Hunter rubbed at his wrists and glared at the men sitting across from him. He was looking for his mate, trying to track her down, and these assholes wanted to take him in for questioning? No wonder the Supernatural Enforcement Agency was in fucking shambles.

“Let’s go through it again,” Agent Asshole said patiently.

“I told you already. Someone took Joss. Ask anyone down at the bar. She was there, then she wasn’t.”

His bear slashed at his insides. Images from the sending rolled through Hunter’s mind. Running, chasing, catching. They had to get her back.

“And why would that lead you to break into the cabin of a man with known connections to hunter groups?”

“Because he’s the one that fucking took her!” Hunter smacked the table between them. His breath heaved in his lungs. “Him and Joyce Farren. Smell me. See if I’m lying.”

His skin felt too tight, even when he rolled his shoulders to ease some of the tension. They were wasting precious time. Joss was out there somewhere, maybe hurt or worse, and these fuckheads just kept lobbing questions at him like he’d sent her on her merry way. That didn’t even address the fact that his father had taken a bullet or the rest of his clan being cuffed and hauled in for questioning while the real criminals sped away.

He thought there would be some understanding when he realized the agents decked out in black uniforms and carrying utility belts that’d rival any comic book hero were all shifters. But no. The fucking traitors were even bigger assholes than the regular human SEA pricks.

At least these ones hadn’t tried to murder him or throw him into Shiftermax with all the other monsters.

Special Asshole in Charge Crewe fixed him with a steady gaze. Nothing seemed to fluster the man. “What do you know about Andre Chapman?”

“He’s from Texas. I ran into some trouble with him a few years back.” Hunter’s mouth twisted. Even if he wasn’t being dragged off to prison, he wasn’t about to tell a fed of any past crimes. “I guess he’s been bounty hunting since then.”

“His bounties have taken on a different light since we were outed. He’s procuring shifters for those who aren’t willing to hunt them themselves. It’s a new wave of sick, trophy fuckery.”

Hunters were a menace and had only gotten vocal about it since humans were made aware they weren’t alone in the world. Rumor had it even the SEA itself was created by the assholes with the purpose of streamlining the destruction of anything different.

All that was before public outrage forced policy changes. Now groups of shifters and vampires were fighting for the man. Hunter didn’t give it long before the whole thing blew up in their faces.

“And he sold Joss into this shit. So why the fuck are we sitting around?” Fuck, he wanted to shift. Needed it. Needed to taste the blood of anyone standing between him and his mate.

Andre, that motherfucker, wasn’t just a run of the mill prick. He’d thrown in his lot with scum that wanted to own others for their own disgusting pleasure. He’d pay for every scratch that marred Joss’s skin.

“We’ve been tracking him and had a lead on where his next meet would take place.”

“Well, you had it wrong. He hasn’t been to that cabin for days. You all got played and my mate is still out there.” A growl tickled in his throat and he shoved to his feet. “Since you can’t find your ass with two hands, I’ll just be taking my leave now.”

The door banged open and another steely-eyed shifter blocked the path out. Hunter rounded on him, gums already aching with the press of fangs. They wanted to keep him from his mate?

“Crewe.”

The voice came from another behind the one at the door. A small, blonde woman pushed through. She assessed the situation with a single flick of her eyes, then dismissed them all and focused on Crewe.

Hunter canted his head. Human on the shifter squad. Curious.

Crewe turned cold eyes on the interloper. “What?” he growled.

She didn’t react. “We have a hit.”

Hunter jerked to attention. The air disappeared from the room. “You found her. You know where she is.”

The woman flicked her eyes to him, then back to Crewe.

“Go on,” Crewe said.

She straightened and folded her hands behind her back. “We know where this bounty hunter is meeting potential buyers. We don’t know any more details than that.”

“Bullshit,” Hunter snarled.

“Have the others gear up, Kent,” Crewe ordered. As soon as she disappeared out the door, taking the other shifter with her, Crewe’s face softened. “If she’s there, she’ll be free to go as soon as we find her. We’re not the monsters here, Mr. Shaw. We’re actually trying to do some good.”

“Then let me go. I can help.”

“You’re a civilian. You have zero combat or tactical training. You’re not authorized to take part in any operation—”

“She’s my fucking mate! I need to be there!” Hunter roared.

Any good will he had disappeared from Crewe’s face. He stood and walked to the door. “You’ll be apprised of the situation when we return.”

The door shutting him in felt like the closure of a tomb. He was dead without Joss. He’d had a glimpse of life with her, and now he was dead.

