by Paige Tyler
Or was it?
While she’d never been in love before, she was definitely feeling something amazing, something that made her heart beat fast all the time. And as for what was impossible, it was difficult to ignore the fact that until a few days ago, she’d thought being a werewolf was impossible, too.
Selena gazed at Jayden, wondering if he could possibly feel the same way about her. She opened her mouth to tell him she was falling for him—that maybe she’d already fallen—but movement out of the corner of her eye caught her attention. She found herself looking that way, not knowing why but following her instincts.
At first, she didn’t see anything unusual. Max and Lana were making the rounds, talking and laughing with their friends as guests slowly streamed out of the tent into the night, heading for the cars parked all over the place outside the perimeter fence.
Then a gray-haired man stopped in front of the newlyweds to wish them well. Lana’s face paled, her body going rigid, and Selena heard the woman’s heart suddenly begin beating like crazy. Whoever the guy was, Lana clearly didn’t like him.
Jayden had introduced Selena to a lot of people today, but the gray-haired man hadn’t been one of them. She supposed he could be a cop, but with that fancy suit, he looked more like a politician.
Halfway across the tent, Lana was shaking the man’s hand. Knowing it was probably a horrible thing to do, Selena turned her head a little, straining to hear what they were saying. She’d been able to eavesdrop easily in the club after Scott had OD’d, but unlike her nose, which seemed to work all the time whether she wanted it to or not, her ears were a little tougher to control.
She was able to pick up enough to hear the man congratulating Max and Lana and wishing them well as they started their life together. While it seemed sweet, Lana looked like she’d swallowed a lemon.
Selena turned to Jayden, expecting to see him staring at Max and Lana as hard as she had, but instead, he was focused on the entrance of the tent and the two werewolves who’d just walked in. Becker and the woman with him weren’t exactly dressed for a wedding. In fact, the jeans and T-shirts they wore looked like they’d slept in them. Becker and the blond woman, on the other hand, looked like they hadn’t slept in days.
“Why wasn’t Becker at the wedding?” Selena asked.
“He and his mate, Jayna, have been digging into the prison break nonstop since Wednesday, trying to see if someone in the Dallas PD might have been involved. Come on.”
Taking her hand, Jayden led her across the tent to intercept Becker and Jayna. They caught up with them in the far corner where Gage, his human wife, Mac, Zane, and Lana’s parents were all talking.
“It’s Curtis,” Becker said to Gage.
Selena didn’t know who Curtis was or why he was important, but everyone else did if the stunned disbelief on their faces was any indication.
“Are you sure?” Gage demanded, his dark eyes intent on Becker. “I mean, positively-absolutely-you-can’t-be-wrong-about-this sure?”
Becker nodded. “It’s him. Remember those suspects I was looking into who work at the prison? It took some time, but I narrowed it down to three guards and one IT specialist. The three guards were on duty the morning of the escape and were assigned to the security checkpoints Oliver and the other inmates went through. More incriminating than that, though, was that someone with serious computer skills had gone out of their way to make it look like those three guards were working somewhere else in the prison that day. He changed duty rosters, altered the entries in the security system that records when and where guards swipe their ID cards, even snipped out small sections of various security camera footage to make sure you couldn’t see the inmates on any videos they shouldn’t have been on. It was actually some high-quality work. It took over a day for me to figure out what was missing, but once I realized I was dealing with a top-of-the-line hacker, it led me straight to the computer geek in IT.”
“Becker,” Gage growled, making Selena jump. “Stop all this damn techie talk, and get to the point. You found the four people responsible for the prison break—great. What the hell does any of this have to do with Curtis?”
Becker made a face at being interrupted. “Jayna and I have been going nonstop for the past eighty hours straight, living on nothing but Doritos and Mountain Dew, probably breaking hundreds of state and federal laws, and you want me to skip the best parts and get to the point?”
Gage glowered at him. “Yes.”
