“Are you okay?”

Mackenzie had followed him out, and she stood in front of him with her hands tucked in the pockets of her lab coat, blue eyes apprehensive. Christ, he didn’t deserve the concern on her sweet face.

As he fumbled for an answer, he noted that her eyelids were reddened. A bit puffy. Her expression was strained, her body tense, and he immediately went on alert. “I’ve had better days, Doc. Now, same question back at you. What’s wrong?”

Some emotion that might’ve been remorse, or sorrow, flashed across her features and was gone. “Seriously? What’s right? See, I can be evasive, too.”

There was an edge to her tone that was new for the normally happy, bubbly woman. His heart sank. “It’s me,” he said softly, moving from the wall to get closer, touch her cheek. “I put that look on your face. Baby, I’m so sorry—” She stepped back to avoid contact, and the action skewered his gut like a blade.

“No. You don’t get to do that,” she snapped. “You don’t get to baby me and act like you give a damn. I’m not your problem, remember?”

The dagger in his gut twisted. “I never said you weren’t my problem or that I didn’t care. I didn’t mean to imply I felt that way.” Just the opposite, in fact.

She crossed her arms over her chest in a protective stance. “Seemed like it to me. Anyway, does that really change anything?”

He looked away, heart aching. “Maybe not. But either way, staying far away from me is the best thing for you to do right now.”

“Why? Because of this Unseelie character, Malik? He’s the one who tried to get into my head a few weeks ago and now he’s after you, right?”

He snapped his gaze back to hers. “Where did you hear his name?”

She glared at him. “I keep my ears open. I have to if I want to find out anything important around here.”

“What, you eavesdropped on our meeting earlier?” In answer, she merely arched a brow, her militant expression daring him to make something of it. He’d never seen her temper spike so fast—in fact, he hadn’t even been aware she had one. And he didn’t like being the focus of it. “Fine. Then you know what I’m up against.”

“What we’re all up against, not just you!”

“You’re the second person today to remind me of that.”

“Then you should start listening before your stubborn ass gets us all killed.”

He blew out a breath in frustration. “Working with a team isn’t as easy as you make it sound. Not for me. I’ve been alone for almost half my life, and experience has taught me the hard way that the only person I can count on is myself. I can’t change that sort of conditioning overnight.”

Her eyes softened a fraction and some of the tenseness left her posture. “Life’s been a bitch for you. I get that. But it hasn’t exactly been a picnic for the other guys, either. Or me, for that matter.”

“You?” He blinked at her. “Why? What do you mean?”

She gave a sad laugh and shook her head. “Did it ever occur to you to wonder why I gave up a lucrative private psychology practice to work out here, in the middle of nowhere, in a place that doesn’t exist to the rest of the world?”

“Because your daddy—and our boss—the almighty General Jarrod Grant, hooked his baby up with a plum assignment?” The smartass comment did exactly what it was supposed to do.

It pissed her off.

“No, that isn’t why, you jackass,” she hissed, the fire back in those glittering blue eyes. “You know, if you’d wake the hell up and pay attention, you might learn a few things about the people who want to be your friends. I suggest you do that before it’s too late.”

“Yeah, everybody’s got a shitload of great advice,” he spat back. “And maybe I don’t want or need any fucking friends.”

“You know what? I’ll talk to you when you’re in the mood to act like an adult.”

With a scathing look, she turned and walked briskly down the hall, putting distance between them as fast as she could. That’s what he’d wanted. Right?

“Dammit. Mackenzie, wait!” he called, taking a step forward.

His path was blocked by a smirking, redheaded wolf shifter who had apparently seen too much of the exchange. “Way to go, Goth-boy. What’ll you do for an encore? Twist the heads off her Barbie dolls?”

Of all the goddamned people to witness the scene with the doc, this guy was, hands down, the one he would’ve gone miles out of his way to avoid. He and Aric Savage hadn’t gotten along since the night Kalen had met the Pack in the cemetery outside town. Kalen had been investigating a series of murders and was in the process of raising a corpse to get some information from it when he’d become aware of the shifters’ presence. After a short but fierce battle, they’d gotten Kalen pinned and Jax had cheated by knocking him out.

After taking Kalen into the compound for questioning, the team had ascertained that Kalen was innocent. He learned that the Pack was looking into the same murders and that they were on the trail of Orson Chappell, the CEO of NewLife Technology. The man was using his scientists to conduct research on splicing human and shifter DNA, and he especially wanted shifters with Psy abilities like those in the Pack. Chappell and his men were murdering innocents in the process—thus the poor, mutilated bodies the local authorities had found.

But Chappell wasn’t the Big Boss. To their shock, they’d discovered that Malik, masquerading as the wealthy Evan Kerrigan, was the real power behind the gruesome endeavor to create a breed of super-shifter soldier. He’d seduced the now-deceased Chappell and many others to do his bidding.

Just as he was now trying to seduce Kalen into joining him.

But that wasn’t his most pressing problem right this second. He felt his lip curl as he glared at Aric. From day one, the Firestarter/Telekinetic had harassed and mocked him at every opportunity. How the asshole had managed to snag an intelligent, gorgeous mate like Rowan Chase—a former LAPD cop—was beyond Kalen’s comprehension.

He tried to keep his voice even, but it betrayed his anger. “Fuck off, Aric. What goes on between me and Mackenzie is nobody’s business, especially not yours.”

“See, that’s where you’re wrong,” the red wolf replied with a feral smile, clamping down firmly on Kalen’s shoulder. “Mac is—”

“Get your hands off me.”

Aric ignored his warning. “Mac is my friend. Everyone loves her, and none of us are going to stand by and watch you take a giant dump on her.”

Kalen barely heard the words as Aric’s face blurred. In an instant, memories assaulted him. Terrible ones, ghosts of other male hands in years gone by, many of them brutal. Taking what they wanted. And Kalen allowing the unwanted touches so he could put food in his empty, burning stomach.

Never again.

Mackenzie was the only one who had that right. Her hands were like heaven.

“Don’t touch me,” he said hoarsely. Inside, his panther stirred, rumbled in anger.

He’s the enemy, pet, Malik cajoled. Don’t you see? He’s done nothing but hurt you, laugh at you, just as all the others in the past have done. He would toss you back into the cold if he could. Do not give him your loyalty—he does not deserve it. Show him your power, boy! Do not accept this contempt from one so far beneath you! Show him what it means to fuck with a Sorcerer!

Aric’s lips were moving, but it was Malik’s words that resounded in his head. They held the ring of truth, and anger boiled into a barely concealed rage. Under his skin, overwhelming emotions writhed like snakes, grew, and exploded.

With a snarl, he brought up a forearm and broke the other man’s hold, then shoved him backward. Taken by surprise, the red wolf was unprepared when Kalen flung out a hand, palm up, and shouted a spell in Latin, releasing a blue sphere of pure energy.

The blast hit Aric in the chest and blew him off his feet, slamming him into the far wall hard enough to crack the plaster. His face registered shock as the energy hummed, spreading to his torso and limbs, causing his entire body to shake before it dispersed altogether. The man dropped to his knees, but just briefly. His head snapped up and his lips peeled back to bare his lengthening fangs.