CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

“There was a van and two cars parked out here when Dale Bray pulled up,” said Farrell, staring at the warehouse that was surrounded by a tall electric fence sporting No Trespassing signs. “When Bray got out to unlock the gate, the van’s driver shouted that ‘she’ has the scent of wolverine all over her and it seems like she did imprint on ‘him’ after all.”

Alex felt a muscle in his cheek tick. “Go on.”

“Bray stood still for a few seconds,” said Farrell. “Then he shrugged and said that there was no point in turning back now. All four vehicles went through the gate and straight into the warehouse via a giant delivery bay. I couldn’t risk getting too close to the windows, so I’m not sure what’s going on inside.”

“Bree’s in there—that’s all I need to know,” said Alex, holding himself stiffly even though his body felt alive with a kind of manic energy. His breaths were slow and steady now, but he was far from “calm.” His anger was no longer hot and tempestuous, though. It was cold and calculating. He could think now. Plan. Focus. Fight off the panic and dread.

His beast, however, wasn’t so collected. He fumed and snarled and paced erratically, practically foaming at the mouth.

“They must have transported Dani in the van, too,” said Tate. “For Dale to have two cars accompany it, he was preparing for our pride mates to pursue them, just in case they were spotted taking the two females. Maybe they took Dani because they thought they had a better chance of making Bree cooperate if they were holding one of her pride mates hostage.”

“Is she still unconscious?” Vinnie asked Alex.

“No,” replied Alex. “She’s aware. I’m not sensing fear. She’s pissed and a little anxious, but she’s mostly hopeful.”

“Hopeful that you will come,” said Isaak, “which you have. Hyenas will pay for taking our Breasha.”

A body silently stepped out of the shadows, making Farrell jump. “I have checked entire perimeter of fence—there are several guards outside, and there are probably more inside,” said Dimitri. “Can we know for sure Breasha is here?”

“From what Farrell heard the hyenas say, yes,” replied Alex.

Dimitri gave him a grim look. “Now can we have war?”

“We can kill everyone inside and outside of that building except for Bree and Dani.”

“Good enough.”

Isaak looked down his nose at Vinnie. “You, dumb cat, can stay here and call reinforcements if it seems necessary.”

Vinnie bristled. “Like hell.”

Isaak scoffed. “You cannot sneak in warehouse unseen. You will set off sensors and alarms with your big cat feet. We will not. Now let us go, nephew. Your little mate awaits.”

“Come on, Miss Dwyer, you want a hint, right?” Dale walked over to Dani and tore off her gag. “She wants a hint, primary. Give it to her.”

Panting, Dani glared at him, her cheeks red. “You weren’t supposed to instruct your men to take me. You were supposed to tell them to beat me up a little to make it look like I put up a fight. You should have—”

“You used me,” growled Dale, looming over her. “You fed me lies to keep me in the picture so that you could use me as a scapegoat. Did you think I’d let that go?”

Dani blanched. “You can’t mean to kill me.”

“That’s exactly what I mean to do.”

Feeling like she’d been hit by a two-by-four, Bree felt her face go slack. “You hired the loners?”

Dani pressed her trembling lips into a flat line. “You were in the way. You were ruining everything I worked for.”

An angry flush swept up Bree’s neck and face. What. The. Fuck? “Please tell me you don’t want me dead just so you can keep a position.”

“It’s not just a position, it’s my life. I knew I’d have to step down one day. I figured it would happen after a few decades. But no, you had to fuck all that up.”

Oh, Bree wanted to smack this bitch down so bad. Seething, her feline snapped her teeth and rumbled a pissed-the-fuck-off growl. “Why not just have me assassinated? Why hire people to take me?”

“The original plan wasn’t to kill you. Look, I couldn’t change that you’re stronger than me or that you’d grow in power. But I thought if I could shake your emotional state and stress you out then you wouldn’t have a stable grasp on your abilities, and you just might come close to falling.” Dani sniffed. “I would only have been speeding along what would have happened if you’d gotten the position of primary. It doesn’t suit everyone. Some can’t cope with the workload. You wouldn’t have.”

