With Caution

by J. L. Langley

  Following Jake out the door and to his SUV, Remi concentrated on seeing color, like Keaton had taught him.

  Jake opened the SUV’s door and motioned toward the seat.

  Remi sat, peering up at his…well, his friend. Jake had become a friend during the last few months, since Remi had become a werewolf. Despite his effort to steer clear of the man, Remi usually ended up hunting with Jake on the night of a full moon. “Where’d you come from?”

  Leaning his arm against the door, Jake stared at Remi. He took the mirrored sunglasses off the top of his head and held them out.

  Damn, Jake was big. Accepting the shades, Remi put them on, then shook his head to clear it.

  “I smelled you when you walked in. I was going to come and say hi after I was done eating, but your scent changed and I figured I better try to help you get a handle on things.” Frowning, Jake glanced at the diner then back to Remi. “Everything okay?”

  Hell no, everything wasn’t okay. He no longer had the surge of adrenaline his anger had spurred, but now he was fighting off arousal. Remi groaned, dropping his head into his hands. Fuckin’ Chay. Turning him into a werewolf and making his life even more difficult.

  Remi lifted his head. “Everything is fine.”

  “You always get mad then terrified in a span of seconds for no reason? Yeah, okay, pull the other leg. What’s the matter, Remi?”

  That wasn’t what he wanted to be pulling on Jake at the moment. And where the hell had that come from?

  Remi sighed, and for a second he thought of telling Jake everything, but he didn’t. He’d never talked about Dirk. Not even to his friends. No way was he going to risk anyone else, especially a friend, by dragging them into it. He looked right into Jake’s dark eyes and hoped Jake would let it go. “That’s my baby brother in there.”

  Jake turned his head, peeking back at the diner. “I kinda assumed. Cute kid. He looks like you.”

  Following Jake’s attention, Remi saw Sterling duck out of sight of the window and scurry back to their table. He grinned. Yeah, Sterling did look just like him, well except for the eyes. Sterling had Dirk’s brown eyes. No, he had the asshole’s eye color. Sterling didn’t have mean, dead eyes like the son of a bitch.

  “That isn’t what I asked though.”

  Remi sighed. That figures. Jake wasn’t going to let it go. “I don’t want to talk about it.” He had to get a grip and go back inside. Telling Jake what a wuss he was about his father was out of the question. He had to live with his own failures. This was his problem and he had to fix it. And to do that, he needed to talk to Sterling. Color. Concentrate. “Blue.”

  “Huh?”

  “You’re wearing a blue shirt.” A tight dark blue shirt which showed off Jake’s pecs and—fuck, Remi was seeing black and white again. He had to focus on something other than Jake.

  Jake chuckled, a low, sexy rumbling sound. The man could make a fortune in radio. “They changed back, didn’t they?”

  “My scent change again?”

  “Yeah.”

  Could werewolves smell attraction? God, he hoped not. He couldn’t. No, that wasn’t true, he could smell all sorts of scents coming from people, but he didn’t know what they meant. He was still trying to learn to scent prey and the different scents of nature when he hunted. Keaton promised to help him with people next. Until then, he was going to have to be careful. How embarrassing would it be to be caught lusting after a guy? He wasn’t gay, damn it.

  Remi gazed past the big man to the car parked next to the SUV. What color was it?

  “Let me help you, Remi.” Jake’s deep voice softened into a caress. “I want to help you.”

  The sincerity was Remi’s undoing. He closed his eyes, dipping his head. Un-fucking-believable. The slightest show of concern from someone and he was breaking down. No, that wasn’t true, it was Jake. Remi had never had a problem putting on a good face when his friends tried to help. He’d always known their help would make it worse for not only him, but everyone involved. But with Jake…there was something about the man that made Remi feel he would always be there for him.

  Jake’s hand landed on his shoulder. “Deep breath. Relax. Getting worked up again isn’t going to get your eyes back to normal.”

  Nodding, he focused his attention past Jake again and took a deep breath.

  Something brushed past his cheek, startling him.

  Remi sat up straight, trying to figure out what had happened.

  Jake stared at him, wide-eyed, and stepped away.

