“Where’s my brother?” Kayla demanded.

Gage kept Lyle penned. Kept that bastard bleeding as he let his claws sink even deeper into his flesh.

Lyle spat blood. “Gettin’ . . . sliced open—”

She fired the gun. The bullet sank into Lyle’s right shoulder. The shifter howled in pain and rage.

“My bad,” Kayla murmured. “I thought that chamber would be empty.”

Before Lyle could do more than growl in pain, the door of the holding room flew open.

Gage glanced up. Huh. Guess we found her brother.

Because Gage was staring straight into eyes the same golden shade as Kayla’s. The man’s hair was curly and dark, just like hers, but his face was harder, all lines and stark angles.

The guy was wearing black, shoulder to damn toe, and he was armed.

More men rushed in after Jonah. All wearing black like it was some sort of hunter uniform—probably because it was. All of ’em were holding weapons—weapons they aimed at him and Kayla.

“Shoot them!” Lyle screamed as he bucked beneath Gage’s hold. “The bitch is . . . helping him! They’re . . . trying to escape!”

And that was why Kayla should have let him kill the prick when he’d had the chance.

Now at least six weapons were pointed at him and Kayla. Not the best odds.

But he’d had worse.

“Don’t anyone fucking fire!” That was Kayla’s brother screaming that order. Would the others actually listen? Right then, they all looked confused. A little scared, too. Maybe they hadn’t faced off against too many shifted wolves before.

Sometimes, the hunting was easier to do from a distance. When you got up close and personal with a wolf, the fear could slip past any man’s guard.

“Jonah!” Kayla cried out her brother’s name and tried to rush toward the hunter.

Gage leapt forward and put his body between her and the armed men. Had the woman missed the guns? He opened up his mouth and snarled a warning at her—and them. Stay the hell back.

“Shoot the bastard!” Lyle yelled. It sounded like the prick was getting stronger. Shifters always healed fast.

“My pleasure,” Jonah said with a slow, mean grin.

“No! Dammit, don’t!” Kayla was screaming now. The woman’s voice shook with fury. “If you shoot him, I’ll put a bullet in Lyle’s head!” Then she scrambled back.

Scrambled back—and pressed the gun barrel to Lyle’s head. If the hunters had just arrived five minutes sooner, they would have seen their boss toying with her. Getting off on her fear.

But now . . . they just saw Kayla. Threatening to kill the guy they all probably idolized. Dumbasses.

“Kayla . . .” Sorrow whispered through her name as Jonah spoke. “You can’t dothis.” The faint lines around his eyes deepened. “You can’t—”

“He’s a shifter!” She snapped back at him. “Lyle’s a wolf! He’s been lying to us all for years! Haven’t you ever wondered why he didn’t go into any of the interrogations with the other shifters? It’s because they would have known what he was! They would have—”

“She’s crazy,” Lyle tossed right back as spittle flew from his mouth. “She’s screwing that shifter, and she’s lying to-to try and save . . . his ass! They broke . . . out of the cage and tried to . . . kill me!”

Right . . . who were the hunters going to believe? Their boss? Or the woman who’d just shot him, right in front of their eyes? Gage didn’t wait for their reaction. He attacked.

The first swipe of his claws went toward her brother. Shouldn’t have shot her. He sliced deep into the guy’s arm, and Jonah stumbled back.

Kayla’s scream grated in his ears. He hated the sound of her pain. But he couldn’t stop, not now.

A bullet sank into his side. Asshole hunters. He clawed the nearest one. Slammed his head into the legs of another. Used his teeth to take down a third.

“Told you!” Lyle shouted. The guy’s voice was definitely stronger now. “I told you he was a killer! Twisted, sick son of a bitch. Take him out—”

A gun blast destroyed the last of his words.

Gage whirled around. He saw Lyle groaning. Grabbing his leg.

This time, Kayla had shot Lyle in the upper thigh.

“That’ll slow you down,” she whispered. Then she looked up at Gage. Her gaze burned with fury. So much rage.

Directed at me. So he’d made her brother bleed. The guy had deserved it.

An alarm sounded somewhere down the hall. No doubt, more hunters would be there soon in response to that shrill cry. Over-eager men and women who couldn’t wait to pump his body full of silver.

They had to get out of there before the back-up arrived.

Kayla hurried to her brother’s side while Lyle continued to scream.

“Jonah?”

Her brother’s head had slammed into the stone wall—courtesy of Gage. He vaguely remembered shoving the guy back after he’d clawed into him. Jonah’s right hand bled, the muscles near his wrist slashed deep.

The guy was trying to stop the blood flow, but his shirt was already stained red. “Why?” Jonah rasped. “Why . . . for him?”

She put her hands over his wound. “It’s going to be all right. I promise, everything will—”

“It will never be okay, sis . . . never.”

Gage rushed toward her. They had to leave, now. Still in wolf form, his head pushed against her shoulder.