Roni narrowed her eyes at him. “You’re being too agreeable.”

“You’re complaining?”

“Yes, because switching isn’t what you truly want; you’re badly opposed to the idea. I can feel it. You’re just saying what you think will make me ‘happy’ again.”

“What I’ve said is true. Me moving here is more practical than you switching packs.”

“But something is holding you back. What is it?” Realization hit her, and her exasperation faded. “You feel disloyal leaving Trey. You feel like you owe him for what happened with his mom.”

“And you feel disloyal at the idea of leaving your family,” he pointed out, nipping her bottom lip. She retaliated with a nip of her own.

“Yeah, I guess I do. I really have no idea how we’re going to work this out.”

“Then we put a pin in it for now.” Draping himself over her again, he softly brought his mouth down on hers. The kiss was slow, wet, and languid. “I thought I was happy before you came along. I wasn’t at all.” How could someone be happy when they weren’t whole?

“Give it time and I’ll annoy you, like I do everybody else. It’s a talent.”

“Oh, you annoy me sometimes. Like when you steal my fries, or when you eat the last piece of cake, or when you threaten to withhold sex if I don’t let you have a tiny taste of what I’m eating.”

“So, basically, I just annoy you when I come between you and food?”

“Exactly.” She rolled her eyes at him. “I’ll have to call my sisters and tell them about the mating. They’ll be thrilled.”

“I sure do hope they pass along the news to Kerrie. When I think of how she used the knowledge of your childhood to torture you like that, I want to kill her.”

She’d said it so matter-of-factly that he had to smile. “When I think of how her ‘vision’ stopped me from recognizing who you are to me, I want to kill her.”

“You said Trick told you to ignore the vision.” It was half question, half statement.

Marcus slid down her body so that he could trace the wolf tattoo on her abdomen with his tongue. “He figured out we were mates pretty much straight away. He made me think about it.”

“I wouldn’t have expected that from him, considering you’ve been, you know, friends with benefits.”

“You thought he’d be jealous?” He shook his head. “We enjoyed the ‘benefits’ of being close friends, but there wasn’t anything more than that.”

Combing his hair with her fingers, she said, “I didn’t think he liked me.”

Marcus snorted. “If he could, he’d whisk you away. You’re exactly his type. But no one will take you from me.” He’d kill anyone who tried—no questions asked.

“I’m pretty sure no one will be tempted to try. I’m not exactly a catch.”

He bit her hard. Right on the edge of her navel. “Don’t talk about my pretty baby like that,” he warned, swirling his tongue inside her belly button to soothe the sting before trailing his fingers up her inner thigh. “I’d hate to have to keep you hanging on the edge until you beg me to let you come.”

Asshole. Roni cocked her head. “Did you know that thousands of different types of bacteria can be found in a person’s belly button?”

“Roni.”

“What? What did I say?”

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Too damn fucking early.

Swinging open Roni’s front door, Marcus glared at Dante. “You know, this new ‘getting woken up at the crack of dawn’ thing isn’t working out so well for me.” It was still freaking dark outside.

Like last time, the Beta pushed a mug of coffee into his hand. “Get ready and come to the main lodge. We need to talk about Brunt.”

Closing the door, Marcus turned to find Roni doing an almost feline stretch, dressed in only his T-shirt. “Did you hear that?”

“Yep. It’s obviously important. Doesn’t mean I won’t put salt in the bastard’s coffee.”

When Marcus and Roni entered the main lodge a short while later, they found Shaya, Taryn, and Jaime huddled at one end of the table while Nick, Derren, Trey, Dante, and Ryan were seated at the other end. The females didn’t even look up from whatever notes they were making, and Roni guessed it was most likely something to do with the plans for the mating ceremony tomorrow night.

Once Marcus and Roni both poured themselves a cup of coffee and helped themselves to some cereal, they took a seat at the table.

“So, what warranted the early wake-up call?” asked Marcus before scooping a spoonful of Cheerios into his mouth.

“The fact that I have a feeling it’s going to be a long-ass day,” replied Trey. “As I’ve already explained to Nick and Derren . . . there’s a problem.”

Roni frowned. “What?”

“We can’t get to Brunt.”

“He’s well protected?”

“No, he’s in jail.”

Marcus paused with the spoon halfway to his mouth. “Jail?”

Trey nodded. “He didn’t make bail.”

Marcus shrugged. “So, then, we go to his apartment, take a look around.”

“We can’t risk it,” Nick told him. “As you know, a lot of accused shifters are ‘named and shamed’—their personal details are leaked to the extremists, who not only expose those details on their website, but hang around their addresses, holding billboards and marching. Right now, Brunt’s place is surrounded by them.”

“Shit,” hissed Roni. “Did Rhett find anything on him?”

Dante answered, “He managed to get ahold of his criminal records and basic details such as where he works and his date of birth, but that’s all. Brunt’s a hacker; he was able to delete his proverbial paper trail.”

“We know that he’s a lone shifter.” Trey drummed his fingers on the table. “He was banished from his pack when he was twenty-three. No reason was given publicly.”

Marcus took a sip of his coffee. “What’s his criminal history?”

“Short. There were accusations of stalking young girls when he was a juvenile, but nothing ever went to court. I’m assuming his pack somehow covered it up. But when he was twenty-four, he was accused of harassing a human female. Same thing again a couple of years later. Then a year after that, his human ex-girlfriend got a restraining order against him, but it’s not clear why. One thing we’re quite sure of is that he’s the jackals’ ‘tech guy.’”