“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.