Page 18 of Kitty Cat

“Hey, I was just under a simple contract. Someone hired me to find the Wyvern pride and bring back proof, that’s all. If you let me go, I can tell them I’ve found you on the other coast.”

Ian chuckled humorlessly.

“Or you could go back and sing like a canary. Sorry, man. Not taking the chance. Nothing personal.”

He sounded matter of fact, almost bored. Rygan often left the interrogations up to him because his clinical detachment, paired with his cool demeanor, were pointblank frightening.

“You said you were hired. You’re a loner.”

That came from Aisling, who spoke softly, sounding soothing and sympathetic. Looked like they had a good cop after all.

“Yeah…wait, I know you.”

“You might,” she conceded.

Suddenly, the guy seemed fascinating to Rye.

“Where was the listing posted?” Ace asked, before he could do anything foolish - like change the direction of the interrogation.

The question didn’t make sense to Rygan, but their prisoner replied, “The Lodge in L.A. Some suit came in, offering shit loads of money just for a tracking job.”

Aisling fetched her phone and brought it to her ear; while it rang, she turned to Daunte and told him, “That guy knows nothing, just kill him.”

The person she’d tried to reach on the line must have answered, because she started to speak.

“Hey, it’s me. There’s been a tracking contract recently. Yeah, that’s right. Cancel it.” A few second later, she thanked her contact. “You’re the best.”

Everyone was looking at her, except Daunte, who was bagging up the corpse of the wolf he’d just killed.

“How did you…”

“Not important.” They all highly doubted that; but admittedly, it wasn’t the most pressing matter right this second. “If your enemy went to the Lodge, they can pay a pretty penny, and they won’t give up once they hear their contract was cancelled - I’ve just bought you time. You need to sort your shit before my town is turned in a fucking battlefield.”

The woman was glowering, understandably pissed, but Rye was relieved to see that the anger didn’t seem to be directed towards them.

“Look Ace, we’ve tried to negotiate, we’ve tried to contact the wolves we are allied to, and we’ve tried to track them. But we’re a young pride,” Daunte said. “We’re not going to get far; not by ourselves.”

Admitting it sucked, but the Beta had said it like it was. They just didn’t have the right contacts; Rygan knew people of importance, but they weren’t associated criminals, bounty hunters, and vengeful wolves. The most useful resource they had was Coveney, but the man couldn’t hack information if they didn’t know where to start.

The loner glared at Daunte until he said one simple word.

“Please?”

Her shoulders sagged. She flipped him off, and her phone was back on her ear.

“Hey Knox. Listen, I need you do to me a favor. Name your price. I’m not the one paying.”

One hour. One hour - and a hundred thousand - was all it took, and they had answered. Names, details.

“I don’t even know the Vergas pack,” Daunte said, shaking his head.

“They’re pretty big in wolf circles,” Ian interjected.

Rygan nodded; he remembered hearing quite a few things about them.

“They’re purists; even their own kind finds them excessive. They don’t accept matings between wolves and other kinds of shifters, or humans. Wolves that can’t shift by puberty get killed, and the parents don’t have the right to give birth to other children after that. But they pretty much stick to wolf affairs.”

It didn’t make a blink of sense; why would they be after them?

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