Dark Instincts (The Phoenix Pack 4)

He smiled. “I love it when you try to flatter your way into my pants.”

Roni hadn’t been positive that it would happen, but she managed to get off the jet without mutilating the flight attendant—the slut hadn’t stopped flirting with Marcus. Well, not until Roni helpfully pointed out that whale vomit was an ingredient of many perfumes and cosmetics. Hey, the girl had a right to know.

Now Roni and her fellow wolves were parked in a rented SUV across the street from the house that the jackals might potentially be hiding in. It was a decent house, in a pleasant enough neighborhood, suggesting that it had been an expensive buy. For that reason, Roni couldn’t imagine the jackals using the place as a front. They could have gotten something much cheaper elsewhere.

“By the looks of things, nobody’s home,” said Dante. They had been parked there for a few minutes, but there didn’t seem to be any activity going on, and there was no car in the driveway.

“Best to be sure,” said Marcus, absentmindedly tracing the mark he’d left on Roni’s nape. “They could be at the back of the house, in the backyard—even in the basement.”

“Ryan, take a closer look.” At Trey’s order, the enforcer exited the SUV and melted away, utterly silent. The guy was like a ghost the way he moved.

“He’s so good,” began Nick, “I’m considering offering him a place in my pack.”

Trey didn’t stiffen or growl, as Roni might have expected. “Go ahead . . . if you want your mate’s shotgun permanently lodged up your ass.”

After a minute or so of silence, Taryn spoke. “We can’t sit out here for long. You know how small neighborhoods can be—everyone knows everybody, and they’re suspicious of strange people hanging around.”

Roni nodded. “You boys aren’t exactly inconspicuous.” Trey looked like a damn highlander, Dante’s powerful build was intimidating, and Marcus’s tall, solid body—not to mention his pretty face—easily attracted attention.

Trey squeezed his mate’s shoulder. “As soon as Ryan calls, we’ll make a move.”

Ryan called a few minutes later, and Trey put him on speakerphone. “What did you see?”

“Nothing and no one. I did a check of the perimeter of the house, but I couldn’t see a single person. I haven’t picked up any noises coming from inside either.”

“Okay, then we go investigate. Hang tight. We’ll be right there.” Trey ended the call.

“If all eight of us go over there at once, it’s going to draw attention,” said Roni.

Marcus nodded. “She’s right.”

“It’ll be best if we leave the SUV a few at a time, and then enter through the back door,” Dante told them.

So that was what they did.

The side windows didn’t stand a chance against shifter strength, which meant all of the wolves were able to enter the house without breaking a single pane of glass. Roni, Marcus, Dante, and Ryan checked the bottom half of the house while the others checked upstairs.

It was apparent to Roni as she and Marcus wandered through the living room, dining area, and kitchen that the place was a family home—photographs were everywhere, drawings were stuck to the refrigerator, and there was a pile of children’s DVDs beside the TV.

In the hallway, Roni peered down at the different pairs of shoes. “If this is all a stage to fool people, it’s a damn good one.”

Marcus had to agree. “The appliances are all plugged in, and the food in the refrigerator is fresh and half-eaten. Somebody uses the place, so either the human family is real, or the jackals spend time here.”

Dante and Ryan appeared then. “We checked the basement. There’s a wine rack, and the rest is just storage space. No one’s down there.”

“I don’t smell anything here other than human. You?” Ryan asked Roni and Marcus, who both shook their heads.

Dante sighed. “Me neither.”

“Hey, guys,” Taryn quietly called from upstairs. “We found the computer.”

With the males behind her, Roni ascended the stairs and followed the Alpha female’s scent. It led her to a boy’s bedroom, where the other four wolves were waiting. The computer was placed in a little nook under a cabin bed.

“There’s no way the jackals are running things from this house,” said Trey, shaking his head.

Dante regarded the computer. “I think Rhett was right; they’ve used a virus to place the IP address on a random computer.”

“Poor kid,” muttered Derren. Yeah, the human had no idea what sadistic shit could be traced back to his home.

“Do you think this computer was selected totally at random, or is it possible that this family is connected to the jackals somehow?” Derren asked Nick, who shrugged.

“I’d say it’s random,” said Roni.

Derren cocked his head. “Why?”

“If they’re going to go through this much trouble to conceal their location, it seems odd to then place the IP address on the computer of someone who could be traced back to them.”

Marcus twirled strands of her hair around his finger. “She’s got a point.”

Taryn released a heavy sigh. “Well, it wasn’t a completely wasted journey.”

Nick frowned. “How do you figure that?”

“It answers one question for us: it tells us how they’re running the website, that they have a hacker, and that we’re not going to track them electronically. Up until now, that’s mainly what we’ve relied on.”

“If we want to hunt them down,” said Trey, “we’ll have to hunt them old style.”

“But we don’t have a clue where to start,” Dante pointed out.

Derren folded his arms. “Do you think they could be in Seattle?”

“It’s possible,” replied Nick. “But as Roni said, they’ve gone through a lot of trouble to avoid being traced. I doubt they’d want to be close to this place in case anyone traced the IP address here. They’ll want any potential hunters to be far away from them. I would, anyway.”

Taryn’s expression was resigned. “So, this leaves us at a dead end.”

Trey draped an arm around her. “For now. But not for good.”

No, definitely not for good, thought Marcus. There was no way he would allow these sick bastards to get away with the things they had done, attempting to kidnap Kye and hurting Roni in the process. For that alone, he’d happily slaughter every one of them—along with whoever uploaded the video evidence onto the website. Neither he nor Roni would allow them to get away with it. His female was delightfully vengeful. She didn’t take anyone’s shit, didn’t let anyone hurt or victimize her, or . . .