Shogun almost spat but refrained. She needed to be more concerned about how her dead sister and dead niece had committed treason, rather than trying to pretend that him marrying a nice Korean female Were and bearing an heir would wipe away the sins of the past… or allow her into his advisors’ council.

How could anyone understand how the phantom pangs of holding Sasha near, his fingers playing against her supple skin, tasting her mouth, now haunted him? Even though their intimate union had never been fully consummated and had occurred long before he’d known that Hunter was his half brother, the memory of his sensual shadow dance with her refused to leave him.

It was so much worse now that he was back in New Orleans. He could almost feel her in the air and he tightened his grip on his carry-on duffel bag to keep from howling. Clan leaders could not go to war over a woman… Brothers could not go to war over a woman. Any hint of impropriety for such dubious reasons would make both men lose face. Hunter had saved his life; he had saved Hunter’s life. Shogun repeated each fact to himself, making each one a silent mantra. A fragile peace between the once rival Werewolf and Shadow Wolf Federations had been forged, had followed the prophecy of a reign of peace ushered in by an amazing female of their kind… yet she also held the keys to more than mere peace; she owned both the keys and a lock on two men’s hearts.

Tears of regret filled his eyes and quickly burned away as his cousin lowered his gaze, seeming confused and ashamed for him, but clearly not sure why. Shogun let out a slow and quiet breath to steady himself. The humor of fate was cruel. What the hell was wrong with him? This sentimental weakness was not the way of the wolf!

A few moments of reflection disappeared behind Shogun’s normally controlled façade. He squared his shoulders and glanced around at his men. He refused to allow them to witness any distress that he owned. His wolf struggled for freedom but was trapped inside his skin waiting on the full moon, waiting on her. That was a private pain that he’d take to his grave, if necessary.

“I’ll be fine,” Shogun finally said as he briefly closed his eyes, again recalling Sasha’s heated touch during their shadow dance in the teahouse, reliving it in his mind as he’d done a thousand times. “It will pass.”

The figure moved out of the shadows and stood by the tree line near the Bayou House. Within moments, Buchanan clan sentries had picked up the scent, and Butch strolled over with a smile.

“It is in place. Make sure you do your part when the time comes.”

Butch smiled, his gold-covered teeth gleaming. “Don’t worry, we will. The heads of the Wolf Federation will fall.”

“Excellent.”

Before the wolves could howl their agreement, the shadowed figure was gone.

This was absolutely insane. Returning to Ethan’s bar had resulted in nothing after an hour of talking to distraught employees. Hunter looked like he was ready to climb out of his own skin. But Sasha had to talk to Claudia, the waitress that was usually on Desidera’s shift.

“Are you sure that she didn’t have any beef with anybody around town?” Sasha said, willing her voice to remain calm.

Claudia shook her head. “Only a little fracas with Mike, but that was stupid.”

“Mike the bartender?” Sasha said, now looking at Hunter.

“Yeah,” the young woman said, her nervous gaze going between Hunter and Sasha. “He’s due in at four.”

“Uh-huh,” Hunter muttered and then fell silent when Sasha shot him a look.

“So what was this little argument about?”

The young woman glanced around and then smoothed her auburn hair away from her round face. “Okay, this was not the kind of thing I want to see a guy thrown in the dungeon about, all right?”

“That’s not what we’re here for,” Sasha said calmly. She ignored Hunter’s raised eyebrow.

“Okay,” Claudia said quickly, glancing around again. “He liked Desi, but she was way out of his league. So after he tried for who knows how long to get her to go out with him, she finally brushed him off, hard.”

“When was that?” Sasha stared into the frightened woman’s eyes. “Believe me, we are not going to be locking him up.”

“It was the day before everything happened.” Claudia let out a hard breath. “He got mad at her and said that she was the kind who would only lay down with rich kings that paid for it. But whatever she told him, he never said a mean word to her again.”

Sasha didn’t blink. “I already know about the Blood Oasis, so spill it.”

“Okay, okay, she told Mike to fuck off because she was an employee over there and when he didn’t believe her, she flashed her card. The guy went white, apologized, and left her alone, okay? Mike is a really decent guy. He’s not a… you know.” Claudia looked around quickly again and lowered her voice. “He’s not a murderer.”

Hunter wiped his palms down his face and pushed off the ladies’ changing-room wall. “Yeah, we gathered. C’mon Sasha, everything here’s a dead end.”

Hunter was right. Ethan’s place was making her skin crawl, and her nerves were so shot she could scream. Whoever killed Desidera had obviously found and removed what the poor girl had tried to stash for Sir Rodney, leaving them at yet another stupid dead end. Ethan had been virtually no help, either, not having a clue as to what it could have been-for all his Fae knowledge.

Sasha’s cell phone buzzed and it gave her such a start that her hand flew to her chest as Hunter whirled at the sound.

“Yeah!” she said without formality. “What?”

“Uhmmm… we’re outside?” Clarissa said, measuring her response.

“Be right out,” Sasha muttered and clicked off the phone. What the hell was wrong with her?

“But what if we’ve missed something in here,” Hunter suddenly said, beginning to walk down the hall, his gaze sweeping.

When he spotted the back staircase, he headed up, taking three steps at a time. Sasha was on his heels, but there was nothing to be found except storage space, a spare office, excess furniture, and old files. Above that was the attic, and Hunter stood in the middle of the floor staring up at the ceiling, sweat pouring off him.

Right now it felt like the walls of Ethan’s Fair Lady were closing in on her and she could tell Hunter also felt it-but male pride refused to let it best him. Heat in the building had risen to the upper floors that lacked the benefit of air-conditioning. To make matters worse, now she had to deal with the fact that her human crew, along with Hunter’s men, had tracked them down and were waiting outside, and still Hunter refused to relent.

“This is not going anywhere,” Sasha finally said, throwing up her hands. “Give it up, dude. whatever was here is gone. We’ve asked everybody we can ask. Look around-there are no hair fibers, not even any Were scent or blood scent up here… can we go?”

Hunter looked at her and growled. She pushed past him and headed for the stairs. The close confines and the heat were wearing her down, grinding her nerves to a fine dust.

By the time they’d reached the sidewalk, Hunter was almost panting and she could barely catch her breath. The interior air was damp but not as oppressive as the June humidity and midday heat on the streets of New Orleans. Looking at her bored, uncomfortable squad, she felt bad that she’d had to leave the rest of their team outside-but Ethan had insisted. It was also what Sir Rodney had requested, to keep as much of this as possible on a need-to-know basis only. Both Ethan and Sir Rodney wanted only her and Hunter to witness what had happened and she’d given her word.

Good thing they hadn’t needed to stay inside The Fair Lady for too much longer, because she and Hunter might have come to blows. But as the thought crossed her mind, Sasha became still… Why was she thinking of doing battle with Hunter? They’d been getting on each other’s nerves ever since they found the Phoenix, but prior to that they’d been making love and going at it like a couple of college kids. She glanced at him from the corner of her eye, noting how distressed his entire vibration seemed to be. What the hell…