As light filtered through her closed eyelids, Violet’s first thought was that the firm mattress she was sleeping on was moving.

No, not moving. Breathing.

Her eyes opened, slowly at first. She had to blink a few times, but she didn’t need to see to know where she was. Nathan’s masculine scent was all over her, and she wasn’t on a firm mattress but rather, his rock hard body.

Oh my.

Violet wanted to move away. She really did, except she didn’t want to disturb him. She was comfortable right where she was. Pressing her nose against his shirt, she took in another whiff.

“That’s adorable.”

“Huh?” She looked up at him.

One green eye was open, peering down at her. “The purring.”

“What?” A hand went up to her chest, feeling the vibrations. She was purring. “Oh!”

Her cheeks went hot, but when she tried to move away, strong arms wrapped around her. Nathan rolled her over, so her back was on the couch and he was on top.

She stared up at him, watching as his gaze roved and lazily appraised her face. Reaching up, she touched the stubble that had grown on his otherwise clean-shaven jaw. He turned and pressed his lips to her fingers, the touch sending a mild shock through her.

When he lowered his head to hers, she didn’t protest. In fact, the only thing she could think of how nice it felt. His delicious kisses sent thrills through her, and when his tongue traced her lips, she opened herself to him eagerly.

Nathan settled between her legs, pressing his hardness against her mound. Her pussy grew wet, and he let out a groan. The only thing between them was her damp panties and his boxer briefs. Adjusting the angle of his hips, he positioned the ridge of his cock just right so it hit her clit.

She moaned his name against his mouth and dug her fingers into his scalp. He responded by pulling up the shirt she was wearing and cupping a breast. She didn’t think this could feel any better, until his thumb brushed her nipple sending her spiraling into an orgasm.

She threw her head back as her body convulsed. His lips clamped onto her neck, his teeth grazing at the skin there, sucking and biting just enough to feel good without breaking the skin.

“Nathan,” she whispered as she relaxed. There it was again. The purring. Her tiger was calm and peaceful and happy. And so was she. It all felt normal, and though the events of yesterday was still on her mind, she wasn’t as angry or hurt.

She opened her eyes, and he was staring down at her

“You have beautiful eyes, you know,” he said, stroking her cheek. “Light blue with a ring of dark navy.”

“It’s a form of heterochromia. A mutation.”

He chuckled softly. “My beautiful little mutant.”

She gave him a tight smile. Ironic.

“So, tiger, huh?” he said with a grin.

“Kind of,” she said.

“Hmmm?”

“Nathan …” Hoping to distract him, she reached her hand down between them, slipping over his rock hard abs to the growing bulge between his legs.

“Baby,” he groaned as her fingers stroked him over his underwear. “I swear when I smelled you getting wet, I nearly came.”

“Oh?” She pressed the heel of her palm against him.

“Fffuuck.” He moved his hips, thrusting his cock against her. “That feels so good. Which is why I have to do this.” He stopped and wrapped a hand around her wrist. He pulled them up, so they were sitting on the couch. “Violet, we can’t do this. Not—”

Her chest stopped vibrating, and she recoiled. “It’s fine,” she said, her voice going flat.

Before she could stand up, he grabbed her hands. “Violet, listen to me.”

“I said it’s fine. You already told me you don’t want me.”

“Goddamnit!” He let out a frustrated groan. “This is why we can’t have sex. There’s so much we need to talk about.”

She looked at him, stunned by his words. Her usual cool mask slipped on. “What is there to talk about? Unless you don’t really want—”

“Stop throwing my words in my face, dammit.” He ran a hand through his hair. “Can’t you see how muddy things are between us? I was about to explain everything to you last night when Melanie showed up. We need to sort things out before we jump into bed.”

She crossed her arms over her chest. “That’s rich coming from someone who’s ‘drowning in so much pussy’,” she sneered. When Nathan’s face faltered, she instantly regretted her words. “Nathan—”

A soft brrrrr sound made them both stop and turn their heads. Nathan’s phone was dancing on the coffee table. With a frustrated grunt, he grabbed it.

