Dire Wants (20 page)

And you’re powerless
.

She stared at her hands.
Or maybe not.

Chapter 30

J
inx flew down the road on his Harley, headed to the bank of buildings the Dires owned on the other end of town. It was the best place for him to stay, and the Were who acted as the building manager assured him that there was an empty apartment under the penthouse.

No one wanted it and Jinx knew why—it was under the damned vampire, and Weres never trusted vamps. Jinx wasn’t about to be the exception to the rule.

He parked in a hidden space in the underground garage, went through the double-reinforced door with his code.

Brother Wolf would buck if Jinx attempted to use the elevator. The wolf trusted his own legs and jumping ability rather than a machine, and Jinx conceded, took the stairs.

He’d been inside the apartments before. Cain and Cyd kept one in the building next door, just in case there was a night they couldn’t get to the safety of the Dire house. The apartments been reconfigured and upgraded to make the rooms larger—and reinforced to handle wolves, although not Dires. Jinx, at six foot six, had needed to duck to enter some of the rooms in the twins’ place, and Brother Wolf wasn’t looking forward to the confines of the apartment at all.

Finally he reached number nine, the penthouse that had exclusive use of the rooftop.

It was time for the vamp to go. Right now, Jinx had no love for any kind of supernatural creature except his own. Well, some of his own kind.

It was time to start eviction proceedings.

In seconds, he was pounding on the vamp’s door. Jez answered, looking like his typically bored British tight-assed self. “Go away, wolf. I don’t need company.”

“I’m moving in.”

“I don’t bloody well remember advertising on Craigslist for a roomie.”

“You’re out.”

“I don’t think so, wolf. I have a lease.”

“And I have ownership papers.”

“Papers? I figured house training wolves would be a bitch, but after several centuries, I would hope you’d get it down pat.” Jez smirked. “There’s only one top dog here, and it’s me.”

“I’m not a dog and you’re going to have to move one floor down.”

“Make me.”

The fight that had been building inside of Jinx burst forth until he couldn’t hold back any longer. He needed this and it didn’t matter who was on the other end of his fury.

It only mattered that someone was.

Jinx dove for Jez, knocking the vamp to the floor and feeling the solid muscle he’d connected with. It might possibly be the fairest fight he’d ever had with another species of supernatural—and the most complicated.

He was already banged up from going head-to-head with Rifter—and still, his body was chock-full of enough adrenaline to choke a vampire. Which he did on multiple occasions, only to find himself slammed across the room.

He bounced right back, though, and even succeeded in putting the vamp’s head through the bathroom door at one point. He’d laughed at that, although his success was short-lived when he found his head shoved into the fridge and the door closed on his neck.

It could go on for fucking ever, and hours later, Jinx wasn’t sure it hadn’t. Wolf and vamp lay next to each other on their backs, panting.

The penthouse was a wreck, though not as bad as it would be if not built for this kind of abuse. Doors were pulled half off hinges, the fridge was dented with an imprint of Jinx’s body—a neat vamp trick—and Jez in turn was slowly healing a broken leg.

“Round eighteen?” Jez asked, and Jinx rolled his eyes.

“What—for another draw? I think it’s time to put our dicks away.” Jinx pushed up onto his shoulders.

“I never knew wolves could be as strong as you,” Jez told him.

“Ditto. Fucking deadhead,” he muttered and Jez threw something at him—a lamp, he was pretty sure, as it whizzed by his head. Jinx ducked and something shattered against the wall. “Neither of us can stay here now.”

“I’ll stay with you downstairs until this gets cleaned.”

“First of all, this is my place, not the— Ah, fuck it. How’s that going to happen? You’ve got a vampire cleaning fairy?”

“Something of the sort,” Jez said. “I’m starving.”

“My blood’s staying in my body, thanks.”

Jez snorted. “I don’t like wolf. I’d prefer a good fried rice and wonton soup.”

“I know the best place,” Jinx said, hearing the exhaustion in his own voice. He looked over at Jez, who was already sleeping. “Ha. I fucking win, deadhead.”

“I heard that,” Jez muttered. “Why are you even here in the first place?”

“I’m going fucking crazy.”

“Can you do it quietly? I’ve got to get some rest.”

Instead of flipping the vamp off, Jinx and Brother Wolf agreed that rest was a really good idea and won out over food. Too tired to strip and shift, he slept instead.

When he woke, ten hours had passed and he still lay on the floor of the penthouse, Jez next to him. Both were covered by blankets, and Jinx sat up on his elbows as Jez stretched.

“Aren’t we cozy?”

