“Change into animal form?” Jarrod asked. “Are you talking like werewolves or some shit?”
“In a sense. But, please, let me try to get all this out and then I’ll answer any questions you have. Anyway, the last third happened to be carvings that’d been sliced into two when Shinan cut the bag. These she gave to Tabu. When he asked why she’d given him the damaged ones, she said because they were good, and they’d become twice as many people than what she placed in the southwest and had handed to his brother. Half would be Tabu’s descendants and the other half people. He, too, had the honor of blessing the two groups how he wished.
“Being wise, he realized his descendants needed to have the same abilities like Shinan gave his group, so he blessed them with immortality and the ability to shift along with a wish he granted to the humans. The wish was that his people would always find love, always find their other halves so that their lives would be happy and full.”
“Okay. That’s not that bad,” Jarrod said. “A fairy tale that has people falling in love at the end. I thought it’d be something more horrible.”
Tex shook his head. “One would think, but I’m not done yet, though. So, long ago, Shinan’s people were trouble makers, but not terrible. It wasn’t until the American Civil War when a Native American by the name of Queho cursed the land and animals that things changed. Queho made the abandoned miners’ dogs and the feral ones roaming around into what locals call hell dogs.”
Shit. Jarrod fidgeted on the chair and then swallowed down a lump that’d formed in his throat. “I’ve heard of the curse. It’s part of the ghost story that frightened the crap out of my brother and me as kids.”
Tex couldn’t meet his gaze. “The Mongrels… We’re the hellhounds of the curse,” he stated.
Jarrod closed his eyes for a few seconds trying to figure out if he’d heard what he just heard. “Come again?”
“Well,” Tex answered. “Inferno and his crew, who are Shinans, were in wolf form when Queho came and worked his magic, so they were cursed along with other animals and shifters in the area. Afterwards, when the shifters mated, whether with their own kind or with the shifter hounds, their offspring ended up cursed as well. Over the years Inferno, his people, and the hybrids decided to band together and they formed the club the Helldorado Mongrels.
“I believe Inferno’s especially upset,” Tex continued before Jarrod could open his mouth, “at his cousins, Gabe and Emma, because if they hadn’t told him about the gold and monetary opportunities back then, he and his pack might not have been in the area. They wouldn’t have been around to search for the precious metal and been subjected to Queho’s curse. The Shinans are jealous that the Tabus didn’t turn into some kind of cursed mutt like they have.”
Dark side of the moon cold wrapped a thick band around Jarrod’s heart. He wanted to run, escape the lunacy, but the only way out was the door. To get to it he’d have to pass by … a what? A werewolf? Hell dog? He shrank back in the chair as his fingers and toes tingled and grew numb. “Ssss… So, you are? What? Shinan? Tabu?” Going to kill me and eat me now?
“I’m neither,” Tex replied. “Like I’ve told you, I came out this way to find my fortune to help my family. I’m from a Nagul shifter line out of Mexico. I just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
“B… B… But that would mean…” Jarrod swallowed, afraid to really know the answer. He received confirmation anyway.
“That I was here during the war and born before it? Yes.”
Jarrod’s vision wavered. Thinking he might pass out, he grabbed hold of the table for balance and to feel something other than abject fear. “Wha… What about Alec?”
“He’s a hybrid. Born to cursed parents, one a Shinan, the other a hell dog.”
“Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God. This can’t be real,” Jarrod murmured to himself.
“The Mongrels have been messing with people at the mines for years. Scaring them off. Keeping the legend of the curse going.” Tex sighed. “It’s where I first saw you, Jarrod,” he said in a low, deep and rolling voice. “It’s where Cameron and Gabe met for the first time.”
Jarrod squeezed his eyes shut again, not wanting to see the man or face the truth. This must have been what he’d felt Cameron and Gabe were keeping from him. His own brother. Keeping such a secret! But could he blame him? If the roles were reversed, would he have been able to tell Cameron that his partner was an immortal shifter? How had Cameron reacted when Gabe revealed all this to him?
