Dimitri gave her hell right back, never letting her get away with anything.
Jaycee kept her hands balled into fists as she and Charlie walked steadily down the hill toward the house. Dimitri waited for them, resting his hands on the porch railing, his body taut, yet he had a lightness in his stance that came from the wild animal inside him.
Jaycee hadn’t spoken to him since the punishment ritual. Now, as she approached the porch, her mouth went dry and her palms began to perspire. She probably looked less than attractive, with her jeans and shirt covered with dust, bits of hay, and, she was willing to bet, a little horse poop.
Dimitri gave her a once-over with his gray eyes as she mounted the porch steps, Charlie hanging back to let her go first, as humans did.
“Hey, s-sweetie.” Dimitri’s voice was a rumbling growl. “Kendrick’s sending us to the roadhouse to see if we can snare some Sh-Shifters. Go make yourself sexy—er.”
Jaycee did her best not to flush as she reached the porch. She had to slide around Dimitri’s body to get to the door, and Dimitri wasn’t about to move. He looked down at her, fire in his eyes, as Jaycee turned sideways to go past and tried not to look up at him.
She was fully aware of every inch of him, though, and the heat of his body through his thin T-shirt, the sensation like a caress. Dimitri didn’t touch her and said nothing, only stood like a rock while she, the stream, tried to flow around him.
She finally made it to the door and inside, feeling Dimitri’s gaze on her all the way. His laughter at something Charlie said warmed her as she hurried down the hall to her bedroom and shut him out.
Jaycee leaned against the door, out of breath, her skin on fire. “Damn you,” she whispered.
The vivid sensation flooded her of Dimitri standing over her in the grass in Shiftertown, his legs around her, his hand and mouth on the back of her neck. Jaycee had wanted to combust. Dimitri had been in total command, but Jaycee had known in her heart he’d never hurt her. He’d made her feel protected but wanted, sensual and alive.
He’d held her close when he’d raised her to her feet, his gray eyes dark with emotion. Jaycee had clung to him, feeling his heartbeat against her chest, enclosing herself in his heat.
“Damn it.” Jaycee was going to burn up and die, and Dimitri would only laugh.
* * *
His mate was the sexiest thing in this bar, which both pleased and alarmed Dimitri. A mate-claim was hell.
The Shifters in the roadhouse knew she was mate-claimed—they’d have scented Dimitri on her and understood what it meant. And still they ogled her.
Dimitri couldn’t blame them. Female Shifters were few and far between, and Jaycee was worth a second look—a third and fourth one too.
She was also driving them wild. Jaycee danced by herself in the middle of the floor, and the Shifter males gathered around her. She’d chosen a brief skirt that showed off her legs and a body-hugging tank top with skinny straps that allowed the thicker straps of her lacy bra to show. The tank’s white fabric let everyone know the bra beneath it was dark blue. More enticing, in Dimitri’s opinion, than if she’d left the bra off altogether. It made the Shifters around her wonder what it would be like to unwrap the package.
She’d been wearing shoes when she’d climbed into the truck Dimitri had acquired a few months ago, but Jaycee was now barefoot, the shoes tucked somewhere under the bar’s counter.
Dimitri, at the bar, had his hands around a mug of beer as his heart burned, reflecting absently that roadhouse draft tasted like watery piss. But it was no good asking for a craft beer in a place like this.
He turned to watch Jaycee as she swayed to the music. She was a great dancer, as lithe and graceful as her leopard. A Collar winked around her neck—fake, but it only enhanced the curve of her throat. Men, both human and Shifter, moved closer to her, and Dimitri growled, his rage building.
“Man, I feel for you.” A Lupine Shifter, one Dimitri had never seen before, slid onto the barstool next to his. The Lupine’s dark hair was scruffy but not dirty, and his light gray eyes held sympathy. “She’s a beauty,” he said. “You want to tame her but not break her, am I right?”
Dimitri knew he didn’t have a snowball’s chance of taming Jaycee, but he nodded. “She’s a w-w-wild one.”
“Makes life exciting.” The Lupine nodded at the bartender, a human, who set a beer in front of him. “You’re Dimitri, right?”