Crap. Jayden’s boss definitely had an intimidating voice when he wanted to.
“Who’s Curtis?” Selena whispered close to Jayden’s ear, interested in knowing but not wanting to interrupt the others.
“Randy Curtis,” he whispered back, not taking his eyes off Becker and Jayna. “Chief of police.”
Selena’s eyes widened. Sweet cheese and crackers. The chief of police was involved with the hunters? And he’d broken them out of prison? How was that even possible?
“Fine,” Becker grumbled. “It turns out all four of these guys used to work for the North Central Division Investigative Team about ten years ago. That’s quite the coincidence, but not nearly as interesting as who their lieutenant was.”
“Curtis,” Gage said.
“Yup,” Becker said. “Real long story short, most of the team was dirty, skimming stolen property from residential and business burglaries. Nobody ratted on Curtis, so he came out looking clean and ended up getting a promotion out of it. In return, he got the guys hired on at Coffield. They’ve been loyal to him ever since.”
“Do you have anything solid pinning Curtis to the prison break?” Gage asked. “Beyond the fact that these dirty prison employees used to work for him a decade ago?”
It was Jayna who answered. “Curtis was careful to avoid calling any of the men himself, and apparently, he wouldn’t let them call him, either.” She tucked her long hair behind her ear. “We know that for sure, because Eric tapped his home phone and cloned the SIM card on his cell. The four guys from the prison weren’t as careful. They’ve been calling, texting, and emailing each other for the past two weeks.” She shook her head. “You’d think a bunch of ex-cops would be smarter than to put stuff out there like that, but then again, they did get caught for stealing stolen property from their own evidence room. So I guess they’re not that bright.”
“Regardless,” Becker added, “we have more than enough evidence to directly connect these four—and Curtis—to the prison break. I’ve already made sure the U.S. Marshals stumble across everything we found in a way that will make it completely legal in court. As soon as those four guys are picked up by the feds, one of them is going to flip on the others and hopefully on Curtis, too.”
“That’s all great,” Zane said. “But did you find anything that will lead us back to the hunters?”
Jayden had told Selena that Zane had been injured by the hunters. He wouldn’t give her any details, saying that was Zane’s story to tell, but she knew the British werewolf hated the hunters and wanted them to pay for what they’d done.
“Not yet.” Becker’s voice was rueful. “I’m still working on it.”
“Or we could talk to someone who obviously knows all about the hunters and see what he’s willing to tell us,” Gage said, his voice low and menacing.
Selena followed Gage’s gaze to the older man still talking with Max and Lana. Besides the werewolves from the Pack, a few other wedding guests were still in the tent as well, along with the caterers, who were currently cleaning up the place. A moment later, the older man started toward the exit.
“That’s Curtis?” Selena asked.
“Yes,” Jayden said, giving her hand a squeeze before releasing it and falling into step beside Gage as his boss headed across the tent.
Selena hurried to catch up with him. Jayden didn’t slow as he caught her hand and tugged her protectively behind him. Zane slipped ahead of
her, so that they were both shielding her. She knew Jayden was doing it because he cared about her, but her werewolf side didn’t like it. He was her mate, and she had a crazy urge to be the one protecting him, even though he was obviously much stronger and a more experienced fighter than she’d ever be.
Max and Lana met them halfway, their faces tense.
“Curtis is the one I heard over the telephone talking to the hunter during the attack at the clinic,” Lana said quickly. “I’m sure of it.”
Gage nodded, not bothering to tell her they already knew that, and continued after the man. “Chief Curtis.”
The man stopped and turned, his eyes narrowing at Gage and the rest of them. “What can I help you with, Sergeant Dixon?” He glanced down at his watch before locking eyes with the SWAT team leader. “I was just leaving.”
“We know you helped those men break out of Coffield,” Gage said.
Curtis’s heart sped up, but his expression never changed. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I had nothing to do with those men escaping custody.”