“Hello … yeah … okay. Text me the location. We’ll be there.” He tossed the phone on the couch. “Get dressed,” he said, his tone clipped.

“Nathan? I’m so—”

“I’ll meet you out here in five,” he said, then turned his back to her.

She watched him walk up the stairs and disappear into the door of what she assumed what his bedroom. Her heart grew heavy, and she felt her stomach drop all the way to her knees.

Damn her stupid emotions! Why was she acting like this? His actions and words confused the hell out of her, that’s why. Combined with the emotional rollercoaster that was yesterday …

She refused to give into her feelings. Even though her tiger was whimpering with hurt, she took it and locked it away. She was in charge here. And she refused to let Nathan Caldwell control what she was feeling. Not when there was work to be done.

We have to save her, she told her tiger. Save Joanne. Because we couldn’t save Nadia.

Her tiger roared in fury and its claws came out, like it always did when it remembered what happened to the little girl. Their adopted little cub.

Don’t worry, she told it as she made her way back to the guest room. You’ll have your chance to use those claws.

* * *

The car ride was silent and tense. Not that Violet expected anything different. Nathan had been waiting for her when she came out to the living room. He didn’t even say anything, just walked out the door. Didn’t look at her, didn’t acknowledge her presence. Instead, his steely gaze stared straight ahead. He didn’t even protest when she got into the car.

Violet wasn't expecting riveting conversation but to pretend she didn’t exist was going too far. For God’s sake, he was the one who turned her down for sex again and he was mad? He kissed her first. She didn’t proposition him this time, so he didn’t have any excuse.

I’m not making that mistake again. Sure, he was hot. Those eyes could melt her panties away and that body … and his cock, so thick and hard under her palms. Stop!

She was just frustrated. Maybe after all this was done, she’d have a session or five with her Battery Operated Boyfriend. At least BOB never let her down.

The Mustang screeched to a halt, and Violet jolted forward, the seatbelt digging across her chest. She looked outside. “Where are we?”

The sound of the slamming door was her answer. “Real mature, Nathan,” she mumbled under her breath as she nearly tore the buckle off.

As she stepped out of the car, she looked around them. They had stopped on the side of the highway in a small lay-by. Luke was standing off to the side, his feet planted apart and his tattooed arms crossed over his wide chest. Violet shivered when their gazes clashed, and her tiger shrank back. His lion – what else could he be with those long blond locks? – was so dominant, she wondered how any other shifter could even stand to be in his presence for long periods of time. It made her uncomfortable just being next to him, let alone when he turned those tawny golden eyes on her.

“Well, we’re here,” Nathan said as he kicked a pebble out of his way. “What do you have?”

“I staked out the bar ‘till closing time. Then I followed the bikers to their compound.” Luke nodded behind him. “It’s about half a mile that way. They were up all night, so I don’t think they’re awake or sober yet.”

“We should go check it out,” Nathan said. He brushed past Violet and disappeared into the trees.

Luke gestured for her to go ahead. “I’ll take up the rear.”

“Thanks.”

She followed behind Nathan, keeping her distance, but not too much that Luke had to slow down. At least neither Luke nor Nathan made her stay behind in the car. She was ready to fight them tooth and claw for her right to be here.

Nathan stopped and put his hand up, and Violet nearly collided into him because she wasn’t paying attention. He shot her a dirty look.

“That it?” Nathan asked and Luke nodded.

The compound was surrounded by a barbed-wire fence that was twelve feet high. From this angle, she could only see one large structure that looked like it had several rooms continuously added to it like some type of Frankenbuilding.

“Not quite up to building code,” Nathan said in a low voice. “So, what did you learn, Luke?”

