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“Riley Porter isn’t staying with us. She’s part of my pack. That’s different.”
The officers exchanged a brief look, and Tao got the feeling they hadn’t actually known that. Maybe they’d assumed that each breed of shifter stuck with their own kind.
“In any case, we’d like to speak with her,” said Brown.
Trey raised a brow. “Regarding?”
“A complaint was made against her by Ramón Veloz. He believes Miss Porter broke into his home and vandalized it yesterday afternoon.”
Motherfucker. Tao should have considered that the bastard would do something like this. Ramón would have many people in his pocket. He probably thought Riley had flown into his home and let the wolves inside since, as an avian, she had the best chance of entering undetected. He had no reason to believe that the pack had any connection to a group of crazy-ass margays.
“Does he now?” Trey’s tone was bored.
Brown widened his stance. “We’d just like to have a quick chat with her so we can get all this straightened out.” As if he were on their side and believed it was one big, terrible misunderstanding.
“You don’t need to chat with Riley,” said Trey. “I can tell you myself that Ramón’s wrong.”
“You can verify Miss Porter’s whereabouts?” asked Brown.
“She was here,” said Trey.
Taylor lifted his chin. “Mr. Veloz strongly believes that Miss Porter was to blame.”
“And many believe that Bigfoot walks the earth. Doesn’t make it true or really mean anything—it’s just a belief.”
Taylor licked his front teeth. “Still, we’d just like to speak to Miss Porter and hear the story from her.”
Tao gave a slow shake of the head. “Not happening.”
Taylor’s eyes narrowed on Tao. “Is she fine with you all speaking for her?”
Tao ignored the taunt, though it made his wolf bare his teeth. “You won’t pass through this gate. You’re wasting your time here.”
Straightening to his full height, Brown sighed at Trey. “Mr. Coleman, my job is to—”
“I know what your job is,” said Trey. “I know about your laws. And both of us know that shifters don’t answer to your laws. We have our own. That means you don’t have any authority whatsoever here.”
A flicker of movement caught Tao’s eyes. A black SUV with blackened windows was creeping up toward the gate. The hair on his nape and arms lifted. In the distance a flock of birds squawked, as if spooked by something. Alarm shot through Tao and his wolf. He wasn’t completely sure what exactly was happening or where the real threat was coming from, but he knew it was there. “It’s a setup, Trey. Move.”
Just as the wolves all dived aside, the officers opened fire. Bullets pinged as they bounced off the security shack. A screech of tires was followed by a crash as two black SUVs burst through the gates and sped up the rocky path toward the mountain.
Tao’s stomach knotted. The humans would follow the tracks in the path, and that would take them straight to the rest of the pack . . . to his mate. His wolf shoved to the surface, demanding freedom.
The last thought Tao had before shifting was that he hoped the pack remembered what to do in the event of a breach.
Listening as Trey spoke to the police, Riley put a hand to her stomach. Something about the whole scenario didn’t feel right. In fact, it felt . . . off. She told herself she was being paranoid, something that was perfectly understandable given how often she’d been targeted of late. Nonetheless, unease crept up her spine—both hers and Tao’s, she quickly realized. Her raven was just as on edge, though Riley wondered if it was her own feelings rubbing off on the avian.
She heard her cell phone ring and dug it out of her pocket. Ethan. “Hello.”
“Cynthia’s missing.”
“Shit.” Not that Riley was all that surprised. “I can’t really talk right now, I’ll call you back later.” She ended the call and leaned toward the screen as she noticed Tao’s focus shift to something past the police. Something that caused his body to tense and—
The squawking and flapping of wings outside the mountain made her heart jump and her raven’s head snap up. Fuck. A mere moment later, the wolves sought cover and two SUVs surged past the gates while the police opened fire.
“Son of a bitch!” Taryn pushed a button on the wall, and an alarm blared throughout the caves. “Rhett, grab Kye on your way to the panic room.” As the male disappeared out of the room, Taryn whipped out her phone and swept her thumb over the screen. “Shaya, we need backup. No, it looks like Ramón and his men are on our territory. Get here as soon as you can.”
Marcus turned to Taryn, jaw hard. “The whole thing was a setup. Ramón figured you’d go to the gate with Trey and you’d be easy to grab. Only you didn’t go, so now they’re on their way here and the most powerful of the wolves within the pack aren’t around.”
“Two wolves just took down the police,” said Roni, watching the screen. “The rest are chasing after the SUVs.”
Riley glanced at the other cameras, occasionally catching a glimpse of the SUVs whizzing past with wolves hot on their tail.
“We need to get out there and hold off the humans,” said Dominic.
“That’s exactly what we’re going to do,” Taryn told him, her voice a little bloodthirsty. “Riley, you get Savannah and Dexter and take them to the panic room.”
Riley nodded. “Don’t let the fuckers get in.” Heart pounding, she raced out of the room and through the tunnels. This wasn’t the time to panic, she told herself. She had to stay calm or she’d scare Savannah and Dexter.
Reaching their bedroom, she swung the door open. The sight she found made her skid to a halt. Dexter was lying on the floor, unmoving, with a pool of red around his head. Savannah was hissing at the female smirking behind her, who had one of the viper’s pigtails wrapped around her fist and a razor-sharp talon pointed at Savannah’s neck.
Rage. Dread. Disbelief. Panic. Each emotion hit Riley like a rock to the solar plexus and sent her raven into a rage. Her chest tightened until her breastbone hurt. Taking a deep breath, she flexed fingers that suddenly tingled. She was gripping her phone so hard it was a wonder that it hadn’t cracked.
