“I don’t think so. Yes, it’s a concern, but it’s deeper than that.” He knew because he had similar fears. “You’re afraid of getting close to me, of allowing me to get close to you. You’re afraid to let yourself care.”

  She opened her mouth. He braced for an immediate denial. But then she shut it and hugged herself tighter. “You’re right.” It was barely a whisper, but he heard it plain as day. “I’m terrified of getting in deeper than I already am. Everything is all mixed up. Whether you admit it or not, there’s part of you that sees me as a damsel in distress, and your sense of honor demands you defend me.”

  His chest squeezed at her blunt honesty. “You’re not wrong.” He’d give her that. “But you’re not totally right, either. You think I haven’t come across other women in precarious positions? I help them out as best I can, then move on. I damn well don’t bring them home to the mountain.” He’d never wanted to. Not until Kinley. He’d never pictured a woman here with him before. Cyrus wasn’t overly fond of her, but that wasn’t personal. It had more to do with the trouble she brought with her and the change she represented rather than who she was.

  “I want to believe you.”

  He huffed out a breath. “Trust me. Trust us.” There wasn’t one of his brothers who’d let her leave after that phone call. Not even Cyrus. “I may be many things, but I’m no knight in shining armor. I’m wrath, the third deadly sin.” His entire life had been spent embodying justice and punishment. For the first time, he couldn’t separate himself from the situation, was unable to step back and view it dispassionately. Wrath was fitting for what he was experiencing. He’d like to sweep down on her pack with the fury of a whirlwind. He struggled to pull his emotions under control. Discipline and focus would serve him better than the rage pulsing through him.

  Kinley shook her head. “I don’t want you to become something you aren’t, not for me.”

  He rubbed his thumb over the curve of her jaw. Her skin was soft and delicate. “I’m not perfect, not by a long shot.” He ignored Cyrus’s snort of agreement, all his attention on Kinley. “Good and bad exist inside all of us. It’s what we choose to do with it that matters. It’s what makes us who we are. Anyone who thinks otherwise is lying to themselves. I’ve done some things in my life others might view as breaking the law, but I see them as justice. And I sleep damn well at night. Protecting you is what I was born to do.” He knew that as well as he knew his own name.

  She wrapped her fingers around his wrist. “I’m afraid.” She licked her lips. “For you. For me.” She glanced at his brothers. “For them.”

  “I know you are. But leaving won’t change the outcome. They’ll still come and I’ll still kill them.” It might be better to soften his words, but he needed her to understand who and what he was. He couldn’t hide it, not if he wanted her to accept him as he truly was.

  Every one of their phones chimed an alert. Zach jogged down the stairs, expression grim, laptop balanced in his hands. “We’ve got company.”

  Chapter Ten

  They’ll still come and I’ll still kill them.

  Stomach in knots over Eli’s matter-of-fact declaration, she wasn’t prepared for Zach’s announcement. Terror gripped her. It had to be Holden or the others. They were here.

  None of the Sin brothers seemed surprised or particularly upset by the news. Didn’t they understand how much danger they were in? Her throat hurt as she suppressed the urge to yell at them. Instead, she strove for calm. “What happens now?” They were the experts on this. It was time to trust them. She no longer had a choice.

  Leaving was out of the question, not with the enemy on their doorstep. Part of her was glad the decision had been taken out of her hands. Another part despised her for her weakness. They were all in danger and she was to blame.

  Eli was right about one thing. He was no knight in shining armor. No, he was wrath, pitiless, cold, and unstoppable. A shiver raced down her spine and chilled her blood. To protect her, he’d become the very thing he’d dedicated his life against becoming. The calm dispassion he’d shown in the fighting ring and when they’d met had vanished, replaced by an icy fury.

  She’d almost feel sorry for her former pack if they hadn’t brought this on themselves.

  Cyrus had pulled out his phone and was reading something.

  “What’s going on?” she asked, refusing to be left in the dark.

