Page 127 of Choose the Bears

“Phil is at large in the city,” I replied, my voice like ashes. “He has a car?—”

“That’s not the bad part,” she said, staring me down. “He could be making for the border, getting the fuck out of Dodge?—”

As if in counterpoint to that, my phone started ringing, and the name on the notification had my blood running cold. ‘Jesse’ it said. Except Jesse had lost his phone to Phil, so the fucking prick was the one who was actually calling. I stabbed my finger at the screen, answering the call and putting him on speakerphone.

“Hello?” I responded.

“Pretty fucking formal for a bloke who wanted me killed.” Phil’s voice was like a slimy hand sliding across my skin, leaving behind a sticky residue. “Didn’t manage it, though, did ya? Must’ve been real disappointed to turn up to that forest and just find that pretty boy lying there. Or did you knock him off thinking it was me?”

“What do you want?”

Playing his game, getting caught up in his bullshit wouldn’t help things. This was like negotiating with a gun man. I needed to get control of the situation, find out what his list of demands was.

“What do I want?” I heard the bravado there. Phil was winding himself up, trying to work himself back into a position of strength. “What do I want, Asher?”

The sound of my name had my heart sinking. Jesse had obviously put everything into his contacts.

Including the address here.

“Seems like you’ve got a real nice place. Close to the city and everything. People don’t usually like women’s shelters that close to the central business district, but I guess you pulled some strings with some friends.” I stayed silent, knowing that an overblown ego like Phil’s couldn’t resist revealing all. “Be a real pity if something happened to that place.” My response was choked off, but somehow he heard my hiss of breath. “Aw, don’t want all of those little broken dollies getting hurt?” His chuckle was like nails on a chalkboard.

“What do you want?” I repeated, unwilling to be drawn into this shit.

“What do I want? What do I want, you piece of shit? What I’ve always fucking wanted.” All amusement was lost from his voice. “My fucking wife and kids back. You’ve got ‘em, don’t you? Them and that little bitch, Imogen.” I heard the muffled sound of a man’s voice in the background, making clear Phil wasn’t just speaking for himself. “You’ve been there the whole fucking time, taking men’s women from them for what? Some sick fucking scenario you’ve got in that place? Whore them out? Whore my children out?”

My claws stabbed into the conference room desk, shredding the wood, because it was the only way I could get through this.

“I’m coming for what’s mine, you fuck, and there’s not a lot you can do about it. See you soon.”

“Fuck!” I roared as the phone went dead.

“We need to evacuate,” my sister said, her face ghostly pale. “We need to get everyone out of here now.”

“To go where?” Lucas snapped. “Mobilising that many people at the same time just leaves us vulnerable to attack. We don’t even know what kind of threat this dickhead poses.”

But I did. More than anyone else in my sleuth, I did. I was the one who did the background checks on the abusive partners of our clients. I was the one who tracked them silently, ensuring they no longer posed a threat. Most of my dealings were with the police, but sometimes…

I brought up a contact and put through a call.

“Rye.”

The fox shifter’s tone was dry as he answered the phone, noise in the background making clear he was out somewhere.

“I need eyes,” I told him, my tone a bee’s dick away from being a command. “Everywhere, all across the city.”

He whistled.

“That’ll cost you a pretty penny, and bear boy, you’re running up quite the tab.”

“I’m about to max that out,” I replied. “I need bodies, fighters, strong shifters?—”

“Asher, it sounds like you’re starting a war here.”

“Not a war, defence. I need every single fucking shifter in this city who’ll accept payment to mobilise around our headquarters.”

“You’re looking at a direct attack on the shelter?” All amusement was gone now as I finally got his attention. “Fuck, the women?—”

“I know.” My voice broke then, because it felt like this place was just an elaborate pipe dream that I’d seduced a bunch of vulnerable people into believing in. I told them they would be safe, secure, protected and… “Whatever it takes. What does Mama Lisica want?”

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