“Search me all you want, sweet thing,” Billy invited, his slight accent thickening. “Strip me. Feel me up. I don’t have—”

Davis lunged away from the wall—and his hands were free. Tricky wolf, he had been breaking out of his bonds.

But she’d suspected that. She dodged when he came at her, slicing with his claws. Kayla hit the floor and missed the claws that could have cut her open. Davis twisted, trying to come at her again.

But Gage had him. He caught the other shifter’s hands and held them above Davis’s head.

“You sold us out!” Gage snarled.

But Davis just laughed. “So the fuck did you. You’re the one screwing a hunter.”

Kayla grabbed the silver chain that had fallen behind Davis. “No, he’s not just screwing me.” She wanted to set that record straight. “He married me.” She slammed the chain into Davis’s side and watched him fall, howling. “So don’t forget that!”

Then she turned to the other wolf. Billy. The guy was watching her with a slight grin on his face.

The silver.

Okay, if he was innocent, then it was time to free him. She rushed to him and started jerking on the chains.

“If Gage hadn’t married you,” Billy said as his grin widened a bit more, “then I would’ve. I love it when a woman kicks ass. There’s nothing sexier.”

The door opened. More wolves came rushing in. Wolves and that enhanced hearing of theirs. She guessed the guards outside had heard everything.

One shifter, a woman with short red hair, tossed Kayla a pair of keys. While she went to work on Billy’s chains, the other wolves closed in around Davis.

This wasn’t gonna be pretty. Shifter battles never were.

“Why?” She heard Gage demand. “Why would you turn on your pack? You let them take Shamus and Faye. You let them take our own damn family.”

Because to the wolves, pack was family. A bond that went even deeper than blood.

“They’re not my family. They’re strays. Strays that didn’t belong in my pack.”

Shamus shoved through the crowd of wolves. His claws were out and his face twisted with his fury. It took three other wolves to hold the guy back when he went for Davis’s throat.

Free now, Billy stalked to Gage’s side. Good. He was showing that he stood with the alpha. Even if the alpha had ordered him chained.

“You were a stray, too,” Gage said, voice lethal. “We all were. That’s why we came together. To be more. To be stronger.”

“With you at the lead.” Davis’s lips turned up in a sneer. “Cause you think you’re the only damn alpha around.”

“And you thought you could take me?”

“When the time was right, I fucking was!”

Theright time . . . “When was that gonna be?” Kayla asked, her own body tight with fury. “When you’d let the hunters take out all the other wolves? When you thought no one would come to Gage’s aid? When you thought he was gonna be weak—”

“And I would be strong!” Davis yelled.

More growls from the wolves.

Kayla caught sight of Faye. Faye’s claws were out. She wanted her pound of flesh, too. From the look on the shifters’ faces, they all did.

Did Davis realize just how screwed he was?

“You think you’re strong?” Gage challenged as he yanked off his shirt and tossed it to the ground. “Then come and see if you can take me out. Fight me.”

Oh, damn. She’d heard of this before. When one wolf turned on the others in his group, the guy would have to face—

“Trial by pack,” Billy said grimly.

Gage nodded. “Damn straight.” Gage stared at the wolf who’d betrayed him. “And I’m going to rip you apart.”

Kayla felt a shiver go down her spine. These men and women . . . right then, they were all barely human. She could feel the rage and wildness in the air. The wolves wanted out. They wanted to rip and tear and kill.

The line between human and beast was blurring.

“Here. Fucking now,” Gage said.

The other wolves stepped back. Formed a circle around Gage and Davis.

Um, here? Now?

Gage began to shift. No wonder he’d tossed his shirt aside.

“I should’ve been alpha,” Davis shouted. His eyes were wild. Shining too brightly. “I’m stronger, smarter. You’ve been in my way for years.” His bones popped.

Broke.

She hated the sound of shifting wolves. The growls. The pain.

The fury.

“It’ll be over soon,” Billy told her. His shoulder brushed against hers. The guy seemed to be trying to comfort her, when he’d been the one caged moments before. “Gage doesn’t play with his prey.”

That was supposed to make her feel better?

Kayla glanced around the room. She saw claws and lengthening canines everywhere she turned. It looked like every wolf there—except Faye—was about to shift.

She remembered another time. Another place. A big black wolf, one that came at her with his fangs bared.

Gage had finished his shift. He stood in the middle of that snarling circle. Big, strong, dark. His body vibrated with fury as he bared his fangs.

Her mother had still been alive. Broken, bloody, but breathing.

Davis had shifted. His coat was white. His eyes burning so brightly. He pushed down with his hind legs, then leapt at Gage.

She’d shaken her mother. Begged her to get up. Then Kayla had heard the growl.