Page 3 of Wed Or Dead

Chapter Three

As a rule, Gage was good at losing any tails who thought they were dumb enough to be able to track him.

This wasn’t his first life-or-death ball game. Not even close. So he raced through the city, cutting down side streets, twisting the SUV through tight alleys, and taking all the shortcuts that most wouldn’t know about in Vegas.

He switched vehicles at a run-down gas station. When they ditched the SUV for a pickup, Kayla didn’t even try to run from him. Huh. She wasn’t talking, but she wasn’t running, either. Was that a good sign?

He wasn’t sure quite what to make of it. Or her.

So he just kept heading toward the desert. Dust trailed behind them, and in his rearview mirror, he saw nothing but an open road.

No tail. No more hunters.

It looked as if they’d gotten away clean. For the moment.

Gage exhaled slowly and some of the battle-ready tension started to ease from him. The beast who’d wanted to claw his way to freedom stopped fighting the leash Gage had wrapped around the wolf ’s neck.

“You’re not just gonna dump me in the desert, are you?” Ah, his wife finally spoke. Pity her words just pissed him off.

Is that who she thinks I am? What I am? A killer. His hands clenched around the wheel. “I’ve got other plans for you.”

She took that in silence, and anger churned higher in him. He wanted Kayla to strike back at him. To yell. To explode. But she didn’t.

Kayla simply sat there, looking too sexy and fuckable, with her hair mussed and her head turned away as she glanced out at the blurring terrain. Her profile gave no hint of her emotions, but she had to be feeling something. He was about to rip apart inside.

Stick to the plan. Stick. To. It.

He’d known all along that she had secrets. The fact that was she was a hunter?—

“I let you escape.”

He laughed at her confession. Such bullshit. Did she even see it? “Sweetheart, I let myself escape.” That was why he’d booked a room on the third floor. That kind of jump was nothing to him. Always have an exit strategy—that was his motto.

Always.

He jerked the wheel to the right and barreled down the thin strip of road that most folks would never even notice, not the way it was nestled behind an old, run-down highway billboard.

From the corner of his eye, he saw Kayla stiffen. “Where are we going?” Now there was suspicion in her tone.

Because she realized that he wasn’t just blindly fleeing the city, scared of the big, old tough hunters.

Fuck that. No, fuck them. He’d never been afraid of hunters, and he wouldn’t start now. He’d left Vegas for a reason.

In less time than it took to shift, he could have taken out every man in that hotel room. He hadn’t, though, because that wouldn’t have been part of his plan—and he did have a plan.

So now it was his turn to play the silent game. But the game didn’t last long. All too soon, they were pulling up next to the small, wooden cabin that lay nestled in the middle of freaking nowhere.

Before he’d even parked, two men strode toward them. One was tall, fair, with light hair. The other—dark-haired and leaner—shadowed the blond’s movements. Neither man looked particularly happy.

What else was new?

Gage almost smiled. He would have, if he hadn’t still been so pissed off. She’d betrayed him.

He jumped from the truck and slammed the door shut behind him.

The blond approached. “Thought you’d be here sooner,” Davis Black said, rubbing his chin as he surveyed the pack alpha.

“Um…” This came from the other wolf shifter. A grin lifted his lips as William “Billy” Tanner glanced over Gage’s shoulder and back at the truck. “Trouble with the missus?” The light hint of his native Mississippi drawl rolled beneath Billy’s voice.

Gage narrowed his eyes. “Nothing I can’t handle.” The other members of the pack wouldn’t be making an appearance. That was the plan. Only his top two enforcers were supposed to meet him here.

The others would wait, until he needed them.

“Is everything set up?” Gage asked as his gaze swept the area. The place looked deserted. With its sagging roof and busted windows, the cabin seemed damn near uninhabitable. But appearances could be deceiving.

Why didn’t humans ever seem to truly understand that fact?

The truck door squeaked behind him. So Kayla was coming after him now?

Control. He just had to hold on for a little longer. A few more minutes, and he’d have her in the cabin. They’d be alone. Just a few more?—

He saw Billy’s nostrils flare. “Oh, man, she smells good. Like sex and?—”

His control snapped, and Gage slammed his fist into Billy’s jaw. Though he was stronger than a human, Billy wasn’t an alpha, and that blow had him stumbling back.

“Billy,” Gage barked out as the wolf howled inside of him, “don’t push me right now.” The thread of his control had been stripped raw.

The easygoing facade he’d worn for Kayla was gone. All that remained right then was animal instinct. He hadn’t realized just how wild he’d be after claiming Kayla.

