by Jamie Craig
In wolf form, Aden didn’t like being touched. There was something too intimate about it, something that made him feel vulnerable, that always had him shy away from anything but the most brutal contact. Now, though, he stood utterly still, as relaxed as he could get in the presence of all those delicious scents, and let Darren explore. He bent his head when Darren stroked the skin behind his ears, and thumped his tail when he found a particularly sensitive spot to scratch. The urge to knock Darren down and do what he would consider unspeakable things to him in this form was almost too great to ignore. Aden had to focus on the man’s bare feet in an attempt not to devour him elsewhere.
“I’ve never…” Darren didn’t need to finish the sentence. His voice was swallowed by the quickening of his breath. He ran his fingertips down Aden’s muzzle, getting close to his delicate snout and mouth. One quick snap of his jaws, and Darren’s fingers would be gone. “I don’t understand this at all.”
Slowly, though he knew it was dangerous for both of them, Aden turned his head and licked along the same fingers stroking his fur. When he caught a drop of drying blood, his senses overloaded, and he had to back away, beyond Darren’s reach before temptation won.
“Yeah…” Darren took a deep breath and wiped his hand on his thigh. “Yeah. We better head downstairs and get this shit taken care of. The sooner we do, the sooner we can…worry about other things.”
Aden was all too aware of what Darren was worried about. Catching Ray before the ritual probably wasn’t their biggest concern.
Trying to figure out how to resolve any kind of relationship, even one purely physical, between an Argenti agent and a werewolf just might prove to be one of the most dangerous things Aden had ever done.
Chapter 5
Darren knew if he couldn’t get his thoughts under control, he was going to be a danger to himself, to Aden, and to any innocent person at the party. But he couldn’t just calmly walk out of the bedroom as though everything was fine. As though he wasn’t still sore from fucking Aden. As though he hadn’t killed a werewolf in what amounted to cold blood. As though he wasn’t steps and minutes away from confirming everything he had worked for in his life had been betrayed.
Maybe.
How could he believe Aden? How could he let a werewolf—a killer—poison his mind against Jasmine? A quick fuck was one thing. Not the greatest idea in the world, but not the biggest mistake he could make. But a quick fuck didn’t mean Aden was suddenly trustworthy. Or right. Why should Darren believe him or give him the benefit of the doubt? He was talking about betrayal and murder. About Jasmine participating in some of the darkest magic…blood sacrifices. What right did Aden have to level those accusations at the woman Darren respected and even loved?
But Darren had seen the evidence. He didn’t need Aden to tell him what he saw and what the implications were. He didn’t need Aden to point out the strangeness of sending an agent into a new, unknown area with the distinct disadvantage of a skirt, heels, and only two small weapons. Aden assumed Jasmine meant Darren to be a distraction. Darren had an unsettling suspicion there was something else going on. He just didn’t know what.
Dealing with Jasmine’s likely betrayal took a lot of his energy and would have been overwhelming on its own. Calmly trailing after a werewolf compounded that stress. He shouldn’t let Aden lead him from the room and toward the stairs. Darren still had bullets in his gun. One bullet between the ears would probably be the right thing to do. Aden might not have been guilty of the crimes he had initially been accused of, but that didn’t mean he was innocent. One bullet, and things would make a lot more sense. One bullet, and Darren would be able to think clearly again.
Darren had never hesitated to shoot before, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it now.
He had never touched a living werewolf before. Aden’s fur was much softer than he had expected. Luxuriant. He wanted to bury both hands in the thick pelt. He wanted to look into the wolf’s eyes and see if he could still recognize Aden in there. When Aden licked him, Darren hadn’t even felt a twinge of disgust. He didn’t know what he felt. It wasn’t quite arousal. It was stronger than excitement. Desire was there, but for what? What did he really want with Aden? From Aden?
Why did he feel like he understood Aden?
Questions would have to wait. Right now, he had to figure out how to stay focused as he trailed after Aden. Aden was a big guy in human form, but as wolf, he was enormous. He filled the hallway as he trotted silently along, his nose to the carpet as he followed the scent. Darren didn’t know if it was Ray’s or the magic, though he sincerely hoped it was the former. A human being he could deal with. Magic rituals in progress were something else entirely.
Aden reached the top of the stairs, but instead of going down to the thick of the party, his ears pricked, and he turned his head off to the left. Darren followed his gaze, but he saw nothing except the open landing overlooking the front foyer. A door at the opposite end led to an unexplored section of the house, though Darren knew from his studies before arriving at the party that Giessen’s office was in that direction, as well as servants’ quarters. It didn’t surprise him when Aden slunk along the wall toward the far door, out of direct view of the guests downstairs. Darren did everything he could to stay out of sight, too. Explanations would be too hard for everyone if he was spotted.
The door opened to another flight of these stairs, leading up into darkness. They had to be the service stairs, especially given the proximity to the servants’ quarters, but shouldn’t service stairs go down as well as up? Darren barely had a chance to consider that question before Aden’s toenails clicked on the bottom riser. Darren closed the door behind them, but couldn’t quite bring himself to shut it all the way. The strap of silvery light against the wall did little to alleviate his anxiety about being in a closed, dark space with a very large werewolf.
