Unexpected Demands

When Aaron took down a crazy dominant wolf and inherited half a pack, he knew the Alpha job wasn’t going to be easy. A week later, he’s finding out what an understatement that was. Having a gay wolf in his pack brings lethal threats from other werewolves. Then humans locate his wolves and move in to try to capture and exploit one of them. Aaron has enough pressure and demands without letting his long-suppressed sexuality escape his rigid control. But keeping his distance from a young man who appeals to all his senses could be Aaron’s biggest challenge.

MLR PRess AuthoRs Featuring a roll call of some of the best writers of gay erotica

and mysteries today! Derek Adams

Z. Allora

Maura Anderson

Simone Anderson

Victor J. Banis

Laura Baumbach

Helen Beattie

Ally Blue

J.P. Bowie

Barry Brennessel

Nowell Briscoe

Jade Buchanan

James Buchanan

TA Chase

Charlie Cochrane

Karenna Colcroft

William Cooper

Michael G. Cornelius

Jamie Craig

Ethan Day

Diana DeRicci

Vivien Dean

Taylor V. Donovan

Theo Fenraven

S.J. Frost

Kimberly Gardner

Michael Gouda

Kaje Harper

Jan Irving

David Juhren

Thomas Kearnes

Kiernan Kelly

K-lee Klein

Geoffrey Knight

Christopher Koehler

Matthew Lang

J.L. Langley

Vincent Lardo

Anna Lee

Elizabeth Lister

Clare London

William Maltese

Z.A. Maxfield

Timothy McGivney

Tere Michaels

AKM Miles

Reiko Morgan

Jet Mykles

William Neale

Cherie Noel

Willa Okati

Brynn Paulin

Erica Pike

Neil S. Plakcy

Rick R. Reed

A.M. Riley

AJ Rose

George Seaton

Riley Shane

Jardonn Smith

DH Starr

Richard Stevenson

Liz Strange

Marshall Thornton

Lex Valentine

Haley Walsh

Mia Watts

Missy Welsh

Stevie Woods

Ian Young

Lance Zarimba

Mark Zubro

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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. Copyright 2012 by Kaje Harper All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. Published by MLR Press, LLC 3052 Gaines Waterport Rd. Albion, NY 14411 Visit ManLoveRomance Press, LLC on the Internet: www.mlrpress.com Cover Art by Rob Baumbach Editing by Amanda Faris Print format ISBN# 978-1-60820-588-2 ebook format ISBN#978-1-60820-589-9 Issued 2012

This book is licensed to the original purchaser only. Duplication or distribution via any means is illegal and a violation of International Copyright Law, subject to criminal prosecution and upon conviction, fines and/or imprisonment. This eBook cannot be legally loaned or given to others. No part of this eBook can be shared or reproduced without the express permission of the publisher.

chAPteR 1 I’m running through the woods, full out on four legs, over leaves so dry they crumble beneath me. The air is still and hot, summer’s last breath. I’m not running for my life. If he catches me, it will be death for one of us, but the death might be his. He’s old now, his hair streaked with grey as a man, his wolf ’s muzzle frosted white. A senior, a veteran who never quite made Alpha, and bitter with it. He taught me well; in my desperate fury I might take him. But if I do, I’m not sure I’ll be sane afterward. I can feel the black abyss hovering, an emotionless darkness where I could go and let my wolf take over. My wolf wouldn’t hesitate. Hatred runs hot and acid in my throat and only iron control keeps me from turning to finish this. I’m running for my soul, and there are heavy footfalls coming fast through the dry leaves behind me… Shit. I gave myself a quick smack to the head. The gesture was juvenile, but there was no one else in the room with me, and it jolted me back to the present. Bad enough that the nightmares had invaded my sleep again, claiming the few hours I allowed myself. It was unfair of them to sneak up on me when I was awake. Well, nominally awake. I let myself have a moment, put my head in my hands and just closed my eyes. Breathe, for one moment don’t think and just breathe. I’d taught myself meditation long ago, for relaxation, for control when control was the difference between life and death. I used it now to gather energy. I was tired. Make that fucking exhausted. Of course I was also angry, and frustrated, and worried. And admit it, Aaron David Tremaine, scared. Actually, you could take one of those charts from school, the name-your-emotions ones with the silly faces, and just put a check next to all the negatives, and that would pretty much sum up my current state. And don’t forget the one that’s not on any kids’ chart: horny. After thirteen years of locking my need away where it couldn’t influence

2 Kaje Harper me, that one tumultuous night a week ago had brought it roaring back to life, worse than ever. And it wasn’t even a night when I got any sex. Maybe being tired was good. It took the edge off all the rest. I rubbed my face briskly, sat up in my chair, and laid my hands flat on the desk. This was no time to be indulging myself. When you’re the Alpha of a werewolf pack, even a pack as small and non-traditional as mine, you have to be Alpha. No doubts, no worries, at least where the lower-ranked wolves can see you. I’d been faking that all week, ever since pack leadership had fallen into my hands. Since I’d ripped it from Karl’s bleeding body. A rap on the door startled me, then the door was flung open before I could respond. Vincent looked in. His normal air of detached amusement was replaced with a frown. “Aaron, there’s trouble at Simon’s.” “Damn.” I was up and moving immediately. “Do you know who or how many?” “Nope.” “Who’s on guard duty?” “Andy.” “Son-of-a-bitch.” It was only a figure of speech. There are no female werewolves. If there were, maybe we’d have a much more relaxed attitude about sex and reproduction, and this whole mess wouldn’t be happening. I didn’t mean it as an insult to Andy either. He was just the wrong person to be on deck for any kind of trouble. Young, submissive, and easygoing, Andy had the softest personality of any of my wolves. And if anyone had hurt him and I caught up to them, they were going to be eating through a straw for a month, werewolf healing or not. “Do you want me with you?” Vincent asked eagerly. The old wolf had been a surprise addition to my pack. I hadn’t expected any of the seniors to come my way. He’d appointed himself my secretary, and was so useful I had no desire to depose him, even

unexPected deMAnds 3 though secretly I thought he decided to be mine mainly out of boredom. Joining my pack gave him a ringside seat at the circus. Some people weren’t made for retirement. But Vincent wasn’t above stirring up a little extra excitement, just to see what happened. Which was the last thing I needed. “No. Stay here. Call Joshua and tell him I’m about to come down on some wolf of his. Again.” Vincent made a face. He’d have preferred the chance of a fight over making an unwelcome call to the no doubt pissed off Alpha of a different pack. Especially since Joshua was too dour to make it fun for Vincent to rile him up. But he would make the call, and—I gave him a hard glare until he dropped his eyes— he would control the impulse to be snide. It was a good thing Vincent accepted my authority. I left him to it. Simon owned a small house with a white-fenced yard. It was far enough from the neighbors for privacy, which was turning out to be a good thing. When I pulled in the driveway, four men were standing on the front steps. On the bottom step, in a dark parka and boots, stood a stocky, brown-haired man with a reddened face. He looked in his mid-thirties, but I knew he was sixty-six. I also knew he was short-tempered, right-handed, of average intelligence, and he was as violently homophobic as they come. Daniel. Shit. A few steps behind him was a man who might have been his clone, but for the lighter hair and eyes: Geoffrey. He had been eighth ranked in our old pack, and was now Joshua’s Third, and not a stupid man. But he was cold, and calculating, and had no love for any wolf of mine. At the top of the steps stood my two men. Andy was dressed for the weather, his gloved hands clenched into fists, the hood of his jacket pushed back to give him a full range of vision. His breath streamed out in puffs of white, and I could practically taste his fear, but he held his ground. Behind him, oblivious to having bare feet on the frozen porch, Simon stood still as stone. Short but wide, built like a fighter with muscles rippling under his copper skin, Simon was not a wolf to take on lightly. A fact

4 Kaje Harper Daniel apparently acknowledged, since he was still at the bottom of those stairs. They all swung their heads to look at me as I got out of the car. Andy’s posture relaxed immediately. I winced inwardly at his faith in his Alpha, even as I appreciated it. Simon held his ground, unmoving. But then he had his lover, Paul, in that house behind him. No one was getting through Simon to come close to Paul. And he trusted no one, not even me, to take that responsibility from him. “Geoffrey,” I said coolly. “Daniel.” “This is none of your affair, Tremaine,” Daniel snapped. I noted that Geoff was holding back and letting the lower wolf speak up. Interesting. “Of course it is. My wolves, my problem. Want to tell me what’s going on?” “I’m here to challenge that…that…thing that you’re letting walk around like he’s as good as the rest of us.” Daniel pointed a finger at Simon. I took into account the slight tremble that was due to rage, not fear. Stupid of him to underestimate Simon, but that was Daniel. “In the first place,” I told him, “you can’t. He’s not in your pack now. You want to take on one of my wolves, you have to face me first. And I don’t think you want to do that.” I glared at him, and it took less than two seconds for him to drop his eyes. I might have been only a few ranks ahead of him in the old pack, but I was an Alpha now, and his body knew that even better than his brain. “In the second place, Simon would wipe the floor with you, if I let him.” “Bullshit,” Daniel blustered. “He’s nothing. Stinking faggot. He’s bowed his head to me a hundred times.” “Because he chose to. Think, you fool. Simon beat Frank in a fair fight. Frank!” The big tawny wolf had been our Fifth, and a vicious fighter. In the scrambling events of that night, when I killed Karl and everything had changed, perhaps the biggest surprise had been Simon rising victorious from Frank’s body. I

unexPected deMAnds 5 had known he was holding back, hiding in the middle of the pack. I hadn’t realized how much. The memory of that night flitted across Daniel’s face too, and he paled a shade, but he wasn’t the kind to ever back down. “Bullshit,” he repeated. “I can take him.” I turned a calm eye to Geoffrey, who was watching us both. “Is this challenge sanctioned by your Alpha?” Geoff shook his head. “I don’t believe he ran it by Joshua first. But he does have a complaint.” More than the standard gay werewolves are the spawn of Satan and should be destroyed? “What complaint?” “My house!” Daniel sputtered. “Someone took orange spray paint and wrote things on my house!” I turned an inadvertent snort into a cough. Not funny, not funny. “What things?” Daniel’s face had regained its red hue. “Words. Insults. And he did it.” He turned to glare at Simon again. “You know he did. Cowardly, sneaking around, afraid to face me. He wrecked my house!” He made a lunge up the stairs. I grabbed his arm, and swung him around to face me. “Shut up and stand down,” I hissed, with all the menace I could put into it. Apparently it was enough, because he sagged like all the air had leaked out of him. “I will look into this, and if your property was damaged, I’ll see that you get compensation from the guilty party. But it wasn’t Simon. I’ve had men watching him for his protection all week.” I gestured at Andy. “Simon didn’t do anything to you. So go home, and let your Alpha deal with this. Unless you’d rather challenge me?” He didn’t even try to meet my eyes. “No, Alpha.” “Go.” I gave him a shove toward his parked car. From where he stood watching, Geoff said, “Maybe it wasn’t Simon this time. But your pack’s out of control. You’re only asking for trouble, letting this go on. Follow the law, get rid of

6 Kaje Harper the human who knows about us, deal with your fag, and then we can live in peace again.” “Over my dead body,” I said coldly. “Perhaps.” Geoff looked me up and down, then shifted his gaze to Simon, and to Andy still trying to look tough and protective. When Geoff turned back to me his lip was curled in a sneer, although he couldn’t quite meet my eyes. “Perhaps someone will take you down, and then deal with this…perversion… the way it should be handled.” “But not you.” I stepped forward, pushing into his personal space, and he backed off a step, then two. “And not today. Now get out of here.” I held my ground until they climbed into their car and drove away. Then I sighed. Damn. I so did not need this. Behind me Andy said softly, “I’m sorry, Aaron.” “For what?” I turned to look at him. “You did what you were supposed to. When trouble came, you called me and backed up Simon until I got here. What else could you have done?” “I wasn’t much backup,” he said miserably. “Daniel would have walked right over me.” “It’s not your job to stand up to wolves like Daniel. It’s mine. You did fine.” I climbed the steps and slapped his shoulder gently. “Take off, Andy. I’ll be here for a while, and Damian will be on patrol soon. Go get something to eat and warm up.” Not that we wolves felt the cold much. Andy ducked his head. “Okay.” He turned to Simon. “You okay, bro?” Simon dredged up a smile. The two had been friends a long time. “I’m fine. I’m glad you didn’t get dragged into a real fight, but it was good to have you here.” “Right, sure.” Andy waved a hand toward the house. “Bye, Paul.” He pulled his hood up over his ears and headed off down the road to wherever he had parked his car. I turned to Simon, still standing immovable in his doorway

unexPected deMAnds 7 in sweatpants and a T-shirt. “Let’s take this inside,” I said gently. “You’re letting in the cold, and you may not feel it, but Paul does.” Simon came back to me with a start. “Yeah.” He led the way into his house. Just inside the entry, in the shadows of the hall, stood his human mate, Paul. Simon went to him quickly, perhaps unconsciously keeping himself between me and Paul. Neither one was tall, but Simon was wide, hard with muscle, while Paul was slender. Simon was dark, copper-skinned, and black-haired. He was good-looking, with regular features and that muscular build, but not remarkable unless you caught the spark of humor in his eyes. Paul was dark gold of hair and eyes, and beautiful. All the more so because he seemed unaware of it. Simon, anything but unaware, practically pissed circles around him when other men came too close. It would have been funny, under other circumstances. I looked at them for a moment, then shut down the bond that linked me to Simon’s emotions. I couldn’t concentrate with the force of Simon’s fear and love and anxiety pressing in on me. The odd echo that was Paul went with it. My head felt a little better without the intense stress I’d been getting from the two men. “Can we sit down?” Simon led the way into the living room, bringing Paul with him. He kept his hand on Paul’s arm like he needed the contact. I dropped onto the couch and Paul sat in the chair across from me. Simon chose to stand behind him. Paul craned his neck back to look up at his mate and sighed, but forbore to comment. “So,” I told them, “I’ll check into the spray paint thing. It’s not your concern. But this pattern of threats against you is not going to go away.” “I didn’t think it would.” Simon’s voice sounded as tired as I felt. “Once the word got out, I knew we had a problem.” “It’s all over the pack websites. So far a dozen Alphas have called for me to purge my own pack or they’ll do it for me. Most are calling me a liar to my face, for taking you in as a pair. They’re

8 Kaje Harper suggesting I should be eliminated immediately myself. The mate bond thing is making them have kittens.” Paul snorted, as I’d hoped he would. Simon just looked grim. “On the plus side…” I continued. “There’s a plus side to this?” Simon asked. “I have eight queries from other wolves either putting out tentative feelers about joining our pack or asking me to explain how the mate bond between two men worked.” “Which helps us how? You’re not going to invite strangers into the pack right now.” “No. But it’s proof that eliminating you and Paul won’t get rid of the issue of gay wolves. We need to address it, not try and stuff it back in the box. Which is the point I’m trying to make on the Net.” “How’s that working for you?” Simon asked acidly.

“It’s an uphill battle,” I agreed. “But I think I’m getting a shift from ‘kill them now’ to ‘check the situation out and then kill them.’” “Which is so much better.” “Of course it is,” I snapped. Even without the bond open, I could almost feel the darkness pulling Simon down. For a wolf who had faced his own imminent death more than once with a can-do attitude, he was awfully negative now. Not that he didn’t have a good reason. We both knew there was a serious chance that Paul would not survive this. Even though they would have to go through Simon to get to Paul, and through me to get to Simon. Problem was if enough wolves really wanted to, they could do just that. “You think if the others find out there are lots of queers among us, they’ll magically become okay with it,” Simon said sarcastically. “Of course not. Even humans aren’t all okay with it, and we wolves seem to be programmed to be even more homophobic than they are. But the pack does change when it has to.”

unexPected deMAnds 9 “What about you?” Paul interrupted. “Do we make your skin crawl, Aaron?” That had to be a quote from someone. Simon looked stricken, and made a move as if to touch Paul’s face, but caught it short. “No,” I said, calmly and forcefully. “After I left my home pack, I met lots of humans and lived in lots of places. Gay people are just…people. But I also know how long it took me to be convinced of that, to the marrow of my bones. I know how instinctive my revulsion was, when I was young.” And that was the truth, if not the whole truth. I remembered my father’s heavy blows, his voice, “not tough enough, not wolf enough, hell, not man enough.” And my fear—did he know, did he guess? I remembered not just accepting the pain but welcoming it, needing it, hoping desperately that if I took it well enough it might somehow work, might purge this shameful, disgusting part of me, make me true pack. I remembered vividly how I felt each time it failed, each time I lived through one of his beatings and came out the other side unchanged. And all the years after, stumbling to some kind of weary resignation that I wasn’t ever going to change. And only later, finally, to a complete acceptance of both wolf and gay. I had been looking at it from the inside, and even then it was a long journey. And for the safety of all of us, one that had to remain secret. “I still can’t believe they hate gay werewolves enough to come hunt us down,” Paul said. “It’s not just that,” I pointed out. “There have been rumors about gay wolves, in this pack and in others, forever. No one cared enough to make a crusade out of it, outside their own pack. I think deep down, most of us realize that extermination isn’t possible. There are lots of queer wolves already out there under cover now, as proved by those emails. Killing you won’t solve that problem.” Simon snorted. “It’ll just make them feel better.” Paul elbowed him in the hip. “So why are they so rabid now?” “It’s the mate bond. And the idea that a human man knows

10 Kaje Harper our secrets and is being allowed to live because of a male-male mate bond. They don’t believe it can be true, don’t want it to be true. And if it’s not true, then Simon and I are both traitors to our kind, and all three of us need to die.” “To the point where they’ll show up from miles away and kill us?” Paul said disbelievingly. “Oh, yeah, babe,” Simon said. “Secrecy is our holy grail. Nothing is too much when it comes to keeping the secret.” “But I haven’t betrayed your secrecy. Can’t there be some kind of probation for human allies? Surely they would eventually see that I’m not a threat.” “We don’t take that chance,” I said quietly. “Bonded mates are safe, because they are linked to their wolves. As a bondmate, you feel what Simon feels and to a lesser degree what happens to the rest of the pack. If we are captured, imprisoned, killed, you would feel it. That’s our insurance. But if you were just his human friend, who knows? Who can say that you won’t get mad at him and betray him, or get bored and leave and let the secret slip one day? The decision was made eons ago—only bondmates learn our secret and live.” “That’s pretty fanatical.” I shrugged. “It’s worked so far. It has allowed us to set a clear policy, and not depend on the judgment of any single wolf or even a single Alpha about who can be trusted. I can’t even say I disagree with it. I’ve seen some pretty vindictive ex-wives who were once beloved spouses. And even if our days in hiding are as numbered as I think they are, I’m no more eager to be outed to human society than most other wolves.” Paul stared at me. “So you think it’s okay to go around killing people? Maybe you should kill me yourself, and just be done with it.” I shook my head, giving Simon my best Alpha glare to hold him in place. “I don’t like killing. I’ll go a long way to avoid it, if any other alternative is possible. And anyway, you are Simon’s mate. You’re part of my pack, you’re in my head, and mine to

unexPected deMAnds 11 protect, to my last breath and beyond.” “But you’d kill me, if I wasn’t,” Paul persisted. He was entitled to the truth. “Maybe. If I couldn’t persuade you this was all a fantasy, drug-induced hallucinations, something. To keep Mark’s little boy out of a cage for the rest of his life, with scientists sampling him and poking him to make him shift in the name of research, yes, I might kill you.” Paul’s gold eyes bored disdainfully into mine, but he wasn’t going to win this one. “Tell me you humans would never do a thing like that to a child.” His eyes finally dropped. “We probably would. But it doesn’t justify…” “It does to me. One day, we’ll have to come out to the humans, and take our chances. But the more time human society has to change, to accept the weird and wonderful, and the more time our numbers have to increase, the better our chance of survival. I won’t do anything to deliberately endanger that.” “So what choices do Paul and I have?” Simon asked. “We don’t have that kind of time. We can wait here until some wolf kills us, or we can try to run and hide, and pray no one finds us.” “My hope lies in the fact that it’s your bond that’s making them rabid. And your bond is a matter of fact, not opinion. They don’t need to like you. They just need to acknowledge that you are bound together. If Paul is accepted as a packmate, he’ll be a hell of a lot safer.” Killing a bonded mate was only slightly less bad than killing a young pup. Under normal circumstances, it would bring the wrath of all the packs down on you. Wolves protected mates and young. Although up until now mates had always been women. “How do we prove anything?” Simon asked. “I can sense my bond with Paul. As my Alpha, you can too. But other wolves can’t tell for sure. If they won’t take your word as Alpha now, what would make them change their minds?” “They can’t sense the bond directly,” I pointed out. “But it gives you two some abilities that would be hard to explain any other way. With a true mate bond, you know when something

12 Kaje Harper happens to Paul, even from miles away. You can find each other over a big distance. You can sense each other’s emotions. Those are things that can be demonstrated.” “Demonstrated? Like passing a test? You think anyone will buy that?” “I’m trying to persuade the other packs to send a delegation to test you. We shift the emphasis from whether gay wolves should be allowed to exist in the first place, to whether they can form a true bond. The first question is a matter of opinion, and we have no hope of winning right now. The other is a fact that we can prove. Protecting and trusting our mates is instinctive. Get enough wolves convinced, make them see that you and Paul are both linked to the whole pack, and we might live through this.” Simon was shaking his head. “It’s too risky.” “What other choice is there?” I asked. The silence stretched out for a while. Simon looked down at the floor. Finally I added, “It’s this, or run. If you feel you have to run, I’ll help you all I can. But if you run now, it will be forever. You’ll have to keep hiding, always worried about being found. They won’t let a human walk off with pack secrets. They won’t stop looking. And Paul loses everything he’s built here, his practice, his home, friends, everything.” “Except his life.” Simon’s fingers whitened on Paul’s shoulder, and the young man winced silently. Just as quickly, Simon’s hand opened and he rubbed gently where he had gripped too hard. “Sorry, babe,” he whispered. “I’m so sorry. About all of this.” “Shut up,” Paul told him. “You didn’t cause the problem. We got into this together, and I don’t want to run. Anyway, you were the one who told me how important the pack was to you, how hard it would be to live without it.” “That was before half the wolves in the known universe found out about us and decided we should be wiped off the face of the earth. Don’t worry about me. That’s not relevant now.” “It’s part of the equation. I don’t want you feeling empty and alone because you decided that protecting me was more

unexPected deMAnds 13 important than your ties to your pack.” Simon knelt by his chair, looking him in the eyes. I knew this wasn’t the first time they had gone around with this. “We can’t stay. It’s too risky. You haven’t seen how rabid some of the comments are. They all want you dead.” “And whose fault is it that I haven’t seen them?” Paul’s voice was heated in its turn. He looked over at me. “Will you tell this idiot that I’m a big boy, and I can handle a few insults and threats? He’s being all protective to the point where he won’t let me read the forum postings anymore.” I could understand the protective instinct, but I raised my eyebrow at Simon. “Don’t you think Paul’s strong enough to be a full partner here?” From Simon’s wince, I knew I’d hit a sore spot. “It’s not that. Of course he is. I just…I don’t want him to see…to read what other wolves…” He trailed off. “I think Paul has already seen us at our worst,” I said gently. Simon looked as ragged as I felt. “He hasn’t walked away yet.” “What will happen to you,” Paul asked me, “if you let us get away?” “Probably nothing.” Nothing for Paul to worry about, anyway. I was his Alpha, not the reverse. “Some will consider it a breach of security, but I can handle my end. You need to think about yourselves.” “I want to stay,” Paul repeated. He looked back at Simon. “I don’t want to spend the rest of my life running. And more.” His voice took on a deeper resonance. “Simon, in this looking-glass world I’ve fallen into they kill thirteen-year-olds for being gay. If you and I have a chance to change that, how can we walk away from it?” “I can,” Simon muttered. “I can walk away from anything to keep your blood inside your body where it belongs.” Paul just looked at him, his hazel-gold eyes dark and quiet. After a long time, Simon said, “Damn.” He looked up at me. “All

14 Kaje Harper right, okay, he’s right. We have to do this. Into your hands, my Alpha. Tell me what you want me to do.” It was the decision I had wanted, but I still felt a little sick. Simon was giving me control over the most precious thing in his life, and we could all end up dead. But I also had the memory of slaughtered kids walking at my shoulder. I felt like I had to do this too. “I’ll get online,” I said, “and try to set up a meeting open to all the packs. If I can persuade the other Alphas to send delegates, they may not send assassins.” I looked at the two hollow-eyed men in front of me. “You two get some sleep. It’s Sunday, the day of rest, you know. You look like a pair of raccoons.” Paul sighed. “Simon won’t sleep. A leaf hitting the ground a block away has him leaping out of bed.” “Sleep at my place.” My wolf liked the idea of having the threatened members of our pack under my roof. “If you trust me to keep you safe. There’s a spare room. Feel free to use the shower and the bed.” “We don’t need to…” Simon began. “I think you do. You can’t protect Paul if you’re falling over. Follow me home and get in a few solid hours. We’ll talk again after.” I put a little Alpha push into it. I apparently didn’t yet have a good handle on the command part of an Alpha’s power, and Simon winced like I was giving him a headache. “All right,” he said slowly. “You’re right. My brain is mush right now. Thank you.” “I’ll pack a bag,” Paul said. He glanced at Simon. “A few things we might need.” The heat that flashed between them as Simon returned his gaze almost scorched me. Even without my Alpha bond open, my body reacted to their desire. Shit. I needed to get laid. Except that that complication was the last thing I could afford right now. I sighed. “I’ll call Damian and let him know he should watch my house instead of yours.” I’d keep a patrol on them, but trouble

unexPected deMAnds 15 was much less likely at an Alpha’s home. That was probably just as well. Damian was the hothead among my wolves. If he had been on those steps facing Daniel, I would have arrived in the middle of a fight. I rubbed my forehead. I could use some sleep too, but this wasn’t the time. At least these two were coming back to my place. That was right; I could feel my wolf settling a bit. I could put them where I wanted them, behind me in any fight. And maybe my wolf was an overprotective control freak, but I realized that having them there would make me feel much better. For a few hours, I would know exactly where Paul and Simon were and could keep them safe myself. §§§§ Mark, my second, was a trained police officer. He was also highly skilled at surreptitiously using his wolf senses at crime scenes to track down the guilty party. He grumbled a bit about idiots keeping him from going home to his family, but agreed to go look at the graffiti for me. Although Daniel hadn’t picked up any scent over the cold and the strong smell of paint, Mark wasn’t so limited. His call came only ten minutes after I dispatched him to the scene of the crime. And the culprit shouldn’t have come as a surprise. A disappointment, maybe, but not a surprise. I made a couple of phone calls. I was sitting at my desk, busy on the computer trying to counter all the kill-the-fag postings on the pack websites and bring back sanity, when I heard Vincent open my front door. Then footsteps approached, and there was a hesitant tap on the study door. I let the petitioner wait a few minutes. Time to put my Alpha game face on. I had taught myself to be silent and unobtrusive, to fade into the old pack. But the man I had been wasn’t enough to guide this mismatched new pack of mine. I needed to speak up now, to use every ounce of strength and persuasiveness I could muster, on behalf of my wolves. It felt like I’d talked more in the last week than in the previous seven years. I was remaking myself one more time. And hiding any speck of uncertainty.

16 Kaje Harper I sat up straighter, let my shoulders drop and a little of my wolf come to the fore. The man on the other side of the door was near the bottom of the pack rankings and urgently in need of a good father figure. Or maybe a good spanking; at this point I could go either way. “Come in, Zach,” I said in a conversational tone, not bothering to raise my voice. We may not have had weird powers and super strength, but acute hearing? That we wolves had in spades. The door opened slowly, and the young man behind it came into my study. He was small and lightly built, with dark hair and eyes, and the smooth, easy gait of a born athlete. Of course, all my wolves had that, a gift to their human forms from the wolf. The kid had his chin up and his eyes were defiant. “Shut the door,” I told him as his mouth was opening for whatever cocky greeting or justification he had come up with while waiting. He closed his mouth and did as I asked. When he came to stand in front of my desk, he had taken measure of my expression, and thought better of speaking first. I let him stand there silently, and just looked at him while I opened my bond to him. I was still getting the hang of the Alpha bond, that emotional link that bound me to my wolves, and them to me. I could hardly get worse at it than I had been the first day. For those first interminable hours as my pack bonded to me, the fears, doubts, excitements, and damned lusts of all my wolves had come roaring down the open bonds toward me, until I could hardly separate myself from them. A steep learning curve had been necessary for survival. And I had learned. Mostly. Now I could cut contact down to the barest thread, and only open it at will. Although once open, the intensity was still excessive. From this young man as I opened the channel, I was getting a mix of anxiety, embarrassment, and fear. And one hell of a headache. His for a change, not mine. I looked more closely, wrinkling my nose involuntarily. “Just how much did you drink last night?”

unexPected deMAnds 17 His olive skin couldn’t hide the flush. “Not that much.” “I can still smell it on you,” I said coldly. “Unless you had

more again this morning.” “Hair of the dog,” he tossed off, aiming for nonchalance. “You’ll note that saying refers to dogs, not wolves,” I snapped. “Wasn’t last night’s booze enough?” I didn’t wait for an answer. “So, the story I have is that you decided to get drunk with some of your human friends, began cruising for trouble, and ended up spray-painting the word BIGOT in giant orange letters on the side of Daniel’s house. Is that right?” I could feel his jolt of surprise when I mentioned the spray paint, the moment’s hesitation when he considered denying it, and the fear that went with giving up that denial. My bonds might still be too deep for comfort when I opened them up, but at least it did mean my wolves were never going to be able to lie to me. “I didn’t plan it. It just sort of happened.” I eyed him coldly. “How old are you?” “Twenty-one,” he said, with a touch of defiance. When my cold look didn’t waver he added, “Almost.” “Almost” was true. There was only a week left to his full majority, but almost wasn’t completely, and the legal drinking age was twenty-one. Which gave me leverage, had I needed any more. “So you decided that our pack wasn’t in enough trouble? You had to add underage drinking, drunk driving, and vandalism to the mix. Not to mention antagonizing the fourth-ranked wolf of the only pack that’s even marginally behind us right now?” “I didn’t get caught. No one will know…” He trailed off because obviously someone did know. I sighed. “Zach, tell me. What the hell am I supposed to do with you? You’re already locked down.” He wore a strong narrow chain padlocked tight around his neck, an effective deterrent against shifting to a wolf form with a much thicker neck size, and a punishment for past sins. “I put you in Lucas’s care with the hope you could straighten up and get it right. I figured after

18 Kaje Harper your grandfather’s heavy hand, Lucas might seem like a good second chance. Was I wrong?” “No. I wasn’t…I didn’t mean…none of this is Lucas’s fault.” I leaned back in my chair and locked my hands behind my head. “So explain.” He stood still for a moment, searching for an opening, and then blurted, “Simon and our whole pack are in trouble and no one was doing anything about it!” I raised an eyebrow. “And so you spray painted a house? In front of humans?” “I was going to put TRAITOR,” he said defiantly, “But I figured that might raise questions, so I didn’t. I went with BIGOT. The guys were drunk, they didn’t ask about it. And Daniel was the one who outed Simon on the Net first.” I blinked. That was new information, if true. I knew someone had put complaints about my gay wolf out there, against both pack Alphas’ explicit orders. I hadn’t guessed it was Daniel. Not that it excused Zach’s actions, but still. “And you know this how?” “I’m good with computers.” A little pride filtered into his anger. “When that statement went up, I knew there weren’t too many people it could have come from. I checked around, pulled up some chat room logs, and there it was on Daniel’s. I have the record, I can prove it.” “I thought the board was secure,” I said, startled. We’d spent enough money on keeping up the computer security. It was supposed to be hack-proof. Our rules kept names, addresses, and blatant references to pack activities off the board, but it still might attract unwanted attention. No one was supposed to be able to track down pack members from it by any method. Zach tossed his head, flicking the fall of black bangs out of his eyes. “Nothing is completely secure. I’ve…um…hacked into the chat room host’s server before. And Daniel’s not particularly careful, uses really crap passwords. It wasn’t hard to find him.” Joshua, Alpha of the North pack, would have Daniel’s hide,

unexPected deMAnds 19 for both the security breach and the gossip. But Zach needed a reprimand here. “And then,” I drawled, “instead of taking this information to Daniel’s Alpha or to yours, you decided to go out, get drunk, and buy some orange paint?” The pride disappeared in a wave of embarrassment. “It wasn’t like that. You were out, and Joshua had his whole pack at a meet. And while I was waiting, my friends called, and they had Jim’s brother’s pickup and some booze and the paint and…things just happened.” I sighed. I could drag the boy through it further, but the picture was clear enough. What I should do was less so. I had never wanted to be Alpha, never planned on it. When I was forced to kill Karl to keep him from heading our pack and taking us all to hell, I got the job handed to me. An Alpha was part boss, part father, part commanding officer to his wolves. I’d never aspired to any of those roles. I wondered how many others of the confident Alpha werewolves I had met were paddling frantically underneath the water, trying to learn on the job. I was too tired for this. Mark, my Second, was always telling me to delegate. So I would delegate. “Go home,” I said, waving Zach away. “Tell your mentor the whole story and see what he thinks should be done with you. Tell Lucas I said it’s his call, as long as you can walk afterward. And Zach.” I sat up suddenly and fixed him with a cold stare. “No booze. None. Between now and your birthday, at least, not one drop of alcohol passes your lips. Swear it.” Zach dropped his eyes. He looked calm and controlled, but I could feel his confusion and almost terror. It was surprisingly strong, the roiling mix of emotions as he wondered if this was a reprieve or just a delay in some severe punishment. Zach’s grandfather had messed that boy up more than I’d realized. He steadied himself as he raised his eyes. “I swear,” he said, voice shaking slightly. I nodded. “So.” I deliberately went conversational with my

20 Kaje Harper tone. Anything to dial back the fear in that boy. I buried a sudden desire to rip his grandfather Joseph’s throat out, and searched for a distraction. “Do you think you could do a little more hacking without getting caught? Find out which wolves are posting the pro and con statements about our pack on the board?” He brightened with hope. “Would it help?” “Couldn’t hurt. When the shit hits the fan, it would be good to know who our biggest enemies really are.” “I could go back further too,” Zach said, becoming eager. “Dig around in the pack histories. There was that mess with a girl somewhere in the east, and the missing money thing. You remember the rumors. If I can figure out which packs were involved, it might give us some leverage to use against them.” A truly moral man might have told Zach not to go digging into the old scandals that came and went, posted anonymously and ambiguously on the chat forum used by the packs. But wolves are predators. I would take any advantage the boy could dig up for me. I let myself smile sharply. “If you can do it without getting caught, I’ll take any leverage you can get me.” “I won’t get caught.” He didn’t smile back, but his heart rate had slowed and the fear receded. Already he was thinking, planning. “I’m the best.” “Okay,” I told him. “Go dig. After you tell Lucas about your idiocy last night. But tell him you need working fingers and a butt that can sit on a chair too.” I smiled again, and let it have some warmth for a moment before adding more coldly, “And leave Daniel to me, understand?” He looked down submissively. “Yes, Alpha.” A little fear, but a little of his natural cockiness returning. I figured that was about right. Lucas wouldn’t hurt the boy, but he would come up with some kind of punishment to fit the crime. “Go.” After he left, I picked up the phone. “Yes, Aaron?” The voice on the other end was deep and

unexPected deMAnds 21 slightly formal. He had caller ID on his phone. He knew it was me. Joshua was the Alpha of the North Pack, from which my smaller West Pack had split. Before the split, when he had been just an older wolf three steps above me, we’d had a cordial if distant relationship. Now, hard as we tried, we found ourselves at odds. He was bitterly aware that he owed his position to me, hated knowing that I took down Karl when he couldn’t. I resented the fact that he allowed some of his pack members to harass mine without reining them in. It didn’t help that we were still negotiating the division of pack assets, and everything one pack gained was something the other pack lost. “I found out who tagged Daniel’s house,” I told him now. “The culprit is being disciplined. You need to ask Daniel why he leaked Simon and Paul’s relationship onto the Net against your explicit orders.” The faint growl of irritation could have been at the news, or at my tone. Probably both. “You’re sure?” Zach had been. “Yes.” “Damn.” There was a pause while Joshua mulled that over. “I’ll deal with Daniel,” he said eventually. “But it won’t put the genie back in the bottle. You’ll still have half the Alphas in the Midwest calling you a traitor and a liar and demanding your head, or Simon’s, or mostly both. What are you going to do?” “Not sure yet,” I admitted. “I’m working on it.” “I’ll back you as far as I can. But I won’t get my wolves killed for Simon.” Or for the rest of what you consider the malcontents I ended up with, I realized. When the pack split, each wolf had been given the choice of swearing to Joshua or to me. They had all known I was taking Simon and his human lover, and that I had confirmed a true mate bond between the two men. The pack I ended up with

22 Kaje Harper was composed of the least-traditional wolves. Joshua had been relieved to see them go. I’d been just as happy to let him keep the conservative bigots. But it meant neither of us had as much affection for each other’s wolves as we might have, considering we had all been packmates together just a week ago. “Just put a leash on your wolves for now,” I said. “Don’t let them make the situation worse. I’ll send over a paint-removal team.” “I’ll send a couple of my boys to help. Keep Daniel guessing whether the culprit was one of yours or one of mine. There’s enough bad feeling building between the packs already.” “Okay,” I agreed, adding, “Thanks,” although the word stuck in my throat. To my surprise, Joshua gave an amused snort. “You ever start to wonder why you wanted to be Alpha in the first place?” I hadn’t wanted, but I knew a peace offering when I heard one. “Yeah,” I agreed. “Maybe I should have let Karl keep it.” I meant it as a joke, but Joshua was silent for a moment. I regretted the remark. Reminding Joshua that I had been the one to take the vicious pack Second down to save us all was probably not politic. But when he did speak his voice was more friendly than it had been for a long time. “No, Aaron,” he said. “You shouldn’t have. Keep in touch.” So, not as bad as it might have been. I replaced the phone carefully on its base and stood up to stretch. The walls of my study seemed to waver. I blinked rapidly a few times and reached up until my shoulders popped. It had been far too long since I’d had the luxury of going wolf and just running, flat out, finding the balance of muscle and sinew, body and brain. Holding human shape for a week felt like being freeze-dried. I was only forty-six, and could pass for late twenties among humans, but sometimes I felt like a hundred. In most cases, when an Alpha died, the pack Second took his place. That was probably a hard enough transition to make. But it couldn’t compare to suddenly becoming Alpha when you hadn’t

unexPected deMAnds 23 even imagined it. I had been Sixth in the pack, safely high but not in line for the top spot for decades to come. But then Karl killed Gordon, our Alpha. And no one else would, or could, call him out for it. And Karl had been crazy bad, with a love of pain and power that would have half-destroyed our pack if he got the strength of the Alpha position behind it. So I killed him. I remembered little of the fight itself. It had been all instinct, fought with the weight and speed and teeth of wolves. I could bring back flashes of pain and the taste of blood, and the desperate intensity of knowing this was to the death. The feel of flesh under my teeth, a life ebbing through my jaws. Until I found myself coming back to full awareness in the center of a ring of men, and he was dead and I wasn’t. From then on, I remembered everything. I remembered the empty spot in my head, where my bond to Gordon had been. And I remembered it filling with new links that formed as my wolves swore to me. That first night, they were open channels, beyond my control. As each werewolf in human form touched me and gave oath, I felt him lock in, felt his pain/fear/grief/ excitement/relief roll into me. As the layers piled up, I began to wonder if there was some trick to staying sane that I should have heard about. Because I wasn’t sure I was going to manage it. And on top of all the emotions pouring into me, I had been reacting instinctively too. Powerful possessiveness. Mine, these wolves are mine! I was protective, and at the same time I fought a need to get every one of them down on the floor in submission. Despite my relief that Joshua was keeping most of the old pack, part of me wanted to fight him for every wolf. I held ragged reins on a lifetime of control. For seven years with this pack, six years with the one before it, I had locked away half my personality and made myself the perfect unobtrusive subordinate. Now the locks were breaking. And that night. I closed my eyes now, remembering. Humans often reacted to violence and death by grabbing for proof they were still alive. Drinking, fighting, and sex were popular choices. Werewolves were no different. By late evening, every variation

24 Kaje Harper on lust and excitement came pouring down those open bonds. I couldn’t tell what, or who, any one wolf was doing. But I sure as hell could tell what most of them were feeling. By the next morning I had figured out a trick for throttling down those bonds. I’d learned how to wrap shift energy around them and squeeze, like a fist around a hose. I spent the next couple of days learning how to open one bond without opening all of them again. Since Joshua and I were in heated negotiations over property and territory at the time, I ate lots of aspirin, squinted through the headaches, and wondered if he was having just as hard a time with the big crowd of wolves that he’d bonded. I sure hoped so. I would have given a lot for some time and peace to settle into the job. I should have known better. For a race whose safety depended on absolute silence to the outside world, wolves gossiped like old women. It had only taken a few days for someone, apparently Daniel, to post an anonymous rant on our supposedly secure forum about the pack that allowed faggot members to act like normal folk, and pretend to bond. And about the Alpha who used a fake bond as an excuse to let a human man know about the pack and live. The uproar was immediate. It remained to be seen if we would survive it.

