For one thing, the guy—Lee-Roy was his name, according to his driver’s license—was pure evil. He’d spent the past half hour boasting about how many shifters he’d beaten up in his time and about how easy it was breaking into the salon and how much fun he’d had smashing it up. Then there was the little detail that he kept calling her a slut and condemning to hell any “spawn of the devil” she was impregnated with. And why would he be so bold? He was convinced that Nick wouldn’t hurt him for fear of repercussions. Also, he was too crazy to be smart enough to be scared.

“It’s a shame Dante’s not here,” said Taryn. The Beta’s skills as an interrogator were well known. “He could have this guy singing like a canary in no time.”

“We don’t need Dante,” Trey told her. “A male whose mate has been threatened is a force like no other. That son of a bitch over there would have happily hurt Shaya. Nick will easily have him talking. And he won’t let him live long, either.”

As Derren studied the gun he held in his hand that he’d found in Lee-Roy’s pocket, the human smiled evilly. “If you’re thinking that watching you play with it will make me nervous, you’re wrong. You won’t kill me.”

Nick cocked his head at him. “Why would we use your gun when we have these?” The human jerked in surprise as Nick’s claws shot out. He barely refrained from slitting the man’s throat right then and there. The need for information was the only thing that had kept the human alive to that point.

Still, Lee-Roy shook his head, repeating, “You won’t kill me.”

Nick crouched in front of him. “I noticed the ring on your finger. Do you love your wife, Lee-Roy?”

The human’s eyes bulged. “If you hurt her—”

“That thing you’re feeling right there, that clump of emotion…Nothing comes close to it, does it? Fear, fury, and desperation all tangled together. That’s exactly what I felt when you and your friends threatened to hurt Shaya.” Nick’s face hardened, and his voice turned guttural. “So don’t think for one minute that your life means anything to me. I’ll cut your throat without a care in the f**king world, believe me.”

Lee-Roy gulped audibly. “The others will know I’m missing, and they’ll know you have me. They’ll come for me.”

Derren smiled, amused. “You really think so? I wouldn’t be too sure of that. At this moment in time, you and your friends are all very famous. Yes, that’s right. The little video of what happened earlier is on YouTube as we speak. No shifter is going to like that. Every one of your friends now has a big, fat target on their back. They’ll do the smart thing and go into hiding from shifters and the police. If your friends can’t contact you, they’ll assume it’s because you’re hiding just as they are.”

Lee-Roy was silent for a moment, but then he snickered. “My wife won’t accept that I’m gone.”

Derren tsked. “Not if she receives some text messages from your cell phone to say that you’ll be hiding for a while. She’s part of your group, isn’t she? She’s hardly going to go to the police and announce that you’re missing in case they link you with the incident on YouTube. In other words, Lee-Roy, it would be quite simple for you to disappear.”

“And considering my mate was shot at,” rumbled Nick, “I’d like nothing more than for you to disappear.” In fact, Nick was looking forward to it. He knew he wouldn’t regret it either.

Looking slightly nervous, Lee-Roy said, “It wasn’t me who shot at her.”

Nick snorted and got to his feet, beginning to once more circle the human. “Had you been the male who shot at Shaya, you’d be nothing more than a bad smell right now. Trust me on that. I’m curious: Were you planning to attack us before you shot us, or had the plan been to just take us out with a bullet all along?”

“Logan told us to take the guns in case you went too wild or we were disturbed.”

“And he wanted you to shoot Shaya too, right?”

“Our order was to shoot her if you didn’t react.” He jumped at Nick’s growl.

“Tell us about the game preserve,” ordered Nick.

Eyes wide, Lee-Roy gawked. After a moment, he finally spoke. “I don’t know what you’re—”

“Don’t play with me, Lee-Roy,” growled Nick. “I really don’t know how much longer I can stay calm. Answer me.”

“I don’t know where it is—we’re blindfolded the whole way there.” He sounded smug that he didn’t have the answer.

“So you’ve been there?” Derren’s question dripped with anger.

Lee-Roy smiled at Derren. “You really shouldn’t knock something until you’ve tried it. It’s surprisingly addictive. The shifters are drugged at first—something that stops them from shifting for a little while. Then they’re dumped in the middle of nowhere. When they wake up and are finally on the move, a group of us begin to hunt. Slowly at first, not letting them know we’re there. Then we amp it up. Guns, knives, whips, sledgehammers—you name it, we use it. They always beg in the end.”

Oh, the sick bastard. As if he’d sensed Shaya’s impulse to slap the ass**le, Nick shook his head slightly at her. She knew why: He didn’t want Lee-Roy’s flow to be interrupted.

“And then they scream,” continued Lee-Roy. “God, how they scream. Especially the females. It’s one of the perks of working for Logan.”

“Youmotherfuckingtwistedpieceofmonkeyshit!” snapped Taryn. Only Trey’s hold on her arm held her back.

Shaking with rage, Nick gritted out, “So Logan is the one behind it?” The crazy bastard laughed. “Something funny?”

“Here you are judging me, calling me twisted, when the person who created the preserve is one of your own.”

There was a boom of shocked silence.

Finally, Nick spoke. “Repeat that.”

“Oh, I was shocked too.” Lee-Roy shook his head, incredulous. “I was just as shocked that Logan would associate with any shifter. But this guy doesn’t consider himself a shifter—hates the race as much as we do, and he’s promised to stand with us against you all.”

“Bullshit,” bit out Shaya.

Lee-Roy laughed again. “Want to know what’s even funnier?” he asked Nick. “You know him.” His smile was cruel and taunting.