“Anyone affiliated with the Claw is dangerous, you know that.”
“Bloody hell,” Peri muttered, then grinned because she’d used Jen’s favorite curse. “I thought the Order had died out.”
“What have they done?” Tyler asked, taking a step toward her.
Peri shook her head. “It’s better if you didn’t know.”
“That bad,” he murmured.
“Probably worse than what you’re imagining,” she admitted. “Can you give me any information on them?”
“I’ll do what I can to help, of course. But I’ve not had any contact with them in decades. I’ve made some attempts to reach out to them—to learn their fates—but I’ve never been able to discover anything. I confess that I didn’t devote my best efforts to the task. Even when they were under my power and protection, they weren’t the best pack mates. I can’t blame Jericho. Jericho’s true mate died a long time ago. You know what that can do to a wolf. To my knowledge, Cross has never met his. The cousins are crazy, seriously, crazy.”
“Great, just what I need, more crazy bitches in my life,” Peri muttered. “Thanks for your time, Tyler Reed. You were incredibly unhelpful, but that’s not your fault. You’re a dominant male and therefore mostly useless without your mate.” She gave him a bow that was not at all respectful and then flashed.
Peri appeared in the grove of her realm and saw that her mate was waiting for her. She immediately started pacing, not even glancing at Lucian.
“How did it go with the Missouri Alpha?” he asked her in that calm way of his.
She shot him a glare.
“That good?”
“What do you know about The Order of the Burning Claw?” she asked, not acknowledging his question.
A low, deadly growl rose up from his chest when he took a step toward her. “At one time they were radical, dangerous, supernaturals who loathed humans. I thought they had dissolved.”
“You and me both. Who was the leader of it?”
Lucian shook his head. “No one ever knew.”
“I’m really getting sick of evil pricks being able to stay under the radar. It’s beginning to really grate on my nerves.”
Peri filled him in on everything she’d learned from Wadim and Tyler.
“Why not tell Vasile?” Lucian asked her.
“I need to know what we are up against before I alert the pack. If I tell him, someone else will find out. I swear Jen has an army of little house mice that gather intel for her,” Peri grumbled. “Then these wolves will find out that we are on to them. We might not hear from them again until something bad happens. I want to know who is behind all this. I need to know if the Order really is still active. Or maybe it’s been revived after all these years and these wolves are responsible. Regardless, I have to know. You know how much I hate being treated like a mushroom.”
“Treated like a mushroom?” Lucian cocked his head at his mate.
“Kept in the dark and fed bullshit,” she barked.
Her mate just shook his head. “Where are you headed now?”
“I suppose it’s time to pay a visit to the wayward wolves of Oceanside.”
“You just said you didn’t want them to know that we are on to them,” said Lucian.
“Exactly. I don’t want them to know that otherwolvesare on to them. I don’t want Vasile and his pack to go charging in all growly, bitey like,” she responded. “If that happens, then the rogue pack probably all ends up dead and we learn nothing. But if I go, then they know something bigger is at work. Perhaps, they think the high fae are investigating them. Then they get desperate, maybe make a mistake. I have resources that Vasile doesn’t have, resources that could help me catch these rebel wolves when they do slip up.”
“What resources?” he questioned.
“Pixies.” Peri grinned.
“That’s encouraging,” he said deadpan. “Perhaps, I should go with you on this one. I don’t want you around a bunch of rogue wolves. Even the great Peri needs backup and who better than her mate.”
“No way, Jose. No growly, bitey, remember? We’ve gone over this, Lucian. It won’t come to fighting, and, even if it did, these reprobates wouldn’t stand a chance against me.”
