With the fire crackling before him, Garret sat trying to focus on a tech job that had the deadline creeping up, but his thoughts kept turning back to Sin. He had only known her a few days and already they were married and mated. For a man who had never believed in love, he sure couldn’t believe what was happening. His sister had told him that one day his mate would sneak up on him and he’d believe in the happy ever after that she’d always dreamed about. He hadn’t believed her until now. He just hoped she’d find the same joy he had.

The front door opened and Sin called out to him. “Garret?”

“I’m in here.” He shut the laptop and turned to see his mate stroll toward him. “How did things go?”

“Your mate just took in an orphan teen.” Jase sounded disgusted as he plopped down on one of the chairs. “She didn’t bother to talk to either one of us before she opened her mouth and issued the invitation. What the hell does she know about raising a teenager?”

“What does any parent know?” Garret countered as he glanced toward his mate. “Where is she?”

“You’re not mad then?” She sat down beside him, angled to face Jase, too.

“No. I’m sure you had good motives, but I would like to know what you’ve gotten us into.” He ran a hand along her thigh.

“Zoe’s terrified and well, Mom is constantly bitching about letting outsiders in. Zoe feels unwelcome there. What could I do?”

“It sounds like you did the right thing. Where is she?” Garret gave her thigh a gentle squeeze. “You didn’t leave her outside, did you?”

“She’ll stay with my parents tonight and tomorrow we’ll furnish the place with whatever we can and stay there.” She gave him a waggle of her eyebrows. “By the way, the bedroom is soundproofed. Just like the home office, it will be better to just move there tomorrow instead of bringing her here.”

“We don’t want you to taint her with your mating growls,” Jase joked, a smile curving one corner of his mouth.

“I’m sure Sin didn’t need you here to tell me about Zoe, so why are you hanging around?”

“We’re stuck with him until we get a call.” She slid closer, cuddling against the side of his body. “There was another attack on a tribe tonight but they caught the person they believe is the leader of the perpetrators.”

“Okay, but what’s this call about?” Instead of pulling her into his lap like he wanted to do, he wrapped his arm around her shoulders, keeping her close.

“Zoe mentioned that a new member joined her tribe three days before the attack. She described him and we’re waiting for the Chief to call us back and confirm the identity. If it’s the same person, we’ll know the attacks were connected. Maybe it will be over.” She rubbed her hand over his chest, tracing the outline of his muscles, and refused to meet his gaze.

“An inside job would be easier to pull off.” He frowned. “It makes sense to send someone ahead of the others to infiltrate.”

“What doesn’t make sense is the gap between these attacks and the one on your tribe.” Jase leaned forward, placing his elbows on his knees. “Why has nothing happened for all these years and now, in the last week there have been four different attacks?”

“Your tribe?” Garret hooked his forefinger under her chin to force her to look up at him.

She swallowed, but met his gaze. Her eyes shimmered with tears. “We had someone join a few days before the attack. It’s too much of a coincidence for it not to be related. It’s happening all over again…”

“We’ll get to the bottom of this and I’ll keep you safe. I promise.” He kissed the top of her head and glanced over at Jase. He needed to get a few minutes alone with the bear and see what else he knew.

Jase’s cell rang. He rose from the chair and headed toward the kitchen. “I’ve got to take this.”

Garret took the opportunity to bring her closer. “You know that no matter what happens, I’ll protect you and we’ll put an end to this.” He squeezed her tight against him, the pain of seeing the hurt in his mate’s eyes tightening his chest.

“How many more will die before we do? How many children will be orphaned before this ends?”

He didn’t know what to say to that because he didn’t know, so he just held her. If he knew who was responsible, he wouldn’t be sitting there in front of the fire with his mate. He’d have gone after them himself. The bastards wouldn’t be walking the earth any longer, planning their next targets. They’d be dead. His wolf paced restlessly inside him, ready for a fight.

They sat there in silence until Jase returned a few minutes later. Garret couldn’t make out the other man’s expression but from the twinkle in his eyes, it appeared he might have found out something worth the wait. “So?” he pressed when Jase continued to lean against the archway, watching them.

