Stopping the killers. Taking out the nightmares.

Gage’s brows lifted as he glanced around the cage. “You’re doing a real top job of handling things now.”

“Screw you, wolf.” She spun away. Paced as far as the chain would let her. Kayla was in this whole messed up situation because she’d lusted after the wolf. She should’ve known better. Actually, she had known better.

“I don’t prey on humans,” Gage said, his voice quiet. “I never have.”

Her fingers wrapped around the bars. The cage was built to keep supernaturals in. Would a human be able to find a way out? “Tell that to Slater Hawk.” Hawk’s case had been the one to pull her in on the hunt for Gage Riley. Slater Hawk had been sliced apart and then dumped in the desert.

“Since he’s burning with the devil, I won’t tell Hawk anything.” How could a man’s voice sound so careless when he was talking about death? “But believe me, that torturing SOB got exactly what he deserved.”

Her heart raced faster. This was what she’d suspected, the reason she hadn’t driven her knife into Gage’s chest. “Why? Why’d you kill him?”

“Because he was a twisted bastard who carved up four showgirls in the city. I don’t like it when women get hurt.”

She’d heard about the attacks on those ladies only . . . Lyle had told her that the wolves had been behind them. And he’d had proof, not just some BS story. She glanced back at Gage. “Why kill a human . . . when your own pack was really slaughtering those women?” Had Hawk just found out the truth? “I saw the pictures,” she told him. The poor women. Brutalized. Tortured. “I know the difference between claw marks and stab wounds.” This wasn’t amateur hour. She knew the difference, far better than most.

She’d carry claw marks on her body until the day she died. The chain clinked against the floor as Gage moved toward her. “If you cut off a shifter’s hand while he’s in animal form, that limb never shifts back. Certain hunters take shifter body parts like that . . . as trophies.” His hands closed over her shoulders and he leaned in close to her. “But you knew that, sweetheart.” His breath feathered over her ear. “Didn’t you?”

Her eyes closed. He was too close to her. And she was too weak where he was concerned. “You-you’re saying . . . Hawk killed a shifter and used—”

“No.” Snapped out. “I’m saying someone gave Hawk that claw, someone set the pit bull out, and got him to carve up those girls so that my pack would look guilty.”

Her eyes opened as she faced him. Dread was a cold knot in her stomach. “Why?”

Metal screeched behind her. She didn’t look back. She knew that sound. The heavy metal entrance door was beingshoved across the stone floor . . . screeching and groaning like an old man in pain.

Gage smiled at her, and the sight was grim. “Ask your boss.”

Slowly, Kayla glanced back over her shoulder. Sure enough, her boss, Lyle McKennis, was stalking toward them. As usual, he was perfectly styled. His dark hair was slicked back. His suit was wrinkle free. And his handsome face even sported a wide grin.

Her heart beat faster. Whenever Lyle smiled like that, it was a bad sign.

Very, very bad.

The door slammed closed behind him.

Jonah stared down at the small video monitor. The wolf was touching Kayla again. That jerk was always touching her—and she didn’t seem to mind at all.

What the hell was wrong with her? After all they’d been through together. Why? Why would she side with a beast now?

She had to hate the shifters as much as he did. They were all monsters. They destroyed everyone and everything they touched.

And she’d married one of those freaks?

He’d thought it was just cover. Just her following orders. Until he’d seen the way she touched the guy back at that cabin. When the wolf had fallen, she’d rushed to his side. Her fingers had trembled. There’d been fear in her voice.

Then when she’d looked at Jonah, he’d seen the anger in her eyes. His big sis had been furious at him for taking down her wolf.

“Great job,” one of the other hunters said, as he slapped Jonah on his back. “Another pelt for you.”

Jonah didn’t respond. Did the guy even realize that Jonah’s sister was in that cage on the screen? Lyle was walking toward her now. The boss had better get her out of there. Sure, Kayla had made the wrong choice, but Jonah wasn’t gonna let her be caged.

I shouldn’t have shot her.

His stomach twisted and bile rose in his throat as he remembered that desperate moment. The others on his team had all been convinced that Kayla had turned traitor. He hadn’t believed it—not until he’d seen the truth with his own eyes.

Bring her in or take her out.

Those had been his orders, and he sure hadn’t planned to let the trigger-happy hunters with him get a shot at her. Max and Bryan tended to shoot first and celebrate immediately. Of course, right then, they weren’t celebrating anything.

They were being stitched back together, courtesy of Kayla’s wolf and his killer claws.

“Sorry about your sister,” the hunter next to him said. Travis. One of the new guys that Lyle had brought in recently. So he did realize that Kayla was the one being held like an animal.

Only she’s not.

“The boss will clear this up,” Jonah said. Lyle had to fix this mess. Kayla was the one thing that mattered to Jonah, and he wouldn’t watch as—