Cole nodded and perched on the railing.

  “What do we know?” he asked Armand. The faster this was done, the better. Loose ends made him uneasy.

  “I’ve hacked into the assassin’s laptop and been through his phone. I have a short list of other members of their little murder group.” He hit several buttons and turned the laptop toward Jacque. “There are four more. One of them died shortly before Blaine Bishop. I suspect he was killed by the members of his group because of his failure. They’re a sick bunch.”

  “They need to die.” Cole rarely spoke up at their meetings. When he did, they all paid attention. “I have a daughter. They hunted women for sport, because they were different.”

  What he wasn’t saying was that’s how he’d met his mate. She’d been hunted because she was different, only by werewolves, not humans.

  “I think it’s time for a road trip.” Gator nodded at his friend. “We will find them and make sure they are not a problem.”

  “We need their electronics found and destroyed. Nothing must be left that might lead to Jesse.”

  “I’m going.” Jacque swiveled his head toward the voice, not surprised Aaron had crashed the meeting. “Jesse is my mate.”

  “Done.” He wasn’t going to fight his son on this. He had faith in his abilities. Plus, his friends would look out for him. He might be a tough wolf, but he would always be Jacque’s son.

  Aaron shook his head. “I figured I’d have more of a fight on my hand. Had my arguments all lined up and everything.”

  “Just like a lawyer,” Gator quipped, slapping him on the back.

  “No arguments necessary.” Jacque stood, ending the meeting. “You’re intelligent and educated, but you’re a wolf at heart. I understand the need to crush the threat to your woman. Make sure they have the list,” he told Armand. “When will you leave?”

  Aaron looked at both Cole and Gator. “Tomorrow work for you?”

  “Oui, the quicker we leave, the faster I am home.” Gator headed off with a wave. “I must cook enough so my family does not starve while I am away.”

  Jacque laughed. There were probably enough meals frozen to feed the entire pack for a week. “I’ll take the afternoon shift,” he told his brother. They all took turns with security. Even though they should be safe, they’d take no chances until the last of the humans were out of the picture.

  Louis smiled. “I may try to talk my mate out of work this afternoon.” He disappeared inside.

  “That’s my cue to leave.” Armand stood, tucked his laptop under his arm, and sauntered down a path.

  Cole gave a quick nod and slipped soundlessly into the woods.

  Only Jacque and his son remained. “Be careful. Your mother will kill me if anything happens to you.”

  “Nothing will happen to me. With both Gator and Cole along for the ride, I’ll be lucky to get anywhere near them. Thanks.” There was knowledge in his son’s eyes that he wished was not there. Death was never easy. It changed a person. Aaron had grown harder, tougher, yet he was happier than Jacque had ever seen his son.

  “Finish this and come home.” He hugged his son, slapping him on the back. “I’m proud of you.”

  “Thanks. That means a lot.” He cleared his throat. “I need to talk to Jesse.” He took off, running by the time he was five feet away.

  Alone, Jacque meandered down the path toward home. There was such peace here in the mountains of North Carolina. It had been his home for so long, he barely remembered life in Louisiana. Those were memories worth forgetting.

  A lovely, clear voice cut through the silence. He tilted his head to one side and smiled. Emma was quiet around others, but often sang when she was alone, or thought she was.

  Jacque picked up the pace, eager to find his mate. After all these years, it was still uncomfortable to think about his mother remarrying and having sex. Nope, not thinking about it. That way led to madness.

  And no way in hell would he ever call Mikhail dad, but the older werewolf was a tough son of a bitch and worshiped Jacque’s mother. That was a point in his favor. Hell, Jacque almost pitied the male who tried to date Emma.

  Thankfully, she was too young to think about such things. He stumbled to a stop and calculated. Emma was twenty-three. When had that happened? Thankfully, it wasn’t his problem. Unless some lowlife decided to date his little sister.

