“Shut… up…”
“You really didn’t know?” Bear Shadow rubbed the tension away from his neck.
“You should have told me that shit, man!” Crow Shadow walked in a circle. “I thought those skins were just to keep humans from catching diseases from each other-and since we purge all infections and whatever, I thought I didn’t need ’em… and she had ’em, but once it got going and the thing didn’t fit… she basically said she didn’t care and I got to howling and she was all hot and to the point of crying, like, and then… aw, man…”
“Yeah, that’s generally how it goes down, little brother.” Bear started walking, clearly disgusted. “They have large sizes, you know… Still might be uncomfortable, but beats a blank.”
“And you’re explaining this to me now?” Incredulous, Crow Shadow rounded Bear Shadow with a snarl. “I didn’t know they had different sizes! The thing she gave me only made it a third of the way up!”
“Magnums… Those will get you halfway covered, at least.”
“What? Like you couldn’t have told me before-”
“Did you get her name?”
Crow Shadow stopped walking. “Yeah, man… It was Cassie… Casey,” he called out behind Bear Shadow. “No, wait a minute. Kelsey! Man, don’t you get religion on me now-after the fact!”
“Got a last name?” Bear Shadow shouted over his shoulder.
“Fuck you, man!” Crow Shadow shouted.
Bear Shadow spun on him and hollered down the street, pointing. “No, fuck you, little brother, if this human female comes up pregnant with a half Shadow Wolf and you have to go to the clan council to stand before Silver Hawk and Hunter and Sasha to explain how this happened, when this happened, and then have to decide if you are going to take ownership to bring the child into the wolf pack, with or without the mother… It gets very complicated. Doc’s life is living proof of that! You don’t even know this woman’s last name or address, so you can’t claim you were caught up in love. This was boys’ night out! Kelsey was not your human woman that you wanted to get permission to make your life mate… and you bed her bareback? Are you crazy?”
“Okay, man, you’re scaring me, all right,” Crow Shadow said quietly.
“Good!”
Bear Shadow stood under a streetlight breathing hard as Crow Shadow stared up at the moon.
“Then can you do me one favor, man,” he asked in a quiet voice.
“What?” Bear Shadow bellowed.
“Can you at least walk me back to their apartment so I can get her name and address off the mailbox?”
Hunter got out of the jeep with a shotgun over his shoulder. That same feral female scent was back, the one he’d noticed at both murder sites. Then again, this was a brothel, and the scent of feral female blanketed the area for miles.
Regardless, this was not the night anybody needed to fuck with him. Bouncers snarled and four took a stance as Hunter approached the front entrance.
“You gotta check your weapon at the door.”
Hunter lowered it in a flash and took aim before any of them could lunge. “Consider it checked, or do I need to deposit silver?”
“What’s your beef?” a burly manager said, parting the security squad at the front door. Gold tips capped his upper and lower canines, and the name Butch sparkled in gold-rimmed diamonds across his front teeth. “Everybody in here is having a good time. Put the shotgun up for safekeeping, and we’ll gladly accept your cash, too.”
“I’m looking for my brother,” Hunter said with a snarl, not giving up his weapon.
Butch nodded and chuckled. “That’s all you had to say.”
CHAPTER 14
A svelte, androgynous male came over to the baron’s blackjack table, leaned in close, and whispered in his ear. His pale green silk shirt and linen pants provided a beautifully sharp contrast with his dark brown tresses that merged with the baron’s as he deposited juicy gossip.
“It’s starting, milord.” The male companion tossed his brunet hair behind his pointed ear and allowed his graceful fingers to lightly rest on the baron’s broad shoulder.
“How so?” the baron murmured, his fangs cresting in anticipation.
The baron’s companion motioned to a server to bring the baron another blood goblet, reveling in the attention he was receiving from the ladies who drew in closer to hear the dirt. “Both males are at the Buchanan brothel and, let’s say word has it that neither is disposed for combat with anyone but each other right now. The Buchanans will make their move soon.”
The baron laughed and shook his head, accepting a fresh blood goblet as his ladies clapped and giggled. He lifted his golden chalice and gave them a slight bow from where he sat. “How perfect. So, after the brothers half kill each other, Buchanan’s kith and kin can finish them off… as would be their right for erupting in violence in their establishment. We will not be culpable and will not have blood on our hands.”
“Perhaps a future alliance, then?” The companion drew back to stare at the Vampire, drinking in Baron Montague’s jewel-blue eyes with his own.
“Patience, Kiagehul,” the baron crooned. “We shall see.”
Sasha felt like she was about to leap right out of her skin as she drove back toward the bed-and-breakfast. Something was wrong; every nerve in her body was standing on end. Wolf distress was in the air. The scent of fear tickled the back of her synapses and raised the hair on her neck.
But she hated not knowing whether or not it was her human gut instinct or something more refined-wolf instinct, or just the heebie-jeebies from the dark spell. Moving bodies that had been charred to death didn’t help. Still, something was spooking her internal radar, and that was hardly ever wrong.
Turning the corner, she brought the jeep to a screeching halt, pulling over to get out of the way of light traffic that was behind her.
“Bear? Crow?” she shouted, leaning over the seat towards them.
They stopped walking and just stared at her.
“You guys okay? You need a ride?”
“Sis, honest to God, I’ve never seen a better sight for sore eyes.” Crow Shadow dashed toward her and hurled himself into her backseat, and then hugged her, seeming like he was too choked up to speak.
But Bear was more cautious. He looked around in all directions like a wanted man. “Uh… Have you seen Hunter?”
“No. You guys have any idea where he is?”
The expression on Bear’s face was a cross between relief and jubilation. The man seriously looked like he was ready to break down and do the happy dance in the middle of the street.
“Mind if we escort you to him, stay on your flank, and, uh, otherwise be of service, ma’am?”
All she could do was stare at Bear Shadow for a moment. “Uh, yeah… That was sorta the idea. Hop in.”
“We don’t really have to go into details with Hunter about us all getting separated for a little while, do we, Sis?” Crow Shadow said quickly as Bear climbed into the front passenger seat. “What’s a few hours amongst family?”
Sasha smiled. “How long were you guys AWOL?” She held up her hand. “Never mind, I don’t wanna know and it’s not important.”
“You are a decent person, Captain Trudeau,” Bear Shadow said with genuine affection. “Thank you.”
Sasha just shook her head.
This was a setup, if ever he smelled one. Hunter bounded up the stairs above the strip club to the private rooms. His men were AWOL, Sasha was missing, and Silver Hawk was at Finnegan’s trying to talk Doc down. And his brother was here-unacceptable.
He kicked the door with his boot, and held the shotgun to the ceiling, pressing his back to the wall. The door opened, and a female form filled it.
“Need to talk to Shogun,” Hunter said in a low command. “Now.”
“He’s otherwise indisposed, sugah,” the pretty but disheveled female said, giving him attitude.