CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Waking up at dumb o’clock to find Shaya draped over him on a diagonal angle, Nick might have smiled if it wasn’t for the pounding on the bedroom door. Carefully rolling a sleeping Shaya onto her side, he pulled on his jeans and made his way to the door. Opening it, he found an edgy-looking Derren. Stepping outside the room, Nick quietly closed the door. “What is it?”

“I just got a call from Donovan. He hasn’t found the location of the game preserve yet, but he’s managed to track down the place where the extremists hold their meetings. I’m guessing they’re mostly just ‘we hate shifters’ chats, but it might be worth attending one.”

Later that evening, they did just that. From his spot in the wooded area surrounding the isolated warehouse, Nick closely watched the people gathered in the open building, waiting for the meeting to begin. Derren, Trey, Tao, and Dominic were squatting near him, studying the place just as intently. The great thing about their shifter senses was that they didn’t need to get close to hear and see what was going on.

Dominic shook his head in disapproval. “It’s wrong to bring kids to something like this.”

Tao looked at him incredulously. “It’s wrong to do something like this.”

“You know what I mean—if someone’s going to become a prejudiced shithead and go to meetings like this, they don’t need to pass on that ignorance to their kids and drag them along.”

Derren nudged Nick. “Hey, the blonde on the front row…Isn’t that the girl who works in Kent’s salon?”

Seeing that he was right, Nick nodded. “I guess it’s a good thing that Kent and Shaya kept the fact that they were hybrids from Paisley.”

Shaya hadn’t been at all happy when he’d asked her to remain behind, but she’d been placated by his promise not to act on anything he heard or saw at the meeting. But he guessed that if Taryn hadn’t agreed to remain behind, it wouldn’t have been so simple to make Shaya do the same. Jesse, Bracken, and Zander had wanted to come along, but Nick had needed to know that she was closely guarded. Although Taryn was still slightly wary of them, Nick’s gut and his wolf told him they weren’t involved. It had only been later that Nick realized he’d given the rebels an order and they had obeyed him like he was their Alpha. Groan.

“Logan is walking to the podium,” announced Trey. The humans clapped at the sight. “He doesn’t seem too happy, oddly enough.”

Nick shrugged. “He probably doesn’t like that what he did was plastered all over the Internet and TV.”

When Dominic shifted to lie on his side with his head propped up on one hand, casual as anything, Nick frowned at him. “What are you doing?”

The pervert’s expression was all innocence. “There’s nothing wrong with getting comfortable.”

“Is he always like this?” Nick asked Trey and Tao. They both nodded, sighing.

Logan raised his hands, gesturing for silence. “Friends, thank you for coming. Your dedication to our cause and your unfailing attendance hasn’t been unnoticed. You’ll see here the leaders of three local groups. Tomorrow night, there’ll be another. Yes, that’s right, the groups that are most local to the Sequoia Pack are banding together. And every single one of us will be ready—ready to finally act, ready to finally take on the responsibility of ridding the world of the abominations among us when they attack.”

Trey growled. “The prick’s basically formed an army.”

“If I know Logan like I think I do,” Nick said, listening to his gut again, “he won’t stop at destroying the Sequoia Pack.”

“And that could trigger a domino effect, make other human groups do the same,” Derren pointed out.

“We all know that they will never consent to being chipped,” continued Logan. “Nor will they accept a life of being confined to their territories. They had the chance to do that without our knowledge, but no, it wasn’t enough for them. They announced their existence and tried to infiltrate our communities, mating with our race and breeding hybrids. How many men and women have lost their partners because they believe they’re a destined match for animals? How many of our people have been lost to these ‘packs’ that are more like cults? How many more need to be attacked or raped and forced to produce offspring for these animals before the government acts?” There were a lot of supportive murmurs.

“So he doesn’t know that shifters can only reproduce with their mates,” mused Derren.

Trey snickered. “There’s a lot the humans don’t know. Many of them don’t bother to find out—too eager to fear and reject us.”

Logan held his hands up in a helpless gesture. “Let us be realistic—a war is inevitable. When the hearing is held in two days’ time and the verdict comes back in our favor, the shifters will be enraged and begin to attack our communities. We must be prepared to defend our town, prepared to protect our people.” The crowd was getting riled now. “We have gathered enough weapons to make that possible. Unified with several other groups, we have the numbers we need.”

“But what if the hearing doesn’t give the verdict we want?” another extremist asked, nervous and awkward.

Logan’s smile was truly unpleasant. “Then we attack. If the government refuses to act, we will do it alone. We will wipe out the Sequoia Pack and, most importantly, the small assembly of wolves living here in a local house. The group is run by an extremely dangerous shifter, one of the most dangerous I’ve ever encountered. He once murdered one of our own, and yet he walks the streets. As if that’s not bad enough, he is trying to mate with a female of our race and has drawn her into his cult. The shifters in her house have been gathering in number—it is clear that they plan to attack if the verdict goes in our favor. When that happens, we’ll be ready. And if it doesn’t happen, we’ll make it happen.”

Back in Shaya’s dining room, Nick held her in front of him—her back to his chest—with his arms curled around her as he relayed Logan’s speech to everyone. As he sensed her anxiety increase, he was sure to run his hands through her hair or trail his fingers up and down her arms or lick over his claiming mark—anything to soothe her and her wolf.

When Nick was finished talking, there was a momentary silence. Then everyone seemed to be talking at once, and his mom and Greta were suggesting finding where Logan lived and burning him alive.

“You have to come back to California,” Taryn said to Shaya. The Phoenix wolves all nodded their agreement. “You have to get away from those psychos.”