When they got back from their trip, Cameron would have a lot of explaining to do.
He slowly opened his eyes, but kept his gaze centered on the table. “There was a moment, Tex, when I thought there was something animalistic about you. I got the impression of a tiger pacing in a small cage. That there was an inner beast within you that you were keeping restrained.” Jarrod snorted. “I just had the wrong predator.” As he said those words, his attention shot to his lover. “Oh, fuck! I let you bite me.” He sprang from the chair, knocking it over in the process, and braced himself against the cabinetry. “What have you done to me?”
“Nothing,” Tex responded. The smoldering depths of his eyes were tinged with sadness. “You’ll have an extended life, a healthy one that I hope you’ll still let me be a part of, but you’re not going to be cursed or change into a wolf. You’re my mate for always, and I am yours. The bite was to seal that process.”
“But I didn’t consent to any of it.”
Tex tilted his head and raised a brow.
Jarrod thought back to the night before when they were in bed. Then he remembered. They’d been in the throes of passion. Tex wanted to bite him, had said, “Make you mine for all eternity.”
And in the heat of the moment, he’d told Tex that he’d be his however he wanted him.
For tonight. For forever.
“Ah, hell. I did consent.”
“Do you regret having been with me? Deep down you must have known you wanted to stay with me or else you wouldn’t have agreed to the marking so easily.”
Did he feel remorse about any of it? Ever since he’d run into the man in the store, he’d wanted him, had felt connected to him. And the sex. That’d been fantastic feeling so desired and then so filled. He felt whole, like a complete man, when he was with Tex. “No. I don’t. Truthfully, I can’t imagine my life without you in it. But shifters? Immortals? It’s a bit much to take in. And the idea of you changing into a wolf and possibly harming me? That’s not fun either.”
“I would never harm you,” Tex stated. “Whether in human or animal form. Neither would Thumbs. If that was in our nature, you’d have been put in the dungeon back at the ’pound. Not sitting in a cabin, safe from the mongrels back there.”
Jarrod snickered. “I get it now. Dogs. Mixed breeds. Mongrels.” He took a deep breath and considered everything he’d learned. Could he trust Tex? Did he even believe his story? He didn’t want to be cornered in a room with a wild animal, but he needed proof. “Could you shift for me? Prove what you’re saying is true?”
“Sure. Arms and face all right?”
Swallowing hard, Jarrod nodded. Then, wide-eyed, he stared at the man whose facial features and earlobes had elongated into the snout and pointed ears of a wolf while thick, fur-like hair sprang from his arms.
Chapter Nine
“Okay, enough.” Jarrod choked back the bile rising up from his stomach.
In the blink of an eye, Tex changed back to looking like the sexy man Jarrod had first been attracted to and not some kind of special effect better suited for a movie.
“Are you okay, Jarrod?” Tex asked, concern filling his voice.
He waved him off. “Yeah, just have a lot to take into consideration right now.”
“Why don’t you go lie down on the couch for a bit?”
With a nod, Jarrod shuffled over to the couch and collapsed upon it. He shut his eyes but stayed awake and aware of his surroundings.
Fifteen years.
Fifteen years he’d been trying to convince himself that he’d been dreaming about what had happened on the camping trip, even though his brother had had an incident as well. One that’d scared Cameron so badly Cameron had been afraid of any canine-type animals ever since. And he’d loved dogs. Their parents had to give their black lab Shadow away because of his new fear.
And himself? To realize the stories had been true, that the hellhounds were real? It was mind blowing. He was to blame for his brother’s misery, having dragged him back to the mine. He’d had to face his own distress, too. He’d seen the hellhounds. The huge black one. The tawny brown one that guarded Cameron.
Then the other one. In the tunnel. Its gaze locked on mine. I’d felt a connection with the creature. Almost as if it were aware of what was going on and wanted to tell me something.