A little matter of betrayal could break a guy.

But he didn’t want Billy sniffing around her. Pity he needed the shifter, for the moment. A moment that wouldn’t last much longer if Billy kept pushing and eyeing Kayla like she was some kind of tasty meal.

Kayla’s feet crunched over the gravel driveway. Gage turned and took in her wide eyes as she gazed down at Billy. What? Like this was the first time she’d seen a guy get decked? In her line of work, not likely.

“She doesn’t look like much of a hunter,” Davis noted, and he was still rubbing his chin. Davis always did that. An old habit. His eyes swept over her. “Kinda small, don’t you think? A little weak.”

That whipped her gaze off Billy and got it locked on the other wolf.

“Looks can be deceiving,” Gage replied. Who knew that fact better than shifters?

Most folks—those who knew the truth about supernaturals, anyway—thought that shifters were born to deceive. A beast, wearing the skin of a man or woman. How did you get more deceptive than that?

Shifters were good at lying. Tricking. And killing.

Kayla’s head turned toward him. Her eyes weren’t flashing her emotions. No, she had whatever emotions she was feeling masked too tightly.

Humans were good at deceit, too.

She kept walking until she was by his side. “You didn’t make any calls once we left the hotel.”

There hadn’t been a need. Gage shrugged and knew the gesture would say, yeah, so ?

He saw the understanding in her eyes and the flush of fury on her cheeks. Her mask was fading.

“You really did know what I was,” Kayla snapped. “The whole time, you knew.”

Ah, but knowing was just the first part. Knowing and actually springing his trap—two whole different things.

But Gage let a cold smile lift his lips. He had to do the show right. “Hunters have been after my pack ever since the moment we took over this town.” And that’s what he’d done—taken over. Every paranormal in the city knew that Gage’s pack were the ones in power. They’d kicked demon butt, terrorized the vamps, and made sure that the fools knew who was dominating Sin City. It had been perfect.

Then the hunters had come along and started their dumbass little cat and mouse game. Supernaturals had been dying. Going missing.

He’d lost two wolves.

No more.

When members of his pack had fallen under the gun, Gage had known it was time to attack. He just hadn’t realized part of his attack plan would be so sweet. At least, not until he’d met Kayla.

Now she was bound to him, body and soul, just as he was bound to her. A shifter and a hunter. How insane.

He caught her hand and led her toward the cabin. For the first time, the lady dug in her heels, and his jaw almost dropped. Now? Now she was gonna start fighting?

Not when they’d jumped from the window.

Not when they’d been in the hotel parking lot and she could have escaped.

Not even when they’d been at that shady gas station.

Now?

The timing was so perfect, he almost smiled.

Instead, he tightened his hold on her and hauled her closer. “You need me to carry you in?” Gage injected a note of menace in the words. He was rather proud of that low growl.

Her breath huffed out. “Maybe you’re forgetting, I dropped that knife, I?—”

He heaved her over his shoulder. Kayla was in one serious fighting mood now and she kicked and punched and, ouch, hell, yeah, he’d have bruises from that one.

Luckily, he healed fast.

She didn’t though, so he made sure his hold didn’t hurt her. Unbreakable, yes, but painful? Not to her. Hurting her wasn’t part of the plan he’d crafted. But he knew some pain couldn’t be avoided, no matter how hard he tried.

As they headed for the cabin, Billy rose from the ground and swiped away the blood that dripped from his nose.

Gage spared him one glance. “We gonna have a problem?” If they were, he was more than ready to kick ass. This, too, was part of the plan.

Kayla dug her nails into his back, and he almost shuddered. Did she know he liked that?

Later.

Billy shook his head. “No.”

“Good,” Gage all but purred the words. “Now go stand guard.” Because company will be coming. Soon.

Davis dogged Gage’s steps as he made for the cabin. Kayla was yelling now, at the top of her very powerful lungs. Yells wouldn’t do her any good. The ones close enough to hear her weren’t exactly the helping sort.

“You sure this is a good idea?” Davis’s voice was low. “Maybe you should just kill her and dump her?—”

Gage knew his lethal gaze had stopped the tumble of his enforcer’s words. Davis had always been too quick to kill. Gage had recognized that weakness, but he’d still taken the shifter into the pack. He’d needed Davis’s strength, and he’d thought that the pack bond might temper the beast’s savagery.

Maybe I thought wrong.

Kayla stopped struggling. Even over her own screams, she would have heard Davis’s dark words. Figured.