chAPteR 2 The man in front of my desk Monday afternoon was small and wiry, with nondescript features and aggressively short greying hair. At first glance, he wouldn’t have commanded much attention. But to a wolf, every move, every look from those steelgrey eyes, screamed Alpha. And he was not happy. “Do you want to tell me,” he said coldly, “what right you have to invite the top wolves and enforcers from a dozen outside packs into my territory?” “Into the neutral zone between our territories, surely.” I stayed seated, body language as relaxed and non-confrontational as possible, with my hands where he could see them. I spared a nod for Vincent, who was hovering by the open, still-vibrating door. I sent a push of calm along our bond to suggest my secretary stand down. After a moment, Vincent stepped back and closed the door between us quietly. “The airport is south,” John Hanson said loudly. “South Pack territory. My territory.” “We’ll get the incoming wolves heading north as soon as they land. I have no desire to force you to get involved in this.” I had hoped to keep the Twin Cities’ third wolf pack out of the mix. After a moment I added. “Are you trying to tell me you’ve never had anyone pass through the train station? The northern train station? The essential parts of city center have always been neutral ground.” “You’re still crazy,” he said, although his voice was calmer. “You’re actually bringing all those dominant wolves here.” I sighed, a bit louder than necessary, to make a point. “They were coming anyway, some of them. This may give us more control over who and where.” “There’s no ‘us’ in this mess,” he growled, but added almost unwillingly in a quieter tone, “Is that fag wolf of yours really

26 Kaje Harper bonded to a man?” “He is.” I raised an eyebrow at him. “You can come to the planned demonstration, if you like.” “No. Especially if there are a bunch of other Alphas showing up.” I could believe that this small, dominant man wouldn’t enjoy being in a crowd of other top wolves. They would push him, because of his size, but he hadn’t lasted on top of a pack for twenty years by allowing himself to be hassled without responding. He would want to push back and…I kept another sigh to myself. The gathering I was putting together was going to be a testosterone-fest even without him in it. Hanson scowled. “You do know they’ll watch whatever show you put on, and kill the human afterward anyway.” “Possibly. But they’ll have to go through me and my wolves to get him. I want them to realize that. Maybe once they see he is truly bound to the pack, they’ll decide it’s not worth the trouble to go after him.” Hanson cocked his head to one side, eyeing me sharply. “Why are you doing this? Why not just ditch the pair, and get the rest of your pack out from under?” My reasons were none of his business, but I gave him the easiest ones. “I inherited him already bonded. And no one is making me give up one of my wolves. And…I’m tired of killing for stupid reasons. We can’t afford to fight among ourselves anymore. We need to bring our gay wolves into the packs, not drive them out, bitter and resentful.” “Doesn’t matter how they feel, if they’re all dead.” “Except they aren’t. My gay wolf was in the closet with the pack for ten years before he got outed. From the emails I’m getting, there are a dozen others out there like him. You can’t exterminate them all if you can’t find them all. And personally, I’m done with killing a thirteen-year-old because he looks at my dick.”

unexPected deMAnds 27 “And just like that, you’re making the decision for the rest of us?” “What happens outside my pack is not my concern. What happens here is. I will protect my wolves and their mates. Hopefully, the other packs will hesitate about creating a mess that might out us all to the humans.” “I understand your strategy,” he said. “I’m just surprised you would take that risk for them.” “You like killing packmates?” He stared at me for a long time, eyes steel-grey and hard. Finally he said, “No. All right, call your meeting. The outside wolves can come in at the airport, but you tell them, anyone heading south without my permission will be considered an intruder.” He grinned sharply. “Tell your wolves they can come petition to join my pack when you’re dead. Or before.” I nodded. “You want to meet my problem child, see if you prefer to exterminate him and the others like him, or leave them be?” Hanson’s eyes narrowed, and for a moment I saw a flare of anger all out of proportion to his role in this mess. And some other emotion, deeply hidden. Then without comment he turned and left. So, that went well. Although actually, it was more of a concession than I would have expected from a man reputed to be as hard as any Alpha around. Vincent stuck his head around the door. “Do you need anything else from me, Aaron?” “Not today. Tomorrow we’ll see if anyone takes me up on this meeting. If they do, we’ll have to get busy with some serious planning.” I hoped Joshua would let me use the old pack lodge to house the incomers. That property had gone to his half of the pack in our negotiations, but I had no other alternative on short notice. Surely Joshua would want the invading wolves where he could

28 Kaje Harper see them, even if it meant acting as an unwilling host. It was hard to get a handle on what Joshua thought about Simon and Paul. His official stance was cool neutrality. I had no hint yet on whether he would lean toward making things easier or harder for us, when push came to shove. I rubbed at my eyes. Despite a couple of hours of sleep last night, I’d had a headache threatening all day. My muscles had an odd ache too. If werewolves weren’t so resistant to infections, I might have thought I was coming down with the human flu. “G’night, then,” Vincent said. I gave him a vague wave. I could hear him in the hallway pulling on a jacket and making his way out the door. I stood, pacing and rolling my shoulders. Getting old, Tremaine. What I really needed was a run. There was still no time for a safe run on four feet, damn it, but I’d settle for two right now. I had changed into sweats and a parka and was tying my sneakers, when the ache in my head suddenly became a needle straight into my brain. With the pain came the sudden realization that this wasn’t my own illness. Zach! My first reaction was pure anger. The kid’s been drinking and is hungover again. But a second of thought made me doubtful. My wolves were a rowdy bunch. I had felt hangovers before, including Zach’s. They’d never bored their way into my brain without my deliberately opening a bond. At least not since that first morning. And this sensation held an edge of danger, an alarm bell that said a packmate was in real trouble. I grabbed my keys and jumped in the SUV without conscious thought. I called the carpentry shop as I drove. Zach should still be at work. Lots of scope for accidents there. But Alex, the shop foreman, told me the kid never showed that morning, called in sick. Which was weird in itself; wolves almost never got sick. Maybe it was just the day after a binge drink. My phone rang in my hand as I closed it. “What?” I snapped, concentrating on my driving in the thickening afternoon traffic.

unexPected deMAnds 29 “It’s Lucas.” The older wolf ’s voice was hesitant. “Have you heard anything from Zach lately?” “Only a pain in my head. He’s your responsibility. Don’t you know what he’s up to?” “I wasn’t home last night.” I had to be imagining embarrassment in his voice, because Lucas wasn’t home about one night in four and had never been anything but smug about it. “But something feels wrong.” “To me too.” The pain in my head was sharpening even though I had the bond to Zach squeezed down tight so I could see to drive. “He’s not at work. Hopefully he’s at your place. That’s the direction his bond is leading me anyway. Meet me there.” Lucas had a tiny house on a dead-end circle. The area was more suburban than I would have associated with Lucas. He had always struck me as a man who liked the lights bright and the music loud. But then many werewolves chose to live somewhere more secluded than where they played. As I parked haphazardly in the driveway, my sense of Zach got sharper, nearer. I scrambled out of the SUV, and my phone rang again. I flipped it open as I ran. “Aaron, someone needs to check on Zach.” The voice of my Second was sharp with anxiety. “I’m on it, Mark. Call the rest of the pack. If it’s hitting you, they’ll all feel it. Tell them to stay put. I’ll call if I need help.” “Will do.” I shoved the phone in my pocket as I reached the door. Mark was more than competent. He’d take care of the rest. I could barely think for the alarm echoing down my bond from Zach. This was no mere hangover. I rattled the handle in frustration. Locked. I was set to kick it in when Lucas peeled up in his Lexus. Two seconds and he was at the door, fitting his key in the lock. I shoved the door open. “Zach!” The boy was close. I could feel him, smell him, and with him the smell of sweat and vomit, sharp and acrid. “Where

30 Kaje Harper are you?” Lucas was a step ahead of me getting to the small bathroom. Zach was huddled on the floor, his head against the tub. His skin was pale and green-tinged under its normal olive. His eyes were closed and he trembled. The floor and the front of his shirt were smeared with bile and foam. As we stood staring, I saw his muscles begin to tremor. The shaking rose until his whole body was jerking. His head arched back, and the pull on his skin opened his eyelids in a slit that showed only the whites. Seizure! I knelt beside him and slid my hand between his head and the hard porcelain to cushion it. I’d never actually seen a seizure before. Were you supposed to keep them from swallowing their tongue? Or was it biting their tongue? Zach’s lower lip was swollen, bleeding slightly, but his jaws were clenched tight and grinding. No way was I reaching in there. I pinned his shoulders to the floor, working hard to restrain his body. The force of the convulsions surprised me. Then slowly, the fit eased off. Zach slumped, boneless and lax on the tile. I glanced up at Lucas, still standing in the doorway. “What do you think?” I demanded. He had thirty years of experience on me. “Could it be poison? Illness? I’ve never heard of a wolf with epilepsy.” Lucas shook his head. I raised Zach’s eyelid. His pupils were huge, but he showed no awareness. His skin felt warm and clammy with sweat. “Um, Aaron.” I looked back up at Lucas. “Yes?” I snapped. “I suppose it could be poison or something. But I think…” “What? Spit it out.” He sighed. “I think it’s the DT’s.” “The DT’s?” I wasn’t following. Under my hands, fine muscle tremors were beginning again in Zach’s hands and arms. “Alcohol, Aaron. He’s been drinking a lot and…I think he’s in withdrawal.”

unexPected deMAnds 31 That brought my head up in a hurry. “He’s what?” I looked down again at that slender dark body for an instant, and then caught Lucas’s gaze with my own. “He’s twenty, for God’s sake. You think he’s an alcoholic?” Lucas gave a one-shouldered shrug that had a hint of guilt in it. “I wasn’t certain yet, so I didn’t want to say but…yeah, I think he is.” “I know he drinks…” Zach’s sweat smelled sour but there was no fresh odor of alcohol there. His eyelids fluttered. Such long dark lashes, trembling over pale cheeks. I shook his shoulder gently. “Zach, can you hear me?” His head moved slightly but there was no other response. “This is my fault,” Lucas muttered. “He told me last night, when I was getting ready to go out, that he’d promised not to drink anymore, and I wondered if that might be a problem. But he said it was no sweat, he was doing fine, and my girl was waiting.” “Enough,” I said firmly. And then “Shit!” as Zach’s trembling escalated again into a full-body seizure. I bent to hold him still, to keep him from injuring himself against the hard surfaces. “Call Susan… No. Damn!” We wolves didn’t run to the medical professions much. As long as I’d been with this pack, our closest thing to a doctor had been Gordon’s wife Susan, who was an RN. But she was still shaken and grieving her mate’s death. And she was linked to Joshua’s pack more than to mine. And I didn’t want our dirty laundry exposed for another Alpha, even Joshua. “Watch the boy,” I told Lucas, and pulled out my phone. I had a lot more numbers in its memory now. North End Veterinary Clinic was one of them. “I need to speak to Dr. Hunter,” I told the receptionist. “Tell him it’s Aaron, and it’s an emergency.” Paul Hunter’s voice was worried as he came on the line. “Aaron? Are you okay? I felt…something.” “I’m fine. Zach isn’t. He’s having seizures. Could be a poison, but Lucas thinks it’s alcohol withdrawal. We need your help.”

32 Kaje Harper “You need to get him to a hospital if he’s seizing.” “Can’t,” I snapped. “You know that.” “Oh, shit, yeah, okay.” Paul hesitated for a moment. “Okay.

Let me just get some stuff and I’ll be there. Where is there?” I gave him directions and hung up. Lucas knelt beside Zach, whose tremors had eased again. This time the boy’s eyes opened, looking dazed. He flailed with one arm as if trying to raise himself, but without the coordination to do so. I quickly dropped down beside him to pin him down. “Stay put, you fool,” I told him, putting a push of command behind it. He slumped to the floor and stared up at me. “Aaron?” His voice was slurred. “What’re you doing here?” “Taking care of you, apparently.” I let my irritation cover the relief I felt at hearing him awake and coherent. “You had a seizure.” “I did?” He licked at his bitten lip, and closed his eyes briefly. “I don’ remember. I felt sick an’…I don’t remember.” “Just stay put,” I said. “We’re going to get you checked out.” I couldn’t hold back my anger. “You fool, why did you promise to give up the booze cold turkey when you were this badly hooked?” “’M not hooked,” he mumbled indignantly. “I’m sick. Got nothing to do with drinking. I haven’ had a drink in…in…in a long time. I promised someone.” “You promised me.” I shook my head. He was drifting, eyes rolled halfway back in his head again. Through the bond, when I cautiously opened it, I could feel a flood of dizziness, pain, and confusion that had me slamming it shut again fast. He looked so young, lying there, his stained T-shirt rumpled up under his arms to expose six inches of flat olive belly and narrow hips. His jeans were a little short, as if he had just passed through another growth spurt. His feet were slender, bare and hairless on the tile. He could have been sixteen, although the muscles of his chest and arms hinted at more years of development. Tousled dark hair, pale olive cheeks; an intense wave of protectiveness rolled

unexPected deMAnds 33 through me. What made a kid like this drink often enough, heavily enough, to get to this state? Especially a werewolf. We could get drunk, God knew, but it took a lot of booze to do it, and we tended to metabolize it fast. It took some effort to stay drunk long. “Have you seen anything like this before?” I asked Lucas. “Not exactly,” he said uncomfortably. “Not with seizures and all. But I knew a guy once, after his mate died. He started drinking pretty steadily and heavy. Eventually his hands would shake in the morning, until he had his first glass of booze.” “What happened to him?” I placed my hand on Zach’s chest to monitor the rapid flutter of his heartbeat. Lucas was silent for a long time. Finally he said, “Alpha killed him.” I must have glared hard at him because he backed up a step, opened his hands, and looked down at the floor in appeasement. “I’m sorry. It wasn’t my decision.” When I got my anger controlled he looked up again carefully. “But the guy was an addict. He was getting worse. At some point, he would have done anything for a drink, even betrayed his pack. Or slipped up on concealment when he was drunk. It wasn’t my decision, but it was the safest thing.” “We are not killing Zach.” I could hear the ice in my own voice. “Of course not. I mean, he’s young. He can kick it, hopefully. If he makes it through.” “He’ll make it,” I said firmly. He has to. I was not losing any of my pack. Not to outside killers, not to outdated rules, and not to something as stupid as alcohol withdrawal. Just, not. Mine. These were my wolves and I would keep them safe. I realized I was growling, low and steady. I forced myself to breathe through my nose until the wave of anger receded. Paul Hunter came through the door in a rush, bags in hand. I gladly stood back to give him room. Zach was half awake again, mumbling and moving aimlessly. His hands trembled as he reached for Paul, saying something incoherent about work. The

34 Kaje Harper young vet checked him over quickly and then glanced up at me. “How many seizures, how long each?” “I saw two, about three minutes each. A lot of tremors and shaking in between, though.” “Mm.” Paul pulled out a thermometer, pressed the button, and then hesitated with a laugh. “What?” I snapped. “Sorry. Just thinking about his reaction to the fact that I was about to put this up his ass.” Not funny. Paul misread my stare, and colored. “Because I’m a vet, Aaron. Not because I’m gay.” I shook my head quickly. “No, I wasn’t thinking…” He had already turned back to his patient. “Axilla, I think. So he can’t bite it if he seizes.” He pushed Zach’s T-shirt higher, exposing the flat brown disc of one nipple as he slipped the thermometer into the boy’s armpit. When it beeped, he glanced at the readout, and then frowned. He sat back on the floor and looked up at me. “It could be a toxin or epilepsy. But if you suspect alcohol withdrawal, his symptoms fit. I looked it up on the Net while Simon drove me here. He has the tremors, pallor, sweating, vomiting, low-grade fever. It could be a virus, but I’m told you guys rarely get viruses.” “Almost never,” I confirmed. “What can you do for him?” Paul rubbed his face. “I’m not allowed to treat humans, you know. I could lose my license.” “He’s not human,” I reminded him. “Yeah, there is that.” Paul nodded. “Okay. I’m going to start an IV, give him some fluids, electrolytes. I’m adding a little Diazepam for the seizures. I’m taking the human doses off the PDR book. I have no idea how that’s going to work on a werewolf but it’s a place to start.”

unexPected deMAnds 35 I nodded. “Do it.” The man’s hands were swift and competent as he assembled supplies. He brushed strands of amber hair out of his eyes and looked up at me. “Aaron, you come hold Zach’s arm for me. Lucas, I need the fluid bag held up high.” I wrapped a hand around the boy’s trembling wrist as directed, pinning the rest of him down with my free hand and a knee. Zach’s head whipped back and forth on the tiles, and he mumbled something about “sorry…no…going to” as the vet placed an IV in a vein on his hand. Paul taped the lines in place, injected medications, and listened to Zach’s heart. After a few minutes, I felt Zach’s body relaxing under my hold. Paul listened again and nodded. “That’s better. His heart’s still fast, but I don’t think I’ll need the lidocaine. Let’s get him to a bed now.” “I’ll take him.” I bent and slipped my arms under Zach’s shoulders and knees. As I lifted him, his dark head lolled back. I shifted my weight to roll him up against my shoulder. Relaxed and limp, it was like carrying a sleepy child. “This way.” Lucas backed ahead of us out of the bathroom, holding the fluid bag high. Zach’s room was tiny. A narrow single bed with a dark comforter stood under the window, half-filling the small room. A dresser up against it did duty as a headboard. There were a couple of books on the dresser, and a closed laptop, but no other personal possessions in sight. Paul stripped the covers back and I laid the boy carefully down on the sheet. I started to pull Zach’s T-shirt off, and then, after a glance at the IV setup, took a grip on the hem and ripped it, dropping the shreds on the floor. I unbuttoned his jeans, unzipped, and pulled them down his long legs. The jeans I tossed in a corner. They probably could be washed. Zach lay quietly, his skin dark against the white sheets. I could see the flutter of his pulse, beating rapidly in his thigh against the edge of navy boxers. His muscles were beginning to quiver just a

36 Kaje Harper little, like a horse twitching off flies. “Damn.” Paul Hunter went back to his supplies and brought another injection. This time he took the fluid bag from Lucas, mixed the drug into the bag, and passed it back. “Keep that up and dripping at about this rate, about four drops a second. I was hoping one shot of the Diazepam would do the trick, but obviously not. This will give him a steady infusion, for now. I’ll bring another bottle from my clinic later.” “You’re leaving?” I said. “But Zach…” “He should be stable for now. I’ll be back as quickly as I can. I ran out on some sick critters at the clinic. I need to go back and finish up. Keep the fluids dripping, call me if anything changes, if his heart rate goes over one-fifty or his temp goes over 104.” “But…” “I also want to check his blood electrolyte levels on the clinic analyzer.” “How will you know what’s normal for a werewolf ?” I asked as Paul bent to draw Zach’s blood into a syringe. Paul glanced at me as he stuck the filled needle through the green cork of a tube. “I figured I’d run Simon’s, and maybe yours for comparison.” When I frowned he added, “I’ll destroy the samples and the rotors afterward. I’m not stupid.” “Okay.” Reluctantly I held out my arm. Dislike for having samples of werewolf blood floating around warred with the desire to do everything possible for Zach. Surely if anyone could be trusted with our DNA, it was Paul. He pressed over a vein on the back of my hand and drew a sample. “Why don’t you use the vein in the arm?” I asked. “Like a real doctor?” Paul’s look was rueful. “Not familiar enough with it to be sure I can hit it. This vein I can see.” He withdrew the needle and put my free hand over the spot. “Hold that off for a minute.” “How soon can you make it back?” My needle stick had already clotted, and I ignored it to check Zach’s.

unexPected deMAnds 37 “An hour, maybe, if I can reschedule my last routine appointments.” “Try to make it sooner.” Paul wrinkled his nose, probably at the command in my voice, but didn’t argue. I glanced back at him. “You said Simon brought you?” “He was hanging around outside the clinic.” Affection and irritation warred in Paul’s voice. “So I made him drive, so I could do some research on the way. Not that I had much choice about bringing him. The man barely lets me go to the bathroom by myself.” “He’s worried about you.” I looked back at the young man in the bed. This was all I needed, on top of the threats we were already dealing with. But I was still too concerned to work up real anger. Maybe later. When he was out of danger. Damned fool. “Tell Simon I said thanks. Tell him to take care of you and bring you back here as soon as possible.” Paul snorted. “If he takes any more care of me, I’ll smother. But I’ll tell him.” He headed out, leaving me to watch over my wolf.

chAPteR 3 By early evening, I was tired enough to quit pacing and slump in a chair in Zach’s room. Paul had come back and taken over Zach’s medical care, but even the soothing blanket of the Valium didn’t eliminate the rasp of Zach’s distress in my brain. Alphas could link with their wolves and support them, mind to mind, to some degree. I didn’t know the technique, and was damned if I was going to ask another Alpha, but he did seem a little better, a little stronger, if I was there and touching him, even with as small a connection as a fingertip on his ankle. So I’d hung out in that tiny room making frequent contact with Zach and hoping it was doing whatever an Alpha’s touch was supposed to. I’d tried once really pushing shift energy into the kid but I backed off when I felt his body slide toward a fluid wolf-change. Shifting could be healing but I wasn’t sure what it would do to the balance of body toxins and medications, and neither was Paul. We kept Zach human and I quit the active pushing. Eventually when Zach seemed stable I’d shooed Paul out to eat and take a break, told him I might as well watch Zach for a while. So there I sat, half my attention on the young man on the bed lying limply asleep with my hand on his arm. The rest of my mind was wondering how a loner like myself somehow ended up responsible for so many people. The door behind me opened, and a wonderful aroma of meat and gravy wafted my way. I turned with a smile. The tall, lean woman behind me was no surprise. My hearing was excellent and I’d caught her voice earlier and heard her footsteps approaching. She held a tray in her hands. “Hey, Megan,” I said softly to my Second’s bondmate. “For Zach? I don’t think he’s up to eating yet.” “For you, dummy.” Megan settled the tray on the tall dresser. “You need to eat, Aaron. Mark says you’ve been channeling

40 Kaje Harper energy to Zach for hours and you need the calories.” The wonderful smell of the food was waking my body up and my growling stomach apparently had the same opinion. I swallowed and stood up slowly. Smile at the nice woman. Do not fall on the food like a wild beast. “Thanks, Megan. It smells amazing.” Megan shrugged. “Simon did most of the cooking. He’s in the kitchen practically spoon-feeding Paul to get him to eat, and Paul’s putting all the biggest mushrooms and extra gravy on Simon’s plate whenever he looks away. If I didn’t think they’d be insulted I’d say they were freaking adorable together.” They were pretty damned nice to watch and despite everything I was jealous as hell. Not that I was about to say so. “Have you eaten, Meg?” “I ate before I came over, although I may have to sample Simon’s cookies when they’re done.” “Cookies…” I reached for the plate, set it in my lap, and grabbed the fork. Megan leaned against the doorway and watched as I started eating. She seemed in no hurry to go back to the kitchen. I eyed her as I dug into the pork stew and rice on my plate. Megan was a tall, plain, amazing woman and the only bonded wife in my whole pack. Richard was also married, but his wife was a timid, sweet woman who had no idea about her husband’s true nature. It left Megan acting as a combination of den mother and big sister to all ten of my wolves. And to me. Only Megan could call me “dummy” and make me like it. I scraped up the last gravy with my fork and set the plate back down in my lap. “Has Mark told you what we’re up against right now?” “Of course.” Megan sighed. “I love Mark, and all you guys are like family. But you werewolves are seriously twisted. The thought that someone would think murder was okay just because Paul and Simon are gay…it’s unbelievable.” I sighed. “There are a few countries around the world where it’s still a flogging offense among humans, or worse. But I’m not

unexPected deMAnds 41 arguing with you. It’s wrong, either way. And I’m going to do anything I can to keep it from getting to the point of murder. I just…” I wasn’t sure what to tell her. I rubbed my forehead. “We’re not human. Our traditions are deep-set and slow to change. Even the bad ones. Maybe especially the bad ones. Anyway, I need you to listen to Mark. He’ll keep you and your boy safe, whatever happens.” Their son, Nick, was my pack’s only child and our greatest treasure. Even above his duties to me, Mark would protect his mate and the boy. Megan shook her head, but more in frustration than refusal. “It’s crazy. Like having the Mafia put a contract out on you or something.” “Or something.” I dredged up a smile for her. Alphas dominated the pack’s mood and we were not going into this feeling defeated. “Hopefully it will all blow over without blood being shed. Just remember Nick is your top priority.” “Cripes, Aaron, you don’t have to remind me of that. Here, I’ll take that plate.” As she lifted the plate from my hand our fingers touched. I could feel the little jump in the bond, feel my connection through Mark to this human woman strengthen for an instant. My wolf liked that, the tightening of the pack. I had to make an effort to move my hand away deliberately. Megan glanced at Zach, sleeping limp and sweaty on the white sheets. “Poor boy. Wish there was more I could do but… I’ll go help Simon clean up.” In the doorway she turned back to look at me. “I always wanted a big family, and that’s what this feels like. Even though I miss Susan and the other women, I love this pack more than the big one. But you damned well better get through this without anyone dying or committing murder, or I’ll be pissed. You hear me, Aaron Tremaine?” My smile became more genuine. “I hear you.” If there was a God I hoped He was listening. Even He would probably think twice before defying Megan. Which would be good, because no dying and no murder was the height of my hopes too. Hours later I was still sitting there. A single streetlight outside Zach’s window filtered through the gap in the dark curtains. The

42 Kaje Harper bedside lamp was turned down low. Zach had seemed to rest better with less light in his face. I was trying to do some thinking, planning my next Internet post, when I heard him stirring. Not the tremors that had shaken him off and on through the night, but a purposeful movement. His eyes snapped open as I reached out to pin him to the bed. “No getting up,” I told him, with a touch of Alpha dominance to enforce it. “You’ll pull out the IV.” He blinked up at me, a little hazy but aware. Behind me in the doorway, I heard a rustle of clothing that was Simon, coming to check on us. Paul was asleep out on Lucas’s couch, but I knew Simon was awake, watching over him. I gave a small wave over my shoulder and a mental push that meant we’re fine, go away, I’ll call if I need you. Simon must have read it right, because I heard the door shut behind him. I reached for the lamp and turned it up. “Aaron?” Zach’s voice was hoarse. I put one finger on his lips, where the swelling had already faded, and then held a cup of water with a straw to his mouth. “Just a sip.”

He drank obediently, then I took the cup away. “What did I do?” Zach asked bewilderedly. “You had a seizure. Several, actually. Scared the shit out of us, disrupted Paul Hunter’s clinic schedule, puked all over a Deathcab for Cutie T-shirt.” “Sorry.” I felt his anxiety ease at my light tone. “I don’t remember.” “No kidding.” I frowned down at him. He was still pale and sweaty, but his eyes tracked me as I leaned forward. “Zach, if you have a problem you need to tell me, not try to hide it. The last thing I needed now was another bad surprise.” “I don’t have a problem,” he protested. “Well, except for being sick, I guess.” “You’re not sick. You’re detoxing from alcohol abuse. Thanks to Dr. Hunter you’re doing it on fluids and meds, not cold turkey.

unexPected deMAnds 43 You owe him, big time.” Zach rolled his dark head back and forth on the pillow in denial. “I’m not…that can’t be right. I mean sure, I like a drink now and then, but I’m not an alcoholic. Come on, I’d know that.” “Yeah, you should.” “So,” he snarled, “You’re wrong. There’s another answer.” I let some of my anger press on him, down the Alpha bond. “Are you telling me you know better than me? Pup?” I could hear his nervous swallow. “No, Alpha.” His eyes dropped for a moment, but then he looked back up at me in appeal. “But you can’t be right! I don’t drink that much. I can take it or leave it, you know. Maybe it’s a new virus or something.” I shook my head. “When was the last time you went a whole day without a drink?” Zach was silent for a moment. When he answered, his voice was more subdued. “I don’t remember. Well, other than yesterday. But I’m sure it hasn’t been that long. And most days I just have a beer or two in the evening. Maybe a shot in the blender-breakfast if I start the day with a headache or something. I only drink a lot when I’m out with the guys.” “Whatever it’s been, it stops now,” I told him firmly. “We’ll get you through the detox part. And then you’re cut off. Twentyone or not, you don’t take another drink, ever.” “Jesus, Aaron,” he said with an uneasy laugh. “Don’t you think that’s overkill? I may have had too much recently, but I’ve been drinking a long time. I can handle it.” I left the obvious delusion aside and asked, “When did you start drinking?” Those dark lashes swept down again, and I could hear his heart speed up a little. “I was fourteen, I guess.” The year his father died. I had just joined the pack and I remembered that day vividly. Too vividly. Racing to get to the job site where Derek had been doing some finish work, arriving to find the whole house engulfed in flames. Others had been there

44 Kaje Harper before me and pulled Derek out of the fire, but he was barely alive, burned over most of his body. We all felt his pain and fear, and felt him slip away from us. Gordon had arrived and tried to force Derek to change to wolf, in the vain hope that a shift might save Derek’s life. But the man was too far gone to manage it. We all felt him die. At fourteen, Zach would have been pack for a year by then. He’d have felt it too. “Where did you start getting the booze?” Not that it was hard for a kid to come by, but I knew Zach’s straight-laced grandfather wouldn’t have had any in the house. “My friends. Karl sometimes.” “Karl gave alcohol to a fourteen-year-old?” The bastard had had no scruples, I knew that. So why was I surprised? “He said I was a man in the pack. Human laws don’t apply to us unless we choose to let them. He said he understood.” Zach breathed out and I felt sadness wash over him. “He said he knew how I felt, and I was entitled to drink if it helped. He took me out running, and hunting. It did help.” And tied the boy to him in gratitude. The vicious pack Second had collected the younger pack members in his wake, using them for his own purposes. They had followed his lead in the power games he played. No point in telling Zach so now. But it made me curious how he had taken Karl’s death. “I killed Karl,” I pointed out, keeping the bond wide open. I was surprised to feel relief tinged with anger, but no sadness. “Yeah, thank you.” Zach choked a laugh, as he must have felt my surprise in return. “What, Aaron? I’m not stupid, and I’m not fourteen anymore. I know Karl was using us. I got in deeper and deeper with him, and it felt good to run wild and not care. But then he used me to almost kill Simon, when I thought it was going to be…I don’t know what I thought. But I was in no position to escape him. So you saved me too, in a way, when you took him out. That’s one reason I swore to you.” I nodded. “And since you did choose me, I’m your Alpha, and you will follow orders.”

unexPected deMAnds 45 “Yes, Alpha.” He looked down again. An odd contentment echoed in the bond from him, mellowing the pain and discomfort into something…warm. I closed the link and only then realized how much better I felt without the headache and nausea he was projecting. “So you’ll rest, follow Dr. Hunter’s orders, and swear off the booze. Completely.” “Yes, Alpha.” He looked pale, and tired. Involuntarily I reached out and brushed those overlong bangs out of his face. His eyes closed at my touch. His forehead was damp with sweat. My wolf. I would do more than fight Karl, to keep these wolves of mine safe. §§§§ By morning, Zach was much better. Paul figured his werewolf metabolism was speeding the process. Zach was still pale, still restless as Paul tapered down the Diazepam, but not seizing, praise the gods. That wasn’t something I ever wanted to watch again. Which left the question of what to do with him. Lucas had to work. He was a surveyor, and his current project had a big proposal meeting coming up. I could have assigned Simon to watch the boy, perhaps at Paul Hunter’s clinic. It might have been safest, medically speaking. Simon was hanging out at the clinic anyway, keeping an eye on his mate. He was on temporary leave from his job at the carpentry shop, where my wolves and Joshua’s still mingled awkwardly. Joshua and I had decided that Simon’s presence at the shop would be a catalyst for problems, even if I could have pried him from Paul’s side. So I could give him Zach too. But bad trouble was coming from outside our local packs. Simon and Paul would be at the center of it. I didn’t want Simon’s attention divided. And I really didn’t want Zach caught in the middle. In the end I brought him to my place. He complained, of course, eyeing me from under those heavy bangs. “Really, Aaron,” he whined. “I’m fine. If you don’t want

46 Kaje Harper me to go to work, I can just stay home. I’m not a kid.” “Shut up,” I told him, “And buckle that seatbelt.” No, I didn’t want him at his work, cutting wood on a band saw with shaky hands. And no, in all honesty, I didn’t trust him at home alone. We had removed all the alcohol from Lucas’s house, stashing it with Mark. Lucas had some good booze in his collection, and refused to pour single malts down the drain. But clearing the house wouldn’t keep Zach from getting any. I could feel the pain and aches he was dealing with every time I let the bond slip. His whole body was jangling with need. The temptation had to be fierce. “You’re not coming with me to be babysat,” I improvised. “You’re bringing your laptop and helping me get this conference worked out. You claim to be good with that thing. Now you’re going to prove it.” He subsided in the passenger seat, glaring out the window but not cocky enough to contradict his Alpha. I reached over and patted his knee. “Good boy,” I drawled. He grimaced, but I felt his mood lighten a little. I parked in my drive and led the way to the door. Zach followed me a little more slowly. I could feel a touch of apprehension as he entered his Alpha’s domain. He stopped and glanced around from my front entryway. “Vincent’s off today,” I said. “Another reason I can use your help.” “Okay.” “Something wrong?” He shook his head and then winced. “Ouch. No, it’s just… this is nice. Your house. I didn’t notice last time I was here.” When he’d come in front of his Alpha to answer for his graffiti. Someday I wanted to have a separate office for pack business, but for now this served. “You had other things on your mind, I suspect.”

unexPected deMAnds 47 “Yeah.” He looked down. “Lucas didn’t do much to me, you know, afterward. I did tell him about Daniel’s house. He yelled at me a little. Made me scrub the kitchen floor. Maybe not what you wanted him to do.” “What did you expect?” I opened our bond so I could feel him. His rush of apprehension momentarily overrode his physical discomforts, but he answered steadily enough, “What you said. A beating bad enough to remember, not enough to keep me from being useful.” “Shit. Was that your grandfather’s technique?” He shrugged, keeping his eyes on the floor. “I’m not above using pain where it’s called for, but I think you’ve had more than enough already. If beatings haven’t made you careful yet, they’re hardly likely to work now. Anyway I don’t need force to control my wolves and Lucas knows it. I figured you’d have realized he wasn’t the beating type by now.” Although it occurred to me that Zach had only lived with Lucas a couple of weeks—it seemed far longer. “He would do whatever you told him to.” “Look at me, Zach.” He dragged his gaze back to mine. Today was perhaps the wrong time for this. I could see the jitter in his eyes, the twitch of a muscle in his neck, the increased pulse of blood at his throat. But I needed him to know where he stood. “Zach, do you doubt that you are my wolf ?” “No, Alpha.” His gaze had dropped toward my feet again. “Do you need a beating to remind you of it?” “No.” “Then why the hell would I order one?” “But the message you gave me? To give Lucas?” “Lucas is a smart guy—he’d know what I meant. I did want you to worry just a little. But maybe that was wrong.”

48 Kaje Harper He suddenly glanced up at me, pupils dilated. I smiled wryly. “What, you don’t think I can ever be wrong?” “No. I mean, yes.” He rubbed his forehead, like I was giving

him a worse headache. “Zach, I’m your Alpha. You will obey me when I demand it. You will hold your place in the pack. But you will also be aware that I am as fallible as the next guy and I’m new at being Alpha. If I’m wrong about something, then unless we’re in a life and death situation, I expect you to tell me. Not that I’ll probably listen to you, being much smarter and all, but I might.” “That’s not how Karl…” He flushed and bit his lip. Of course, Karl and Joseph had been this young man’s two exposures to werewolf authority. Wonderful. I put a little iron in my voice. “Do I look like Karl?” “No, Alpha.” “Then don’t expect me to act like him.” And I would remember that this Ninth of mine needed a lighter touch than I had used before. “Now get your ass in here, plug in your laptop, and listen up.” We worked for an hour before the pain in his back and muscles was enough to reach me without having to open the bond. I looked over at him. “Break time. Stretch out on the couch. Or there’s a bed upstairs if you prefer.” He wanted to protest, but then nodded stiffly. Getting up and getting over to the couch looked painful enough that I thought I might have pushed his limits too far. But he stretched out with a sigh and gave me a small smile. I stood up myself and flexed my hands from the strain of the keyboard. “Something to drink?” Holy shit, for a moment those simple words caused a spike in his tension I could feel. Then he forced himself to relax. “Sure. Water maybe?” I was in the kitchen getting us each a glass when I heard his cell phone ring. It took less than a second for me to reach him,

unexPected deMAnds 49 grab it out of his hand, and flip it shut. “What?” He almost grabbed it back, before remembering himself, but his expression was still irritated. “One of your human friends?” “Yeah. Don’t worry, Aaron, I was just going to tell him where I am and that I won’t be around for a while. Not like I was planning to meet him or anything.” Perhaps. But the crowd he had run with was adolescent boys, young, wild, and fixated on having a good time. They might look more appealing than a staid, sober Alpha, a few more hours of deprivation down the road. Hell, they almost certainly would. I slid the phone into my own pocket. After a moment’s thought I got his jacket off the back of the chair he’d been using and confiscated his keys too. That got a predictable reaction. “You don’t trust me!” He got up off my couch and stomped over to the door, ignoring the weakness that made his gait more stagger than stride. “I swore I wouldn’t drink anymore. If you don’t believe me, then fuck you! I’m out of here.” I raised one eyebrow without moving to intercept him. I could catch him ten strides from the door, in his condition. “Do you trust yourself ?” I asked mildly. He wanted to say yes. I could see how much he wanted to throw that back in my face. But Zach was honest, and he had guts. He thought it through. When he was done, he was holding onto the doorknob for support, not to go out. “No,” he whispered. “I guess I don’t.” “Everyone needs some help with this,” I told him. “If you were human, you’d be in a twenty-eight day lockdown rehab so fast it would make your head spin. Unfortunately, that’s not an option.” I grinned at him, letting just a little evil into it to stiffen his spine. I put a hand under his arm. “Consider me your twentyeight day jailer.” He shook me off, straightened up, and gave me a cold look.

50 Kaje Harper “I’m going upstairs to lie down for a minute.” His steps up the stairs were slow and controlled. He wasn’t letting me see him wobble. God, I liked the spine in that kid. When he trailed back down the stairs an hour later, I put him back to work without comment. And he bent to his keyboard without looking me in the eyes. Zach was better than I expected on the computer. He tracked several of the most extreme chat-room posts to their pack sources, and checked them against the Alphas who seemed interested in my proposed meeting. As plans firmed up, he contacted the interested packs with details about flights and schedules. From the other Alphas, I got everything from, “Yeah, bring the faggot out so we can take him down,” to “If you can prove this beyond a reasonable doubt, we’ll need to figure out what it means to the packs.” Some of the incoming wolves would be looking to make the problem go away with quick violence, but some seemed to have a more open mind. The Alpha from Chicago even warned the others that anyone killing Simon before we had a chance to test the bond would answer to him. I was beginning to think it might work. Of course I knew the other reason they would come. They would be scouting my pack, scouting me. Gordon wasn’t the only Alpha to be faced with a subordinate wolf eager to move up. One way to deal with that would be to give the lower-ranked wolf his own pack. But packs rarely split unless the Alpha died. It was too hard for an Alpha to give up control. So I was betting some of the Alphas would bring or send their problem Seconds or Thirds. If I was weak, if my pack was split on this issue and not solidly behind me, I would be ripe for the taking. And the wolf who Challenged me and took me down would inherit a ready-made pack. With opinion running against me, the other Alphas wouldn’t protest the poaching. It must have looked like a great opportunity to some of them. I gritted my teeth. They would be surprised. I was no easy mark, and on demo day I would damned well have the full support of my pack lined up behind me.

unexPected deMAnds 51 Once we had a date and time established, three days out, I sent Zach to bed in the spare room. He had started looking hollow-eyed and his fingers trembled on the keyboard. I gave him half an hour to settle, and then went up to check on him. He lay sprawled face-down on the sheets, blankets kicked off down by his feet. He had pulled off his T-shirt and jeans, but still a light sweat slicked his skin again. He shifted restlessly, and looked over at me in the doorway without raising his head from his arms. I walked over and sat on the edge of the bed where he could see me. “How bad is it?” He shook his head back and forth. “I’m fine.” I opened the bond, letting in his pain and letting him feel me in return. “You’re a liar.” “Yeah.” He gritted his teeth. “Feels like fucking ants crawling all over my body, like I’m going to jump out of my skin. You’re sure this isn’t some virus?” “I’m sure.” “Yeah, me too.” He puffed out a breath. “What am I going to do, Aaron?” He sounded so lost. I wanted to hug him and say it would be all right. But I stayed silent, biting back the easy reassurance I would give a child. He might look young, but he had an adult problem and it wasn’t going to be just fine. It was going to be a lot of work and pain first. “You’re going to get through this, with a little help from your pack. And you’re going to not drink, one day at a time. If necessary, one hour at a time.” “How long is an hour?” he asked plaintively. I made myself laugh. “Not too long.” Now I did touch him, just a gentle rub of the back of the neck, followed by a stronger shake. Dominant wolf grip. Let him know I had his back. “If you can’t sleep, how about a shower?” “Yeah. I stink.”

