I eyed the glistening road, wet with rain, and contemplated our options. Upon returning to Jerrik’s, we’d noticed three of Benjamin’s dumbass lackeys hiding in and around his neighbors’ yards. Spying, most likely. Question was: how had they found his place? Jerrik had kept it a secret for so long. Yet, here they were. Which had led to one massively pissed off assassin. After ten minutes of arguing, we’d given Lucy Jerrik’s personal number, then sent her home. She couldn’t be seen with us—not if this was going to work.

“You ready for this?” Jerrik whispered in my ear.

Ready to fake my death? Not entirely. If word somehow spread, and Gabriel believed it to be true, he’d raze the town in search of Benjamin. We’d contemplated a quick phone call to let him know the plan, but Lucy had suggested leaving him in the dark. Not only would a real reaction be best if news did spread, but also because she knew my father would try to talk me out of this. If he ordered me not to and I did it anyway, I’d have to be punished for disobeying my alpha. None of us wanted that. Best to err on the side of caution.

“Reagan?” Jerrik whispered.

I nodded. I didn’t relish the thought of killing, but these three had to go. My father certainly wouldn’t let them live once he handed out Benjamin’s death sentence. And if they caught wind that Jerrik and I were staging my death, they’d ruin everything when they reported back to Benjamin. Incapacitating them certainly wasn’t an option. Unconscious werewolves didn’t remain unconscious for long. It was an added risk we didn’t need to take. On the upside, these were the sort of assholes I didn’t want in my pack.

“I count three,” I said. “One in the yard left of your place. One across the way, next to the apple tree. And one to our right, leaning against his shitty car.”

Jerrik’s grunt confirmed my count. “We take them out as quickly and quietly as possible, then lug them around to my backyard.”

“And get Lucy to phone in a clean up-crew afterward.”

He nodded. “We split up. I take the two on my left. You take the one on the right.”

“What? Why do you get two and me one?”

Jerrik rolled his eyes. “You really want to argue about this right now?”

I flashed him a wink. “I’m teasing. You can take all three if you want.”

“Gee, thanks. You take Ms. Patter’s.”

Ms. Patter, hey? I turned toward her garden and eyed the path between two rows of gold magnolias. Nice display. Hopefully I didn’t ruin it.

“I’m thinking…pizza for dinner,” I commented.

Jerrik shot me a startled look. “You’re thinking about food right now?”

“Sure.” I shrugged. “We’re gonna be hungry after all this.”

His shoulders shook with laughter. “Why am I not surprised?”

“If I ordered all meat and pineapples, would you eat that?”

“You can pretty much slap anything on a crust, and I’d eat it.”

Knew I liked him.

“The rain will help us,” Jerrik commented, his gaze scanning the immediate area. “It’ll help block our scents, especially if we come at them from downwind. But if they hear us splashing through puddles…”

“Gee, you’d think I’d never hunted before.”

Jerrik shot me an amused grin. “All right then, smarty pants. You ready?”

I nodded. Jerrik did the same, then hunkered low and stripped. Seconds later, Jerrik’s body shuddered and a massive black wolf took shape beside me. It’d happened so quickly. One moment, I crouched next to a man, and the next a beast. And not a single bone broken. Like magic.

I’d never seen anything quite so beautiful. Every other werewolf labored through the shift, groaning as agony tore through our bodies. He stood, his monstrous form towering over me in the bushes—at least six feet tall. Were it not for the giant cypress tree standing sentinel before us, Jerrik’s wolf form would have given away our position.

He shook out his fur, then swung his head around, his startling amber eyes connecting with mine.

Unable to resist, I lifted a hand and ran it over his smooth coat, my fingers threading through the soft black fur. No mistaking why they called him shadow wolf. Not a single colored tuft marred his dark as night fur. In fact, the only anomaly was the jagged slash across his lip.

He nudged me with his nose, then gestured to the road, as though to say you coming? I shed my own clothing and relinquished myself to my wolf. I heard the pleased howl in my head. It slipped past my lips in a long groan as my bones snapped and my body contorted. Whatever magic Jerrik had, it wasn’t the same as mine. Every shift was a lesson in torment. One I’d learned to accept many moons ago.

After a moment’s pause, I rose on my own four legs and staggered to the side. Jerrik brushed his shoulder against mine and steadied me. I shook out my head, then nodded and turned toward Ms. Patter’s yard. Keeping out of range, I crept through the hedges, painfully aware that I was tramping what looked like “award-winning” flowers. Maybe we could send her a note afterward, apologizing.

The first jackass meandered aimlessly among the backyards. Personally, I was surprised no one had bothered to phone the police yet. Strange men lurking in backyards tended to draw much unwanted attention. Maybe Ms. Patter wasn’t home?