Bree could only gape. This skank clearly thought she was fully justified in her actions.

“I know how desperate you were to believe that Paxton was gone for good, so I thought it might crush you if you thought he was back on the scene. It was Bernadette’s idea to leave the necklaces lying around your house. It was also her idea to use the retrieval agency.”

“Wait, you’ve been working with Bernadette?” Could this get any more fucked up?

“I didn’t have enough money to hire a loner—they’re expensive, you know. I used to counsel her once a week; all she ever talked about was Paxton. I suggested to her that making it seem like you were in danger might make him show himself to ‘rescue’ you. She agreed and got all excited. Really, I was just hoping that adding a splash of danger to your life would help shake you up. I was going to help you recover after you lost control of your gifts.”

Oh, well then that made it okay.

“I was sure that once people saw how easy it was for you to fall, they’d have to acknowledge that I should be primary. But I’ll admit, you’re more resilient and grounded than I thought. So I upped the stakes a little, sent more loners your way, but you just wouldn’t break. People weren’t avoiding you, they were seeing your strength and seeking you out.”

Sickened, Bree sneered. “Are you even able to see past your own wants and needs? Do you even care how much damage you’ve caused? People have died—”

“No one was supposed to get killed,” snapped Dani, her eyes wild. “What happened to Benny and Crawford should never have happened.”

“But it did. Two innocent people lost their lives.”

Dani looked away. “They knew the position of enforcer carried risks. I think they’d rather have died fulfilling their role than peacefully in their beds. It’s not like they left behind a mate and kids. Renee cared for Benny, but she has a true mate out there somewhere.”

“There are females out there waiting for Benny and Crawford, unaware that their true mates died because of your hunger for power.”

“That doesn’t mean they can’t have a mate. They’ll just have to imprint on someone. That worked out well for you, didn’t it?” Like that made everything fine.

Bree’s lips curled back in disgust. “You’re just rotting from the inside, aren’t you?”

“Rotting? No. But we all have darkness in us—even omegas. A person won’t stay in power long if they’re not cunning enough to keep contenders at bay. I didn’t want you harmed, though. I just wanted to … manipulate the situation a little.”

“And yet, you handed me over to hyenas.”

“Because you wouldn’t just crack! You would have found out my part in everything sooner or later, and then I’d have been executed!” Dani jutted out her chin. “Judge me all you want, but I did what I thought was best for the pride.”

“Bullshit. You did this because you like the power. The respect. The high status. You couldn’t handle the idea of going from a primary to just another omega.”

“I told you, you wouldn’t have coped well with the position. I’ve been doing it a long time. I’m good at it. People trust and listen to me. They know I care about them. You don’t give a damn. There’s no sense in you having the position. You don’t even want it. It fits me. I was born for it. The pride would never choose you as primary if the choice was up to them.”

Bree flexed her numb fingers. “You talk about being so much better than me. You don’t think it’s weak that you’re clinging to power?”

“No, because I earned it. I wield it well. I do good with it. You wouldn’t. You only do what’s best for yourself.”

“You’re honestly saying that to me?” Oh, sweet Jesus. “You never planned to leave the pride. But you had to make it look like we were far from enemies so no one would suspect you had anything to do with my ‘disappearance.’”

Dani’s expression said “well, duh.”

“What about Mateo and Drina?”

“I convinced them to leave. It was easy enough, considering they knew they were in deep shit with Vinnie and were going to be banished anyway. I thought it might help you think that Paxton was back if they disappeared. It was Drina’s idea to leave a little blood.”

“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.

Then again, it wouldn’t have been hard for Paxton to change his hairstyle, lose some muscle, grow a beard, have the tattoo sleeves done. As for becoming Calvin … well, Paxton was always a master at fooling people. Who knew his identical twin better than he did? Who could have more effortlessly slipped into Calvin’s skin and taken over his life?