“It’s the same man from Zoe’s tribe. The son of the one who attacked your tribe, Sin.”

“What?” She pulled away from Garret.

“His father was on a mission to eliminate foxes but he was killed. Now that the son is of age, he decided to continue his father’s work. But he won’t be an issue any longer. Everyone that was working with him is dead.” Jase shoved his phone into his pocket. “They’re done.”

“How do you know this?”

“The Chief and his guards took matters into their own hands.” He shook his head at his sister. “I didn’t know they had planned that but they were able to get the information we needed out of him. Now we know why there was a gap from the first attack to what’s happening now. The kid was too young, but now he picked up where his father left off.”

“How did the father die? Why does he hate foxes?” Sin questioned.

“Someone from your tribe got a few good shots in and he ended up succumbing to his injuries. As for his hatred of foxes he told some rambling story of his father falling in love with a fox but she wouldn’t accept him because he wasn’t her mate.” Jase rubbed a hand over his face and shook his head. “He went on and on, adding to the story, they’re not even sure if that’s the truth.”

“How can you be sure there aren’t others involved with him?” Garret asked.

“He bitched that the last few attacks hadn’t gone as planned and his people were killed. That the last two were with him and now they’re dead. We’re going to have to believe that for now because we have no other leads but until we know for sure, we’ll have to be careful.”

“What about the new members? They arrive tomorrow. Could any of his group be among them?” Sin shivered against Garret and he ran his hand down her arm.

“None of them are new to the tribe that was attacked, so we’ll have to assume that they are no threat. Until we are positive, we’ll have to be careful. You’ll need to keep a close eye on Zoe without scaring her more than she is already. She hasn’t been out of the house much but we don’t need her to be more afraid.”

“We’ll deal with her,” Garret assured him, though his bigger concern was for his mate.

“Very well.” Jase headed for the door before glancing back at them. “Let me know what you need me to do for the house. If you want I can send some guys to get whatever you need from your houses, or into town for new stuff. Hell, you can take whatever you want from here.” Before they could say anything, he opened the door and left.

With Jase gone, he turned to his mate. “Are you okay?”

“I remember him…the father, I guess. He came to us with this story that his mate was missing and he was seeking a place to stay while he combed the area. Dad was a guard and he said something rubbed him the wrong way about the guy, but he couldn’t put his finger on it. Mom thought it was how he spoke of this mate, the anger that sparked in his eyes.”

“Are you sure?” He took her hand into his, squeezing it gently.

She nodded as a tear fell from her eye. “I overheard them discussing it just before the commotion. That’s when Dad sent Mom to me and he went outside. It was the last time I saw him.”

“How did…darling, it’s a sensitive question, but from what I’ve gathered, they try to eliminate the whole tribe, leaving behind no witnesses. How did you and Swift survive?”

“I was hiding…after Dad took off to see what was going on, Mom must have known something was wrong. She forced me to hide under the table. She tried to tell me we were only playing a game but I knew something was wrong. I begged her to leave but she wouldn’t leave without Dad.” She ran her hand through her hair. “I sat under the table as the humans killed her.”

He pulled her into his lap and hugged her tight against him. “Darling, there was nothing you could do. You were just a child.”

“What if this isn’t over?” She laid her head against the curve of his shoulder.

“We’ll make sure it is. Jase has extra guards on duty and we’ll keep our guard up.” He ran his hand down her arm. “I have a friend—he’s a security expert, and I’d like to bring him here.”

“Why?”

“There are things we can do to make this tribe safe and he can help with that. Precautions are not a bad thing to have. We can make the homes safer for each member so if there was ever a breach of the perimeter, they’d still be safe in their homes.”

“Tomorrow. You’ll make the arrangements and I’ll let Jase know.”

“Anything for my mate.” He slid his hand underneath his shirt that she was still wearing. “Now I seem to remember the idea of a shower before Jase arrived. Why don’t we get one and you let me wash these memories away?”

A smile stretched across her mouth. “You just want me naked again.”

He rose, lifting her up in his arms as he did. “Naked, now and always.”