Aden slouched up the stairs, his claws on his hind feet clicking with each step. The sound traveled down Darren’s spine and settled in his stomach. If Aden turned on him in the narrow space, that would be it. He wouldn’t have any real chance of escaping or fighting the larger creature off. As a werewolf, Aden probably had at least one hundred pounds on him.
It could even look like an accident. One swipe of a very large paw, and Darren could tumble down the stairs and break his neck. Nobody would be the wiser.
The gun grew slick against his sweaty palm. He should shoot. That would be the smart thing. That was his job. Hunter. Werewolf. Their relationship was actually quite simple.
But Aden reached the top of the stairs unhindered. He held still for long moments, his head cocked at he listened for whatever was on the other side of the door. Darren couldn’t hear a thing except his own heartbeat. Just when he thought he was going to go crazy from the waiting, though, something tickled at his nose.
Something like ginger.
He stiffened. Aden’s hackles were already up, and when he swung his head back to gaze down at Darren with those eerily human eyes, his lip was curled back into a silent snarl.
Darren didn’t need Aden to speak to know whatever waited on the other side would not be friendly.
Ray was killing werewolves, not humans. And since he was clearly working with Jasmine, he might hesitate before harming an Argenti agent. It would make more sense for Darren to open the door, but he didn’t try to shoulder his way to the lead position. Aden didn’t need his protection. Especially since the wolf gave no indication that he would let Darren take the lead.
He broke the door down with the same strength he used on the other one before leaping into the room with flashing eyes and teeth.
The room they entered was far more vast than the bedroom. Under the light of day, it served as a mini-gym, with various exercise equipment all lined up against one mirrored wall, TVs mounted from the ceiling, and mats padding a far corner. Windows at the opposite end let moonbeams shine in and reflect off the mirrors, scattering into a thousand directions to paint the room in speckles of
silver. More illumination came in the form of candles, positioned on the floor at varying intervals. It took Darren a moment to recognize the hexagonal pattern.
Aden ignored all of it to charge for the man in front of the window. His back was to the room, and he knelt at the side of a long, low bench. Manacles hung unused at both ends and in the middle. It didn’t take a genius to realize they were to restrain whatever creature he lashed to its surface.
What puzzled Darren was the matching bench next to it. The scene was set for two victims.
Aden took a swipe at the man as soon as he was in touching distance. One hit with those powerful claws would have been enough to sever the man’s spinal column. Except, Aden didn’t actually touch him. Darren wasn’t sure how it happened, or how it was even possible, but the man reached up and caught Aden’s paw before jumping to his feet and spinning around to face the wolf.
A growl rumbled through Aden, a sound more hair-raising than seeing him attack the wolf downstairs. He snapped at the wrist holding him still, but even that didn’t make contact. The man shoved him away, throwing him against the mats like Aden wasn’t three hundred pounds of pure muscle.
Darren didn’t allow himself to be shocked. He raised the gun and cocked the hammer back. He had never shot another human before, and he didn’t think he could start now. But the man didn’t know that, and sane people would at least pause with a gun trained directly at them.
“Stop! Stop right there or I’ll shoot.”
The man didn’t even look in his direction. He kept his eyes on Aden and simply held up a hand as if to warn Darren to halt.
“You did your job, agent. Stand down.”
Darren didn’t move. “I don’t take my orders from you.”
“No, you take them from Jasmine, who ordered you to deal with Richter. I can take it from here.”
Aden rose to his feet, his head low. Saliva dripped from his bared teeth as he slowly crept toward the man.
Darren didn’t move, even though hearing Jasmine’s name shook him slightly. “You were keeping a werewolf captive in this house. That’s not only dangerous, it’s illegal. What were you doing with him?”
For the first time, the man glanced in his direction. “Tell me you didn’t let him go. He was dangerous. As much of a threat as Richter here. I was just waiting for the moon to come out and for him to change before killing him.”
One of the candles fell over, startling both of them. Aden stood on the periphery of the hexagon, his paw ready to knock over another.
The man’s attention snapped back. “You knew this night was coming, Richter. Your time is up.”
“He’s dead,” Darren said quickly. “The wolf downstairs. I killed him. What about this one?” He redirected his aim to Aden. “I should finish my assignment before I go home for the night.”
“No!” The response came too fast, too sharp. The man scrambled forward to stand between Darren and Aden, blocking the shot. “I mean, you can’t shoot him. Didn’t Jasmine tell you anything? Richter’s too strong to go down with silver. He needs to be dismembered and burned.”
A harsh bark cut the man off. Aden hunched on the floor, legs tense and ready to pounce. With the moonlight streaming in behind him, he appeared even larger than before, and for a moment, even the man hesitated.
“Wow, you must really think I’m stupid.”
Aden lunged with his powerful back legs, springing forward to wrap his forelegs around the other man. He tried to fight, kicking against Aden’s legs and struggling as hard as he could. It was almost enough to break the iron band of Aden’s grip. Almost. He spun around to the window and his huge form blocked the silver moonlight and cast a deep shadow over Darren. The next moment the room was filled with the high pitched sound of breaking glass.
