Ryker growled, “What the fuck is going on, Sophie?”
I winked at him. “I’m not judging. But next time, give a girl some warning before you bring out the sex freaks.” I tapped my lip. “Now that I think of it, is there anything else you want to warn me about before I move into your penthouse?” I stared at Sophie pointedly. “Because I plan to be there for a long time.”
Sophie stood up, not even bothering to pull on her clothes. I rolled my eyes. Modest she was not. Sophie tossed her shiny waist-length blond hair over her shoulder, glaring at me. I stared at her tall, reed-thin body with peaches-and-crème skin and pouty mouth. Now I knew what type of women the Alpha was into. Sophie pushed out her obviously fake breasts, hanging on a body so thin I wished I had a cracker to give the poor starved soul.
“She’s staying with you?” Sophie pointed over at me hotly. “Not once have you invited me to your place.”
I wagged my finger at her like a schoolteacher. “And that should be a hint and a half for your ass. If a man doesn’t invite you over to his place, you’re definitely not a keeper.”
“Why you little bitch.” Sophie lunged at me. In a flash, Ryker stepped in front of me, blocking my view, and Rip and Jackal flanked my sides protectively. I shot them an annoyed stare. She-wolf or not, I could take on Sophie without even breaking a damn sweat.
“I don’t have time for this shit. Sophie, put on your clothes and get out,” Ryker barked impatiently.
I pushed past Ryker determinedly and strolled past her, sinking down into Ryker’s buttery leather office chair with a sigh of exaggerated contentment. “Don’t mind me.” I waved a hand. “I’ll be quiet. I love watching a good freak show.”
Sophie’s eyes narrowed bitterly before she marched over to Ryker, grabbing his arm possessively. I yawned at her obvious attempt at possession, but deep down inside, something I never experienced before stirred within me—jealously. I curled my fingers against my thighs to prevent myself from jumping up and slapping her hands off him.
Ryker frowned while peeling Sophie’s hand off him. “Sophie, what the hell are you playing at?”
Sophie’s mouth tightened. “Ryker, who is this?”
Ryker growled. “Sophie, you’re testing my damn patience.”
I crossed my legs while twirling a strand of hair flirtatiously. “She wants to know if you and I are”—I looked up and smiled sexily—“fucking,” I whispered loudly.
Rip laughed loudly. “God, this is funny.”
Sophie sized me up. “Exactly,” she hissed before jamming her hands on her hips while tapping her foot impatiently.
Ryker crossed his beefy arms. “That’s none of your damn business.” He nodded over to her scattered clothes. “Now put on your damn clothes and get the hell out. You’re embarrassing yourself.”
Sophie huffed angrily.
“And the answer to your question…” I winked at him saucily. “Not yet, but I’m working on it.”
Ryker smirked, then caught himself and frowned.
I continued. “And if I were you… I would be damn worried when I do.”
Sophie put her clothes on with angry, jerky movements.
“Because what’s between my legs is so good, if I threw it up in the air, it would make sunshine.”
Jackal’s mouth dropped open. “I’m going to need a cold shower.”
“Shit. My cock just got rock hard,” Rip mumbled.
Ryker scowled at them. “Don’t encourage her.”
Sophie snarled. “This is ridiculous.”
I smiled like I won the lottery. “Ridiculously good. Now run along. Your services will not be required…” I looked at Ryker with cold eyes. “Anymore.”
Sophie sputtered.
Ryker crossed his arms. “Sophie, leave.”
Her overinflated lips pouted before she pulled on her coat. “I’m not leaving. She is.”
I smiled, enjoying the drama much more than I really should. “Sweetie, your cheap shoes are over there.” I nodded over to the door. “Put them on and skedaddle.” I leaned forward, giving her the stare. “You’re making the big bad Alpha and his sidekicks really uncomfortable.”
She grabbed her shoes before marching over to me. “You can’t have him,” she snapped while pointing in my face.
Oh, hell no! There were a multitude of ways I could handle this, but the one I was leaning toward was breaking her boney finger for being so unbelievably rude. I decided to take the high road, which frankly, was highly unusual for me. Besides, Sophie was rearing for a fight that she absolutely had no chance of winning.
“Okay, first, the finger, get it out of my damn face. Secondly, you better be happy that I don’t really want Ryker…” I glared. “Because I don’t lose men. I collect them.” I tilted my head subtly. “Now, move your boney ass out of my face before I go straight New York on your ass.”
