He let me go and swept his arms wide as if to take credit for being the push my magic needed. I couldn’t help but laugh. Even in tense times, Knox always knew how to lift me up—how to pull me from the depths.

  “Yes, thanks for that. Maybe next time don’t almost die to make that happen.”

  “I can get on board with that plan. Death doesn’t really suit me.” He gave me a wink, then pulled me back into his arms.

  Then his timer started beeping in my ear, and I knew my interrogation was over.

  “Had enough truth for one day?” he asked. “Or do you want to quiz me some more on my past love life?”

  I choked on a laugh.

  “Nope. All set with that. Thanks.”

  “Well then, should we finish our run or call it a day?”

  “I think I’m all set with physical activity at the moment.”

  Knox feigned a pout. “That’s unfortunate.”

  “You’re incorrigible.”

  “Big word there, chicken legs. Must be hard to balance that big old brain on those skinny things.”

  “I do not have chicken legs!” I shouted in mock frustration. “And I’ll show you balance…”

  I muttered a few words under my breath and a massive root shot up from the ground, knocking Knox’s feet out from under him. I took off in a mad sprint, giggling as I did. I knew I was toast the second he caught up to me—he’d said as much as I ran away—but I didn’t care. The look on his face had been well worth it.

  I could hear him gaining on me, and I looked forward to being tackled by the alpha wolf who’d saved that child from being murdered and exterminating my line. A part of me—the real, non-magical me—loved being around him. Even at his grumpiest, there was a realness to Knox that I loved. He was who he was without pretense. And now, with his tightly guarded past revealed, I felt it even more. There was freedom in the truth, painful though it may be.

  There was comfort in overcoming our demons.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Jase came to my room later that afternoon. He shut and locked the door behind him before ushering me into my bathroom and closing that door too.

  “Piper, have you talked to Merc today?”

  “No,” I said, anxiety starting to rise within me. “Why?”

  “Because he’s not here. He never came back last night.”

  “Can’t you reach him? You know… with your mind?”

  “No, which has me worried.”

  “Did you call him?”

  “Nothing…”

  Shit.

  “Jase… do you know where your father is?”

  He looked at me in confusion until realization dawned in his expression.

  “You think he has something to do with his disappearance…”

  “No. I know he does. I did something I shouldn’t have, and Merc cleaned up my mess.”

  Sympathetic eyes met mine. “This isn’t good, Piper.”

  “I know that,” I whispered. “But I’m confident he’s okay. He said something about a room your father had built to contain any of you three if he needed to. He didn’t say where it was, but my guess is that if it can block your ghosting abilities, then it can block your mental abilities too.”

  “Yeah,” he said, his voice and gaze suddenly distant. “Yeah… that sounds reasonable. I’m going to go tell Dean…”

  “You okay, Jase?”

  He nodded, forcing a smile for good measure. But it never reached his eyes.

  “I’ll see you later, Piper.”

  “Actually, I’m heading out with Knox and some of the guys to find Mack.”

  His eyes snapped into focus. “We’re coming with you.”

  “No. There’s no way you’re getting into that club undetected, Jase. And if word gets out that enforcers are there, Mack will bail. We can’t afford that.”

  “So what’s your plan?”

  I swallowed hard. “I’m not sure yet, but it’ll be fine. If anything goes wrong, I’ll just burn the place down, okay?” I smiled at him, trying to bait him into a better mood. It failed miserably.

  “I don’t like this, Piper. I want to help, but I feel like you don’t want me to.”

  “It’s not that, Jase. I just… I need you to find Merc. Make sure he doesn’t do anything irreversible where the king is concerned. Understand?”

  The sad look in his eyes told me he did. “Okay, but if shit goes sideways, you’re on the phone to me and I’m coming to get you, got it?”

  I nodded, then gave him a hug. “Don’t tell Dean until we’re gone, okay? There’s no way he’ll see reason about this.”

  “Is that what I’m doing?”

