“Well, then that’s out. It’s just inhumane.”

Richard turned his head slightly to regard him. “But we’re not human, Tucker. You seem to forget that. And our first priority has to be the pack.”

“But there must be other humans who know about you. You said my mother told my grandparents before she died.”

Richard nodded. “Yes, some family members of the pets do know something about our nature. But we’re careful to decide who is given information. Close family members of the pets have a stake in keeping our secrets. Their children’s happiness is at risk, after all. But we’re very selective in who we tell. We have natural pets who work with us in the police departments and various state agencies to help ensure our privacy. Not much is left to chance, Tucker.”

“At least let me go see him. Then if I see it’s not working, we can bring him to the lodge and make a decision about what to do. I understand what you’re saying, but I won’t be a party to hurting him in any way. He’s always been a good friend to me. You can go with me to make sure he doesn’t throw me in his trunk or whatever,” he said, with a slight rolling of his eyes. Putting a hand on Gavin’s chest, Tucker leaned into him. He was making his appeal directly to Gavin, who he knew had trouble denying him anything. If Richard hadn’t been so irritated, he might have had a grudging admiration for how manipulative his son could be.

“Okay, honey, you can talk to him,” the alpha said. “But keep in mind that it probably won’t do any good. If he continues to not believe what you tell him or if it looks like he’s going to make trouble, then bring him here and we can decide what to do.”

“Let’s cross that bridge when we come to it, okay? I think I can talk to him and convince him to go back home and leave us alone. Let me try, anyway.”

Gavin nodded and pulled Tucker into his arms. Over his shoulder, he gave Richard a significant look. They’d give Tucker his chance, but if this man was as persistent and stubborn as Tucker was, Richard didn’t hold out much hope that it would work.

* * * *

Coming back to the present, Richard signaled to Tucker to step outside the hotel room with him. Tucker inclined his head slightly and turned to Kevin, who was getting his things together to leave with them. “Go ahead and get packed. I need to speak to Richard a moment.” At the detective’s look of alarm, he smiled and put a hand on Kevin’s arm. “I’ll be just outside the door, don’t worry. I won’t leave without you.”

Kevin nodded, and turned to get his things from the bathroom, while Tucker followed Richard to the corridor. Once outside the room, Richard regarded his son, who shifted restlessly from foot to foot. Taking Tucker’s hand in his, he spoke softly to him. “I want to make sure you realize he won’t be leaving the lodge again if he goes with us. But at least you’ve had your chance to talk to him.”

“I know, and I feel like shit about this. I’m betraying him, but I don’t know what else to do. He’ll make good on his threats. Since I couldn’t convince him to keep his mouth shut, he’ll be assimilated, won’t he?”

Richard shrugged, looking uncomfortable. “It does seem as if no one knows he’s here. Assimilation would work, I suppose. You told me his parents live in another state?”

“Yes, taking care of Kevin’s elderly grandparents. They won’t be concerned for a while, at least.” He gazed up at his father. “But eventually they’ll come looking for him.”

“If we decided to take him into the pack, then by that time, he’d be recovered enough to be able to talk to them himself and make reassurances. It seems like we have about a week before anyone from Florida gets concerned, and even then they wouldn’t know where to look for him.”

Tucker glanced back at Kevin through the partially open door. Kevin had finished his packing and was sitting on the bed, probably trying to overhear what they were saying.

Richard put a hand on his shoulder. “I don’t think there was anything else you could have said that would have made him leave without seeing for himself, son. He’s pretty damned stubborn. At least this way, we don’t have to take him by force and possibly cause him an injury.” He glanced over at Kevin, who was staring at them suspiciously. His dark, sooty lashes contrasted with the fair skin of his cheeks, and his eyes were narrowed in concentration. Richard felt another strong stirring in his groin and shifted his feet. What the hell was the matter with him? He leaned down and whispered in Tucker’s ear. “He’s a fighter.”

“Yes,” Tucker said, crossing his arms over his chest. “He always has been. And now he’s in this mess because of me. Damn it, it’s all my fault. He came after me to help me, and I’m screwing him over.”

“He’s in it because he’s pigheaded. Not to mention jealous.”

