Tempted by Darkness (18 page)

Jameson leaned back in his enormous leather
chair and listened to Devin explain the rapidly escalating problem
he believed his brother was becoming. The only time the wizard had
seemed unsettled was when Marcus entered the room. The men might be
half-brothers, but it was obvious they didn’t know one another
well. Jameson had studied Devin closely and was impressed he hadn’t
seen any hint of deception, nor had he caught that particular
scent. One of the great things about being a shifter was the
enhanced sense of smell—and something few people considered when
they were trying to be deceptive was the fact their body’s reaction
to lying set off a chain reaction of chemical changes, and those
changes were usually fairly easy for a shifter to pick up if they
were paying attention. From all appearances, Devin was truly
worried about his brother’s potential to cause chaos and his words
had clearly made an impression on the members of the Supreme
Council who had joined them via a hastily established
internet-meeting link.

‘
He’s legit. And I think we’ve just gained
an unlikely ally. I’m glad for a lot of reasons, but I’m
particularly pleased that Kit’s observations about the man have
been validated.’
Jameson agreed with Trev’s comments and if the
look on their sweet mate’s face was any indication, she considered
Devin a friend despite all of their warnings to remain cautious.
‘
I guess we should have met with him personally sooner, perhaps
we could have saved ourselves a lot of groveling.’
And wasn’t
that the truth. For the first time in a long time, Jameson
understood how humbling leadership could be. ‘
Don’t you remember
the dads telling us that this was how we’d know we were making
progress? That anytime you are humbled you are learning?’
Jameson had struggled to hold back his chuckle, because he did
indeed remember that particular lecture—and oddly enough, in this
situation he found it comforting.

After the room cleared of everyone but
Jameson, Trev, and Tristan, Nick led the young woman who had been
working at the estate for the past several months into the room.
They had known she was a magical, but her references had checked
out so they’d hired her as part of the household staff. And now, in
hindsight, it terrified him to think about how much access she’d
had to his family. Jameson was sure Tristan and Nick were every bit
as angry as he and Trev were, but they seemed to be holding their
feelings in check—at least for the moment.

Jameson looked across his desk at the young
woman who’d been seated across from him and knew they weren’t going
to get anything useful from the conversation. Everything about her
had transformed right in front of his eyes. Gone was the mousey
twenty-year-old he’d hired and in her place was a defiant woman
without enough good sense to know she was sinking quickly in a
cesspool of her own making. Jameson wasn’t sure what the Supreme
Council had planned for her and frankly, he didn’t really give a
rat’s ass, but some of the things he’d heard mentioned didn’t sound
entirely pleasant. Evidently the Council had a special facility for
what was called “re-programming” and even though he didn’t know the
details, the pinched expressions on the older magicals faces had
given him the impression it wasn’t going to be a pleasant
experience for her.

The more defiant her body language became the
angrier Jameson felt himself becoming. If he wasn’t careful, he
wasn’t going to be in such a rage there wouldn’t be anything left
of her after this interview. Taking a deep breath, he leveled a
look at her and saw a small flicker of fear in her dark eyes.
Good. She has good reason to be wary of me. I’d just as soon
tear her limb from limb as look at her. There’s a good reason
wolves kill those who betray the pack.

“Do you know why you are here, Pamela?” The
woman sitting in front of him shuttered her expression and her
total lack of emotion sent a chill through him. She looked at him
with such disinterest, he wondered if she cared about anything but
herself.

“Mr. Wolf, I’m not going to play games with
you. If you have something to ask me, I suggest you just get to it,
because I’m quite sure I’m being relieved of my duties here and I
need to pack.”
Fuck me, what an ice cold bitch. And if she
thinks she is walking out of here to set up another scheme she can
think again.

“Check the attitude. I’m already walking a
fine edge here. There isn’t much holding my wolf back at this
point.” Jameson was confident that the implied threat was clear
enough and took a perverse pleasure from the fact she paled
significantly. “Tell us how you managed to join forces with one of
the darkest wizards to ever live? And more importantly, what the
fuck were you thinking targeting a member of our pack? Did you
think helping Damian use a member of our family to lure in our mate
would go unpunished?” By the time he’d finished his voice was
practically a growl and he could feel the need to shift crashing
over him in waves to rival a tsunami.

In his entire life, Trevlon Wolf hadn’t seen
his brother as close to losing control as he was now. He watched
his twin struggle to hold his change back and he could feel the
battle waging within him. Trev was also angry with the woman
responsible for Angie’s kidnapping, but as the senior Alpha,
Jameson was taking on more of the blame for not protecting those
around him—and Trev knew it was a very bitter pill to swallow.
‘
If you kill her, we’ll never find out who else is
involved.’

