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The homeless people sprang into action, leaping from their cardboard shelters and surrounding him in a blink. He struggled, but it was useless. The two disguised enforcers quickly snatched the gun out of his hand and forced him through a black door that led to what would have been one of the florist’s storerooms if Vinnie didn’t use it as a place to “question people.”
Bree followed them into the dark, dank room. Her nose wrinkled. The empty space reeked of mold and mildew.
The enforcers pinned the wolf to the wall like a butterfly, ignoring his curses, protests, and pleas. They just stared at him as if they did this shit every day.
Bree nodded at her pride mates in thanks as she crossed to the panting, wide-eyed wolf. “You thought you’d trap me, huh,” she said to him. “It turns out that the one springing the trap was me.” Tate had drummed the if-anyone-comes-for-you-run-to-the-alley plan into her head a thousand times, convinced the hyenas would strike again one way or another.
Hearing footsteps and the muffled voices of Vinnie, Tate, and Luke, she sighed. “Shame you and I don’t have more time to chat, canine.” The Alpha and his sons would take over now for sure, which meant she’d have to step back and simply watch. But first …
She slammed her fist into his jaw, making his head snap to the side. “That’s for pulling a gun on me, you little shit.”
Entering the room, Vinnie sighed. “Pallas cats are so unforgiving, aren’t they?” His eyes sharpened on the wolf. “Well, well, well. It’s been a while, Frasier. You may not remember Frasier Banks, boys. He’s not only a latent, pack-less wolf shifter who poses as a human and once worked for the police force, he was also once on a mobster’s payroll.”
Bree felt her brows lift. Vinnie had rubbed up against enough crime syndicates to know such things about people.
Tate tilted his head, his unblinking stare fixed on Frasier. “You do like to live dangerously, don’t you?”
“My question is,” began Vinnie, “why would a dirty ex-cop who has virtually nothing to do with shifters suddenly come at my pride like this?”
His skin clammy, Frasier replied, “It’s not about you. I just wanted the girl.”
“Because?” prompted Vinnie.
“Because some people will make my life very uncomfortable if I don’t take her to them to be questioned.”
“Questioned?” The Alpha echoed. “When you say, ‘powerful people,’ do you mean those mobsters I mentioned?”
Frasier shook his head hard. “These guys are shifters.”
“And you’re on their payroll?”
“No, they promised me protection if I did the occasional favor for them. People like me don’t last long without some form of protection.”
“Who are they?” Vinnie exhaled heavily when the wolf didn’t respond. “Please do something new and different and simply just give us the information. If you don’t, I’ll have to pass you on to someone who’ll make you feel like talking and, well, I’d rather not watch a wolverine eat yet another person alive.”
“Think of it this way,” Luke said to Frasier. “It’s their fault you’re about to die. Do you want them walking the Earth while you’re six-foot under it?”
“Die?” echoed Frasier, eyes wide. “I never hurt her. Hell, I didn’t even touch her.”
“You pulled a gun on her,” Luke reminded him.
“To scare her into leaving with me, that’s all.” Frasier’s gaze darted back to the Alpha. “I don’t hurt women, Vinnie. That’s not me.”
“I’m not sure I believe him, Vin,” said Bree.
“He is known to be a liar.” The Alpha hummed. “You wouldn’t lie to me, would you, Frasier?”
“No, of course not. Look, I’ll tell you whatever you want to know, I will. Just promise to let me go afterward.”
Vinnie’s eyes slid to the wall and narrowed. He nodded. “All right, I promise not to kill you if you give me the answers I’m looking for.”
His shoulders slumping, Frasier closed his eyes. “Thank you. The Alpha hyena’s name is Dale Bray. He never introduced his Beta or Head Enforcer. They’re from the Silva Clan. I don’t know where their territory is, and I’ve never met anyone who does—they keep its location secret on purpose. I just know it’s underground somewhere.”
Bree hadn’t heard of the clan. Nothing on Vinnie’s face gave away whether he knew of it.
Vinnie’s eyes narrowed. “What information are they seeking from Bree?”
“They wouldn’t tell me,” replied Frasier. “They did say they have info they think she’ll want to know. They seem to want her help with something, but I don’t know what.”
“Where do you usually meet them?”
“I don’t. They come to me when they want something, and they always give me a burner phone to use for whatever the job is. They never give me the same number to contact them on, so I’m guessing they use burner phones, too—I don’t know for sure, though.”
