by M. J. Scott
“Then what do you offer to us?” she asked.
“Information?”
Marco rubbed a finger round the rim of his glass, making it sing. The sound hurt my ears as I focused on him.
He tilted his head at me with a small smile as he lifted the finger. “I believe we know everything you know already. Your Taskforce has not gotten very far, has it?”
“We’re doing okay.” I said, stung. Since I’d been rescued, we’d started to close in on a few of the aliases Tate had been using. But we had a long way to go.
“You are like children, hunting for the monster with a flashlight, pretending you are not scared of the dark,” Leah said scornfully.
Oh no, I knew I was scared of the dark. “What are you hunting for him with?”
She smiled nastily. “Torches. Many, many torches.”
I couldn’t help smiling back. It wasn’t a nice image. But hey, I didn’t want Tate to die easily. I wanted him to suffer. A much as inhumanly possible. If the vamps found him first and tore him to pieces then I didn’t think I’d be all that upset.
Dan, however, would be.
Jase put down the glass he’d been toying with. “We may have other information.”
Startled, I swiveled my head in his direction. “What other information.”
“Don’t worry,” he said and I suddenly knew. He was going to tell Marco about his psychic abilities.
Bad idea. Bad, bad idea. I had no desire for Jase to become a pawn in vampire power games. It tended to be a world of vamp eat vamp where only the strong survived. Darwin would’ve loved it.
I doubted Jase would.
I put my hand on his arm. “We don’t have any other information.”
“But—”
“We don’t,” I repeated, squeezing hard. “So, Lord Marco, where does that leave us?”
The pleasant look had left his face. “With difficulties,” he said.
My spine prickled. “Can’t you just tell me?”
“It is not our way,” Leah hissed.
“But I’m not a vampire.”
“No, you’re a wolf. And we do not give favors to the wolves. You have to accept our ways.”
Their way or the high way. That much was clear.
My head began to throb. I wished I’d brought Dan. He knew more about this stuff than me. Sure, I dealt with vamps a lot at work but that was when they were doing human things like managing their finances. I had no idea how this whole other world they had actually operated.
And I was starting to think I probably didn’t know so much about the wolves either. Which I would have to worry about later because right now I had to get Jase and me out of here without offending Marco or Leah—and through her, Esteban.
“I do accept your ways, I’m just not sure what else I can offer.”
“There is one other way,” Marco said. “An obligation.”
I looked at Jase, wanting the translation. His teeth were pressed into his lower lip and I wondered how he kept from pricking himself with his fangs. Then wondered what was making him nervous enough to chew on his lip. “He means a favor?”
Jase shook his head, just a fraction. “Not just a favor. An unlimited right to call on you.”
Unlimited? That didn’t sound good. Spine prickles turned to a full-blown shiver and I clasped my hands in my lap before anyone could see they were shaking.
“That is not exactly true. We can set some limitations,” Marco said.
“Like what?” At least I managed to keep my voice steady.
“Like no blood, nothing that would harm you.”
That still left a lot of options. “How exactly does this work?”
“If you agree then, at some point in the future, if I have need of you, I will ask and you will comply with my wishes.”
“I could do your taxes,” I offered.
He smiled but Leah frowned. “This is not a joking matter, wolf.”
Yipes. She was annoyed. “I’m sorry,” I said, trying to sound suitably contrite. “I was only trying to give Lord Marco some options.”
“Lord Marco will be the one who decides what he wants.” Ice dripped from each syllable.
I stiffened. “If I agree.”
“If you want the information, you will agree,” Leah said, sounding smug.
She was right to. Because I didn’t have any real options other than leaving here empty-handed. Which would get me yelled at by Dan for no good reason.
“All right, I agree. With limitations.”
Marco raised his glass to me. “Excellent, then let us negotiate.”
