Learning To Live (Eternal Flames Book 11)

by Cree Storm

  “Lansing said they caught some chatter. The Vasquez family may know we’re coming. According to Lansing, they’ve upped their security and are on the lookout for us,” Wade said.

  Bullseye tossed a glass across the room. “How the fuck did they know we were on our way to them? The only ones that knew were right here in fucking Crystal.”

  “We have to have a mole,” Snake whispered.

  Shaking his head, Bullseye snapped, “Bull shit! None of us would betray the team like that. No, there has to be another answer.”

  Rory sighed. “I can do a system check. Maybe they found a back door in through my firewalls. However, I need to take care of the local threat first.”

  Bullseye’s eyes went wide. “You’d leave Flyer out there alone?”

  Rory firmed his stance. “Flyer is a trained SEAL, just as all of you are. And just because we can’t reach him right now does not mean there is anything to worry about yet. Flyer can take care of himself and stay safe until we find him. Can you say the same about the victims of this fucker? There is not one man that has been attacked over five foot seven and one hundred thirty pounds. He picks the guys that he knows can’t fight back. The only reason Donny was saved is because he could shift. What about the next guy, Bullseye? What about the next guy that’s small and most likely human? We have to catch this thing because as rapidly as he is transforming, he will eventually do far worse than rape his next victim. He will kill him. He won’t be able to stop himself, because the beast will take over.”

  “We can split up. I’ll go after Flyer while you guys take out the virus here,” Bullseye quickly said.

  Shaking his head, Rory said, “Bull, we need all the men we can get. This guy—we think he’s been cursed, and with each evil deed he does, he turns more and more feral. It’s why he looks so different in each still shot we have.”

  “A Naaldlooshii? Are you sure?” Bullseye asked in concern.

  “If that is a cursed man that changes into an animal each time he does an evil deed, then yes. Right now, we think he’s behind the shelter,” Rory explained.

  Wade turned to Six. “We take care of this threat and then we go and get our brother. Flyer can take care of himself until we get there.”

  Vik rushed into the room. “We’ve got a problem. The perp has a new interest.”

  Everyone took off into the other part of the war room. The shelter and surrounding area were in view on a monitor. “What’s the new interest?”

  “Not what—who,” Donny said tapping some keys then pointing to the large overhead screen. “I’ve seen the guy around, but I don’t know who he is.”

  Everyone looked up and watched as a young man with short blond hair walked to the shelter and slid a card from his pocket, then pressed it against a small box next to the front door. The Naaldlooshii started making his way out of the alley and would have pounced had the guy not then opened the door and strolled in, closing it behind him.

  “Why are you spying on Gill?” Timmy asked as he and Suneth walked into the room. Timmy cuddling a hedgehog.

  Brax gasped, “Timmy’s right, that’s Gill. He’s a firefighter with my team. What’s he doing at the shelter? I thought Wyn said he took a few days off because of a family emergency?”

  “Maybe he volunteers there?” Snake replied.

  “He never mentioned it,” Brax replied.

  Timmy walked up and looked up at the screen. “He doesn’t work there, he lives there. Well, he has for about a week.”

  Wade went to his mate, kissing him then asking, “What are you doing here? I thought you were meeting with the construction crew about the stables today.”

  Suneth smiled. “I did meet with them and they start building the barns in two weeks. I thought since it’s getting late and I had some time, Timmy and I could come here and see if there was anything we could do to help with Flyer or the rapist. Besides, I missed my mate.”

  Wade tugged Suneth to his side. “I missed you too.” Turning to Timmy, Wade laughed, “I see you have a new friend.”

  Timmy smiled and held the hedgehog high. “This is Sonic. Yorkie named him.”

  Everyone laughed, and Timmy looked around the room in confusion. “What’s so funny?”

  Clearing their throats, everyone shook their heads.

  “Gill lives at the shelter? What the hell would he be there for? I thought he came from money?” Brax asked in confusion, not paying attention to any of the other conversations.

