Pulling up at a red light, Madisyn exhaled heavily. She really needed one of those cars where she could pair her phone via Bluetooth; then she’d be able to take calls using the hands-free phone system. Her cell had been ringing and ringing and ringing, but she never used her phone while driving. Now that she’d stopped the car, however, she could at last answer it.
Fishing the phone out of her purse, she saw that it was Ally calling. Madisyn swiped her thumb across the screen and propped her cell in the holder on the dashboard. “You’ll need to make this quick, Ally, I’m—”
“Keep driving! Whatever you do, don’t stop!”
Madisyn’s head jerked back at the panic in Ally’s voice. “Huh?”
“Don’t stop the car, whatever you do!”
“I already stopped. I’m at a red light, I had to—”
The rear door opened, a darkly clothed figure quickly slid behind her seat, and she heard the snick of a gun just as something sharp jabbed her in the back through the cushion.
“Don’t move.”
Madisyn blinked, thrown by how damn fast the whole thing had happened. She inhaled deeply. Hyena. Her cat rose fast with a long hiss, ready and raring to strike. Studying his reflection in the rearview mirror, Madisyn couldn’t make out more than a pair of distinctive forest-green eyes, thanks to the damn balaclava he was wearing.
“Madisyn?” prompted Ally. “Madisyn! Shit! We’re coming for you!”
He closed the door. “Light’s green.” His voice was deep. Gruff. “Hang up and drive.”
“I’m gonna have to call you back,” she told the Seer. “Call Makenna.” The she-wolf was a few cars behind Madisyn and might not have noticed the hyena yet.
Madisyn ended the call and discreetly pressed the panic button on her phone—it would send an alert to every member of both the Phoenix and Mercury Packs, along with her GPS location.
He jabbed the barrel of the gun harder into her back, repeating, “Drive.”
And Madisyn did the one thing that any slightly crazy female would do in this situation. She laughed.
His eyes narrowed. “Something funny?”
“Well, yeah.” She shifted gears and drove forward, shaking her head. “This isn’t gonna end well for you.”
He just grunted. Reaching a junction, he said, “Turn left here.”
She didn’t. She kept on heading toward Mercury Pack territory, which was only a short distance away.
“I said, turn left.”
“I heard you.”
“I have a gun here.”
“Well, then, I guess you’re gonna have to use the fucker, aren’t you?” But he didn’t, just as she’d known he wouldn’t. Dead, she couldn’t give him whatever it was he wanted. And it wasn’t wise for him to shoot the person driving the car he was riding in anyway. That was just asking for trouble.
At his growl, she soothed, “Easy, hyena, just sit back. Relax. No one has to get hurt.”
“Make a U-turn,” he ordered.
She didn’t.
A large hand reached around and pricked razor-sharp claws at her neck. “Don’t test me. Make. A. U-turn.”
She sharply swerved the Fiat to the left, bashing him into the side of the car and causing him to curse loudly. Smile grim, Madisyn brought the vehicle to a screeching halt on the shoulder, yanked up the lever at the side of her seat, and sent her seat zooming backward to ram into his legs. She heard something heavy hit the carpeted floor and suspected it was his gun. Good. Then she shifted.
Vision clouded by fury, the little cat scrabbled up her seat and launched herself at the hyena. Hissing, she wrapped herself around his face. Dug her fangs and claws through cloth, skin, and muscle. He roared and wildly shook his head, trying to dislodge her. The cat held on tight, snarling and tearing through the balaclava to shred his face.
Hands grabbed her body. Tried yanking her away from her prize. She sank her claws and fangs deeper, tasting more blood. He roared again. Clawed at her flanks. Punched her head. Yanked at her tail. She held on, determined.
He twisted her leg, almost snapping it. Yelping, she loosened her grip, and he flung her aside. She righted herself. Sprang. And once again wrapped her body around his face, sinking her claws and teeth through the balaclava and deep into his flesh.
He yelled, striking at her hard again and again and again. The cat ignored the pain, tearing strips out of his face. The smell of blood and rage filled the car, feeding the cat’s desire for vengeance.
A hard blow to the jaw sent her sprawling onto the seat. Batting her away, he snatched the weapon from the floor. With a feral hiss, she latched onto the hand holding the gun, biting and slicing at the veins there. Another guttural roar. The weapon fell to the floor again.
