Chapitre 4: Chapter 4

“Do you really want to play the ‘if’ game?” Marcus tilted his head. “Okay, if you hadn’t ignored your mate’s anxiety—and don’t tell me you didn’t know exactly how she was feeling through your mating link—Shaya wouldn’t have needed a break.

The shifters who crashed into her car are the ones who deserve your anger.” That seemed to take some of the hot air out of Nick. Shaya slipped her arms around him, whispering soothingly into his ear.

When he focused on Roni again, his breathing had regulated and his rage was under control. But she knew that it was only the feel and scent of his mate that was keeping him composed. “Roni was hurt too,” Shaya gently pointed out.

“What?” Nick studied Roni intently. When his eyes settled on the cut on her forehead, a low growl escaped him. Great, he was back to being overprotective. She preferred his anger.

“But thankfully,” Taryn quickly injected, “everyone is fine. So how about we all sit?” It was as Roni returned to her seat and Marcus again settled on the arm of the chair that she noticed someone was missing.

“Where’s Tao?” Marcus bent his head, putting his mouth to her ear, and almost groaned as her scent furled around him. God help him, she smelled like warm cinnamon rolls and pumpkin pie.

“He’s off somewhere, feeling sorry for himself. It nicked his pride that he blacked out and couldn’t help.” Roni could understand that. “Why are you hovering over me?” And why, exactly, had he shielded her from Nick? Standing at her side or her back was one thing, but shielding her was a whole other thing. She shooed him away, but he simply smiled. “Do I make you nervous or something?” Yes .

“Of course not.” “Then you won’t have a problem with me staying right here.” He smiled when she narrowed her eyes and shrugged. “Grace said you had some pretty bad cuts.” Derren came over and lifted Roni’s hands to examine them. Instinctively, Marcus draped his arm over the back of the chair and laid a possessive hand on her shoulder.

Noting the move, the Beta smiled in amusement. Roni pulled free of Derren’s grip. “Really, I’m fine.” “You sure look fine.” Dominic smiled flirtatiously. “I swear, I could fall madly in bed with you.” Jaime laughed while everyone else groaned.

The unfairly hot blond had a habit of dishing out cheesy chat-up lines that should act more as repellents than seductive techniques. Yet, they somehow worked for him. Roni believed in giving as good as she got, so she did what she always did: she hit him with another line.

“Are you a water fountain, Dominic? Because you’re getting me wet.” He scowled petulantly. “Stop that! Saying cheesy lines is my thing!” Marcus sighed. “You have issues, Dom.” The jerk would also have a black eye if he kept that shit up with Roni.

A cute giggle was followed by the entrance of Kye and Lydia, one of the mated females. “Ro!” Roni smiled as Kye dashed toward her, holding out a small truck. Kye Coleman was the cutest thing ever and, shockingly, seemed to like her.

Ordinarily, Roni wasn’t good with anything that breathed. “Wow, is this yours?” He nodded proudly, but when she went to touch the toy, he frowned. “Mine.” He’d obviously inherited his dad’s possessive streak. With his other hand, he held out a second truck.

But when she moved to grab it, he frowned again. “Mine.” Oooookay. “It’s his new favorite word,” said Jaime, stroking the chubby ginger cat that was batting at her long sable braid. “That and ‘no.’ Aren’t you going to share with Roni?” “No.” Jaime sighed. “See what I mean?” Marcus smiled as Kye babbled to Roni, who nodded along and babbled back.

She always softened with Kye and gave him her full attention. Marcus had noticed her occasionally sneak him little treats when she thought no one was looking. Trey, a statue of barely contained rage, took position in the center of the room with Taryn at his side.

She placed a comforting hand on his arm, and some of the tension left him. “I’d like to talk about what happened, Roni. We’ve already heard Shaya and Tao’s versions. We need to piece everything together.” Everyone turned to Roni expectantly, and the massive amount of attention made her tense. To her surprise, Marcus gave her shoulder a supportive squeeze.

“The car seemed to come out of nowhere, but it was no accident. I blacked out”—she said through her teeth—“and when I woke up, two males were struggling to open the door to get to Kye. I didn’t get a good look at them.” “That’s okay,” Taryn assured her. “Shaya was able to give us detailed descriptions.” Dante leaned forward. “Did they say what they wanted with him?” Roni shook her head.

