Big Bad Bite (25 page)

That comment stopped her impending rant dead
in its tracks. How would she feel if she smelled some other woman
on Adam? Dropping her head to look at the floor sightlessly while
her imagination went into overdrive at some hypothetical situation,
she was rather shocked when she heard the growls. They were coming
from her. And apparently Adam had figured out what the source of
her growling was from, because his body was trembling in poorly
concealed laughter. Her hand smacked his chest.

“You might have a point. If there’s no
touching for me though, then there’s no touching for you.
Agreed?”

His eyes went molten again, “Agreed.”

She thought he might kiss her again by the
way he was looking at her, as if he was a dying man and her mouth
was the source of everlasting life, but a throat clearing brought
her out of the spell.

Kent had come into the room. “You know, it’s
a sad day when I can sneak up on the two of you.”

Adam never looked away from her as he
responded, “You didn’t sneak up on us demon. I knew you were there
the whole time. You just weren’t significant enough for me to
remove my attentions from the most intriguing thing in the
room.”

Her partner scoffed, “You’re a cocky pain in
the ass, you know that right?”

Pulling Jenna into his chest again, so that
he was cuddling her, he set his chin on top of her head as he
looked back to Kent and answered, “I’m sorry if you’re insulted by
my honesty that you fail to register as a threat to me. Perhaps you
should work less at seeing how many women you can bed, and more on
becoming a contender against those of us who actually warrant the
wary attention of those who are considered dangerous in this game
we call life.”

Other bodies filed into the room as Adam
finished his comment. The Ivanov tigers arched interested eyebrows
over the exchange, her Uncle and brother looked as if they
genuinely could care less about what was being said, but her mother
looked at Adam appraisingly.

“Alpha McPhee, I’ll have you know that I use
to be acquainted with Kent’s family rather well. If Kent wanted to
enter the ring as a serious contender for who could wipe the floor
with all of your smug attitudes, I assure you, he could. He’s just
chosen a more carefree lifestyle than the one his family would
force upon him if given the chance.”

Now that comment caused a lot of shocked
reactions. The surprise didn’t show on the faces of the room’s
occupants, but you could feel the mood in the room shift into one
of wary assessment. Backs became straighter, shoulders tensed.
Jenna couldn’t wrap her head around the idea that her partner could
be more than the always looking for a good time, playboy.

Kelly O’Conner looked at Kent when she added,
“Although I have no idea why you go by Kent. Really, Fr-“

Kent roared in protest, holding his hand up,
palm out, and aiming it at Kelly as if that could physically stop
her from speaking. “Nope! No ma’am! You’re not allowed to utter
that name. I refuse to even hear it.”

Jenna’s left eye twitched. Seriously? The man
hated his name that much that he wouldn’t even let other people
hear it? That was kind of crazy. Looking over at her Mama, she saw
her shoulders shrug before taking a seat next to Uncle Owen at the
table.

Owen looked bored and unimpressed with the
spectacle. “Can we get this meeting going now? Perhaps the rest of
you can waste your days away, but I assure you, I’ve got shit to
do.”

When everyone was situated in their
respective seats, her Uncle looked to the Ivanov brothers. He
seemed to scan them like he was internally dissecting them molecule
by molecule. Weighing their motives. Their morals. Their honor.
Their usefulness? Then he looked to their grandmother. Vera simply
nodded in return to some unspoken question.

“At least one of you seems eager to see this
to the end. The other gives the impression that he would follow his
brother no matter his own opinions on the matter. To bring both of
you would draw too much attention. To bring one of you could help
provide us some cover for those who would question our presence.
Alec, if you are sincerely interested in participating, then I’d
like you to accompany us to Germany. If you come, we would use your
presence in the fight scene to smooth, what will assuredly be some
pissy egos. See, the thing is, after recent events, I’m cautious as
to whom we should trust. That makes me reluctant on whom to inform
that we’re coming. That means I’d like to tell essentially no one.
I’ll call the European Pack Master to inform him of our
accompaniment of the Ivanov fighter, but that is it. There’s no
telling how far up the chain of command this problem extends.”

