Dire Desires

“You’re keeping shit from me. I don’t like it.”

“I know.” Jinx stared at his bare feet, not able to say anything more.

“You’re going to have to tell me what it is. All of us. You need us to get you through it.”

“I can’t, Vice. Trust me on this. I really can’t. But I’ll make it all right.”

Vice shrugged. “If that’s the best you can do—”

“Thank you for rescuing her.”

“I didn’t. Not exactly. She came to when I got there, told me that some guy rescued her from men trying to shove her into a van. She didn’t remember anything, came to next to you.”

Jinx raised his brows. “Find that guy.”

“The twins are already on it. They wanted to wait to make sure you were okay, but I convinced them they’d do more good for you that way.”

“They know who it was?”

Vice shrugged, then admitted, “Cain thinks it was a hunter. And we know the hunters can’t protect her forever.”

“They shouldn’t be protecting her at all—that’s my job,” Jinx growled.

“Our job,” Vice corrected. “And we can use all the help we can get. One of your twins trusts one of them— it’s that fed, Angus.”

Jinx muttered something and ran his hands through his hair. “Gillian wants to know her heritage—why she was given away or taken.”

“Not an immediate goal.”

Just then, Stray and Kill entered the room, with Stray turning on the TV.

“News conference,” he said, his voice tight with anger as the screen flashed the Blackwells and a man named Joe Hinze.

The crawl under the screen showed he was a former Green Beret working in conjunction with the family on the search. In reality, the man was a leader of the East Coast trappers—and he was no doubt behind the tranq attack of Gillian.

“It has come to our attention that Gillian was spotted in upstate New York. She was with several men who grabbed her when she tried to come in with myself and the men helping to aid in the search,” Joe said.

“Bullshit,” Vice muttered.

“Agreed. And I think it’s time to start checking into Gillian’s background more seriously,” Killian said. “Stray and I overheard you guys in the woods—we know she’s got an ability.”

Jinx shrugged. With wolf hearing, it was hard to keep anything a secret and the door had been open. “I wasn’t going to hide it.”

“They also know you were beaten by a girl,” Vice interjected and Jinx shoved him.

“Could be a reason they gave her away,” Stray said, but he didn’t seem convinced either. “But I don’t think they would’ve known that—not that early. And unless the Elders hid a prophecy from us . . .”

“The Elders, screw us over? Say it isn’t so,” Killian muttered sarcastically. “Look, the Greenland pack believes in that twin curse.”

Jinx had dealt with the fallout from that twin curse bullshit for his first twenty-one years. “So I think that’s the more likely scenario,” Killian continued. “She was hit with the double whammy—being a twin and having an ability. Which means both probably have abilities.”

“Two sides of the same coin, like me and Rogue,” Jinx murmured.

“Who’s going to tell her?” Vice asked and they all looked at Jinx. “Dude, I so totally nominate you.”

“Dude, why did the eighties have to happen?” Jinx groaned. “Can’t you move past it—come at least up to the nineties and I’ll buy you some nice flannel and Nirvana’s greatest hits.”

“Don’t you make fun of the eighties,” Vice sniffed. “And Stray likes his hair bands.”

Stray shrugged, because it was the truth. “Way better than grunge. And I nominate Vice to go talk to the lawyer who did the adoption for the Blackwells.”

“Why’s that?”

“Guy’s a former Marine.”

“Semper fi,” Vice said seriously.

* * *

There was no noise. The air even stilled and Angus simply froze in place as instinct took over. Good human, Cain thought to himself as he padded silently toward the man’s back.

In seconds, Cain rolled him to the ground, his canines sharp and hovering over Angus’s neck. At least he’d had the sense to bare his neck in that show of submission that made Cain sing with pleasure, but he’d have to do this with every goddamned Were who attacked him. And, as a hunter, they would be lining up to take a shot. Killing hunters was weresport in more circles than he cared to think about.

“Good to see you too, Cain,” Angus managed without moving a muscle. Cain leaned in, let a tooth scrape Angus’s soft flesh and he felt the man’s cock jump. He did it twice more, then licked where he’d scraped and heard the grunted intake of breath.

Yeah, can your boyfriend do that to you? I don’t fucking think so.

“Are you this easy for all the Weres or am I special?” he asked finally.

“Fuck you, Cain,” Angus said, but his voice was soft, not angry. Cain pushed off him, sat back on his heels and watched Angus not bother to try to compose himself or hide how turned on he was. Instead, he propped up lazily on his elbows and stared at him, his eyelids deceptively heavy lidded and lazy-looking.

There was nothing lazy about this man—he was the human form of a predator, and Cain wouldn’t take any chances.

“Did you bring backup this time?” Cain asked and Angus shook his head.

“We’re all alone. Unless you have Weres stalking me in the bushes.”

“I do my own dirty work. Always have.”

“So do I, Cain. Those men with me . . . we were working, but I would never bring anyone with me if I thought I’d see you.” Angus stared at him unflinchingly and Cain felt a tug in his gut.

Cain decided to get right to the heart of the matter. “You’re really a goddamned hunter?”

“Yeah, I really am.”

“What the hell? Hunters are—”

“Crazy.” Angus paused. “Like trappers and wolves. We formed to keep the peace. We look out for humans and wolves.”

“Spare me the PR. They only accepted you because of your scars.”

“So what? I’ve been there—on the receiving end of a Were attack. I never said all Weres were bad. But I know how this world works now, and I can’t go back to the way things were for me. I have to do something.”

“Like avenging whoever the hunters tell you to?”

“What the hell do you want from me?” Angus demanded, pushing off his elbows and in seconds, they were on their feet, facing one another.

Angus was getting riled again. Good. Cain wanted him angry and pissed off and uncomfortable. Anything but indifferent. That would kill Cain. “I didn’t save you so you can get yourself killed.”

Angus laughed then, looked up at the sky and muttered, “How is locking me up saving me?”

“You know why I did it.”

Angus’s stance softened slightly. “You don’t have to worry about me anymore. I’m trained. And I have backup.”

“Wolves don’t follow your rules.”

“They don’t have to follow any rules and when they lose it, we stop them.”

“I’m glad you think surviving one Were attack makes you invincible,” Cain muttered. “Why did you save her?”

Angus wasn’t surprised that Cain had figured out who had helped Gillian. “That’s what I do.”

“A real do-gooder. Nothing to do with grabbing her to collect the five-million reward and getting caught by the weretrappers before you could bring her to her parents.”

“I found her being shoved into a van by the weretrappers. I grabbed her and brought her straight to Jinx.”