by Zoe Perdita
Seth scratched the back of his head and mussed his braid in the process. Like usual, he didn’t bother trying to fix it. With how messy he was, Ari often wondered why Seth kept his hair long in the first place. “Okay. That’s not good. We’ll move as quickly as we can, but we’re not on the case, unfortunately. If Ian Black owes you any favors, you might want to cash them in. They’d be the ones who might be able to give you leads on the hunters. I’ll ask Strider. See what he knows. Otherwise, lay low. There’s a cabin in Forest Park that Sharp likes to use at the full moon. He told me you could use it too if you want to stay off the grid for a few days.”
Seth handed Ari a pair of keys and a little hand drawn map. It was neat enough to understand.
“Thanks, Seth,” Ari said and nodded at him, suddenly awkward. He was always the one fixing things for other people. He never thought he’d need his own life fixed, not like this. Or that so many people would be willing to lend him a hand if it happened.
“Anytime. That’s what friends are for,” Seth said and held out his hand.
Ari stared at his pale palm. “Are you sure?”
“I should probably check, just in case,” Seth said, a rueful smile creeping over his lips. It was at odds with the tinge of fear in his eyes. In order for a seer’s power to work, they had to touch a thing or a person. That touch gave them a reading, but those readings weren’t always pleasant, and Seth had a bad habit of passing out afterwards. Ari hoped that didn’t happen this time because he sure as hell couldn’t carry Seth anywhere.
Their hands touched, and Seth wrapped his long fingers around Ari’s square shaped palm and squeezed it lightly. His eyes lost their focus, and Ari held still, willing his heart to stop racing. Whatever Seth saw wasn’t set in stone. He knew that for sure. Had it explained to him more than once. Still, if he saw Cage dying . . . .
Ari swallowed. He didn’t even realize that was his largest fear until it entered his mind right at that moment.
Then Cage put his strong hand on Ari’s shoulder and squeezed. The comfort it granted was more welcome that he wanted to admit.
When Seth's eyes cleared, he blinked and stumbled backwards but caught himself before he fell.
“Do you need to sit down?” Ari asked.
Seth shook his head. “No. I'm fine, and I think I know what the Demon's Sword looks like now. It’s more of a knife, but it glows and turns into a fiery blade when someone uses it.”
“Who was using it?” Cage asked, voice tight. His fingers dug into Ari’s flesh.
Seth glanced between them, eyes landing on Ari. “He was. Look, that doesn’t mean it will happen, just that it might.” He fished a pad of paper out of his pocket and did a quick sketch. It wasn’t great, but Ari could tell what it was, and his heart stood still for a moment.
He wasn’t sure whether to be relieved or not.
“I do have it,” he breathed and looked at Cage. “But it doesn’t have anything in the hilt. It is black and the design is exactly the same.” Not to mention he knew for a damn fact that Seth had never laid eyes on that knife before. Well, not since Ari got it, at least. He wasn’t sure if Montgomery had it on display in the house or not. If it was that potent of a magical object, he doubted it.
“Where is it?” Seth asked, eyes wide.
Ari glanced around the empty ruined house like someone might be there, listening. However, if that were the case, Cage would’ve smelled them by now. “My house, but it’s well hidden and protected, I hope. We need to get to the Black Wolves and figure out why that thing is so important.”
Cage’s mouth pinched, but he nodded and let go of Ari’s shoulder.
“I don’t think it’s dangerous without the rubies in the hilt,” Seth said and shrugged. “It’s just the feeling I got.”
That did make Ari feel a little better since they’d have to find both the sword and the rubies. “Why was I using the sword?”
Seth licked his lips. “I don’t know, but Cage was there too, and Ari had the sword. You were waving it around and then, uh, sort of stabbed Cage in the chest with it.”
Ari blanched, and Cage raised his brows. “What color was the blade?”
Seth shrugged. “Red, at first. It happened so fast that I’m not sure. It’s not much to go on, I know. And I doubt it’ll actually happen like that.”
Ari licked his dry lips and nodded.
