Marcus had to agree. “The appliances are all plugged in, and the food in the refrigerator is fresh and half-eaten. Somebody uses the place, so either the human family is real, or the jackals spend time here.”
Dante and Ryan appeared then. “We checked the basement. There’s a wine rack, and the rest is just storage space. No one’s down there.”
“I don’t smell anything here other than human. You?” Ryan asked Roni and Marcus, who both shook their heads.
Dante sighed. “Me neither.”
“Hey, guys,” Taryn quietly called from upstairs. “We found the computer.”
With the males behind her, Roni ascended the stairs and followed the Alpha female’s scent. It led her to a boy’s bedroom, where the other four wolves were waiting. The computer was placed in a little nook under a cabin bed.
“There’s no way the jackals are running things from this house,” said Trey, shaking his head.
Dante regarded the computer. “I think Rhett was right; they’ve used a virus to place the IP address on a random computer.”
“Poor kid,” muttered Derren. Yeah, the human had no idea what sadistic shit could be traced back to his home.
“Do you think this computer was selected totally at random, or is it possible that this family is connected to the jackals somehow?” Derren asked Nick, who shrugged.
“I’d say it’s random,” said Roni.
Derren cocked his head. “Why?”
“If they’re going to go through this much trouble to conceal their location, it seems odd to then place the IP address on the computer of someone who could be traced back to them.”
Marcus twirled strands of her hair around his finger. “She’s got a point.”
Taryn released a heavy sigh. “Well, it wasn’t a completely wasted journey.”
Nick frowned. “How do you figure that?”
“It answers one question for us: it tells us how they’re running the website, that they have a hacker, and that we’re not going to track them electronically. Up until now, that’s mainly what we’ve relied on.”
“If we want to hunt them down,” said Trey, “we’ll have to hunt them old style.”
“But we don’t have a clue where to start,” Dante pointed out.
Derren folded his arms. “Do you think they could be in Seattle?”
“It’s possible,” replied Nick. “But as Roni said, they’ve gone through a lot of trouble to avoid being traced. I doubt they’d want to be close to this place in case anyone traced the IP address here. They’ll want any potential hunters to be far away from them. I would, anyway.”
Taryn’s expression was resigned. “So, this leaves us at a dead end.”
Trey draped an arm around her. “For now. But not for good.”
No, definitely not for good, thought Marcus. There was no way he would allow these sick bastards to get away with the things they had done, attempting to kidnap Kye and hurting Roni in the process. For that alone, he’d happily slaughter every one of them—along with whoever uploaded the video evidence onto the website. Neither he nor Roni would allow them to get away with it. His female was delightfully vengeful. She didn’t take anyone’s shit, didn’t let anyone hurt or victimize her, or . . .
“Roni always gets even.”
Eli’s words suddenly rang in his mind, seemingly from nowhere. It was true, Roni always got even. And that was when a thought snuck into his mind. But it wasn’t until that night, when they were alone in his bed, that he was able to address it. Keeping his voice casual, he asked, “What happened to the other humans who attacked you?” She tensed against him, and he brushed the tips of his fingers up and down her arm reassuringly. “After they served their sentences, I mean.”
Without lifting her head from his shoulder, she replied, “As far as I know, they and their families were given new identities.” She hoped he’d let it go, but of course he didn’t.
“You tracked them down, didn’t you?” She went to move, and he tightened his arm around her, keeping her nestled in the cradle of his shoulder. “Shh, I’m not going to judge you, sweetheart. Fuck, if it had been me, I’d have done the exact same thing.” She didn’t relax, but she did stop struggling. “What happened to the other attackers, Roni?” he asked gently. Marcus cupped her face and lifted it, wanting to meet her eyes. “Like I said, I’m not going to judge you. I just want to know.”
He wanted to know what the person he was holding was capable of? Fine. “When I was eighteen, I tracked them down . . . to make them pay. To kill them.” Startling her, he pressed a soft kiss to her hair. It wasn’t until she was confident that he wasn’t about to push her away that she continued. “They were already dead; they’d been dead for three years.”
