Sitting on the grassy bank near the creek, listening to the relaxing sound of water trickling over rocks, Madisyn subtly caught Shaya’s attention and slid her eyes to the left, indicating that she was detecting movement from that direction. The redhead gave an almost imperceptible nod. Madisyn was about to give the same signal to Kathy, but she saw the female pause in chewing a berry she’d picked from a bush, eyes briefly flicking to Madisyn’s left. Yeah, she’d heard them.
Their phones had received an alert a mere minute ago, notifying them that the sensors had been tripped, so they’d known that Archer and his companions would arrive soon enough. At Madisyn’s suggestion, she, Shaya, and Kathy had selected a little spot and settled there, planning to let the bears happen upon them. If Archer thought he’d caught them unawares, it would make him cocky and lower his guard. Hopefully.
He certainly wouldn’t guess that Marcus and Roni had headed off in one direction while Ally, Harley, and Jesse had headed in the other, all planning to pick off as many of Archer’s companions as possible. He also wouldn’t guess that there was a gun trained on him—yeah, Gwen had made herself comfortable in a nearby tree.
Sadly, Gwen wouldn’t be able to simply shoot him on sight. That wouldn’t end the problem. The other bears would be furious, and they would instantly attack to avenge their Alpha. They needed to delay the battle until help came, not speed the whole thing up.
Casually tossing a pebble in the water, Madisyn fought the urge to glance around. Her nerves were raw, her muscles were tight with tension, and her stomach was churning with both anxiety and anticipation. It bugged her that she had no idea exactly how many people they would be facing. It meant they couldn’t properly prepare for what was coming.
What she hated most was that Bracken’s wolf had been drawn into a battle and was fighting for his life. She wanted to be there, wanted to fight at his side, but she couldn’t.
Feeling small echoes of his wolf’s pain through their mating bond wasn’t helping at all. He wasn’t badly hurt, but he was still hurting. That was bad enough for her and her cat, who was still hissing and pacing and wanting to rip someone’s throat out—she wasn’t even fussy about whose throat it was.
Grass rustling.
Madisyn snapped her gaze to the left just as a smirking Archer stepped out of the trees on the other side of the creek. He wasn’t alone. Several people fanned out behind him, including Copper, Ink, Charity, Leanna, and Cady. Worse, there were several people behind them. And so on and so on. But that was how bear shifters led their armies: the leader stood at the front while the others stood in lines behind him, and each line was just a little longer than the one before it.
There had to be at least fifty people there—and they were only the ones she could see since there were so many trees in the damn way. The Olympus Pride had to be somewhere near the rear, because she didn’t recognize any of the faces staring at her.
“Well, well, well,” Archer drawled. “Looking cozy, ladies.”
Shaya and Kathy jumped to their feet, acting startled. Madisyn didn’t. That would have been out of character for her. Instead, keeping her eyes on Archer, she slowly stood, fighting to keep her expression blank. Her cat rumbled a dark sound, claws slicing out, raring to spring.
“Who the fuck are you?” demanded Shaya, all Alpha female in that moment.
Ignoring her, Archer spoke to Madisyn. “Hello there, kitten. Good to see you again.” He tilted his head. “You had to know we’d come sooner or later.”
“Yes, I did think you’d be stupid enough to do something dumb like this,” said Madisyn. “Shaya, Kathy—this is Archer, the asshole you’ve heard all about.” No, it probably wasn’t wise to antagonize him, but she’d given him shit during their last little encounter, so he’d expect the same again.
“Shaya,” echoed Archer, eyes settling on the redhead. “You must be the Mercury Alpha female, then.”
“And you must be suicidal,” said Shaya with a sickly-sweet smile. “Because no one trespasses on our territory and lives to tell the tale. Your friends learned that lesson well.”
Archer’s face turned to granite, but then he waved her warning off, sure he had the upper hand. And, well, he did, didn’t he? Whether things remained that way was uncertain, since Madisyn really wasn’t sure how successful Marcus, Jesse, and the others would be in subtly diminishing his numbers. The plan could very easily fail.
Charity smirked. “I’ve been looking forward to seeing you again, kitty.”
Madisyn didn’t let her expression change as she studied the sow. “You look better than you did the last time I saw you. Although that’s a mean scar on the right side of your face.”
The sow sneered, which would have amused Madisyn’s cat under any other circumstances.
