Hidden Passions (16 page)

With anger
, he told himself.

"Nate," Adam said, pitching his voice to carry. "What spot do only you and Evina know about?"

Nate was on his feet, leaning over Carmine's desk as he tried to narrow down Rick's location on the computer screen. He looked back at Adam. "I don't--"

His face changed as a possibility occurred to him.

"Shit," he said, so Tony guessed the memory wasn't pleasant. "He's in Wolf Woods. He's at the hidden lake where I almost ate Evina."

Okay, that was a story Tony hadn't heard. Adam either, to go by his raised eyebrows.

"Uh, hey," Carmine interjected. "Anyone but me notice Rick said they had
dragons
?"

They goggled at each other.

"Dragons," Tony repeated, the word sinking in. "Not eggs."

"And not 'dragon' singular," Carmine said.

"He said he needed us to protect them," Adam finished.

In spite of being furious at and frightened for his brother, Tony's heart thumped with excitement. His brother had hatched some dragons. He couldn't deny that was cool.

Their allotted period for amazement ended when Adam shook himself back to the task at hand.

"Call Johnny," he said to Carmine, meaning the husband of Tony's sister Maria. "We need a chopper and a pilot, and he just got his license. Tell him to keep it quiet. Better he steal a bird than officially request one."

"Done," Carmine said, pulling his phone from his back pocket.

Normally he'd have made a crack about the instructions. Going black ops wasn't Adam's style. Their alpha went by the book, generally. Not tonight, Tony guessed.

"Nate," the alpha said next.

"Boss," Nate responded, as straight and respectful as a soldier--sure sign of how dire the circumstances were.

"Do you trust Evina's tigers?"

"With my life," Nate said.

His lack of hesitation surprised Tony--pleased him too. Chris was one of the tigers Nate had no doubts about.

Adam rubbed the side of his face, less sure than his third was. "Could you ask Evina to call them together as a guard? Ari and the baby--" His green eyes flared at the thought of his wife and child. "Ari has power but not enough to defend against pureblood fae. I want the pack's family members to have protection. Maria, Ethan, everyone. There's another dragon hunter on the loose. I don't want any hostages to fortune."

"I'll take care of it," Nate said.

"And me?" Tony asked.

Adam leveled a very sober alpha gaze on him. "You won't like this, but I need you to do it anyway."

"Do what?" Tony asked, the back of his neck tensing.

"I want you with the cats. They're brave, but they're not cops. I want someone with your instincts watching over the women and children."

"But Rick's my brother! I should be on the team that goes after him!"

Adam's hand squeezed the side of Tony's neck. His top-dog authority radiated through the contact of palm to muscle, something Tony resented the hell out of right then. "It's not an insult. You're the pack's heart, Tony--and probably its sense of humor."

"You're calling me a joke!"

"No." Adam put his other hand on him too. "I'm placing what I love most under your protection. The last thing that could be is a joke."

Tony dropped his head, unable to continue challenging Adam's gaze. This was his wolf's reaction to Adam's dominance. The man in him knew they couldn't afford to waste time arguing. Rick was probably tearing off already to rescue Cass's father from Sword Guy's torture.

"Okay," he said. "You can count on me."

Adam startled him by leaning forward to kiss his brow, the way a father would a son.

"You're stronger than you know," he said. "That's what I'm counting on."

~

Chris was with Evina at the station when she got the news that Rick had contacted Tony's pack. She didn't object to Nate's request that her tigers defend his wolves.

"Of course we'll do it," she said. "Station 12 can cover our calls. I'll tell them our truck was cursed or something."

Nate and she didn't speak for long. Chris assumed the squad was leaving ASAP to go to Rick's aid. Despite a twinge of concern, he was glad for Tony. Doing something was better than waiting.

"Wow," Evina said, setting the phone back down. "Where am I going to put everyone? Our place is big but . . ." She trailed off, fingers pressed together before her mouth as she mulled over the conundrum.

Chris was perched on one side of her cluttered desk, watching her rock slightly in the chair. Nate hadn't French braided her hair for work like he usually did. As a result, her curls were as unruly as her kids'. Chris wanted to smile but didn't. How pleased he was by her readiness to help surprised him. Actually, he was pleased by the prospect of helping people Tony cared about. That seemed . . . right. He and Tony should always be on the same side.