  I choked on a laugh. “Let’s be honest, you’re the calm one when it comes to you two.”

  “I don’t feel so calm right now,” he replied, opening the bathroom door to reveal a rather pissed-off looking bear. How he’d gotten into the locked room, I had no idea. “I’ll see you after tonight.” It was a thinly veiled order, demanding I come home in one piece. Then he turned to the bear. “You make sure of that.”

  Then he walked across my room and out the door.

  ***

  We all congregated outside at the designated time: Foust, Brunton, Jagger, Knox, Kat, Grizz, and me, to be exact.

  “Shotgun!” Kat shouted as she darted toward the vehicles. Jagger just shook his head as he followed her.

  “It’s cool,” I yelled after them. “I’ll ride bitch, wedged between the bear and the ginger. No problem.” I looked over at Grizz and jerked my head toward the car. “Go make some room for me, would ya?”

  “Piper?” Knox called as Grizz strolled toward the vehicle. “You ready?”

  “Yep! Let’s find this bastard and shake him down.”

  Knox looked at me like I had three heads. “We’re not trying to get money from him…”

  “Oh, you know what I mean!” I argued, slapping his stomach as I walked by.

  “What the fuck is taking you so long?” Kat shouted from the passenger door of the car.

  For the sake of expedience, we ran to the SUV. I managed to get into the middle row after Grizz threw Brunton over the back of the seat. Jagger put his hands up in surrender and climbed over of his own free will. Smart wolf.

  Once we were driving through the city, Jagger and Knox worked to pin down where Mack would most likely be inside the underground gambling club. It wasn’t too far from the building that housed the Faerie portal in Chinatown; from what I gathered, it sounded like he ran a lot of his operations from there. Another shady supernatural in my life—just what I needed.

  “So what’s the plan?” Kat asked, looking over at Knox. When he didn’t immediately answer, she needled at him. “You do have a plan, right? Because waltzing into a place like that seems like a suicide mission.”

  “Same plan as before. Brunton’s going in to draw him out. Then we get our answers.”

  Kat laughed. “That would be an amazing plan if the goal was to get him thrown out or killed in under five minutes.”

  “Do you have something you’d like to share with us, Kat?” Knox replied, sounding every bit as annoyed as he felt.

  “I might,” she said with a shrug. Then she turned in her seat to look back at the rest of us. “Jagger! You said Mack is a sketchy motherfucker, right?”

  “The sketchiest. He’s into all kinds of illegal shit.”

  “Does he have a weakness for the ladies?”

  “Weakness? No. But he loves to work them over—uses shit against them to make them do what he wants.”

  The mischief in Kat’s smile was unmistakable. “I’m guessing he’s well protected in a place like this?”

  “Yeah,” Jagger said, leaning forward to rest his arms on the back of my seat. “He never went anywhere without about a dozen of us.”

  “I know how I can draw him out—get him alone long enough to get what we need,” she said.

  “How do you plan to do that?” Knox asked, daring a glance in her direction.

  “Simple,” she explained, cupping her breasts over her shirt. “With these.”

  “Yeah, Kat… I don’t know about that,” Jagger said, concern in his voice.

  “Relax. I’ll let him think he’s going to get what he wants and then shut him the fuck down. Wouldn’t be the first time I’ve had to play that card.”

  Knox growled, looking over at her while we idled at a red light. “With us, you don’t have to play that card ever again.”

  I expected Kat to fluff over his sentiment, but the intensity and sincerity in his voice seemed to affect her as much as it did me. The thought of using her as sexual bait to draw out Mack was repugnant to him. Whether she was pack or not, Knox still saw her as his to protect. Kat’s lingering silence spoke volumes.

  Then she found her voice. “I don’t have to do anything. Ever,” she replied, setting him straight. “But if I choose to do something, it’s because I want to. This fucker sold us all out, not just your boy back there. For that he’s going down, and if I have to dangle my little kitty cat in front of him to make that happen, I’ll do it. For all of us.”

