A Baby Daddy for a Werewolf Silencer

by Anya Byrne

  His rescuer then headed into the small not-quite hotel and headed up to his room. Jensen didn't ask how the man knew which room was his. It should have been creepy, but for some reason, this stranger made him feel safe. Then again, he hadn't just saved Jensen, but also Finn and Parker. If there was someone Jensen could put blind faith in, it was this man.

  And okay, if the stranger's dark attractiveness had a lot to do with his willingness to dismiss the weirdness of the situation... Well, he didn't think anyone could have blamed him. In fact, he didn't want to think about what had happened earlier, about everything that confused him so much, and the memory of almost being killed twice.

  By the time they entered the room—and how the hell had the man even gotten the key?—he was nearly hyperventilating. His rescuer placed him on the bed and cupped his cheeks with strikingly gentle hands. "Breathe, baby. Come on. Breathe with me."

  As if to show Jensen how to do that, the man inhaled and exhaled steadily. He took Jensen's hand and pressed it to his chest, his warm palm covering Jensen's own. The rhythm cleared Jensen's head. The stranger's pulse was calm and steady, and it made Jensen feel safe. There was no reason to be scared, not when his rescuer was here with him.

  It occurred to Jensen then that he couldn't think of this man forever as just that—a random man and a stranger. "You still haven't told me your name."

  "Erdi," came the simple reply. "It's Erdi."

  "Just Erdi?" Jensen arched a brow.

  To his surprise, Erdi nodded. "Just Erdi. People like me don't have last names."

  There was a story there, and it didn't take a genius to realize it probably had a lot to do with the fact that those hands that held Jensen's so gently had once been stained by blood. "Okay. Just who are you exactly?"

  Erdi hesitated, and Jensen knew the man was trying to come up with some way to evade the direct question. Jensen freed his hand from Erdi's. It was his turn to cup Erdi's face, and he ignored the tension in Erdi's body, as well as the fact that this man could probably tear him apart without too much trouble. "Just tell me. Enough with the hiding. Who am I going to tell? I've already figured out on my own that Parker's involved in this in some way, so I'm not going to stop digging."

  Erdi's shoulders slumped. "It's not about who you want to tell. The knowledge endangers you."

  Jensen couldn't help it. He let out a sharp bark of laughter. "Seriously? You just saved me from being run over by a car. I'd say I'm plenty in danger already, and I can't imagine whatever you tell me would make that worse."

  Erdi's lips thinned, his dark eyes fixing on Jensen's face as if searching for answers to questions Jensen couldn't hear. God, he was so handsome, all heat, corded strength and veiled fury. The scar curving over the side of his face, just under Jensen's fingers, should have made him looked wicked, but instead it just had Jensen wishing he could trace it with his lips. He had a feeling that it was just the most visible of Erdi's scars, but definitely not the worst one.

  "Tell me," he prodded again. "I'm not stupid. That car hit you. I heard it. And now, here you are, standing and carrying me without apparent issues. What I remember from the attack... It just doesn't make sense. Please tell me, because I feel like I'm going crazy."

  "I'm not sure revealing the truth to you is necessarily going to help," Erdi replied.

  "Well, it'd be better than not knowing anything, at least."

  "Very well." Erdi got up and took a deep breath, as if bracing himself for something very difficult. "The truth is... I'm a werewolf, and so were the men who attacked your bed and breakfast."

  Jensen waited for more elaboration on that particular tidbit, but it didn't come. Instead, Erdi watched him, and despite the fact that he was obviously attempting to be calm, Jensen could see anxiousness in his eyes.

  "Okay. A werewolf. That... makes sense, I suppose."

  Erdi stared at him. "Makes sense?"

  "Well, it definitely explains the way you fought, the fact that you were hit by a car and you're not even limping, and that guy's claws."

  Sure, there could have been a dozen other explanations that were less outlandish, but Jensen wasn't about to dismiss this particular one because he hadn't actually seen a werewolf in his life.

  "You believe in werewolves?" Erdi asked, voice breathy in a way that suggested he might be a step away from a panic attack similar to Jensen's earlier one.