I crouched low and snuck a glance toward Jerrik. He’d deemed the second jackass leaning against his car as the more important target. I watched as he crept up behind him. All three were completely ignorant of our approach. Quite telling, really. These three were certainly members of Benjamin’s pack. Untrained, unskilled, and unwanted. After this whole mess, I really couldn’t see Gabriel rolling out the welcome mat, especially if this was their sort of mettle. We’d kill their alphas, then send the rest of the pack home with a hard-learned lesson.

The dumbass in front of me did another lap, leading him around to the side of the house where I waited. A few more steps and he’d spot me. Not that it mattered. I wouldn’t let him utter a word. Sure enough, the second he darkened my presence, I leapt, perfectly in sync with Jerrik’s own attack.

Soundless and perfectly executed. No snarls like some of my more excitable brothers and sisters. No yips or growls. Nothing but a perfect arc as I sailed through the air, and ripped out his throat. Jackass dropped to the ground in a twitching heap, his blood staining the verdant grass and some lilac-colored thymes.

A stout cry caught my attention and I leaned around the corner in time to catch Jerrik’s teeth latch around the third dumbass’s thigh. From the looks of it, he’d actually tried to run. Guess that was the smarter option. A monstrous beast like Jerrik didn’t go unnoticed. Not sure I would have run, but these men were far from trained. More like Benjamin’s underpaid lackeys.

I clamped my teeth around the ankle of the idiot I’d killed and heaved him through the grass and around the back of the house. A massive stone fence stood between the two properties. Made me wonder who’d built it and why. Jerrik, because he liked his privacy, or Ms. Patter because she lived next to a werewolf. Both scenarios had merit.

I tossed the bastard over the fence, and quickly followed after. Jerrik stood in the middle of his yard, his black coat shining in what little sunlight cut through the bruised clouds. We were drenched, both in rain and blood. Tearing out a man’s throat was hardly a clean job. But his fur gleamed in the rain, the droplets curling his fur. I huffed under my breath and gestured to the front where we’d shifted. We retrieved our clothes and my duffel bag before returning to his backyard. Once hidden next to the hideous wall, I shifted and threw my clothes back on, shaking off the rainy chill.

Jerrik had finished first and paused in his task to look me over. “You’re all right?”

I nodded, then helped him position the bodies near the back fence line, hidden in his own little forest. Somewhere no one would come looking until Lucy dispatched a cleaning crew. With luck, we’d finish the remaining tasks tonight, and I’d enjoy another night in Jerrik’s arms before facing down more than one big bad wolf tomorrow evening.

* * *

An hour later, I watched as the clean-up crew plucked the bodies out of Jerrik’s backyard and loaded them into a truck. I knew they used magic to keep things hidden from view of humans, but other than that, I hadn’t a clue how they did their job. And honestly, I never wanted to know. They had their job, I had mine.

One that had me standing in Jerrik’s living room as he and I pondered exactly how to kill me. I’d suggested staging me on my back so the photo caught my face. Jerrik aimlessly nodded, his fingers drumming against his thighs as he considered whatever thoughts were whirling around in that head of his.

I’d just about given up trying to read his face when I caught the sound of something small padding toward us. I turned and grinned at the sight of a handsome long-haired cat, his fur the color of a creamsicle. Oh, my God. Jerrik had a cat. For some reason, that tickled my fancy. The big bad shadow wolf had a feline companion.

With the sophisticated air most cats possessed, he trotted toward me, his tail high in the air as he brushed his cheek against my fingers.

“Hey there, sweet baby,” I crooned to him as I hefted the overweight beast up into my arms. “Aren’t you handsome?”

The corners of Jerrik’s mouth curved. “He knows it, too.”

“I can’t believe you have a cat. What’s his name?”

Jerrik met my gaze, his expression stern and dead serious. “Catsanova.”

I couldn’t help it. I burst out laughing, hugging the cat close to my chest as my entire body shook with amusement. “Catsanova? Seriously?”

“Of course.” Not a hint of playfulness warmed his voice. “Look at him. He’s a lady-killer.”

“Who takes care of him when you’re away?”

“Ms. Patter next door. She adores him probably more than I do.”

If anyone ever bothered to ask—this was the moment. Right here. When I knew I cared for Jerrik more than a little. With his cat tucked up under my throat, my fingers scratching under his furry chin. Warmth spread through my entire body as I held Jerrik’s gaze, a soft smile pulling at my lips.

I leaned forward and brushed my mouth against his, breathing in his scent and savoring the moment. The stories I’d heard growing up of the shadow wolf didn’t equate to the man standing before me. The stories had painted him as a cold-hearted bastard, but I knew better. I knew the pain within, knew that he was so much more than the assassin the tales made him out to be. And I wanted so much more with him—a notion that terrified the absolute hell out of me.

