Renounced

by Bailey Bradford

  “Anyone have any ideas about the drugs and this Robert or Roberto Butler?” Sissy asked without any beating around the bush. “The lady said Roberto, then Robert, so I don’t know for sure which he uses. Mary-Jane will be trying to get more info out of her, I’m sure.”

  “Mary-Jane?” Dallas knew he couldn’t be the only one thinking about that name.

  Sissy flicked him an annoyed look. “Believe it or not, her parents didn’t have a clue what else that means. They weren’t raging potheads.”

  Olin snickered. “I think raging potheads is an oxymoron. Everyone I knew that smoked was pretty damned un-raging.”

  “Whatever. The point remains the same. Mary-Jane’s parents never left the pack property without their Alpha Anax’s orders to do so. They didn’t know they were naming their kid after pot, therefore, they didn’t.” Sissy took the glass of juice Juanita handed her. “Thanks, babe.”

  “Maybe we’ll learn something from Dana when she returns my call.” Keegan huffed. “Actually, I think she was on the phone with Marcus, so probably we’ll hear whatever she has learned from him.”

  Outside, the morning sunrise was accompanied by a sound that sent shivers down Dallas’ spine. Not quite a roar, but a plaintive, feline sound that conveyed irritation nonetheless. If not irritation, some kind of emotion.

  Oh, look at him putting human emotions on a damned cat.

  “That’s the jaguar,” Olin muttered, rushing over to the window. “I swear that fucker’s stalking us.”

  Dallas shivered again.

  Chapter Two

  His rainforest was being invaded by even more wolves, Tiago mused as he stretched out on a thick limb. The marsh deer he’d dined on earlier was making him feel lazy and the sunlight tempted him to sleep. Maybe he would, just for a little while, though he suspected the wolf shifters would be heading out soon. Following them was imperative. Wolves had caused too much trouble for him and his fellow native rainforest dwellers. Like any invasive species, they screwed up the ecosystem, which was why they would have to go.

  Tiago purred and reveled in the sunlight leaking through the dense greenery above him. It warmed his fur, his body, in a delightful way.

  There had been wolves in the rainforest for some time now. Decades, that he knew of. No other shifters native to the area seemed concerned about it, but Tiago was. The drama that had occurred over the past week was just more proof to him that the wolves had to go. Gun fights, crashed planes, drugs—Tiago smelled them and he knew. Something bad was going on, and it was time to clean up the rainforest. People had already done too much damage to it as it was.

  Tiago had been watching the local wolf pack for a long time. It wasn’t in his nature to act rashly. Otherwise, he’d have jumped in to defend the little human, Olin, when he’d been surrounded by killer wolf shifters a few days ago. Tiago still didn’t know if he’d have been able to keep from intervening had Olin’s lover not shown up. Keegan. Tiago learned a lot from listening. The wolf shifters were loud and careless, almost as bad as humans were at being cautious. They had no idea just how acute his senses were. Tiago was exceptional and well aware of it. All of his kind were.

  And he was irritated, because one of the wolves made him hard, made him ache to fuck and mate. Tiago didn’t want a wolf. He wanted another jaguar, but that never worked out well. As solitary as they were, it wasn’t unusual for one male jag to kill the other in a territorial spat, even if they had affection for each other.

  Tiago would have to settle for some native species. The idea of keeping a wolf as a lover was ludicrous.

  Although, if he fucked the one he wanted, then he’d be over it. Over him. Tiago considered the idea. He could nab the man, or even seduce him in human form. Tiago was attractive in that shape, too. Perhaps that would be the wiser option. Tiago could fuck Dallas until he was done with the wolf shifter. Surely it’d only take a few times. Tiago rarely wanted more than that from any of his lovers.

  He let his eyelids fall almost completely shut. The vacation house the shifters were holed up in was full of windows, so he had seen quite a few interesting things going on. It was his luck that the curtains hadn’t been fully pulled in the one room, and hadn’t been closed at all in the other. That was how Tiago knew the powerful wolf shifter with the white-blond hair liked to be fucked by his little lover, and Keegan needed pain with his sex.

