Page 58 of Wed Or Dead

“Uh, sweetheart, no one believed you before.”

Good point.

“You broke out of your cell. You ran from them.” His lips tightened. “Those assholes will just shoot first and dump your body later. No dice.”

He reached for the doorknob again. Yanked open the door.

Shamus was still there. One red brow was up. With his shifter hearing, a closed door would not have stopped him from eavesdropping on their little conversation.

There had to be a way of stopping this hell. She just had to show the others what Lyle really was.

But Lyle wouldn’t be in that first wild rush of hunters who came to storm the place. He always held back. Gave the orders from a distance. Moved in when the targets were secure.

When the hunters attacked, they’d be out for blood.Mine.Dammit, yes. And Gage’s. So to save all their sorry asses, one dark options sprang to mind. “We have to attack first.”

Shamus whistled. “Bloodthirsty. I like that.”

Gage punched him.

“They’re coming after us. Getting ready. Moving out.” Kayla was talking faster now because shehad this. “So this is the time when we go for them. We attack while they’re en route. We closein on Lyle, we take him out of the caravan.” When heading into new territory, the hunters swept in on a straight line. “The last SUV.” That was his.Always.“We take him out, and we make the others see what he is.”

They’d drag his sorry ass out of that SUV. Tie him in silver. When he started to burn, the other hunters would be forced to see him for what he truly was.

“And you think that’s gonna stop them?” Gage demanded, his voice full of doubt. “They’ll just shoot him and then keep coming after my pack.”

Because hunters hated wolves. They thought shifters were monsters that needed to be put down.

It was Kayla’s turn to shake her head. “We’re not all like that.”I’m not.She needed him to recognize that truth in her eyes. “Give us a chance to show you that we can be more.”Better. I can be better.Not just a lost soul seeking justice for crimes long ago. A woman now, wanting to fight for the man she was craving more than life.

Slowly, very slowly, Gage nodded. “But if this doesn’t work…if they keep attacking…” He lifted his claw-tipped hands. “They will be stopped.”

And she knew what he really meant was…they will be dead.

Gage paced downthe hallway with Shamus. Kayla was arming herself. Getting bullets. The silver that the pack handled only with reinforced gloves.

She was hot when she got battle ready.

She was also dangerous.

“Hunt for me,” Gage told Shamus, because no one in the pack hunted like the red wolf.

Shamus gave a slight nod. “The prey?”

“Her brother.”

Surprise flickered briefly over Shamus’s face. “You want me to kill him?”

“No.” If he did that, he’d lose her. “I want you to make sure his fool ass stays alive.” Gage yanked out a scrap of cloth he’d taken from the compound. Cloth that had once been Kayla’s shirt. “His blood’s on this.” When it came to humans, Shamus could track a scent with deadly accuracy. “Take him out of the fight.”

Because Jonah would be coming, Gage had no doubt about that. Coming for his sister and coming for vengeance.

Shamus took the cloth. Turned. Walked quickly away.

“You can’t lie to her.”

Billy’s voice. Coming from a few feet behind him. But then, he’d known Billy was there, watching.

Slowly, Gage turned to face the wolf he’d considered his friend. The burns from the silver had faded. Mostly. “I’m sorry.” For the pain Billy had suffered.

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