“Who was the second cat?”
“A panther named Brody. He was the reason for Winter leaving, and then seven months back, he up and left his mate, right after she’d given him a cub. He left me. He left the crew. And then he did something terrible.”
Dread dumped into Jaxon as a sudden, horrifying instinct reared its head. “What kind of something terrible?”
Ben rolled his head against the headrest and leveled Jaxon with a dead-eyed stare. “Brody is a rare one. He’s a black leopard. He had spots in his coat.”
Now it was Jaxon who wanted to slam his hand on the dashboard. He almost didn’t want to hear the rest. He wanted to kick the alpha out and drive back down to Ben’s little Po-Dunk moonshine camp and load Annalise in his truck and take her far away from here. But he needed to know about the fucker he was about to start hunting. “What did he do?” he gritted out through clenched teeth as he strangled the steering wheel.
Ben inhaled deeply. “Brody Turned Annalise into a panther. She won’t talk to me about it. She refuses, so I know it was bad. Brody ruined that girl’s life. The blood he spilled, the pain he caused, and that wild animal constantly snarling to rip out of her skin? That’s on me because Brody was my crew, and I lost control of him.”
Realization slammed into Jaxon’s chest. “That’s why you really need her. Redemption.”
“You can’t be a part of my crew, Grizzly. Not ever. I won’t allow it.”
“I don’t want to be a member of your little kitty-squad, asshole.”
Ben scratched his jaw in an irritated gesture. “The Gray Backs have the best trackers in the world.”
“Yeah, including me.”
“You learned from Beaston? From Bash? From your dad?”
Jaxon dipped his chin once.
“I can’t find Brody,” Ben admitted quietly.
Jaxon huffed a pissed-off breath, slammed his head back against the headrest, and stared out into the woods illuminated by his headlights. “You won’t let me near Annalise, but you want to use me to avenge her. I don’t need a kill mission from you, Panther. I was already going after him.”
“Bring him to me alive, and we’ll talk about Annalise’s future.”
“No deal. She belongs with you. I’ll kill the fucker, slowly like my animal requires, and I’ll bring you proof. And then you let Annalise into your crew because she told me something tonight that put me out of the running.”
“What did she tell you?”
“That her animal needs something steady.”
“And that’s not you?”
Jaxon shook his head, wishing to God he was different. That he was better. That he was worthy of a woman like Annalise. “Not even close. Last name.”
“Brakeen.”
“Last place you tracked Brody Brakeen to?”
“South Dakota. Annalise lived in St. Louis, though. I think the bite happened there, but it was six months back. He could be anywhere.”
“What happened to his mate and cub?” Jaxon asked, feeling sick to his stomach.
Ben shoved the door open and got out. And right before he slammed it, he said, “Lynn is Red Havoc business.”
Jaxon didn’t miss the anger that flashed across his face, though. It wasn’t the anguished expression that would tell him the female panther wasn’t walking the earth anymore. It was a reaction that told Jaxon she was probably spiraling because of what Brody had done.
Three women hurt—some female named Winter, Brody’s mate, Lynn, and now Annalise. Brody was a beast—a destroyer of bonds, a creator of monsters. He was a life-ruiner. A woman-ruiner who left a trail of shattered hearts in his wake. Turning someone against their will was the biggest law broken in his world. It created shifters like Annalise, whose animal had been born in violence and would never be easy to manage. It created shifters who had to be put down if they weren’t strong enough to control the volatile animals inside of them. It created She-Devils.
This was it. This was the hunt his bear lived for. Blood for a cause. Blood for vengeance. Blood for justice.
It would be the most satisfying hunt of Titan’s entire existence.
Chapter Six
Jaxon Barns was sex on a stick…whatever that saying meant. Annalise adjusted the floral bag of shower stuff on her arm and switched her fluffy purple towel to her other hip as she made her way toward the communal restrooms down at the end of the row of Red Havoc cabins. Her flipflops clacked loudly with each step, echoing across the empty clearing.
She couldn’t stop thinking about the way he’d touched her last night. The way it had felt like a match carelessly flicked into a puddle of gasoline the second their bodies had collided in that soul-altering embrace. Making out on the hood of his truck and his hand down the front of her shorts. She’d woken up way too early feeling feverish to see him again. Not just for sex, but for that high of feeling safe around him.
“You’re thinking about the grizzly,” Jenny said, appearing right beside Annalise.
Annalise startled hard and skittered to the side. She didn’t often get snuck up on now that She-Devil existed and paid attention to everything.
She gave Jenny a sideways glance and steadied out her pace again. The alpha’s mate had her dark hair piled up in a messy bun on top of her head, not a stich of make-up on, and she still somehow managed to look glamorous. Annalise was all baggy sweat pants, a tank top that was too long, and looked exactly as though she’d only slept fitfully for three hours last night. That part was the fault of Jaxon and her perverted mind that kept swirling around the sexy way his abs had flexed against her stomach every time he pumped his dick deeper into her.