Wolf Hunter

by Loveless, Ryan

  “Favorite color?”

  “Are you kidding?”

  Westley glanced at the door. “You got somewhere else to be?”

  Jaylen sighed. “Red.”

  “Mine’s green. Pine tree green. Not grass green.”

  “Thanks for the clarification.”

  “No problem.”

  “Favorite, I don’t know, movie?” Jaylen asked.

  Westley grinned, pleased he was taking part in the conversation, however reluctantly. “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.”

  “Seriously?”

  “Yeah. It’s the best one.”

  “No way it’s better than Raiders.”

  “Oh, it is on,” Westley said. “Top three scenes in Raiders versus top three scenes in Crusade. Go.”

  “Screw that. Raiders has Marion. She’s hot and kick ass. Crusade has a traitorous bitch.”

  “Who gets dropped down a ravine in classic Disney-style. What’s not to like?”

  Jaylen grinned. “You are so lame, man.”

  “Can we agree that Temple of Doom is terrible?”

  “Dude. Guy ripping a heart out with his bare hands.”

  “Oh God. Did you learn that from him?”

  “I’ve never done it, but it’s possible I memorized his technique.”

  “Christ.”

  “And what about that whipping scene? You can’t tell me you didn’t think that was hot.”

  “If you think because I’m an omega, I’m into that...”

  “Hot, fit, sweaty shirtless guy whipping another hot fit, sweaty almost shirtless guy. What’s not to like?”

  “You liked it?”

  “Hell yeah.”

  “Which part turned you on more? The guy doing the whipping or the one getting whipped?”

  He shrugged. “Either way looked hot to me.”

  “So yesterday must have been a blast for you.” It was out before he could stop himself. Jaylen’s face shut down.

  “Yeah, real pleasure to get tortured by the bastard who used my family for clawing class. What the fuck is wrong with you?”

  “I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking. I didn’t mean it,” Westley said.

  Jaylen relaxed with effort. “It’s okay. I forgive you.”

  “Um. Favorite... vegetable?”

  “Asparagus.”

  “Seriously?”

  “I think it’s neat how it makes my pee smell.”

  Westley burst out laughing. “You are so weird.”

  Jaylen grinned. “I’ve kind of got a fucked up life. I have to take my pleasures where I can get them.” He fixed Westley with a stare. “First person you killed.”

  “I don’t—”

  “Come on, Westley.”

  “Well, it was... Cody.”

  “Cody? Who you killed yesterday?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Seriously.”

  “I think, there might have been, a classmate when I was ten or so. But I, um, I don’t remember doing it and Dad said, Dad said he did it, but he kind of looked at me like, wrong, and I never believed him and, and that’s when I started hating who I was, I mean really hating it because I never understood until then that there was more to being a wolf than running around and playing and I... I....” He broke off so he wouldn’t start crying. He didn’t notice the gentle pressure on his arm until it got tighter. He looked down to see Jaylen’s hand on him. “I hate having no control over what I do, coming to butt naked anywhere from forests to the town square, and wondering if I’ve accidentally pledged myself to some beta wolf trying to up their status to alpha by taking La Mer’s most eligible omega as its mate. That’s what they call me, you know. Behind my back. Sometimes to my face. As a joke.”

  “Being a wolf always seemed like a cushy gig to me,” Jaylen said.

  “It’s not. Come on, man, haven’t you ever wanted to change who you are?”

  Jaylen shrugged. “Can’t fight it, can I? You know the ironic thing is ‘Jaylen’ means ‘healer,’ and all I do is kill.”

  “But what if you weren’t a hunter? You must think about that.”

  “I think about killing Denton.” Jaylen crossed his arms, something wistful passed over his features. It told Westley that for a second he’d thought about a different life. “So Cody was your first.”

  Westley wiped his nose. “Yeah.”

  Jaylen let him go. “You are different, aren’t you? You’d change if you could.”

  “Ask any wolf around. I’m a freak.”

  Jaylen smiled. “My first kill was a guy my age, eighteen at the time. I’d watched him shift back into a human, and I followed him to his house. I killed him in his living room. Didn’t know what I was doing, despite all the training I’d put myself through. Made a huge mess, knocked shit over. Looked like a break-in gone wrong. But when I left there I made sure he was dead.”

