“Someone turned off the security system.”

“Figured that out, did you? Probably one of your exgirlfriends,” Drake said.

Joshua shoved at him with his foot. “Go away. You’ve given me a headache.”

“I think the drug you ingested and the smoke did that.”

Joshua rubbed the bridge of his nose, smearing the black streaks. “It had to be the coffee. Damn it, Drake. I feel like shit.”

“Think about that the next time you play hero.”

“Fuck you.”

Drake laughed and pushed himself up. “You aren’t going to have a voice for a week or so. Makes me deliriously happy. I’m going to open all the doors and windows and get that vent open. Don’t you move. I’d better find you in the same exact spot when I come back.” The relief he felt that Joshua was alive was tremendous. They’d been lucky. Really lucky.

Every one of the doors on the ground floor were locked from the inside, but hadn’t been tampered with as the balcony doors had been. Someone had waited for the drug to take effect, barred the balcony doors and closed the vents in the fireplaces before lighting the wet wood, creating the smoke. All they had to do was sit back and wait for it to fill the inn and hopefully kill off the team—and Saria.

It took quite a few trips into the house to open it fully to allow the fresh air in. Drake opened the fireplace vents and put out both fires. Homeone had make several trips outside to breathe, and Elijah and Evan both joined in to help. The upstairs windows were next. They turned on the overhead fans and located several standing fans in closets to rid the house of the smoke.

Saria brought a jug of clean fresh water to the front of the house where Elijah, Evan and Drake sat on the grass beside Joshua.

“Jerico and Jeremiah have a couple of prisoners. The Tregre brothers claim they dropped by hopin’ to talk to Joshua and found the downstairs filled with smoke. They couldn’t get in because all the doors were locked so they went down to the edge of the lake away from the trees hopin’ to get a cell phone connection to call the fire department. Trouble with that is, go down the road a piece and you can call easily and both would know that.” She handed Joshua a glass of water and poured another for Drake. “They’re lyin’.”

“Big surprise there.” Drake downed the entire glass of water and held it out to her.

She ignored him and handed a glass to Elijah and another to Evan. “Miss Pauline is goin’ to be so upset. I’ll call Amos and tell him what happened. Remy and my brothers are on the way,” she added.

Drake leveled a look at her. “We could have handled this ourselves.”

“I wasn’t certain just how you were goin’ to handle it, Drake.” She took the glass from him and poured water into it. “I don’t want you killin’ anyone.”

“Now why would you think I’d do something like that?” he asked softly. She should have been far more shaken up than she appeared.

“I think your woman has ice in her veins,” Joshua stated.

Drake shot him a hard look. It was possible all of his men were thinking the same thing, but they were polite enough not to say it out loud.

Saria laughed. “Did you think I was going to faint?”

“Naw,” Elijah said, “Joshua did that for you.”

The men laughed. Saria sent Drake a small smile. “I will admit it probably wasn’t a good idea sendin’ for Remy. He sounded angry.”

“Baby, he beat the shit out of Armande and Robert for discharging a weapon around you. I can’t imagine what he’ll do if he thinks the Tregre brothers had anything to do with trying to kill us all.” Drake couldn’t help smirking a little. “Your brother is far worse than I am.”

“I doubt that,” Saria disagreed.

“Smart woman,” Elijah said. “Don’t let him fool you with that calm civilized act of his.”

“It did occur to me, when I saw the rest of you, that maybe he was hidin’ somethin’ from me,” Saria replied with that small secret grin that always made Drake’s heart stutter.

His men had accepted her. She’d led them through the swamp, never once complaining of the rain and muck. She’d risked her life helping to get the members of his team out of the smoke-filled inn and immediately had thought to bring them all water. She didn’t panic—something all of his men would admire. Including her in their teasing signaled their acceptance and camaraderie.

“You realize, Saria, these twomen were the ones in the Mercier boat, the one delivering the opium to the other boat.” Drake kept his voice low and even. His eyes met Elijah’s. Drake had to look away from the compassion there.

Did Saria realize the implication? No shifter could go to jail. They wouldn’t survive in captivity and they couldn’t die in jail where a doctor would autopsy their body. He was leader of the lair. It would be up to him to pass sentence and carry it out. Remy might be a problem. If his first loyalty was to the human law rather than lair law, Drake would have to find a way to handle the situation without any harm coming to Saria’s family. The shifter code had to be placed above all else. He sighed. Things were going to hell fast. The possibility that one or both of the Tregre brothers were serial killers was growing by the moment. Certainly depravity ran in their family. Their father had been cruel and if the rumors were true, he’d murdered his own son.

“Drake,” Saria said quietly.