  Oh fuck. He’d leaned into Jake’s hand, rubbing his cheek against it. What the fuck was he thinking? He glanced down, trying to act cool. “I’m sorry, I uh, I—”

  “No big deal. You just surprised me. Tell me about your family. What happened to Sterling?”

  My family? Remi’s head jerked up. How does he know it has something to do with Sterling? How had he forgotten Jake was a PI? Maybe Jake could help. “Can you follow someone for me and gather info on them?” He knew damn well his father was a dirty cop—which was what made him dangerous—maybe if Remi could prove it he could get the information to the right people and no one would have to know he or Jake were involved.

  Jake cocked his head. “I think you need to tell me more, but yeah, I can do that.”

  Remi relaxed, feeling better now that he had started thinking of a plan. He had no idea how he was going to come up with the dough to hire Jake, but he’d figure out something. Keeping Sterling from suffering what Remi had gone through was worth it.

  He stood and Jake stepped back further, but not before Remi got a good whiff of the man. Damn, he smelled raw and masculine and—he was doing it again. If he was going to let Jake help him, he was going to have to rid himself of this infatuation.

  Remi shut the door and tried to hand the glasses back to Jake, but Jake shook his head.

  “Keep them, you may need to put them back on.”

  Nodding, Remi shoved them on top of his head. It was probably a smart idea considering Jake’s nearness always made him go haywire. “Come on, I’ll introduce you to my little brother. You can bring your breakfast over to our table.”

  Chapter Two

  Remi stuffed a bite of pancake in his mouth, trying not to laugh at Jake’s expression. The poor man. Sterling had taken to Jake right away. And when Sterling was comfortable around someone… Remi hadn’t seen him this talkative in ages, but Jake seemed to be taking the endless chatter in stride. He wasn’t the least bit annoyed at all the questions.

  “Do you ever do skip tracing?” Leaning forward, Sterling put his elbows on the table.

  “You mean like bounty hunting?” Already nodding, Jake took a drink of his orange juice. “On occasion. Rhys does more of the fugitive recovery than I do.”

  “Who’s Rhys?” Remi frowned. Jake had never mentioned him before. Then again, Remi didn’t know Jake all that well. He’d spent most of the last three full moons with him, but they were in wolf form. It wasn’t real conducive to talking.

  “My business partner. You’ve met him.”

  “I don’t think so.” He had? When? Rhys was an unusual name, surely he’d remember.

  “Three weeks ago, while we were hunting.”

  “Oh.” Well, duh, Rhys was a wolf. How was Remi supposed to know the name of a wolf who had met up with them a few hours before dawn? He was a big black wolf, as were Jake and Chay, hell Remi was too for that matter. They all looked the same. Oh, now that was just bad. Remi burst out laughing, unable to help himself. For a guy who’d seen his share of racism, he should be ashamed of himself.

  Sterling’s head snapped around. “What?”

  Jake grinned, looking confused.

  “Ignore me. I thought of something funny.” Still smiling, Remi shrugged.

  “Uh, you know that’s a sign of mental illness, right?” Sterling taunted.

  Remi took a drink of his coffee, catching Jake’s gaze over the cup. “Yeah, and it runs in the family.”

  Jake made a
hmm sound as he chewed a bite of his omelet. “They say it’s more prominent with each generation.”

  “Yeah, I believe it. It’s characterized by excessive talking.” Remi cut his focus to Sterling, who was seated next to him, and raised his mug for another drink.

  Rolling his eyes, Sterling groaned and bumped Remi’s shoulder with his own.

  Remi laughed, juggling his sloshing coffee. Setting it on the table, he used his napkin to wipe a lukewarm drop off his forearm before flinging the cloth at Sterling.

  Caught off guard, Sterling sputtered and flailed his arms. As soon as he caught the napkin, Jake’s came sailing across the table and landed on his head. “Okay, not fair.” Sterling yanked the green cloth off his face, trying to scowl at them. “You guys are teaming up against me. And since when do you go hunting, Remi?” He threw Jake’s napkin back at him. “I wanna go.”

  “Uh.” Shit. Remi blinked. How was he gonna get out of this one?

  After catching the napkin, Jake put it back in his lap. “When do you want to go? We’ll take you.”

  Remi didn’t know whether to be grateful or not. Now he was going to have to dodge questions about hunting and when he was going to take Sterling.

  “What do you hunt?” Sterling asked.

