Tank should have held his tongue, but he was worried about his lover. He hadn’t noticed a bite mark anywhere on the man, but not all shifters showed ownership in the same way.
“Has Isaac been claimed?” Tank tried to keep the tremor out of his voice. From Alec’s worried look he wasn’t entirely successful.
There was no other way to tie a human to the shifter community but a mating mark. It was normally done to show protection. Max, who was already covered in scars, had a wolf’s paw print tattooed on his neck, to indicate that he belonged with Bryan. Not that Max needed pack protection, but there was some small part of the snarky prickly man that needed to belong.
Marvin wore a platinum wolf emblem on a platinum chain about his neck. Platinum because gold clashed with his scales, and silver was obviously gauche around werewolves.
If Isaac had been claimed, it wasn’t willingly. And that was certainly illegal. It would explain why SBI had been called in. Unless they were invested in returning Isaac to a mate he didn’t want.
Tank drew himself up and glared at Agent Lenis. “Isaac is a free man!”
The Agents were both now standing and staring down at him.
“You have no idea what you’re talking about,” said the Alpha, sneering slightly.
“It’s for his own good,” stressed the berserker.
“Just tell us where he is,” insisted his partner.
Tank shook his head. “I don’t know where he is. Use VOICE if you need to. My answer won’t be any different.”
Alpha Lenis took a step closer to Tank. “You can’t tell me you met him and didn’t want to keep him. Everyone wants to keep him!”
Tank flinched. No, I wanted him to keep me. But he didn’t. I wasn’t good enough. And that’s fine because it’s his choice!
Tank took a deep breath. Alpha power stung his nose. She smelled of wolf and something else, something wild and desert-born, crossbreed perhaps? Was she more than just werewolf?
“Do you want to keep him, Alpha Lenis?” His voice was low, accusing.
The werewolf drew back her lips and growled at him. Tank flinched at the strength of it. He’d fight for Isaac if he had to, but she was Alpha. He wouldn’t win.
Then Alec was standing by his side, his hand a firm touch on Tank’s lower back. Support. Pack.
Bryan’s big furry body was on his other side, pressing against his leg. Max was there, too, hand once more on his mate’s head.
Alpha Lenis made to lunge at Tank.
Alec nodded at the mage.
Max twisted his hand forward, gathering the quintessence floating in the air around them into a powerful blue and green fireball. A Surge spell of immense intricacy and power.
Marvin said, “Not in the house, please, darling,” in a very mild tone.
Alec said, equally mildly. “It was very nice to meet you both, Agents. Perhaps it is time for you to leave now?”
“He’s a Surge!” Agent Lenis was impressed. Surges had the greatest amount of power and the least amount of control. They always impressed Alphas.
“Not quite,” said Alec, proudly.
Max flicked the fireball up, then made a funny corkscrew gesture with one finger, pinning the sparking teal fire to dangle from the chandelier far above them, in a jaunty manner. Like hanging a Christmas bauble.
The quintessence stayed there, fixed in energy state. There was no manner of Surge that could do that. Surges had one skill and one skill only, the ability to take massive amounts of quintessence and turn it into a single blast of power. To fix quintessence into time took a Siphon, but Siphons could only handle small amounts of power, invisible to the naked eye.
What Max had just done was impossible by all standards of quintessence study. Anyone who knew anything about civic mages would know that. Even savage mages couldn’t do anything so powerful and precise at the same time. There was only one way to explain a dangling ball of teal fire.
Tank watched with no small amount of satisfaction as the realization dawned on the faces of the trappers in their midst.
“You’re a Magistar.”
Max rolled his eyes. “No, I’m a fucking rockstar with a sparkle addiction. Of course, I’m a goddamn Magistar. Christ, you dicks didn’t read the file on this pack very carefully, did ya? I thought I was like a big red flag at the very top.”
Agent Lenis’s gaze jumped from the hanging fireball to Max, to Bryan, to Alec and back again. Bouncing around.
“Your Beta mated a Magistar?” Her voice shook only slightly. “How is that even possible?”