  “Zach’s surveillance equipment sent us an alert.” Eli showed her the readout on his phone. “Lower west quadrant picked up a single intruder. Might be a hunter or lost hiker. We get them occasionally, but it’s rare. And given the timing, I’d say unlikely.” He tucked the phone away. “I’ll handle it.”

  “I’m going with you. This is my fight,” she reminded him.

  “Levi, you join Josiah on the eastern border. “Noah, you hunker down here with Zach. You know what to do. You two,” Cyrus pointed at her and Eli, “come with me.”

  She had no idea where he was going but followed with Eli right behind her. He led them into a large office. Instead of going to the desk, he went to a closet and pulled open the door. Another door, this one steel, lay behind it. He spun the lock, input the combination, and yanked it open to reveal an arsenal unlike anything she’d ever seen outside a movie.

  “Guns?” No wolf she’d ever known used human weapons.

  Cyrus tossed a shotgun toward Eli, who plucked it out of the air. “Yup. We deal with humans. Can’t rip them to shreds now, can we? Well, we could, but that would attract unwanted attention from the authorities.”

  Having checked to ensure it was loaded, Eli held it out to her. “You ever use one?”

  She put her hands behind her back and shook her head. “No. I’ve only seen them on television and in movies. Werewolves are fast,” she reminded him.

  “Maybe, but they’re damn sure not expecting a bullet, not from us. And a headshot or heart shot can be lethal.”

  He wasn’t wrong. Decapitation was the best way to kill one of their kind, but heavy blood loss from a catastrophic wound could kill a wolf before there was time to heal. This situation had just stepped from the realm of nightmare into stark reality. People were going to die. Either people she’d known her entire life, or Eli and his brothers. She locked her knees when her legs trembled. Now was not the time for weakness, but for action.

  “If it is a hiker or hunter, this will deter them. We don’t need locals on the mountain.”

  “I didn’t think of that,” she confessed. It hadn’t occurred to her that this could spill over to the outside world if they weren’t cautious. Packs were careful to keep their disputes among themselves, but neither her uncle nor Holden were exercising good judgement. Otherwise, they’d have let her go. “My uncle is acting irrationally.” Her daddy might have been able to talk sense into him, but he was no longer around to temper his brother’s reckless streak.

  “His actions go beyond irrational. He’s endangering his entire pack.” Cyrus didn’t add over her, but she heard it nonetheless. He closed and locked the gun safe before slinging a shotgun strap over his shoulder. “Let’s go.”

  “You sure you want to do this?” Eli asked as they followed Cyrus out of the room.

  She didn’t want anything to do with guns or a pack war, but short of going back in time and changing her actions, there was no way to stop this. She gave a curt nod, praying she looked more confident than she felt. “I have to.” Staying safe at the house while Eli faced the enemy was not an option. She didn’t believe any more than he did that it was a lost hiker or a hunter.

  Eli stopped her by blocking the front door. “You sure I can’t convince you to stay with Noah and Zach?”

  She shook her head.

  “Then keep behind me. If I tell you to run, you damn well run.” Since she had no intention of doing either, she simply stared at him. The corners of his mouth tightened. “Stubborn. Just don’t get killed.” He brushed a hand over the top of her head.

  She grabbed his hand. “You be careful too.”

  “You two done yet?” Cyrus called from the edge of the drive. “Time’s wasting.”

  He was right. The farther away they kept whoever this was from the house, the better. She slipped around Eli and jogged toward the tree line. “I can keep up,” she assured them. Last thing she wanted to do was give them an excuse to leave her behind. She had to show them she was capable of being an asset and not a liability.

  Taking her at her word, Cyrus set off. “No talking from here on. Fast and silent. If you can’t do that, stay here.”

  “I eluded you last night,” she reminded him.

  Eli’s lips twitched at the reminder. “So you did, but he’s right. We’re moving hard and fast. This isn’t the same as evasion and escape.”

  “Will you two shut up or I’m leaving you both behind.”

  Eli winked at her and they followed Cyrus. She was a werewolf, had run in forests her entire life, but she’d never experienced anything like the punishing pace they set. And she had the distinct impression they could have gone much faster, if necessary, would have if she hadn’t been with them.

