Catch A Tiger By The Tail

by Charlie Cochet

  signals. Whatever his boyfriend needed. Ethan rolled Calvin onto his back, mindful of his weight. He was always so attentive, so careful with Calvin.

  Ethan’s expression turned troubled, and Calvin ran a thumb across Ethan’s bottom lip.

  “Talk to me.”

  “I could have lost you tonight.”

  “But you didn’t,” Calvin said gently. “I know this is going to be hard for us. All these close calls, the job, but we can’t let our fears come between us. I want to see where this takes us, Ethan.” He felt his cheeks grow warm, and he was having trouble looking directly at Ethan. “I can see us, I don’t know, growing old together. Complaining how music isn’t what it used to be.”

  Ethan took hold of his chin and turned his face so he could look him in the eye. He smiled warmly. “I’d love nothing more than that.” He plucked at a lock of Calvin’s hair. “I think I see some gray already.”

  “Fuck off,” Calvin said with a laugh, smacking his hand away. “You’re going to get gray hair before me because that shit’s hereditary. Look at Rafe and Seb.”

  Ethan narrowed his eyes. “Yeah, all right Mr. Smarty-Pants.”

  Calvin chuckled. He planted a kiss on Ethan’s chin, then his jawline. “I think it’ll just make you look even sexier.”

  “Yeah?”

  “Mm-hm. My sexy silver fox. Or silver tiger, rather.”

  Ethan pressed his lips to Calvin’s, and Calvin opened his mouth, inviting Ethan to slip his tongue inside. He’d never grow tired of this. He loved the feel of Ethan’s heavier weight on him, of Ethan’s warm breath against his skin, the way Calvin felt loved and needed. Ethan had always needed him, but now things were a little different. Being loved by Ethan, being in his arms was more than he could have hoped for.

  CALVIN WAS startled awake in the middle of the night by Ethan’s cell phone buzzing away. It took a moment for the sleepy haze to pass. He sat up and groaned. He was sore from their sex earlier. The thought brought a smile to his face. Ethan had been sweet and gentle, and then he’d rocked Calvin’s socks off. The phone continued to buzz from the nightstand. Who would be calling at this time of night? Shit. What if it was Thomas or Seb? He grabbed Ethan’s smartphone, frowning when he saw Letty’s picture and number on the screen. Ethan was fast asleep, so Calvin answered for him. It wasn’t like they didn’t often answer each other’s phones.

  “Hey, Letty, it’s Cal. Everything okay?”

  “Cal, thank God. I tried calling your phone, but you didn’t pick up.”

  Calvin hadn’t expected Letty’s unsteady voice. “Shit, sorry, I left it in my room. I’m, uh, not there right now. Is everything okay? What’s wrong?”

  “You and Hobbs need to get over to Dex’s house right now.”

  Calvin jumped out of bed. “What happened?” He gently nudged Ethan until he stirred awake. “Are Dex and Sloane okay?”

  “Just get over here.”

  “On our way.” Calvin hung up as Ethan sat up, his expression both sleepy and puzzled. “We have to go to Dex’s. Something’s wrong. Letty sounded worried.”

  Ethan scrambled out of bed, and they both quickly dressed. Nothing ever rattled Letty. Whatever it was, it was serious. The fact she wouldn’t tell him over the phone didn’t bode well.

  As soon as they were dressed, they put on their shoes, and Calvin grabbed his jacket and keys. They locked up and ran downstairs to the Jeep parked at the curb. Shit, it was almost four o’clock in the morning. What the hell was going on? Luckily there was very little traffic at this time, and Calvin sped through the streets trying to get them to Dex’s as quickly yet safely as possible. Ethan was quiet, undoubtedly worried for their friends. Calvin was too. Had Sloane lost control of his Therian form again? That seemed to have stopped after the whole mess with the medication had been cleared up.

  In ten minutes they were at Dex’s house. They climbed out of the car and ran up the front steps, where they knocked on the door. Letty answered and stood to one side as they went in. Calvin stopped so suddenly Ethan almost ran into him. The living room had been ransacked. Cushions were torn and scattered around, with the stuffing strewn all over. The shelves were bare, their content strewn all over the floor. Even the furniture had been turned upside down. The rest of the house looked to be in just as bad a state. Cael looked beside himself, and Sloane was pacing while Ash tried to calm him.

  “How can I calm down? He’s gone, Ash!”

  “What’s going on?” Calvin asked.

  “Dex is gone,” Sloane replied, his hands going to his head. “I can’t believe this. Look at this place.”

  Wait, that couldn’t be right. Calvin walked over to Cael. “What do you mean he’s gone? Gone where?”

