“Don’t test me, blondie,” drawled Derren, glaring. The threat didn’t seem to bother Dominic one little bit.

Derren and Ally walked the Phoenix wolves to the parking lot. Dominic was just about to get into the Chevy when he shouted, “Hey, Ally, do you know the difference between a hamburger and a blow job?” At her frown, he asked, “No? Wanna have lunch sometime?”

“Oh my God.” Dante shoved him into the vehicle before shooting an apologetic glance at a laughing Ally and a homicidal-looking Derren. “I wish I had an excuse for him, but I don’t.”

Watching the Phoenix wolves drive away, Derren growled at the sight of Dominic waving out of the window. “You know,” he said to Ally conversationally, “one day I might just kill him.” She laughed again.

CHAPTER NINE

Will you stop throwing my baby!”

Ally entered the living area to find Shaya scowling at Derren, who was holding Willow high in the air while Bruce stood at his feet, wagging his tail excitedly.

“She loves it.” As if to prove it, Derren threw Willow once more and easily caught her. The baby giggled, kicking her legs like crazy. Bruce gave a playful bark.

Shaya put her hands on her hips. “Yes, I’m well aware that my daughter has no fear. But I do. And you make me nervous when you do that.”

Derren’s gaze whipped to Ally when she advanced farther into the room. “Hey. Have you come for dinner?”

“Yup.” She’d been coming to the main lodge more and more since the pack’s acceptance. She still spent most of her time at her own lodge, but she joined the pack for at least one meal a day.

Shaya sighed, shoving a hand through her curls. “Ally, you deal with him. He listens to you.”

Uh, no, he didn’t—to Ally’s utter exasperation. Derren didn’t listen to anyone. She knew he wasn’t the real source of Shaya’s irritation. “You’re not doing too well with being restricted to your territory, are you?”

Six weeks had gone by without incident, but no one believed for a second that the danger had passed. Donovan had sent a security team out to install all kinds of high-tech gadgets, including discreet yet high-quality cameras that were now scattered around the perimeter of Mercury territory. In addition, everyone’s cell phones had been fitted with GPS trackers. The same had also been done for the Phoenix Pack at Nick’s request.

Even so, people were conscious that gadgets weren’t going to keep them safe, only help them. However, not leaving pack territory was driving people crazy.

“No, I’m not doing well with it at all,” admitted Shaya. “I badly want to visit Taryn. It’s not the same, talking on Skype.”

From the sofa, Eli spoke up. His voice was gentle but firm. “You know why you can’t go visit. The Phoenix Pack is in as much danger as we are. You wouldn’t be any safer there than you are here.”

So far, there had been two unsuccessful attacks on the Phoenix Pack—one of which had been an electronic wipeout to help the culprits get through the security, but their resident hacker, Rhett, had quickly countered the attack. Like Donovan, the talented hacker was having no luck with discovering the identity of the person behind the hits, though.

“Remember what happened the last time you left our territory against Nick’s wishes?” Eli asked Shaya.

Ally guessed he was referring to the time that Shaya had been targeted by jackals.

“I’m not going to sneak off,” Shaya snapped. “I’m not stupid.”

“I know how you’re feeling,” Bracken said to the Alpha female, looking just as glum.

Roni snorted. “The only reason you’re unhappy is that you’re horny.”

“Death by blue balls.” Bracken shook his head. “I never thought I’d go out this way.”

Derren winced as Willow got a firm grip on his hair, making Ally smile. Since much of his time was taken up by his job, living with him had been easier than Ally had expected. She still had plenty of space and time alone. She also had sex on tap, which was really good.

He didn’t complain when she often left him in the middle of the night in favor of sleeping in the hammock. He accepted that she preferred to sleep outside, and she’d often wake up in the morning to find that he’d joined her at some point.

Her wolf loved having him around, having his scent everywhere. The animal was becoming more attached to Derren than Ally was comfortable with. The animal thought of him as hers, and she growled whenever Ally thought about how she’d be leaving him in the near future. If Ally was honest, the idea of leaving the Mercury Pack—leaving Derren—wasn’t one she relished much either. But Ally was careful not to allow herself to get too settled.

“Oh my God.” Eli’s gaze shot from his cell phone to his sister. “You are fucking unreal!” Obviously more pranks were being played.

“What did she do?” Marcus chuckled. Roni was studying her chipped nails, looking suspiciously innocent.

“She hacked into my Twitter account again!” Eli was glaring at her as he continued explaining to Marcus. “She tweeted, ‘My jaw is killing me. I’m never wearing a ball gag again!’” The muffled laughs coming from his pack mates made his flush deepen. “I’ll get you back for this, Roni.”

“So you always say.” She was totally unconcerned.

Long after dinner, when most of the pack was relaxing in the living area, Zander called Nick with news that they had visitors. The identities of the visitors had everyone groaning in annoyance.