Dimitri hid his start of unease. This was not the Shifter he’d fought in the ring, the one who’d stuck him with a tranq, but that didn’t mean the Lupine wasn’t dangerous.
The Lupine grinned, the wolf showing in his eyes. “Don’t worry, you’ve never met me. But I saw you fight the other night. You’re good.”
“Then you saw me get m-my ass kicked.” Dimitri forced himself to calmly take a sip of beer and not to make a face at the taste.
“Yeah, but you held out. You’d have won if your lady hadn’t barged in. Man, I laughed my butt off.”
“Like I said, she’s a w-wild one.” Dimitri shook his head, but his heartbeat quickened. Was this Lupine simply making conversation or did he have something to do with the Lupine from the ring? He might be in the same pack or clan, or a friend . . . or he might have nothing to do with him at all.
“She’s a good fighter,” the Shifter said, watching Jaycee again. “I heard your leader made you humiliate her in front of the entire Austin Shiftertown. Too bad. She didn’t deserve that.”
“No, sh-she didn’t.” Dimitri stuck to the literal truth—Shifters could scent lies.
He felt no surprise that this Lupine knew exactly what had happened with Jaycee this morning. Gossip flew through Shiftertowns and out their other side with the thoroughness of a tornado, which was the reason Dylan had decreed they’d do the discipline ritual in public. It would spread the idea that Jaycee constantly needed to be reined in, which was not far from the truth. Dylan and Kendrick had probably spent the rest of the day spreading stories about the punishment as well.
The Lupine watched Jaycee in appreciation. Jaycee turned toward them, her arms aloft while she gyrated slowly, her body pressing against the tank top, her hips moving. Fire seared Dimitri’s blood.
The Lupine laughed. “Down, son. Before every Shifter in the bar is fighting you for her.” He gave Dimitri a reassuring look. “Oh, you don’t have to worry about me. I’m mated. I’m Casey, by the way.”
He didn’t offer a hand for a shake like a human might. He simply held Dimitri’s gaze, assessing him, trying to decide where Dimitri fit in the relative hierarchy of all Shifters.
This Lupine might have nothing to do with rogues or the shit who’d tranquilized Dimitri. He might just be a fight fan. Or he might be the leader of whoever was organizing Shifters to work with the Fae. Who the hell knew?
Only one way to find out. Dimitri instinctively sensed that he outranked Casey, but he dropped his gaze after a few seconds. He needed to show he was strong but not too strong, compliant but not too compliant. A fine line to walk.
“N-nice to meet you,” Dimitri said.
“Want to go a round with me?” Casey asked. “Just you—can you keep your mate from interfering?” His eyes sparkled with good humor.
Dimitri slowed his quickening heartbeat—a Shifter would sense that too. “Sure,” he said.
“Great.” Casey took a few large gulps of his beer and slammed the glass down on the bar. “Let’s go.”
CHAPTER FOUR
Jaycee almost missed Dimitri slipping out with the Lupine. She turned in the dancing—she loved to dance—to see him giving her a long look before he followed the other Shifter across the bar to the front door.
Jaycee growled in her throat, sent a wide smile to her dozen dance partners, and turned sideways to slide through them, intent on grabbing her shoes and following Dimitri.
One Shifter, a Felin
e, put a hand out and grabbed her arm. “Forget him, angel,” the Feline, a leopard, said, pinning her with hazel eyes. “I’ll Challenge him if you want me to. Or we’ll just stay here while he runs off with his new boyfriend.”
Jaycee’s growl was drowned out by the music, but the Feline must have seen her eyes change.
“What, now you’re going to fight me, bitch?” he demanded. “Fine by me. We’ll spar, then I’ll take you when we go down.”
Oh, for the Goddess’ sake. Jaycee could easily slam the guy to the floor, but his eleven friends might object. Jaycee could hold her own, but not against a dozen—she wasn’t that optimistic.
Dimitri was waiting at the door, a scowl on his face. Any second now, he’d come storming over here, and then this stupid Feline would Challenge Dimitri’s mate-claim, and the floor would get very bloody very quickly.
Jaycee softened her glare into a smile. “Sure thing, honeybunch. What’s your clan? I’m not sure what mine is—I’m an orphan. Who knows? We might be long lost cousins.”