  She jumped over downed trees, skirted large boulders, ducked under low-hanging branches, and went down steep inclines and back up even steeper hills, as they wove a path steadily westward. The muscles in her legs burned, but she kept up. She estimated they’d covered several miles of rough terrain before Eli began to slow and held up his hand.

  The forest was silent. Kinley struggled to control her breathing, winded by the mad dash down the mountain. She was in excellent shape, but her previous lifestyle hadn’t prepared her for this. A long loping run was nothing like a full-out sprint. She listened intently. A fox scurried through the nearby underbrush, a blue jay squawked and took off from a tree, but she didn’t detect anything out of place.

  Eli glanced at Cyrus and canted his head slightly to the right and down. They’d heard something she hadn’t. Frowning, she tried again but didn’t pick up on whatever they had.

  She was afraid to move, not wanting to do anything that would give away their position. Eli pointed to a large oak. Stepping carefully, she positioned herself behind it. She held her breath as he began to move steadily downward, disappearing from view. Claws slid out from the tips of her fingers and dug into the thick trunk of the oak. Her wolf wanted out, wanted to race after him. She bit her bottom lip to keep from calling him back.

  This is what he does for a living. No matter how many times she repeated it, it didn’t calm the pounding of her heart or the nervous jitters in her stomach.

  A loud scuffle erupted in the distance. Abandoning all caution, she rushed toward it. Please be all right. The plea echoing in her brain, she skidded to a stop. A man lay facedown on the ground. Eli stood above him with the barrel of the shotgun pressed against the back of his skull.

  “Move and I’ll blow your damn brains out. You might be a wolf, but not even you can recover from a shot this close.”

  Eli was safe, but the same couldn’t be said for the person he’d captured. Relief flooded through her, followed by disbelief when she took a good look at the person he’d captured. “Ridge?”

  ****

  Eli tamped down the anger that threatened to erupt. What was Kinley doing here? She was supposed to stay put and out of harm’s way. He scowled at Cyrus who simply shrugged.

  The intruder was one of the men who’d accosted her outside the motel room. Eli had gotten a jump on him and taken him down with little trouble. It would be easier to kill him and be done with it—one less enemy to fight—but they needed information.

  Ignoring Kinley, he nudged the back of the man’s skull with the tip of the barrel. “Where are the others?”

  “I came alone.” The voice was muffled against the ground.

  He nudged him again, this time harder. “You expect me to believe that?”

  “It’s the truth.”

  “Eli.” Wide-eyed, Kinley cautiously approached. “This is Ridge Turner.”

  “I know who he is.” Surely, she wasn’t about to defend the guy. “He’s the guy who wanted you to go back to your pack and mate with that fucker Holden. How did he put it? You should go home where you belong. You should accept your fate because it’s just the way it is.”

  “I remember.”

  Knowing Cyrus would watch his back and take whatever action was necessary, Eli shoved his boot into Ridge’s side and heaved him onto his back. “Talk fast.” He kept the weapon aimed at his head to show he meant business.

  The bastard had the nerve to sneer. “Wolves don’t use guns.”

  “Haven’t you heard, we’re outliers? We do whatever the hell we want. My trigger finger is itchy and you’re trying my patience.”

  Ridge glanced toward Kinley. “You going to let him do this?”

  The bastard was seriously trying to get her to intercede on his behalf. That took a lot of nerve. Or maybe it didn’t. It stung to realize Eli couldn’t say for certain if she’d take Ridge’s side, a former pack member and someone she’d known her entire life—or his—someone she’d known less than two days.

  Eli’s stomach clenched, but he didn’t back down. This was his home, his land, and his woman. Shit! He couldn’t start thinking of her like that, not yet. There was too much unsettled between them.

  Her brow lowered and her hands clenched at her sides. “First of all, I don’t let Eli do anything. As he so eloquently stated, he does whatever the hell he wants. Secondly, you came uninvited onto their land. Did you really expect a warm greeting?”