52 Kaje Harper “I can’t argue with that,” I agreed, although the rank sharpness of sick sweat was mellowing to something cleaner, just a sweaty boy at the end of a day. “Bathroom’s at the end of the hall, clean towels in the closet. Skip the razor. You can use my soap and shampoo.” I bit my tongue at the emphasis. Stupid how I wanted my scents on him, to mark him. Every Alpha was possessive, but I was getting freaking pathological about it. “Come on down if you can’t sleep after,” I added. “Sometimes it’s better to be busy.” I went downstairs and got Vincent started texting all my own wolves with our demo date and time. I wanted the whole pack there, in solidarity. We would survive this together, or die trying. Then I called Joshua, to wrangle rooms at the lodge for the out-of-towners who wanted to avoid hotels. Even as we discussed who should pay for accommodations, and how much, I listened to the shower running upstairs. I was listening for a problem, a slip or fall…the sound of water splashing from that slender olive body to the tile floor. Shit! I abruptly gave in to Joshua’s requests and hung up. Shit, shit, shit. I’d been around my randy wolves too closely, feeling Simon’s desire for Paul, Lucas’s vibrant sexual drive. I was not, absolutely not, entertaining that sort of thought about that young man upstairs. Not. §§§§ By evening, Zach and I were both jumping out of our skins. Hopefully, he didn’t realize why I was so tense. I had the bond between us clamped down tight. Now that I was aware of being aware, so to speak, it was damned near impossible to ignore my reaction to him. Every time he passed close, I smelled my own shampoo overlying his clean skin. And he was so damned good to look at. Long lean lines, muscle and bone; despite the persistent shakes he was experiencing, each movement was balanced in a way no human ever had moved. He was nothing like the men I had pursued, in the years between packs. My bed-partners had all been older, self-assured, able to take the domination I insisted on and not be overwhelmed

unexPected deMAnds 53 by it. No slender innocent kids, with silky hair and downcast eyes. I was slowly realizing how familiar he was to me already. Without conscious thought, I must have been watching him for a while. Because I could bring to mind exactly how he had looked the last time we ran together, stripping his clothes off in the changing room of the lodge, laughing over his shoulder at something Andy said. Or how he had felt under my teeth as I took him down in that northern forest where he’d been breaking pack hunting rules. I could taste his blood, and my own anger and fear. I’d bitten him more than necessary, in getting him to submit. And only now I recognized that my anger had been fueled by near panic about how Gordon and Karl would deal with him. I’d marked him with my own punishment first, even though at the time I hadn’t had that right. But he was mine now. Not going there. Any relationship with Zach would be a disaster, on so many levels. For one thing, I couldn’t afford to be out right now. For the safety of my pack I had to be the openminded, straight Alpha who could accept a gay mate bond. I could not be gay myself, or they would just plow us all under without a backward glance. On top of which, it was damned near child abuse. He’s almost twenty-one. He’s not a child. But he was my wolf, my subordinate, under my command. Okay, not child abuse, sexual harassment. It was wrong, however you looked at it. Not to mention the fact that there was absolutely no indication that Zach was gay. I can walk away. I can do this. Irony, that he was craving booze and I was craving him. I waited impatiently for Lucas to come get the kid. But when the older wolf arrived, he brought Zach’s suitcase, and a small key. “I can’t do it, boss,” he told me. “That wasn’t a request, it was an order,” I snapped. “I have a meeting in Chicago tomorrow.” He was clearly trying to stay reasonable in the face of my anger, although his eyes dropped away from mine. “I’ll be back for the demo day,

54 Kaje Harper I swear, but I can’t skip out on this project meeting unless you want me to lose my job. And frankly, Aaron,” he looked back at me with his head tilted to one side. “With this kid’s problems, do you really think I’m the right mentor for him?” He gave me a minute to think about it and then added, “If I’m the only choice, when I get back, I’ll try. But his friends know where I live, they’ll be around inviting him out to party. And I’m never going to be a sober, home-every-night kind of guy. In time, Zach may be ready for that kind of loose mentoring, but right now if his only supervision is mine, he’s going to drink again. We both know that.” “Because you can’t keep your hands off the women and the booze either,” I snapped, frustration coiling in me. I needed the kid out of here. “I’m not an alcoholic,” Lucas said with dignity. “I can go dry for a week or a month. I can even spend every night at home. But that’s not my style, and I’ll resent the kid for forcing it on me, and he’ll know it.” And Zach was upstairs, no doubt pretending not to listen to this. And for tonight, if Lucas was leaving town it was irrelevant anyway. “Damn. Okay, you’re right. Go do your job, watch your ass out there, and get back as soon as you can.” Lucas passed Paul Hunter coming in as he went out. They nodded to each other, both polite but guarded. Something else I needed to fix. The whole pack had to be pulling together on this. I wasn’t sure if the problem was Paul’s opinion of the pack, or Lucas’s of Paul. Probably both. I sent Paul upstairs to check Zach over, and waited impatiently at the foot of the stairs for his report. “So how is he?” I asked softly, when the young vet came back downstairs. “Recovering,” he said in a normal tone. Which was probably realistic, since Zach’s sharp ears would pick up a whisper anyway. “His heart rate is back to normal, and the fever is gone. He’s still restless and agitated, has a few hand tremors when he does fine

unexPected deMAnds 55 motor tasks. That’s going to frustrate him until it clears. But all in all, he’s doing remarkably well. All the sources I checked say a normal human would be barely past the peak symptoms now, with up to a week of physical recovery still to come. Werewolf metabolism is a good thing in this case. I’ve taken him off the drugs, and I’d guess a shift might be good now.” I nodded in relief. “Thanks, Paul. It really helped to have you step in for the emergency.” “Yeah,” he agreed slowly. “And I’ll do it again if you need me, but…” “But what?” “If it happens a lot, I’m going to ask you to lay in supplies for the pack somehow. I have to account for all my drugs to the DEA. Just so you know, you now own a yellow lab with a bout of seizures due to unknown toxicity, for which I used half the Valium in the clinic. I can cover, but I don’t like doing it, especially on short notice.” “Understood,” I told him. “Make me a list and we’ll get emergency supplies put aside for the pack.” Somehow. I eyed him speculatively. I could order him and Simon to take Zach home with them. But I wouldn’t. I figured part of Simon’s joined-at-the-hip behavior was as simple as him wanting every moment together he and Paul could have, in case this was all there was. I wouldn’t force them to lose any of that time to watch a needy kid. In fact…I pulled out my phone. “Mark,” I said, my eyes on Paul. “I hate to double up your work hours but I’m going to. Round up Richard, Patrick, and Andy. I want you to increase the patrol around Simon’s place. Use pairs, four hours each, you can figure the details.” I closed the phone on his agreement and looked at Paul. “Tell Simon they’re out there. Then take your man to bed and make him sleep. Eight hours. You both need to be sharp three days from now or we’ll all lose.” A small smile passed over Paul’s face. “I can do that.”

56 Kaje Harper “Good man. Get out of here.” “You’ll call me if Zach has any problems?” “You’ll be the first to know. Now git.”

As he left I reviewed my options. My pack was small. With

Lucas, Mark, Richard, Simon, Patrick, and Andy otherwise occupied, there were few choices left to babysit Zach. Vincent liked trouble too much, and at his age he needed his rest. David was too young, Damian too self-centered. I could handle it, I decided. It wouldn’t be the first time I’d had to cut off my awareness of another man. I had practice. And despite the difficulty, I wanted him here, under my roof, where I could guard him and keep him safe, watch over him… Jesus. “Hey Zach?” I called, not raising my voice much, so he would realize I knew he was listening. “Yeah?” He came halfway down the stairs and stopped. He still looked like hell, too pale, rumpled and shaky, with circles under his eyes. He still looked too fucking good. “You want to order pizza or take a chance on my cooking?” His smile was small, but it warmed his eyes. “Can you cook?” “No.” “I like pepperoni and mushrooms,” he said. “Can do.” I pulled out my phone. Domino’s was speed dial

three. We could eat, and I’d push him through a shift or two. Let the wolf burn some of the pain out of him. Then he would go to bed in the spare room, and soon it would be morning. I could do this. Later he undressed in the bathroom and insisted on shifting on his own in there. I left him to it, opening my mind to him just enough to be sure he made it through. I felt the effort it took, but he did it safely, and when he was back to human some of the worst symptoms did feel muted. I waited in the hallway until he came out in a ratty pair of sweatpants. He slapped the key to his shift lock into my hand. I noticed he’d put the chain back on his neck and snapped the lock tight without being asked.

unexPected deMAnds 57 I took the key without comment, trying not to notice his ass in those sweats. Like his jeans, they were a bit short, and a split seam showed a flash of olive thigh. I smacked his leg as he walked by, aiming for big brotherly, for the fun of seeing him bristle at me and then back it down fast when he remembered who I was. “Get Megan to teach you to sew,” I told him. “Yes, Alpha,” he said through gritted teeth. “Good pup,” I said cheerfully. “Soon we’ll have you doing housework and making yourself useful.” I could almost see the effort he made not to snap back at me. His skin was sweaty again, and his hands shook as he pulled the covers back. He climbed into bed and glanced at me as I pulled out the chair. “You know you’re going to have a crick in your neck by morning.” “Don’t worry about me, pup.” He rolled over to face the wall away from me, and pulled the blanket up to his ears. I leaned back in the chair and stretched out my legs. Zach was right, it wasn’t going to be a comfortable way to sleep. Turned out not to matter, since neither of us was destined to get much. The night passed in an unending loop of shakes, nausea, and nightmares on his part. And there wasn’t much I could do. Once I woke him out of a dream that had his body flailing in protest. For just an instant he clung to my wrists as I pinned him to the bed. His pupils were dilated, as his eyes darted around the room. “Is he here?” The roughness made his voice sound older. “No one here but me, Zach. Settle down.” I pushed reassurance and safety across the bond, riding over his panic. And he turned his face in against my forearm, breathing against my skin. I didn’t move, knowing the closeness of his Alpha would be a comfort. After a minute, he sighed and relaxed. I let up on his shoulders, and he silently turned away from me, curled into a fetal position on the bed. Down the bond between us, I could sense the lingering traces of his nightmare ebbing slowly into the maelstrom of his withdrawal symptoms.

58 Kaje Harper The fine silver chain around his neck caught the low lamplight. He’d fastened it tighter than before. I ran a finger over it and felt him shudder at my touch. “Do you need this off for the night, if you’re going to dream like that?” I asked neutrally. “Didn’t think I had the choice.” “You can tell me what you need and I’ll decide.” We wolves usually didn’t shift in a panic. It was too slow and

left us too vulnerable during the shift to be used that way. But I knew I sometimes shifted deliberately, alone in my room in the cold shaking aftermath of bad dreams. The wolf lived in the present, without anxiety for the future and the past. When there was no real threat, no scent or sound, then sometimes sleep became possible again in wolf form. He muttered, “I’m fine. My control is good. Judgment may be crap but my control is good.” I didn’t explain my thinking, just nodded silently. And pretended not to notice when he turned his head on the pillow just enough to keep an eye on my outstretched feet. I relaxed and visibly settled deeper in the chair. I wasn’t going anywhere. I kept watch through that night. He needed me. I could do this. I could be his Alpha, his protector and jailer and coach, without wanting more. Well, without letting him suspect that I wanted more. And if I shut myself down hard enough, surely in time this hyper-awareness I had would fade. I would stop hearing every change in the tone of his voice, and feeling every move he made like it brushed against my skin. He might think his control was good. Well mine was honed, long-practiced, and damned awesome. I could do this.

chAPteR 4 Two days later I wasn’t so sure of that. Zach was still staying with me. He was sleeping in the room across the hall, eating my food, walking around my house. He was with me because I didn’t think he was ready to be alone yet, and because everyone else had day jobs they couldn’t skip, and, well, because I didn’t trust anyone else to take care of him right. I treated him like a twelve-year-old little brother. A dumb twelve-year-old little brother. I tried hard to think of him that way. I made him call me Alpha, because the sound of him saying my name was much too appealing. I called him kid, or sometimes for added distance pup. Once I made the mistake of calling him my boy, and that did all the wrong things for me. I didn’t call him boy again. I razzed him about everything, from the holes in his jeans to the language he used. I threw his sneakers at him and snapped him with the dish towel. When his hands shook and he dropped a plate, I called him a klutz and made him clean it up, instead of sympathizing. I kept the bond between us tightly shut. He probably hated my guts. And even so, there were moments. Once, I was on the computer, emailing back and forth with the Sioux Falls Alpha. I was trying to persuade him that sending more than two men to my demo would be considered an invasion by the other Twin Cities Alphas. Zach was in the other chair, with his laptop on a corner of my desk. He was trying to track down the source of some particularly phobic comments. His mutters of annoyance and success made a distracting backdrop. While I sat waiting for the Alpha to come back to me on my proposal, Zach suddenly looked up. His eyes were bright. He gave me the wide shit-eating grin I hadn’t seen in weeks. “Got him!” he exulted. “The guy’s from somewhere called Yellowknife. Where the fuck is Yellowknife?” For a moment I sat staring at him, frozen. I could only hope I

60 Kaje Harper was also expressionless. I wanted to shove him to the floor and eat that grin right off his face. It took all I had to reach out casually, flick his ear with a finger, and tell him to watch his language and get educated about geography with a map of Canada. He laughed. Clearly I hadn’t managed enough sternness. “God,” he said, stretching lean, muscled arms toward the ceiling and arching his back. “I get such a charge out of doing that.” I made him run. I made us both run, with barely time to pull parkas on, in sneakers on the snowy sidewalk. He moved more easily now than he had the first day. As the alcohol worked its way out of his system, his shaky tightness was loosening up toward his more usual grace. Running was good. For all us wolves, it pushed away thought and helped us be comfortable in our skins. He looked way too good, comfortable in his skin. And then he slipped on a patch of ice, and I had to grab his sleeve to keep him from going down. And his arm was solid in my hand, and his body came against mine for a moment, hard and sweaty under too many clothes. He laughed up at me. “Oops! Sorry.” I made him run until we both could hardly catch a breath, before heading home. §§§§ The evening before the demo was a mess. From early afternoon on I had all of my pack, except Simon and Paul and their guardians, watching the airport in pairs. Joshua had some of his men there too, and I even caught scent of a couple of John Hanson’s wolves. We met the incoming werewolves, found out where they were staying, gave rides or followed cabs to hotels. I had seventeen strange wolves coming in. At least, seventeen that I knew about. And all of them were dominants: Alphas, Seconds, Thirds, or enforcers. You could tell a lot from watching how the strangers reacted to my men. Some wouldn’t even look at us, refused offers of a

unexPected deMAnds 61 ride or a room, and took a cab to a hotel. Chicago’s Alpha, Rick Brown, shook Lucas’s hand with a grin and asked for directions to the nearest bar in a booming voice. He was huge, dark, and far more guarded in his eyes and body language than he was making it seem. His Third, Jack Bishop, was silent and self-effacing for a dominant wolf. Which probably meant he was all the more dangerous. By nine PM we had everyone in, although the Chicago contingent were not the only ones out on the town. We had explained neutral territory in detail by email. But Hanson called me around eight to say he’d had to make the point again, firmly, to the pair from South Dakota. They claimed to want to visit the Mall of America, south of the boundaries. It was undoubtedly bullshit. I mean, how many werewolves were that into retail shopping? Even if you lived in a hole like South Dakota? Hanson could handle his end. I just hoped it didn’t make him more angry with me. Joshua was already fuming at the brushoffs he was getting from the eight werewolves who had chosen to take rooms in the lodge. He didn’t like being treated like a leper for associating with us. I didn’t think it was unfair for him to catch a little of the flack. Simon had been pack with Joshua before I ever knew he existed. But I didn’t say so. I sympathized. We desperately needed the allies. I kept Zach with me. I was observing, but I wasn’t greeting anyone in person. Half of them wanted to roast me over a slow fire as much as they wanted Simon. No sense in giving them a chance to get a jump on it. We mostly hung out at a distance in the terminal, then waited in my truck and followed a couple of pairs to hotels. I wanted to know where everyone was. I wanted everyone to know they were being watched too, so we weren’t subtle about it. “Wow,” Zach said as the Second from Billings, Montana glared at us out of the back window of a cab. “He’s not happy. Looks like he wants to rip our throats out.” “Remember that,” I growled. It was hard to control myself when strange wolves were coming into my territory with the

62 Kaje Harper language of challenge in their expressions and postures. I wanted to force the cab over, pull the bastard out, and beat him to a pulp. “Most of the wolves coming in want to make this go away. We have a history of making problems go away by killing them and cremating the remains. These guys would make lunch out of you.” He bristled. “I can take care of myself.” “Don’t even think about it.” I spared an angry glance for him. “You start something and I’ll kill you myself.” No one was touching this kid around me, but I wasn’t about to make him cocky by saying so. He backed down from my glare, looking away and rubbing his forehead. I opened my mouth to ask if he needed an aspirin, which I happened to have in my pocket, and then bit back the comment. He was a big boy. If he needed something he could get it himself, or do without. I knew he was still fighting the lingering effects of withdrawal. Not just the physical; shaking hands, headaches, sweating that broke out without reason. I also saw the mental lapses. He would reach into the fridge, and then stare at the can of Coke in his hand as if it would become a beer if he looked long enough. I saw him think about going out, or reach toward his pocket for his cell phone to call a friend, and then stop and look at me. Now the crisis was coming and he still wasn’t at full strength. I eased back and let the cab ahead of us pull away, slowed my breathing and forced my muscles to relax. I couldn’t protect Zach, couldn’t protect any of my pack, unless I kept it together myself. Which meant not fighting. Which meant being cool when Patrick reported that the pair from Iowa had taken down two deer on the lodge property. It was a message, of course. Politeness meant we offered them the chance to run and hunt. Politeness in return should have meant no large kill that would require clean-up on our part. Politeness was obviously not at the top of their agenda. Lucas and Damian had trailed the Chicago contingent through three bars and reported that they showed no signs of heading home yet. They were acting a little drunk, hitting mildly on girls,

unexPected deMAnds 63 but Lucas had watched how much they actually consumed. His verdict was that they were cold sober. Another message, harder to interpret. My wolves had dropped the South Dakota pair as soon as they turned south instead of north from the airport. I’d passed on the info to Hanson, and received his report half an hour later. He didn’t say where the pair had gone after their confrontation under the sign of the cactus in the parking lot of the MOA. He’d escorted them north implacably but without violence. I didn’t think I could ask more of him. David and Richard had lost the single wolf from Calgary. He rented a car and gave them the slip with what sounded like contemptuous ease. I sent them to sit surveillance at the Country Suites he had listed as his hotel, to see if they could pick him up again. I knew the least about him. His emails were laconic to a fault. As the airline flights came in, I pulled my men off the wolves who seemed settled for the night and sent more of them to watch over Simon and Paul. Night patrols meant we would all be short of sleep in the morning. But it seemed less of a risk than the chance of someone going after my wolves ahead of schedule. I had considered it more of a precaution than a necessity. Rick Brown from Chicago had declared the pair off limits until tomorrow, and having met the man I didn’t see anyone defying his order. But Mark woke me at three AM. “Aaron, we have a problem.” I blinked and pressed the phone to my ear, trying to get sharp again. I glanced at the clock. Perhaps half an hour since I had finally drifted off. “What’s up?” “We caught a strange wolf sniffing around Simon’s place. Not one of our registered guests. He won’t tell us his pack or his name.” God, for a moment I wanted it to be a hundred years ago, so I could just say, Kill him and we’ll figure the rest out in the morning, and go back to sleep. But that was precisely the attitude I wanted to

64 Kaje Harper eliminate. Anyway, I wasn’t sure I could ever have been that kind of Alpha. “Okay,” I said, rubbing my face vigorously. “Fifteen minutes. Keep him there, inside the house if you have enough men to control him.” “Will do,” Mark said. I was grateful yet again for my Second’s cool competence. “We’ll see you in fifteen.” I rolled out of bed and pulled my jeans back on. My dirty T-shirt was over my face when I realized it smelled like stale sweat and pulled it back off. Maybe I would need every bit of Alpha I could scrounge up. I yanked off the jeans too and went for slacks, a dress shirt, and a jacket. Outside Zach’s room, I hesitated. Zach was sleeping fitfully. I could hear him moving on the pillow. I wanted to let him rest. But I knew, from the nights I’d spent in catnaps, waking at every sound from his room, that he would never sleep through. And if he woke, and I was gone…I wasn’t taking chances. I strode into his room, snapped on the light, and yanked the covers off him. “Rise and shine, pup.” He lay there blinking up at me, his eyes heavy with sleep. His hair was a tousled black halo around his head on the white pillow. He slept nude. My ruthless stripping of the covers had revealed every inch of his olive skin, the flat muscles of his stomach, long lean thighs, the evidence that he was not a child and was more well-endowed than any slight young man had a right to be. Bad mistake. I turned away abruptly and stepped toward the door. “Wha’? Izzit morning?” His voice was muzzy with fatigue. “Not morning, pup. Just time to get up,” I told him with false cheer. “An Alpha’s work is never done, and therefore neither is yours. There’s trouble at Simon’s. Clothes on. Two minutes.” I expected more questions but all I heard was him tumbling out of bed and reaching for clothes. I had more than enough control not to turn and watch him dress. Not. When I turned,

unexPected deMAnds 65 he was already zipping up his jeans. If there were boxers under them, he was the fastest dresser in nine states. His arms flexed as he pulled a shirt over his head, momentarily posed with the fabric over his face and his pecs taut, like some erotic poster boy. Then he pulled the shirt down and shook his hair out of his face. I led the way quickly downstairs. When I pulled into Simon’s driveway, Andy was waiting by the front door. He led the way inside, brushing against my shoulder when he turned. It felt like a gesture for reassurance. I bumped lightly against him and heard him let out a tight breath. I followed him into Simon’s living room to see what my men had caught. The room was full of werewolves. Vincent perched on the arm of a chair, his old eyes calm and amused. Simon hovered in front of Paul, who was looking pissed at being pushed into a corner of the room, but knew better than to try to move his protective mate. Patrick and Andy were on their feet, alert, balanced for action, and anxious. Mark stood beside the couch, his law-enforcement trained calm in place. Seated on the couch, looking down at the floor, was another werewolf. He was lean and rangy, with dirty-blond hair that fell forward in his eyes. He wore old jeans, cowboy boots, and a leather jacket lined with fleece. When he looked up, his eyes glittered bright green. He had high cheekbones, a thin expressive mouth, and a square chin, very much like the one I shaved in the mirror each morning. “Jesus,” I said softly, and then, “Michael?” He laughed. Familiar light ran like sunshine in those summergreen eyes. Then to hell with rank and being Alpha, and I pulled him up into a hug. He squeezed, and thumped my back, and it was so damned long since anyone hugged me. When I stepped back, I saw his eyes were damp. “We thought you were dead, you know,” he said, in that familiar deep voice. “Your father said you ran away, but I always figured the bastard killed you.” I shook my head.

66 Kaje Harper Beside Michael, Mark cleared his throat, reminding me of our audience. I took another step back toward my wolves, but I could feel the smile on my face. “Mark, guys,” I said. “I want you to meet my cousin Michael. Mike, these are Mark, my Second, Simon, Patrick, Andy, Zach, Vincent, and Simon’s mate Paul.” I saw him look around the room as I introduced the men, memorizing faces and names, making first judgments. Michael had always been quick. When I introduced Paul, my cousin’s gaze snapped back to Simon for just a moment, but nothing of his thoughts showed on his face. “Your pack.” “Some of it, yes.” He laughed again, hoarsely. “I should have guessed, you know.

Tobias always said if you lived past twenty you’d be Alpha some day. Although I doubt he expected it this soon.” He swung a fist at me suddenly, and only that old familiarity on my part let me anticipate the blow. It slid past my cheek, rocking my head back. Mark grabbed Michael in an arm lock, yanking upward, but Mike barely seemed to notice. His eyes were fixed on me. “Damn you, Aaron,” he said bitterly. “Damn you. You could have called, written, something. Sent me a carrier pigeon. I’ve been thinking about you dead for the last thirty years.” “I’m sorry.” At my hand signal, Mark eased up on Michael’s arm, but didn’t let go. “I…there were reasons why it was better this way.” “Better for you!” He blew out a breath. “Okay. All right. Water under the bridge. And now you’re in the middle of this mess.” He looked around at my wolves, and his usual good humor began to return. “You always were one for underdogs and lost causes, weren’t you?” “So why are you here?” I asked, ignoring the teasing. “Did Tobias send you, or are you scoping us out on your own?” “Tobias is dead. Thirty years now. He died shortly after you… left. Samuel is Alpha.”

unexPected deMAnds 67 I had wondered. I had felt my bond to my birth pack thin, and then break as I travelled, but I never let myself check. Never let myself look back. I had mixed feelings about Tobias, my old Alpha. Not half as mixed as my feelings about his Third. I wasn’t going to ask. I couldn’t help asking. “And my father?” “He challenged Samuel,” Michael said soberly. “About six months later. Wouldn’t quit, wouldn’t back down. He was crazy. In the end Samuel had no choice.” Clear enough, but I had to hear the words. “He’s dead?” “Yes, dead and burned.” So there it was. All these years, and he’d been ashes long ago. The world should have looked different, somehow. Maybe it would later. No time now. “You still haven’t said why you came.” Michael shrugged. “Samuel wasn’t going to send anyone, figured we’d hear how it shook out. But I heard that the Alpha shoving new ideas down everyone’s throats was named Aaron. I couldn’t let it alone, and eventually Samuel agreed that I could come here on my own. No backup if it got hairy.” “So why not just email me directly? Or come officially?” “I wanted to see…” He tapered off, and then went on softly. “I figured if it wasn’t you, I’d be in and out and no harm done.” Mark was frowning. I nodded to Mark, and he asked, “How did you find Simon?” “I staked out the airport. Spotted an incoming Alpha, followed his welcoming committee.” Michael tipped his head toward Andy. “The Alpha wound up at a hotel, your wolf came here. I figured, where your wolves were, you’d show up eventually. I hid and waited.” He glanced at Mark. “Your Second’s good. He noticed me.” I nodded slowly. It sounded like Michael. He always did things his own way, and it was seldom the most direct. “So now what?” I asked. “You’ve seen me. Are you going back to Wyoming?”

68 Kaje Harper “Not yet.” He smiled slowly. “You know me, cuz. I never run from a good fight, and you may have one on your hands. I think I’ll stay and watch a little longer.” Glad as I was to see Michael, I really didn’t want another foreign wolf wandering about the place. Even one who was probably on my side. Unless… “Tell me,” I said, as casually as I could. “Are you getting bored out in the wilds with those old fogies? Ever consider a new pack under younger management?” God, if this mess brought Michael into my pack it would almost be worth it. But he was shaking his head before I was done. “No can do, cuz. I’ll go back eventually.” “Because of the gay thing?” I had to know. “Nah. I don’t give a shit one way or the other. Not much, anyway. But I have a mate, and a boy, back in Wyoming. Kid’s fourteen, in the pack, and a hell-raiser. Keeps us busy.” He eyed me sideways. “We named him Aaron.” That hit me like a punch in the gut. Of course things would change, in thirty years. Michael had a son. And named him after me. A mix of joy and guilt and envy rolled through me. I held out my hand. “Congratulations, man, that’s great.” I gave him my best grin as Mark released him and we shook hands. “Not that you did the boy any favors with that name.” “Wasn’t trying to. But it’s still a good name, in the pack.” Which meant my father had gone to his pyre silent. I had always wondered. “Oh, well,” I said, still testing. “If the kid turns out to be gay, you know where to come.” Michael’s mouth twisted in distaste. “He’s not gay!” It took only a beat before he added to Simon, “Meaning no offense.” But my heart measured that beat. There had been more than one reason I never wrote to him, after I ran. Mark broke in, “Got a picture of the boy?” He hadn’t eased his stance. Of course he was right. I’d known Michael sixteen years, but that was less than a third of his lifetime. There would

unexPected deMAnds 69 be no better choice of assassin to send up against us. Michael pulled a wallet out of his pocket and handed it over whole. “Go ahead, check the ID too.” Mark nodded his appreciation, but it didn’t keep him from doing exactly that. Driver’s license, credit card, and then there was a picture: a pretty brunette woman, middle-aged, with her arm around a dark-haired boy. The boy wore torn jeans that were ragged at the bottoms and a red T-shirt. His grin was pure Michael. Mark pulled the picture out, turned it over and showed me: Brianna and Aaron, age 13. “Not the most recent, but my favorite,” Michael said. Mark slid it back into the sleeve carefully and returned the wallet. “So boss, what now?” Good question. I turned to Michael. “I’d love to invite you home with me, spend a few hours catching up, but…” “You have this thing tomorrow,” he agreed. “Do what you have to. There’ll be time to talk after.” I sure hoped so. “Okay, I want to circle the wagons. If Michael could follow us here, so could others.” Andy hung his head. As well he should. We’d discussed the risk of being followed. If it had been anyone but Michael, I’d have skinned Andy alive. “My house. Paul, Simon, grab a bag. You can have the bigger bed. Patrick, Andy, bring some blankets, you’ll get the floor. I want patrols out.” I turned to Mark. “Has anyone had sleep yet tonight?” “Lucas and Damian checked in about midnight. Chicago was tucked in for the night. I sent them home.” “Wake them up. Let’s hope they had the sense to grab some sleep, because they’re nominated for patrol. Vince.” “Old bones don’t much like the floor,” he said mildly. “Take the couch. I don’t want to take chances with anyone.” I looked back at Mark. “Where are David and Richard?” “They’d better be still sitting in front of Calgary’s hotel. When they called at two, he hadn’t shown.”

70 Kaje Harper “Send them home,” I decided. “But tell them to stick together. No one stays alone.” “I’ll have them at my place,” Mark said. “With me and your cousin here.” “You don’t need to…” Michael began, but he trailed off at a look from Mark. “Or perhaps you do. Okay, I’ll accept your hospitality.” “What about your family?” I asked Mark. However off-limits wives and kids had been in the past, I wasn’t willing to risk them now. “I sent Megan and Nick to her mom’s yesterday. To stay safe until further notice.” It was a smart move, but… “Megan agreed to that?” Mark’s wife was a force in her own right, and not the type to run from a fight even for Nick’s sake. “She’s pregnant again,” he said softly. “Ah.” Good news, bad news. I really didn’t want her more

vulnerable right now. “How long?” “Sixth week.” Too soon to know, too soon to hope, except that you always hoped. “Good thing she’s out of it then,” I said. “Okay. Take Michael, David, and Richard. Get some rest if you can. Pack meet at my house by nine AM. We’ll roll at ten. And Mark,” I caught his eye, tried to show I meant it. “Thanks.” “No problem, Alpha,” he said easily, giving me the submissive drop of the eyes that always shook me, coming from that man.

chAPteR 5 I made French toast for breakfast. The house was full. Simon and Paul were wrapped around each other in the big guest room bed. I hoped they had slept. I had balked momentarily when I realized that giving them the big guest bed meant putting Zach in mine. Of course I could have had him trade with Vince but… fuck it, I wanted him there, just this once. Not with me, of course, but his head on my pillow and his scent in the sheets. Vince still snored on the couch while Patrick and Andy folded up their blankets and stretched out the kinks after hours on the floor. Like me, they had slept as wolves. I had shifted as soon as everyone was in place, and spent the night alternating rounds with catnaps. My wolf could sleep and wake repeatedly, and get more rest out of it than I would as human. And the rug was comfortable enough. At first light I’d shifted back and started breakfast. Feeding my wolves felt good, and French toast was easy enough even for me. The smell of egg and vanilla was comforting. My wolf wanted to haul back a kill and let the pack eat red meat, and I quieted him by adding some bacon to the pan. I was into the third loaf of bread when Mark, David, and Richard showed up. “Where’s Michael?” I asked. “He wanted to be dropped off at his car,” Mark reported. “You didn’t say to hold him, and I think it would take more manpower than we could spare, if he didn’t choose to be held.” “You’d be right. Michael is probably the least of our worries today.” “You hope.” I didn’t know if Mark meant for me to hear his mutter or not, but I let it pass. We ran through quick showers. I put the stereo on louder when I realized Simon and Paul were in there together. It worked well enough. None of my wolves commented, although I thought

72 Kaje Harper a couple of them had noticed. And a couple had carefully not noticed. Before starting the pack meeting I pulled Zach aside into my office. His eyes snapped up to mine when I pulled out my keyring and reached for his lock. “I want all of us to have complete freedom to shift today,” I said. “I’m not worried you’ll abuse it.” He nodded solemnly, as if this gesture somehow brought home the seriousness of our situation. His skin was warm and smooth under my fingertips as I unhooked the padlock from his neck and put it aside. I heard his breath catch as my hands brushed his collar bone, pulling the chain free. I dropped the links in my pocket, still warm from his body. He seemed about to speak but I turned without further comment back to the men waiting in the living room. Pack meeting was short. We had made our plans, and nothing had come up to change them. At the end of the meet, I looked around the room. They were all there, alert, in varying degrees of calm or anxiety. No one was looking at the door for a way out. I felt compelled to give them one anyway. “So this is it,” I said. “When we show up, and you range yourselves behind Simon and Paul, you’re making a statement you can’t take back. Anyone who wants to leave now should say so. I won’t stop you.” “Shut up and let’s go,” Mark said after a beat of silence. “No one wants to bail.” “Good,” I agreed softly. My pack. “Very good. Let’s roll.” Paul and Simon rode with me and Zach. I put a car of wolves ahead of us and another behind. In my rearview mirror, Simon looked very pale. Paul seemed almost serene. “Doing okay?” I asked Paul, because Simon would bite my head off if I said a word to him. “I guess.” Paul almost smiled. “It’s surreal, you know. This isn’t me. I’m the loner, nerdy, straight veterinarian who has no

unexPected deMAnds 73 friends and never does anything that will get himself noticed.” “You have friends now, babe,” Simon said roughly, winding Paul’s fingers through his own. “You have pack,” I added. “You’re one of us.” “I know.” I saw Paul give Simon’s hand a squeeze and release it. “Makes it all worthwhile.” Let’s hope so. I turned to Zach. “Did you take anything for your headache? You can’t afford to be under the weather today.” “I’m fine, Mommy,” Zach said. “I’ve got it under control.” I gave him a thwap to the back of the head on principal, and was pleased to see his tight expression loosen a little. I’d have kept Zach out of this if I could have, and my eighteen-year-old, David, too. But pack was pack. No choice. At the lodge, our cavalcade turned in the gates and up the long drive to the main building. On the snowy lawn in front of the main doors, a crowd of men stood waiting silently. Or not so much a crowd as scattered pairs, each maintaining a space around them by body language. Some of Joshua’s men held the perimeter, looking unhappy. As we pulled up, the strangers turned almost as one to look at us. I ran a quick survey of the foreign werewolves: seven pairs, two singles. Someone was missing, but I didn’t have the attention to spare on whom. If we made it through the next two hours, I’d figure out then who I might have to watch my back for. We got out of the cars. My wolves formed up around Simon and Paul, and I stepped forward. “I’m Aaron, Alpha of the Twin Cities West Pack,” I said formally. “Well met.” There were growls among the responses that came back to me. “Have you chosen a spokesman for yourselves?” I asked. The cacophony of responses disposed of that notion. “Then I greet you all. And I’ll answer questions from anyone who asks, without meaning any disrespect to the dominance order among you.”

74 Kaje Harper Meetings between packs in the past had sometimes been derailed by the need for Alphas to work out exactly where they stood in relation to each other. Some Alphas could not accept the fact that for most of them the answer would have to be, not at the top. Rick Brown from Chicago stepped forward. Several others frowned, but no one pushed ahead of him. “You’ve told us that we should tolerate queer wolves in our packs. You say they’re inevitable. Furthermore, you say they’re capable of forming mate bonds with lovers, as normal wolves would. If you have proof to back that up, now’s the time.” “I don’t have to prove the first part of that,” I said. “It’s already done. I sent you the emails I got from a dozen gay wolves out there.” “Without the names, you could have made up those messages,” the Iowa Alpha said. “Give us the names. Maybe then we’ll believe you.” I snorted. “I’m not outing anyone. I don’t have to. You all know better. How many of you are playing don’t ask, don’t tell with at least one pack member? Or maybe I should ask how many of you aren’t.” “We have no faggot wolves in my pack,” the Hastings enforcer snarled. “It’s my job to keep it that way, and I love my job.” He smiled, showing lots of teeth. “Regardless,” I said. “I’m not here to prove that gay wolves exist. You don’t need me for that. What I am here to demonstrate is that they can form true mate bonds. That the link between a gay wolf and his mate can be as deep as between a straight wolf and his mated wife. That gay bondmates can be trusted with pack secrets in the same way bonded wives are.” “Never,” the Iowa Alpha snarled. “I intend to prove it,” I repeated as mildly as I could. “Not theory, not opinion. Fact.” “How?” Rick Brown pulled us back on track. “What defines a mate bond?” I asked. “How can you tell a

unexPected deMAnds 75 man and his wife are bonded?” “Alpha says so,” one wolf snapped shortly. “Yeah. Except I’m the Alpha and you won’t take my word for whether the sun rises in the east. So what else?” “Shared emotions,” Jack Bishop, Chicago Second, said coolly into the growls that answered me. “Bondmates know what the other is feeling. They know when the other is hurt. They know exactly where their mate is, and if he or she is safe.” “Yeah,” the Pittsburgh Second said gleefully. “Give us the fag wolf ’s mate and we’ll see if your wolf can tell when we hurt him.” “Not happening,” I replied. I hid a moment’s satisfaction that he used the term mate unconsciously. The idea was taking root even as they fought it. “We won’t let you hurt either of them. They’re pack.” I made the point mildly. The visible anger of my men, and the way they had put themselves in front of Paul, punctuated it just fine for me. “Then what do you propose?” Bishop asked. “What you said. They each know where the other one is.” I looked around. “How many of you have seen bonded wolves go to their mates directly, sometimes from miles away, without question? And what are the chances ordinary lovers could do the same?” I waved at the extensive grounds of the lodge. “One mate is taken to wherever you choose to hide him. We see if the other can find him without searching.” “That’s bullshit games,” the Hastings enforcer said. “No, it’s a start,” Rick Brown said firmly. “All right, begin with that. Who are your gay bondmates?” Showtime. I gestured, and Simon and Paul took a step forward, moving out from behind the protective array of my pack. “My Fifth, Simon,” I said. “And his bondmate Paul.” I was proud of them, standing straight under the focus of so many Alpha glares. If Simon’s chin jerked up a bit, and Paul’s

76 Kaje Harper heartbeat rose, it was little enough response. For a long moment the outsiders studied them, as a predator studied its prey. Rick Brown took a step closer. I was debating telling him to back off when he nodded to them. “Simon, Paul.” His voice was even. “The good of the pack has always overruled the rights of the few.” “Or the one,” Simon said, and his mouth twitched up a little in a smile. “I saw Star Trek.” Brown choked, and his expression lightened. We Alphas respected defiance, even when we planned to squash it. “Just so. If we’re going to change the rules of generations, we need good hard proof that it’s safe to do so. If we let your lover walk away alive with pack secrets, it will only be because we’re convinced he is so linked to the well-being of the pack that he can never betray us.” “Fair enough,” Paul returned. “As long as you accept the evidence of your eyes when you get that proof.” The Sioux Falls Alpha stared at me. “Are you letting humans speak for you now?” “I’m letting him speak for himself,” I replied. “Enough!” Calgary snapped. “I came a long way for this and I want to get it over with and done. If you are going to demonstrate, get on with it.” I looked over at Joshua. He had reluctantly agreed to help us. It was all that would make the demonstration possible. At my nod, he came forward. “The North Pack Alpha has agreed,” I said, “to participate and keep Paul safe for us. That way, you’ll know that Simon is sensing his mate, and not a member of his pack or his Alpha. Joshua and his men, and whoever chooses to go with that group, will take Paul off somewhere.” I glared around the circle. “Where he will be kept safely until Simon finds him. The rest of us will be with Simon. A bondmate will go directly to his mate without hesitation. Simon will demonstrate.” “It could all be a setup,” the Iowa Alpha said.

unexPected deMAnds 77 “You go with Paul,” I suggested. “You decide where to hide him. Don’t tell anyone in advance.” The Iowa Alpha subsided with a grunt. “Decide,” I directed. “If you’re hiding Paul, go stand with Joshua. If you’re following Simon, stand over there.” There were protests and complaints, but no one was ready to start a war, and they were all curious. Eventually, the outsiders were divided in two groups. Most pairs had split, one to each group. Hard eyes turned expectantly to me. I went back to Simon and Paul. This was the hardest part, especially for Simon. He had to let Paul go among hostile wolves, with none of his pack brothers there to protect his mate. We couldn’t afford any perception of loopholes. Simon had to trust Joshua and his pack to keep Paul safe. For a moment the two men looked at each other. Simon smiled. “Forgot to tell you, babe,” he said. “Being bonded takes all the fun out of hide and seek.” Paul nodded. “I’m counting on you to prove it.” “Always.” They didn’t touch each other, but I could feel the solid link between them. Simon watched as Paul’s group headed out, Joshua’s wolves keeping an honor guard between Paul and the out-of-town dominants. “Fifteen minutes,” I called after them. The time crept by. I held my bond to Simon, and through him the link to Paul, as open as possible. If anything happened to Paul we would know, although it would undoubtedly be too late. All I was getting so far was anxiety and nervous tension from both men, colored by the love between them. If we wolves were telepathic outside our own packs, there would have been no need for this demonstration. The mate bond was almost visible to my eyes, tight and vibrating. The observing wolves watched, with the silent patience of predators. Simon had turned his back on me after that first moment, and stared fixedly into space in the opposite direction.

