The old sawmill looked downright creepy at night.

Torren slid his hand over her thigh as he eased his black Camaro into a dirt parking lot. His headlights arced across the front of the old, dilapidated building. The rusted sign on the front read Foxburg Mill, but someone had marked that out with spray paint and written HavoK. A little skull was painted beside it, similar to the logo on the T-shirt he was wearing right now.

“Did you do that?” she asked, pointing to the sign as he pulled to a stop.

“Nope. Vyr did. And Nox drew the dick.”

She squinted and, yep, there was a little cherry-red penis spray-painted underneath the skull. She giggled. Of course, Nox did that. “Can I ask you something?”

Torren squeezed her leg comfortingly and rolled his head on the rest to look at her. His eyes glowed green, and he smelled only of silverback, nothing like a man. But he was still here in his human skin, and he didn’t look worried about Changing in his car. “Shoot.”

“I can’t get this out of my head. Nevada…when I saw her at Vyr’s mansion, she was so different from the mouse I talked to in the library. Why?”

“Because she’s ours, and we’re hers,” he answered simply.

It gave her chills. She would do just about anything to have something like that. To not feel like this iceberg out in the middle of a frigid sea, surviving on her own. “I like your crew.”

“They’re a disaster. Worst crew in the world. We’re all fuck-ups.”

“But for someone looking in from the outside? Whatever you doing? It works. Maybe you’re fuck-ups individually, but together? You’ve got the biggest, baddest alpha in the entire world. And there are only three of you propping him up—you, Nox, and Nevada. Vyr is dangerous, but you live with him like you aren’t afraid of his fire. You speak to him like you aren’t afraid of him being a man-eater. You went after him yesterday, for me, like you weren’t afraid of his wrath at all.” She intertwined her fingers with his. “I think the Red Dragon needs that. I think he needs you guys to keep him steady.”

Torren cut the engine. “When I was a kid, my dad took me to Damon Daye’s mansion. He’d summoned me. Vyr was lonely and acting out, and none of the other kids could handle his dragon. He couldn’t control his Changes, and he—burned—everything. And everyone. Anyone who got in the path of his fire got hurt, and he couldn’t do anything about it. He was seven when I was brought in. Damon had been watching me. He saw how dominant I was, saw me fighting my way through school, saw me loyal to no one, but yearning to be part of something. Beaston, this seer in the Gray Backs, told Damon to put me in the path of Vyr’s fire and watch what happened. We played for two days before I saw the Red dragon. He was much smaller. Baby dragon. I was an adolescent gorilla but big for my age. He burned me one time. Grazed my arm with his fire, and I charged. I was pissed, but more than that, I was worried because I’d seen his eyes when he blasted that stream of fire at me. He didn’t want to do it. I could see him trying to stop himself. I jumped into the air and, with my arms around his wings, slammed us both back down to earth. And while he struggled and clicked his firestarter like he would light me up again, I talked in my gorilla form for the first time. It was out of desperation. I was a kid, but I wanted to save us both. I screamed at him to, ‘Stop or you’ll hurt me! You’ll hurt me, and I’ll never be your friend again. I won’t be your friend, Vyr. I won’t!’ And he swallowed that fire. It hurt him, but he swallowed it and went still. And since then, he hasn’t ever burned me. Oh, he’ll light everyone else up, but not me. He’s dangerous and out of control, but I’m his keeper. He’s gonna mess up someday. He’s gonna mess up in a way he can’t come back from, and he’ll take me with him. I accepted that the day I stopped him from burning me. Age seven, and I pledged fealty to the Red Dragon. Dragons tend to get loyal to someone. Damon has Mason. They become loyal to a friend until they find a mate. Seven years old, and he picked me as his friend, and I picked him back. We’re both going to Hell, Candace. Don’t think we’re salvageable because we aren’t. Nox isn’t either. We’re all going to Hell, but we’re going together. You like the crew, but we’re on a fast train headed for fire. It scares me to reach out and pull you onto it. You would be better off picking anyone else to be around.”

“Who else would match me?” she asked quietly. “Who, Torren? I hopped that train way before I met you. Hell doesn’t scare me anymore.”

A green Mustang parked beside them, and Torren blew out a sharp breath. “We’ll see about that.”

“Who is that?” she asked, confused.

“That’s my fight. HavoK has to do this. If he fights regularly, he lets me keep a little bit of control. I’m light on cash, so lately I’ve been setting up fights for money. Wait there,” he murmured as he pushed open his door.

She thought he wanted to conduct the business part of this fight without her, but he shocked her when he ignored the two giants getting out of the Mustang and opened her door instead.