He let out a long sigh and winced as they got into the car. His mind buzzed and his chest constricted when he thought about his shop and his home. Stabbing Cage in some ill-defined what-if future. The things those hunters did to them—what the police might do when they searched the place.
And how lonely Kian must be. What if he tried to protect the house, but couldn’t? Ari had no idea if Kian would do that when Ari himself wasn’t in any danger.
With the cops and hunters after him, it’s not like they could swing by and check.
“I won’t do it. Stab you, I mean,” Ari said and worried his bottom lip.
Felan chuckled. It cut through the air like a knife, but still, wasn’t as harsh as it could be. “I’m not going to worry about it. Are you sure you want to go straight to the Black Wolves and not rest first?” Felan asked as he started the car. His brows drew together, wrinkling his forehead.
A few strands of gray stood out amongst the brown, and Ari hadn’t noticed those before. They hadn’t been there when they first met, and the sudden ache of regret filled him. They could’ve spent all these years getting to know each other better, and they’d wasted them instead.
Part of it was his own damn fault.
Ari swallowed it down. Nodded. “I’d like to know why everyone seems to want this thing. That might give me a better chance to clear my name. If you need to get back to work—”
“Ari, do you think I’d abandon you at a time like this? That I’d ever abandon you?”
“No,” Ari said, and did what his heart and body willed him to do. Leaned in and kissed Cage, hard and needy. Tasting the alpha’s mouth with his tongue and dragging it out until he had to break it just to breathe. The kiss sent a sizzling jolt to his groin, but they couldn’t do anything about it here. Not in the condition they were in, so he pulled back and nodded. “As long as you stay with me, I’ll be fine.”
Cage’s face lit up into a smile that was anything but smug. “Say that again and we can go anywhere you’d like.”
Ari looked out the window. “Don’t push it, dog.”
Cage laughed and drove away.
10
The last thing Felan wanted to do right now, with his body feeling like it was weighed down by iron chains and the ache in his thigh worsening with each step, was walk into a fellow alpha’s territory. Especially one as infamous as Ian Black.
He didn’t even have a normal pack. Half of it weren’t even actual wolves but a menagerie of cats and a tiger.
Felan had shared this last thought with Ari on the way over, and the healer looked at him.
“Says the wolf who claims his mate is a healer.”
He had a point.
It was probably the silver working its way through his system that made him grumpy. And the thought that those damn hunters could be anywhere, lying in wait, and he wasn’t in top shape to save Ari. And if he asked Tyler for help, he’d be putting the other alpha in danger. Not something he ever wanted to do with those he cared about.
That was why he didn’t want his pack helping out—the prospect of more of them getting hurt or dying because of him—no, Felan wouldn’t allow that to happen. He’d protect them the way an alpha should. The way he’d failed to protect Kian.
He glanced at the healer next to him. Ari might not realize it, but he had nerves of steel for dealing with shifters like the Black Wolves on a regular basis.
Never mind that Ari’s admission (and that kiss) woke his desire all over again. He couldn’t focus on that now.
The Black Wolves headquarters were tucked into the commercial district near the river, just at the edg
e of Jin Yue’s territory. The building blended in with the others, and Ari smashed his finger into the tenth floor button and leaned against Felan on the ride up.
Felan put an arm around him, wondering when Ari would pull away. To Felan’s surprise, the healer didn’t. Not even when the doors opened, and they moved into an office.
A hulking beta stood there in a black suit with a blue button up underneath. He was tall and commanding with the kind of face that disappeared into a crowd.
“Ari, I heard you were in a bit of trouble. Have a seat,” Ian Black said, a sly smile spreading over his lips. He lounged behind a smooth desk of dark wood. There wasn’t a damn thing on the desk except a paperweight shaped like an orange cat.
He was shorter than his beta, but still well-built, lean and strong. His blond hair was slicked back, and his face was sharp and good-looking in a way that annoyed Felan for some reason. Ian’s eyes were a bright blue, as unnerving as a magic user’s eyes usually were.