“You think Nick arranged it from juvie?”
“At first, I thought so. But Nick wouldn’t have had the resources to track them down. Not then.”
“Eli.”
“Eli said he didn’t, but he can be a ruthless motherfucker. He knows a million ways to kill. Can do it without hesitation. And he doesn’t like anyone messing with his family.”
Marcus kissed her forehead. “In his position, it’s what I would have done. If they were alive right now, I’d hunt them down.” She didn’t need to know what else he’d do to them.
“That’s why I’m confident it wasn’t the humans who uploaded the video. I know who it wasn’t, but I don’t know who it was.”
“We’ll find them, Roni. We’ll find them.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
She was an idiot. Everyone knew that going to a donut shop at lunchtime was a mistake unless standing in eternally long lines sounded like fun. But Roni had wanted to pick up some caramel donuts for Shaya. Usually, Roni came early in the morning, but she’d only left Phoenix Pack territory half an hour ago. Marcus had . . . delayed her. She would have thought their night of endless hot sex would have satisfied his libido. But no, Marcus had reached for her the second he woke, just as he had several times through the night—just as he had every night over the past couple of weeks.
For once, Roni didn’t get taunting looks from the pack when she walked into the kitchen that morning with Marcus, despite his leaving a brand-new mark on the soft flesh of her neck—nice and visible for all to see. Bastard. But no one had batted an eyelid. Apparently the extent of his possessiveness was old news.
It had been obvious that Greta, however, had wanted to comment on the brand. She’d skimmed her hostile gaze over Roni, and there had been a dark glint in her eyes that Roni had seen a thousand times before—seen it appear each time Greta attempted to rile Taryn or Jaime.
She had felt Marcus tense beside her, known he’d planned to smoothly step in if Greta said even a cross word to Roni. But as usual, it had been Trey who had warned the woman off. He’d insisted that since Roni had saved his son, he wouldn’t have her treated with anything but respect. As always, he’d turned Greta’s words on her, claiming that they were all in Roni’s debt.
All the other Phoenix wolves had worn expressions of total agreement. Although Greta hadn’t said a word, she’d stared hard at Roni, and Roni had stared right back. If the old heifer thought she could toy with Roni, she was out of her damn mind.
Finally in possession of her order, Roni made her way to the parking lot across the road. It was as she approached her car that it happened: the unmistakable feeling that someone was behind her crawled up her spine. She waited until she knew they were up close before acting. In a swift, fluid movement, Roni swerved on the spot, grabbed a hand holding a syringe, and forced the strange female to stab herself in the neck. Within seconds, the dumb bitch was out cold. Huh. A sedative.
Roni locked her gaze on another female, who was staring at her wide-eyed and looking terribly amused. Even, strangely, a little excited.
“Oh, you are good.” She’d said it like Roni had come recommended or something. “You will be lots of fun for us.”
Roni didn’t recognize either of the females, but she??
?d smelled scents similar to theirs before, so she knew one thing: these were jackals. That made both Roni and her wolf growl. “I’m tired, I’m pissed, and I’m seriously unhappy that the donuts I waited half an hour for are now splattered on the ground. So make this really, really quick, and really, really sweet.”
“We’re going to need you to come with us.” The jackal gestured to a waiting car that contained two other females, both of who were watching in morbid fascination. They were trying to drug and kidnap Roni in a public area in broad daylight? Really? Quinn was right: the sick freaks just didn’t care.
“And why would I do that?”
“Let’s see . . . there’s four of us, and one of you.”
“Three of you, actually.” She toed the unconscious body at her feet. “This one’s not going to be much use to you for a while.”
“Those still aren’t good odds for you. So be a smart little girl and get in the car.”
Roni pursed her lips. “Nah, I don’t think I’m going to do that.”
The jackal’s face hardened. “It wouldn’t be wise to try to fight us off, wolf.”