  The End

  www.njwalters.com

  Find more books by N.J. Walters:

  www.evernightpublishing.com/n-j-walters

  If you enjoyed this book, you may also like:

  Orchid’s Heart by Rose Wulf

  Unwanted Mate by Sam Crescent

  The Wrong Mate by Jade Marshall

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  BONUS SAMPLE CHAPTER

  RESCUING RORY

  Marks Mercenaries, 1

  N.J. Walters

  Copyright © 2019

  Sample Chapter

  “This is going to be a major clusterfuck. There’s no quiet way to do this.”

  Even though his brother’s thoughts echoed his own, Kal Marks didn’t spare Garth so much as a glance. No, his gaze locked solidly on the woman currently dancing in one of the gilded cages that hung from the ceiling here in the largest club on the pleasure ship Exos. The flashing blue spotlight made her smooth white skin look the same color, giving her an exotic appearance.

  Her long, blonde hair hung down her chest, covering her breasts, much to the dismay of the customers around her, and the skimpy thong barely covered her mound as she dipped and swayed to the pounding music. If anything, the tiny strip of cloth accentuated her nakedness, which was no doubt its purpose. She didn’t look at any of the patrons, keeping her eyes trained on the far wall.

  “Are you listening to me?” Garth asked, practically yelling to be heard over the noise. Impatience tinged his voice.

  Kal forced himself to turn away and focus on his brother. “I hear you, but we don’t have a choice.” They had to talk to the woman, the dancing vision.

  “You sure the information is good?”

  Now that was a question, wasn’t it? Digger wasn’t exactly known for his honesty, but he traded in information, and he knew the Marks brothers were always buying when it came to intel on the whereabouts of their missing sister. He also knew better than to lie to them.

  “Digger is too scared of Flynn to risk feeding us bad info,” Kal pointed out. Flynn was the oldest of the four brothers, massively tall and mean as a snake. It was well known throughout the Alliance galaxies that the only people Flynn cared about were his brothers.

  Cross one of the Marks brothers and you crossed them all.

  “I still don’t like it,” Garth muttered.

  “Noted.” Kal let his gaze drift over the room, observing the positions of all the guards. There were quite a few of them, as things could get rowdy on the Exos. In fact, Kal was counting on just that.

  The music pumping through the sound system was low and rhythmic. That, combined with the mostly naked women dancing around them, was designed to get men in the mood so they’d pay the money to visit the back rooms where women waited to service them. This far out in space the floating pleasure ship contained the only women many of these men would see for months.

  Kal looked at his brother and noted his scowl. Garth’s thoughts mirrored his own. What if their sister were aboard a ship like this? Most of the women weren’t here by choice. Usually the brothers would never set foot on a ship like the Exos, but when it came to intel about their sister, they’d go straight into the bowels of hell itself.

  “She’s got the tattoo Digger told us about.” Garth studied the dancer now, his gaze tracing the long length of her legs. Kal was filled with the sudden urge to punch his brother in the face.

  He rolled his shoulders and forced himself to lean back in his chair and act as if he were enjoying the show. And it wasn’t much of an act. The woman wasn’t really dancing, more sensually undulating to a rhythm far different from the music filling the room. He caught his breath when her hair slid to the side, exposing one perfectly shaped plump breast for a split second before her hair covered it again.

  Kal’s dick sprang to life, and he shifted to get more comfortable. No doubt about it, she was beautiful. There was something almost … innocent about her. Yeah, that was it. Impossible considering where she was. No one aboard this floating pleasure barge was innocent. Even if they started out that way, it didn’t last for long.

  He fought to bring his body under control, feeling like a jerk for getting aroused. He knew a good percentage of the women here had been bought from slavers. His fingers tightened into fists. There was nothing he hated more than slavers. Those low-life bastards all deserved to be shot out into deep space without a protective suit.

