by Kathy Lyons
“Really? Which one?”
Nero waved it away. “I can relax around you because you don’t want me to stop missing my old pack. You let me do as I want while you do what you want, and together….” He shrugged. “We fit.”
“That’s….” He almost said love, but a different word came out. “…friendship. That’s packmates.”
“I’ve had packmates before, Josh. This is different. This is….”
“Better?”
“Lots. And maybe it’s new territory for me.”
Josh nodded. “For me too.”
“Okay. So yes, I want you to figure out that demon fire bomb thing, but more than that, I want to hang with you. To….”
“Suck my dick?”
Nero’s cheeks grew ruddy. “You okay with that?”
“Yeah. You okay with me still trying to figure out the demon bomb thing?”
“Yeah. If you want to. It’s an impossible task. No one expects you—”
“I heard. I’m a screw-up—”
“In the best possible way.”
Josh nudged Nero with his shoulder. “That doesn’t help, you know. All it does is make me want to meet my two-hundred-year-old ancestor.”
“Join the crowd. We all want to hang out with him. He’s got this… aura… thing going on.”
Nero fell silent, and Josh did too. They had just stepped onto new ground together. Neither had said the L word, but they were both feeling the shift. Nero liked him whether or not he succeeded at defeating the fire bomb. That made Josh want to kick the thing in its ass all the more. And Josh liked Nero because the guy made him happy. They could relax together, be themselves, and have the greatest sex together.
Was that love? Maybe not yet, but they were getting there. At least until they were forced to separate because of whatever classified thing was going on. But suddenly that didn’t seem like such a big a deal to Josh. Sure, it was a huge axe hanging over Nero’s head. Obviously. But somehow Josh felt like he had the right screwed-up mind-set to figure that problem out too.
Call it an optimistic frame of mind. Finding their happily-ever-after would be his next task. Right after he defeated a demon’s magical burning plasma. And speaking of which, Captain M and Happy were coming out of the lab.
“It’s not as bad as it looks. Or smells!” Laddin said as he bounced onto the deck. He hefted the flamethrower. “And she still works!” He fit words to action and blew out a long plume of flame.
“Stop that!” Captain M snapped. Then she looked at Josh. “Windows blew out, as you can see. But we’d been meaning to replace them anyway. There’s chemical debris everywhere, and you’re going to need a hazmat suit to clean it up, but it’s only minor damage. The mansion has magical reinforcement, so the foundation and both wings are solid.”
“I’m so sorry, Captain.”
She accepted his apology with a quick dip of her chin. “Have you figured out what went wrong?”
Josh hedged. “I think so.” He’d been mulling it over while still trying to cough up a lung. “I’ll have to look at the readings to be sure. Did any of the computer equipment survive?”
Laddin grinned. “Sure did! I had your computer reinforced when you first starting testing with fire. It’ll have to survive all sorts of stuff when you’re taking it out into the field.”
“He’s not going into the field,” the captain snapped. “He’s dangerous enough right here,” she added with a visible shudder.
“But his equipment might have to,” Laddin argued. He’d been making noises about getting into field work, but the captain liked him right where he was, keeping her organized. “Or someone using his equipment. Someone like me—”
“No.”
“We’ll see.” Laddin flashed him a wink. “So anyway, your computer was mostly protected from the blast behind the shielding.”
“Which reminds me,” Captain M interrupted. “Why, exactly, weren’t you behind the safety perimeter?”
Because he’d been trying to see with his other senses—his animal senses. But clearly he needed to rely more heavily on the computerized ones. “My bad.”
Her stare felt heavy. “Don’t screw up like that again.”
Laddin grinned. “Pick a different way next time. Eventually you’ll run out of ways to be wrong and then you’ll have the answer!”
Josh flashed the guy a quick smile. “I bet you subscribe to a dozen affirmation lists, don’t you? Every day a dozen new ways to think positively.”