“After The Bitter End closed, I saw the Kings bring out two guys, both tied up. Probably your kidnappers. Tossed ‘em into a van and they all drove out here.”

“Then?”

“There was lots of partying. More alcohol, drinking, girls. Then, lots of screaming.”

“Screaming?” Violet asked.

“They took the two men into the back room,” he nodded to the structure closest to them, “and worked them over. They got a good beating. Probably passed out a couple of times, then got woken up so they could start all over again.”

Violet gasped. “Are they dead?”

“No. Still alive. Before I came to get you guys, I could still hear ‘em breathing and moaning.”

“Is that fence electrified?” Nathan asked.

“Yep. I could jump over it and turn off the alarm.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Nathan said.

“I should do it,” Violet interjected.

“You?” Luke asked.

“Yes,” she said, reaching for the top button of her shirt.

Nathan’s face turned red. “Luke will do it,” he said in a tight voice.

“Why? Tigers have a higher vertical leap than lions.”

“If we were equally matched,” Luke countered. “You could jump twelve feet, max. That’s still not enough to get over that fence without getting barbecued.”

She gritted her teeth. “I once got over a brick wall what was fifteen feet high. When was the last time you had to do that?” When neither men said anything, she let out a frustrated groan. “What’s the plan anyway, gentlemen? Once I turn off the fence, then what? Are you going to storm in? Or quietly take their prisoners and interrogate them?”

When they didn’t answer, she puffed out an angry breath. This was just like last night when she and Melanie were waiting in the car. Nathan said he’d get the information they needed, but they’d been sitting out there for twenty minutes and she had grown frustrated. “Men,” she groaned, then turned around.

“Violet!” Nathan hissed, but she ignored him as she sprinted away.

The barbed wire fence went all the way to the front gate. It was closed and one guy sat in a chair, playing with his phone, seemingly guarding the compound. She walked closer to him and called his attention. “Excuse me.”

The guard—a young man who didn’t look older than twenty—looked up from his phone. His eyes widened when he saw her and he quickly got to his feet. “Whaddaya want, lady?” he asked, his voice sounding like he was barely past puberty.

She raised a brow at him. “I need to see Prez, young man.”

He let out a chuckle. “No one can just walk up here and asks for Prez. Whaddaya think this is? A fucking information desk at the mall?”

Unperturbed, she walked closer, her nose almost touching the gate. “Tell him the shifter from last night is here.” She brought her tiger to the surface, flashing its glowing cat eyes at him.

The man gulped audibly. “Jesus, you for real, lady? I thought they were all joshin’ me when they told me about the crazy shifter lady who beat up Ruiz!”

“I assure you I’m very real.” She opened her mouth and bared her fangs at him.

He jumped back. “F-fine! I’ll tell Prez, but I can’t guarantee he’ll want to see you.” He turned tail and disappeared into the building behind him.

“Violet, Goddamnit!”

Nathan ran up to her, then stopped a few inches from where she as standing. Luke was behind him, casually strolling toward them, the expression his face unreadable. “What the fuck are you up to? Don’t you know these men are dangerous? What do you think you’re going to do? Just walk up here and then they’ll open the gate and welcome you?”

As if on cue, there was a loud click followed by a motorized whirring as the gates swung open.

Violet gave him a smug look. “I guess so.” As she turned to walk into the compound, a hand on her elbow stopped her.

“Violet, wait.”

“I’m done waiting,” she said without looking back. “You can wait. Or you can follow me. Your choice.” She continued walking inside, ignoring Nathan’s curses as he caught up to her.

“In there,” the young guard said, pointing to the door that led into the main building.

“Thank you.” Her parents had raised her to be polite after all.

The first thing Violet noticed about the inside of the Kings of Death compound was the smell. Unwashed bodies, alcohol, smoke, weed, and God-knows-what else. It took every ounce of her strength not to gag.

