by Lynn Hagen
“Nothing,” Rave said as he turned away, staring off into the night once more. He didn’t want to fight Tony. He wanted a peace that had eluded him for so long that Rave thought he would never find it. Ever since Logan had looked inside of Rave, he felt as though his world was tumbling out of control.
“Dollar for your thoughts,” Tony said as he moved closer.
“I thought it was a penny?” Rave asked.
Tony shrugged. “Inflation. Nothing’s cheap anymore.”
Rave chuckled. “True.”
“I saw the way you were looking at Taz. Is it something I need to worry about?”
Boy, the man didn’t hold back. He cupped Tony’s face, smiling as he stared into the man’s shimmering eyes. The moon was reflecting off of the light-brown orbs, making Tony’s eyes sparkle. “Never. He’s my best friend, nothing more.”
“You ever sleep with him?”
“Intrusive, aren’t you?”
“Hit dog holler?” Tony asked as he pulled away from Rave.
“What?”
“It means the guilty bark louder than the innocent.”
Rave curled his fingers in, trying his best not to lose control. “You have no idea what you are talking about. Taz is my best friend. We’ve been through a lot of shit together that you probably couldn’t even wrap your head around.”
“And you aren’t sharing either.”
“Neither are you.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Tony snapped, his light-brown eyes going from sparkling to a deep coppery anger.
“I’m a damn shifter, Tony. I can smell you lying to me, and it stinks like hell.”
“Rub it in.” Tony stormed away, leaving Rave standing there confused as hell. What was that supposed to mean?
* * * *
Logan watched Tony storm from the room, slamming the door so hard behind him that the walls shook. Things seemed to be unraveling around him, and he wasn’t sure what he should do about it, or if he even wanted to do anything about the situation with Tony and Rave.
After all, it wasn’t like Logan had wanted to come here in the first place. He wasn’t in a hurry to run back to his old life. That had been boring as hell, but this new life didn’t seem to be working out either.
With a sigh, Logan left the bedroom and wandered downstairs. He walked outside and sat on the front step, wondering if he would ever feel at home anywhere else again. He couldn’t go back to Browlers, and staying here was looking less and less appealing to him by the minute.
He felt hopeless and lost, like he’d never be happy again. Logan rubbed his arms, wondering why he was so damn gloomy right now.
It wasn’t like him to feel so damn despondent.
He stilled when he felt someone watching him from the shadows.
He wasn’t sure if it was Aba or not, but Logan didn’t want to give away the fact that he knew someone was there. He mentally pushed out, trying to feel for a mind. What he saw made him gasp. It was bleak, horror filled, and made Logan want to claw his own damn eyes out.
Never had he seen anything so malevolent, so evil before. It was like some sort of black ooze creeping over his skin, as if worms were writhing all over his body.
“You know you feel me, human.”
Logan wasn’t too sure anymore if he could be categorized as a human. He was feeling less like one every day. Freak would probably sum him up right about now. He tried to push harder into the thing’s mind, forcing his will upon the creature.
He knew right away that the thing talking to him wasn’t Aba. No, this thing was much worse. Logan wasn’t sure what he was dealing with, but the words sulfur and brimstone came to mind.
“You’re being a bad boy. Do you think that will work on me, styre mente?”
“I was kind of hoping it would.” Why lie?
“Honesty, such a bad quality.” The thing stepped from the shadows, but all Logan saw was a man. He would have bet everything he was that something would have slithered from the shadows instead of walked.
“What do you want?” Logan asked as he stood, backing toward the door.
“Your life,” the man answered. “Nothing important.”
Logan scrambled for the door, but the thing was faster, grabbing Logan and throwing him a good ten feet away from the house.
“I don’t think so,” the thing said as he hopped down from the steps, stalking toward Logan. “We wouldn’t want my playtime cut short.”
“I would,” Logan said as he pushed to his feet.
The man-thing shrugged, looking casual as he walked closer to Logan. “We all have our issues.”
