Eli smiled. “Catarina’s not there yet. She’s still finding out she doesn’t have to hide who she is, but it’s coming.” He took a long pull on the beer, his eyes still on his woman, on the child and the way the two laughed together.

Catarina straightened abruptly and indicated that the child should move away from the stove. She picked up the heavier bowls and took them to the table, preventing Emma from lifting them. She did it smoothly, so Emma wouldn’t notice. He glanced at Jake. Jake noticed.

“Your woman is observant,” Jake mused.

“Yeah. She pays attention to detail.”

“Do you think she paid attention to detail in Cordeau’s house while she was growing up?”

“That’s the crazy thing. As intelligent as I know she is, as resourceful, it wasn’t until a couple of weeks ago when we ran into your crew at the fence line and we were talking with Elijah that I realized she probably knows everything about his business and the people he does business with. Before, under Cordeau’s roof, she was off limits, and they all thought she was just an uneducated mouse. Now, they’re most likely thinking she’s a threat to them.”

“She is a threat to them if she can name names and pinpoint who’s dealing what. There’s a trail, Eli. She might just be the key to that trail.”

“I’m not using her to get Cordeau. I quit my job over that shit and it isn’t happening again.” There was a hard edge to his voice. He liked Jake, but he wasn’t going to back down. He didn’t have that in him. He’d protect Catarina even at the risk of his friendship with Jake and the other shifters.

Jake laughed. “You’re too much like me. That’s not what I meant. You’re still thinking like a DEA agent. You have to think like a shifter.”

“I’ll kill Cordeau when he comes after Catarina. Won’t lose any sleep over it and won’t hesitate.”

“I get that. Any of my boys or me would do the same. He’s rogue. He’s got to go. Probably have a couple of lieutenants that are rogue as well. We’ll have to find out which ones. I’m a businessman. I go after wealth and businesses and take my enemies down that way. If your woman knows bank accounts and partners, if she knows the kinds of deals going down, Elijah, you and I can take Cordeau’s empire apart bit by bit. The men he’s in bed with won’t see it coming and won’t know what hit them until it’s too late. They’ll turn on one another. They always do when suddenly irrefutable evidence of their guilt is all over the papers and agents are on their doorsteps.”