The bikers definitely had a wild party last night based on the empty bottles of liquor, broken furniture, and passed out people in various states of undress all over the floor. She stepped over a snoring man who was only wearing boxer shorts on her way to the pool table where Prez and a few of his men were gathering.

“Look who’s here,” Prez said. He was shirtless, his hair sticking up and his eyes bloodshot. “Remember when I told you this chick had the balls the size of melons? Forget what I said; they’re the size of fucking Kansas.” The men behind him laughed. “So, lady, what brings you here? I’m sure it’s not the company.”

“I need to talk to your men. The ones who kidnapped those girls.”

He took a pull from his beer bottle. “You don’t give up, do you? How do you know they’re still alive? We could have buried them somewhere and you’ll never find ‘em.”

“I can hear them breathing,” she lied. Technically Luke did, but he didn’t have to know that.

“Shit.” Prez put the bottle down. “I don’t know why, but I like ya, lady. Maybe it’s cuz you could probably shred me to pieces with your pretty little claws.”

“I could,” she said.

“Good thing you got me while I’m in a good mood. I’ve had my morning beer, smoked some dope, had some pussy.”

“Sounds like a busy morning.”

He laughed. “All right. If it’ll get you and your girlfriends,” he motioned to Nathan and Luke, “off my back, you can have a couple minutes with them.” He nodded to his men. “Go get those bastards outta the tank and bring ‘em here.”

Violet didn’t let her guard down. Beside her, neither did Luke and Nathan. She was glad they were keeping their mouths shut even though she could feel the tension from both men. Prez was allowing her to stay in control, at least for now.

“Here they are,” Prez said as four of his bikers dragged the men in. They dumped their bloody, limp bodies on the floor. One guy walked to the fridge, got a bottle of water, and dumped it on their faces.

“Prez! I’m sorry!” Ellis, the younger one shouted as he came to consciousness. His face was bloody, his upper lip split, and one eye closed shut. “I swear, it was all Ruiz’s idea!”

“Fucking rat!” Ruiz roared, wiping water from his face which was in an even worse state than Ellis’s. He looked up at Violet. “I ain’t talking.”

“Who paid you to kidnap them?” Nathan asked.

“I-I-I don’t know who,” Ellis said. “It was Ruiz’s contact. He said it was ten grand per girl, and we could split it if I helped.”

“Where’d you stash them?” Nathan asked.

Ellis looked at Ruiz, who gave him a death glare. When he shut his mouth, Nathan reached down and grabbed him by the neck. “You know I can snap your spine in half and eat you whole, right?” He bared his canines at Ellis and let out a growl that was pure wolf.

“P-p-please no!”

The acidic smell of urine assaulted Violet’s nose. “Are they still alive?” she asked.

“They were when we delivered them. The guy gave us this medicine, right? And told us to inject them to make sure they didn’t shift into their animals. But they weren’t dangerous or anything; no bears or wolves or anythin’ with teeth. That last girl, I saw her grow wings. Ruiz struggled with her because she was tryin’ to fight back, and I didn’t have the stuff ready. Anyway, after we grab ‘em, we bring them to this warehouse.”

“Where?” Luke asked.

“I-i-t’s the old canning factory at the edge of town. Right by the old 79.”

Luke and Nathan looked at each other. Violet knew something was up. She turned to Prez. “Thank you for all your help. We’ll be headed out now.”

Prez laughed, then his face turned serious. “I’d invite you to come back, but I don’t want any more trouble.”

“I promise I shall never darken your door again,” Violet said as she pivoted on her heel and walked out. By the time she, Nathan, and Luke were out of the compound and the gate shut behind them, her heart rate had mostly returned to normal.

“That was stupid and reckless!” Nathan roared. “What the fuck were you thinking?”

“Don’t cuss at me,” she bit back. “And I got things done, right? Besides, I knew they weren’t going to hurt me. They said they don’t hurt women and children.”

“That’s not the point!” Nathan gripped her arms. “Walking into dangerous situations can get you killed!”