78 Kaje Harper Slight shifts in muscle tension showed that he was tracking something that moved. “Fifteen,” I said at last. “Go.” Simon whirled and sprang forward like a crossbow bolt from the bow, hard and straight. “Jesus,” I snapped, holding at his side with an effort as we ran. “Slow down a bit. This will be a failure if you outrun the rest of them.” Simon didn’t glance my way, but his pace slowed a little. Behind us, the rest of my pack and the outsiders ranged across the snowy field. Werewolves all ran for fitness and for pleasure, man and wolf. It was deep in our bones, the need to move. Even the oldest Alpha, who was probably pushing a hundred, kept pace across the frozen ground. This was good, I thought, as we crossed the mingled tracks of the first group of wolves at an angle and ignored them, heading straight and true. A run would take some of the tension out of the other wolves and put them in a better frame of mind. As long as it didn’t go on long enough for any to become winded and angry over loss of face around younger and fitter competitors. We ran through a stand of pine trees and over a ridge. Below us on the other side, the first group stood, all staring our way. Those who hadn’t already sensed the approach of a packmate had surely heard us by now. Joshua was standing in front of Paul as we approached. He caught the look in Simon’s eye and stepped aside quickly. Simon grabbed Paul’s arm and pulled him close, almost roughly. Simon’s eyes were on the other wolves, but Paul whispered something under his breath that had my Fifth easing down. “So,” I said to the crowd as a whole, “Any questions?” The Chicago Third looked at his Alpha. “Could he have been scenting or tracking?” Rick Brown shook his head. “Not unless he’s a hell of a lot

unexPected deMAnds 79 better at it than I am. He headed straight here.” “Satisfied?” I asked. The Montana Second snarled. “Do it again. I choose the location.” “If no one else objects.” There were mutters from the group, but no one seemed to think the man was likely to be cheating on our side. After brief discussion, the wolves split again, most in opposite groups, and we did it again. This time Paul was concealed behind an old stone wall, lying half buried in the snow with a few of the wolves around him. The others had apparently laid a false trail and circled around to observe from a ridge above. They came down to join us as we met. The discussions were private and muttered. From the frowns and hard looks, no one liked the conclusion they were being forced to. “Again,” the Iowa Alpha demanded. “Without the North Pack this time. Maybe your wolf can still track his old packmates.” “No way,” Simon said angrily, before I could respond. “I’m not handing Paul over to you without protection. Anyway, he’s wet and cold. I say if you’re not convinced yet then to hell with it.” Paul laid a hand on his arm. “Simon. I’m okay. I’ve got dry layers on underneath. I can do this. Let them be convinced.” I frowned. I was no more eager than Simon to let Paul out of sight without protection. Rick Brown turned to me. “How about if I guard him? I’ll pledge to keep him safe. On my honor. And I’ll keep Jack with me as backup.” “If you trust him, Aaron, it works for me,” Paul said. “What about me?” Simon snapped. “What if I’m not okay with it?” Brown turned to him. “Are you doubting my honor or my competence, pup?”

80 Kaje Harper On any other topic, Simon would have had the sense to back down. When it came to Paul’s safety, I had to grab his arm and twist, with a hard shove of Alpha coercion to shut him up. Brown’s response was a wry smile. “I could almost believe them bonded, just from the fact that a pup like that is ready to take me on for the sake of his mate.” He raised an eyebrow at me. If I was wrong, Paul would pay for it. “Do it,” I said. Simon snarled under his breath, but did not challenge my authority. When I was sure it was safe, I released his arm. He went to Paul and hugged him briefly. “Okay, one more time,” Simon said, and stepped back. This time, Simon ran full out. No courtesy or politics would make him modulate his pace for the slower men. We were strung out across a field, a clump of us close on his heels, and others beginning to trail, when he visibly stumbled and froze for an instant. “Shit!” he snapped, and then he ran even faster. We had both felt that flash of pain down the bond from Paul, but it had eased almost at once. I put on a burst of speed to come even with him. “Simon,” I muttered, with little breath to spare, “Simon. Calm down. He’s okay. Whatever happened, it wasn’t that bad and he’s okay now. Don’t lose your temper.” Fast as Simon was, I could still outrun him. I had a few steps on him as we swept through the pine woods and came upon the other men. Simon’s glare took them all in. Only the fact that Paul was at the forefront of the group, apparently unhurt, kept him from exploding. I put myself between Simon and Rick Brown. Simon ran his hands over Paul worriedly. “What happened?” “No big deal,” Paul said, although he looked pale. “I hurt my arm a bit, that’s all. It’s fine.” “My fault,” Brown said, stepping forward. He pointed to the Sioux Falls Second, who was cradling his right arm and glaring. “That one wrenched your mate’s arm back. I broke his for him. Do you need more payback than that?”

unexPected deMAnds 81 Simon stared hotly at the injured man. “It was a test,” the man said.

“You hurt the human at twelve twenty-six?” his Alpha asked from behind us. “Yeah,” the Second said begrudgingly. “Then I saw him react to it,” the Alpha admitted. “That’s enough fucking tests.” Simon drew Paul away from the group and behind him. “We’re done here. You can believe what you want.” “Wait.” The Pittsburgh Second stepped forward and looked at me. “I’m willing to concede that your wolf can sense his mate, that he has a bond of sorts with him.” “But?” I prompted. “For our secrets to be safe with this human, the bond has to go both ways. The man has to be as much linked with your wolf as the wolf is with the man. And you haven’t proved that.” “So now what?” Simon asked. “You want to take me off somewhere and twist my arm and see if he can feel it?” “No one needs to get hurt,” Rick Brown said. He turned to the Pittsburgh pair. “How about we run this in reverse once. We let the human find the wolf. And if he can do that, then you concede that they are bonded.” “Don’t tell me what I concede,” the Second returned, but under the weight of Brown’s stare his eyes dropped unwillingly. He was only a Second, and Brown had presence even in a group of Alphas. “All right,” the man agreed. “Send whoever you like with your wolf,” Brown said to me. “If a human can sense any member of the pack, he’s bonded to the pack.” “I want more distance,” the Montana Second said. “No chance to use prearranged hiding places. We head out by car, the human follows the same way. Half an hour, anywhere in the city.” “Anywhere north,” Joshua put in. “I’ll come along to watch

82 Kaje Harper for the boundaries. John Hanson of the South Pack won’t be happy if we stray into his space with this. I’m not starting a territory fight over your need to play games.” The Montana Second looked like he wanted to protest Joshua’s tone, but he too was not dominant enough. I didn’t like the way this was escalating, didn’t want Simon off in a vehicle with a group of hostile wolves, didn’t want to risk the demonstration failing because we pushed it past Paul’s range. But with one wolf after another grudgingly agreeing to make this the final test, we went with it. I stood behind Paul as we watched three loaded SUVs pull out of the lot, the middle one carrying Simon. We had kept the test as clean as possible; Joshua and his Second, Brian, had Simon’s back. Paul had insisted on doing his searching in Rick Brown’s vehicle, with none of us beside him. Our human packmate was determined to prove his point. But I could feel the young man’s tension, and smell the sweat and fatigue on him. I stepped closer and put a hand on his shoulder. “Once more with feeling,” I murmured. “You can do this.” I hope. For all my misgivings, it went off as planned. Paul in the front seat of Brown’s van, blindfolded and isolated from anyone who might give him clues, pointed unerringly forward. An hour later, when we walked into the lobby of the train station in St. Paul, the observers were fighting a losing battle against conviction. Paul walked steadily forward into Simon’s arms. Defiantly, Simon cupped his mate’s face in his hands and kissed him soundly, in front of two dozen watching werewolves. There in public, none of them dared protest beyond a shifting of weight and silent glares. Without further comment, I rearranged the passenger lists to bring my pair back to the lodge in our own truck, surrounded by their packmates. In the middle seat, Paul leaned his head on Simon’s shoulder, his eyes closed. We were halfway there before Simon said softly, “I was worried we might have gone too far

unexPected deMAnds 83 away for you to feel me.” “No problem, it only thinned out a little,” Paul murmured back without opening his eyes. The bond between them was warm, relief and fatigue mingled. “Which was nice to find out, actually.” “Yeah.” Simon raised his cheek from Paul’s hair to meet my eyes in the rearview mirror. “What do you think, boss? Are we done?” “Done with the demo, yes,” I said. “How many people we’ve convinced is a different question. And what they’ll do even if they are convinced is a third.” I shrugged and turned my eyes back to the road. “Nothing to do but play out the hand.” Once again, we assembled outside the lodge. When we pulled in, the other wolves were spread out even more, as if they felt the need for space between them. A small group stood around Rick Brown and his Second on the walkway facing the parking lot. The others straggled across the snowy lawn as far as the porch of the lodge and over to the tall pines that flanked the path. I counted and found the missing wolf was back. They were all waiting for us, but it didn’t look like consensus. My pack had squeezed into two vehicles for this trip. I pulled the first in along the curb, and stopped there. I had a clear drive back out of the lot again, if it came to that. Mark parked nearby, but not so close he couldn’t pull out and around if my van was disabled. We climbed out and came together as a pack, just barely up on the sidewalk. I noticed all my wolves jockeying to keep Simon and Paul screened behind their bodies. Whatever they had thought before now, my wolves were one pack in the face of a threat from outside. I stepped forward, toward Brown. “So, have we proved our point?” I kept my voice conversational. The more distant wolves would just have to pay attention. “I am convinced,” Brown said, “that a mate bond exists between your wolf Simon and the human man. I’m not as certain about what this means for the rest of us.”

84 Kaje Harper “It’s irrelevant,” the Calgary Second said sharply. “Bonded or not, the fag wolf dies. It’s the rule.” “It’s a custom, not a rule,” I retorted. “And it’s a custom whose time is past.” I took two more steps forward, trying to project urgency. “Listen, I’ve wasted time making this point for you, because we need to move on and consider far more urgent problems facing us. Namely, what to do when humans become aware of us.” “What do you mean ‘When’?” the Iowa Alpha growled. “You planning on breaking that rule too?” “Of course not,” I snapped, “None of us wants to lose our secrecy, but it’s going to happen. Maybe next year, maybe in ten years, but definitely in our lifetimes. All it takes is one unmated wife secretly asking for DNA testing of her third miscarriage, or one wolf arrested and DNA sampled to match a crime. There are satellite cameras, cell phone cameras, street video surveillance cameras. A video of someone caught shifting can be sent to a thousand sites on the Web before we even know it exists. It’s going to happen.” “We’ve done all right so far.” Pittsburgh’s Second was one of the groups hanging back at the porch, but his voice carried. “So far. Technology is catching up with us. One kid screened for genetic diseases, one amniocentesis of a difficult pregnancy; they have the technology now. All we need is for someone to see the anomalies and get curious. And once there is suspicion, they can identify any of us from a few hairs, a skin cell. They won’t have to force us to shift, to prove who we are.” “Maybe not,” the Calgary Second put in, “But that’s not why we’re here now.” “It should be,” I said urgently. “We need to get past this bullshit that pits us against each other and have a real meeting. We need to talk about who comes out when secrecy is breached and who hides. Does it make more sense to show the humans all of our most unthreatening members, or to hide everyone we can for as long as we can? If we are known to exist, how do we

unexPected deMAnds 85 keep our young boys with the pack instead of with their mothers in case of a divorce? Kidnapping and threats won’t be an option anymore. Do we plan to petition for equal protection under the law? We should be talking about this stuff.” “Enough!” The Montana Second’s voice was almost a shout. He glanced around at the scattered wolves. “Enough distraction! I say we deal with the unnatural freaks here and now, like we always have.” I felt some of the waiting wolves sway forward, sensing a fight. I’d picked out five who seemed more interested in me than in Simon, who had watched me all along for hesitation or weakness. I was expecting a Challenge from someone, but the Montana Second hadn’t been at the top of my list. He didn’t quite have the confidence. That glance around him for support betrayed his uncertainty. Still I centered myself, ready for him. Rick Brown turned an unhurried look on him. “Are you proposing we take on Aaron’s whole pack in a fight? Because I’m betting that’s what it will take to get to Simon and Paul.” “If that’s what it takes.” From my left, the Calgary Second stepped toward me, stiff-legged and ready. He’d been at the top of my list. I felt more than saw my wolves separating, preparing fighting room. “I’m not ready to see major bloodshed done here,” Brown growled. “Not over this issue. I’m betting Aaron can wipe the snow with your ass, and some of the rest of his wolves look pretty competent too. Most of us don’t want a dozen wolves dead on the ground to get a culling accomplished.” “That won’t be necessary,” a cold clear voice said. We all turned to see the Montana enforcer, screened in the shadow of the tall pines, pull a rifle out of his long coat. “I hit what I aim for,” he drawled. “So, Aaron, boy, I can take out all of your pack from here. But all I really want are the two fags, and you. Step away from our friend Brown, and get the faggots out here, and I won’t have to wipe your whole pack out. Count of three.”

86 Kaje Harper For a moment, time froze. I could see the man’s gloved hands tense on his automatic weapon, could make out the shape of the magazine, with enough rounds to destroy my pack. I could recognize the tension in his stance. The way he stood combined aggression with just a hint of fear, the perfect combination to make him eager to pull that trigger. His eyes were shadowed and dark. A cloud of his breath seemed to hang in freeze frame in the frigid air. Then time leapt forward with a rush. The man gestured with the barrel of his gun. I snapped a glance back at my men, even as I moved obediently away from Rick Brown. With that weapon, the man could probably kill most of my people. They had spread out a little, but not enough to escape the sweep of that field of fire. And they had to know it. But even as Simon stepped forward in front of Paul, four of my other wolves put themselves between Simon and the gun. No one backed away. “Come on!” The enforcer’s voice was noticeably less cool. “Get the fuck away from them unless you all want to die. One… Two…” No chance to get to him fast enough. I took two long steps toward him. I was closest. The shadow of my body in front might shield someone from the first spray of bullets. They might duck under the van, get clear somehow. Brown growled. “Listen, motherfucker…” as I waited for the three count. But the enforcer froze, his mouth open. From the dense pine tree above him, a sinewy arm held a very serviceable automatic against the enforcer’s temple. “Don’t move,” Michael’s voice drawled. “Don’t even breathe.” The man’s eyes rolled up and left, trying to spot his attacker. His weapon stayed fixed on me. “Drop it,” Michael said. “You pull the trigger, and this slug goes through your brain. Not even a wolf can heal that. Drop it now.” After a moment, as the enforcer stood frozen, poised to take the shot, Michael added, “You could get one or two of them

unexPected deMAnds 87 before you die. But odds are it would be the wrong ones. And you will be dead.” There was time for my heart to lurch through several more beats before the weapon slid from the enforcer’s hands to the ground. Without conscious thought I ran for it. A grab and roll, and relief swamped me as I came up with the gun in my own hands. Because there was still the chance someone else might have used it against us, if they’d gotten to it first. I fumbled with the unfamiliar weapon, got the magazine free, and handed the empty rifle to the big man kneeling next to me. Rick Brown. His dive for the gun had been a second behind mine. I hoped with overwhelming intensity his reason had been the same as mine. There was an ally worth having, if we could just keep him on our side. He gave me a bemused look, but slung the strap over his shoulder. I tossed the ammunition well clear, where it sank into a snow drift. Then I stood and rose to stare the Montana wolf in the eyes. We both ignored Michael, who swung down from his branch and dropped lightly to the snowy ground, gun still in hand. The enforcer’s eyes remained fixed on me, hot with anger and frustration. To my right, his Second approached us carefully. I took one step back and turned to the Second. “You outrank him,” I snarled. “Was that done on your orders?” “No,” the man said carefully. Not lie, but evasion. I guessed he had known his enforcer’s plan, but not actually ordered it. Still, his evasion put the responsibility back on the enforcer. “Then when I’m done with him, you can take him back to your Alpha and find out what he thinks about using modern weaponry to solve pack problems.” The Second glanced around at the other wolves. Perhaps he had expected the move to be popular. But the expressions on the faces of most of the outside wolves were closed and cold. They were not ready to step into the middle of this on his behalf. Or on mine. Which was fine. Let them stay neutral. It was better than I had feared. I could handle the enforcer, as long as the rest were

88 Kaje Harper reluctant to support him. I turned back to the man, still pinned under Michael’s gun. “You fool,” I snarled. “This is exactly what I mean. You’ll risk gunshots, and innocent blood, over something that shouldn’t even be your concern. If we start shooting each other, traditional pack order is destroyed faster than anything I’ve done.” I turned to Michael. “Put the gun away. This bastard wants a crack at me and mine. He can have it, the traditional way since he’s so hung up on tradition.” I turned back to the enforcer. “I accept your Challenge. Here and now. Fur or skin. You choose.” Technically I couldn’t Challenge him without taking on his Alpha first, but I had phrased it as him Challenging me and that was legal. The enforcer glanced at his Second, and then around the snowy lawn. Whatever he saw was not encouraging, because he shook his head angrily. Finally he looked back at me. “All right,” he said. “I can do it the slow way too. I’ll take you out, and then your faggot pack members too. Skin.” He was bigger than me. That was okay. As Michael lowered his gun to point at the ground, without holstering it, and stepped back to give us room, I smiled. I was lethal in fur, but I’d trained for this too. All my life, wherever I went, I found a teacher and a dojo. My style ended up pretty mixed, but no less effective for that. And I was looking forward, after the past week, to kicking someone’s teeth out. I tossed my parka to one side and beckoned him to begin. He came at me with a rush, planning to close in with me where his size advantage would work. I dodged him and landed a blow to his back that nearly put him on his knees. He staggered and recovered. When he turned to face me, I stared at him hard. His eyes dropped even as he leaped forward again. We both knew I had him, strength and will. He was probably experienced in some form of wrestling or judo, and faster than his size suggested. But I was floating now on a wave of anger and bitter experience. It was easy to avoid his rushes and make swift blows count. The edge of my hand met his shoulder. My foot found his ribs. I barely felt the contact.

unexPected deMAnds 89 When he hit the snow for the fifth time, I moved in, calculated, and placed a kick to his head that laid him out cold. A little more force would have killed him. It had been hard to hold back that force. I stepped back and picked up my parka, dusting off the snow. “Pick up your trash,” I told the Montana Second without bothering to look at him. “I want both of you out of Twin Cities’ territory. If I see him again, I will kill him.” I made a production out of righting my jacket sleeves, pulling it on, zipping it up. When I turned, the unconscious man was being carried into the lodge between his Second and one of Joshua’s men. The door closed behind them. “So.” I looked around at the other wolves, waiting, judging. “Anyone else want to take on me and my pack the traditional way?” “I think you’ve made your point,” Rick Brown said. “Anyone who wants to continue this violently can deal with me as well.” His eyes made a cold sweep over the assembled men. I could almost feel the force of his will, and the effort it took the rest of the werewolves to resist dropping eyes for him. My stomach lurched in relief. This was the one man who could probably have taken me on and won. “I’m taking my pack home now,” I said. “You all are free to leave. Tell your home packs and Alphas anything you like about us. But think about what I said. Gay wolves coming out are nothing compared to what will happen when our species has to come out. We’re not ready for it. All we’ve worked for up till now was prevention. We need to get our heads out of our asses and admit what’s coming. And plan for it. Anyone who wants to host that meeting, let me know. I’ll be there.” “I’ll think about it,” Rick Brown said easily, as if we had just had a quiet talk together. “There is planning going on, but coordinating our efforts would be smart. Although, perhaps next time we’ll make it a virtual meeting.” Given the leaks in our computer security, that might not be

90 Kaje Harper a great idea either. But I wasn’t opening that can of worms here and now. I nodded to him. He didn’t offer a handshake. He was standing just far enough away not to make that an obvious slight. I turned and walked to our van. The hair on the back of my neck stood on end at the idea of turning my back on the assembled wolves, but my pride demanded that I walk slowly and not look back. And after all, Michael still stood under the trees watching me go. His jacket was open over the worn holster, the gun held easy in his hand. Knowing he had my back made it possible to stroll to the van and get in slowly.

chAPteR 6 We took the long way back to my house, splitting up to shake any pursuit. Although in fact I detected none. Still, it was a worthwhile precaution. When we arrived, Mark and Lucas did a quick run of the perimeter, in case someone had unearthed my address and was waiting for us. Eventually they gave us the all clear. My house looked small and quiet, almost too confining, as I still fought off the lingering effects of adrenaline. If I hadn’t been Alpha, I could have gone somewhere and run it off. But as it was, I would live with the jumpy, need-eyesin-the-back-of-my-head feeling, as long as I could feel my wolves around me, part of me. I ushered them all inside ahead of me, trying to see it as more sanctuary than trap, and closed the door. It took me a moment to recognize how they arrayed themselves around the room. Zach, Andy, Patrick, and David were sprawled on my floor, throats and bellies exposed. Vincent, Damian, and Richard had taken chairs but sat stiffly, almost posed. Simon, Lucas, and Mark stood. Each of them had their eyes down, shoulders down, heads turned away, and Simon had Paul behind him. And only then did I realize that all the pack bonds were open, as they had been since the fight. My wolves’ support echoed down those bonds, and in return I was clearly pushing something high-powered in Alpha dominance. I’d never seen Mark reluctant to look at me. With an effort I throttled back all my emotions and closed the bonds. Deal with that later. The men sighed as one, as if a weight had come off them. Simon grinned at me, sliding an arm around Paul and relaxing his stance. “God, Aaron, you can be one scary son-of-a-bitch when you get that intense.” “Sorry,” I said, meaning all of them. “I don’t take well to having my pack threatened.” “Part of being Alpha,” Mark agreed more easily.

92 Kaje Harper “I guess.” I looked around. “Food. We all need to eat. I put steaks in the refrigerator. And fixings.” “I’ll get it started,” Simon volunteered. He headed for the kitchen, towing Paul by the sleeve. I guessed that it would be a few minutes before any cooking got done in there. I turned to the rest of the wolves. A wave of pride and affection took me by surprise. “Thank you,” I said. “All of you. Whatever you thought privately, we all stood together and survived.” “We’re pack,” Lucas said simply. “Including Paul. He’s proved that, if any of us needed more than your word for it.” He stretched ostentatiously. “And now I’ll leave the rest of you to your steaks and drag my poor overworked carcass back to Chicago.” “Back? Now?” I’d just relaxed into having everyone here and safe. “Yeah.” He grimaced. “I ducked out on a business meeting, but we’re going to run through the weekend. I have a presentation. Unless you think I’m still needed here…” “I guess not. Are you okay going back into Rick Brown’s territory so soon?” “Of all of them, he worries me least,” Lucas said. “I’ve known him longer than you’ve been alive. The man does nothing without good reason, and you made your point with him. I’m probably safer in Chicago than here.” “None the less. Take an anonymous rental car, not your own, and watch your back. I don’t want someone calling me up to offer your neck in exchange for Simon’s.” Lucas smiled. “If I’m careless enough to get caught, tell them to keep me. I’ll be fine. Eat an extra steak for me. I’ll think of you poor bastards here warm and fed when I stop at the MacDonald’s in Baraboo, Wisconsin.” “Liar,” Zach quipped from the floor. “You’ve probably got a girl lined up and restaurant reservations in Madison.” Lucas aimed a swipe at the boy’s hair on his way past. “For

unexPected deMAnds 93 me to know, and you never to find out. Behave yourself, boy.” He gave me a two-fingered salute and let himself out into the cold. We were all fed to bursting on Simon’s cooking when Joshua called to report that the Montana pair had been followed to the edge of gate security at the airport. I took a twisted pleasure in hearing that the bruises I’d left on the enforcer made him look disreputable enough to be pulled aside for a body search. Airport security could harass him as much as they liked, and it was still less than he deserved. I wondered whether his actions had been ordered by his Alpha back in Billings, or taken on his own initiative. I hoped the latter. Montana was too close to have an enemy Alpha that willing to kill me. I didn’t ask Joshua for his opinion in front of my assembled pack, but I would later. Guns were bad business for all of us. I mentally planned a letter of protest to the Alpha. His answer should tell me something. We took our full stomachs to the living room and turned on the hockey game. It was something to pretend to be watching while we wound down. “Aaron.” Mark’s voice was quiet, but the other wolves turned as one to listen. “Did you plan to have your cousin there in the trees to watch our backs?” I wished I could claim the credit. “No. That was pure Michael. He’s always had a knack for turning up just where he was needed.” Well, all but once. “I didn’t spot him ahead of time,” Mark admitted. “Which is impressive.” “Michael was a Navy SEAL thirty years ago. He had to cut and run after he was badly injured on duty. Too much risk if they saw how fast and completely he healed. But he was pretty impressive before the training, and he was freaking amazing after it.” “I wonder how he guessed where to position himself.” Was that suspicion in Mark’s voice? It had been startlingly perfect. But no. “He was in the trees on the other side, probably because it

94 Kaje Harper gave him a good view,” I said. “I figure the Montana enforcer picked his spot because the shade hid the shape of the gun under his coat. Michael must have spotted it. He was moving toward the enforcer before the man spoke. I caught a flash, but I didn’t realize…he’s the only person I know who can move from tree to tree quietly enough to surprise a werewolf.” “Good thing for us. Pity he doesn’t want a new pack.” “True,” I agreed. “Although I’d hate to have the two of you battling for Second slot.” Mark looked startled, and thought about it for a moment. “There is that.” Slowly reports trickled in from Joshua as the outside wolves left the city. As the numbers dropped, my wolves relaxed. It looked like no one was planning another move tonight. Eventually I chased them out the door to get a good night’s sleep in real beds. Although I made them stay in pairs and take turns sleeping. Rick Brown’s support wouldn’t prevent someone making a secret move, even now. I sent Andy and Patrick to do first guard shift on Simon and Paul. However much my threatened pair wanted the privacy of their own bed, I wasn’t ready to leave them unwatched yet. But when the younger two had left, I caught Simon’s arm. “Let them get set up first. I want to talk to you.” Paul glanced at me, and then sat back down on the couch. Simon perched on the upholstered arm. “Problem?” “No. I just wondered how you two are doing. If we don’t get murdered from ambush in the next week, will you be okay?” I couldn’t tap into the subtleties of their mate bond. The love was shining and clear, but still had a troubling darkness around it. Simon glanced at Paul, inviting him to speak. Paul sighed. “We have to be, don’t we? It’s irreversible.” “Are you sorry?” It was the key question, and I could feel Simon balanced on a breath, waiting for the answer to a question he hadn’t dared ask.

unexPected deMAnds 95 Paul’s smile tipped one corner of his perfect lips upward. “I would have been sorry if Simon had gotten his fool self killed today.” Simon growled softly. “You were closer to it than I was.” Paul turned to glance up at him, and the look in his eyes was a kiss. “And yet all I could think about was you. Which answers the question. You’ve, um, cuddled and cooked and teased your way into my heart, you sneaky dog. I wouldn’t know how to live without you now.” I could feel the tension in Simon ease. “Not a dog.” “Bitch?” “Bastard?” “Want to fight?” Simon’s eyes sparkled. “Not what I had in mind.” Paul bit his lip, and then looked back at me more soberly. “I still have problems with the packs, Aaron. That doesn’t change just because I’ve fallen in love with this furry guy. I witnessed something damned close to murder, and someday I may have to decide between staying silent and being complicit in another one.” I inclined my head. I couldn’t deny the possibility, and Paul was too smart to accept a lie. Simon reached over and pulled Paul in against his hip, eyes steady on me. No doubt where his loyalty would be, whichever decision Paul made. I bit hard on the temptation to growl and insist on Simon’s submission. That was my wolf, still revved up in Alpha mode. I was stronger than that. Paul leaned against Simon’s hip but his gaze was watchful. I said quietly. “I will try never to put you in that position.” “Do you really think you wolves will come out to humans soon? It would change everything.” It would, and perhaps in ways that Paul for all his intelligence had not yet considered. A lot of bad scenarios kept me awake at

96 Kaje Harper night. “It’ll happen. I won’t do anything to speed it up.” Paul frowned. “But surely you, if anyone, would find it easier…” “Why do you say that?” What did he know? In letting myself grow into the role of Alpha, had I let my sexuality surface enough to be seen? I realized I was breathing faster, balanced on the edge of my chair, and tamped my fear down. I wouldn’t attack Paul no matter what he had discovered in me. Simon’s eyes tracked my shifts of balance, and he slid away from Paul and stood. But Paul just said, “You seem…rational. And civilized, I guess. Wouldn’t it be better to work with us humans instead of hiding to the point of murder?” Simon gave him a fond look. “If all humans were like you it would.” I nodded. “Exactly. But there are humans who believe they have been abducted by aliens and others who claim that men shouldn’t masturbate because it’s a homosexual act.” Simon snorted involuntarily. “I’m not counting on humans acting rationally.” “So now what?” Paul closed his eyes for a moment. “We go on. As a pack. We stay alert to threats, we work and play. We protect the wives and little Nick. And take what comes.” My wolf approved of that. Wolves lived in the present, and all the planning and worrying and guilt of my human side weighed lightly on my wolf. Protect the pack. A wave of deep satisfaction echoed by visceral memories of the fight passed through me. My wolf thought we had done just fine. Simon put a hand on the back of Paul’s neck and rubbed gently. “Are we finished here, Aaron?” At least I was reassured that these two were working toward something, not breaking apart. “Sure. Go home. Sleep.” Simon tugged Paul up off the couch and guided him toward the door. As Paul stepped out, I heard Simon whisper, “Eventually we might sleep,” and saw Paul react to that with his whole body,

unexPected deMAnds 97 even tired as he was. Yeah, I thought those two would be just fine. Finally the house was empty, except for Zach dozing on the rug by the couch. The boy was curled up, bonelessly limp. Faint dark circles under his eyes reflected the strain of the last few days. Zach had done well. His had been one of the bodies planted between Simon and that gun. A fact which my gut had noted, even as I despaired of protecting them all. I could carry him up to bed. I wasn’t that big, but Zach was slender and I worked out. I could have lifted him in my arms and taken him up to that big bed and…I nudged him roughly with my foot. “Hey, lazybones,” I growled. “If you’re going to snore, take it upstairs.” He woke suddenly, and I felt the flash of fear that came and went swiftly behind his eyes. I wondered what dream I had woken him from. But he alerted quickly, after the fashion of our kind, and knew who I was. I was pleased to see that his reaction was a slow smile. “I never snore,” he said, stretching luxuriously without getting off the floor. If he did much more of that, I was going to jump him right there on the rug. His Alpha, I reminded myself, you’re his Alpha. He’s off limits to you, even if he was interested, which he’s probably not. Adrenaline had revved Zach up too, after the fight. I’d made extra certain my bond was closed to him, to hide how I felt about that. I wasn’t sure anymore how Zach swung; there had been odd flashes of something from him in recent days. But in any case, I was twenty years his senior and he had no reason to expect me to be interested. The look he gave me now was mischief, but a boy’s rejoinder, not a flirt. I kicked him again, harder. “Either that was snoring or someone left a band saw running in here. Git.” With halfhearted grumbles he hauled himself up and climbed the stairs. I heard his door, and then the bathroom, and the sounds of him moving around upstairs. Otherwise the house was quiet. I should go up myself soon. I was as short of sleep as any

98 Kaje Harper of them. Maybe it was the lack of sleep that was making bad ideas sound good. I could go up the stairs. From the sounds, he was half undressed, washing up. We could meet accidentally in the hallway. His chest would be bare, those dark eyes heavy with sleep. Would it take so much to convince him to try… Don’t go there. I sat for a while as silence returned. If I concentrated, I could hear the soft regular breathing of a young man on the edge of sleep. He was right. He didn’t snore. I had almost convinced myself it was safe to go up when there was a short rap on my front door, followed by two more. The old signal. I got up and let Michael in. He looked around as I closed the door behind him and led the way into the kitchen for privacy. With luck, Zach would sleep through this. “Nice place,” Michael said, taking a seat at the table. “I like it. Coffee?” “Sure.” We both let the silence be as I fussed with water and filters. Michael took his strong and black, always. I gave him my biggest cup. He held it to his nose, inhaling the rich steam, and then cocked his head at me. My lips twitched in a smile, involuntarily. “Thank you, Michael.” “You’re welcome. As usual. How many does that make?” “Three times. If you only count the potentially fatal times, and not the merely painful.” “You do have a gift. Or perhaps a curse.” “So it seems.” I looked at him, sipping the deep bitter brew. “You’re truly happy, back in Wyoming?” “I am.” He nodded. “Even better now. But I want payback.” I had been afraid of that. “Will you take money?”

unexPected deMAnds 99 His grin was the old Michael. “Not on your life. I want the story. What happened thirty years ago?” He sobered, looking at me intently. “Where did you go, that you couldn’t trust me to help you?” I looked down, watching the liquid swirl in my cup. It hadn’t been a matter of trust, exactly. And if I told him now, it would change things between us again, perhaps irrevocably. “Are you sure you want to know?” “Fuck, yes. You owe me the whole story. Thirty years is long enough to wonder.” “Okay.” I was risking everything here. Risking the pack I had just made safe. I should keep my mouth shut, invent something. I had no right to take a chance… but it was Michael. And I was so tired of being alone. If there was anyone in the whole world that I could trust with the truth about myself, it was Michael. I took a firm breath and closed my eyes, thinking back. So hard to say this. I’d never told anyone before, never let his name cross my lips, never… Tell it like that novel you always thought you might write to honor him. Behind the darkness of my lids, the pictures scrolled, still so vivid. And the words came. “That summer, my father let me work for Mr. Christensen on his farm. I was sixteen. I wanted some money of my own, and even more, I wanted to be out from under the eyes of people who had known me since the day I was born. I mucked the barn, milked cows, hauled hay. It was good hard work, and the hired man was a taciturn sort, who let me be. Then Christensen’s nephew came out for the summer. He was sixteen too.” I would never forget that first meeting. Allen’s blond hair like a wheat field in sunlight, his easy open grin. The feeling like a kick in the gut when I realized where I had been heading, all those years. “I ran wild that summer, when I wasn’t working. I avoided the pack as much as possible. The woods were deep, there was the river and the pond, and caves back in the hills. Allen was a city kid. He’d never had the luxury of that kind of freedom. I showed

100 Kaje Harper him all of it.” I took another deep breath and said it, down to the mug in my hands. “I fell in love with him.” There was no sound from Michael, no intake of breath, no exclamation, no change in his heart rate. After a moment I looked up to meet his cool gaze. “Did you know?” I asked softly. He shook his head. “I had no clue. Go on.” I nodded, and swallowed once. “He loved me too. It was my miracle. I couldn’t believe it. We went slowly, but eventually…” Swimming in the pond, scrubbing each other’s backs with the harsh yellow soap from the barn. Touching each other in accepted ways gradually led to other kinds of touching, and to the wonderful realization that we both wanted more. “I warned Allen. I told him my father would kill me…he took it for a figure of speech, you know.” And I was too weak to deny him, unable to send him away. His mouth was sweet, and his body sweeter, and he made me laugh, and dream, and hope. “That day…they were supposed to be in town, my father and Christensen both. And the hired man had a week off for his sister’s wedding. We should have been safe.” Should have been. I never knew what brought my father back that day. “We had never done anything risky where we might get caught. But it was a hot day, and we were hosing out the barn, and both wet to the skin from it. And…” And one thing led to another. Allen’s blue eyes laughing underneath me, luring me on. “I didn’t even hear my father come into the barn. He grabbed me off of Allen, threw me across the stall. I hit my head on the wall. It was all confused for a moment, lights too bright and no sound. Allen on his feet, mouth open, gesturing, protesting. My father moved so fast…and then Allen was dead.” His body crumpled in the straw, in a pose no living man could achieve. The absence of his heartbeat louder than any sound I’d ever heard. I couldn’t see his face. I have always thanked God I couldn’t see his face. Was he afraid, there at the end? Did he blame me? Or was there no time for more than blank surprise?

unexPected deMAnds 101 I never wanted to think of Allen truly afraid; his soul was always sunlight to me. “My father looked at me, and then he began to shift. And I knew. He had probably suspected for a long time. All those beatings, trying to make me the son he wanted, trying to drive the taint out of me. But now he knew for certain. And he was going to take care of the problem himself. But he couldn’t do it as human, I guess. I was still his son. As a wolf, I was a full member of the pack. His wolf would be able to kill me. I ran out of the barn, and shifted myself. I was always faster at that than he was. It gave me a head start. It was enough.” “And you didn’t come to me,” Michael said softly. “I couldn’t. Think back, Michael. You were only a month back from the service, silent and bitter at losing a life you had loved. The people you were closest to then were the two packmates you’d left behind in the Navy. I hadn’t seen much of you since I was eleven. You’d been keeping your distance since you got home and you were changed too. You were ex-military. I had no idea how you would react to finding out I was queer. And you were only Seventh in the pack then. I couldn’t have asked you to go up against Tobias and my father with the full weight of pack law behind them. “Anyway it was irrelevant. You were in Sheridan that day, tracking down the parts for the reaper. I had to get clear, had to put enough distance between me and the pack to make it hard for them to track me. So I ran.” Ran on four feet for as long as my legs and breath would take me. Long after those heavy steps behind me faded. Then shifted in someone’s shed, stole their coveralls, and stowed away on a truck headed south. I was four hundred miles gone by morning. Michael nodded slowly. “I found him, you know. Your friend’s grave. When I got home the next day and realized you were gone, I couldn’t find a trace of you, and no one would say anything. I demanded that they look for you, demanded answers from your father, until Tobias called me off him. Your father said you had run off, gone lone wolf. I didn’t believe him, not really, but I

102 Kaje Harper looked for a long time. I kept my pack links open everywhere I went, hoping to feel you out there. Then Tobias died, and you didn’t come back to swear to Samuel, and I lost that hope. Alive or dead, you were no longer pack. Your father was so changed and he kept getting worse. I began following him. I figured you were dead. I needed to know. Months later I found the grave. But it wasn’t you in it.” “You dug it up?” “I had to find out.” His eyes were bleak. “So I at least knew there had been violence and death.” “Did you think I killed him?” “No, never. I knew you well enough for that, cuz. I figured your father killed you both for some reason, and just hid your body better. I couldn’t find out where, or why. I thought about trying to beat it out of him, but he took on Samuel before I got the nerve.” He blew out a breath. “So what did you do, after?” In the fight to stay alive, to stay sane when all that space in my head echoed empty, I hadn’t let myself look back. Made my way toward San Francisco…eventually trading blow-jobs for rides and food when I got desperate enough… Michael didn’t need to know the details. “I hitched to the coast. Ended up in San Francisco.” I figured if I had to be queer, I would go somewhere I would fit in. Except I never really did. “I bussed tables at first.” Hustled a little, when it was sell myself or starve. But I wasn’t good at it; too dominant even then to let the men who bought me do much more than suck me off. I almost killed the one who tried to take what his money couldn’t buy. Luckily I found other ways to survive. “Odd jobs, cleaning, go-fer. I wrote a few stories, got a position as a newspaper reporter for a while, until the paper merged and half of us got laid off. I traveled after that, wrote some travel guides that brought in some money.” I found that it was easier to be silent with writing as an outlet. The written word could be edited, thought through and kept safe. I remade myself in those years until not a word passed my lips that wasn’t carefully considered. “I did some advertising copy after that.” I laughed. “I even wrote

unexPected deMAnds 103 a couple of novels that sold okay.” Under a pen name. Until I realized the main character was a father substitute, smart and warm and tolerant. Then I couldn’t believe in him enough to write more. “I missed having a pack though. That spot in my head was so empty it ached. I petitioned to join the Denver Pack. Had a good six years with them, until the Alpha’s unbonded wife began hitting on me. By then, occasional rumors were swirling that Gordon in North Minneapolis might have let a gay wolf stay in his pack. I petitioned to transfer, without saying why, and my Alpha was glad to see me go. Gordon took me in here, and I was content to stay.” “But you weren’t out,” Michael said. “I mean, Gordon didn’t know you were…gay.” I wondered if Michael realized how much he choked on that word. “No. I saw how Simon was barely tolerated. And the pack Fourth, Karl, was a scary guy and as homophobic as they came. Gordon’s dominance was barely enough to hold him. I decided to stay closeted, see how things shook down. And I’m still not out, and it’s just as well.” “I guess,” Michael agreed. “This mess would have been a simple slaughter if those bozos thought your whole pack was gay.” “Exactly.” He shook his head slowly. “It still bugs me that in all that time, you never sent word. Anything, just a note or a call to say, ‘Hey, I’m alive. Have a nice day.’” “I’m sorry. At first, I wasn’t sure it was safe. I wasn’t sure what you’d do. And then…I just made a habit of never looking back, never thinking back. I didn’t let myself wonder. I didn’t even know my father had died.” “And now? Will you come back to visit?” “Maybe. In a year or two, when I’m sure my pack is safe. I’d like to meet your wife, and your boy.” I’d like to visit Allen’s grave. I’d like to tell him I’m sorry, so sorry. I’d like to plant something there.