***
Maybe I’d read the vampires wrong but I’d gotten one thing right. Dan was mad that I’d gone to see them. Beyond mad. He flipped out. I hadn’t seen him like this since the day he’d lost control after he’d first turned. But this time I wasn’t scared of him. I was too busy doing some flipping out of my own.
The resulting screaming match was impressive even though it cost me a very nice vase after I gave into the urge to throw things at his head. When we’d finally yelled at each other enough, Dan backed off to the far side of the room and stood for a minute or so, back against the wall, breathing heavily.
I knew what he was doing. Trying to control the wolf. I felt the same urge to change, the same energy roiling through my skin. My wolf wanted to snarl and rage and run. To bite something. Or someone. I clamped down on the feeling. There’d be no changing. Not until the full moon.
I watched Dan and Jase watched me, looking worried.
“You know, he shouldn’t upset you like this. Not when you’ve only just had your first change.”
Dan opened one eye. “I didn’t upset her,” he said in a dangerously calm voice. “She upset me.”
“She found out some information though,” Jase said, folding his arms. Which didn’t make Dan look any happier.
But Jase was right. We had information. Marco had found traces of Tate’s dealings in Washington that I hadn’t uncovered. Even some holdings in Seattle itself. And he’d confirmed that Tate had committed the murders Dan was investigating.
Dan opened his other eyes and pushed away from the wall. “Only by incurring a debt to a vampire. No offence, Jase, but that’s stupid.”
“Not as stupid as baiting a new werewolf into a rage,” Jase retorted. “What would’ve happened if she’d changed when she was that mad? Could you control her?”
Sudden cool fear swept through me. Jase was right. Ani had warned me about strong emotions during the next few months. I needed to learn how to control my wolf and if my emotions got the better of me, I risked it being the other way round. I could go berserk.
And sometimes new wolves who went berserk didn’t come back to human form.
Of course, Ani had thrown me together with the one man guaranteed to drive me around the bend, so I wasn’t sure her logic was all that up to scratch.
“Stop talking about me like I’m not here,” I said when my heart stopped pounding quite so hard. “I’m fine.” In the fucked-up, insecure, neurotic and emotional sense of the word.
“Only ‘cos you got lucky,” Dan said. “You’ve got the self-preservation instincts of Bambi.”
“Bambi did just fine,” I retorted. “He became King of the Forest.”
Dan snorted. “It was a Disney movie.”
My hand itched for something else to throw at him. I settled for glaring. “What does that mean?”
“In the real world, Bambi would’ve been toast.”
“Like me? You mean? You think I’m toast?” My voice grew louder again.
“I’m saying I’m not going to let you be toast,” Dan said. “From now on, we stick together. Where you go, I go.”
“What? No way.”
“Sorry, but you gave Esme the slip. So now you’re stuck with me. And in case you think you’re going to give me the slip, I’ve tripled the surveillance on your house.”
I picked up a glass to throw at him but Jase caught my arm.
“Tell that to him.”
“I would but he’s right. What we did tonight was dumb. You need protecting.”
Crap. Jase was on Dan’s side. No way out if Jase wasn’t going to help me avoid Dan.
I sighed, rubbing my chest, trying to will the last of the anger away. I knew Dan was right. I wanted to be sensible but everything about this kept rubbing me the wrong way.
And now there would be even more Dan.
Not only in my house but watching me all the time.
Driving me nuts.
Just like it would drive me nuts if I didn’t work off some of the excess energy currently making me feel like every nerve ending in my body was firing, full throttle. I couldn’t stay around Dan any longer and I didn’t want to take my temper out on Jase. So I shot a last glare at Dan and stomped down to my room to change into my gym gear. Maybe I’d just stick a big old photo of Dan’s face on my punching bag and go from there.
***
Five days later my punching bag was a limp shredded heap of leather on my garage floor, I had bruised knuckles, we knew nothing more about Tate’s whereabouts, and Dan was still insisted on sticking to me like glue. As an added bonus he seemed to have decided that, just in case he hadn’t quite annoyed me enough already, he might as well try charming me into a good mood.