  “Kat…” I started before she cut me off.

  “That’s the plan and that’s final.” She looked over her shoulder at me. “It’s going to be fine, Piper.”

  Another rumble echoed through the vehicle, but this time it wasn’t Knox.

  Grizz leaned forward and put his hand on Kat’s shoulder, demanding her attention.

  “You want to come in with me, big guy? I don’t think that’ll help with the whole seduction thing, unless Mack swings both ways…”

  “Nope. Definitely not,” Jagger interrupted.

  “But Grizz and I could go in with you,” I said, the idea coming to me in a flash. “The werewolves in this city won’t know us. And if they recognize you, Kat, it won’t matter.” I managed to cut myself off before I said why, but she knew as well as I did that she was well known in the supernatural community. News of Jensen’s death and Kat’s widow status would be widely known by now. Even those that didn’t know her personally would have heard of the lone female wolf and her personal tragedy.

  Kat gave me a look of understanding that chilled me to the bone. She not only knew that was true; she planned to use that fact as leverage to get Mack alone.

  “I hope they do,” she said, turning back around. “I’m banking on it.”

  Silence fell upon the vehicle and it remained until we reached the block the gambling club’s building was on. Kat jumped out without another word, then threw her jacket back in and slammed the door. She waited outside the vehicle for Grizz and me with her back to us, casing the building.

  “Piper, you cannot let her out of your sight, understand?” Knox said, looking at me in the rearview mirror. I nodded. “The second she gets him alone, you send me a message. We’ll be there.”

  “Try to get him into the back alley,” Jagger added. “That’s where he always used to go when he was going to…you know…”

  “Fuck someone?” Brunton said. His reply sounded crude, but I knew him well enough to know that under his brusque tone lay a note of concern. It seemed like he didn’t like Kat’s plan any more than the rest of us.

  I opened my mouth to speak, but Kat’s fist banging on the door cut me off.

  “Let’s go already,” she said before starting down the narrow way between the buildings that led to the entrance tucked away behind them.

  “Coming!” I shouted before looking at Grizz. “We’ve got this, right?”

  He nodded once, then set intense eyes on the werewolf heading into the lion’s den. With that confirmation, I opened the door and hopped out, Grizz right behind me. I checked my phone to make sure it was on and charged and ready to message Knox the second we needed him. But doubt niggled at the back of my mind. Anyone in direct service to fey royalty was an enemy that couldn’t be underestimated.

  And I wondered if we were doing just that.

  Chapter Nineteen

  We made our way to the sketchy looking entrance, complete with security at the door. That made me wonder if we were heading into a mixed establishment. If so, shit was about to get a lot more complicated.

  Kat strode up to him and stuck her chest out, putting the girls right out there on display. The bouncer, not immune to the power of her tits, dropped his gaze and leered.

  “I need to make a little money,” Kat said, unflinching. “Care to let a girl in there so she can make a living?”

  “You could make it another way,” he said, licking his lips.

  “I don’t know,” she said, leaning toward him. “I’m pretty damn good at cards.”

  He considered her for a second before jerking his head toward the door. She strutted past him, and I followed her until a massive arm slammed down in front of me, blocking me.

  “Not you.”

  Grizz growled behind me, and I reached back and put my hand on his leg.

  “We’re with her.”

  “Not tonight you’re not.”

  I looked past him at Kat, who shook her head no before she kept on toward the building.

  So not the plan.

  “Listen,” I said, softening my voice. “She and I are…” I tried my best to give him a suggestive look, but he didn’t seem to catch my meaning.

  “You’re what?”

  “Well, we work together, if you know what I mean.” I let my fingers trail down his arm lightly while I smiled up at him suggestively. Realization dawned on him and he laughed. It was a harsh, biting sound that rang out down the narrow corridor.

  “Tell you what, you let me sample the goods and I’ll let you in.”

