by Beverly Rae
Benjy poked his head through a yellow polo shirt. “What’s with the attitude? If you want attitude, baby, I’ll give you attitude.” He swished his finger in front of Jason, stuck out his chin, and tossed his hair with a flick of his hand. “After all, diva is spelled B-E-N-J-Y.”
“Knock it off. If we don’t get the hell out of here and over to Syd’s father’s place in a hurry, I’m going to have your stringy hide for dinner.”
“Mmm, and what a yummy treat I would be, too. ’Cause you know gay meat is the sweetest meat.”
“Benjy, pick up the pace or I’m leaving you behind.” Growling, Jason sprinted out the door to his car. He didn’t care if Benjy kept up with him or not. His goal was to get to Syd before something terrible happened to her. He slid behind the wheel and Benjy plopped onto the passenger’s seat.
Jason buckled the seat belt, adjusted the mirror, and turned the ignition. “Let’s burn rubber.” He steered the car onto the road.
“Drive, big guy.”
With the tension wiring his body into high gear, Jason floored the gas. “Make yourself useful and start planning payback for Skeller. I know he’s Syd’s father and all, but he set us up big time. And if he’s harmed her in any way, I’ll─”
“Easy, boy, you’re starting to shift and I don’t think anyone’s ready for a fast and furious werewolf on the highway.”
Jason took a couple of deep breaths to calm down. Like it would really help.
“Tell me, Jay-Jay. How do you think your dear daddy’s going to react when you tell him your mate is a hunter?”
Jason swerved into the oncoming lane at the thought and yanked the vehicle back to the right side. “She’s not a hunter. Her father is and she can’t help what he is.” He growled low and mean. “And don’t call me Jay-Jay.”
“Oh, my, my. I do believe someone’s sticking his head in the ground. Metaphorically speaking, of course. Although I’m sure you’ve stuck your head in other places lately. No wonder I couldn’t get a straight answer out of either of you at the club. Straight talk from straights? Not happening.”
“Benjy, you’re nowhere near ready for a standup gig.”
“Humph. Then answer me this, sugar buns. Did she or did she not go on at least two hunts?”
“How did you know?”
“I have my sources and I keep secrets—when I want to.”
Jason let his eyes change and fangs grow. Snarling, he fumed at Benjy. “She didn’t go on those hunts to kill. Besides, I went on a hunt with her. It’s complicated.” He snarled again, wishing the snarls would help ease his anxiety about Syd. “Are you calling me a hunter, too?”
Benjy feigned innocence. “Hmm, what a fascinating idea. You’d be the first lycanthrope to join the ranks of the hunters. Talk about Ripley’s Believe It or Not.”
“We didn’t exactly sign membership cards, you know. Besides, the initiation they had planned sucked.” He tried, but he couldn’t keep the worry out of his tone. “My father won’t find out about those hunts, will he?”
“Not from me. But there’s no hiding who her father is. That kind of juicy tidbit always gets out of the gossip bag.”
“I’ll explain it to him and the rest of them. Besides, she’s changing. She has shifter blood in her now.” He’d make his father and the pack understand. He had to.
“Well, I hope you do for both your sakes. But make me a promise, will ya?”
Jason took his view off the road to glance at Benjy. What was he up to? “Maybe. What?”
“I want to be there when you do tell your father.”
Jason knew the punch line was next, but couldn’t resist hearing it. “Okay, I’ll bite. Aside from the obvious voyeuristic reason, why would you want to?”
Benjy kissed two of his fingertips and patted them against his cheek. “Because once Daddy Cannon gets a load of your new hunter mate, he’ll wish he had me for a daughter-in-law instead.”
Jason jammed the brake pedal to the floor, sending them lurching forward toward the dash.
Benjy let out a yelp and grabbed for his seat belt strap. “Damn, Jay-Jay, are you trying to wipe out?”
“Relax, Benjy. If you die tonight, it won’t be by my hand. Between Skeller and the rest of the hunters, we’ll both be lucky to keep our skins attached to our bones. Come on. Let’s find Syd.”
Jason scrambled out of the car and slinked toward the house. “I think there’s a basement window on this side.”
