A horrible thought shot through him. “Shit, you didn’t bring her here, did you?”
Jenny looked around reflexively, as if Cindi might appear out of thin air. “No! No, I—I need to get away from the clan. It’s complicated. I heard you were with a crew now, settled, and… I was hoping maybe I could stay with you for a while.”
What the fuck? He hadn’t seen Jenny in years—not since he was Turned. Why the hell would she come to him?
He was about to tell her to fuck off, when she stepped forward and put her hand on his arm again. It was like somebody had turned his cat off with a switch. Blessed silence reigned inside his head.
How the hell did she do that?
Flynn was looking from one of them to the other, eyes narrowed.
“Xander?” he said. “Your call. Does she come with us, or not?”
Xander looked from her hand on his arm to her face. Jenny. He really had liked Jenny a lot. She’d been a good friend, except for the whole introducing him to Cindi thing. And if she could quiet his cat, maybe she could teach him how to do it too.
“Yeah,” he said slowly to Flynn. “I at least want to hear what she has to say.”
Flynn gave a short nod. “You two will ride with me, then. Tank comes with us in case you lose it on the road.”
Jenny said, “But my car—”
“Sloan will bring it. After he checks it for trackers and transmitters.”
Her mouth dropped open. “For what?”
“Don’t ask,” Xander murmured.
“But my stuff…” she said.
“Will still be in it. I’ll have Caitlyn search your bags, in case you’re shy about Sloan touching your underwear.”
Jenny bristled. Xander was glad she was showing a little spine—for a minute he’d thought she’d forgotten everything he taught her.
“Okay, now wait a minute,” she said. “That’s completely out of line.”
Flynn fixed his flat black gaze on her. “My territory, my rules. Deal, or leave.”
Jenny looked around the circle of eyes, none of them friendly. She looked to Xander, as if asking for help, but he shrugged. They’d all been through enough, and been betrayed too many times. And Flynn’s paranoia had saved their lives more than once. He wasn’t going to argue.
Jenny blew out a sigh. “Fine.” She fished in her purse and found her car keys. Sloan held out his hand, and she passed them over.
She must want to talk to him pretty bad.
He wished he fucking knew why. Not that he wouldn’t want to help Jenny, if she really needed it. It was just…seeing her brought back some bad, bad feelings. He would have said memories, except he’d been drunk and wild for weeks after he was Turned, so it was all a raging alcoholic blur.
They started for Flynn’s truck, and then the alpha spun around and impaled Jenny with his gaze. They all stopped in their tracks.
“Nobody’s after you, are they?” Flynn asked.
Jenny started. “No, I…don’t think so.” Okay, that wasn’t even a little bit convincing. Damn. She really was in trouble.
Flynn rolled his eyes. “Fuck. Not another one.”
Jenny whispered to Xander, “Another what?”
But Flynn had turned and headed for his truck again, shaking his head and muttering. “No, Flynn, nobody from my fucked-up bear-worshiping cult is after me. No, Flynn, you won’t need to fight a shifter-hunting SWAT team and break me out of a cage. No, Flynn, my secret agent ex-boyfriend isn’t going to kidnap anybody. Why do you ask?” He called to Sloan and Caitlyn, “Check that car good. Because I have a feeling we got more shit coming down the line.”
Chapter 5
Jenny sat next to Xander in the back seat of Flynn’s truck, trying not to hyperventilate. Flynn had wanted her to sit up front where he could “keep an eye on her,” but she’d refused. Which had taken all her courage and made her want to throw up, he was so dominant and scary.
Scarier than Alton, even. Although she supposed that was a good thing, in case Flynn decided to protect her from Alton instead of, for instance, tearing her limbs off her body just for the exercise.
But if she’d had to sit next to him the whole way back to his territory, she was pretty sure she would have vomited from anxiety, and then he’d have probably shoved her out of the truck without even slowing it down.
He’d agreed to let her sit in the back, but warned Tank to “keep her covered.” Like she was some kind of ninja assassin who was going to attack Xander—or him—while he was driving.
