Animal Instinct

by Noelle N

  Dimitri rolled his eyes. "Everyone knows him as Mattheus Norvil. But when you told me about that room in headquarters, I realised that his modus operandi was far too similar to the way Claudius Trevino used to work. On a larger scale, mostly, but – "

  "Wait." I stopped him, catching the faintly alarmed gaze that Jed sent my way. "You knew about what Claudius Trevino did?"

  "You mean kidnapping and raping women in an abandoned shed?" Dimitri deadpanned, arching an eyebrow at us. "Oh, yes. He was wonderfully enthusiastic about his conquests. Every member in the syndicate probably knew about his dysfunctional dick from all that sex."

  Jed had become tenser the more Dimitri spoke, and by the end of it, it was impossible for him not to react. His fingers were clenched as his nails dug into his palm, and every inch of him radiated anger, frustration, but most of all – fear. I couldn't miss it. And Dimitri, of course, caught on just as quickly because a faint flicker of understanding was beginning to dawn on him, his eyes widening just imperceptibly as he glanced at Jed.

  But when he opened his mouth to toss another caustic remark Jed's way, I quickly cut in. "So why didn't you do anything about it?" I asked, throwing him a pointed look and shaking my head with the slightest movement.

  After a narrowed-eyed gaze at Jed, Dimitri wisely kept his jab to himself and answered my question instead. "Who the hell do you think I am?" he asked flatly. "I'm a hired assassin, not some shitty do-gooder. I couldn't give a damn about what any of them do, so long as I'm getting paid for each kill."

  "That's what you say now," I mused, subconsciously reaching across the counter so that I could intertwine my fingers through Jed's. His grip was tighter than usual, but he was calm once more and was watching our exchange with sharp eyes. I smiled at him briefly before turning back to Dimitri. "But see – you saved me. And Bianca."

  "Yes, and I got punished with a hot silver blade that they used to carve fanciful things into my face so that it would scar for good. Wasn't worth it."

  I felt my chest clench as guilt stab me once again and looked at him. "So why did you help me in the first place?"

  Dimitri fell silent at my question, and he remained silent for a long moment. But then he eventually glanced up and his dark eyes just seemed a shade lighter this time when he finally spoke, his voice unexpectedly quiet. "Because no one's ever trusted me to be good before."

  For a few seconds, none of us reacted. But then Jed reached into the pocket of his jeans swiftly and drew out his cell, typing in a quick message before sliding his phone across the counter to me.

  Let him stay.

  A tiny smile flitted across my face when I read the message, and I set the phone back down. "Well, Dimitri, looks like today's your lucky day," I said lightly, "because there's one more person around here who trusts you to be good."

  He caught on quickly and, for a moment, he faltered, a vague hesitation flickering across his face that marred his normally hardened expression. But it was over in the blink of an eye, and then he was rolling his eyes at Jed. "Great," he deadpanned, striding towards the side door that led to the kitchen. "Why don't we all just hold hands around the campfire and bask in each other's goodness?"

  "Where're you going?" I asked curiously, as Jed narrowed his eyes at him, but good-naturedly let that ribbing slide.

  "To the kitchen to slice those tomatoes. Where else would I go?" Dimitri shot us an exasperated look. "Call the diners back in, it's time for another round of food-poisoning."

  * * *

  Instead of standing by the counter, I found Jed seated at the dining table the next morning, a pile of documents spread out in front of him, but organised perfectly with small post-its taped to the sides and thorough annotations. I almost smiled at the sight of that. I adored making messes in the kitchen, but he was incessantly neat – from his work to the way he kept the pack so organised, and even to the way he made the coffee in the morning with perfect precision and slow, measured steps.

  "Morning," I greeted cheerfully, offering him a bright smile when he glanced my way. "Found something interesting?"

  He began to nod, only to still abruptly when he caught a glimpse of the shirt I was wearing. I'd nicked it from the dryer earlier when I was looking for a clean blouse to wear. I'd located that blouse easily, but when sorting through the clothes, some part of me simply couldn't resist. Wearing Jed's clothes was one thing and I honestly didn't think he would mind, but getting to see his reaction?

