Ignoring the two vehicles, Nick and Derren began walking along the narrow dirt path through the wooded area with Bruce at Nick’s side. A few minutes later, five wolf shifters came close enough to warrant a reaction—one of whom was the bald male shifter who had confronted Nick the day before. In response to the tension, Bruce growled at the strangers.
“I don’t think he likes me very much,” said an olive-skinned male with deep-brown eyes. If Nick hadn’t vaguely recognized him, he would have known it was the Nazi by the dominant alpha vibes emitting from him. “But that’s fine. Not many do.” He looked hard at Nick, attempting to stare him down, to intimidate him into lowering his gaze. Like that would ever happen. “You attacked four of my wolves yesterday.”
“They were irritating me,” said Nick dryly.
“That made me very unhappy.”
“As it’s your fault, you might want to take up that matter with yourself.”
He laughed. “My fault?”
“You ordered them to summon a wolf who is not only much more dominant than them, but an alpha. What did you expect would happen?”
The amusement fled from his expression and tone. “I expected you to be smart enough to speak to me.”
“I have no interest in you or your pack. But if it’s a brief conversation you want, we can have that now.”
“I suppose we should start by introducing ourselves. I’m Petrus Hadley.”
Nick could see that Hadley expected some sort of reaction, so he didn’t give him one. “Nick Axton.”
Hadley went into deep thought for a moment. “Nick Axton, Alpha of the Ryland Pack?”
“Previous Alpha of the Ryland Pack. I’m no longer Alpha or part of the pack.”
“You’ve joined another?”
“No.”
“A Pack Alpha’s turned lone wolf? I have to ask myself why an alpha as powerful as you would live without a pack. You’re too powerful for anyone to have forced you out, so you must have left of your own accord.” Hadley shook his head. “I don’t get it.”
“You don’t need to. It’s not your concern.”
Hadley stepped forward. “This is my turf. Therefore, any of your business—”
“Is mine and mine alone,” Nick firmly stated. His wolf growled his agreement.
A minute of complete silence passed. “There are only two things that make men do stupid things—women and greed. After spotting you with a redhead, I’m guessing that in your case, it’s a woman. I’m also guessing that while you’re here, you won’t involve yourself in pack business.” That was more of a pressing suggestion than a query.
“As I said, I’ve no interest in you and your pack.”
“Good. If things remain that way, you and I won’t have a problem. But if they don’t…What’s your redhead’s name, by the way?”
Son of a bitch. Nick stepped forward. “You know, if I didn’t know any better, I’d think you were threatening my mate. But I have to be mistaken, because if that was the case, I’d have to kill you—and I’m pretty sure you’d prefer to live.”
A smile spread across Hadley’s face. “She’s your mate? Well that explains everything. And now I feel so much better.” His expression turned grave as he continued. “That’s not all that I wanted to speak to you about. I’m sure you’ve heard the ‘drug lord’ rumor and how many of my wolves abruptly vanish.”
“Rumor? You’re saying it’s untrue?”
“Although you haven’t been in town long, you may have noticed that the human extremists here are somewhat eccentric. They started the drug lord rumor in an effort to blacken my reputation. It makes me the perfect suspect each time one of my wolves goes missing.”
Hearing the pain and anger in Hadley’s voice, Nick’s skepticism began to fizzle away. “You have nothing to do with their disappearances?”
“It took me some time to figure out what was happening. The humans running this thing are very smart and very careful.”
“Running what?”
“A game preserve.”
His wolf went still. “Game preserve?”
“From what I’ve learned, they kidnap shifters, dump them in the middle of nowhere, and then track them and chase them, running them down like they’re dogs.”
Derren studied Hadley through narrowed eyes. “What about the trio of packless wolves who hang around town, the rebels? If the rumors about you are untrue, why would they leave your pack?”
“Each of them lost close ones to these humans,” replied Hadley. “The longer I went without finding the people responsible, the more the rebels began to wonder if I truly had something to do with it, so they left. I have some of my wolves keeping watch over them. Out there all alone, they’re easy prey.”
“Why haven’t you shut the preserve down?” asked Nick.
“I haven’t yet found it. As I said, these humans are smart and careful. Imagine how much money they can make from charging prejudiced and hateful humans to hunt us like that? They’ll also be very much aware of how bad the repercussions would be if their little secret was discovered—not only would they have shifters on their ass, but their own kind. Currently extremists are making out like we’re the monsters. If that place is exposed, it would pretty much cancel out their argument.”
And exposing it would therefore be the answer to the prayer of every single shifter in the world. “I’ll contact some people I know, ask them to find out what they can about this preserve and see if they can locate it.”
“People you can trust to keep it quiet? I don’t want the humans being tipped off that we know. It would give them the time to pack up and run.”
“Yes, people I can trust. Keep me updated on what you know, and I’ll do the same.”
Hadley considered that for a minute, studying Nick and Derren intently. Then he nodded. “You should be careful. You may be powerful, but you’re easy prey without a pack, just like your friend here. If your mate is a shifter, she’ll be in similar danger. I’d feel uncomfortable leaving you unprotected, given that you’re on my territory.”
“Protection won’t be necessary.”
“I’ve heard a lot about you, heard just who and how many shifters you’re allied with—including shifters other than wolves, which is a rare thing. The last thing I need is something happening to you and then a horde of pissed-off shifters turns up here, holding me responsible to some degree for not protecting your ass. So if it’s all the same to you, I’ll be putting some people on you in any case.” Before Nick could respond, Hadley was walking away.