  “Is that supposed to make me feel better?” Westley asked. “You talking like that? You’re better at killing people now, so I don’t have to worry about a mess when you kill me?”

  “I’m starting to rethink that,” Jaylen said.

  “Oh.”

  “You killed your best friend for me.”

  “I killed a close friend. Cody was too obnoxious to be anyone’s best friend. Except maybe Austin. But yeah, I did it because I thought you were in danger.”

  “Well. Thanks.”

  “Yeah.” Westley took a risk and scooted closer so he could sit against the wall next to Jaylen. “Can I ask you something?”

  “How old was I when I lost my cherry?”

  “Why do you use knives instead of bullets?”

  “Because I like to watch them die. I want to be up close for it.”

  “I don’t think that’s it,” Westley said.

  “No?”

  “I think you don’t care if you die, and you want to give them a decent chance to get you.”

  Jaylen huffed. “No one’s gonna get me until Denton’s dead.”

  “What will you do after he’s dead? Keep killing?”

  “Hunting,” Jaylen said. “I don’t see myself as the settling down type if that’s where you’re going.”

  “If you met one good wolf, would you let it live?”

  “Don’t know how I’d know the difference.”

  Westley took his hand. “But would you?”

  “Yeah, I guess if I were positive. But no one’s good forever.”

  “Humans make mistakes too. Go bad. You going to hunt them next?”

  Jaylen rolled his head back to look at the ceiling. “I’d have to start with myself.”

  “So you do feel bad.”

  “I wouldn’t say that, but it gets to me sometimes. I have hallucinations and… never mind.” He hadn’t let go of Westley.

  “Hallucinations?” Westley prompted.

  “The younger ones. Sometimes they talk to me. That girl I killed a few days ago. She was upset about her new dress.” He squeezed Westley’s hand.

  “You want to stop,” Westley said.

  “I can’t. Not until he’s dead.”

  “I can help you. I mean, support you and make sure you have what you need, and give you a safe place to be.”

  Jaylen shoved him away. “Get the fuck off me. I see what you’re doing.”

  Westley talked fast as the coziness between them evaporated. “I’m not talking about being mated. I want to—”

  “No! Goddammit, you shifters are all the same. Manipulating little sons of bitches! As soon as Denton’s dead, you’re next—”

  The door swung open. Jaylen scooted away. “Am I interrupting?” Tom asked, sounding not apologetic in the least. He addressed Westley. “We’ve got a situation upstairs. People are starting to shift now. I was wondering if you could regulate it with your tea.”

  “Oh.” Westley sat up and scratched his head. “Well, it’s never been tested on anyone but me, but I guess so.”

  “That gross tea you drink?” Jaylen asked. “The stuff that makes you si
ck?”

  Westley was perversely touched by the concern, considering that Jaylen was going to kill him.

  “I’d think you be happy about that, given what it does,” Tom said.

  “Gives him cramps?” Jaylen asked. “Yeah, that’s awesome. Hey.” He glanced at Westley. “Just because I’m going to kill you doesn’t mean I want you to suffer. You’re not an asshole or anything.”

  “Thanks,” Westley said. He noticed that Jaylen had said Westley wasn’t an asshole and not that he, Jaylen, wasn’t one.

  “So what’s it do?” Jaylen asked.

  “Oh, well, it...” Westley fidgeted. “It, um....”

  “He found a way not to be a wolf. It stops his transformation,” Tom said.

  “It does what?”

  “It stops—” Jaylen waved Tom quiet and stared at Westley.

  “Is that true? Why didn’t you tell me that?”

  “I didn’t think you’d believe me.”

  “So, last night, what happened there?”

  “It was the Alpha. I’ve had to up my dosage since he came and my body couldn’t handle it. It forced a fast detox and... I shifted. It’s the first time I’ve done it in months. I couldn’t control....” He bit down on his words. Tom circled around to him and put his arm around Westley’s shoulders, but Westley’s focus stayed on Jaylen. “I was serious when I said there are parts of being a wolf I hate. So I did something about it.”

  Jaylen stared at him as if he’d never seen him before.

