by Lynn Hagen
Sal stood and blocked Renny’s exit. He held his hands up in a placating gesture. “I just want to help.”
The pull slugged Sal in the gut. It was a feeling compelling him to be near Renny, to wrap the slight man into his arms, to claim what was his, and to protect his mate from whatever he was running from.
“Hey.” Sal tucked his finger under Renny’s chin and sucked in a breath when Renny closed his eyes and leaned into Sal’s touch. “Just talk to me.”
Renny sighed. “I guess it wouldn’t hurt. I mean I’m tired of running, and I’m dying to tell someone else. Roberto and I went to this card game. We knew they were held in the back of Carl’s Corner. It’s a local bar where we’re from. The only reason we went is because our parents are about to lose their home.” Renny took a step back and curled his arms around his stomach. “It’s the house we were raised in and means everything to them. Roberto won ten grand. I thought I’d pass out from relief. But one of the guys at the table accused him of cheating.”
Renny went back to the couch and sat then rubbed a hand over his forehead. “Roberto didn’t cheat. He’s not that kind of guy. But Molimo was pissed, and he…” He rubbed his forehead harder. “Things happened, and we had to get out of there, and we did, but not before Molimo threatened to kill us.”
Sal could tell there was more to the story, something Renny was holding back. “He was pissed and…”
A bark of hysterical laughter escaped Renny. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you. Hell, I can’t believe it myself.”
“Try me.” Sal leaned against his desk and entwined his fingers. “I’ve heard just about everything.”
“Not this.” Renny shook his head as he slid the tip of his tongue over his bottom lip. “It’s in the realm of impossibilities, and we are so screwed.”
Sal had a feeling he knew what Renny wasn’t telling him, but if he was wrong… “The guy wasn’t human?”
Renny’s head snapped up. He stared wide-eyed at Sal. “How did…”
“That’s not important. What happened?”
Renny swallowed tightly. “His eyes turned red, and horns appeared on his head.”
“A demon?”
His mate stood and backed away, nearly tripping over a throw pillow that had fallen from the couch. “Are you a demon?”
Sal held up his hands. “No, I’m not.”
He hated that Renny’s eyes had been opened by the wrong person. He would’ve preferred his mate finding out by Sal, not some low-life demon who was after them.
“Then how do you know about them?” Renny’s gaze darted toward the door as if wondering if he could make it out of the room before Sal grabbed him.
“I take it that was the first time you learned about my world?” Sal cursed when he realized what he’d just said. He’d meant to say “that” world.
Damn it, now Renny appeared panicked. His breathing quickened, his chest rising and falling so fast that he should’ve passed out. Renny had even grown pale.
“It’s not what you think.” Sal took a step forward but stopped when Renny jammed himself against the wall. “Not all nonhumans are vicious. We have our fair share, just like humans do, but most of us are peaceful, loving beings.”
Sal cursed when Renny fainted.
Chapter Two
“What the hell did you do to my brother?” Roberto charged into the room, his blunt teeth bared. “Get the hell away from him!”
Sal ignored Roberto as he scooped Renny from the floor and laid him on the couch. “I think he’s just exhausted.”
It wasn’t a complete lie. Sal had seen the dark circles under Renny’s green eyes. Even before he’d revealed the truth, his mate had looked haggard, ready to collapse.
Roberto inserted himself between Sal and the couch. Sal suppressed the growl of anyone, including Roberto, keeping him from his mate.
“I got this.” Roberto hunched down and brushed his fingers over Renny’s face. “I should’ve never taken him with me,” Roberto said in a low tone. “Renny isn’t…” He swallowed. “He’s not tough like I am. He was just trying to—”
“Make your parents flush with the bank,” Sal finished for him.
Roberto looked over his shoulder at Sal. “How much did he tell you?”
“Everything.” Sal sat on the other end of the couch, placing his hand on Renny’s ankle. “Swear to me you didn’t cheat at that card game.”
