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The instant I saw the house, I knew something was wrong. The door stood wide open, the area around the lock completely torn apart, as if someone had forced their way in.

Without thinking, without even scouting the area to make sure there wasn’t anyone lying in wait or moving in with caution in case whoever had broken in was still there, I dashed into the house, leaving Chris and Nolan behind me.

“Kendra?” I called, even as I already knew it would be useless. She had either run the instant someone had broken in or the intruders had taken her.

Or she’s dead , an annoying voice whispered in the back of my head. I let out a snarl as I pushed the thought from my head. It wasn’t going to do anyone any good.

Her scent was stale. A knife lay on the kitchen floor as if someone had dropped it, but that was the only sign of a struggle.

“Is she here?” Nolan asked when he entered.

“No,” I barked. I could smell an acrid, burning smell. The scent of another shifter, though it was as stale as Kendra’s. I thought I recognized it.

Ronan. They had found out what we did sooner than we expected.

“God, I’m a fucking idiot,” I snarled. “I should have brought her to the portal last night. At the very least, I should have left one of you guys here to keep an eye on her.”

“He moved faster than we thought he would,” Chris said. “You couldn’t have known.”

I growled, not answering.

“It’s not all over. We know who took her,” Nolan said. “We know where she is.”

I let out another snarl. “You’re right,” I spat, and I spun on my heels. “Let’s go have a chat with Cain.”

***

We marched through the building, expecting to be stopped at any moment, but meeting no opposition whatsoever. I came to a halt in front of the guards blocking Cain’s office, glowering at them, preparing for a fight.

“I’m here to see Cain,” I growled.

Instead of saying no or asking why or even looking the least bit confused, they simply nodded and stepped to the side. “He’s waiting for you,” one of them growled.

Apprehension nagged at the back of my brain, but I shoved it away. I didn’t care if Cain expected us or if it was a trap. I was here to get Kendra back, and I wasn’t going to leave until that happened. Being allowed to waltz into his office just made that easier.

Cain lounged behind his desk, waiting. He smirked as he watched me march forward, the glee seeming to spread every second.

“To what do I owe the pleasure?” he drawled, even though we both knew why I was here.

“You took Kendra,” I growled.

“Yes, I did,” he said simply. “And you and your Gold Wolves friends attacked my men and tried to kidnap my soon-to-be bride.”

Chris let out a low snarl. But I barely noticed, more interested in his statement.

“You know who we are, then?” I said.

He gave a slow nod. “I didn’t at first. You gave it a good run. I only figured it out after you tried to get Morgan out of her cell. I did some research on you and finally made the connection. I wanted to know what I was getting myself into before reclaiming my property. Otherwise, I would have had Ronan knock down your door last night.”

Property. He was talking about Kendra. I growled and took a step forward.

“Take one more step, and I’ll kill her while you watch,” Cain said without a hint of mirth or idle threat in the words.

I stopped, but I bristled with rage while my wolf howled at me, wanting to do something. This was the man who had kidnapped Kendra. My wolf wanted to teach him a lesson. But I couldn’t, not while Kendra was in danger.

“Let’s talk about this like civilized men,” Cain said.

I growled, forcing myself not to lunge at him and tear his throat out. There was no way in hell I was going to play nice with this asshole.

“Give me Kendra,” I said, “or I swear I’ll tear you limb from limb.”

He barked out a laugh. “Not particularly civilized, now is it?”

“Where. Is. She.”

“It doesn’t matter. You’re never going to get to her in time,” he jeered.

I frowned, unease crawling up my spine. “What do you mean?” I asked.

He grinned. “I mean, if you go after her, you’re never getting out of here alive.”

“Enough with the idle threats,” I said. “They’re getting old.”

Raising an eyebrow, he smirked. “Nothing idle about them. I’m talking facts. This place is compromised, now that you’ve found it,” he said. “Which means I’m going to close the portal.”

“Why are you telling us?” Chris asked.

“Since I don’t want more trouble with the Gold Wolves than I already have, I’m going to offer you a deal. A rather generous one, I might add.”

“Your benevolence is astounding,” Nolan quipped.

“What’s the deal, exactly?” I asked.

Cain gave a sleazy grin that would have made a car salesman jealous. “If you leave now and go quietly through the portal, then you can leave unscathed,” he said. “If you decide to stay, the instant the portal closes, every single person will be out hunting for you. I plan on putting a rather generous bounty on each of your heads.”

I stared, the implications of the offer reverberating inside me. Leave and stay alive to fight another day, or go find Kendra and risk being stuck here to likely die.

“And how are we supposed to trust you?” Chris demanded. “This could all be some sort of trap.”

Cain rolled his eyes. “If I wanted you dead, I would have brought more men to your house when I sent Ronan to collect my property.”

“She’s not your property,” I snarled.

