Lev furrowed his brow. “You had no desire to find your pack?”
“I was told my pack died in a mining accident.”
Jesper laughed. “And you believed them?”
Katya growled at him.
Rylee towered over her. “Go wolf again and I’ll crate you for a week.”
“Sorry, mistress.”
Lev sat across from her. “Katya, look into my eyes.”
She met his eyes. “Call me Kat.”
Lev locked eyes on her and her pupils enlarged. She stared at him, without blinking. Her defiant facial features smoothed. Her breathing slowed. No longer in a state of fear, but calm. Mesmerized. Vulnerable. A perfect trance.
“Where is Svetlana?”
“I don’t know.” Her voice passive, she spoke the truth.
“What happened on the day you noticed she was gone?”
“I delivered a package across the border to another human Russian mobster known as Genrikh.”
“What was in the package?”
Kat’s breathing quickened, she fought answering the question. Lev spoke in a soothing tone. “We won’t harm you. Tell me.”
“His daughter’s finger.”
Svetlana’s intimidation modus operandi, usually followed by the head. Lev glanced at Rylee, who gave him a nod to continue. Lycans never meddled with human criminal activity, unless it involved pack members. However, Lev would get in touch with his Russian contacts to let them know about the mobster’s kidnapped daughter. “Continue.”
“When I returned, I found my mistress’ soldiers.” She sniffed the air as if recalling. “Dead for about three hours. No sign of Svetlana. The scent of four unknown human men lingered. Her abductors. I followed her scent to the villa’s helipad. They must have taken her by helicopter.”
“Are you sure there were no werewolves in the vicinity of the villa?”
“Positive. I was the only werewolf she kept. My sense of smell warned her of enemy werewolves.”
“Thorn and his team confirmed that,” said Rylee.
Lev glowered at the twenty-something beta who could have—should have—walked away from the bitch. No alpha to stop her. “Why did you stay?”
“I had no pack. My mistress promised she would tell me about my birth mother after a mission to find a rogue alpha willing to create a new criminal syndicate.”
“And did you?”
“No. As much as I wanted to learn my mother’s identity, it was too risky to approach lone lycans. I thought perhaps in another year or so I could search without raising red flags.”
Rylee lifted a brow. “You said your pack came from the Urals?”
Kat sighed. “According to Svetlana, my mother was not from Russia. She met my father while traveling and then they became mates.”
Lev suspected Anton and Svetlana killed her pack. No wolf mother would have left her mate and the pre-change wolflings. Svetlana found Kat’s weakness and exploited her. Typical. “After you realized she’d been taken by helicopter, what did you do next?”
“I broke into her safe, looking for any evidence about my mother. I found nothing. I took 25,000 Euros and made my way out. After I packed, I smelled werewolves. Your team.”
“And Thorn caught you.”