Bret was changing in his room after meeting with the Alpha and the other betas and caught a flash of color, a movement out of the corner of his eye and looked out the window, spying Nikki walking toward the woods. He also saw Zach a few yards behind her, keeping his distance, giving her space. She looked deep in thought, and the sight of her stole his breath.

Grinning, he jogged down the stairs and made his way outside, heading in the direction he had seen Nikki walk. His long strides eating up the ground, he soon caught up with Zach, who turned and nodded to him before heading back to the house, leaving Bret to watch her.

Pausing next to the small stream behind the house, she stared down into the shallow water.

“It's been years since I've been here,” she said quietly. Kneeling, she trailed the gentle stream with a finger, her beautiful profile still lost in thought.

“It's a beautiful place.”

She stood up and sighed, wrapping her arms around her waist. “You know, I know nothing about you. And yet”—she turned to look at him, the blue of her eyes sinking deep into his heart—“almost from the first time we met, I wasn't scared of you. Something about you…”

“Nikki,” he whispered, taking those few steps closer to her. Their gazes locked as he took that last step, bringing him as close as possible without touching her. The world faded, the threats of death non-existent at that moment.

His eyes fell to her lips, lips that trembled slightly beneath his gaze.

He lowered his head and hesitated, his gaze moving back up to her eyes, to see any form of objection in their blue depths.

There was none.

With a gentleness that belied the raging desire to grab her and throw her over his shoulders, to claim her as his mate, he pulled her slowly into his arms and lowered his head, bringing his lips to hers. He licked the seam of her lips, and she opened her mouth, letting his tongue slide in to mate with hers.

Sighing, she wrapped her arms around his neck, bringing her flush up against his chest. His kiss deepened, their mouths open, tongues tangled and dancing to a dance that only made sense to them.

Breathing heavily, harder than he could ever remember, Bret drew back reluctantly. If it had been up to him, he could have kept kissing her for hours, but he didn't want to scare her, didn't want to rush her past what she was comfortable with.

“My favorite color is blue,” he whispered, leaning his forehead against hers, trying to get his breathing under control. “I love dogs. My parents died when I was a child—house fire. I joined the military right out of high school, and I've been with the pack since returning,” he finished, summing up his past in a few short sentences.

“And I'm crazy about you,” he added softly.

Silent, she stared at him, and he almost panicked, unable to read her eyes, read what she was thinking.

“Bret…”

Suddenly scared about what she was about to say, he put his finger on her lips, silencing her.

“It's okay. You don't have to say anything.”

He started to draw back, but she stopped him, her small arms tightening around his neck. “It's not that, Bret. My husband…”

He saw her throat work as she swallowed and the fear return to her beautiful eyes. He hated it—hated that she was so scared.

“He won't be a threat much longer. I'm going to kill him, Nikki. That's a fact. If that scares you, the fact that I can take a man’s life so easily, tell me now because that's who I am. I protect my own.”

“But I'm not yours,” she whispered.

The fact that her eyes betrayed her words caused his heart to jump with joy. He couldn't blame her for being so scared, so leery, but her words hadn't matched the emotion he could see in her eyes, and that thrilled him.

“Yes, you are.”

With that, he pulled back, and her arms dropped down to her sides.

“But it's okay. I can wait forever for you to admit that fact because I'm not going anywhere.”

Taking her hand, he intertwined his fingers through hers as they started to make their way back to the house, Nikki silent.

They hadn’t been gone long, making it back just in time to see Travis standing on the porch, scanning the yard. As soon as his eyes lit on them, he relaxed.

“Inside,” he said tensely, his eyes scanning the empty yard.

Bret stiffened but didn’t argue.

“What’s going on?” he asked tensely, walking in behind Nikki. She kept trying to stop and talk to Travis, but Bret kept nudging her inside until the door was closed behind them. Everyone was in the living room, standing or sitting around—Zach, Noah, Vanessa, and Aiden—with Travis, Nikki, and Bret walking in to complete the group.

Nikki walked over beside Sam on the couch and sat down, still watching Travis, her fear evident in her eyes and pallor.

Travis and Nikki locked gazes. “A body’s been discovered on the east side of the ridge, a few yards from the border of the property.”

Everyone was silent.

“Who was it?” Nikki whispered, her hands clenched in her lap. Bret saw her twisting her fingers together, but like Noah and Zach, true to military form, he stood behind Travis. It was time to be an enforcer, not a man craving to comfort the woman he—

He halted that thought and blanked his mind as he listened.

“We don't know,” Travis said grimly. “The body is beyond recognition. We’re doing a roll call now.”

Nikki gasped.

Bret didn't know it was possible, but she went even paler, her waxy skin a pasty white.

She stood up slowly and stepped away from the couch, away from everyone.

“How?” she whispered harshly, her eyes on Travis. His eyes narrowed, but he answered her.

“Burnt,” he said bluntly, watching her intently.

Nikki looked as if she was going to pass out, and Bret started to take a step toward her, out of alignment with the other men, but he stopped, forcing himself to remain still.

“My husband's associate. That's his signature. He has a thing about fire—s-smelling t-the flesh.”

“Name,” Travis barked.

Nikki jumped, and her throat worked as she struggled to swallow. She wrapped her arms around her waist. “D-Donny Johnson.”

Bret saw her rub her arms as if she were rubbing something off, and his own eyes narrowed as his thoughts raced. “Nikki,” he said quietly.

She turned and looked at him, still rubbing her arms.

“Did he ever burn you?”

He didn't know why the thought had crossed his mind. It could have been the horror in her eyes, the pain, or the rubbing, but the thought was out, and he saw the answer in her wide eyes.

