“You mean tell you your rights?” Dean chuckled again. “You no longer have any rights. And you better keep that in mind before you go running your mouth.” Cold metal closed around my left wrist, then my right, and he clicked the cuffs too tight on purpose. “Find their phones.”

“On the end table,” Jace said, before Alex could pat him down.

“Front pocket,” Marc said, obviously hoping to avoid that same process. The nameless goon made a face as he reached around Marc to slide the slim phone out with two fingers.

“What about yours, princess?” Dean whispered into my ear. “Where are you hiding the goods?” He slid his free hand slowly down my side, but I could tell from Marc’s look of absolute hatred that Dean was watching for his reaction, as well as mine.

“Te voy a madrear!”

“It’s in the front bedroom,” I said, trying to pull away from Dean’s hand, but his gun poked into my ribs from behind, holding me still.

“How do I know you’re telling the truth?” Dean’s hand slid over my left hip and around the front of my jeans, barely brushing my empty pocket before dipping way too low for standard searching procedures.

This time, Jace’s growl echoed Marc’s, and plastic clicked softly as someone turned off his gun’s safety.

“It’s true, so either shoot me or get the fuck off me!” I shouted, holding back angry tears by sheer will.

“You should calm down,” Dean warned, his breath brushing my ear. “You’re getting your lovers all riled up, and that just can’t end well.”

“Dean.” Alex Malone stepped into my field of vision. “Does she have the phone or not?”

“Not on her,” Dean snapped.

Hmm… Dissention among the ranks?

“Then keep your hands to yourself.”

Dean took a step back, but didn’t dislodge his gun from my spine. “Let’s go.”

Alex nodded, and at his signal, the thug behind Marc turned him by one arm and shoved him forward, then marched him toward the front door. Jace was next, and Dean signaled the remaining “task force” members to follow him. The last one released Lucas, then jogged after the others.

On my way out the door, Dean’s gun digging into my rib cage, I twisted to see Lucas staring after us in total shock. In spite of his size and considerable enforcer experience, he was just as defenseless as the rest of us. The guns were a game changer. “Get my dad,” I said, as Dean shoved me down the first step.

Lucas nodded.

“Yeah, like that’s going to help.” Dean tightened his grip on my arm and leaned to whisper in my ear, as I stared after Marc and Jace in the rapidly fading daylight. “Daddy can’t take a shit anymore without asking Cal for permission, and he sure as hell can’t get you out of this mess. I’m your personal warden. And if you take one step out of line, you’ll never look in another mirror without crying.”

Nine

My dad stepped into the empty living room of the main lodge from the hall just as Dean shoved me through the front door, and it took my Alpha a couple of seconds to process what he saw. Nothing like this had ever happened before in the American Prides.

“Dad?” I was afraid that if I pulled away from Dean, he’d shoot me, and even a nonlethal gunshot wound would make my father lose his temper. Which might get him shot, too.

My father blinked, and when his focus readjusted, his expression went dark, his green eyes glittering with fury. “Get your hands off my daughter before I break them off.” His voice was as deep as I’d ever heard it, rolling with rage like thunder across the sky. He knew what Dean had done to me, and what I’d done to him in return. And that Dean would be itching for revenge.

“Now, Greg, that would be a pretty stupid move.” Calvin Malone leaned against the kitchen doorway, looking infuriatingly smug. He glanced from me to my dad and back, as if he wasn’t sure which sight pleased him more: me handcuffed and held at gunpoint, or my Alpha’s powerless fury. “There’s no reason for this to get violent.”

“I see a number of reasons for violence.” My father took several steps toward me, and Dean shoved the pistol harder into my back. “Let her go, or I’ll rip your throat out where you stand.”

“Dad, stop! He has a gun.”

My father froze in the middle of the floor, as the other Alphas filed in from the hall. He sniffed the air, and his eyes darkened when he picked up the scents of metal and oil.

“Who has a gun? What the hell is this?” my uncle demanded, automatically taking up a position at his brother-in-law’s side.

“Alex Malone and Colin Dean and a bunch of other goons just marched into our cabin with guns and handcuffed us.” I tried to melt Malone alive with the power of my hatred, but he only watched me, apparently content to let me have my say for the moment. “Where the hell are Marc and Jace?”

“Your men are fine. They’re being held in cages in the storage shed out back. We only have one extra room inside, and they both agreed that you should have it. I’d think you’d be grateful for their generosity.”

“You can’t leave them out there. It’s ten degrees! They’ll freeze!”

Malone rolled his eyes. “They’re sheltered from the wind, and if they get cold, they can always Shift. Our ancestors never had electric heat.”

“No, they had cooking fires,” my father snapped.