  If he could, he’d rescue all the women here. That just wasn’t possible, but he could rescue one. He let his eyes drift over her right arm. The tattoo on the woman was an unusual one, a stylized pattern of flowers that covered her left shoulder and ran all the way down her arm to her hand. There was no missing it. At the very bottom, a thorny vine wrapped around her wrist. Exactly as Digger had described.

  “So how are we doing this?” Garth asked.

  Kal rubbed a hand across his scruffy chin. He hadn’t bothered shaving in a few days, and it added to his disreputable appearance. The jagged scar on his left cheek didn’t hurt either. Both he and his brother were wearing the drab shirt and pants that labeled them as laborers from the planet below. But beneath them, both of them wore battlesuits, body armor that was practically indestructible while being totally lightweight. That kind of protection didn’t come cheap, but all the brothers owned a suit.

  “You create a diversion, and I’ll get the girl. As soon as I’ve got her, we make a run for the ship.” It wasn’t much of a plan, but Kal and his brother had worked with worse.

  Garth stood and hitched up his pants. At six-one, he was the shortest of the brothers, but he was the widest, and not because there was an ounce of fat on him anywhere. No, Garth was built like a bull, thick and muscular, and always ready for a fight.

  “One diversion coming up.” He swiped up his drink and weaved his way toward a table filled with miners. They were a rough and rowdy lot and were known not to tolerate outsiders.

  Kal shook his head. His brother was crazy. But then again, the same could be said about all of them. Garth pretended to be drunk when Kal knew he hadn’t so much as taken a sip of his drink. Neither of them had. No telling what was in the rotgut they served aboard this ship.

  Garth was almost on top of the men now. “Harcon, old buddy. Haven’t seen you for a while.” He held his arms wide open as if he were going to hug one of them men.

  “Piss off,” the man growled. “You got the wrong guy.”

  Kal stood and slowly began to meander toward the cage containing the woman they needed to talk with. He didn’t hear the next thing the miner said to his brother, but he heard Garth’s reply.

  “No need to be so unfriendly.” Garth waved his arms wide and spilled his drink over two of the other men seated at the table. “Whoops. Sorry about that.”

  Kal bit his bottom lip to keep from smiling. Garth was enjoying himself just a little too much. Kal was right next to the cage when one of the miners slammed his fist into Garth’s jaw. Kal winced and not for his brother. It was well known that Garth’s jaw was as hard as granite. The blow didn’t even knock his brother back an inch. Instead Garth shook his head, roared his displeasure, and rammed his fist into the miner’s gut. The man dropped like a stone, and the fight was on.

  The guards hurried toward the combatants before things got too out of hand. Kal turned his attention to the woman in the cage. Like the rest of the crowd, she was watching the fight.

  He reached into his pocket, withdrew a thin metal box, and attached it to the lock. The device ran through the sequence of possible combinations faster than the speed of light. In ten seconds flat, he had the door to the gilded cage open.

  The woman gasped and jerked away from him when his hand touched her calf. Her amazing blue eyes widened when she realized the door to her prison was open.

  “If you want to get away from here, come with me.” Kal gave a quick look over his shoulder, wincing when Garth picked up a man and launched him at another table. The table didn’t survive. Kal wasn’t sure the man would either, not without extensive medical attention.

  This was quickly getting ugly. “Make up your mind. We’ve got to go. Now.”

  Not that he was going to give her any choice in the matter, but it would be easier if she came of her own free will.

  ****

  Aurora Banks had seen just about everything in her twenty-two years of living, and most of it wasn’t pretty. But this was the last thing she’d expected to happen when she was shoved into the dancing cage a few hours ago.

  The man standing before her with his hand out was tall and broad and downright intimidating. His eyes were a piercing green, and his silky black hair fell around his shoulders. A thick scar ran from just below his eye by his nose all the way out to his ear.

  If she were totally honest, he was handsome in a rough-looking way. Not that it mattered. He was a way out of this nightmare. Rory only hoped she wasn’t jumping from one bad situation to an even worse one.

