“Do you know who the hunters are?” he asked.
Gage shook his head. “No, but it seems like they’re escalating the killings. If our assumptions are right, ten werewolves have been killed in the past few months alone.”
“Which explains why those betas I met tonight were running scared.” Alex’s gums started to tingle at the urge to find these hunters and stop them. “Do you think these assholes would come here?”
“I don’t think so,” Gage said. “So far, they seem to be going after weaker beta packs and lone omegas. I don’t see them coming after a large pack like ours. Then again, we don’t even know who the hell these people are, whether there’s more than one group of them. The most we can do right now is let the Pack know what’s out there and keep an eye out for them. Then be ready if they try to make a move against us.”
Chapter 7
“You did what?” Wendy practically shouted. “Tell me you didn’t do anything that stupid!”
Lacey winced as she looked at her friend’s reflection in the bathroom mirror. Maybe she shouldn’t have brought up the subject of breaking into Bensen’s junkyard minutes before Alex was due to pick her up for their date.
Wendy had stopped by to chat as Lacey was getting ready to go to dinner and a movie with Alex. This was their third date—and it was on Friday night—so she was a little geeked. That was probably why she’d slipped up and told Wendy about her little adventure at Bensen’s place. That and the fact that her friend had just told her the ACS crew hadn’t been able to find enough on Bensen to even bother talking to their deputy chief, much less the assistant district attorney.
“I was just trying to help,” Lacey pointed out as she tried to hold the curling iron at what she hoped was the right angle. She didn’t use it very often, and the last thing she wanted was to burn herself with the dang thing. All she needed was to go out on a date with a scorch mark across her forehead.
Wendy pushed away from the doorjamb and walked over to stand beside Lacey. “How? By getting yourself killed? You’re right, that would have been a big help. We could have arrested Bensen for murder then. No, wait. You were trespassing on private property in the middle of the night. Bensen could have had Pendergraff shoot you, and he’d be completely within his rights to do it.”
“Dammit, Bensen is up to something in that junkyard,” Lacey said firmly, jerking the curling iron away and giving up on the whole curly hair concept. Her hair was wavy, and that was as good as it was going to get. “I saw them standing over a big cardboard box, and with the way they were talking, I know they were doing something illegal.”
Wendy looked like she wanted to yell at her again, but she stopped herself and took a deep breath, then gave Lacey a patient look and started again. “What did you see?”
Lacey hesitated as she dug through the makeup drawer, looking for her mascara. She liked to think that the poor state of her cosmetics was because Kelsey was always raiding her bathroom, but that wasn’t it. She just hadn’t bought much of the stuff in a while.
That wasn’t the only thing keeping her from responding to Wendy’s question. Honestly, she didn’t know how to describe what she’d seen in that junkyard.
“I didn’t really see anything,” she admitted. “But Bensen was shouting at Pendergraff about getting on their supplier, threatening to feed the guy to the dogs if he couldn’t do better.”
Wendy frowned. “Lacey, they could have been talking about anything—rebuilt carburetors, for heaven’s sake.”
Lacey picked up the tube of mascara. She didn’t know what the heck a carburetor looked like, but she knew that wasn’t what Bensen had been so steamed about. “Wendy, you didn’t see his face the way I did. He was furious at his supplier. I don’t know what was in the box, but I know Bensen is a piece of crap who should be in prison.”
Wendy sighed. “I know he’s a piece of crap. But he’s also a dangerous piece of crap. What would have happened if they’d caught you in there? What would happen to Kelsey if you were gone?”
Lacey felt herself pale. Kelsey was her life. The thought of her little sister without someone to take care of her tore Lacey’s heart out. The hand holding the tube of mascara shook.
Wendy reached out and gently took the mascara from her. “Here, let me do that. You just stand there and look pretty, okay?”
Lacey stood still as Wendy applied mascara to her lashes. The truth was that Wendy did a better job than Lacey would have done herself anyway. She simply wasn’t good at this kind of stuff.
“You know I love you like a sister, right?” Wendy asked as she finished one eye and started on the other. “You need to promise me that you’ll stay away from Bensen and Pendergraff. Let me worry about them.”
Lacey was about to agree when Kelsey poked her head in the bathroom door and interrupted her.
“Getting ready for the big night?” Kelsey grinned. “Should I wait up for you or just assume you won’t be back until morning?”
Wendy laughed and tightened the top on the mascara. “Oh yeah, no way you’re seeing your sister until tomorrow.”
Lacey shook her head as she looked at her friend and sister in the mirror. These two were just plain bad. “Come on, you guys. It’s just dinner and a movie.”
“Really?” Kelsey gestured at Lacey. “Is that why you’ve been in here for an hour doing your hair and makeup?”
Lacey turned to face them, arms crossed over her chest. “What’s wrong with wanting to look nice for a date?”
“Nothing at all,” Kelsey assured her. “But trust me, all this work won’t mean much when you wake up tomorrow with morning-after bedhead.”