  How the hell was Remi to know what season they were in? Was it deer season? Duck? Quail? Damn, he had no clue. He’d never gone hunting before with a rifle and stuff. “Duck.”

  “Rabbit,” Jake answered at the exact same time.

  Crap. Remi nearly groaned aloud.

  “Well, which is it?” Sterling frowned.

  Jake met his gaze, his eyes twinkling. “Wabbit season.”

  Oh, man, nice save. Remi’s lip twitched. “Duck season.”

  “Wabbit season.”

  Sterling groaned. “Y’all don’t really go hunting, do you?”

  “Sure we do. We just don’t usually shoot anything.” Which was the absolute truth. They ran it down and chomped its neck. Remi grinned at Jake.

  Jake grinned back.

  “I can go with y’all next time, honest?” Sterling asked.

  “Sure.” Jake arched a brow at Remi. “But you have to be vewy, vewy quiet.”

  Remi couldn’t help himself, he laughed. He’d figure out how he was going to answer Sterling’s endless questions about hunting later. Oh wow, he liked Jake. Well, when he wasn’t lusting after the man. Come to think of it, on the full moon was one of the few times he ever had fun anymore. In wolf form they seemed to have a comfortable silence with one another. It shouldn’t be any surprise to him that he and Jake would get along good in human form also. He’d just never been around Jake when he wasn’t trying to control his wolf nature. He decided he liked it. “Yeah, ’cause wabbits are vewy timid wittle cweatures.”

  Jake smiled. A full-on, happy smile. It lit up his face and made his dark brown eyes dance.

  And it went straight to Remi’s cock. His eyes went unfocused and his gums began to sting. Fuck.

  Remi extracted Jake’s sunglasses off his head and put them on.

  * * *

  Laughing, Sterling shoved Remi in the back and bounded past him out the diner door. “What are we gonna do now?” He ran across the parking lot toward Remi’s motorcycle. When he turned back toward Jake and Remi, Sterling had a huge grin on his face. “Can I drive?”

  Jake chuckled. Sterling was everything a little brother should be, like a playful puppy, animated and full of energy. Not only was he smart and cute as he could be, but he was personable. Jake suspected the kid had never met anyone he couldn’t charm.

  Handing Jake his sunglasses, Remi groaned and shook his head. “Not in the city.” Remi walked slightly behind Jake until they reached his bike. Putting the key in the ignition, he squinted at Jake. The sunlight caught his eyes just right, showing off the unusual green color. “Maybe we can go grab a beer tomorrow sometime to discuss what we were talking about earlier?”

  Damn, his eyes were fucking gorgeous. The first time Jake had seen them, he’d thought they were contacts. They weren’t. Even in wolf form, Remi’s eyes were a clear peridot. He had to quit thinking like that. He put on his shades. If he got all keyed up, his arousal would trigger Remi’s. And Remi wasn’t near as good at hiding it as he was. Jake dragged his mind away from the piercing green long enough to answer. “Sure. You have my number?”

  “Yeah, you gave it to me when you were watching after Keaton.” Reaching for the helmet hanging on the handlebars, Remi threw his leg over and sat. Once Sterling was settled on the bike, Remi handed the helmet back to him.

  Sterling took the helmet as his head whipped around to Jake. “You were watching Keaton? Like a bodyguard or something? That’s so cool. Why did Keaton need a bodyguard? Was there trouble at the college? Did he fail a student or something? Oh.” Sterling’s eyes widened. “Was it because he’s gay?”

  Frowning, Remi pinched Sterling’s leg.

  “Oww.” The kid yelped and scowled at his brother. “What?”

  “Shh…that’s rude.” Remi looked back at Jake. “Sorry, Jake, just igno—”

  “Why’s that rude? I’m only curious. Maybe I wanna be a private detective one day. I need to know these things, in case,” Sterling shot back.

  Jake watched them, fascinated.

  Rolling his eyes at Sterling, Remi groaned and scowled over his shoulder. When he twisted, his baseball jersey fell open and the tight black T-shirt stretched taut across his toned muscles. “You’re being nosy and Jake has better things to do than answer your endless questions. Besides, I thought you were going to be a fireman.”