  Pride swelled in Eli’s chest. Facing down her enemy, Kinley was magnificent. The expression of disbelief on Ridge’s face was icing on an already sweet cake.

  Arms folded, she tapped her toe on the ground. “Why are you here? And don’t tell me you came alone. You barely take a piss without Holden’s permission.”

  Eli swallowed a laugh not wanting to provoke their guest’s male pride so he’d do something stupid. Cyrus showed no such restraint and snickered. Ridge started to shove to his feet. Eli flipped the shotgun around and slammed the butt into his face, knocking him back down. “You don’t move until I tell you that you can move.”

  Holding the side of his face, Ridge glared at him but gave a curt nod.

  “Now answer her question.” Time was wasting. It was beginning to feel like the diversion was on purpose. He shot Cyrus a look. His brother took out his phone and began to text, checking in with the others.

  “It’s not too late, Kinley.” Ridge started to stand but sank back down when Eli raised the shotgun again. “Call off the goon squad. These are paid mercenaries. They’re not a pack. They’re nothing to you. I talked to Duke. If you come with me, you can mate me and not Holden.” He curled his lip at Eli. “Duke said he’d let bygones be bygones if you came willingly, that he wouldn’t bother the Sin brothers.”

  “Do you truly believe that?”

  The muscles in Eli’s shoulders tensed. Was she seriously considering the offer? If she thought it would protect him and his brothers, she’d sacrifice herself in a heartbeat. That was the last thing he wanted. “Kinley,” he began, but Ridge cut him off.

  “Whatever these men have promised you, they’re not your pack, your family.” He held out his hand. “I am. Come home.”

  Cyrus caught his attention and shook his head, meaning Ridge had come alone. The choice was Kinley’s. There was nothing he could say that he hadn’t already said. Fur rippled on his arms as his wolf fought to get out, the primal urge to protect her riding him hard.

  “My family is dead.” The hollowness in her voice made his heart ache. “I never had a pack. Not in truth. I was accepted because of who my daddy was, who my uncle is.” She pointed at her eyes. “You think I haven’t heard the whispers about my eyes, about how there must have been tainted human blood somewhere in my mama’s bloodline for this to have happened?”

  “That’s not true,” he protested.

  “Uncle Duke is manipulating both of us. He thinks because we were childhood friends, you’ll be able to persuade me to come back. He has no intention of letting you mate with me. Holden is stronger than you. He can’t afford to piss off the man he’s chosen as his next senior enforcer.”

  Ridge climbed slowly to his feet, keeping one eye on Eli. “I’m not afraid of Holden, or Duke, for that matter.”

  “You should be. He promised my daddy he’d never force me to mate against my will, yet it was the first thing he did as soon as he got word Daddy was dead. Duke is only worried about one person and it’s not you or me. And what for one second makes you think I want anything to do with you? That you’re a better option than Holden? You’re no different than he is.” Rubbing her hands up and down her arms, she turned away.

  “That’s not true, Kinley. I care about you.”

  “I’m done. Ask him whatever you want.”

  Eli’s arms ached to hold her, but he had a job to do. “When are the rest coming?”

  Ridge shook his head. “They’re not. Duke doesn’t want a pack war.”

  “That’s interesting considering he promised that very thing less than an hour ago on the phone.” Ridge masked his surprise but not quickly enough. “You’re the sacrificial lamb. If you’d convinced Kinley to go with you, Holden would have taken her from you.”

  Eli saw the comprehension in the poor bastard’s eyes. He had no friends in his pack. He’d simply been either too trusting or stupid to realize it. “What do you want to do with him?” he asked Cyrus. He was too emotionally involved to make the call.

  Cyrus thoughtfully rubbed his beard. “We kill him now or we’ll have to kill him later. He’s a follower. He’ll report back to his alpha and be sent right back out here to attack us.”

  “Kinley?” Ridge beseechingly held out his hand to her. “Are you going to let them kill me?”

  “Why not? You were more than willing to hunt me down so I could be forced to mate a man I loathe. Why should I have any loyalty to you?”