“They didn’t use names or mention any packs. But I know they weren’t wolves.” “They were jackals.” It was always a jolt to hear the mostly mute and grumpy-looking Ryan speak. “I smelled their blood in the car.” “Jackals?” Greta sneered. “Sly little things.” “I’ve never met a jackal that I liked,” said Gabe, Jaime’s brother. His mate, Hope, made a sound of agreement. “

They’re into just about every illegal activity there is and live by their own set of rules. Those rules are basically: One, don’t get caught. And two, if caught, deny everything.” Lydia’s baby-faced mate, Cam, spoke. “I think the nearest jackal pack is at least three hours away.” “Yes, and we need to talk to them.” Trey made “talk” sound more like “destroy.” Grace stood with baby Lilah in her arms.

“How about I take the kids into the kitchen? I know they won’t understand what’s being said, but . . .” “I was just about to suggest that.” Taryn shot Grace a grateful smile. “I’ll come too.” Taking Kye’s hand, Lydia led him out of the room with promises of cookies.

Once they were gone, Marcus looked at Trey. “We don’t know for sure that the jackals in question are from their pack.” Trey shrugged carelessly. “We won’t know until we ask.” What worried Marcus was that Trey might be too livid to bother “asking” anyone and would simply attack. He knew how temperamental his Alpha could be.

If it hadn’t been for Taryn’s ability to keep him calm, Trey would have already exploded by now. His wolf, who had a tendency to turn feral when enraged, had to be going insane. “Have any of you ever had problems with jackals?” asked Jaime. “We know from Popeye’s experience that even a jilted girlfriend can bring problems.”

Dante frowned at his nickname, though it suited him due to his muscular frame. “Glory wasn’t my girlfriend; she was a one-night stand.” “A one-night stand who tried to kill me, so I think we can agree that I have a point.” Trey ran his gaze around the room, one brow raised questioningly. Everybody shook their heads. Dominic spoke from where he was leaning against the wall.

“All right, so what are the usual reasons for abducting someone?” Dante puffed out a long breath. “Ransom, extortion, or blackmail. Other times, the reason is much darker, like traffick—” When Taryn held up her hand, he gently said, “We have to consider everything.

The jackals had a motive, and we need to find it.” Trey turned to Rhett, Grace’s mate and the resident computer geek. “I want you to find everything you can on the nearest jackal pack.” Rhett nodded. “I’ll have the info by morning.” Nick spoke to Trey.

“I’ll be joining you on the hunt.” “Me too.” Shaya shot Nick a cautioning glare that told him he wasn’t going to stop her. Nick chuckled humorlessly. “No fucking way.” His mate sat upright, glowering. “Those bastards put our pup in danger and tried to snatch my godson!” “Exactly. The jackals will have known who you are, Shay—they thought nothing of risking my pregnant mate’s life, just as they thought nothing of trying to kidnap Taryn and Trey’s son. That speaks of some seriously unbalanced individuals.” Taryn gave a flat smile.

“We’re not exactly known as warm, fuzzy people.” Shaya gawked at her best friend. “I do hope you’re not siding with him on this, because I’d hate to have to cut off your beautiful hair. There’s no chance I’m staying behind.” A chorus of “Nor am I” quickly followed. “

There’s something we need to consider,” Dante interrupted. “Unbalanced or not, the jackals will have known that the instincts of both Alpha pairs would be to group together their Betas and enforcers and track them down as one unit, thus leaving the rest of the two packs—particularly the pups—vulnerable.

Maybe that’s part of whatever neurotic plan they have, maybe it isn’t. But leaving either of the packs vulnerable isn’t a good idea in any case.” Taryn nodded. “He’s right. We need to be smart about this.” Trey swept his gaze around the room.

“Dante, Marcus, Ryan—I want you three to join us on the hunt.” Jaime opened her mouth to argue, but Trey silenced her with a raised hand. “I’m not leaving you behind because you’re not useful, Jaime. I need you to stay behind because you’re useful. You’re our Beta female, you’ve passed the exact same training that all of the enforcers went through, and there isn’t a person in this world who could sneak up on you.

Tao, Trick, and Dominic are tough fuckers. I need to know my son and my pack are surrounded by tough fuckers when I’m not here.” Mollified, Jaime nodded.

Dante clasped her hand in his, earning himself a hiss from the ginger cat. Seeing that her mate was about to speak, Shaya piped up, “Don’t order me to stay—” “I’m not.” She searched Nick’s face, her expression suspicious. “You’re not?” “Not if you feel you need to do this.” He exchanged an odd look with Derren, who responded with an almost imperceptible nod.

Derren’s dark eyes found Shaya. “What about the meeting you have tomorrow?” As the shifter mediator for the California packs, Shaya helped packs solve disputes in the hope that wars could be avoided.

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