Dimitri reached Jaycee and the overgrown cubs. They were Collared, from the Austin Shiftertown, and eager to fight.
“Time to go,” Dimitri said. He swept open his arms, carrying Jaycee and the two younger Shifters out from under the old barn that was their arena and into the night.
Behind him, squeals and howls rose as a hundred Shifters suddenly got very, very wet.
“Jaycee,” Dimitri said.
She turned from shoving the younger Shifters into the trees at the edge of the clearing, inquiry on her face.
Dimitri wanted to yell at her. He wanted to demand to know what the hell she was thinking rushing into the ring like that, breaking every rule of the fight club. She’d put herself in danger not only from the crazy Lupine fighting Dimitri but from every Shifter in the place.
He thought about how she’d fought the wolf, almost casually avoiding his attack and then smacking him down into unconsciousness.
“What?” Jaycee asked when he didn’t speak. “You mean, why am I such an idiot?” Sometimes she’d talk for him, so he wouldn’t have to struggle with what he wanted to say.
Dimitri shook his head. He reached for Jaycee and dragged her to him, her fine flesh bare against his. He tucked his hand under her soft hair and turned her startled face up to him, his mouth coming down on hers in a long, hard kiss.
Around them, pandemonium reigned, Shifters shouting and furious as the water truck cooled down the hot mob. None of that reached Dimitri, in a bubble of calm with Jaycee.
Her mouth was hot, her body the same, her kiss holding her fire. She wrapped her arms around him and stepped closer, letting him know she could give into mating frenzy if he did. Her breasts were firm against his chest, her nipples tight, her skin smooth as he slid his hand down to the round softness of her buttocks.
The chill in the air to either side of them kicked Dimitri out of the warm place into which he’d been sinking.
He lifted his head to find Kendrick, his leader, a white tiger Shifter, on his left, the hilt of the Sword of the Guardian rising above his shoulder. On Dimitri’s other side was Dylan Morrissey, a Feline every Shifter around answered to.
Jaycee looked up, color flooding her face. She kept close to Dimitri, hiding her body, her sudden shyness making Dimitri’s protectiveness surge.
“Dimitri,” Kendrick said in his growling voice, which was deceptively soft. “Jaycee. We need to talk.”
CHAPTER TWO
Jaycee had never been comfortable around Dylan. Jaycee was Kendrick’s Shifter, which meant she obeyed no orders unless they came from him. She was fourth in the hierarchy of Kendrick’s Shifters, after Dimitri, who was third, and Seamus, who was Kendrick’s second, and she was happy with that order. She’d lived with this state of things since she’d passed her Transition.
Dylan, on the other hand, expected everyone to obey him, no matter what. He didn’t bluster and snarl; he simply stared at you with those hard blue eyes and willed you to do what he said. Dylan technically didn’t have authority—he’d once been the leader of the Austin Shiftertown, but he’d stepped aside to let his son take his place. He was supposedly retired, happy staying at home with his mate, his second son and his mate, and his grandson, but common knowledge said the retirement part wasn’t strictly true.
Dylan wore a Collar, a real one. Jaycee had seen it spark on him, even though he controlled it well. Jaycee didn’t wear a Collar at all, and neither did Dimitri nor Kendrick—unless they put on fakes to mingle with other Shifters and humans. So why did everyone worry about what Dylan would do if they disobeyed him?
Jaycee didn’t know. All she understood was that he was one frigging scary Feline, and she avoided meeting him without Dimitri or Kendrick nearby.
Now both Kendrick and Dimitri flanked her, Kendrick quietly strong as he moved to sit on the bench in the back of the van Dylan led them to.
Dimitri lounged next to Jaycee on her seat opposite Kendrick, Dimitri’s arm stretched across the back behind her shoulders. He’d been allowed to stop and put on clothes—a loose pair of sweatpants and a T-shirt that clung to his torso. Dimitri looked comfortable, unworried, while Jaycee was nervous and perspiring.
Damn him for never letting anything bother him.
Dimitri’s red hair was still tangled from the fight, though he’d brushed it back from his forehead with a strong hand in an attempt to flatten it. Jaycee resisted the urge to reach up and smooth his hair for him—he’d only growl at her.
