But Jo didn’t notice me clench my fists as she continued to speak. “I didn’t know they were shifters. I was…I was distracted.” She glanced at me and her cheeks pinked. “A lot on my mind, I guess.”
I resisted the urge to interrupt her, but I wanted to hear more about the men.
“I don’t even know if they were part of a pack. But I shifted to protect myself, then they shifted and pinned me against the wall.”
A growl rumbled through me, and her eyes widened.
“I think they just came to deliver a message,” she added.
I growled again. They could fucking deliver that message to me next time. I’d show them how well it had been received. “What did they say?”
“I needed to accept the next offer for Gold Moon.”
“The next offer?” I crossed my arms as I watched her.
Charmaine, who’d been in here when I entered the office, had long since sneaked away. She probably had business elsewhere. Even if she didn’t, most other wolves reacted to my alpha presence, whether they wanted to or not, no matter which pack they were aligned with. Probably every vibe I was throwing off right now wasgo away.
I only wanted to talk to Jo. No one else.
She pushed her phone farther away from her as I watched.
“Have they called you?”
She nodded.
“Since the attack?” My throat clenched around the wordattack, but she was still here. It could have turned out so differently.
She nodded. “I just ended the call. They want me to take an offer for fourteen million.”
“Who?”
“I told you, I don’t know.” She was growing frustrated as she pushed her hair away from her face, but her frustration level was nowhere near mine. “They wouldn’t say. They want to remain anonymous.”
And she’d thought those cowards on the call were from Apex? We were the exact opposite of anonymous. A company always knew we were coming. I shook my head slightly. This was bullshit.
“I think I spoke to the same guys who came after me because they told me they wouldn’t want me to have another encounter with larger strays than normal.”
“Larger strays than normal?” Nothing about this situation made sense at all.
She moved her stapler from one side of her desk to the other and aligned it next to a couple of pencils. “The wolves the other night were disturbed by one of my neighbors, who used that exact phrase when she was making a fuss about the noise.”
My rage intensified, but I pushed it down. I wouldn’t achieve anything by getting angry just now. My fury wouldn’t keep Jo safe, and it might just serve to push her away.
But my wolf chafed inside me, needing a release. It just needed a target.
“But who were the men?” Even I heard the futility in my question, and Jo straightened, her eyes lit with annoyance as she met my gaze.
“For the last time, I don’t fucking know who they were. If I’d recognized them, if I’d even known they were shifters or about to corner me, I would have done things differently. I wouldn’t have been in that position.”
Watching her assign blame to herself tied me in knots.
I changed tack. “Any idea who was just on the phone? Was the voice familiar?”
She grimaced. “How would I know? I thought it was one of you.” She sighed. “Honestly, asking me the same question again and again isn’t helping. I didn’t know the guys who followed me, I didn’t recognize their wolves, and I have no idea who I’ve just spoken to on the phone.”
Frustration electrified each of my nerve endings as I reached for my cell phone. If she couldn’t help solve this puzzle, perhaps I could. I had the contacts, after all. It wasn’t technology I usually advocated, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t get access to it.
I scrolled through my recent calls before pressing on the last one I’d made to Brody.