Laddin responded in his usual manner: with a quick grin. “You should see my mug collection. Not a sour thought in sight!”
“He’s not kidding, you know,” Captain M said with a sigh. “He’s already filled my office with positive attitude sticky notes.” She rolled her eyes. “‘Don’t worry that Josh just blew up the basement. Be happy.’ Gah.” She stomped away.
“But it isn’t a worry, is it?” Laddin said as he bounded after her.
“Of course it’s a worry,” the captain replied. “Every single one of you is a worry.”
“But you shouldn’t—” The back door shut on their banter.
Josh watched them go. “How long before she gets sick of him and tries to rip out his throat?”
“Not her,” Nero answered. “Yordan’ll crack long before she does.”
“Nah. My money’s on Bing.” His gaze shot back to where Yordan and Bing were leaving the lab and heading out into the woods to practice. At first Josh had thought they were doing something illicit, but on the one day he’d followed them, all they’d done was practice. Martial arts moves, boxing moves, even some wrestling moves that thankfully his brother had never learned. And when they were done, Yordan went for a beer in the main kitchen and Bing wandered off to God only knew where. “Loners always crack first, and that guy is itching for a way to blow.”
“Nah,” Nero said, as he tugged Josh into the mansion. “Yordan’s watching him. And besides, they’ll be leaving soon for specialized training.”
“What? Mr. Grumpy is leaving? Be still my heart.”
Rather than smiling, Nero’s expression faltered. “I told you. Pretty soon you’ll all be leaving. Only a couple more weeks of training until you’ve each got a good handle on your wolf selves.”
A couple more weeks. The words seemed to echo in Josh’s head. A couple more weeks until this interlude with Nero was over. And it felt like they’d only just begun. The knowledge was like a ball of lead in his gut. It bothered him enough that he slowed his steps.
“I, um, I guess I better go clean up the lab. I need to look at the data and see exactly how the compound destabilized.” He said the words as a way to escape back into his work. He already had a pretty good idea what had happened, but studying the numbers was better than facing the reality of his time with Nero ending forever.
“You could do that,” Nero said, his voice gentle. “I’ll even help you. But….”
Josh looked up. “But?”
“Well, you did take a pretty good conk on the head. Maybe you ought to rest a bit first. Or at least, you know, stay in your bedroom.”
It didn’t take long for Josh to understand his meaning. If his time with Nero was limited, shouldn’t he try to make the most of it? “You want me to suck.” He deliberately phrased the words with the double meaning.
“If you wouldn’t mind.” Nero grinned. “And maybe I can suck some too.”
Josh snorted as he headed toward the house. “Oh, you’re going to suck, all right. You’re going to swallow me down like—mmph!” Suddenly he was in a choke hold with Nero wrapping him close to his chest and locking him in tight. Then the guy leaned close enough to speak straight into Josh’s ear.
“I’ll tell you what I’m going to do. And just how much you’re going to love it.”
His words were specific and had Josh hard as a rock beneath his blanket skirt. A few minutes later they were acting on every single word. Then, afterward, Nero wore a hazmat suit as he cleaned up the lab. Josh stayed clo
se as he studied the data.
It took two more weeks, though, before he finally found a clue.
Chapter 20
NERO WAS living the best and the worst weeks of his life. Everything happened as he predicted. Josh attacked the fire bomb problem with renewed vigor. Nero made sure he ate and practiced being a wolf, and the shift-back-to-human sex was spectacular.
Bing and Yordan left for some specialized training. Laddin had been recruited for his bomb skills, but that same meticulous attention to detail really helped in organization. When he wasn’t creating test fires in the lab, he was overhauling something he called Asset Management and Flow. All that was after he got over an existential depression, though. The day after Josh blew up the basement, Laddin ate a family of wild bunnies on a run. Apparently he’d had pet rabbits as a kid, and the knowledge that raw bunny tasted spectacular really threw the guy for a loop. Even Stratos found her place. She, Josh, and Wiz would spend hours together discussing magic theory and then doing experiments that usually resulted in fire, flood, or blood. Fortunately they kept the disasters contained. And besides, it gave them practice shifting to their wolves in order to heal.
