Page 42 of Little Bunny

The eight wolves stepped into the building but stayed behind Matias. He took a step forward. The hyenas flinched. “Who gave the order to come here?”

Santiago snarled, his voice gravely as he spoke. “Answer him.”

“Rico,” the one on the far left said, gaining hostile glares from the other three. The guy gestured to everyone in the room. “We’re outnumbered. There is an actual fucking lycanthrope right in front of us and a trigger-happy guy ten feet away. I’m not trying to die today.”

Matias stepped even closer, his gaze sweeping over their trembling forms. “Oh, you’re not leaving here alive. You had a choice, and you made the wrong one.” He shot the guy on the right, dropping him. “You came after my men. Your dead friend thought it was playtime. Well, it is. Just not for you.”

The memory of his two dead pack members still burned brightly in Matias’s mind. Their deaths had been senseless, torn apart by the hyenas. They hadn’t shown any mercy, and neither would he. They’d infiltrated wolf territory, intent on killing Matias’s pack, so now they would suffer the consequences. Matias wasn’t acting out of blind rage. They had taken the lives of his men, and now they would pay for it. No hesitation. No guilt.

This wasn’t revenge. It was justice.

“Since I’m a fair man, I’ll offer you a choice.” Matias rolled his shoulders, letting the tension settle. “Whoever gives me vital information on your pack gets to live.”

If he was going to cleanse his territory of hyenas, he needed to find out where they were hiding. He also wanted to know who Rico was.

The guy in the middle stared incredulously at him. “Would one of your men give you up?”

He crumpled like the other two.

Matias glanced at the two remaining hyenas. “I don’t have all day.”

Not when he wanted to get back to Elijah and claim the human as his mate. Just thinking about how he’d been ripped away for this bullshit made him want to shoot the other two and be done with this.

“Rico Diego,” the one on the left said.

Matias clenched his jaw, annoyed and losing his patience. “I am not going to ask you a million questions.”

“What do you want to know?” The taller of the two scowled. “His height, weight, dating preferences? Bubble baths or showers?”

The other hyena scooted away from him.

With a deep sigh, Matias shot the smartass then turned his gaze to the last man standing. “Information or bullet?”

The guy began to talk so fast his words started blending together.

Matias held up a hand. The man fell silent. “Suero, take him somewhere safe and extract as much information as you can.”

“And when I’m done?” Suero asked. “What should I do with him?”

“Not kill me?” the guy suggested timidly, hope shining in his eyes.

With a frown, Matias stepped into his personal space and deeply inhaled. “What is a cheetah doing with filthy hyenas?”

“A piss-poor job of gathering intel,” he answered, trembling slightly. “I’ll share what I know, only if you promise to let me go afterward…please.”

The last thing Matias needed was another war on his hands. “What’s your name?”

“Kia.” He glanced around at the men then lowered his gaze. “Maybe I should let you kill me, because my alpha just might when he finds out the boneheaded thing I’ve done.”

Matias lifted his hand and twirled his finger. “Roll out. Suero, you’re in charge of Kia. I want the information before sundown.” He turned to Diablo, his jaw clenched. “You’re going to tell me what the fuck this was about and why you were willing to forego your annual visit for this shitshow.”

The rest of the men filtered out of the warehouse, the sound of motorcycles roaring to life.

Santiago slowly shifted back to his human form then headed out the door to presumably grab the backpack of clothes in his saddlebag.

“This is where I was kept,” Diablo finally confessed, telling Matias how he was herded into the picnic area, the tranquilizer that stopped him from shifting and rendered him unconscious, and how he’d woken up hanging from the hook above them.

Matias took it all in, his anger and worry growing with every word Diablo spoke. A drug that could trap their forms inside of them? Fuck. He glanced at Diablo. “Can you shift yet?”

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