
“She’s still my baby sister, and you’re not good enough for her.”
“Nick, stop it,” Roni bit out, kind of shocked that Trey wasn’t intervening to defend his enforcer and friend. But Trey didn’t seem the least bit worried for Marcus, and that was when she realized that Marcus was easily holding Nick’s gaze. Despite having a powerful Alpha threatening him, he didn’t look in the least bit rattled. There was even a little amusement there.
“There’s nothing babyish about Roni. All you’re doing by coddling her is undermining her strength. Is that really what you want to do? I have a feeling she won’t thank you for it.”
After a short, tense silence, Nick took a step back. “Remember what I said, Fuller. Keep your cock in your pants, understand?”
“I don’t know. Sounds complicated.” Marcus almost laughed at Nick’s thunderous expression, but then Roni jammed her elbow into his ribs.