  Savage stepped forward snapping, “It doesn’t matter why he’s there, that thing has his eyes on that prize. We need to get to the shelter, keep Gill safe, and take out the threat to our town.”

  Wade stepped forward. “Savage, slow down. We don’t even know if the thing is going to go for Gill or not.”

  “He’s lurking around, Wade. Look for yourself. That son of a bitch isn’t going anywhere. Not until he gets his man and that man is a friend of the family,” Savage practically snarled.

  “What the hell, Savage? What’s gotten into you?” Wade asked in confusion.

  Shaking his head, Savage replied, “I just—I—I don’t know. I just feel like if we don’t get there, Gill is going to pay a heavy price.”

  Wade looked at Rory. “You and I have to stay here with Donny. I want you two monitoring the screens. The rest of you have com links. You see anything, just let us know. Shadow, you and Snake are to take the far end of the alley. Oz, you, and Savage can do a fly by and let us know what you see. Brax, do you think you can give Daytona a call? I think it would be prudent to have as many of us on this as we can get. Vik, you and Baldwin take the shelter with Six. I want to make sure this guy doesn’t get in and hurt anyone.”

  “You’re going to stay here with Donny and I?” Rory asked.

  Nodding, Wade replied, “I can watch the scene and direct our movements better from here.”

  “Uh huh, and this has nothing to do with wanting to keep us safe?” Rory asked with a raised brow.

  Wade turned to Rory. “I won’t lie, I would feel better if one of us were here. As it is, I don’t want to take a chance that the man that attacked Donny won’t try and come for him again. Yes, he is at the shelter, but there is nothing to stop him from coming here and finishing what he started. That’s why Bull will be watching the outside while I cover the inside. Like it or not, I really couldn’t give a shit. I’m still the commander, Rory.”

  “Shit! I can’t fucking find him. Where the hell did he go?” Donny snapped, changing from one screen to the next.

  Wade turned to the men in the room. “Go! Catch this son of a bitch before he does any more damage to our town people.”

  “What about me?” Timmy asked.

  Wade looked down, saying, “You, my friend, are going to stay right here, where it’s safe, because I want my balls and cock to stay attached. I have plans for them later and if anything were to happen to you, York would make it very difficult for me to ever have a love life again.”

  Timmy giggled and turned to look at the screen with Rory.

  Ozzie and Teagan gave Rory a kiss.

  “I don’t like this,” Rory murmured.

  Ozzie never stopped looking in Rory’s eyes. “You have to trust us to stay safe as much as you want us to trust you.”

  “I know, but I still don’t like it,” Rory whispered.

  Snake smiled, saying, “Just think about tonight. Ozzie and I locked together as you watch—or join in. Either way works for me. I want me some gargoyle ass, so see, I have to come back unharmed or I won’t get to feel Ozzie’s ass muscles tightening around my shaft as I thrust in and out of his hole and if you want to join in, you can be thrusting in and out of mine.”

  “Oh damn,” Rory muttered, touching himself.

  Snake wiggled his brow. “Now keep that image in your mind and know that tonight, it will be our reality.”

  Rory licked his lips then whispered, “I don’t know if I can—"

  Snake cupped Rory’s cheeks, softly saying, �
�Whatever you want, Rory. Watch—participate—always your choice.”

  Rory sat at his desk and watched the monitor as his mates walked into the parking lot. Ozzie shifted into his gargoyle and waited until Snake climbed on. They took to the sky and headed towards a creature they only knew was feral and deadly. Damn, Rory hoped and prayed his mates came back to him, because come hell or high water, he was going to make love to his mates tonight and truly be one with the two men he was gifted to be with for life.

  CHAPTER 15

  As Gill made his way to the door of the shelter he was hiding out in, he suddenly got a creepy feeling like someone was watching him. Afraid to stop and look around, he quickened his pace and got to the main door. He pulled out his pass card and pressed the code strip to the lockbox and immediately he heard the small clicking noise that told him the door lock had disengaged. He grabbed the handle and opened it quickly, slid inside, then made sure to close it behind him, before he then looked out over the dark parking lot and grassy knoll area, but found nothing.

