Red

by Bianca D'Arc

  On one level, Steve couldn’t believe how selfish this woman sounded. On another, he sort of understood her desire to be just a normal human with no worries other than the normal human worries. But this little fairy was in for a rude awakening and Steve was just the man to deliver it.

  “I won’t reveal your secret, but you’d better wake up and realize the Venifucus are out there and they’re gunning for every being who serves the Light. Even one as self-centered as you.”

  The pixie recoiled from Steve’s accusation and he was glad she appeared to be thinking about his harsh words. Steve was building up a good head of steam when Pete put one hand on his arm, the gesture saying without words that Steve should be more cautious. He didn’t like it, but this was Pete’s territory. Steve needed to defer to the Alpha werewolf in his Pack house.

  “We will not out you to the humans, but neither can we allow you to put either them or us in even more danger than we are already in. This Clan has already paid a terrible price to the evil of the Venifucus recently, and we have still not recovered from it.”

  “I don’t understand.” To her credit, the pixie-woman actually looked both confused and concerned. “The Venifucus. They don’t exist. My father said they were vanquished centuries ago.”

  “How old are you, child,” Bebe asked in a soft, motherly tone.

  “I just turned seventy,” Lynda answered in a small voice, clearly responding to Bebe’s warmth.

  “Och, you’re just a baby by your people’s standards. Ours too, come to think of it. You don’t know much about the ancient troubles with the Venifucus, do you? And if you’ve been living completely among humans, you probably haven’t heard the news that they are most definitely back. Come now, let’s get you cleaned up and then we can have a long talk. I’ll catch you up on everything that’s been happening in the magical world while you’ve been playing at being human.” Bebe put her arm around the much shorter woman’s shoulders and led her down the hall, shooting a look back at the men that said let me take care of this, in no uncertain terms.

  “Thank the Mother of All for Bebe,” Pete muttered, and Steve had to agree.

  “Do you have any blood-drawing equipment? Syringes, tubes, sterile pads. That kind of thing.” Steve turned to Pete, already on to the next thing on his mental list.

  “Sure, why?” Pete looked interested, and Steve was glad to explain. The Alpha would need to know what was going on in his Pack territory, especially right in the Pack house.

  “Trisha is a doctor. She wants to try to identify the substance they were all dosed with. I said I’d take her by the lab and she seems eager to try to do something to help her friends.”

  “Won’t they just sleep it off?” Pete frowned.

  “Probably,” Steve agreed. “But I can see her point in wanting to know exactly what it was they were given, in case there are any longer-lasting effects.”

  Pete nodded. “Hall closet should have what you need. I’m going downstairs to talk to everyone and meet Grif, Slade and Kate. I’ll send them up when they get here.”

  “Thanks.” Steve shook the older man’s hand with genuine affection. Pete was like an uncle to him and always had been.

  The men went their separate ways and Steve headed to the closet to gather supplies. His hands were full when he scented…something. Something stirring. Something amazing. Something…

  He turned around, clutching the supplies to his chest as he stared down the hallway that led to where the human women were being housed for the time being. The alluring scent wafted nearer and he stood, transfixed as a terrycloth-covered female shape stepped into view. She was rubbing at her long, dark, wet hair and her face was obscured, but Steve knew exactly who she was.

  She was his mate.

  Now that the overpowering chemical smell had been scrubbed away from her body, Trisha’s natural scent bombarded Steve’s senses with an undeniable truth. She was his. The cat inside him stood up and yowled while the man stood, unable to move, frozen by the startling realization that lightning had finally struck.

  Trisha Morrow was almost certainly his destined mate.

  And her brother was going to kill him.

  Chapter Three

  “Oh, good. You found some supplies for me. Thanks.” Trisha walked right up to him clothed only in a fluffy, white terrycloth robe and a towel draped around her neck to absorb the water still dripping intermittently from her hair. She wasn’t shy about taking things out of his hands, her delicate fingers brushing against the fabric that covered his chest, heightening the instant arousal that had attacked him the moment he’d caught her true scent.

