by Beverly Rae
Syd’s elbow in his ribs brought him out of his thoughts. He needed to keep his mind on the conversation at hand before he ended up making a mistake. “No kidding? Are you saying werewolves really exist?” He turned to Syd and dropped his jaw wide in feigned shock. She squinted her eyes at him, warning him to behave.
“Oh, they exist all right. They walk among us.” Skeller dropped his tone lower to speak softer—and meaner. “Only a few people know, but they live and work among us. They could be your boss or your next-door neighbor. In fact, they can even talk like us—even while they’re in animal form.”
“You’re kidding me. You mean like Mr. Ed? No, wait. He was a horse.” Jason tried to look appropriately dumbfounded. “How can they talk like us?” He knew he shouldn’t, but he couldn’t resist baiting the guy.
Skeller raised his hand toward the heavens. “My hand to God, it’s true. Who knows how the devil’s spawn can do what they do? But we hunters”—he pointed at himself—“spend our lives devoted to tracking them down and killing them. For the sake of our fellow citizens.”
“No shit. I guess we’re all lucky we have you guys around, huh?” Jason put on a serious expression and hoped his acting skills were up to the task.
“Damn straight, you are.” Skeller took a few steps toward Jason, wrinkled his nose and halted in his tracks. “Are you sure we haven’t met before? You look very familiar.”
“Trust me, I’d remember you.” Jason stretched his lips wide and hoped the hunter would understand his true meaning. Yet he should’ve known his subtle attempt at a challenge would go right over the man’s thick head.
“Maybe you two met at a meeting?” Syd’s mother realized her mistake the split second after she’d spoken. She stammered a moment and tried to cover her blunder. “I mean─”
“At a hunters’ meeting?” Skeller studied Jason closer. “You think so?”
“No. Uh, I’m sure Mom meant another kind of meeting. Or maybe at the hardware store. Jason’s into home repair and—”
“Hey, I have an idea. We’re always looking for new recruits. Brave men who aren’t afraid to rid the world of the evil among us.” Skeller turned his pointed stare—a dare any man would recognize—at him while talking to Syd. “Or is your friend too busy soaking himself with girly-smelling perfume to man up?”
Jason prickled at the overt jab at his masculinity and almost growled his retort. “I’m more man than you’d ever want to find out.” Or should I have said, “More than just a man?”
“No, wait, Skeller. He didn’t mean he wants to go. Besides, he can’t go now.” Syd made an incredulous face. “I mean…who goes hunting in a suit?”
“Syd’s right. I’m not dressed for hunting.”
Skeller scoffed at their excuse. “Sure you can. It’s not like we’re going huntin’ in the woods.”
Both Syd and Jason started to object again, but her father’s features brightened and he struck a thumbs up. “Good. Let’s go. I dropped by to get Sydney to come along, but the more the merrier.”
Syd’s mouth fell open and Jason grumbled protests when Skeller moved to place himself between the two of them. Grimacing at the stench, he gripped one arm of each of them and propelled them toward the front door. “No time like the present. Our meeting starts in half an hour.”
ƒ
“Skeller, can we talk? I don’t think this is a good idea.”
The short drive to the meeting had left Syd dazed and in a panic. She’d remained silent, praying to find a way out of the awful predicament. Jason, stinking up the car with his cologne-covered body, sat pinned in between Miriam and Skeller in the back seat, his brawny hulk scrunched together like a large totem pole stuck between two tiny natives. His face, as unsmiling and emotionless as a Native American’s face carved in said totem pole, scared her.
Would he freak out and shift at the meeting? Or would he take off when she stopped the car? Not that she would blame him. Either way, how would she explain it to her father? She frowned and tried to remember their conversation in her apartment. Just how had her father cajoled her into driving them to the meeting anyway? “The ride will give us a chance to get to know your new friend.” At least she’d managed to hog the conversation, keeping them from asking Jason any probing questions.
She’d prattled on about nothing in particular, her mind unable to stop the avalanche of questions tearing at her—all of them starting with if Jason survived the night… If Jason survived the night, how would she get him home? If Jason survived the night, would he ever forgive her? If Jason survived the night, would he still want her? And worse…if Jason survived the night, would she ever see him again?
