“You’re lucky you’re a friend. You get one.” Rolling his eyes, Drew turned away.
Grinning, Connor punched Page across the face.
The man’s head snapped back. “Shit!” He gaped at Drew. “You saw that! This guy wants to kill me. Are you going to just stand there and let him?”
“Don’t tempt me. I have half a mind to give Connor here free rein. You targeted our people. We want to know why.”
Connor cracked his knuckles. He pulled up a chair and sat on it across from Page. “Why did you try to shoot me?”
“I…I had no choice.” Page’s shoulders slumped.
“What does that even mean?” Elaine demanded.
“I owe money! Big time. To Royal Hill.”
“Royal Hill?” Drew’s eyebrows came together. “The guy who runs the taxidermy shop on Ninth?”
Page huffed. “The taxidermy thing is a front.”
Strange, horrible images tore through Connor’s mind, ones that made his mountain lion prowl closer to Elaine. “So Hill is running the illegal hunting ring? He’s been the one killing bears?”
“Fuck the bears, man! That dude is nuts. If I talk to you, you have to swear to protect me. He’ll find me. He’ll do horrible things to me.”
“Tell us about Hill,” said Drew, “and I’ll consider your request.”
Page grunted and moaned and looked ready to cry. He turned to Elaine. “He wants you and your kids.”
As all the color drained from Elaine’s face, Connor’s body went cold.
“Why?” she asked.
“I’ve been his spy for months. He wanted me to collect information and send him pictures of everyone at the Ursa. He said he’s been interested in the place for a while. Lots ofsuperior specimenshere, you see.” He nodded at Elaine. “When he saw your picture, he got a strange look in his eye. I think he likes you. He kept calling you Jinny.”
Elaine didn’t seem to absorb that info. She pounced on the comment about her children. “What about my kids?”
“I was there the night they shifted, at the party. I saw it all and took pictures. I sent them to Hill because I was desperate to get him off my back.”
She raced forward and grabbed Page by the scruff of the neck. “Why would he want my kids? Answer me!”
Connor grabbed her and pried her off him, as much as he was tempted to let her do her worst. He had a suspicion she could do some damage. Based on the way his bear woman struggled in his arms, she was stronger than she looked.
“Hill said young bears make the most money,” Page rambled. “I was to bring them in, but I wasn’t supposed to hurt you.”
Drew grabbed the man by the shoulders. “You’re not making any sense.”
“Don’t you understand?” Page shouted. “He’s not just hunting bears. He’s hunting shape shifters!”
Elaine stilled in Connor’s arms. Aghast, Connor turned her face to his chest, hoping she wouldn’t hear the wild thumping of his heart.
“Royal Hill kills his own people,” Page continued. “He chops them up and sends them to places where they’ll use the organs. Wild animals make a lot of money, but he says shape shifter organs are worth more, especially the young ones.” He looked at Elaine. “When he saw the pictures of your kids shifting, he told me he wanted them.”
Her cry terrified Connor, and he’d never been more sickened. An organ trafficker had pictures of Elaine and her kids.His family.
It defied reason that anyone could be so evil.
“But you,” Page continued, looking Elaine up and down. “He has a thing for you. I don’t know what it is, but he wants you, lady. He threatened to kill me if I didn’t bring you to him. I’m telling you, the man is obsessed.”
Obsessed. The very word sent chills down Connor’s spine.
If Royal Hill thought he was getting anywhere near Elaine, he was more delusional than he sounded. Connor would tear him limb from putrid limb before he let the man touch her.
He exchanged grim looks with Drew over her head.
Whatever happened next, he wanted in. He knew Drew would take charge of the investigation, but there was no way in hell they were doing it without him. Royal Hill apparently thought nothing of taking the lives of innocents for his personal gain. Any shape shifter working the case would feel nothing but revulsion and a need to stop the carnage. Police or no police, they would all be gunning for him.
But Connor swore he would be the one to kill him.