Dylan entered the van, settling himself on a jump seat that folded from behind the closed door. This let him sit alone, apart from them. A jump seat was the extra chair, for that last person who didn’t quite fit, a place for the vulnerable. Dylan used it to make himself different from them, reminding them of his power.
“Jaycee Bordeaux,” Dylan said, the lilt of Ireland in his voice marked. “Tonight you broke almost every rule of the fight club. Rules put in place to keep Shifters safe. Might have broken them all if Sean hadn’t showed up with the water truck.”
Dimitri chuckled, a warm sound. “You sh-should have s-seen them, all w-w-w- . . . and . . .” He trailed off, his tongue failing him, but he kept laughing.
“Wet and pissed off,” Jaycee finished. “Yeah, that was funny.” Very wet cats and wolves had shaken themselves, fury in their eyes, Shifters in human forms cursing. Only the bears had basked in it, acting like idiots as they’d enjoyed the cooling shower.
Dylan didn’t smile, though Kendrick’s lips twitched. “They were pissed off for more than being wet,” Dylan said.
“Oh, come on.” Jaycee sat forward in her seat, her heart beating faster. “I went into the ring because that asshole drugged Dimitri. He didn’t follow the rules. He had a tranq—I saw the syringe. He was going to tear Dimitri apart, and the refs were doing nothing. Besides, females not being allowed to fight is just stupid. We wouldn’t do it if we were pregnant or had tiny cubs—we’re not complete fools—but we can best any opponent you can throw at us. I think I proved that.”
Dylan’s gaze remained steady. “Females fighting in an arena full of drunk males could trigger the mating frenzy. The females would have to run for their lives.”
Jaycee made a derisive noise. “Only because male Shifters are perverts.” She folded her arms and thumped back in her seat.
Dimitri leaned to whisper into her ear. “Peace, Jase.”
Jaycee didn’t like that she shivered when his warm breath touched her, that his deep voice tickled down inside her. She hadn’t been the same since Dimitri had yelled that he mate-claimed her in the middle of an argument in front of half a dozen Shifters. Jaycee hadn’t given him a straight answer about that yet—hadn’t accepted but hadn’t turned him down.
Dimitri hadn’t bugged her about it. He hadn’t even touched her since that night. Therefore, their fate was undecided. No sun and moon ceremonies scheduled—who knew if they’d ever be?
Even so, Jaycee couldn’t help liking Dimitri next to her, couldn’t help warming at his touch. His stammer vanished when he whispered to her, not that the stammer ever bothered her at all. It was just the way Dimitri talked.
Kendrick broke in, jerking Jaycee from the cocoon of Dimitri’s nearness. “The Shifters weren’t as angry about a woman fighting as they were about your entering the ring during the bout,” he pointed out. “Any outside interference cancels the match.”
“And they l-l-lose b-bets,” Dimitri finished. “Shifters hate that.”
“Exactly,” Dylan said. “So here I am, expected to discipline you.”
“That Lupine was blatantly cheating,” Jaycee said hotly. “Why aren’t you disciplining him?”
Kendrick’s green eyes glinted. “Oh, we have something in mind for him, don’t worry.”
“H-he said s-something weird to me,” Dimitri added. “B-before he left. He s-said, You’ll be perfect.”
Dimitri took on the growl and tone of the Lupine he’d fought, repeating his words without hesitation.
“And he’s right,” Kendrick said. “You will be perfect. You and Jaycee.”
Jaycee’s eyes narrowed. “Perfect for what?”
“To stop something before it becomes impossible to contain,” Dylan said. “Though it might already be too late.”
Dimitri came alert. He didn’t move, but Jaycee felt his muscles tense, his breathing quiet. “That’s reassuring.”
Dylan’s gaze took in all three of them. “This June, I led some of the Austin trackers up to Washington state,” he said. “The Olympic Peninsula. There was a fight.”
Dimitri gave him a nod. “Heard ab-bout it.”
“Rogue Shifters, most feral, had set up an encampment there, with help from human survivalists,” Dylan went on. “We attacked them and thought we had them cornered and beaten. These same ferals had been terrorizing humans in the remote mountains for a while.”