He pushed the pleasure aside so he could think clearly. As he did, he realized he had a solution. It meant risking a long-held secret, but that hardly mattered when weighed against these stakes.

"If these fae are watching Rick's pack, they must know where they live," he said. "I have a place. It's big enough, and it's not common knowledge that I own it."

Evina looked at him with her eyebrows up. "You have a place besides your townhouse?"

"Yes," he said, ignoring the discomfort of admitting it. "We can organize a couple cars. Pick up everyone Nate wants protected."

"All right," said his alpha. "I guess we're going to the mattresses."

~

Chris collected Tony's sister Maria and her son. She was girlier than he expected, greeting him in a flowered dress and a light sweater. She seemed like a normal mom: slightly frazzled but organized. Though it was the crack of dawn, she quickly packed the storage space in his Explorer with ready-to-eat food.

"You never know how long we'll be," she said. "Shifters with full stomachs are more pleasant to be around."

Ethan was a cute kid but sleepy. The five-year-old curled up in the back and dozed as Chris drove. He clutched a Met's jacket of his dad's like it was a teddy bear.

"You were at the wedding," Maria said, glancing at him from the front passenger seat. "You were the other best man."

"That's right. I'm Evina's beta."

"You tigers certainly grow up big."

Chris wasn't sure how to respond to that, especially since the comment sounded vaguely suspicious. Probably it was just a kneejerk cats-and-dogs reaction. "You warm enough in that sweater? I can turn on the heat."

Maria folded her arms. "I'm a shifter too," she said.

"Right. Radio?"

She shook her head tightly. "Where are we going?"

"Elfyunk. I have a place there that should be safe."

Elfyunk was neither the worst nor the best part of town. The 1930s had been its heyday. Today it was worn down and gritty. Some of Resurrections' less law-abiding citizens based operations here, but they were mostly old school and not violent. The saying went that there were as many strip joints in Elfyunk as there were Star's Brews downtown.

Tony's older sister didn't comment on the choice. When Chris checked on her from the corner of his eye, she was biting her lower lip. Her eyes were a different color than Tony's--golden brown rather than soft green. Even so, the gesture made her resemble him.

"Sorry," she said, shooting a glance his way. "I shouldn't be snippy. I'm worried about my husband. Adam called him in on this."

"Sure," Chris said. "I understand."

"You really are nice to be helping us."

"Nate is clan now. It feels right to pitch in."

"Nate always was a charmer." Maria's tone was dry. "Your alpha broke a lot of hearts when she snagged him."

Chris didn't want to dwell on Nate's charms. "He and Tony seem to get along," he said perversely.

"Tony
used
to be as big of a flirt as him."

This was said wistfully. Chris deduced she meant as big of a flirt with women. He hesitated, then decided to speak again. "The pack seems to have adjusted to him being gay."

Maria sighed gustily. "Yes."

Chris merged into the light early morning traffic on the freeway. "Do you wish they hadn't adjusted?"

"No." Maria squirmed. "Everybody deserves their pack's support. We just . . . The family had hopes for him. I always dreamed of Ethan having more cousins. And . . ."

"And?"

"It makes me feel funny, knowing he lied to us for so long. I adore Tony. He should have trusted me."

"Maybe he wanted to trust you. Maybe he just was more afraid you'd stop adoring him."

"I didn't!" Maria lowered her voice so as not to wake her son. "I couldn't. I cried like a baby after he broke the news."

Chris smiled at the confession. He could tell Maria was a good sister. She turned to face him more on the seat.

"You're easy to talk to," she observed. "For a cat."

Chris laughed. She said this like he'd tricked her into it. "Cats are sly. You never know what we'll lure you into."

Soon enough they pulled into the weedy lot behind the boarded up social club. Lou's Place was a two-story bar and pool hall--or it had been until Chris took possession. The Shifter Courts had awarded him the property as restitution for Mark Naegel killing his brothers. Rejecting the settlement would have been an insult to Naegel's clan, but Chris had never had the heart to run the place. Every now and then he checked to make sure it hadn't fallen down. Aside from that, he left it alone.

As he jogged around the car to help Maria and Ethan out, he sincerely hoped the water and electric were on.