And so the weeks passed. Weeks that Nero didn’t have while his debt to the fairy bastard continued to grow. He owed more every day that Bitterroot kept the mulligan available, up to seven weeks.
To add to the bad news, the government blew up what used to be Lake Wacka Wacka (or whatever it was called), but the explosion hadn’t stopped every living thing from dying within hours of touching the water, or what was now mud in a huge crater. That meant the demon was still alive, and it was sucking the life out of the area one inch at a time. The soil in a five-foot radius around the blast zone was thick with cyanide, and the toxicity wasn’t decreasing.
That’s what had everyone flummoxed. Whatever was killing the land was pouring out poison at an ever-increasing rate. Last week the dead zone around the lake and been four feet. This week the cyanide saturated five feet all the way around. Predictions said it would hit six feet by Thursday, and then seven a few days after that. It would get bigger and wider until the circle of death touched Lake Michigan. Cyanide would pour into the water and create an ecological disaster with global consequences.
Everyone was searching for a solution. The normals had experts of every kind examining and testing the area—government, military, CDC, NASA, everybody. The media was rife with theories that were no more or less plausible than what the paranormals thought, which was a big fat we have no solution. Prayers from the Religious Crew weren’t helping. The fairies were noticeably silent, and the shifters couldn’t do anything but growl.
And if someone didn’t fix things soon, Wisconsin would be a wasteland by midsummer. And once the Great Lakes got touched, worldwide disaster was imminent.
As far as Nero was concerned, the only hope was his fairy mulligan, but that was dependent on finding a solution to that fire bomb. He was back, full circle, and all he could do was wait… and enjoy his ever-diminishing time with Josh. His seven-week deadline was nearly here, and whatever happened with the mulligan, Bitterroot would demand payment.
Time was running out. Which meant that all the warm and fuzzy things he was feeling were going to go through the shredder. For both of their sakes, he needed to dial back on the postshift sex-fests and start looking for a way to break with Josh so that neither of them invested more than was appropriate into their relationship.
That was the plan, at least. Except every time he got close enough to prepare his recruit for what was coming, he was also close enough to kiss that same recruit. And do so much more. Josh was always willing and often the initiator. It always felt too good to stop, and so the discussion got delayed and put off and forgotten. For a time.
Until the day Josh knocked on his bedroom door. The guy looked a mess. His hair flopped over his bloodshot eyes and his body sagged against the doorframe, but his grin nearly split his face wide open.
“Josh?”
“I’ve got the answer.”
“Is it forty-two?” Josh had told him about his favorite sci-fi books from when he was a teen, and Nero had been enjoying geek humor in Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series.
Josh blinked twice and then immediately clapped. “You read a book! Good for you.”
He had, but Josh liked to tease him about being a stupid jock, so he played the part to the hilt. “Nah. Streamed the videos,” he said even though the paperback was clearly visible on his bedside table.
“Yeah, figures. But no, that’s not the answer I meant.” He dropped his head against the doorframe, and Nero realized that the guy really was exhausted.
“How late were you up last night?” They’d both headed for bed around two, but Nero knew Josh often kept working in his room. And since Josh was a full-grown adult, Nero didn’t feel like he could assign a bedtime to the man, even though sometimes Josh really needed a keeper.
“Um, what time is it?”
“One. In the afternoon.”
“Ah. There you go. I stayed up until one.”
Nero pushed away from his desk. “You’re going to burn out and get sick. Let’s get you some lunch and then—”
Normally Josh flowed along when Nero grabbed his arm, but this time he refused to budge. “You’re not listening,” he interrupted. “I found the answer.” And when Nero stared at him, Josh huffed out a breath. “I found the answer to magical plasma that burns.”
