Were-Geeks Save Wisconsin
Page 28
“Yes.” A thousand times yes. But instead of saying more, he kissed Josh again, pouring all of his need into it, which Josh took and gave back, like an endless loop of lust and love. Then Nero broke the kiss with a gasp. “Hotel. Now.”
“Yes.”
Nero’s favorite word.
It was a measure of their distraction that they only then realized that Nero was naked. He’d never dressed after shifting back from a wolf, and it probably wasn’t a good idea to walk through a city park in his birthday suit.
Fortunately Bitterroot had been kind. They found a neat pile of Nero’s clothes at the base of a nearby tree. And right underneath the clothes sat Josh’s backpack, already filled with his laptop, headset, and the dime novel on the Wisconsin demon.
Nero dressed quickly while Josh hoisted his backpack onto his shoulder. Then they held on to each other as they walked. Neither seemed very steady on their feet, and yet Nero had never felt more filled with life. He struggled to put a label to this feeling welling up inside him that was more than lust and even bigger than love. In the end, the word whispered out from his lips before he even realized how right it was.
“Home.”
Josh turned to him. “What?”
“This. You and me. It feels like home.”
“Better than home,” he answered. “At least my home.”
Nero snorted. “That’s family. That’s different, and it’s got good and bad in it.”
“Ain’t that the truth.”
They kept walking while Nero settled into this feeling with Josh. It felt as if no matter where he was going or what he was doing, he would always come back to Josh. Because Josh was home in a way that even his pack had never been. That thought grounded him, pleased him, and gave him the strength to say his next words.
“I love you, Josh. I want us to stay together. I’ll figure out how to work it with Wulf, Inc. I can lead a geek pack with you in it or bring you into a combat pack. Or if you want civilian life, I can work on that too. I want to be with you.”
Josh stretched up and kissed him hard and fast. And when Nero would have deepened it, he pulled back. “I’ve already committed to you. Hell, I was going to work for that asshole for forty-nine years just to make you happy. I love you. Whatever you want to do, we’ll work it out. I swear.”
“Me too. I swear, I promise, I do.”
“Yeah.” Josh grinned. “I do too.”
Their next kiss was tender, sweet, but it held the shared promise of forever. And it might have gone on that long if it weren’t for a sound—a steady clapping noise that came from over Josh’s shoulder. Eventually they heard it. They stiffened and twisted around, both startled to see Bruce leaning against a tree trunk and watching them with dark green eyes.
“Congratulations, little brother. Looks like you’ve found love.” The words sounded sincere, but there was a dark look in the man’s eyes and an envious taint to his expression.
“Bruce, what are you doing here?”
“Following you. Watching you.”
Oh shit.
Josh blew out a breath. “Look, I know it seems strange, but—”
“It seems like you’re werewolves who make fairy deals.”
Nero tensed. Even if the guy had been following them for the past twenty-four hours, he couldn’t have figured all that out. Bruce hadn’t been in the alternate timeline, and he sure as hell hadn’t seen either of them go wolf. “What makes you say that?” he asked, working hard to sound casual.
“The freaking fairy told me.”
“What?” Nero exploded.
“The short one who acts like we’re all idiots.”
Josh jolted forward. “You didn’t make a deal with him, did you? You didn’t—”
“All I did was listen and agree to hand you this.” He held up a light green piece of parchment, which he passed over to Josh, who shared it with Nero.
When you’re ready, call me. I will have five shields, hoodies, and a magic bullet available for your use. No charge except for the dragons.
Nero frowned. “What the hell does that mean? We already killed….”
Josh groaned. The sound was thick and deep, and he slapped his palm against his forehead for emphasis. “We’re back in this timeline. In my timeline, where I was recruited to find a way around the fire blast.”
Nero nodded. “Yeah, I know.”
Josh held up the parchment. “Don’t you see? In this timeline, the demon is still up there killing Wisconsin.”
