Wolf Tales III

by Kate Douglas

  Jake and Shannon sat perfectly still. Jake sensed Shannon’s excitement, the newness of her shift, the thrill she felt in her wolven body, but her thoughts were blocked, and her eyes on the man in front of them.

  Bosworth was dead. Ulrich had flown to DC Sunday night. There had to be a connection. This man, however, was a complication. Killing him would have been much easier, but not if he really were Chanku. Jake stood up and moved closer.

  The man held perfectly still. Jake sniffed his ankles, his hands, moved around behind him and watched him from the back. There was a sense of familiarity, of brotherhood. How the hell had Shannon recognized it?

  How did you know?

  When he was stalking you, I heard his thoughts. He was fascinated, reminded of dreams he’s had all his life. Dreams of wolves, dreams of running through the forest, of hunting in a pack. He requested this assignment after hearing rumors of our existence, but he’s not part of the regular team.

  How did you change?

  Shannon turned and stared at Jake for a long moment. The same way you do. I am Chanku.

  He wanted to be angry. Wanted to tell her she was presumptuous and a pain in the ass. He couldn’t. She’d saved his life. He loved her. Seeing her now, her dark coat gleaming with reddish fire, her green eyes boring into him, Jake knew there was nothing he would not do for this woman, this she-wolf. Already she’d stood beside him in battle. She’d killed for him. There was no doubt in Jake’s mind…this woman was his.

  Shannon wished her heart would stop racing, wished she could concentrate on the prisoner waiting patiently in the kitchen chair while she and Jake worked out their differences, but the whole incident had taken on the feel of a very graphic yet surrealistic dream.

  Jake had been in trouble. She’d felt helpless. Then the thoughts of the agent stalking him had intruded on her mind and she’d known she had to intervene. The frustration had exploded inside, Shannon’s basic instincts had overruled everything her conscious mind said was impossible. Without plan or hesitation, her body had shifted. From one heartbeat to another Shannon’s entire sense of self had undergone a permanent change.

  She glanced at Jake, sensed his momentary indecision, then the point where he realized there was a step he needed to take, one from which he couldn’t retreat.

  He shifted. Right in front of the enemy, Jake was suddenly a six-foot five-inch naked male.

  Rather than fly into a panic, a slow smile spread across the agent’s face. He held out his hand, shook Jake’s. “I’m Quinn. Baylor Quinn. Bay to my friends. You must be Jacob Trent.”

  There was no matching smile from Jake, only a guarded, wary acceptance. “Yeah. I’m Jake. Well, Bay…maybe you can tell me. What the fuck is going on here?”

  PART THREE

  Detour

  Chapter 10

  “I heard rumors about Bosworth’s plan. People on the hill figured he was nuts but I’ve always had this weird fascination with wolves. I’ve dreamed about turning into a wolf for years, so it didn’t seem all that far fetched to me, the concept of shapeshifters. I volunteered for the duty. This was my first assignment.”

  Shannon handed a cup of coffee to Baylor and another to Jake before pouring one for herself. Bay’s black suit coat was draped over the back of his chair, his tie tucked into the pocket. He’d rolled up his shirt sleeves when he helped Jake load the bodies of the three agents in their car. Now he looked totally at ease in perfectly fitted black slacks.

  Jake had pulled on a pair of jeans. With his chest muscles gleaming in the late morning sunlight, his tousled, sun-streaked hair falling over his forehead and his amber eyes narrowed suspiciously as he watched Baylor, Shannon thought he looked feral, primitive, like the powerful beast she knew him to be.

  She’d shifted in the bedroom, unwilling to show herself naked in front of a stranger. Now, dressed in her comfortable sweats, she sat in the sun-drenched kitchen with two breathtakingly gorgeous men. It was difficult to believe that only a short time ago, she’d shifted and become a wolf.

  That she’d killed a man.

  The deaths hadn’t even fazed the men, but then, it appeared Jake had been right when he said that killing was the nature of the beast. It had to be. How else could Shannon have so easily taken a life? Jake was Chanku. So was Baylor Quinn—or he would be, after he received the supplement.

