Ryder watched hopelessly from the inside of his lion. His animal was being way to reckless with his girl.

Poor Tempest was flying around, crashing into animals and bouncing along the ground.

“Calm down!” he shouted at his lion, but he wasn’t listening. The cat was in fight mode and seeing nothing but red.

The frustrating lion leapt off the ground, taking poor Tempest with him when all of a sudden, Grease froze. The polar bear’s enormous body lifted off the ground and straightened as tight as a board. His eyes widened as he looked down and to the right.

Ryder’s lion followed his gaze and he saw Tempest holding the wand, pointing it right at the murderous bear.

Let me come out! Now!

He was furious at his lion and the cat seemed to sense it because he slunk back down, letting him come back out.

He phased back and immediately dropped to his knee beside Tempest. “Are you okay? I’m so sorry!”

“I’m fine,” she said through a clenched jaw. She was clearly doing that female thing when she said she was fine, but was anything but fine. “It was a pleasure meeting your asshole lion.”

The boys started phasing back all around her now that their mark was contained. They were all hunched over, groaning, cursing, and breathing hard. They hadn’t run into a fight like that in a long time. If ever.

Lachlan was bleeding heavily from a hole in his shoulder that probably came from one of Grease’s spikes. He was holding it as he fell to his ass, gritting his teeth and cursing as a purple dodgeball slowly rolled over and hit his leg. He looked furious. “My shoulder, you fuck!” he growled as he palmed the bouncy purple ball and launched it at the polar bear in frustration. It bounced off his back leg as Lachlan cursed again.

Grant and Maximus walked over, looking like they needed a vacation. “Who the hell is this guy?” Maximus asked, staring at the frozen bear in shock. “If I knew he was this bad I would have brought Kneecap.”

“I told you!” Grant shouted in frustration. “Luckily, we have one bounty hunter here who knows what to do.”

They all looked at Tempest who was glaring at the bear. She stood up, pointing the wand at him as her bushy eyebrows smooshed together in an angry frown.

“Let’s get some answers out of this guy,” Grant said. He walked right up to the bear with his hands on his hips. “When we release you, phase into your human form immediately, got that?”

The bear’s eyes slowly made their way down to Ryder’s alpha.

“You make one move and our badass bounty hunter bitch here will keep that on you until October. Got that?”

Grease couldn’t move, but the bear got it. By the way his eyes were bulging, he would be willing to follow any order. Ryder knew that because he had felt that wand before and it was no picnic.

Grant turned back to Tempest and nodded. “Release him.”

She took a deep breath and then reluctantly released the hold.

The bear fell to his big paws and then started shaking. A few seconds later, he was back in his human form.

He sat down on the gym floor and looked around at all of the shifters. He turned to Lachlan who was still wincing and swearing with every heavy breath. Lachlan gave him the finger.

“We’re taking you in,” Grant said in a dominant voice. “You killed eighty-six people.”

He just lowered his big head and closed his eyes.

“And you were going to murder those little girls, weren’t you?” Tempest shouted as she charged forward. “You monster.”

He slowly raised his head and looked at her with the eyes of a broken man. The sadness in them was unnerving.

“What were you planning on doing to them?” Tempest snarled.

“I was just watching one of them,” he said in a voice that seemed to crumble with every word.

“So, you’re a pervert?” she said, thrusting the wand at him again. Ryder put his hand on her shoulder to try and calm her down.

Grease shook his head that he couldn’t seem to hold up anymore. “She’s my daughter. I was looking at Lily.”

His big round shoulders slumped forward as the tears started coming. He dropped his face into his hands and sobbed.

Tempest took a step back, stunned by the sudden swell of emotion. Ryder and Grant glanced at each other with an uneasy look.

“I haven’t held her in over three years,” he said between sobs. “They took me from her. They took me from my girl.”

“Who took you from her?” Grant asked.

Grease shook his head. “It doesn’t matter.”

“It does,” Tempest said, the fierceness in her voice suddenly gone. “Tell us what happened. Tell us why you killed everyone in the town.”

He wiped his eyes with his big palms and sniffed. “I didn’t kill anybody.” He raised his head and looked at Tempest than at Ryder.

Ryder felt an uneasiness settle into his body. This guy had just tried to kill all of them, but somehow his gut was telling him that he wasn’t lying.

“This is bullshit,” Mack said, swatting the air. “Let me finish him.”

“Let him talk,” Grant snapped impatiently.

Mack huffed out an angry breath and walked away.

“What do you know that we don’t?” Grant asked.

The bear shifter had his head lowered with his watery eyes squeezed shut.

“Tempest,” Ryder warned when she approached.

Tempest just ignored him and dropped to a knee in front of the broken man. She took his hand in hers and he lifted his head and looked at her with a softness in his eyes.

“Tell us what happened,” she whispered.

Grease took a deep breath and then told them everything.

He spoke of a secret military program that kidnapped shifters and forced them to be mercenary slaves. “They take the people you care about,” he said, “and use them against you. They’ll kill your mate or your children if you don’t do what they say.”

Ryder’s heart was pounding as he listened to the man. If anyone was threatening to hurt Tempest, well, Ryder would do anything to stop that from happening.

“They take whole crews and force them to fight overseas,” he explained. “They’ll make you do horrible things.”

Grant was listening closely. “And those spikes on your back?”

Grease let out a long sigh. “They experimented on me. For three years.”

Tempest had tears in her eyes as she listened.

“They made me stronger, faster, and implanted these painful spikes in my back,” he said with a shudder. “They made my bear crazy. They tormented him every day to try and turn him into a merciless killer.”

“Did your bear kill the people in the town?” Ryder asked. He had to know.