“I’m not done with her yet,” Gage said, and that was all that he’d say to the enforcer. “Now guard the fucking perimeter and make sure we don’t have any uninvited guests.”

A muscle jerked in Davis’s jaw, but he didn’t argue. Good. Gage took Kayla up the cabin steps and inside. He kicked the door closed and dropped her on the floor. Not too hard, but, she had pulled a knife on him.

Drop. Her sweet ass slammed into the old, hard wood.

“This makes two times, wife ,” he said deliberately as he leaned his shoulders back against the doorframe, “that I’ve carried you over the threshold.”

She shoved the hair out of her eyes. Oh, yes, those golden eyes blazed with fury. “I’m not a sack of fucking potatoes!”

No, she wasn’t. He didn’t want to fuck potatoes.

Kayla leapt to her feet. “I protected you! Dumbass wolf! I. Protected. You!”

The anger in his own gut burned. Gage lunged forward and made sure he towered over her. “You set me up.”

“I—” Kayla snapped her lips closed then gave a curt nod. “Fine, I did.”

He blinked at the easy admission. He hadn’t quite been expecting things to move so fast.

“But…” Her chin tipped up. Every time she did that, he wanted to kiss her right on that stubborn, sexy chin. “But I didn’t go for your heart when I had the chance.”

Didn’t she? Why the hell did she think they were in this mess? “I saw the knife. Most wives don’t exactly go around bringing silver knives into bed with them.”

Her arms crossed over her chest. Did she huff? Sounded like it, and then she said, “I’m not most wives.”

No, she wasn’t. Gage stepped away from her and paced around the room. The place was pretty bare as far as furniture was concerned. An old, sagging bed. A wooden table. Two chairs. A dark brown refrigerator that hummed.

The cabin wasn’t a place of comforts. He used this area for only one reason—interrogation.

It was the perfect place to learn the truth from his enemies. And the desert was perfect for making unwanted bodies disappear.

He’d buried his share of enemies out there. Vegas could be vicious. Only the strong survived. The weak? They fed the animals in the desert.

He circled around her and headed toward the fridge. Gage grabbed a small bottle of water and drained it in just a few gulps.

The wooden floor creaked beneath Kayla’s feet. “So you really knew who I was, the whole time?”

He sat the bottle aside and turned back to her. “Yeah, I did.”

Her chin was still up, but he saw the move for the defense that it was more than anything else. “Then why marry me?” Kayla asked.

Wasn’t that the big, old million dollar freaking question? “I didn’t do it because my boss told me to.” The jab burst from him. He didn’t have a boss. Others jumped when he crooked his finger.

Kayla flinched. “That wasn’t why I married you.”

Did he look stupid? Was he supposed to buy her BS because she was good in bed? Very good. “How many?” Gage gritted out, and his claws were ripping from his fingertips. Faint lines of red bled into his vision. The wolf inside wanted out.

“How many what?” Kayla fired right back as her brows rose, and her small fists went to her hips.

“How many men have you screwed for the sake of your cause?” He’d like to kill them all. Every single one. Slowly. Painfully. The wolf was good at giving pain. “In order to get close, how many times did you strip and?—”

She moved fast for a human. No wonder she was such a good hunter. In two seconds, she was across the room. Her index finger jabbed into his chest. “Watch it, wolf, or you’ll make me lose my temper.”

Right. Because that was scary. Last week, he’d beheaded a four-hundred-year-old Born vampire. So compared to him, a curvy brunette was oh-so-terrifying.

He lifted his claws and let them skate down her cheek. “Don’t make me lose mine.” His threat was lethal. Or it should have been, but it was complete bullshit. He’d never use his claws on her. He’d already seen the marks on her beautiful skin. When they’d made love, he’d felt her scars.

Other wolves had sliced her sweet flesh. He never would.

Her breath stilled on a rasp, but she met his gaze. No fear showed on her face. She should have been terrified. Instead, her lips tightened, and she bit out, “None, okay? There haven’t been any others.”

Wait… none?

“Despite what you think…” She jabbed him again with that finger. “I’m not a whore. I don’t sleep with men just because of my job.” Then she whirled away.

I hurt her. Her shoulders were up, her back straight, and Gage felt like shit. But he still asked, “So what made me different?” As a hunter, she should have been repulsed by him. All the other hunters he’d met sure had been.

Hunters. Humans who’d learned the paranormal score and were out to keep the world safe—by getting rid of all the supernaturals.

