Howl for Me

would arrive before Fen did. He had to get out of there for a little bit, get to somewhere where his head wasn’t quite so fucked up. Too much had happened way too fast and he was rapidly going into overload.

He needed to go home.

Jeff made it into the elevator just as Logan’s door shot open. He glared into Fen’s startled face and gave him the finger as the elevator doors shut.

Jeff leaned back against the wall and sighed. He couldn’t be gone too long.

He knew how dangerous it was to be on his own. He wasn’t a god, or even a demi-god. He was just Jeff, a human with a brain that seemed to have turned to mush and a libido that was sniffing after a man who didn’t know when to keep his mouth shut. There was only one person besides Jamie he felt he could talk to about any of this, and that was exactly where he planned on heading.

Jeff darted to his car, knowing the odds were good one of his relatives was after him. Whether it was one of the good ones or bad ones he wasn’t sure, but his radar was rarely off. Someone was on his ass, and it wasn’t Fen.

He made it to the car and hopped in.

“Hey, Jeff.”

For the first time in his life he screamed like a little girl.

Jamie giggled in the seat next to him. “Man, I love these new powers.”

“Fuck you.” Jeff peeled out of the spot and almost ran Travis over. “The Samantha Stevens act is gonna get old after a while.”

Jamie wriggled her nose at him and he almost laughed. Almost. “Did you honestly think you’d get to go out by yourself?”

“Being three and all, I’m surprised you let me take out my Big Wheel.”

“Fuck you too, ya big asshole.” Jamie punched him in the arm, and it wasn’t a little love tap, either. “Who’s gonna do the deed?”

Pictures of Fen topping him danced through his head. Not something he would ever discuss with his baby sister. “What deed?”

“Gutter, meet mind. Mind, gutter.”

Jeff was about to pop open her door and shove her out into Center City traffic. After all, she’d heal, thanks to the blood she’d shared with Logan. He contented himself with a low growl, knowing his mom would cap him one if he hurt Jamie. “Could you answer the question, please?”

She turned on the radio and began bopping her head to the music. “Who do you want to share blood with?” He almost missed the turn-off for Broad Street.

“Think carefully. You share with Logan, you could get fire magic, like Jordan, or healing, like me. Or shapeshifting. You share with Kir, you’ll be immortal. You share with Tyr, you might get light magic, or whatever the hell else he can do that I’m still trying to pry out of him.”

“Use more sex.”

She stared out the car window. “Wow! Look at your brain roll down the street! Wonder what’ll happen when it lands at City Hall.”

“Please. You know how many brains are in the gutter over there?” He almost smiled when she giggled. “Why did they pick you to bodyguard me? All out of Hel-hounds?”

“Har-de-har-har. Dickhead. Just for that I’m deleting all your saved Vincente pictures.”

“Hey! No need to be mean.” Jeff grinned, already beginning to feel better.

“You could share with Fen.”

He shot her a look. “Sure I could. I could also introduce his furry ass to an Epilady.” She sputtered, choking on a laugh. “Seriously. I was watching Animal Planet and they showed this really ugly dog. It only had hair on its head and its tail. I bet Fen could rock that look. It would be like the doggie version of a reverse Mohawk.” He allowed an evil grin to cross his face. “You should have seen the look on his face when he saw it. Horr-i-fied.”

She laughed so hard she started crying.

He pulled up outside the brownstone his parents owned. For all Grimm and Sons made shit-tons of money, his parents had never lived rich. His mom hadn’t wanted to move out of her neighborhood to the ’burbs, and his father had agreed to accommodate her because he adored the ground the woman walked on.

He wondered now how much of that was because he knew she’d die long before he did.

Jeff found a parking spot and slid in neat as a pin. Together, the twins headed for the most important woman in their lives.

Jeanne Grimm, aka Mom.

Fen was still staring at the front door of his father’s condo an hour later, waiting for his mate to come back. He’d been a fool, and his father had let him know it in no uncertain terms. The glowing terms Loki—no, he was Logan now, and Fenrisulfr was proud to call himself Fenris Saeter. The glowing terms Logan had painted Jeff in would have made things worse if he hadn’t sensed the underlying affection was more filial than anything.

Then Baldur, or Kir as he now preferred to be called, had taken over, telling him about how Jeff had stood by them, human though he was. He was the weakest among them, but he stood at their sides, insisting he be included in the fight for their lives and the lives of their children. Kir let it be known he had every intention of sharing blood with Jeff as soon as the man returned.

When he was done Jordan had just shaken her head at him. “You know, he wouldn’t be this pissed if he didn’t care what you think about him.”

She’d walked away, not knowing that with those words she’d been the one to fire the fatal shot. Or perhaps she had. She was a smart one, his father’s wife.

Now he sat alone on the big white sofa, his only company the one person he thought he’d never want to be alone with again, and waited for forgiveness that might not come.

“He likes you.”

Fen turned toward Tyr—no, Travis—and did his best to keep his expression neutral. “How do you know?”

“I’ve known him since he was sixteen years old. He and his sister have always been a handful.” Travis shook his head, lost in memories. “I once thought that Jeff followed where Jamie led.”

“And now?”

Travis smiled, his eyes misting over. “He’s pure alpha.” Travis leaned forward, his hand dangling between his knees. “He followed because he wanted to protect her and he knew only a force of nature could stop her.”

“Because she’s alpha too.”

Travis nodded. “Do yourself a favor. Don’t cut him out of the loop. Don’t order him around. If you want him as badly as I know you do, make him want you. But most of all, never, and I mean never, get between Jeffrey Grimm and his siblings or he’ll root out your balls with a dull spoon and feed them to an alligator.”

The intensity of Travis’s stare almost unnerved him, but Fen had stared Odin himself down and laughed in his face. “They are his family.”

Travis nodded. “Yeah. We are. And now we’re yours, too, if you’ll let us be.”

Fen laughed, the sound bitter. “I thought you were once before too.” He closed his eyes, still trying to reconcile the man he’d hated for centuries with the urbane, twenty-first-century Travis who ate pancakes and loved the crazy redheaded twin of his mate. “I’ll try.”

It was the best he could do at the moment.

“Thank you.” When Fen opened his eyes he was startled to see tears in Travis’s. “I know you don’t believe me, but I loved you like a son. It’s why I volunteered to save you, even though I knew you’d probably try to kill me the moment you were free.”

Fen couldn’t look at him anymore. He had thought about killing Travis more than once since he’d been freed. Only Jeff’s presence, his trust in Travis and his twin, had stayed Fen’s hand.

“Like I told your fathers, justice has been a long time coming for you and your siblings, but I’m going to do my best to fix that. If you’ll let me.”

He stared at Travis’s stump and suddenly realized why Grimm had been able to defeat Travis. If his sword hand had still been there Grimm would at least have been damaged. “I’d say we’re almost even.”