Page 20 of Wed Or Dead

So why was he caged and not killed?

“Is this the MO?” Gage wanted to know, and he tugged on her wrist to pull her attention back to him. “You catch the wolves, then you lock them up here?”

She licked her lips. “Sometimes.”

“And sometimes you just kill them.”

Her gaze snapped back to his. “The only shifters we hunt are those who’ve been preying on humans.Killinghumans. What are we supposed to do? Let human cops go after them?” Her laugh was bitter. She’d learned the brutal truth about the way that worked when she’d been sixteen. “Human cops wouldn’t be able to handle the monsters.” That was why her team was called in.

“But you can,” he said flatly.

“I can.” Whispered. Her team could. Lyle’s group was contracted by Uncle Sam. The government knew all about supernaturals, and they paid a good penny to make sure that the right people—the right hunters—went after their vicious prey.

They weren’t just randomly picking up supernaturals. Not all the supernaturals out there were even dangerous. But somewerereal-life nightmares that couldn’t be stopped by normal means. Lyle’s team hunted the cases that no one else could manage.

They stopped the killers. Took out the nightmares.

Gage’s brows lifted as he glanced around the cage. “You’re doing a real top job of handling things now.”

“Screw you, wolf.” She spun away. Paced as far as the chain would let her. Kayla was in this whole messed up situationbecause she’d lusted after the wolf. She should’ve known better. Actually, shehadknown better.

“I don’t prey on humans,” Gage said, his voice quiet. “I never have.”

Her fingers wrapped around the bars. The cage was built to keep supernaturals in. Would a human be able to find a way out? “Tell that to Slater Hawk.” Hawk’s case had been the one to pull her in on the hunt for Gage Riley. Slater Hawk had been sliced apart and then dumped in the desert.

“Since he’s burning with the devil, I won’t tell Hawk anything.” How could a man’s voice sound so careless when he was talking about death? “But believe me, that torturing SOB got exactly what he deserved.”

Her heart raced faster. This was what she’d suspected. The reason she hadn’t driven her knife into Gage’s chest. “Why? Why’d you kill him?”

“Because he was a twisted bastard who carved up four showgirls in the city. I don’t like it when women get hurt.”

She’d heard about the attacks on those ladies, only Lyle had told her that the wolves had been behind them. And he’d had proof, not just some BS story. She glanced back at Gage. “Why kill a human when your own pack was really slaughtering those women?” Had Hawk just found out the truth? “I saw the pictures,” she told him. The poor women. Brutalized. Tortured. “I know the difference between claw marks and stab wounds.” This wasn’t amateur hour. She knew the difference, far better than most.

She’d carry claw marks on her body until the day she died.

The chain clinked against the floor as Gage moved toward her. “If you cut off a shifter’s hand while he’s in animal form, that limb never shifts back. Certain hunters take shifter body parts like that as trophies.” His hands closed over her shoulders, andhe leaned in close to her. “But you knew that, sweetheart.” His breath feathered over her ear. “Didn’t you?”

Her eyes closed. He was too close to her. And she was too weak where he was concerned. “You-you’re saying that Hawk killed a shifter and used?—”

“No.”Snapped out. “I’m saying someone gave Hawk that claw, someone set the pit bull out, and got him to carve up those women so that my pack would look guilty.”

Her eyes opened as she spun to fully face. Dread was a cold knot in her stomach. “Why?”

Metal screeched behind her. She didn’t look back. She knew that sound. The heavy metal entrance door was being shoved across the stone floor, screeching and groaning like an old man in pain.

Gage smiled at her, and the sight was grim. “Ask your boss.”

Slowly, Kayla peered back over her shoulder. Sure enough, her boss, Lyle McKennis, stalked toward them. As usual, he was perfectly styled. His dark hair was slicked back. His suit was wrinkle free. And his handsome face even sported a wide grin.

Her heart beat faster. Whenever Lyle smiled like that, it was a bad sign.

Very,verybad.

The door slammed closed behind him.

Jonah stareddown at the computer monitor. On that monitor, he could clearly see that the wolf was touching Kayla again. That jerk wasalwaystouching her, and she didn’t seem to mind at all.

What the hell was wrong with her? After all they’d been through together.Why?Why would she side with a beast now?

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