He gave her a pointed look. “I’ve never seen you as weak. Never.” Inhaling deeply, he kind of slumped. “I’ll stop the coddling.”
“And you’ll stop toying with Marcus.”
“He’s my sister’s mate—it’s my right to irritate him. It’s what we males do.”
That was the thing about shifter males: no logic was required. “Then I guess you won’t mind Stone spending much more time around here.”
A huge sigh of frustration. “I’ll ease up on your mate.”
“Thank you.” At that moment, Marcus’s wolf came loping toward her, panting. Reaching her, he stood between her legs and nuzzled her breasts. “Typical.” He then licked at her jaw happily as she stroked his flank before delivering a warning growl to Nick.
Disgruntled, Nick raised his hands. “All right, I’m going.” As he stood, his cell phone rang, and everyone froze. Digging it out of his pocket, he answered, “Hello.” By the time he’d ended the short call, all the shifters were back in their human form. “That was Trey. Brunt made bail. As planned, Ryan and Dante are covering the exits of the courthouse, ready to follow him wherever he goes. Once they grab him, they’ll take him to their territory.” He danced his gaze along Derren, Roni, and Marcus as he tipped his head and said, “Let’s get going.”
Dante blocked the doorway of the hut with his arm as Roni and Taryn went to walk inside. “Sorry, this one’s for the boys.” The hut, which had been rebuilt after being set on fire by the extremists that invaded pack territory, was where interrogations took place. Dante and Ryan had snatched Noah Brunt from the motel room he was hiding in after he exited the courthouse using the back entrance to avoid the extremists.
Roni removed her black-currant-flavored lollipop from her mouth. “I’ve no intention of interfering. But I want to hear what he has to say.”
“We let you watch when we had our fun with the female jackal,” griped Taryn, “so step aside, Barney Rubble.”
Dante sighed. “Taryn, honey, we both know there is no chance in hell you’ll be able to stand back and just watch.”
“You say that like I have no self-control.”
Nick snorted. “Do you?”
Taryn just huffed at him, like he wasn’t worth explaining herself to. “Dante, just get the fuck out of our way. I’m talking to you as your Alpha female—move.”
Dante appealed to her with a look. “Yeah, but—”
Behind Roni, Marcus spoke to Dante. “I’m really not sure why you’re wasting time out of your life having this conversation. Surely experience has taught you that nothing can stop these two females from doing what they want to do.”
Trey shrugged one shoulder. “He’s right, D.”
“I’m sure the girls promise not to interfere, right?” Derren looked pointedly at both Roni and Taryn.
The Phoenix Alpha female rolled her eyes. “We know the plan, we like the plan, and we have no intention of interfering with the plan.”
Nodding, Dante dropped his arm and stepped aside. One by one, they entered. In the center of the small, empty building was a dark, gangly, male wolf. He was blindfolded, gagged, and bound to a chair.
Once Dante closed the door, he slowly moved toward the wolf. The Beta removed the gag and blindfold, revealing a pair of freakishly dark eyes. “Noah Brunt. You’re not an easy person to find.”
His gloating expression said he knew it. “Who are you?”
“You know.”
Brunt’s eyes skimmed everyone in the room, coming to settle on Trey. “I had nothing to do with what happened with your pup. Or with the attack on your enforcer’s female.” It wasn’t said defensively. It was simply a statement of fact.
Marcus stepped forward. “Would that be my female you’re talking about? She’s actually my mate.” That made things very different, which Brunt would know. A shifter wouldn’t hesitate to kill anyone they suspected of meaning any harm to their mate. Marcus would destroy anyone who so much as threatened Roni, and he wouldn’t miss a minute’s sleep over it.
“I had nothing to do with it,” stated Brunt, looking bored.
Nick snorted. “So you say.”
Brunt’s attention moved to him. “You’re Alpha of the Mercury Pack.”
“If you know that, then you know my pregnant mate and my sister were in the car crash that was nicely orchestrated by your jackal friends.”
“I had nothing to do with the crash. I wasn’t behind it.” Again, it wasn’t said in his defense; he was just stating a fact.
“Then who was?” asked Dante.
A brief pause. “I don’t know.”
Dante folded his arms across his broad chest. “Do you want to know one of the reasons my mate suits me so well? She’s honest. I don’t like it when people lie to me. Why would you want to lie to me, Noah?” The wolf didn’t respond. Dante began to circle him. “We know about snm.com. We know about the Scorpio Pack’s involvement. We know about your involvement. Your technical skills sure are good. But not good enough to save you from shifters whose pups and mates were threatened. They’re a force like no other.”
“We also know you like to watch,” said Nick. “I’m a merciless bastard, and I know it. But I’d never hurt a female. I’d never get off on watching someone else doing it either. In fact, just the idea of it makes me want to . . . kill.”
“Same here. I have to say, though,” began Trey, “I think I might actually enjoy watching my Beta hurt you.”
Brunt’s eyes widened as Dante’s claws sliced out. “Wait—”
Dante cocked his head. “Oh, I’m sorry, you have a few last words?”