“Do you really want to do this now?” Cain asked. “Point being, if I wanted you dead, you’d be dead already. I don’t particularly want to have to look over my shoulder for the rest of the Gold Wolves for the rest of my life. It’s not a very appealing thought, now, is it?”

“We’ll come after you, anyway,” I scoffed.

He laughed again. “That’s assuming you’ll find this place again. You coming across it once was a fluke. And even if you do happen to defy the odds and discover us again, I have other leverage that I can use.”

“What’s to stop us from killing you right now?” I asked.

He examined his nails. “I’ve already sent out the order for the portals. It’s a done deal.” He grinned, showing fangs. “I also have outstanding orders for my men to kill both Kendra and Morgan if they don’t hear from me. So the instant you kill me, those two are as good as dead. And based on the way you’ve been acting while here, I doubt you want anything bad to happen to either of them.”

I stared, that disbelief and rage building inside me, rendering me mute. I let out a low growl as I imagined tearing him to shreds, but knowing I couldn’t. He had all the cards.

Yawning, he stood, pushing himself away from his desk. “This has been a fascinating conversation, but I have things I need to take care of,” he said, sauntering toward a back door. “I would head toward the portal quickly if I were you.”

He strolled out of the office, the door closing behind him. Part of me wanted to chase after him and tear him to ribbons. But doing that would more or less forfeit Kendra’s life.

I growled, running my fingers through my hair, trying to keep my rage in check as I mused over everything. The options were obvious. We leave now and have the chance to continue the mission. If we stay, then the mission would be scuttled, and we would almost certainly die.

My head swam as I contemplated everything that had happened in the last handful of minutes. What was more, Cain was offering us an out. There was a chance he was lying, but I was inclined to believe him. He was a smart guy. He knew that the rest of the Gold Wolves would go after him with a vengeance if he killed one of us. Letting us go and keeping two hostages with him would let him keep his operation running, and he would have time to take precautions against us in the future. But if we left, we would have the chance to come back. We found them once. We could find them again.

At which point, Kendra would probably have been sold to some random person to get her out of his hair, and Morgan would be married to him, and it would be even harder to get her away , I thought.

Leave and abandon Kendra, but salvage the mission? Or go after Kendra and abandon the mission?

It should have been an obvious answer. One gave us the chance to come back, to keep the mission alive—the thing we were here for in the first place. The mission should always come first. It was one of the first things you learned in spec ops. But just the thought of abandoning Kendra, of leaving her to this place, made me sick to my stomach. I couldn’t. I couldn’t leave her here to deal with whatever punishment Cain had in mind for her.

For once, I was able to see past the mission to things that might be more important than completing the job. If I left, I was abandoning Kendra. That was something I couldn’t do, even at the cost of the mission.

It didn’t make sense. I had always seen the mission as the most important thing in any situation. This time was different. At first, I couldn’t figure out why. Then it hit me, a realization that should have been obvious from the beginning.

I loved Kendra.

It was as simple as that. I loved Kendra. I loved her tenacity, her stubborn streak, her determination to do what was right. I liked the way she challenged my worldview. She might run head-first into trouble, but she did it because she knew it was the right thing to do. She cared about her family and would move heaven and earth to protect them. She was beautiful, clever, and didn’t show fear.

I loved her, and I couldn’t leave her here, even if it meant the mission fell apart. I wasn’t going to leave her here alone.

“Will, what’s the plan?” Chris’s voice pierced through my thoughts.

I shook my head to clear it. “I’m staying,” I said. “I can’t leave without Kendra.”

“Yeah, sort of figured that would happen,” Nolan said.

I blinked, momentarily taken aback. “What?”

“We have eyes, you know,” Nolan said.

“It was pretty obvious you cared about her,” Chris said. “Otherwise, you wouldn’t have gone to these lengths.”

“You’re not as subtle as you think,” Nolan added cheerfully.

“Right.” I coughed. “Anyway, I’m wasting time. Any idea where they might be holding her?”

“Probably either in the same area they were keeping Morgan or the place next door,” Nolan said. “My guess is the place next door. Cain isn’t going to want her and Morgan too close to one another.”

“In that case, I’m going there,” I said, turning toward the door.

“She’s not going to leave without Morgan,” Chris pointed out as he came into step next to me.

“Then I’ll get Morgan as well,” I said. “You two get through the portal. Tell Declan what happened and find a way to stop Cain.”

Both Nolan and Chris gave me dumbfounded looks.

“You’re an idiot if you think we’re leaving you here,” Nolan said. “We happen to like your too-serious, borderline-surly demeanor. It adds so much flavor to the group.”

“Pretty much,” Chris agreed. “We’re with you until the end.”

I let out an annoyed huff. In one way, this was good. I needed all the help I could get if we wanted to get both Morgan and Kendra out of here. On the other hand, if we all died…

Then don’t die , a voice in my head told me, rather reasonably.

“All right,” I said. “Let’s get going.”