“Are you kidding me?”
Jason whirled toward Benjy and bared his fangs. “Keep your voice down.”
Although his friend complied and whispered, annoyance still laced his tone. “I bought this outfit two days ago, and I am not sneaking around on wet grass and slipping through a filthy window into a dirty basement. Why can’t we knock on the door like the civilized people we are?”
Jason resumed his scrunched-down duck walk toward the window and threw his words behind him. “Do you think Skeller’s going to let us knock on the front door and ask for Syd?”
“Okay, point taken. But you don’t have to be such a bee-atch about it.”
If he hadn’t reached the window at that same moment, he might have whacked his friend on the head. Sometimes the funny shifter didn’t know when to shut up and needed a little reminding. Instead, Jason forced Benjy to his hands and knees, and thrust him to the right side of the window.
“Hey, not so rough, Jay-Jay. If you want me on my knees, all you have to do is say pretty, please.”
“Cut the crap.” Jason nodded at the sight inside the basement. “There she is. She looks okay, right? But who’s the other woman?” The very large ugly woman.
“Oh, my word. I have no clue, but she is the sorriest woman I have ever seen. Add bad taste in clothes on her big ass and you’ve got a bitch no dog in heat would touch.” Benjy pursed his lips and squinted to get a better look at her. “Although…she does seem familiar.”
“Leave it to you to do a fashion commentary.”
“Well, I’m sorry, but there’s no excuse for such blatant wardrobe abuse. The fashion police should lock her away and swallow the key.”
Jason ran his fingers along the frame of the window. “I swear, Benjy, you are nothing if not unique.”
Benjy preened as though he’d won a beauty pageant. “You do speak the truth, sugar-paws. After all, masterpieces are one of a kind.” His grin softened. “But you know what? I’m sure I’ve seen that pitiful-looking bitch somewhere. Hmm, where did I see her and how in the world could I have forgotten her ugly mug and those bargain basement clothes?”
Jason found what he’d hope for. The window wasn’t locked. If he could get something wedged under the warped frame, he could pry it up and gain entry. “Familiar, huh? You sure you didn’t take a walk on the heterosexual side one night, Benjy-boy? Hell, she might be carrying your love child.”
Benjy made a retching sound and flicked Jason’s arm. “Now, now, there’s no need for jealousy, sweetie. You’ll always have my heart—and my ass.”
“I’m jealous? Yeah, right. Shit, I wish I had a screwdriver.”
“Well, I’d offer you my iron-like dick to prop it open, but I doubt you’d blow me to get it hard. Or would you?”
Jason heard the invitation in Benjy’s voice and chose the safest response—to say nothing. Yet he should’ve known his buddy wouldn’t drop the subject until he got a response.
“Are you thinking about it? You know, for Syd’s sake?”
Finally, he let his deep growl answer Benjy, who let out a big sigh of resignation. “Yeah, I figured. Okay. If you won’t go the distance for your lovey-gal…how about using my knitting needle?”
Leave it to Benjy to come up with a knitting needle in the middle of a rescue mission. “What’re you doing with a knitting needle? On second thought, don’t answer.” He shoved the shiny hot pink needle between the window sill and the frame. “I’m getting worried about you, you know. Hell, I’m starting to worry about me being around you.”
“Aw, see? You do care.” Benjy raised his hands, palms forward, at his glower. “Relax, boy. Concentrate on helping your girly-girl. We can work out our relationship later. But remember, I’m not opposed to threesomes, even if the third is a female.”
Why couldn’t a brawnier member of his pack hang around with him? But no, his sidekick was an out-for-all-the-world-to-see homosexual shifter who’d have to bulk up to reach the ninety-eight pound weakling status. But he had to hand it to Benjy. He did have his own way of getting things done. Case in point, a knitting needle right when he needed a sharp metal object.
“I hope this thing doesn’t break.”
“Don’t worry. It won’t. I had it custom-made out of very special material to withstand all kinds of pressure.”
“You must really like knitting to go to the trouble and expense.”
“Who said I use it for knitting?”
Jason almost dropped the needle thinking about Benjy’s possible creative uses for the long slick object. “Oh, crap. Don’t even go there.”
