Page 36 of Hunted

She missed her pack. She missed their bond, and the bonds with her friends and family.

Far away inside her, her wolf howled mournfully, as if she were on a mountaintop all alone.

Michelangela pulled herself back. This wasn’t about her. It was about Dobe and Rex, and Gunn. And their mission.

Which, according to the stray thoughts she picked up from Dobe, was exactly as Gunn said it was.

As Dobe’s wolf registered the presence of Rex, a trusted packmate, his mind opened further. “Now,” she murmured to Rex. “Tell him how much you need the intel.”

Through the shared bond, she felt Rex stiffen. “It’s need to know. You can’t hear it.”

“Shut up,” Michelangela said, keeping her breathing even while she fought the urge to reach over and smack him. “Without me to hold his mind open, he’ll shut back down. Do you want your intel or not?”

At that moment the door opened and Gunn came in. Hearing her words, he said, “Never mind about the intel. It’s too late.”

Then he obviously took in the scene in front of him, because she heard his footsteps stop dead. “What the hell is going on here?”

Rex swore, and Michelangela said sharply, “Be quiet, both of you. We could still lose him. Gunn, you’re the alpha. Come over here and touch him. Help me pull him back.”

He hesitated, then came over and put his hand on Dobe’s shoulder.

His presence locked into the bond immediately. Big. Dominant. Warm. Comforting. And… kind? Somehow, with all the dominance issues going on here, she hadn’t expected that. She liked that Dobe saw him differently—and that she could feel Gunn blocking off his negative emotions and projecting a sense of safety to Dobe.

Gunn really did have the makings of a good alpha. Her wolf responded, even though the emotions weren’t directed at her. She began to calm down. So did Rex.

Slowly, slowly, Dobe began to relax too.

Gunn murmured, “It’s okay. You accomplished your mission. You did great. You can come back now.”

He kept repeating it over and over. Mikey added the mind-pictures of Dobe and Rex and Gunn drinking beer, playing poker, laughing.

Gunn stiffened at her intrusion into their thoughts, and then she felt him making himself relax again, picking up the images and giving them more detail, adding his own memories to them.

Gradually, the prison cell in Dobe’s mind dissolved, and his mental image of himself raised his head and spoke into the gloom. Gunn? Rex?

Michelangela opened her eyes. Dobe’s eyelids flickered, and color began to come back to his face. He repeated their names, this time out loud.

He stirred, looking blearily from Gunn to Rex. “So… tired…” he murmured. And then he passed out.

Rex turned on Mikey. “What the hell did you do?”

“Saved your friend’s life.” Relief made her snappish. It had been much closer than they realized. “He should be okay now—”

She reached to check Dobe’s vitals again, and Rex shoved her hand away. He turned to Gunn. “She was inside his mind. I didn’t realize it until the end. You brought an Enforcer in here and she did a fucking mind probe. Who the hell knows what kind of information she got?”

Gunn looked from Mikey, to Dobe, to Rex’s flushed, angry face. This was bad. Thank the gods, at least Sanchez hadn’t heard Rex’s accusation. He’d go ballistic.

He said to Rex, “I don’t think she got anything. I was in that connection too, and I didn’t see it—just glimpses of Dobe’s memories of us, through my alpha bond.”

He was lying. He’d seen everything Rex had seen. He hadn’t known Mikey was capable of going that deeply into someone’s mind—or that she’d be stupid enough to pull one of the men into it if she did.

Rex said stubbornly, “I saw pictures. Memories. Things I didn’t know before.”

Gunn looked at Michelangela. She shrugged. “They’re friends. They have a bond. When someone is drugged and their mind is open, sometimes friends can sense things through the bond.”

It was a good cover, but he didn’t think Rex was buying it. Gunn knew she’d saved Dobe, and he was beyond grateful, but why, every time Michelangela came into his life, did things somehow turn into a complete disaster?

And why did he fucking love her in spite of it?