Logan froze, his body locking into place as images so horrific that Logan wanted to vomit flashed in front of his eyes. He saw this thing killing, tearing throats out, biting into warm flesh, and glorying in the kill. Blood and meat ran down his chin as the creature chewed, ravaged each body in his arms. The thing was almost high from the kills. The victims’ begging had fueled his hunger. It had excited him.
“Like what you see?”
Logan shook his head, trying to breathe calmly. The creature wanted Logan’s fear, wanted his pleas. His eyes were shining over with glee at the thought of Logan running. The creature wanted the chase.
Glancing around, Logan knew the only way back into the house was through the guy, thing, whatever. But Logan could also feel that he was no match. The man would glory in tearing Logan’s flesh from his bones.
“Run,” the thing said as he took a step closer. “Run from me.”
“No.” Logan moved to his right, keeping his heart rate as slow as he could manage while looking hell in its eyes. That was what came to mind when Logan looked into his deep, bottomless black eyes.
They were swimming with pain and suffering, no hope in sight for its victims.
Logan was going to try his hardest not to become the thing’s victim.
“I can feel your fear, your hopelessness, and it tastes so damn good on my tongue.”
Logan’s heart rate flew up a notch. He wasn’t sure how he was going to get out of this. He remembered Rave telling him not to let anyone bite him—although Rave had bitten the shit out of Logan when they had sex. Talk about a paradox.
“You are going to taste so good when I sink my teeth into your flesh, human.” The creature moved closer, taking small, measured steps. Logan had already witnessed how fast the thing could move, so he knew that the creature in front of him was toying with Logan, trying to make him run.
Logan pushed his mind out, using his ability, but not on the thing in front of him. He tried to push into Rave’s and Tony’s minds, showing them what he was seeing. Logan wasn’t too sure it would work, but something had to give. Either this thing was going to eat him, or Tony and Rave would come to his aid.
He was praying for the latter.
“I told you that your little mind control won’t work on me,” the thing said. Thank goodness it couldn’t tell what Logan was doing, or it probably would grab Logan and tear his damn throat out on the spot.
Logan gasped when the thing moved so quickly that he had thought it just disappeared and reappeared right in front of him. Long, clawed fingers wrapped around Logan’s throat as the thing licked Logan from jaw to temple. “You taste sweeter than you look.”
His hands pushed at the thing’s chest, trying to break the connection, but the creature was stronger. His grip on Logan’s throat tightened like an iron fist. Logan couldn’t breathe. His air supply was being cut off as he felt the claws digging deeper into his neck. His vision swam as the edges began to fade.
Logan knew he was about to die.
Shots echoed close to Logan’s ears, making him slam his hands over them as the creature spun around, taking Logan with him.
“Do you think bullets will kill me?”
Logan saw Tony on the front steps, two hands gripping the gun.
He fired again, and then again, the bullets hitting the thing, making him jerk back.
“Kill him,” Logan said, even though his voice was barely a whisper. He’d rather die than let this thing escape. He saw what the creature was capable of, and Logan didn’t want anyone else dying at its hands.
Tony’s face was grave, his eyes trained on the thing. “Let him go.”
A soul-shivering laugh fell from the thing’s lips. “Come make me.”
Logan grabbed the thing’s wrist, holding on for dear life when he was slowly lifted from the ground, his feet leaving the grass as he dangled in midair. The pressure was becoming too much. Logan couldn’t get enough oxygen into his lungs. The lobes burned as a throbbing headache began to form in the back of his skull.
He was dying, being strangled to death, and there wasn’t a thing Logan could do about it. His vision faded as he felt his body going limp in the tight grip of the creature’s claws.
* * * *
Tony tried to stay calm and keep a level head. He wasn’t sure how to kill a man who seemed to eat the bullets and spit them back out.
His heart spiraled up into his throat when he saw Logan go limp, his eyes fluttering closed. He fired repeatedly into the man, thanking god he had spent so much time on the gun range. His aim was accurate as hell, but he didn’t seem to be doing any damage.
Dorm came from around the side of the mansion, firing his gun along with Tony, but fuck if it was doing any damage. It was like using a cap gun.
