by Croft, Nina
He turned at Julia’s softly spoken question and frowned. “Yes.” Then he returned his attention to Lissa.
Julia shook her head. “The way you were watching her, it was so intense. Like you wanted to devour her whole. But she’s my best friend, so I have to ask you what your intentions are.”
“What?”
“Come on, Daniel. Four days ago, you got engaged to somebody else, and granted that was the biggest error in judgment I have ever seen. But even you have to admit it’s a big turn around.”
He dragged his gaze from Lissa and back to his sister. She was like a gnat, small, persistent, and irritating.
“It’s none of your business.” Yeah, like that answer was going to work with one of his sisters.
“Duh, you’re my brother and she’s my best friend. I think that makes it very much my business. I’m in place of her family; someone’s got to check on your intentions.”
“My intentions?”
“Are they honorable?”
“Hell, no. But if you mean will I marry her—then yes, if she’ll have me and if I get out of the mess I’ve somehow gotten myself into.”
Luckily, Lissa came back at that point and saved him from more awkward questions. As they took the stairs up to the first floor, he slipped his hand into hers. He needed to touch her, not in a sexual way, just to reaffirm the connection between them. Jason was waiting for them outside his office, and Daniel kept a tight grip on Lissa’s hand as they approached her brother.
The other man’s gaze shifted downward, and a frown formed on his face. He came toward them and held out his own hand.
Their gazes locked and Daniel allowed a little of wolf to trickle into his eyes when he took the other man’s hand. But there was no point in getting into some sort of who’s-strongest contest, because he knew he was. So he kept his grip light, which seemed to surprise Jason. Good.
“Come into my office,” Jason said. “And we’ll talk.”
Jason had a big office, nowhere near as large as his of course, but big enough and on the corner of the building so it had windows on two sides. Jason sat behind the desk and indicated they should take the seats opposite. Daniel took the middle chair with Julia and Lissa on either side.
“So what are you doing holding hands with my little sister when according to Julia you got engaged to another woman last weekend?”
Daniel wasn’t used to explaining himself, but he tamped down his irritation. He would have asked the same thing if it had been one of his sisters.
“Sophia is out of the picture,” he said.
“How far out and for how long?”
“All the way and permanently.”
“Good.” Jason studied him and Daniel returned the look, giving nothing away. At least he hoped he was giving nothing away. “So how involved are you in Ethan Stone’s illegal activities?”
The directness of the question took him by surprise, if not the question itself. It must have shown on his face because Jason grinned.
“I’m not at all involved. I think you’ll find that Stone Research is squeaky clean.”
“But you knew of the activities?”
Daniel shrugged. “I suspected.” But when you considered he had also been aware that Ethan Stone was responsible for the murder of at least ten people since they’d first met, a little smuggling and money laundering were hardly likely to shock him.
Jason pursed his lips and thought for a moment. “And are you willing to help put a stop to him?”
Shit, he’d love to put a stop to Ethan, but it wasn’t that easy. Ethan was old—over two hundred years old—and you didn’t get to live that long without learning how to take care of yourself. Ethan had made contacts, bribed people, blackmailed others; he had a huge network of people he could call on. Hell, he wasn’t sure if it was possible to stop Ethan except by killing him and that wasn’t exactly an easy option either.
“You think you can stop him? You’re crazy—you have no idea what you’re up against.”
“And would you like to explain it.”
“No.” He stared out the window. The truth was he didn’t know what to do or who to trust. Lissa’s small hand crept into his, she squeezed tight, and reassurance flowed into him. There were people he could trust. But once he spoke the words, he could set in motion events that would see his family slaughtered. Could he protect them? Wolf woke and stretched sleepily. Wolf reckoned yes.
“Tell me what you know,” he said to Jason. He’d listen and afterward, he’d make a decision.
Jason nodded. “There’s someone I’d like to join us. Stella Banks contacted me after I sent out the first searches on Ethan Stone. She’s government and she checks out.”
