“Warren! Thank god. Did you hear what’s happened? These fool Rogues are threatening to kill me! The girl is still alive. That laptop is still out there. If there’s anything on it we’re f**ked.” Carter slumped back into the chair and sent a smirk to Jack.

Moments later, it dawned on him. “Warren, what are you doing here? Did you hear of my trouble and come to help? There are ways, you know, for me to get my power back. Spells the old ones can do. Then I can make the last of my payments to you.”

Those hazel eyes never flickered with a bit of emotion. In a cool voice Pellini said, “No one is going to perform that spell for you, Carter. Getting your power back would only happen if you performed an extraordinary act for the Pack. And Lex and Cade would be the ones who’d make the final decision. You tried to rip Lex’s mate and Cade’s anchor apart. Oh, and now she’s a wolf. With incredibly high status and power to match, and she’s guarded twenty-four hours a day.”

Warren leaned against the desk and crossed his ankles with faux casualness. He studied Carter for a few moments. “How far you’ve fallen, Carter. Sweating in my presence like an unranked wolf. Oh wait, you are an unranked wolf.” The laugh that came from his lips was icy.

“Your debt has been discharged. Jack and I have a deal.”

Carter stood up. “You’ve forgiven my debt? Really? Thank…” Carter’s eyes blanked and the life fell from them as the silver bullet raced through his brain.

Warren pulled an invisible thread from his suit jacket, looked back at Jack and then nodded to his Enforcer. “Dump it in Cascadia territory. Let it be known that he had a great deal owed due to gambling debt and now that he had no real salary from the Pack he had to pay in another way. That should buy us some time.”

“What if they know about the virus?”

Warren shrugged. “If they knew about it, they’d have sent the Enforcer out already, don’t you think? The Wardens are nothing if not proactive. I’m betting this laptop is either a fantasy or has nothing on it. Didn’t you say there were things built into the program for the lycanthropy virus that would be impossible to break and if they did, just getting in would trigger destruction of the information?”

“For anyone but the finest hackers, yes. The wolf who fed Carter information was a good friend of Tommie’s and Tommie told him that the program was unbreakable. The woman is beautiful and strong willed. But she’s a florist, she’s certainly no hacker.” Jack lit a cigar and handed another to Warren.

“You’ve taken care of the wolves who set that fire at the woman’s house and her business?” Warren asked.

“Yes. They won’t pose any more of a problem than Carter will. Idiot. Attacking the mate of the Enforcer was a stupid, stupid thing.”

“Yes, well. He’s no longer an issue for us. The time has come for us to start trials on some humans. We can’t very well ransom this virus if it doesn’t work.”

Chapter Eight

Nina slowly sank into the water with a long satisfied sigh. The water was just hot enough. Her core body temperature was starting to rise as Lex had explained it would. That part was kind of nice as she was one of those people who was always cold.

She’d just closed her eyes and fully relaxed her body when she heard Lex enter their bedroom and kick the door closed. The new intensity of her senses was a bit overwhelming and she wondered what it would be like once she fully made the change.

He entered the bathroom and her body tightened up and her insides calmed as his scent hit her. It was like he was this cherished thing and the hottest, sexiest man to ever walk the planet—warm milk and Brad Pitt all in one.

“What are you smiling about?” he asked softly.

“Warm milk,” she answered opening her eyes to see him there with a mug and a plate with cookies on it. She certainly wasn’t going to say Brad Pitt. Lex came bearing chocolate chip cookies and chai tea, milky and sweet like she preferred it. Hell, he was better than Brad Pitt.

“Do you want some warm milk?” He started to move back toward the door and she put her hand up.

“No. Thank you, darlin’, but no. I was just thinking that you were like a hot sex symbol and comforting warm milk all at the same time.”

The worry passed from his face and those lips quirked up a grin. “You looking to get lucky, ma’am? You’re looking pretty damned good there naked and wet.”

“Oh, now, you see, I think I’m already getting lucky here with this plate of cookies in the hands of an incredibly sexy man.”

“You’re full of shit. But I like it. Cade made them, he bakes when he’s upset.”

Nina opened her mouth to say something but closed it and slid beneath the water. When she came back up Lex was staring at her with a raised eyebrow and a smirk.

“You were going to say?”

“You know what I was going to say, therefore it isn’t nearly as fun.” She grabbed a cookie and stuffed it into her mouth. “And anyway, his girly ways make good chocolate chip cookies so who am I to complain that he’s the amazing baking Alpha?”

Lex chuckled and started to head out.

“Uh, hello?”

He turned around. “What is it, beautiful?”

“Is the honeymoon over so fast? Before we’ve even had a wedding?”

He looked confused.

She sighed. “Lex, it’s midafternoon and a naked woman is in your bathtub. You were planning to…? Grout? Go bake? Shine your obscenely expensive shoes? Ravish your wife?”