Roberto looked back toward Renny but not before he saw the guilty look in the human’s eyes. Sal cursed. “What the hell were you thinking? Cheating a demon? Are you insane?”
Roberto shoved to his feet. “How was I supposed to know Molimo was a demon? And I was about to lose the two grand I brought to the table.” Roberto began to pace. “I couldn’t let my parents lose their home, Chief Monroe. If that makes me a bad guy, then I’ll own that, but I don’t regret what I did.”
“First, call me Sal. Second, cheating to win the money got you nowhere because neither of you have two pennies to rub together, do you? The demon not only kept his own money but your two grand. Am I right?”
“I just…” Roberto closed his eyes. “I just wanted to do the right thing, but my good intentions backfired. I would’ve squared things with Molimo once I’d paid the bank. I wouldn’t have been able to sleep knowing how I’d gotten the money.” He looked at Sal. “I was just desperate.”
Sal knew desperate people hardly ever used common sense. He could easily solve their problem by paying the bank himself, but they still had this Molimo character to deal with, and demons weren’t forgiving creatures. Molimo would hunt them down and teach them a lesson that would ultimately end in their deaths.
Sal couldn’t have that. “Why aren’t you curious that I know about demons?”
Roberto collapsed into one of the chairs in front of Sal’s desk. He slouched as he picked at his nail. “I’ve been around the block, Sal. Renny is sweet and innocent, but that card game hadn’t been my first. I know there’s a whole other world right under our noses. I even dated a vampire for a few months before he found his mate and ended things with me.”
“Where’re you two from?”
“Falls Bend,” Roberto said. “But I was telling the truth that we’ve traveled a lot. My dad was in the military. We’ve been all over the world, but one bad investment and my parents lost their entire savings.” Roberto glowered as he curled his hands into fists. “I wish I could go back in time and stop them from investing.”
There were a lot of things Sal wished he could go back and change, but that wasn’t possible, and he knew how Roberto felt. He had regret, anger, and heartbreak.
“Renny knows about my world,” Sal said. “I told him. That’s why he passed out.”
Roberto sighed. “I wish you hadn’t done that. Renny isn’t equipped to handle the truth.”
“I think he’s stronger than you give him credit for.” Sal looked at Renny, who was still passed out. “My mate needs time to come to terms with it, that’s all.”
Roberto sat up. “Your mate?” he said a little too loudly then lowered his voice. “What are you?”
“A polar bear shifter.”
“No shit.” Roberto chuckled then sobered. “You gotta protect him.”
“I plan to.” Sal looked over at Roberto. “I can pay the bank for your parents, but getting Molimo off your back isn’t going to be easy. Demons aren’t forgiving. He won’t care why you did what you did.”
“Are you serious?” Roberto’s eyes bulged. “You can make them flush?”
“Did you hear me about the demon?”
Roberto snorted. “I’ll accept what I did knowing my parents won’t lose their home.” He got up and lunged at Sal, taking Sal by surprise. The hug was quick before Roberto backed off. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome, but I don’t think you’re taking this threat seriously.”
Roberto looked at Renny. “I’m taking it very seriously. You just take care of Renny and keep him safe.” He moved to
ward the door.
“Whoa.” Sal got up and grabbed Roberto’s upper arm. “Where do you think you’re going?”
“My main goal was to keep Renny out of Molimo’s hands.” He yanked his arm free. “That was the only reason I ran. My little brother doesn’t need to be involved in this. He wasn’t the one who cheated that demon. Renny didn’t even know I did it. He thinks I won the legit way. Right now I’m poison to him. I have to get as far from Renny as possible, lead Molimo away from him.”
“I can’t let you do that,” Sal snarled. “That’s suicide.”
Roberto walked backward toward the office door. “You think I don’t know that? But whatever happens, my folks won’t lose their home and my brother won’t pay for what I did. I think that’s a win.”