  It was always possible that someone or something was in the shadows where he couldn’t see it, but nothing moved anywhere as he scanned the area. Gill released a sigh of relief as he turned from the door and headed across the foyer. It had probably just been his imagination. He had gotten in trouble more than once when his mind wandered to different characters and stories that he had filling his head. His mother always told him that he needed to stop living in a fantasy world, and his father had insisted he grow up and leave childhood things in the past.

  It was at his father’s insistence that he get a real job and join the firehouse, but it was something Gill would never want to do. Not that he was afraid of hard work, and being a firefighter was a really hard job, and dangerous, but he knew his heart wasn’t in it and that could lead to disaster, and people getting hurt.

  When he told his father a week ago that he didn’t think being a firefighter was his thing and how he was sure the Chief, Wyndingo, was going to let him go, his father had yelled and threatened him, telling Gill he needed to get his ass back to the station and work harder. He said no son of his was going to be a worthless dreamer writing silly stories. They had an image to uphold and his father would not allow Gill to tarnish their family name in any way.

  Then he had threated to go to Wyndingo himself and talk to the man about keeping Gill on, even if he had to donate a hefty amount of money to the local firehouse to do it.

  Gill would have been so mortified if his father actually did go to see the Chief and try to give the man money for Gill to stay. One, how embarrassing is that? And Two, Gill knew the chief was an extremely honorable man and would never take the money. Safety in an emergency situation was the chief’s top priority and having Gill around without being good at the job would never work. The chief would never go for it.

  When he tried to explain that to his father, the man told him he was going to contact the firehouse in Denver and talk to the Captain there and get Gill set up with a position. When Gill refused, his father told him it was either he follow in his grandfather’s footsteps and stick with the firehouse, which according to his father would make him a real man, or he had to go back to college and get his degree in business, so he could go work in his father’s company. That was his ultimatum. There was nothing else the man would accept.

  So Gill had made the only decision he could at that point…he ran. As his parents lay asleep in their bed, he packed a bag, then left a note that he had to head into the station early and he would be on for a seventy-two-hour shift, so he would see them in a few days. He knew they wouldn’t come looking for him until he didn’t return home. Even then, it may still take them a day or two to notice he was gone before they went looking. They were both so busy with their work and social lives that Gill had always been an afterthought.

  In this case, it was probably a good thing, because it gave him at least a three-day head start. So, he had jumped in his car and headed out of town, hoping to make it to Vale or one of those other towns by lunch, but as he climbed the mountain pass that would lead him to Crystal, then beyond, it had started to snow and Gill found himself slipping and sliding all over the road. He didn’t want to crash and become a statistic, so he slowed down and took the pass very carefully.

  Once he made it to Crystal, he was going to see if he could get a hotel room for the night, but there was nothing available. Gill had sat in Twixie’s Diner for over two hours as he drank tea, ate some amazing mozzarella sticks, and wrote some story notes in his notebook, waiting for the snow to stop. When he lifted his head and stared out the window, he spotted the homeless shelter down the road and an idea hit. That would be the last place his father would ever look for him or expect him to be.

  Gill pulled his car up to the shelter and parked for the night. He could tell the place was closed, except for the residents who came and went. He decided that sleeping in his car so that he would be here bright and early to talk to someone inside was the right thing to do, so he cuddled up in the backseat and tried to get some sleep.

  It had still been early morning, the sun just peeking over the horizon, when there was a small tapping on his window. Gill found a cute guy of maybe thirty standing there smiling at him. When Gill opened the door and got out, the man, Jayce, asked him if he needed somewhere to stay. He told Jayce that’s why he was there.