  "Not exactly." Jensen shrugged. "I've just seen and found too much to completely deny it. Rumors and legends appear for a reason. Nothing happens out of the blue. Things always have a cause—it's simple physics. Sure, I wouldn't have interpreted the information I had as a 'shit, a paranormal creature attacked me', but I'm not stupid enough to completely deny that it's a possibility, especially since I assume you wouldn't have said it if you didn't have a real way to prove it."

  Erdi shook his head and let out a little laugh. "You're amazing, you know that? I should have known you wouldn't be scared."

  Jensen smiled slightly. "Well, so far, werewolves don't seem very different from people. There are bad guys and good guys, and as far as I can tell, I'm currently with one of the good ones. Am I right?"

  He expected the teasing comment to lighten the mood, but it didn't. Erdi's good mood visibly drained out of him. His expression turned stony, and he straightened his back, no longer looking at all like the man who'd helped Jensen through his panic attack.

  "Actually, no, you aren't. I'm not a good man, but that's not the important thing here. What matters is that there are a lot of people who aren't comfortable with humans learning about the werewolf world, and they're willing to do anything to make sure our secret stays safe."

  "Wait, back up. I don't understand. What exactly did I do to warrant this kind of attention? I couldn't have possibly guessed this on my own, at least not right now. What connection do I even..."

  He trailed off when he realized something very important. The attack on the bed and breakfast had never been about him, not really. He'd just been in the way, collateral damage, just like the werewolf who'd almost killed him had said. "Parker. His boyfriend is a werewolf."

  In hindsight, he didn't know why he hadn't realized it the moment Erdi had first revealed the truth. Finn had that whole Alpha wolf going for him, possessive of his chosen mate. And Jensen would eat his laptop if that wasn't exactly what Parker was for Finn.

  "Let me guess. Parker is his mate."

  To be fair, it was actually a bit of an intuitive leap, since Jensen had no real information on werewolves other than what he interpreted through a comparison with their animal cousins. Even so, he turned out to be correct. "You're too clever for your own good, Jensen," Erdi said with a sigh.

  It was the first time Erdi actually said his name, and two simple syllables shouldn't have been as sexy as Erdi managed to make them sound. Really, Jensen had to stop thinking with his dick, since this wasn't the moment to pursue any attraction between them.

  At the end of the day, he didn't really know this man, and Erdi had told him too little for Jensen to actually dare to open up more than he already had. This was all so crazy and Jensen had to remind himself to take some time to process it, to figure out his next move. Not yet, though, not until he had all the data. He had to see, to have all the variables, to understand exactly where he and Parker fit in this puzzle, and who had almost run him over. Erdi obviously didn't think it had been just an accident, and all things considered, neither did Jensen.

  Erdi must have thought he'd been forthcoming enough so far, because he pulled away with an unreadable expression. "Perhaps you should get some rest for now. You've had an eventful day, and an even more eventful evening."

  "You're going to talk to Parker's boyfriend, aren't you?" Jensen scowled and crossed his arms over his chest. It irritated him beyond measure that Erdi would give him only part of the information and expected him to be happy with it. "So what now? Am I another human you have to silence?"

  He hadn't expected the words to have that much effect
, and he was beyond shocked when the color drained from Erdi's face—striking, given his dark skin—and his façade cracked like it had never been, leaving behind only horror, surprise and something that looked a little too much like guilt.

  "You're not just another human, not to me," he said, taking a step back. "But... I can understand you not trusting me. I will go and I'll do my best to protect you from the distance."

  That wasn't what Jensen had intended, and he hated that he'd exploded like that for no reason at all. He opened his mouth to apologize, but he didn't get the chance to say a word. Jensen blinked, and Erdi was gone, the door shutting behind him with an audible click.

  If Jensen hadn't already realized the man was some sort of paranormal creature, that would have settled it. He hadn't even seen Erdi move, for crying out loud.