“The government is investigating Ethan?”
“Yeah, and they have been for a long time.”
That was interesting. “Okay, let her join us.”
Jason picked up his phone and spoke quietly, then sat back and studied them, his gaze shifting from Daniel to Lissa. “So what is it with you two?”
Neither of them answered. Eventually Julia spoke. “Lissa took Daniel’s virginity ten years ago, and now she’s going to do the honorable thing and marry him.”
“Thanks, Julia,” Lissa snapped. “Just what I wanted to share with my brother.”
Julia shrugged. “It’s the truth.”
“Actually, Daniel hasn’t asked me yet.”
“Well, you ask him then.”
Daniel smiled. It was good to see someone else at the receiving end of his sister’s verbal attacks. A frown had formed between Lissa’s eyes and Daniel waited to hear what she had to say. It was true—he hadn’t asked her to marry him. One—he wasn’t sure he was going to be alive long enough to marry anyone, and two—if he did somehow survive, he presumed they would get married. Did he need to ask her?
He was still trying to work it out when Lissa spoke. “Daniel, will you marry me?”
“Yes, if—”
She held up a hand. “No, don’t spoil it. A simple yes will do.” She flicked her gaze between Julia and Jason. “There? Happy now? Both our intentions are honorable.”
“I’ll tell you whether I’m happy when we find out what his involvement is with Ethan Stone.”
The door opened behind them and Daniel turned as a woman entered the room. She was tall, with pale skin and dark hair pulled back in some sort of bun thing at the back of her head. She wore a charcoal-gray pantsuit, flat shoes, and he knew that beneath the tailored jacket she wore a shoulder holster and a gun. He could smell it.
After introductions, Stella Banks said, “Mr. Melville, Jason says I can trust you. I’m not convinced yet, but I’m willing to take the risk if it will help us stop Ethan Stone.”
Daniel was surprised, because Jason hadn’t given the impression that he trusted him, if anything the opposite.
He took the hand she held out. As they touched, she reacted instantly, her eyes widening as she stared at the point of contact. Then she jerked back, drew her gun, and pointed it straight at Daniel.
“Shit,” she said. “You’re one of them.”
Daniel’s eyes narrowed. He’d never come across a human who could tell what they were. “If you know that, you should also know not to stand so close.” He moved fast, his hand flashing out with inhuman speed to snatch the gun from her grip.
Behind him, he was aware Jason drew a weapon from somewhere, but he concentrated on the woman in front of him.
“Hey, everybody, just calm down,” Jason said.
Daniel’s fingers tightened around the gun, and then he shrugged and tossed it back to her. She caught it lightly and held it aimed at his chest, but she appeared uncertain.
“Are you going to shoot me, Ms. Banks?”
“No, she’s not,” Jason snapped. “Not in my office anyway. Put the gun away, Stella.”
She tore her gaze from Daniel. “Are you aware what he is?”
Julia moved up to stand between her and Daniel. “He’s my brother, that’s what he is.”
Daniel almost smiled.
Stella looked around the room. When her gaze returned to Daniel, the shock was gone but her expression was still wary. All the same, she holstered her weapon and some of the tension drained from the room.
“Do any of you know what he is?” she asked.
“I do,” Lissa said. She came to stand beside him and gripped his hand in hers. “And if you want to shoot Daniel, you’ll have to shoot me first.”
“And me,” Julia said.
“No one’s shooting anyone.” Jason came around his desk to join the group. “Except maybe me, if someone doesn’t tell me what the fuck is going on.”
“Yeah, what’s going on, Lissa?” Julia asked.
“It’s Daniel’s secret not mine.”
“Actually, it doesn’t seem to be a secret at all.” He turned to study Stella, who’d wrapped her composure around her like a cloak. “How did you know?”
“I’m a clairsentient.”
“And that means?”
“I can feel people’s auras.”
He hadn’t even been aware he had an aura. “And what do you feel in mine?”
