Page 25 of Gavin

He’d come to Northern Ohio not too long ago and opted to go after the tigers at the behest of an old friend who’d asked him to take out the king. Easier said than done, unfortunately. The king and his witch mate were still around despite Brent’s bombing of their job site and an abduction to boot, and he’d also lost his best spy, who’d been brainwashed by the tigers to believe she was a mate to one of them.

Every time he thought about what had happened with the tigers, he got pissed all over again. After losing about half his people, he’d bailed on Whisper Creek and the hard-to-kill beasts.

It wasn’t that they were his friends. They were mostly hired mercenaries willing to fight for whatever cause paid them the most.

But he’d lost his number-two, Buck, and that burned the most.

His phone buzzed and it was a private number. He wasn’t really in the mood to talk to anyone, but the private number could be one of the new people in HAS so he decided to take a chance.

“Foley.”

There was the sound of an engine revving, then a man said, “Hello, Brent. My name is Victor Hawthorne. Perhaps you’ve heard of me?”

Victor Hawthorne?It took a moment, but Brent recognized the name.

“Hawthorne? The shifter hunter?”

“Yes.”

Interesting. He wanted to ask how he got Brent’s private number, but instead asked what he could do for him.

“I heard that you don’t like the tiger shifters.”

Brent snorted. Anyone with an internet connection and access to any number of online articles about him as well as his very popular HAS website would know that. “I don’t likeanyshifters. Why?”

Victor explained that he was watching the wolf pack and had seen a unique looking wolf head into the tiger’s territory. He then asked if Brent was interested in teaming up for a special project.

What the hell was a wolf doing with the tigers?

Brent hummed. “What sort of special project?”

“You make your resources available to me to hunt this special wolf and I’ll help you take out as many tigers as you’d like.”

Hawthorne was widely known to be a shifter hunter and very good at his job. He hunted shifters for upscale clients who did who-the-hell-knows-what to the shifters once they were caught. Brent had never met the man though. As Victor shared his plan to capture the wolf who was hanging out with the tigers, utilizing Brent’s resources, Brent had only one thing to say about the tigers.

“They’re tricky.”

“I’m trickier.”

And cocky, apparently. But if anyone could infiltrate the tigers to hunt a unique shifter, it would be this guy. “Okay. I’ll help you. I’ll text you a location to meet up.”

“Perfect. See you soon.”

When the call ended, Brent tapped his foot a few times as he thought over the conversation. If Victor was right and the wolf went into the tiger territory because it had a mate among the striped beasts, then working with him was a chance for Brent to get some revenge on the ones who’d caused him so much trouble.

He sent Victor a location away from the headquarters and suggested meeting at seven a.m.

“Paul!” he bellowed.

There was the sound of movement in the other room of the abandoned pizza shop they’d taken over as their headquarters in Redcliff, a small town in Northern Ohio. Old Mill Pizza had been empty for years, seemingly since the actual mill in town had closed and most of the town’s inhabitants had left for greener pastures. So much of the tiny downtown area was abandoned and so few people remained that no one had noticed when his people moved into several of the shops off the main street. He didn’t need anyone snooping around, and if they did, he’d take care of them.

Paul Duggins appeared. “Yeah, boss?”

“Get everyone together. We’ve got a meeting to prep for.”

Paul nodded and hustled off and Brent settled back in the chair. The shifter hunter needed Brent’s help. This may just be the collaboration he needed to strike a blow to the tigers. He hadn’t been able to get to them on his own and hated tucking his proverbial tail and leaving them alone. But maybe now he didn’t have to.

Maybe now he’d be able to take the tigers out once and for all.

---