  It should have alarmed him more than it did, but instead, he was pissed at himself for his foot-in-mouth moment. He hadn't meant to offend Erdi, but he obviously had, and he didn't know Erdi well enough to guess what exactly he'd said that had hurt the other man so much. He lay back in the bed and screamed into his pillow. Fuck. He'd really messed up now.

  Chapter Four

  Erdi walked steadily through the shadowy alleys of the small town. His soul was a bleeding wound after his conversation with Jensen, but in a weird way, he was... relieved.

  When Jensen had smiled at him and when he'd proven to be so accepting of the werewolf thing, a treacherous part of Erdi had dared to hope that they might be able to have something together after all. William was right. He couldn't give up on his mate so quickly. The attraction was obviously there, and Jensen's touch soothed the ache of Erdi's guilt.

  At least, it had—until Jensen had somehow seen straight through Erdi and managed to pinpoint Erdi's role to the letter. Erdi didn't know how the man had done it. He could only conclude there was something inherently flawed and filthy about him that Jensen had noticed, something irredeemable, the whole reason silencers weren't allowed to have mates.

  And yes, it hurt, but he still felt relieved, if only because he'd figured it out now, before he dragged Jensen down with him with his own selfishness. Jensen was human, so even with his cleverness, he'd never be able to guess what he meant for Erdi. Erdi just had to keep away from Jensen, watch him from the distance like he'd promised. It would have to be enough.

  He carefully shut down his emotions, falling back onto mission mode. Leaving aside his complete failure of a love life, he'd nonetheless saved Jensen from being run over by a car. He wasn't fool enough to celebrate his own success without realizing that there was a real possibility his mate might be targeted by either a silencer guild, or the Gathering. He hadn't recognized the voice he'd heard coming from the car, but that didn't mean anything.

  He sniffed the air for any traces of another werewolf, but he could only detect the lingering traces of the Simmonses, fading away after their visit. It frustrated him, and he was angry with himself for getting so distracted by Jensen's beauty and intelligence that he'd forgotten about protecting the man.

  Well, one thing was certain, and Jensen had been right in one regard. His pack needed to know about this. It sucked that he had to wake them up at this hour, but it couldn't be helped.

  Erdi retrieved his cell phone and scrolled through his contacts. His immediate impulse was to call Saul, but his Alpha shared a room with his son, and it was preferable to avoid alarming the child. As such, he dialed Dean Simmons instead.

  The former leader of the Simmons pack took his call almost immediately. "Yes? What's up, Erdi?"

  He didn't sound sleepy, so maybe Erdi hadn't woken him up. "There's been an attack. I was keeping an eye on Jensen, and he was almost run over by a car. He might have been killed if I hadn't been here."

  He hadn't dared to dwell on that thought since it had happened, and just saying the words made terror rush through him. It was a good thing he could inform Dean on the phone, because otherwise, the former Alpha would have surely realized something was very wrong.

  At the other side of the connection, Dean cursed. "Is he okay? What happened? What of the perpetrator?"

  "It's... complicated. He's not hurt, but seeing me unexpectedly led him to remember what happened at the bed and breakfast. I believe he's still in danger, and I couldn't track down the car. I was also... forced to reveal the truth to him."

  "Damn it. Okay, Erdi. Stay with them. Make sure Gavin's family and Jensen are safe. We're on our way."

  Without another word, Dean ended the call. Erdi retraced his steps and headed back to the small hotel, his eyes on the still illuminated window. He couldn't suppress the yearning in his heart, but he could turn it into decision—the decision that no one would endanger Jensen, ever again.

  ****

  If Jensen had been unable to sleep before, right now, he could barely stand still. Not even the laptop—which was, thankfully, unscathed—could hold his attention. He ended up doing research on werewolves, but predictably, nothing he could find pleased him or gave him real insight into what was going on. He could dig a little deeper, but he was uncomfortable with the idea of sifting through governmental files while here.