Instead of the wussy panther she actually was.
Xander wasn’t comforting at all. He stared straight ahead, as if lost in thought. She hadn’t exactly been expecting fond reminiscences, but she hadn’t expected him to ignore her completely, either.
She should never have come here. It was a huge mistake, and she was probably going to disappear and no one would ever know what happened to her.
As if he’d heard her thoughts, Xander reached over and touched her on the arm. Not in a comforting way, though. More like…an experiment.
Oddly, that one touch made her panic disappear. He frowned, as if trying to figure something out. He lifted his hand for a moment, and then rested it on her arm again.
“What are you doing?” she whispered.
He just shook his head without saying anything, and went back to staring in front of him again, his hand back in his lap.
That bit of weirdness should have made her panic even more, but irrationally, it made her feel just a little bit better.
They drove about ten or fifteen minutes, and then turned onto a bumpy dirt road that ran through thick woods. It was pitch dark, no lights, and the road was barely wide enough for two cars to pass.
Xander was breathing more heavily now, clenching and unclenching his fists. He glanced over at her a few times, but he didn’t say anything.
Jenny got more and more nervous as they drove. At one point, she felt a tingling on her skin, as if she’d passed through a cool sheet of water. Nobody else gave any indication that anything weird had happened, except that Flynn’s shoulders relaxed a tiny bit.
Whoa, wait. She knew that feeling. That was a magical ward they’d just passed through. Did the Bad Blood Crew have magical territory boundaries? Usually only powerful wolf packs had those.
Okay, then, that was another thing about Flynn that was good and yet also terrifying. Terrifying because he was even more powerful than she’d realized. And good because…well, because he was more powerful than she’d realized.
She began to hope that this really might be a safe place to bring Brandon. If they didn’t kill her painfully and devour the pieces.
A few minutes after they crossed the boundary, Jenny saw lights through the woods, and after another minute they pulled into a large clearing. She gave a tiny gasp.
She’d been unconsciously expecting some kind of militia encampment with bunkers. What she saw was a beautiful log cabin with a soaring roofline, a wraparound porch, and a crap-ton of windows. Outside was a sunken stone patio with a fire pit and a top-of-the line outdoor kitchen and barbecue area.
There were other lights shining through the trees, and she could see glimpses of homey cabins and trailers, the paths leading to them lined with strings of white lights. Around the perimeter of the clearing were a handful of utility sheds.
But the main cabin kept drawing Jenny’s eyes. It was gorgeous—the kind of place she’d always wanted to live in.
She didn’t get much time to admire it.
Before the truck had hardly stopped, Xander opened his door and tumbled out, landing in a crouch on the ground.
Oh, no. He looked like he was losing control of his animal. Jenny slid across the seat to the open door, kneeling on the seat.
“Al—Xander? Are you okay?”
He was growling and muttering, as if his cat had taken over his brain without him changing forms. “Fuck run kill die love why gone hate pain hurt love stop stop make it stop go stay go…”<
br />
This insane litany was punctuated by low growls and feral snarls.
Oh, Alex. A cold stab of pity and fear laced through her. He’d never mastered his animal. He really was crazy.
The whole crew was scrambling out of their vehicles, surrounding him.
Help him, her cat said. He hurts…
“Xander?” she said softly.
He raised his head, still crouched in the dirt. His eyes were glowing green, and he snarled at her. His cat burst out of his skin, shredding his clothes. They stared at each other.
Without warning, he launched himself straight at her, teeth bared.
“Fuck! Grab him!” Flynn and Tank dove for Xander.
The shock of the panther’s body hitting hers knocked the breath out of her. Tank and Flynn dragged Xander back just before his jaws closed on her neck. He tried to hold on to her, and his claws raked down her arm, opening bleeding gashes.
Both of the other men were dominants, and Jenny could feel them slamming at Xander with the force of their alpha energy, trying to control his cat.
Just being on the periphery of that mental force sent her panther whimpering, but it was like Xander couldn’t even feel it.
