She dropped her robe. Jerked on her own clothes. She wouldn’t be naked when her team swarmed. Swarmed—and took her into custody because she’d sided with the enemy.

An enemy who attacked your own family.

Kayla yanked on her boots. She could hear the careful tread of footsteps in the hallway now, and her gut clenched.

What would happen to her? Those who disobeyed Lyle didn’t exactly get the chance to hang around the unit for long and make amends. There weren’t any second chances for hunters. Lyle sure didn’t believe in them.

If Lyle cast her out of the unit, what would happen to her brother?

Kayla glanced around the room with its trampled rose petals. She needed to get the knife and strap it back to her ankle. She had to have her weapon close by in case—

“Looking for this?” he drawled and the faint hint of Texas she’d heard a few times before slipped into his voice again.

Gage had dressed, but the guy hadn’t fled yet. The window waited behind him, just begging for the man to leap through it and get the hell out of there. But, no, he was just standing near the wrecked bed and waving her knife between his claws.

“Go,” she gritted out. In about thirty seconds, maybe less, the team would be breaking down the door. She knew their MO. They would have already cleared the third floor. Gotten all the nearby guests relocated during the night.

While I was making love to Gage.

Oh, hell, had the team heard them?

She hoped the walls were thicker than they looked. She hadn’t exactly been playing it quiet last night. Gage had made her scream.

She’d made him growl. Maybe roar.

The silver knife was blistering his fingers. She could see the smoke from across the room. The more powerful a wolf shifter was, the more the silver was supposed to burn. If that old legend was true, Gage had to be very, very powerful indeed.

“You think I’m gonna leave you?” Gage asked, and he threw the knife. It flashed, tumbling end over end, before embedding hilt-deep in the headboard. Her gaze darted to the shaking knife handle, then back to him. Gage lifted one brow at her. “Think again.”

“It will be your funeral,” she whispered. Why couldn’t he leave? She was trying to help him. Didn’t he get that? She didn’t want him hurt. Kayla wanted him to have a chance.

A chance the guy wasn’t taking. Dammit. Fine. Whatever. Maybe she could buy him some more time so that he could get his sanity back and flee like a smart shifter.

She turned and headed for the door. Took two fast steps.

And was jerked back against her husband’s hard, muscled body. “You’re not leaving me,” he told her, his words whispered right into her ear. “You promised forever, remember?”

He’d obviously gone insane. Kayla jerked against him,but there was no give to the guy at all. She’d always known he was much stronger than he looked, but Gage’s arms wouldn’t budge no matter how much she twisted and shoved against him.

Then the hotel room door flew inward, driven by a powerful kick, and three men dressed in black, from toe to ski mask covered heads, burst into the room. They were all armed, and their weapons were pointed right at—

Me.

Shit. Kayla gulped and stopped struggling.

Gage had pulled her in front of him and he was using her as a human shield. His claws were back at her neck. Again with that? And a growl rumbled from his throat. Her husband was definitely showing the beast-like tendencies that he’d kept so carefully hidden for weeks.

He sure wasn’t so easygoing right then.

“Stand the hell down,” Gage ordered, voice cold and deadly, “or watch her die.”

The guy in front lifted his left hand immediately in a signal she knew meant the others should freeze. She couldn’t see the guy’s face, but she didn’t have to. She’d know Jonah anyplace. The tall build, the wiry strength. He was the lead on this mission, and the others would do whatever he commanded.

“Let her go,” Jonah said, and his own voice matched Gage’s in arctic chill. The perfect hunter. Cold and emotionless. Jonah hadn’t always been like that.

But then again, she hadn’t always been a killer, either. They’d both been more, before.

Before a night of blood and screams. Death and hell. And monsters.

“Let her go?” Gage repeated, sounding surprised. He actually laughed, then said, “I don’t think so,” as he began to back up—with her still clutched tightly against him. His slow, deliberate steps eased them across the room.

Oh, so now he was heading toward the window? Kayla kept her movements timed with his and made sure to use her body to shield him. At least he was fleeing now. Better late than never. He’d drop her before he made his exit. He’d be safe. She’d be—

Um, well, something.

Jonah took a step forward.

Gage’s hold tightened on her. “Move again,” he told the men in black, “and you’ll find yourself walking in her blood.”

Kayla’s breath froze in her lungs. Were the vicious words an idle threat or the real deal? In that moment, she wasn’t sure. Claws were at her throat. A shifter at her back. And guns waited in front of her.

Hardly the perfect morning-after that most brides experienced.

Jonah holstered his weapon. He gave a quick hand-motion to the two silent men behind him. They lowered their weapons.

“Why isn’t he dead?” Jonah asked her.

Did he really want her to go into that now?