  Shannon was absolutely certain of his heritage. She sensed a kindred spirit, heard the unspoken questions roiling in his mind. Admired his patience. Like a wary predator, he waited for the answers he knew would be forthcoming.

  Would Jake share the supplement with another man, a potential rival? Already, there was obvious posturing going on, a sense that, while Jake was pleased to have found another of their breed, he wasn’t all that thrilled with the fact Baylor was another male, and quite obviously alpha.

  Did Jake see Bay as a threat for her affection? Shannon hadn’t even though of that aspect of the situation until now. She’d been more concerned about what to do with the three bodies out in the car than the fact Baylor Quinn might be a potential mate.

  “What, exactly, was Bosworth’s plan?” Shannon sipped at her coffee and studied Bay over the rim of her cup. He was definitely handsome. Almost as tall as Jake, every bit as broad shouldered, he wore his dark hair cropped close to his skull. Bay glanced at Jake, then answered Shannon.

  “A breeding farm. He figured out the females carry the gene for shifting. He wanted to capture as many as he could and harvest their eggs. I heard there’s actually a facility set up somewhere in California, but I’ve never seen it. He planned on hiring surrogate mothers, using carefully selected men as sperm donors and essentially breeding his own militia. What he intended to do with them, I have no idea.”

  “That’s disgusting.” Shannon slowly set her coffee down. “It sounds like something out of the Third Reich. How could you possibly want to be a part of—”

  Baylor held up his hand. “I didn’t know of his plans until this trip, which I already said, by the way, was my first assignment with the group. Joe, the guy Jake took out under the steps, was another substitute…what a jerk.” Baylor shook his head and turned toward Jake. “We were filling in for the two guys you roughed up when you rescued Shannon. Believe me, the only reason I’m here is that I’d heard Bosworth had something going on with shapeshifters. The minute I heard about it, I had to get involved.”

  Shannon turned to Jake. His mind is open. He’s telling the truth.

  I know. Jake’s eyes flashed. You’re awfully good at this for someone who decided not to take her medicine.

  Shannon grinned at Jake, then turned back to the agent. “I imagine you have a lot of questions.”

  Baylor took a deep breath and nodded. “You have no idea. For the longest time, I’ve thought I was losing my mind. I don’t even know where to begin.”

  Jake glanced at Shannon, then stood up. “I think we need to begin with disposing of the car and its contents before someone comes looking for them. Even with Bosworth out of the picture, we don’t know if there’s anyone else on our trail. Four government agents don’t just disappear. Do they have families?”

  Baylor turned to Jake. “Only unmarried guys were considered for the assignment. Those three were all loners. I don’t think anyone besides Bosworth and his original four agents had any information at all about you guys. Two of the originals died here. Like I said, the third was a substitute and probably knew less than me. With any luck, it ends here, unless, of course, the other two, the ones who kidnapped Shannon, saw you shift.”

  Jake shook his head. “They saw a wolf come out of the shadows, but neither man saw me shift. They were unconscious when I shifted back.” He stood up. “C’mon, Quinn. If you’re with us?”

  Baylor nodded and rose to his feet.

  Shannon followed the two of them to the door. “What do you plan to do?”

  “There’s an abandoned granite quarry about ten miles from here. It’s flooded, but the water is so polluted no o
ne goes out there. These fellas are going to have a little accident and go over the edge. They’ve all died of broken necks, something consistent with a crash. No bullet wounds. We’ll have to hope they aren’t found, but even if they are, there’s nothing to tie them to this location. We checked the bodies and the vehicle. No maps, notes…nothing to incriminate us. Quinn, put your gloves on. You take the car and follow me.” Jake leaned over and kissed Shannon.

  She wrapped her arms around his neck and held him close. I don’t want you to leave. There’s so much we have to talk about.

  I know, baby. I’ll be back in about an hour. Lock the doors, just in case. Call Luc. His number’s on my cell phone. Tell him what’s happened. Oh, yeah…one other thing. Jake slowly disentangled her arms from around his neck, then stared into Shannon’s eyes with ferocious intensity. You might ask him to send an extra jar of the supplement with Mik and AJ.