  She seemed preoccupied by the crinkly wrapped syringes, alcohol wipes and various other first aid supplies he’d collected from the closet. She emptied his hands and turned to go, and he was powerless to do anything but follow in her wake. He was struck nearly dumb by the idea that he’d finally met his mate.

  And she didn’t know the first thing about the real world. She was human. Innocent of the knowledge that they were not the only highly advanced creatures that inhabited the earth. Even though she was friends with a half-fey, it was clear the pixie-woman—as Steve had come to think of her—was keeping her friends in the dark about Others.

  Trisha didn’t know. And her brother was one of his best friends in the human world. He didn’t know either, though he often questioned some of the things he’d seen Steve do in the field that a regular human man wouldn’t have been able to accomplish—even someone as skilled as Deke Morrow.

  Deke was gonna murder him. There was no way around it.

  “I’m going to take blood samples from everyone and then I’d like to go see your lab.”

  “What about sleep?” He had to object. It was for her own good.

  He felt a new responsibility for her welfare—even above and beyond what he’d felt before knowing she was dear to a good friend of his. Suddenly, she’d become dear to him, personally, and he felt some kind of weird biological imperative to protect her in all ways.

  “Oh, I feel fine now. The shower revived me.” She peered back over her shoulder as he followed her down the hallway. “I’m good to go for a few hours yet. And I’d like to narrow down what’s affecting my friends as soon as possible, just in case it’s something worse than it appears.”

  “Maybe I can help with that,” a new voice sounded from behind Steve. It was a mark of his preoccupation that he hadn’t heard the priestess come up behind him.

  He turned and made way for Kate, the priestess for the Clan, to pass.

  “Hi, I’m Kate. I came to help.” She held out her hand and took some of the nearly overflowing supplies out of Trisha’s hands. “My husband, Slade, is the big guy creeping up on Steve.”

  Dammit!

  Steve turned around and sure enough, there was Slade, one dark brow quirked in surprise. Then his icy-grey eyes turned to Trisha and back again, widening.

  Slade slapped Steve on the back and grinned as he came even with him. “Your brother is downstairs talking things over with Pete. The others are on standby in case we need them. What do you think?”

  Steve grimaced. Where the protection of his mate was concerned, there really was no alternative.

  “We need them,” he confirmed with a suppressed growl.

  While he wanted to be near Trisha, Steve knew he needed some distance to get a grip on his reactions. Two people had just gotten the drop on him. Slade could almost be forgiven. The man shared his soul with the most magical of cat shifters and had spent most of his life as a covert operative. He had serious skills.

  But Kate had no stealth skills to speak of. The fact that she’d walked openly up to him and he hadn’t registered her presence told Steve he was dangerously off his game. Better to go away for a few minutes and regroup. He had to see his brother anyway and he trusted Slade to keep an eye on things up here for the moment.

  “I’ll go talk to Grif.” Steve watched the two women enter one of the rooms, already chatting like
old friends. “One of the women is half-fey. She’s hiding it. The rest of them probably don’t have a clue,” Steve warned Slade as he turned to go.

  “And the one with my mate?” Slade delayed him by asking.

  “My friend’s sister. The one I was asked to keep an eye on.”

  Slade frowned. “That makes it more complicated,” he said cryptically. “I take it your friend doesn’t know about us.”

  “He probably suspects. He saw a lot while we were deployed, but he’s never come straight out and asked,” Steve admitted.

  “He’s going to try to kick your ass when he finds out you’re sweet on his sister,” Slade observed as if it was obvious Steve had a thing for Trisha. Maybe it was. Slade could literally see magic. Maybe the bond between mates was something visible to him.

  “Yeah, I know.” Steve ran a hand over his short hair in frustration. “But there’s nothing I can do about it. She’s—”

  “Your mate.” Slade’s tone was knowing, unambiguous.