He tried the door. Locked, of course.

He couldn’t stop moving. Pacing like a caged animal. What he needed wasn’t inside his bars.

“Fuck!” The inhuman howl that exited his throat wasn’t good enough. His skin prickled with too much energy and nowhere to put it.

Hunter slammed his fist into the nearest wall. The crack of pain didn’t stop him from doing it again, then again.

Useless. He was fucking useless locked up in a box while she needed help. He didn’t trust the agents to keep her safety in mind. She would be just another statistic to them if something went wrong. Acceptable loss of life.

Not to him. To him, she was everything.

He wasn’t sure how long he waited. His bear ripped him to shreds every second, and he pieced himself back together every other. Then he heard a sound that cocked his head.

Footsteps.

Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck.

Nerves clamored for an acknowledgment he wouldn’t give.

They were back too soon. Something had gone wrong.

The footsteps stopped outside his door. The keypad on the other side beeped and the lock disengaged.

A woman with brownish-red hair stood in the opening with her hands on her hips.

Mara, he thought. She was mated to one of the Strathorns that worked at the firehouse. She’d made a giant fuss for herself a couple years ago, then disappeared into obscurity until she’d been attacked in Bearden itself. He eyed the badge pinned to her respectable blazer. Consultant. Surprising to see her working for the same people that tried to have her killed.

“Well, are you coming, or not?”

Hunter didn’t need to be told a second time. He hurried after her down the new-construction smelling halls and past empty offices. “Why are you doing this? Letting me go?”

“I respect Crewe. I understand what he’s doing here in trying to make us seem more like them.” Her expression clouded. “But humans don’t understand this part of it. She’s your mate. There’s nothing in this world that would keep me from mine, especially if he was in danger.”

She pulled to a stop in front of a door with a keypad next to it. Detainment, he guessed. Mara punched a series of keys into the keypad. The lock activated, and she pulled the door open. The rest of the clan, minus his father, sat along a bench or on the floor. All of them snapped their focus to the door.

“Out,” she said with a jerk of her head.

“What’s going on?” Ethan asked from his spot on the bench attached to the wall.

“You’re not under arrest or being held for questioning. Not my problem if we legally can’t hold you.” Mara shrugged, then firmly pressed a note against Hunter’s chest and tapped it with her fingers. “And if it is, they can take this job and shove it. Go get your girl.”

The note Mara gave him led the clan to a piece of property on the other side of the mountains. They found vehicles marked with Supernatural Enforcement Agency insignia about two miles down the road.

The Black Claw clan stepped out of their own trucks. Hunter scanned the woods around them. No sound. Fresh scents, but nothing to say they were being watched.

“Anyone know this place?” Ethan asked.

Heads shook all around. Enclave territory, they knew. Hidden holes outside of that were beyond them.

“Then we go carefully. We’re not here to fuck anything up. We’re here to find Joss and get out.”

They kept off the road, moving silently through trees and scrub. The scents of other shifters were easy to follow as they edged up a hill.

Hunter’s bear wanted to shed his human side and race ahead.

At the crest, they looked out over someone’s hidden getaway. Trees were placed in ornamental spots around manicured gardens. The place looked bigger than Black Claw’s main house, though it spread out more than built up. Lights were on inside, but he couldn’t see anyone moving past the windows.

The stink of fur hung all around him, but he couldn’t spot where the agents were hidden. At least they weren’t shouting for him to get back, or snapping silver around his wrists.

Scratch that. There. Under one window, he saw a flash of movement.

Another, near a van parked out front.

He scanned the property again and picked out more statues with guns.

Hunter stepped forward, but Ethan flung out his arm. “Hold.”

He tensed at the order. A growl worked out of his throat. Joss needed him.

His alpha slid a silver-eyed look to him. Power infused his words. “Hold, I say.”

Hunter’s bear wanted to buck the order. Pushing for control of the clan seemed a swell idea when one man stood between him and tracking down his mate.

He struggled to keep his bear in check. For several tense minutes, they stood in a line hidden by the trees and darkness. Nothing calmed the blood racing in his veins, not even the breeze rustling through the leaves or the men at his side occasionally brushing against him to offer reassurance with physical touch. He couldn’t stop the racing thoughts, either.

Joss was down there. Joss needed him.

Joss could be hurt.

Then there was a shout, followed by another.

“Go,” Ethan said softly.

As one, they stepped into the fight.