“I wouldn’t bank on your mate or other pack mates turning up anytime soon,” said Archer. “An associate of mine is keeping them occupied. As I understand it, you don’t get along very well with his daughter, Claudia.”
“Just how did you come to be working with Brookson?” Not that Madisyn really cared, but if she kept him talking, it would give her pack mates a chance to keep chipping away at his number.
“We’ve been watching the club very closely,” began Archer, “so we noticed Brookson’s daughter getting carried out of there, heard her team mumbling about Bracken Slater and his mate. I’ve done the occasional business deal with her father, so it was simple enough to call him and propose that we work together on this.”
“And what is ‘this,’ exactly?” asked Shaya. “What are you trying to achieve?”
“The cat knows what I want.” He pointed a finger at Madisyn, smiling. “I’ve got a little surprise for you. Copper, show her the surprise I brought along just for her.”
His mouth curved into an ugly smirk that made unease slither through Madisyn and cause her cat’s hackles to rise. Copper turned and walked deeper into the crowd of bears. Moments later, he and another male came striding into view. It wasn’t their smirks that caused red-hot rage to whip through Madisyn. It was the sight of the bruised, bleeding, and unconscious female in their arms. Dawn. Her face was grotesquely swollen, and her clothes were torn and bloody.
Madisyn fisted her hands, tasting bile and fury. It took everything she had not to charge at the bastards, especially while her raging cat was urging her to do exactly that.
The bears unceremoniously dumped Dawn on the ground with a sneer and then backed off. The female didn’t stir.
“She’s a little banged up but otherwise fine,” said Archer. “Fell over a few times, though, as you can see. Quite clumsy for a cougar.”
Madisyn forced her back teeth to unlock. “You’re one sorry motherfucker, and you just signed your death warrant.”
Archer grabbed Dawn’s hair, lifted her limp body off the ground, and pricked his claws threateningly against her throat. “This is your last chance to tell me where Daisy is, Madisyn. If you do, I swear to you that my clan and I will leave this place immediately. If not, the cougar dies right here, right now, right in fucking front of you. Then the rest of you will die too.”
“And will all your allies leave with you?” Because she seriously doubted it.
He grinned. “I can certainly advise them to leave. Isn’t that better than nothing?”
“No, not really.”
He laughed. “Yeah, there’s enough of them to see you all dead. It’s unlikely that they’ll listen to my advice,” he admitted. “Well, the clans might. But the pride? No, I don’t think they will. I believe you’re familiar with the Devereaux family. I don’t know what you did to upset the Olympus Pride so much, but they were quite happy to join me in confronting you here today.”
Wanting to claw that self-satisfied smirk right off his face, Madisyn’s seething cat let out a loud hiss. “And you felt you needed all these clans and a pride to deal with just one pallas cat? I guess I should be flattered.”
“Oh, no. This is about more than just you. It didn’t have to be. You could have just told me what I wanted to know in the beginning. You could have just given Daisy’s location to Charity that night at Enigma. But you didn’t. And then you had the Mercury Pack stand up for you.” His face hardened. “You dragged them into this, Madisyn. You. And now they all have to pay for their part in this. By keeping you from me, they also keep Daisy from me.”
A low moan slipped out of Dawn, and her swollen eyelids fluttered. Her face scrunched up in pain as she tried to move. Archer’s claws must have pricked her neck harder, because she froze.
“I realize you probably can’t see much through those swollen eyes, so I’ll quickly explain what’s going on,” he said to Dawn. “You may remember I told you that I’d use you to make a deal with Madisyn. Well, we’re on Mercury Pack territory right now, and she’s just about to tell me where Daisy is so that I don’t kill you. Isn’t that nice?”
Dawn looked as if she was grinding her teeth, but she didn’t otherwise move.
“That’s it, just stay quiet and still,” Archer told the cougar. “This will be over in seconds. Right, Madisyn?”
God, this guy needed to die—preferably in a fuckload of pain. “Why can’t you just let Daisy be?”
“You’re not dense, Madisyn. You know why. An example has to be made so that I never have to deal with this bullshit again. I’d say wiping out the Mercury Pack will certainly deliver a very clear message to anyone who thinks of repeating Daisy’s mistake—it will show that no one could protect them from me. It’ll also make people less likely to ever fuck with me or my clan.”
Shaya laughed—a dark sound that caught everyone’s attention. “You can’t think that you’ll succeed in wiping us out. Different breeds of shifter have tried it before—they all failed.” She glanced from Madisyn to Kathy, looking exasperated. “Honestly, you’d think people would learn from that, right?”
