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right into Ollie’s chest.
    The short man grabbed her wrists and pulled her into his chest. She struggled against him, but his grip was like steel.
    “Now, where you going?” Ollie said with a lewd smile. “We was just getting acquainted.”
    “Let me go!” Thea said in a loud tone. She could see over Ollie’s shoulder that the alley’s exit was less than twenty yards away. She saw the silhouettes of people passing by on the sidewalk. She just needed one of them to look in and see her. She cursed herself for her stupidity in taking the shortcut to begin with.
    She knew what she needed to do. She just had to scream. As she opened her mouth, she felt the poke of something sharp against her side. It quelled the sound in her throat before it even crossed her lips.
    Kurt’s rank breath heated the skin at the nape of her neck. “I wouldn’t do that if you know what’s good for you. Now, step back into our office. Ollie and I would like to have a little chat.”
    He pressed the knife further into her side, and Thea’s eyes welled at the pinprick of pain as it sliced through her shirt. Kurt’s arm circled her waist as he lifted her up. Her breath came in hard gulps.
    “Please help me…” she whispered toward the people who now seemed so far away as Kurt dragged her backward into the depths of the shadows.
     

CHAPTER THREE
     
    He was late. After showering, Billy had sat down on the bed and started flipping through his files. He didn’t even remember closing his eyes, but he guessed he shouldn’t have been surprised. It had been a long day, and the city’s assault on his senses had taken a toll. When he woke up, he realized that he had to move it if he wanted to get to the club before the shifter fights started.
    Billy knew from various sources that on any given Wednesday night, Anthony Atwood, Kyle Frost, and Eric Carmichael could be found at their club, the Urban Dwellers. Billy thought it spoke volumes about the three men that they had named their club after their unofficial clan name. But there was one night a month where they hosted the big fights for the more well-known fighters, and shifters came from all over the country to watch them.
    It was an unusual partnership arrangement as each of the Urban Dwellers came from a different species of shifter. Anthony was a wolf shifter, Eric a panther shifter, and Kyle a bear shifter. Kyle’s family had once upon a time lived in Greyelf and been part of Billy’s clan, but the Frosts broke off their ties when they moved to Copper City.
    To have three species mingle so freely wasn’t entirely unheard of, but it was unusual. The only thing that Billy had been able to uncover was that the three men had been roommates in prep school. It appeared that their bond had stood the test of time as they were all now in their mid-thirties. Billy studied their pictures one more time before getting ready to leave.
    He paused at the mirror just inside the door. He thought that he looked reasonably acceptable for going to a nightclub. Maren had helped him pick out his wardrobe for the trip. He wore a lavender button-down shirt paired with a dark pair of jeans. He had reluctantly left his cowboy boots at home and traded up for a pair of tan loafers. Maren had assured him that he’d blend in at the club, but he wasn’t so sure. He hadn’t been anywhere near a dance club in a decade, since his years at the police academy. Those memories didn’t inspire any confidence that he would fit in now any better than he had then.
    Figuring he didn’t have any further choice in the matter, especially if he wanted to arrive in time to speak to the three owners before they were distracted for the rest of the evening. Billy went downstairs planning to hail a cab but as he stepped out into the cooling air of the early evening, he changed his mind. He knew the club was a little more than a mile away. He was in a hurry, but a brisk walk would help take the edge off his bear.
    Billy’s thoughts