The back door creaked open before Chris and Maria got to it. Syd stuck his dreadlocked head out and grinned.

"Everybody's here," he said in his quiet Jamaican accented voice. "They want to know why you've been holding out."

Chris hoped he could avoid getting into that. "Help me unload the car," he said. "Maria packed it with food."

No different from any hungry shifter, Syd rubbed his hands together. "Nice to meet you," he said to Maria. "I'm Syd."

She returned his greeting and went inside with Ethan drooped over her shoulder.

"Seriously, Chris," Syd said, accepting a load of boxes into big arms. "We could have had awesome parties here. You've got four vintage pool tables gathering, like, thirty years of dust."

It was twenty-eight years, but Chris didn't feel like explaining that either.

"I take it you removed the covers."

"Vasur did. And was coughing for ten minutes. We got the lights hooked up and the water running. There's a stock of salted nuts and pretzels in the storeroom. Liam ate some and didn't die, so we're thinking they're all right."

Chris balanced his load one-handed and closed up the SUV. The thought of Liam playing food canary made him smile.

"Really, Chris," Syd went on more seriously. "Why did you keep this place a secret?"

"I sort of . . . inherited it. I have bad memories wrapped up in it."

Syd looked like he wanted to push. That was no surprise. Cats had issues about closed doors. In the end, Syd didn't ask more questions, mainly because he had a trickier issue to bring up. He paused with his hand on the heavy back door's lever, obliging Chris to stop with him. Tiny flakes of rust fell down from the bad weather overhang.

"I should warn you," Syd said, "Adam Santini sent one of his wolves over. Apparently, he thinks we can't protect his people without a cop in charge."

"O-kay," Chris said slowly, not understanding Syd's sneering tone. It seemed to do with more than answering to a wolf. "Is there some reason the men can't put up with that for a while?"

"It's the gay guy," Syd said.

Chris required all his supe self-control to prevent heat from flooding into his face. Syd was generally laidback. Was Liam's prejudice spreading to the crew? "Being gay doesn't mean he can't oversee security."

"He's their
omega
," Syd emphasized. "It's insulting. Liam is fuming, and I'm not sure you can count on the others to stop the explosion."

"I doubt Santini meant to insult us. He probably trusts the guy."

"He's no higher ranked than Liam. And he's
little
."

Calling Tony
little
was stretching it. He was an inch taller than Vasur--not as heavy, Chris guessed, but no feather. Not sure whether to laugh or sigh, he rubbed his itching cheek on his shoulder. "I'll talk to Liam. I get why he's resentful. He probably feels he answers to enough people already. You others are going to have to be more mature. I mean it," he added when Syd drew breath to speak. "Wolf or not, omega or not, we're all working for the same things. Let's go inside now, before my arms fall off."

As soon as they entered the dark back hall, a mix of smells hit his nose. He identified Santini's wolves and his and Evina's cats. Tony's individual scent markers cut through them all. Chris realized he knew Tony's personal fragrance as well as any of his crew--and reacted to it more strongly. Feeling like he was back in high school, he ordered his dick not to get excited. All he needed to send this situation into a tailspin was to throw a big boner.

Jaw clenched, he followed Syd to the storeroom. As they finished stowing the food, Liam's voice rose above the rest. "I'm not giving a fucking dog my cellphone."

"
Liam
," Evina warned with a noticeable growl. This should have silenced the rebellious cat.

"I won't call anyone!" he protested. "I know no one's supposed to know we're here. This idiot needs to give me some credit."

Chris strode into the room with the now uncovered pool tables. Because the front windows were boarded up, most of the light came from the green-shaded cobwebbed bulbs overhead. The whole party, kids included, was spread out around the big space. Chris counted eight people on the wolf side and their own four tigers. The youngsters especially were round-eyed at the tension.

"Not 'upposed to say the 'F' word," Ethan pointed out from his mom's shoulder.

Chris's eyes flicked to Tony, a response he couldn't have suppressed to save his life. The wolf seemed all right. Though his cheeks were ruddy, he looked calmer than Chris felt. He didn't glance at Chris, though Chris didn't doubt he knew he'd come in. Whatever Chris might wish, they were linked enough for that.