“Don’t get any ideas, wolf,” Jez told him. “Are you ready to discuss purgatory?”

Jinx sat up like a shot. “You see it too?”

“Help with the going crazy thing?”

“A little.” Jinx lay back and stared at the ceiling. “Since when?”

“Since you opened it.”

* * *

Angus watched Cain get out of the police cruiser’s backseat, handcuffed and escorted into the station house.

Shimmin hadn’t called him about this, which made Angus suspicious about the officer’s real motives. Nothing in this town was as it seemed, and he wasn’t sure if that meant things weren’t on the up-and-up, but something about Cain turned him protective.

Like the wolf really needs your help.

Still, he shoved his hands in his pockets and waited anyway. Ruminated on the fact that Shimmin had given him very little information in the few days since he’d agreed to work for the trappers.

Sure, the cop had outlined more about Were culture and the like, the way Cain had started to. Angus had also met a group of trappers who taught him the best way to take a Were down.

In their eyes, a Were should be killed no matter what.
You spot one, you kill it, even if it’s doing no harm—that’s the only way we can be sure it will never do any harm
, one of Shimmin’s men told him.

Instead of comforting Angus, it chilled him. And when he’d tried to question them about their motives for joining the trappers—and what the trappers stood for in general, they’d gone quiet.

“Sorry. The questioning thing is ingrained in me—it’s part of my job,” he’d lied.

“This isn’t your job, Angus,” Leo had chided him later, after the group had reported every damned thing Angus had said. “It’s our purpose—your purpose now. You’ll have to trust me.”

Angus didn’t trust him worth a damn, and for good reason. When Cain hadn’t stalked him that evening, he’d actually gone out looking. And then he heard on the scanner that a young man had been taken into custody for questioning.

What were the chances? And yet Leo mentioned that they brought Weres in for questioning as often as they could. Especially the young ones.

Angus could hear Leo’s lies now. “Fed, we didn’t arrest the kid—just needed to talk to him on another matter.” Because Leo had promised to keep Angus in the loop on anything and everything concerning the murders, which included Cain.

And Cain looked arrested to him.

He waited half an hour, drumming his fingers on the steering wheel, and then got out of the car to go inside. It was only then he spotted Cain walking through the back lot toward the woods, weaving slightly. Last time Angus checked, there weren’t kegs inside the station house and he was relatively sure Cain wasn’t a drug user.

He got back into his car and drove it around so it was closer to the woods. Got out, made sure no one saw him, followed Cain and called his name quietly when he got close. Cain went to swing, but when he saw Angus he stopped.

“What the fuck?” Cain asked.

“I was about to ask you the same thing.”

“Get me away from them,” Cain slurred, jerked his head toward the building. From their hidden position, Angus could see some of Shimmin’s men looking out the back door, then exiting the buildings holding shotguns at their sides.

“Did you escape?” Angus demanded.

“They let me go,” Cain insisted.

And now they were hunting him. Literally.

Cain didn’t protest at all when Angus slid an arm around him to hold him up. His breathing was fast, his face flushed. There wouldn’t be time to walk him out. If he didn’t move now, they’d be spotted.

He slung Cain over his shoulder—damn, the kid was heavy—and he got him to the car before the officers turned in their direction. Shoved Cain in the back and put a blanket over him, because the wolf was completely passed out.

He dug into Cain’s pocket first to look for an address beyond the invisible house and recalled it immediately, the one listed on his arrest report. Not safe. Angus had kept his motel room—the one Shimmin knew about—and rented another one under a different name.

He’d take Cain there.

After making sure no one was following him, he managed to get the young wolf safely stored in the room, curled up on the bed. His color was good, but he was definitely drugged. Angus paced, wondered if he should call someone about this and decided it was ultimately better to let Cain make that decision when he woke.

Whenever that would be.

Which ended up being two hours later, with Angus passed out on the bed next to him. He’d started out propped against the headboard but ended up closer to Cain. He knew he was taking a chance being this close to the wolf, but chance had served him well until this point.

* * *

Cain had to get up and moving. Out of here. Away from humans of any kind. But when he tried to stand, he and his wolf felt the room spinning.

He thought about shifting, but then he’d be totally out of control. And a drugged, totally out-of-control, once-moon-crazed Were didn’t mix well with humans of any sort.

And he really shouldn’t give a shit.

“Cain, come on. Down, boy.”

“That supposed to be funny? Because I’m not a damned dog.” He moved to hit Angus, but the fed moved out of the way easily. “I’m . . . fine.” Damn. Finding the words wasn’t easy. Especially when Angus’s big hand clasped with an unexpected gentleness on the back of his neck.