  Steve wanted to curse, but he also wanted to crow. After all these years, there was a woman for him. He’d given up hope. He’d made his life about his family and his Clan. He’d never expected to add a mate to that equation, but it looked like the Mother of All had other plans for him. Only he had no idea how it was going to work.

  “She’s human.” He spoke his thoughts aloud.

  Slade was silent for a long time. So long, that Steve looked over at the other man.

  “What? You sense something about her?”

  Slade’s icy blue eyes narrowed at the spot down the hall where the women had gone. “Could be. Go talk to your brother. I’ll check on my mate—and yours—and I’ll let you know what I find out.”

  With those cryptic words, Slade prowled down the hall on silent feet. He shared his soul with two separate creatures—a black leopard and a Himalayan snowcat that came out to play only rarely because its appearance caused such a ruckus. Snowcats were considered holy beings among most other kinds of shifters, and Slade had a lot more magic than most. For one thing, he didn’t have to disrobe in order to shift shape. That was a talent reserved for the most magical of creatures.

  But Slade had also been—and still was, Steve privately thought—a highly placed covert operative for the Company. Steve didn’t think Slade was still interested in going on missions, but Steve had little doubt the man kept his hand in. He had an information network that was as far reaching as it was well informed.

  Steve stopped delaying and hustled down the stairs to see Grif. No doubt the Clan Alpha would have a few things to say about the guests his brother had brought home tonight. Steve wasn’t looking forward to explaining any of this because he was as confused as he’d ever been. He’d have preferred a little alone time to think things through, but there was no help for it. Grif was here. It was time to face the music, even if he wasn’t prepared to dance.

  Grif stopped speaking mid-sentence when Steve walked into the front parlor of the Pack house. Not a good sign. The tension in the room escalated to a peak level and some of the younger and lower-ranked wolves started to fidget. The Clan Alpha wasn’t pleased.

  “We’ll finish this in a few minutes. For now, lay low and avoid the humans as much as possible until we figure this all out,” Grif told the gathered wolves.

  It looked like all the folks currently living or serving at the Pack house and the two werewolf Alphas had been gathered into the room. With a nod from Grif, all the wolves but the Alphas got up and left on quiet feet, passing Steve with nervous smiles as they made their way out the door. When the last was gone, Steve closed the door and moved farther into the room.

  “What were you thinking bringing them here, Steve?” Grif asked, clearly exasperated.

  “Grif—” Steve tried to get a word in edgewise, but his older brother was clearly working up a good head of steam.

  “With all the trouble we’ve had lately, you bring not one but seven complete strangers into the heart of our territory. And one of them is fey!” Grif cursed not completely under his breath. “Those damn fey bastards. You never know what side they’re on.”

  “I didn’t know about the fey girl until later,” Steve admitted, knowing he wasn’t helping his own case, but it was the simple truth.

  “That’s even worse. Dammit, Steve! You know better than this.” Grif ran a hand through his hair in an impatient gesture. He’d let his golden locks grow pretty long since leaving the service, unlike Steve, who kept his military short. “I heard one of them is a friend’s sister. Which one?”

  “Do you remember Derek Morrow?”

  “Deke? Shit. He asked you to keep an eye on his baby sister? He must trust you more than I realized. That guy used to go ape shit if anyone even mentioned his sister. Have you called him?”

  “And have him and whoever he can scramble storm our territory with murder on his mind?” Steve laid out what they both knew would happen if he called Deke and told him his baby sister had been roofied. “No, thanks. And it just got more complicated.”

  “How could this get any more complicated?” Grif wanted to know.

  “She took a shower.” Steve didn’t know how to say this, so he edged around it as best he could.

  “Fuck man, you didn’t jump her in the shower did you? No way you had enough time for that.”

  “Give me a little credit,” Steve scoffed. Though if he was honest, if he’d known she was in the shower, he might’ve been tempted. “The problem is, the chemical scent washed off. And then I got a good whiff of her real scent. Bro, she’s…” He didn’t know how to say it.

  “Oh, no. What?” Grif’s eyes narrowed.

