Where did Gage really fall on that scale? Where did she?

Her eyes opened. Determination fueled her blood. “Let’s get them out of there,” she said. “Before the next guard shift comes to check on Thomas.”

She grabbed the key cards. Headed for the woman first. Faye stood in the middle of her prison. Her head was down. Her body held perfectly still.

But when Kayla and Gage entered the narrow corridor that led toward the caged wolf, the woman’s body tensed. Her head snapped back. “Alpha.” Hope and fear twisted the one word.

Gage hurried toward her. “We’re getting you out, Faye.”

Faye’s dark gaze—her eyes almost looked pitch black—locked on Kayla. “The hunter? She . . . smells of you.”

Great. Shifter noses. Kayla swiped the key card and jerked open the cell door. “Come on.”

One wolf down.

One to go.

But Faye didn’t move. Her gaze stayed locked on Kayla. “Is this . . . a trick?” she asked. Her eyes narrowed. “You hate me. Why would you help us?” That gaze slid back to Gage. “Even if you’re fucking the alpha . . .”

Yeah, I am. And with shifter senses, well, hell, she might as well be wearing a giant neon sign that said, Hi, I’m Kayla, and I just screwed the alpha.

“Why go against your own kind?” Faye demanded and her soft voice was laced with steely anger.

“Cause they’re not my kind.” Lyle wasn’t. He wasn’t Gage’s kind, either. He was just a murdering sick bastard. That kind.

He’d told them all that Faye was psychotic. That she’d sliced open five men in Vegas. Kayla had seen the pictures, but hadn’t talked to the men. Lyle had told her interviews weren’t necessary. Now she wanted to know . . . “Why’d you do it?”

Faye held up her hand. Claws broke from her fingertips. “The bastard doctor didn’t totally kill my wolf.”

Were the claws supposed to scare her? Think again. “Five men are now walking the streets of Vegas with your mark on their faces. Why.”

Because Kayla had to make sure she was doing the right thing. She was going against years of training. Everything she’d ever believed.

Faye’s delicate face hardened. “Those men,” the word was a curse, “got off on hurting women, and they made the mistake of thinking they’d hurt me, too.” Faye’s lips thinned. “No one hurts me and just walks away. Those days are long gone.”

There was no missing Faye’s intensity. Or the pain that echoed in her voice. Kayla stared at her—and believed.

Not evil. Not good.

Was the whole world a shade of gray these days? Everything had seemed to be in such big, bold colors just days before.

Kayla turned away from Faye. Staring into the she-wolf ’s eyes, it was a littletoo much like . . . looking in a mirror.

Same rage. Same pain.

“Alpha?” She heard Faye ask. “Shamus . . . I heard him yelling . . . is he . . . ?”

“He’s next,” Gage said, voice flat. “You’re both coming home.”

Home. The word caused an ache to lodge in Kayla’s heart. Did she even have one anymore?

Don’t think about it. Not now. She just needed to do the job. Get them all out of there with minimum bloodshed, yeah, that was priority number one for her. She slipped around the corner, punched in the code for the next holding room, and tried like hell to keep her control in place.

Time to face the big beast. Shamus would hear her coming, no doubt, but it wasn’t him she was worried about. Well, not too worried. Not with Gage having her back.

We just have to hurry.

Lyle was too confident. He thought the silver was all he needed to contain his captured prey.

Guess you never thought one of your own would turn on you.

Time for Lyle to think again.

“Come near me . . .” Shamus bellowed and she flinched. Hell, did he have to yell? Did he want to bring all the other guards his way? “And I’ll cut you open!”

Actually, that was pretty likely. So she’d better stay far away from those razor-sharp claws.

“I’m trying to help you,” she muttered as she rounded one more turn and came face-to-face with his cage—and him.

Big Red was freaking huge. Had to be at least six-foot-three, maybe six-foot-four. His shoulders were like dang mountains.

“If you so much as scratch her, Shamus,” Gage snarled from directly behind her. Soft moving wolf. “You’ll answer to me.”

Silence. Shamus’s stare drifted between them. “A hunter?” Disgust dripped from the words.

“I’m the hunter who’s here to save your ass.” She used the key card and his cell door swung open.

Shamus didn’t move. “Is this a trick?” His claws were up. Before Kayla could answer, he lunged forward—and those claws came right at her neck.

She jumped back, but Gage was already there. He leapt in front of her and locked his hand around Shamus’s thick throat and slammed him back against the silver bars.

Faye cried out as the scent of burning flesh filled the air.

“I warned you,” Gage growled. Then he yanked Shamus away from the bars and dropped him on the floor. “She’s mine, and you don’t ever go at her with your claws. Got it?”

Shamus lifted his head. “G-got . . . it, alpha.”

Right. When a lesson was burned into you, it was kinda hard to misunderstand.

Psychotic tendencies. That had been in Shamus’s file. His gaze cut to her. Oh, yeah, white-hot fury and—