“Not even close. Lie down.”

“Can’t stay here.”

“And you can’t leave in this condition. I can’t take you to an apartment Shimmin knows about or a home that technically doesn’t exist.”

“Point taken.”

“We’re in a motel room rented under an alias. Shimmin doesn’t know about it.”

“You sure, Fed? He’s good.”

“I’m better.”

Cain could believe that. “Cyd must be frantic.”

“You should call. Keep it short, though, in case they’re watching the number.”

Smart man. Cain dialed the number, not bothering to mention the secure line, and Cyd answered on the first ring with “I’ll rip his head off if he hurt you.”

Not an empty threat. “I’ve been drugged by Shimmin, but Angus is keeping me safe.”

“Have you taken a blow to the head?”

“I’m fine. Gotta sleep this shit off.” There. He’d finally relented. Angus obviously approved, because the massage on the back of his neck started again, and he nearly howled at how good it felt.

“Where are you? Because if you’re not back in the morning—”

Cain closed his eyes and thought about the address. The spooky twin thing wasn’t always reliable, but it typically worked in these situations.

“Got it. Be safe, brah,” Cyd told him.

Cain hung up the phone and handed it to Angus, who was staring at him oddly.

“What?”

“You’re . . . glowing a little.”

Cain nodded. Strange that the fed could see it. “I’m omega.”

“Omega,” Angus repeated. “Isn’t that usually the lowest rung on the wolf ladder?”

“Not for my kind,” he murmured. “Special.”

Angus gave him a grim look. “Don’t tell me any more, Cain. Shimmin gave you truth serum.”

“No shit.” Cain closed his eyes and then opened them again. Pulled Angus in for a kiss. At first the fed froze, and Cain realized he couldn’t fight the truth with or without the serum.

His wolf instincts were never wrong about this shit, but what was wrong was wanting a human male. And a fucking fine specimen he was.

He waited, his lips against Angus’s until he heard, “Cain.”

It was a whisper. A plea. And it was spoken half captured by Cain’s mouth covering his. But Angus responded after he froze for a second, gave as good as he got, pulled Cain closer.

Yeah, Cain hadn’t been wrong about this. He kissed the fed fiercely, and Angus’s hands fisted in Cain’s hair gently as Cain struggled to stay the fuck awake.

Wasn’t going to happen for much longer. When he woke, there might be regrets on both ends, but for now the truth overtook him.

“Wanted to do that . . . for a while,” he managed before the drugs won. He should’ve shifted to get them out of his system faster, but it would’ve meant less time with Angus . . . and more danger for him as well.

Fuck, he was in trouble.

Chapter 31

S
ince you opened it.

Jinx didn’t say anything for a good long while after the vampire called him out. Not until his phone rang and he knew he couldn’t avoid Vice for much longer. “I’m okay,” he started.

“Good for fucking you, but Cain’s not. He’s been drugged by the fucker Shimmin,” Vice told him.

Jinx shot up. “Where is he? I’m going to get him.”

“He’s with Angus Young.”

“The fed or the rock star?”

Vice snorted. “Cyd talked to them both—says Cain’s all right, sleeping off the drugs.”

“Suddenly we trust the fed now? He’s on Shimmin’s side.”

“Cyd doesn’t think he is or Cain would be in the trappers’ hands by now. He said his twin antennae would be blowing up if there was a problem.”

Well, hell, Jinx couldn’t argue about that. He knew the twin connection was way more powerful than anything. “Call me the second he gets home.”

“Got it,
boss
.” Vice hung up on him, rightfully so. Jinx shoved his phone in his pocket and wondered when he’d become such a dick.

“Let’s go. I’m starving.”

They ordered takeout to be delivered to the completely empty apartment below, so Jez’s vampire cleaning staff or whoever the fuck he hired could clean it up. Jinx wasn’t paying attention most of the time, not until they dug into the food and Jez said, “You can stay with me upstairs, wolf.”

Jinx snorted. “I don’t need a roommate.”

“Well, you need fucking furniture. And you need protection. Without your pack, you’re—”

“Fucking immortal.” Jinx grabbed the lo mein and dove in, and for many minutes there was only the sound of chopsticks and quiet chewing from both wolf and vamp. “Didn’t think you guys ate.”

“Most don’t. I’m from the older generation.”

“Yeah, ditto. And the present sucks. Nothing is the way it was. It stayed pretty much the same since the tenth century and now it’s going to change?” Jinx asked, not really expecting an answer.