“You know what I feel—wolf.”
“Wolf?” Julia asked. “Why would you feel wolf?”
“Your brother is a werewolf.”
Julia’s mouth dropped open. Jason seemed less surprised; maybe he’d come across werewolves before.
Julia turned to Daniel, her eyes wide. “She’s shitting us, right?”
“Wrong,” he said. It was almost worth being a werewolf to see one of his sisters struck dumb.
Julia whirled around to face Lissa. “And you knew this and didn’t tell me?”
“Only the night before last.”
Julia’s eyes widened as something occurred to her. “Oh my God, Sophia is a werewolf as well—now that makes perfect sense.”
“Was a werewolf,” Daniel corrected.
“She’s dead?” Jason asked.
“She tried to kill Lissa.”
“Did you kill this Sophia, Mr. Melville?” Stella asked.
“No, but I would have. She was evil.”
“And aren’t you evil? Aren’t all your kind evil?”
“No!” Lissa and Julia spoke in unison and Daniel smiled—at least he had people who believed in him.
“It’s not Daniel’s fault,” Lissa said. “Your Ethan Stone bit him.”
But Daniel considered the question. Did he think all werewolves were evil? At first he had believed that, but while Wolf was untamed, primal, and often acted on instinct rather than reason, he wasn’t evil. But maybe Ethan had started out believing the same. Maybe as time passed, the wolf became stronger, more dominant, finally shedding its human inhibitions altogether. And Daniel had accelerated that process by taking the drug he’d developed, each dose making his wolf stronger and him a little less human. He would push that even further if he had to. Though he would only go that route as a last resort. The thought that he could ultimately become like Ethan, maybe worse than Ethan, filled him with terror. And he was so close. He’d recognized that when he’d attacked Sophia with no regrets.
“I don’t know if we’re all evil,” he answered Stella’s question.
Julia cast him little sideways glances, and Daniel bared his teeth at her and growled.
She scowled. “I still don’t believe it.”
Daniel raised his free arm—the one Lissa wasn’t gripping—flexed his fingers, and willed them to shift; the change surged through him like magic, fur flowed over his skin and claws popped out from his fingertips. Tonight was a full moon and Wolf paced just beneath the surface. When the moon rose, he would run free.
Julia’s hand trembled as she reached out, but he drew back before she could touch him. “Don’t—if you get a scratch while I’m in this form, you’ll change.”
“Or she’ll die,” Stella said. “Many don’t become wolves. They can’t shift, and it tears their bodies apart.”
“You sound like you have experience of this,” Daniel said.
Stella rubbed her arms as though she could feel the magic. “I had a sister; she was a year younger than me, her gift stronger. I guess Ethan Stone thought it would be amusing or useful to have a clairsentient in his pack. He had her attacked and she died. She was seventeen years old.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Are you?”
“Ethan had my sister killed as well. He didn’t do it personally, but he gave the order.” He turned to Julia. “I’m sorry.”
“Babs?” Julia stared at him, eyes filled with horror. Lissa tugged free of his hand, crossed to her, and wrapped an arm around her shoulder. She led her over to a leather sofa against the far wall and they huddled together, Lissa talking softly, presumably telling Julia what had happened.
Daniel dragged his attention back to Stella. “At first, I refused to cooperate. They killed Barbara and threatened to kill the rest of my family one by one if I didn’t do as I was told. So I did.”
“Until now,” Jason said softly “Where are the rest of your family?”
“Still in Spain. I’ve employed a security company—they’re keeping guard on the villa.”
“That should be enough.” Jason sat down and pulled a bottle of whiskey from his bottom drawer followed by a bunch of glasses. “I think we’re due a drink. It’s not often you discover the fairy-tale monsters are real.”
“Thanks,” Daniel said drily. He sank into his chair and concentrated on his hand until he had fingers again. “The claws are great for ripping people’s throats out, not so good for holding glasses.”