  Steve sank to the couch and put his head in his hands. “She’s my mate.”

  He had whispered his confession, but he knew the three Alphas in the room—Grif and the werewolf couple—heard him.

  Silence greeted his words and Steve felt every moment of it. Finally, he couldn’t stand it anymore and looked up to see the strangest expression on his older brother’s face. It was a mix of happiness and concern. Steve understood that reaction all too well. He stood, moving restlessly.

  “Deke is gonna serve your balls on a platter,” Grif said finally, whistling between his teeth.

  “Surely not,” Bebe scoffed, coming closer. “Congratulations, Stevie. I’m so happy for you.” She put her arms around him and pulled him downward so she could place a motherly kiss on his cheek and give him a squeeze. Steve let the diminutive form of his name roll over him. Nobody had called him that in a long time. Nobody but those who’d had a hand in raising him would dare. Bebe was one of the few. She was like an aunt to him and he felt a small pang for what his mother’s reaction would have been had she still been around to offer her love and advice at this pivotal moment in his life.

  “Congratulations, lad,” Pete offered, shaking Steve’s hand once Bebe let him go. “Does your lady know? Does she realize what it all means?”

  And there was the crux of the problem. Steve had to shake his head in dismay. “She’s human. She doesn’t know about our world and I don’t think she has any feelings for me one way or the other. If anything, she’s either embarrassed that I saw her in a vulnerable moment or grateful that I was there to help her out. I have no idea if she’s even attracted to me.”

  “You’re a hunk,” Bebe said with smiling confidence. “Of course she’s attracted to you. And even better, she’s your mate. If she doesn’t realize it yet, don’t worry, she’ll come around.”

  “I wish I had your confidence,” Steve admitted. “Trisha’s human, Bebe. She probably doesn’t feel the mating bond the way we do.”

  “She’s more than that, actually.” Slade’s voice came to them from the open doorway.

  Steve had been so caught up in his own problems that he hadn’t really registered the slight click as the door opened. He was losing his edge and it was all because of the startling developments with Trisha.

  “Sit rep?” Grif prompted Slade for the situat
ion report as he came into the room and shut the door behind himself.

  “She’s magical. Very magical. In a way I’ve never really seen before. I think maybe she’s got some nymph in her ancestry somewhere, but I can’t be sure,” Slade reported. “Kate’s with her, helping her check on her friends and observing. I don’t think she’s dangerous to us, and she seems completely unaware of her nature—or at least unaware of the magical aura around her.”

  “You’re kidding.” Steve was surprised, to say the least.

  “Certain kinds of nymphs are known for attracting the opposite sex. Is it possible she’s not really Steve’s mate?” Grif asked sharply.

  “Good question,” Slade said thoughtfully as all eyes turned to Steve.

  “Look…” Grif paused and sat down on the edge of the couch, defusing a lot of the tension in the room. His motions invited everyone else to do the same. “Let’s start at the beginning. Tell me exactly what happened tonight and don’t leave anything out.”

  Steve couldn’t sit. He paced while everyone else listened to his recital of what had taken place that night. He started with the covert surveillance on the bachelorette party group. He’d picked up their trail from their hotel and followed them down the strip to the club where they’d been drinking steadily.

  “They started out calmly enough. A few mixed drinks, a lot of laughter and jokes. I kept to the wall, far enough away that I couldn’t smell them, but close enough to see what went down at their table.” Steve ran a hand over the inch-long fuzz of hair he kept on top of his head. “After about twenty minutes, they started to attract the wrong sort of attention. Jorge, the new vamp in town, slithered in. I caught his attention and warned him off, but while I was having a little talk with him in the corner, the wolf pups moved in. Sometime during all this, the alcohol consumption had increased five-fold, at least. The girls suddenly had rows of test tube shots lined up. Each of them had a rack of the things. The tubes looked colorful and festive. Just like something a bunch of girls would order. I didn’t think much of it except to realize that they’d probably be really drunk, very soon.”