104 Kaje Harper “I want them to meet you too,” Michael said warmly. “But yeah, I guess now’s not really the time.” He drained his cup. “I should be getting back to my own pack and my job. But I could hang around a bit longer, if you think there’s still danger…” “Nah,” I drawled, with as much conviction as I could. “Whatever happens from here on out is likely to be a lot less lethal. We’ll be fine.” “I hope so.” He stood and led the way to the door, but there he turned to look intently into my eyes. “You stay safe, cuz. I’m going to be seriously ticked off if you waste all my hard work by getting yourself killed now.” “Wouldn’t want you mad at me.” He paused, with the dark night behind him, and hauled me into a tight hug. “God.” His voice was breathless. “Finding you alive was more than I dared hope for. I missed you. You call me, if you need to. I’m only a plane ride away. Gay or not, Alpha or not, you’re still my little cousin and I’ve got your back.” I hugged him hard for a moment, familiar muscle, familiar voice, familiar smell. This was home, once. “I know.” And then he was gone, moving as silently as he ever had. I closed and locked the door. I headed for the kitchen. In the darkened hallway, the table lamp shed a pool of light at the base of the stairs, and I stopped in it. “Come on down,” I said quietly. Zach hesitated for just a moment, and then came down the stairs to meet me. “You knew I was there?” “Heard you breathing.” I didn’t say that I was always aware of where he was. “I didn’t mean to listen.” He didn’t meet my eyes. “Of course you did.” I shrugged. “I knew you were there. You couldn’t help but hear. If I had a problem with that, I would have kept my mouth shut.” His eyes snapped up to mine. “You don’t mind…you said it was still secret.”

unexPected deMAnds 105 “You live in my house.” I watched him closely. “If it’s going to make a difference to you, I want to know now.” “I don’t mind.” He smiled almost shyly. “Some of the others are going to have fits when they find out you’re a gay Alpha.” “Which is why I’m not coming out any time soon,” I said firmly. “You can manage to keep a secret, right?” I pushed hard on the bond, Alpha command. Instead of being cowed, he smiled. “I’ve kept lots.” He stepped closer, his eyes darker, intense. “In fact, I’ve kept one just like that.” I watched him move, more tentative than his usual grace, but toward me, not away. “Why do you think,” he asked, looking up at me, close enough to touch, “that I asked to join your pack?” “To get away from your grandfather. Because I killed Karl.” No reaction, keep it cool. Although he was wolf. He would know that my heart had sped up, my breathing shortened, as he got near. “That too,” he admitted. “But not just that. I finally had a hope of finding a pack that would accept who I really was.” “And who are you?” I meant it to be light, sardonic, but it came out breathless. You fool, step away from the boy. I didn’t move. “Don’t you know?” He reached out, slowly, and touched my lip with the tip of one finger. That touch threw open the Alpha bond between us. It was like plugging into a light socket. All his tentative yearning, and all his hot desire, slammed into me in one dizzying moment. And where it met mine, want fed need, in a spiral of positive feedback. My mouth was on his, my tongue probing deep, before I had time for thought. I locked the other bonds tightly closed. This was mine, ours, for just the two of us. His mouth was pure intoxication under mine. He kissed me back, eager and responsive, a little clumsy but not wholly inexperienced. His lithe body pressed hard against me, his arms wrapped around my back. I could feel him as hard

106 Kaje Harper as I was, and as needy, body and mind. With the last dregs of my control I pulled my mouth free, although my hands stayed locked in his hair. I made him look at me. “Zach. Zachary.” His eyelids fluttered against his cheeks, and then he opened

his eyes. His pupils were dark, dilated in response. “Zach,” I repeated. “This isn’t right.” “Why not?” I felt anxiety pass through him, an ache at being rejected, unwanted, unworthy. “You don’t want me? I’m sorry. I thought…” He would have pulled away, but I didn’t release him. I couldn’t let him think he was at fault. “No, Zach, no. God. I want you too much…” My voice trailed off as he turned in my grasp to brush his lips over my wrist, my slackening fingers. The echo of my response shot through us both. It was so good, so sweet, to know where I stood with him. I could feel the need in us both. My lust was his; the heat in his mouth as he sucked in my finger was my heat. I pulled my hand free and took his mouth again with my own. I couldn’t remember the question. All I knew was the escalation of desire between us. Over the bond, I felt it when the probing of my tongue in his mouth made his body tremble. He knew the fullness of my hands as I cupped his neck in one palm and let the other slip to his ass. I pressed him against me, hard flesh to hard flesh. He moaned softly into my mouth, pliant in my arms. It had been thirteen long years since I had allowed myself the feel of a man against me. And it had never been like this before. I had never known, with this bone-deep certainty, that I was wanted in return. That each gasp and moan in response to my hands and lips was truly felt. That my craving was met with equal hunger. Zach’s lips were full and soft, reddening as I nipped and licked at them. His slim body was hard and toned under my hands. I slid fingers up under his T-shirt, brushing over the fine planes of his back. Across the bond, my fingertips trailed fire in their wake.

unexPected deMAnds 107 His long fingers tightened on my shoulders in return. The shirt caught on his chin for a moment and then pulled free as I yanked it upward. I pinned his wrists in the fabric, straining overhead, arching his chest to my waiting mouth. I licked at the flat brown disc of one nipple, and then bit him sharply. We both felt the jolt that arced through him, from nipple to groin. I yanked the shirt free and pulled him close as his knees shook. Now. I want him now. Almost like the first time with Allen, unbearable need driving us both. But I was no novice now, fumbling and uncertain. I had years and skill, to know exactly what I wanted. And I knew with total certainty just how much I was desired in return. I spun Zach in my arms and shoved him against the wall by the stairs. The sweatpants he slept in slid down easily and he was bare to my hands. For a moment I lost myself in the glorious curve of his ass under my fingers. Reaching around, the unexpected size of him filled my hands. He moaned in response, pushing forward into the stroke of my fist. The arch of his back pressed his butt firmly against my imprisoned cock. My jeans were tight to the point of pain as he brushed against me. Fumbling, I reached down to free myself; button, zipper, trapped in soft cotton. My need was white hot, almost blinding in intensity. I freed myself from my fabric prison, and pressed against him, skin on skin. We both groaned at the sensation. Zach planted his hands on the wall and leaned into it, shaking a little. I took my cock in hand and glided the tip over him, reveling in the stroke of sensitive flesh, his and mine. Zach whined and lunged back against me. I dug my fingers into his hips for a moment to steady him. I was leaking precum in a thin stream and I slid a fist over myself, spreading the slick. Not enough. I spat on my fingers and struggled against my need and his, pressing spit into him to lube him up. He jerked in my hold, and rammed back against my fingertip. His whine was panting and thin, almost desperate. I steadied my erection against his entrance. “Say yes.” I wanted him, right now, but I had never taken a

108 Kaje Harper man unwilling. I held myself painfully in check, waiting. Bond or not, I needed him to ask for me. “God, Aaron.” Zach’s voice was hoarse and rough. “Please. Yes. Please.” I reached a hand around to stroke him, groaning in his ear as I pressed home against his soft heat. His body resisted penetration. He was tight and dry, not slick enough. I braced as he drove back against me, forcing my cock deeper…and then we both froze. Over the bond I felt it: his pain, his surprise, enough to momentarily swamp all desire. Whatever he had wanted, he had not expected it to hurt this much. I realized he had not known what it would be like. “Go on.” Whatever he pretended, the roughness in his voice now was pain, not desire. “Don’t stop.” I pulled out and turned him to face me. “Why did you stop?” he asked, his face flushed. “I’m okay. I said yes.” “I know.” I kissed him hard. “Do you think I can’t tell that I hurt you?” “I don’t care.” He reached out to take my length in his hand, gripping hard. “I want you.” “I care. You’ve never done this before. And your first time shouldn’t be slammed up against a wall and no preparation.” “It doesn’t matter,” he repeated. “God, Aaron, if you stop now…” I kissed him again, to shut him up. “Not stopping,” I said breathlessly. His erection had softened with the pain, but now his gorgeous cock was growing hard again and it was difficult to remember what I was doing. I stepped away from his stroking hands. “We’re going to take this upstairs, to a real bed, good lube, and enough time.” I leaned forward to bite at his lower lip, sucked his tongue into my mouth, then broke free as he whimpered in response. “The next time I fill your sweet ass you’ll be ready, prepared, to where it won’t hurt you like that.”

unexPected deMAnds 109 “Aaron…” His eyes were big and dark. I tugged his sweatpants back up and held out my hand. “Come on.” Upstairs, I stripped him down and pushed him flat on my bed. He lay silently, watching me undress. His skin was dark against the pale sheets, his hair falling into his eyes. The rapid rise and fall of his chest betrayed his tension. Not that I needed the clue. I could have found him with my eyes shut, following the fiery arc of desire down the bond. I dropped my briefs on the floor and stood over him, smiling. And then I climbed onto the bed. I crawled up the mattress above him, each motion slow and intent. When we were eye to eye I stopped and lowered myself inch by inch onto him. Underneath me he arched upward in response, and his mouth opened to my kiss. Slowly, carefully, I explored him with my mouth. When he would have hurried me along, I pinned his wrists to the sheet and took my sweet time. Strong column of neck, sweet curve of shoulder, flat pecs with those sensitive nipples. He was cursing me breathlessly by the time I took the huge flared head of his cock between my lips, sliding my tongue under the foreskin. His slick precum was salty in my mouth. Zach whimpered as I explored him slowly, grazing the sensitive underside of his shaft with my teeth, probing his slit with my tongue tip. I took him as deep in my mouth as I could, and sucked hard. “God, Aaron,” he panted. “God, I’m going to come if you keep that up. Aaron!” “Not yet.” I pulled back and let go of his wrists. “Not yet.” Kneeling erect, I lifted his ass and spread him on my knees, reaching for the lube from my bedside drawer. “Watch now, Zach,” I told him. “I want you to watch.” I could feel through the bond his first shudder, as cool lube slithered across his skin. I stroked him, swirling one finger over the tight pucker of his opening, until he pushed up against my hand. When my fingertip pressed inward, I could feel that the stretch was more heat than pain, and he moaned with need, not hurt.

110 Kaje Harper It was amazing, to know how that felt. Slowly, slowly, I pressed deeper. With his head propped on the pillows, he watched my hands on his body as I joined a second finger to the first, opening him up. I was careful, feeling my way with what he could take, his sensations sizzling down my own nerves, each stretch and pull stimulating us both. I refused to hurry. A third finger and we both felt the burn, but I stroked his huge hard shaft with my free hand and desire was the overriding sensation. As I pressed my fingers inward, I stroked across his gland, and he gasped. My own cock jerked in response. It was an incredible thing, to know when my touch wound him tighter, higher. “Please, Aaron,” he begged me. “Please. I’m ready now. I need… Please.” Rising up, I pulled my hand free and bowed his body under me. His eyes met mine as I pressed against him again. “Bear down, push out while I do this,” I whispered. “It sounds backward, but it makes it easier. It’ll feel good this time.” Touching, stroking, I pressed my slick tip home in his sweet ass. This time, as he took me in, his pain was brief and lost in the pleasure. He made a soft sound, and smiled at me. “God, yeah.” Eyes locked on his, hands spreading his thighs, I moved carefully, rocking my way deeper. He was so hot, so tight, but slick and ready under me. He whimpered as we joined, pushing against me for more speed, more depth, just more. I made him wait, made him take it slow. Made him take all of me, slowly. And then I was in him to the hilt, balls against his ass, and I felt his pleasure linked to mine. Holding him still, I leaned forward until my lips could brush his. “Good?” “Oh, yeah.” He arched under me, panting. “I can take more Aaron. I want it.” I smiled. Gently at first, and then harder, I thrust into him. Slow withdrawal and faster drive in, and in, and in again. His eyes watched our joining, hot with need. He stared at the wet length of me, sliding into him, opening him wide. Then his eyes closed, long lashes dark on his cheeks. His head whipped back and forth

unexPected deMAnds 111 on the pillow, mouth drifting open. His hands clenched in the sheets. “Oh, God,” he murmured. “Oh, God, Aaron. So good, so good, so good.” Words became gasping breaths as he met my rhythm and matched it with his own. He caught his lower lip between his teeth, his neck arched and straining. I balanced on one arm, to spare a hand for him. At my first firm stroke, he cried out. At the second he came, slicking my fingers and his belly with shiny ropes of semen. His climax shook him, and burned through me down the bond. That rush of fire took me with it. I came in turn, hard and fast, pumping my seed deep into his body. Mine. Oh God, mine. Aftershocks arced through us, one setting off the other, as I collapsed on him. I had barely the wit and strength to move over enough to hold my weight off his chest. He shuddered as our motions slipped my softening cock from his body. “Aaron,” he whispered against my neck. He released the sheets to wind his arms around my back, holding me tightly. And as his desire drained into bone-deep contentment, I shut down the bond. Because the ebb of my own desire was replaced by anxiety approaching panic. Oh my God, what have I done? This boy under me was half my age, young enough to be my son. And worse, he was my subordinate, and submissive to me. This was wrong. This was so wrong. I had known it, and lost the knowledge in the mutual heat of our desire. Now there was no escaping it. I breathed in the scent of him, clean boy sweat on familiar skin, and the musk of sex over it all. His hair drifted against my lips. His hands slacked on my shoulders as he relaxed. I could keep this, always. But I had kept Allen. I had given in to my desire, when my head knew better, and he had paid for it with his life. I would not make another boy pay for my lack of control. Gently, I pulled out of his arms and swung my legs over the side of the bed. “Aaron?” Zach’s voice was fuzzy with sleep, but he opened his eyes as I sat up. “Where are you going?”

112 Kaje Harper “I just need to clean up,” I said. “You can sleep in here tonight.” I thought my tone was light, but he squinted up at me in sudden suspicion. “And where will you sleep?” “I’ll take your bed.” That had him rolling up, his eyes angry. “Because I’m good enough to fuck, but not good enough to sleep with?” “No! No.” I didn’t want to leave him with that impression. “If I stay, I won’t keep my hands off you.” Zach grinned, but then his smile faded. “And that’s a problem, why?” I shrugged, trying to be casual. “We really shouldn’t do this.” “You didn’t like it.” That made me angry. I was backing off for his benefit, after all. “Of course I liked it. I’m sure you could feel that as well as I did. But whether I liked it or not is irrelevant. I’m your Alpha. I can’t be your lover.” “By whose rules?” he demanded stubbornly. “Anyone’s. It should be obvious. Sex is always a bad idea when one person holds all the power. You can’t stand up to me if I decide to use my pack position to control you.” “I don’t mind. I trust you.” “But you shouldn’t. Don’t you see?” Why was he so blind? “If I chose to, I could command you to kneel for me in the middle of Times Square and you couldn’t say no.” “But you wouldn’t.” “How do you know?” I got up and pulled on my jeans, dragging them roughly over treacherous flesh. “You don’t know me. One person has already died because I indulged my needs at their expense.” Zach stared up at me, propped up on one elbow. “I’m not Allen. And you’re not sixteen anymore.”

unexPected deMAnds 113 “Don’t talk about him!” Suddenly I was furious. “Just take my word for it. This won’t work. You can spend the night here, and in the morning we’ll find you a new mentor, someone you can trust.” “Someone I can’t seduce?” he asked, his tone cold in turn. “That’s not what I said. Why are you twisting this around? It’s simple. I need you out of here, and staying somewhere safe. Somewhere you can get over your alcohol addiction and have time to figure out who you really are.” I was sick with the idea that I had taken advantage of the boy while he was confused and hurting, and ripe for anyone who would be kind to him. “Because I’m a confused alcoholic who doesn’t know what he’s doing.” The furious heat in his voice got through even to me. Perhaps I’d phrased it wrong. “No. Zach! Not confused but…you’re vulnerable right now. You’ve been through so many changes. It was wrong of me to take advantage of that.” “It didn’t feel wrong. Nothing ever felt so right.” I wanted to agree with that, but I didn’t dare. He would take it for encouragement. “Sex can feel amazing. But that doesn’t make it right.” “So this was just sex. And wrong sex at that.” Was it just sex? When I could still feel his responses in me, his desire in my mind? It had to be. “I’m sorry,” I said helplessly. “It was my fault.” “Fuck this.” Zach rolled out of bed and stood, his movements jerky. He brushed past me out the door and turned into his room. When I would have followed him, the door slammed in my face. Which was okay. I could understand if he needed his own space. I hesitated, wondering if I should say anything through the door. Perhaps he would go to sleep and we could discuss it rationally in the morning. The door jerked open again and Zach shoved past me, fully dressed. He stalked down the hall and took the stairs two at a

114 Kaje Harper time. I trailed after him, feeling stupid. “Where are you going, Zach?” He yanked on his jacket, zipped it up, shoved feet into worn sneakers. “Out.” “Where out?” “What do you care?” “Zach.” I tried to be reasonable. “It’s almost eleven. It’s dark and cold. Just go to bed, either room, wherever you like. We’ll talk in the morning.” He glared at me without speaking and put his hand on the doorknob. I slammed my palm on the door, holding it shut. “Just a minute.” “Get your hand off the door.” His voice could have cut glass. “You can’t just walk out there. It’s icy, snowing. You don’t have a car.” “I have a car. I don’t have keys.” He looked at me. “You gonna give them back?” “Your car’s at Lucas’s house anyway.” “I can walk.” He shouldered me aside and opened the door. I could have stopped him by force, but I didn’t trust myself to lay a hand on him. I wanted to smack him. Or kiss him. And I shouldn’t do either. “You need to be reasonable about this,” I said desperately. “Aaron?” he said. “Go to hell.” The door slammed behind him. I leaned my forehead against the cool wood. I could run after him, probably catch him. And then what? Drag him back home by force and lock him in? For a long time I just stood there, not thinking about anything. Desperately not thinking about anything. He would come home eventually. After all, where else would he go? Lucas was out of town, his house locked up. Joseph, Zach’s grandfather, was no kind of refuge. He had no money for a hotel, no car to travel.

unexPected deMAnds 115 Most places would be closed at this hour. He would be back. And where would he have been in the meantime? It occurred to me that there were very few refuges open at eleven on a Friday night. If he wanted to get out of the snow, and he was hurting and angry, and he had nowhere else to go…if the person who was supposed to be his protector had betrayed his trust…there were three bars within reasonable walking distance of my house and I suspected Zach had a fake ID. It would be faster by car. I grabbed my keys. §§§§ He was sitting at the bar with a glass in front of him. Judging by the level of the amber liquid he hadn’t drunk much of it, perhaps not any. I knew he was aware of me by the way his shoulders tensed as I came through the door, but he didn’t turn around. Instead, he picked up the glass and gazed into it, as if mesmerized by the color. I crossed the room to him, not too slow, not too fast. “You don’t want to do that,” I said quietly, as he raised the glass. “Don’t fucking tell me what I want.” His voice was no louder than mine, but he didn’t have the years of control to keep it level. Through our bond, which I had wide open to find him, I could feel the press of anger and hurt and uncertainty. Over it all lay an aching patina of need. His addiction sought the smooth bitter taste that would sink the rest of his pain in something familiar. Through him, the smell of the whiskey was almost palpable in its weight. “We need to talk,” I said tentatively. “Aaron.” He gave me a sidelong dark glance. “Fuck off.” Oh yeah, he’s really intimidated by his Alpha. It would have been hopeful, if it really meant he could resist me. But he was whistling in the dark. He and I both knew that if I chose, I could order him to put the glass down, order him to come with me. Hell, I could order him to kneel on the bar floor for me, and if I put the

116 Kaje Harper weight of command behind it he would obey. “Please,” I said, keeping a firm grip on my wolf. The wolf thought it was a fine idea to order him home and put him on his knees. The human knew he would never forgive me. Zach sighed and set the full glass carefully on the bar. “What do you want, Aaron?” “I want…” What did I want, that I could have? “I want you safe somewhere without alcohol. I want the chance to talk, like civilized adults.” “I’m not going back…” I saw his lips begin to form the word home, before he changed it to “to your place.” “Okay. Somewhere else then.” He turned away. “Got nowhere else.” I had taken that from him too. After a moment I pulled out my phone. Not many choices for this. Simon answered on the fourth ring. “I need you,” I said flatly. “The Darkroom. Now.” “Um, the bar?” Simon said. “Fifteen minutes, boss. But I don’t like leaving Paul home alone. And it’ll take time to track down Andy or Patrick, since they’re wolfed up.” “Bring Paul along.” I flipped the phone shut, walked down the bar and bought two Cokes. When I passed one over to Zach, and slid the whiskey glass away, he gave me a dark look. But he picked up the soda and drank slowly. It gave him something to do with his hands and his mouth, and a place to look that wasn’t me. I drank mine in turn. The things I needed to say, the reasons, excuses, necessities that drove me; none of them were safe to bring up sitting in the open like this. I watched him in the dim bar lights. His hair was a wash of jet across his forehead, shadowing those expressive eyes. His mouth was drawn and tense, all of him on edge. It hurt to look at him. I wanted to take away the pain, to pull him close and reassure him and put myself between that boy and the world. But it would be wrong. The fact that the mistake was mine didn’t mean that I could fix it so easily.

unexPected deMAnds 117 I felt Simon and Paul as they came through the door. Simon caught my eye, and they made their way toward us, Simon half a step behind Paul. He stopped at my side and raised an eyebrow at me. “You rang, Master?” Paul elbowed him in the gut before I could do it. “What do you need, Aaron?” he asked quietly. “Zach needs a place to stay for a few days. Until we find something better.” “Hey!” Zach protested. “I can find my own place. I’m not some stray dog you need to find a home for.” “I understand if you’re uncomfortable staying with the two of us,” Simon said to him. “No, it’s not that,” Zach replied quickly. I bit my tongue to keep from butting in. No one ever accused Simon of being slow. “Look,” Simon said. “Lucas is away and not even you can want to go apartment-hunting at eleven at night. Our place is more comfortable than a motel, and safer. If the boss is driving you crazy, why not take a chance on us for the night?” “I don’t want to get in the way.” “You won’t.” Paul’s voice was soft. “You’re my first human success story. Give me the chance to keep it a success.” Zach flushed slightly. “I wasn’t drinking,” he said defensively. “I was just…looking at it and thinking.” “Think at our place,” Simon offered cheerfully. “I make a hell of a breakfast, if I do say so myself. Start fresh in the morning.” Zach glanced at me again, a long look from under dark lashes, and then sighed. “Okay. I guess.” “Come on.” Simon slung an arm around his shoulders. “You can ride shotgun, and we’ll make Paul squeeze in the back.” “I can bring Paul,” I offered. Simon shook his head at me. “Come by in the morning, boss.” When I opened my mouth to protest, he frowned. “In the

118 Kaje Harper morning. If Zach needs space, he won’t get it with you crowding him now.” His hand on Zach’s neck, he steered the boy toward the door. I stopped to throw a bill on the bar and followed. Paul was at my side. “You can’t save him from himself, Aaron,” he said quietly as we stepped out into the cold. “The only person who can make an alcoholic stop drinking is the addict himself.” “I could make it easier instead of harder,” I pointed out grimly. Zach could hear us. At least he should know I was aware of my culpability. Paul looked uncertain, aware that there was more that I wasn’t saying. But he shook his head again. “You should get some sleep,” he suggested. “Things will look better tomorrow.” I watched them cross the parking lot and climb into Simon’s truck. At least Zach hadn’t actually been drinking. At least I hadn’t done that to him. He didn’t turn my way as the truck pulled out into the street and was gone.

chAPteR 7 Morning crept in slowly, grey light eventually giving way to sun and the blinding glare of fresh snow. I started out the door three times, before finally letting myself keep going. Eight thirty wasn’t that early for a Saturday. Was it? Andy and Patrick met me on Simon’s front steps, already shifted and dressed, yawning and bleary-eyed. They reported Zach’s arrival, eyeing me curiously. I thanked them for the information and sent them home to sleep. Simon answered his door in a pair of ragged black sweats. His hair was tousled from the night. “Aaron.” He grimaced. “Don’t you ever sleep?” It was too early. I should have realized it was too early. “I can come back later.” He shook his head and pulled the door wider. “Nah. I’m up now anyway. Come on in and I’ll start some coffee.” Zach was in the living room, wrapped in blankets on the big leather couch. He sat up, blinking and yawning, and then caught sight of me and froze. He was still in last night’s clothes. To my nose he smelled of sex, and of me. Had Simon noticed? Had he connected the two? In the kitchen, Simon had started running water and grinding beans. Overhead, I could hear a shower. Paul, presumably. “Hey, Zach,” I said. Keep it casual. “Did you sleep okay?” “What do you think?” How to answer that? I shrugged. Zach looked at me for a long moment, his eyes wary. Then he stood and stretched. Watching me out of the corner of his eye, he pulled off his T-shirt and sniffed it. The scent of his skin hit me; the sight of his bare chest, hairless and clean. I looked away. I would not respond to this. I wouldn’t.

120 Kaje Harper “Hey, Simon?” Zach said, heading for the kitchen. He brushed against me deliberately as he passed, and I was hard immediately, hopelessly. “Can I borrow a T-shirt? Mine reeks.” “Sure,” Simon’s muffled voice responded, his head probably in the refrigerator. “Top drawer in my room.” “Thanks.” Zach came back out. This time I prudently stepped back to put space between us. Zach paused to look at me. His eyes swept down, and I thought he might smile, but when he looked back up his eyes were sober. “Here.” He tossed his shirt at me, and I caught it by reflex. “Keep that for me.” He headed up the stairs away from me, ass flexing in skin-tight jeans draped low on the olive skin of his back. It was hard to breathe all of a sudden. Damn the man. He knew exactly what he was doing to me. I tossed his shirt onto the couch and followed him up with my eyes. When he vanished into the shadows at the top of the stairs I turned around. Simon was standing in the kitchen doorway, eyeing me quizzically. Damn! “Come have some coffee, boss,” he said. After a moment, as I sipped the rich brew, he added, “That’s one hot little body the kid’s got.” So much for hoping I wouldn’t have to go there. “You’re not supposed to notice. You’re mated.” “I’m not blind.” He tasted his own drink, and then blew across it. The scent of chocolate wafted to me. Simon’s gaze was quizzical. “I hope you know what you’re doing, Aaron.” I sighed. “I don’t know jack shit.” There was sugar in a bowl on the table and I seated myself carefully and spooned some into my cup, stirring slowly. “Tell me something.” “Mmm?” The sound was more cautious than encouraging. But who else could I ask? “What happens if I come out too, me being the pack Alpha?” He gave it some thought. “Nothing good, right now. We’ve barely got enough tolerance generated to cover Paul and me.

unexPected deMAnds 121 Definitely not enough for that.” “That’s what I thought too.” “Eventually,” he said. “Eventually, it could be okay. Like you said, change is coming. Other problems may eclipse this one.” “And inside our own pack?” Simon shook his head slowly. “I don’t know. There’s some, like Richard and Damian, who can barely stand to be around Paul and me. Although they’re better after yesterday. But still…” He shook his head again. “This could break the pack apart.” I looked down into my cup. “I wasn’t planning…I had things under control. Thirteen years I haven’t made a move anyone could object to. And then that kid walks into my house and… damn.” Simon grinned. “I know the feeling.” “And then I’m his Alpha.” I deliberately opened the bond to Simon, and pushed him to meet my eyes. He did so, frowning angrily. “Yeah. I can force him to do anything, just like that. So what gives me the right to touch him?” “He does. His free choice.” “How can he trust me?” “I don’t know,” Simon said slowly. “But in a way it’s no different from using physical strength. I’m stronger than Paul. I could force him to submit to me. He trusts me not to do that. The force you use may be inside Zach’s head, but it’s not secret, not undetectable. If you use it on him, he’ll know.” “But he can’t leave unless I let him.” “Force is force. He either trusts you or he doesn’t.” “What about you?” I asked. “Doesn’t it seem wrong to you, for an Alpha to lay a hand on one of his wolves?” “That depends. If you’re just amusing yourself, if it’s just convenient sex, then it’s wrong. If it’s more than simple sex…” “Oh,” I breathed, “It’s not simple anything.”

122 Kaje Harper “Right.” Simon drained his cup. “Aaron, you’re one of the most controlled people I know. And amusing as it is to watch you lose control, it also says something about how serious this is. I can’t tell you what to do. Just…be careful.” “Does it bother you?” Simon smiled easily. “I’m having the best sex of my life these days. I don’t mind if other people I like are also getting some.” Paul came into the room and headed for the coffee. “Getting some what?” “Nooky.” Simon stepped behind Paul and kissed the back of his neck. “I’m all in favor of it.” Paul blushed, but twisted to kiss him back lightly. “I don’t mind it myself.” He eyed me over his cup. “Zach is pretty pissed with you, Aaron.” “Did he say why?” Paul wouldn’t have caught the telltale scents. But either Zach or Simon might have told him. Paul shook his head. “He said it was private. But he’s pretty upset.” Paul frowned at me. “He’s kind of fragile right now, even if he would never admit it. You know he was close to drinking again last night. If you can make things right, you should. He needs all the support he can get.” Simon cocked an eyebrow at me. I didn’t have to tell Paul anything. I could order Simon to keep it secret. But for all Paul’s youth, he was steady and smart. “I slept with him last night,” I admitted. “Or worse, I fucked him and then I didn’t sleep with him.” Paul blinked, opened his mouth twice and finally said, with admirable detachment, “You’re gay?” “Oh, yeah.” He turned to his mate. “Did you know that?” Simon shook his head. “Aaron had one tight closet door.” “Which that damned kid blew off its hinges. And then I made things worse by trying to back away from him at warp speed. But

unexPected deMAnds 123 I don’t see how…” I hesitated. “He’s my responsibility, and half my age. I don’t see this going anywhere good.” I kept my voice steady, despite an awareness of Zach coming down the stairs. He entered the kitchen, one of Simon’s shirts hanging loose on his slender frame. “Oh, goody,” he said in a falsely bright voice. “Coffee.” He managed to pour a steady cup, despite three pairs of eyes on him. “And Zach is gay too,” Paul continued. “I hope so,” I said. How much could the Alpha bond overwhelm his feelings with my own? Had I pushed him to something he otherwise would not have done? But he touched me first. Zach turned and raised an eyebrow at me over the rim of his cup. “You can’t be doubting that. You were as far in my head as I was in yours.” “You’re bonded? Already?” Simon demanded. “Not mated,” I said quickly. “But it turns out the Alpha bond can have the same effect, if it goes both ways.” “Mm.” Simon considered. “Can’t happen unless both participants are werewolves, so yeah, probably not a well known… phenomenon.” He gave Zach a small grin. “Makes for good sex.” “Yeah.” There was satisfaction in Zach’s voice. Simon’s expression clouded. “Could make it hard to discriminate good sex from other things, though.” “Exactly,” I agreed bitterly. “And gives me more one-way control than a mate bond.” “I trust you,” Zach repeated stubbornly. “Maybe you shouldn’t.” “Aaron,” Simon said, “We all trust you. That’s what it meant when we swore to you, that we believe you won’t use your control over us to do harm. We don’t think you’re perfect, God knows.” His smile was teasing. “But we trust you. Maybe the question is whether you trust yourself.” Was it? “I have…history that makes me…careful. I’m having

124 Kaje Harper trouble deciding what’s the right version of careful, here.” “You and Zach need to talk,” Paul said firmly. “But I agree with Simon. When a relationship is powerful, it’s not going to go away. And not being alone is an amazing thing. Although if there’s a way to keep it in the closet for now, you need to try to find it. Our pack can’t take much more.” “However,” Simon put in, “Pretending to ignore the kid and then staring at his ass like you want to eat him does not cut it, closet-wise.” I was sure my face was bright red. Zach looked surprised, and then smug. Abruptly I stood. “Come on, pup,” I said. “Paul’s right. We need to talk, privately.” Simon clapped me on the back. “Good luck, Aaron. When I met Paul I was going to be sensible and leave him alone, and never think about him again. And look where that got us.” “I like to think I have a better handle on my actions than that,” I snapped. Simon nodded. “You go on thinking that, boss.” The ride back to my place was largely silent. A couple of times Zach glanced over at me as if he might comment, and then subsided with the words unspoken. I wasn’t sure what he saw from me, but evidently it wasn’t encouraging. Zach’s tracks from the night before arrowed through the new snow on the walk. “You can shovel that later,” I said. “Yes, sir.” I peered at him as we entered the dimness of the garage. Was that agreement, or sarcasm? His expression was unrevealing. I led the way into the house and took his jacket from him to hang it up. His scent hit me as he pulled free of the sleeves. Damn. This conversation was happening now. “Zach…” “Yeah?”

unexPected deMAnds 125 Where to start? I was still thinking when he said, “You were staring at my ass?” I blinked. Not any of the questions at the top of my list, but… “Yeah, I probably was.” “So you do still want me?” It bothered me to hear how tentative his voice was. This at least he shouldn’t doubt. “Zach, I’ve wanted you for…probably longer than I realized. That morning when you stood in front of my desk with your chin in the air, pretending to be innocent, I wanted to give you a good spanking. Looking back, I’m thinking even then it was less about appropriate punishment and more about getting my hands on your ass.” His smile was warmer, more relaxed. “Really?” “Oh, yeah. And then you were in my house, walking around, smelling like your skin and my soap and…wanting you is not the issue here.” “I watched you too,” he said almost shyly. “For a long time, even before the packs split; the way you moved, the way you always seemed to know what to do, even when I was sure you were straight. And then when I was sick, you touched me like you cared.” “I did care.” “And yesterday, in front of the lodge, God!” He bit his lip. “You were the one closest to the gun. All that bastard had to do was move one finger and you were dead.” “You stepped in front of Simon.” Even now, I didn’t like to think about that moment. “You were in the line of fire.” He shrugged. “I might have survived. We’re wolves, we’re hard to kill, especially in a group all at once like that. But you, you would have been dead. I was so scared. And then later, when Michael came to talk to you…” “You were listening to us.”