Jason grinned and pushed a half-full glass toward him. Daniel swallowed it in one go. He was feeling strangely light. He’d shouldered this on his own for so long and the thought that he was not alone touched him somewhere deep inside. Maybe Ethan wasn’t invincible; maybe there was a way to bring him down. Surely even Ethan couldn’t stand against the government. He turned to Stella.
“So who do you work for, Ms. Banks?”
“A government agency, MI13.”
“Never heard of it.”
“Very few people have. We investigate…things of a supernatural nature.”
Something else he hadn’t known existed. “Do you have the resources to bring Ethan down?”
“I think so—with a little help. Will you help us, Mr. Melville?”
Daniel wanted to agree, but Ethan wasn’t the only person involved here. “What happens to the rest of the pack?”
“Nothing, if they don’t hinder our investigation.”
Daniel wasn’t sure he liked the sound of that. But one thing at a time. Get rid of Ethan, make sure his people were safe, and afterward, he’d worry about the pack. “Yeah, I’ll help,” he said. “And call me Daniel.”
He told them everything he knew, what had happened to him, the research that Ethan had him doing, the fact that he’d succeeded.
“They’re immune to silver?” Stella asked, shock clear in her voice.
“No, I told Ethan the last tests had failed.”
“But they hadn’t?”
“The public ones failed. I did a separate test in private—it works.”
“You experimented on yourself.”
He nodded. “The silver and a few other things. I identified the mutations to my DNA, found out how to speed up the ageing process.”
“Why would you want to do that?” Jason asked.
“A werewolf becomes stronger with age. From what I can tell, we’re pretty much immortal, though most don’t live forever. We tend to die a violent death. Or become suicidal. But we also grow stronger and gain other powers as we age.”
“And you’ve done that artificially?”
“Yes. So far only a little, while I tested the effects. I was planning to take on Ethan and I needed any advantage I could get.”
“Well, keep that to yourself for now.” Stella stood up. “I’m going to take this to my people see if we can come up with the best way to take dow
n Stone. In the meantime, stay out of his way and stay alive. We may need you. In fact, stay away from the pack entirely for the present.”
They waited until Stella had left the room and then stood. Julia still appeared shaken but the color was returning to her face.
“I’m going to give Lissa a gun and show her how to use it,” Jason said. “We have a shooting range in the basement.”
“You’re giving me a gun?” Lissa said.
“Yes. I want you to be able to protect yourself. And I’ll see about sourcing some silver bullets.”
“Can I have a gun?” Julia asked.
“No!” Lissa and Daniel spoke in unison. Why did the idea of Julia with a gun terrify the life out of him?
She pouted but said no more.
“And I have a meeting,” Daniel said.
“Who with?” Lissa sounded suspicious, and he decided to tell her the truth. No more lies.
“The people who helped save you the other night.”
“Didn’t you promise Stella you would stay away from your pack?”
“It sounded urgent and I owe them.”
“Oh. Will it be safe?”
“No reason why not, but I’ll be careful.”
“Good. So will I.” She came up on tiptoes and kissed him on the mouth. “I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
…
As Julia let them into the house, Lissa’s hand strayed to the gun at the small of her back. Jason had given her a holster that fitted inside her jeans. A loose shirt over the top covered it, but she was still super-self-conscious and kept touching it, half expecting it to go off at any moment and blow off her ass.
“Armed and dangerous,” Julia murmured from behind her as she threw the front door keys onto the small table in the hall.
“Well, armed at least. Unfortunately, I’m only dangerous so long as the target is less than ten feet away.”
“Yeah, you weren’t very good,” Julia said.
“I was crap. But at least I didn’t spend the whole time with my hands over my ears. Or my eyes.”
“I don’t like loud bangs.” Julia nibbled on her lower lip. “Do you think you’ll be able to use it if you have to?”
“I honestly don’t know. But at least I can wave it around a bit and try and look scary.”