“Honey, I could tell by the tone in your mother’s voice when I walked in that this boy means something special to you. Which means, I think it’s only right he gets to know us Skellers better and see what we do.” Syd glanced in the rearview mirror, catching her father punching Jason’s left arm in the typical buddy-to-buddy way. “Besides, we need new meat in the group. Even rank-smelling new meat.”
Syd checked again and caught Jason’s hard stare. If only Skeller knew what kind of “meat” Jason was. She shook her head and tried again, “Don’t you think this is something we should let Jason decide? After all, it’s a hunters’ meeting, not a bridge game we’re forcing him to attend.”
She braked for the car in front of her. When the container of snacks her mother never seemed to be without slipped toward the front of the passenger seat, she grabbed them and caught a glimpse of her own frantic expression in the chrome of the dash. Hooray for me! I saved the homemade brownies my hunter-father and my were-lover can share at the meeting. Can this day get any weirder?
“Naw, you don’t mind, do you, son? I don’t know why, but I get the feeling this boy knows his way around hunters.”
Jason blinked at her in the mirror and she could almost read his mind. Yup, he knows his way around hunters, Skeller.
“Park over there by the front door, Sydney.” She obeyed, letting her car roll into a space close to the barrack-like building used for a variety of clubs’ meetings, including the Elks, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, and the hunters. Yet before the vehicle had come to a complete stop, Skeller was half out of the car and yanking Jason along with him.
Syd whipped around to hiss, “Mom, we’ve got to stop this. He’s taking a shifter to the meeting. If they find out what Jason is, they’ll skin him alive.”
Her mother turned her white face toward her. “I know. I don’t know what I was thinking when I mentioned the meeting. I’m so sorry. Then when your father suggested you drive us, I simply couldn’t think of any way out.”
“Tell that to Jason when he’s lying in a pool of blood.” Or their blood, if he gets a chance to shift first. Syd threw herself out of the car and raced after Skeller and Jason. She reached them a second after her father pushed the door wide, thrust Jason inside the smoke-filled room and stepped in after him. Syd gathered her resolve and plunged through the heavy ornate door of the lodge house.
“Fellow hunters! Meet Jason, our newest prospective member.”
At last, Jason appeared to unfreeze from his silent stoniness. “No!”
Friendly faces dropped their welcoming smiles and gawked at him. Skeller turned to him and scowled, “What do you mean, no?”
Jason met her frightened gaze with a stunned one of his own. “I think, uh, I guess I mean I’m not fresh or prospective?” Uncertainty crinkled his forehead.
Skeller pushed him deeper into the milling crowd, causing men to back away from the rank newcomer. “Eh, don’t mind the smell, men. We all have our quirks and this guy happens to like wearing a lot of cologne.” Skeller spun around to wave Syd into the mix. “Cologne my daughter likes.” Murmurs of understanding greeted his explanation.
Syd followed the two men, hunter and shifter, toward the crowd. Yet, instead of following Skeller and Jason into the center of the group, she lagged on the edges. So far, no one had said anything about
smelling werewolf, so her pulse slowed down to somewhere near its normal rate. Nonetheless, she was determined to get Jason out of the building at the first possible opportunity.
“Are you telling me this person and Sydney are together?”
The low voice of her ex-boyfriend had her head whipping to the side. Max Tiller moved from the throng of people opposite her to stand next to Skeller and Jason. Max’s stocky frame bumped against Skeller’s squat form in greeting. Although Max was taller than her father, he was still a half foot shorter than Jason. Her mate’s lean, muscled hardness made Max’s bulk look flabby, while Jason’s silky hair was a direct contrast to Max’s razor-short crew cut. In fact, the young hunter’s build was very similar to her father’s box-shaped chunkiness. Funny how I’ve never noticed the similarities before now. Urgh. Enough with the observations, Syd. Figure a way out of this mess.
In seconds, the atmosphere surrounding the two men thickened, with Jason matching the animosity in the other’s tone. “Yeah, we’re together.”