126 Kaje Harper “I was jealous.” “Jealous?” I stared at him. “Michael is straight. He has a female bondmate.” “I know, but you touch him. You hugged him and you never get that close to anybody. He knows you and you care about him.” I could see how that might look, from the outside looking in. If you were hungry for affection. “Yeah, he was my best friend and protector, growing up. Although he was gone in the service through the worst times. I’ve missed him. And I don’t touch other wolves normally because I am gay, and I can’t take the risk of…reacting.” “I’m a risk to you,” Zach said. “And vice versa. But I’m starting to think it’s a risk I can’t stand not to take.” “Meaning?” “I can’t pretend to be indifferent to you. When I look at you…when I touch you…you’re everything I want.” Carefully, I clamped all the other Alpha bonds down as tightly as possible. And I opened his. Holy shit. I had meant to show him how I felt, but I was overwhelmed with his emotions, his need. I plastered him back against the door, my hands fisted in his hair as I slanted my mouth over his. He was warm and responsive. His lips opened eagerly for me, and I felt the heat arc through us both. I drove my tongue deep in his mouth. He moaned in pleasure. There was no resistance. I pressed in tighter against him, parting his legs with my thighs. He was as hard as I was. That huge cock rode against my hip. I ground against him, pinning him in place. I couldn’t catch my breath. I broke free of his mouth to bite at his jaw, his earlobe. When I nipped his neck, his eyes closed and he tilted his head to expose his throat to my roaming teeth. God, that was hot. Sweet and submissive, trusting me, inviting

unexPected deMAnds 127 anything. I bit gently, feeling the hot pulse of his blood through the skin under my teeth. My tongue traced the fine cords of his neck and probed the hollow above his collarbone. His arms locked like bands of steel around my waist. I controlled his body with the weight of my own, pinning him from thigh to shoulder. Mine, all mine. He whimpered in response, his head rolling back and forth. His hips bucked against me in frantic rhythm. I found his mouth again, plunged my tongue deep, and felt him shatter. His climax caught him by surprise. I felt his senses white out as his body shook. The rich smell of his cum filled my nose. I eased the kiss back, lightened it up. Gently, I traced his lips with my tongue as he trembled. Then I pulled back a little to look down at him. I couldn’t help smiling as his eyes drifted open, hazy and unfocused. “Wow,” he murmured, and then, “Holy crap. Aaron.” “Mm?” I said enquiringly. “Just, Aaron.” He focused on me and returned my smile. I stepped back slightly and his arms tightened around me again. “Wait,” he said. “I’m not sure I can stand. In fact…” He slid down between me and the door, hitting his knees. I was reaching down to help him when he looked up at me with a sinful smile, and bit me, right over the bulge in my jeans. “Jesus!” I exclaimed. My reaching hand caught his chin instead of his fingers. “What the fuck?” He smiled, and brought both his hands up to my thighs, framing my package with his fingers. Then he leaned forward and closed his mouth, gently and wetly, over the fabric that covered my straining cock. “Zach?” “My turn,” he murmured. His fingers deftly popped the button and slid my zipper downward. The green cotton underneath was already damp. He breathed on it, and then reached in and

128 Kaje Harper freed me from my briefs. My cock sprang out, hard and dripping against his face. He turned and licked me, a long slow stroke from base to tip. His agile tongue probed, tasted, swirled under my foreskin and over my throbbing head. I had never seen anything as pretty as Zach on his knees, with my precum glistening on his tongue. He looked up at me with hot eyes, feeling my response. Then his open, wet mouth plunged deep over me. I jerked involuntarily and heard myself groan. So damned good. He gagged a little when he took me too deep. I pulled out slightly. His cheeks hollowed as he sucked hard, and I stroked them with my fingertips, lost in the feeling. He sucked and licked me, touching with one hand while he kept balance with the other fisted in my jeans. Through the bond, he could feel what I felt. Quickly, he recognized my sweet spots; the fold of foreskin, the sensitive cord under the head of my cock that shuddered at his kiss, the way his mouth on my balls shot electric pleasure through me. I could hear myself gasping, moaning my responses. As sensation climbed, Zach moved his mouth faster, deeper, shifting from teasing kisses to deep suction. The occasional graze of teeth, or clumsiness of motion, was sweet to me. He had done this before, but probably not often. I cupped his head in my hands. I loved the pleasure he was getting from pleasing me. It circled between us, spiraling upward, my desire and his, intense to the limit of tolerance, until I tipped over the edge. Electric heat, blinding light; I came hard in Zach’s mouth. He swallowed valiantly. I pulled back, and the last of my load splashed his mouth and neck. And then I was done, my thighs clenching with reaction. And Zach was on his knees in front of me, grinning, his skin shiny with sweat and cum. I hauled him up, beyond speech, and kissed him. My taste was on his lips. I pulled him into my arms and held him, fighting through the aftershocks. Over the bond, his mind was thrumming with pleasure and satisfied smugness, like a cat that’d gotten the

unexPected deMAnds 129 cream. Eventually I set him back and straightened. I eased the bond between us down to baseline, just a comfortable awareness of his nearness and contentment. I reached out and ruffled his hair. “You need a shower, pup.” He grinned. “Want to share it?” I raised an eyebrow, hopefully masking the renewed desire that shot through me at the idea. I always recovered fast, but this was ridiculous, even for me. “I’ll take my turn after you. Don’t use all the hot water.” “Okay.” He sighed and let the teasing go. “Then what?” I flicked his earlobe with one finger. “Then we eat and do some work. I’ve got deadlines piling up after the last few days. And I have some web surfing for you to do. Go get clean.” “You’re not sending me away?” “No.” I met his eyes. “I can’t. I’m not strong enough.” “And thank God for that.” He sighed. “So we…” “We go on, and see what happens.” He still filled my senses. “Go have your shower. Use the scented soap and scrub well.” He headed for the stairs and I found myself watching him, even though he wasn’t deliberately catching my eye. God, even in dirty jeans and a baggy T-shirt he looked so good. I clearly had to get back my control if the first wolf to see the two of us together wasn’t going to immediately spot my desire. Maybe more sex would wear down the heat. I gave myself a mental smack and went to get breakfast started while Zach showered. An hour later, clean and fed, we bent over our separate screens. My job as a technical writer for a medical device company allowed flexible hours, but the work still had to be done. I was trying to translate the engineers’ convoluted prose into clear instructions when Zach grunted in surprise. Not good surprise. “What?” I asked. “I’m into the chat room, like you said,” he reported. “Someone

130 Kaje Harper posted a picture.” “And?” “You should look at it.” He swiveled his laptop around to face me. The picture was of Simon, kissing Paul. Paul was just a head of tawny hair from behind, but Simon’s face was clear. Over Simon’s forehead, a target had been superimposed. A caption read: Simon the fag needs to get what he deserves. “Shit,” I said. “Face, name; anyone new gunning for Simon will have a leg up on finding him. Can you find out who posted it and take it down?” “Probably,” Zach said, bending over his keyboard again. “Taking it down is no problem, that server has already been owned. Figuring out who posted it will take a little more work. All I have to work from is an IP address. Give me some time.” I turned back to my work, trying not to hover as he worked. It was about fifteen minutes before he said, “Got it.” “What did you do?” “I found the location of the file, and infected the computer it was on with a virus. Crashed its guts.” “Do you know whose computer it was?” “Montana enforcer again. Persistent bastard.” I’d emailed his Alpha once; I would do so again, but the lack of response to my first complaint didn’t give me a lot of hope. “I hope you fried every piece of electronics he owns.” “Wish I could. I think that computer is toast, unless he wants to scrub it and reload the operating system. Anything on it should be gone. But there may be other copies out there.” “Can you monitor for it? Have the computer give an alarm if it pops up again?” I wasn’t sure what his wizardry with the machine was capable of. “Maybe. I kept a copy myself in a secure file. A comparison…” His voice trailed off. Eventually he said, “There. I think. If that works right, it should pull up any photo posted on our websites,

unexPected deMAnds 131 and give me an alarm if there’s a match with that one.” “Thanks.” “I guess we’re not out of the woods yet,” he said soberly. “No. Although there’s a world of difference between a threat online and actually coming here and pulling a trigger.” “Luckily.” “Indeed.” Zach stretched, posing more ostentatiously when he saw me watching out of the corner of my eye. “Hey, Aaron. Can I put on some tunes? Working in silence is boring.” “Sure. Discs are over there.” Once I got into my work, I could ignore almost anything. Well, maybe not rap, but there was none of that in my CD collection. Zach stalked over to my shelf and eyed the selections. From the glances he threw at me, I braced myself for a message. He put in a disc and hit play; sure enough—Metallica: Nothing Else Matters. I kicked his ankle lightly as he walked past. “Not very subtle, pup.” “I wasn’t aiming for subtle. I just wanted to hear it.” “Okay.” My voice softened in spite of myself. Zach sat and looked over at me. “What now?” “Every computer you identified, every screen name you matched to a specific wolf owner, I want you to send a message. Warn them that their identity isn’t safe. I want people running in circles worrying about computer security. Both because it’s a real concern of mine, and to take the heat off Simon.” “Can do,” he agreed. I leaned back in my chair. “Tomorrow, you go back to work at the shop. Joshua emailed me that he’s running an extra shift on Sunday, to make up for all the time missed with the demo.” “You think I’ll be welcome back?” Zach asked tentatively. “Sure. I did tell Joshua you took a pledge not to drink, but

132 Kaje Harper nothing more. Besides, I’m sending Simon back to work too. If anyone is going to catch heat, it’ll be him.” “Is that safe?” “Better than hanging around outside Paul’s clinic, worrying.” Hopefully it would be better. “We need to take our lives back. The cabinet-making part of the business is coming to our pack, while Joshua keeps the rest of the construction business. I need you all there working to meet our contracts. Business isn’t good enough that we can afford to miss any completion dates.” Zach nodded. “So do I get my car keys back?” I hesitated. “No. I’ll drive you.” His brows drew together. “So you want me to trust you, but you don’t trust me?” “That has nothing to do with it,” I retorted. “I trust you. I trust you not to tell anyone that I’m gay, or boast that you have your Alpha wrapped around your finger. I trust you not to manipulate me, not to take unfair advantage of the way I feel about you.” Oops. I could feel him wanting to ask how I did feel about him. “I’m not sure” probably wouldn’t cut it as an answer. I hurried on. “I trust you to be smart enough to realize you don’t kick six years of addiction in six days.” He was shaking his head silently. “Zach,” I said. “You’ve been self-medicating with alcohol for a long time. You told me yourself, you started drinking when your dad died. If you’re sad, or mad, or scared, it’s going to seem natural to reach for a drink. That doesn’t change overnight. And whatever being with me does for you, it won’t make your life less complicated. You aren’t ready to stay away from it on your own yet.” “I can do it,” he said stubbornly. “Yeah, you can and you will. With a little help from your friends right now. Your whole pack has your back. Simon, Patrick, and David will all watch out for you at work. One of us will give you a ride. Until you really can go home past a bar after a hard

unexPected deMAnds 133 day and not feel the urge to turn in for a quick one.” “God, why do you bother with me?” he said bitterly. “It’s not a bother, we’re pack. You’re a good person, Zach,” I said firmly, adding in an attempt at lightness, “and you’re the only werewolf I can’t keep my hands off of.” He smiled wanly. “I guess. Aaron, did you ever think about you and Simon getting together? I mean, you knew he was gay, even if he didn’t know you were. And he’s really built.” “If you like lots of muscle, yeah.” God, how long since I’d talked about this stuff out loud? Not since my San Francisco days. “Sure, I thought about it once or twice, but not seriously. For one thing it would have been nearly impossible to hide, and Karl was always watching. But mainly because Simon’s not my type.” “Why not?” “Too dominant. Neither of us would be willing to bottom for the other. Simon’s going to be right near the top of a pack some day. We would kill each other.” Zach looked down. “I’m not dominant. My grandfather, he hated that I wouldn’t play the games of challenge and rank with the other guys in the pack. I didn’t care enough. He would…” He stopped and swallowed. “He beat you, didn’t he?” I said softly. “Yeah. He was trying to make me tougher, he said. It just made me crazy, until I drank and did stupid stuff to get away from it.” I went to him and put a hand under his chin to tilt his head up for me. “I like that you’re not dominant.” I kissed him, and watched his eyes darken for me. When I broke the kiss, he looked sideways at me. “Maybe I should be grateful. He probably saved me from outing myself to the pack. Knowing he was watching me every minute, waiting for any weakness.” His smile was a good effort but didn’t quite come off. “The ultimate anti-Viagra, right? I had to get a hundred miles out of town before I could even think about sex.”

134 Kaje Harper “Shall I punish your grandfather for how he treated you?” Zach shook his head. “God, no. Just leave him alone. I’m out, it’s over.” “Yes, it is,” I promised. “He won’t touch you again.” Although I knew first-hand how long the fear and shame might linger, despite that. I kissed him again. “I, however, plan to touch you a lot. Soon. Often. How much time will it take you to pass on the computer security warnings?” “An hour, maybe?” he suggested. I ran a hand over his hair, let my finger trail along his jaw and just touched his lower lip. I heard, I felt, his breath catch, and his prick jump to attention. “Make it less,” I suggested.

chAPteR 8 I glanced over at Zach as I put the key in the ignition. He looked tired and pale, but steady enough. Hopefully steady enough. He’d been more than fine all night. Spectacular even. But the lack of sleep had perhaps been a bad idea on top of his lingering withdrawal signs. Not like I hadn’t been watching him all through breakfast, but still I hesitated and said, “Are you sure you’re up for the woodworking? Hold out your hands.” He sighed and did so. There was no tremor in that single extended fuck-you finger. I bit back a grin. “Been there, done you.” “Aaron, I’m okay.” He gave me a slanted glance. “Since I don’t have to sit down to work.” I cracked the bond open a little. He was sore, all right, but not too sore. And above and around the sensation was contentment and ease that soothed his other aches and pains as well. Zach smiled. “I’ll be all better by tonight.” The little growl in his voice should have been silly, but instead it combined with the sight and feel of him to tighten my gut. I shut the bond hastily. “Good. Fine.” I turned the key, and was rewarded with a whir and click instead of the Hummer’s usual rasping start. “Shit.” Two more attempts got no better result. I smacked the steering wheel lightly. “Well, at least I have Triple-A.” “Let me look.” Zach swung out of his seat and went to the hood. “Pop this for me, Aaron.” I did so, and then went to look over his shoulder. He frowned down into the engine compartment. It looked like…an engine to me. But he muttered something and pulled at the battery cables and then twisted to look up at me. “Don’t you ever do maintenance on this thing?” “Sure I do,” I told him. “Oil change, rotate the tires. Well, I

136 Kaje Harper pay someone to do it for me.” “Your battery terminals are corroded to hell.” “Which means what?” A slow smile crept over his face. “You really don’t know?” “Technology and I are not good friends,” I said with dignity. “That’s what I pay minions for.” “Well, you’ve been paying slacker minions, then. When corrosion gets this bad, the battery doesn’t recharge the way it should. Good chance it’s run down. A jump might start it.” I nodded. “But your car isn’t here. Hence Triple-A.” I felt a little smug about that, but he shook his head. “Before we try jumping it I want to clean off the terminals. If we can get a clean contact there may be enough juice left in here to start it. Where are your tools?” I showed him the tool chest and he selected his weapons. I stood back to watch him work. Even in a parka and boots, he was striking. And bending over to reach the battery like that was a good position for him. I stepped closer and ran a hand over his rump, here in the garage where the gesture was safe. He jumped and growled, “Back off for a second. Trust me, you don’t want me to be striking sparks in here.” “Is that what happens when I touch you?” He snorted. “Innuendo is so not your style, Aaron. Go away and let me fix this.” Okay, enough was enough. I growled at him. His glance was startled, and then his eyes dropped fast. Better. I smiled, and ran my hand over his hair. “Fix the car, Zach.” “Yes, Aaron.” The change in his posture as he bent back to his task was subtle, but clear. Just that edge taken off, that lean of his hips my way that acknowledged what I was to him. Satisfied, I stalked back to the driver’s seat and waited to see what he could do. After a few minutes he peered around the hood and said, “Try

unexPected deMAnds 137 it now.” I turned the key. The starter whined, ground a bit, and then caught. “Okay, don’t let it stop,” he said with satisfaction. “That’s probably the last charge left.” He let the hood fall with a bang and came around to his side. As I backed slowly out of the garage I glanced at him. “Are you that handy with furnaces and plumbing? You could be useful to have around.” “I get by.” His snarky grin made a come-back. “I can fix your plumbing good.” “I thought you said no innuendo.” “Said it wasn’t your style. It is mine.” He stared out the window at the snowy streets and then added more seriously, “This is going to take some figuring out, isn’t it? You and me?” “Yeah.” “But…you do want me to stay.” “I’m still not sure it’s the best thing for you. I want to be fair, but there’s no getting around the fact that I’m your Alpha. You try to stand up to me and I will put you down. I can’t change that.” “I don’t want you to.” “Not now. But you haven’t pushed my limits much yet.” He ran a fingertip over the mist of breath forming on the inside of his window. “You want to hear something sick?” Did I? I wanted to hear whatever Zach needed to tell me. I raised an eyebrow. He wasn’t looking at me, but after a minute he went on, “I don’t think I ever felt really safe in the last five years. Not until I swore to you. But you want to know the time I came closest to it?” He gave an odd laugh. “It was when you were beating the shit out of me up at Pine River. So strange. It’s not that I like pain, although I can handle it. But I just…I trusted you. I knew

138 Kaje Harper I deserved to be punished, ‘cause I’d screwed up. And I knew you wouldn’t really hurt me and you wouldn’t let me hurt anyone else. And none of the others would touch me while you were there. It was…peaceful. In the middle of a fucking fight, it was peaceful. That’s why I didn’t roll over and submit for you, long after I should have. I didn’t want it to end.” He glanced at me from under his lashes. “Pretty twisted, huh?” I shrugged, thinking about it. I’d never done more than make sure the guy I was with was going to let me top all the way, but there were men out there with kinks that would make Zach’s seem pretty vanilla. And I remembered I had felt some kind of odd satisfaction then too. But… “If you need me to hurt you we have a problem,” I said. “Because I won’t. I’m your Alpha now and I don’t have to. I have you on a leash and I can bring you up short with just a word.” He shivered with an almost sensual pleasure. “I know.” “I’m not sure that’s good for you. It doesn’t make us equals.” “It’s what I crave.” He sighed. “I’ve been so damned out of control, Aaron. Spiraling the drain, about to tip over with the booze or the forbidden sex or the running wild, or by defying Karl at last. I want…I need someone to put up limits and make me toe them. And I want that someone to be you. Because when you do it, it not only feels safe and right, it’s sexy as hell.” And so was he, shifting in his seat with that little smile touching his mouth. “All right then.” After a few minutes he asked, “What about you, Aaron? Do I give you something? Besides the obvious?” I wasn’t knocking the obvious. I opened my bond to him wide and said, “Reaching out in my bed and touching someone who needs me, who wants me? That’s a gift.” It pleased him, I could feel that. But also made him a little sad for some reason. Then he shrugged. “It’s a start.” He gave me a teasing look. “Well, work first. I’m gonna ask Alex to put me on

unexPected deMAnds 139 the big saw.” I knew he was pulling my leg, but all the same I couldn’t keep from slamming down on him. “The hell you are.” His grin was pure mischief. “You can punish me when I get home.” “I can stop you the hell now.” There was contentment in his sigh. §§§§ I woke with the feeling of eyes on me. Even as I swiftly rolled off the bed to my feet, I realized it was Zach. He stood by the door of my room, our room, dressed in jeans and a heavy shirt, but with his feet bare. “What are you doing up?” I remembered him heading to the bathroom after our last round of mind-blowing sex for a cleanup. It was late night, I knew that. I must have fallen asleep before he got back, or perhaps he never came back. Which meant either I was getting old or I had dropped my guard more already with this man than at any other time in my life. I always knew what the people around me were doing. “Why do you bother with me?” His voice was raw and stressed. I opened to him, feeling layers of sadness and bitterness and itchy, restless discomfort. “What are you talking about?” “You know why I’m dressed? I came out of the bathroom and saw it was almost one AM and you know what I thought? I wondered if there was any way I could steal your car keys and sneak out to an all-night grocery for a six-pack. I imagined the damned beer. I could almost taste the first one going down. There you were naked in bed, and all I could think about was how many I could drink before you caught up with me.” I shook my head. “None, pup. I’d have heard you start the engine. Anyway I have your fake ID.” His smile was sad and twisted. “Don’t need it Aaron. It’s past midnight. I’m twenty-one.”

140 Kaje Harper I fought not to show that his words jolted me. It was his birthday. In the tumbling events of recent days I had let it slip right by me. I tried a smile. “Happy birthday, Zachary.” “Yeah, thanks.” I scrambled to cover my lapse. “I was going to take you out somewhere tonight. Downtown out of pack territories maybe, have a nice dinner? I didn’t know you’d want to start celebrating at midnight.” “Aaron. Don’t.” He leaned a shoulder on the doorway. “I know you forgot, I could feel you were surprised. But it’s no big.” “Yeah, it is.” I got out of bed and walked toward him, eyes on his. I was naked and he was clothed, but I loomed over him and he dropped his gaze. I put a hand against the door on either side of his shoulders, framing him. “Twenty-one is a damned big deal.” “Legal drinking age. Big whoop.” “Fully adult for everything age. Look at me, Zach.” His eyes were still dull, looking inward at his own pain. I was damned well going to fix that. “I did forget the date. But not because you aren’t important to me or because your birthday doesn’t matter. Just because I was so focused on getting us all through alive to see it that I lost track. I’m not perfect. I’m going to make mistakes. But you do matter. I had planned to take you out to celebrate, but I’d lost track of the day. And I’m sorry.” A little of my wolf reasserted itself and I took hold of his chin firmly. “Although if you had given me more than an hour past midnight, I might have remembered on my own. Pup.” That got me a slight twitch of his lips, but then he sobered again. He shook free of my hand and ducked past my arm to take a step back. “You don’t get it Aaron. Look at me.” He held out a hand that trembled just a little. “I’m a fucking addict. Why would you want to hook up with that?” “Paul said the effects would take time…” “This isn’t withdrawal. This is me. This is me thinking about

unexPected deMAnds 141 being able to drink legally and it makes me shake. You know what? We had plans, me and Jim and the guys. Twenty-one shots on my twenty-first birthday. And I’m still wondering what that would have been like.” “Then stop,” I said firmly. “Alcohol poisoning isn’t pretty. You’re not going to drink. Not today. Not ever.” “You can’t know that. Do you know what fraction of alcoholics lapse? Well… I haven’t actually looked it up, but I know it’s a fucking lot of them. Of us.” I growled, low and fierce, “And how many of them belong to me?” I saw that hit him. He jerked and his eyes flashed to mine. “None. None but me.” “Damned right.” I held out my hand and put command in my voice, but didn’t push him over the bond. He would obey me without that. “Come back to bed, Zach.” He came obediently, but still said under his breath, “Why do you bother?” “Well, it’s not just the sex, whatever you may be thinking.” I pulled him close and kissed him until I felt his breathing speed up. I broke off and bit his nose lightly. “You are worth it and you are mine and you are…spectacular. And only getting better.” “That sounds like sex.” He rubbed his cheek against my jaw, letting my stubble scrape across his fine skin. “Not that I’m complaining.” I led him to the bed and pushed him onto it. That small gesture had ignited my need for him, but I held it at bay. “How about if we do go out tonight? Celebrate your birthday in style?” I reached for his shirt buttons but didn’t let my fingers touch his skin. “You would do that?” His eyes were bright. “With me?” “Sure.” I slid the thick cotton off his shoulders, and couldn’t help trailing one fingertip over the line of his collarbone. Well, I could have. I chose not to. “It wouldn’t be a date. Couldn’t do

142 Kaje Harper anything out in public no matter where we go. But we could have a nice meal, get to know each other better. We haven’t had the time to really do that yet. I know how you fuck and how you run and how you fight. Don’t know what your favorite food is.” “I love Italian. I also love fucking and I don’t think you know that part of me well enough yet.” Even if the bond hadn’t been open, I was naked. He could hardly have missed my reaction to that comment. “Italian it is, boy,” I growled. “Now get those jeans off and get your ass in the air. I think a birthday spanking might be in order.” He laughed and did as I told him. And the light smack of my hand on his naked backside drove us both up, hard and eager. I had thought that his history with his grandfather would have made this a turn-off for him. But although he jolted as my palm found that silky skin, it was with desire, not fear. Still, once was enough. I wouldn’t hurt my boy. I moved my hands to his hips, gripped him tightly in restraint, and found other things to do with that fine ass. §§§§ The restaurant was crowded. I had been lucky to get a reservation at the third Italian place I called. Which was good because Minneapolis didn’t have a lot of fine Mediterranean cuisine and I had been running out of options. Zach cleaned up…really hot. A dark grey blazer that hugged his shoulders and a white button-down shirt bright against his olive skin just did it for me. He’d had to wear black jeans. The grey was apparently his old go-to-church wear, and the pants were too short. But I wasn’t complaining one iota about the way the tight jeans fit over his thighs. In fact, I was hoping we’d be seated really quickly. Zach looked around as we followed the hostess to our table. “This is really nice. You’re sure…” “You only turn twenty-one once. It should be celebrated.” “Thank you.” He sat across from me and unfolded his napkin.

unexPected deMAnds 143 “So, did anyone else remember? Any surprises?” I knew they had remembered, because I’d called Simon the moment I dropped Zach off at work. Zach smiled. “Simon spanks harder than you do.” At my involuntary growl his smile became a grin. “Don’t worry. He didn’t damage the merchandise.” “He’d better not have.” “It was nice. Half the pack called or texted. Last year no one remembered. Except Jim.” “Do you miss Jim?” I looked at him, trying to decipher the hint of sadness in his voice. Here in public I kept our bond mostly shut down. Too distracting. “Some. He was my best friend.” “You could see him sometimes, play paintball or go to a movie or something? Just away from the booze.” “I don’t know. Maybe. He likes to party.” Zach looked down, fiddling with the napkin on his lap. “My grandfather forgot. Or remembered and decided not to call. But last year he forgot too so…” I wanted to tell Zach that bitter old man didn’t deserve one minute of sadness and regret from him. But telling wouldn’t change how he felt. I remembered my desperate mix of love and hate for a man who was parent and mentor, abuser and most vicious critic. Until Allen, I had been obsessed with gaining my father’s approval too. I spoke softly enough to reach only his ears. “No one at this table but the two of us. Concentrate on me, Zach.” His expression lightened. “Ooh, I like that thought.” He opened his menu and gave me a hot look over the top of it. “So what looks good to you? My treat, of course.” The waiter appeared at my elbow and held a foil-topped bottle for me to see. “Is this what you requested, sir?” Zach stared at me, then looked down. “You should go ahead, Aaron. I don’t mind.”

144 Kaje Harper “Show it to him,” I said. The waiter stepped over to Zach and extended the bottle, presenting the label. It was sparkling grape juice. It had cost me as much as a bottle of good champagne to arrange this, but I wanted Zach to know I was paying attention. Zach said, “Oh!” After a moment of frozen stillness, he quipped, “A very good year. Sure, I’ll have some.” The waiter gravely filled our wine glasses and offered to come back soon for our order. When he was gone I lifted my glass to Zach. “To you. Happy birthday. May each new year be more amazing than the last.” “Not sure I could survive that,” he said, but he was smiling. “Thank you.” The rims of our glasses clinked, like the sealing of a bargain, or the opening of a lock. I drank a deep draught, and watched his throat as he sipped and swallowed. Foolish to feel intoxicated on the bubbles and the moment. I drank again deeply to cover my reaction. The waiter returned and we ordered appetizers and pasta. The food was hot and rich, tangy with tomato and garlic. The salt-intense taste of prosciutto was married to a rich brownedcrumb crust. I watched Zach dig in, eyes bright with pleasure. Worth anything it cost. When we’d taken the edge off, Zach asked, “So, Aaron, what is it you do, exactly? Your day job, I mean. I’ve seen you on the keyboard writing away but…technical writer means what?” “I work for a biomed firm,” I said, winding linguini carefully on my fork. “Scientists are brilliant people, but they can’t put two intelligible sentences together, at least most of them. And the managers are worse, without the excuse of being brilliant. There’s a lot of paperwork for a company like that, patent filings, grant proposals, regulatory stuff, instruction manuals. Pretty much anything written that goes out of the company that’s not advertising, I or one of the other writers has beaten into shape.” “So you’re the equivalent of those Chinese guys who write, ‘If slot A not to be lined with tab B, the side to move upwardly

unexPected deMAnds 145 for fitting.’” “If your pacemaker comes with those kind of instructions, then yes.” “You like it?” I’d thought I was bringing him out to learn more about him, but it was only reasonable for it to go both ways. “I do. Some of it is drudgery. Some is frustrating, like when I give a draft back to a scientist and he takes my carefully crafted sentences and puts eight hundred words of unnecessary detail back into them. But it’s useful work and it’s positive. Improving lives, hopefully, not like doing advertising, or reporting bad news in a tabloid.” I’d done both of those. “If you could do anything at all as a job, what would you choose?” “I don’t know.” I gave it a moment’s thought. “I’ve always liked writing. Doing novels was fun but…” It was a solitary thing, at a time when I had been intensely lonely, and then it had seemed like putting too much of myself out there in full view. “You wrote a novel?” “More than one.” “I want to read them!” “Maybe someday.” If I ever got up the nerve to read my own work again and see what actually lived in those pages. I certainly wouldn’t hand them to him without checking that first. “What about you, Zach? You can’t want to do cabinet-making all your life.” “I don’t know. I like some of it. That new custom liquor cabinet that Alex made, that was amazing. The carving on it and those little panes of glass set in the doors? It was great to feel like I was part of creating that, even if all I did was some of the staining. But I don’t have the, I don’t know, the creativity I guess. Not like Alex or even Simon. I’m just a step above grunt labor there, and not likely to go much higher.” “What then?” It would be good for him to do work that

146 Kaje Harper demanded more of him. I’d noticed already that when he was bored, that restless unease in him rose to the forefront. Those moments when he was brain-deep in a tricky computer search for me smoothed him out. “Not sure. Something with writing code, of course. I just… it just clicks for me. It makes sense. Not like I’m that smart or anything, but that stuff comes easy.” I would fix the “I’m not that smart” part later. “So troubleshooting, or writing computer games?” “I don’t want to be a substitute for some big box store’s helpline. And the games, well, it’s cool stuff but I’m not that visual. Graphics are not my thing. Security maybe. I really loved tracking down the gay-bashers, figuring out who they were and how to get into their systems. Or maybe intrusion detection software.” His eager expression faded a bit. “It would take more school to get a job in that area though. Maybe a lot more years.” “You’re twenty-one. You have time.” “I guess.” His eyes tracked away from me. I wondered if he was thinking about the costs. The pack was

strapped right now, and we really needed to buy a property to run on. I wanted to offer him the moon, push him to stretch his wings, but it was far too soon. And I would have to crunch the numbers, see what we could do. A muffled gasp from him caught my attention. I followed his eyes. The hostess was approaching with Joshua and Gordon’s widow, Susan. At the same moment, Joshua saw me. He inclined his head in a nod, equal to equal, but caught the hostess’s arm and suggested a table far across the room from us. I kept my eyes on them as she turned and guided them over there. Joshua seated Susan with her back to us, but instead of sitting himself, he headed back our way. “Relax, boy,” I growled to Zach under my breath. “We’re out celebrating your twenty-first birthday. Nothing more.” Joshua stopped at our table. “Aaron.”

unexPected deMAnds 147 “Joshua.” I remained seated with an effort. Standing would have put my head level with his, but getting up meant I was reacting to his lead. I sprawled back in my chair a bit more. “How’s Susan doing?” He glanced back at her. “About what you’d think. She wanted to come out, but I’m betting she’ll eat about three bites.” I softened my voice. “And you?” I sometimes forgot in all the posturing and dominance games that when Gordon died, Joshua had lost his best friend as well as his Alpha. He shrugged and turned to Zach. “Happy birthday, kid.” “Thanks.” Zach remained tense and wary. I saw Joshua look at Zach’s wine glass and noted the small

flare of his nostrils, the tiny nod, as he searched for the smell of alcohol and didn’t find it. I’d told Joshua the bare minimum, but he knew enough for that. He said to me, “I don’t plan to butt in here. Just wanted you to know I’m not following you or anything stupid. Just happened to pick the same restaurant.” “Okay.” “Susan is still angry about…the whole thing. Including Simon. I don’t…she doesn’t blame you Aaron, but I still think she would prefer you don’t come over and talk to her.” “Understood.” He inclined his head to me, a tiny measured degree that expressed regret. His glance at Zach was warmer. “Enjoy your meal and congratulations, Zach.” “Sir.” Zach’s eyes lowered and he bowed his head deeply. And I closed my hand on the edge of the table to avoid snapping at Joshua for getting that deference from my boy. It was Zach’s reflex, not something that Joshua had demanded. We watched him cross the room back to Susan. “Aaron, should we go?” Zach whispered. “No. We stay, finish the meal, have some dessert.” I slid a careful foot against his ankle, silent and out of sight, to see his eyes snap back to me. Good. I breathed. “And no footsie under

148 Kaje Harper the table, boy.” “That’s your…” He bit off his protest and took a deep drink from his water glass. “Yes, sir.” Better. By the time we finished the bread and pasta, Zach had relaxed a lot. It helped that his back was to Joshua. I gave the North Pack Alpha a glance now and then, and caught him doing the same, but we both eased off as time went by. “What do you want for dessert?” I asked Zach. He grinned at me, glanced over his shoulder, then faced me with a mischievous expression. His tongue quickly swept his upper lip, and he bit his full lower lip gently and brushed his mouth with his thumb. My body tightened in instant response, but I hid it with practiced ease. Bad idea to flirt here. Zach’s fondness for dancing on the edge of danger could get us both killed. “Behave, Zach. Joshua’s still watching me.” I almost regretted saying it, as Zach dialed down the heat immediately. But it was safest, even with my good control. Because my control had shown a tendency to slip around this man. “So chocolate? Or crème brûlée? Ice cream?” “Chocolate. Definitely.” When our deserts arrived, I had to laugh. I had avoided the chain restaurants with their hand-clapping birthday serenades, but in negotiating for the grape juice I had mentioned the occasion. Zach’s chocolate lava cake arrived with a sparkler stuck in the top, its fire striking equal sparks in his dark eyes. He tilted his head, staring at it quizzically and then glanced up. “Aaron? A little over the top?” I shrugged. “Not my doing this time. But happy birthday.” He watched it die out, a wisp of ash drifting to the clean white tablecloth. When the last spark had died he pulled it out and set it aside. He looked at me with bright eyes. “Thank you Aaron. Best one yet.”

unexPected deMAnds 149 “It’s not over yet,” I told him, barely moving my lips. Across the room, Joshua bent toward Susan, encouraging her to eat. He wasn’t even glancing our way. This was crazy, after I’d cut him off short just minutes ago. But the impulse to please him rose suddenly. I kept my expression impassive even as I told Zach, “I might have one or two things at home for you. And none of them edible.” “But there’s one more thing I want to eat.” And Zach followed that statement up with a liquid chocolate and fork move, hidden from the rest of the room by his fist against his cheek. Brat. I held back a smile. It was so warm, so sweet to be out with him like this. But then my next glance across the room caught Joshua’s return stare. And I froze out that warmth and clamped down on the bond hard. It wasn’t safe. This private happiness would have to stay completely behind closed doors. “Stop,” I said. And the ice in my voice brought the caution rushing back to his eyes too. We finished the meal in careful silence, and didn’t so much as brush against each other until the Hummer was parked back in my own garage. §§§§ Zach rolled over in my arms and woke with a start. Even after a week together, in his sleep he forgot that he was safe with me. I could feel the little jolt of panic that still went through him on waking. I leaned up on one elbow to kiss him, and his mouth smiled under mine. “Aaron.” “That’s me.” “What time is it?” I craned my neck to look at the clock. “Eight thirty.” “Evening or morning?” “It’s still evening.” I had grabbed Zach from our dinner table, dragged him upstairs, and instructed him in the finer points of mutual oral sex. Zach was a fast learner. The bond between us

150 Kaje Harper made pleasing each other easy, and the echo of passion doubled and reflected back was still enough to shake me to my core. We often slept afterward, exhausted. “Good.” With a wriggle, he slid over on top of me. “Then we have lots of free time.” “You’re insatiable.” My body responded to his weight and scent. He squirmed his thigh over my rapidly hardening cock. “Complaining?” “Nope.” I locked my hands behind his head and pulled him down for a kiss. He returned it softly, his weight resting on my chest, the edge still taken off our need. For a while we explored each other’s mouths gently. The soft slick of tongue on tongue, the fullness of his lips, sweetness with just an edge of teeth; these were becoming so precious to me. I kissed him, and let my eyes close. Gradually, heat began to build. I slid my hands down the muscles of his back, over the knobs of his spine to the hollow at its base. I dug my fingers into the tight globes of his buttocks. He gasped a breath as my fingertips kneaded his flesh. Against my belly, he was hardening too. I slid a fingertip into the muscular cleft, circling his hole. I could feel the clench of his body, and the way the heat flooded his groin in response. I had a flash of our morning shower. Zach, bent forward, holding the safety rail, while I pounded into him, flesh on flesh louder than the fall of the water. Mmm. “Are you sore?” I asked softly. “Nope,” he said smugly. “One of the perks of werewolf healing.” Indeed. We had found that I could take him hard without leaving him hurting. Not that I would ever hurt him on purpose. But sometimes we both got carried away past what an inexperienced human could have tolerated. Zach sat up across my thighs and looked down at me. His face held the look of sensual mischief I had come to anticipate. He

unexPected deMAnds 151 ran his hands over my face and then down my neck to my chest. His fingertips played with my nipples, raising them to hard peaks. He pinched one, and then the other, hard enough to jolt me. I bucked my hips up underneath him and he laughed. Bending over, he licked along my neck, and then applied his mouth to my chest. “I love how bare you are,” he said, between nips and sucking bites. “No hair in my teeth.” He nipped harder. “Ouch! Damn it, Zach.” He laughed again, and ran a soothing tongue over the teeth marks he had left in my pec. “Sorry, got carried away.” It was a fake apology. He knew I’d liked it, loved having him push the edge of disobedience. To the point where I ringed his wrists in hard-clenched fingers. “Come here and say that.” I hauled him up for a kiss that was getting rougher. I bit his lip in return. “Can I be on top?” he whispered into my mouth. “I want to…sit on you.” He had to feel the fire that hit my groin at that idea. “Oh, yeah,” I said. I could top him that way round too. “Grab the lube.” He sat up, reached for the dresser drawer, and snagged the tube. I took it from him and pushed him down my body, so I could wrap a hand around his huge prick. My fingers could barely circle him. He sucked a breath as I gripped him firmly, stroking down. My own erection was throbbing against his groin. I brought us together, my hard hot flesh against his velvet-covered iron. Flipping open the lube, I poured it generously over both of us, and then took us in hand. Tight, veined skin glistened in the light as I worked us together. I swirled one hand over both heads, his huge and flared, mine smaller but still substantial. Zach was watching my fingers, breathing hard. I closed my fingers tight, and he thrust involuntarily in my fist, his cock sliding against mine.

152 Kaje Harper “God, Aaron,” he moaned. “God, your hands.” “Get up on your knees,” I told him. He rose above me, thighs spread over my hips. I reached

under him, pressing inward with one lubed fingertip, and he groaned. “Yeah, right there.” With my other hand, I guided the tip of my cock to him. “Now,” I said roughly. “Now. Sit on me, Zach.” He shifted his weight and pressed down, whimpering as his hot, tight ass opened to take me. Across the bond, I felt the sting and stretch, the edge of pain as his unprepared ass was filled. I locked my hands on his hips, holding him still. I kept him there, poised, my cock barely inside him, despite his pleading and wriggling, until all hint of pain subsided. Only when I felt his body relax, felt need rise up to swamp all other sensations, did I release him. He leaned his weight down on me, forcing me deep into his soft passage. “Aaron,” he moaned. “Jesus, I love how you feel inside me.” He began to rock, short snubbing motions that sent electric jolts through me. If he kept that up, I would be way ahead of him. I closed my hands on his erection, fisting over him in time to his motions. He shuddered. He rose up slightly and drove down on me. My cock slid over his gland, and our voices gasped together at the sensation. He did it again, harder, longer. I stroked him, matching the pressure. Faster and faster, Zach fucked himself on me. His weight, his motion, drove me down into the bed. I could barely move, barely keep my hands on him, struggling to drive him up with the same frantic intensity. I raised my head to watch him. Sparkles filled my peripheral vision, but I couldn’t take my eyes off the sight of Zach’s lithe body, rising until the tip of my dick was barely inside him, and then plunging down, impaling himself on me. His head tipped forward, eyes half closed, mouth open and drawn tight with the intensity. His gorgeous face was flushed, damp with sweat. This was everything I needed, everything I had wanted. More than just the sensations took my breath away. My Zach. My hands

unexPected deMAnds 153 fell away from him as all the blood rushed to my groin. My head fell back on the pillow. I shouted something wordless as my hips slammed up uncontrollably, exploding into Zach’s sweet ass. He groaned and froze, filled to the hilt with me. As my climax ebbed I could feel him, balanced on the brink, hanging on by the skin of his teeth as he fought not to come yet. Fuck that. I reached down again, wrapped my hands around him and squeezed. His head snapped back and he cried out, and then his hot, silky cum splashed over my fingers and across my chest. A drop hit my lips and I licked it slowly, savoring the taste, feeling him shudder as the sight and secondhand taste added one more sensation to the avalanche overwhelming him. I stilled, holding him firmly but not stroking, not moving. I could feel his exquisite sensitivity. Anything more would be too much, would tilt sensation into pain. Zach quivered, every muscle in his body trembling. Then slowly, slowly, the fire ebbed, leaving sweet lassitude in its wake. He leaned down against me bonelessly. The barest hint of a sigh marked the moment when I eased out of his body. He slid further until his head was on my shoulder, his chest glued to mine with sweat and cum, his heart thudding against my ribs. “I may never move again,” he said softly after a minute. I kissed his hair. “Until the next time.” “Next time. Jesus.” He kissed my shoulder back, his body heavy and lax over mine. “I can’t think about next time.” “What happened to insatiable?” I teased, stroking along his hip with the one finger I seemed capable of moving. “I think I’m sated,” he muttered. “Good.” I slid sideways, to ease his weight against my hip, and wrapped an arm around him. “Me too.” I was sinking fast into sleep when the phone rang. “Shit,” Zach grumbled. “Leave it.” Not a luxury an Alpha was allowed. I reached out, my hand six

154 Kaje Harper inches short of the cradle. Zach leaned over further and snagged it, glancing at the caller ID as he handed it to me. “Simon.” But when I flipped it open, it was Paul’s voice. “Aaron,” he said tentatively. “I hate to bother you but I think Simon’s missing.” “Missing?” Zach rolled off me as I sat up. “What do you mean?” I opened my bond to Simon as I spoke and my stomach lurched. The bond was…not gone, not really, but…silent. There was still something there, in my head, but without direction or sensation. If what I felt was what Simon was experiencing, he was unconscious and wrapped in something thick and muffling. “It feels weird,” Paul said. “The bond. I know Simon’s out there but I can’t feel him properly, and I can’t find him.” I closed my eyes, trying for direction. That way…no, that…no. Paul was right. I couldn’t find him. “What happened?” I asked urgently. “Where was he?” “I’m not sure. I was at work. Simon called at lunch, just to check in, and asked what I wanted for dinner. He was going grocery shopping after work. It was a busy day at the clinic. I wasn’t thinking about Simon much. Once, late afternoon, I felt something, like a short pain. But it was brief, and then he was fine again. But when I got home, he wasn’t here. His truck is here, but there are no groceries, no dinner. I thought maybe he walked to the store, you know, but it’s late. And he never called to check up on me, which the damned overprotective bastard always does. And I can’t find him.” Paul’s voice rose in anxiety. I was about to reassure him but I reconsidered. “You’re right,” I said instead. “Something’s wrong. I can’t find him either. It doesn’t feel like he’s dead, just…missing. Can’t be too bad or I’d have felt it.” “If he was hurt, unconscious,” Paul said, “Wouldn’t we still be able to find him? I can feel where he is when he’s asleep.” “I think so,” I agreed. I remembered I had found Zach without difficulty when he had been unconscious and seizing. “Look,” I said. “We’ll be right there. Don’t walk around the

unexPected deMAnds 155 truck too much and disturb the ground. One of us will wolf up and see if there’s a trail. Hang in there.” Zach was on his feet. He pitched me my clothes and reached for his own. Then he hesitated. “Do we shower first?” Until now, I had been careful about letting our scents linger on each other. There was a scented soap in my shower now, although werewolf noses prefer unscented, and Zach had learned to use a rubber enema bag. I loved leaving my mark on him and in him, but we scrubbed it carefully away when other wolves might notice. And he stood there now with my cum smeared down his thigh, unmistakable, but… ”No,” I decided. “No time. And it’s just Paul.” I tossed him a wipe from the drawer. “Clean up and get dressed.” §§§§ Paul was waiting for us on the front steps of Simon’s house, his arms wrapped around his middle. Damned fool wasn’t wearing gloves. I shoved Zach at him. “Take Zach inside and let him shift to wolf while I look around,” I directed. “Zach, when you’re ready, come on back out here.” Paul looked like he might argue, but then he turned and led the way inside. I turned on the flashlight I had brought and headed for Simon’s truck in the drive. The truck was undamaged, the doors locked. There was nothing in the load bed. Simon had done a good job shoveling his driveway; there was no layer of fresh snow to show footprints. Paul’s vehicle was pulled in behind the pickup and no other tracks were obvious on the drive. The door of the house opened and Zach slipped out, his lean, dark wolf form silent on the stairs. I had never put his shift lock back on him, and I was glad of it now. One less complication. Zach came over to me and sat at my feet looking up. He made a big dog, but a small werewolf, his head barely at my hip. “Sniff around,” I told him. “See if you can find a trace of anyone other than Simon and Paul around the truck, or any trace

156 Kaje Harper of Simon walking off the property.” Zach nodded his canine head and began quartering the ground in a search grid. After ten minutes he cocked his head at me and headed back to the door. Paul had left it unlocked and I let Zach into the house. Paul was waiting at the front window, vibrating with suppressed anxiety. Zach shifted right there on the entryway floor. “There are several human traces around,” he reported as soon as his shift was complete. “I’m not certain they’re all from today, but they’re quite fresh. Simon’s scent leads off the property down the road in both directions, like it’s a regular thing for him.” “He goes out running,” Paul said. “He was out this morning.” “Which means if he went somewhere on foot, it’s going to be hard to follow,” I said. “What about the humans? Have you had any visitors or workmen in lately?” Paul shook his head. “Not that I know of. But weekdays I’m never home. People do come around, looking to trim the trees or recruiting for their church, you know.” “We need Mark. I’m going to call him.” “It could all just be…nothing,” Paul said. “Do you believe that?” His eyes unfocused for a moment. I guessed he was checking his mate bond to Simon. “No,” he admitted. I nodded. “I’m calling Mark.” I gripped Paul’s arm as I flipped my phone open. “Simon is alive, you know. I can still feel something, and I can still feel you. My sense of you comes through Simon. If he died, it would be gone.” Paul nodded in gratitude. I didn’t say that my sense of Paul was now also the barest directionless thread. It was there. When Mark had been contacted and was on his way, I turned to Paul. “It sounds stupid, but Zach and I need to use your shower.” “My shower?” For a moment Paul’s face was blank. Then understanding hit him. I had figured he and Simon had done

unexPected deMAnds 157 the same, removing traces back in the days when Simon was still trying to keep him a secret. “Oh, yeah. Okay, might be a good idea. If you think it’s necessary.” “It would be better.” I grabbed Zach by the arm. “We’ll be right back.” We ran upstairs together. I pillaged Paul and Simon’s room for fresh underwear and shirts, and then spent a hurried two minutes in the shower scrubbing Zach from my skin. I went back downstairs while he was doing the same. “We owe you a couple of pairs of boxers,” I told Paul. He looked at me uncomprehendingly. “Never mind. Mark will be here soon. Have you eaten?” Paul blinked, and then shook his head slowly. “I couldn’t.” “You need to.” I shoved him ahead of me into the kitchen. “Finding Simon may depend on you being in good shape. We can’t have you collapsing from low blood sugar.” The arm under my fingers was thinner than it should be. Apparently Simon hadn’t had time to feed his mate up yet. As I inspected the fridge, I asked, “Was there any sign that Simon was inside the house before you got home?” “No. The mail was still in the box, and I don’t see his work clothes. He usually showers off the sawdust and stuff, and there were no wet towels either.” “But his truck is in the drive. So he disappeared between his truck and the house.” “I guess.” I poured a glass of milk for Paul and buttered a slice of bread. “Sit and eat that.” He toyed with the food while I called Alex to check up on Simon’s work day. Simon had left work as usual, at five o’clock. He had been relaxed, not worried. No one had told Alex about any strangers watching, or any other problems. I called Joshua while I was at it and he said the same. All quiet on the northern front. I told the other Alpha that Simon was missing, and promised a call back when we knew more.