She opened her mouth, ready to call out to Alex, but then she stilled. No, if this was Paxton, he had to be armed—he wouldn’t have jumped into this situation if he wasn’t confident that he could get himself out of it alive. And he’d just love the opportunity to take out Alex. She wouldn’t give it to him.

“How did you know where your mate was?” Dale asked him.

“I put a GPS tracking app on her cell phone long ago.”

He’d been tracking her? Monitoring her every move? Fucking hell.

Paxton sighed. “Sadly, Bray, I don’t have time to play with you—I have to get her out of here while the wolverines are occupied.”

Wait, wolverines plural?

Dale shook his head. “The person who’ll die here is—” His whole body jerked as two bullets whizzed through the headrest and sank into his forehead. The hyena dropped to the floor of the van like a stone.

Paxton’s gaze slid to Dani as he raised the gun from the headrest. “I was having a very good life until you and my mother started playing your games, making everyone talk about me; making them look for me; making them watch me—or should I say Calvin?—and my little cat so closely that I could barely get near her, especially when I was blamed for the necklaces being dumped in her home.”

Dani shrunk back. “I-I don’t know what you mean, I—”

“Oh, you know. My mother told me how she put the necklaces in a box with one of my old sweaters for a few days, hoping they’d smell of me once she took them out. Everyone assumed I’d broken in when, really, she’d merely opened the window, reached inside, and poured the necklaces onto Bree’s counter … leaving only the merest trace of her scent behind—a trace that had either faded or wafted out of the window by the time my little cat arrived home later that day. A fine trick.”

Bree gaped. It was a fine trick. Now she had to wonder if Bernadette had placed the other necklace on Bree’s kitchen windowsill by merely sticking her hand through an open window.

Her eyes still wide as saucers, Dani swallowed. “I was just—”

“Putting her in danger. Something you’ll now pay dearly for. It really is such a shame we don’t have more time. I would have enjoyed hearing you scream.” He fired a bullet right through Dani’s forehead and, thanks to the damn silencer, it barely made a sound.

Paxton’s dead eyes drifted to Bree. Something flared in their depths—something she couldn’t name. And then it was gone. “Hello, little cat.”

Utterly repelled by that voice, her cat hissed and spat. Bree squirmed, grunted, and struggled against her binds. “You stay the fuck away from me.”

“Easy, there,” he soothed, settling in the driver’s seat. “Or scream and make a fuss so that my cousin comes to help you—we both know how that’ll end for him.” He closed the driver’s door. “So nice of the hyenas to leave the keys in the ignition.”

The van roared to life. The vibration reverberated through her body. And then the van was moving. Fast. Noisily. Making sharp turn after sharp turn. When the warehouse lights no longer shone through the windows, she realized they were outside the building.

Something heavy landed on the roof with a loud thud.

Paxton must have slammed his foot on the pedal, because the van screeched to a stop and she almost rolled along the floor. A body tumbled off the roof and over the hood of the van. “Fuck,” Paxton cursed. In one fluid move, he leapt over the seat, straddled her waist, and rolled her fully onto her stomach. The back doors were yanked open.

“Alex,” she breathed, her heart leaping. He stood there, his eyes cold and hard, his mouth set into a cruel slash. He didn’t move. Probably because Paxton had a gun pointed at the back of her head—she could feel the barrel digging into her skull.

Paxton’s laugh held a cutting, hard edge. “Caught a glimpse of you in the wing mirror heading for the rear of the van. You found her much faster than I thought you would. Shame. But I do thank you for keeping the hyenas occupied.”

“It’s not Calvin,” she told Alex.

“Yeah, I see that,” Alex replied, his voice carefully controlled yet laced with menace. His nostrils flaring, he glared at Paxton, his stare unblinking. “You won’t kill her.”

