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Richard and Steven Hewlett had been our competitors back in Arizona.

They’d branched out into similar businesses as us.

We’d always been friendly and played the rivalry the way some guys played pick-up basketball games—bragging rights and nothing more.

They were good guys. I had no idea they were looking to expand.

“Hell, I’m okay with them buying,” I said. “Especially if it’s a cash offer. We could wire the money here in a day. I could pay Kyle off, and it’ll give us some breathing room at least.”

“I think it’s a good fit. Plus, I know those two are good for it. Could be the ideal situation.”

“Do you think Harbor Mills Bank and Trust will have enough cash on hand for when we need to withdraw?” I asked.

“Doubt it,” Trent said. “I’m sure they’ll have at least twenty-five grand, but that might deplete their funds. You’ll probably need to head to a bank in Atlanta.”

That was inconvenient. Though, if I did head to the city, I could take Avery with me and treat her to a real date. It had been a long time, and she might like it.

“Realtor’s gonna call me back in a bit and give me the update,” Trent said. “If it looks good, I’ll e-sign the paperwork today, if you’re good with it.”

“Sure. Sounds good. Well, we’ll figure out that bank issue when we get to it,” I said. “While I’ve got you here, do you remember Clifton Vonn and Tyler Barron?”

“Vaguely. Why?”

“Pack elders put them up as options for our enforcer. What do you think about them?”

“I don’t want to bad-mouth guys I haven’t talked to or seen in almost twenty years, but I don’t think either one is going to be enforcer material. I mean, maybe they’ve changed, but I can’t picture it. Both had the look back in the day, but… I don’t know.”

I nodded grimly. “Yeah, that’s kinda what I thought. Let’s keep looking. Might be someone the elders didn’t think about. A guy who may not want to be enforcer, but would be good at it?”

“Right. I’ll keep asking around town. Maybe try to make contact with some people I used to talk to back in the day. Do you want to meet in person today somewhere and get deeper into this?”

My phone beeped in my ear, and I pulled it away from my ear. Avery was calling.

“I gotta go. Avery’s calling me. Where do you want to meet?”

“I’m getting a haircut later. Meet at the barbershop downtown in, say, an hour?”

“That works. Bye.”

“Talk to you later.”

I grinned as I switched to Avery’s call, excited to hear her voice. That smile evaporated as soon as she spoke.

“Cole, I just got off the phone with Kyle.”

“What?” I stood from my seat, my inner wolf snarling. “He called you?”

“He did.”

That fucker had no reason to be talking to my mate. Not on the phone, not in person, nothing.

“What did he say?” I snarled through gritted teeth.

“Mostly, he was being a creep. He’s been checking up on me, apparently. He knows most of my history.”

Rage surged through me, and I lifted a fist, ready to send it crashing down on the table. I desperately wanted to break something, but I reined my anger in and lowered my hand.

“He said some other things, though,” Avery went on. “About what happened with Farrah yesterday.”

“Yeah? Gloating over his little show?”

“Sort of, but it’s what he said about why he did it. He said, ‘Consider it a favor for Dallas.’”

Ice flooded my veins. Dallas? Had he asked Kyle to fuck with Farrah?

I didn’t want to think about that. Sure, he didn’t have a good opinion of our family, but Farrah had tried real hard to bring him into the family fold.

It hurt my heart to think that meant so little, that he was bitter enough to use scare tactics like a butchered wolf to screw around with her, and by association, me.

No, it couldn’t be. He’d already tried to help us. Why would he torture an animal to scare us, if he was trying to help me get out of this situation?

“I can’t see Dallas asking for something like that. If he was so pissy about the past, why did he warn me? Why’s Kyle knocking him around? This doesn’t make any sense to me.”

“Me neither,” Avery said. “But it’s what he said.”

“I’m meeting up with Trent in an hour. We’ll talk about it, see if we can come up with anything. I may need to try to make contact with Dallas. Get his side of the story on this.”

“Is there anything I can do to help?”

“It’s fine. No need to worry about it. I promise I’ll get all this sorted. Eventually .”

“If you say so,” Avery said. “I trust you, but it’s still freaking me out. I don’t like that asshole calling me on my personal phone.”

“The security system is armed, right? House is secure?”

“It is, but I’m about to go to the store. Ashton is eating enough to feed an elephant. I’m out of food already, and I just went grocery shopping.”

