Dangerous by D.L. Jackson Page A

infiltrating villages or towns…packs, and they’re damn good at it. They are also opportunistic killers. They kill at the first chance provided and replace the victim by taking on his identity, his financial portfolio and any other assets they desire. It’s very hard to see or smell a difference. Next to impossible. They have a chameleon-like ability to change their physical makeup. But if you look them in the eyes….”
    “He’s right,” Gee said. “I met one of these things a long time ago. By the time I figured out what it was, it had murdered half of a Lakota village while they slept.”
    “We have to take them on before night. They have a weakness. Once they change in the day into a human or animal, they must remain in the same form until sunset. It’s why they gave you twelve hours to turn me over. In the dark, their powers are unlimited. You need to make some traps, lure them in, and kill them before dusk. After that, they’re able to shift into anything they like at will. They prefer hyenas because of the bone-crushing bite, but they don’t discriminate. They’ll take on any form to gain an advantage. As hyenas, they don’t go for the throat, they dismember their victims.”
    Gee nodded. “Some of them are ravens, and it will be hard to trap them. We’ll need a backup plan, and I have an idea, even if it goes against everything I believe in.”
    “We will handle this as a pack. We know they’re responsible for the deaths in Wyoming. The sentinel at the gas station picked up the scent of the kill on them. She said they didn’t hurt Liv, so they must want her alive to use as bait. If you go into this situation half-cocked, they will execute her. They are trying to lure you out. Once they have you, she’s dead, and I don’t think they’re done with the rest of this pack either.”
    Drew sat on the edge of the desk and glanced over at Ryker before turning back to Xan. “You said they’re encroachers, taking over by infiltration. I believe they want Los Lobos, and I’ll be damned if I hand it over to them. So, start talking. I want to know every detail you can recall about them. If they only take a shit on Sundays, I want to know.”
    “I met them in Africa….” Xan started at the beginning, not leaving out a single detail, including Ajani’s thirst for pain, the torture he’d inflicted. All of it but one thing, and he’d have to share the secret he’d kept buried, a pain he never wanted to revisit. His Alpha had ordered him, and he felt compelled to give him the ugly truth, even if he didn’t want to. Xan closed his eyes and took a deep breath, bracing for what he’d say next. Staked to the ground on his belly, his clothing ripped from him. Shame. Humiliation. What drove him to consider death as a release from the memory.
    As he opened his mouth to mention the rapes, Gee’s hand came down on his shoulder. “I think we’ve got enough.”
    The same thing Ajani’s pack could do to Liv, if he didn’t save her. His wolf roared, and his nails grew and gouged furrows into the wood floor. It went against all his instincts to remain in the room, and he had a damned hard time controlling his beast. Especially now he’d freed the alpine. He didn’t want to think about the things Ajani would do to his mate.
    “Sun sets in three hours. We have until then to save your mate. I don’t think they will do anything to her before then, not unless you surrender and make it easy for them. You have to stay inside until we have the traps ready. You will be the lure.”
    “Yeah, if they’re not already in this room, privy to all your plans.”
    “They’re not. They had to pass a test to get in here.” Ryker nodded toward the door. Xan glanced down at what he’d indicated, completely unaware until that moment, of the line of salt poured around the room and across the threshold. “Gee said the demons couldn’t cross it. Bear is usually right.”
    “Tested it on a Wolf who didn’t want to come in.