Violet shrugged his hands off. “I’m still alive and I’ve survived far worse! Stop acting like you care about what happens to me, especially after the way you’ve treated me this entire morning.”

“For God’s sake—”

“Can we can the personal shit for a second?” Luke asked with a snort of annoyance.

A sobering wave washed over her. “Right. We should go check out that old factory then.” A look passed between Luke and Nathan again. “There’s something else, isn’t there? What aren’t you telling me?”

Nathan nodded at Luke. “You heard what he said, right?”

“Oh yeah.”

“What?” Violet asked.

“He said they had to inject those girls with something. To stop them from shifting.”

She shrugged. “Seems logical to me.” There were a few substances that could incapacitate a shifter or even suppress their animals for a short time. They were all expensive and difficult to obtain, but she doubted that was a problem for anyone who could afford to pay ten thousand dollars per kidnapping.

“Initially, I thought these guys were after girls in general,” Nathan said.

What he was saying struck her. “You mean … someone paid those men to kidnap shifters?”

Luke’s face went grim. “Sounds like it.”

“Whatever for?”

“Who the fuck knows?” Nathan’s fingers tightened into fists. “These bastards … they could be connected to whoever’s been causing trouble for us. Someone already tried to blow up Matthew and Catherine’s wedding.”

“And that’s why Ari Stavros and Hank are putting up a branch of The Agency in Blackstone,” Luke added. “There’s a group of people out there who wants all shifters gone.”

Violet’s mind went through the list of known anti-shifter groups. “Who could it be? SPHK? Humans First?”

“None of the usual suspects,” Nathan said with a shake of his head. “Bigger. And they’re not lobbying to take away our rights or holding up hate signs at rallies.”

“They’re out to eliminate us,” Luke finished.

Violet felt the blood drain from her face. “How …”

“Christina’s been sharing her intelligence with us,” Nathan said. “She wants to make sure we’re informed, especially with her still getting things settled. When Hank gathered us and told his plan, we said we’d all pitch in. Me, Matthew, Jason of course, Ben, Luke, as well as the Sybil and Kate.”

“But how can you be sure it’s them?”

Nathan’s face grew dark. “That canning factory Ellis was talking about? That used to be owned by Hank Lennox’s father. One day, the county just decided to move the town line, so it was right in the middle of the factory. The people of Verona Mills got all up in arms about having a dragon shifter owning something in their town, so he had to shut it down.”

Luke’s mouth tightened into a straight line. “If these guys put one of their headquarters at the town line, and in one of the old Lennox factories, you know they’re planning something big with Blackstone.”

“Not to mention the biggest ‘fuck you’ to the Lennoxes,” Nathan added.

“These guys don’t mess around,” Luke said. “Which is why we need to call Christina and Jason now and see what they say.”

“We can’t just stand around waiting for them,” Violet said, the urgency in her voice evident.

“We can’t expose ourselves and what we know. We’d blow Christina’s operation and alert this group to our plans.”

“I don’t care,” Violet said. “I’m going to that warehouse, and you two can sit here and twiddle your thumbs.”

“And we need to go higher up the food chain,” Luke said, “so we can put these bastards away.” He put his hands on his hips and loomed over Violet.

Her tiger hissed but shrank back when it felt Luke’s lion roar at her.

“Stop,” Nathan said, his eyes glowing. “Luke, I swear to God, if you keep doing that to her I’m going to tear you a new asshole.”

“I can do that by myself, thank you,” Violet said, scrunching up every piece of courage she had.

“For fuck’s sake!” Nathan let out a frustrated growl. “Look, why don’t we drive over there, gather intel, and call Christina and Jason on the way?”

It’s a good compromise, Violet thought begrudgingly. “Fine. Let’s go.” But she wasn’t going to make any promises about staying put until they got back up. If she found out Joanne or any other innocent shifter was in there being held against their will, she was going to save them—with or without Nathan and Luke’s help.