This time Sal moved to block the door. “We can think of a better way to get Molimo off your back. A human going against a demon? You have no idea the tricks they have, the powers they possess, and the hatred they harbor for those who’ve crossed them.” Sal sighed. “Just stay here for at least the night. You both look worn out. Get some rest, and we’ll look at this with fresh eyes in the morning.”
“Don’t go.”
Sal spun at the sound of Renny’s voice. His mate was still lying down, but his eyes were open. Sal’s bear snarled to hold him, to erase that pained look on his face.
“How much did you hear?” Roberto asked.
“All of it.” Renny glanced at Sal before he looked back at his brother. “Why’d you cheat him? We could’ve found another way to pay the back payments. Why’d you put yourself in that kind of danger?”
Roberto crossed his arms, appearing embarrassed that Renny knew the full truth. “For the two people who sacrificed everything to raise us, to put food on our table, for scrimping together the money to make sure we had nice holidays and birthdays. For Dad who tried his damnedest to be there for those holidays and your baseball games, even though most of the time he was gone. For Mom who kept us going when he was away, for baking cookies, for sewing our clothes when they were torn, for loving us so much that she didn’t care that her two sons were gay. For Dad loving us for those same reasons when everyone else tried to torture us for liking boys instead of girls.”
Roberto wiped at his eyes before he turned away. “Because they would’ve done the same for us.”
Renny slid from the couch and approached his brother. “And for all those reasons, I’m not letting you leave. We’re in this together. I’m not gonna let you walk out of here and make yourself a target just to keep me safe. That’s not gonna happen, Roberto.”
Sal had seen devoted brothers before. There were two men who lived in Maple Grove, Kenny and Steven. The lengths they’d gone to just to survive before they’d found their mates had always astonished Sal. And now these two. There was no way he was turning his back on either of them. Roberto might have done the wrong thing, but he’d done it for all the right reasons.
He felt kind of honored to be Renny’s mate. “You two rest for the night. Like I said, we’ll figure this out come morning.”
Renny glared at Roberto. “And for your information, I am stronger than I look. It kind of hurts that you thought otherwise.”
“Renny,” Roberto said. “I wasn’t saying you were a wuss. You’re just…” He looked frustrated that he couldn’t find the right words.
“A pussy.” Renny stormed past them and left the office.
“He’s got fire in his veins.” Sal grinned.
“You have no idea.” Roberto walked out, leaving Sal standing there smiling like an idiot.
* * * *
The sun hadn’t even risen before a call came in for a house fire over on Walbash Road. The men were in their turnout gear and driving from the bay in less than five minutes, the siren wailing as they made their way to the fire.
Sal had hated to leave Renny and Roberto at the firehouse, but he’d had no other choice. Hopefully Roberto didn’t take off while they were gone. No doubt Renny would go after him, and Sal had no idea where to look for them if they ran.
“I want the back vented and raise the ladder to the second floor,” Sal barked out when they arrived. “The fire could be in the hallway or the stairways.”
It was a duplex with a side entrance. His men got the hose hooked up to the fire hydrant in record time. It helped that they were always doing drills. Sal believed in having the very best, and his crew was. Some might say he worked them a little too hard, but his men never complained, and they were the reason so many lives were saved during fires.
They got the fire under control, but once the flames were out, they went inside to look for hotspots. That was one good thing about having two shifters on their team. They could scent where things were still burning.
And Sal could smell the gasoline used to start the fire. This had been set deliberately. Even so, he still had to do his walkthrough and find where it had originated. The why of the matter he would leave up to the cops.
Sal exited the house and saw the deputies had arrived. No sooner had Mills and Benton gotten out of their cruiser than a guy ran from the back of the house. Sal couldn’t see the stranger’s face, but the guy had on blue jeans, a thermal shirt, a black coat, and a black baseball cap. Mills and Benton took off after the stranger, and Sal was tempted to help them.
First, the deputies were human so they were already at a disadvantage. They wouldn’t be able to hunt the perpetrator like Sal would be able to. That alone made Sal want to help them.