Gage stopped rapping his finger on the table
by holding it up to stop the werewolf’s speech. He cocked an
impertinent eyebrow, “Oh, I’m going. If only to make sure that my
brother doesn’t do anything stupid, or that you don’t accidentally
get him killed. You don’t have to worry about people being aware of
my presence. If you know anything about my profession, then you
know it’s my job not to be seen, heard, or even become a fucking
thought that crosses the mind. Not only will I be there, but
because I don’t like the sound of all this bullshit you’ve dragged
us into, I’m hand picking some of my team members to join me. That
way when the lot of you gets yourself into a jam, and I
guaran-damn-tee you’ll find yourself up to your knees and elbows in
hot shit, I’ll be there to pull your sorry asses out of the way
before you get yourself a whole lot of dead.”

Ignoring Owen’s scowl he continued, “You can
glare daggers at me all day long and it doesn’t change a thing. I’m
going, and you’re just going to have to suck it up and like it. If
you want to stay on my good side, you’ll not only like it, you’ll
damn well thank me for it when I do inevitably save your sorry
asses. So let’s skip the part where you think you can order me not
to come, or try to talk me out of it, and move onto the next stage
of your plan. When do you want to leave?”

Jenna had heard of the phrase, ‘If looks
could kill’ before, but the enraged expression that her Uncle
sported said so much more. It said something like, ‘This look will
not only kill you, but it will chop you up into tiny pieces, run
you through the meat grinder, and then it will feed you to the pigs
so that your body is never, ever found.’ Was it wrong to be
grateful that look wasn’t leveled at her?

Owen’s eyes glowed as his wolf shined out of
them and he snarled, “You felines are more trouble than you’re
worth. Don’t you have a string to go bat around? Do you have to
follow me around, annoying me?”

The tigers didn’t even bat a lash at the set
down. Instead of being insulted, or getting angry, Alec looked over
to his brother and said, “I don’t think he’ll be getting tail from
Babushka after that comment, do you?”

Owen lost the fight for patience and started
banging his forehead against the conference table, muttering under
his breath about useless felines, and the pains he had to endure to
be near the ones that were his. The entire table shook every time
he dropped his head back to its surface.

Simultaneously, Gage slapped his brother on
the backside of his head. “Gross dipshit. You are never to use the
reference of sex and our grandmother in the same sentence again.
I’m going to have nightmares for a month.” His eyes slid sideways
to look at Vera, and then he shuddered in disgust.

Adam rapped his knuckles on the table top.
“Right. We get it. We’re going to Germany, two cats are coming
whether we like it or not, and we’re to keep the purpose of our
visit to ourselves. Anything else we need to know, Pack Master
Davies?”

Uncle Owen sat up in such a kingly manner
that not a soul dared to point out he now had a giant red spot on
his forehead from his repeated self-torture session with the table.
He looked at Jenna, “We leave tomorrow morning. That gives you
enough time to go home, arrange for emergency leave with your job
based on a family emergency, and pack a bag. Enough for four days.
You’ll be spending the night here on McPhee Pack lands.”

He looked to Kent, “You’ll stay here and use
your connections at the Police Department to monitor the city and
make sure there isn’t another connected event.”

His gaze moved to the Ivanov brothers, “Alec,
you will meet us here in the morning to ride with us to the
Wilmington International Airport. Figure out where we need to go to
use the fight ring for our information. If your brother is so
determined to come, he can find his own damn ride.”

Finally, he looked at Adam, “We’ll stay at
your cabin tonight. Do what you need to do to prepare for your
absence. Discussion over.”

Uncle Owen stood up, and walked out of the
room without another word to any of its occupants, or to even look
back at them. Her brother looked as if he was about to get up to
follow him when Vera, who had been sitting closest to the door,
stood and sauntered out of the room, presumably after her
Uncle.

Logan’s smile was smug and knowing as he
watched the tigress’ hips sway seductively before she disappeared
out of sight. Gage and Alec noticed where the young man’s view had
been locked on their grandmother’s ass, and went deadly still
watching the wolf with the look of a patient hunter about to take
down their next meal.