  Tiago wondered if all the wolf shifters were like those two pairs, with the smaller men taking the lead in the bedroom. His fur rippled as he shuddered. Tiago sometimes got rough while having sex in his feline form—it was part of being an animal, after all. As a human, however, he had never struck a partner. He liked to be in control in either form.

  Which brought up the whole size thing, because Dallas was smaller than him. Slighter of build, certainly, and shorter. As much as Tiago wanted to fuck him, he’d never let Dallas hit him or command him.

  He tried to shrug it off. There was no need to fuck Dallas anyway. It was just an urge, a desire, and Tiago could control it. He needed to concentrate on finding out what the hell was going on in his rainforest.

  Really, it was too bad jaguars were so territorial. Tiago would have liked to try to gather the native shifters up and address the issue of invading shifter species—he could just image the bloodshed that would follow. Tiago snorted softly. Perhaps his kind were a bit too animalistic.

  After almost an hour of dozing lightly but never really drifting off to sleep, Tiago heard the sound of strident voices. He flicked his ears and raised his head when he recognized the voice of the man he’d been lusting after. Dallas. These wolf shifters have the oddest names. Tiago mewled the name out softly. What would it sound like on his human tongue?

  * * * *

  “I don’t see how staying here is going to help anyone,” Dallas argued, though he tried to keep his tone reasonable. It wouldn’t do any good to throw a tantrum and would, in fact, work against him. “If I stay, so do two guards and those guards might come in handy for y’all. If I go, I promise I won’t be in the way. My senses might come back full-force any minute. I feel like I’m being punished for being hurt,” he added with a hint of petulance he couldn’t quite tamp down.

  Keegan frowned at him. “Dallas, you aren’t a guard. You’re soft, and I don’t mean that bad.”

  “Because there’s a good way to be soft in this scenario,” Dallas scoffed. “I can fight. I’m not helpless.”

  “We don’t know anything about this person we’re hunting other than that he’s a drug-dealing would-be murderer and kidnapper.” Keegan ran one hand through his hair as he spoke. “Dana couldn’t find any information on him. We don’t have contacts here other than Ryder’s pack. There are the other wolf shifters outside of Brazil, and their packs, and one more on the other side of the rainforest, but none of them knew anything about Robert Butler. He could have an army of his own, and I’m inclined to think that’s the case, considering he had our jet hijacked and there were how many people waiting on that runway, armed to the teeth with guns and knives?” Keegan shook his head. “It’d be best to let the guards handle this—” He snapped his mouth shut.

  Dallas felt Marcus’ presence before he turned and watched the Alpha Anax enter the living room. Marcus looked stern and powerful, even with the soft blond curls that hung past his shoulders. He looked like a Greek god or one of those marble statues carved centuries ago, except Marcus had all of his parts. And he was more muscular. And clothed.

  Marcus stopped in front of Dallas.

  Dallas had known Marcus for years. He wasn’t nervous to stand before Marcus, or to wait while Marcus studied him. Dallas stood tall—as tall as he could at five-seven, anyway—and didn’t fidget.

  He also smiled, not having to fake it, either.

  Nathan chuckled as he joined Marcus. “You are always so upbeat, Dallas.”

  “Thanks.” It even came natural to him. “I don’t see the point in dwelling on bad stuff.” He let his smile broaden. “There’s too m
uch good going on.”

  Nathan shook his head just a bit but didn’t appear to be disagreeing.

  Dallas thought he was more amused than anything else.

  Movement caught Dallas’ eye. He went back to watching Marcus, who raised a hand up and cupped the left side of Dallas’ head. Marcus stroked his thumb over Dallas’ temple. “How do you feel?”

  Smug probably wasn’t a wise answer, though Dallas did dart a glance at Keegan. “Fine. I think my senses are a little screwed up, but I can still help. If nothing else, I can keep some of the guards from getting cold at night.” He waggled his eyebrows.

  Marcus snorted at him. “That’s not an argument in your favor, Dallas. Distracting the guards.” Marcus tutted but Dallas could see that the man was trying not to grin. “You’re a distraction when you want to be, and you know it.”

  “Even when you aren’t trying to be,” Nathan added.

  There was no reason for Dallas to take offense, so he didn’t. He was, after all, an unrepentant flirt, and he liked sex, a lot. A lot, lot. “Well, when you look like this.” Dallas fluttered his lashes and gestured at himself.

