Free Chance Fur Hire (Bears Fur Hire 6) by T. S. Joyce

thing that kept your numbers low.”
    “Wrong. She’s fixing the things that keep us miserable. Our numbers will never be a problem. We’re resigned to stay secret. It works best for us this way, so we are careful with who we tell. Shifter law says we keep the knowledge of what we are to mates only, on pain of a kill order, given by Clayton Silver.”
    “He worked for my dad. He works for my uncle still. My family has been funding him.”
    “Yeah, we figured that out after he tried to manipulate Dalton into a Hell Hunter trap set by your dad last year.”
    “The hanging scar on his neck?”
    Chance looked sick. “It was close. Your dad had shifters helping him. Traitors. They hung Dalton, and I was a wolf, trying desperately to keep his feet propped up enough to let him breath through that fucking rope.” His voice shook on the last word, and he clenched his jaw, staring at his hands. “I had a cougar shifter on me, and I had to give my back to him and take his claws and teeth so I could save Dalton.” Chance leaned back and lifted his shirt to reveal his ribs. He exposed his chiseled chest and washboard abs, but it wasn’t his strong physique that ripped a gasp from her throat. Long red claw marks and puncture-wound scars decorated his torso.
    “Oh, my God,” she whispered, horrified. She couldn’t even imagine the pain he’d endured.
    Chance dropped the hem of his shirt back into place. “Vega, your dad, had dragged Kate inside the house, and one of his men was pouring gasoline on the outside. They were going to burn her alive if Link and the Silvers didn’t get to us in time. Dalton had been through so much, and I thought he would have to watch his mate burn with the last few breaths of his life.”
    “That’s when you killed my dad.” The taste of the word dad was bitter against her tongue.
    “Yeah. Dalton Changed and slipped the noose, and Link allowed him revenge for what Vega had tried to do to our family. To our pack. To Kate.” Chance lifted his lightened gaze to hers and murmured low, “Your dad went quickly. I don’t know if you need that for closure, but Dalton didn’t make him suffer. He just ended it.”
    “Well, that’s good.” Emily pursed her lips and tried to wade through the wash of emotions roiling through her. Anger. Sadness. Regret. Relief.
    “That’s good? Em, he was your father. You’re allowed to have feelings about it.”
    “Feelings,” she murmured softly. “I spent the last year training to disable wolves with traps, to tie a hangman’s noose, to use knives to maim the main tendons of both animals and men, and the proper techniques on burning houses with people in them. Not monsters like my dad called them, but people . I have spent the last year feeling nothing but hatred, fueled by my ailing uncle so that I could get a job done. A job I am now realizing was a pretty word for murder. So I guess I should feel pity that my dad died alone and with a bitter heart, but all I really feel is that the bastard deserved what he got.” Her voice hitched, and her shoulders sagged with a sob she didn’t stop fast enough. “And I guess I feel like I’ll never be good again because I let Vega blood taint me when I should’ve stood up to the men in my life and told them none of this felt right. I’m the worst one for that.”
    And Chance was there, standing beside her, hugging her to his hips and stroking her hair as her tears darkened the blue fabric of his jeans. “Shhh. You aren’t the worst one. You listened to what was fed you your whole life. You’re not bad.”
    “I was going to kill you, Chance.”
    “But you didn’t.”
    “But I wanted to because that was the only way to avenge my father. I thought your death was the only thing that would make me okay again. That’s insane! How can you stand to touch me?”
    “Because,” he growled, kneeling in front of her and gripping her arms too tight. “You aren’t a Hell Hunter anymore. Do you hear me? Fuck your