Huffing a laugh, Logan taunted the tigers,
“Guess you were wrong, looks like he’ll be getting tail after
all.”

Jenna saw their muscles bunch, ready to
spring at her brother. Before Alec and Gage launched, she placed
herself bodily in front of Logan, throwing her hands out with her
palms facing the two tigers, and shouted for them to stop. From one
second to the next, there was a variety of objects suspended in the
air between her and the two men determined to beat the snot out of
her little brother.

A pair of scissors spun in slow circles with
their pointy sharp end aimed at Alec’s chest, just a couple of
inches from making actual contact. A large glass vase was trembling
in fury less than a foot from Gage’s head. Other menial objects
such as a stapler, porcelain coffee cup, about a dozen pens, an
electric pencil sharpener, and a metal three hole page punch dotted
the air in front of the men, threatening to use their slight
weights in an attempt to pummel them, even if on a non-life
threatening level. The men stared wide eyed at the objects hovering
in front of them. Moving their eyes upward, they saw that the
desktop printer was looming over Gage’s head, and the flat panel
computer monitor hung over Alec’s. Every object that Jenna held in
wait as a weapon against the brothers, was either spinning in
circles or vibrating with her telekinetic energy.

The tigers weren’t exactly pissing themselves
in fear, but at their wide eyed wonder she had a feeling that she
had made her point clearly enough. “Don’t ever try to come at my
brother again. If you so much as twitch in his direction, I’m going
to the closest object bigger than my fist, and I’m going to see
just how far I can shove it up your ass without physically touching
you. Comprende?”

Alec’s lip lifted in a sneer, but he nodded
in agreement with Gage. Of course, the victory was short lived when
Logan had to go and ruin it for her.

He barked a laugh. “They’re pussies!” He
laughed again in self-amusement. “Literally! Get it? Pussies?”

Jenna kept all of the desktop obstacles
between her side of the table, and the opposite side where the
Ivanov’s looked like they wanted to sharpen their claws on her
brother’s carcass to shut up his annoying laughter. However, that
didn’t stop her from mentally picking up the binder that lay a few
feet behind Logan on top of a file cabinet, and flinging it at the
back of his head. It connected with a resounding smack that caused
her brother to yelp.

“Don’t antagonize the two men in the room who
could shift into tigers four times your wolf’s size and play tug of
war with your idiotic hide.”

Properly chastised, Logan sent a mock
regretful puppy dog look towards Jenna. “Of course, sister. You’re
right. I’ll behave from now on.” He skirted around the table,
pretending for all the world to see as if he were a naughty little
boy having been reprimanded by his older sibling, and then
cheerfully shouted, “Pussies!” Before hastily exiting the room.

Jenna sighed, gently replacing the heavier or
breakable items back in their original places before letting go of
her power, and watching the pens and stapler clatter to the table
below them. She looked over to Gage who was gritting his teeth and
staring at the empty doorway.

“Do you happen to have that rolled up
newspaper you were talking about earlier?”

He growled, “No, but I think I have a shock
collar in the SUV.”

*****

Jenna parked her truck in the driveway behind
her Uncle’s SUV and watched Adam and Amy walk across the yard
towards her. Getting out, she snagged her duffle bag, hooked it
over her shoulder, and closed her truck door as they closed the
space between them.

“What’s up guys?”

Adam grabbed her bag’s strap, slid it back
off her shoulder, and then handed the whole thing over to his
sister. He grabbed her hand and started dragging her past the side
of the house towards his back yard.

“Where are we going, Adam?”

“Our date.” Shocked by his response she
didn’t say another word until he stopped next to a four wheeler
loaded down with a folded blanket and a picnic basket. “We’re
having our first date tonight?”

Those luscious lips of his smirked. “You
sound surprised. If not tonight, then when would you schedule our
date, my little sweet tart?”

Her cheeks flushed crimson. She felt the heat
of the blush travel down her neck as she shrugged a shoulder. He
leaned over slowly, brushing his lips against hers.