158 Kaje Harper Mark’s knock on the door was brisk. I let him in and explained, and then he wolfed up and went out to sniff around. Mark had decades of experience over Zach in checking out crime scenes. After about fifteen minutes he came in and shifted back. Paul watched intently, shaking his head a little as Mark’s body warped itself from wolf to man. “Still seems unreal,” he muttered when he noticed my eyes on him. “Try finding out when you turn thirteen that you can do that,” I suggested, and he gave me a startled look. “Okay,” Mark said, hauling himself up off the floor and dressing with the unselfconsciousness of a werewolf who has spent a lifetime shifting with his pack. “Simon was there recently. I found a spot near his truck where I think he fell. Big patch of scent on the ground, like a whole body print. There was no new trail leading away, but among the various traces on the drive there was the fresh smell of two humans right there. I’m betting they carried him.” “Alive?” Paul said urgently. “You’d know better than me.” Paul’s face got an inward look, but after a moment he nodded.

“Yeah, it’s faint but he’s still there.” “So probably unconscious,” Mark said. “There was no blood trace. I’d guess he was drugged, hit on the head, or shot with a Taser. If I had to bet I’d say Taser. I didn’t see paper tags, but it’s possible to rig one up without them. It would be hard for strangers to get close enough to hit Simon on the head, and drugs don’t usually work instantly, even with something like a dart gun. If he’d had time to know it was coming, he wouldn’t have just stood there and fallen over.” “I felt something,” Paul said. “He did hurt for a moment. But…he gets dings at work. He tells me not to worry about it, damn him.” “Did you recognize the humans?” I asked Mark.

unexPected deMAnds 159 “Not by scent.” “And no strange werewolves involved?” “I didn’t pick up a trace of anyone but our pack, at least nothing recent.” “I don’t get it,” Paul said. “Why would anyone…take Simon? And why can’t I tell where he is?” “As for why you can’t locate him,” Mark suggested, “That could be distance. If they got him four hours ago, they could be a long way off by now. If he’s unconscious but not injured, it would make it worse. The bond is strengthened by strong emotions and danger. When Megan was under anesthesia for a relatively safe minor surgery, my bond to her got a little fuzzy and I was right there in the waiting room.” “There aren’t a lot of reasons for humans to kidnap Simon,” I said slowly. “Most likely, and worst, they wanted to catch themselves a werewolf.” “Could another wolf have hired them to get Simon?” Zach suggested. “Not likely. A wolf who cared enough to bother with Simon would just kill him. They’d have no reason to kidnap him. If someone got close enough for a Taser, he was close enough for a gun. I can’t see why a werewolf would bother to get fancier than that.” “Bait?” Zach suggested. “To get you and Paul too?” “Except no one has contacted us,” I pointed out. “I can’t buy it. And I can’t see any werewolf, no matter how warped, outing Simon to humans. But if the humans weren’t brought into the situation on purpose, how did any human find him?” “The computer maybe,” Paul said. “You told us to be careful, that security wasn’t perfect.” “Could be. Zach, would it do any good to check Simon’s computer system?” He gave me a half shrug. “Worth a try. Maybe we can get a line back to who it was.” He grabbed Paul by the arm and hauled

160 Kaje Harper him into the office to provide passwords. I caught Mark’s sleeve as he started to follow. “Is Megan okay?” When Paul called, I’d done a quick run through all the bonds. My other wolves seemed fine, but Megan was a little…off. “She had some bleeding,” he said softly. “She’s scared she’s losing this baby too.” “Damn,” I muttered. “I’m sorry, though. I need you here.” “She knows. She’s good for now.” We followed the other two into the office, and hung over Zach’s shoulder as he worked the keyboard. After a while Zach shook his head. “No sign of any spyware. Simon’s security is better than most. No worms, no keystroke trackers. I wonder though…” He hesitated and looked up at me. “Remember the post that had his picture, and his first name? Maybe someone traced him from that.” “It would be a hell of an achievement,” I suggested. “Simon may not be a common name, but there have to be thousands of men across the country with that name and the right age range.” “Maybe not,” Zach said. “Just let me…” He entered a series of commands, and eventually the picture in question came up on the screen. “I’ve tapped into my own system where I saved a copy,” he said. “And if I remember right…Yeah, look.” He pointed at the background of the photo. If you looked carefully, the counter for the St. Paul Amtrak train station was visible. “I bet you could make out the station name.” He zoomed in to the countertop and found it. “Yeah. So if you just had to search the Twin Cities, with a first name and an age range, that might be doable.” “Shit,” I muttered. “The wolf who posted that should be skinned alive over a slow fire by his Alpha. But if that’s how they did it, then there’s no way to find them.” ”I can’t think of any,” Zach admitted. “So what do we do?” Paul demanded. “We can’t just sit here

while they take Simon somewhere and do what they want with

unexPected deMAnds 161 him. You werewolves are such secrecy freaks. You’ve got to help find him!” “Stop and think,” I said firmly. “Do you feel like your sense of him is continuing to get fainter?” Paul hesitated, his attention turned inward again. “Not really,” he said tentatively after a few moments. “Although it’s hard to tell. There’s not much room for getting fainter before it’s gone.” “Mine hasn’t changed since you called,” I said, hoping I was telling the truth. “If part of the problem is distance, then the last thing we want to do is move without a good idea of what direction. If they’ve stopped traveling, our best bet is to hold still until we get a stronger sense of which way to go.” “Who says we’ll get a better idea?” Paul demanded. “I figure we will,” I returned, “Once they let him wake up. I don’t feel fear, pain, anything from him. I’m betting he’s still unconscious. When he starts having stronger emotions, I hope the link will strengthen again.” “And if it doesn’t?” I just looked at him. Because if it didn’t we were probably fucked. “If it doesn’t, we’ll start doing circles around this location, and see if there’s a direction that helps. You and me at opposite poles.” “Why not start now?” Paul asked eagerly. “I’m worried about going too far in the wrong direction and losing the bond more. It might be even harder to get it back once it’s gone. As long as nothing is changing we rest and eat and wait.” I turned to my Second. “Mark, if we do get a fix on Simon that lets us go after him, who do we bring?” Mark gave it some thought. “You and me. Paul to find him and as medical support. Lucas is out of town again, or he’d be on my list. Maybe Richard. The rest of the pack is pretty young and not trained for any kind of combat. Except Damian. He can fight but I don’t trust him to follow orders without me on top of him every minute.”

162 Kaje Harper “You’re not leaving me behind,” Zach protested. “I’ll bring my laptop, do research on the go, whatever might be useful.” I thought about it for a moment. Didn’t want Zach in any fight but as tech support, yeah. “Okay. Mark, call Richard in. Zach, where is your computer?” “At home.” I tossed him my keys. “Go get it and bring your ass back

here.” He grinned at me briefly. “Yes, Aaron.” “Mark, anything you want to fetch that might be useful?” “You think we need guns?” After a moment he answered himself, “Couldn’t hurt, especially if we’re dealing with humans. Okay, Aaron. Back in twenty.” They let themselves out and I steered Paul back to the kitchen, to the food he didn’t want and the waiting that neither one of us was good at.

chAPteR 9 The pain hit me between the eyes. Intense throbbing bore into my head and cheek. It was sharp enough to momentarily blur the view I had of silent moonlit snow in Simon’s front yard. At the same moment I heard Paul yell, “Aaron!” “Yeah, got it.” The link to Simon was still weak, but now there was plenty of anger and pain to turn it into a clearer thread. “That way,” Paul said, pointing south. “Let’s move.” Around me, Mark, Richard, and Zach got up out of their seats and started pulling on coats and boots. Paul struggled with a sleeve, trying to do three things at once. “Easy,” I said, giving his collar a yank to straighten him out. “Stay cool. We’ve got him now.” “He’s hurt!” “No surprise.” I took his medical bag from him and shoved gloves into his hands. “If it means we can find him, it’s good. Come on.” My Hummer was biggest, and we piled in, with Paul beside me, the others arranged in back. It was several hours short of daybreak, and the roads were icy, but the air held a hint of warming to come. The moon was almost bright enough to drive by, full and yellow near the horizon. We headed south and slightly east, following the pull of the bond to Simon. Along that slender contact, emotions rose and ebbed. Several times there was a sharp surge of pain, and I had to narrow my Alpha bond down to be able to drive. Beside me, Paul reacted with a silent wince, but pointed the course without hesitation. We headed southeast toward Minneapolis, moving swiftly. At that hour on a Saturday morning, driving was easy. Sensorcontrolled lights turned green at our approach, speeding our way through deserted intersections. We crossed into the city.

164 Kaje Harper Minneapolis was not the town that never sleeps. Buildings were dark, and streets devoid of cars. Once a police car approached and I moderated my speed for the blocks it paced us, until it turned off on a side road. Then we passed a sign that said, “Welcome to Richfield.” “Fuck,” I said succinctly. At the first parking lot I pulled over. “What?” Paul demanded. “Aaron, why are you stopping?” I exchanged glances with Mark in the rearview mirror. “South Pack territory.” “So what? They’ll never know.” “Maybe. If I knew for sure it was just a matter of finding Simon and grabbing him back I might chance it. But we have no idea what it’s going to take to get Simon out safely. I don’t want to end up in a fight with the South Pack on top of the rest.” “Surely they’d understand!” Paul insisted. “Maybe.” I pulled out my phone and dialed from my contacts list. “Who is it?” a grumpy voice responded. I glanced at my watch. Three AM on a Saturday; no wonder he didn’t sound happy. “It’s Aaron from West. Is Hanson there?” “I can pass a message,” the voice returned, more alertly. “Tell John Hanson that I am at the corner of Lyndale and Sixty-third. Tell him one of my men is in trouble, and I’m asking permission to continue on south to find him.” “Hold on,” the man said. “I’ll call you back.” I closed my phone and let the engine idle. After a few minutes my cell rang. “Wait there,” the man said without preamble. “We’ll meet you.” “Look, I’m in a hurry. We might just be passing through. If we stop anywhere inside your territory, I can call back.” “Alpha says wait there for us,” the man returned implacably.

unexPected deMAnds 165 “Don’t push him on this.” I blew out a breath. I had no time for this, but I knew John Hanson. “All right. Half an hour. If you don’t show by then, I’ll take it as permission to move on.” I closed my phone to cut off any protest. When it didn’t immediately ring back, I took that as agreement. “We can’t,” Paul protested. “We can’t just sit around for half an hour.” He grabbed my arm, his fingers white on my sleeve. “You have to understand John Hanson,” I told him quietly, resisting the urge to snap back or shake him off. I understood this, but it didn’t mean I liked it. “Just a week ago, I brought a whole bunch of dominant wolves through his territory without properly consulting him. I’m pushing for changes within the packs. Hanson is an old wolf, traditional and very territorial. If I respect that now, he’ll probably let us continue. He might even help us, if I can convince him it’s in his best interests. If I invade his territory without his permission, he may react violently.” Mark leaned forward from the backseat. “Aaron’s right. Hanson’s pack is bigger than ours and he has some of the toughest wolves I’ve ever met. We don’t want them lined up against us.” “But,” Paul said. A new flash of pain came down the bond from Simon and we both winced, although he made no more sound than I did. “Damn it,” he muttered when it had eased. “It’s just pain,” I said. “Whatever is happening to Simon, I don’t feel like he’s in any danger yet. He’s pretty tough too, Paul. You have to trust your mate to hang on until we can get to him.” Paul’s glare told me he resented the way I phrased that. But he sat in silence with the rest of us as we waited. Hanson and his wolves rolled up out of the dark about twentyfive minutes later in a Jeep and a gleaming black Suburban. Less noticeable than my Hummer, but also less secure. I wondered if Hanson had had the SUV armored. The Suburban’s back doors opened and two men got out. They circled us slowly on foot, alert and silent in the dimness. I got out of my car and walked

166 Kaje Harper toward the SUV. I was the supplicant here. I could afford to make the gesture of going to him. The front window rolled down. “Tremaine.” Hanson’s voice was deep for the size of the man. “You’d better have a good reason to haul me out of my wife’s bed in the middle of the night.” I gave him the barest nod, fighting my wolf to do so. No dominance struggles now. “One of my wolves was kidnapped. I’m going to get him back.” I saw him jerk in surprise. Then he frowned blackly. “You think one of my wolves took him and brought him here?” “No,” I said quickly. “We’re pretty sure he was taken by humans. We’re following his bond, and it led us this way. We don’t know how far. We may just be passing through.” “Or not,” Hanson growled. “How would humans find one of your men, and why?” “We’ll know why when we catch them. As for how, he was outed on our forum, photo and name, by a fool with no regard for security.” “Face and name?” Hanson repeated. “That’s completely against code. Who would…” He paused, squinting at me. “It’s your fag wolf, Simon, isn’t it?” “Yes,” I admitted. “Which doesn’t change the fact that he is a wolf, and that Montana bastard put his information out there for humans to find. And I intend to get him back and take care of any security breach that may have occurred. And then I’m going to skin the wolf who leaked him with a dull knife.” “Mm.” Hanson paused, considering. I said nothing. We would continue, permission or not, but hiding from this pack would add a whole new level of difficulty to our task. But Hanson hated to be pushed. I waited. “All right,” he said at last. “If security is at risk, it’s our problem too. We’ll tag along, and see what the story is. You ride with me.” I glanced back at my car. Mark wouldn’t like that, but I didn’t

unexPected deMAnds 167 see much choice. “Let me tell my men.” When we pulled out, Hanson’s Suburban led the way. I sat beside him, pointing the direction like a human compass. By now, my contact with Simon over the bond was plenty strong enough to direct us. Behind us, Mark and my wolves followed, while the black Jeep took the rear. We found ourselves in the warehouse district of South Bloomington, driving past dark deserted steel and concrete monoliths, when my direction sense went from ahead of us to right there and then back behind us. “That one,” I said urgently, pointing at a pale two-story concrete building. Hanson took one glance and then kept going. Over his phone, he snapped, “Go past. Stay with me,” to the men in his Jeep. I saw Mark in my car begin to slow down and then continue perforce as the Jeep climbed up his rear bumper. Hanson continued a block down and turned the corner before pulling over. My Hummer and the Jeep pulled in behind us. Paul was at my window almost before we had stopped moving. “It’s that one, back there!” he panted. “I know.” I jumped out and caught his elbow to hold him still. “Settle down. We need to think this through.” One of the men from the Jeep wandered over. He was tall and lean, his skin tanned and weather-beaten. He looked forty, was probably seventy, but he moved like a panther. “Saw a sentry on the roof, Alpha,” he said to Hanson, ignoring me. “Maybe a camera.” Hanson turned to me. “This is Jackson,” he said. “He was Special Forces back before you were born. He’ll take a look at the target, see what we’re dealing with.” The man Jackson gave him a casual salute and vanished into the shadows. I grabbed Paul by the elbow and headed him back to my Hummer. Keeping Paul and Hanson apart was high on my to-do

168 Kaje Harper list. In the backseat of the Hummer, Zach had his laptop out and running. The glow of the screen glinted off his eyes. “Paul pointed out the building, Aaron,” he said. “I’m running the street address off the GPS for info. I’m picking up a couple of wireless access points. I’m using one that was open, but there’s another I think might be in that building. It’s pretty well encrypted, but I’ve started to crack it.” You couldn’t fault the boy for initiative. “Good idea. Let me know if you have any luck.” His little smile was familiar. Smug brat. With Simon’s distress echoing down the Alpha bond there shouldn’t have been room in me for anything else. Certainly not for thinking about wiping that smile off Zach’s face the best way, but I had a flash of those full lips wrapped around me, stretched too wide to smile, while my hands fisted in his hair. Damn. Keep your priorities straight. I looked away as Hanson approached. Jackson reappeared as silently as he had left. “Big building,” he reported to his Alpha succinctly. “Concrete block, four regular doors, one big bay, one loading dock with three doors. Cameras over all the entrances, two sentries walking the roof, one armed with an M4, the other with a Remington 700 with a scope. Three vehicles in the parking lot. All with cold engines. Scent of one wolf in the panel van. Engine on that one’s been off at least a couple of hours. At least eight humans around, only the one wolf.” “Could it be a government installation?” I asked. That was always our biggest fear, somehow coming to the attention of national security interests with all the resources of the government behind them, and ending up in a lab. Jackson glanced at me, and said to Hanson, “I don’t think so. No government plates. And the cameras were several different models. When the alphabet agencies set something up, they order ten of the same camera, not a used assortment.” The wolves had left the other cars to gather round and listen. One of Hanson’s men from the Jeep asked, “What now, Alpha?” “Easiest thing would be to blow the whole building,” Hanson

unexPected deMAnds 169 mused. “Your wolf would have a shot at surviving. Better than a human, anyway. Then we move in and clean up.” I let Mark grab Paul and muffle his protest with a hand over his mouth. “Too risky,” I said, as calmly as I could. “There’s no guarantee everyone involved is inside, and if samples or information have already been taken out we would have no way to find out where. And even out here in the boonies, the noise would attract attention. We wouldn’t have much time for cleanup.” “They have Internet access,” Zach spoke up. “They could be downloading stuff, but they could just as easily be making backups of video or data on a remote server.” Hanson growled a little under his breath. “We need more information or this thing will be a clusterfuck.” “Get me the license plates,” Zach said. “I’ll run them through DMV.” Mark turned a law-enforcement-officer glare on him. “How do you have that kind of access?” “Does it matter?” I asked. “As long as he can do it?” “Two rentals,” Jackson said. “The Highlander is AMV 264.” Zach gave him a nod and ducked back in the SUV. Hanson glared after him. “Kids. You brought along kids.” “He can make a computer dance.” I was actually proud of Zach for having the nerve to speak up in front of Hanson. “It may be useful.” Hanson put out a call for several more of his men, and what he called “special situation equipment.” After five minutes Zach was back. He handed me a scrap of paper with a name scribbled on the back. “TriState Security Services. They advertise personal and corporate security. Doesn’t seem like a big firm from the web page, but I didn’t look far.” Hanson took the slip out of my hand, and turned to Zach. “Go back to your machine, pup, and find us everything you can

170 Kaje Harper about TriState Security.” Hanson’s additional men had arrived before Zach was done. After glancing around, Hanson turned to a small, wiry Italianate man. “Scooter, we need to get off the streets somewhere less conspicuous. We look like a goddamned convention.” He nodded at the dark building behind us. “Think you can check that one out, get it open?” The man named Scooter flashed his Alpha a wry smile and was gone. Five minutes later, the garage door two down from us opened silently. Hanson nodded toward it. “Everything but the Jeep in there. Keep the Jeep out and ready.” We moved the other vehicles inside. The space was an empty garage bay, echoing concrete. It was heated from somewhere, although still dank and chilly. When we were all in, the big door closed and a low light came on. Hanson jumped out of the Hummer and gave Scooter a smack on the back in passing. The man rocked under his Alpha’s heavy hand, but grinned with pleasure. “Okay,” Hanson said. “Gather round. You got anything, kid? Get over here!” Zach climbed out of the Hummer and set his computer down on the concrete. “TriState Security. It looks like a small firm, says fifteen employees. Looks like they provide bodyguards or property security for short to medium-term hire. The owner is the only personnel photo on here.” Zach clicked to a head shot of a man in his mid-fifties, with a crew cut and a square chin. “Tom Grossman. Was in the Marines. The firm claims personnel are all specially trained and many are ex-military, but gives no other names or details. I guess it makes sense you wouldn’t want the bad guys to recognize your security people from your website.” “Right,” Hanson grunted. “Which leaves the question, is TriState involved in kidnapping a werewolf, or just providing security for the building?” “How could they not be involved?” Paul demanded. Hanson gave him a long look, but answered, “If the wolf was

unexPected deMAnds 171 carried into the building on a stretcher or in a box, the perimeter guards might have no idea what he was. Even if he walked in, he’d be just another guy. If they don’t know about your Simon, maybe we won’t have to track them all down. I don’t like unnecessary killing, and it attracts the wrong kind of attention.” “I agree,” I said firmly, partly to forestall Paul’s next comment. Hanson was not likely to be tolerant about being questioned by a human. “We need to question someone at TriState, one way or another.” “800 number’s on their website,” Zach offered. “But only business hours, which is not until Monday morning.” “I don’t think a phone call will do it,” Hanson said shortly. “We need to grab one.” He paused as his phone rang. “Another Highlander just passed your location and pulled up in the lot beside the first,” came a report from the man Hanson had assigned to surveillance. “Two men, armed, with the door code to let themselves in. I’m betting on a shift change.” “Damn,” Hanson said. “That’s our chance.” I bit back any comment. My wolf urgently wanted to protest the way Hanson had taken over leadership here. At the same time, I was very aware of how the men he had gathered outweighed my own in toughness as well as numbers. I had no choice but to go along with him for now. The part of me that wasn’t Alpha wolf admitted he seemed to know what he was doing. Hanson turned to his men. “When the men getting off shift leave I want to grab them. Any suggestions?” “No problem, Alpha,” Jackson drawled. “If they leave the way the others arrived they’ll pass by here. Scoot, Tanner, and me can get ‘em to pull over.” “You think?” Hanson queried. “If there are military men on the payroll, they may have had some experience in the sandbox. They may not react like civilians to a roadside distraction.” “Leave it to us,” Jackson said, his smile cocky. “Got your knife, Scoot?”

172 Kaje Harper When the small man nodded, Jackson strolled to the door, stripped, and shifted. “If they know Simon’s a wolf, they’ll know what you are,” Mark suggested. Jackson wagged his tail jauntily. “If they do,” Scooter said in a gravelly voice, “that answers our question about how involved they are.” He slung a gun over his shoulder and took up station by the door. Another man dressed in worn fatigues joined him. “Can the lights,” he said. Someone hit the switch and the garage was plunged into darkness. “Two guys coming out,” the sentry reported over Hanson’s phone ten minutes later. “Getting in the cold Highlander. Pulling out.” Jackson, Tanner, and Scooter slipped out through the door. Hanson followed, an imperious wave telling the rest of us to stay put. To hell with that. He’s not my Alpha. By the time my eyes had adjusted to the dim light from the few scattered street lamps, nothing was moving. The three point men were surely out there, but I could see no trace of them. Hanson stood still in the shadow of the building. I slipped over to join him. He grunted but made no comment. The move, when it came, was perfectly timed. As the Highlander approached and slowed for the corner, I caught a flicker of motion. The car rounded the corner and then seemingly out of nowhere a lean brown wolf dashed into the road into the beam of the headlights. The car swerved but couldn’t avoid hitting the wolf. Instead of flying off, the wolf rolled up onto the hood of the Highlander, hitting the windshield with a crack. The brakes squealed as the car plunged to a stop, and the wolf dropped off. “Shit!” The driver said loudly. Both men scrambled out. “What the hell was that? A dog? There’s blood all over the windshield.” A second later he said, “Fuck,” with a completely different intonation. His hands rose, a motion echoed by his partner on the other side of the car. Scooter and Tanner had materialized out of the darkness, each pinning one man in place,

unexPected deMAnds 173 gun-barrels aimed at their heads. “Don’t move.” Scooter’s voice was cool. “Hands on your heads. Turn and face the car.” He and Tanner patted the two men down efficiently. Each man yielded a couple of handguns and at least one knife. There was the sound of fabric ripping off to my right and then Hanson came forward with two handfuls of T-shirt. “Blindfold them.” “You don’t want to do this,” the man on the passenger side said angrily. “You’re looking for a shit-load of trouble.” “Shut up.” Tanner knotted the fabric over his eyes, catching hair in the knot. The man grunted at the tug on his scalp. “This way.” Hanson led us back to the garage. Tanner and Scooter brought along the two captives, held in expert-looking grips. One man tried to break free, but a rough jerk brought him up on his toes, frozen in place against the pressure. “Behave or I’ll break it,” Scooter growled. In the garage, there was enough light from the laptop screen for wolf eyes. Paul had his arms wrapped around his middle, blinking at us. Probably couldn’t see much. Zach stayed with his computer but the rest of the wolves gathered around in a loose circle. Before Hanson could begin, I spoke up. My man, my control. “You’re TriState Security. At first glance, you look like a nice legitimate little business. Why get mixed up in kidnapping and torture?” Both men stilled for a second. Could have been my voice from behind them, or else bringing up kidnapping startled them. No way to tell. “You’re full of shit,” the older man said sharply, turning in my direction. He looked familiar. “And you’re Tom Grossman.” I saw him jolt at being recognized, but he made no response.

174 Kaje Harper “What’s the boss doing out on a simple job?”

“Go to hell.” Across the circle, one of Hanson’s men spoke up. “Sentries on the roof changed, but neither of these guys was up there. I’m betting four men on, eight off. Overlapping eight hour shifts, with a pair change every four. That would take twelve men from a company with fifteen. Maybe he had to get in the trenches to provide manpower.” “Is that right?” I asked conversationally. “What’s it to you?” Grossman snapped. “I’m trying to decide how you and your men fit in here,” I told him. Hanson was standing back and letting me run with it. I went on, “Last night, between five and nine o’clock, someone kidnapped one of my men. Luckily I had a tracer on him, and we tracked him to your building. Now I need to know if you’re an active player, or just being used by the kidnappers.” “No one in that building has been kidnapped,” he said coldly. Under anger and fear it was hard to judge his reactions, but that didn’t sound like a lie. “My guy is young. Looks like early twenties, black hair, dark eyes, copper skin, not tall but plenty of muscle.” “No one like that there.” “And yet his locator is there.” “He’s not.” “It’s implanted,” I said. “No mistake.” After a moment of silence, I asked, “Did anyone bring something in last night that could have held a body? Box, chest, crate, a fucking rolled up carpet?” Still silence, but an uneasy shift from the other man. “It would have been heavy. My guy goes 190 easy. Whatever he was in would take two people to carry, or wheels.” “I have a contract,” Grossman said firmly. “They told me there might be an attempt to steal or destroy things. I’m not giving you information on the basis of some fairy story.”

unexPected deMAnds 175 “How about if we cut this guy’s balls off ?” Scooter asked. There was a grunt from his captive. “You gonna give us information then?” “You don’t want to hurt him.” Grossman’s voice was icy. “Take it easy,” I told Scooter, but he waited for a nod from his Alpha before easing off his grip. I turned back to Grossman. “I don’t think you understand the position you’re in. I can get information from you if I want it, one way or another. I’ve also got the means to blow the building to pieces without your help. Of course that would kill some of your men, but hey, we’ll do whatever it takes.” “It’d kill your guy too,” Grossman said. “But you say my guy’s not in there.” Grossman shifted his weight. “I haven’t seen him.” “But?” A sigh. “The only reason I’m even listening to you is because my employers have seemed…off, since day one. I thought they were just paranoid. And if I refused to work for paranoid people, I’d cut my business in half. But they change their stories, change their plans. They freak out if my men get close to their stuff. Something just doesn’t seem right. Which hasn’t been enough of an excuse to dump them.” “And something I’m saying rings a bell?” He hesitated a long time. I could feel my wolves’ impatience, feel Paul’s fear, but I shut them out and waited. Grossman was like an Alpha wolf. Push him and you’d get nothing. Give him time to make his own choices and… “Two of the guys we’re working for did bring in a big metal case last night. Size and weight could have held a man.” “And you didn’t ask?” “They have a lot of equipment in there,” he said. “This was just one more piece. Probably still is just that.” “But you don’t know.”

176 Kaje Harper He shook his head. “Center rooms are off limits to my men. Makes no difference to providing security.” Moment of truth. “What does it mean to you if they’re using you to provide security for a kidnapping?” “Breaks the contract,” he snapped. “I don’t do illegal. But if there was a real kidnapping, you’d have the cops or the feds in here, not a bunch of vigilantes.” “Maybe I don’t trust the cops to get my man safely out. And maybe I don’t want the publicity. Fortunately for you, I am on the side of law and order.” Mostly. “If your men aren’t involved, I don’t want to see them get killed.” “You think you can take them?” “I know we can,” Hanson growled. “We have plenty of weapons available, and plenty of explosives, and several of my men are ex-Special Forces of one flavor or another. Your guys may be good. We’re better.” “You killed a dog to get us off the road,” Grossman said. “That doesn’t make you look like the good guys.” We all probably relaxed a fraction at the dog comment. If he had known about werewolves, he would have had no doubt about the creature that hit his windshield. “Dog’s not dead,” Hanson said. He flicked a finger at Jackson, who was sitting in wolf form panting lightly as he listened. “He’s trained for that. It’s fake blood.” Jackson gave his Alpha the evil eye and licked at the clean knife cut still oozing on his shoulder, but at another gesture he trotted over and pushed his head against Grossman’s hand. The man grunted in surprise, and then rubbed around Jackson’s head and ears, feeling his shape. Jackson tolerated it for a moment and then shook free. “Okay,” Grossman said. “Okay, so you didn’t kill the dog. Although it’s a risky stunt.” “Works well, though,” Tanner said. “You’re a Marine. You’d be suspicious of a person waving you down or even just a dog on

unexPected deMAnds 177 the road. Combine the hit and the blood and it looks real.” “It does.” “So,” I said, getting back to the real question, “Do we go through your men to get my guy out, or will you pull them back?” “I’m not breaking a contract on your say so.” I tried to think it through. Hanson said, “We’re not getting out of this mess without breaking a few eggs. Let’s take care of these two and move on.” “Wait,” I insisted. I turned to Grossman. “How about if you knew for sure my guy was in there?” “How?” “We go look. Your man stays here as a hostage. I go in with you and you demand to see the center rooms or you walk.” There was a chorus of protest from my men, with the clearest, “You can’t,” from Mark. I ran a hard glare over them. “Are you telling me what to do?” Apparently I was still Alpha, because they subsided. “Too risky,” Hanson said. “He’ll have a signal he can give his men. We lose you for no gain.” “We have his man here,” I argued. “He knows his guy is forfeit if I don’t walk back out. And since it would mean he’s part of the kidnapping, we’d have no compunction about getting his guy to spill any secrets we can pry out of him.” Scooter’s growl punctuated my threat. “I’m not leaving one of my men with you.” “You have no choice. He can’t make the call to pull your contract. Only you can. Either you both stay here, and we do what has to be done, and the fate of your other men is on your head too. Or you take a chance that we’re telling the truth and get to choose sides for your men.” “He’ll see your face,” Hanson pointed out. “No way around that.” “If he pulls his men and gets out of the fight, I’ll take my

178 Kaje Harper chances,” I said. “If not, it won’t matter.” Grossman was silent, thinking. “Do it, boss,” his man told him. “At least it gets one of us out of here.” “All right,” Grossman agreed. “I’ll take you inside and we’ll look around. If your guy is really held against his will in there, we’ll walk out with him. If not, we come back here and you let us both go, and we’ll see if your guys are as good as they claim.” “If he’s not in there,” I said, “we have no reason to hit the building. I’m betting they won’t let you look.” “Then I’ll pull the contract and my men walk,” Grossman said. “And you’ll help us?” “No,” he said firmly. “Without proof…the best I’ll do is pull

out. This could still be one big scam.” “It’s not,” Paul said, his voice high-pitched. “He’s in there!” Grossman cocked his head toward the new voice. “They’re friends,” I explained. “I’m sorry, but…no.” Grossman shook his head. “Fair enough,” I said. “We’ll take the deal. And you?” “My word on it as a Marine,” he agreed, stretching out his free hand in my general direction. “My word as…what I am.” I shook hands. His grip was hard and callused. Clearly not a man who ran his company from a soft office.

chAPteR 10 Grossman covered the wall-mounted keypad with his hand as he unlocked the building door. Overhead, a camera covered the approach. I kept my head down and my hand away from the weapon at my hip. It was unloaded, after all. I’d chosen to go in looking like one of Grossman’s men, or as close as we could contrive. But we had negotiated the details, and Grossman flatly refused to bring me inside armed. The door opened and he led the way in. The hallway extended forward, past a couple of offices. A man in dark clothes appeared at the inner door as we approached. “What’s up, boss?” he asked Grossman. “I thought you were off shift.” “I’ve got a question for our employers.” I held myself ready to fight, in case he gave his man a signal, but he just asked, “Any of them around?” “I think one guy may be up in the computer room,” the man responded. “At least one, maybe two, in the lab.” At least three opponents, then. “Thanks. I’ll try the lab.” His man stepped to one side but eyed me dubiously. “Who’s this guy?” Grossman stepped further away from me, maybe so his guard could see I held no weapon on him. “He brought me some new information that might be important. As long as he stays with me, you can leave him be. I don’t plan to let him wander around on his own.” “Okay, boss.” The man moved further out of our way, but gave me a hard look as we passed. One more person who might recognize me. I had borrowed a pair of UV-responsive glasses from one of Hanson’s wolves which could pass for prescription indoors, but that was as far as we had taken any attempt at a

180 Kaje Harper disguise. Grossman led the way through the door, down another maze of corridors, and wound up at a heavy locked steel door. I could feel Simon close now, angry, hurting, so close. I took a grip on my emotions and tuned down the bond. This was no time to react involuntarily to what was being done on the other side of that door. On the fourth knock, the door was opened by a scrawny middle-aged man sporting a lab coat and a large sidearm. The combination was incongruous. “Yeah, what do you want?” “I need to talk to you.” “I’m busy,” the man said dismissively. His attempt to close the door encountered Grossman’s booted toe. “You want to hear me out,” Grossman said. The man sighed and crossed his arms over his chest. “All right. What?” I fought the urge to shove this man aside and lunge through the door. Too many weapons, too many other people here. They had one of mine in there! My Alpha wolf did not want to be patient. Grossman said, “One of my men reported hearing screaming coming from in here.” The scrawny man flinched momentarily, but then belligerently stuck out his chin. “Impossible. Your man’s deluded.” “I don’t think so.” The man pretended to consider. “Maybe he heard Erick yelling. He dropped something on his foot. But he’s fine now.” He tried to close the door again, but Grossman’s boot hadn’t moved. “We need to have a look around.” “No way. We have delicate lab experiments running. Carefully calibrated. We told you that before. No unauthorized people in here.”

unexPected deMAnds 181 “I won’t touch anything. I need to be sure there’s no one being hurt in here. I told you when we signed up for this job, I don’t take on anything illegal. Screaming suggests illegal.” The man scowled. “Wait here for a minute.” Grossman reluctantly moved his foot and the door closed. Grossman glanced over at me as we stood waiting. “Still think your guy is here?” “Oh, yeah,” I breathed. He shook his head. “We’ll see.” A moment later, my sense of Simon blurred again, the pain fading. I had a moment of panic; they killed him! Then I realized that it was more likely they sedated him. Less pain was a good thing, I told my wolf. He’s still alive. Wait, just wait. The door reopened. “Okay,” the little man said. “You can look in from the doorway.” He swung it wide enough for both of us to see in. The room was set up like a laboratory. High ceiling, concrete floor. The walls and ceiling appeared to be reinforced. Benches held a microscope, tubes, and several unidentifiable devices, all humming quietly. A small refrigerator sat at one end of the counter, banal in its familiarity. The bulk of the room, however, was taken up by a metal box. It looked like the smaller size of railroad shipping containers, down to the faintly scuffed exterior. The heavy, bar-locked door on the end was definitely non-standard, though, and so was the array of power cables leading into it. A smaller metal crate stood empty beside it. “Satisfied?” the little man hissed. “What’s in the container?” Grossman asked. “That you don’t get to know. That’s what we’re paying you

good money to keep secure.” “All you need to do is open the door.” “Forget it.” The small man’s glare was icy. “What’s in there is

182 Kaje Harper worth more money than you’ll ever see. And you have no need to know about it. It’s not for you.” Grossman frowned. “How can just letting me look be a problem?” “No one goes in there.” The man’s voice was shrill. “No one is taking it away from us this time. This is going to be big, going to be everything. I’ll be famous, rich… You just need to do your damned job and keep it safe for us.” Grossman took a step back. The other man had a look in his eyes just an inch past healthy excitement. “I’m trying to determine if I can continue to do that. But I need to see what’s in there. I need to be sure you’re not holding someone prisoner. If you won’t let me look, I’m going to have to assume you’re in violation of my contract, and pull my men out.” “You can’t do that!” the man sputtered. “We have to have protection. We have a contract. You signed.” “Prove there’s no one in there, and you’ll keep your protection.” “Damn you.” The man pulled a small box like a garage door opened from the packet of his lab coat and held it up. “We don’t need you that badly. See this? Curt has the entrances all wired. If any of them… if a thief gets in, any one of us can flip this switch. Three minutes for us to get here into the safe room and all the entrances blow. We’ll be safe in here and they’ll be dead. They won’t survive that. So if your company can’t do a simple fucking job we’ll manage without you. Curt has it covered.” I could see from the look on Grossman’s face how much he didn’t like the idea of a combination of crazy and explosives. He began slowly easing away from the doorway. “Curt knows what he’s doing,” the other man said. “This discovery will be worth any kind of risk. Your little company is small potatoes compared to what I have going here.” His expression changed. His eyes took on a crafty look. “But I don’t really want to use the explosives. Your men make it easier. Stick around and maybe I’ll cut you in. I’ll double the contract payment,

unexPected deMAnds 183 if you give me a couple more days. Triple it. Easy money. All you have to do is your job, like the contract says. A few more days and we’ll have everything we need.” I didn’t realize I was growling until Grossman’s foot came down on my toe. He eased us both back out of the doorway, his hip shoving me the way he wanted to go. “I’ll think it over,” he said, more casually than I would have managed. “Good morning, Mr. Simpson.” The door slammed in our faces. Grossman turned to me and blew out a breath. “Wow.” I led the way down the hall. “You took a job with that nutcase?” “Technically, I contracted with one of his partners, but I’ll tell you, he sure as hell came off a lot more sane the last time I met him.” Maybe an evening spent torturing a werewolf was bad for sanity. “So you’ll help us?” Grossman winced. “Okay. I admit my first reaction is to get my men out of here ASAP. But it’s a big step from that to helping you against these guys. He could be lying. Or they could have bought the explosives legally—it’s crazy but until they actually trigger them… I’ll report them to the police if you like, or ATF or whoever. I can go that far. But unless I know your man is there, I won’t actively go against the men I signed a contract with.” “Fuck.” I stared at him. “All right, I admit, your story is looking a lot more plausible. But you still could be a rival after his amazing invention.” He eyed me narrowly. “If that is your man in there, why does that whack job think he’s worth big money?” Yeah, why? “My man invented a process to make wounds heal much faster,” I said, scrambling for an invention that would hold some truth. “It’s not ready yet. There are some problems, um, risk of triggering cancer and so on. But once it’s perfected, if it ever is, it sure could be worth millions. If that bastard can make my guy tell him how it works.”

