“This isn’t a game, baby. The pack’s survival is the only thing of importance, and anyone who gets in the way of it...” She canted her head and smiled.
“You’re admitting to murder.”
“Who are you going to tell?” she taunted. “No one because you have too much to hide.”
“Don’t get too cocky there, darling.”
Was that retaliation for baby? How delicious.
“Tell me about your family. Nine kids. All adopted. From where?” Because the adoption papers led to a dead end. The only reason they even knew about the lab thing was because Gwayne had been in contact with one of the Hubbards.
“How about you answer a few questions instead? Dominick says your pack can change into wolves.”
For a second, she almost didn’t answer. He wasn’t pack. How dare he question?
And yet, he intrigued her, mostly because it seemed impossible he knew nothing. “All lycans can shift.”
“You too?” he specified.
“I am a wolf shifter, and I would advise you right now to never say bitch.”
“Duly noted. How did you become a wolf?”
Her brow arched. “Baby, I was born this way.”
“So was I but not without some scientific help. Were you also created in a lab?”
She saw the moment he realized he’d spilled too much, and he tried to fix his error. “Test tube pregnancy.” He tried to make light of it, but she became a wolf with a bone and held on.
“I already know your origin story. See, we had some questions when we realized you were never legally adopted. Being created in a secret lab explains why we couldn’t find anything about you or the rest of your family. The question being, have those you were stolen from given up looking?” she mused aloud. “I wonder if there’s a reward for your return.”
Panic flitted across his face. “You can’t expose us.”
She’d never do it, but she wasn’t about to admit it. “It would solve the pack’s problem.” A cruel barb that took the panic and turned it into anger.
“I’d be careful tossing that kind of threat around, because I’ll bet they’d be interested in natural-born huanimorphs.”
“Say what?”
He waved a hand. “It’s a stupid word for what they were trying to create. Human-animal hybrids.”
“I’d say they succeeded. Who’s doing the creating?” Because their Hubbard source didn’t have the slightest clue.
“How the fuck would I know? I escaped there when I was a kid. And I won’t go back.” He looked agitated as he slapped his helmet off his leg. He glanced at her. “They’re the reason you don’t have to worry about us doing anything to draw attention.”
“Except you already have. Or have you forgotten about the man your brother put in hospital?”
Dominick had clawed a human instead of killing him outright. The man told everyone what he saw, which led to complications.
“He didn’t mean to do it. The animal thing, it’s hard to control.”
“No, it’s not,” she said with a frown.
“You trying to say your pack wolves don’t ever run off and attack people?”
“We hunt game in the woods, not people.”
“How can you be sure you haven’t? Haven’t you ever woken up from a morph and wondered where the blood came from?”
She stared at him, and understanding clicked into place. “Are you saying when you shift, you don’t control the body?”
His lips pressed into a line.
“And let me guess, like your brother, you require catnip to change.” She’d not believed it at first; however, their source insisted that the shift didn’t work without a catalyst.
“So what? You must use something, too. What is it, wolfsbane?”
She didn’t react to the word. “We use nothing to shift.”
“Then how do you do it?”
“We just do. Some of us are better at it than others. The weak require moonlight to help. The strong can do it at will and sometimes more than once in a short period of time.”
“At will.” He said it musingly.
“Yes, at will. And you should be able to as well. Shifting is a part of you. You shouldn’t need an herb at all.”
“Guess again, darling. Without it, nothing happens.”
The news had her muttering, “Interesting. Is your entire family the same way?”
He frowned and sidestepped the question. “Is that really what it’s called, shifting?”
She patted his cheek. “You have so much to learn.”
“Then teach me.”
She paused as she was getting into her car to shoot him a glance. “Now there’s something I bet you don’t say often.”
“I mean it. You obviously know more about this shifting thing than me. I need a teacher.” Gone was the arrogance.
She chuckled. “You definitely don’t want me.” She lacked patience, which was why Gwayne led the pack and not her or Lansolot, their other brother.
“How else am I supposed to figure out what’s happening?”
“You want answers? Then I’ll see you at the barbecue.”
Where the fate of Stefan and his family would be decided.
3
Stefan had admitted too much, and he wasn’t even sure why. It certainly wasn’t because Nimway had a warm and inviting personality.
Abrupt. Confidant. Sexy. With a way of making him spill his darkest secrets.
Ugh.
Meeting Nimway hadn’t solved shit. Nope. Now Stefan had more questions than ever, such as, would her lips taste as good as they looked?
She’d probably gut him if he tried to find out. They’d not gotten off on the best foot. He’d tracked her down since she seemed to be easier to approach than her brother. Gwayne lived in Barrhaven, of all places, in a neighborhood with good schools and parks.
A werewolf in suburbia? It seemed farfetched, but then again, what did he know? Until recently, he’d thought himself the only transforming freak in the family until the incidents with Dominick and Tyson. Odd that he’d talked more about his condition with Nimway than his own brothers. Why had he spilled his guts to her?
Just call him Captain Caveman. Why, he’d even divulged the shameful fact that he didn’t know how to control the beast. For a while, he’d been convinced he must be a serial murderer given how many times he’d woken in the woods with animal parts strewn around. Only once had he been dumb enough to puke. After that exorcist-style projectile vomiting of chunks best left hidden, he learned to swallow back the nausea. Eventually, he got to the point he was licking his lips.
Enjoying the carnage? Not the last straw before he got help. But close. It took something worse to send him to a clinic to dry out.
Not once in more than a decade had he been tempted to let that other side of him out. He had the tiger locked away. Safe.
But then Nimway claimed he should still be in control, that it was possible to drive the beast. Could that ability be taught? Problem being she had no interest in helping him. Rather, she’d prefer to run him and his family out of town.
Not happening, but at the same time, he didn’t want to bend a knee. Leaving what choice?