Page 83 of Brandon’s Mate

“Caleb must have used Callie as bait for Kitty—she looks pretty bad in this picture. And Remy probably just got delayed. If he was in serious trouble, you’d know.” The bond between the twins was as strong as Brandon’s bond with Kitty. No way Remy could be in serious danger and Colt not know.

Colton bit his lip, hard, and then gave a jerky nod.

Brandon started up the engine and did a quick K-turn. “We’re aborting this thing and heading back for Kitty. Keep trying to reach Remy. Caleb for sure has an ambush set up for us, but he doesn’t know about Remy. He won’t see him coming.”

“He won’t see either of us coming.” Colt grabbed Brandon’s phone and forwarded the picture to Remy, with a message. Then he said, “Let me out.”

Brandon shook his head. “I know your cat wants out, but you can’t run there any faster than we can drive.”

“Not my cat. Let me the fuck out! Oh, hell, never mind.” Colt had already pulled his t-shirt over his head. Now he rolled down the window and pulled his torso out until he was sitting on the edge of the window. There was a shimmer and a snap of bones, and then a huge snowy owl appeared in his place.

Brandon almost swerved into a fucking tree. Colt had two animals.

The owl jumped backwards away from the truck and snapped out its wings. Brandon slammed on the brakes and stopped in the middle of the road. Opening the door, he got halfway out of the seat and looked behind him, hardly believing what he was looking at.

Colt was rising over the trees, his huge wings beating silently in the night. He circled once and dipped a wing, then headed out to find Remy.

Sheeyit. He wondered if Remy had a snow leopard, too. Probably. But snowy owls could fly over fifty miles an hour, straight across country. Colt could find Remy and both of them could beat him back to the Crows’ Nest.

Brandon turned to get in the truck, and saw three panther ghosts materialize in the bed, all watching him.

Yeah well, fuck them. Whatever they wanted, it was going to have to wait. Kitty needed him.

As he got in the driver’s seat, Nick’s ghost jumped through the closed passenger door and settled in Colt’s seat.

He looked at Brandon.

“Sorry, Nick,” Brandon said. “We’ll get him, I swear. But not today.”

Then he slammed his door and floored it.

Chapter 36

Austin Raines sat in his compound, watching the clock.

All his preparation, and that idiot Danvers wasn’t going to show.

But that didn’t make sense. Danvers was ambitious—he’d demonstrated that. And he must know that if he backed out of this meet, Raines’ panthers would run him out of town.

Unless he decided it would be more satisfying to kill Danvers for breaking his word.

Disappointment flashed through him. He had one magical artifact already—one that compelled obedience from predator shifters. It was his acquisition of it that had cemented his belief—his inborn knowledge—that he was born to rule.

He’d hoped that Danvers could make good on his promise to find him more.

But he’d endured disappointments before. He said to Jax, “Looks like Danvers isn’t such a badass after all. Take a dozen or so panthers and—”

Before he could finish, Jax got a text on the secure line. His eyes went wide with shock.

He showed it to Raines; it was from Caleb.

Danvers played us.

His real name is Brandon Fierro.

He’s attacking the bar right now, with the Bad Blood Crew. Need backup.

Shock and fury replaced the disappointment. Brandon Fierro. The Bad Blood Crew. He should have known. Everything that had gone wrong with his life was because of the damn Bad Blood Crew.