Max stretched his neck to try to appear to be Jason’s height. “No kidding?”
To credit his bravery or lack of common sense—Syd wasn’t sure which—Jason took a couple of steps forward, putting his nose within inches of Max’s. “Nope. Not kidding.”
The throng of men around her sensed a fight and moved closer. She was trapped between the hunters and unable to move in any direction. All she could do was watch, wait and pray.
“I don’t believe you. I can’t see Sydney dating a guy who looks like you. Much less one who smells like you.”
Skeller, who’d watched the interaction in fascination, stepped in. “Now hold up. He’s a metrosexual. Which means he’s not gay. Just different.”
“He’s a what?”
“A metrosexual. Don’t you know anything? A metrosexual man is a guy who likes prissy stuff like cologne. But he still likes women.”
“Oh…”
Syd could see the hunters trying to understand the new word and its meaning. She nodded at them, hoping to help their comprehension move a little faster. Putting her hands on the man in front of her, she pushed her way closer to the trio. “Skeller, don’t you think─”
“Sydney, babe. How’s my girl?” Max grabbed her, encasing her in a bear hug. Gasping, she wished she’d taken a big breath of air before he’d crushed her arms to her sides. How had she ever liked his hugs? How had she ever liked him?
Jason’s soft-yet-threatening growl jumpstarted her into action, and she wriggled her way out of Max’s hold to take Jason’s hand. “I am not your girl, Tiller. Why can’t you get that through your thick head? I broke up with you, remember?”
“Aw, come on, Sydney. You know you’ll always be my girl. We’re just taking a short break, is all.”
To keep Jason from growling again—and to drive home her point to Max—she whirled around and planted a kiss on Jason’s lips. For a moment, she worried about his lack of response but, at last, he tugged her to him, then slid his hand around her neck to keep her mouth against his. A minute or more passed before he let her go, breathless and ready for more.
Jeers and catcalls echoed in the hall around them.
“Looks like he’s put his claim on her, Max-man.”
“She never kissed you like that.”
“Hey, Sydney, how about puckering up for everyone?”
“Woo-hoo! Lock and load, baby. Lock and load.”
Yet her father’s voice rang out louder than the rest. “Sydney Skeller, you’d best behave, girl.”
Syd reluctantly broke away from Jason, who winked his special wink at her. She grinned at him and pressed her fingers to her lips, already swollen from the intensity of their kiss. “I’m only trying to get Max to face up to the truth.”
“Never you mind. Max understands, don’t you?”
Her ex glared at Jason before squaring off at her. “I understand this. Sydney belongs with me.” He snarled his words at her. “And no one else.”
An amber flash in Jason’s eyes had Syd planting her feet apart and fisting her hands on her hips. “Knock it off, you guys. I’m about to smother to death from the testosterone in the air. Sheesh, can’t a girl decide who she’s going to hang with?” She needed female support and not those of the women hunters. Where the hell was her mom?
She’d better diffuse the situation before Jason did something they’d all regret. The flash of amber warned that his other side was too close to the surface for comfort. Plus, the cologne had to wear off eventually. Add those two elements together and he’d show his true colors before they could escape this den of werewolf killers.
“Skeller, I think maybe this was a bad idea.” Maybe? Most certainly. “Perhaps Jason and I should attend a meeting some other time.” She smiled her prettiest smile at her father and took Jason by the arm. Broadening her grin to the breaking point, she tossed her father the car keys. “Here, uh, Dad, take the car and get Mom home. We’ll walk.” She nodded to the man blocking her way, getting him to step aside.
“Now hold on a sec.”
Max’s lighter tone surprised her and she turned around before she gave it any thought. Damn, why didn’t I keep going? “Max, we’ve got to go.”
His twisted smirk stood the hairs on her neck on end. “If Jason and Sydney are a couple, we’d better make sure he’s worthy of her. After all, she’s one of us, right? She deserves the best kind of man. She deserves a hunter. Am I right?”
Cheers broke out, pounding the sound into her ears. What the hell just happened? She glanced toward the door, hoping to see a direct path to it and her mother standing there, beckoning her on. But all she saw was a sea of hunters with no avenue of escape.