Archer didn’t seem concerned. He shrugged. “Let’s face it, you can’t win against all of us. You don’t even have a prayer of taking us on.”
No, they didn’t, thought Madisyn. An army of bears versus five wolves, a margay, a human, and a pallas cat shifter . . . God, they were so far outnumbered, it wasn’t even funny. If the rest of the pack didn’t join them soon, they were fucked. Especially since these people would be even bigger threats once they’d shifted into their black-bear forms.
Really, the only weakness black bears had was that they were slow to shift. The big bastards had broad heads, large muscles, and powerful jaws that could crush bones easily. Their dense fur, thick skin, and layers of fat made them as hard to hurt as pallas cats. Their strong, curved claws weren’t razor-sharp, but a single swipe could cause deep lacerations and broken bones.
A pack of wolves could take down a black bear. But one wolf against one black bear—those were shitty odds. And since there were so many bears, they could afford to split into groups to gang up on each of the Mercury Pack members . . . Yeah, like she’d said, they were indeed fucked.
Madisyn had overpowered three sows, sure, but they’d been in their human forms at the time. She highly doubted that they would remain in their human forms today. In fact, she suspected that Charity would make a point of pitting her sow against Madisyn’s cat. Leanna and Cady could possibly join the fight, since they wouldn’t be otherwise occupied.
Although . . . now that she’d taken her eyes off Archer to sweep the crowd, Madisyn noticed that it wasn’t quite so large or thick now. She also noticed that the sixth line of defense was all pallas cats. She realized that the sneaky bastards had probably incapacitated line after line, making their way closer and closer to the front. Vinnie might have thrown all subtlety aside at this point if it weren’t for the claws digging into Dawn’s throat. One wrong move from anyone, and the cougar would be dead.
There wasn’t room for excitement, though. She couldn’t even allow herself to feel a little optimism. Although Archer’s numbers were down, there were still far too many bears. Of course, if Vinnie had brought his own allies along, the sides might be more evenly matched. Whatever the case, no one was getting out of this without at least some fractured bones and ugly lacerations. Some might even die, including her own pack members, and that thought made Madisyn’s stomach twist painfully.
The only comfort she had right then was that Gwen would be watching closely. Since they couldn’t afford to waste bullets, and they were in for a hard battle, Gwen had decided it made more sense to let the fight play out and only shoot if it looked as if one of the pack members might be in a truly fatal situation.
“You’ll have a sporting chance if you agree to my deal,” Archer said to Madisyn. “And let’s not forget that the cougar here will die instantly if you don’t. So what will it be?”
Charity crossed her arms. “Ticktock, kitty. I sure hope you keep up that stubborn behavior. Your little cat faced me, but I’d like to see how well she does against my inner animal.”
Which confirmed Madisyn’s suspicions. And going by the smirks on the faces of Leanna and Cady, they did indeed intend to join in.
Vinnie’s son, Tate, very subtly caught Madisyn’s eye and nodded. They were ready. Great, but she wouldn’t be making any moves until Archer’s claws were no longer pointed at Dawn’s throat.
“Fine,” Madisyn clipped, glaring at Archer. “I’ll tell you where Daisy is.”
The Alpha gave her a gentle, almost fatherly, smile. “Good decision. You kind of need that sporting chance I was talking about before.” His smile faded, and his expression hardened. “Where is she?”
“New Zealand,” Madisyn lied.
“And where in New Zealand?”
“Queenstown. She’s staying with my parents’ old pride. But it would be dumb to go there—they like Daisy. They’ll fight to keep her.”
“They’ll lose.” Satisfaction glimmered in Archer’s eyes, and he dropped Dawn. “That wasn’t so hard, was it, Madisyn?”
“Wait,” said Ink, holding up a hand. “You’re lying. Vinnie said your parents were born in his pride.”
Sensing the pallas cats were ready to make their move, Madisyn knew the fight was about to begin. “Vinnie says a lot of things. I’d say he’s very good at bullshitting people.”
Archer tensed as five Mercury wolves slowly padded out of the trees, ears flat, teeth bared. Harley’s margay was no doubt in a nearby tree, preparing to pounce.
Madisyn shrugged at the Alpha bear. “As I said, I figured you’d be stupid enough to come. And it sure was stupid.”
A muscle in his cheek ticked. “You’re gonna die tonight.”
