Page 88 of Carnage Island

I gape at him. “What?”

He shrugs. “I like pain. It’s my skill.” His eyes heat with the words and I swallow. “Maybe you can come with me on my next assignment.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea, V,” Tieran says, entering the room next.

Definitely wolf hearing, I decide. I couldn’t hear them approaching because they seem to make no sound when they walk, the three of them skilled predators who move on silent feet.

“Why not?” Volt asks, pausing to glance at the approaching male. He’s dressed similarly in jeans, but also has on a pair of boots. “I researched the Senator yesterday. He’s a prick who rapes women. I even found a video of him taking one of his barely legal interns last week. Not only will he be an easy kill, he actually deserves it.”

“A-a video?” I repeat, somehow stuck on that more than the rest of his statements.I kill for moneyshould probably have been my first concern, but somehow that news doesn’t shock me as much. Volt possesses a lethal aura, one that definitely screamsmurderous intent.

“Yeah, I was using the camera in his computer to study his office layout and instead ended up watching his naked ass drill into a crying intern.” He shudders. “I didn’t actually need the extra detail to want to kill him as I tend not to ask questions, but I think I’ll enjoy making him suffer a little more.”

“Hence the reason I don’t think Clove should watch,” Tieran interjects.

“I’m not shy about who I am, T,” Volt tells him. “She needs to know who she’s getting into bed with, so why not show her?”

Tieran studies him for a long beat while I swallow, uncertain of how to feel.

Volt has a point—I want to know more about these men and their clan. My wolf already accepts them and considers them hers, but it would be nice to understand them better.

“Do you kill for fun?” I ask, interrupting the heated silence.

“Yes,” Volt says without remorse. “I enjoy it.”

“But you always have a reason for it, like the Senator raping women?” I press.

“I enjoy those kills more, but that’s not always the case,” he replies. “I take jobs to fulfill the lethal urges of my wolf and I never ask questions. But I almost always learn something about the mark that warrants their death, which is why I usually end up enjoying the kill. On the off chance I don’t, I make it quick.”

All three men study me, waiting to see how I’ll react.

I’m not quite sure how to feel.

Death is a part of life, and mortals tend to experience it far earlier than my kind. Shifters stop aging around thirty years old and many breeds can live forever, unless taken down by silver.

But he’s not talking about killing shifters, he’s talking about assassinating humans.

Because he’s paid to do it.

That makes whoever hired him the true culprit; Volt’s just carrying out the task. Wolves take down prey every day, and while we may be part-human, we are more animal than anything else. He’s using his skills to make money to support the pack, and also slaying whatever violent urges he seems to possess in the process.

I can’t exactly fault him for that.

And…“I’m guessing this is where some of your blackmail comes from?” The thought leaves me on a question, one I direct at Caius.

He grins. “Yes, among many other things. Typically, when someone deals in death, they’re playing with other darker schemes as well.”

“Which you use to extort money from them,” I translate.

“Not exactly. We mostly use it to maintain our favor for other business dealings.” Caius must read the confusion in my features because he continues speaking. “Say there’s a company we want to purchase and it’s going to the highest bidder. We may find ourselves as that highest bidder, except it’s the blackmail inflating the cost.”

“Or we don’t pay at all,” Volt says. “And it’s given to us as a gift for our continued silence.”

“That, too,” Caius murmurs.

“Why do you inherit companies?” I ask. “What do you do with them?”

“We repurpose them into legal organizations that we funnel money through,” Tieran explains. “And we employ people who need it.”