Jaguars' Reward [Impulse 3] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) by Zara Chase

you didn’t have the same problem with Chantal. You knew she was the one for you and Vilas, just like I feel Talia’s the mate Zayd and I have been waiting for decades to find. Only difference is, there was nothing stopping you going after Chantal. If I lose control with Talia and drain any more of my power, I’ll be a dog’s dinner.” He rolled his eyes. “Or should that be wolves’ meat.”
    Rafe looked like he wanted to say something more. Vadim held out a hand to prevent him. “Leave it,” he said curtly. “There’s nothing more to be said.”
    “Come on then,” Rafe said, sighing. “Let’s go upstairs and talk it through. Bring Talia. We need to know everything she does before we decide what to do about this mess.”
    Kane and Tyrone were already in the meeting room, laptop open in front of them. They were joined by Mikael and Philo from the medical institute just as Vadim, Zayd, and Talia entered the room behind Rafe and Vilas. Zayd and Talia sat at the foot of the table, but Vadim made a point of joining Rafe at its head, twisting his chair so that Talia wasn’t in his direct line of vision. He was being petty, and he could tell that his behavior was confusing the hell out of Zayd, but it was the only way he could get through this shit. His feelings were too strong for it to be any other way.
    Rafe called the meeting to order and Vadim gave a succinct outline of what they’d discovered and surmised so far.
    “Do you know if this Wilson guy contacted your mother, Talia?” Rafe asked.
    “I doubt it. She’s half shifter and reckons she can detect a shifter at fifty paces with the wind in the wrong direction.”
    “She probably can.” Rafe looked round the table. “That must mean that Ed Finch, who was skippering the boat you were pushed from, Talia, isn’t a shifter. He got close to your mom and, as you say, she’d have known if he was a shifter.”
    “You think the wolves had something on him and got him to do their dirty work?” Zayd asked.
    “Yep, that’s the way it looks,” Rafe said. “I’m betting the two guys with him were shifters and one of them pushed you over the side, Talia. Finch’s memory will have been wiped, so he won’t be able to tell your mother what happened.”
    Talia rolled her eyes. “Charming.”
    “Wilson senior and junior both failed in getting tight with you, Talia,” Rafe continued. “They probably hoped to get you to come to Impulse voluntarily and have a crack at Vadim and Zayd. When that didn’t happen, they had to devise a way to get you here and control your actions. It was crazy risky, but it almost worked.”
    “Okay,” Kane said. “We know who, and we know why. The reason is always the same. They want control of Impulse and they’re going to try and attack.”
    “Why can’t your enemies just walk in in two and threes, combine forces once they’re here, and stage an attack from within?” Talia asked.
    “Vadim organizes a permanent mental barrier around the town,” Rafe replied. “We know if anyone undesirable is lurking before they cross the city line. The only weak area is the ocean. We’re surrounded by water, which is why Vadim’s guys are on continuous patrol.”
    “Well, I’m for sitting back and waiting,” Mikael said. “There’s been enough bloodshed around here over recent months. Besides, forewarned is forearmed.”
    “I disagree,” Vadim said. “We know it’ll be hard for them to take us unawares, but if they’re desperate enough—and they must be, given the mad stunt they pulled with Talia—we know from our history that they’ll try it anyway. And even if they don’t succeed, there’ll still be a bunch of casualties.”
    “You have a plan, Vadim?” Rafe asked.
    Vadim had straddled his chair backward and draped one arm and leg over its ladder back. “I think we need to draw Wilson out,” he said. “He wants a fight, so we’ll give him one. But we’ll take a leaf out of your book, Rafe, when you fought the