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Peterson touched his nose. “There was no scent of food or any remains and they bulldozed a path through the forest—at least the warthog did. It was hard to miss his scent. He was pretty ripe.”

She bit her lip and looked out over the forest. From their position on the rock ledge, she could see a pretty good distance down. The trees were swaying in the stiff wind.

“This fish is done,” Peterson said, placing the piece of fish skin-side down on a piece of bark. “Sorry about not having a real plate.”

She snorted out a laugh. “Until I ate at the compound, I’ve never eaten on a ‘real’ plate before. At least not the glass ones they had there.”

Her stomach growled as the delicate succulent aroma of the cooked trout rose from her plate.

Van held out the spork she had brought with her supplies and she gingerly pulled a piece of the fresh meat off and popped it into her mouth.

Her eyes closed as the flaky white meat melted over her tastebuds.

A low groan of pleasure slipped from her and she gave up caution as her stomach demanded more.

“This is so good,” she moaned.

Both men chuckled at her obvious pleasure.

She didn’t care. She had devoured almost a third of it before she realized no one was talking.

Looking up, she felt her face warm at being the center of both men’s attention.

She swallowed the piece of fish she was chewing and motioned at the two fish cooking over the fire.

Peterson picked up a piece of fish, placed it on another piece of bark, and held it out to Van before retrieving a piece for himself.

Unease built inside her when he came and sat down on the other side of her.

While her body was thrilled about being nestled between the two men, her mind was frantically sending her a warning that she was about to be in big trouble if she wasn’t careful.

“Now that you’ve had some rest, are feeling better, and have a little food in your stomach, perhaps you can answer a few questions that we’ve both been asking ourselves since you left,” Van said.

She warily glanced at him. “What sort of questions?”

“Like why you’ve been resistant to letting us court you,” Van replied.

“And what promise you made that was so important that you would risk your life to keep,” Peterson added.

She made a face, picked at her fish, and mumbled, “I must have been out of it if I told you about that.”

Pineminister Castle, Victoria, Canada

Isabella Wyland had been raised with too much discipline to curse, but she was very close to losing the precious grip on her temper.

Once again, those she had hired had disappointed her.

Turning, she shut the door to the den and twisted the lock.

She did not want any interruptions or distractions as she laid out her next plan of action.

The phone call from Hyder’s business associate had been extremely disappointing.

The call from Bishop had been short and tense.

He did not have the same fortitude for discipline that Hyder had.

That acknowledgement made her grimace. Perhaps she had been a bit overly optimistic when she left Hyder to deal with the mess he made.

Crossing the elegant, richly furnished room, she pulled her cellphone out of her pocket.

The call she was about to make would be a difficult and humbling one, but it needed to be done.

She pulled up the number that she had paid a considerable amount to secure, pursed her lips, and punched it in.

The call was answered on the first ring.

“Operator,” a young, female voice greeted.

“Lady Isabella Wyland for Eric Singleton, please,” she replied.

“One moment, ma’am,” the woman replied.

There was a pause. There was no annoying music, just silence and the sound of her own breathing. She walked over to the window and stared out at the growing darkness.

“Ms. Wyland, this is a surprise,” Eric Singleton greeted.

“Isabella, please, and I hardly doubt it is much of a surprise, Eric,” she responded.

His sardonic chuckled made her wince internally. “You’ve caused me a considerable inconvenience, not to mention money.”

She lifted an eyebrow at the unexpected comment. “How so? I hope you don’t think dealing with Hyder as being an expense. I know it couldn’t have been that much of an inconvenience.”

“I’m not talking about Furman. I’m talking about notifying the SBSI of my Port Angeles headquarters.”

“I have better sense than that, to do something that would jeopardize our acquaintance, Eric,” she replied with a frown.

Her statement was greeted with silence. She was responsible for many things in her life, but she knew better than to mess with someone like Eric Singleton. She wouldn’t doubt he would return from the dead if he could to haunt her… or worse, drag her down to hell with him.

“How did you get this number?” he asked.

“It was not difficult to put two-and-two together when I realized that even Hyder was terrified. There are very few shifters in the world that could scare him. I was one of them. I simply needed to find out who the others might be and create a short list. It required calling in some favors. Your number was the most expensive, so I’m assuming Hyder was working with you when the mission he was on didn’t turn out,” she explained.

“Who gave you my number?” he demanded.

She huffed out a sigh of irritation. “I’ll let you figure it out and hope you don’t because my source has been a very good one. I would like to discuss hiring your services.”

“To do what, exactly?”

She stared out of the window with a smile. There had been a note of curiosity in his voice that meant he would at least entertain her proposition.

“To finish what Hyder couldn’t—bring me two humans, preferably a breeding age male and female,” she said.

His low chuckle caused her hand to tighten around her cell phone. “That’s it? You want to breed humans—or rent them out?”

She pursed her lips again before forcing her mouth to relax. “What I want them for is none of your business. I’m offering you a job. You are an entrepreneur, aren’t you?”

“It will cost you,” he replied.

“I would have been shocked it if didn’t,” she scoffed.

“Three million—each,” he said.

“Done.”

Silence followed her ready agreement. “No argument. Interesting. Something tells me that you know something about the humans that others may not,” he suggested.

“Six million—and the head of Lorne Timberwolf,” she said.

“Done,” he replied, mimicking her.

This time when he chuckled, it sent a shiver down her spine. The sound was filled with menace… and promise. She was glad it was not directed at her.

“I’ll let you know when the assets have been obtained,” he said before disconnecting the call.