Parker’s voice wormed back into his head. *Murder leaves bodies. You know how I feel about mess, kid. It’s just not me! Look, what we had before worked, and I don’t see any reason to fix something that ain’t broken. It’ll be just like the good old days. Me sweet-talking the clients, and the young lady on hand for… negotiations.*
That would have been enough to make Fleance leap on him, but despite his lazy drawl Parker’s eyes were sharp. And Sheena was still between them. A human shield. Fleance wasn’t willing to bet her safety on his ability to move faster than Parker could order her to get in his way.
He forced himself to relax. If Parker made a surprise attack, he didn’t want to be paralyzed in place. Especially if he makes Sheena do it, he thought, and felt sick.
*How is this learning from your mistakes? It’s the same thing you did with Manu, Rhys and me. How did that work out again?* he said to Parker, hoping his voice didn’t betray just how scared he was. He didn’t see any way out of this except by taking down Parker—and that meant going through Sheena. Could he do that? Even to save her?
*Well, on a smaller scale, to start with. Don’t want to push her in at the deep end,* Parker joked, as Sheena’s sides trembled with stifled movement. Her back twitched as though her own muscles were fighting against her attempts to escape the alpha’s control. *Unless…*
Fleance’s attention snapped back to him. *Unless what?*
If there was any way to get Sheena out of this, he would take it.
Parker scraped one forepaw casually against the gravel. *Training up new hires is no one’s idea of a good time. Remember how long it took with the brown fella? It’s gotta be something in the water down here. If it’s going to take as long with your girl—*
Dread clawed its way up Fleance’s spine.
*—maybe we can come to an arrangement that benefits us both.*
*What do you mean?* Fleance snarled.
*I need a crew. You need your mate to keep her hands clean.* Parker’s grin became feral. *Your new alpha obviously doesn’t give a shit about you leaving the pack. Come back to your old job and I won’t need to waste time getting your replacement up to speed.*
Fleance’s hellhound stilled. The air around him went clammy, as though the ice on the ground was rising to cling to his coat, seep in deep to curl around his bones. Parker thought Sheena was still his mate. That made her the best piece of leverage he could have.
*Don’t do it!* Sheena’s voice knifed into his mind, ragged-edged and desperate. *It’s not w—*
Her voice cut off and she flinched, her whole body clenching into a fist. Fleance’s hellhound snarled. How dare Parker do this to her!
When he spoke again, Parker’s voice was lazy, as though he wasn’t tightening his grip on Sheena’s chains.
*What do you say, kiddo? Things always worked smoothest when it was just the two of us, anyway.*
Because after Parker had turned Rhys and Manu, Fleance hadn’t been able to ignore his true feelings about what Parker was making him do.
*We’ll make it a proper family business again.* Parker chuckled. *Whaddaya say?*
*Don’t listen to—* Sheena’s voice cut off again, as though a door had slammed shut in her face.
Fleance’s heart hurt, somewhere in the dulled, numb mass of his body. Sheena knew what being under his uncle’s control meant, and she still wanted him to save himself.
He couldn’t do it. He hadn’t been able to save Sheena before, and he couldn’t defeat Parker in combat, that much was clear. He wasn’t an alpha. He wasn’t strong enough. The only way he could protect Sheena now was to agree to Parker’s terms.
*You should be jumping for an opportunity like this,* Parker said. *Don’t wait around, I might change my mind.*
Fleance lowered his head. His hellhound snarled, even though the gesture wasn’t one either hound would recognize as submission.
And it wasn’t. He was stalling for time. He had to think of something. Anything.
The thought of leaving Sheena to her fate didn’t cross his mind. Mate or not, his or not, he couldn’t do that to her.
Fleance reached out to her, trying to touch her mind and send her some reassurance, however ringed around with fear and anger, that he knew what she was going through and wouldn’t let Parker get away with it—but he couldn’t.
Instead of her mind, the hop-skip of energy and sunlight warmth that had so quickly become as familiar to him as his own face, he found roiling clouds of smoke. Black and thick, swirling around a center so dark that if he didn’t already know Sheena, he would be afraid of what it hid.
This was what it meant to be a hellhound. Until she learned to control the maelstrom inside her, even humans would feel on edge around her. Shifters would run screaming. Who wouldn’t, faced with something like that?
Fear streaked like lightning through the clouds surrounding Sheena’s mind. Fleance’s heart beat faster as they touched against him. It was pure adrenal reaction, on her part as much as his. The same burst of panic that had escaped him when he first set eyes on her.
And she hadn’t run.
He’d never had a chance to save any of the others. But this was his chance to save her.
*Time’s a wasting, kiddo.* Parker’s spine clacked as he stretched. He wasn’t even putting on an act of staying alert now; it was obvious that Fleance wasn’t a threat. *Do we have a deal?*
He wasn’t. Exhausted and bleeding, heartsick and desperate, Fleance knew it was true.
A shiver shuddered through him. No way out. Just like before. All those long years of trying to hold onto