“Look. I appreciate you guys offering to let me join, but I’m going to have to pass. Besides, I’m not dressed for a hunt.”
“I told you not to worry about that.” Skeller beckoned to Max for his agreement. “Am I right or what?”
“You’re right, man.” Max ran his gaze down Jason’s body. “It’s not like we’re hunting in the woods.”
Skeller laughed. “That’s exactly what I said.”
Jason, however, wasn’t giving up. “Still, I’ll have to decline. Like Syd said, maybe we can do this some other time.” Jason started for the door again and Syd tried to follow, but Max fastened a hand on both their shoulders, pinning them to the spot.
“No problem, Jase, old buddy. Skeller brought you here to make you a hunter, and I aim to do just that.”
Aim? Syd cringed at Max’s choice of words. His unspoken whether you like or not cut through her mind and, if his narrowed eyes were any indication, Jason had caught the unspoken intent, too. She hoped he could sense how sorry she was to have put him in this position.
“I guess you two are getting lucky tonight.”
Syd checked the crowd. Knowing this group, the unknown speaker’s meaning had nothing to do with sex. She swallowed and waited for Max to clarify.
“He’s right. After all, you love birds get to join us on a hunt.”
Chapter Six
“How the hell did you get me into this mess?”
Jason’s hiss could’ve burned a hole in Syd’s earlobe. She reached up to make sure her skin hadn’t fallen off before she matched his hiss. “I’m sorry. I’m not sure how any of this happened.”
They sat hunched together in the bed of Max’s pickup, heading toward the same section of town where her father had taken her on her first hunt. Three other hunters sat opposite them, cradling their guns. Jason wiped away the dirt at his feet and carefully laid his jacket on the bed of the pickup. A broad-faced hunter adjusted his large body into a more comfortable position, placing his dirty boots on top of Jason’s jacket.
“Hey, come on, man. That’s my jacket you’re resting your feet on.”
The dull-eyed hunter remained expressionless as he studied Jason. “You planning on shooting shifters, pretty boy? Or dancin’ with them?”
Jason groaned at the man’s question a
nd glared at Syd.
“From the smell of him, I’d say he’s a dancer, not a hunter.” The other two hunters laughed at their friend’s joke, then started arguing about who would get the first shot.
Jason spoke in a whisper, letting their escalating argument cover the sound of his voice. “We’ve got to get out of this mess.”
Syd puffed out an exasperated release of air and twisted her neck to glare at him. “Ya think? Believe me when I say I am very aware of our predicament. Give me a break. This isn’t my fault, you know.”
“Then whose fault is it?”
She could easily have skinned him all by herself. Yet, although he was pissed, he still remained under control without showing any fear. Of course, this ticked her off even more—along with another not-so-unpleasant sensation. She studied him, trying to decipher the mysterious emotion and felt the tug in her abdomen. Shit, now I know. It’s lust. The man drips sex appeal even while trapped in a life-threatening situation. Especially while trapped in a life-threatening situation. In fact, if the hunters weren’t seated across from them, she’d throw him on the bed of the pickup and rip off his clothes right here and now.
She shook off the fantasy, forcing her mind to concentrate on the problem at hand. “If anyone is at fault, blame my mother. But since she didn’t do this intentionally, don’t go off on her, either. At least she managed to get Skeller to take her home first, giving us a little lead time.”
Jason’s caustic laugh managed to raise the heads of their silent companions. He quickly lowered his voice again. “Oh, sure, I feel much better. Instead of getting shot by my mate’s father, I get wiped out by his trigger-happy friends. But let’s not blame anyone.” He snarled and pointed at the parking lot straight ahead. “It seems your father knows a trick or two about shortcuts.”
Syd rested her hand on the borrowed rifle at her side and twisted to see her father already at the predetermined meeting location. Men. Whether they’re hunter or shifter, sometimes I’d like nothing more than to shoot them. “Now how the hell did he get Mom home, swap vehicles, and get here before we did?” She shook her head and grabbed onto the side of the truck as the vehicle skidded to a stop next to her father’s pickup.