“You just opened my door for me,” she said low, shocked to her bones.

“You’re a queen, Candace. Never think you’re anything less.” Those words were beautiful coming from a man like Torren. He stood there, tall and strong, his calloused, tattooed hand held out for her, his blazing inhuman eyes the color of glowing moss, his jaw clenched, and his face stern as if he was already focused on this fight. He was about to get hurt, but he was making sure she didn’t slip on her way out of his car.

And for the first time in maybe ever, out in the dirty parking lot of a fight shack, she actually felt like a queen—because of Torren.

When she slipped her hand against his, there was that sharp pain in her chest again. The one that kept happening. The one that had happened when she told him about her dad earlier in the private room and he’d pulled her against him and made her feel instantly better. Sharp pain in her chest, then a numbing sensation. Torren was a drug, and she had a feeling this was the moment. She could quit this drug now, or give into the addiction and fall head first into the fire with Torren.

Quit or stay.

Quit or stay.

Quit and avoid the Hell he was headed for, or stay and dig her heels in and get loyal, have his back no matter what, watch him get hurt, watch him fight, watch him struggle with his animal, watch his brokenness, watch him be the keeper of the Red Dragon, watch the consequences of his fealty.

Chills rippling up her arm, she gripped his hand and allowed him to pull her out of his car.

She wasn’t some fair-weather friend, and she sure as hell wasn’t a runner.

Candace was staying.

She was in this, no matter what.

Torren pulled her against him and kissed her quick. It was two fast dips of his tongue into her mouth and a nip to her bottom lip that left her panting and needy. As he pulled away, he slid something into her hand, and when she looked down, it was a stack of twenty-dollar bills. He held her gaze for a moment more before he turned toward the two men standing in front of the Mustang.

“Which one of you?” Torren asked.

“Me,” the tank of a man in front said. “I’m Colt Caraway.” He waited a few seconds with his eyebrows lifted like Torren should know the name. He had burred hair and scars down one side of his face. Teeth marks from the looks of it. A lot of them. He reeked of dominance. His eyes were glowing blue as he dragged his attention down her body and back up. “Which one of you?” he asked with a smirk.

“She’s mine,” Torren said coolly. He stretched his neck, popping it, one way and then the other. “You’ll be mine, too.”

“We’ll see, HavoK. You can’t go undefeated forever, you know. You ain’t invincible. Someday, someone is gonna come along and knock you on your ass. Maybe today is that day. Maybe I’m supposed to be the new Kong.”

Torren was already walking toward the sawmill though, peeling off his shirt as he went. His giant birthmark was stark against his pale skin in the moonlight. That was the best “fuck you” he could’ve given Colt, and Candace pursed her lips against a smile.

A snarl rippled up the man’s throat, and he followed Torren across the parking lot and inside.

“I’m Dax. Are you HavoK’s manager?” the other man asked. He was shorter, but still built like a Mack truck. His eyes were softer, but he still smelled of fur.

“No. I’m just a witness,” she murmured.

He gestured to the money in her hand. “Not anymore, little girl.”

“Careful with that term,” she popped off, barely containing the hiss in her throat. She hated to be put beneath people. “Where’s his money?”

“You need to see it?” Dax asked, looking irritated.

“Did I stutter? I don’t know you, and I sure as fuck don’t know him. You want this fight? Show me his money, and we can let those boys loose. HavoK won’t start without me in there.” She hoped.

“Mmmm,” Dax rumbled. Definitely a silverback shifter. He waited a few too many seconds to be polite, looking down his nose at her, and then he pulled a wad of rolled cash out of his back pocket. “You want to count it, too?”

She could really use less of his sarcasm. Already she wanted to let her tiger have him.

“Ha, I think if you shorted us, the real Kong would rip your throat out. I don’t trust you, but I think you like survival. Let’s go.”

“What are you?” he asked from behind her as she led him to the sawmill.

She turned to face him but didn’t stop walking. He was holding up his phone like he was taking video. Hands out, she said, “I’m just a little girl.” Fucker.

“I think you’re his manager. You just don’t know it yet. What’s your name?”

She was smart enough not to give away anything on video. Candace turned back around and reached for the splintered door handle. “Maybe I’m the real HavoK.” He was only getting the dead voice from her because he was a part of what was about to get Torren hurt.

Inside, a trio of hanging lightbulbs lit up the sawmill with a dim glow. It was an enormous room with stairs against the back wall leading to an office on the second floor with a massive, broken picture window that separated it from the rest of the mill. The walls were made of old logs, gone gray and warped with age. The floor was covered in piles of saw dust. Old machines with rusted blades and saws lined the perimeter of the room. There were deep divots in the floors as though the saws had been shoved to their resting places by force. It smelled of oil and sawdust, dominance, fur…blood. Lots of blood.

