Their mouths broke apart, panting, as a howl split the air. Her thought processes like mush, it took Ally a moment to discern it was the howl of a full-blooded wolf; it wasn’t one of alarm. Forcing herself to release Derren’s hair, she let her arms fall to her sides. But she didn’t back up—that required more strength than she had.

Derren wanted nothing more than to back her into the lodge and taste and explore every inch of her, to drive deep inside her as he’d dreamed of doing every damn night since he brought her here. But she was tired, and what she needed was rest. If he followed her inside, it would be the last thing she’d get. Besides, although she wanted him, he could see she was still wary of him. He wanted there to be nothing but need in her eyes when he finally had her.

He brushed his thumb over her mouth. “You taste better than anything else I’ve ever tasted.” And he wanted more. He’d have more. Just not right now. “Get some sleep.” With a restraint he hadn’t known he possessed, Derren walked away.

CHAPTER SEVEN

Receiving a text message from Nick summoning him to his office, Derren abandoned his paperwork—gladly, since it was past eight o’clock in the evening—and immediately headed there. He found Nick, Shaya, Eli, and the enforcers waiting inside. The dark energy radiating from Nick was enough to make Derren stiffen. “Something else happened?”

Standing behind his desk with Shaya at his side, Nick sighed. “The day after the grenade incident, I contacted Donovan, asked him to look into whether any other packs are having the same kind of trouble. My theory was that if our culprit’s style is to use various forms of attack, it would be something they have done before. He contacted me ten minutes ago. There’s no indication that any other packs have undergone the same experience. But he found something else.” Nick paused, seeming to take strength from the hand Shaya was rubbing up and down his arm. “We’re on a hit list.”

A boom of stunned silence followed that announcement. Derren had thought of many different possibilities that might account for what was happening, but he hadn’t considered this.

It was Roni who finally spoke. “Could you repeat that?”

“A hit list.” Nick’s voice hardened. “Someone wants us dead. And not just us. There’s also a hit out on the Phoenix Pack.”

Curses rang throughout the office.

“Does Trey know?” Marcus rumbled.

Nick shook his head. “Not yet. I’ll call him once our meeting is over.”

“It explains everything.” Eli seemed to be talking more to himself than anyone else. “It wasn’t one person using different forms of attack. It was different people trying to cash in on the bounty. Hyenas were responsible for the poisoned animals, and foxes really did attack.”

“It even explains the use of the rifle grenade,” stated Zander. “Most hits are taken care of with firearms.”

“The hyenas and foxes who attacked were all probably lone shifters.” Marcus fingered one of Roni’s ash-blonde curls, as if touching her calmed him. “They often become guns for hire.”

Anger mixed with Derren’s shock, making his voice a growl. “Who put the hit out on us?”

“That’s just it, we don’t know.” Nick’s jaw hardened.

Derren blinked. “You don’t know?”

“There’s a website that provides a list of people or packs that have bounties on their heads,” explained Nick. “Anyone interested in collecting on any of those bounties simply has to do the deed and prove it afterward. The problem is that whoever runs the website protects the identities of the people who submit requests for a name to be placed on the list. Only the person behind the website knows their identities.”

“So we need to find this person,” said Bracken.

“Donovan tried.” Nick leaned back against his desk. “There’s actually a group of shifters already working on it. But the site is run on some kind of high-tech, super-fucking-advanced anonymity network that protects the creator’s identity. To make matters even harder, the site also has all kinds of ‘trip wires’ that sense anyone trying to hack into it and immediately delivers viruses that crash whatever computer is being used.”

“Shit,” Eli bit out. “This isn’t going to be like the problem we had finding the jackals; we can’t rely on hackers to trace the servers or IP addresses.” At his brother’s nod of agreement, Eli asked, “So what now?”

“Donovan said he’d keep trying, but his opinion is that it would take him years to get past those trip wires—mostly because the trip wires keep changing, like a moving labyrinth. He said he’s never seen anything like this before. The hit on us could have been placed by one shifter, an entire pack, or some kind of organization. All he knows at this point is that they’re also responsible for the hit on the Phoenix Pack.”

Bracken scratched his nape. “They want every single member of both packs dead?”

Nick nodded. “Every single last one.”

Jesse whistled. “Then this is very personal.”

Eli folded his arms across his chest. “So the question is . . . who hates both packs so damn much?”

“Someone who both packs thoroughly pissed off.” Marcus exhaled heavily. “That should make it easier to work out who it is.”

“It could still be hyenas,” mused Bracken. “I mean, plenty of them died here at our hands after they accompanied the jackals in the recent battle. The Phoenix Pack joined us for the fight, and they killed plenty of hyenas too.”