He inwardly sighed. The notion someone could be his destiny, be linked to him regardless of time or place, was romantic. And if Tex was that creature and there was something there…
Jarrod mentally shook his head. What the hell? Immortals and shifters aren’t real. They’re the fanciful imaginings of people from long ago who hadn’t fully understood the world around them, and of writers and authors. Weren’t they?
Even though it all seemed so far-fetched—sticks, curses, shifters—he couldn’t dismiss how things made sense now. The quick intense reaction between Cameron and Gabe. Maybe I’m not to blame for Cameron’s incident after all. If I hadn’t dragged him there, he might not be with the love of his life right now.
There was also the tie-in between the mythology and the Mongrels. The link between him and Tex. Then there was the fact that Tex had started to transform right in front of him.
No sense in denying it. Deep down he knew Tex wasn’t bullshitting him.
But he still wasn’t sure what to really think.
Jarrod cracked open an eye and peered through the slit. The man paced into the kitchen and back to the area near the door. His head hung low, and his body stance seemed beaten. Tex appeared to be talking to himself. Jarrod only caught part of what he was saying.
“…to make sure we could become one as is our destiny. …I’ve tried. How can I make him believe we’re two halves of a whole?”
Tex’s puzzled expression and gaze relaxed, became more affectionate. Something about the facial switch seemed familiar to Jarrod. Then, as if Tex realized he happened to be showing too much emotion, he blinked and it was gone.
What really got Jarrod, though, was how Tex’s countenance also reminded him of the animal’s eyes he’d seen in the mine as a kid. The beast’s gaze had been full of anger, but as it’d looked his way, its concentrated stare had softened into an expression akin to love. Then, as if the animal realized what it was doing and was alarmed, its gaze had widened, and the creature had retreated into the passageway’s darkness.
Another piece of proof that his story’s true. The similarities are too close to be coincidence.
Jarrod sat up.
* * * *
While Jarrod reclined on the couch, Tex welcomed the silence which gave him a moment of peace to reflect on everything.
In a matter of days, his whole world had been flipped sideways, diagonally and toppled over. He’d wanted a little bit of excitement, but gotten a ton of it instead. A mate. The best sex. His best friend actually being a genius. The possibility of losing his home, Thumbs, and biker family. Jarrod thought he had a lot to mull over?
Tex glanced at Jarrod as he paced and tried to reason things out. The tall, blond seemed less sure of himself now than when they’d met at the bar. He wanted to wrap Jarrod in his arms and comfort him, help him through whatever thought process he was having in regard to him, but he feared Jarrod might reject him if he made an advance before he was ready. He didn’t want to create more of an awkward situation than there already was.
Jarrod sat up. “Tex, I’m inclined to believe you, but I have to admit, I’m not sure what to make of all this.”
Inclined to believe me? Not sure? What did he have to do or say to make things right again? “I think we need to talk. I feel like I’m walking on egg shells right now, and I fucking hate it.” All the calm he’d been able to muster as he’d paced vanished. Frustration returned in full force. Jarrod was his mate. His mate! Couldn’t he understand that? He punched the wall next to the door.
“Hey! I don’t think Alec would appreciate you busting up his place, even though it is modest and outdated.”
Tex flashed a glare at Jarrod. A tremor rippled through his cheeks and his eyes warmed.
The human jolted on the couch as if he’d just seen something dangerous.
“Sorry.” Tex spun his back to Jarrod and mentally checked himself over for any parts that might have spontaneously shifted in his annoyance. After making sure everything was in human form, he turned around. “Didn’t mean to scare you. It’s just that this whole Mongrels, mates, you and I… My mind is in fucking knots. All the sudden it feels as if I’m going to lose my home, my family, my friends, instead of just taking care of that asshole, Inferno,” he yelled and smacked his arm. “My skin’s crawling because I feel like I’ve lost control of my life. I feel as if I’ve lost my grasp on you, and it’s tearing me apart inside.”
“Tex, breathe. Chill. Maybe some of what you’d said won’t be as bad as you’re making it out to be.”
Breathe? Chill? How could he do either when he felt like he was swimming upside down in deep water? “You don’t fucking understand!”
