Page 60 of Chased

Gunn was staring at him, his eyes flecked with gold. “Cisco. Matéo. Wait outside.”

His cousins hesitated, but Sanchez jerked his head and they went. Which was going to piss Gunn off more, because they should follow his orders, not Sanchez’s.

Gunn waited until they were gone before he spoke again. “Big T?” he asked. “Sounds like you and Thanatos are chummier than I realized. You the one who’s been reporting to him behind my back since I took over?”

Fuck. This was not the time for him and Gunn to get into it. “We talk,” he said.

Gunn shook his head. “I should have figured. You never had any loyalty to me, did you?”

“You’re not the one who pulled me and the boys off the street and gave us a life.”

Gunn studied him. Sanchez could feel how pissed he was, but Gunn was controlling himself. Which was a big reason why he was a decent alpha and Sanchez wasn’t one at all, despite his equal dominance. Sanchez had no patience and very little self-control.

Finally Gunn said, “Thanatos did the same for me. Which is why I put up with his shit. And why I put up with yours.”

“You put up with mine because I’m the best at what I do.”

Gunn gave him an odd look. “One of these days, you’ll figure out that’s not the only reason.” He got to his feet. “I’ll let you talk to the men.” It wasn’t until they were halfway to the door that he added something Sanchez wasn’t expecting: “But I’ll stand behind you.”

Chapter 24

They went over to the command center and Gunn put out the word, over text and across the compound-wide outdoor PA system. He called in every shifter in the place, including the construction team.

Nobody was happy about it. Sanchez gave zero fucks about their happiness.

When they were all assembled, Sanchez walked out across the porch and onto the steps of the command center with Madison’s blanket. His cousins stood just behind him, one at each shoulder. Gunn kept his word literally as well as metaphorically, standing back behind Sanchez and a little off to the side so it was visible to everyone that Sanchez was in charge of this gathering, but he had Gunn’s support.

Mikey stood next to Gunn, like always. A little team of two.

Sanchez faced the pack. Most of them didn’t like him—the others didn’t care one way or the other. None of them wanted to hear what he had to say.

Sanchez didn’t give a fuck about that either, but it gave him an excuse to skip the small talk.

“Madison, the new girl, isn’t a fox shifter,” he said bluntly. “She’s a lapin. A rabbit shifter. She lied to get the job here.”

That got their attention, and there was a collective murmur of surprise across the pack. Some of the guys who didn’t know Madison very well were growling and shuffling their feet restlessly. Wolf packs were all about loyalty; they didn’t like someone in their territory they couldn’t trust.

“Shut up,” he said. “She had her reasons, and she needs this job, so she’s staying.”

Someone at the fringes of the crowd sang out in an Elmer Fudd voice, “Kill da wabbit, kill da wabbit…”

Half the pack rumbled back with angry growls: Boomer and his friends, the mess hall guys, and the construction crews. They all liked Madison.

Sanchez slowly turned his head toward the Elmer Fudd voice. He didn’t know exactly who had done it, but he glared in their general direction. “Don’t make me come over there and rip your voice box out.”

He raked his gaze over the group. “And because half of the rest of you yahoos are too stupid to know a lapin shifter from a fucking field rabbit, I’m here to make sure you can figure it out.”

He held out the blanket. “I have her rabbit’s scent right here. Every single fucking one of you is going to go wolf—or whatever stupid kind of animal you are—and get a good whiff of this. And if you ever smell it again, you will make sure nothing happens to her.”

He revved up all his animal’s dominance and demanded, “Now Change.”

His influence rolled out over the pack, catching the wolves by surprise. Yeah, fuckers. He was as dominant as Gunn—he just would never be stupid enough to want to be in charge of this circus. Some of them started to Change. A bunch of them looked to Gunn.

Sanchez raised his voice. “I said Change!” His tone brought half of them to all fours.

Gunn said quietly, “Do what he says.”

Everyone except Gunn and Mikey started stripping down and Changing. When they were all in animal form, Sanchez walked through the crowd, making sure every damn one of them got Madison’s lapin scent off the blanket—even the leopards and shit from the construction crew.