  Oh, yes, this was definitely going to be worth testing the waters for.

  So I simply blinked in faux-confusion when he narrowed his eyes at me. "What? I just threw this on because it's comfortable and I hope you don't mind sharing," I murmured innocently when he continued to stare at me, his hot gaze running over me in a way that made my skin flush with tingles of awareness. Biting back a smile, I turned to the fridge and pulled out several eggs, along with a block of ham, saying in a voice that was so casual it sounded like I was ordering coffee at the diner – "or maybe I just like having your scent on my skin."

  The low growl that escaped his lips was impossible to miss; and I'd just set the eggs and ham aside on the stretch of counter by the sink when I felt him step up behind me. He caged me in swiftly, bracing his hands on the counter on both sides of me as he lowered his head. I caught a faint whiff of citrus and mint and another scent that was entirely him before he was lowering his lips to my ear. Instinctively, I shivered, especially when I felt his lips brush the shell of my ear, his hot breath on my skin sending my fingers digging into the counter as I fought to maintain my composure.

  "You are driving me insane," he mumbled heatedly, and I bit my lip to reign in an involuntary whimper at the husky sound of his voice.

  He inched his hands closer to mine, so that his fingers had slid between mine as they gripped the counter, the slick warmth of his palms against the back of my hands comforting and dizzying to the touch all at once. And when he stepped even closer to me, leaning in deliberately so that I could feel the hard length of him pressed against me, I felt my eyes flutter shut as I instinctively pushed back against him in the perfect friction, smiling when I heard a ragged exhale leave his lips.

  "Likewise," I returned breathlessly, vaguely wondering how I managed to even come up with a response at a time like this, but he was letting out a throaty laugh at my words and reached a hand up. With an infinite amount of gentleness, he tucked a lock of my hair behind my ear, and his eyes were dark but the expression in them soft when lowered his head so that he could kiss me.

  His lips brushed mine in perfect familiarity, but the new angle was thrilling because it felt like he was surrounding me, entrapping me within, with him. I didn't hesitate to kiss him back, opening my mouth to let my tongue slide against his until I could taste him – fading mint and fresh coffee and everything else that was purely him. He made a deep, hungry sound low in his throat and angled his head to deepen the kiss. He kissed me in a way that was half-exploring, the way he seemed to mentally catalogue my responses to each of his actions – the way I tightened both hands on the counter when he nipped at my lower lip and leaning back just so I could feel him, all of him, pressed up against me; but he also seemed to be recalling what he already knew – how, when he nipped at my bottom lip, it wrenched a soft whimper from me that drew a muffled groan from him, and how, regardless of how much I teased him, I instinctively liked that he was in perfect control of our kisses, the way I felt absolutely plaint under his touch and the way he seemed to fill every one of my senses, every inch of my mind until he was all I knew.

  I could've gone on kissing him forever, letting him mark me, turn me even, were it not for the sudden knock on the front door. Jed froze, so absorbed in the kiss that, for once, his acute hearing failed him. The both of us fought to catch our breaths for a second or two, but then a quick glance over at the dining table made us realise that we really had to ground ourselves back in reality.

  Jed swiftly gathered the documents in a neat pile and I went
over to help him, but he simply shoved two papers in my direction for me to read. I scanned it quickly, knowing that we only had a limited amount of time now, and felt my breath catch when I saw that Jed had crossed out a name on the list of suspects that he'd compiled.

  "What – " I glanced up at him in confusion, but he pressed a quick finger to his lips and gestured to the other paper.

  I was even more confused by the next, until I read the header and realised that it was a birth certificate. And everything fell into place the moment I caught a glimpse of the name scribbled in a neat font somewhere near the top.

  Claudius Orcus Trevino

  And there it was. Never in a hundred years would we have seen the connection between Claudius and the ghost criminal Orcus that Jed had only heard of but never seen. But the truth of the matter had been with Jed the whole time; he just had to dig through his past to figure it out.

