Page 5

“No. Shit.” An awful thought occurred to him just as the door opened and Riley and Alex walked in with loaded trays. He stared at Riley. “You need to warn Daniel to keep Luke away.”

Riley grinned. “Already done.”

“The Ashani wolf,” Victor murmured, understanding immediately. Zack hated that Victor knew all their secrets, but they’d had to tell Raschid for safety, and Zack understood that as Raschid’s beta commander, Victor would be told.

But yeah, Luke had to stay away or he could easily give Lachlan a wolf simply by touching him.

“Thought you two would be hungry,” Riley said and moved to the bed. “How’s he doing?”

“Shouldn’t he be waking up?” Victor asked, worry creeping into his voice.

“I’m keeping him asleep,” Riley said. “I need his body to rest.”

Alex left after Zack had thanked him. Riley stepped up and lowered the sheet, placing his hand on Lachlan’s chest. A low warning growl filled the room, but it cut off abruptly as Victor stood. “Sorry.” He crossed to the door and left quickly.

“His spleen is good, and the broken ribs. Can you roll him gently to you so I can see what the head injury is like?”

“Didn’t you heal it?” Zack blurted out the question and winced at the accusation in there.

“Internally, yes, but the actual wound itself still needs attention. Human brains can swell after trauma. Don’t forget I can’t make him shift to take care of everything. That’s what I need to check for. I couldn’t heal the skull itself until I was sure of that.”

Zack turned him gently then reluctantly let go and watched as more bruises lightened and disappeared on his mate’s skin.

“How are you doing?” Riley asked after a moment and let go. Zack immediately reclaimed Lachlan’s hand.

“How is it even possible?” Zack asked. He could tell Riley anything.

“I’m assuming you don’t mean that Lachlan is your mate, more that you don’t think Victor is?” Zack scoffed.

“No, I got lucky there.”

“Did you?” Riley asked lightly.

Zack sighed. It was complicated. “Victor’s worried that Lachlan is involved with the drugs.”

Riley pulled the small stool out from under the bed and sat down, his shoulder nudging Zack. “Let’s get Daniel on board.”

“No,” Zack said in alarm. He didn’t want the FBI agent anywhere near— “Fuck,” he whispered. They had little choice.

“This is going to be incredibly hard,” Riley said. “But hard on all three of you. Lachlan is human, and we don’t know anything about him.”

“I know,” Zack agreed, but he also knew whatever Lachlan had done or might be involved in, Zack would somehow get him out of it.

“But don’t forget how much harder this is for Victor,” Riley cautioned. “You have us. According to Raschid, Victor has nobody.”

“But I don’t even like the man,” Zack snapped out, getting the scent of wolf a second too late.

“Don’t worry,” Victor growled out as he came into the room. “The feeling is entirely mutual.”

Chapter Four

Lachlan“Mo”Grangeropenedhis eyes. Nothing hurt. He knew who he was. Had no ideawherehe was, though. Had expected to die, so depending on where he currently was, he was relieved...or not. He didn’t seem to be tied down at least.

He realized he was in a bedroom of sorts. A bed, definitely. He focused on the picture on the wall, and counted five, six,sevenkids. What the hell? Maybe...

A quiet snore, more of a rumble, came from the side and he jumped. Mo took in the enormous man stretched out in the chair. He was an absolute bear of a man, huge. Very dark brown hair, slightly wavy, which matched the dark shadowed stubble surrounding his chin and his neck. If he was guarding him, he wasn’t very—

Guarding? Crap, memory hit Mo really hard. He had to get out of here. He lurched upright and hissed in a breath as what felt like ice picks dug into his head. His feet hit the floor, and he tried to get his balance, hanging on desperately to the hand that grabbed his.