Rave, or it looked like his mate, came from behind Dorm in his wolf form, racing toward the man who had Logan in his grasp. The man laughed as he ran, his speed so fast that Tony had a hard time keeping his eyes focused on the guy.
“Don’t you fucking lose Logan,” he shouted at Rave as Tony jumped from the steps and gave chase. Dorm ran up beside him as they followed Rave in his wolf form. There was no way Tony could keep an eye on the man with Logan. He was just too damn fast.
Fear threatened to bring Tony to his knees as he watched the man slow to curl Logan into his arms. Tony wasn’t sure if Logan was dead or alive, but the man could not have his mate. Tony was bound and determined to get Logan back.
“No!” Tony shouted when the man disappeared from sight. He couldn’t lose Logan. Tony feared that he would never see his mate again if he couldn’t catch the man. He saw Rave put on a burst of speed, and then Rave was out of sight as well. Tony didn’t stop. He kept running in the direction that Rave had gone, praying that Rave could save Logan.
Tony cursed his recessed genes, he cursed his fucked-up lineage, and he cursed everything that was wrong with his jaguar as he tried to keep up. Once again he felt the beast inside of him, but it was trapped, with no way out. Tony rounded a clump of trees and froze.
The man was in a clearing, Logan lying on the ground. He wasn’t sure what happened, but Rave was racing toward the man.
“Rave!” Tony shouted as he began to run again, racing toward both his mates and praying he didn’t lose either of them.
Tony stumbled when he saw a flying man come from the sky, descending down toward the clearing. He kept running, his only goal Rave and Logan.
The man who had taken Logan shifted into the biggest fucking dog Tony had ever seen. It was a Rottweiler, immense in size and girth as it charged toward the flying man. Rave had said the flying men had wings that he couldn’t see, but Rave hadn’t said anything about fangs. Tony watched in horror as the winged man hissed and then changed color. He was fucking blue, and his size had gotten taller. Black claws came out of the winged thing’s hand, his fangs gleaming in the moonlight as Tony dropped down on the ground next to Logan.
He ignored the two fighting as he rolled Logan over, Rave whining and pushing his muzzle into Logan’s shoulder. Tony began CPR, pressing into Logan’s chest and then breathing into his mouth.
There was a big, ugly purple mark on Logan’s throat, and it was bleeding.
Tony raised his entwined fingers and let his hands slam down into Logan’s chest, forcing air into his mate’s lungs.
Logan coughed and then sputtered. He took in gasps and gulps of air and sucked it into his thirsty lungs. Tony grabbed Logan, pulled his mate into his arms as he ran from the clearing, Rave and Dorm at his side. He had to get help for Logan. Max was a doctor at the mansion. He could help Logan.
Tony held on to Logan as tight as he could as he ran as fast as his legs would carry him. Logan may have breathed in the clearing, but he was lying limp in Tony’s arms. He crashed through the front door, shouting for Max as Rave bounded in after him, Dorm coming in last.
Max ran into the foyer, his eyes wide as Tony laid Logan onto the marble floor. Logan wasn’t moving, and this time, it was Tony who wasn’t breathing.
Chapter Ten
Rave lay curled around Logan in the bed. His chin was resting on Logan’s head, his body coiled around the other man’s loosely. Logan was in the hospital, a precaution, Max had said. The doctor had rushed Logan into the emergency room when Tony had brought an unconscious Logan back to the mansion.
Logan had begun healing on his way in. Rave didn’t understand it, Max didn’t have a clue, and Tony paced like a maniac as everyone tried to figure out how Logan healed on his own. Logan wasn’t a shifter. He shouldn’t have healed so quickly. But then again, so very little was known about the styre mente. Maybe this was normal for Logan.
Logan lay there sleeping, breathing normally. The bruises were still on his mate’s neck, but the cuts from the hound’s claws had healed. Zeus had called the commander of the winged beasts to find out if the hound’s claws could infect Logan with that nasty black ooze. Nazaryth had ensured the alpha that only a bite would be lethal, but to watch for fever.
