He glared at her. “I really don’t like you sometimes.”

She shrugged. “One day, you’ll love me and want to name your kids after me.”

He laughed. “You tend to be a bit delusional, but even for you, that’s a bit much.”

Peri sighed as though watching paint dry would be more interesting, which it might be depending on what Wadim had to tell her.

“I need to know what you know, wolf.” Her words were practically a growl. When he just stared at her, Peri rolled her eyes and added, “Please.”

“Amazing,” Wadim muttered as he headed toward the main room. “She was polite and somehow didn’t turn to stone.”

“I heard that,” she said as she followed him.

“Good.”

Once they were both positioned in front of Wadim’s many monitors— he sitting, she standing just behind his right shoulder— Wadim’s fingers began flying across his keyboard.

Peri listened to the clicking of the keys and wondered how anyone could spend their whole day click, click, clicking away on one of these things. The sound alone would drive her crazy. It was enough to make her want to cut off his fingers. But she refrained, seeing as how those fingers were the key to the hopefully valuable information he could give her. Granted, there were other fingers capable, but Wadim knew the system. He knew what to look for and where. Having to get a new historian because she got irritated and cut off the current historian’s fingers would be more trouble than it was worth.

“I found some interesting info,” he said as his typing finally came to a halt.

“Interesting how?” Peri purred.

Wadim gave his chair a nudge and it swiveled around to face her. “Read it and find out.” He motioned to the screen.

Peri’s eyes ran across the screen as she let the words absorb into her mind. Her chest grew tighter with every word, and, by the time she reached the final sentence, she was wound as tightly as a freshly strung bow. “Have what!” she yelled at the screen as if it would answer.

“That’s what I said,” Wadim huffed.

Peri began pacing, her mind reeling at the information she’d just read. There really were wolves in Oceanside, not that she’d doubted her pixie informant. But she hadn’t expected something akin to an established pack.

“I guess I’m going to be paying the Missouri Alpha a visit,” she said under her breath. She turned then to Wadim and held his gaze with her own hard stare. “Do not share this information with anyone. Not even Vasile—not yet.”

Wadim paled. “I can’t keep information from Vasile.”

“You can and you will. I will inform Vasile of what we know as soon as I’ve worked a few kinks out.”

“And what if he asks for a progress report? I can’t lie. He’ll know I’m lying. Believe it or not, Peri, I’ve grown quite attached to my hide. Lying to my Alpha is a good way to lose it.”

“Then I suggest you make yourself scarce for the day.” She smiled coolly at him. “Thank you for working so diligently on this, history boy. It is much appreciated.”

Just before she flashed from the room, Peri heard his gruff voice, “Well you are not welcome.”

She smiled. The history wolf was growing on her. Maybe a little like a fungus, but growing on her nonetheless.

Peri appeared at the doorstep of the Missouri pack mansion. She didn’t have to knock. The Alpha, Tyler Reed, was already aware of her arrival. The door opened and the tall Alpha looked down at her.

“Perizada.” He bowed his head slightly.

“Reed,” Peri returned, though she did not bow her head in return.

“To what do we owe the pleasure of your company?”

“Oh can the crap, Alpha. Nobody every thinks it’s a pleasure when they see me on their doorstep.”

“Too true,” he chuckled. “Does that apply to your mate as well?”

Peri’s eyes flashed and her power flared around her. “Careful, wolf. I’ve killed for lesser insults.”

“Why are you here?” Tyler asked, obviously giving up the pretense of mister hospitality. Tyler was not a bad guy, but he was an Alpha. It was amazing how often that equated to also being a jackass. Vasile was an exception to the rule. Decebel, well, some days he was an exception. Other days he was quickly put in his place by his firecracker mate.

“I need to talk to you about Cross, Jericho, and two other female wolves.”

Tyler’s face darkened as the names left Peri’s lips. His eyes narrowed on her. “What about them?”

“Why did Jericho and Cross leave your pack?” she asked, holding his gaze and not backing down when his wolf attempted to win the dominance game.

“There were issues upon which we did not see eye to eye. I gave them a choice. They could see reason, or they could leave our pack. They decided to make a life elsewhere,” he answered, attempting at nonchalance.

“Didn’t see eye to eye?” she asked tilting her head slightly. “Would this not seeing eye to eye have anything to do with The Order of the Burning Claw?”

Reed’s eyes snapped up and began to glow as his wolf pushed for dominance. “Don’t speak those words here,” he growled.

Peri rolled her eyes. “Please tell me you aren’t pulling the whole Harry Potter, He Who Must Not be Named, crap.”

Tyler snapped at her. “You know better than anyone how powerful the spoken word is. Do not draw the attention of such evil into my territory.”

“I’m going to take that as an affirmative. The reason they left had to do with the Order.”

Tyler didn’t respond. He simply stared at her.

“Are they dangerous?” she asked.

“Anyone affiliated with the Claw is dangerous, you know that.”

“Bloody hell,” Peri muttered, then grinned because she’d used Jen’s favorite curse. “I thought the Order had died out.”

“What have they done?” Tyler asked, taking a step toward her.

Peri shook her head. “It’s better if you didn’t know.”

“That bad,” he murmured.

“Probably worse than what you’re imagining,” she admitted. “Can you give me any information on them?”

“I’ll do what I can to help, of course. But I’ve not had any contact with them in decades. I’ve made some attempts to reach out to them—to learn their fates—but I’ve never been able to discover anything. I confess that I didn’t devote my best efforts to the task. Even when they were under my power and protection, they weren’t the best pack mates. I can’t blame Jericho. Jericho’s true mate died a long time ago. You know what that can do to a wolf. To my knowledge, Cross has never met his. The cousins are crazy, seriously, crazy.”