Page 38 of Wed Or Dead

“Ow! Shit, I was trying to help!” Curtis rubbed his jaw. “I was waiting for the coast to clear, then I was gonna help you get out.”

“And you still will,” Gage assured him. He didn’t know what the demon was doing working there as a hunter, and right then, he didn’t give a shit. He just wanted to get Kayla out of that place.

He had to hurry up and go check in on his pack. Once they were secure, and once he’d destroyed the fool who’d betrayed him to Lyle, then he could come back and bring this compound to the ground.

Curtis nodded. “Right. I-I still will.”

“We need transportation,” Gage said. Number one priority. They were in the middle of the desert. They needed a fast ride. One that wouldn’t be traced.

“There are a fleet of SUVs in this place. I can handle getting transport.” Curtis nodded and rocked back on his heels. “But I’m going with you.”

Like he wanted another hunter riding shotgun.

Before he could refuse, Kayla nodded. Her eyes met Gage’s. “If he stays, he really will be dead.”

She kept acting like he was supposed to care about the hunters. But…fine.Gage pointed at Curtis. “Demon, I don’t trust you.”

“Fair enough,” Curtis returned instantly. The demon was sweating. “I don’t trust wolves, either. One just tried to kill me.”

The demon was a dick.

Curtis grinned. “Want to know why I’m a hunter?”

“Because you’re a screwed up demon?” Gage tossed back as he scanned the area. No cameras in the room. No audio surveillance. Lyle had probably ditched everything so he could speak freely with Kayla. Good. They were clear.Let’s haul ass.

“I’m a hunter because two years ago, a wolf shifter killed my mother. A shifter I’ve spent months tracking.”

Curtis was staring at him a little too intently. “I didn’t kill your mother.” Gage hadn’t killed a demon in at least three years, not two. And he sure hadn’t killed any women. He had a rule about that.

“She wasn’t a demon. She was human.” Sadness whispered through Curtis’s words.

So the guy wasn’t a full demon. A hybrid. That explained the human scent that clung to him—and that had to be the reason why he’d managed to fool Lyle.

Gage had an enhanced sense of smell, even among wolves. But Lyle—that SOB might not have been able to pick up on the slight difference in Curtis’s scent.

Lucky for the demon or else he would have gotten a broken neck much, much sooner.

Or maybe that beheading.

Curtis told him, “Lyle found her body, or so he said. And he promised that he’d help me track her killer.”

Only Gage figured that Lylehadbeen the killer.

“He promised me that, too,” Kayla whispered. “He swore we’d stop the wolf who’d hurt my family.”

“I can’t forget her,” Curtis said and the pain hardened his voice. “Her throat was sliced open. He’d…clawed her. Torn her open. I-I just wanted to find the shifter andmake him pay.”

Rage was something Gage could understand. So was vengeance.

Kayla’s glittering stare told him that she understood just as well.

“Don’t worry,” Gage promised as they headed for the door.Get out. Get the pack safe. Then destroy. “We’ll make the bastard suffer.” They’d make him burn.

Kayla knewthey couldn’t leave. Several SUVs were there, just about twenty feet away. Riding off in one would be the perfect escape. But…

But she couldn’t do it.

Jonah.Dammit, there had been so much blood pouring from his wound. Was her brother okay?

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