  Shannon clicked the phone off and wished she could do the same with her brain. She felt as if her thoughts were tangled as a skein of yarn in a basket full of kittens. She could definitely see what Tia found attractive about Lucien Stone, though. Calm and levelheaded, he’d listened patiently through her entire story. When she’d told him of her shift and the kill she’d made, he’d complimented her on her quick thinking that had saved Jake. He’d reassured her she’d done what she had to do, what her nature demanded. It didn’t totally remove her guilt over taking a life, but did help Shannon accept what she’d done.

  Tia had gotten on the phone for just a few moments, long enough to tell Shannon how happy she was to finally know why the two of them had been so close for so long.

  They were one and the same. Not just Murphy and Mason, the M&M girls—Shannon had laughed at the reminder of the silly nickname they’d given themselves—but two powerful alpha bitches within a pack of even stronger men.

  She still found it hard to believe. Putting the phone aside, Shannon stood up and walked into the bedroom. Facing the large mirror on the closet door, she saw the same woman who had looked back at her last night.

  Only she wasn’t the same. She would never be the same again. Watching her reflection, Shannon stripped off her sweats. Then, her eyes focused on the woman in the mirror, she shifted.

  Baylor helped Jake wipe down the interior of the sedan. They placed the three bodies inside with seatbelts tightly fastened. Wearing his leather motorcycle gloves, Jake reached through the open window, turned the ignition on, put the gearshift in drive and stepped away from the vehicle.

  Parked as it was, high on the sloping edge of the abandoned quarry, the car rolled forward easily. It tipped slowly off the precipice, flipped over and landed in the dark water upside down. Within a few seconds, the only sign of its existence was the pattern of bubbles rising to the surface.

  Jake turned to study Baylor for a moment. Bay stared solemnly at the water until the bubbles ceased, then glanced up at Jake. “They weren’t evil men, but they saw nothing wrong with imprisoning any shapeshifters they could capture. They saw you—us—as less than human.”

  Jake nodded. He wanted to say, “Not less than human. More than human.” God, he hoped Shannon knew what she was talking about! Jake was almost positive, but the risk was so great. If it turned out Baylor Quinn wasn’t Chanku, that he and Shannon had been wrong, the man would have to die. He knew too much.

  That would be hard. Real hard to live with. So far, Jake liked what he was beginning to know of Bay.

  Still, Jake didn’t know enough. There were, however, always ways to learn more. He tilted his head and studied Baylor out of the corner of his eye. “Are you bisexual?”

  “What? Why would you ask that?” Baylor took a step back and stared at Jake.

  “Just answer the question.”

  “I’m not gay.”

  “I didn’t ask if you were gay. I asked if you were bisexual. Have you had sex with men before? With more than one person at a time, man or woman or both? Is the need for sex as much compulsion as desire?” Jake closed the distance between them and wrapped his fingers around Baylor’s forearm. “These are not frivolous or intrusive questions. Your answer will actually tell me something very important about you.”

  Bay nodded, but his skin flushed a deep red. He looked away, out over the still waters of the quarry. “Yeah. All of the above.”

  Jake laughed. He remembered the morning after his first night with Luc, how embarrassed he’d felt over some of the things the two of them had done. How Luc had put him at ease. “It’s okay, Quinn. So have I. So has Shannon. It’s the nature of the beast. You shouldn’t feel any shame for staying true to your nature.”

  “Sometimes the need can be so strong…” Baylor’s words tapered off on a sigh.

  “I know.” Jake wrapped an arm around Bay’s neck and pulled him into an embrace. At the same time, he ran his other hand over Bay’s zipper. He cupped Bay’s sizable package in the palm of his hand, felt the solid length of Bay’s cock grow beneath the heat from his fingers.

  Baylor groaned and thrust his hips forward, inviting Jake’s touch. Jake rubbed Bay’s growing erection through his slacks, traced Bay’s heat and length as the man’s cock stretched down the left leg of his slacks. Jake stroked slowly up and down, then ran his fingers over the softer sac behind Baylor’s cock. He made one last pass along Bay’s solid shaft, then stepped back and took a long, steadying breath.