  After going inside with Jayce, and then giving him coffee and a buttered roll as they talked, he filled out a few forms, which he lied on of course, and then Jayce led him to a nice size room with a queen bed, a couch, tv, a dinette, a small kitchen, and a bathroom. It was definitely smaller than his room at home, but the place was nicely decorated, perfectly maintained, and very clean.

  After that, Jayce gave him the pass card to the front door, and a set of keys to his rooms, as well as a schedule for all meals and activities in the main areas and asked if Gill would be willing to help out. Jayce told him that most of the residents helped around the place, which is why it stayed so pristine, as well as the fact that it was only a few years old.

  Gill was more than happy to help and felt like he was earning his way. He helped in the main kitchen and the dining area. He also vacuumed all the main areas every morning. Other than that, he had the rest of the day to himself and he would stay up in his room and write.

  He really missed his laptop, but there was no way he could have taken it with him. His father would have wondered why he had brought it to work with him and maybe gotten suspicious sooner and he needed all the time he could get to hide from the man. At least that had been his thinking before he found himself here at the Nina Abruzzo Homeless Shelter in Crystal and found that he really liked it.

  Besides helping out around mealtimes, everyone left him alone to do his own thing. They were all friendly and said hello and asked how he was, but no one poked their noses into his business or required his attention all the time. It was perfect for him. He was always more of a loner and an introvert, and spending time alone with his books, either reading or writing his own, was what he wanted. What he loved. So this set up was perfect for him.

  “Hey, Mack,” Benji’s friendly voice came to him from the common room.

  Gill turned and gave his new friend a smile. He hated that he lied to get a place here and again that he told everyone his name was Mack, but he needed to, to stay off his father’s radar. “Hi, Benji. How’s it going?”

  “Pretty good. Can’t complain. I had to work late at the Gas and Sip, so I missed dinner. I’m heading over to Twixie’s for a bite, want to join me?” Benji asked.

  “Thanks for the offer, but it’s getting late and I was just heading up to do some work myself.”

  The smile fell from the younger man's face and Gill suddenly felt bad. Benji was cute and all, but he was just a kid at only eighteen. Not that Gill was old, but he was nearing twenty-six. Plus, he had always had a thing for older men. Not ancient of course, but he liked older men because they knew who they were and what they
wanted. They were confident and had direction. He knew Benji had a small crush on him and he made sure to never lead the kid on, but he really had work to get to. He had a great idea for a shifter book where the shifters were all mixed up creatures, instead of just the normal wolf or lion. He was actually going to put an alligator with a flamingo, or maybe a snake and a spider together. Okay, so he hadn’t worked out the logistics yet, but that’s why he needed to get to work.

  Gill had been so lost in his own thoughts that he hadn’t realized that Benji had just turned and walked away. He caught a glimpse of the young man as he strolled out the main door, his shoulders hunched. Shit. He couldn’t let the kid walk out feeling bad.

  Gill took off out the door after Benji, catching up with him at the corner of the building just as he was about to cross the parking lot on that side. “Hey, Benji, wait up!”

  Benji stopped and spun around to face him, surprise evident on his face, as well as a small amount of hope in his eyes. “What’s up?”

  “Sorry, I didn’t mean to go off in my own head back there, but that’s what happens sometimes when I’m working on a book. Anyway, I just wanted to thank you for the invite and to say I’m sorry I can’t come tonight, but maybe some other time. Right now, I really have this character talking to me and he won’t shut up until I write him. If I try to ignore him, he’ll get an attitude with me then block me from writing anything for weeks,” Gill said with a chuckle. “So, can I take a rain check?”

  Benji laughed as Gill spoke, then nodded. “Sure, man, no problem. I’ll never understand how a writer’s mind works. Having people talking inside your head all the time must be a trip. And to have those unreal people actually give you a fuss is crazy. Go get your mind cleared and write him down. We can do a Twixie run another time.”

  Gill smiled bright. “Thanks, Benji. Oh, and I hear Toby was making some of that chocolate pudding again.”