Tooth and Nail (A Shifter's Claim #3) - L.B. Gilbert Page 0,2

so’. “We should have never brought him in.”

Jack had been an armed forces specialist, a no-rank black ops floater who had done work with her brother’s ranger unit on and off for years. He was a hacker who could infiltrate secure facilities in his sleep.

Six months ago, her father had decided to hire Jack to break into a research facility run by an outfit known as Reliance. He’d done it with Yogi Kane, one of their people, and the woman Yogi now called his mate. Denise Hammond was an animal activist who had liberated one of their wolf cubs from Reliance’s laboratory, only to learn the cub was a shifter.

When the pack learned their secret was threatened, they decided to go back in and ensure Reliance kept nothing that could lead the organization back to them. Their pack maintained the secret of their existence by putting down any threats to the pack and its anonymity.

Jack had been hired to accompany Yogi and Denise back into the facility to hack and wipe the computers, after making a copy for the Maitland pack so they could assess how much Denon knew about their kind. They needed to know if the pack had been exposed.

That was supposed to have been the end of the human’s involvement.

Derrick scowled. “Reliance was a straight smash and grab. Jack handed over the data, and he got paid—a lot. He has no reason to come sniffing around here.”

Suppressing an urge to roll her eyes, Mara nudged the man with her foot again. A waft of foul odor assaulted her sensitive nose. Good God, what had he covered himself in?

“He had a mystery to solve,” she said in a cold voice when Derrick threw up his hands, clearly expecting an answer.

That was what her father and the other men hadn’t understood. This one wasn’t the kind of man who would let sleeping dogs lie.

This is why you didn’t bring in an outsider to protect the pack’s interests. Especially a man like Jackson Buchanan. He was too much of a wild card.

“Get him up,” she ordered.

“Are we taking him to the main house?” Derrick frowned, gesturing down the hill to the complex of buildings they called home.

“Hell no,” she answered. “I don’t want him anywhere near the place.”

Judging from all the surveillance equipment on him, that was exactly what the human wanted.

Derrick reached down, hauling up the prone man and throwing him over his shoulder. Given they were close to the same size—Jack was large for a human—Derrick should have had some trouble. But Weres had denser, more powerful muscles than humans. It meant they were heavier and substantially stronger than humans.

“Then where do we take him?”

Mara narrowed her eyes at Jack’s face. In repose, his was an arresting combination of strength and prettiness, with more of the latter than was good for him. It tempted her to forgot what he was—a scoundrel through and through.

Mara thought about it, then a hint of a smile lifted the corners of her lips. “I know the perfect place.”

Jack’s head was throbbing, his neck hanging down sharply enough for him to get a literal pain in it. But he was careful not to move. Schooling his breath, he made sure his breathing pattern didn’t change.

“Oh, good. You’re awake.”

Damn. Cracking one eye open, he squinted at his captors. Mara stood six feet away, leaning against a wooden wall, one foot crooked to brace behind her. Her arms were crossed. She watched him with an amused smile. “Are you going to fake amnesia now?”

Twisting his head to stretch his sore neck, he attempted a charming smile. “Would it do any good?”

The smile fell flat. Mara’s gorgeous face could have been carved from stone. “No.”

He nodded. “It was worth a shot…”

His voice trailed off as he took in his surroundings. Well, hell. He was in his cabin, the tiny hunting lodge he kept in Colorado. It was several hours from the Maitland compound.

The sound of a booted foot scraping on wood alerted him to the presence behind him.

“Connell?” he asked hopefully, trying to turn enough to see if the other person was her brother.

Slowly, Mara shook her head. Tensing, Jack waited until the other party came into his line of sight.

“Derrick,” he called with genuine affection. “It’s been forever, man.”

Since he’d been hired remotely for the Reliance job, the only man he’d seen from the old unit had been the one assigned to accompany him, Yogi Kane. But he and Derrick went back longer. They’d bonded