Jerrik kissed me again, then gestured toward the kitchen. “Dining room table, I think.”

Made sense. Benjamin had insisted my death look like an accident. Not only did that limit our options, but locations as well. On the middle of the floor would have suggested a struggle, but the dining room table suggested a peaceful passing. Choking on food, or succumbing to poison—not that poison screamed peaceful.

I lowered Catsanova down and took the furthest seat from the window, facing the outside. The sun had set hours ago, casting Jerrik’s backyard into one long shadow. Part of me wondered if something lingered back there—but the logical part of my brain told me that was just my fear talking. We would have heard anything moving around back there.

“Lean over and lay your head on the table,” Jerrik suggested.

I did as he asked and rested my cheek against the cold marble top.

“Good. Now, let go of every bit of tension in your body. Let your arms hang down. Imagine every bit of stress lifting from your shoulders. Light as a feather. Eyes open, though.”

Right. I blinked them open and caught his gaze, my mouth quirking as he crouched low next to me.

“Stop that,” he murmured.

I lifted a quizzical brow. “Stop what?”

“Watching me like that. You’re distracting me.”

“And we can’t have that,” I teased.

Jerrik sighed and covered my face with his palm. “Take a deep breath. No smiling, no looking at me. Stare straight ahead. Wipe your face clean of all emotion.”

Which was harder than it sounded. Essentially, think dead. An unnerving thought.

“Ready?”

“Yes,” I whispered.

His hand vanished. I centered my gaze on the couch, focusing on the tiny imperfections in the lush leather set. Don’t blink. Of course, thinking about it made me want to blink. My eyes dried, and I would have laughed if Jerrik hadn’t moved into my periphery with his phone out.

He moved in a quick circle, snapping photos from all sorts of directions. Were it not so creepy, I might have compared this to a fashion shoot.

“Okay,” he finally commented.

I blinked and worked out my jaw as I pushed up from the chair.

He tapped his phone and started running his finger over the screen. “I found an app that lets me modify images.”

“Modify how?”

He frowned as he peered at the screen. “Right now, I’m adding a bit of white to your face. To make you look paler. Maybe darken the skin under your eyes?” He pursed his mouth and shook his head. “No. That won’t work. Just whitening your skin. Too much color in your cheeks otherwise. There. Should be good.”

“Let’s see.”

“You sure?”

I nodded. If we were going to do this, it had to be done right. I wanted to make sure there weren’t any mistakes that would give us away.

He handed over his phone, and my breath caught at the sight of me, dead. A shiver tore down my spine and the hair on the back of my neck stood up. For a phone app, it’d definitely done the job. I looked, for all intents and purposes, dead. It wasn’t a look I wore well. “Wow.”

“Yeah, a bit unnerving.” Jerrik took the phone back and growled under his breath. “I’ll fire this image off to the burner phone, and then send it to him from there.”

“Give me about ten minutes first. I need to call someone in the pack first to get a bead on David, in case word does spread about my death. When he grabbed me, I could smell my pack on him. He’s definitely a member.”

“Oh. That’s not going to end well.”

“Nope.” Gabriel would make an example of him in front of everyone. Personally, I’d be there to watch with a smile on my face.

All these steps and precautions, but I knew it’d be worth it in the long run. I scooped up Catsanova and pressed my face against his. Seeing myself like that…I felt cold inside. It didn’t seem so amusing anymore that someone wanted me dead. Not that it’d amused me before. But that image had made it seem far too real.

“Don’t worry, baby,” I murmured to Catsanova. “I’m not going to let Benjamin win.”

“Damn straight,” Jerrik snarled as he rubbed a comforting hand down my arm.

I watched as he sent the photo to his burner phone in preparation, the apprehension in the air palpable. Either Benjamin fell for this, or he didn’t. Regardless, only one of us was coming out of this—and it sure as hell was going to be me.

“Once you send him the picture, how long until he gets back to you?”

“Shouldn’t be long,” Jerrik commented. He wrapped an arm around my shoulders and pulled both me and Catsanova into his chest. I leaned my head against his shoulder, enjoying the moment for as long as I could before reality set back in.

“And when he does?”

“He’ll set up a time and location to meet. Probably early morning, after midnight type thing. A lot of these guys don’t understand that nighttime is far more conspicuous. You see two guys meeting in the middle of the day, you don’t think to look twice. You see two guys meeting at night…”

“And suddenly you’re jotting down their full description to relay to the cops.”

He nodded. “All right. You go call whoever it is you need to call. And in a few minutes I’ll send this photo off to Benjamin. Ready?”

“Ready.”

“Break.”

I grabbed my phone and started for his room, my mouth splitting into a wide grin when Jerrik patted my ass as I sauntered by.