Dimitri nodded in acknowledgment, though this was the first Jaycee was learning about it, to her irritation.
“What we didn’t know was that these ferals had set up camp on a ley line,” Dylan said. “On a gateway to Faerie. They were hiding reserves of Shifters just on the other side of that gate. When we thought we had them conquered, suddenly out popped a huge number of Shifters and human fighters from the gateway. We barely escaped. Thanks to the healer, Zander, the ferals were driven back, and we got away. Tiger and I went back up there a few weeks ago to scout around, but the ferals were gone. Wherever their gateway was, we couldn’t find it. But gates to Faerie are magical and we don’t much understand them. We have someone working on that.”
Jaycee listened, her mouth hanging open. “Shifters were hiding inside Faerie? What the hell? Shifters don’t work with the Fae.”
Kendrick nodded, his tiger voice a growl. “Exactly what we said. But these Shifters appeared to be coming and going through the gate at will. I doubt they did it without Fae help.”
“Don’t you need a device of some kind to cross?” Jaycee asked. “Not that I know a lot about it, but I thought you had to have Fae silver, or a Guardian’s sword, or something like that.”
“You do,” Dylan answered. “We don’t know what they had, or what sort of deal they made. We don’t know if this was a one-off or if more Shifters are doing deals like this . . .”
“And you want us to f-find out,” Dimitri concluded for him.
“We want you to find out whatever you can,” Dylan corrected him sternly. “There may be nothing to learn, which is what I hope. I need more eyes and ears—and noses—among Shifters who have become disgruntled with how we live, those who might think working with the Fae is the lesser evil.”
“We need to know whether these Shifters are just griping or if it’s a true threat,” Kendrick put in. “Dylan has already had to deal with one Shifter rebellion instigated by the Fae. We want to make sure another doesn’t start. There’s more going on here than Shifters who want to overturn the hierarchy.” He paused, looking troubled. “We think. We need to know.”
Jaycee nodded. “I get that. But what makes you think Dimitri and I can find out anything? Everyone knows we’re Kendrick’s loyal trackers. Who would believe we’d turn against him?”
Dylan gave her a small smile. “You might not turn against your own leader, but you, lass, have no problem breaking the rules. You demonstrated that well tonight. You’re both relatively new to the Shifters in this region, so you are an unknown factor. You don’t wear true Collars. You don’t like Shiftertowns and Shifter laws. Tonight you proved you weren’t above blatantly breaking established rules. You are exactly the sort of Shifters a splinter group would want. So find one. Join them. And tell me what they’re up to.”
“Oh, is that all?” Jaycee said, her eyes widening. “Doesn’t sound dangerous or anything. And what if we can’t find a splinter group? Or we do and they won’t tell us a damned thing?”
Dylan shrugged. “Then they don’t. But we need to try, before shite rains down on us that we can’t stop. I don’t know what’s going on. That bothers me.”
A blatant understatement. The look deep in Dylan’s eyes was one of intense rage. Dylan liked to have his paw on the pulse of every plot that went on in South Texas—his paw, not his finger, so that he could rip out throats when he needed to.
Dimitri glanced at Jaycee but spoke to Kendrick. “Too d-d-dangerous.” He closed his eyes to get out the last word.
“I know,” Kendrick said. “I can’t force you to do this, Dimitri. You don’t answer to Dylan. It has to be your choice.”
Dylan didn’t look pleased with this, but he said nothing. He couldn’t tell Kendrick’s trackers what to do without challenging Kendrick’s leadership, and Dylan wasn’t fool enough to do that. Kendrick was a powerful white tiger, un-Collared, and a Guardian. The very large broadsword at Kendrick’s feet was a silent reminder that part of his job was to send dead or dying Shifters to the afterlife, the Summerland. Plunging the sword through the Shifter’s heart rendered the bodies dust and set the soul free.
“Dimitri means dangerous for me,” Jaycee broke in. “Dimitri is happy to jump down rogue Shifters’ throats and charge in front of Fae swords all day. I’m supposed to stay home and knit or something. He’s become annoyingly protective.”
Did Dimitri look angry or even embarrassed by this? No, his handsome face and gray eyes settled into lines of amusement. He’d claimed Jaycee as mate. Now he got to be an asshole about it.
