Taryn nodded. “Thanks for speaking with us, Margo. Take care.”
Rounding the aisle, they advanced through the building toward the exit. The males slid out of their hiding places, and Marcus immediately went to Roni, just as Trey went to Taryn. It wasn’t until they were outside that anyone spoke.
“Well, that was a wasted journey,” grumbled Dante.
Taryn held up a finger. “Not necessarily. Margo said it was a few hours before she got near Brunt’s home, so that would help pin down the location.”
“She’d been drugged and beaten, Taryn,” Ryan reminded her. “Being trapped with Brunt while she was so afraid . . . the journey could have seemed a lot longer than it was.” Taryn inclined her head, conceding that.
Roni slipped the lollipop out of her mouth—only to have it snatched from her hand by Marcus. Casting a brief scowl his way, she said, “One thing we have learned is that Brunt is being monitored by his pack. They might know something.”
Reaching the SUV they’d rented, Trey unlocked it and they all piled into the vehicle. “I doubt it. They’d have killed him to protect the pack’s reputation if they knew just how bad things are. But it’s safe to say they’ll try to get him off again. Not sure it will work this time, though.”
“We’ll get to him,” said Nick. “Even if he is imprisoned. No one’s untouchable. I know that very well.” In juvenile prisons, the human guards were often paid to target the prisoners.
At that moment, Trey’s cell phone started ringing. Putting it on speakerphone, he answered, “Hello.”
“Trey, I’m not sure you’re going to like this,” said Rhett. “Well, actually, you might. I think Marcus will. Or maybe not, since he now can’t get his hands on them.”
“Rhett,” interrupted Taryn, “make sense.”
“Sorry. It’s just that, um, I was checking the new vids on snm.com. Quinn and Lola McGee are dead.”
“Dead?” repeated Dante, leaning forward in his seat.
“There’s a clip of them being savaged while in their human forms by several jackals—all of whom were in their furry form. They also destroyed McGee’s pack.”
Marcus turned to Roni. “They might have found out that Quinn told us about the website.”
“Or they were a little pissed at finding the female jackal dead and decided to take it out on them,” said Taryn.
“Damn,” muttered Marcus. “I wanted to kill them myself.”
Roni wanted to laugh at the petulant pout on Marcus’s face. “It’s okay. You can take it out on the jackals when we find them.” She fully intended to.
“You can bet your phenomenal ass I will.” But the idea didn’t improve his mood. In fact, he wasn’t too proud to admit that he more or less sulked over the next few hours. Even later on, when Marcus and Roni took his Toyota from her pack’s parking lot and he drove to his territory, he remained pissed.
Roni snorted. “You sure know how to brood.”
“I’m not brooding, I’m—” Marcus halted midsentence as he approached the large security gates of his territory and noticed a familiar vehicle parked outside. Son of a bitch.
Feeling the anger that surged through Marcus, she looked at him. “What’s wrong?”
He pulled up outside the gates. “Wait here for me, sweetheart.”
“You have trouble of some kind, and you expect me to wait here?”
“It’s not trouble. There’s just someone I need to have a little talk with.” Without another word, he hopped out of the Toyota and made his way over to the vehicle. He didn’t halt until a dark, middle-aged man exited the driver’s side. “Dad.” The word was clipped, toneless.
“Son.” His response was just as flat.
“What are you doing here?”
Jonas Fuller’s expression hardened. “Kerrie told me what’s going on.”
Confused, Marcus arched a brow. “What is it, exactly, that’s going on?”
“You’re forsaking your mate. Yes, Kerrie told me all about her vision, all about this female you’ve been dating. Even though you know how much your mate needs you, you’re forsaking her. How could you? From what Kerrie’s told me, she’s like your mother. She needs someone to take care of her, to save her, she needs her mate—”
“And you need someone who depends on you, don’t you?” That stopped his father mid-rant. “It didn’t occur to me at first. I always felt bad for you, figured you were trapped, that you stood by Mom because she was your mate. But it wasn’t that at all, was it?”
His father lifted his chin, but he said nothing.
“You need someone who can’t take care of themselves. It makes you feel good to be so indispensable to someone, doesn’t it? Makes you feel good to take care of someone so broken, to have someone whose happiness depends totally on you—even to the point where you would happily enable a sickening addiction.”
“We’re talking about you,” said Jonas. “About your mate and your future.”
The passenger door of his father’s car opened, and Kerrie exited. This wasn’t going to go well.
“Marcus, please don’t be mad at me for going to your dad. I needed to do something. I needed to make sure you didn’t ruin your life.” She moved toward him, but his growl stopped her short.
“How would I have ruined my life?”
“By getting serious with that Roni girl,” replied Kerrie. “She’s not the one for you.”
“Says who?”
“My vision.”
“I don’t place much faith in visions,” he said, repeating something Roni had once said. “Not anymore.”
Kerrie’s nostrils flared. “Has she convinced you not to listen to me? To ignore what I told you?” Marcus looked at her blankly. “She’s turned you against me, hasn’t she?”
“Don’t do something stupid, Marcus,” barked Jonas. “To forsake your mate would be the height of stupidity. You’ll spend your life wondering what could have been. You’ll abandon someone who needs you.”