Pursuit of Excellence [Spirit of Sage 4] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour ManLove)

by Jools Louise

  “Alfie,” Douglas said, sniffing.

  “Yep,” the leopard shifter replied, coming over to kiss Douglas on the cheek. He seemed to brace himself, then stood straighter, one hip thrust to the side in diva pose, and tapped a finger against his mouth. “You know, if you didn’t want to be in the Shifter Games, you just had to say so,” Alfie said after a short pause, arching one brow, his tone teasing.

  Douglas let out a startled laugh and nearly choked on his straw. “Sorry, Alfie. I should have been more careful,” he retorted, flipping one finger at the other guy. “Next time I get kidnapped by evil morons, I’ll be sure to tell them not to hurt me in case I can’t compete.”

  “Sweetie, if you think a little case of blindness will let you off, think again,” Alfie drawled smugly. “There are plenty of other activities we can get you involved in.”

  Douglas laughed loudly and reached for his friend, hugging it out with Alfie. “Sweetie, I’m sure you’ll get me involved somehow.”

  “You know, in the Paralympics, they have blind runners, and they use a guide runner who races alongside them,” Ethan said, musing aloud. He shrugged uncomfortably when everyone stared at him. “Just saying.”

  Alfie got that look in his eyes that everyone in town was beginning to dread.

  “Paralympics?” Alfie said slowly, as though he’d just had a light bulb moment.

  “Oh, fuck,” Douglas groaned, laughing again. “Ethan, what did you have to say that for?” he asked. “I’m not even out of the hospital yet and you have me running?”

  Ethan grinned at his brother, deciding he liked the idea of having an event for those who had limited abilities. It was unusual for shifters to have injuries that didn’t heal, but he would research it and see if games for shifters with disabilities was a viable thing. Surely there must be other shifters out there who’d had life-changing accidents.

  “Bro, if this works out, I’ll be your guide, how’s that?” he said, and saw Douglas jerk in surprise. “If I have to compete, then you’re going to have to compete. Besides,” Ethan said dryly. “I haven’t finished showing Alfie here how to make proper pancakes. It looks like I may need help training since most of the events he wants me to do I’ve never done before.”

  Cody entered the ward right then, accompanied by his husband Thomas and Freddy. Cameron and John followed, with their large brood of adopted children, which raised the noise levels to new highs.

  Ethan let the newcomers tease his brother, but there was a niggling thought in his head, something that had been bothering him since the invasion had begun. He left the room quietly and headed across town, wanting to speak to someone who had been pivotal in helping the attackers.

  Chapter Eleven

  Lash watched from the outside balcony of Spirit Ink as his mate, Ethan, walked through town, heading down Main Street toward the sheriff’s office. He frowned thoughtfully, wondering what his mate was up to and decided it was worth following. Setting down his coffee mug, he trotted through the tattoo studio, letting his mates know what was going on, and after seeing John downstairs, they all headed after Ethan. Lash had the feeling their help might be needed, but he didn’t know for sure.

  “Who do you think he’s after?” Slug asked, frowning.

  “Burton,” John replied succinctly.

  Lash nodded, having thought the same thing. Burton was the one who had betrayed them all, getting close to them and letting them think he was a friend. Then he’d sold them out. Apparently, Ethan thought it was time for further conversation with the man.

  The group reached the sheriff’s office, having to hustle to catch up with Ethan. As they reached the building, they heard loud voices coming from inside and exchanged concerned glances. A loud roar suddenly ripped through the building, followed by a terrified scream. Lash snarled, fearing the worst, and headed for the basement where the three cells were located through the heavy door that stood ajar.

  “Where the fuck are they?” Ethan suddenly yelled, followed by a second roar.

  Lash rounded the corner and saw Ethan, fangs bared, and his fist around the throat of Burton, the jackal shifter, who was frozen in fear, his cell door open, and Pace standing to one side, arms crossed, watching the proceedings.

  “What are you doing, Ethan?” Slug asked, stepping to the front of the group. “What do you think he knows?”