  Marcus did laugh then. He stopped rubbing Dallas’ temple. “You’re one of my pack. You aren’t going to be left behind.”

  Dallas whooped and flung himself at Marcus for a hug. As soon as he let go, Dallas went after Nathan. “You guys are the best!” So what if he was informal as all get out with the Alpha Anax and Nathan? Dallas knew they were shifters just like the rest of them, first and foremost. They weren’t deities, despite their perfectly sculpted physiques.

  “We’re never going to hear the end of this, Sissy,” Keegan warned.

  Dallas did a little shimmy and wagged a finger at Keegan and Sissy both. “That kind of admission is enough for me,” Dallas said, before he calmed himself down.

  Marcus placed a hand on his shoulder. “Pack sticks together. As long as Dallas isn’t wounded so badly that he can’t travel, he’s coming with us. It doesn’t matter that he’s not a guard.”

  Which was a nice way of saying that Dallas wasn’t a skilled fighter, not any more than an actual wolf would be. If he was honest with himself, a wolf was probably way more skilled than he’d ever be. Dallas was truly more of a lover. That whole pain thing was a huge deterrent to unpleasant physical altercations.

  “I just thought he’d be safer here.” Sissy held up her hands. “I was wrong.” She pointed to Keegan. “He agreed with me.”

  Keegan stiffened his spine like someone had shoved a hot poker up his backside. “My priority—”

  “Is doing your job, which entails following your Alpha Anax’s orders,” Nathan finished. “So yeah. Leaving Dallas behind isn’t happening. He’s not disabled, and if this Butler guy sends people back this way, two guards might not be enough, so everyone’s sticking together.”

  “We could send him back to Ryder,” Keegan argued. “He’d be safe there.”

  Dallas’ cheery disposition was taking a hit. He glared at Keegan. “Do you just not like me anymore? Is it something I’ve done?” Dallas had made a pass at Keegan on the jet but that was before Keegan had met Olin, his mate. Dallas had known when he’d agreed to be the steward for that flight that part of his job would be to loosen Keegan up.

  Not that Marcus had said any such thing. Dallas just took it upon himself to make sure he did everything he could to keep his passengers happy. If they were sexy male passengers, Dallas liked to see if they were interested in some in-flight fun once he’d finished his work duties.

  Keegan gave an exasperated sound and came as close to losing his temper as Dallas had ever seen. “It isn’t that at all, Dallas. This is about me being able to do my job in the most effective manner possible. I’ll have to make sure you’re being protected as well, since you haven’t recovered all of your senses.”

  “They aren’t completely gone, and Marcus already said I could go. You should quit arguing with the Alpha Anax, right?” Dallas beamed at Keegan. “You know, with Marcus being the boss and all.”

  Keegan growled and Dallas ratcheted up his smile. He patted Keegan’s arm. “I won’t take it personally if you don’t.”

  “Of course I won’t.” Keegan didn’t look thrilled, but that was okay.

  Sissy nodded at him. “You won this round, kiddo.”

  A victory dance would not go over well, so Dallas settled for a somewhat dignified departure from the room after thanking Marcus and Nathan once more.

  The borrowed clothes he’d found in the closet were chafing him and he wanted to see if there was anything else he could find. Someone would be strapping packs onto them. But would there be room for clothes? A few, certainly, in case someone had to approach a village or people. It was nothing new for shifters to see each other naked. Indeed, it inspired loyalty to see someone like Marcus, who led the North American packs, naked and so buff it was mind-boggling. It had to deter many would-be challengers, too. One look at all those muscles on muscles Marcus had would surely make a shifter rethink fighting him for position.

  Nathan wasn’t a toothpick, either. He was a stocky little guy. Shorter than Dallas. Maybe five-seven wasn’t super-short to humans. Shifters tended to be over six feet tall, male and female alike. There were exceptions—him, Nathan, a few others.

  Dallas was short, and he was very thin by shifter standards. He didn’t let it bother him much. He was a happy, easy guy who liked pleasing others. Most people found that hard to resist.