  And realise that he'd already slayed one of the monsters from the very beginning.

  I was almost about to blurt out my astonishment when a warning glance from Jed made me subside quickly. Handing back the papers to him, I waited for him to take it before pushing myself up on the tips of my toes so that I could press my lips to his.

  His lips were warm, soft and absolutely addictive; and it was so very easy to drown myself in his taste, so I pulled away just as quickly before he even had the time to react. "You are brilliant," I told him softly, smiling when I saw the flustered look on his face.

  It was funny, how he'd probably heard plenty of compliments from the rest of his pack and there wasn't any doubt about it – he was gorgeous, and clever, and kind, and a million other things that would take me forever to list them all out. But every time I so much as gave him a passing compliment, he blushed like it was the first time he'd heard it.

  It was no different now, and my smile widened when I saw the way his cheeks tinged a slight crimson and he ducked his head, shrugging in faint embarrassment as he finished gathering up the rest of the papers. Then he handed them to me for safekeeping while he went to answer the door.

  Adrian's voice was the first I heard, followed by Lance's and Spike's and several other familiar ones, hearing the words "security breach" and "Phobos" somewhere in the mix. But since Jed didn't invite them in and chose to stay outside on the front porch, I took the opportunity to slip off to the library to find a new hiding place. After stashing the documents away in one of the arbitrary cookbooks, I pushed it far behind the shelf where no one would see it and headed upstairs to throw on a loose sweater over Jed's shirt.

  When I headed back downstairs, Jed was in the kitchen; only this time, he was watching Lance and Spike pilfer through the shelves in search for food. Brutus, Jade and Katya were deep in discussion, while Adrian was sitting on the counter happily stuffing his face with Doritos. The expression on Jed's face was bored with vague indifference as he watched them, but I didn't miss the way he glanced over at me just briefly, then over to where Spike was tugging at the oven door to check if there was any food inside.

  I knew exactly what he was worried – no, terrified about. And it was incredibly fortunate that I'd hidden the book and the rest of the documents elsewhere. Stifling a quiet sigh of relief, I smiled brightly at Jed, who took it as a good sign and relaxed.

  "Going to Phobos?" I asked him, as I sidled closer with just the counter separating us. Adrian, of course, was sitting like the perfect third-wheel that he was, and he waved the bag of Doritos obnoxiously between us to obscure my view as Jed began to nod.

  "Perimeter breach," Adrian informed me, grinning when I swatted him away, only to wave the bag at me again. "Come on, I know you want one."

  He was right; I really did want one. Only when I reached into the bag, I felt absolutely nothing and realised that I'd been well and truly played by Adrian. "I hate you," I muttered, chucking the empty bag back at him. Adrian sneakily tried to slide the bag towards Jed and I swatted him again. "Throw your own trash! Better yet – throw yourself into the trash."

  Jed's lips twitched in amusement at my words and Adrian shook his head. "Seriously, Alpha, you need a bell or something to warn people whenever you try to smile like that."

  Jed simply rolled his eyes, picked up the nearest file and smacked Adrian on the head with it. His actions were so swift that Adrian promptly lost his balance and fell right off the counter. I began laughing helplessly, and the others soon joined in when they realised what had happened.

  "You know," Lance remarked, as he calmly shoved another mouthful of ice-cream in his mouth, from the carton that he was sharing with Spike. "That's Alpha's I-just-got-laid smile. Which is creepy to us, but only because it gives us those kind of mental images we really don't want to have – " He trailed off as Jed levelled a flat look at him and he smiled sheepishly. " – my point is," he continued, now directing his teasing grin at Adrian. "You have that I'll-never-get-laid look on your face all the time and that's even more creepy."

  Adrian scowled. "Fuck you."

  "And end your dry spell of not getting laid?" Lance shook his head. "No, thanks. Besides," he added, waving a nonchalant hand at Jade. "She puts that I-just-got-laid smile on my face, thank you very much."

  I blinked and stared at them curiously. "I didn't know you and Jade were mates."