“Let go, you fucking freak!” The hyena shook his arm hard, his other hand scrabbling to open the car door. It flew open, and he tumbled out with the cat still clinging to him. Before he could rise, the she-wolf was there, clamping her jaws around his neck.
Bracken tightened his grip on the steering wheel as he abruptly jerked it to the side, barely avoiding colliding into a Volvo. He didn’t slow his pace. Couldn’t. According to the GPS signal, Madisyn was only a ten-minute drive away from his territory. He’d been driving for four, but as he’d been speeding like a maniac, they were extremely close to her location. That was good, sure, but a lot could happen in four minutes.
When Derren had called him about Ally’s vision, Bracken’s heart had stopped. Panic and terror gripped him tightly, wrenching at his soul. But those emotions were swiftly buried under an avalanche of ice-cold rage that vibrated in his gut, pricked at his skin, and stiffened his jaw. It swallowed the other emotions, numbed him, and became more of a state of being. A state in which he could think, reason, focus. But since the deaths of his family, it wasn’t a state in which he often chose to act rationally.
He’d sprinted into the parking lot just as Derren, Ally, Nick, and Zander were hopping into the SUV. Bracken had insisted on driving, not trusting anyone else to get him to Madisyn fast enough. No one had argued.
“Jesse said we’re almost there,” Derren announced. He was speaking with Jesse over the phone while the enforcer monitored the GPS signal using Nick’s computer.
Sitting in the rear of the car with her mate and Zander, Ally leaned forward and put her hand on Bracken’s seat. “Is she doing okay?”
“She’s not dead,” said Bracken, the words crusted with frost. It was the only reason he felt even remotely sane. “But she’s pissed.” Her anger kept pulsing down the mating bond. Pissed he could handle, though. A scenario in which she was badly hurt or afraid would send him postal. Whoever had targeted her had only succeeded in infuriating her. “You have no idea who the carjacker is?”
“No,” replied Ally. “I just saw someone in dark clothes and a balaclava slide into her car and dig a gun into her back through the seat.”
Bracken’s wolf raked at his insides, furious that someone had targeted their mate. Unlike Bracken, the beast’s rage was hot and explosive.
“According to the GPS signal, her car didn’t move far after she pressed the panic button,” said Derren.
“That only means her phone didn’t move far,” Bracken pointed out. “The GPS signal isn’t coming from the car. Her phone could have been tossed out the window.”
“Maybe. She’s still not answering her cell,” said Zander, glaring at his phone. “Makenna’s not answering hers either.” The enforcer had been trying to get in touch with both females for a while. Makenna had answered the first call, heard that Madisyn’s car had been hijacked, and hung up before Zander could say anything else.
“Okay, according to Jesse, she has to be somewhere here,” Derren said, straining to see out the window. A good ten seconds later, Derren stiffened. “There! I see Makenna’s car up ahead on the shoulder! Madisyn’s car is parked in front of it and . . . Shit.”
“What?” Bracken gritted out, heart pounding, as he sharply pulled onto the turnout and slammed his foot on the pedal.
And then he saw . . .
“Fuck.”
He brought his foot down hard on the brake, bringing the SUV to a screeching stop behind Makenna’s car.
“Okay, well, I did not expect to see that,” said Zander as they piled out of the SUV.
A well-built male was sprawled on the road, dark clothes torn and bloody, fruitlessly trying to fend off a hissing, spitting ball of madness while a she-wolf had a good grip on his neck. That dominant hold warned the male that just one wrong fucking move would be his last. God knew how long the females had had him pinned like that. Either they didn’t intend to kill him, or they were toying with their prey first. It was the human equivalent of one person holding someone down while their friend smacked the shit out of them.
Bracken’s claws sliced out at the sight of blood on his mate’s flank. Her blood? The male’s? Both? Didn’t matter. The male would die anyway. And he wouldn’t die easy.
His wolf lunged, wanting at the bastard. Said bastard was currently staring at the newcomers, wide-eyed, face covered in deep scratches and bite marks. And when those eyes landed on Bracken, the male swallowed hard.
“We need to get out of here,” said Derren, flicking a glance at the three human onlookers who Zander was chasing off—one of whom had been trying to record the incident with his phone but thankfully couldn’t see much from his position behind the car. “It’s unlikely, but they could have called the police, and I’m not in the mood to deal with that shit.” Most of the time, humans didn’t bother to contact the police in such situations—shifter business was quite simply shifter business—but it happened.