Ryker strode over and guided Sophie toward the door. “Sophie, I don’t play games.”
She sputtered while looking at me spitefully. “You’re kicking me out for this chubby bitch?”
I jumped up. “Okay, that’s it. I tried to be nice, but the name calling, that’s the last straw.”
Jackal and Rip dragged a cursing Sophie out of the office, closing the door quietly. I stared at him spitefully while throwing paperclips in the air. “Happy Birthday, Wolfie!”
A
PISSED-OFF
R
YKER ENTERED
the soundproofed conference room with Jackal and Rip trailing behind. Ryker stepped over the threshold and nodded at Jackal, who shut the door. Jackal, the second-highest-ranking member of the team, and Rip, the third, sat down to his left and right. The remaining member of the team, Soar, sat engrossed in pulling up data from his tablet.
“I’ve never witnessed anything as hot but frightening as what I just witnessed. And I’m not talking about Sophie,” Jackal reported.
“God. Every time Light opens her mouth, I don’t know whether to run or beg her to make me her sexual submissive,” Rip chuckled.
“What the fuck? Can you guys focus?” Ryker snarled. He was already regretting making the promise to protect Light. She was too much of a distraction.
Soar glanced up from his tablet. “What happened?”
“An epic clash of the titans. Sophie, zero. Light, ten,” Rip related.
Soar scowled. “Figures. Underneath that pretty face is a mean, vicious siren.” He shook his head with a look of amazement. “Did you see what she did with that damn letter opener? Fuck… inches away from taking out my eye.” He smirked. “I would take that woman to a knife fight any damn day.”
Ryker frowned. Soar was distrustful of everyone until he warmed up to them, and that could take months. Now he was an official member of the “I love Lightning” fan club, way ahead of schedule. Ryker leaned forward, pressing his hands on the table, allowing his power to roll off his body. “Enough! We have too much shit going on to be talking about Light and her damn antics.” He took a cleansing breath before sitting down.
Rip laughed. “Man, you’re mad she won’t kneel at your feet like every other woman.”
Jackal grinned at Ryker. “Let me give you some advice. This one is a wild stallion. Don’t try to mind fuck her ‘cause it ain’t going to work. A firm but gentle hand is needed to corral her into your bed.”
Soar examined Ryker with way-too-wise eyes. “Light’s not some woman you fuck and walk away from. She’s a keeper.”
Ryker scoffed. “I’m not interested in a mate.”
Jackal leaned forward with a smile and eager eyes. “If you don’t want her, would you have a problem with me pursuing her?”
Ryker’s eyes flashed.
“That’s what we thought. She’s all yours, Alpha,” Jackal commented smugly.
Ryker struggled to get himself under control. “All I care about right now is pack business,” he remarked while watching them coolly. “Let’s review what we know so everyone’s on the same damn page.”
Soar slid his finger over the tablet. The myriad of monitors flicked to life. Ryker’s eyes narrowed on the streaming images from the crime scene, autopsy, and copies of the report appearing on the monitors.
“Here are the photos we got from our informants. Notice the heart is ripped out of every single body.” He eyed them. “What’s more puzzling is the hearts were not found on the scene.” He paused, scratching his head. “And the animal maul marks on the body… definitely made by a shifter,” Soar finished.
“Shifters don’t take organs,” Ryker argued. “And if we did, what the fuck would we do with them? Our organs are useless once they leave the body.” It was nature’s way of ensuring the essence and power of Others remained within the body.
“That’s exactly what I concluded, but someone is going to great lengths to frame shifters.” Soar leaned back in his chair and steepled his fingers. “What’s even stranger is the neighbors reportedly heard howling around the time frame of the attacks. Some even said they saw wolves running in the street.”
“What the fuck? Wolves running in the middle of Manhattan?” Ryker ran his hands through his hair. “This shit is out of control. Whoever did this is going to pay for jeopardizing the peace treaty talks.”
“Frankly, I don’t think you have a chance in hell of getting the Others to the table now,” Jackal interjected. “They’re too riled up. Chatter on the network is going crazy. Wild speculation is running rampant, but the main theme is everyone thinks the stolen Credence client book is some type of Other hit list.”
Ryker’s jaw tensed. “Can this get any worse?”