  “We don’t know,” Cael replied worriedly. “Sloane woke up, and Dex was gone.”

  “Something’s wrong.” Sloane ran a hand through his hair. “I can feel it. In my gut, deep down, like… I just know he’s in trouble. God, what if he’s hurt or….” Sloane shook his head as Ash grabbed hold of his shoulders.

  “Stop. We’ll find him. Whatever’s going on, we’ll figure it out.”

  “Did you see the guys who did this?” Calvin asked. He didn’t dare touch anything. This whole place had just become a crime scene.

  Sloane took a deep breath and released it slowly. “That’s what’s most fucked-up about this. I didn’t hear a thing.” His eyes grew glassy, and he breathed in once again. “I didn’t even feel it when they took him out of our bed. He was in my arms.” Sloane blinked away his tears, anger swiftly taking over. “How is that possible?”

  Rosa stepped up to Sloane, looking him over. “My guess is someone injected you with something. How else would they be able to do all this without you waking up?” She inspected his fingers, his arms, then neck, before she motioned for him to lean in. Gently turning his head, she checked behind his ear and cursed under her breath. “They injected you with something.”

  Calvin wasn’t sure what scared the shit out of him more, someone managing to get close enough to Sloane to inject him with something without him knowing it, or the feral gleam in Sloane’s amber eyes.

  “They took him from my arms, and I didn’t feel a goddamn thing. When I get my hands on whoever did this, they’re going to regret ever stepping foot in this house.”

  “You’re going to have to find them first.”

  Everyone spun around to find Sparks at the front door. She was dressed in a black leather catsuit with a host of weapons tucked in her thigh rig and utility belt. Was that a crossbow attached to her back?

  “What did you do?” Sloane growled as he stormed over to Sparks. “You had something to do with this, didn’t you?”

  Sparks serenely walked past Sloane and into the living room, then took a seat on the coffee table. “I had hoped to be further along in his training before this happened, but unfortunately, the timeline seems to have been moved up.”

  “What are you talking about?” Sloane demanded. “Where’s Dex?”

  “I don’t know.”

  Calvin tapped Ethan, letting him know to be ready in case they needed to subdue Sloane. Their Team Leader’s amber eyes were blazing with fury. He knew his mate was in danger. There was no telling what Sloane might do.

  Sloane marched over to Sparks and threw out a hand, his fingers closing around her neck. Calvin swallowed hard and waited. He prayed this didn’t get ugly. As pissed off as Sloane was, they all knew Sparks wasn’t to be messed with.

  “Don’t lie to me!”

  “If I knew, I would tell you. Dex has been taken. I don’t know where or by whom exactly.”

  “Exactly? What does that mean? I swear, if you don’t start giving us some fucking answers, I don’t give a shit who you are or who you work for, I’m going to start causing you some pain,” Sloane demanded.

  Sparks looked up at Sloane, as if she were searching for something. Everyone waited with bated breath, when Sparks finally spoke up.

  “Dex was taken by tho
se responsible for his parents’ murder.”

  Calvin stood stunned. The rest of his team was no better off. How was that possible?

  “Wait, what?” Calvin shook his head. “Dex’s parents weren’t murdered. They were caught in a shooting that broke out in the movie theater they were at during their date night. Right?” That’s what Dex had told him. Would Dex have lied? No, Dex wouldn’t have lied about something like that.

  Sparks tapped Sloane’s hand, and reluctantly Sloane released her.

  “That’s what everyone has been led to believe, but the truth is, Gina and John Daley were there to meet with someone. Before the meeting could take place, they were killed.”

  Cael sank down onto the floor across from Sparks. “I can’t believe this. They were murdered?”

  None of this made any sense to Calvin. “Why would they take Dex now? I mean, his parents were killed when he was just a little kid.”

  “That’s a good question. We believe Gina Daley had something in her possession before she was killed. Something important. It was possible she was going to pass this information on to whoever she was meeting. However, there was nothing on her at the time of her death.”

  “That doesn’t answer why now,” Ash said. “Why, after all these years, are they making a move on Dex now?”

  “We’ll have to ask Shultzon.”

  Sloane threw his hands up. “What the hell does Shultzon have to do with any of this?”

  Sparks stood, her steel blue eyes meeting Sloane’s. “Shultzon is the one who ordered the hit on Dex’s parents.”

  An icy chill went up Calvin’s spine. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. And here he’d hoped they’d heard the last of that son of a bitch. Ethan grabbed Calvin’s hand and squeezed. The entire room was silent.

  “I hope your team is ready, Sloane,” Sparks said as she headed for the door. “You’re going to have to be if you want to get Dex back alive.”