Everything in Nero stilled. “As in what it is? Or—”
“I can defeat it.”
“In a practical way? Like enough to keep a combat pack safe?”
Josh grinned with the most adorably goofy expression. “Yes. It’s cooking now, so we’ll need to wait eight hours—”
“Awroooo!” Joy exploded out of Nero in a howl. Finally he could kill that fucking demon. Finally he could use the damned mulligan and save his team. Finally he would close the chapter of his life that had been hanging open like a raw wound. Revenge, closure, and the end of an evil that was about to suck up Wisconsin—he’d have it all. And most of all, he’d have his team back, healthy and whole! He could be with them again. They’d have a barbecue, they’d run in the snow, and he’d tell them everything—
“There are some details that need to be worked out.”
Of course there were. Didn’t matter. Josh would figure it out.
“And we’ll have to construct a framework for the compound.”
No big surprise. “But… it’ll work?”
“I think so.”
“Then you’re a genius.” He surged forward and kissed Josh hard. He wrapped the man in his arms, and he ravished his mouth in the most primal way he knew how. And when they broke to catch their breath, he gasped for a few seconds before going in for more.
Forget food, he thought as he hauled Josh into his bedroom. He was going to thank the man in the best way he knew how. And after he had wrung as much pleasure as possible from their bodies, he was going to gather his lover into his arms and break his heart.
Their time together was done, perhaps as soon as tomorrow.
Because while Josh spent his time constructing his magical-plasma-fire-defeating weapon, Nero needed to work out a new attack plan. One that he could tell his team in the short minutes they had before the attack. He wanted nothing left to chance.
And nothing—not even more time with Josh—would stop him from saving the lives of his pack.
Chapter 21
JOSH CAME awake slowly. His body felt languid, and his heart sang with happiness. He smelled Nero on the sheets, on his body, and in every part of his soul. Nero was part of him now, and he opened his eyes to find the lover who so pleased him.
He wasn’t disappointed. The man was sitting at his desk, and as Josh watched, the guy popped the last bite of a sandwich into his mouth and grinned.
“Any left for me?” Josh asked, his voice rusty.
“You want a ham sandwich?” He held out a plate obviously set aside
for him. “Or I could make you a burger.”
“Sandwich.” He’d actually prefer a burger, but he knew Nero would go make it, and he didn’t want his lover to leave. So he sat up and grabbed what was offered while Nero stretched his feet out onto the bed.
Josh took the cue and snuggled against the guy’s huge foot. In the five and a half weeks they’d been together, he’d learned that Nero might pretend to be standoffish, but he liked connecting somewhere: a foot, a hand, or the “accidental brush” against his back. Since Josh loved touching the big man, he wasted no time in snuggling against whatever body part was nearest. Even when they were out in the main room, they managed to bridge the space between them somehow so they felt each other, even when it looked like they were just sitting near each other on the couch.
Nero waited while Josh started gulping down food. He even had a water bottle nearby, which he tossed to Josh with practiced ease. And though Nero’s expression was calm, Josh knew he was impatient. He spun the empty plate on his lap around and around. And he watched Josh eat like he was counting the bites.
“You don’t have to stare at me,” Josh said. “Ask.”
“The weapon,” Nero said almost right on top of Josh’s words. “Tell me about the weapon that’s going to destroy that bastard demon.”
Josh frowned. “I didn’t design a weapon.” He polished off the water bottle and tossed it into the recycle bin. “Is that what you thought I was doing all this time?”
“You made something to defeat the plasma fire.”
“I didn’t make it, I designed it. There’s still a lot of testing involved, but it’s a beginning.”
“It’s the whole enchilada, Josh. What did you make?”
Josh stretched out his arms, clearly proud of himself. “I created a compound that will concentrate the fire away from the attack team.”
Nero’s eyes brightened. “Tell me how to deploy it, where we need to be. Everything.”
