The Wolf's Surrender - By Kendra Leigh Castle Page 0,26

That’ll teach me.”

“No,” Kenyon said, drawing her attention back to his earnest expression. “This was just him, Mia. Is him. He was just the same before he left the Silverback, and trust me, he fooled more than just you.”

“What makes you so sure this guy was a Silverback?” Jenner asked, and Mia let out the breath she didn’t even know she’d been holding. They had what they needed, or most of it. It didn’t matter why Jeff had targeted her, as long as he was caught.

Then she would be safe...and so would everyone else.

But the guilt that began to gnaw at her spoiled whatever relief she might have felt quickly enough. She’d seen no evidence that these Blackpaw wanted anything more than to catch a violent feral and protect her. Despite all her grandmother’s warnings about never getting too close to anyone, about how no one would ever want her for anything other than her magic, she felt as though she was the dangerous one here.

Kenyon’s lips curved into the barest hint of a smile as he watched Jenner. “Your sheriff got in touch last night after the attack. Since our territory is the closest to yours, it made sense to check. And in this case, I’m pretty sure we have a match, at least based on the description we were given.”

Jenner’s voice didn’t betray a hint of what he was thinking. “That’s a pretty rough secondhand description you would have gotten, since Mia didn’t even talk to Buddy—that’s Sheriff Stokes—last night. She was with me.”

Maybe she was imagining it, but the way he said those words gave Mia a dark little thrill. He’d sounded almost possessive. And from the way Kenyon’s blue eyes narrowed, he’d heard it too.

“I understand that. But if this is who I’m thinking, he’s going to be hard to catch.”

“If? I thought you said you were sure.”

“I’m not going to tell you I’m positive until I’ve got my teeth in his throat, but I’m about as sure as I can be otherwise.”

Bane inserted himself into the conversation then, and Mia was glad of it. She didn’t like the way Jenner and Kenyon were looking at one another. There was an unspoken challenge hanging in the air, and she swore she could feel an excess of testosterone in the atmosphere all of a sudden. She didn’t know what this was about, but she figured it had a lot to do with Kenyon encroaching on Jenner’s territory.

She felt strangely included in that at the moment.

“Kenyon has recently been chosen as Tomas’s future successor, Jenner,” Bane said, a warning in his voice. “It’s appropriate that he learn to deal with situations like this.”

“I suppose,” Jenner grumbled. “If this is their guy. But even if it is, this is our territory. We don’t need the Silverback to catch this dirtbag.” His gaze sharpened and pinned Bane to the spot. “Would have been nice if you’d given me a heads up, too. I’m the Lunari, remember? You’re the one who insisted I take this position. You ought to know the protocol.”

“I barely had any warning, so you got none,” Bane replied with a shrug. “Anyway, I figured you had enough on your hands without having to get pissed off about this in advance. Little did I know you were hiding under the hood of that damn car. Again.”

Something about the way Bane said it struck Mia as funny despite everything, and she couldn’t quite hide her amused snort. Bane’s quick sidelong glance, prickly and disgruntled, did nothing to dampen her sudden amusement. And in a way, it was nice to know that it didn’t take much to send him to his preferred hidey hole. That it wasn’t just her.

And right about now, she was grateful something could make her chuckle.

“If he was one of ours,” Kenyon said pointedly, turning the subject back to the matter at hand, “you’ll want our help catching him, especially if it’s who we suspect. And if it is, then the Silverback have more than one interest to protect...it’s our right.” He paused, a small muscle in his jaw twitching as he looked straight at Jenner. “Unless you feel like going against the Pack Laws.”

Mia watched the way Jenner’s eyes went to gold flames at that statement, the way Bane was watching the two men with a look on his face that clearly said he wasn’t going to tolerate much more posturing. Her amusement faded as quickly as it had appeared. She didn’t have a clue