“You’re right: willingly getting into a vehicle with a bunch of shifters who intend to kill me makes a lot more sense.”
“Last chance. Get. In. The. Fucking. Car.”
“You can call that ‘Plan B,’ okay?” Roni didn’t wait for the jackal to make the first move—she needed to get this over with quickly and quietly. This wasn’t the time for fancy moves or toying with the bitches’ spleens. So Roni did what she always did when having a good, long fight wasn’t an option. She dealt her opponent a hard blow to the temple. And, yep, down the bitch went.
Cursing, a dark-haired jackal jumped out of the passenger seat. At the same time, a guy came running over, shouting. It was clear by the way he moved that he was no shifter. Shit. Roni turned wide eyes on the human male. “Help! They’re trying to rob us, and they’ve hurt my friend!” Roni squatted down and put a protective hand on the stomach of the drugged jackal. This bitch was going nowhere.
Thinking on her feet, the dark-haired jackal dragged the other unconscious female into the car, and then the three shifters hightailed it out of there without even a second look at their drugged friend. No loyalty among . . . sick freaks.
“Hey, are you girls okay?” asked the human, panting. “Do you need me to call the cops?”
Now how to get rid of this guy.
“I’ll file a report later. Right now, I have to get my friend to a doctor. My other friend’s in the bakery. Could you please go over there and tell her I need her right away? Her name’s . . . Sheridan.”
Like the good citizen he was, the human sprinted over to the bakery. By the time he came back, Roni would be long gone.
“Um, Roni, could you please tell me why there’s an unconscious female in the trunk of your car?” Rubbing at his nape, Eli frowned down at the blonde. “When you said, ‘Come see what I’ve got,’ I thought you meant new sneakers or something.”
He’d made his way to Roni the second she pulled up on their territory to warn her that Kathy was looking for her. Although it was fair to say they took sibling rivalry to a whole new level, they always stood united against a common foe—particularly their mother.
Roni removed the lollipop from her mouth to answer. “She’s not just any unconscious female. She’s an unconscious female jackal.”
“Jackal?” he growled. “I wondered what that smell was.”
“Blondie here and three of her friends tried to jump me in the parking lot when I went to pick up some donuts for Shaya. They wanted to whisk me away in their car.”
He spat out a stream of curses. “You all right?”
“Fine. But we need to tie her up and put her somewhere to question her. The drug should wear off soon.”
“You drugged her?”
“It was only fair, since she tried to drug me.”
He exhaled a long breath, shaking his head. “Marcus is going to lose his shit.”
“I’m fine.”
“It doesn’t matter. He isn’t going to like that someone tried to harm you. Call him, tell him to pass on the story to his Alphas. The Phoenix wolves will want to be here when she wakes up; they should hear what she has to say.”
She walked a little distance away so she could talk to Marcus privately.
“Hey there, pretty baby. How’s my favorite wolf in the world?” Marcus’s smile was obvious in his voice.
“I, um, I’m fine. Good. I, um . . .”
“Roni, what’s wrong?” he asked cautiously.
“Nothing’s wrong. Look, don’t panic, don’t go postal. Everything’s fine, but—”
“Roni, tell me what the fuck’s going on.” So she told him. As Eli predicted, Marcus exploded. “What?”
“Really, Marcus, I’m fine. It’s okay.”
“They tried to drug and kidnap you! No part of that is ‘okay’ to me! Wait there; I’ll be five minutes.”
She refrained from pointing out that he couldn’t possibly complete the journey in five minutes. “Make sure you bring the others with you. I brought one of the jackals home for a chat.” She ended the call before he could lecture her on bringing home strange shifters that had tried to hurt her.
“See, told you he’d lose his shit.” Eli, who’d crept up behind her to eavesdrop, didn’t bother hiding his smirk. So she punched him in the gut.
“Now I have to tell the other overprotective male in my life. Won’t this be fun.” After binding the jackal and dumping her in the tool shed, she and Eli locked the door securely behind them and sought out their brother.