“What? No, we….” His voice trailed away as he realized that it was true. This was the timeline where his team died, the demon escaped, and Josh was recruited. The demon was still alive and they still had to kill it. His groan was deeper and louder than Josh’s but no more heartfelt. And even worse was that he was only now seeing Bitterroot’s whole plan. “We risk our lives, and he gets dragons.” He crumpled the paper in his fist. “Did I tell you that he’s the one who told us about the demon in the first place? He’s the one who sent us on this hunt. Unbelievable.”
Josh looked at his brother. “Did you read this?”
Bruce snorted. “Of course I read it. He wanted me to read it. Otherwise he would have put it in an envelope.”
Nero looked at Josh’s brother. He studied the tense posture of the man, saw the underlying anger but also a need deep inside. Bruce was his father’s son, that was for sure, and something was riding him hard.
“What else?” Nero asked. And when Bruce didn’t answer, he put command in his voice. “Fairies don’t just give up information for free. What else did he offer you?”
Bruce held out his other hand. Nestled in his palm lay a dark red cherry, completely mundane-looking, except that it was a fairy gift, and that meant it was dangerous. Bruce lifted it up to the sunlight, and all three of them were temporarily mesmerized by the beauty of the simple fruit.
“He said if I want what you’ve got, I have to eat this.” Bruce’s gaze lifted until he looked at the two of them. “And I do. I want it.” Then, before either of them could stop him, he popped the thing in his mouth.
“No!” Josh cried out, but it was too late. As they watched, Bruce chewed quickly and swallowed. They waited for a tense minute, everyone prepared for something dramatic to happen.
Nothing.
Bruce’s face shifted into a grimace of disappointment, and Josh released his breath on a relieved sigh, but Nero knew the truth. Fairy fruit was a lot of things. It was powerful and unpredictable, with a whole universe of possibilities in every one. But the one thing that fairy fruit never, ever did was nothing.
So while Josh held out a hand to his brother, Nero dug the car keys out of his pocket and slapped them into Josh’s open palm. “Go get my phone from the glove compartment and call in. Tell them that we’ve got another recruit.”
“But why?” Josh asked. “Nothing’s happened.”
“Yet.”
And right on cue, Bruce’s eyes changed, his body tensed, and he opened his mouth for a scream.
“Crap,” Nero groaned. “I hope he fits in my car.”
It took the two of them together to drag Bruce’s wolf body to his car. They were both sweating and huffing. It wasn’t that Bruce didn’t want to go with them—he clearly did—but the agony and confusion of a first shift were riding him hard. He couldn’t coordinate his body parts even if he did have the focus. Which meant that Nero put Bruce’s head in a choke hold while Josh sweated and cursed while trying to carry his brother’s back half.
Fortunately no one saw them as they dragged a twisting, growling wolf out of the woods. They were ten feet from their car when the Wulf, Inc. van screeched to a halt in front of them. Nero was doing his best to hold on to Bruce despite the slobber that was making his arms slick when Yordan leaned out the van window to bark a question at him.
“What the hell are you doing?”
Nero shot him an incredulous glare. Wasn’t it obvious? Apparently not, because he had to gasp out, “New recruit.”
With a curse, Yordan gestured to the driver, who got out and quickly trotted around the car. It was Bing, looking movie-star perfect as he crouched down in front of the still-struggling Bruce.
“Be still,” he said, his voice resonant with command.
Bruce froze. Every body part, every hair follicle stiffened to rigidity.
From the back side, Josh blew out a heavy breath. “Great. Now help me carry him to the car.”
Bing shook his head. “We are needed in Wisconsin. Now.” And then he opened his mouth to say something else, but Josh threw his hand up over his eyes.
“Don’t you dare Jedi mind-trick me. I don’t care what’s going on in Wisconsin. This is my brother.”
Yordan groaned as he finally got out of the van. “Like we need family drama now. Here.”