He fought and raged, his claws gouging into them. Why didn’t they Change? Any other alpha would be slapping Xander down, bleeding him to remind him who was in charge.
Instead, Flynn and Tank immobilized both sets of paws, Tank holding Xander’s jaws shut with one meaty hand while Xander emitted furious, strangled yowls. They dragged Xander over to a nearby shed, opened the door, and tossed him inside onto a bed of straw. Before he could gather his legs under him and leap at them, Flynn slammed the door shut. Tank put his weight against it just before Xander threw himself at it from the inside, making the door shudder.
Flynn pulled a thick metal bar across the door and padlocked it on the other side with an iron lock bigger than Jenny’s hand. He leaned against the door next to Tank, panting.
Both he and Tank were sweating and bleeding. Xander’s panther howled in fury and anguish, throwing itself against the door over and over.
He was going to beat himself to a bloody pulp. How could they do this to him? What kind of sick people were in this crew?
Xander’s torment upset Jenny so much she forgot her fear. She stormed over to the two men. “What the hell is that?” She gestured at the shed.
Flynn straightened up, his eyes flat and opaque in the dim light. “That,” he said in his deep, dangerous voice, “is the crazy shed. Welcome to Bad Blood territory.”
The crazy shed? It had a name? This was how they lived?
The other three crew members were still standing by Flynn’s truck, watching silently. Why don’t they do something? she thought frantically. It was cruel to lock him up.
Xander’s body slammed into the shed door. Tank gnawed his lower lip, looking worried. “Might have to trank him after all,” he said.
Flynn shook his head. “We’ve been doing that too much. I hoped, after the last few days, he was doing better.”
The scene was suddenly lit up by headlights, and Jenny’s car pulled into the clearing, coming too fast for that bumpy road. Sloan hit the brakes and skidded to a stop.
“Shit, he lost it,” Sloan said, getting out of the car. Xander’s body hit the shed door again, and Sloan flinched.
Another truck pulled in, and the woman called Caitlyn emerged.
Sloan yelled at Jenny. “What the hell did you do to him? He was doing so good!”
Jenny’s mouth dropped open. “What did I do to him? You’re the ones locking him up!” Xander’s body slammed into the shed door again, and he let out a furious, insane yowl.
It felt like her own body was being torn apart. “Listen to him!” She looked around the circle. “How can you even stand to hear that?”
Flynn turned on her, his dark eyes terrifying. “You think we enjoy this?” he said. “We don’t know what the fuck to do with him. He’s out of control. He’s almost killed just about every one of us, at one time or another.”
“This isn’t helping!”
“What the fuck do you know?” The small woman, the black bear, got up in her face. “Your friend Cindi Turned him against his will. His cat’s never been right. It’s scared and angry and out of control. But instead of helping him, you let him go off on his own and manage as best he could. What the holy hell did you think was going to happen?”
“I didn’t do that!” Jenny said. “I tried—”
Tank said, “Lissa—”
“I’m not done,” the bear-woman snapped, talking over them both. She was tiny, but she had a big presence. Her eyes had started glowing gold with a hint of red, and Jenny could almost see sparks coming out of her curly hair. “He got captured by shifter hunters, because he couldn’t fit in with a crew and he couldn’t take care of himself. They put him in a lab and they tortured him for months. Months!”
Jenny put a hand to her mouth. Oh, God. She’d heard rumors—everybody had. About the Bad Bloods and Alexander Grant, and his secret lab. But she’d hoped so hard they weren’t true…
Lissa said, “They broke his mind and drove his cat even crazier. If they hadn’t escaped when they did—if Flynn and Tank hadn’t been able to deal with him and the others—he’d be dead by now. And now you come waltzing in here upsetting him and asking for help, like he fucking owes you anything!”
Jenny wanted to protest. It wasn’t her fault, what Cindi did. She never wanted it to happen.
But Lissa was right. She should have done more. They all should have done more. She put the heels of her hands to her eyes. She would not cry in front of these strangers.
“I couldn’t stop it,” she whispered. “I…cared about Alex. Xander. I tried to help, but I couldn’t. He ran away, and I couldn’t find him.”