Five days of flirting and teasing and my temper hadn’t improved any more than my relentless need to move.
“You know, if you changed you’d feel less frantic,” Dan said, looking up from a file as I passed his desk for the tenth time in about twenty minutes.
“Thanks, but I’ll stick to pacing,” I said. Pacing stopped me doing something stupid like crawling onto Dan’s lap like I wanted to every time I got a lungful of his scent.
“It’s not like anyone here is going to mind,” he said, nodding toward the rows of agent-filled cubicles. “They’ve all seen weres change before.”
I’d mind. I’d decided full moon only and that was what I was sticking to. “My suit would mind,” I pointed out. Plus there was the whole issue of what to put back on when I changed back if I shredded my favorite outfit. Being naked in front of Dan was not a good plan at this point.
I bounced on my toes briefly, pivoted then headed back toward the far wall. Dan’s office was too small for satisfactory pacing but I couldn’t sit still. Couldn’t think properly at a desk.
I felt like someone had plugged me into a battery and switched the power to high. I worked for hours, polished my house to within an inch of its life and worked out on the pieces of my home gym still standing. Despite all that, I still lay in bed at night feeling like my blood was fizzing.
“There are other ways of burning off energy,” Dan said in a different tone.
I shot him a disgusted look. He kept flirting with me. Pushing my buttons. Tempting me. I hated it. Mostly. Except for the bits of me that loved it. “Are you suggesting I take up jogging?”
He grinned and a dimple flickered in his cheek. “I was thinking more of a team sport.”
An image of him and me playing the sorts of games he had in mind slid into my head and stuck there front and center. Dan naked. Dan ready for action. Dan all too willing.
I wrenched my mind back to the problem on the table. Tate. That was enough to quell my lycanthropy-fueled libido.
“I never was much of a sports fan,” I said, dropping back into my chair.
“That’s not how I remember it,” Dan said with another one of those grins.
The toe-curling, memory inducing, mind fogging ones. I hated those. When I wasn’t lapping them up like a woman who’d just found an oasis in the desert. It was ridiculous. I wasn’t going to let my hormones and a stupid virus take over my life. Besides which, after what Tate had done to me, I wasn’t sure about the whole sex and orgasms thing anyway. What if all I could think about was Tate? If I told Dan that, I knew he’d back off. But I wasn’t ready to tell anyone other than the counselor I was seeing what Tate had done when he’d thralled me. She’d said it was up to me when—or if—I ever told anybody else.
“In fact,” Dan continued. “I remember you playing very . . . enthusiastically.”
So did I. That was the problem. “Oh, shut up,” I said irritably. My mind had doubts but my body apparently was all too keen to relive old times.
He pulled an injured innocent expression. “Hey, I was talking about softball—what were you thinking about, Ash?”
“Your face meeting my fist,” I said.
He laughed. My toes curled.
“Changing might improve your temper too.”
I twirled my chair from side to side. “No, getting away from you would improve my temper.”
Silver eyes narrowed at me. “Not gonna happen.”
“Then I guess you’d better get used to my bitchy side.”
“Honey, I’m just fine with your bitchy side,” he drawled, looking me up and down. “You’re the one who’s in denial.”
“And a lovely part of Egypt it is,” I snapped. “Now shut up and let me work.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Denial. I was beginning to wonder if Dan was right about that as I slipped the cross Bug had given me to replace the one Tate had stolen around my neck the next morning. It was platinum. I couldn’t wear silver now. Which ruled out most of my jewelry collection.
I stared at my reflection. I still looked like me. Nothing remained of the bruises and injuries from Tate. First change and my new revved up metabolism had taken care of that. My eyes were still greenish hazel, my hair dark brown. I still looked human.
But I was a werewolf. My face could change. My whole body could change. Just thinking about it made my stomach clench.