They were as vicious as any shifter, as ruthless as the vamps, and as conniving as the demons. In short, hunters could be damn near perfect at killing. Unless you found their weak spot.

His gaze drifted over Kayla’s body. Hello, weak spot.

“Maybe I wanted you,” she said, not glancing back at him, but striding slowly toward the opposite wall.

Good thing she wasn’t looking or she would have seen his shock.

“Sometimes, you want something so badly that you’ll do anything to get what you want.” Her voice had dropped, but because of his enhanced hearing, he had no trouble making out her words

You’ll do anything to get what you want. He knew that feeling. Hell, he was looking at the thing he wanted most.

Enough to risk the pack.

She turned to face him and her features were a blank mask once again. “So, no,” she said, “I didn’t screw you for the job. I did that part all for myself. Because I wanted to be with you.” Kayla shook her head. “Sometimes, I make dumb choices. Sue me.”

He’d rather screw her again. And again. But they’d get to that fun task soon enough.

“What’s your excuse?” Kayla wanted to know as one dark eyebrow rose. “So you tagged me as a hunter day one, fine, I get that. Go you. But why keep pretending? Why do the whole courting bit? Why marry me?”

Was she really that blind? Had to be. Otherwise she’d realize she was the one who held all the real power. “Poor little hunter.” He shook his head and tried to look like he felt sorry for her. “What happened to make you this way?”

Her other eyebrow arched, and a faint line appeared between her brows.

“So untrusting,” Gage continued slowly, softly, and the memory of her scars beneath his mouth flashed through him. Poor little hunter.

“You’re a werewolf, of course, I don’t trust you!”

“Wolf shifter,” Gage corrected as he cleared his throat. She knew the distinction. Calling him a werewolf was just insulting. “The moon doesn’t make me howl. I do that, whenever I want.” Nothing controlled him. No one. Werewolves were monsters made up by Hollywood. He was the real deal.

“And you do whatever you want, right?” she snapped. Her hands were fisted. Someone was feeling all feisty. Good. He didn’t like her emotionless mask.

“Yes,” he told her clearly, “I do.” That was the benefit of being alpha.

“No matter who you hurt.”

Ah, now she was getting personal. “I’ve never physically hurt you.” Wouldn’t. He protected those who fell under his charge, and he’d never attacked an innocent. No matter what the supernatural rumor mill might say.

But other wolf shifters weren’t like him. There were some psychotic bastards running around loose in the world. He knew it, and the scars on Kayla’s body said she knew it, too. Of all the shifters, the wolves were the ones who danced the closest to the edge of insanity. Their beasts were just too strong to always be controlled by the men and women who carried them.

Wolf shifters needed a pack to hold them in check. To provide them with security. That was why he’d started the Vegas pack. Someone strong had needed to come in and take over, and the wolves—hell, yes, they’d needed to band together. No one wanted to start a bloodbath. No one wanted to turn feral.

But sometimes, no matter what you wanted, the beast could still take over. He thought of Kayla’s scars again. The lightly raised marks on the curve of her hip and on her shoulder. The narrow lines that slid down beside her spine. Someone had hurt her badly. From the looks of those scars, the wounds had occurred long ago.

When she’d just been a kid.

“In the dark, all monsters aren’t the same,” he said and tried to keep his voice emotionless. A hard task, when so many emotions wanted to break free. But Kayla should know this truth already. Good and evil didn’t really exist. The lines were too blurred for that vague distinction in the paranormal world.

Her lashes lowered to shield her gaze. “I know. That’s why you don’t have a silver knife in your heart.”

Bloodthirsty little vixen. He’d known she’d make the perfect alpha female. You had to be willing to fight to the end in order to be an alpha.

Kayla was a fighter.

“You were the wrong bait,” he said simply. The words were the truth. “Your bastard of a boss should have been brave enough to come after me himself.” Instead of hiding in the shadows and slowly picking off the paranormals who crossed his path.

Instead of taking my wolves. Two wolves gone. He had better get them back.

Now that he had Kayla with him, it was gonna be his turn to use her as bait. He sighed, and with a genuine trace of regret, told her, “I’m sorry.”

Her lashes lifted, and she frowned at him. “For what? Kidnapping me? Bringing me to this rundown shack?”

Hardly. Those were just the start of his sins. Gage waved them away with a negligent flick of his fingers. “For what’s coming.” Then he took her chin in his hand but kept his touch featherlight. He could already hear the approach of vehicles outside. The others had come much faster than he’d anticipated.

