Duke rolled the poison-filled jar in his hand and smiled.

“You’re sure this will work?” he asked the weasel of a man in front of him. The character fit in perfectly with the dark, seedy alley they stood in.

“No question. It’ll knock any shifter on his ass instantly. Coma quickly follows, and then…death,” he replied.

Duke rolled his eyes. Could this creep be any more overdramatic? It wasn’t like Duke would be sucked into any razzle-dazzle marketing ploy. He wasn’t sure if he believed the words sliding out of the jerk’s mouth.

“Even a large tiger?” he confirmed.

“Absolutely.”

Somewhat reluctantly, Duke pulled the wad of money from his inside jacket pocket.

“Here. We’re done. Unless this stuff doesn’t work. Then I’ll be back to make sure there is at least one death from it.” Duke pulled the hat lower on his face and walked out of the alleyway to his SUV parked along the street.

After the debacle with his nephews, his sister bailed the brothers out of jail and hadn’t talked to him since. Which was fine by him. The boys were beat to shit. They said several Terai members interrupted their progress. They would’ve had the alpha in their vehicle, otherwise. Right, Duke doubted that.

This time, he wasn’t taking any chances. He would go along with his two best men. If they couldn’t take out the damn alpha, they would take his mate. At least his nephew’s trip wasn’t a total waste. Intel reached him about Feral and a female staying at a cabin outside Full Moon Bay. It was just the break he was needing. The alpha alone with a huge weakness—his mate in danger.

Then finally, Terai land and pride would be his. He could mine the gold and keep it for himself. Of course, he had to find the exact location of the old mine. Shouldn’t be difficult. The ancient map he found in his grandfather’s library looked detailed enough. And of course, the legend of the Lost Man’s Gold had directions.

According to the story, a Swede and his family were crossing the mountains with their wagon train on their way to the West. In a blinding snowstorm, they were separated. Continuing with no sense of direction, he and his family wandered the mountainside.

After days in the deadly storm, he’d lost the horse and wagon, and the next day, he lost his child and wife. In agonizing grief, he found a cave to store the bodies until he could come back and bury them.

Inspecting the rock walls, he noticed flashes of light reflecting the illumination from his lantern. Sifting through the pebbles and dust on the floor, he found nuggets of gold. He spent the next day collecting all he could while the blizzard snowed itself out. After coming off the mountain and arriving in a nearby town, he purchased land and began his dream of ranching. When the first of spring came about, he tried to find the cave, but never could.

There are numerous reports of hikers who came across a cave with a woman and child standing at the entrance. Their clothes were those of settlers going west many years ago. They were waiting and watching for the Swede to come back and bury their bodies.

Duke laughed away the ghost part. He was sure it was added to keep others from searching for the cave. What the legend fails to mention was that the Swede made a map on his way out. If he hadn’t used it to return, Duke didn’t know why. Maybe it was lost for years, until his grandfather purchased a map at an Indian Trading Post. He just thought it was neat and paid ten cents for it.

In Duke’s attempts to sneak onto the mountain, Terai guards had always discovered him and he’d had to abandon the searches. But after the alpha tastes the poison dart prepared for him, all that would be water under the bridge.

On the internet, he brought up where the cabin Feral and his mate were staying. With his men, he plotted several plans of attack from different locations in the area. They would come down the river that ran nearby the property. There was a bend in the river where the banks widened that made for a perfect landing spot. They could camp there and set up an ambush.

After going through every scenario they could think of, Duke decided to take an extra man so he could stay in human form and shoot the poison dart at Feral. In a secure case in his desk’s top drawer lay two deadly weapons only a couple inches long. His destiny depended on a pinpoint and the killing liquid inside it.

Ready to get the show on the road, he and his men climbed into the SUV. He hoped Feral and his mate enjoyed their last hours together.