And changing was the least of my problems—at least I only had to do that once a month. But the super-sensitive hearing and sense of smell? Those were always on. Just like the river of energy that still had me humming.
Or maybe that was Dan who was still taking great delight in torturing me with his smiles. It was driving me crazy. Every time he came into the room my mind went kind of blank and my stomach fluttered.
Hell, he didn’t even have to come into the room. It was enough for me to smell him on the furniture in my house. It was worst in the gym, where he’d taken to working out his frustration in the same way as me. The room was layered with his scent and mine, and the combination made me even hornier.
Jase thought I was crazy for resisting. If I’d thought it would be just sex, maybe I wouldn’t have. But I wasn’t ready for the whole package.
I wasn’t ready for life as a werewolf, let alone being bonded to one.
My nose let me know that Dan was outside my room a few seconds before the door opened.
“Ever heard of knock—” My annoyance died as I saw the look on his face. His eyes blazed, standing out like quicksilver against white skin. “What’s wrong?”
His face twisted and I put my hand on the dresser for support, fear clutching at me. “Dan? What’s happened? Is it Bug?”
He shook his head. “No. Bug’s fine. It’s Ben.” His voice sounded scratchy, almost broken.
“Ben?” It took me a moment then my heart twisted. Ben. Natalie’s husband.
“He’s missing,” Dan said bluntly. “We have to go.”
“Of course.” I scrabbled for my keys and purse. “Missing since when?” I asked, following Dan at a half-jog out of the house.
“Didn’t come home from work yesterday. He phoned Nat from the office, said he was leaving but he never arrived.”
My stomach twisted as I climbed into Dan’s jeep. Wolves don’t stray. It was highly unlikely Ben had disappeared voluntarily. But striking at the Seattle pack was pretty brazen. Or crazy.
Tate kind of crazy.
“Do you think it’s Tate?” Anger burned at the thought of someone hurting one of my pack mates. The intensity surprised me. I liked Ben but I’d only met him a few times. Apparently
I was bound closer to the pack than I’d understood.
Dan half growled. “I’m not making assumptions but it’s hard to think who else it might be.” Rubber squealed as he sent the Jeep flying down my drive and onto the street.
“And there’s no way Ben’s run off? Have they found his car?” I shielded my eyes from the morning sun. It felt wrong to have bad news on such a beautiful day. Bad news should come at night. Or at least with rain.
“He didn’t run.” Dan sounded one hundred percent sure of that. “He has one of those satellite security systems on his car but it’s been disabled.”
Well, that had to be deliberate. Either Ben trying to hide or someone trying to hide him.
My gut told me it was the latter, even though my brain tried to cling to the hope it might be the former. Either way, it wasn’t going to be good.
“Where are we going?” I asked as Dan turned in the opposite direction of the city. Away from the Taskforce.
“Ani and Sam’s.”
Pack. Of course. Where else would we go?
***
Ani and Sam’s kitchen was crowded with wolves, agents and police. But I couldn’t take my eyes off Natalie, sitting at the kitchen table, staring at the mug of tea in front of her like she wasn’t sure she knew what to do with it. Gone was the happy bubbly woman I’d knew. She looked gray and shell-shocked. Wiped blank.
I recognized the expression. Grief and pain and fear. I was way too familiar with all three.
But I didn’t want to intrude, so I hung back while Dan went over to her and enfolded her in a bear-hug. Then stomped down the flare of jealousy that erupted in my chest. He was just comforting a friend. Plus, I had no right to act jealous when I wouldn’t let him touch me.
As Dan released Natalie and straightened, another woman hurled herself at him, sobbing big dramatic sobs. Petra. This one I was allowed to have a problem with, I decided, narrowing my eyes. I put down the coffee pot and joined Dan. He let go of Petra semi-gently, disengaging her hands from his arms.
“Petra, this isn’t helping Nat,” he said.