  “So you think you can help?” Tom asked.

  “Yeah. I think so. I mean, I’ll try,” Westley said.

  Tom stepped forward and sliced Jaylen’s ropes. “We need you too.”

  Jaylen shook them off. “Time to toss me outside? Westley told me the plan.”

  “Oh he did?” Tom glared at Westley. “We’ve had some... heated discussion,” Tom said, “but you’re safe for now. We need you, though. No one knows Denton better. So, will you please quit being a dick and come upstairs and tell us about him?”

  “Asks the guy who kept me tied up all morning.”

  “Asks the guy who stopped you from being someone’s lunch and provided you with a perfectly nice place to rest,” Tom said. “Tell me you’ve had a chance this good ever. There’s an army upstairs, and I’m ready to make you my second in command because I believe your knowledge will help us win and get our lives back to normal.”

  Jaylen laughed. “Normal? Nothing’s ever normal after Denton.” He stood. “I’ll help you though. But I want my weapons back.”

  “You don’t kill anyone.”

  “Only in self-defense.”

  Tom paused. “Fine. We picked up your stuff from the police station. Here. Figured you’d want one.” He pulled a knife from his belt. “Don’t go Chuck Norris on anyone.”

  “Scout’s honor.”

  Tom pulled a T-shirt and jeans out of the closet. “These should fit you. They’re from when I was fifteen.”

  “Thanks.”

  “They’re waiting.” Tom went out.

  Jaylen dressed. Tom’s clothes fit perfectly. He’d been a big fifteen year old. “Tell me how the tea works.”

  “It acts in response to my hormone levels. It keeps me balanced. That’s the simple way of putting it,” Westley said.

  “All right. So you take a lot of it—”

  “I increase the amount the closer it gets to full moon,” Westley said.

  “You came up with it yourself?”

  “Had to put my degree to good use somehow.”

  “And you don’t shift.”

  “Right.”

  “Huh.”

  “What?”

  “This tea of yours, figure that’s why I didn’t peg you as a wolf?”

  “Um. What?” Westley filtered through Jaylen’s question looking for the logic behind it.

  “I got my own... thing. Lets me know when I’m talking to a wolf even if they’re in human form. When we met, you didn’t ping.”

  “Oh. Danni said something about finding something out. Maybe that’s what she meant.”

  “Yeah. Tom tried to get it out of me earlier.”

  “Did he hurt you?”

  Jaylen smiled. “He asked relatively politely.”

  “Okay. After tonight I go back on my tea.”

  “Good.”

  “You’re not going to say anything about killing me?”

  Jaylen shrugged. “Well, given this new information I might be rethinking that. You might be the one good wolf you were talking about.” He started out of the room.

  “What about the mate thing?” Westley called after him.

  “Still no,” Jaylen said over his shoulder.

  Westley grinned. Well, at least he’d earned his life. After that, convincing Jaylen they were meant to be didn’t seem like such a huge task.

  CHAPTER NINE

  HAD HE EVER thought what his life would be like if things were different? Road trips for fun, not because he was chasing a psycho killer; taking the time to stop and admire Carhenge and the world’s biggest ball of twine and random plaques that said “Some Dead Guy Did Some Important Shit on this Spot a Long Time Ago”; his family alive and happy back home; his brother graduated from college and ribbing Jaylen about when he’d get his GED.... Yeah, he’d thought about it... for two seconds before he shoved those thoughts away and stomped them down. Shit like that, fucking fantasy, had no business in his life. It slowed him down and added baggage on top of what he already had.

  Now he was sitting at a heavy wooden table with ten alpha wolves inside Tom’s dining room. Tom had pulled the giant sliding wood doors shut to separate the room from the living room and foyer. He’d spread out a map, explained the circles marked on it as “Here’s where violence occurred last night” and asked Jaylen what he thought would come next.

  Jaylen spent the next forty minutes arguing for an offensive attack. His argument boiled down to: “Go where Denton is. If he comes here, you’re sitting ducks.”

  The alphas were still arguing about it when Jaylen slipped out the only regular door of the dining room, which led into the pantry. He heard Westley talking to someone and stopped to listen.