“I’m not letting anyone run me out of my own home.” Shaya set her jaw and lifted her chin. Yeah, pride could be a dumb thing but, dammit, she was sick of feeling the need to run from other people. Maybe it was time she dealt with it differently. “They’re the ones with the problem. Why should I be the one to leave?”

Taryn appealed to Nick with a look. “You talk to her.”

Shaya had fully expected Nick to back her up on this one…but he didn’t, the a**hole.

“I say we leave.”

She snorted at her mate. “So you can keep me safe from Logan?” His overprotectiveness was freaking annoying at times.

Sensing that he’d nicked at her pride, he lightly toyed with her curls. “It’s not just that. Yes, it will mean I get to know that you, Roni, and my mom are safe”—his sister and mother didn’t appear to like the protective move either—“but it will also mean dividing the huge group of humans.”

Mollified slightly on realizing there was more to his decision, Shaya asked, “What do you mean?”

“From the things Logan said, he isn’t going to be happy until Nick’s dead,” Derren replied for him. “If Nick leaves town, he’ll follow. Sure, many of the humans will follow Logan. But many of the humans have grief with the Sequoia Pack, and they won’t be so concerned with a group of shifters who aren’t even in their town anymore—they’ll see us as the problem of whichever extremists live in the town we then head to.”

“Divide and conquer,” drawled Tao, nodding in approval.

“I can warn the Sequoia Pack about the planned attack.” Nick tucked his head into the crook of Shaya’s neck. “That will give them time to gather any contacts—I’m guessing the Nazi has plenty of them and they’re all plenty dangerous. They can deal with the humans who remain when Logan leaves, and I’ll deal with Logan.”

“We’ll deal with Logan,” corrected Derren. “You’re not alone in this. Don’t forget, Nick, you’re not the only one set on seeing that man dead.”

Nick nodded. “Fine. Now we have to decide where we lure them to. I was thinking—”

Taryn snorted. “We lure them to our territory.”

“You can’t be serious.” Nick shook his head. “This problem isn’t yours. You would risk your home, the safety of your pack?”

Another snort. “Of course I wouldn’t. But Shaya is pack to me. More importantly, she’s family. I won’t risk her safety. That makes this just as much our problem as it is yours. As far as I’m concerned, there’s no safer place than our territory.”

Anticipating that Trey would insist his pack stay out of this mess, Nick turned to the Alpha. To his surprise, the male nodded his agreement. Nick’s wolf was impressed and pleased.

“She’s right.” Trey cuddled his sleeping son closer against his chest. “We’ve stepped up the security measures. The place is now tougher to get inside than Fort Knox.”

“So we’re going to lure the humans there…but hide?” Roni frowned, looking confused and disappointed.

When an evil smile surfaced on Trey’s face, Nick understood where his thoughts had taken him. “You intend to let them think they’ve breached your territory. You want to let them inside, seal up the opening so they can’t get back out, and deal with them on your own turf.” Trey’s smile turned even more evil. The guy was just as ruthless as everyone said. Nick’s wolf approved.

Amber didn’t appear convinced it would work. “They have guns.”

“And we have Ryan,” said Trey. “The guy might only be one man, but he’s like a f**king ghost. Add in Jaime—who can sneak up on anyone without being sensed—and you have a way of moving in on the humans before most of them even know they’ve been discovered.”

“And let’s not forget that Shaya is an excellent marksman.” Taryn smirked.

Nick turned his mate’s face to his. “A marksman, huh?”

“My dad was a Navy SEAL, remember. He taught me stuff.”

Roni cocked her head at Trey. “How large is your pack? I heard it was a relatively small one.”

“It is. And I can’t seek support from my alliances as there may be extremists planning to attack them too—they need to be with their packs in case that happens. So there’ll only be us.”

“From what we heard at the meeting, it’s just Logan who intends to attack without provocation,” Tao reminded Trey. “The other extremist groups are simply on guard in case shifters attack first.”

Trey nodded. “I know, but do you think Nick would ask Jon to stand beside him in this war and risk his old pack—which still includes his brother and Taryn’s relatives—being adequately protected?”

Nobody responded, because the question didn’t need addressing: Nick definitely wouldn’t risk his old pack.

“Then there isn’t any other choice but to take care of this shit ourselves.” Trey shrugged.

Dominic sighed. “Yep. We can’t afford to just hide and ignore what the humans have planned.”

That was true, Nick could concede. He didn’t relish the thought of having more blood on his hands, but they couldn’t allow the humans to live and do the damage they intended to do, particularly as it would inspire other extremists to act in the same way. This was about more than just them. What decision they made would affect the lives of many shifters.

“Their large number doesn’t worry me,” said Taryn. “They’ll be on our territory where our rules apply, and whereas we know that land well, they won’t have a goddamn clue how to get to us. Even if that a**hole Logan forms a huge army of extremists and turns up at the gates of our territory, he’s as good as dead.”

“He’s as good as dead anyway,” growled Derren.

“Then we agree that if he follows, it isn’t a problem.” Taryn and Derren exchanged nods.

Trey spoke then. “Their deaths will send a message too. Logan, boastful as he is, will have told his plans to the other extremist groups. When his gang of armed humans enters shifter territory never to be seen again, it won’t be forgotten.”

“Um,” began Jesse, “what about me, Bracken, and Zander? Do you want us to keep guarding the house while you’re gone?” he asked Nick and Shaya.

“I assumed you were coming with us,” said Derren, grinning.

Nick was ready to object, but the rebels were grinning as wide as Derren, and Nick didn’t have it in him to disappoint them. They clearly wanted to be part of this, and he guessed they would rather stand with the shifters here than with the Nazi. Still…“If you guys want to come, that’s your choice. But everyone needs to be clear that I’m not forming a pack.”

Derren waved a dismissive hand, all reassurance. “We’re all aware of that.”