There were no guarantees that she would buy something even if she were 100 percent happy with it. No, she’d check a comparison price website on her cell phone. If the item were cheaper elsewhere, she’d drag him to that store instead.

She tried on everything. And she wasn’t fast about it either. What irritated him was that when she finally walked out of the fitting rooms, it was often to tell him she didn’t want the damn things or that she’d come back at the end-of-the-season sale and get it cheaper. Ryan never tried on anything. He just bought it and took it home. If it didn’t fit, he’d hang it up in his wardrobe even though he’d never wear it.

As such, he was now hungry, thirsty, bored, and tired. But he couldn’t be pissed at her. He’d brought this on himself. Makenna had warned him. Several times, in fact. She also regularly suggested he should go home.

When she finally announced she was done, Ryan couldn’t help but burst out, “Thank God.”

She laughed. “Come on, let’s go eat.”

It was the best idea she’d had all day. Fearing that his stomach was eating itself out of desperation, he pretty much hauled her into the nearest restaurant. Just as they were finishing dessert, her cell phone rang.

Makenna smiled as she greeted, “Hey, Dawn, how are you?”

“I have good news and bad news.”

As a sense of foreboding came over Makenna, she put down her spoon. “Hit me with the bad first.”

“One of our sponsors called to report that a wolf tried blackmailing him into withdrawing his funding.”

Makenna cursed, and her wolf snarled. Ryan, who would be able to hear every word, didn’t outwardly react, but she knew he would be pissed. Then something occurred to her. “Wait, you said ‘tried.”

“That’s the good news.” There was the slightest smile in Dawn’s voice. “Not only does he refuse to be intimidated, he’s agreed to testify about the blackmail attempt to the council.”

That really was good. They would need whatever help they could get to convince the council that Remy was responsible for all the trouble happening around the shelter.

“It was nice to have some good news, especially after what happened last night.”

Makenna frowned. “Last night?”

“The computer crashed. Seems someone sent a virus that messed up the whole system. If it wasn’t for you insisting on me keeping backup files on the memory card, I’d have lost everything.”

As a strong possibility occurred to Makenna, cold invaded her limbs. “Motherfucker.”

“What?”

Dread a heavy weight on her chest, Makenna replied, “Remy sent the virus. But what if he managed to hack into the system first? He could have all our files.” She shot a questioning look at Ryan, hoping he’d contradict her.

Frown deepening, Ryan said, “It’s possible. There are some viruses that are used as ploys to gain access to whatever information is in the computer hard drive.”

Fuck, fuck, fuck. “Think what that would mean.”

Dawn gasped. “He’ll know the names of the loners who are in hiding. He could expose them. Makenna, we have to get them out of here.”

Her stomach churning, Makenna dragged a hand through her hair. “If he got the files last night, we don’t have much time. Personally, I doubt he’d expose all of them at once. He won’t want the shelter damaged in a war of any kind.”

Dawn took a calming breath. “That’s true. But I don’t think we should risk it. It’s better to be safe than sorry.”

Makenna fully agreed, which was why she and Ryan headed straight to the shelter. On the drive there, Ryan called Trey and explained the situation. He told them he would send some of his wolves to meet them at the shelter very soon.

When Makenna entered the building, she found a manic-looking Dawn talking animatedly with Colton. Catching sight of Makenna, her shoulders seemed to lose some of their tension. She drew Makenna into a hug. “Honey, thank you so much for coming.” Pulling back, Dawn looked at her neck and smiled a little. “Someone’s been claimed. I’m glad you both finally accepted the inevitable. Congratulations.”

Ryan accepted her words with an incline of his head. Colton also passed on his congratulations. Ryan ignored him and moved closer to Makenna. Anyone who didn’t know her well probably wouldn’t sense how on edge she was. Ryan could see that she was doing her best to stay strong for the others—as usual putting other people before herself. His wolf wanted to nuzzle her, comfort her.

The door opened, and Ryan turned to see Jaime, Dante, Trick, Dominic, and—what the fuck?—Zac enter.

At Ryan’s scowl, Dominic quickly said, “I seriously doubt these loners are going to be happy about leaving with perfect strangers—especially since you look like a serial killer, Trick has that scary scar, and Dante’s so big he has his own zip code. But they know Zac. If they see he’s fine and well, they might be more comfortable coming with us.”

Ryan couldn’t deny that he made sense, but he didn’t have to like it. Makenna didn’t appear to like it much either.

“How many need to relocate?” Jaime asked.

“Originally, there were nine,” replied Dawn. “Now there are only three.”

Ryan asked, “Are they children or adults?”

“One adult, two children. None of them are wolves. Would that be a problem?”

Jaime shook her head. “Our pack has agreed to give them refuge, no matter what species they are.”