And if he had to kill a few dozen humans and wolves? So what? He could always recruit more hunters, and he sure didn’t care about the wolves.

“There’s another way,” she said, desperate. “There’s always another way.”

Gage shook his head. “There’s no time.” His steps were slow as he stalked toward her. His hand lifted and the back of his fingers slid down her cheek. “The wolf ’s at the door, and I’m gonna tear him apart.”

Or he’d get torn apart. The humans would die.

This didn’t have to happen. “My brother . . .”

Gage looked at the door. “We’ll find him when the fight’s over.” Then his hand fell away. He slipped around her. Opened the door.

The redheaded wolf waited, with his arms loose at his sides.

“Take her back home, Shamus,” Gage said.

Home?

The thought was so foreign to her that Kayla blinked at first. But . . . she did have a home. An apartment in the city. One that gave her a night-time view of the strip that took her breath away.

So why didn’t that place feel like home?

She took a deep breath and squared her shoulders. “Sorry, Shamus,” she said—and then she slammed the door in the shifter’s face.

Gage blinked. He looked . . . surprised. Really? He should know her better than that.

Kayla jabbed her finger in his chest. “I don’t walk away from fights. Not ever. I don’t tuck my tail between my legs and run—”

His brows shot up. Whoops, okay, wolf reference. Her bad.

Kayla cleared her throat. “I don’t run because things get tough, got it?”

“This isn’t—”

She jabbed him harder. “You don’t get to spout ‘mine’ bullshit one minute and then toss me out the next.” And it . . . hurt. To go from the best sex ever to a cold toss out the door, yeah, that was tough. But she wasn’t about to let him see her pain. She’d never let anyone see.

Only Jonah.

Where are you?

“Those men don’t deserve death, and I’m not letting you claw your way through humans because a psychotic wolf has been jerking us all around.” Kayla took another deep breath. Weren’t deep breaths supposed to calm down fury? She wasn’t feeling calm. “I’m working with you, and we’ll make sure we take out the real monster.”

There was still no emotion showing on his handsome face. “Just how are we gonna do that?” Gage asked.

Yeah, how the hell were they gonna do that? Plans and options spun through her mind. Think. “When the hunters come, don’t send any wolves out. Not a single one.” This was crazy, she knew it but . . . “I’m the only one who will face them. I’ll make them see reason.”

“Uh, sweetheart, no one believed you before.”

Good point.

“You broke out of your cell. You ran from them.” His lips tightened. “Those assholes will just shoot first and dump your body later. No dice.”

He reached for the door handle again. Yanked open the door.

Shamus was still there. One red brow was up. With his shifter hearing, like a closed door would really stop him from eavesdropping on their little conversation.

There had to be a way of stopping this hell. She just had to show the others what Lyle really was.

But Lyle . . . he wouldn’t be in that first wild rush of hunters who came to storm the place. He always held back. Gave the orders from a distance. Moved in when the targets were secure.

When the hunters attacked, they’d be out for blood. Mine. Dammit, yes. And Gage’s. So to save all their sorry asses . . . “We have to attack first.”

Shamus whistled. “Bloodthirsty. I like that.”

Gage punched him.

“They’re coming after us. Getting ready. Moving out.” Kayla was talking faster now because she had this. “So this is the time when we go for them. We attack while they’re en route. We close in on Lyle, we take him out of the caravan.” When heading into new territory, the hunters swept in on a straight line. “The last SUV.” That was his. Always. “We take him out, and we make the others see what he is.”

They’d drag his sorry ass out of that SUV. Tie him in silver. When he started to burn, the other hunters would be forced to see him for what he truly was.

“And you think that’s gonna stop them?” Gage demanded, his voice full of doubt. “They’ll just shoot him and then keep coming after my pack.”

Because hunters hated wolves. They thought shifters were monsters that needed to be put down.

It was Kayla’s turn to shake her head. “We’re not all like that.” I’m not. She needed him to recognize that truth in her eyes. “Give us a chance to show you that we can be more.” Better. I can be better.

Not just a lost soul seeking justice for crimes long ago. A woman now, wanting to fight for the man she was craving more than life.

Slowly, very slowly, Gage nodded. “But if this doesn’t work . . . if they keep attacking . . .” He lifted his claw-tipped hands. “They will be stopped.”

And she knew that he really meant . . . they will be dead.

Gage paced down the hallway with Shamus. Kayla was arming herself. Getting bullets. The silver that the pack handled only with reinforced gloves.

She was hot when she got battle ready.

She was also dangerous.

“Hunt for me,” Gage told Shamus, because no one in the pack hunted like the red wolf.