  Jake’s hand tingled from the contact. His own cock throbbed within the confines of his tight jeans, pressing solidly against the metal zipper. It took him a minute to control his breath, and his voice sounded unnaturally husky when he spoke.

  “The rules are different in our world, Quinn. Shannon’s mine, but if she invites you to share our bed, or even hers alone, you’ll be welcome and I’ll not interfere. I won’t necessarily like it one bit, but the decision will be entirely up to her.”

  Bay let out a long, deep, shuddering breath, and nodded. His gaze never left Jake’s. His pupils were dark pits circled by amber fire.

  Jake stuck his hands in his back pockets and rocked back on his heels. He gazed out over the still waters of the quarry and thought of the car they’d just dumped, the men’s lives ended. “Will you be missed when someone realizes these guys aren’t coming back?”

  Baylor shook his head and rolled his shoulders, as if putting himself past the brief incident with Jake. “I was a last-minute replacement, handled by Bosworth himself. I’d been working on getting an assignment to his office once I heard about his plans. It so happened he needed an extra body the first day I showed up to work.”

  Jake thought about Bay’s words. “If you heard of Bosworth’s plans, others might have as well.”

  Bay nodded. “I’ve thought of that. It’s hard to say. Most people thought the man had a screw loose. They didn’t pay much attention to him.”

  “You’re kidding?” Jake shook his head. “He was the damned Secretary of Homeland Security.”

  “Go figure.” Bay’s laugh lacked humor.

  Jake studied him for a long moment. There was no sense of subterfuge. Baylor Quinn looked him square in the eye, his mind open and honest. In spite of himself, Jake realized he liked the guy. A lot. Not only liked him, wanted him. His cock, engorged from the brief episode of touching Bay, twitched, and his balls drew up tight between his legs. Immediately he thought of Shannon.

  Jake imagined Shannon kneeling in front of Quinn, slowly unzipping his slacks, lifting the big man’s cock out of his pants and testing the weight of his balls in the palm of her hand. Then she’d lean forward, maybe lick the smooth crown, caress his testicles, then work his full length down her throat while Jake slipped into her wet and ready sex from behind. She’d be ready for him. Shannon was always ready, her vulva wet and swollen with desire, the lubricating juices intoxicating, an aphrodisiac all on their own.

  Jake’s breath caught in his throat as the visual took shape in his mind. He licked his lips, then blinked, suddenly aware his jeans were much too tight and Baylor
was looking at him strangely. Jake abruptly turned away from the man and the dark quarry and walked back down the road to the spot where he’d parked the motorcycle. Baylor followed quietly behind him.

  They took it slow going back to the house, following narrow country roads that twisted and curved through deep forest and sere meadows. The afternoon had cooled until a bare hint of winter chilled the air. Jake wore his leather coat but Bay merely had his white dress shirt and slacks. Not ideal clothing for riding a motorcycle through Maine in the fall.

  Still, Jake was intensely aware of the man so close behind him, of the heat from Bay’s body, the taut line of his thighs touching Jake’s. Aware and aroused.

  Shannon waited on the porch, her feet propped up on the deck railing, a glass of wine in her hand. She stood up to greet them as the men wheeled into the parking spot just beneath the end of the deck.

  “Everything okay?” Shannon leaned over the railing. The tops of her full breasts spilled out over her cotton tank, her taut nipples poked against the light fabric. Jake’s mouth went dry and the rush of need shooting through him was stronger than anything he’d felt. He glanced back at Bay and realized the man’s eyes were practically glued to the cleavage Shannon exposed.

  Jake tamped down the instant surge of jealousy, the sense of ownership. He felt hackles rising along his spine, impossible as a human, but all too much a part of the wolf.

  Still, the thought of Baylor Quinn getting turned on by the woman he loved made Jake even hotter. It truly was the nature of the beast, but he’d had so little contact with a Chanku female, he had no idea what it would be like, feeling both jealousy and desire, possession and intrigue over the idea of sharing her with another man.

  Jake nodded at Shannon. “Everything went fine. We need to check this location carefully, make sure there’s nothing that will tie us to any of them.” Jake turned and stared at Baylor for a moment. “Of course, I have no idea how to explain you.”