  Jake chuckled, only half listening to the friendly banter between the siblings. He was having a hard time dragging his gaze away from Remi’s chest. Even knowing what was underneath the clothes from seeing Remi shift, there was something very enticing about how those square pecs showed through the fabric. It made Jake’s fingers itch to touch. He’d love to pinch those nipples and watch Remi squirm and beg for him. Remi’s chest would ripple and glisten with sweat and— Jake shook himself. Remi was straight. He might never truly be Jake’s mate, much less submit to Jake’s more dominant tendencies.

  Sterling shrugged, drawing Jake’s attention. “Okay, fine, I’m nosy.” Sterling put the helmet on. “I want to know because I like Keaton. I don’t care what Dirk sa—”

  Remi revved the engine.

  Interesting. Jake wondered what that was about.

  “I’ll give you a call later.” Tilting the bike, Remi raised the kickstand with his foot. He wasn’t wearing a helmet.

  Sterling looped his arms around Remi’s waist. “Bye, Jake.”

  “Wait.” Jake gripped Remi’s arm. There was no way in hell he was going to let his mate go without a helmet. Werewolf or not a head injury could kill anyone. Wolves may heal faster than humans, but dead was dead.

  Fuck. Remi’s scent changed as soon as Jake touched him. It grew heavier—aroused—and it went straight to Jake’s cock.

  Remi’s dark eyebrows pulled together. The green bled out into the whites of his eyes and his warm arm flexed under Jake’s hand. “What’s up?”

  Clearing his throat, Jake released Remi’s arm. “Where’s your helmet?” Jake handed Remi his shades and glanced at Sterling from the corner of his eyes.

  Swallowing so hard his Adam’s apple bobbed, Remi blinked and put the glasses on. He hitched his thumb over his shoulder. “I was in a hurry and forgot his helmet. So he’s wearing mine.”

  Jake had to proceed with caution. Demanding that Remi be safe would likely piss the man off. “Why don’t you let me take Sterling and follow you to your place? That way you don’t have to ride without a helmet.”

  Remi shook his head. “I—”

  “Come on, Sterling. I’ll tell you more about the PI business on the way.” Jake offered the kid a hand. He wasn’t taking no for an answer.

  Predictably, Sterling grinned and unbuckled his helmet. “Cool. You wanna hang out with us today? Hey, Remi, can we g
o toss a ball around?”

  Remi turned his head. “Sterling…”

  Throwing his leg over the bike, Sterling hopped off and handed his helmet to Remi.

  Sighing, Remi took it. “Jake, are you sure this is no trouble? I mean, if you have work to do or something—”

  “No trouble at all.” Jake smiled. It was probably a little underhanded, but he’d just figured out the key to his mate, and he was sure as shit going to use it. He gazed at Sterling, who was bouncing up and down on his toes impatiently. If including Sterling meant getting closer to Remi…so be it. Thankfully, Jake liked the kid, therefore it wasn’t as much using him as it was looking after him too. From what little Jake had heard of Remi and Sterling’s conversation before he dragged Remi outside earlier, the kid needed all the protection and support he could get.

  Clasping his hand on Sterling’s shoulder, Jake led him toward his Chevy. “Toss a ball around?”

  “Yeah, football. I want to try out for the junior varsity team next year.”

  Remi pulled up beside them, wearing his helmet, and pointed a finger at Sterling. “Behave.” He waved at Jake. “See you at my apartment.”

  Oh yes, this was going to work well. Jake nodded and punched the button on his key ring to unlock his black Tahoe.

  Sterling climbed in and buckled his seat belt.

  When Jake opened his own door and slid in, Sterling watched him, cocking his head. He remained quiet as Jake started the engine and backed out of the parking space. That probably wasn’t a good sign, considering how much the kid talked. “What’s up? You’re awfully quiet all of a sudden. I thought you were curious about my work?”

  “Who were you protecting Keaton from?”

  A deranged werewolf. “You’ll have to ask Keaton that. Client confidentiality and all.”

  “I don’t see Keaton very often. Remi doesn’t take me to Chay’s with him very much anymore.”

  “Why not?”

  Sterling blinked. “Dirk, uh, I mean our dad—” He turned away.

  Jake wanted to ask why Sterling called his dad Dirk, but he was anxious to hear more about Remi’s father, and why the man didn’t like Keaton. “Your dad what?”