The clearing in the center of the room was stained dark. She had to force the snarl in her throat to stay quiet. Her big cat was getting riled up…bloodlust maybe…or maybe she was feeling protective. How much of this was Torren’s blood? God, he had to do this, right? To keep steady? To keep his animal from going insane, he had to bleed? She wanted to retch.

Candace paused at the edge of the makeshift ring where Dax took a stand beside her. Annoying. She wished he would go over there, on the other side, with his fighter.

Across the room, Colt was stripping down, attention on Torren, who was sitting on a rickety old bench against the wall, elbows resting on his knees, hands clenched, teeth gritted. He lifted his roiling gaze to her. Everything okay? his eyes seemed to ask. She nodded once.

“Colt needs this win,” Dax said. “He needs a family group. Do you know what Torren has done to the gorillas?”

She didn’t answer. She didn’t want him to know how little she knew about Torren’s culture.

“He probably wouldn’t have told you how he betrayed our people, huh? No one wants to admit when they’re the downfall of an entire shifter race. His betrayal started with his father and continued with him.”

“There are two sides to every story,” she gritted out, eyes on Torren as he shucked his pants, eyes on the bloody floor. He was masculinity and power in just his briefs, every muscle flexed.

“True. So listen to the other side. The Kong should run our people. He should be making the next generation. He should be heading up the biggest family group of females. It’s an easy life. Be born with the mark, grow dominant, have all the sex you want. Be. King. His father shunned his duty, and Torren did, too. At eighteen, he was offered the throne, and what did he do? Denied it, threw our people into chaos looking for a new Kong. There isn’t one, though. The tradition of the Kong was wrecked by Torren’s father and destroyed completely by Torren. And then he did something unforgiveable. When our people wanted vengeance against Red Havoc, he went to war against us—his own people.”

“You went after the crew with his sister in it. What did you expect to happen?”

“He betrayed all of his people for one female.”

Dax’s voice was appalled, and Candace slid him a dirty glare. “Your people are not his people. He didn’t betray his people. You went after his people and you got burned. Literally. Your bad. Also, this makes me think gorillas are super-messed up. The fact that you can’t see a reason for him protecting his own sister? I don’t blame Torren for not wanting to breed a bunch of females. I don’t blame him for giving two middle fingers to that poisoned throne either.” She gave her attention back to Torren just as his monster silverback ripped out of him and landed with his giant fists on the floorboard, cracking the wooden planks underneath. “He wasn’t ever meant to be king of a fucked-up people. He was meant to be this. He was meant to be HavoK.” He was meant to keep the world safe from Vyr. He was meant to live his life on his terms. Nothing this gorilla said was going to change what she saw—the real Torren.

Torren and Colt stood on their hind legs and beat their chests. The loud drum of it filled the room, and Candace covered her sensitive ears. The silverbacks charged and hit each other with the force of a head-on collision.

As they slammed their fists against each other in a flurry of violence, Dax began to pace and yell at his fighter. Colt spun out of Torren’s grip and scrambled for the wall, Torren right on his heels. The two scaled the wall like it was nothing. Candace couldn’t even tell where they’d found purchase before they were up in the rafters.

Torren was so much bigger than he’d looked in the video she’d watched, the one where he’d gone to battle and Vyr had burned Covington. Seeing him in real life was eye-opening. He was bigger than wild gorillas. He was eight hundred pounds, at least, of pure muscle and power. Massive front arms and a sloping back. She followed the chase as the man next to her yelled for Colt to, “Stop playing defense and fight!” He was agitated, passing tighter now, growling. Shit.

“Settle,” she warned him.

“Don’t tell me what to do, bitch.”

Oh, she wanted to rip his throat out, but Torren didn’t need the distraction. Candace clenched her hands against the urge to Change. Come on, Torren. End this quick.

“Fight, Colt!! Fight or I’ll finish this! Don’t let this asshole shame you. Lock him up!”

Candace blew out a breath, half her attention on the fight happening thirty feet above them, half on the man who was snarling louder beside her. When he gritted his teeth, his canines were too long.

“There is no money happening for you if you go two on one against him,” she warned. “Seriously. Settle.”

A gorilla fell from the rafters, and for a horrifying second, she thought it was Torren. But a moment later, Torren landed on all fours right beside him, buckling the flooring beneath his massive knuckles with a deafening crash. He pulled himself easily out of the rubble and went to blows with Colt. Their gorillas were similar sizes, but Torren kept the upper hand, didn’t even look like he was trying.

