“That’s because I don’t lose my temper,” Sam bellowed, reaching for another beer on the wide bar. “Ever.”
“Humph,” Bear said, his tawny gaze unperturbed. “Good thing the rest of the club is out on an overnight ride. It’s been tough enough keeping them okay with having vampire-demons as brothers. Your always calm facade has helped.” He jerked his head toward Garrett. “Unlike Kayrs.”
Sam took a deep breath and tried to subdue his racing blood. He had become a member of the motorcycle club to keep an eye on Garrett, who was hell-bent on riding his bike over a cliff these days. Picking an immortal club full of bear shifters had seemed like a good idea when Garrett had wanted to join one, but now Sam wondered if they’d both been dropped on their heads as kids. What had they been thinking? “I’m telling you, something happened when she grabbed me in that interrogation room.”
Garrett sat on a tall stool, his legs easily reaching the ground. Disgust crossed his face, and he kicked off his expensive brown loafers, revealing gray socks with holes at the toes. “Who wears crap like this? My feet are killing me.” He rested his back against the burnished wood of the bar. “I felt it—in the interrogation room.”
Bear cocked an eyebrow. “The woman?”
“Enhanced,” Garrett affirmed. “Like seriously Enhanced human female.”
Definitely. There were human females in the world who were Enhanced with supernatural gifts, and they could mate an immortal male, unlike un-Enhanced humans. Some believed the Enhanced humans were related to the witch nation, while others believed that they were actually a species of their own. Sam had never given it much thought.
Garrett shook his head. “I couldn’t get a sense of Honor’s gifts, but maybe she’s a psychic? Or talented empath? Not sure, but she gave off strong enough vibrations that I felt her upon entering the building.”
Heat rose inside Sam in a way he didn’t like. Filling his chest and billowing out. He’d die for Garrett, and he’d most certainly kill for him. They were brothers in every sense of the word, and he’d protect him just as he would his blood brothers Zane and Logan. But he did not, for one second, appreciate Garrett feeling Honor’s vibrations. So he kept silent.
Bear finished off the bottle and then wiped his mouth. “Check your palms, Sam. Any mating mark?”
Sam’s head jerked so fast, his ears rang. Then he looked down at his palms. Immortals with demon blood carried a marking in their genetics. Usually made up of the first letter of their surname, it appeared on their palm much like a tattoo, and they transferred it to their mate upon performing the mating act. His palm was clear. “No.” Thank the gods. He couldn’t take a mate.
Bear shrugged. “Then what’s the problem?”
Sam looked at Garrett. Maybe he was just losing his mind faster than he’d thought with all the dimensional disturbances lately.
Garrett’s metallic gray eyes narrowed. “Something did happen between Sam and Honor in that room. I don’t know what, but there was an energy, and it was hot. Something hurt her hands, but then she was unharmed without a mark on her. I can’t explain it.”
A sliver of relief filtered through Sam’s anger. He wasn’t going crazy. Well, about this, anyway. “I felt it, too.”
Bear kicked his monstrous boots out and crossed his ankles. “With all the weird shit you’re dealing with right now, maybe that’s just part of it and you should let it go. You know. Go back to figuring out why your body keeps getting caught between dimensions and then, I don’t know, blowing everything up?”
“I don’t know what’s happening,” Sam said. “I’ve moved between dimensions before, as I’ve told you, and it hurt. Yet now I keep getting stuck in other worlds for some reason. What’s worse, I keep feeling this energy that I can’t control, and then fires erupt around me. Fires lead to explosions. We’re just lucky nobody has been harmed—yet.”
Garrett cut Sam a look. “Maybe it’s time to bring the Realm and demon nations in?”
In other words, call Garrett’s uncle and Sam’s brother. “No,” Sam growled. The Realm was a coalition of immortal species, and they were closely aligned with the demon nation.
“Agreed,” Bear said. “I like having you two here, but the second it’s Realm or demon business, you have to go. You know that. The Grizzlies are content staying off the radar, and I ain’t changing that, despite my obvious fondness for you two.”
“You threw me down a cliff yesterday,” Garrett snapped.
Bear flashed his teeth. “Yeah, but I made sure there was water at the bottom. Kind of.”
Garrett scrubbed both hands down his face. “The Realm is also busy trying to find all of the suddenly missing Enhanced human females. The Kurjans are taking them faster than we can save them, and my gut aches all the time. Something is happening.”
The Kurjans, a white-faced, sun hating, deadly immortal species were their natural enemy, and they were starting something big, kidnapping Enhanced females. The campaign had to be stopped.
Sam didn’t have the time or patience to deal with either male right now. “I need to go for a run. Just hold tight until I get back.” Hopefully he’d gain some perspective before his head exploded.
“Good idea,” Bear said. “Although I guess I should tell you that I’m bringing my witch in on this.”
Sam closed his eyes and counted to ten. Frankly, it was surprising Bear hadn’t asked Nessa for help before now. “Okay, but we all know she still works for the witch nation, or the witch badass security force, or whatever,” Sam muttered. “The witches hate the Seven. We’ve kept her out of this so far to protect her.”
The Seven was a group of immortal males who were supposed to protect the world from the deadliest member of the Kurjan nation, and Garrett was a member of the Seven. Sam and Garrett hadn’t told anybody why they’d joined the motorcycle club, basically because Garrett was convinced it was the only way to find his true mate because of dreams he kept experiencing. The only issue that would now be different was that Sam’s problems would be known.
Bear’s eyes morphed to the color of burnt honey. “I need to protect her. Right now, you’re causing fires and explosions, and I want her to be on the lookout. In addition, witches are the only ones who can control quantum physics, alter matter, and create plasma, so maybe she can help. Either way, she knows something is going on with me; her patience has ended with my so-called uncommunicative nature, and I’m not dealing with a pissed-off mate because you can’t control yourself.”
That was fair.
“Okay. I’m going for a run and will be back in a couple of hours.” Sam didn’t like lying to his friends, but he needed to figure this out on his own. He turned and walked outside into the gentle evening rain, loping into a jog as he took his phone out and dialed a number.