The rest of their time was spent shooting. Lex was impressed with how well she did. Every shot had hit the target and once he’d begun giving her pointers about how to stand or hold the weapon, she began to improve even more. Clearly she was a natural and her improved reflexes due to the change would help her become an excellent shot.

They’d said their goodbyes and headed back home, where Lex promised a hot bath and Nina heartily endorsed the idea, her muscles already beginning to ache from shooting.

* * * * *

Jack Reed, the Alpha of the Rogue Clan, stared down his nose at Carter. Things had changed in a big way for Jack. Only days before, Carter’d had the upper hand and now not only had the other wolf been busted down to the bottom of the ranks in Cascadia but Warren Pellini, the spokesperson from the Pellini Group—read werewolf mob here—came to see him about Carter’s debts.

Pellini and Jack had had an interesting discussion about the virus and the cold hard fact that with Carter at the bottom of the Pack, he didn’t have access to the records and finances that he had before. That made him more than useless, it made him a liability.

“You did a very stupid thing, Carter.”

“Look, how was I to know she’d get a gun and empty an entire clip into me? That bitch needs to get dead and I won’t rest until she is.” Carter’s voice was laced with menace and no small amount of fear.

“The question is, Carter, why the f**k would you think it was a good idea to challenge the Enforcer’s mate to the death on the night she was introduced into the Pack?” Jack’s hand slammed onto the desk for emphasis.

“It was a great plan! She needs to die, I had the right and the ability to kill her and I took it.”

“Yes, a really successful plan, that. Kudos,” Jack said dryly.

“So I made a mistake. I’ll fix it.”

“You can’t fix it, Carter. You’ve lost your position and your power. I can smell their magic on you. They neutered you.” Jack’s face twisted into a sneer as he referred to the metaphysical stripping of his status and power performed by the governance council.

“I can get it back! You owe me. I got you in. I got you data. I got you the virus when you were just nickel and diming people in two-bit scams. If it weren’t for me you wouldn’t be sitting on the biggest gold mine ever.”

“Yes, yes. And while I appreciate that, your usefulness has come to an end, Carter. You have no further access to the data we need. And we don’t need it anymore anyway. The information was key but we can move forward without it. I can offer you a place with the Rogues. We can use runners.”

“Runners? How dare you insult me? I’m Third in the largest Pack in the West! I am not a runner!”

Jack reached out and shoved Carter back into the chair. “Were Third. And I am aware that you think we’re crude and stupid. That we aren’t fit to shine your six-hundred-dollar Italian loafers. But the shoe is on the other foot now, pardon the pun. We are smart enough to have engineered the theft and reproduction of the lycanthropy virus. All of those little errands that failed? You f**ked up. Those failures were caused by your own men and the ones you chose from my ranks. Clearly, Carter, they weren’t very well equipped for the job.

“But really, at base? You have no power. You have nothing to offer us. I offer you a place with us because you have nowhere else to go. You can’t stay with Cascadia. We both know that you’ve become a very big liability. I can’t just let you stay there. We can’t risk exposure.”

Jack sat back down and smoothed his tie. “Lastly, you have Lex Warden on your ass. You know as well as I do that he won’t rest until you’re dead. You tried to kill his mate. I’ve seen the man rip the f**king head off an opponent without breaking a sweat. Before I left Cascadia I saw a battle. A group of Rogues, my predecessor and his minions actually, launched an attack on Cade and their father. There were nine wolves in full prime and they were armed.”

Into the story now, Jack leaned back as he relived the memory of that night eight years before. He took glee in scaring the hell out of Carter with the very real specter of Lex Warden.

“Lex waded into the group and began to change. He began to literally rip the other wolves apart with his bare hands. It was bloody and the screams, my god, I can still hear them today. The Alpha of this Pack challenged Lex and Lex reached out and—I shit you not, Carter—reached out and pulled his motherfucking head right from his body and tossed it down at his feet. Covered with blood, he turned to the remaining wolf who’d fallen to his knees, and grinned. That wolf ran and I never saw or heard of him again.

“Cade and Henri had just watched it all, supremely convinced that Lex would handle the nine wolves. The guard had helped him a bit you understand, but I watched Lex Warden kill six wolves with his bare hands. He never drew a weapon.”

Jack stood up and walked around to lean on the corner of his desk. “So you see, you aren’t long for this world without the protection of this Pack. Lex Warden is the lycan version of the boogey man and you tried to kill his wife.”

“Are you threatening me?” Carter stood, incensed but sweating profusely and shaking after hearing the story he’d heard rumors of for years. “You have no idea who you’re dealing with! Who I have behind me. Don’t push me, Jack. Don’t you dare threaten to kill me. My friends in high places wouldn’t like that.”

Warren Pellini stepped into the room and nodded once to Jack. He turned his hazel eyes on Carter.