“Oh. Well. I apologize for snapping at you.” She smoothed a hand down her skirt nervously.

He laughed. “I imagine you’re nervous. Now, my people say you’re clean so let’s go. One warning, no sudden moves when we arrive. All my people have shoot-to-kill orders. That’s my family in there, I won’t let you harm them. Understood?”

She nodded.

Two more SUVs joined them, one in front and the other behind. They entered several checkpoints and moved through gates and behind walls until they stopped in front of an ivy-covered house.

No mistaking the state of war though. Wolf guards patrolled every few feet carrying large, scary weapons and looking tightly wired. What had she gotten herself into? Rhetorical of course. Her brother may be a soulless murderer but she wasn’t. It was her responsibility to help.

“Let’s go then. Remember, no sudden moves, all right?”

Gulping and swallowing nothing but dust, she followed him into the building, surrounded by guards.

And when she entered the large dining room, dominated by a large table, in turn dominated by wolves so powerful the air vibrated with it, she nearly lost her knees as she locked eyes with the hazel-eyed male near the head.

Never had she seen a more incredibly alluring male. Strong. His power, quiet and confident, rolled from him and caressed her. She sent out silent thanks she was wearing a padded bra or everyone would have known just how she was being caressed. It wouldn’t protect her from their sensitive noses though as her pu**y softened and readied for him alone. Christ, what was this? Some sort of odd adrenaline response to her fear and nervousness?

Cade turned up to get a look at their informant. Tegan had let them know the convoy arrived and they were on their way inside.

His gut did a freefall. She’d be a honey-colored wolf. Slight, petite even. Graceful though. Her hair hung in a straight curtain to her shoulders, smooth. Smooth like the creamy skin over high cheekbones. Lush lips. Big, scared brown eyes. She couldn’t have been more than barely five feet and an inch or two, even in her sensible heels. Her legs were bare beneath the skirt that skimmed just below her knees. The dark blue of the blouse didn’t do much for her coloring.

Without thinking, he stood and the room went silent. Megan moved to his side, ready to leap or do whatever he needed. Tegan flanked his other side and Ben moved to stand next to the woman.

“Who are you?” Cade asked.

“Grace. Grace Pellini. I have information for you.” Her voice, what was it about her voice? So soft, comforting. It wasn’t as if she whispered, but still, so soft, so pretty.

“Please, please sit down and talk to us.” Cade indicated the place just across from him and she sat, her eyes not moving from his.

“I’m Cade Warden, Alpha of Cascadia. This is Maxwell Williams, Alpha of Great Lakes.” Cade continued to introduce the major players but it was as if he said it on auto pilot as he struggled to get over the need to touch her.

“I know who Maxwell is.” Her mouth canted down for a moment before she seemed to mentally wave it away and focus back on him. “Alpha of Cascadia. My brother tried to kill your sister a little over two weeks ago.”

He scented her anxiety and wanted to fix it. The need to make her feel better made his head swim.

“Did you try to help him?”

The shock on her face answered his question. “No. I’d never. No. I wasn’t allowed in that part of the lab complex. But one of my, well, one of the wolves I trusted more than the others, not totally of course, he helped her, didn’t he?”

“Yes. One of the Pellini wolves kept me sedated and tried to protect me the best he could. He’s safe now. I’m Tegan, Cade’s sister and Second here at Great Lakes along with my mate, Ben.”

“Grace, tell us what you came here to say and why we should believe you.” Jack Meyers, a man who pulled no punches, said what needed to be said but it did annoy Cade on some level.

Still, the woman seemed to be made of sterner stuff and looked unruffled by Jack’s straightforward question. “When Warren was shunned and left Great Lakes to start his own Pack, I was in medical school. I lost my status here with Great Lakes just like the rest of my family did.” Her eyes cut to Maxwell briefly. “I had no Pack but for what Warren created. But I’ve never been close to my family. I’ve been estranged from them for several years but seven months back a body came through my emergency room and I smelled my brother on him. He’d—the victim—been partially transformed but his DNA wasn’t all wolf or all human. It was broken. His entire system just sort of collapsed in on itself.”

Cade pushed a glass of water her way and she sipped it before speaking again.

“I’d heard the rumor he’d…Warren…stolen a copy of the lycanthropy virus but I thought he’d lost it. That body in my ER said otherwise. So I went to him and said I wanted back in the family. I was alone, without a Pack, it wasn’t so hard to believe really. After a while, I offered to help with my medical skills and he didn’t trust me so he gave me nickel and dime stuff. But I did it and kept at it and the bodies showed up in my ER until I went nearly mad with the anger. I confronted him about it but pretended I was mad he was being so careless. That’s when he let me in part way and I’ve been working my way closer and closer to this project ever since. When he lost the big lab two weeks ago after you rescued Tegan, he let me in even more because he lost a lot of data. But I don’t know how much more I can get. He’s suspicious and I can’t hide how distressed I am with all this.”