  Trusting her instincts, she reached out and took his hand. It was warm and strong as it closed around hers and pulled her to the edge of the cage. He lifted her down from her gilded prison, wrapped one strong arm around her, and hustled her toward the wide red door that blocked their path to freedom.

  “The guards.” She had to yell to be heard above the din of the yelling and fighting. They called themselves bouncers, but they were here to do more than keep the peace. Their main job was to make sure they didn’t lose any of the merchandise or the money. And all the women on board were considered prime merchandise.

  “You let me worry about them.” Her liberator reached inside his shirt and drew out a compact-sized blaster.

  Something crashed behind her, and she automatically began to look toward it. He caught her chin and turned her face away. “Look forward, not back.”

  That was good advice. She ignored the noise and the fighting and hurried to keep up.

  One man, a Crebian by the looks of his greenish-blue skin, tried to stop them. The man beside her didn’t even pause. He simply raised his hand and shot the blaster. The Crebian fell to the floor, and the men around him stepped back, giving them a wide berth.

  Rory didn’t know how her rescuer had managed to get the weapon on board the Exos, as there were stringent controls in place to keep such a thing from happening. She should know as she’d spent the past month trying to find a weak spot in their security system so she could plan her escape.

  They pushed their way through the door. The man beside her tightened his grip on her wrist. His urgency became hers. “Run,” he told her. Giving no thought to the mistake she could be making, Rory ran, her bare feet slapping against the metal floor as she was practically dragged behind him.

  “We’re coming in hot.”

  At first, she thought he was talking to her. It took her a moment to realize he was speaking into a communication device strapped to his wrist. And it wasn’t just any communication device. This one was top-of-the-line and went for at least one-thousand Alliance credits, maybe more.

  Who was this guy? Laborers and miners didn’t waste their hard-earned money on fancy communication devices. They tended to splurge on booze and women when they had a few extra credits.

  “Roger that,” a deep voice replied. “Hurry the fuck up.”

  Rory shivered. Whoever the voice belonged to, he did not sound happy.

  “Just fire up the engines and be ready for anything.” He picked up his pace. “Not much farther,” he told her. “We’re docked at J portal.”

  Rory glanced at the sign on the wall. They’d just passed the H portal. She did her best to keep up with the pace he set, but it wasn’t easy. She wasn’t used to having to run for her life.

  He stopped suddenly, slammed her body against the wall, and threw himself on top of her. She heard the sound of a blaster, and then his big body jerked against hers.

  Rory screamed. Her rescuer had been shot. She wasn’t going back to the cage. She wasn’t. She scrambled for the blaster in his hand even as the pounding of boots got closer. But when she lunged for the weapon, it was already out of reach.

  Her liberator whirled around and returned the guard’s fire, the blaster steady in his hand. She peeked around his shoulder in time to see the two burly guards drop to the deck. “Come on.” He tugged her behind him, practically dragging her. She tripped but managed to stay on her feet.

  The J deck came into view. Instead of relaxing, she grew even tenser. She knew better than to think this was over. No woman had ever been taken off the Exos. The captain wouldn’t allow it to happen. His reputation was on the line. If one woman was taken, then many would see all of them as fair game. The Exos would be constantly under attack. Pleasure ships stayed in business by being utterly ruthless to any who broke their rules and by having impenetrable defenses.

  The panel whooshed open, and he practically threw her through it. “Get on the ship. Now.”

  A fairly large deep-space-class trader was docked on the other side of the portal. The door to the vessel slid open, and a man stood there in full body armor, holding a massive blaster cradled in his arms.

  Rory moved closer to her rescuer and clutched the hem of his shirt. He didn’t pay her any attention as he was too busy peering around the panel. “Come on. Come on,” he muttered under his breath. It occurred to her that he must have had an accomplice, someone who had aided him in her escape.