With a mighty heave, Yordan lifted up the rigid wolf, and all together, they crammed him into the back of the van. But when Bing went to shut the door, Josh grabbed his arm.
“Don’t leave him like that. Order him to go to sleep.”
Bing clearly didn’t like taking orders from Josh, but it was a reasonable request. Bruce was a new recruit, and it was their job to help him, not make it worse, even if the idiot had brought it on himself.
To his credit, Bing didn’t argue but adjusted until he was looking straight into Bruce’s frozen eyes. “Relax and sleep for….” He glanced at Yordan. “How long?”
“Three days.”
“Three days,” Bing continued.
Right on cue, Bruce’s muscles relaxed. He flopped flat onto the van floor and started snoring. Josh shot Nero a wry look.
“What I wouldn’t have given to do that to Bruce when we were kids.”
“I am not a parlor trick,” Bing snapped. “There is real danger, and you have delayed us with this foolishness.”
Josh stiffened, his mouth opening for some smartass response, but Nero stepped quickly in front of him. First things first. “What’s going on?”
Yordan sighed. “The usual. World-ending disaster in Wisconsin.”
Naturally. Because in this timeline, the demon was alive and well. And still killing the planet.
Nero nodded and pushed Josh toward his car. “We’ll follow you. Call me on my cell and tell me exactly what is going on. And then we’ll tell you how to fix it.”
To be continued…
KATHY LYONS is the wild, adventurous half of USA Today bestselling author Jade Lee. A lover of all things fantastical, Kathy spent much of her childhood in Narnia, Middle Earth, Amber, and Earthsea, just to name a few. “There is nothing I adore more than to turn around on an ordinary day and experience something magical. It happens all the time in real life and in my books.” Her love of comedy came later as she began to see the ridiculousness in life.
Winner of several industry awards including the Prism—Best of the Best, the Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice Award, and Fresh Fiction’s Steamiest Read, Kathy has published over sixty romance novels and is still going strong.
Her hobbies include racquetball, rollerblading, and TV/movie watching with her husband. She’s a big fan of the Big Bang Theory (even though it’s over), and her favorite movie is The Avengers because she loves everything created by Joss Whedon. And she’d love to share all things geek with you in person at any of her many appearances. She’s usually found at the loudest table in the coffee shop or next to the dessert bar. To keep up with all things Lyons/Lee, sign up for her newsletter at www.KathyLyons.com. You’ll get early peeks, fresh news, chances to meet her in person, plus prizes and geeky gifts.
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By Kathy Lyons
WERE-GEEKS SAVE THE WORLD
Were-Geeks Save Wisconsin
Published by DREAMSPINNER PRESS
www.dreampsinnerpress.com
Published by
DREAMSPINNER PRESS
5032 Capital Circle SW, Suite 2, PMB# 279, Tallahassee, FL 32305-7886 USA
www.dreamspinnerpress.com
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of author imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Were-Geeks Save Wisconsin
© 2020 Kathy Lyons
Cover Art
© 2020 Paul Richmond
http://www.paulrichmondstudio.com
Cover content is for illustrative purposes only and any person depicted on the cover is a model.
All rights reserved. This book is licensed to the original purchaser only. Duplication or distribution via any means is illegal and a violation of international copyright law, subject to criminal prosecution and upon conviction, fines, and/or imprisonment. Any eBook format cannot be legally loaned or given to others. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the Publisher, except where permitted by law. To request permission and all other inquiries, contact Dreamspinner Press, 5032 Capital Circle SW, Suite 2, PMB# 279, Tallahassee, FL 32305-7886, USA, or www.dreamspinnerpress.com.
Mass Market Paperback ISBN: 978-1-64108-176-4
Trade Paperback ISBN: 978-1-64405-310-2
Digital ISBN: 978-1-64405-309-6
Library of Congress Control Number: 2019953336
Digital published April 2020
v. 1.0
Printed in the United States of America