They found Nick sitting with Shaya on the porch swing at the rear of their lodge; he was having a beer while Shaya was drinking a bottle of water. Maybe it was Shaya’s presence, or maybe it was simply that Roni didn’t have a scratch on her, but he seemed to take the whole thing pretty well. He didn’t interrupt her even once. Didn’t say a word. To add to that, his cool expression didn’t alter.
Once she was finished, he leaned forward. “Let me get this straight.” Damn, that dark rumble meant bad things, which was most likely why Shaya winced. Clearly he wasn’t so cool and collected after all. “And tell me if I’ve left anything out. You were almost drugged, abducted, and got into a fight with two jackals—”
“I wouldn’t call it a fight. More like a scuffle.”
“—in full view of any humans who might happen upon you—”
“Only one actually saw something.”
“—and then you decided that, hey, you’d bring home the crazy bitch who tried to stab you with a syringe.”
“We have questions, she has answers; it makes sense.”
Shaya shrugged at her mate. “She’s right, it does.”
“Why didn’t you call me, Roni? I would have come to you!”
“I didn’t need you to,” Roni stated. “I took care of it.”
“What about afterward? You don’t think I’d want to know someone just tried to take you?”
“I’m telling you now.”
Nick gaped at her. “How can you be so fucking calm? It’s obvious why they wanted you, Roni! You were supposed to star in one of their special vids!”
“Well . . . yeah. But it backfired on them, and now we have one of their people. So it’s all worked out quite well for us, don’t you think?”
“Worked out quite well,” he echoed quietly before turning to Eli. “Is she fucking kidding me?”
“She was actually whistling a merry tune when she pulled up outside,” Eli ever so helpfully chipped in, chuckling.
“Sorry about the donuts, Shaya,” said Roni. “I’ll get you some more tomorrow.”
“Donuts?” bellowed Nick. “Who cares about fucking donuts? You were almost taken!”
“I know.”
“Stop being so damn calm!”
“You want me to shout and scream, or something?”
“I want you to be normal! And I want you to contact me from now on wh
enever there’s a problem! Not come to me afterward with an, ‘Oh, by the way’ story!”
“You know, all this tension can’t be good for the baby—apparently they can hear things from the womb. You should try to calm down.” Roni’s words seemed to actually make him worse.
He pointed his finger hard at her. “You just can’t—”
“There’d better be a damn good reason why you’re roaring at her, Axton.”
That smooth, male voice never failed to send a shiver of excitement through Roni. Turning, she watched as Marcus rounded the lodge and prowled toward her. “Wow, you were fast.”
As Marcus finally saw for himself that she was unharmed, the knot of anxiety in his chest began to unravel. He went straight to her, uncaring of their audience, and brought his mouth down hard on hers as his hands slid into her hair. Her taste and scent flooded his senses, soothing the frays in his control and calming his wolf. “I swear, I’m going to find that pack and destroy every fucking one of them. You should have called me immediately.”
“No, she should have called me straight away. I’m her Alpha, and her brother.”
Marcus glanced at Nick curiously. “You say that like you’re more important than me. I’m confused.”
Roni bit the inside of her cheek to stop herself from laughing. “I didn’t need to call either of you. I was fine.”
“I didn’t say you needed to call me, sweetheart. I said you should have.” Marcus smoothed his hands up and down her arms. “If something had happened to me, even if I was unharmed, wouldn’t you have wanted to know?”
“Point taken,” she mumbled. “Next time, I’ll call you.”
Nick gaped at her again. “Why is it that you promise to call him but not me?”
“You didn’t ask me to promise to call you. You just kind of yelled at me. And then there was the snarling.”
Marcus shook his head at him. “If you don’t know how to talk to a dominant female by now, you’re never going to learn.”
Smiling at Nick, Shaya idly swished her water bottle from side to side. “It’s at times like this I understand why fate gave you a submissive female as a mate. A dominant female would have surely slit your throat by now. I have more patience.”