She smiled. “You first.”
A silvery gray ball of fur burst out of the trees, flew through the air, and barreled into Archer’s side, knocking him down. Then everyone jumped into action—wolves growling, cats hissing, bears roaring. Unlike their animal counterparts, black-bear shifters could, in fact, roar. The guttural sounds were like something from a prehistoric mammal.
Madisyn’s eyes had been on Charity, so she’d been ready to pounce right up until the bitch booted Dawn hard, making her roll into the creek. Before Madisyn could leap to help the cougar, Charity shifted.
The sow charged on all fours, head low, her massive paws thundering on the ground, splashing through the water.
Adrenaline pumping through Madisyn, she quickly shifted. The cat leaped at the bear. Wrapped itself around the sow’s muzzle, she held its jaw closed. The cat knew that a single bite from the bear could break a neck or sever a spinal cord.
As she savagely bit into the sow’s face, it reared up on its hind legs and batted at her. She held on tight, ignoring the pain. The sow’s huge body flinched as Roni’s wolf jumped onto its back, clawing into fur and flesh. The sow swung back one wet paw, trying to knock the wolf down. Failed. Then another pallas cat was there. And another. And another.
They all attacked with teeth and claws. Never let up. The bear weakened. Slowed. Swayed. Finally, it slumped to the ground. The she-wolf ripped out its throat.
Another bear came splashing through the water. Again, they attacked it as a unit. Wore it down until it was too weak to stand. Like before, the wolf made the killing blow.
Yet another bear took its place. They took it down in much the same way. And another bear. And another. They were tired, bleeding, breathing hard. But they kept fighting.
“You son of a bitch!”
Hearing the female human’s cry, the cat looked to see that a bear was shaking the tree in which the female sat. Abandoning the bear dying at its feet, the cat raced toward the tree and sprang at the other bear, crawled up its body, and ripped at its scalp.
Powerful jaws locked around the cat’s leg in a crushing grip. Yanked her off the sow and tossed her in the air. The cat landed in the creek with a splash. The shock of it made her freeze for a single moment. Cold water poured into her mouth and nostrils. Entered her lungs.
Instinct kicked in, and the cat swam to the surface, breathing—
Teeth snatched the cat by her back, lifted her out of the water, and shook her hard. Sharp and strong, the teeth bit deep, snapped bones. Waves of pain rolled over the cat, rippled through her body, and snatched the breath from her lungs.
A crack of gunfire split the air. And another. And another. The bear staggered, swayed. Crashed to the ground, jaw falling open. The cat rolled into the mud, white-hot agony pulsing through her, dragging her under. Then the world went black.
The gray wolf let out a savage growl as the Tundra Beta wrapped his paws around the wolf’s neck, aiming to take him down again. Wrestling out of the tight grip, the gray wolf swiped at the Beta’s eyes and muzzle, relishing his yelp of pain.
The Beta had tried to pin the gray wolf down countless times. None had worked. But the gray wolf was beginning to tire.
Pain from so many injuries blazed through him. Each time his sides heaved with his heavy breaths, the movements pulled at the deep rake wounds on his flanks. The blood loss would soon tire him further. Would slow him down and—
The Beta raked his claws over the wolf’s badly bitten ear. Fire blazed over the injury. Snarling, the gray wolf pounced on him again. He clawed and bit and battered his opponent hard enough to make his knees buckle.
Leaping on that moment of weakness, the gray wolf wrestled him to the ground. Pinned him flat on his back. Used his rear claws to eviscerate him. With a sharp, vicious tug, he tore out the Beta’s throat.
The male went limp, but the gray wolf felt no triumph. Not while his pack was still outnumbered. Not while he could feel faint echoes of his mate’s pain vibrating up their bond. She wasn’t seriously hurt, but she was injured and—
Engines roared. Tires screeched.
The wolf’s head snapped up as several vehicles neared. The wolf recognized the people who piled out of them. The Phoenix Pack.
Excruciating pain shot down the mating bond. The wolf froze, heart leaping in his chest, fear exploding inside him. Distant cracks of gunfire split the air, and a panicked breath left his lungs in a rush.
The wolf bolted. Raced through the woods, paws pounding the earth, body buzzing with fear and adrenaline. He heard others following, but he didn’t slow down to wait for them. He could feel his mate’s pain through their bond. She was deeply wounded.