  It had occurred to him that the hit-and-run might have had something to do with his forays into the lesser known parts of the internet, but at the same time, it would have been quite a coincidence for someone to try to harm him in Willow Cove if this was unrelated to the werewolf thing. Besides, it made no sense that they'd track him down here, where a suspicious death was liable to draw more attention. Or maybe that was just the thing, that officers in Willow Cove would have dismissed the incident as just a hit and run? But even so, how was it that someone had come after him this exact weekend? No one could have known he would decide to investigate Parker's whereabouts. Damn, this was so complicated.

  Thinking about the mess he'd landed in made him even more anxious, and he practically leaped out of his seat when the knock sounded at his door. Then again, no matter how much he'd have tried to convince himself he was just worried about the accident thing, the truth was that he couldn't get the memory of Erdi's dark eyes out of his head.

  But if Erdi had come back... Maybe he could still fix things between them. He had no idea why he cared so much, but he couldn't bear to never see Erdi again, like the man had suggested.

  Much to his disappointment, when he opened the door, it wasn't Erdi he found on the other side. William Orwell and Dean Simmons stood there patiently, eyeing him with undisguised interest.

  Dean gently pushed him inside, and Jensen allowed it, if only because Erdi had obviously sent them. William followed them into the room and closed the door behind himself. "You really shouldn't be so careless with who you open the door to, especially not after what happened," the doctor warned him.

  "I was expecting someone else," Jensen snapped, trying to sound calm, but likely failing.

  Something knowing glittered in William's eyes. "Erdi is keeping an eye out and making sure no one suspicious is approaching," he said. Apparently, it was quite obvious who Jensen had wanted to see. "Don't worry. You can meet up with him later."

  "Unless he doesn't want to meet up with me," Jensen grumbled.

  He sounded like a disgruntled child, and he hated himself for it, but he couldn't help it. There was just something about Erdi that drew him in like a moth to the flame. The man had saved his life twice, but it wasn't just that. He'd never been one to leap into bed with someone he didn't know, but Erdi... The way he looked at Jensen made something powerful stir in Jensen's heart.

  "Don't worry about that," William soothed him. "He won't be able to stay away." His smile faded into a more serious expression. "Now, he's told us pretty much what happened, but it would be very helpful if you could give us the details from your perspective."

  "And why is that?" Jensen bit out. "Do you think a werewolf is hunting me?"

  William shared a look with Dean, and the whole silent communication thing irritated Jensen. "Look. I have no idea what's going
on. That's why I came here to begin with. I couldn't remember what happened at the bed and breakfast, but I kept feeling I'd forgotten something very important." Which, now that he thought about it, was probably Erdi. At least he'd gotten one answer out of tonight's debacle. "Parker had left so suddenly, and it was out of character for him to abandon his job like that. And then Gavin's mother showed up, told me a few details I didn't know about the family, and the rest... You pretty much know. After dinner, Alicia and I settled in. I couldn't sleep, so I went for a walk. The next thing I know, a car's coming straight at me. I thought I was dead—and then I was saved by the same man I could suddenly remember from the Amaretto."

  And that in itself was hard to swallow, since he hadn't expected to get back the memories he'd lost that day. Obviously, no one else had either, but Erdi must have warned them, because they nodded. "I see," Dean mused. "I can assure you we'll do some investigating of our own. According to Erdi, he didn't scent one of our kind, so the attacker might have been human."

  Jensen winced. So his earlier guess had been wrong, and someone from his past had tracked him down. "Well, that's unpleasant."

  "You have enemies, I take it."

  "Perhaps more than I'd have liked." Jensen sighed. "All things considered, I think it might be best if I left. You don't need this sort of thing around if your son is sick."

  William didn't answer, but he didn't have to. At the end of the day, the doctor's main concern had to be for his family, not for Jensen. Even so, William looked concerned. "I don't think it's wise for you to be alone under these circumstances."

  Even as William spoke, the door opened and Erdi stepped into the room. "He won't be alone," he said. "I'll go with him."

  His decisive tone left no doubt as to the fact that he would do exactly what he'd said, whether Jensen liked it or not. Facing Jensen, Erdi added, "You don't have to want me around. You don't even have to see me, but until we find out who tried to run you over, I'm not letting you out of my sight."