“Then explain it to me. Make me understand what’s going on!”
Jarrod’s own vehement reaction surprised him, actually gave him pause. The poor guy had had his own world rocked big time.
And here I am having a hissy.
Once more, Tex began to pace. “The story I told you earlier? Remember how I said Tabu made the wish that his people would always find love, always find their other halves so that their lives would be happy and full? Well, in the Shinan and Tabu mythology, people who are meant for each other come from the same carving. They call them twin souls. Other mythologies call the special pairings soulmates, sometimes twin flames. In a shifter’s case, including those from my lineage, there’s usually only one true love per lifetime. So for an immortal shifter to connect with a twin soul, well, it’s rare. Luckily we’re able to know who our mates are from a scent that reminds us of other times in our lives, and once we find the one meant for us, it’s a bad idea to let them go.”
“You’d said you experienced what I had in regard to smelling something.” Jarrod scrunched his brow. “But I’m human.”
Tex shrugged. “Yeah, I’ve heard humans can sometimes do that. Your brother probably had something similar happen.”
“Come again?”
“You should ask him about it when you see him. You two have more in common with each other now than before.” Tex took a deep breath. “I just wish I felt like you weren’t pushing me away.”
“What did you expect? You tell me you, Alec, and your gang are immortal shifters, and you think I should be like ‘okay, it’s all good?’”
“Why the fuck do you keep calling Thumbs Alec?”
“I call him Alec because that’s his name,” Jarrod spat back.
His name.
Tex racked his brain trying to remember if Thumbs had ever shared that bit of information with him and came up empty. If he had been told, it’d been years ago. Obviously he’d forgotten. Some friend he was.
But knowing Thumbs’s name seemed to humanize him. It took the focus off of Thumbs’s animal side and his being a Mongrel.
Maybe the same could work for me.
“Dante.”
Jarrod raised a brow. “Pardon?”
“My name. Dante Valentin. The guys call me Tex seeing as that’s where I’m from.” Sweeping back his hair from his face, he sank down onto the couch next to Jarrod.
Jarrod repeated his name. Tex found he liked the way it rolled off the human’s tongue and
then hung his head. I can’t be without you.
“What?” Jarrod asked.
He hadn’t realized he’d said his thought out loud. Tex repeated his statement, “I can’t be without you.”
“But can I trust you? Can I trust that you won’t change into that beast around me and hurt me?”
Looking at Jarrod, his heart broke. He sank further down in the churning waters of his emotions. Did the human really think that little of him? “Have I hurt you yet? Have I really done anything so terrible you can’t stand to be around me? Yes, I withheld some information, but I wanted to make sure the timing was right. That we were solid so you’d have a better understanding of what our relationship meant. But to answer your questions, of course you can trust me. I would do nothing to hurt you no matter what form I’m in. If you’re mine, I will protect you as I do myself. I will love you as no one has ever loved you in your life. You and I are meant for each other. You’re part of my soul. I can’t live without you.”
“I hear you. I hear the sincerity in your voice.”
“And?” Tex wanted to lean into the warmth of the human’s body, beg for his love, but he didn’t move. He didn’t want to scare him away when it seemed they were finally making progress.
“And I’m no longer inclined to believe you.” Jarrod put an arm around Tex and placed a kiss on the side of his head. “I do believe you. I don’t think I could live without you either. I’ve never felt this way about anyone before, male or female. And these feelings of mine? They scare me more than anything.”
Tex was about to say that everything would be all right, but Jarrod pressed his mouth upon his. When he parted his lips, Tex stuck his tongue into Jarrod’s mouth and took command of the kiss. He wanted to savor the feel of their lips on each other’s, but he also wanted to take Jarrod within him, feel his pleasure, and taste his essence. Tex stopped the kiss, rested his forehead against Jarrod’s for a moment, then pulled away.
“What? What’s wrong, Tex?”
“Nothing’s wrong. Everything’s finally right. I want you so bad. I want to taste you.”
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