His vision abruptly darkened, and his legs almost crumpled beneath him. Unconscious, she was unconscious. The wolf put on a burst of speed, lungs burning, muscles hurting.
He heard growling, snarling, hissing, and roaring in the near distance. Knew he was close. The scene he found shocked him. Made him skid to a halt.
The bodies of black bears littered the ground and bobbed in the creek. Some were dead, some were close to it. Others were fighting viciously. One bear staggered past him, covered in pallas cats. Another bear was swiping out its paws as two wolves worked as a team to bring it down, pouncing and slashing. A sow was expertly climbing the tree, heading right for the human from his pack. She shot it in the head, and it hit the ground so hard a tremor ran through it.
His inner human beat at the gray wolf, snatching his attention, urging him to find their mate. The wolf glanced around, nostrils flaring, sifting through the various scents to search for hers. Locking onto it, he tracked her. And the breath slammed out of him. She was limp on the ground, unconscious, wheezing. She was surrounded by several other cats who were fighting any enemies trying to get near her.
His inner human lunged for the surface with such strength and speed that the wolf didn’t have the chance to fight him.
Bracken didn’t think there was a single place on his body that didn’t hurt, but the agony was nothing in comparison to the pain he felt upon seeing his mate lying there, barely moving. He started to shrug his way through the cats protecting her, but then a roar caught his attention. He turned toward the sound, fists clenching. A bear was charging at him and—
Gunfire rang through the air over and over. The bear’s body jerked repeatedly as he stumbled to a halt like a drunk. And then, finally, he collapsed with a loud groan.
He’d thank Gwen later, Bracken thought, as he quickly crossed to his mate. He crouched near where she lay, shaky breaths stuttering in and out of her. Fuck, now that he could see her clearly, he realized she was in worse condition than he’d first thought.
“You’re going to be okay,” he whispered, but she didn’t stir, still out cold. He swallowed, heart slamming in his chest. There was so much blood, it was hard to tell where the wounds were or even how many there were. He could make out several scratches, welts, and puncture wounds. But they were the least of his worries when it appeared that she also had a few broken bones. All that thick fur was wet and matted with blood and mud, so he couldn’t tell for sure.
And despite the ice-cold rage that usually disconnected him, he felt fear snake through him. Tasted it. Smelled it. It was the same pure, incapacitating fear he’d felt that day at the drive-in movie theater. As he held Madisyn’s cat to him much as he had cradled Hayden that day, the fear became so overwhelming that he could barely breathe. And Bracken realized he’d never trusted himself to protect her. Never trusted that she’d be able to protect herself either. Never trusted that his happiness would last.
A part of him had felt that he simply didn’t deserve to have her, that he’d fail her sooner or later, that she’d be better off without him. Intellectually, he knew it wasn’t true. But that small, subconscious part of him that disagreed had stopped him from being able to fully bind himself to her, had blocked the mating bond from fully forming. And now she was dying right in front of him, just as he’d always feared she would. Her pulse was fading and weakening, which meant that their mating bond would soon do the same.
Ally. He needed Ally.
Still holding the little cat, Bracken stood and glanced around. He spotted the white she-wolf in the creek, aiding two other wolves in bringing down a bear. He headed right for her. “Ally!”
The white wolf looked his way. Tensed. Hopping out of the water, she shifted. Wet and covered in plenty of gashes, Ally gaped at Madisyn. “Oh my God.”
“Do something,” Bracken gritted out. Warm blood just kept pumping out of the cat’s wounds, further soaking her fur and wetting his hands.
Taking in a deep breath, Ally laid a hand on the cat’s head. He felt it through the mating bond as healing energy began to flow into—
A huge weight barreled into Bracken, taking his legs out from under him and knocking him flat. He hit the ground with a grunt, and the cat rolled out of his arms. The bear swung a thick paw at Ally, sending her crashing into a tree. She slid to the ground. Unconscious? Bracken couldn’t tell.
As the bear switched his attention back to Madisyn, Bracken’s heart jumped. Oh, the fuck no. Standing, Bracken yelled, “Hey!”
The bear’s head swung his way, and then it swatted at the ground, glaring at him, ready to charge.
Bracken knew by the alpha vibes coming from the bear that it was Archer. “I told you that if you wanted to live, you needed to stay away from her. Should’ve listened to me.” Bracken shifted.
Standing tall, feet wide apart, the gray wolf braced himself. Growled, ears flat.