  Ethan snarled viciously, looking lethal, which had Burton whimpering again. “This bastard knows where those two bitches are,” he said. “When we set him up, he spoke to one of them. I remember hearing her voice from where I was hiding, but I didn’t put it together until just now, but I heard her once before, when she and the others came to town, and stayed at the bed and breakfast. He called her Letitia.”

  Lash paled and stared hard at Burton, pushing past his mates as he approached the cell. “You spoke to my mother?” he asked. “She’s involved in this?”

  “It would be just what your mom would do,” Slug said, nodding. “If she’s behind all this, it’s no wonder she got the others on board. She’s vicious as hell. Probably has people terrified of her.”

  “She’ll kill me,” Burton whimpered, literally shaking with fear. “She told me she’d kill my whole family if I did anything to betray her.”

  “Where are your family?” John asked, palming his phone. “We can get them to safety.” He glared at Burton. “Unless you’re lying, and this is a ploy to get us to feel sympathy for you. You’ve betrayed this whole town, your friends, everyone.”

  Burton cried and the scent of urine permeated the jail. “She has spies everywhere,” he said. “She said so. She’s psychotic. She said if I did anything she didn’t like or didn’t tell her everything that was going on in town, she’d throw me back in those tunnels, and leave me there to rot…on my own.” He cried harder, sobbing loudly. “Please don’t let her get to me. I’m so sorry about what happened. I’m a fucking coward and I deserve to be in jail, but please don’t let her get me.”

  Lash felt pity for the jackal shifter, knowing just how terrifying his mother could be. The bitch was a psychopath and enjoyed tormenting people for pleasure.

  “Do you know where they are?” he asked gently.

  Burton nodded feebly. “She’ll know I told,” he said. “She’ll know and then she’ll come here and bury me alive.”

  “What did she do to you?” Slug asked, removing Ethan’s fist from around Burton’s throat. Burton shook his head and refused to speak again.

  “You said she had spies in town. Do you know who they are?” John asked, exchanging a hard glance with Pace, whose green eyes were shadowed and unreadable.

  “I don’t know all of them,” Burton said. “But I think one of them works for Mick at the bar. Another got a job working on the construction of the stadium for the games. Then there’s a third, but I don’t know where he is.”

  “Wherever we put him, if Letitia’s involved in this, Burton won’t be safe from her,” Lash said. “If she has spies, then she already knows we’re here talking to him, and she’ll guess he’s probably not going to last too long under interrogation.”

  “I think I know where she’ll be hiding,” Ethan said suddenly, thinking hard.

  “There’s no point in going after her,” Burton shrilled in alarm. “She’ll kill my family.”

  The sheriff entered the conversation, baring his fangs and letting out a deep, rumbling growl, which had Burton cringing in fear. “Your family died ten years ago,” Pace said coldly. “Your records just came through. You were incarcerated in a Federal penitentiary, from which you escaped, for the murder of your two sisters, your infant brother, and both of your parents.” He snarled viciously, looking as angry as Lash and the others had ever seen him. Sheriff Pace was a grouch, and stoic as could be, but he rarely showed this kind of fury toward anyone. “You are a murderer who had help escaping. Now where is the bitch who helped you? Letitia…the same bitch who had Douglas blinded.”

  Burton began to giggle maniacally, spittl
e foaming at the corners of his mouth as he laughed like a madman, his insanity now showing clearly. “They were an embarrassment,” he finally chortled, sounding almost proud of his achievement.

  Lash felt sick that this man had killed people so close to him. An infant brother? Two little sisters? Who did that? “You killed your little brother and sisters?” he asked, wanting the man to admit to it.

  Burton chuckled again and gave a toothy grin. “My brother and sisters were irrelevant, and they ate too much. Mother and father gave them far too much attention. When they were born, I was suddenly pushed aside.” He snarled in fury and actually pouted. “They all had to go. Mother, Father, and the three little piggies who ate all the food.”

  Lash stared at Burton, hearing the insanity, listening as his speech lost all sense. The man was clearly off his rocker. Lash had the feeling that the man was all out of marbles since they appeared to have scattered long ago. Burton was crazy.

  “Where do you think Letitia is?” John asked Ethan, pulling him away from Burton. Lash knew why, seeing a nasty light enter Burton’s eyes. The man was unpredictable enough to attack Ethan, even in front of all the people down here.