“That is true,” Kendrick said to Dylan. “I can’t compel Dimitri to put Jaycee in danger. I can ask him to go, but not Jaycee.”
Dylan lifted his fingers, which rested on his knee, the slightest bit. “Then we will wait for Dimitri’s decision.”
Jaycee rolled her eyes. “For the Goddess’ sake. I haven’t accepted the mate-claim yet. I’ve been a tracker for twenty years. I’ve fought plenty of Shifters. I can handle myself.”
“You can,” Dimitri acknowledged with a nod, his eyes holding both respect and heat.
Jaycee warmed, suddenly disarmed. “Thank you.”
“To a p-point,” Dimitri said. He gave Jaycee the ghost of a grin, knowing exactly how to make her mad. He turned to Dylan. “Jase is a rule b-breaker. True. What about m-me? W-why will they b-believe that I w-w-w- . . .” He closed his eyes again, halting. He did that when his mouth wouldn’t let him speak, waiting until everything worked again.
“He means why will these rogue Shifters believe Dimitri wants to join them?” Jaycee asked. “Dimitri follows all the rules. Drives me bat-crap crazy.”
Dylan and Kendrick exchanged a glance. “Because other Shifters ridicule you,” Kendrick said, his deep voice gentle. “They mock the way you speak.”
Dimitri opened his eyes, looking amazed. “So? I don’t give a r-rat’s ass.”
Kendrick fixed him with a stare. “They ridicule you, and it upsets you very much.”
Dimitri blinked, and then a grin broke over his face. “Oh, right. Yeah, I c-cry all night.”
“And they claim you’re a coyote,” Jaycee said.
Dimitri’s eyes flashed fury. “Now that pisses me off.” No stumbling over those words.
“There you go.” Jaycee waved a hand at him. “Much more believable.”
Dimitri curled his lip in a very soft snarl.
Kendrick continued to watch Dimitri. “Will you do it? And allow Jaycee to help you?”
“Allow . . .” Jaycee moved in her seat, but Dimitri put a quelling hand on her arm.
“We b-both go.”
“Gee, thank you.” Jaycee sent him a scowl, pretending not to like the heat and pressure of his hand holding her wrist.
“She’ll n-never let me hear the end of it if we d-don’t,” Dimitri continued.
“Shithead,” Jaycee growled. Dimitri only ke
pt on grinning.
“Another thing,” Dylan said to Jaycee.
His gaze was hard to take. Jaycee wanted to look away, and because she did, she made herself meet his eyes. Not to challenge. Just to let him know she wasn’t easily cowed.
“You’ll have to be punished for tonight’s transgression,” Dylan said. “You broke the rules. That has to be answered.”
Dimitri’s amusement evaporated in an instant. His soft snarl grew louder.
“Dylan won’t touch you,” Kendrick said quickly to Jaycee, his glance taking in Dimitri as well. “I’m your leader, responsible for you.”
Dylan didn’t look as though he agreed completely, but he said nothing.
Kendrick did have the right to punish his Shifters for disobedience, which he’d done with Jaycee in the past. She’d always been one to push her boundaries, especially when she’d been in her Transition.
Kendrick’s punishments had been mild, but what had hurt Jaycee most was that he’d been disappointed in her. She’d come away from the discipline vowing to do better. Kendrick had always kept the punishment private as well, not inflicting the public humiliations she knew other leaders sometimes employed on their Shifters.
Dimitri’s growls escalated. He sat forward, his drowsing Lupine act over.
Kendrick switched his gaze to him. “The mate, of course, has the first right to punish.”
Dimitri’s growls cut off. He looked at Jaycee with sudden interest.
Now Jaycee’s snarls came. “No way in hell!”
“It’s his right,” Kendrick said quietly. “He’s made the mate-claim. And it’s going to have to look good, you two. One more convincing part for your cover.”
“Then you should do it, Kendrick,” Jaycee said rapidly. “You punish me, and Dimitri can be angry at you because he should have done it.”
“A good idea,” Kendrick said, “except . . .”
“Except I won’t let him,” Dimitri broke in. “If he touches you, Jase, I won’t hold back.”