Gage had thought that he’d have at least another hour. But, no, the guests had arrived too soon.

They shouldn’t have gotten to the scene so quickly, not unless— dammit .

His hands swept down Kayla’s body. Idiot. He should have realized the truth sooner. She’d come far too willingly. He’d thought she was just changing her mind about him. That she wanted to escape with him.

But she’d still been setting him up.

His hand slid under her shirt.

She slapped at him. “ Now isn’t the time for this!”

“You’ve got a tracker on you.” Shit. Shit, shit. And all those scars that pissed him off—one of them could easily have been left on her body when a tracking device was implanted. Hunters often used those devices, he knew that. But he’d been thinking with his dick, not his head. Should have checked her. He should have sliced beneath her skin and checked like he would have with any other hunter.

Only she wasn’t any other hunter. She was…Kayla. Mine.

As he patted her down, her eyes widened, then she gave a slow, negative shake of her head. “Stop the frisking routine, okay? I don’t have a tracker.” Her words rushed out quickly.

But would she even know if she’d been tagged? Or would her boss want to keep secret watch on her and all his other hunters? “You chose the wrong side for this fight.”

She swallowed. Her lips trembled a bit but she said, “I chose the only side I could.”

Those approaching cars were getting closer. He could hear the crunch of gravel beneath the tires. Either she was tagged for tracking or the dark suspicion that he’d had for weeks was true.

If Kayla didn’t have a tracker on her, then he could have a traitor in the pack. Because he had not been followed from Vegas. He’d made sure of that fact.

“When your team comes, what will you do?” His claws were pushing through his fingertips. “Go running back to them?”

Her gaze stayed locked on his. “I’m not going back.”

Well, well. Exactly what he wanted to hear, but Gage didn’t let his expression alter. “Good.” Then, since she deserved to know, he added, “Because I wasn’t giving you up.” Just so they were clear.

Her lips parted in surprise.

Time was running out. Those vehicles would be braking any minute. Before the hunters came storming in, he wanted his taste to be on her. Wanted her taste on his lips. So Gage stepped forward and pulled her close. His head dipped toward her, and he kissed her with the wild need that pounded through him.

What they had, it wasn’t about hunter and prey. It was man and woman. Lust. Need. A desire that couldn’t be satisfied, not with just one night.

Maybe not even with a thousand nights.

“We’re just getting started,” he promised against her lips. His. His wife. His for-fucking-ever. Just let the hunters try to take her. He was more than ready to rip them apart.

And they were coming. So big. So tough. So stupidly sure of themselves.

Pity. This time, he’d used the bait—and they were the ones running into a trap.

Another kiss. Another slow lick of his lips over hers. Then Gage pushed her back. Away from the cabin’s door and windows. “Scream for me,” he said.

She didn’t speak.

She liked to make things hard. That was his Kayla.

“Scream,” he said again and lifted his claws. He had to transform before the hunters entered the cabin. During those few moments that it took to shift, he was vulnerable. Open for their attack. He wouldn’t be vulnerable before them.

But once he was in his full wolf form…

Ready for hell, hunters?

He smiled and knew that his growing fangs would show. “Your scream will distract them when they rush inside. They’ll want to help you.” While he had the chance to attack them. “Time to pick your side, wife.”

Then the fire of the change swept through him. A white-hot explosion of pain as his bones broke and reshaped. As his muscles stretched and his body contorted. Fur burst along his flesh. His hands became paws. His body hit the floor, and when he opened his mouth again, the growl of a beast broke from his lips.

His gaze found Kayla’s. She stood where he’d left her, against the wall. Her eyes were on his. Wide. Deep. Afraid?

Another growl came from him as he took a step toward her. He could smell her fear. A hunter, afraid of the prey she’d deliberately sought out. What the hell?

She could handle him as a man, but his beast made her shake. A normal reaction for most humans, but Kayla was far from normal. He’d find out the rest of her secrets. He had to.

But right then he leapt for the shadows on the other side of the room. The hunters were closing in now. Three, two?—

The cabin’s door burst open. The men rushed inside. Still wearing their dark clothes and with ski masks over their heads. The muzzles of their guns swept the room—and froze on Kayla.

Bait.

“I told you she didn’t go willingly,” one of the men said. The leader. The leader always talked first and stormed onto the scene like he was some big deal. Gage had learned that lesson long ago. He watched, still and silent, as the jerk in charge pushed past the others and hurried to Kayla’s side. “Where the hell is he?” A demand as he reached for Kayla’s arm. “Where?—”

Gage’s snarl seemed to echo in the small cabin.