  Ethan turned away from the cells and lowered his voice. “She’s in town,” he said. “Don’t you remember? Somebody bought up one of the new town houses recently, but nobody’s seen the person who’s been living there. Douglas even told me that he’d seen lights on in the house, but there were curtains up so nobody can see inside.”

  Burton let out a screech of rage, shoving past Pace and aiming for Ethan, his claws unsheathed. Ethan backpedaled quickly, but John got there, punching the jackal shifter three times in quick succession and sending the maniac to the floor. Burton kept coming, shrieking like a banshee, and John hit him again and again until the man couldn’t get up again and was sprawled on the floor, unconscious.

  “Fucking psycho,” John muttered, kicking at Burton’s foot with his boot. “The man needs to be put down, permanently.”

  “I’ll call Ryder,” Pace said. “He has a secure unit for this monster until he’s put to sleep for good.” The two shared an evil grin at the dark humor.

  Pace made the call and told Ryder Black where he could possibly find Letitia. “How’s Douglas?” he asked Ethan, once the call was concluded. “What with looking after this lunatic, I haven’t had a chance to visit your brother.”

  Ethan sighed wearily. “He’s going to need a lot of support,” he finally replied after a long pause. “He’s lost the man he loves, a man who supposedly was his mate and who betrayed him, plus he’s now blind.”

  “Baby, we’re all here for him,” Lash replied, tugging Ethan into his arms and holding him close. “He’ll get through this. He will.”

  Pace’s phone rang and he answered, scowling as he listened intently before flipping it closed. “She’s gone,” he said furiously, turning his intense green stare on Burton who was just waking up. “She left a calling card, though.” He glared at Burton. “A booby trap, which injured two of Ryder’s squad. Acid.”

  Burton giggled again, grinning widely, blood dripping down his chin from his split lip. “Calling card for an acid bath,” he sang in a silly little tune, like a kid’s nursery rhyme. “Ryder’s squad, Ryder’s squad, got a calling card for an acid bath.” He kept repeating the tune, spittle flying everywhere. Pace locked the cell door on him and turned to lead the way back upstairs.

  “How bad are they?” Lash asked as they reached Pace’s office. “Ryder’s guys, are they badly hurt?”

  “They’re at the clinic,” Pace replied. “Ryder said they got the stuff full in the face but were wearing protective headgear. They’ll need to be checked out, though.”

  “We should go back there,” Ethan said. “I have a bad feeling that Letitia isn’t finished yet.”

  Lash felt that same uneasiness, as well, and they all piled out of the door, heading for the medical center.

  * * * *

  Douglas tilted his head at the sound of a slight whisper, but then heard nothing. He sniffed, but smelled nothing untoward, and listened harder. His visitors had departed and he was just about to have a nap, but the noise he heard made him wary. His instincts told him that something was off.

  He heard the slight sound again and unleashed his claws, using his feline senses to hone in on who was in the ward…someone who didn’t want to be heard.

  “Here to finish me off?” he said aloud, curling his lip into a sneer. “You failed at killing me, you failed at killing my family…gee, does that make you a big, fat failure?”

  There was a low snarl, abruptly cut off. Douglas knew who it was, but didn’t know how they’d managed to disguise their scent. All he smelled were the remnants of his smoothie, the ubiquitous stench of disinfectant…yes, that was it. They’d used disinfectant to douse their natural odor. Clever.

  “Letitia, isn’t it?” he asked. “Lash’s mother? Wow, and I thought my mom was bad. I guess I should give kudos to you for surpassing her evilness.”

  “Stupid boy,” his visitor said, keeping her voice low, the snarl as feral as could be. “You were supposed to die. My idiot son mated a feline. What was I supposed to do? Welcome you into the family?”

  Douglas laughed aloud at that, shaking his head mockingly. “You really are a failure, aren’t you, sweetie? My brother, Ethan, mated your son. Not me. I was going to marry Ellis Hawkwing, a human, but Rash murdered him, at your request I suppose.

  Letitia grunted, as though it was of no consequence that she had initiated killing an innocent person. “Your brother will know what it’s like to lose a family member,” she said, ignoring Douglas’s declaration.