Alec lowered his eyelids like a coy debutant. A clear insult to the other Alpha. You are nothing to me. I don’t even need to keep watching you. My pack could take you, weaker Alpha.
Tank puffed slightly with pride and then sagged a little in defeat. He was so not worth this kind of fuss. And he had caused all this posturing. Then he firmed his resolve. Isaac, though. Isaac is worth it.
Tank took a short, sharp breath and straightened his spine. Against his leg, Bryan was a reassuring presence.
We got this. The pack has got this.
Alec explained, because it was in the records on the San Andreas Pack that the SBI agents hadn’t bothered to read. “Bryan is Max’s familiar as well as my Beta.”
Agent Faste said, “Weirdest fucking pack.”
Agent Lenis swallowed. Then tilted her neck back infinitesimally, showing her throat to Alec. “But strong. Very fucking strong. Still, be ready for a challenge Alpha, the ones after our boy are stupid but strong in their own way.”
With that, the SBI agents moved to the door.
Max said, “Shall we light the way?” And flicked his hand again, so the fireball zoomed toward the door, at his command.
Alec shook his head. “I think they can see themselves out. You’ve terrorized them enough for one evening. And they are government representatives. Wouldn’t want to cause them too much bother. You should know how that goes.”
Max gave a vicious grin, since he’d once worked for the government.
The trappers left. Tank ensured the door was closed and bolted behind them.
Max let the fireball spin into teal sparkles and then snap out of existence. The quintessence returned to its natural in-between invisible state with a loud crack.
“Very pretty,” said Marvin.
Max grinned at him. “Did you like the color? I chose it to match your new throw pillows.”
“How very thoughtful, sweetie.” Marvin looked genuinely thrilled and complimented.
There was a sad crunching sound as Bryan shifted to stand, naked and human, next to his mate. “It’s a new spell we’ve been practicing.”
“I like it,” said Alec. “You didn’t singe anything or blow anything up. I call that a win.”
Max moved to wrap his naked mate up in long, protective arms.
Bryan murmured, “Very pretty, baby.” Then the Beta started, and hissed at the mate plastered against him, “Are you wearing a cock ring under those tight-ass jeans?”
Max whispered back, “It’s getting cold in the evenings, hon, gotta wear layers.”
All the werewolves around overheard this. Sometimes Max forgot how good their ears were.
Alec rolled his eyes and went back to the den, dragging a confused Marvin behind him to sit amongst the sparkly cushions.
“What? What’d I miss? What’d Bryan say?”
Tank knew he was blushing bright pink. Colin was blushing even worse, because Colin was a redhead.
Alec said from his comfy seat, tone horribly cold and controlled. “Theodore Depeine, come here and explain to me everything you know about this Isaac person. RIGHT NOW.”
Uh oh, VOICE command. Tank’s feet started moving before he even registered the force of the power.
Marvin said, “Babes, be nice. He clearly didn’t know this would happen. Tank, darling, would you like a drink?”
“SIT,” commanded Alec, and
then, “TALK.”
Tank sat and talked.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Lamb On the Lam
Isaac should have left San Francisco the next morning, but he didn’t. Something was keeping him there despite the risk to his continued freedom and safety. He refused to believe that something was large and submissive and Olympiad-perfect.
Since he couldn’t stay at Clara’s any longer (the last thing he wanted was to bring any trouble down on her), Isaac waited until midday, and then went to the only other person he could trust. Also, he was hoping to collect his final paycheck.
Xavier was supervising renovations on his hotel. Of course, the place was already perfect, but Xavier wanted it better tailored to the needs of a shifter clientele. He’d found his niche and it was lucrative.
The Minyas was the kind of hotel that ought to give a man dressed as casually as Isaac the stink eye. Except that most of its patrons arrived, if not less well dressed, definitely less dressed. When one was naked for ease of travel, one often had to reach for whatever was around upon arriving at a destination. In fact, the hotel boasted a massive cloakroom stocked with plush robes of all sizes, accessed by a discrete side entrance and presided over by an even more discrete attendant.
