Bree hadn’t heard of the clan. Nothing on Vinnie’s face gave away whether he knew of it.
Vinnie’s eyes narrowed. “What information are they seeking from Bree?”
“They wouldn’t tell me,” replied Frasier. “They did say they have info they think she’ll want to know. They seem to want her help with something, but I don’t know what.”
“Where do you usually meet them?”
“I don’t. They come to me when they want something, and they always give me a burner phone to use for whatever the job is. They never give me the same number to contact them on, so I’m guessing they use burner phones, too—I don’t know for sure, though.”
“Did they ever mention Paxton Cage to you?”
Frasier shook his head. “They don’t tell me more than I need to know. I wish I had more info to give you, but I don’t.”
“There’s nothing more you can tell me?”
“No, nothing,” replied Frasier, sweat trickling down his temple. “They just want to talk to her—they gave me their word that she wouldn’t be harmed. I wouldn’t have followed their orders if they meant to hurt her.”
“Now that was a big, fat lie,” Bree sensed.
Vinnie nodded. “It was indeed. You didn’t care that those men might hurt one of my cats, Frasier. You didn’t care that you might have to shoot her to ensure her cooperation. You only cared that you followed their orders so that you didn’t lose their protection. I suppose you’ve done far worse things for them in the past, and I suspect you’d have even killed Bree if they’d asked it of you.”
Frasier’s eyes flickered, but he shook his head. “You’re wrong. Look, I told you what you wanted to know. You promised you’d let me go if I did.”
“Well, no, I promised I wouldn’t kill you. And I won’t.” Vinnie tipped his head toward Bree. “But she will.”
With her furious cat pressing close to her skin, Bree crossed to him and sliced out her claws. He’d not only aimed a gun at her, he would have forced her to go with him to a bunch of hyenas that probably would have hurt her in a big way. And he hadn’t cared. He deserved a fuck of a lot more pain than she was about to put him through, but torture really wasn’t her thing. It was her cat’s thing, though. And the feline didn’t want him to die clean.
The wolf eyed her razor-sharp claws, his Adam’s apple bobbing. “I was just following orders.”
“No use in trying to appeal to my merciful streak, canine—I don’t have one. Pallas cats, well, we tend to hold grudges. And I can’t exactly let you live when I need to send a message to your hyena friends, can I?” Bree rammed her claws into the fucker’s throat and twisted, cutting through arteries and tendons, just as her cat wanted. Bree didn’t move from that spot until the life left his eyes. Only then did her feline settle slightly.
As the enforcers dropped the body on the ground, Vinnie turned to her and asked, “You all right?”
Nodding, Bree sheathed her claws. “I had a little chat on the wolf’s burner phone with Dale Bray, otherwise known as John Jones. Honestly, I like the fake name better.”
“What did he—” Vinnie cut off at the sound of heavy, fast-approaching footsteps.
Alex prowled into the room, his body tense, his chin up, his jaw hard, oozing a truck load of menace that thickened the air. He made a beeline for her, his eyes cold, flinty, and glittering with something very dark as they swept over her—probably checking for injuries.
His hand curved around her neck. “You okay?”
She placed her hands on his upper arms. God, there was so much barely restrained anger in his muscles. “I’m fine. And, as you can see,” she added, gesturing at the dead wolf, “my short-term stalker has been taken care of.”
Alex looked at Vinnie. “Who was he?”
The Alpha’s gaze danced from Alex to Bree. “Does this mean you’re not leaving the pride, sweetheart?”
“Yes,” Alex responded for her. “Now, who is that bastard on the floor?”
“Frasier Banks,” said Vinnie. “A latent lone shifter who also happened to be a dirty cop once-upon-a-time. Some of the enforcers clocked him following Bree. They meant to grab him straight away and herd him into the alley, but she signaled for them to wait.”
Alex’s attention snapped back to her. “You signaled for them to wait?”
She lifted her chin. “Yes, because he gave me what looked like a burner phone and told me that John Jones wanted to speak with me.”
He growled. “I don’t care if he said God himself had been on the other end of that line—you should have let the enforcers do their thing.”
“Well, aren’t you just a breath of fresh judgmental air?”
“He could have been lying to you, Bree. There could have been no one waiting to speak with you. The whole thing could have just been a distraction while someone—”
“If I’d thought it was a situation I couldn’t handle, I wouldn’t have given that signal.”
Vinnie raised a hand when Alex would have spoken again. “Hold it, I want to hear from Bree what happened.”
She told him everything, beginning with when she’d first realized she was being followed. “To put it simply, the hyenas aren’t giving up.”
Alex, looking no less pissed, cut his gaze back to Vinnie. “His claim to have information for her was obviously a lure. He couldn’t get to her, so he needed to make her go to him.”
Nodding, Vinnie turned to Luke. “Find out everything you can on Dale Bray, the Silva Clan, and any whispers of where their underground territory might be.”
Luke nodded. “It’ll be done.”
“From now on, I’m walking you home every night, Bree,” Alex declared. “Before you start chewing chunks out of my ass, hear me out. I’m not trying to strike at your pride. I don’t for one second think you’re incapable of protecting yourself. I just don’t want you to be put into yet another situation in which you’re forced to do it. I want to be there as a deterrent to anyone thinking of fucking with you.”
“I was going to suggest you have an escort home from now on,” said Tate. “The hyenas will try something else, Bree. You want someone to be there with you when they do.”
“You’d want the same for Elle if the situation were reversed,” Luke pointed out. “Even the strongest person can be brought down.”
Vinnie nodded. “And then there’s the fact that the hyenas—”
“Oh my God, stop ganging up on me, I’ll agree to the escort,” Bree burst out. It wasn’t as if Alex wouldn’t accompany her home most days anyway. And it was the smart thing to do. Plus, Luke was right—she’d want the same for Elle.
Alex smoothed a hand up and down her back, his tension easing slightly. “Good. Now let’s get out of here. There’s someone I need to speak to.”
Alex was reading an article on his cell phone when the door to the en suite bathroom opened. Clad only in towels and chuckling like little kids, Dominic and Mila padded into the bedroom.
Mila’s face hardened the moment she spotted Alex sitting on her plush armchair. “For shit’s sake! Can you not just knock on the damn bedroom door like everyone else? Or even call in advance to say you’re coming?”