He didn’t get one. Jez shrugged and asked, “Want something to drink?”

“If you offer me blood, I’m going to punch you.”

“Wolf, please.” Jez handed him a beer and Jinx took it grudgingly. “I understand there’s a war brewing.”

“A fucking mess is more like it.”

“So why are you here instead of with the Dires?”

Jinx smiled. “Haven’t you heard? I’m an evil son of a bitch.”

Jez clinked his beer against Jinx’s. “Welcome to the club.”

After they both took long drinks, Jinx asked, “So where’s your vampire nest?”

“Don’t have one.”

“You’re rogue?”

“Not exactly. I’m not the only vampire in town, but I’m the most powerful.”

Jinx wasn’t feeling powerful at all. In fact, this whole thing had taken a turn he hadn’t quite expected.

“You’re worried they’re right—about you being evil?” Jez inquired.

“Why would the witch lie?” Jinx asked.

“Maybe she’s not lying, just misinterpreting what she sees. Nonetheless, we can’t be separate entities any longer,” Jez said. “There’s too much at stake.”

“So all the deadheads are getting into bed with the wolves?”

“You won’t get help on this from the vampire community—just us,” Jez said.

“Who is
us
?”

Jez smiled. “For now, be content with me. The rest are working in ways you won’t see, waiting for the right time to strike—although that might not happen for years.”

“And you?”

“I will strike as soon as you need me to. I’m here to watch you, Jinx.”

“For thirty years?”

“It’s been longer than that.”

“So there’s more than just one prophecy floating around.”

“There’s more to that wolf prophecy,” Jez conceded.

“There’s no prophecy about me.”

“That you know of,” Jez added.

“Didn’t know vamps were so into wolf business.”

“Don’t flatter yourself. We kept up with you to save the humans.” Jez didn’t look happy about that as he sniffed, “Inferior race.”

“You weren’t ever one of them?”

“I was a born vampire, not a made one,” Jez said. “We’re far superior, and we’ve been around longer than the Dires.”

“I’m sure we have history to disprove that.” Jinx wasn’t in the mood for yet another pissing contest with the vamp. His body ached, Brother Wolf was uncomfortable and he longed for a good, hard run. Or a fuck. Or both, and he wasn’t getting either thing here. “Look, in case you haven’t noticed, our kinds don’t exactly work together.”

“That’s because you have more wolves per capita in this area than anything. You’ve got some shifters, like the pride who come and go when things get too rough. Basically, they’re lazy.” The vamp dismissed them with a wave. “Your clan is as powerful as mine, both body-wise and ability-wise. If our clans were to spar, it would be a draw. Together, we would be most powerful.”

“My clan isn’t interested in power,” Jinx said evenly.

Jez laughed. “Everyone’s interested in power. What differs is why and how it’s used,” the vamp corrected.

Jinx had to agree. “What’s Kate interested in?”

“The witch? She’s good. She’s got an old soul and she can help, but Rogue . . .” Jez trailed off and shook his head.

“Did you know the one who did this to him?”

“Quite well.” Jez threaded his long fingers together and paused. “Seb loves the Dires.”

“He’s got a funny way of showing it.”

“He did choose, Jinx. It could’ve been worse.”

Jinx wasn’t sure how, but he’d been around long enough to know that jumping to conclusions never got you anywhere.

They ate the rest of the meal in relative silence, with Jez mentioning his nighttime routines.

Jez certainly did more than stay in his penthouse. The Dires should’ve been paying him, since the vamp did nightly patrols in both the buildings and the neighborhoods, often stopping the trappers from ensnaring unsuspecting young wolves.

“You always sleep in wolf form?” Jez asked him finally.

Jinx shrugged. “The ghosts leave me alone that way.”

“They don’t bother me.”

“I wouldn’t think the undead would bother themselves.”

Jez gave a small smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “You’d be surprised.”

* * *

Angus had finally fallen asleep, still half pressed against the young wolf and trying not to hump him in his dreams. He’d been out maybe a few hours when his ringing cell phone woke him.

He fumbled in his pocket, the proximity between him and Cain still somewhat startling to him.

It was Shimmin. All he said was “Bring Cain Chambers to me immediately.”

How the cop knew he was with Cain bothered Angus. He’d been discreet, and he was damned good at his job.

“The scent—they can track us,” Cain said sleepily.

Shit.
“What do I do, rub us in mud?”

“Such a fucking soldier,” Cain mumbled. “Hang on. I can take care of it. But you have to move closer. Unless you want to call Shimmin back and turn me in.”

The wolf’s eyes were wide open now.

