was rarely kissed by sunlight. The land with the savage side that loved his darkness. The wolves had made a truce with him long ago. Divided the territory. That twisted freak Jeremiah had been all too eager to forge a deal with him. But the new alpha wasn’t the same. Gabe had known that for years. Drake Wyler was different. Not so easily manipulated and controlled. Drake will come for my head. Because Gabe had taken the head of Drake’s father. His mother. And because… I took her. A wolf howled in the distance. A real beast? Or a shifter out for a run? Gabe narrowed his eyes and stared into the darkness. Jeremiah had wanted him to take the little human. To torture her, to kill her. He’d had his torturing fun. Oh, he always enjoyed that, but… Gabe hadn’t killed Paige Sloan. Death would have been too easy and not at all in line with his plans. “Wh-what can we do?” One of the vamps asked behind him. Gabe’s teeth ground together. “She stopped screaming,” he gritted out. When she’d finally realized what was happening, when she’d seen Jeremiah and had known why she was taken, Paige had stopped calling out for her lover. He’d actually seen the life fade from her eyes, even while she was still breathing. That total lack of feeling–he’d seen that look before. In my own eyes. So he’d stopped Jeremiah from gutting her. Gabe had bitten Paige, transformed her. She’d fled, but he’d watched her. And he’d always known that the perfect time would come to use her. That time was now. “H-he followed her out to the lake, ran right out…” Ah, this came from the still bleeding blond. John. John Mackenzie. How long had he been in the fold? Two years? Three? It was getting hard for Gabe to remember all the fresh bloods. As he stared at the blond, John gave a quick nod. “He chased her out…I saw ‘em…through my binoculars.” Because you couldn’t get too close to a wolf’s lair, not without being scented. So the vamps used technology to supplement their already enhanced vision. They’d watched. They’d waited. They’d attacked. The plan had still gone to hell. “He took her with him.” This came from one of the other vamps. The one with the dark eyes and weathered skin. Lorenzo, the Spaniard. “She’s probably dead by now.” Gabe laughed. They really didn’t understand the wolf at all. He did. “She’s probably getting fucked.” Because she was the one weakness that Drake possessed. He’d run away from his pack for her. Run into danger for her. The wolf was addicted, and Gabe had no doubt that, if necessary, Drake would trade his life for Paige. Snow crunched to the left of him. The vamps around him swore and leapt forward. Gabe shoved them out of the way. He wanted to see this visitor. Curiosity had always been his weakness. The white wolf edged from the darkness with his eyes glowing. The beast didn’t attack. He just stared at Gabe with that intense gaze. Gabe smiled at him. “All alone are you?” Because there were no other sounds at that lake. This wasn’t a wolf out leading an attack party. This was something altogether different. Gabe crossed his arms over his chest. “If you’re here to deal…” So many deals, so many years. He knew just how the devil felt. When will it end? “Then you’re gonna have to shift and talk to me because I don’t fucking speak animal.” The white wolf crept forward. His wary gaze darted to each of the vampires. “Shift,” Gabe snapped, losing patience, “or I can just go ahead and kill you now.” The wolf began to shift. Disgusting. Gabe hated the sight of the shifting wolves. Even though he did enjoy the sounds of those popping bones. But soon enough, a man stood before him. Fury tightened the man’s face and hands. “I know where they are.” Fatal mistake. The wolf was just throwing all of his cards out for them to see. Now, they just had to torture