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“What is it?” Daisy said.

“It’s a faint signal, but it matches Asshole’s tracker. It’s coming from the trees up ahead,” Eden said.

Blaze jogged along beside her, looking over her shoulder at the scanner. “I’ll switch to visuals. You can see where we are.” He used his own scanner to establish a remote camera link with Rexx and Daisy.

As their image came into view, Daisy was settled on Rexx’s lap, one arm around his shoulders.

Blaze winced and looked away. They were so damn cute together. Daisy had mellowed Rexx. Rexx carried dark wounds with him, but he was back to his old self. And it was all thanks to the love of a good woman.

“The signal is getting stronger.” Eden sped up, putting distance between them.

Blaze took a moment to admire the way she filled out her all-terrain uniform. Their uniforms weren’t designed to be sexy, but she made it work. Her curves were to die for. Wide hips, an ample chest, and a nipped-in waist that had him longing to wrap his arms around her and feel those silky curves.

His cock responded to the image, but he forced away that desire.

Eden slowed as she reached the edge of the dark, evergreen trees.

Blaze caught up with her and checked the scanner in her hand. “We’re getting closer.”

“Asshole’s clever. He’ll have found somewhere safe to tuck away the kittens,” Rexx said. “The trees are a great place to go hunting. There are birds and rodents on Dapak. Plenty of food for them.”

Blaze crept quietly through the trees with Eden, their pace slow.

They’d been searching for ten minutes when he stopped. He plucked off a small clump of ginger fur from a shrub. “Asshole’s ginger, right?”

“Yes. Have you seen him?” Daisy said.

Blaze showed her the fur. “I reckon he’s still around.”

Daisy leaned closer to the screen. “That has to be his fur. And those trees aren’t far from where we were attacked. Keep looking.”

Blaze looked up to see Eden waving at him. She beckoned him over, then pressed a finger to her lips.

He crept over to her side. She leaned close until her mouth was by his ear. Her soft, dark red hair brushed against his shoulder, and the faint smell of peaches drifted up his nose.

“I saw a tail go into that hole. It was black and fluffy. I reckon they’re hiding in there,” she whispered.

Blaze nodded and lowered his voice. “We don’t want to scare them off. Let’s try the food. If they won’t come out, we’ll set a trap over the opening and wait until they try to escape.”

“Tell us what’s going on,” Daisy said.

“We think we’ve found them,” Blaze said softly over the comm link. “We’re going to take a look.” He set down everything other than a pouch of dried meat and crept toward the hole Eden crouched by. He spent a few seconds scattering the dried food by the opening.

Then they waited for several minutes.

Eden locked gazes with him and nodded, her eyes sparkling. She tapped her ear. “I hear something.”

So did he. It was a faint shuffling noise from beneath their feet, and it was getting closer.

A scarred ginger nose appeared out of the hole, sniffing furiously. It was followed by a head. A large, scruffy ginger tomcat appeared, one ear missing a chunk out of it. The cat froze as it spotted Blaze, then vanished.

“That was him, right?” Blaze said.

Eden dazzled him with a smile. “Yep. I’d recognize that beautiful bad boy anywhere.”

The head appeared again, this time swiveling toward Eden. Asshole’s whiskers flexed forward. He eased out of the hole and approached Eden cautiously, sniffing the air.

“Hey, gorgeous. Remember me?” She held out her hand.