“I wouldn’t like to kill her,” said Paxton. “But would I shoot her in the head to stop you from having her? Yes. Yes, I would. Especially if I had no way to get out of this situation alive—I never respond well to being cornered.”

Bree knew he meant every word. If she or anyone else moved, he’d shoot. Shit, shit, shit. If she’d been able to reach Paxton’s bare skin with her hands, she could have forced positive energy into him to neutralize his anger and scorn; could have distracted him with emotions he’d never feel—happiness, peace, empathy. One moment of distraction was all Alex really needed to act.

Her mate obviously wasn’t alone, because whoever had tumbled off the van’s roof was not him. Maybe they could make some sort of sneaky move if she just kept Paxton’s attention focused on her. Maybe she could buy them some time if she kept Paxton talking—he always did like the sound of his own voice, much like his mother.

“No mating urge sparked to life,” she said. “Why?”

“Little cat, the mating urge isn’t a purely sexual phenomenon. It’s when one shifter’s soul recognises its other half—the person who’ll be all they ever want and need. But your soul recognized that its other half was too dark and damaged for us to ever bond; it sensed how completely I’d rejected the concept of mating, and so it made no attempt to bind us.”

Okay, that made sense. Her soul had never pined for him. On the contrary, it had been chilled by him. “Is Calvin dead?”

“Don’t worry, he didn’t suffer,” replied Paxton.

Did she look slow to him? “I don’t believe you.”

Paxton chuckled. “I doubt you want the gory details.”

“How long have you been posing as him?”

“Oh, about four years now.”

Since Paxton had first mysteriously “disappeared.”

“So sad how you were all out looking for me, and I was so close to you all that time.”

Alex’s beast growled at the mocking smile the asshole wore. Alex kept his face blank, refusing to give the male cat a reaction—he’d only get off on it.

Fear was an emotion that Alex had never thought he’d feel. But for the second time that night, it threatened to paralyze him. He’d had only ever felt this powerless once before—when he watched Freya die. He could remember it as if it happened only yesterday. He couldn’t go through that shit again; couldn’t watch the life leave Bree’s eyes.

If he lost her, there’d be nothing left of him to save. Which was why he couldn’t move a fucking inch. He didn’t dare.

There was nothing nervous about Paxton right then. The guy wasn’t stupid. He knew Alex had company and he no doubt suspected the vehicle was surrounded. But his hand was rocky steady as he aimed that gun at Bree. He was either sure this would go his way, or he was fine with dying so long as he took Bree with him.

Just the thought made Alex’s gut twist painfully. The need to hold still chafed at the beast’s patience. The animal’s legs trembled with the need to lunge, attack, and kill.

“You’re standing there thinking you should have known it was me all along, aren’t you, Alex?” His smile was a pure taunt. “Hey, don’t beat yourself up about it. No one ever suspected it. Not even my stupid parents. Never met two more boring people in all my life.”

“Are they dead, too?” Alex was surprised his voice didn’t shake, given that his chest felt so tight it was almost hard to breathe.

“My mother was dead the moment she confessed to her involvement in this mess with Danielle over there.”

“Short version,” began Bree, no doubt feeling Alex’s confusion through their bond, “she and Bernadette were working together; they hired the loners.”

And he’d left his mate alone with Dani. Alex curled his hands tight. He should have stayed with her. He should have refused to leave her side. Then she wouldn’t be in the center of this goddamn clusterfuck.

“My mother wanted us to flee as a family, you know,” Paxton went on. “It might surprise you to hear that Moira didn’t approve, little cat. I don’t think she’d care if you die. I think she simply resented that, once again, our tedious mother was all about me. Even I got sick of her hearing her drone on and on about me, so I can’t really blame Moira for that.

“She left the pride on her own. My guess? She worried people would believe her an accomplice when they discovered Bernadette’s part in everything. They probably would have, given how Moira felt about you.”

“It was you who shot at Alex’s living room window, wasn’t it?” asked Bree.