“Oh, it did,” Rip commented. “We’ve also picked up unusual chatter in the Other network about humans purchasing Others’s hearts.”
Ryker sat straight up. He didn’t like the sound of this at all. The few humans who knew of their existence had been trying for centuries to get their hands on Others’s organs. They believed that by implanting the organs into humans, they would somehow get the Others’s strength and power. If the network chatter was true, it meant someone had figured out how to successfully harvest Others’s organs. “Rip, call Ben from the Riley pack. He may know what’s going on.” He paused. “A couple of months ago, I got a strange call from a former colleague. He was frantic about a visit from a group of rich humans who said they were from a corporation called Swodah Unified. He said they were looking to purchase Other organs. He told them it was impossible and not to come back. I gave the lead to Ben since he had been monitoring this group’s activities for years. See if he has any new intelligence.” He stared sharply at Jackal. “Find out the names of the humans who purchased the organs. We find the names and it will lead us to who’s behind the killings.”
Ryker scrutinized the images flashing on the monitors. “Stop.” His eyes narrowed on the bodies of Dimitri and Houston. “Soar, pull up the address on where the bodies were found.” A map of the city flashed on the screen with a big red dot pinpointing the location of the bodies. “That’s one block away from Redemption. Too much of a coincidence. Pull up the video surveillance we have on Redemption.”
One of the first things he did when he took over as leader of the Council was start secret video surveillance on Redemption, a restaurant owned by a vampire named Vivica and frequented by key players in the New York Other circle. He was more concerned with Oskar Orlov, Vivica’s close friend and leader of the only vampire coven in New York. He was the man Ryker needed to keep tabs on as discretely as possible.
“I swear, Bones, if you don’t get out of my way, I’m going to pluck you in the damn throat,” Light yelled from the outside the conference room’s door. “And I don’t give a crap what Ryker said. I’m going in that damn room. Now, move.” The door opened with Light standing in the doorway. “What is this?” She paraded into the conference room as Bones stood behind her with an apologetic look on his face.
Ryker’s body stilled. “I thought I told you to wait outside with Bones? This is pack business.”
Without pause, she stepped up to the bank of monitors that made up his wall and stared at the photos from the crime scene, autopsy, and reports. “I’m not waiting outside with Bones,” she responded sarcastically. “Besides, from the looks of these photos, this has everything to do with me. Pack or not.” She stood in front of the monitors, staring at the gruesome images without even flinching. “Detective Prick wasn’t exaggerating. Their hearts really were removed from their bodies.” She turned to scrutinize Ryker. “Who would do some sick shit like this?”
“You are testing my damn patience, Light,” Ryker gritted out through clenched teeth.
She sat down calmly. “I’m not leaving, Ryker. I have as much to lose here as you.”
Bones shut the door and sat down.
Ryker surveyed her with hard eyes. “Whatever you see, whatever you hear cannot leave this fucking room, Light.”
She stared at him with wide, clear eyes. “Trust me Alpha.”
He nodded toward Soar. “Roll the video surveillance.” Anger simmered like a raging fire underneath the cool exterior of his Alpha façade as he watched Noah step out of a black vehicle and stroll up to Dimitri and Houston. The men shook hands, then walked into Redemption.
“What the fuck? I thought Noah was in London,” Rip barked.
Ryker deliberately said nothing, letting the sound of silence speak volumes. There could only be one reason Noah secretly crept back to New York to meet with the second-in-command of two of his strongest adversaries. Betrayal.
“Enzo…” Ryker’s eyes snapped to Rip. “Go get him.”
Light raised her hand. They all stared at her. “Who the hell is Enzo?”
Ryker answered with deadly calm. “Noah’s cousin.”
I
WATCHED WITH FASCINATION AS
Ryker’s pack sorted through the information and images without pause. For a pack of only five, they were efficient, tight, and ran like a damn well-oiled machine. But their personalities were as different as they came.
“How did you meet each other?” I asked.
They all glanced up, contemplating me like they forgot I was even in the room. I shrugged. “You seem like unlikely friends.”
Jackal leaned back in his chair and smiled. “Soar, Rip, and I met in the military. We worked on some secret missions together. And we met the former cardiologist here”—Jackal nodded toward Ryker—“when he saved Rip’s life.” He rubbed his head. “Shit, Rip’s heart had fucking stopped after he was injured during our last mission. Hell, we thought he was a goner.”