‘
I’m trying. Really fucking trying. But
she’s hurt two of the most important women in my world—women who
have never done a damned thing to her. She used Angie as a pawn—a
fucking pawn. She didn’t care a twit about the sweet woman Angie
had grown into or all the children who depend on her. And that
isn’t even considering all those in the future who will benefit
because they have somehow managed to cross Dr. Angie Michaels’
path.’
Jameson took a deep breath and refocused on Pam Wing.
“Who else in our employ knows what you were doing?” She just stared
at him blankly without responding and Jameson didn’t doubt that was
how she’d respond to every question he asked, so he decided to save
himself the effort and aggravation.

Turning to Tristan and Nick, he nodded,
“She’s all yours. Perhaps she’ll be more inclined to answer your
questions, quite frankly I don’t give a flying fuck what condition
she’s in when you hand her over to the Supreme Council. After you
search her room, please donate anything of value to a local charity
and destroy the rest. If she thinks she can betray us without any
consequences, she needs to learn differently.” He turned his
attention back to the traitor he’d just as soon take out as turn
over to the magical community’s governing body.

“As for you, until you learn the importance
of honor and loyalty, stay away from our pack, our family, and our
friends. You so much as breathe in a way that draws our attention
and you’ll find yourself facing a pack of angry wolves. It isn’t a
threat—it’s a guarantee. There won’t be a corner dark enough for
you to hide in. We
will
find you.” With that, he stalked
from the room with Trev right behind him. He doubted the woman was
going to be nearly as smug after the Michaels brothers finished
with her—but frankly he just didn’t care.

Kit had known when she woke up alone things
were not right in her world, but she’d be damned if she’s ever
dreamed things had spiraled this far out of control. How had things
gotten this screwed up in just a few short hours? The fact Damian
had managed to get help on the inside of the estate terrified her,
and Kit hated the fact she now looked at everyone around her with a
measure of suspicion. “Damn, I really need more coffee if I’m going
to get through this without going postal.” Braden’s snorted laugh
sounded from beside her, letting Kit know she’d spoken aloud. He
waved his hand dismissively and her cup filled with the steaming
chocolate coffee mix he knew she favored and she couldn’t hold back
her own chuckle.

Braden’s magic was quickly becoming so second
nature to him that he often didn’t even realize he’d was using
magic to accomplish simple tasks. Kit was certain that Cecil’s
influence had helped the young man realize his upcoming role in the
magic world, and she thanked the Universe for the older wizard
mentorship of the teen. There were so many negative influences in
the world and Braden had been exposed to so many of those he could
have easily turned his back on everything he was destined to
become. Just as she started to tell him how proud she was of the
man he was becoming Jameson stalked through the room headed to the
backdoor, his face contorted with a rage she’d never seen before
and she unconsciously took a step to the side.

Jameson hit the doors with such force she
worried they’d tear from their hinges before she saw his clothing
shredding around him. She watched in fascination as he leapt from
the large deck and shifted in mid-air. The remnants of his ripped
clothing fluttered to the ground seconds after he’d already landed
on the grassy turf at a dead run. She stood frozen in place, her
mind spinning with questions. In all their time together, Jameson
had never moved through a room where she was standing without at
the very least acknowledging her, and it was highly unusual for him
to have been this close and not touch her. In that moment, Kit
realized how spoiled she’d become—how much she’d taken that
attention for granted. Just as her breath caught, she felt Trev’s
arms come around her, “No, baby, this wasn’t about you—well, not
directly.”

Turning in his arms, she tilted her head back
to look up at him, “What does that mean? He looked mad enough to
take a bite out of granite? I swear the entire house rocked on its
foundation from his fury.” Even as she spoke the words something in
the back of her mind flickered to life.

“Oh he’s pissed alright. Hell, I don’t think
I’ve ever seen him that close to completely losing it. But, baby,
he isn’t pissed
at you
, he’s pissed
for you
. Well,
for you and all the other members of our pack that he feels he’s
let down because he allowed that woman into our home. She was the
first non-shifter we’d ever hired and knowing her deception allowed
Angie to be taken is tearing him up inside.” When Kit started
struggling to free herself from his embrace, he tightened his arms
around her like steel bands. She wanted to follow her mate, assure
him that none of this was his fault. Hell, none of them had
expected Damian to strike at a collateral target. Kit had been so
confident Damian would come after her that she’d focused far too
much of her training into fighting him face to face—a mistake she
intended to correct immediately.