“Dad, put yourself in his place. Wouldn’t you try to help me escape if you thought I was being brainwashed and held against my will? Can’t we talk to him and try to convince him to keep quiet about all this? If we could convince him we’re not any kind of threat to humans…”

Richard shook his head. “It’s not only up to us. The other two alphas have a say in this as well. Too many lives could be ruined if word gets out.”

Richard was silent for a moment, gripping his shoulder. “There’s nobody to blame here. You’re both doing what you have to do. Now let’s get your boy here back to the lodge. It’s a good thing the hotel owner is one of us. We should be able to get him to erase any evidence of his stay here, just in case.” He glanced over at the man sitting on the bed. “Your friend’s going to be supremely pissed and hard to handle when he realizes what’s happening.”

Chapter Two

Following the big SUV along the dark, twisting mountain roads, Kevin glanced over at the big man sitting next to him. Damn, the asshole was good looking. The light coming off the dash highlighted his high cheekbones and accentuated the planes of his scowling face. He was obviously not happy about something. Kevin supposed he was upset because he was going to this lodge of his. Fuck him. Kevin shifted his gaze firmly back to the road, even as his cock enthusiastically agreed with him.

As he’d feared, Tucker drove the SUV. Richard had not allowed him to ride with Kevin. He was probably afraid Kevin would take off with him if he got him alone in his car. Damn right, too. So he’d half expected to be told to follow them to their mountain lodge. What he hadn’t expected was that Richard would slide into the front seat of his car with him. “You don’t mind, do you?” he’d asked. Kevin knew it was a rhetorical question.

“In case we get separated on the dark mountain roads,” Richard explained. “It’s easy to lose your way if you don’t know where you’re going.”

“Why not?” Kevin agreed, trying to hide his reluctance. It was bad enough to have him sitting so close to him, let alone be so affected by his presence. For one thing, his cologne or his natural smell, whatever, was driving him crazy. It was a clean, woodsy, outdoor scent, mixed with something slightly musky underneath. Whatever it was, it was making his cock thicken in his damn crotch, and he hated the idea of being so attracted to this man.

Despite his physical attraction to him, he hadn’t forgotten lying helplessly on his back on the bed with this guy’s hand at his throat not an hour earlier. He figured he had bruises coming up already. Strange how big and powerful these men were. Gavin had been huge too, and the reports were that all of the men traveling with him to Florida had similar builds. Tucker had spoken of a family, and it was possible, of course, that their size was a family trait. If so, this bunch had certainly won the genetic lottery, if they were all as handsome and well-built as Gavin and Richard. And none of them, according to the investigator’s reports, appeared to be over the age of thirty or so. It was mysterious, and Kevin hated mysteries.

Lost in his thoughts, he was following the tail lights of the SUV in front of him when a deep voice broke into his thoughts. “You’re wasting your time, you know. You won’t seduce Tucker away from Gavin.”

Kevin turned his head sharply toward the man in the seat next to him. “What makes you think I want to seduce Tucker?”

“I see the way you look at him.” Richard turned his gaze toward Kevin. “He’s in love with Gavin. They’re married for all intents and purposes. Tucker is a loyal person, and he thinks the world of you, but only as a friend. You’ll never be more than that to him.”

Stung by his words, Kevin snapped at him. “What the hell is any of this to you? Why don’t you let me worry about it?”

Richard glanced over at him, his dark brown eyes gleaming in the light from the dash. “So long as you know…” he said cryptically and focused his gaze back on the road. “Besides the two of you would never have worked out. You both need a strong man to be in charge of you.”

Kevin shot him a furious look. “What the hell do you know about me?”

“I know that when I put you down on the bed back there in the hotel room, your dick was as hard as a rock.”

Kevin could feel his face flaming, and he was glad for the dark interior of the car. “You don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.”

“Okay,” Richard answered serenely, staring out at the road ahead. “Don’t get pissed off. Forget it.”

“You better hope I’ll forget it. I could still bring charges against your ass for what you did back there.”

Richard made an inscrutable little grunt, and for the next few miles there was silence in the car. Kevin was furious. Mainly because the son of a bitch was right. He had been a little turned on, and he didn’t know exactly why.

“Why are you so convinced Tucker is in some kind of cult? Does he seem different to you?”

Tightening his grip on the steering wheel, Kevin huffed out a long breath. “Not exactly different, no.”