The Feline blinked and backed a step. It was taboo for Shifters of the same clan to mate—the instinct to keep the gene pool strong was bred deep inside every Shifter.
Jaycee took advantage of his hesitation to shake him off. She sent him a wink, as though she understood his worry, hurried to the bar to grab the shoes she’d shoved underneath, and turned to follow Dimitri, hopping to slide the heels onto her feet.
Another Shifter stepped in front of her. “I’m not in your clan,” he said with the rough growl of a grizzly bear.
Terrific. Jaycee didn’t like fighting bears—she was faster than they were, but they were big. One swat of a paw and she could go soaring across the room. Then Dimitri would storm over, and the bloodbath would ensue.
Dimitri, however, only made a faint gesture with his fingers. Instantly, ten other Shifters rose from chairs and stools and surrounded the bear.
“She’s from our clan,” said a tall Lupine who lived at Kendrick’s ranch.
Friends were good things to have. Jaycee flashed her fellow Shifters a grin, left the bear spluttering, and joined Dimitri.
“How were our guys in place to help me out?” she asked as she joined Dimitri at the door. The Shifter Dimitri had taken up with was already outside, waiting for them in the middle of the lot. “Just happened to be here, were they?”
“It pays to have b-backup,” Dimitri said without inflection. He didn’t change expression, but Jaycee could see he was pleased with himself.
“Yeah, you’re brilliant. Who is this guy?” Jaycee let her voice drop to nothing as they stepped out into the hot parking lot. The temperature that afternoon had been in the hundreds, and now heat wafted back from the asphalt.
“He wants to fight me,” Dimitri said. “Spar, I mean. Name’s C-C-C—” He broke off, face twisting in frustration. “Shit.”
Dimitri always had trouble when pronouncing unfamiliar words. It was as though he had to learn painstakingly what others picked up easily. Jaycee wasn’t sure whether this was because he hadn’t spoken English until the age of ten or if some trauma had cut into his speech. She’d heard that bad situations in childhood could lead to stammering and speech impairment, but she had no idea if that had been the case with Dimitri. He never spoke much about his life before he’d come to live with Kendrick.
Jaycee squeezed Dimitri’s hand and moved past him. “I’m Jaycee,” she said as she approached the unfamiliar Shifter.
“Casey,” he said.
He was Lupine. Gray or black wolf, Jaycee couldn’t tell, though gray was most common. Lupines had been created to be the best of all species of wolves, but they tended toward one type or the other, as did Felines.
Dimitri was the oddity. Not many red wolves around. It made him lonely, Jaycee knew, but it also made him unique—only one of him. She liked that.
Dimitri motioned to his pickup, and Casey gave him a nod, agreeing to go with them instead of insisting he drive. Casey would know they didn’t trust him, but that was fine. Shifters trusting each other too quickly would be suspicious.
Dimitri opened the passenger door of his truck, checked that all was well inside, and helped Jaycee in. His grip on her arm was firmer than necessary, and his grim face told her the Shifters surrounding Jaycee in the bar had angered him more than he’d let on. His touch was possessive, his eyes betraying his rage. Jaycee touched his hand as she climbed inside, caressing it to soothe him.
Dimitri’s gaze flicked to hers, his usual good-natured warmth gone. He was a Shifter who needed his mate, ready to ruthlessly battle those who stood in his way.
Jaycee gave his hand another caress, feeling the energy and wrath inside him. One day it would all come spilling out, bad luck to anyone who got in his way.
Dimitri sucked in a breath, gave her a hot stare, then withdrew, leaving Jaycee breathless.
She had the presence of mind to slide over and give Casey room before he climbed inside behind her. Dimitri, with his customary swiftness, had already made it to the driver’s side and was in as Casey closed the passenger door.
“Where to?” Dimitri asked as he turned over the motor.
Casey shrugged, leaning back to look at him around Jaycee. “Fight club arena?”
“Too public.” Dimitri drove slowly out of the lot. There were no scheduled fights tonight, but Shifters often went to the arena to spar between bouts.
“Where, then?” Casey asked.
Dimitri thought silently for a moment, then said, “Lake T-Travis. I know some s-spots.”
