Page 13 of Hunted By the Wolves
There it was.The fear in her tone that they feared.
Rafe turned the heat down and faced her, leaning back against the counter to take some of the strain off his side.He kept his voice level, calm.No sudden movements.No looming.
“We’re human,” he said.“And we’re not.”
Dorian huffed.“Great start.”
Rafe shot him a look and continued.“Then, yes, we’re shifters.Wolf shifters to be exact.”
Her breath caught.In fucking fear and it had his stomach turning.
“Wolves,” she whispered.“He—he is a wolf.He hurt me.A lot.”
The words hit him hard.Rafe had to fight his animal for control, demanding it stand down, not wanting to frighten their mate.“Take a breath, beauty.We will get to him soon.Just know that you are safe with us.”
“Safer than other beings on this planet if we’re honest,” Dorian said gently.“We are not like him, whoever he is.I promise you that.”
She smiled faintly at that, some of the tension easing out of her shoulders.
Rafe turned back to the stove before his instinct got the better of him.He stirred the eggs slowly, deliberately.The act grounded him.
“So,” Riley said hesitantly, though there was no missing the curiosity in her tone.“Where do you both fit into all of this?”
Rafe turned the heat down another notch and chose his words carefully.
“We work for an organization called E.S.E.,” he said.“Elite Shifter Enforcers.Think of us as shifter law enforcement.When one of us goes rogue—hurts people, ignores pack law, or decides they don’t answer to anyone—we’re the ones sent in to stop it.”
Riley nodded slowly.“So ...shifter police.”
“That’s the simplest way to think about it,” Dorian said.“Most shifters are born the way they’re meant to be—wolves, bears, lions, leopards.Old lineage.Natural ones.”
“And then there are hybrids,” Rafe added.“They’re new and very much not natural.Created by humans who think they can improve on what we are.Make something stronger.Easier to control.”
She was quiet for a moment, and Rafe left her to it, cooking steadily to give her space to process.He watched the way her eyes sharpened, how her focus narrowed instead of fracturing.She was observant.Had always been.That was why this had happened to her in the first place.
“This group you’re talking about,” she said finally.“They’re called Chimera, aren’t they?”
Rafe paused.“Yes.Had you heard of them before tonight?”
She rolled her eyes.“Of course you were eavesdropping.”He and Dorian answered that with matching grins, entirely unapologetic.“No.Until the guy who showed up tonight to warn me mentioned them, I’d never heard the name.”
Before he could say more, his phone vibrated on the counter.
Victor.
Rafe picked it up and answered without ceremony.“Go.”
“The Leopards’ hacker has pulled more threads,” Victor’s voice came through low and clipped.“Basically Chimera’s funding is fractured.There are multiple routes but some of the money’s being diverted.”
Rafe’s jaw tightened.“Diverted where?”
“That’s the problem,” Victor said.“They are proving hard to find and these channels don’t belong to Chimera.”
Rafe glanced at Dorian, who would have heard every word thanks to his enhanced hearing and noted that his brother’s expression had gone still, eyes sharpening.
“Say that again,” Rafe said.
“Not all of this funding is getting to where it was supposed to,” Victor continued.“Someone’s trying to clean up messes before they’re seen.This isn’t about keeping Chimera alive.It’s about controlling the narrative.”
