Lyle wasn’t heading toward the cage. He walked right up to the video camera. Smiled into the lens. Then Jonah heard the boss say, “I got this,” right before the lead hunter reached up—and yanked out the video and audio surveillance system.

The screen immediately went blank. What the hell? This wasn’t protocol. All interrogations were to be monitored. Those were orders that came straight down from the federal government. All of ’em had to be recorded. And with his sister involved . . .

Jonah spun on his heel, but Travis grabbed him and pulled him back. “Sorry, man,” Travis said, with a shake of his blond head. “But I’ve got orders—and you’re not leaving this room.”

The door opened. Two more hunters entered the surveillance area.

“When family’s involved, hell, it’s just a bitch.” Travis exhaled as he shook his head again. “You just sit tight, and this will all be over soon.”

The hell it would.

“What are you doing, Lyle?” Kayla demanded, grabbing at the bars with white-knuckled fists. “You can’t—that camera is always supposed to stay on!”

Gage realized that his little hunter sounded furious.

She didn’t realize what was happening.

Gage stood in the middle of the cage—he hated cages—and watched silently as the one she’d called Lyle turned to face them. What the guy was doing was pretty obvious.

He was making sure he didn’t have an audience for this little party.

And Gage knew exactly why.

Laughter pulled from him. Deep. Mocking. Did the hunters even realize what was happening?

Lyle smiled, flashing white and very sharp teeth.

“You know . . . for a hunter . . .” Gage kept his voice bland. “You sure as shit smell like a shifter.”

Because there was no mistaking that scent. Wild. Woodsy. Animal.

It was a little bonus that Mother Nature had given the supernaturals. They could always recognize their own kind. Demons could always see right through the glamour and find their brethren. Witches could feel the pull of magic exerted by others like them.

As for shifters . . . one smell was all it took to recognize another animal.

Kayla’s shoulders stiffened. She was still staring at Lyle, but the tension in her body was screaming right then.

Only she wasn’t screaming. When she spoke, her words were soft. “You’re wrong. Lyle McKennis is the lead hunter in the area. He can’t be a shifter.”

“Why?” Gage asked as Lyle kept the smile on his face. “Because he’s the big, bad boss who’s sent you out to kill the shifters in this town? Sorry, sweetheart, but our kind has a long and vicious history of turning on each other.”

Only Lyle had gotten smart. The jerk didn’t have a pack of hisown, so he’d tricked humans into killing for him.

Shifters truly were very good at lying.

Lyle was almost at the cage now.

“That’s not true,” Kayla said and gave a fast, negative shake of her head. “He’s the one who found me and Lyle after—after our parents were killed. He saved us, got us help—”

Fast as a striking snake, Lyle’s hand shot through the cage bars. His claws were out, and they shoved right against Kayla’s throat. “And I’m the one who’s gonna kill you, too, if you don’t do exactly what I say.”

He was a dead man.

Gage rolled his shoulders. He let his own claws break from his fingertips. “I’m guessing you don’t want to die easily,” he said in a considering way as he studied the other shifter. “You want me to take my time with things. Strip away your flesh. Make you beg and scream before I give you that fucking sweet release of death.” The guy had to want that—or else he wouldn’t be touching Kayla.

Lyle’s green eyes narrowed. He was staring at Kayla, not Gage. And the bastard needed to move those damn claws away from her.

Gage’s nostrils widened. A new scent had hit the air. Blood. Kayla’s blood.

A snarl sprang from his lips, and he leapt those few feet that would take him to the side of the cage. He slashed out with his own claws, and if Lyle had moved even one second slower, he would have cut the guy’s hand off.

“Don’t fucking touch her. ” Gage’s lethal order was the growl of a beast. His wolf wanted out.

Sure, wolves liked the scent of blood just as much as any shifter, but not when that scent belonged to a mate.

And Kayla was most definitely his.

When the blood scent came from a mate, the wolf within just wanted to destroy any threat near her.

Lyle had backed up and made sure to get clear of the cage. His cocky smile was back. “I thought it might be like that. I mean . . . I knew the truth about her for years. I figured if I just put her in the right wolf ’s path . . .”

Gage pulled Kayla away from the bars. He looked at her throat and lightly touched the flesh. Just scratches, but he understood the point Lyle had wanted to make.

I can kill her. You can watch.

Screw that.

This Lyle asshole could watch while Gage cut him open.

“What truth?” Kayla demanded as he pushed Gage’s hands away.

It was Lyle’s turn to laugh now. “Why, exactly, do you think your wolf married you? Because he took one look at you—and fell in love?” His voice mocked her.

How could they get out of the cage? How could he shut that jerk’s mouth?

Kayla’s breath heaved. “I don’t—”