Darren ducked to avoid the flying shards. The man’s scream pierced the night, and for a second, it looked like Aden was going to leap through the broken window to go after him. He didn’t. He stood amidst the broken glass with his paws up on the sill, leaning over in order to peer outside.
Darren tried to avoid the broken glass, but a sliver embedded itself in his toe. He ignored it as he looked around Aden’s thick shoulder, trying to get a glimpse of the body on the ground beneath. Only, it wasn’t a body. Despite the gathering crowd, Darren could see he was still moving.
“That should have killed him.”
Aden pulled away from the window, withdrawing from the broken glass. Within two steps, he was back in his human form, brushing glass dust from his palms.
“He shouldn’t have been able to swat me like a puppy, either. Whatever power he’s been leeching from the rituals, it looks like Ray’s been saving it up for personal use.”
“We should get out of here.”
“Just a second.” Ignoring his nudity, Aden moved around the room, kicking over the candles so they rolled over and went out. He stopped at the benches, crouching down to look them over. One test of the manacles said they would have held even Aden in place if it had come to that. “What I don’t get is why he bothered chaining the other wolf downstairs when he had this one up here that’s even stronger. That doesn’t make sense.”
“None of this makes any sense to me. Maybe he didn’t want a wolf in here until he had the ritual ready to start.”
Aden turned quizzical blue eyes up to him. “And I thought you had orders to kill me.”
“Yeah. Judging from Ray’s reaction, somebody was pretty certain I wouldn’t succeed.”
Straightening, Aden took the duffle from Darren’s shoulders and pulled out his pants. “This isn’t over, you know,” he said as he slipped them on. “We need to figure out where to go from here.”
Darren winced. “Getting the glass out of my feet would be a good starting place.” He licked his lips. “Could we go to your house to regroup and figure out what the fuck is going on?”
Aden cocked a brow. “My house? You really think I’d let an Argenti agent through my front door?”
“I don’t know if I’m still an Argenti agent, technically.”
“But I’m still a werewolf.”
“Yeah, you are.” It made the most sense to go to Aden’s house, but Darren wasn’t going try to wheedle his way through the front door. He wouldn’t want to invite a werewolf into his home, after all. “We have to get out of here before Ray comes back with weapons or back-up.”
Something metallic arced through the air between them. Darren caught it on reflex, only realizing after his fingers had curled around it that it was a car key.
“My car’s the black Viper parked at the corner,” Aden said. “Meet me at the stop sign at Wallace and Elm. We’ll figure out where to go from there.”
Darren’s lips twitched. “A Viper? I thought the only guys who drove those had something to compensate for.”
Aden grinned. “You think I have to compensate for anything?”
“That’s why I said thought, past tense. Clearly it was an unfounded assumption.”
“So it looks like you’re clearing up a lot of those tonight.” He jerked his head toward the broken-in door. “Go. They’re going to be up here any minute.”
“Right.”
Darren moved as fast as he could while favoring his foot. He had hoped finding Ray would help clarify things. Now he was only more confused and frightened. Who was the second set of chains for? And why was Jasmine apparently willing to sacrifice an agent to Aden Richter? When had he become nothing more than fodder?
Darren cut through the back of the house and slipped out the service door, keeping to the shadows as much as he could. He wasn’t going to let everything spin out into chaos. By dawn, he’d have his life under control again. One way or the other.
Chapter 6
It had never occurred to Aden that Darren might steal his car. The young man was too shaken by what had happened to do much of anything but take orders. If they hadn’t had to get out of the house as soon as possible, Aden might have tried snapping him out of it with a good
fuck, but time was not on their side. For some inexplicable reason, Ray Giessen had survived the fall. From what Aden had seen, he probably hadn’t even broken a bone, and he was most definitely still conscious. There was no telling what kind of stories he was going to concoct.
Going to his house was dangerous, taking Darren there even more so. For all his argument at the Giessen house, Aden knew there was no other alternative. Darren was as much a victim in this as he was, and no other place would be safer. Better to keep an eye on him and ensure his personal longevity, than to drop him off and have him run off to the bitch who’d set him up in the first place.
To be safe, however, Aden made a last minute change in his plans. He steered the car out of town and called Domingo, his personal assistant, to have the house on the reserve unlocked by the time he got there.
“Just in case,” he said when Darren questioned him upon disconnecting. “Plus, better security.”
“You’re still letting an Argenti agent into your home. Decide you can trust me?”
“No.” He smiled. “But I can beat you, if it comes down to a fight.”
“Yeah. Well, I don’t intend to start a fight. I hope you aren’t planning on one.”
“Not with you,” Aden promised. Though when not even that drew a positive response from Darren, he added, “You’re worrying about this too much. We stopped the ritual. That was the hard part.”
“That was the hard part for you. I don’t think the hard part for me has started yet.”
“You’re alive, aren’t you? And you know you can’t trust that Jasmine. What else is so hard to face?”
“Jasmine isn’t just my superior. She’s my mentor and my friend. Now I have to face…never mind. You’re right. Everything’s great.”