“We’ll deal with the male,” Nick said to Bracken. “You get to Madisyn.”
His wolf stilled, hackles rising. Bracken went to argue, eager to put his hands on the motherfucker who’d targeted his mate.
“You’re the only one she’ll listen to,” Nick went on. “And you may have noticed she has bloodstains on her fur. We need to be sure she’s not badly hurt.”
Those words got to Bracken when nothing else would have. Her kind had thick hides, which made them hard to seriously wound, but it was not impossible.
Locking his back teeth as he fought the urge to tear into the son of a bitch on the ground, Bracken took a few steps toward his mate, growling when he scented not only her blood but the goddamn hyena’s. Bracken guessed the only reason the male hadn’t shifted was that Makenna’s wolf had hold of his throat.
The little cat’s head whipped around to look at him, her eyes fevered, teeth bared.
“Come here, crazy girl,” he coaxed, trying but failing to sound gentle.
Ears flattening, she snarled at him, much the same as she had earlier when she’d warned him away from the dead vole.
“I know he’s your prize. I don’t want him, but I need to check your wounds.” That only got him a doglike growl. “Come on, Madisyn. Help me calm her. I need to check that you’re both okay, or I’m going to lose my shit.”
After a little more hissing and spitting and one last swipe of her claws across the hyena’s chest, the cat sat back on her haunches. Eyes locked on Bracken, she licked at her bloody paw. He could just make out rake wounds on her flank, and his wolf peeled back his upper lip in a snarl that promised retribution.
Bracken cautiously crossed to her. “Come here, gorgeous.” Mindful of her wounds, he carefully scooped her up. It was hard to tell through all that fur, but her injuries didn’t appear to be deep or serious. Relief probably would have felled him if his deeper emotions weren’t so firmly buried beneath the ice-cold rage.
Derren and Zander quickly subdued the hyena, who didn’t say a single word.
“I can heal the cat before you go.” Ally stepped forward.
Stiffening in his arms, the cat hissed at the Beta female.
“You’ll need to wait until she shifts back to human.” Bracken cut his gaze to Nick. “I’ll drive back to our territory in Madisyn’s car. We can’t leave it here.” He flicked a look at the hyena. “Nobody questions him, Nick. I want at him first,” Bracken stated, tone so arctic that he wouldn’t have been surprised if his breath fogged the air.
Nick gave a brief slant of the head. “We’ll put him in the shed. You concentrate on your mate.”
“Want me to ride with you?” asked Ally, biting her lip, clearly concerned for Madisyn.
Bracken shook his head. “The cat won’t want any of you around her while she’s injured.” With one last chilly glance at the hyena, Bracken slid into the driver’s seat and carefully settled the little cat on the passenger seat beside him. She lay down, tucking her tail around her. A good sign. It would be better if she wasn’t still growling.
“Home,” said Bracken, switching on the ignition just as a Phoenix Pack vehicle pulled up and Ryan exited it, obviously there for Makenna.
Bracken gave the enforcer a quick nod and then merged into traffic. He took deep breaths as he drove to his territory, reminding himself that his mate was alive, that he hadn’t lost her, but the calm he needed just didn’t come. It was like he couldn’t quite connect with his body or deeper emotions. His psyche was still in detached mode, protecting him. He knew from experience that such states could last awhile.
He didn’t park in the lot near the main lodge. He took the off-road path that led deep into their territory, heading for his own home—which would have been a hell of a lot easier in an all-terrain vehicle.
As he pulled up outside his lodge, the cat’s head rose. She watched him, loose and relaxed, but he wasn’t mistaking that for calm. Not when he could still feel her anger. He scratched at her head, making soothing noises. She didn’t swipe at him, thankfully, but he didn’t trust that she wouldn’t if the mood struck her.
Bracken grabbed Madisyn’s purse, hopped out of the car, and held open the door for her. “Come on.”
Unfurling from her ball, the little cat slowly got to her feet and sprang out of the car. Regal in the way she walked, the cat slinked her way up the path and onto the porch. The moment he opened the front door, she raced upstairs. Bracken slung Madisyn’s purse on the sofa and followed the feline. He heard bones popping and snapping, so it was no surprise to enter the bathroom and find Madisyn standing there, panting, eyes glittering . . . sporting bruises and rake marks.
His wolf went apeshit.
Madisyn watched Bracken close in on her. Face blank, he walked smoothly, each move very deliberate and precise. He looked cool and loose, but he had that air about him that always made her think of a snake that was coiled to strike.