  In the tiny guest bedroom, Dallas dug through the closet. There were a few boxes of clothing in there, and while he wasn’t a thief, he wasn’t against borrowing things. He’d either send money or the items he borrowed back to this address, depending on the state of the clothes he took.

  The shorts and T-shirt he currently had on were too big. He’d just grabbed the first things he’d seen earlier. Now he took a little more time and finally pulled out two pairs of Lycra shorts and two crop tops. They were women’s clothing, according to the tags. Dallas doubted anyone would notice since the shorts were solid black and so were the shirts.

  After he put a pair of the shorts on, Dallas jogged over to the dresser with a big mirror above it. He stood up on his toes and checked out his dick and balls, then smirked. The shorts emphasized his private parts very nicely. He spun around and peered over his shoulder at his butt. Yup, Lycra was definitely his new best friend. His ass was his best feature, and it looked pert and perfect in the shorts.

  Dallas decided to ignore his own lack of muscular definition and sparse body hair. He slipped a tank top on then carried his other outfit with him to the living room. “Is there room for these?” he asked, holding up the little scraps of fabric.

  More than one jaw dropped as several guards turned to look at him.

  “What?” Dallas asked them. It wasn’t like a lot of them hadn’t seen him naked already when they’d had pack runs. Marcus’ guards had. Dallas realized half the guards there weren’t from Marcus’ pack but from Ryder’s. “Oh. Hey.”

  A couple of them looked promising, he decided—the man with the dark hair, pretty skin and green eyes, and the one with sandy blond hair and brown eyes. Both were definitely appreciative of his outfit, and both were standing beside each other. Oh man, if he was lucky, they’d both want to play with him—at the same time, even.

  Dallas didn’t do coy. He strolled past everyone else, heading right to his potential sexual partners. “I’m Dallas,” he began, his voice dropping to a more sultry register than usual. “You two are—”

  “Interested,” the dark haired one answered, his thick accent sending a pleasurable throb of desire through Dallas. “I am Davi, and this is Ramon.”

  Ramon nodded but didn’t speak. Instead he looked Dallas over hungrily.

  “How long before we leave?” Dallas asked, as he handed the clothes over to Davi.

  “Soon,” Davi answered, a smile playing around the edges of his full lips. “We will have to stop and rest sometime.”

  Da
llas winked at him. “Yes we will, and I can sure help you two get a good night’s sleep.” Dallas gave them a little wave then left the room. He wasn’t normally a tease and didn’t think he was being one then. The guards had jobs to do, and he wouldn’t be interfering with that.

  The front porch was calling his name. Dallas stepped outside and grimaced at the humidity. He felt like he was melting, not sweating. There was a hammock twenty feet or so away from the house. Tied between two palm trees, the hammock was shaded and irresistible.

  Dallas was careful. He looked the area over for several minutes, listened, sniffed and did everything he could to ensure his own safety. Even with his senses messed up, they weren’t totally gone.

  The sand was warm beneath his feet. “Ohh, instant pedicure! Well, almost.” He wiggled his heels every time they came down. If he were lucky, the skin there would be soft as a baby’s bottom.

  “That’s just a weird saying.” Dallas rolled his lips in and silently chided himself. Talking to himself was a habit he’d had ever since he could remember. As an only child, he’d been lonely a lot, even being surrounded by pack members. A lot of shifters weren’t fond of runts.

  The hammock consisted of a multi-colored rope. Dallas might have liked to see if he could figure out how it made in case he had the urge to try to create one on his own when he was feeling crafty, but time was short and he wanted to flop down in that thing for a few minutes. He did, careful not to tip himself over.

  “God, this is the life,” he whispered, barely managing to keep his eyes open. “Mm. Yeah.”

  The slight sway of the hammock, the breeze chasing the sweat from his skin, the smell of the ocean and the sound of the waves all conspired to tug him down into a nap. That was his theory, anyway, as his eyelids slid shut.

  Chapter Three

  What a delightful find. Tiago sauntered toward the figure in the hammock. He knew he only had a few minutes before someone came outside looking for Dallas. After all, the wolf shifters were planning on setting out to find the same human Tiago wanted to track down. If he was lucky, he’d get rid of the wolf shifters and the drug runners all at once. How, he didn’t know. He’d figure something out.