Laughing, the wolf walked away from him while MacRyrie placed Blayne on her feet.

“I’m sorry I didn’t talk to you the last time you were here,” she said.

“Don’t worry about that. Are you all right?”

“I’m fine. I’m great! And I’m so glad to see you.”

Blayne hugged the grizzly again, and MacRyrie patted her back, leaning in a bit. His head dipped low, his nostrils flaring, and that’s when his gaze shot up to Bo’s. The hybrid raised his arms in clear challenge, a bit of grizzly fang making him snort.

“Blayne?”

Blayne lifted her head from MacRyrie’s chest and looked at Van Holtz standing a few feet away. “Blayne, I’m . . . I’m so . . .”

She unwrapped her arms from MacRyrie’s waist and walked up to Van Holtz.

“I am so—”

The slap to his face rang out, startling everyone in the room, even Bo and her father. But Van Holtz took it like a wolf, not even backing away.

“Don’t ever lie to me again,” she said. “Don’t ever betray me again. The next time, I promise you won’t get off so easy.”

“I know.” Van Holtz shrugged. “Now can I have a hug?”

The smile blossomed across Blayne’s face, and she leaped into Van Holtz’s arms, making Bo sigh. The woman needed Bo in her life if for no other reason than to protect her from these idiots she insisted on befriending.

Van Holtz hugged Blayne tight to him, his nose against her neck. Two seconds of that and, like the grizzly, those eyes shot up to Bo’s. This time . . . Bo grinned.

“That’s right,” he said without saying a goddamn word. “She’s mine. Off limits!”

But just as Bo was feeling the need to go ahead and say those words out loud, his uncle stepped in front of him. Whispering, he said, “You should head back now. Take Blayne with you.”

Sure, his uncle could be throwing him out because he was tired of him or Blayne or both, but Bo knew better. Something was wrong. He nodded, about to sweetly suggest to Blayne that they leave, but those damn wolfdog ears.

By the time he stepped around his uncle, she was standing in front of Van Holtz, facing them all. “Why do you want us to go?” she asked.

“Blayne—”

“Why, Grigori?”

“Tell her,” Ezra Thorpe pushed. “You might as well tell her.”

“Tell me what?”

It was Van Holtz who, as usual, did the talking. “The ones who did this to you, who grabbed you, they’re part of a bigger organization. A multistate fighting ring. It seems on the East Coast, after they grab the hybrids they hold them for a few weeks or months, to get them ready for the fights before they sell them off to different buyers all over thecountry.”

“Okay. And?”

Grigori shrugged. “You’ve been asking questions about that old farmhouse near the beach. It seems the town strays have been coming from there. But they’re not just raising fighting dogs, Blayne.”

Bo, not sure he was hearing correctly asked, “Are you saying they’ve been running these things on shifter territory all this time?”

“Looks that way. Coming in from the Pacific, using the storms to cover for them.”

“How did full-humans know about Ursus County much less that farm?” Bo asked.

“We’re working on that,” Van Holtz said. “Diligently.”

Blayne looked around at the men in the room. Except for Bo and her father, they were all avoiding eye contact.

“What?” she finally asked. “What aren’t you telling me?”

When no one stepped up to say anything, Niles Van Holtz did. He’d been standing quietly off in a corner all this time.

“We’ve not only come here to take you back, Blayne. But we’ve just sent a team in to take down the entire thing. Right now.”

Bo still wasn’t sure why everyone was acting so strange though. But one look at her father, had Blayne turning on both Van Holtz males. “You’re going to kill them all . . . aren’t you?”

“They’re full-humans,” Bo said. Not in the least bit of mood to see Blayne defend the same assholes who would have used her like meat. “Tell me you’re not crying over them.”

“Not them,” she snapped. “They’re going to kill the hybrids.”

Bo looked to his uncle and saw the truth of it on his face. He understood why but that didn’t make it right. And how could a pure breed ever understand that?

“Blayne, it’s for the best,” Van Holtz told her in a calm, even tone that made Bo’s scalp itch.

Blayne stared at Van Holtz for a very long moment. Bo would admit, he expected her to snap, to cry and kick and scream. That was Blayne. Always fighting for the helpless. But, her head dropping, she only nodded and walked over to her father.

“I understand,” she practically whispered.

Van Holtz looked at his Alpha and the older wolf nodded, pulling a two-way transmitter from his pants pocket.

“It’s a go,” he said into it.

Because none of the weak males in the room wanted to focus too closely on Blayne, they all found other things to do. Lots of bullshit “command center” type chatter. The only one who didn’t join in was Bo and Ezra Thorpe. His daughter had moved behind the wolf, her forehead resting on his shoulder. Bo looked at the wolf and that’s when Mr. Thorpe motioned to the empty spot next to him.