The bear let out a deep-throated pulsing sound. Clicked its jaw and popped its lips.
They both lunged. The bear reared up and slammed its large paw at the wolf, trying to tear his scalp from his head. The wolf dodged the blow and then pitched forward, slashing at the bear’s muzzle.
The bear batted at him, but he batted at air. The wolf was simply too fast.
Lowering himself to all fours, the bear bounded at the wolf, tried clamping its huge jaws around his head. The wolf sidestepped him and tore a deep strip out of the bear’s flank.
The duel was fierce and brutal. Both shifters landed some hard blows. Teeth dug deep. Claws shredded flesh. Blood splattered on the ground and in the water and mud.
The wolf soon began to tire. He felt heavy. Weak from blood loss. His muscles burned, and his lungs felt raw. That only made him fight harder. So many scents—blood, water, mud, sweat, rage—permeated the air, spurring him on.
Nostrils flaring, the bear chuffed as he struck another hard blow, knocking the wolf off-balance. He crashed to the ground, hitting his head hard on a rock. Dazed, spots dotting his vision, the wolf staggered to his feet. The bear swung again, knocking him back down. The wolf righted himself again, blinking. The Alpha grabbed him in a bear hug and tried clamping its jaws around the wolf’s neck.
A familiar little pallas cat leaped on top of the bear from behind, locking her body around its head, claws finding purchase in the bear’s face. The Alpha released the wolf with a roar, shaking his head madly. The cat didn’t let go. Even though the wolf could sense through their bond that she was still weak, she held on tightly and tore off a chunk of the bear’s ear with those razor-sharp teeth.
A female margay dropped down from a branch above the bear, bit it, and raked into its back. A black wolf suddenly joined the fray, launching himself at the Alpha and clawing deep into his flank. The black wolf bounded away just as fast, and then another wolf pounced, attacking the bear’s other side. Soon, the Alpha was surrounded by a large number of wolves as they growled, snarled, and took turns attacking him.
The gray wolf knew that this was about more than them coming to his aid. Each of them loathed the Alpha, and they all wanted their pound of flesh. So they took it.
Finally, the bear lost all strength and toppled to the ground. The others all backed off, allowing the gray wolf to pounce and clamp his jaws around the bear’s throat. Growling, he sank his teeth down hard. Only when the life had completely bled from the Alpha’s eyes did the wolf let him go.
Stepping away, sides heaving, the wolf didn’t have the strength to fight his human when he fought to resurface.
Breaths sawing in and out of him, burning his throat, Bracken went straight to his mate, who’d also shifted into her human form. He caught her face in his hands, careful of the gashes on her face. Ally had obviously given her just enough healing energy to repair the broken bones and close over the worst wounds. “You’re okay.”
“Peachy,” said Madisyn, her voice dry.
And, to his absolute fucking surprise, he found himself chuckling. Pain rippled through his ribs, and he winced. “Shit, don’t make me laugh.”
Taryn appeared at his side. “Ally’s busy healing Roni, so you’ll have to make do with me. Do not tell me you’re okay, Bracken. You’re not at all.”
Lying on the ground, he kept his hand locked around Madisyn’s as the Phoenix Alpha female healed most of his injuries, leaving the shallower ones to heal on their own so that she had the strength to help the other injured people.
Getting back to his feet, Bracken pulled Madisyn close and buried his face in her neck, still careful of her injuries. He just needed to hold her. Smell her. Absorb that she was alive and healing.
Vinnie Devereaux shoved his way through the crowds, making a beeline for her. “Are you all right?”
“Fine,” replied Madisyn. “Your pride?”
“We’re all good,” said Vinnie.
Holding Shaya to him, Nick approached. “Thank you for coming to our aid, Devereaux.”
Vinnie looked at him. “Didn’t do it for you. Did it for Maddie.”
Nick shrugged. “Madisyn’s one of mine. I’ll always be grateful to anyone who gives her any help, whether the rest of us benefit from that help or not.”
Vinnie stared at him, studying him hard, and then gave a nod. “She’s one of mine too. Not officially. She would never have joined our pride. But she’s under our protection.”
Bracken heard what Vinnie didn’t say: And we’ll protect her from you, if need be.
Nick must have heard that warning too because he nodded. “I get it. But that goes both ways.”
Mouth curving, Vinnie tilted his head. “I think I could like you, Axton.”
Nick’s lips pursed. “I can’t say the same, but all right.”
That just made Vinnie laugh.