Logan’s skin was as cool as spring rain. Rave pulled his mate closer to his body, refusing to be an inch away from the man. Zeus told Rave that the winged beast that had come to the clearing to fight the hound was someone named Dog. He had defeated the hound, killing him and setting his body on fire. Apparently fire was the only way to kill the sons of bitches once they were stabbed behind the ear.
Rave just wished it was he who had lit the bastard on fire. He wouldn’t have lost a moment of sleep over killing the man who had put Logan in the hospital. Rave glanced over at Tony who was sitting in a chair by the bed now, gazing off into space. His brown eyes were looking at something Rave only wondered about.
“What are you hiding from me?”
Tony glanced at Rave, his eyes haunted as he slouched a little further into the chair. Tony sat there looking lost, as if he would rather eat glass than say anything at all. That expression alone held Rave’s attention. “I’ll tell if you will.”
Rave thought about it. It seemed only fair. “Deal.” He wasn’t sure how much to tell his mate, but the rift between all three of them was growing, and Rave had to do something to bring them together or none of them would survive this relationship.
Tony crossed his fingers over the flat planes of his stomach as his eyes rose up to meet Rave’s. He chewed on his bottom lip, glanced away, and then sighed. “I’m a jaguar.”
Rave took in those three words, replayed them in his mind, and then cocked his head. “But you don’t smell like a shifter.”
Tony snorted. The sound was bitter as he looked down at his hands lying on his stomach. Rave had a feeling he had just hit a sore chord in Tony, one he hadn’t meant to. “My genes are recessed, Rave.
If Max took blood from me right now, he wouldn’t find any shifter genes.”
Rave’s mind began to turn over Tony’s words, and things started to click, pieces of the puzzle falling into place. Acts that had baffled Rave were starting to make a whole lot of sense, and Rave was beginning to understand the man. “The claiming?”
A resentful look crossed over Tony’s face like a close storm. His jaw knotted tightly, the muscle throbbing as his fingers clenched.
They turned white, except for the light pink around his knuckles.
“You’re going to make me say it, aren’t you?”
Rave held his breath, worried th
at Tony was going to shut down on him. As pained as Tony’s expression was, Rave had to know the truth in order to close the large chasm growing between them. “Yes.”
Tony didn’t look too happy with Rave’s answer. “When I was with you, when you bit me, my jaguar was fighting to get free, to claim you in return. That had never happened before.”
“Before you met me and Logan.” Rave said what he knew Tony was omitting.
Tony nodded. “The urge was so strong that I thought I would shatter into a thousand pieces. But my canines never lengthened.”
Sorrow and regret fueled Tony’s confession, and a pain like Rave had never seen before washed over Tony’s features.
Rave knew that deep and soul-stirring need to claim one’s mate. If he had been denied the chance to bite Tony, he knew he would have gone mad. No wonder Tony had left him and gone into the bathroom afterward. It had probably torn the man to pieces to be denied that honor.
“When I was with you and Logan, the same urge hit me again, only stronger that time. I wasn’t trying to be a prick to you or Logan, but I couldn’t handle not being able to claim either of you.” It looked like it had cost Tony a lot to confess that out loud. Tony’s features were strained, lines forming at his eyes and mouth.
Rave slipped from the bed, hating to leave Logan’s side, but knowing he couldn’t leave Tony just sitting there by himself. He walked around the bed, kneeling between Tony’s legs. Rave rested his head on his mate’s stomach as he circled his arms around Tony’s waist. “I’m sorry your jaguar is lost to you. Have you tried a doctor, a DNA test, anything that might help?”
“No.” That one word vibrated through Tony’s chest, making Rave hold on tighter. “There is nothing anyone can do.”
Rave knew that, but he felt so helpless doing nothing. To be denied one’s beast had to be the most excruciating experience one had to live with. Rave couldn’t even begin to know what it would be like to call his wolf and have nothing happen. His wolf was such an integrated part of him, like the breath in his lungs “I know what it’s like to fight with something inside of you and lose.” He could offer Tony that much.
