“I don’t know if I’d go that far, but I don’t trust him with our Blayne.”

This was the problem with Blayne. She became friends with all these guys, turned them into the big brothers she never had, and ended up dateless but well protected from any other male who may have an interest. And who had to fix the problem? Who else? Gwen.

“She’ll be fine,” Gwen assured both idiots. “Trust me, Blayne knows how to take care of herself.”

“Yeah, nothing like a mighty slap fight to throw off a hardened scumbag.”

“Slap fights are for her friends. If she was in real trouble, I have no doubts Blayne could handle it.” She looked at Ric. “So feel free to call off your pit bull.”

Ric choked on his coffee. “What?”

“You know, Ric. Your pit bull—Dee-Ann? You hired her to protect Blayne, yeah? Well, if I’m right, Blayne will soon have her very own hockey star to watch out for her, so you can put your bitch back on her chain.”

“I’m not clear what you—”

“You did hire her, didn’t you? To watch out for Blayne? Because of all the hybrid attacks? I mean,” she added, “I hope you hired her. Otherwise it’s just goddamn creepy that she’s been hanging around.”

Ric blinked. “Yes. Right. Of course. I hired her. To protect Blayne. Exactly.”

Lock placed his mug down on the table. “You’re lying.”

He said it so quietly Gwen knew he wasn’t teasing. And she watched Ric’s expression go from charmingly muddled to predatory cold in two seconds.

“You are,” Lock went on. “Because no one in their right mind would hire Dee-Ann Smith to follow someone as a precaution. So you tell me right now”—and that’s when the grizzly boar exploded—“why the fuck are you following Blayne!”

The full-humans in the diner jumped a little at Lock’s outburst, but Ric’s head only dipped a little, bright eyes focusing on the grizzly.

Gwen tapped the table. “Outside. Both of you. Now.”

She reached for her backpack to get her wallet, but Ric dropped a small wad of cash on the table to cover the bill and the tip.

Once outside, she pulled the straps of her pack over her shoulders and focused on Ric. “All right, start talking.”

“Perhaps we can—”

“Don’t hand me that shit, Ric,” Lock cut in. “This is Dee-Ann we’re talking about. And I know her well enough to know that I’d prefer almost anyone else on the planet to be following Blayne around of her own volition. So what’s the deal?”

“I can’t discuss it.”

“Why the fuck not?” Gwen snapped. “What are you hiding?”

Lock stepped in close to Ric, the two bestfriends staring each other down. One an angry grizzly, the other a wolf not ready to back down. Gwen held her breath and balled her hands into fists until her nails dug into her palm.

After a long minute of mutual staring, Lock stepped back. “Oh, my God. You stupid son of a bitch.”

“What?” Gwen demanded.

“You did it, didn’t you?” Lock kept going, ignoring Gwen. “You joined the Group.”

Gwen shook her head. “What’s the Group?”

Lock gave a very short, brutal laugh. “They’re like the National Guard. The Unit handles problems outside the States while the Group likes to handle problems inside.”

“What does that have to do with Blayne?”

“Answer her,” Lock snapped when Ric didn’t respond.

Ric folded his arms over his chest, no longer looking like the sweet, unappreciated wolf she always thought of him and replied, “Blayne’s name was sold. For the pit fights.”

“Sold?” Gwen tried desperately to understand all this secret agent bullshit. “You mean so she could be taken?”

“Right. Dee-Ann’s been watching her to protect her.”

“That’s a lie,” Lock growled. “I know Dee-Ann. She’s nobody’s babysitter. You’ve been using Blayne as bait, haven’t you?” She knew what Lock said was true when Ric didn’t bother denying it. But Lock snapped, not surprising since a lot of his time in the Marines was spent playing the bait for the rich fuckers who hunted their kind.

Lock’s grizzly hump began to expand as he grabbed Ric by his leather jacket and lifted the wolf from the ground. “Haven’t you?” he roared, and the wolf snarled, lips pulling back to reveal two-inch-long fangs.

“Stop it!” Gwen yelled, slamming her body into Lock’s. “Stop it right now!” When the two didn’t move, she said, “Put him down!”

Lock did, dropping the wolf. Ric landed without a stumble, and Gwen stepped between the two, facing Ric. “Did you tell any of this to Blayne?” she asked him.

“No. It was decided that it was best if we didn’t.”

Gwen briefly closed her eyes. “No, Ric. That was not best. Not with a wolfdog. And not with Blayne Thorpe.”

“We’ve got her protected.”

“Dee-Ann’s with her Pack tonight,” Lock said.

“We have someone else covering her tonight.”

Lock sniffed. “Trainees.”

“You put trainees on Blayne?” This was getting worse, and Gwen quickly dug into her jeans to retrieve her cell phone.

“She’ll be fine. It’s not like they’re fresh out of high school, Gwen.”