“That was your fault—I did tell you to stay away from him. You just wouldn’t.”

Bree’s cat bared her fangs, furious that he’d shoot at Alex; furious thatshe was so helpless. Her feline yearned to rip apart this male who had never felt like her other half. He was only ever a … Bree’s thoughts trailed off as something occurred to her—the gun was no longer pressed against her scalp. It was obviously still pointed at her or someone would have acted by now. But Paxton, the cocky bastard, had clearly relaxed his stance a little.

She’d bet Alex had noticed it, too. She’d bet he was counting on the asshole to relax a little more. If she could just find some way to make him do so…

“Well, you should have known better than to think I’d ever dance to anyone’s tune but my own,” she said.

“Maybe so. Did you talk him out of running outside after I fired those shots? I’ll bet you did. Alex’s instinct would have been to rush out and run me down.”

“Why come back to the pride?” asked Alex, and she had the feeling he didn’t like it that Paxton’s attention was on her.

“So I could be near my little cat, of course. We’re tied, she and I. Even without the bond, our destinies are still intertwined. The pull to be close to each other is always there. You never should have touched her, Alex. Never. You knew it, but you did it anyway.”

A vein in Alex’s temple twitched. “What’s it to you? You don’t want her.”

Paxton sighed. “Shifters. Always so caught up in the concept of mating. None of you ever see it for the weakness that it truly is. It’s true that I don’t want to claim her. But if I’m going to allow anyone else to do so, it will be someone who’s good for her. You won’t be.”

“You wouldn’t like anyone claiming her. To you, she’s like a toy that you don’t want anyone else to play with.”

“And what is she to you?”

“Everything.”

Bree’s heart clenched. Damn if she didn’t love the bossy, impossibly rude bastard.

“No, Freya was everything to you,” countered Paxton. “And you didn’t even know it until it was too late. Just like you didn’t know I was here until it was too late. Seems like you’re not very good at protecting your mates, are you?”

Alex’s deep, rumbly growl sounded like a damn boat motor.

Paxton laughed, clearly enjoying himself. Yeah, his stance had lost all stiffness at this point. “Now, here’s what’s going to happen. You’re all going to back away—yes, I’m quite aware there are many of you. You’re all going to get into your vehicles, and you’re going to leave. Oh, I’m sure at least one of you will circle back. But by then, I’ll have my cat on the front seat beside me. If I even so much as hear anyone approaching, I will shoot her.”

Bree swallowed. “Don’t give him what he wants, Alex. He’ll either kill me or keep me as a captive somewhere—neither of those scenarios sound all that appealing to me.”

Her mate didn’t even look at her. He just kept on glaring at Paxton, his neck corded, his muscles straining against the skin of his neck and arms.

“So, what will it be, Alex?” asked Paxton. “Will she and I be leaving here together, or will we be dying together? Personally, I think—”

The van flipped onto its side wicked fast like a fucking crazy-ass wind whipped it up and tossed it. She crashed into the side wall as it suddenly became the floor, whacking her head, hip, and shoulder hard, causing pain to burst through her. A heavy weight landed on top of her, making the breath gush out of her lungs.

She felt bare skin beneath her palms. His skin.

Without hesitation, she shoved positive energy into Paxton, hoping to God he wouldn’t have the chance to pull the trigger of the gun. She heard him suck in a breath and—

People leapt into the van. Just as the heavy weight was yanked away from her, someone dragged her along the floor and threw her out of the vehicle.

Vinnie caught her with a grunt. “I got you, sweetheart.” He tried slicing the ropes binding her, frowning when they didn’t even fray. “What the—”

A body came zooming out of the van, as if it had been tossed out like litter, and landed hard on the ground. There was a nauseating crack. Groaning, Paxton palmed the back of his head.

A spinetingling, guttural roar split the air, making the back of her nape prickle. A wolverine sprang out of the vehicle, his tail up, his hackles standing on end. Alex.