Three men. One wolf. Perfect odds.

Gage leapt forward. Clawed the weapon from the first fool’s hand. Used his teeth on the second. They screamed and yelled, and their blood flowed.

Too easy.

The wounded men tried to slip back out the door. Fleeing. He guessed the humans couldn’t handle a little pain. Hunters weren’t big on courage.

Except for Kayla.

His head swung back toward her. That jerk with her was aiming his gun. The muzzle pointed right at Gage. Was that supposed to scare him? His hind legs shoved down, and he leapt into the air. Gage wasn’t faster than a bullet, so he’d take the hit, but then he’d take out the fool who?—

“No!” Kayla shoved the hunter’s weapon away.

Choose your side. It looked like she just had.

“Kayla, what the hell—” The human began, but that was all he had the chance to say. Gage’s paws drove onto his chest as he took the hunter down. They hit the floor, and the human tried to jerk away.

Gage wasn’t letting him go. The leader was the one he wanted. The one that he’d use to break the group targeting his pack. Gage brought his mouth to the hunter’s throat. He could rip the man wide open in less time than it took to breathe.

“Don’t!” But, suddenly, Kayla was there. Coming right up next to the beast. “Don’t hurt him. Please.” A ragged breath slipped from her. “He’s my brother.”

Gage felt an ice-cold pain in his chest. So cold. But since when did the cold burn?

As the cold spread through him, the wolf slumped away from the hunter on the ground, and he knew he’d made a fatal mistake. He’d been distracted. He’d heard Kayla’s cry, and his attention had slipped away from the hunter for a dangerous moment.

Second weapon. He should have known the prick would have one. All damn hunters did.

The asshole in the ski mask still had his gun up. When he’d fired, the weapon hadn’t made a sound, but its bullet had torn straight into Gage’s chest.

Kayla’s presence should have distracted her team.

Not me.

Gage’s form convulsed, and he shuddered as pain lanced through him. The pain—that was coming from the shift. His body was transforming rapidly—too rapidly—back into the body of a man. Gage stared down at his chest. That wasn’t a normal bullet.

Something was hanging out of the back of that bullet. Like a—feather?

Then he knew. Fuck me.

He’d been hit by a tranq.

“Bastard,” Gage managed to wheeze the word. Speech was near damn impossible. He couldn’t control his body. Couldn’t stop the shift. Couldn’t do anything but hit the floor as the tranquilizer poured through his veins.

“What have you done?” Kayla’s voice came from a distance. She sounded afraid. Angry. Then she was crouching over him. Touching him. Holding him. “Gage?”

He couldn’t speak.

The hunter could. “So it’s true. The others told me, they said you were getting too close to him.” Disgust flowed through the man’s words.

Why couldn’t he feel Kayla’s fingers against his skin?

“I didn’t want to believe it.” The floor creaked as the hunter came closer to her. “Not you. You couldn’t be working with a dirty animal like him.”

Things were starting to dim. Just how much of a dose had the SOB emptied into him?

“Help us, Jonah,” Kayla said. She was pleading with the man. “Help me get him out of here before the others?—”

Too late.

More footsteps raced from outside. More humans coming in, when the wolves should have been there to have his back. Understanding hit him even as he fought to hold on to consciousness. Kayla had been telling him the truth.

No tracker. Even through the daze, he realized the significance of what was happening. Kayla hadn’t led anyone to them but?—

Betrayed.

The wolves who should have been there to protect him…one or both of those assholes had turned on him. His top two enforcers. His betrayers?

“I can’t help you,” Jonah said. “I’m sorry.”

There was a whoosh of sound. A gasp. Gage managed to turn his head—it took his last bit of strength but he turned his head—and he saw the feather sticking from Kayla’s chest.

The tranq worked faster on her. She fell immediately, slumping back on the floor.

The hunter’s feet padded closer. The guy bent down. Put his fingers to Kayla’s throat.

He still had on his ski mask, but Gage didn’t need to see the man’s face. He had the bastard’s scent, and he’d be able to track him any place. Brother or not, Gage told him, “Y-you’re…dead.”

Through the eyeholes in the ski mask, the one she’d called Jonah stared back at him with a golden gaze that was an exact shade to match Kayla’s. “No, wolf, you are.”

The darkness swept over Gage, but he still smiled as the drugs pumped through him. Smiled because he knew the hunter was wrong. And when Gage woke again, he’d make sure the hunter got just what he deserved.