“Shifters aren’t allowed,” Casey answered automatically.
Jaycee laughed. “Shifters aren’t allowed to do a lot of crap. That shouldn’t stop us.”
Casey flashed her an approving look. “Hey, I like the way you think.”
Dimitri drove west out of Austin on the 2222 until it could go no farther, then turned onto a narrow road and headed out into darkness.
Much development had encroached on the lake even in the few years Jaycee and Dimitri had lived in and around Hill Country. Still, there were remote spots along the Colorado where Shifters could run, and Dimitri knew how to find them. Jaycee came out here with him often, the two of them scouting or simply enjoying the solitude. They’d leave their fake Collars off and pretend to be ordinary joggers or boaters while human, then shift and run through the wilderness, reveling in the freedom of it.
Dimitri pulled onto another narrow road, where the darkness was complete. His headlights cut through brush, startling rabbits and flashing in the yellow eyes of coyotes. After a time, Dimitri pulled off the road, stopped the truck, and shut off the engine.
A half-moon hung in the southeast, and the light of stars bathed the ground in faint white light. A glow to the east showed Austin and its surrounding towns, another to the south indicating San Antonio.
“Light pollution,” Casey grunted. “When I was a cub, you could see all the stars no matter where you stood. Now we have to search for darkness.”
“Yep,” Dimitri agreed. He slid out of the truck. “Sucks.”
Jaycee scrambled out the driver’s side after him. She knew exactly where they were, her Shifter vision showing her the outline of a familiar bluff overlooking a wide bend of river. She and Dimitri had come out here to run many times.
Casey climbed out and joined them, looking wary. They’d brought him far from the city, a long way from his pack, his friends, his Shiftertown. “What is this place?” he asked.
Dimitri studied the skies, his body in silhouette, then he walked to a fairly flat place on the ground and started pulling off his boots. He was finished with words, Jaycee knew.
“We come here a lot,” she answered for Dimitri. “It’s far enough from human communities for privacy, especially at night. If you’re worried, we can take you back to the roadhouse.”
She gave Casey a look
that said she only wanted to be friendly and helpful. Addie, Kendrick’s mate, had taught her the benefit of the cheerful, sympathetic tone of voice.
“No, it’s fine,” Casey said.
He toed off his running shoes and began to strip. Jaycee found a boulder to rest on, drawing her feet up. She’d be ref, was the unspoken agreement.
At the moment, she was busy watching Dimitri undress. He’d dragged his T-shirt from his broad shoulders and back, which were scarred from his bouts in the fight-club ring. Now he unself-consciously unbuttoned and unzipped his jeans, dropping them down his legs and kicking them away. Dimitri was a fine sight standing up in nothing but his tight boxer briefs, made even finer when he pulled those off as well.
He walked to a rock-free spot on the open ground. Moonlight glistened on his fake Collar and his strong body, his red hair dark under the white light. He waited, hands on hips, unaware he looked like a god. Or at least what Jaycee thought a god should look like—strong, agile, balancing on bare feet on the dirt, his hands loose while he sized up Casey, who’d finished removing his clothes.
“To first blood?” Casey asked.
“M-might be a f-fast fight. For me.” Dimitri tapped his Collar. “Only fair to t-tell you. Doesn’t work.”
“I noticed that.” Casey studied first Dimitri’s Collar, then Jaycee’s. “Doesn’t matter. I’ve trained myself to not worry about my Collar much. To first blood. Your lady stops us if we get frenzied.”
Dimitri nodded once, as though that sounded reasonable.
Jaycee rose from her place to move to the fighting area, but she clenched her hands, nervous. Casey could be up to any number of things—or he could simply be a Shifter who wanted to see what he could do against a good fighter.
Regardless, Jaycee knew she wouldn’t be able to break up two males in the throes of fighting frenzy. Shifters could become what humans called berserk—a reference to Norsemen who fought with mindless ferocity. When Shifters got too far into fighting, nothing could stop them short of a heavy dose of tranquilizer. Jaycee had a small syringe in her pocket tonight, tucked there in case they found Shifters who objected to being spied upon, but getting close enough to use it would be the problem.
Red Wolf Page 4