“Calm down, Jay-Jay. It’s clean.”
“Urgh.” He held the stick out in front of him and surveyed it carefully before taking a firmer grasp on the end. “It better be. And don’t call me Jay-Jay, damn it.”
“Hey. What’s the ugly woman doing?”
The strange woman waved her arms and danced around Syd. With their arms linked together, Skeller and his wife moved aside, placing their backs to the window.
“Good grief. She looks like an experimental bird hopped up on some secret governmental hallucinogenic. Someone, please, in the name of all dance aficionados, make her cease and desist.”
Jason tore his gaze away from the strange sight inside the home and tilted his head in question at his friend. “Where do you come up with this stuff?”
“What? You don’t agree? Don’t you think she looks like she’s doing a ceremonial dance? But I can’t hear her well enough to know what she’s saying. Did she just say something about ‘the evil within’?”
“I don’t know, but I don’t like it. Not at all.” Jason ripped the clothes from his body, sending buttons flying. With the last garment removed, he shifted into full wolf form, forced the window open, and flung his body forward to land inside the basement.
“Wait for me.” Changing in mid-air, Benjy followed his action, morphed and rolled to the right of him.
The startled group jumped away from the two intruders. The ugly woman, however, stopped her dancing and chanting, threw up her arms in fright and started for the stairs. “Wild animals! Call the dog pound! Call the Dog Whisperer!”
“Stop right there, Medusala. These aren’t wild animals. At least, not like you mean.” Skeller’s fierce command had her pivoting to the group, her eyes huge.
“Well, excuse me, but I’m not called Benjy the Body Shots Queen for nothing, you know.” Benjy rose up on his hind legs and waved his front paws in the air. Rotating his furry abdomen at them, he added, “What ’cha say we give it a go right now?”
A collective “Yuck” brought him down on all paws. “Well, you don’t have to be rude about it. A simple no thank you would have done the job very nicely.”
Jason shook his head at his furry friend before addressing the others. “For future reference, you don’t put werewolves in the dog pound. Wolves are canines, but they aren’t dogs.”
Syd started to move closer to Jason, but her father blocked her way. He held her and turned to yell at Medusala, “Finish the job! Rid my daughter of the evil possessing her or you’ll get no money.”
At the mention of money, Medusala broke out of her daze. “Are you frickin’ kidding me, man? Those suckers are real. And they can talk!”
“Of course we can talk. Pff. Obviously you’re a civilian if you don’t know shifters can talk.” Benjy rolled his eyes at her. “But at least you aren’t a hunter.”
“Medusala’s not a medium, either.” Syd waited for Medusala to deny it. “Go on. Tell the truth. Although, come to think of it, if you’re not the real deal, how’d you know about the redhead at the gym?”
Medusala shrugged. “Just lucky?”
“No. She’s got to be the real deal.” Skeller pointed a finger at Medusala. “You said you could do this. Get the werewolf blood out of my little girl.” His face reddened with his fury. “Otherwise, I’ll have to lock her away for the rest of her life until I find a cure.”
Syd gaped at her father. “Skeller, there’s no cure for lycanthropy. It’s not a disease like tuberculosis. You can’t lock me up forever.”
“And neither is homosexuality,” added Benjy. “In case you didn’t know.”
Jason swished his tail at Skeller. “I am frickin’ tired of you ignorant hunters. We are what we are, and we’re no more evil than hunters or anyone else. But relax. Syd’s coming home with me and you’ll never have to see her again.”
A panicked expression came over Skeller’s face. Whirling around, he dashed for the gun cabinet on the farthest wall. In quick, practiced moves, he unlocked the cabinet, grabbed a gun and loaded it in seconds. With deliberate coldness, he raised the rifle to his shoulder and took aim at Jason. “You are not taking my Sydney away from me. I’ll kill you first!”
“Griswold, don’t!” Miriam rushed toward her husband.
“No, Dad!”
Sydney’s scream catapulted Jason into the air. His power flew his body forward at the same instant Medusala let out an ear-piercing screech and fell to the floor in a faint, distracting Skeller long enough to make him lower the gun a few inches. Benjy yelped and ran to Medusala’s side.
