“Could be. You know him better than we do.”
Rafe’s eyes went cold. “If he’s in play, this is a three-alarm fire. You’re sure about the trace?”
I nodded. “I wrote the tracer myself. It’s as good as it gets.”
He muttered, “I hate that fucking demon. You want to talk about someone who stinks up a Waffle House…”
Bronc cut in. “So, gentlemen, what’s the play? We need to get ahead of this. Wrecker will run digital, but we need boots on theground. Gut tells me it’s New Mexico. And we don’t have a relationship with Slade Steward. That’s a king we’ve never had reason to deal with. Rafe? You got any feelings one way or another?”
Rafe’s eyes flicked left, then right. “He plays things fairly straight. I know he wasn’t at the trial, Menace, when you and Savannah were going through it. He had just lost his mate. He was in no shape. Since he’s in Arizona, he’s not far. I’ll make contact later today and get back to you.”
Kazimir sipped something from a crystal glass. “I will alert my lieutenants. If they’ve heard of rogue vampire movement or weird wolf movement, they will shoot first and not bother to ask.”
Bronc tried to slow Kazimir down. “Kazimir, if your people could get information out of them first, I’d really appreciate it.” He was walking a fine line. But Kazimir loved Juliet, so he’d capitulate to Bronc’s wishes.
A simple nod was the vamp’s reply.
Menace added, “I’ve got a new enforcer. He’s meaner than I am. I’ll send him.”
Bronc nodded. “Thank you. We’ll run silent for a few days, then meet again.”
They signed off, one by one. Kazimir last, his eyes lingering on my face. “Take care of your mate, Wrecker,” he said, voice soft. “The world is cruel to women who cross lines.” Lucia made a gun with her fingers and winked. Then, the screen went black.
I sat in the blue afterglow of the empty call, the weight of the war settling in around my neck like a collar. Parker was upstairs with Rocket and the other women unpacking things. The pack house felt less like a place for families and more like a tomb, but they’d have it warmed up in no time.
I hung around after the kings logged off, waiting to see if anyone would circle back. I didn’t have to wait long.
Kazimir’s avatar flickered alive again. His face filled the screen, pixels warping his smile into a jackal’s. Lucia had movedon—she was probably chewing up a late-night dance floor or a neck—but he was all presence, no distractions.
He leaned in, voice low. “Is it true what they say? That the mighty Wrecker is now tamed by a tiny woman?”
I rolled my eyes, but he was relentless. “I confess, I did not expect this. But I hear she is very smart. A hacker, yes? A pretty bird who pecks holes in your firewall.” He bared his teeth, the joke sharper than it needed to be.
“She’s not just smart. She’s dangerous,” I said. “Ask Silas. Oh, wait—you can’t, because he’s gone off the grid with his tail between his legs.”
Kazimir’s laugh was soft. Then he sobered. “We had a… minor incident. One of my men found device at club in Dallas. It was old tech, meant to explode if tampered. Vampire friendly, so not made to harm us. Had a Greenbriar scent and something more. Perhaps demon. We thought it amateur hour. Now I think maybe not so simple.”
His eyes never left mine. “Why would they be so careless to leave it at my club? To send message?”
“Fuck,” my mind was running scenarios. “They know you’re friendly with Iron Valor. Could be they wanted to imply they can be anywhere they want to be. Destroy anything they want to destroy. They knew you’d give us the details. Silas thinks he’s untouchable and if Maltraz is ballsy enough to be working with a low-level Alpha…”
Kazimir’s eyes lost their glint. “Maltraz is idiot. He plays in shadows. He keeps… how do you say it? Plausible deniability. His minions will take fall for any deal he has with Silas. If your mate is a part of it, they could still come for her. You tell her, if she needs safe house, she comes to me. I have many. No one gets in unless I say.”
I could see the honesty reflected in his red orbs. “Noted,” I said. “But she’s a wolf. She’ll never run.”
He nodded, like that was the only answer possible. “Be careful, Wrecker. Your enemies now watch you from every shadow. They are powerful.” Then he cut the feed.
I watched the cursor blink for a minute, as if it might give up a secret if I stared long enough.
The next ping was Menace. No video, just a call.
“Still breathing?” he asked. The voice was softer, and in it I could hear the ghost of the kid I knew here in Dairyville when Bronc’s father first brought me to my adoptive family. Before we lost all of our innocence. Before war made us all ugly.
“Barely,” I said. “You?”
He snorted. “Never better. Listen, about Maltraz. He’s not just a wild card. He’ll play both sides against the middle, and he always leaves a backdoor. If you find him, go for the headshot. Don’t talk. Don’t hesitate.”
“I think he and Silas have some kind of partnership. I just talked to Kazimir. He thinks the same. But he said what you just did. He’ll have his minions take the fall. He’ll keep his plausible deniability. I cannot wrap my head around why these big players are aligning themselves with such a small fish.”
