Page 6 of Brick

“Maybe someday I’ll leave, but today is about you.”

They discussed the patrol schedule, and then Jade stripped and shifted into her wolf form. Evelyn tucked her clothes and shoes into the crossbody bag, along with some cash and a few granola bars, and hung it around her neck. Evelyn checked to make sure the coast was clear before opening the back door, and Jade hurried off. Her paws were silent as she made her way through the woods, her heart racing with fear and uncertainty. She didn’t know what the future would bring, but she knew that this was possibly her only chance at freedom, and she had to take it.

Chapter

Four

Brent Foley waited for the call to connect as he stared out the window of the new headquarters for Humans Against Shifters. He’d never had to find so many new headquarters like he had since he’d come to Northern Ohio, but his secret locations kept getting found out.

He’d been focusing on the tiger shifters when he first arrived, spying on Whisper Creek and the animals who pretended to be humans. He’d lost a lot of people in the battles that had followed, and even teaming up with Victor Hawthorne, a world-renowned shifter hunter, hadn’t staved off the losses.

In fact, the idiot probably cost him more people than if he’d gone it on his own.

“Hawthorne.”

“Where are you?” Brent demanded, turning in the chair as the man’s voice came across the phone’s speaker.

“Not in Ohio.”

“What? You were supposed to meet with me today.”

“Change of plans,” he said.

“What sort of change of plans?”

“I’ve got a line on a unique shifter in Canada. I won’t be back in Ohio for a while.”

“Are you serious? The deal was we were supposed to help each other.”

There was a long enough pause that Brent had to look at the screen to make sure the call hadn’t dropped.

“I’m very serious,” Victor said. “I know what our deal is, and I will keep up my end of the bargain. But I need a successful hunt for a unique shifter to keep my clients. Losing that albino wolf nearly cost me my entire livelihood.”

Brent rolled his eyes. Hawthorne was obsessed with the albino wolf who’d come to the wolf pack and hooked up with a tiger, which was why Brent had been willing to use his personal resources and personnel to help Victor get to her. Victor had promised to help him eradicate the tigers so long as Brent helped him secure the white wolf, but in the end, Victor ran off, and Brent lost a dozen men in the fight with the tigers. And now, apparently, Victor had left the country.

“You’ve put me in a bad position,” Brent said.

“I’m not that far away. I tell you what, if you get a line on a unique shifter in Ohio, I’ll come back and then I’ll help you take out everyone else.”

“So you only want to help me when it benefits you?” Brent couldn’t keep the sneer out of his voice. He was so fucking fed up with people not keeping up their end of things.

“You only agreed to help me so that I would help you,” Victor said. “It’s what quid pro quo means. You said you were going to focus on the wolf pack. All you need to do is figure out their weakness and exploit it.”

As if Brent didn’t know that.

The problem was that the wolf pack had a special protector. The alpha female was some kind of mix of witch and wolf and kept the borders of the pack’s territory safe. It meant that Brent couldn’t get to them while they were in Thorn Hollow, and the wolves were nothing if not careful with their own kind.

“Fine,” Brent said. “If I see anything unique, I’ll reach out.”

“And if I can quickly capture this unique shifter up here in the wilds of Canada, I’ll come back and help you get to the wolf pack. You might find a warlock who’s powerful enough to go against whatever that witch-wolf is who protects the pack, but I don’t know one who could do that.”

“I’m not working with a damn warlock again.”

“Suit yourself. Until our paths cross.”

The call ended and Brent stared at the dark screen. The man was an absolute dick.

“Paul!” he bellowed for his second-in-command.

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