Xander clawed at the inside of the door. His yowling had turned piteous and heartbreaking, like a cat who had lost its entire clan.
Flynn winced. “Jesus,” he said. “I’ve never heard him sound like that.” He turned to Jenny. “I think you’re going to have to leave. If you keep setting him off like this…”
“You should just go,” Tank agreed.
“Maybe not.” That was the blond man who’d driven her car back—after checking it for transmitters and tracking devices. Sloan.
Everyone turned and stared at him. He wasn’t as dominant as the others, but it seemed that they listened to him. He gestured to Jenny. “Try to talk to him. Through the door.”
His eyes were pale gray like rainwater, and he looked at her oddly. As if he could see through her, all the way deep inside to the feelings she’d locked away in her heart.
“Go ahead,” he said to her.
Jenny glanced at Flynn. He huffed a sigh and gave a resigned shrug. “We can trank him one more time, I guess. If we have to.”
Jenny walked over to the door. She really didn’t think this was going to help. She’d loved Xander, back when he was Alex, but he’d never loved her.
She put her hands flat on the door, as if she could touch him through it, and tried to pull up her buried memories and feelings. He threw himself at the door again, giving that piteous howl, and her heart clenched painfully.
He was so angry. So lost. Was there any way he could ever find himself again?
“Xander?” she called. “Xander, it’s me. Jenny.”
He went quiet, and she could feel his weight pressing against the door. He yowled again, but not as loud.
She had no idea what to say. “Xander, it’s okay. I’m here. We’re all here.” She made a soft, comforting cat noise, like she did for Brandon when he was upset to the point of losing it. Xander’s panther keened softly.
God, he even sounded like Brandon. So emotional, longing desperately for love and affection and approval, as if he’d been born with a hole in his heart that nothing would completely fill.
She was overwhelmed by a tide of emotions. She had to stop this. He was hurting, hurting, and he was h
er heart and she couldn’t let him hurt. She had to fill the hole with her love, make him see he was never alone. Everything else went out of her mind.
“Open the door,” she said to Flynn. “Please, open it.”
Xander keened again. He wasn’t throwing himself at the door anymore.
Flynn and Tank exchanged glances, and Flynn gave a helpless shrug, as if to say “this is a really bad idea, but okay.”
Flynn gave his little trank gun to Sloan and leaned against the door, moving Jenny aside. Sloan unlocked the padlock and stood ready with the gun. Tank waited beside him, armed with nothing but his huge muscles.
Jenny waited, heart in her throat.
“One, two, three.”
Flynn took his weight off the door and yanked it open.
Xander leaped forward and Tank caught him in a bear hug, barely staggering backwards. Jenny couldn’t imagine how strong he must be, to withstand that force.
Xander’s eyes were fixed on Jenny, and he struggled to get to her, still making that painful noise. Tank held his jaws closed with one hand, so she could approach. “I hope you know what you’re doing,” he muttered. Blood dripped from a dozen scratches on his arms.
Jenny had no idea what she was doing, but she had to do something. She moved in next to Tank and put her hand on the panther’s head. “Shh,” she said, stroking down his neck. “Shh. You’re all right. I’m here. We’re all here.”
Xander’s keening softened at her touch, and he finally went quiet. Bit by bit, his muscles relaxed. A hint of a rumbly purr started in his chest.
Cautiously, Tank moved into the shed. Jenny went with him, keeping her hand on Xander. Tank let Xander down, poised to grab him again if he attacked.
Xander ignored Tank, butting his head up against Jenny’s thigh. She sank to her knees in the straw, stroking his fur, letting him rub his face against hers. He was purring loudly now.
She wanted to cry. He was so beautiful, so strong and sleek, and so damaged. What had they done to him?
The rest of the crew gathered around the door. “Holy hell,” Brody said. “She’s like the panther whisperer.”
“No,” Sloan said quietly behind her. “She’s his mate.”
Bad Blood Panther (Bad Blood Shifters Book 4) Page 3