The doors were kicked in at the same time. Black-clad figures poured into the light. Bursts of gunfire punctuated the commands to stop, get on the ground, put hands in the air. Trained they might be, the overall raid sounded like chaos in action.

Not that it was any of his concern. The buyers could live or die. The SEA agents, too. He wanted Joss alive.

They slunk from trees to gardens, keeping low when possible and all-out sprinting when not. Hunter kept his eyes on the house. He felt each bullet fired like it ripped through his own flesh. Any one of them could find a home in Joss’s body. He couldn’t handle the thought of finally finding her in a pool of blood. Didn’t the motherfucking agents have any discipline?

His bear caught the first whiff. Subtle, like a memory. Then stronger as he neared the house. A trail, a full trail grabbing him by the nose and tugging him forward.

“She was here.”

Were those his words? They sounded muted and underwater.

The crack of cocking weapons sounded loud in the night. Motherfuckers got the drop on them.

“Stop!”

“Hands up!”

“We’re with you!” Alex shouted back. “Fucking smell us, assholes!”

“Hands up!”

Hunter snarled. Ethan whirled on him and shoved him back. “Go! We’ll keep them off you. Find her!”

His clothes shredded around him as his bear ripped out of his skin. Nose to the ground, he took off into the night at a dead run. Cinnamon and apples and perfection. He had it in his lungs, and he’d follow it to the source.

Hunter galloped straight for the nearest door. Joss had been taken that way, and he wouldn’t be put off her scent now. He ran through the halls, crashing into walls as he slid on the slick floor. With any luck, the agents subduing human buyers would think he was one of them and not try to stop him.

Joss’s scent grew stronger as he ran, but so did the fighting. His bear raged at him to push harder, go faster, save their mate.

Why there were so many humans, he didn’t want to contemplate. They weren’t the dirty, stinking hunters that lurked in the backwoods. These ones were cleaner, more streamlined and uniformly armed. They were protecting someone, and he hoped their shit got fucked by the end of the night.

He rounded a corner to the force of a blast in his chest. Another volley rat-tat-tatted in his direction and rained bits of wall over his body. Hunter scrambled backward and crouched low to the tiled floor. Blood dripped from the wound, but he kept to his bear form. Idiots didn’t even use silver bullets.

Step by step, the gunman neared. Hunter tore his focus into two. The gunman needed to be tracked, but the sounds of more fighting coming up the hallway were equally important. Hunter didn’t want to be pinned down between two groups wanting to fill him full of bullets, silver or not.

Then there was a clattering of nails against tile, and a flash of fur over his head. A burst of gunfire abruptly ended.

Hunter didn’t wait to see what happened next. He still had Joss’s scent in his nose. He wouldn’t leave her alone in the fight.

Two more hallways took him to where her scent was strongest. The door was sealed shut, so he placed large paws on the wood and pushed.

And pushed.

Metal inside groaned in complaint. The bear riding him hard wouldn’t give up so easily. Claws and fangs dug at the wood and pushed at the metal until something inside sprang loose and he tumbled through the shattered opening.

Andre sat with his back to the wall, a gun slung across his lap. At the sound of approaching steps, he made a token effort to lift it, but the barrel drooped.

Sweat dotted his forehead and he cradled his arm close to his chest. Blood colored his shirt. Hunter doubted he had much longer. Pity someone else got to him first.

Hunter shrank back into his human form with a smattering of pops and cracks. Adrenaline pumped through him and kept the pain of the sudden back and forth at bay. He had demands to make of the man before he departed the world.

“Where is she?” He lifted his lip in a snarl.

“You want her back? Get me out of here,” Andre wheezed.

“You’re fucking insane. After what you did?” He shook his head. “You used her to get to me. How’s that working out for you?”

“Everyone has a price. Get me out.”

Hunter approached the man. He felt a pang of guilt when Andre’s face turned to show his scars. What would the man’s life have been if he’d never put those there in the first place? Same asshole path, or would he have made his money in more honorable ways?

The what-ifs didn’t help anyone. Andre made his choices, just as he made his.

“My price is my mate’s safety, which you already took. My bear wants to rip you limb from limb for taking her from us, but I’m trying to be better than I was. For her. She deserves someone who thinks before they lash out.” Hunter craned his head at a noise from down the hall and smiled viciously. “You’ll get out of here, but I won’t be the one helping you.”

A team of six SEA agents streamed through the open door. Hunter stepped back, hands laced behind his neck to show he wasn’t the immediate threat. They could have Andre, blood loss and all.