Second, he knew Roy Benton’s mate. How the hell could Calhoun let Roy still work on the force? Sal would never let Renny work such a dangerous job.
When he heard gunfire, Sal took off, racing into the woods as he followed their tracks in the snow. He spotted Deputy Aaron Mills hunched down behind a tree, weapon drawn.
“Where’s Roy?” Sal whispered.
Mills nodded toward a tree ahead of them. Sal sucked in a breath when he saw Roy lying on the ground, blood on the snow around him. The guy wasn’t moving.
Sal crept closer as he scented the air. The perpetrator was human, so Sal wouldn’t use claws and canines. He moved slowly, his steps light for a guy his size, and approached Roy.
The deputy was still breathing, thank fuck. Sal moved past Roy. He was glad he had footprints to track, although he still could have found the stranger regardless.
He just needed to take the guy down. The EMTs wouldn’t come into a hostile situation, and he wasn’t sure how badly Roy had been hurt. Roy needed to get to the clinic as soon as possible.
The footprints in the snow led him a quarter of a mile away from the house that had been set on fire. Up ahead was an old shack that had been used back in the day for hunting. Sal could tell it was no longer in use by the collapsing roof and missing windows. No hunter worth his salt would’ve let his warming hut fall into such disrepair.
Maple Grove was surrounded by a vast forest, and not every hunter went home at night. Some camped out under the stars, and some used these shacks to sleep in. They were usually close to their blinds.
Sal didn’t go in. Instead, he looked up at the trees for the closest blind. He saw movement to his right. The stranger wasn’t an idiot. That had been a smart move going up a tree instead of into the shack. It gave the stranger a better chance of escape. Or it would have had Sal not been a shifter.
Sal backed away and used the mic on his shoulder to radio in his location. “Got the suspect in sight. He’s in a blind a quarter-mile north of the fire at one of the warming huts.”
“Copy that,” Scott said. “Sending backup your way.”
“Deputy Benton is down. I don’t know how bad it is. Send EMTs to his location.”
“Copy that,” Scott said. “They’re already heading that way.”
Sal backtracked but kept the blind in sight. He knelt next to Roy and asked, “How bad, Deputy?”
“He shot me in the shoulder,” Roy grunted. “I don’t think it’s that bad.”
“Tell that
to Calhoun when he finds out.” Sal cursed when he saw the suspect climb down and take off. “Hold tight. The paramedics will be here in a second.”
Sal got up and took off, chasing after the guy. He was gonna get an earful from Sheriff Copache, but he couldn’t let the guy get away.
Sal ducked and got behind a tree when the human shot at him. He wanted to catch the guy but not gain a bullet to the brain. “Shoot at me again and I swear I’ll make you regret it,” Sal shouted.
“You have to catch me first,” the guy shouted back.
Although Sal never backed down from a challenge, he eased away from the tree when he saw Mills closing in. And the deputy wasn’t alone. Deputies Burrows and Christopher were right behind him.
“We got this,” Burrows said in a low voice. “You get back to your job and let us do ours.”
Sal ground his teeth but nodded. The lion shifter was right. He needed to get back to his men. “I smelled gasoline in the house. I have a feeling it was used as an accelerant. See if the guy you’re after smells the same.”
Malik looked away from him and started using hand signals. The rest of the deputies nodded and moved forward.
Sal watched for a second longer before he made his way back. By the time he arrived, his men were packing things up. They drove back to the firehouse talking about their early morning wakeup, but Sal was thinking about Renny.
Was his mate still freaked out? Would he try to leave? Sal’s stomach was in knots when they pulled into the bay. Everyone exited, removing their gear as Sal walked in and went straight to his office where the brothers had insisted on sleeping.
When he opened the door, he found Renny still asleep on the couch, but Roberto was gone. He let a curse slip as his cell phone beeped. Sal looked at the text message from Malik. The suspect had gotten away.
* * * *
“I have to find him.”
“What you need is breakfast first,” Sal said as he opened the diner door. “You can’t go looking for your brother on an empty stomach.”