Grease looked him right in the eye and didn’t flinch. “No. The Northern town was where their experimental facility was located. I escaped and tried to get help in the town. I compromised the civilians and the General gave the order. He had every single one of them killed because of what I told them.”

His head dropped down as his shoulders shook with a heavy sob. Tempest rubbed his back. “It’s okay,” she whispered.

He wiped his eyes and composed himself. “They blamed it on me, so I ran. I’ve been running ever since.”

Tempest sat down next to him. “And you came back here…”

“For Lily,” he said. “They must have known I would eventually come back to see my daughter. She’s so beautiful.” She looked at Tempest and smiled for the first time. “Isn’t she beautiful?”

“Gorgeous,” Tempest said, tearing up again.

“Who is this general?” Grant asked. “The one who runs the program.”

Grease shuddered. “A horrible man,” he whispered. “They call him The Angel of Death.”

“What’s his real name?”

“General Hunt.”

Ryder noticed that Maximus and Lachlan gave each other a long look at the mention of the name.

“The mystery client,” Logan said, looking pale. “Wasn’t his name G.H.?”

Grant didn’t say a word, but he took a long deep breath.

“You’re working for him,” Grease said. “He’s paying you to bring me back in.”

“How can we know you’re telling the truth?” Grant asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

“You can’t,” Grease said with a helpless shrug. “But just know that he’ll come for you next.”

“This is all bullshit,” Mack said, unable to take it anymore. “He’s trying to play us, boss. Think about what you’ll give up if you let him go. Two million dollars. We’ll lose the ranch, our home, your family’s legacy. Let’s bring this lying murderer in and get paid. You owe that to the proud hardworking Claytons that came before you and the ones who will come after you.”

Ryder’s heart was racing as he listened. They all knew what was on the line here, what would happen to the ranch if they didn’t get the money for Grease’s bounty.

But Grant was a man of integrity. He wasn’t about to bring in an innocent man, no matter what it cost him.

And neither was Ryder.

“Hit him with that magic juice again,” Mack hollered in frustration. “He’ll tell you he’s lying his ass off.”

“He’s not lying.”

Everyone turned to Maximus who had been watching the whole exchange closely. “He’s telling the truth.”

“Please explain,” Grant said.

Maximus took a deep breath and sighed. “We’ve heard of this General Hunt before. He had planned to recruit our crew into his little program by kidnapping our mates. Just like he said.”

Grease was silent as he watched the alpha of The Grisly Grizzlies.

“Vesuvius was behind it,” Maximus said.

“Vesuvius?” Grant asked with wide eyes.

Ryder swallowed hard. Vesuvius was one of the three dragon shifters who ran the town of Redemption Creek. If he was behind this special military program then they were in a lot more trouble than they had initially thought.

“Don’t worry,” Maximus said with a nod. “Vesuvius won’t be coming around here anymore.”

Ryder breathed a little easier. That could only mean one thing: The Grisly Grizzlies had taken care of the dragon shifter.

But the dangerous General was still out there.

Grant stared at the polar bear shifter for a long time. All he had to do was hand him over to his new client and all of his problems and worries would be solved.

He sighed. “I believe him.”

“Me too,” Tempest whispered.

Grant shook his head. “I don’t want to, but I do.”

He offered his hand to the broken man. Grease hesitated for a second, but then slapped his hand into his. Ryder’s alpha pulled him up to his feet.

“You’re free to leave,” he said as he looked around for his jeans. “You won’t get any more trouble from us.”

Mack was pacing by the far wall, but this was too much for him. He punched the door open and stormed out.

“We don’t have much to give you,” Grant said as he found his pants. He pulled out his wallet and took out all of the cash that he had. “But it’s all we can do.” He walked back to Grease and slapped it into his big palm.

Ryder grabbed his own wallet and pulled out the seventy-four dollars inside and added it to the pile.

“I only have four,” Tempest said, cringing as she added it to the pile. “It’s been a rough year.”

Grease put a hand on her shoulder and smiled sadly. “For me too.”

Logan, Bryce, and Maximus all gave him what they had as well.

Everyone turned to Lachlan whose bloody shoulder was still slowly healing.

“Get fucked,” he said. He rolled his eyes and then dug into his pocket. “Fine.” He threw a few bucks on the floor in front of him that Logan scooped up and added to the pile.

“One last thing,” Grant said. He pulled out the key to the truck and held it up. “This will help you move a little faster. It’s the red pickup outside.”

“I don’t know what to say,” Grease said as he looked around at all of the shifters who were helping him in his time of need. “Thank you all, so much.”

Grant handed him the key and then gave him a quick hug. “Don’t mention it. You take care of yourself.”

“You too,” Grease said with a serious voice. “Be careful of the guns. They have darts in there that will put you to sleep. Your animals too. When you wake up…” He shuddered.

Years ago, Ryder heard talk of a serum that could stop a shifter from phasing, but he always thought it was just that, talk.

“He’s going to come for us all,” Grease continued. “There’s no doubt about that. The Angel of Death always gets his targets.”

“So do we,” Tempest said with a wink. “And he just landed on our shit list. Keep your head up, champ. You’ll be with your little girl soon. I’ll make sure of that.”

He let out a sad smile as he looked at her with pain-filled eyes. “I hope you’re right.”

With a nod and a tight smile, he threw his clothes back on and hurried out the door.

“That was our only truck, Grant,” Logan said with a sigh. “And we don’t have money for another.”

Grant and Ryder had lost more than a truck. They stared at the open door as they watched their family legacy vanish before their very eyes.

“You think that’s bad,” Ryder said with a gulp. “Wait until Mack hears that he has to take the bus home.”