The Minyas boasted a marble lobby where visitors might spot a woman in a Savile Row bespoke suit one moment, and a gentleman in a silk kimono the next. The hotel even took pre-delivery of luggage, so shifters could don their own clothing as soon as they arrived. Since the prevailing attitude in the supernatural community was one of never judging by appearances, for obvious reasons, Isaac’s sportswear was disregarded. The guest clerk greeted him with all courtesy.
“How may I be of assistance?” The clerk was an absolutely stunning woman with rich coppery hair and beautiful indigo eyes. The fact that she was whipping Isaac into mental poetry, despite his clear preference for cock, told him she was a mermaid. Xavier was a consummate businessman and a mermaid was the perfect choice for front of house during daytime. She would filter out non-shifters pretty fast, even if she hadn’t the nose for it (humans tended to get tongue-tied around merfolk). Plus, she could freeze anyone in their tracks, if needed. It was a good physical position for her as well, with a view of the ocean right out the hotel’s front door.
“Is the boss in yet this morning?” Isaac tried for harmless and timid when she looked up at him, smiling. “I’m one of his Saucebox employees and I’m trying to track him down, a matter of business.”
She dropped her customer-ready expression and reached for a phone. “Let me just check.”
Very nicely done. She didn’t actually admit to whether Xavier was present or not.
She spoke into the phone. “Sir? There’s a gentleman in the Minyas lobby from Saucebox. A Mr…?” She looked inquiringly at Isaac.
“Isaac, just say Isaac.”
“Isaac no last name. Are you avail—” Her eyes widened as Xavier, on the other end of the line, interrupted her.
Isaac, with his werewolf hearing, could naturally make out both sides of the conversation perfectly.
“Isaac? Thank fuck. Send him up immediately. Don’t let him leave.”
Eyes wide, the mermaid put down the phone and said to Isaac. “He says to go up right away. You know where his office is?”
Isaac nodded. He’d worked a few shifts at the Minyas bar. He actually preferred it to Saucebox, more civilized. He might have requested a transfer, but the staff at the Minyas was a bit snooty for his taste, and it wasn’t quite as comfortable for his clients. The atmosphere was a great deal less casual. And of course, at the Minyas he was more likely to encounter a werewolf traveling through.
Xavier pounced on Isaac the moment he entered the luxurious office. Normally so stoic, his boss was clearly relieved to see him, because he gave Isaac an awkward and unexpectedly demonstrative hug. He pulled back from it quickly.
“Come in, come in. Sit down. You in some kind of serious trouble, Isaac?”
Isaac flinched and then sat. “Someone came by the club last night?” he guessed. Otherwise Xavier would have just assumed he was sick. Something had happened to tip Xavier off to the fact that Isaac was on the lam.
Xavier nodded. “Couple of spooks. Feds, I think. Only I’m guessing they were shifters. At least one of them was too big to be anything else.”
Isaac was quietly confused. Shifters who worked government enforcement? “Trappers? Why on earth would the SBI be after me?”
Now Xavier was confused. “They aren’t what you’re afraid of?”
Isaac shook his head, truly mystified. “I’ve only ever heard of trappers in passing. No idea why they’re on my tail.”
“Well then, who are you running from?”
Isaac wanted to tell him but he couldn’t. It would be too much all at once: who he was, what he was, who he’d been, and why he was so afraid. Too much shame and too much wolf. “Something worse. But if trappers found me, others will follow. It’s probably best if I take off.”
Understanding was all over Xavier’s harsh face. He’d come from the streets himself once. “You do this a lot?”
“What? Run?”
Xavier nodded.
Isaac felt inexplicably ashamed. Well, more ashamed than usual. “Yep.”
Xavier offered, when he really didn’t have to. “I could hide you.” Silly human.
“Just store a bartender indefinitely in your attic?”
“Lavish adores you.”
“Most women do.”
Xavier’s lips twisted into that small sharp sad smile of his. “Women and shifters. You’ve got the magic touch, Isaac. I’m sure glad you’re gay. Is that the secret, then, magic?”