The man beside her gritted his teeth and let off a bellow. With a smattering of pops, his silverback broke out of him.

Crap, crap, crap!

He charged Torren, and now the shit had officially hit the fan.

“Torren!” she screamed.

He jerked his attention over his shoulder just in time to catch Dax’s weight full on his back.

She’d always been proud of her control over her animal, but that went out the window now. Mine. He’s fucking mine. Mine, mine, mine! Roaaaar! Her body broke, and oh it hurt for the instant it took. Bones broke, muscles snapped, teeth elongated, claws pierced her paws.

Colt was back in the fight now, wailing on Torren as he went to battle with Dax. Two massive gorillas on one, but Torren was a beast. He didn’t show any pain under the blows. He didn’t even flinch when Dax sank his teeth into his shoulder blade and ripped backward to inflict maximum damage. He just kept fighting, ripped Dax’s face off him as he twisted, eyes now focused on Colt. The shift between his fights with each were smooth and lightning fast.

Dax was hanging off his back while Torren was still engaged with Colt. There was no honor in Dax fighting two on one and going after an exposed back, so Candace bolted for him and pounced, claws out. She latched onto his ribs, surprised at how thick his skin was. It was hard to find purchase with her claws, but she sank her teeth into his side as hard as she could—so hard her jaw hurt.

Dax roared and released Torren, and then with a big, meaty hand, he reached over his shoulder, grabbed her by the scruff of the neck, and yanked her off him. She was airborne and then hit the wall.

Vyr. Vyr! Vyr can you hear me? she screamed in her mind. Torren needs you!

She didn’t know what made her do that. Perhaps it was the instant and intense pain of crashing through the wall, or the desperation she felt seeing two gorillas at war with the man she cared about.

Vyr terrified her, but he loved Torren and she was no match for silverbacks.

Ignoring her bruised side, Candace forced herself up onto all fours. Her ribs were probably cracked. Limping, she ran back to the fight. It smelled like blood. The overpowering scent of iron made her dizzy. Torren was on Dax now, but Colt was taking advantage of his exposed neck. He could kill him like this! She attacked Colt and just went vicious. Biting, clawing, she pulled him away from the fight and distracted him enough for Torren to focus on Dax. She was slammed to the ground, and time slowed. Eyes blazing like blue fire, Colt lifted his arm into the air and slammed it down toward her face. And right before he made contact, he was ripped backward through the wall of the sawmill, wood planks blasting out with him.

Candace winced as splinters from the exploding wall rained over her. What the hell?

When she turned, Torren was standing over her defensively, and Dax was ripping an old rusted blade from one of the machines. He swung it at Torren’s throat, but Torren stood on his hind legs and ducked easily out of the way of the jagged, razor-sharp teeth.

Vyr, Vyr, Vyr. Vyr!

She roared and stalked Dax. Colt was still outside, and she couldn’t even hear him anymore. All she could hear were the grunts and snarls from the warring gorillas facing off. She crouched beside Torren and pulled her lips back from her teeth with a long, warning hiss. Swing that fuckin’ blade one more time, and I’m gonna light you up.

Dax hesitated at a rumbling noise, and it took her a moment to place the strange sound. It was getting louder and louder, and suddenly, Torren wrapped his arm around her middle and spun her out of the way. A horrific crash sounded and then splintering wood was everywhere. Torren was moving so fast she couldn’t catch her breath, and in a matter of moments, she was up in the rafters with him. Below them, the Mustang had crashed through the wall of the sawmill. Dax was searching for something in the rubble. He picked up his cell phone just as Torren let go of the rafter and landed gracefully, saving Candace from the impact.

With grim determination written all over his face, Dax yanked the passenger door open and shoved his giant gorilla ass into the tiny car. With his arm and head hanging out the window, Dax, the gorilla, shoved his meaty middle finger into the air as Colt zoomed backward out of the hole he’d made. The memory of this would probably be funny tomorrow, but right now, she mostly wanted to kill them and set their car on fire.

“That went well,” Torren said sarcastically in that snarling, inhuman voice of his. He was staring at the hole with an exhausted expression. His arm was shredded and dripping crimson on the floorboards.

More stains on this place.

More mess.

More HavoK.

He arched his gaze down to her. “You scared yet, Wildcat?”

She was bruised, out of breath, limping, shocked, angry, and her eyes were now open to what a power-house Torren was.

But scared of this life she was melting into?

She hissed at him.

Hell no.