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have been a family reunion. You don’t have a scratch on you.”
    “I…don’t…know why…they wouldn’t fight me,” Max panted, trying to draw in air past the constricting metal. “I smell blood.”
    Joe slammed his side. “Nice try, fucking wolf. Tell me you don’t know Darcy’s dead!”
    Max felt light-headed, ready to pass out, but turned to stare. “What the fuck?” His throat closed so tight, the words were forced.
    “She’s dead , were !” Joe shouted, his face red, tears filling his eyes. “And I’m gonna fucking kill you myself!”
    “You think I—” The look on Joe’s face said he didn’t care if Max had been the one to hurt Darcy or not. He wanted blood.
    “Pia?” Max whispered. “Pia’s…all right?” He struggled to get to his feet.
    “Stay on your knees and clasp your hands behind your back.” This came from Navarro, who’d watched the whole inquiry in silence. “Loosen the chain a little, Joe. I don’t want him dead…yet.”
    Max glared at his rescuer, but complied with his orders, and when the chain relented, he dragged air into his burning lungs.
    A radio squawked. “Dylan!” Emmy’s voice broke over the air.
    Dylan unclipped a radio from his belt with his free hand. “What’s up, Em? Did you reach the limo?”
    “Yeah.” Emmy paused to clear her throat. “But tell Navarro the driver and Sidney are both out cold. And Dylan, Dr. Deats and his colleagues are gone.”
    “Mother-fuckin’ bastards,” Joe swore.
    Dylan aimed a deadly glare at Max and spoke into the radio. “Hot-foot it back here—”
    “Already pulling through the gates, baby.”
    Navarro’s eyes closed momentarily, and then he stood. “Bring everyone here,” he said, enunciating so precisely the Spanish inflections in his voice sliced the air. “Lock down this place. And then I want everyone in this room. Get this dog some clothes.” He left in the direction of the front of the house as tires squealed in the distance.
    Max slumped to his knees. “Darcy was killed by a wolf?”
    Joe didn’t answer, but his breaths grew choppy.
    “I swear, I didn’t know. I wasn’t part of this.”
    “Save it for someone who gives a damn. Far as I’m concerned, you’re a walking dead man.”

Chapter Three
    ‡
    C lothed, but still chained like an animal, Max waited as the others gathered in the living room.
    Navarro carried a blonde woman inside and deposited her on a sofa. He kept her head in his lap while she slept off the effects of the drug used to incapacitate her and the driver while the three scientists were taken.
    Max figured she must be Sidney, Navarro’s new woman, by the tender way he combed back her chin-length hair.
    Would he ever have that pleasure again? His fingers curled into fists, and he didn’t relax until Pia descended the curved staircase, her face pale and tear-streaked.
    She held his gaze, sorrow and fear trembling on her lips. Then her gaze dipped to the chain around his neck and anger sparked in her eyes.
    The human guards had been found alive, lying atop one another in a corner of the courtyard, also sleeping off drugs—administered by darts. With a new crew patrolling outside, Quentin and Darcy were the only residents missing from the meeting.
    Max’s stomach clenched as the magnitude of his failure hit him. Darcy was dead because he’d fallen for the pack’s ruse. They’d drawn him away from the compound with a calculation far too sophisticated for a random act. They’d deliberately pulled him away, leaving the pregnant women, Darcy and Lily, vulnerable. And he’d fallen for it. He’d abandoned them when they’d needed his protection most.
    In her condition, the gutsy woman who’d been his team mate on the Special Unit’s task force hadn’t stood a chance. He could well imagine how Darcy had been attacked, mauled by one of his kind. The images replayed in his mind, sickening him to the point he was ready to suffer the group’s rage.
    His head hung low, his body