“You’re asking if I’m some kind of savage mage?”
Xavier only stared at him, direct and questioning.
Isaac wrinkled his nose. “No.”
Xavier nodded. Not convinced but also not pushing it. He, like most humans, understood very little about quintessence. Calling it magic was a dead giveaway. Not that Isaac was all schooled up in mage-craft himself. But he was shifter enough to know some stuff – savage abilities, after all, affected werewolves too. Supernatural creatures were the result of quintessence. His father had tried to keep Isaac in ignorance, but some of the cult members had talked a lot. Too much, as it turns out. Isaac had learned the hard way that he was no mage.
Isaac paused, hearing someone approach outside in the hall – the tick tack of high heels on parquet.
He didn’t say anything, but he also wasn’t as startled as Xavier when Lavish burst into the office.
Xavier stood from his desk and went to greet her. All his attention off Isaac and focused on his lady-love. “Sweetheart, what you doing here?”
“Lunch date, darling. Remember? I told you I had a client meeting in the area.” Lavish fussed over his shirt collar.
Isaac stood to say hello as well and Lavish registered who it was in the room with her man.
“Isaac, how perfect! Will you be joining us?”
Isaac smiled and shook his head.
She abandoned her boyfriend to give Isaac air kisses. “Of course you will, how delightful! You’ll love the food at this little place I’ve found. Oh, but Isaac darling, where were you last night?”
Isaac cast Xavier a desperate look, but his boss was looking thoughtful.
“Yes. Isaac, would you like lunch? But I hope you don’t mind too much, babydoll, I need to stay in the hotel. There’s trouble brewing with that fresco I’m having done by the salt pool. I must stay close. How about we try out the new menu here, in the hotel?”
Isaac narrowed his eyes. He wants to keep an eye on me and keep me safe. “Oh, but I—”
Lavish instantly saw that Isaac was trying to escape. “My love, that’s a charming idea. Isaac, it’s a lovely restaurant, you’ll adore it. It’s not just for the shifter palate, the carpaccio is to die for.”
Xavier nodded. “Would you mind h
eading up without me? I’ve a few things to finish here. I’ll join you in a couple minutes.”
Lavish linked her arm with Isaac’s. “Not at all. We’ll see you up there. Have you seen the roof garden, Isaac? It’s amazing.”
She led Isaac out and he went along obediently, enjoying her chatter. His supernatural hearing stretched back to catch Xavier pick up the phone and say, “Pearl? Get me Heavy Lifting, please. They should be in my personal directory under services.”
The restaurant, though newly opened, had obviously already established a reputation. It was midweek, yet the place was packed. Lavish ordered for all of them, without Xavier, although he arrived soon enough. The food was sublime and Xavier and Lavish managed to keep the conversation light and charming. Isaac almost felt like he wasn’t imposing at all.
Xavier begged off coffee to get back to work, but Lavish lingered.
“No major cases at the moment?” Isaac asked.
“Just finished the last one and it was a crap shoot. I actually took the rest of the day off, was going to get my nails done or something.”
Isaac smiled encouragingly. “Self-care.”
“You know what I really want?”
“A bubble bath, chocolate, champagne, and sappy movies?”
“Oh. My. God. How did you know?”
Isaac only chuckled. He’d hate to tell her women were predictable.
She gripped his arm, eyes shining. “Let’s get a room here and do just that? Oh please, oh please. Just lie around and have a totally girly slacker day with me. You don’t have to be anywhere else, do you?”
Yes. I do have to be anywhere else. But there was something haunting the air now, some tiny familiar scent lingering from someone else’s drink in the restaurant. Brandy with lemon, and it made him feel safe. His wolf really wanted to stop and stay a while. Stupid wolf.
“Jane Austen movies?”
Lavish squealed at him. “We were separated at birth.”
Isaac grinned. “Not quite. You can keep the chocolates and we’re taking separate baths, but otherwise…”
Lavish clapped her hands and bounced. He doubted she ever let anyone else see this side of herself. “I’ll get us a room.”
The Omega Objection Page 15
