His brother was such a fucking asshole. “You could have told me this on the phone. What’s your other reason for coming here?”

“Nick wanted us to check on you.”

Zander slid a brief look at Ally, who was sitting on the bed, looking awkward. “You mean he wanted Ally to get a read on Gwen.”

Derren’s brow arched. “I’d be surprised by how much that seems to piss you off if her scent wasn’t all over you, and I hadn’t seen that brand on her neck. At what point were you going to mention that you’re involved with the human?”

At no point, really. “There’s no need. It’s my personal business. It doesn’t affect the pack.”

Derren sighed. “Look, I appreciate what the human is doing for the cougar. I respect it. And, yeah, where you choose to dip your dick is your own business. But there are things you don’t know.”

It wasn’t just Derren’s words that made his hackles rise. There was something in the Beta’s tone that told Zander he really wasn’t going to like this. “What does that mean?”

“I asked Donovan to do some checking on Gwen. If you and Bracken were going to spend time out of your lives protecting her, I wanted to be sure she was on the level. Has she ever spoken to you about her parents?”

“I know her stepfather is a drunk who abused her mother.”

“Fucker,” muttered Bracken, who was leaning against the wall.

“He is a fucker,” agreed Derren. “And apparently the woman’s a glutton for punishment because they’re still together, and he still beats her ass. She’s a stripper. The strip bar is owned by Kenny Cogman, a seedy bastard who’s a drug dealer and a big sponsor of the extremists.”

Yeah, Zander had heard of him.

“Cogman likes to sample his employees. Zander, he’s Gwen’s fucking father.”

Everything in Zander stilled. “You’re sure of that?”

“His name’s not on her birth certificate—the father’s name came up blank. But it’s pretty much common knowledge down there that he’s her father. He has the same big Prussian-blue eyes that your human down there has.”

Gut clenching, Zander silently cursed. Should he feel betrayed that she’d kept it from him? Probably not. He wasn’t an open book either, and it wasn’t likely to be something she was proud to share—especially with a shifter. Still, that sense of betrayal beat at him.

Bracken spoke. “It’s not a point against Gwen, Derren. She doesn’t use his name. She clearly doesn’t think like him or she wouldn’t be helping the cougar.”

The Beta shrugged. “Maybe. Maybe not.”

“Are she and Cogman in contact with one another?” Bracken asked.

“From what Donovan gathered, no,” replied Derren. “But she’s in contact with Cogman’s other daughter. If you’ve heard of him, you’ll have heard of Geena.”

Zander had heard of her. Heard that she was stone fucking cold and even more ruthless than her father.

“Geena plays a major role in the family business,” Derren added, upper lip curling.

“That doesn’t mean Gwen plays any part in it,” said Zander.

Derren sighed, impatient. “Zander, Geena Cogman is not someone who’d give a shit about a half sister and be sure to stay in contact with her for any warm, fuzzy reasons. If they’re in contact, it’s for business reasons only.”

Face hard, Bracken asked, “How often are they in contact?”

“On a monthly basis.” Derren turned back to Zander. “Nick sent us here to get a feel for her. He’s worried that your feelings about what happened to Shelby are coloring your reading of Gwen. Given that you’ve marked her, he was obviously right that something’s coloring it.”

Bristling at that, Zander took a step toward Derren. In a flash, Ally was between them.

“Now hang on a minute.” Planting a hand on Derren’s chest, she said, “I picked up no disgust or prejudice from Gwen. She was a little nervous, but that’s it. I didn’t get any bad vibes from her, and my wolf didn’t pick up anything either. As such, I think we can safely say she’s not anti-shifter.” Ally turned to Zander. “I realize that Derren’s coming across as an asshole right now. Admittedly, he does that a lot. The point he’s trying to make is that you don’t know Gwen, so we should be careful here.”

By his own admission, Zander was a jaded bastard with serious trust issues. Although he couldn’t deny that he didn’t know her well, everything he did know about Gwen Miller told him that she was nothing like her father or half sister. Of course, that distrustful part of him wondered if he was wrong, wondered if the reason his wolf was wary of her was that he’d sensed a prejudice that Zander himself had failed to see. But his gut instantly dismissed that theory.

“I’m not saying she’s anti-shifter,” said Derren. “I’m saying that there’s a very strong possibility that she’s into illegal shit, and I have a lot of reservations about you getting involved with her. When it comes to my pack, I don’t take chances. Hearing you’re involved with the daughter of Kenny Cogman . . . I don’t like it.”

“With all due respect, Derren, you don’t have to like it.”

Derren arched a brow. “So that’s the way it is? Now, see, that’s what I was afraid of.”

Zander’s jaw clenched. “Not going to argue with you about this, Derren. Leave it alone. When I want your approval about who I have in my bed, I’ll let you know.”

The Beta snorted. “Don’t be an ass, Zander. I had a point. I made it. You want to ignore it? That’s your call—you’re a grown fucking man. But it’s not like you to give people the benefit of the doubt, which makes me think that either you’re in deep with this human or you have a blind spot here because you’re mixing Shelby’s situation with this one. Whatever it is, be careful . . . because both those scenarios could bite you on the ass.”

Gwen hadn’t heard him coming. Even as she sat on the wooden swing hanging from the tree, surrounded by only the evening quiet of the marsh, she hadn’t heard him stride down the boardwalk. It was truly eerie.

Still, she sensed she wasn’t alone and opened her eyes to see him standing beside the swing. His face was in shadow, but she somehow got the feeling that he was frowning.

She hadn’t seen him since she’d checked his pack mates into their room earlier that day. From what she could tell, he’d spent the entire day with them—exploring the marsh, showing them the borders of the land, going on a pack run.

He’d then gone to a local restaurant with them for dinner—something she’d discovered from Marlon, since Zander hadn’t even bothered to say goodbye. Marlon was unhappy with Zander for not inviting her to join them. As she’d already planned to go with Yvonne to Julie’s house, Gwen would have declined anyway. Still, Marlon felt his behavior was rude. For Gwen, ducking her was rude.

She refused to acknowledge that she’d actually missed him a little—apparently, she’d gotten too used to him being around her all the time. Gwen raised a brow. “So . . . are you done pettily avoiding me for a reason you haven’t cared to share with the class?”

Zander’s jaw hardened. Had he been avoiding her? Yeah. He’d needed time to think shit through and to work it all out in his head. So many things made no sense, and the only person who could really make him understand was Gwen. “You ever seen your birth certificate?”