Jason struck the hunter in the chest, knocking them backward onto the floor with Jason trying to get a grasp on the gun. With each fighting for possession of the weapon, werewolf and man rolled together on the floor while the others shouted at them.
Jason grappled for the gun. Would he have to kill Skeller to keep Syd as his mate? If he did, would she ever forgive him? He grunted with the effort of controlling the full force of his power. His saliva dripped onto Skeller’s chest and he gritted his fangs to keep from ripping the man apart.
“Let go!” Veins popped out in Skeller’s neck, but he wouldn’t stop battling. “You won’t take my little girl. I won’t let you.”
“She wants to come with me.”
“Only because you’ve changed her. But I can help her. I’ll find a way. Let go─”
The shot rang out, freezing everyone into a momentary shocked silence. Miriam’s scream filled the room, breaking the quiet and startling everyone. Keeping a grip on the rifle, Jason followed her gaze to the floor. Syd lay crumpled on the floor, blood oozing from the wound in her stomach.
A pain unlike any he’d ever felt swept through him. “Syd!” Fear and rage surged through him, causing him to release his full strength. With one last tug, he tore the rifle from Skeller’s hands. Standing over the weapon, he returned to human form, lifted the gun, and placed the barrel against the bridge of her father’s nose.
Chapter Eleven
Her mother knelt next to her and laid her head in her lap. “Oh, my God, Sydney.”
Syd clutched her side and felt the blood covering her hand. A hot throbbing radiated outward like shards of broken glass piercing every fiber in her. She sucked in air and tried to think. Don’t pass out. At least not until the danger is over. “No, Jason. You can’t.”
“I sure can. Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t.” He remained unmoving and kept the rifle steady in his hands.
“Because he’s my father.”
His dark eyes met hers and in an instant Syd knew he’d never refuse her. “He’s my father,” she whispered again. Her agony doubled, heartache throwing gas on the fire in her side. Come on, Jason. Put the gun down. Do it for me.
He gave a slight nod and stalked a few yards from her father. Emptying the gun of its remaining shells, he strode over to the gun cabinet on the concrete wall, reared his arms behind him, and swung. The rifle shattered agai
nst the wall and he tossed the broken weapon to the floor. Taking each of the guns from the cabinet, he repeated his destructive swing. Skeller scowled from his place on the floor, yet made no attempt to stop him.
The first flash of pain had subsided. In its place, a different kind of warmth spread inward from her limbs toward the center of her agony. Syd took another, easier breath.
Once he’d finished, Jason spun on his heel and headed straight for her, scooping up a painter’s sheet to wrap around his waist. He waved at the prone Medusala. “Is the woman hurt?”
Benjy bent over her and placed his face near her mouth. At once Medusala opened her eyes, took one look at the wolf leaning over her, screamed and fainted again. Benjy made an awkward shrug. “Don’t worry, she’ll come around.” He glanced at her again. “Sooner or later.”
Jason stooped beside her and took her hand. His gaze met hers and she could feel him searching, gauging her pain. She took an even longer breath and held it for a moment, wondering at the weakening pain. Was his touch helping her? Or was the healing power coming from her own body?
Miriam glared at her husband and Jason. “You two animals shot my little girl.”
Benjy, returning to human form, snatched Medusala’s scarf from around her neck and tied it around himself to make a very short mini-skirt. “What are you talking about? We didn’t shoot her. Your dickhead of a husband did.”
“I’m not talking about you.” Her mom’s voice thickened with emotion. “I’m talking about Jason and Griswold. You’re both a couple of animals who deserve to wring the life out of each other. Someone call an ambulance.”
Skeller scrambled to his feet and stumbled toward the stairs. Jason yelled after him. “No, Skeller. Don’t. She’ll be okay.” He touched her face, caressing her cheek before snarling at Skeller. “Unless that was a silver bullet. If it was…” His snarl grew louder.
“No, it wasn’t silver. But how can she…? She’s shot bad. We have to call for help. I can’t risk losing…” His final words choked off and he visibly struggled to maintain his composure.