  “Probably gonna be a big battle tonight.” He didn’t recognize the voice. Peeking around the corner, he saw a guy who barely scraped 5’7” gazing up at Westley as he stroked his bicep. He was in his mid-forties with thinning dark hair. His suit jacket fit strangely, which was probably because it had belonged to Thomas or Tom. Most of the wolves currently wandering the house were outfitted in whatever Mrs. Ward could give them. Since this wolf wasn’t in the strategy meeting, and he was clearly trying to get in Westley’s pants, he had to be a beta.

  “Uh huh.” Westley stepped away. “Look, John...”

  The beta came with him. “Robert.”

  “Robert.” Westley’s tone was free of inflection.

  “I guess I might not see the morning,” Robert said.

  Jaylen winced. Holy crap, he was doing the “I’m shipping out tomorrow” speech.

  “You should probably be in the tactical meeting, then,” Westley said. This time, he succeeded in extricating himself.

  “It’s alphas only. You know, when I was human, I was the vice president of a bank.”

  “You still could be.” Westley said. He sounded fed up. “Lots of people keep their jobs after they get turned.”

  “Naw. Being a wolf is so much more fun.” As he spoke, he pushed his hand up Westley’s shirt. Westley grabbed his wrist and pushed it out again. Jaylen stepped forward as a surge of jealousy welled in his gut.

  “What’s the matter? Don’t you want to offer me some comfort, omega?”

  “Not especially.” Westley started to walk away, but Robert grabbed his shoulder and yanked him back. Jaylen closed the distance and knocked Robert on his ass.

  “Westley’s off limits,” he said. Then he cut off the protest with a boot in Robert’s mouth. “What?” He shrugged at Westley, who had
turned around and put his fists up. “I promised I wouldn’t kill any of you, not that I wouldn’t do that.” He stepped off Robert, who rolled away.

  “I’m ‘off limits’?” Westley asked. He looked amused. He lowered his fists.

  Jaylen flushed. “For getting wolf-raped, yeah. Look, I’m sorry, I, uh, you look like you can handle yourself. I should have let you.”

  Westley grinned. “Oh, what? You had an uncontrollable urge to jump in? Feeling protective?”

  “Yeah, well—” Jaylen noticed the way Westley was looking at him and cut himself off. He stuck a finger up between them. “No. Don’t go getting any ideas.”

  “Westley and Jaylen sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G,” Westley sang.

  He’d saved Westley from an amorous wolf. He’d saved Westley from an amorous wolf. The guy wasn’t going to hurt Westley, and Westley could have handled himself. But Jaylen had wanted to be the one to take him down. He’d wanted to do more than punch him. It wasn’t Tom’s rule that had held him back, it was—he cringed to think it—the idea that Westley wouldn’t like it if he killed the bastard. But he touched Westley. He touched him, his mind shouted, and Jaylen’s skin prickled up like he was on his drug again, but this time he wanted to grab Westley and run his hands over every place that shitwad—he wasn’t going to think his name—had touched him to wipe away any lingering sense memory.

  Westley stopped singing, and Jaylen wondered how much of his expression gave away what he was thinking. “What?” Westley asked.

  “Nothing.” Giving in to his need to show that Westley was his, he grabbed Westley by the back of the neck, yanked him forward, and crushed their mouths together. It was more teeth than kiss, more clash and spit than romance, but Westley smoothed his hands down Jaylen’s back until Jaylen loosened his grip.

  “Good,” Westley said into his mouth and followed the word with his tongue, pressing on Jaylen’s teeth until he opened with a sigh.

  “No one touches you,” Jaylen said when they broke apart again.

  Westley rested his forehead on Jaylen’s. “No one but you. Say ‘yes’, Jaylen. Be my mate.”

  Jaylen jumped away as quickly as he’d yanked Westley forward. He needed space. The reality of that statement, the idea of commitment and settling and... and.... Westley looked stricken, and he’d lost a shade of color—Jaylen was sure there was a chill in the room he hadn’t noticed before, judging by the goose pimples on his own arms—he wanted to jump right back into Westley’s embrace. He forced himself to stand straight. “Look, I don’t know how this night is going to end, and I don’t want you saddled with a dead mate.”