The thought of Avery going out alone after getting a cryptic call from Kyle didn’t sit well with me.

“Hold off for a bit,” I said. “I’m meeting Trent in about an hour. We’ll be near the grocery store. Can you wait until then?”

“Yeah,” she sighed. “It’s gonna take me an hour to write the grocery list at this point.”

“Text me when you’re on your way, and when you get inside the store. I’ll head that way once you get there.”

We ended the call, and I sat in the office for a long time, staring unseeing at the walls.

Threads weren’t coming together like they should.

This whole situation, which had looked fairly simple from the outset, was getting murkier the more I uncovered.

Lots of money was missing, and the gambling story was looking flimsier by the day.

There was no proof that Dad had flushed it all away.

All I’d found were some receipts and his browser history showing he liked to gamble.

The sheer audacity of the aggression with which Kyle was pushing us didn’t make sense, either.

Money was important, yes, but I’d already said I would pay .

So why was he still threatening us? He was acting like we’d missed a payment deadline or told him to fuck off.

This all appeared personal in some way. Money, of all things in the world, was one of the most impersonal things I could imagine. And in the middle of it all was Dallas.

I met Trent at the barbershop, my head still swimming with questions. The barber, an ancient man named Claude Shipley, was a human who had a good relationship with the pack. The man had been old even when I’d been a kid, but his little barbershop was an institution in Harbor Mills.

“Afternoon, Claude,” I said as I walked in.

He was just buttoning the cape around Trent’s shoulders as I walked in. “Good day, Cole. How are you?” the little man said.

“Better than I deserve.” I eyed the man and glanced around the building. The three of us were totally alone.

“Got something on your mind?” Trent asked.

Ignoring him, I spoke to Claude again. “Hey, Claude? Me and Trent have some stuff to discuss. Can we trust you to keep it all confidential?”

Claude nodded and grinned. “Do you one better,” he said, and plucked his hearing aids out of his ears. “Silence is bliss,” he said in a somewhat louder voice than he’d spoken with before.

The old man was almost completely deaf without those hearing aids.

“Fair enough,” I said, pulling up a seat to sit beside Trent as Claude started in on Trent’s hair.

“Kyle called Avery,” I said.

Trent’s eyes widened. “Are fucking serious?”

“Wish I wasn’t.”

Trent snarled, his lip curling in disgust. “That piece of shit has his eye on her for some reason.”

“I’m heading to the store to meet her and Ashton in a minute. Don’t want them alone out in the open for too long.”

“You already know my thoughts on this,” Trent said, giving me that savage look he got when he’d reached his limit. “I could end this quick and easy. You say the word, and the fucker catches a bullet tonight.”

Murder was not something I was okay with. I hadn’t lived the life Trent had—had never been trained to kill and look at it as nothing more than a job. If push came to shove, though, I knew I’d do what needed to be done, but I didn’t think we were at that point yet. Not yet, anyway.

“Not now. We’ll keep playing this game and see how it goes once we pay him. Maybe he’ll back off at that point. But,” I added wearily, “I don’t know that this is really about money. You want to know what Kyle told Avery today?”

“I don’t think so, but go ahead.”

“He said something about the stuff with Farrah being a gift either from or for Dallas. Something like that.”

Trent snorted. “That sounds like bullshit. I’m with you—this feels like something bigger than money—but I don’t see your brother being involved.”

“I don’t think so, either. I think he’s just a henchman or something. A guy on Kyle’s payroll. But that’s what scares me about the possibility of taking Kyle out.”

“How so?”

“What if Kyle is a middleman of some sort? What if he’s working for someone else the way Dallas works for him? We could knock Kyle off and end up with an even worse monster coming for us.”

“True,” Trent agreed. “Probably best to figure out exactly what the hell is going on first.”

“That’s my thought. We can’t act until we’re completely sure what we’re dealing with.” I sighed, collecting my thoughts. “Speaking of acting, did you think of anyone we could approach for enforcer?”

“Not off the top of my head. We’ve got time. I’m here, I can do the job for a while. At least until we find someone full-time.”

My phone buzzed.

Avery: Just got to the store.

I stood. “I need to get out of here.”

“Almost forgot,” Trent said. “Realtor called me back. The sale is all good. Wire transfer is heading to a bank in Atlanta. Should be available tomorrow at the latest. We got more than we actually thought, but I’m only having twenty-five thousand sent there.

Enough to get this prick off our back for a bit. ”