Selena’s instincts told her the man was lying his ass off.
“Really?” Gage said. “That’s funny, because the marshals already have phone and email records from your four buddies. You know, those former cops who used to work for you in the North Central Division? You should have hired people smart enough to not mention your name over and over online.”
Curtis regarded them thoughtfully. “If that’s true, why are you the one talking to me instead of the marshals?”
“We wanted to ask you a few questions first,” Jayden said. “Who knows? Maybe we can put in a good word for you with the marshals.”
“And what could I possibly tell you?” Curtis asked.
“The name of the man in charge of the hunters,” Gage told him.
Selena expected him to deny it like he had the previous accusation, but Curtis snorted. “Now why the hell would I ever tell you that?”
“Because after we bite you and turn you into one of us, you’re going to need our protection when they come after you,” Jayden growled.
Selena knew the threat was an empty one. Jayden had told her a bite from a werewolf wouldn’t do anything except hurt. You’d never know that from the threat of violence in Jayden’s voice, though.
Curtis laughed, not even a little bit frightened. “Thanks, but no thanks. I don’t want to be one of you mangy mutts.”
Pulling a pistol out of his jacket, he pointed it at Jayden and squeezed the trigger before any of them could so much as blink.
Selena opened her mouth to scream when an explosion from outside shook the tent. A split second later, a man in a caterer uniform stepped into the open doorway of the tent with an automatic rifle and started shooting.
* * *
Brooks knew he’d been hit with a poison bullet before he even stumbled back. The odor of the synthetic wolfsbane was impossible to miss. Ignoring the pain he knew was coming, he twisted himself around to protect Selena.
Everything went insane as he grabbed her, automatic weapons fire coming from all around them as another explosion rocked the compound. The softer pop of pistol fire immediately followed. Brooks had no idea who was shooting at whom when another round slammed into the back of his thigh as he dragged Selena down to the ground and shielded her body.
A voice in the back of his head noted that while the hunters’ bullets definitely burned like hell, the pain wasn’t nearly as excruciating as it should have been. It also wasn’t getting worse like it had with Zane. Dr. Saunders’s vaccine must be working. That was a relief.
Instinct demanded he grab the small-frame .40 caliber he had strapped to his right ankle, find out who was shooting at them, and kill those people. But he couldn’t. While the synthetic wolfsbane in the bullets wouldn’t kill him or any other werewolf there, Selena hadn’t gotten the vaccine yet. He couldn’t leave her unprotected and risk her getting hit. He heard her growling under him, her heart thumping in near panic as she tried to work herself free. He held onto her more tightly. He needed to protect her from the omega inside her just as much as from the hunters.
Zane suddenly appeared, crouching at his side. “Let me have her. The hunters think you’re the alpha of the Pack, which means you’re putting her in more danger. I can’t fight them, but I can protect her.”
The idea of letting Selena go ripped a growl from his throat, but when he saw the number of armed men pointing weapons in his direction, he realized his friend was right.
“Stay with Zane,” he told her, yanking his Glock out as he jumped to his feet.
As he ran, Brooks heard Selena snarling, trying to escape Zane’s hold, but his pack mate refused to let her go. More importantly, the moment he started moving, the hunters, dressed in the white-and-black uniforms of the catering crew, adjusted their aim to follow him. Zane was right. He was their primary target. The faster he got away from Selena, the safer she’d be.
Popping off shots in the hunters’ direction, Brooks took in the situation as he ran across the tent toward the main entrance, ignoring the sting as several more bullets hit him. The human wedding guests who’d been trapped in the tent when the shooting started were either hugging the floor or trying to hide under the tables, including Lana’s parents. Gage was down on the floor as well, protecting Mac with his body. Curtis was long gone, far enough away that Brooks could no longer pick up an active scent. Trevor, Hale, Carter, and Max were standing guard over Lana, slowly and carefully putting down one target after another with their own backup weapons. All four of his pack mates had been hit multiple times, but that didn’t slow them down.