  Before I could say a word, Grizz’s hand shot out over my head and grabbed the bouncer’s neck. He lifted him up so high that the guy’s shins were dangling in my face.

  “I don’t think my bodyguard cares for you plan,” I said without a hint of my previous flirtation. “Want to rethink letting me in?”

  “Go,” he said, his voice strained against Grizz’s hold.

  “Great idea!” Grizz tossed the man aside and put his hand on the small of my back to usher me in. “See you later.”

  We entered the main door, which led to a set of stairs that led down. Of course his underground gambling club was literally underground. Why wouldn’t it be?

  After two flights into his subterranean den of sin, we walked through an opening that exposed the entire establishment. A vast room with card tables and sofas and bars stretched out for yards. It was surprisingly large. My eyes immediately started scanning the room for Kat.

  Grizz spotted her before I did and took my hand in his to drag me through the packed house. He bulldozed through patrons like they didn’t matter; all he cared about was getting to Kat before she disappeared. When I finally spotted her, she was lounging next to the bar, talking to a plain-looking middle-aged man. I couldn’t tell if he was Mack, or even a supernatural, so I knew we had to get closer. Grizz seemed to share my thought and made a beeline for the bar. He all but shoved some poor sap aside so we could cozy up to the bar right next to Kat and her new friend. Eavesdropping in a place that loud would prove challenging, but I positioned myself as close to her as I could and hoped for the best.

  “So you’re all alone now?” the guy said to her. I saw him lean in closer out of my periphery. My heart thumped wildly in my chest.

  “For now.”

  “Why are you here? Looking to make some connections?”

  “I’m looking to make some money, but connections are always good. I lost most of mine when Jensen died. The vampires tossed me out before his ashes had a chance to cool.”

  A pause.

  “Heartless fucks. We should kill them all.”

  “I’ve thought about it,” she replied before taking a sip of her drink. “All in good time though.”

  “You in the market to join a pack?” he asked, sounding particularly interested in her answer.

  “I’m looking to survive at the moment, Kent. That’s all.”

  Another wolf, but not Mack. I let out the breath I’d been holding and took a big swig of the drink I’d ordered.

  “You know…” he started, clearly thinking things through as he spoke. “My buddy Mack is always looking for new wolves with something to offer.”

  I didn’t need to see Kent’s face to know what ‘something to offer’ meant. I put my hand on Grizz’s arm to keep him still. I could feel the tension rolling off him. The last thing we needed was for him to start a fight in a club full of supernaturals. We’d already done that once. It hadn’t gone so smoothly.

  “I’ve got lots to offer,” Kat replied, leaning her back against the bar. “Where’s this Mack? I’d need to talk to him first. The vampires have given me trust issues. I’m sure you understand.”

  Kent threw back the rest of his drink before slamming the glass down on the bar.

  “Pretty sure I can find him. Wait here. I’ll be back in a minute.”

  Kat raised her glass to him then turned to face the bar, leaning on her elbows. Her arm brushed up against mine and I looked over at her.

  “Hi,” I said casually, as though I didn’t know her.

  “Hey.” She took another swig of her drink. “Got a phone I can borrow?”

  I pulled it out and shot her a look that said ‘what the fuck are you doing?’ She smirked at me, then took the phone from my hand. Her thumbs flew across the screen, typing something before handing it back to me.

  “Thanks.”

  “Important text?” I asked.

  “Just telling a friend when and where to meet me. I think I’ll be leaving here sooner than I expected.”

  Before I could reply, an arm reached between us, clamping down on the bar. Kat and I both turned to find a rugged looking man smiling at us. He was large and intimidating, both in size and presence, and his dark hazel eyes seemed to take in everything around him. He pushed his dark brown hair from his face and smiled.

  “Sorry sweetheart,” he said to me. “Not interested in you. At least not yet.” His gaze then fell upon Kat, who’d spun around in the cage of his arms to face him. And to put her girls on display yet again. Even fully clothed, Kat exuded sex, trying to or not.