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“Wait, if it was Bernadette helping you, who contacted Dale? He said it was a male.”
“I paid Giuseppe Marino to make the call. When Bernadette overheard that you were meeting with the hyenas, she panicked. She knew they’d tell you that she had Dale’s number; she knew she’d come under suspicion. She confessed everything to Ruben, Moira, and Calvin, hoping they’d leave with her. Seems like they did.”
“Was it you who shot at Alex’s apartment window?”
“No. I don’t know who did that, just like I don’t know who helped you in the woods or who called you claiming to be Paxton. Bernadette and I left the necklaces and hired some loners—that’s it.” Dani tipped her chin at Dale. “It was probably him that shot at Alex.”
Dale lifted his hands, palms out, looking highly amused by the females’ byplay. “Oh no, I know better than to shoot at a wolverine.”
“But not better than to abduct his mate,” Dani pointed out.
“Well, sadly for Miss Dwyer, there’s nothing he’ll be able to do about it.”
“He’ll come for me,” said Bree.
Dale gave her a pitying look. “He doesn’t even know where you are.”
A loud cry came from somewhere outside the warehouse, followed quickly by a bone-chilling growl. Bree smiled.
Dale’s head whipped toward Vern. “Find out what’s happening,” he ordered.
Vern hopped out of the van and shut the doors behind him … but not before Bree saw the flicker of fear in his gaze. Awesome. Her cat bared her teeth in a smug, feral grin.
“He’s here,” Dani whispered shakily, her face losing all color. Understandable. She knew that Alex would make her suffer once he realized the depth of her betrayal. Death-by-wolverine was no easy way to go. “You need to drive us out of here now,” she told Dale.
“Shut up.” No longer looking so cocksure, Dale faced the doors, reached behind him, and whipped a gun out of his waistband. A gun he then pointed at Bree, even while his eyes remained on the doors.
They all knew he wouldn’t kill her—Bree was the only valuable hostage he had. She was his ticket out of there. But he’d probably shoot to injure, the shithead.
“We need to go, Dale,” stressed Dani. “He’ll kill us both if—”
“Shut. Up.” Dale tightened his grip on the butt of the gun. “I’ve got a lot of well-trained, hard-ass guys out there. One man isn’t going to get through them all—not even a wolverine.”
Such a wishful thinker. “Who says he came alone?” Though Bree had to admit it was unlikely that her pride mates were around—pallas cats could be stealthy when necessary, but they didn’t really have the patience for it. They preferred to just attack in a blind fury.
Dale didn’t respond. He kept his attention on those doors, sweat now beading on his forehead. More guttural sounds and screams of pain rang through the air.
The driver’s door was yanked open and a body leaped inside.
Dale twirled to face the newcomer, instinctively aiming his gun at them. “Don’t. Fucking. Move.”
Her heart in her throat, Bree twisted as best she could and craned her neck to see between the headrests … She blinked. “Calvin?”
He didn’t look at her. He just stared at the hyena, his head tilted ever so slightly to the side. “This wasn’t the best idea you’ve ever had, was it, Bray? Then again, you always were too arrogant to assume that others would ever outthink you. How very disappointed you must be with yourself right at this moment.”
Bree stiffened. A chill swept over her skin, making her skin tighten and prickle. She was sure her heartbeat stuttered for a second. Because Calvin … he didn’t seem like Calvin right then. Not at all. The cadence of his voice, the mannerisms, the dead eyes—it was all off.
It was all Paxton.
The bottom dropped out of her stomach. No, it couldn’t be him. That wasn’t possible. It wasn’t. The mating urge would have sprung to life between her and Paxton at some point if he’d been posing as Calvin. This has to be Calvin pretending to be his twin just to throw Dale off the scent or something.
“Paxton,” whispered Dani, her eyes wide.
The male cat spared her a brief glance. “Well, if it isn’t my mother’s sidekick.”
Dale snickered at him. “How long have you been posing as your twin?”
“A while,” replied Paxton. “Wasn’t too hard.”
Bree sucked in an uneven breath. Bile burned her throat and settled on her tongue. No. No, it didn’t make sense that it was him. “Can’t be,” she breathed.
“You know it’s me, little cat. You just don’t want to admit it.”
She swallowed hard. It could not be him … Unless there was some way that he’d suppressed the mating urge? Could his utter resistance to mating have done it?
Maybe. Maybe she should have considered that. Maybe this scenario should have occurred to her before now. They were identical twins, yes, but a lot of things set them apart.