“If I do that, you’d kill me before I could dial the number,” Angus said.

“If I thought your answer would be yes, I’d have already flayed you, human, drugs or no drugs.”

Angus pressed his lips together as his phone began to ring again. He held it in his hands and moved closer to Cain. The young wolf nestled Angus against him, his cock brushing Angus’s ass, his arms around his chest. The heat rose around them; the air changed—it smelled like sunshine, the beach. Everything wonderful.

He turned his cell phone off and fell back to sleep, until Cain shoved him. He woke with a start and stared down at eyes that were still out of it, but much clearer than earlier.

“What the hell happened to you?” Angus asked him.

“I drank the water,” Cain said with a coherence that was a relief.

“I’m guessing that’s not a drank the Kool-Aid euphemism, right?”

Cain shot him a dirty look. “That fucker drugged me.”

“Why?”

Cain shook his head, and Angus knew he wouldn’t get any more intel, even though he felt he was owed for sticking his neck out.

You were never on Shimmin’s side to begin with
. And still, no part of him was ready to admit that everything in him was telling him to root for the damned wolves.

* * *

When Stray left her bed, Kate slept, restlessly at first, and then she’d reached for the grimoire. Holding it, she’d had her first easy slumber in forever. It was as if the magic eased inside of her and covered her protectively. She felt reborn, renewed when she woke, having no idea how long she’d been out for.

She sat up and paged through the book—and she recognized what was written, knew all of it. As she’d dreamed, the pages had become a part of her, and now the power that coursed through her frightened her. The lights flickered. She didn’t know if it was only in her room or happening throughout the entire house, but she couldn’t control it.

Yes, you can.

The voice was hers, quite rational, and the instant she thought it, calm settled on her like a warm blanket. The lighting situation stabilized immediately.

“Good, that’s good,” she told herself. How could she feel crazy any longer after what she’d learned about Stray and from him?

There are monsters out there, and right now, they were actually the good guys. She had no reason not to believe him. She didn’t feel any sense of evil in his presence or in the house and she’d definitely felt it from Leo Shimmin. The man had been sent to kidnap her.

Stray hadn’t told her exactly what her role would be, but she felt a bit like a superhero, like Wonder Woman, her favorite, in this great war. And the fact that she could help eased her apprehension. Because this was big, life-altering, world-changing stuff.

She wished she had Wonder Woman’s bracelets or at least the Lasso of Truth.

As she got to the chapter she’d stopped on originally a few weeks back, the one on familiars, the same nervous feeling she’d gotten before fluttered in her stomach and she almost put the book down again.

Almost.

It was only then that she realized Stray was in the room with her, his wolf curled on the chair in a tight ball by the door. Guarding her. Protecting her.

She had to accept that and knew also that to accept this new world, her powers, her place, was to surrender to it.

For so long, she’d maintained her sense of careful balance that the outside never matched the inside. Now that would change, and she was actually relishing the feeling that allowing her tight grip on self-control to release would make everything right in a way it hadn’t been in a long time.

She decided she needed to stop reading the book because by doing so she avoided having to actually practice magic. She wasn’t ready to face this, but with this supernatural war happening, there was no time for further procrastination.

“Start simple,” she whispered to herself. There was such a need to prove that she wasn’t what Stray told her she was, and somehow a greater one to prove that she was powerful.

She’d never had power in her life—moved from circumstance to circumstance, helping people. But that always drained her.

She wanted to do something that made her feel good.

Her fingertips tingled as they remained close to the candle’s wick. Too close, because she had to pull back fast when the flame shot up. She sat back and rubbed her hands together, watched the white light flicker. Then she extended a hand and concentrated on making the flame higher and finally extinguished it completely with a snap of her fingers.

Pretty cool. But certainly not enough to break an Adept’s spell.

She paged through the book she’d been avoiding. There was an entire chapter devoted to the witch whose powers coursed through her. With a shaking hand, she turned the page and stared at the picture of someone she’d been told never existed.

“Lila, I wish you’d told me who you were when we met. I wish you’d saved me earlier.” Kate knew none of that could’ve happened. Lila had been beautiful, with strong features and a small smile, not unlike the
Mona Lisa
, which belied the hint of secrets untold. “But in the end you did save me.”

And dropped her into a world she might never have known otherwise. Wolves. Witches. Vampires.

Don’t think about that now
, she lectured herself.

“I’m meant to do this. It’s right,” she told herself. The candles raised their flames for that moment of agreement before going back to their normal size.

She would never have normal again, and she needed to be strong enough to handle it. The choice to be otherwise just wasn’t there.