Ari sunk into a chair, and Felan followed his lead. He didn’t want to sit around a strange alpha, but his leg wasn’t giving him much of a choice.
“Did Sharp tell you?” Ari asked and took a bottle of water the beta offered.
Felan shook his head when the beta held one out for him. He wasn’t about to be beholden to these wolves no matter what Ari thought of them.
“He did. And I can tell you why these hunters are after you, for a price,” he said, his smile sharpening and his eyes narrowing.
Ari snorted. “No deal. How about you repay me for keeping your mate alive long enough that you got the chance to meet him? Oh, and what about all the other late night calls I made to you and your pack?”
“We did pay for those,” the beta said, his voice bland.
Ian laughed. “I was joking. Of course we’ll help out an old friend, free of charge. I just wanted to see what you’d say. Well, Seb got the info from his contacts. This item you’ve got is a hot property on the MBM.”
“The what?” Felan asked and pinched the crooked bridge of his nose. Young upstarts like this tended to piss him off more than anything. They usually thought they were far more clever than they actually were.
“The magic blackmarket. We keep an eye on it, buy and sell from time to time. Ari knows all about that,” Ian said, his tone more innocent than his words.
Ari shifted in the chair. “Okay. How hot is it?”
“Like I said, everyone and their grandmother wants it because the buyer put out not only an order to find it for a reward of five hundred grand, but they also put a hit on you because they think you have it.”
Felan felt Ari stiffen next to him, and he glanced at the healer. His expression hadn’t really changed, it only hardened in place. “How much is the price on my head?”
Ian put his feet on the desk, and the beta frowned at them. “Another five hundred grand. You’re worth a lot for ‘stealing’ what this buyer thought was rightfully theirs.”
The murder wrap was something they could straighten out, Felan knew that. But with a price that large every hunter in the Pacific Northwest would be crawling into Haven to try for the prize. No wonder someone came after him. And no wonder Ari didn’t think anyone he knew was safe. They wouldn’t be until this came to a stop. “Who’s the buyer?” he growled.
Ian finally met his gaze, and it sharpened. “So far they’ve managed to remain anonymous, but we have our omega working on it, and he can find out anything. Believe me.”
Felan wasn’t going to discount an omega, but he understood why Ian might think so. “I wouldn’t. My daughter is an omega,” he said.
Ian’s eyes lit up. “Oh, how nice. I didn’t know you two had kids. Gold never likes to talk about his personal life.”
“She’s not mine, idiot,” Ari said, but there was no heat in it. “He adopted her.”
Ian smirked and looked ready to say something more when another wolf, the omega, Felan presumed, burst into the room. He was small and scrawny, like most omegas, and his brown hair looked like it hadn’t been brushed yet that day. Instead of a suit, he wore a Batman T-shirt and jeans with red sneakers. “Holy shit, boss. There’s a tracer in here. My alarms just went off the wall so, I’m gonna find it before I have to hit the kill switch.”
“Not again,” the beta grumbled.
“Break’s right. No kill switch. We all had to get new cell phones and computers last time,” Ian said, but he sounded like Felan did when he knew he was supposed to discipline Amy and he didn’t have his heart in it. Far too indulgent.
“What’s the kill switch?” Ari asked as the omega hovered around him, waving some beeping contraption in his face.
“Uh, long story. It makes electronics go to sleep. Forever. Last resort sort of thing, only last time I had to hit it because—well, I don’t think I’m allowed to tell that story, just that I had to. Break doesn’t think I had to, but it’s not like he knows anything about what I do anyway. He can barely type. Ha. Well, he’s better than the boss, but anyway. It’s in Ari’s pocket.”
Ari’s brow furrowed, and he tugged the cell phone out. “This?”
The thing in the omega’s hand beeped more frantically than it had before. “Yep. Uh, you got any important information on this thing that hasn’t been backed up?”
Felan frowned and watched the omega’s pack mates exchange glances that told him they knew what the omega was talking about, even if Felan and Ari didn’t.