He cursed.

Sam jumped up, her own eyes wide and glassy with tears. “Oh, Nikki.”

Nikki pulled away before Sam could hug her and looked over at Travis.

“He lives in this tiny house outside of town. T-there is a b-basement-like chamber beneath it though. There's a few bones,” she whispered. Bret saw her shiver and felt her fear, her pain, and his bear roared, standing on its hind legs as the rage of the animal gave him a headache.

Death. Die. Bastards need to die!

Bret agreed with his whole heart.

“My brother…” Sobs shook her small frame. “My brother died in a burning car, trapped. I-I think D-Donny k-killed him.”

Bret lost it. He almost jumped over the coffee table in his rush to get to her, and he pulled her into his arms, holding her tightly. She wrapped her arms around his waist and cried, the soft sobs affecting everyone in the room. The women had tears in their eyes while the men had rage, their animals barely controlled within the mental chains as the silence lengthened and grew, no one saying a word.

Nikki hadn't thought she had any more tears left—for her brother, the horror of her husband, for the lives taken too soon—but she'd been wrong. Hearing the name of the man who had taken pleasure in torturing her, and who she had always known had killed her brother, brought it all back, even more vivid than before.

Exhausted, she leaned against Bret’s chest, barely able to stand. If it hadn't been for him, she would have collapsed.

She didn't say anything as Bret picked her up, the floor moving beneath her with each step he took. A few mumbled words rumbled from his chest as he walked out of the living room, heading up the stairs. A door opened and a soft mattress. Tiredness. Her eyes felt heavy, but when he drew back, she grabbed his arm, panicked.

Please,” she whispered. “Please don't leave me.”

Without a word, he lay down next to her, and she curled beside him, a shiver running through her. Her eyes closed, and her breathing evened out as sleep claimed her.

Four wolves and a bear.

Thankfully, they were outside of town, but their motive for letting their animals take charge was uppermost in their rage. Thanks to Nikki's directions, the run-down house hadn't been hard to find. So that they had the cover of darkness, they had waited until nightfall.

The bastard wasn't home. At first glance, it looked abandoned. Weeds grew around the doors, the sideway cracked and pieces missing. The porch only had a few slats keeping it together. They walked around to the back door where Nikki had said the basement entrance was located, and Bret nudged open the back door. Creeping in, his large paws bore his seven-hundred-pound weight.

Basement.

Bret acknowledged Travis's thought with a nod of his large head, and together, they looked for the hidden door.

A closet in the kitchen revealed a staircase leading to an underground room, and Travis headed down first, the stairs creaking beneath their weight. The smell of burnt flesh hit their nostrils, and Bret felt sick at the thought of someone else suffering.

Whimpering met their ears, and when they got to the bottom, they found the cells against the concrete wall, a mini prison beneath the house. Bret's dark eyes scanned the shadows until they lit on the last cage. Something, someone, was within the metal bars.

Another whimper had them moving, and with a single thought and mild objection from his bear who craved the bastard's flesh in his jaws, he was the first to shift, bones cracking and reforming filling the silence. On his own two feet, Bret, naked, headed for the far cage, the wolves behind him, watching. Suddenly, Travis shifted as well and stood behind him.

“Son of a bitch,” Travis whispered. Even though he was shifted and standing, his wolf’s hair covered his face, and his eyes gleamed red in the dark.

A woman, or what looked like a woman, was curled in the back, naked, chained to the wall.

Dark hair fell over her face that lay on the wet floor, and her shivers told him she was near death. He smelled it, the sickness.

Bret growled back, unable to answer, and looked down at the rusted chain on the door. Looking around, he spied a long poker against the wall and grabbed it, the wolves and Travis silent behind him.

Letting him take the lead, Travis stood back as Bret worked on the lock. Minutes passed before it clicked, disengaging, and he threw the door open.

Rushing over to the woman, he worked on her locks and managed to snap her free.

Shivers racked her frame, and her body was hot to the touch, the fever raging through her.

“Let's get her out, now,” Travis growled.

Bret picked her up, her dark head rolling on his arm, and turned just as the three other wolves crouched down, the growls turning deadly.

Bret froze as Travis quickly shifted back, and his large, dark brown wolf got in line with the others, their red eyes on the flash of yellow and the footsteps coming from the stairway.

Bret tightened his grip on the woman and took a step back, his eyes narrowed on that flickering yellow light. His bear craved the fucker’s death, and he hated missing the chance to sink his teeth into the piece of trash, but he was going to leave it up to the wolves.

This time.

Boots hit the concrete, and the wolves growled. The rest happened in a blur. Shots fired, an agonized scream split the air as the black shadows of the wolves launched their bodies toward the man. The shots went wild as two wolves, Aiden and Patrick, latched onto the legs while Travis went for the throat.

One shot found its mark as Bret felt a flash of pain and grunted against the impact, his body jerking back. He crouched down, shielding the woman with his own body. Another shot and then silence.

Bret slowly stood up, holding the woman tightly as the wolves backed away from the crumpled and bloody form on the floor.

As one, they left the basement, and the men shifted back to their human forms by the trucks.

“Are you okay?” Travis asked, nodding to Bret as he grabbed his black shirt from the back seat. The rest of the men got dressed as well, and Travis took the woman while Bret did the same.

Gritting against the pain in his side as he pulled on his shirt, Bret nodded. “I'll live.”

Once dressed, he took the woman from Travis so he could drive, a look of concern in Travis’s eyes. Just because they were shifters didn't mean they were invincible. They could be killed just like everyone else.

“I'll be fine once I shift back and let the bear heal us both.”

They headed back, their mission complete for the moment, but they weren't done.

Not by far.