“Doesn’t matter. They’ll be freed sooner or later, when we win.”
“Meanwhile, every Shifter, whether they follow you or not, gets slaughtered trying to rise against the hundreds of millions of humans in this country. Well thought-out.”
“It’s that kind of attitude that will always keep you on the run. Join me, Kendrick. We made a hell of a team once. Dylan already trusts you—get him to join us too. Nothing will be able to stop us.”
Kendrick was done. “You killed a cub and the woman you wanted as mate when they tried to get away from you. You killed the humans who helped you. We don’t kill those we protect. That’s the end of it.”
“I killed my mate and cub to protect them from you. I knew what you’d do to them if you captured me.”
“I would have released them to return to their families. You killed them because you wanted to. I tried to avenge them then—I’m back to finish what I started.”
Lachlan gave him a pitying look. “You poor, deluded bastard. You’ll learn, though, with that cute little woman you want as mate. Do you think she obeyed you, sitting at home where you told her to stay? No, the minute your back was turned, she rushed home, convinced her sister was in trouble.”
Kendrick’s rage burst through him along with a cold wave of fear. He tried to tamp both emotions down—Lachlan was baiting him. “If you’ve touched her or her family . . .”
“You’ll what? Kill me faster? Or slower? No, no, I just distracted her and your friends. I love the Internet. With a webcam and a tablet even the rankest amateur can create the illusion that he’s somewhere he’s not.”
Kendrick’s fears escalated but he wasn’t going to scream them at Lachlan. “Shut up, and let’s do this.”
Another condescending look. “You didn’t think I’d bring you down here so I could fight you one-on-one, did you, my friend? Live and learn.”
He clicked something in his hand and the lights went off again.
Damn it. Kendrick had started moving as soon as he’d seen Lachlan press his thumb down, sword going for its target. Lachlan moved, but not fast enough. The blade caught Lachlan and he grunted.
Not a lethal blow. Kendrick heard the man rushing away through the total darkness.
The night-vision goggles—had Lachlan snatched them up, or left them? Kendrick groped his way to where he thought the table was. He bumped into it, painfully, and then his hand landed on plastic and soft straps.
In two seconds, Kendrick had the goggles oriented and on. He glanced around the room in time to see Lachlan duck out through another opening.
He followed, sword held out of his way. Lachlan was sprinting, unencumbered, down the cement reinforced tunnel.
The best thing about chasing Lachlan down tunnels under a Shiftertown was that Lachlan was here. Not at the ranch closing in on Addie and his cubs or lying in wait at Addie’s sister’s house. The man was where Kendrick could put his hands on him. He’d finish him off, go home, and celebrate.
Lachlan ducked down another corridor, and Kendrick ducked after him. Kendrick wasn’t about to wait for Lachlan to spring his trap—he would kill the man now.
The corridor ended in a wide room. Lachlan didn’t need to see to find it, he only needed to follow the narrow hall and to smell all the Shifters waiting inside. Kendrick’s Shifters.
Kendrick let his body shift to his between-beast again, crouching down under the low ceiling, but retaining the sword. He leapt into the room after Lachlan.
Lights went on, rendering the goggles useless. Kendrick flung them off and turned to face his Shifters, old and trusted friends and followers, who were now grimly lined up behind Lachlan.