“Of course, I have backups on two different computers. Why?” Ari asked, his voice dropping into that dangerous tone that always warned Felan to tread carefully, even if he hardly ever abided by it.
The omega didn’t answer, just set the phone down on Ian’s desk and pounded it with the flat side of the cat shaped paperweight. The cell phone shattered.
Ari gaped. “What the hell—”
“We’ll buy you a new one. A better one. No worries, Gold. I’m sure Milo did that for a reason,” Ian said, his voice smooth as ever while he looked at the mess on his desk.
The omega, Milo, picked out a small red tab among the rubble that was also smashed. “Yeah I had a reason. The thing was fitted with a tracer. Don’t you guys listen? Whoever was on the other end was picking up your signal, and I don’t think that’s a good thing. Never is when Break plants one, and I follow it, right, boss?”
“He’s right,” Ian conceded with a shrug.
Ari managed to snap his mouth shut and suck in a breath.
Felan loosened his hands, which had curled into fists during the whole fiasco, and placed one on Ari’s knee. Ari didn’t flinch. “At least they hadn’t shown up yet. It could’ve been worse if they tracked us into the forest.”
The healer had to already know that but sometimes saying things out loud made it better.
“They did show up at your apartment,” Ari said, eyes wide, and Felan pinched his mouth shut.
“And they’ll know you were here. Well, I’ve wanted to get some exercise for a while, and you know Breaker. He loves hunters. Milo, make sure Fisk and Seb are safe and ask, kindly, if Fei would like to join us. We might have a few hunters at our doorstep, and I don’t want to disappoint them,” Ian Black said and stood up, dusting off a piece of invisible lint from his suit.
Felan stared as the other two wolves went into action, like a well oiled machine. His pack wasn’t quite so disciplined. But they also weren’t part of a shifter gang or whatever the Black Wolves were now.
“Jin might want to do something too. You know how much he hates hunters,” Milo put in as he turned to leave the room.
“We can’t let him have all the fun, and I’m sure there are enough hunters to go around. Get going before they show up. If we have to get a hold of you, we’ll send Sharp.”
Felan didn’t stand. His chest throbbed.
He should be the one making a stand against the hunters coming after Ari, not leaving it to some strange alpha and his pack. This was his responsibility, the same way Kian’s safety had been. And he was faili
ng all over again only in a completely different kind of way.
Then Ari grabbed him by the hand and pulled. “Come on. I’m not letting you stay behind to take on these hunters because of whatever alpha bullshit you’re worrying about right now.”
Breaker snorted, and Felan stood.
Nodded.
No one else could read him like Ari, save Amy, and even she got it wrong part of the time. Ari rarely did.
Next time Ari claimed they weren’t mates, he’d remind the healer of this moment to prove him wrong.
Felan knew Ari didn’t like their humble accommodations before he even got out of the car. They’d driven straight there with only a brief stop at a small and out of the way grocery store for some provisions. He’d filled up an ice chest, assuming the cabin didn’t have power, and got plenty of dried and canned things to last for up to a week. He hoped they had this settled by then and things could get back to normal.
His heart squeezed, and Felan knew he was lying to himself, at least partially. Taking care of the hunters and clearing Ari’s name, yes, he wanted that. But going back to the way things were before wasn’t something he ever wanted. He didn’t want to see that look in Ari’s eyes, the one that pierced his chest. Or know that his mate didn’t want him around.
In more ways than one, this brought them together, and he hoped Ari saw that when it was finished. Hoped Ari at least welcomed him inside without a scowl.
The kisses were promising, as was Ari taking his hand, but that didn’t mean he was ready to try another go at what they’d had.
Felan forced a smile and climbed out. They hadn’t packed any clothes, so he hoped Sharp kept a few extras inside. Otherwise, they might have to go nude for a few days, not that Felan minded but Ari might.
“This is a shack,” Ari said, his voice resigned as he pulled out the bags of supplies. “But what else did I expect. The way my life is going right now, I’m glad it has a roof and a door.”
“That’s the spirit. We could be stuck without both. Or dead,” Felan said and felt the smile slip from his lips.