The only thing she could feel from him was that awful numbing rage that was so cold it burned. She knew his mind had shut down his emotions to help him cope with the situation. And while it did indeed spare him from the panic and powerlessness that must have hit him, it wasn’t a good thing. Seeing him so disconnected . . . no, it just wasn’t good.
“Let me see your wounds,” he said, his voice so devoid of expression that it almost made her shiver.
“I just have a few scratches on my sides,” she told him, going for aloof to reassure him and keep his temper in check. “They’re not bad.”
“I want to see.”
“They’ve already closed over. My kind are fast healers.”
“I want to see,” he repeated, raising her arms a little. He crouched to take a good look at the wounds. “You’re right. They’re not bad, and they’re healing well.” He lightly breezed his mouth over one of the scratches, a growl building in his throat. “What happened?”
“I stopped at a red light, and he just slipped into the back of the car. Took me completely by surprise. As did the gun he jabbed into the back of my seat. It’s probably still in the car somewhere. Anyway, he started giving me directions . . .” She trailed off as Bracken feathered kisses over her other scratches.
“But you didn’t follow them.”
“No. He got frustrated. I shifted. We tangled. And then he must have decided I wasn’t worth the bother because he got out of the car. But Makenna’s wolf was waiting, and she struck before he could run or shift.”
Standing, Bracken traced his claiming mark on her neck, eyes locked with hers. “The bastard will die for what he did. And he’ll feel a shitload of pain before he does.”
Marveling at how he could say that with absolutely no emotion, Madisyn watched as he shed his clothes in minimal, slightly rigid movements before herding her into the shower. As they stood under the hot spray, he wordlessly cleaned her wounds and washed away the blood streaking her skin. His touch was soft but clinical. Efficient. It rubbed her cat the wrong way. The feline was already in a shitty mood.
Madisyn melted into him, curling her arms around his neck. “I know you didn’t deliberately shut down, but I’m still not having it. You’re going to have to snap out of this soon.”
He splayed his hands on her back. “Next time you go to the shelter, I go with you. I stay with you. I leave with you.”
Oh Lord. Tensing, she lifted her head. “Bracken—”
“No sense in arguing with me on this,” he said, his voice still flat. “It’s not up for debate.”
“You’re an enforcer. You have duties,” she reminded him.
“I’m not the only enforcer. I can swap shifts with someone else.” He shut off the shower and stepped onto the mat, closing a door on the conversation.
As he patted her dry with a towel, she said, “You didn’t fail me, Bracken.” He ground his teeth but didn’t acknowledge that she’d even spoken. “That’s what’s going through your head. And it’s keeping you in this state, because your psyche wants to protect you from the guilt that’ll come tumbling down the first chance it gets. You didn’t fail me.”
Having wrapped the towel around her, he met her gaze as he began to dry himself off with another towel. “You’re right. I didn’t fail to protect you. I didn’t have the chance to even try because I wasn’t with you. From now on, I will be.”
Her mouth tightened. “You can’t be with me every time I leave pack territory.”
“Can’t I?”
Hearing voices outside, Madisyn cursed, knowing he’d use the excuse of having visitors to escape the conversation. And that was exactly what he did. Heading to the bedroom, he pulled on some clothes and then disappeared downstairs.
Dressed, hair wet, Madisyn headed down a few minutes later to find the Alphas, Betas, Jesse, and Zander spread around the den. And they were all watching Bracken very carefully. Rather than pacing and growling, as another male might have in his situation, he was standing utterly still near the window, his expression completely deadpan.
Shaya gave Madisyn a wan smile. “Hey, how are you feeling?”
“Fine,” Madisyn replied, staying near the outer edges of the room. She couldn’t explain it properly, but she didn’t want to walk farther into the den. Didn’t feel welcome at the lodge right then while Bracken was looking at her like he didn’t even know her. It made her feel like more of an outsider than ever.
“Bracken said the wounds are pretty shallow,” began Ally, “but I’d still like to heal them if you don’t mind.”
Feeling a little awkward, Madisyn shrugged. “Have at it, I guess.” Crossing to her, the Seer slipped a hand under Madisyn’s T-shirt and gently placed her palm on one of the wounds. A strange, pleasant warmth trickled through Madisyn, soothing and healing. “Thanks.”
