“To be fair, she hasn’t exactly gone shopping or anything,” added Marlon. “And there was no way she was ever going to sit around relaxing when she knows she has the hearing tomorrow. She’s actually been pretty calm this past week, all things considered. Plus, she has Ally with her. They only left, like, a minute ago. You could probably catch up with them.”

“Where are they headed?” asked Derren.

“To see Donnie at the outdoor shooting range.”

Zander had seen the range during his patrols. It was a pretty sweet setup. Donnie had constructed a simple outbuilding with a short row of shooting benches on the firing line. Various homemade targets had been set up at different ranges. The closest was approximately twenty-five yards away, and the farthest was more than one hundred yards away. At the back of the range was a wall of rubber tires to stop projectiles.

Zander gave Marlon a curt nod and then strode out of the house, with Derren and Bracken close behind him. As they approached the range, his wolf snorted at the scents of gunpowder, hot metal, and lead. They were faint, which suggested no one had shot anything recently. Apparently, Donnie hadn’t yet begun.

Rounding a cluster of trees, Zander saw the two females crouched near a huge black case, which Gwen was looking through like it was a treasure trove.

When his mate pulled out a whopper of a gun, Zander growled, “What are you doing?”

Chewing gum, she gave him a cursory look, then focused on the weapon. “Flossing my teeth. What does it look like I’m doing?”

Even from there, he could smell the gum on her breath—it was strawberry flavored. “Put that down before the damn thing goes off. I thought you were inside the house.”

She sighed. “This again?”

“Gwen.”

“I can’t talk. I’m introverting right now. You’re disturbing me. That’s not good, because I’m already pretty disturbed.”

“Gwen.”

“Stop being snippy.” She eyed him, dubious. “You’ve been moody lately.”

He had. It was wearing on both him and his wolf that they hadn’t yet claimed her. Especially because they knew she would be safer with the bond. Zander would be able to sense her and feed her energy if need be. “You said that you’d stay inside.”

“No, I said that if you needed me to stay inside, then I’d stay. But you didn’t need me to; you just wanted me to—there’s a difference.”

Zander opened his mouth to argue . . . but he couldn’t. It had been a sneaky move on her part—a move similar to those he’d seen Shaya use on Nick dozens of times. He should have recognized it. He shot Ally a hard look. “I would have thought you’d have kept her inside.”

Ally shrugged. “I didn’t really want to bring her out here, but I couldn’t claim that she was breaking a promise to you. Plus, she has her own mind. I’m here to protect her, not smother her or tell her what to do.”

“Awesome,” breathed Bracken, staring at the array of weaponry in the box. Zander didn’t have a clue what the models were—he fought with tooth and claw. But Bracken was a Call of Duty addict, so he probably had a fair idea of what he was looking at.

Zander turned back to his mate. “Not sure if Donnie will like you touching his stuff, Gwen, but I really don’t like it.”

She pursed her lips. “Hmm.”

“Gwen.”

“Don’t interrupt me while I’m ignoring you—that’s just rude.” Gun in hand, she clicked the mag into place and then swerved to face the targets. “There are ear and eye protectors in the box, if you want to use them.”

Wait, she was planning to shoot? Before Zander even had the chance to object, she fired. Several times, in fact, sending shiny casings scattering across the ground. By the end, Zander was gaping, because she’d hit every single target dead-on.

Bracken gave an appreciative whistle. “Wow.”

Derren tilted his head, grinning. “You can shoot?”

Gwen shrugged. “I’m not as good a shot as Donnie, but I’m okay.”

“That’s better than okay, Gwen,” said Bracken.

Gwen carefully put down the gun and then looked at Zander. “I don’t know what will happen when I tell the council the truth at the hearing tomorrow, but I know the aftermath will be bad. I intend to be ready for it—hence the target practice. You can stay and watch and frown as if I’m a kid playing with her daddy’s shotgun, or you can go, and I’ll see you in an hour or so.”

Zander crossed to her and gently pulled his mate to him. “You’re a woman with hidden talents.” He kissed her neck, breathed her in. While a part of him balked at the idea of her holding a dangerous weapon, the rest of him—his dick included—was totally turned on by how competent and badass she looked when she aimed and fired. He knew exactly when she realized just how hard he was, because she smiled up at him.

“Zander Devlin, you’re a weird one.”

“What’s in the other box?” Bracken asked.

Gwen moved to the smaller box and unlocked it, revealing plenty of self-defense items—some legal, some not so legal. “Donnie believes in being prepared, as you may have noticed.”

As Zander settled on the gun bench, Gwen reset the targets and then switched weapons. He watched as she dug some bullets out of a box of ammunition with utter ease and confidence and quickly and expertly loaded the gun. “It’s wrong just how hot I find it to watch you do that.”

Gwen laughed. “You sure you guys don’t want to wear ear protectors? This must be hard on your enhanced hearing.”

“I doubt it’s much harder for us than it is for you. Noise is noise. Besides, I’m not going to use ear protectors when my woman isn’t wearing them—I’ll just look like a pussy.”

She laughed again. “Zander, you could never look like a pussy.” Gun ready, she turned to face the targets. As taught by Donnie, she automatically shifted her weight to find her balance and let that familiar sense of calm wash over her as she steadied her breathing. Narrowing her focus on the target ahead of her, she pulled the trigger. Adrenaline spiked within her as the bullet tore through the center of the circle.

Again and again, she fired, hitting her target every time. Appreciating her handiwork, she smiled. Yeah, she still had it.

While the Mercury wolves sat back and watched, Gwen used a series of guns to hit her targets. It was as much about blowing off steam as it was about practicing to keep her skills sharp. She needed time to just filter out all the bullshit by having a task that required her complete focus. This way, she didn’t have the time or opportunity to sit and contemplate the hearing.

A little while later, Donnie kicked aside a few casings as he approached. “You done?”

She rolled back her shoulders. “Yeah. Just keeping my skills sharp. You ready for whatever comes next?”

“Born ready.” Donnie crossed his arms. “Traps are all set. I already showed your friends here where they are so they know to avoid them.”

“Good.”

“That wolf was damn lucky he didn’t fall into one or set any off.” Donnie huffed. “He’d better not come back. He’ll get a shock if he does.”

Zander’s heart slammed against his ribs. He slowly pushed to his feet. “What wolf?”