Smaller explosions echoed outside the tent as two more hunters ran in, their rifles held high as they assessed the situation. Brooks didn’t recognize the first guy, but the second one through the door was very familiar—Seth Oliver.
Oliver’s eyes widened when he saw that Brooks and his pack mates were alive. The same couldn’t be said of his fellow hunters around the tent. Those men wouldn’t be getting back up again. Brooks didn’t know if Oliver was more surprised their poison bullets didn’t work this time or that the Pack had been carrying backup weapons during a wedding reception.
The man locked eyes with Brooks for half a second, then he turned and fled. Brooks chased him outside only to slow a bit as he took in the violence going on around the rest of the darkened SWAT compound.
Brooks had never been in the military, but he imagined this was what a war zone looked like. Wedding guests were running all over the place, trying to get out of the compound. There was the flash and pop of automatic weapons fire coming from the direction of the main admin building and growling and shouting from over near the volleyball court. In addition, a bomb had taken out the front side of the armory building, which was currently on fire. The hunters had tried to destroy the armory, probably hoping to keep them from reaching any of their weapons.
Brooks ignored all of that as he caught sight of Oliver running toward a line of SUVs parked outside the front gate of the compound. He threw a quick look at the fighting going on over near the main building, noting the gunfire had already slowed drastically. The battle there was almost over. He only hoped the Pack was winning it.
He took off after Oliver, refusing to let the asshole get away this time. But as he got closer to the vehicles, Brooks realized Oliver wasn’t the only hunter beating a retreat. There were four other men heading toward the SUVs, the one going for the driver’s side limping badly. Brooks smelled the scent of blood and fear pouring off them, and he changed course slightly, turning aside to go after the four random hunters instead of Oliver. He hated Oliver, but taking down four hunters made more sense from a mathematical point of view.
But then he saw Rachel loping after the four men, a small double-action .380 handgun held low at her side, her eyes glowing vivid green as she tracked after her prey. Baring her fangs
, she lifted her weapon and aimed for the injured driver.
Brooks turned his attention to Oliver, running faster as the hunter jumped behind the wheel and gunned the engine to life like his life depended on getting away—which it did. The SUV started to pull forward, but Brooks didn’t care. He was stopping the man, no matter what.
Just as he tucked his shoulder and prepared to ram the SUV off the road, he caught Selena’s scent, quickly followed by Zane’s. He glanced over his shoulder to see Selena coming toward him, her eyes glowing blue. Zane was right behind her, trying to catch up.
A growl to his right caught Brooks’s attention, and he looked over to see Rachel standing near the perimeter fence, her weapon still aimed at the injured hunter. Brooks waited for her to pull the trigger, but she didn’t. Instead, she and the hunter stared at each other, confusion on both their faces. A split second later, the hunter leaped into the SUV and took off. Brooks didn’t know why, but for whatever reason, Rachel hadn’t taken the shot.
It was too late for Brooks to change course and go after the vehicle with the four hunters now. He was committed to Oliver’s SUV.
Brooks hit the front quarter panel right behind the wheel at full speed. The impact was so violent, he felt multiple bones crack, but he ignored them. The vehicle was big, but he’d hit with a shitload of force, and the nose of the SUV went up and sideways, almost going over as it slid across the narrow street along the front of the compound and into the ditch on the far side.
He punched through the glass of the driver’s window, gripping the frame and ripping the door off, then pulling Oliver out and throwing him to the ground.
“I can tell you stuff about the hunters,” Oliver said urgently, scrambling to his feet and trying to back up even as he attempted to line up a shot at Brooks’s head. “I know who the man in charge is. I know where you can find him.”
Brooks reached out to smack the gun from Oliver’s hand when Selena arrived in the form of a growling blue-eyed blur that slammed into Oliver’s chest so hard, Brooks heard bones crack.
