Or maybe that beheading . . .

Curtis told him, “Lyle found her body, so he said. And he promised that he’d help me find her killer.”

Only Gage figured that Lyle had been the killer.

“He promised me that, too,” Kayla whispered. “He swore we’d stop the wolf who’d hurt my family.”

“I can’t forget her,” Curtis said and the pain hardened his voice. “Her throat was sliced open. He’d . . . clawed her. Torn her open. I-I just wanted to find the shifter and make him pay.”

Rage was something Gage could understand. So was vengeance.

Kayla’s glittering stare told him that she understood just as well.

“Don’t worry,” Gage promised as they headed for the door. Get out. Get the pack safe. Then destroy. “We’ll make the bastard suffer.” They’d make him burn.

Kayla knew they couldn’t leave. The SUV was there, just about twenty feet away. The perfect escape. But . . .

But she couldn’t do it.

Jonah. Dammit, there had been so much blood pouring from his wound. Was her brother okay?

Did Gage really think that she was just gonna race out of the compound and leave him behind?

Leave Jonah . . . and the others?

Can’t get to Jonah while he’s in the med unit. There’d be too many eyes and ears on him then. But while Jonah and the other hunters were getting stitched up . . .

We can save the wolves.

“They’re in containment,” she softly revealed to Gage. She wasn’t looking at him yet because she was still plenty furious. He’d hurt her brother.

The guy would pay for that, but now wasn’t the time to go at him for her pound of flesh. Now was the time for fast action.

Curtis wasn’t with them. He was off getting ready to steal that sweet ride of an SUV that seemed to just wait for them.

Crouching, staying low behind a line of boxes, Gage turned to look at her. “What? Who’s in containment?”

The breath she sucked in felt cold in her lungs. We’re the monsters. Time to be something else. Better. “Your wolves aren’t dead.” She wasn’t a cold-blooded killer. Neither were the other hunters. They were doing their jobs. Or what they thought had been their jobs. “They’re in containment at this facility. I don’t—I don’t think they’ve been transferred out yet.”

Shipped out to a far more secure location—one that no one had escaped from since she’d been in Vegas. The hunters weren’t just attacking supernaturals blindly. They had a . . . hit list. Of sorts.

Most of their orders came from Lyle, but he was on a leash, too. Or at least, she’d always thought he had been. The hunters were tied to good old Uncle Sam—or maybe not-so-good. The government sent them outon missions that normal channels just couldn’t cover.

When they caught their prey, they turned them over to the federal agents for holding. Or for extermination.

So the story went. Only now she wondered just how many “exterminations” had truly been necessary?

Her gut clenched. How much blood was on her hands? And could she ever get it the hell off? She was afraid that no matter how hard she scrubbed, the stain would always remain.

“We can get them out,” Kayla said. They had to get them out. Now that she knew the truth about Lyle, leaving the two wolves behind wasn’t an option for her. “We just have to move fast.”

Before Lyle realized that Curtis wasn’t dead and that she wasn’t still locked in her own cage.

Gage’s eyes hardened. “When were you gonna tell me they were still alive?”

“Uh, now?” Okay, yes, she should have mentioned it earlier. Would have if it hadn’t been for the whole drugging and gun-in-her face thing. Jeez. She was doing her best.

“Both of them?” He gritted out. “Shamus and Faye?”

“Yes.” And, well, they’d been mostly all right when she last saw them.

Before she’d headed out to say her “I dos” with Gage, Lyle had told her that the wolves weren’t due for transport for another two days. So as long as those plans hadn’t changed, “They’ll be in Block B.” Sequestered. Monitored. Getting inside that area would be tricky, but they could do it.

She wanted this blood off her hands.

Curtis hadn’t returned yet. If they were going, they needed to move, now. They’d get the shifters, then haul ass back for that SUV. If luck was on her side—yeah, right, since when?—they’d bust out of this place before any trigger-happy hunters could spot them.

“Come on.” She barely breathed the words. She had her hair shoved under a black cap and she’d donned the black uniform of a hunter, just like Gage. The better to try and blend in with everyone else. That blending would last only for so long.

But most of the hunters were in the infirmary or out on a mission. Only a skeleton staff walked the hallways and with Gage’s enhanced senses, they would be able to dodge those guys easily enough.

He always knew when someone was coming. From what she could tell, Gage seemed to smell the hunters long before she heard them. Such a handy talent.

He nodded, and the hunt started.

Adrenaline raced through her blood, keeping her tense and edgy. But this wasn’t her first op, and she knew how to hold on to her control. They crept soundlessly down the stairs that led to Block B. The transport area. The prisoners housed here were all due to ship off for continued confinement.