  There were muffled scoffs at this from Brutus and Spike, but it was Katya who chimed in. "Oh, they're not. But us werewolves have plenty of adrenaline, energy and hormones that need to be directed somewhere."

  "Interesting," was all I said in vague response.

  But later, when we were on our way to the diner, because Jed had insisted on walking me there before leaving for Phobos, I couldn't resist.

  "So," I started lightly, brushing the back of my hand against Jed's to get his attention. He gazed down at me in confusion and I grinned. "You ever felt that need to direct your adrenaline, energy and hormones somewhere before you met me?"

  Jed literally stumbled and I almost put out a hand to steady him, trying to bite back a laugh when I saw how flustered he was. But it was Adrian, who'd insisted on tagging along with Spike and Lance while the rest waited back at the driveway along our house, that set everything in perspective.

  "Oh, yes," he said smoothly, with a wicked gleam in his eye as he glanced at Jed. "He directed all that adrenaline, energy and hormones to his left hand. Or was it his right?"

  Jed shot him a filthy look and Spike shook his head in mirth as he watched their exchange. "Should we be worried that you know that?"

  "We grew up together." Adrian shrugged, before winking at me. "I saw him in his underwear years before you have, Luna. Sometimes," he added, the grin on his face widening when he saw the murderous way Jed was looking at him, "Alpha doesn't wear any."

  I laughed, and when Jed glared at me, I grinned widely. "What? I can't know about your history of…sexual affairs? With your left or right hand?"

  Adrian snorted. Then, after a slight pause, said, "Alpha says he doesn't know much about the men you used to date."

  "Please." I waved Jed's probing glances away. "You know about mine. All three of those assholes. I just didn't go into specifics because I don't want you hunting them down and flaying them alive."

  "He probably would," Lance agreed smoothly. "Especially if he hears details about how they stuck their enchanted swords into your garden of – " He winced as Jed glanced at him, no doubt saying something highly offensive and threatening through the mind-link. Shaking his head to clear the insult from his head, he huffed at Jed. "You are absolutely no fun."

  Jed pointedly ignored him and, after texting a swift message on his phone, held it out to me.

  Will you be okay if Spike walks you the rest of the way while I flay these two shits alive?

  "Oh, of course!" I said breezily and pushed myself up on the tips of my toes to brush my lips quickly against his cheek. "Have fun." With a smile, I eased back and waved at Lance and Adrian, who were both staring at me in confusion. "Good luck, boys. Come on, Spike."
>
  Jed bit back a smile of amusement as he watched me leave with Spike. Both Lance and Adrian looked vaguely nervous as Jed glared down at them when I threw another final glance over my shoulder, and I laughed. "How much trouble do you think they're going to be in?" I asked Spike, an amused grin on my face.

  "Depends on whether Alpha makes good on his threat. He did promise to – and I quote – flay our enchanted swords so that we'd never visit another garden again if we made another joke to corrupt your mind."

  "He said that to you too?"

  "His threats are usually meant for either Adrian or Lance, but he tends to direct them at all three of us." Spike shrugged good-naturedly. "But wise choice on not telling him the specifics of your past relationship."

  "Well." I bit my lip and fiddled with the hem of my sweater. "I don't know – I want to tell him, and I mean no offense, but you werewolves tend to get – "

  "Insanely jealous? Ridiculously protective? Frighteningly possessive?" Spike suggested easily, when I trailed off. I nodded hesitantly and he smiled. "Quite. I understand where you're coming from, I really do, because before I became a werewolf, I was a human and no matter the similarities between the two kinds, there are still jarring differences. One being that humans don't tend to go right off the deep end when they learn that their partners had past relationships."

  I eyed him curiously. "Did you tell Lorraine about yours?"

  "Only briefly. I had a girl – human, of course, prior to her. And she still can't hear her name without cringing so I try not to bring it up whenever possible. But you've got three – "

  "All assholes," I supplied quickly.

  " – three assholes, but let's not forget the fact that your mate is an Alpha," Spike added wryly. "You'll want to be careful where you tread."