“Makenna said to tell you she’d call you tonight,” said Ally. “I have to say, I got the feeling that teaming up on someone wasn’t a first for you and her. It would have been fun to watch if we didn’t want the hyena dead so badly.”
Madisyn looked at Nick. “Where is he?”
“The shed,” replied the Alpha.
Her brow creased. “Shed?”
“Eli’s guarding him,” Nick added. “Don’t worry, the bastard isn’t going anywhere.”
“What did he have to say for himself?”
“No one’s questioned him yet. Bracken wants his turn first.”
Madisyn cut her gaze to Bracken, who was watching her closely, and then slid her eyes back to Nick. “The hyena hasn’t said anything?”
Nick shook his head. “Didn’t even fight us when we forced him into the SUV. He was meek and compliant. Halfway here, he sprang to life.”
“The dumb prick thought we’d buy that he wouldn’t try to run,” said Derren. “But Zander had anticipated that he’d try it, so he was ready for the move and sucker punched him. The bastard was still out cold when we tied him up in the shed.” Derren looked at Bracken. “You ready?”
Bracken nodded and then sliced his eyes back to Madisyn. “Shaya and Ally will stay here with you.”
Tension stiffening her spine, Madisyn felt her lips thin. “In other words, you don’t want me to go with you.”
“Let’s think of it this way,” said Bracken. “You had your fun with him. Now it’s time for me to have mine.”
Bottle of water in hand, Bracken shoved open the thick wooden door and stepped into the shed. It was like walking into a wall of heat. The musty air was hot and heavy and thick, and it stank of wood, dust, and the coppery scent of old blood.
Shafts of light streamed through the roof beams, illuminating the dust motes that danced in the air. Like with most other sheds, the walls were lined with garden tools, paint cans, toolboxes, and car tires. The shelves were typically stacked with cans, Mason jars, and glues. If it wasn’t for the torturous implements on the worktable, the bloodstains on the floorboards, or the male bound to a sturdy chair, it would have looked perfectly innocuous.
The wooden planks creaked and groaned beneath Bracken’s weight as he walked purposely toward the captive, shoes scraping over the dirty floor, crunching bits of dead grass and pine needles. He sensed Nick, Derren, and Eli step inside and take up positions near the doorway.
Halting just a few feet in front of the hyena, Bracken stared at him, eyes cold and unblinking. Outside, the breeze rustled the grass, and a bee buzzed around the grimy window.
The hyena sat very still, claw marks spiderwebbing across his face, bites marring his flesh, sweat dampening his clothes and glistening on his skin. His eyes darted from person to person, but there was no fear in them. They didn’t even glitter with apprehension. There would be no crying or hysteria from this one—at least not yet.
Bracken could almost hear the hyena telling himself to think, plan, stay calm. And as he stared at the male, smelling his sweat and blood, Bracken’s mind flicked back to another time, another place. Flicked back to the basement of a derelict house where he’d taken each of the extremists he’d tracked and executed.
Unlike the shed, the basement had been dark with shadow and boasted only one window. The cracked walls were as cold as the concrete floor. He’d had a worktable topped with hooks, hammers, pincers, and other implements—all of which the extremists had at first believed were “for show.” They’d soon learned they were wrong.
Bracken remembered how they’d each started off scared but cocky, sure they’d be rescued. Then, realizing the situation might not be so easy to escape, they’d tried to reason with him, tried to build a rapport with him. When they’d finally accepted that no one was coming for them, they’d cursed and raved and provoked him. But once the blood started flowing and the bones started crunching, they’d pled. Wept. Screamed.
The sound of a boot scuffing the dirty floor brought Bracken back to the present. Again, he stared down at the hyena. The claw wounds on his face probably stung like a bitch—especially with the sweat gathering on his skin. They were deep and ugly and gave his wolf a sense of grim satisfaction, but the beast was no less impatient to gut the bastard right there and then.
Bracken unscrewed the cap off his bottle and downed a long swig of water, eyes still locked on the hyena. The guy swallowed, and the movement looked painful. His mouth was probably as dry as a bone.
“I really need to take a piss,” the hyena declared.
Bracken pursed his lips. “Don’t let me stop you.” He took another gulp of water and, keeping his tone conversational, added, “You carjacked my mate. Why?”
The hyena sighed. “Look, nothing I say here is going to calm you down or save my life. So why don’t we just get this whole thing over with, and you kill me right now.”