  “Don’t you get it?” he asked, sighing as though he was talking to an idiot. “The shifter community want to live in peace now. We don’t want your stupid fantasy world, where your people get to dictate how we live our lives. We had all that from the cult. Kill me if you want, but it won’t change anything. Our community is here to stay, and will continue to thrive and enjoy life when you and your moronic friends are cold in your graves.”

  Letitia shrieked with rage at that, and Douglas braced himself for impact as he felt the slight displacement of air as she apparently lunged for him.

  “No!” screamed a voice—Ethan’s. “You fucking bitch!” he cried, and then the sounds of a scuffle.

  “Mother, you’ve gone too far this time,” Lash growled furiously. “You killed Lance, sending him here as cannon fodder, knowing we’d kill him if he attacked. What the fuck is wrong with you?”

  Douglas listened intently and heard the clatter of something heavy falling against a tray, which apparently crashed to the ground.

  “You all need to die!” Letitia screeched. Then a shot rang out, followed by several more, and Douglas smelled fresh blood, cloying and sickly sweet in his nostrils.

  “Is everyone okay?” a deep voice asked. Douglas recognized it as Ryder Black, an elite commander with a force of shifters who were trained to take down criminal shifter types. Kind of like the FBI with fur and fangs.

  “She’s dead?” Douglas asked, hearing a slight quaver in his voice, and not liking that he was feeling afraid. He hated feeling so helpless and had been prepared for Letitia to kill him.

  Quiet footsteps approached the bed. “She’s dead,” Ryder replied gently. “Are you okay?” Douglas heard a note in Ryder’s voice that had him frowning and turning his face away.

  “I’m fine,” he retorted gruffly, scowling into darkness.

  “Glad to hear it,” Ryder said, sounding amused. “I guess it must be frustrating to be so helpless.”

  “No, ya think?” Douglas retaliated sharply, putting as much sarcasm as he could into the question.

  Ryder chuckled softly and then his footsteps receded. Douglas felt a twinge of regret that he’d sent the man away. Ryder was just being polite.

  “You’ll get through this,” Ethan said after a moment, his voice sounding as though he was close to the bed. “Get angry
, get mad…you’ll need some attitude, as well, to get through this…but you will survive. I won’t let you do otherwise, squirt.”

  Douglas snorted at the gentle teasing but heard the unwavering support and love from his brother.

  “Do you remember, right after I was rescued, when you held me through the night, when we shared a bedroom?” Ethan asked softly, and Douglas nodded. “I’m here for you, as well, whenever you need me. To talk to, to scream at…whatever you need.”

  “We’re all here for you,” Slug said firmly, and Douglas felt a gentle pat on his shoulder. “You’re smart, sassy, and you’re family. Like Ethan said, we won’t let you fail at this.”

  Douglas felt tearful and ducked his head into the pillow, feeling his shoulders shaking as he tried to force back the sobs building in his chest.

  “Hey, buddy, it’s okay,” Ethan said, sounding as though he was fighting tears, as well. Douglas felt the bed dip, then strong arms wrapped around him. He smelled Ethan’s familiar, soothing scent and began to cry great gut-wrenching sobs that shook the bed.

  “What’s wrong?” came Cody’s voice, sounding concerned. “Fuck, you got the bitch?” he snarled. “One down, huh?” he said. Douglas heard Ryder’s affirmative reply and then heard footsteps approach the bed.

  “Here, baby,” Cody said gently. The bed dipped on the other side, and Cody gathered both his sons close, holding them to his massive chest as the pair cried together.

  Douglas realized that Ethan was crying, as well and felt hot tears from his father as the bigger man released his anguish.

  “We won’t let you fall,” Ethan whispered again into Douglas’s hair. “We’re family.” And Douglas finally believed it, relaxing into their embrace and falling asleep, feeling safe at last.

  Epilogue

  Ethan snuggled with his mates in their big bed, slick with sweat, cum, and feeling as content as could be. He loved the sated feeling that came in the aftermath of dirty sex, the ache in his ass and the sticky residue of their lovemaking all over his body. His ass was still impaled by Charm’s thick cock as he lay draped over his spikey-haired husband, his chute still oozing thick cum.