“You motherfuckers won’t get a word out of me.” Andre snarled, and with a last burst of strength, raised his gun from his lap.

Bullets peppered him from the SEA team. The gun clattered to the floor and sightless eyes stared back at him.

Hunter expected to feel something for the man. Pity, maybe. Hatred. Relief surprised him, as did the tension fading from his shoulders.

It was over. Truly over. He didn’t need to look over his shoulder for the ghost of his past. Joss wouldn’t ever again be a target because of his fuck ups.

She was safe.

His bear rumbled in his head. She was safe, and now the only thing left to do was claim her properly.

Once he had her back.

“Shaw! The fuck are you doing here?” Crewe growled in a low voice.

Hunter threw his arms wide and shrugged. “Just thought I’d take an evening stroll. Nice of you rat bastards to drop by.”

Over the scent of blood, he picked out the sweet cinnamon that belonged to Joss. She was close, and mad as hell.

Crewe’s eyes stared disapproval at him. He turned his head and spoke into the radio on his shoulder. “I got another shifter in here. Fuckers followed us from our station.”

Something growled and crashed into the door behind Andre’s body. The force banged again and again, each blow harder than before. Guns lifted almost at once, pointing directly at the splintering wood. Howls and hisses grew louder as the frustrated creature fought her way out.

He’d recognize those noises anywhere.

“Stop!” Hunter yelled. “Joss is in there!”

Crewe nodded to a couple of his men, who dragged Andre’s body away from the door. A third positioned himself by the door and placed his hand on the knob. He glanced to Hunter, then to Crewe, then yanked it open.

An angry badger jumped for his throat.

“Joss!” Hunter shouted.

The badger bounced off the SEA agent and dashed past him. Hunter grabbed her around the middle and fell backward. Her claws pierced his skin, but he didn’t feel anything except a full-body buzz at seeing her still alive and well.

Only, she didn’t calm. She didn’t pull back her claws. She twisted and turned in his arms, trying to get loose.

“Stop wiggling,” he growled. “No one will hurt you now.”

Joss hissed. The struggling badger melted out of his arms, turned tail, and ran.

The fuck?

Hunter sprinted after her, skipping from human to bear in an instant.

He streaked by other SEA agents, some in human form and others taken to their fur. Shouts followed at his heels, but they were promptly ignored.

The flash of dark and white fur was all that mattered.

He rounded another corner and skidded to a stop. Joss, still in badger form, had Joyce cornered and trying to climb the walls.

Wide eyes stared at the badger. “Stop, stop, please,” Joyce whimpered. “They were going to do the same to me as you.”

Hunter sat back on his haunches with a huff. Andre, duplicitous bastard, evidently tried to sell two shifters. As much as he loathed Joyce for her part, he wouldn’t wish enslavement on anyone.

Joyce rolled her eyes to him. “Call her off!”

He kind of liked the sight of his mate spitting and hissing her displeasure. He wasn’t about to take her revenge from her. For too long, she’d been pushed down and made to feel bad for being herself. If she needed to keep Joyce on her toes for some minor abduction plot, more power to her.

Hunter chuffed approval. No way was Joyce slipping away from justice.

It wasn’t long before Crewe and a handful of others found them. Hunter winced as he pulled his bear back into himself. His throat worked twice before he pushed the words out.

“She worked with Andre. Doubt she knows much, but you should talk to her anyway.”

Joyce fought, Joss growled, but nothing stopped the determined shifters looking to bring one of their own to justice. Still cuffed, Joyce was hauled away to be processed with the rest of the SEA’s captives.

Which, after a knowing nod from Crewe, left Hunter and Joss alone in the room.

His badger glowered from the corner.

“Shift,” he ordered.

She hissed at him.

“Getting sassy, are you?” He wobbled his head to tease her. Little beast had too much control over the human side of his mate. He could see how much she didn’t want to relinquish control, but that was too damn bad. He needed his pretty redheaded mate. “I said shift.”

The badger shimmered in an explosion of cracks and pops. Then Joss crouched on hands and knees, red hair covering her face.

Hunter’s heart jumped into his throat. He’d twisted all his worry and fears into fury, but the absence of an enemy brought it all crashing down around him.

He could have lost her.

Joss swallowed audibly. Her face lifted and bright green eyes bored into him.

He crawled forward and pulled her into his lap. His hands shook. By the Broken, he didn’t want to let her go. Couldn’t. Someone would need to pry his hands off her. “It’s over, I promise. You’re safe.”

She wound her arms around his neck, a shiver running through her body. “Take me home.”