Bracken tipped his head to the side. “You want me to kill you?” He screwed the cap back on his bottle. “A lot of stories went around about what I did to those extremists. Did you hear any of them?”
For the first time, a hint of apprehension briefly lit the male’s eyes. “I heard.”
“They say it takes a special kind of darkness to be able to skin a person alive.” Bracken rubbed at his jaw. “I didn’t skin them all. Just one. Not his whole body. It was just his arm. I wanted him to see what my sister’s arm looked like after she got burned by the fire from one of his grenades, and that was close enough. I can’t say I enjoyed doing it. But I also can’t say that I didn’t. Which is fucked up, I know. But no one could have called me rational back then.” Bracken put his bottle on the worktable. “I’m not always rational nowadays. But my mate . . . she centers me. Keeps me stable. And you tried to take her away from me. How is that fair?”
The hyena’s jaw flexed. “I didn’t know she was yours.”
Bracken lifted a brow. “Is that so?” he asked, voice skeptical. “Was your plan to shoot her?”
The hyena looked almost offended by the question. “I wouldn’t have hurt her.”
“Your gun was loaded.” Bracken had checked when he’d pulled it out of her car on the way here.
“But I didn’t shoot her. I’m no hit man. I’ll do jobs, sure, but I don’t do hits.”
“Jobs?” Bracken echoed. Well, that confirmed his suspicions that the hyena was a lone shifter. Shifters didn’t do jobs; they had roles and followed orders. But lone shifters often provided services, including assassinations. “What kind of jobs do you do?”
The hyena clamped his mouth closed, as if remembering he’d meant to stay silent, but then he sighed. “I specialize in retrieval.”
“And what exactly is it you retrieve?”
“Mostly assets like cars, cash, or other possessions that people want returned to them. I’ve been doing it five years now.”
“Retrieval is how you earn money and protection?”
“Yeah.”
“And you were hired to retrieve Madisyn.” Bracken narrowed his eyes. “By who?”
The male licked his lips. “Look, I have no loyalty to the person who hired me. I’ll tell you what I know . . . if you give me some incentive like, oh, I don’t know, the promise to free me. Otherwise, I’ll take this shit to my grave.” And now the hyena looked satisfied.
His wolf peeled back his upper lip. “Free you?”
“Wouldn’t you demand the same thing in my position? I swear, I’ll tell you everything I know, but not for anything less than my freedom.”
“And why would I give it to you? If I let you go after what you did to my mate, what kind of message does that send to the outside world?”
“I didn’t hurt her.”
A growl rumbled in Bracken’s chest. “I saw the rake marks along her sides. I cleaned them. Washed away the blood. Stroked over the ugly bruises. And the whole time, I kept thinking . . . I’m going to kill that motherfucker.”
Sweat now trickling down his face, the hyena said, “I was defending myself. That cat . . . I don’t even know what she is, never seen anything like her before, but she’s a craz—”
“Careful,” clipped Bracken. “Let’s look at the facts. You carjacked my mate. Pulled a loaded gun on her. Tried to force her to go somewhere she didn’t want to go. Then you clawed her. Struck her. Made her bleed. And then—”
“I didn’t know she was your mate!”
“I don’t believe you.” The words were whisper-soft, but they carried a wealth of menace. “It’s no coincidence that you struck on the day I wasn’t with her. My guess is that your employer either told you about her patterns or you yourself have been watching her. You saw her alone, and you pounced. Only it didn’t work.” Bracken took a slow step forward. “You knew she was mine. You didn’t care. In fact, you probably used that fact to bargain for more money.”
The hyena’s eyes flickered, and Bracken knew he was right.
Bastard. “You’re not leaving this shed alive. Nor will you be leaving it in one piece. Whether or not you’re already dead when I’m slicing you into pieces depends entirely on how talkative you choose to be.”
Jaw hardening, the male lifted his chin in challenge.
Bracken grinned. “Now you’re just daring me to do my worst.” The hyena flinched as Bracken’s claws sliced out. “Someone gag him. We can’t have the pups hearing him scream.”
Ignoring the male’s struggle, Eli quickly and deftly gagged him with an old rag.
Chest heaving, face reddening, heart pounding, the hyena stared at Bracken with eyes that finally showed a glint of true fear. His inner wolf relished the sight of it.
Bracken took slow steps toward the bastard. “When you’re ready to talk, all you have to do is blink hard three times. Until you do, I’m going to introduce you to the kind of pain you didn’t know existed.”