“This is the Sentinel compound,” Thomas explained. “My men have been stationed around it since word spread.”

“Any sightings?” he asked, wondering if Cloe was going to be happy to see him, or if she was going to be pissed.

Pissed, definitely pissed, he thought with a smirk. That would be more than fine with him since it would make f**king her into submission more pleasurable.

“No one has seen her or the Pyte,” Thomas said, confirming his suspicions, but just in case…..

“How do you know it’s a Pyte?” he asked, turning his attention to look around the large office where the pu**y to his right and his Pack practiced law during the day so that they could blend in with humans.

Fucking traitors, he thought once again with disgust.

“They were brought in by a team from upstate. The shifters in the compound scented them before they’d stepped foot inside.”

“Them?” he asked, his mind locking in on that one word.

Thomas sighed, not looking at all happy about answering his questions. Not that he had a choice. Aidan’s marked property had been taken into his territory and as Alpha of the controlling Pack, it was his duty to get Aidan’s property back no matter the cost. The Alpha wasn’t happy about it and no doubt would love nothing more than to separate Aidan’s head from his body, but as long as his property was in this territory, he was untouchable.

“A group made up of Sentinels, shifters and Pytes delivered them to the compound,” Thomas said, sounding pissed with himself for answering.

His brows shot up with surprise. “More Pytes?”

“Apparently the Sentinels have several working for them,” Thomas said, shifting his attention to a stack of files on the long boardroom table that took up more than half the room.

“Interesting,” he murmured, as he considered trying to grab more than one, but after only a few seconds he decided against it.

He only needed one for what he had planned. Besides, there was no way that his Pack would be able to capture more than one Pyte. At least, not yet. Maybe in a few months, if his plans worked, he’d be able to work a few more Pytes into his plan. If not, he’d just have to make sure that he found a way to take them out permanently.

“The last we’d heard, they were being held on the secure floor before they broke free. The male lost it to bloodlust and they had to bring Kale Quinn in to handle the situation,” Thomas recited absently as he looked over a file.

Aidan couldn’t quite hide his surprise. “Kale Quinn is helping the Sentinels?” he asked, sure that he’d misheard.

Kale Quinn might be a mutt, but last he knew, the Alpha wasn’t a traitor. He was a ruthless piece of shit that would f**k over his own kind for a buck however.

Thomas nodded as he picked up the file and gestured for the man standing across from him to take it. “He’s been doing freelance work for the Council.”

“I see,” Aidan said, mentally adding the traitor to his list.

He normally didn’t bother dealing with traitors, but for Kale Quinn, he would make an exception. The man was too powerful, if all the rumors were to believed, to be allowed to work with the enemy. But, it was going to have to be dealt with another day, because right now he had other things that needed to be handled.

“Where is she now?” he asked, making sure not to give away his interest in the male.

“The last anyone saw of her, she was being transferred back to the secured floor with extra security,” Thomas explained, his attention back on the large pile of folders in front of him, but there was something in the way that he’d shifted ever so slightly that told him that there was something the Alpha wasn’t telling him.

“And?” Aidan said softly, because he didn’t need to yell, the threat was clear.

He watched as the man shifting through files stilled. There was a heartbeat of charged silence before Thomas sighed, dropped the file he’d picked up and turned around to face him.

“They removed your mark,” Thomas growled, his eyes shifting silver as he snarled the last word.

“That’s impossible,” he snarled back, because he’d made damn sure when he’d marked her that no one and nothing could remove it.

She was his.

Thomas’ disgusted expression shifted to downright smug as he announced, “It’s very possible, especially since a Pyte made her his mate.”

He felt his stomach drop as his heart skipped a beat, knowing what the Alpha just announced was impossible.

“She’s mine!” he snarled viciously.

The other man didn’t cower or cringe as he gestured for him to get his ass out of his building. “Her mate may have a thing or two to say about that and now that I’ve done my duty, you can get the f**k out of my offices and go handle this bullshit on your own, you sick f**k.”

“You owe me aid in recovering my property!” he snarled, his rage keeping his feet locked in place.

“No,” Thomas said coolly with a shake of his head as he turned his back on him and returned his attention back to his files, “I owed you information and now you’ve got it.”

“I want my property back!”

“Then I suggest you think of something quickly before the vampires get their hands on her, because from what I’ve heard, they just put out a reward for her………..and her mate.”

Chapter 48

“Shut. The. Fuck. Up,” Kale snarled, clearly unhappy with Chris’ choice of entertainment to pass the time.

Chris sighed dramatically. “I’ve lost my place,” he said with a shake of his head. “I guess there’s nothing to do but to start over again.” He pointedly cleared his throat, preparing himself for another round of “A thousand bottles of beer on the wall,” but before he had the chance to utter another syllable of torture, Ephraim was slapping a hand over his son’s mouth and ending his son’s reign of terror.

“Thank f**king God,” Caine said weakly from where he sat with Danni curled up in his arms and somehow fast asleep.

Ephraim wasn’t sure how she’d managed to block out Chris’ bullshit, but he had to admit, he was impressed. Over the last couple of hours he’d been forced to remind himself that he loved his son and would regret killing him, but a few times he found himself reaching out to strangle the little bastard. While his son normally loved nothing more than to aggravate the shit out of the shifter straining against his chains so that he could wrap his hands around Chris’ throat, he’d gone overboard this time.

Then again, Chris hated being restrained almost as much as he did, but what made matters worse was the fact that Chris couldn’t get to his mate. He could tolerate being away from her for a few days only because he knew that he could drop everything and go to her or at the very least, call her. This time, there was nothing. He hadn’t spoken to his mate in over twenty-four hours and it was killing him.

So, of course he was taking it out on the rest of them.

“Is anyone else here curious how one Pyte not only managed to take us all by surprise, but also survived the car crash without so much as a scratch and managed to chain us all up together like ragdolls?” Danni asked from the safety of her mate’s arms as she continued to lie there with her eyes closed.