184 Kaje Harper Grossman shook his head. “I can’t tell who’s lying here.” He sighed. “All I know is, there’s nothing in my contract about working in a building that’s wired to explode. I’m pulling my men out. What happens after that is between you and these guys.” I hurried to keep up with him as he strode down the hallway. “You could save lives if you gave us information. There’d be no risk to your men.” “Except if it turns out you really are thieves, and I helped you get away with it,” he growled. “No. You keep up your end, let me and my men get clear, and I’ll keep my mouth shut. That’s the best I can do.” I waited as he sent word for his men to assemble at the exit. When the last of his employees appeared, they were accompanied by another middle-aged man. This guy wore broken-in fatigues with a gun slung over his shoulder. He was tall, wiry, and deeply tanned. A sidearm sat in a well-worn holster at his hip. A knife hilt was visible along his shin above spit-shined boots. “What the fuck are you doing, Grossman?” he demanded. “I’m pulling my men out. I’ve been told by Simpson that the building is wired with explosives. I won’t ask my men to work under those conditions. In fact, I wonder if it isn’t my duty to let the authorities know about it.” “Did you actually see explosives? Simpson is deluded,” the man said shortly. “Get your men back to their posts.” “If you let me see inside the beige container, and confirm the absence of explosives, I will.” He got a glare in return. “What container?” “The one in the lab.” “That is categorically none of your business,” the man said. “Your job is perimeter security.” “My job is to protect legitimate individuals and businesses. I have the right to terminate the contract if I suspect illegal activity.” “The lab is not your problem.”

unexPected deMAnds 185 “It is if there is something illegal going on.” “What’s the matter?” the man drawled. “Things getting too scary for you? You afraid you might actually have to use those guns you all wear.” Grossman shook his head with admirable patience. “My men will use their weapons in defense of innocent targets. Prove to me you don’t have some guy confined down in that lab, and that the building is safe, and we’ll go on doing that.” “You can go to hell. You’re not the only security company out there looking for work. Pull out now and I’ll make sure your name is mud across the security community. You’ll never work again.” “Open that container, and this won’t be necessary.” For a long moment the two men locked eyes, and then the other man swung his weapon into his hands. He held it ready, not quite aimed at Grossman. “All right. Get your men out of here. All of them, right now. And don’t even think about coming back. Just keep on moving. I’ve got some of my own defenses in place around this building. Try anything and you won’t like what happens.” Grossman nodded slowly. “We’re gone. No charge for this morning. I’ll mark the contract terminated as of midnight.” “Fuck the contract.” At a nod from Grossman, his four men filed out the door with a laudable lack of questions. He gestured me after them. I hesitated a second, but now, under the muzzle of that automatic weapon, was not the time to take on Simon’s kidnappers. I stepped out into the early morning darkness and let him follow me. Behind us, the kidnapper came out onto the doorstep, triggered the control pad for the door, and then stepped back in and slammed it shut. “From the number of beeps, I’m betting he changed the code,” Grossman murmured. “Which keeps me from having to decide whether to give it to you or not.” He sent his men to the second Highlander in the parking lot, with instructions to return

186 Kaje Harper to their base hotel. We both watched them pull out of sight. “You’ll let my man go now?” Grossman asked. I nodded. I made a quick call to Hanson, and a few minutes later the man appeared, walking along the street under the light at the corner. Grossman got in his own SUV and I joined him, staring through the smeary windshield as we watched his man make his way along the icy road toward us. “You were telling the truth.” It was not quite a question. “Mostly,” I agreed. “As far as I could. My man is in there.” “Those guys are batfuck.” “That would be my opinion too.” I guessed finding out werewolves were real might be a strain on the sanity, but I’d bet going crazy started out as a short trip, at least for Simpson. “There are three of them.” Grossman paused as his man got in the back seat. The man gave him a nod and then raised an eyebrow in my direction. “Are you all right?” Grossman asked him. “No permanent damage,” he reported. “Those guys are good, though. I didn’t see any faces. Maybe I collected a few bruises. They’ll heal.” Grossman turned back to me. “Three men,” he said more firmly. “Erick Shore, Arne Simpson, and Curt, the guy at the door, whose last name I never had.” “Boss?” the man in the backseat said, half protest, half question. Grossman gave him a quelling hand signal, his eyes still on me. “Shore set up the job and signed the contracts. Curt is probably the most dangerous with weapons. He loves that M4, probably sleeps with it. He always has at least two side-arms too, and a knife in his boot. Weird silver knife.” I smiled inwardly. I hoped they had spent a fortune on silver ammunition too. It wouldn’t hurt us any extra, and the harder bullets were likely to pass through tissues with less damage than

unexPected deMAnds 187 soft expanding lead. And the expense might mean fewer rounds in the guns. “He’s not the real thing though,” Grossman continued. “I’d say he’s trained himself, and he talks the talk, but he doesn’t move like a real soldier. He’s in good shape, and he loves his tech toys. The surveillance cameras and things were in place when we were hired. He has a control room upstairs with video screens that let him see all the building approaches. I figured him for paranoid, but then, here you are.” “He had to know I’d come after my man,” I said. “I guess. The other two go armed, but I don’t know how much use they’d be in a firefight. The biggest concern I’d have would be all the talk about explosives.” “Me too.” What else should I ask, while Grossman was willing to talk. “Computers? I saw one in the lab. Is there one in the control room?” “Yeah.” But now Grossman was eyeing me oddly. “If they have the explosives rigged to do more than just all blow together, they may be routing the controls through a computer,” I suggested. And if they have video, DNA code, it may be stored on the computers. Grossman nodded. “I guess. Explosives were never my specialty.” He put the car in gear and slowly drove a block and a half until I indicated to him to pull over well down the road from our garage. I reached for the door. Grossman put a hand on my arm. “You’re really not calling in the cops, are you? And you don’t want me to make a report. Although admittedly I only have a crazy guy’s word for the explosives.” “No cops,” I said. “Too much risk, and I’m not ready for word of our discovery to get out. Competitors would be crawling out of the woodwork, maybe some just as ruthless as these bastards. We’ll get our guy out our own way.” “Will those three men survive your way?”

188 Kaje Harper “Depends.” I was lying through my teeth. “Uh huh. Okay.” He puffed a breath. “If the cops come asking… if anyone dies, I’m going to have to give them your face and the little bit I know.” “You do what you have to do.” “I don’t know your name, though,” he said ruminatively. “And I might have forgotten some of the other details.” I stepped out of the car, and his man climbed into my seat and closed the door. Grossman and I stared at each other a moment longer. “Good luck,” he said finally. The dark Highlander rumbled its way down the street, turned another corner, and was gone.

chAPteR 11 Hanson eyed me as I came back into the garage. “I hope that little gesture of leniency won’t come back and bite you on the ass.” “Me too.” If my ass was going to get bit, that lean tanned boy playing Michelangelo on the keyboard was the only one I wanted doing it. And damned if I didn’t need to stop getting distracted by him. “Here’s the deal.” Hanson kept still and let me reel off all the info I had gathered. “Getting in there isn’t going to be easy with the cameras,” he said. “I still think blowing the building is our best bet.” “Bad choice,” I said quickly. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Mark step heavily on Paul’s foot this time. “Simon is in a container in a room in the center of the building, and the maniac in there said the room was their blast shelter. No way we’ll get his body out before the authorities arrive, and no way to be sure a fire hot enough to destroy all DNA will reach him.” “Anyway,” Zach added, “I’ve got Internet traffic again. We need to get our hands on their computer to find what off-site storage they may have that we’ll want to purge. There might be another person involved, too.” “Okay,” Hanson said heavily. “Scooter, Jax, we need a plan for going in.” “We can take out a camera easily enough,” Scooter said, “But that will alert them. If they’re really that crazy, they may blow the entrances. Even around here on a Saturday morning, the fire department response time will be less than ten minutes. No way we’ll retrieve everything.” “How about if they don’t realize the camera is FUBAR?” Zach asked. “You got a magic potion, kid?”

190 Kaje Harper “As good as.” Zach gave a slow smile that made my whole body feel warm. “Look at this.” He turned his laptop toward us, and we saw a multi-split screen view of deserted streets. It took me a moment to realize what it was. Jackson gave a low whistle. “You tapped his camera feeds?” “Got the control program for the array. I’m recording now, almost have enough footage. Give me about twenty minutes and I think I can loop in some of the recorded views and take the actual cameras off line.” Scooter gave him a smack on the shoulder that almost knocked him over. “I guess you may be worth your keep after all.” “What about the controls for the explosives?” I asked. “I can check around while I’m recording here,” Zach said. He bent back over the keyboard. “Three levels of fucking passwords,” he muttered after a few minutes. Then, “Shit!” “What?” I moved quickly to his side, staring at the screen as if I knew what I was looking at. “Bastard went offline. I can only dig around in the guts of his machine while he’s connected to the net. Right now, he’s isolated.” “What about the camera thing?” Hanson asked. “Can’t run it now,” Zach said. “But I have enough frames and I can get it ready to go. Next time he goes back online I can set it up in about two minutes. Unless the time of day has changed so much that we need a new recording to make it look right.” “Okay,” Hanson decided. “You get it ready, and watch for the chance. Sing out as soon as he comes back online, and then patch your loop in. We’ll move in on your word.” He nodded to his men. “Drew, Dan, Joel, Tanner, you take the west door and head for the control room. You need to take out anyone you meet before they can get a hand to a pocket for the explosives controls. We have to assume they all have remote triggers and are crazy enough to use them. Scooter, Jackson, you’ll come with me and Tremaine through the south door. We’ll head for the lab. Wear

unexPected deMAnds 191 your headsets, maintain stealth until we have all three of them, double click means you’ve taken your objective.” “I’m coming with you,” Paul and Mark said at the same time. Hanson ignored Paul and shook his head at Mark. “My men work together, they know each other on the smallest glimpse. They’re not going to accidentally shoot each other. You, they might.” “Bring Paul to the door,” I told Mark. “Keep him there, watch for any of the humans breaking free. If they get past us, it’s up to you to stop them. I’ll call as soon as it’s safe for our medical person to come in.” I nodded at Paul for Hanson’s benefit. “Richard, I want you here, watching the approach for Grossman’s men or any other authorities. If you see someone, call me. If I don’t answer, punch a wall. I’ll feel for the pain through the bond. Just for fuck’s sake use your non-dominant hand and don’t break it.” “What about me?” Zach asked. “You stay in here.” “You need me to check the computers,” he protested. “If they sent off files over the Net, I’m the one who’ll know. I might even be able to disarm the explosive controls if they route through the computers. You need me.” Fuck. “Okay. Stay with Paul and Mark. We’ll call you in when it’s safe.” My frown cut off his beginning protest. This was not going to be a situation for inexperienced kids. Over the next half hour, Hanson ran his wolves through some scenarios, depending who got through their door faster, and what might be encountered on the other side. They geared up with headsets, vests, and weapons that could have been military issue. I took Hanson’s bland claim that he had only enough headsets for his own men for what it was: simple unwillingness to include someone he considered an amateur into the line of command. At least my men would have cell phones. I took time to confirm everyone’s speed dial. Suddenly Zach said, “Now. He’s back online. Give me three minutes.” “Call your Alpha when it’s set,” Hanson snapped. “First

192 Kaje Harper groups, move out.” The way Hanson’s men moved, easy and silent, weapons an extension of their bodies, made me glad to be on their side. All of them together made less noise than I did, and I had prided myself on my skills. We paused, just out of range of the cameras. After a moment my cell lit up with a silent incoming call. “Got it, Aaron.” Zach’s voice held justifiable pride. “The loop is running.” “How long do we have?” “It’s downloaded and looping. It’ll run over and over until someone notices, even if he drops off the net.” “Well done. Tell Mark to move you guys out, but you all stay out of the building until I call you.” No way was I allowing Zach to walk into a building filled with explosives unless we had it under control. Scooter led our team toward the south door where I had entered before. He was first to move into the camera’s view, and immediately ducked, rolling away. But Zach’s magic must have been holding. There was no protest, no shots. We moved quickly and silently up to the door. Scooter brought out a device and engaged the electronic lock. After several long minutes, the keypad lights went green. Scooter gave us his trademark grin and opened the door. I was no hero, and I wasn’t stupid either. I hung back and let the Special Forces types go first. We passed through the halls without triggering any alarms, or encountering anyone. I had given Hanson’s men the directions. At the lab door, Hanson waved Scooter forward. Apparently he worked magic on standard locks too. The heavy door opened almost as fast as with a key, making a faint scraping sound as Scooter pushed its bulk aside. Hanson was first into the room, moving silently. This time, the little man in the lab coat was hunched over a microscope, staring in the eyepiece. “Hey, Curt,” he said, without looking up. “You should see

unexPected deMAnds 193 this. The werewolf is still doped up, but I got a gel going from the tissue samples and the chromosome count…” His voice cut off with a choke as Hanson pressed a gun barrel to his head. At the same moment, Jackson glided up on his other side and dipped into his pocket, coming up with the explosives trigger. Handling it carefully, he set it on a counter across the room. Hanson plucked the handgun from Simpson’s holster, and then eased back. “Turn around slowly,” Hanson said in a very quiet, cold voice. Simpson swiveled on his stool, his hands in the air but a look of disbelief on his face. “Who are you?” he demanded. “How did you get in here?” “Shut up,” Hanson told him, punctuating it with a wave of his gun. “You don’t ask questions, you answer. Where are the other two?” Simpson pressed his lips stubbornly together, but his eyes flicked to the container. “Is someone in there?” When he didn’t respond, Hanson gave a jerk of his head toward the container door. Jackson and Scooter headed over there. “Don’t!” Simpson said rapidly. “You have no idea. You don’t want to open that.” Jackson ignored him. He cupped his hands to Scooter and boosted the smaller man silently up onto the roof of the container. Scooter lay on his stomach above the door, weapon ready, and nodded. Jackson unbarred the door and pulled it open, diving to one side as he did so. In the same moment, Scooter swung his shoulders down so he was covering the interior of the container with his weapon from his unexpected vantage. After a second, Scooter snapped, “All clear.” He added, “Fuck, Aaron, come get your wolf.” I left Simpson to Hanson and ran across the room. The interior of the container was half lab, half jail. Behind a silverbarred gate, Simon lay on a hip-high table, strapped down and

194 Kaje Harper unconscious. But alive. That at least. There was a ring of keys hanging on a hook outside the door. I grabbed them and fumbled my way through to find the match for the barred gate. Swinging it open, I ducked inside. The whole of the cage was lined with silver. It must have cost a pretty penny. Between the container and the cage, all that metal might have had something to do with muting Simon’s bond strength too. Damned folklore. At least it wouldn’t have burned his skin, as the stories claimed. But as I fumbled to unbuckle the first cuff from around his wrist, I saw that something had. Down the length of his arm, over his thigh and belly, were marks of cuts and burns. Regular, spaced, getting deeper and more severe as they moved higher. Over his hip was a deep mark, charred and black. They hadn’t touched his genitals, at least not visibly. Perhaps they wanted to keep their specimen intact for breeding. But his face was bruised and swollen, with one bad burn beside his left eye. As I freed his hand, and felt for his pulse, I found that several fingers were broken, and three fingernails missing. The torture had clearly been systematic, and it had been bad. Simon’s pulse was slow and faint. Shock, drugs, who knew what. I flipped open my phone. “Mark. I’ve got Simon in the lab. We’re clear here. I haven’t heard from the control room team yet, but I don’t want to wait. Get Paul in here with his med kit, and Zach for the computer. Just watch your backs.” “On our way, Alpha.” As I struggled with the cuffs, buckled cruelly tight, I heard Hanson interrogating the little kidnapper. Where are the others? What samples have you taken? What information have you stored? Who outside this building knows you’re here? The little man was sputtering with rage at first. After a moment, it changed to a yelp of pain. I fixed my eyes on the raw oozing sores on Simon’s calf and did not turn around. Hanson would do what he needed to do. The small man wailed and cursed, and eventually screamed, but none of it was useful information. I finally sliced through the last tight strap and flipped it open.

unexPected deMAnds 195 Jackson appeared silently at my shoulder as I began running my hands over Simon’s body, searching for deeper damage. “Bastards,” he muttered, and then added, “Your human is here.” “He’s a doctor, for fuck’s sake,” I snapped. “Let him in.” Then Paul came up beside me. He was breathing hard from his run, but his hands were steady and competent as he checked Simon’s head and neck. He slid his hands under his mate’s body and began pressing upward with an odd abstracted look. I realized he was feeling through the bond for pain. After a moment he turned to me. “It all seems superficial, but it’s hard to tell when he’s unconscious.” I could almost taste the effort he was using to stay professional. “Do we need to move out immediately, or can we wait till he comes around?” I was considering my answer when a loud “Fuck!” from Hanson, along with the shrill buzz of an alarm had both Paul and me staring out into the room. “When?” he snapped over the headphones. “Fuck! Get the hell out.” He grabbed Simpson by the collar and shook him like a small terrier with a very large rat. “Was that the explosives being triggered?” “Go to hell,” Simpson sputtered. “Okay.” Hanson slammed the man down in his chair. He turned to address the rest of us. “Move out, now! Drew and Tanner think their second target triggered his switch when he fell. This bastard’s alarm went off. Three minutes. Move out!” Paul glanced at me. “Stay in this safe room?” “Do you trust them to have got the construction right?” “No.” He moved quickly to Simon’s feet. “Shit!” Jackson spoke for us all. Paul and I struggled to move faster as we hauled Simon off the table, my hands locked on his abused wrists, Paul’s around his ankles. No time for gentleness now. No time to do anything but run.

196 Kaje Harper Mark had been emptying the refrigerator and lab equipment of samples. He swept the last shelves violently into his pack and slung it over one shoulder. Zach grabbed the computer in his arms. Scooter held the door for us. Hanson shoved his captive into Jackson’s waiting hands and sprinted out, yelling to his other men over the headset. We tore down the hallway. At an intersection of hallways, one of Hanson’s men came barreling down the other direction. “Joel and Tanner are clear, Dan’s lugging the second corpse,” he told Hanson. “Go.” Hanson waved him ahead of us. Paul stumbled but kept his grip on Simon’s legs. As we turned for the door, Zach suddenly shoved the computer he was carrying into Scooter’s hands. “The control room computer has all the net contacts!” He whirled and sprinted up the stairs before I could call him back. For a second I froze, until the jerk of Simon’s wrists in my hands pulled me forward. Can’t stop, can’t go after him. “Get the fuck out, you stupid bastard!” I yelled after him, as we ran for the door. Get the fuck out safely. Please! I hoped desperately that this was all a false alarm, that the trigger was a bluff, or had failed to be set off. That Curt had managed to restrict the potential damage to just at the entrances. Anything that might keep Zach from being caught in explosions intended by a maniac to kill werewolves. Drew opened the door for us. Paul and I lugged Simon out into the dawning light, with Mark and Scooter close behind. Simpson yanked free of Jackson’s grip at the last moment, catching the werewolf by surprise by heading back toward the building. Jackson cursed and dove after him. Hanson shouted something into his headset as he cleared the door, and then the ground heaved beneath my feet. It was noise made physical, like a solid wall of sound slamming into my back. I fell hard, twisting as I tried to get my arms under Simon, to not drop my man head first onto the pavement. And then the ground reached up and smacked me, shoulder, hip, arm. Things were falling around me and I scrabbled forward over Simon’s face. Something hit my

unexPected deMAnds 197 back, and then my leg. And then there was silence and dust rose up, filling my nose and eyes. I choked, gagging, and threw all my Alpha bonds open wide. Richard—fine, scared, coming toward us fast; Mark, Paul, Simon—pain but not critical, not dying; Zach—Oh, Jesus, Zach! I struggled up to my knees. Around me the debris of the building wavered in the dust, in irregular indecipherable shapes. The center loomed high but all around it the building had collapsed. The door was there, no…there. Hanson appeared in the rubble, staggering up to his feet. His mouth was open like he was shouting, but I could hear nothing. For a moment it was a silent movie, dim dust-shrouded shapes moving around me. Then reality snapped back into focus. “Jackson!” Hanson was yelling. “Oh, hell, Jax, you son of a bitch!” His men were beside him in an instant, hauling at the fallen timbers. Hanson turned to me as I staggered over to him. “Mine’s gone,” he said through gritted teeth. “That’s his body we’re after.” “Zach’s still alive,” I told him urgently. “But it’s bad…” Hanson grabbed Scooter by the arm, from where he knelt trying to move a fallen wall with his bare hands. “Live ones before the dead,” he said, as if quoting something. “All of you.” His men turned to him. “Help Tremaine get his man out first. Then we’ll get Jax. Move it.” “This way!” I scrambled over the mess of concrete block and steel. My bond to Zach was wide open and screaming. Waves of pain crashed over me, but I moved through it. I wouldn’t shut it down an inch, wouldn’t take a chance of missing anything. The collapse of the building was irregular. Where the control room had been, the inner walls still stood upright but the roof had fallen in. I hauled myself up over the jumbled remains, heedless of the skin on my hands tearing against rough concrete. I was almost blind with the clamor of Zach’s need. I climbed fast and without thought. For a moment I slipped and my foot dropped into a gap as the debris shifted under me. I grabbed

198 Kaje Harper wildly for support. A hand on my calf heaved me back up out of the looming pit. I spared a moment to glance down and saw Scooter right behind me, dark eyes intense, his face creased in a grin that had nothing to do with amusement. We worked our way up to the second level. I heard a mutter of, “Careful. We don’t want someone falling and bringing the rest of this down.” But I could feel Zach up there, like knives in my own chest. Careful meant nothing to me. Finally I reached the spot where the caved roof dipped at a crazy angle. “Here.” I dug my fingers under the end of a steel beam and heaved. “Over here.” Other willing hands joined mine, as we lifted and moved the debris. Far off, I could hear sirens. Frantically, we scrabbled at the pieces of the roof. Then my hands hit fabric. “Here!” He was face down, arms over his head. Like manic badgers, we dug in around him. Scooter slid his hands under one of Zach’s armpits and Drew grabbed the other. As Mark and I leaned our strength against the weight of imprisoning slabs of roof, they hauled upward. White-hot pain over the bond nearly made me lose my grip. Fuck that! Blinded by sparkles of light, I hauled back even harder and grunted out, “Leg’s trapped.” Ten seconds, twenty, thirty, with the weight of the roof section burning down my arms. Then someone yelled, “Got him.” Blessed relief to be able to let go. Then I heard Zach’s voice, almost unrecognizable. “Get the fucking computer. I had it under me.” The others were hustling him down between them, off the pile of rubble. I wanted to go get my hands on him, more than I’d wanted much in my life, but I made myself stop and look. Sure enough, down in the hole, a silver laptop sat almost pristinely. I reached down in and worked it free. In the parking lot, the men ran for the vehicles. I spotted Zach and Simon being loaded into the back of my Hummer. The sirens were getting close. Hanson walked backward, away from the ruined door, with Jackson’s body. Men piled into whichever

unexPected deMAnds 199 car was closest. As I sprinted past Hanson’s Jeep toward my own, the South Pack Alpha grabbed my collar and swung me toward him. I bit back a snarl. No time to argue. I scrambled in the back and we pulled out into the road, last in the line, turning away from the approaching sirens. Ahead of us, my wolves were injured but alive. Still alive. Beside me, Jackson’s still body reminded me we hadn’t all been as lucky. I knelt on the seat to look back at the collapsed building. As I watched, there was a dull whump of sound, and flames shot into the air from the debris. In seconds, smoke was rising from the site. “They had oxygen tanks in that lab,” Hanson said neutrally from the front seat, “And gas lines. It should burn well.” I blinked. “Who…” “Tanner is good with fire,” Hanson said. “And perfectly capable of getting clear on his own. We didn’t get a chance to clean up that building right.” I nodded. It was a good thought. Who knew what trace evidence we had left from that disaster. Blood for sure… I couldn’t concentrate. I needed to close the bonds down, gain a little breathing room, but I couldn’t make myself do it. I needed my men close in my mind. Simon, dull and distant with unconsciousness, swamped with low throbbing pains. Paul, who must have hurt a knee somehow; I could feel the sharp twinges of it. Mark, aching head, back, hands and all. And Zach. I needed to feel Zach. As long as my chest was tight from the pain in his, as long as fire burned down our left legs, and each time a jolt arced red-hot wires through our shoulder, he was still with me. Dully, I heard Hanson direct his men to what he called the Prospect Safe House. Sandwiched between the Jeep and the Suburban, my men followed his. As Drew drove, Hanson made calls. His pack would all be hurting, feeling Jackson’s loss. They would gather in for this. The safe house turned out to be a two-story home on a quiet

200 Kaje Harper dead end, isolated from its neighbors by empty lots. The Suburban ahead of us opened the garage and all three cars moved into its ample recesses. The door to the house swung wide, and fresh hands came to help us out. Stretchers were brought for Simon and Zach, and for Dan, who lay groaning softly. Hanson cradled Jackson’s still body in his arms, supporting the lolling head gently, as if the man could still feel the motion. The Alpha’s face was carved granite, but his eyes were wide and dark with pain. The ground floor of the house looked residential, but a wide staircase led down to a lower level clearly designed to treat the injured. Wolves I hadn’t met were already there, setting up beds and unfolding blankets. I made my way over to sit between Simon and Zach, each laid out on a clean cot. Paul rummaged through medical supplies. He spared me a glance. “Simon’s hurt but stable,” he said, dragging his equipment over beside Zach. “You okay, Aaron?” “Bruises,” I said curtly. “Take care of Zach.” He gave a muffled grunt as he knelt beside Zach, and I felt the pain in his knee flare at the contact with cement, but his whole focus was on his injured packmate. He slid a clear tube around Zach’s head and hooked up a small oxygen tank, opening the flow. “Oxygen on,” he said loudly to the room without looking up. “No open flames.” He cut Zach’s shirt open and hissed at the sight of the boy’s ribs, misshapen and poking up against the skin on his left side. I could feel the way pain pulsed in Zach’s chest, like waves on the seashore, building and then threatening to drag him under. “Shit,” Paul muttered. He took a quick listen with his stethoscope and hissed a curse. “He’s got no breath sounds on the left; either a collapsed lung or a hell of a lot of bleeding. That needs surgery, not just a wrap. But I don’t do surgery on humans. Hell, I don’t even do open chest surgery on dogs. I refer it to someone who knows what the fuck they’re doing and has the tools to do it right.”

unexPected deMAnds 201 I glanced over at Hanson. The South Pack Alpha was standing at the foot of Dan’s cot, watching another man clean Dan’s head injury. “Hanson, what kind of medical care do you have available?” I asked urgently. He glanced at me. “I’ve got an Army Medic.” He nodded at the man in front of him. “And one pack member’s mate is a nurse, she’ll be here soon. No surgeons, though.” He came over and stared down at Zach. “If you can get the kid to shift, it might help. Those ribs can’t heal like that.” I looked back at Paul. He shrugged. “I’ll go for anything that might help him. And if he can shift, I’ll be a lot more familiar with the anatomy of a wolf than a man.” I moved over to kneel by Zach’s head and cupped him in my hands. He looked up at me, his pupils dilated and glazed. I could feel his whole attention focused on his next breath, and the next, like an elephant was sitting on his chest. Unconsciously my breathing synchronized with his, as if I could pull air into his lungs too. “Zach,” I said, keeping my voice calm and clear. “You need to shift. If you can get to your wolf form, this will heal a lot better.” He blinked up at me and formed some word silently with his mouth. I tapped his lip with the tip of my thumb. “Don’t talk, brat. Listen to me and breathe, okay. You’re going to be fine. You need to shift. I’ll help you. I’m your Alpha, I can make you shift even without your cooperation, so if we work together it will be a piece of cake. Okay?” He moved a little and then coughed, arching with the pain of it and gasping for breath. Over the bond I could feel his panic as strangling suffocation closed his chest. With each cough the knife edge of darkness got closer. No! “Zach!” I leaned close and reached for him, pushing shift energy into him with all my strength. “Shift now! Breathe and shift now.” The room around me got fuzzy as I focused down. Zach’s

202 Kaje Harper pain was mine, his fear and breathlessness mine. The sizzle of shift energy over his nerves was mine too. I pulled that in harder, forcing the change. Air and blood rattled in our chest. We heaved, gasping, as bone and muscle shifted. It was hard, so hard, so heavy. Shifting now was like pushing a blanket through a keyhole. As one part changed form from man to wolf, the others slipped away in pain and distress, trying to open out, trying to breathe. I’d never done it like this before, not just a command push like I’d done with Simon but full-on control. Only Alphas could force another wolf to shift. It was not the same as doing it myself and yet…and yet…it was myself, this self, that needed to shift, that had to! Bone and muscle and blood, lung and sinew and skin, air and pain, needed to become wolf. I could feel our energy flagging. There wasn’t enough of us. Fuck that. I opened the other pack bonds wider and there they were, the rest of my men. Their surprise, pain, anxiety, skated over the surface of my mind. But their energy sank in, feeding me. This was the other gift of an Alpha. Quickly now, while I could, I shoved our body through the change. Stop at nothing. Pain in the ribs is nothing, the shoulder is nothing, leg bones shifting and grinding broken ends together… And then we hit some tipping point and it was all downhill. Rolling into the wolf form. Fangs and paws, panting tongue and heavy coat, pain dulled and muted as it often was in wolf form. And the elephant on our chest was lighter, and we were breathing, each breath a painful gift, and a gift, and another gift, and there was nothing but soft darkness and just barely enough precious air… My head rocked back from a slap to my jaw. I surged to my feet, snarling, blinking still-blurred eyes… and then Hanson’s hand under my elbow kept me from continuing the lunge into a face-first dive. “Ease down,” he said, his voice a growl of his own. “You were in too deep.” I shook off his hand angrily and stared at him. He backed off two steps and eyed me sardonically. “Don’t have a fit, boy. I’m just helping.”

unexPected deMAnds 203 “I’m not a boy,” I snapped, because I couldn’t just take the slap, but I had a feeling he was telling the truth about helping. “No, you’re not,” he grinned. “Better now?” I stared back and kept my mouth shut. Lifelong policy; when in doubt, shut the fuck up. “How long have you been an Alpha?” he asked. “A month now?” “Almost.” Two weeks. “I’ve been Alpha twenty years. I just might know a thing or two about it that you don’t. You got the kid to shift. Now you need to back off.” Zach! Hanson could wait. I turned back to the bed. Paul was reattaching the oxygen tubing to Zach’s canine nose with sticky tape. I was no expert, but in his wolf form Zach’s breathing seemed better. In my head, the panic of suffocation was subsiding, although it still hovered as each breath was just barely enough. Zach rolled one eye toward me. Paul listened, rapped and touched his chest. He glanced up at me. “That’s a little better, but his chest still percusses dull, like there’s a lot of blood in there. I wish I had x-rays.” I glanced at Hanson, who shook his head. “We have a clinic we can sneak into if it’s critical, but only at night, when they’re closed. Don’t do it much. Usually if it doesn’t kill us, it heals. And Alex has a touch with broken bones.” Paul frowned. “I don’t like the way he’s breathing.” The medic spoke up. “If it’s blood, you can probably tap it out. A shift usually stops the acute bleeding so you don’t have to worry about taking off the pressure.” That meant nothing to me, but Paul nodded and pulled out some equipment. He hesitated for a moment. “How resistant to infection are you guys? Do I need to scrub up?” “We’re pretty resistant,” I said. “And shifting burns out any infection that does start. I don’t think you need to get fancy.”

204 Kaje Harper “Okay.” I was aware of Hanson watching over my shoulder. He made a hand signal, and his medic came over to offer Paul his help. Between them, competent hands numbed Zach’s chest with a shot and slid a tube between his ribs. I watched the coordinated dance of syringe and valve, and the flow of dark red liquid into a bowl, as the two men pulled blood out of Zach’s chest over and over. The smell bit at my nose, metallic and harsh. Blood…Zach’s blood. That scent brought a growl rumbling in my throat and I held it back with an effort. But I could feel the procedure helping. With each cupful sucked off, the weight on our chest grew easier. Oxygen slid down our throat, spread into us…I blinked and narrowed down the bond a little. That was Zach breathing more easily, not us. By the time the two men gave their attention to splinting Zach’s broken leg, he was clearly better. I turned my attention back to Hanson. First things first. “How’s Dan?” Hanson’s stance eased, as if that wasn’t the question he was expecting. “He’ll be fine. Probably has a concussion, but he’s waking up.” The South Pack Alpha’s voice rose. “Although he’s staying in bed until Alex says he can get up, right Dan?” “Right, Alpha,” Dan said obediently from behind us. Hanson raised an eyebrow at me, and when I remained silent he said, “You’re welcome.” “I was supposed to say thank you?” “You were in too deep. Most Alphas get the chance to work with their bonds a lot longer before they have to shove a wolf through the shift in an emergency. You’ll learn to push them without putting yourself inside them. If you live that long. At first, it helps to have someone ready to jolt you out if you need it.” Hence the slap in the face. It made sense, I supposed. “Thank

unexPected deMAnds 205 you.” He nodded. “I owed you one.” “For what?” I couldn’t think of any debt that didn’t go the other way at the moment. “For Karl.” Hanson’s grin was feral. “He was one crazy sonof-a-bitch. At some point if he was North Pack Alpha, we would have rubbed up against each other, and I would have had to kill him. You saved me the trouble.” Possibly true, but still…I nodded at Jackson’s still form rolled in blankets. “I think any debt you might have owed me was more than paid.” Hanson’s face sobered. “This is a whole different ball game. I don’t know yet where you stand with me for today’s mess.” Paul got up, drawing our attention back to Zach. “I think he’s going to be okay.” The rush of relief that went through me set my ears ringing, so I missed a few words. When I shook my head, and pulled my attention away from the boy, Paul was kneeling beside his own mate. He stripped the blankets off Simon and checked his pupils, listened to his chest. “Simon’s breathing okay but he’s still out. I wish I knew what they gave him.” “Might be a good thing to have him unconscious,” Hanson rumbled. “You’re going to need to clean the burns and set those fingers before they heal wrong.” Alex, the medic, came over and they set about splinting fingers and treating the worst burns. Simon’s body was a mess, even more battered than I had realized in the lab. Nothing was life-threatening, but there were so many wounds, and most of them the puffy weeping marks of fire on skin. In a few places the burns went deeper, with black charred edges. Paul and Alex set about cleaning those, literally cutting down to raw flesh for clean healing. Before they were done, Simon began waking up. I had his bond throttled down tight and I still could feel the increasing

206 Kaje Harper white heat of pain. Paul’s hands shook, but he kept working resolutely. I felt Simon’s resolve rise just in time, and caught his wrists as he grabbed for his tormenters. “Simon. Stop. It’s us.” I pushed reassurance over the bond as well. He froze, his muscles iron hard straining against me. Then his eyes blinked open. “Aaron?” His voice was a rasp. He tracked down to Paul, cleaning a bad burn on his right thigh. “Paul? Did they get you too?” “We got them,” I told him. “Lie still now, and let us get you cleaned up.” He resisted for another second, and then collapsed back on the bed like a puppet with the strings cut. “Shit.” It was the barest whisper. His eyes closed. “Oh, God. It is you. God.” Paul left his task for a moment to touch Simon’s face. “It’s us, Simon. You’re safe. We’ve got you.” “Oh, Christ.” Simon rolled his cheek into Paul’s palm, his eyes still shut. “I thought…” Paul brushed a finger across Simon’s mouth, in proxy for the kiss he wouldn’t take in front of strangers. “Hush. Alex says we need to get these burns cleaned up before they heal wrong.” “Burns.” Simon’s eyes snapped open, and he craned his neck looking for me. “Aaron,” he said urgently. “I need to tell you… they know…” He gasped and bit down hard on his lip as Alex moved to another wound. I grabbed his waving hand in a firm grip, careful of the splinted fingers. “As soon as the medics finish with you we’ll hear your report,” I told him. “And we’ll bring you up to date. But you were burned. We need to get the dead stuff off before you start healing around it.” Werewolves seldom scarred, but bad burns could take a long time to heal if the dead tissue wasn’t cleaned out of them. It was ten more long minutes before the medicos were content with their work and Simon’s injuries could be covered

unexPected deMAnds 207 with ointment. “Do you want to shift first for healing?” I asked him. Simon glanced down at himself and then shook his head painfully. “I’ll do it after.” He paused for breath, panting a little. “All these bandages and…it would take too long. I might not get back to human right away either, and you need to hear.” “Report then.” “They know about us.” His eyes were bright with pain, and his voice rasped raw but steady. “They were vanilla humans, but they knew about werewolves.” “Three of them are dead,” I told him. “Whatever they knew, nothing is going to happen immediately. So tell it from the top. How did they get you?” “They were at the house.” Simon rolled his head to look at Paul, who had seated himself on the floor between his two patients. “I was so scared they might have grabbed you too.” “Nope.” Paul managed to sound cheerful. “I guess you were enough trouble for them to deal with.” “Good,” Simon breathed. “Good. Anyway, they were waiting in the driveway when I got home from work. They had pamphlets and a Bible and…they were ordinary humans. They came toward me, spouting some religious crap like door-to-door preachers. Then the one in front stepped sideways and the guy behind him shot me with a stun gun. Jesus that hurt! Like being hit by lightning. And it dropped me in my tracks. I couldn’t see, could barely hear anything. I think they gave me a shot of drugs because after a few moments I was out like a light.” Simon coughed, and his voice cracked. One of Hanson’s men handed over a bottle of water and Paul tipped a little into Simon’s mouth. As Simon swallowed, I realized everyone in the room was listening. “I don’t think they know much of the real truth about us,” he said. “I got the feeling they were experimenting. The first time I woke up, I was lying on my back naked in a room. They had me

208 Kaje Harper in chains, with metal cuffs on my ankles and wrists. There were three of them standing over me. One guy had the stun gun, one guy had a video camera, and the third guy had something like a small welding torch.” “Fuck.” It was a breathed comment from somewhere behind me. Simon’s grin was crooked, but real. “Yeah, that’s about what I thought. Especially when I realized I was naked. Anyway, they explained it to me. They knew I was a werewolf. It was a fullmoon night. The cuffs were sized for humans. They would slip off if I changed into a wolf.” He laughed bitterly and then coughed. “They didn’t really want to hurt me, you see. If I would be a good boy and show them how it was done, I could avoid being barbequed.” “What did you say?” I asked softly. “I told them they were nuts.” Simon’s face twisted with remembered pain. “I told them there were no such things as werewolves. They brought over the camera and showed me video they had of one of us shifting.” Over the rustle of voices around me I asked, “Are you sure it was real?” “Not one hundred percent,” he rasped. “I didn’t recognize the man or wolf. But it looked real. The shift progression was right, the timing was about average, slower than you, faster than David. The wolf looked right, no stupid claws or fangs, and sized right for the man. What they showed me was the inside of a house, a kitchen. A grey wolf nosed its way in through the back door, pushed it shut, lay down on the kitchen floor, and shifted into a man with dark hair, not too tall. He got up, put on a pair of sweats, and began to cook dinner. It looked fucking real.” He laughed hoarsely. “I told them I’d seen better special effects on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Then they got creative with the blow torch.” “Simon.” Paul touched his cheek with an unsteady hand. “Hey, it’s okay.” Simon turned his head to look at him. “It

unexPected deMAnds 209 was…bad, but I’m okay. And the funny part is, that room must have had fucking steel walls because I couldn’t have shifted if I wanted to. Stupid bastards.” He looked back at me. “After a while, I guess they decided that approach wasn’t going to work. They gave me another shot. I passed out. Next thing, I was in a cage, lined with silver. I hope it cost them a damned fortune. They took samples; blood, skin, hair, saliva, the works.” He looked up at me, anguish in his eyes. “I couldn’t stop them, Aaron. I don’t know what they did with the stuff. I’m sorry.” “Not your fault,” I told him firmly. “Anyway I think we got or torched all of their samples. Go on.” Simon closed his eyes for a moment in relief. “God, I hope you did get it all. That would be…that would be great. Well, then they began more experiments. They were freaking disappointed too. They touched me with silver and copper and God knows what other metals, and then the vampire stuff, garlic and crosses and what was probably holy water. And a bunch of herbs and plants. When nothing made my skin react or burn they made little notes. Then they went back to old-fashioned methods for the question part.” “What questions?” Simon rolled his head back and forth, eyes still closed. “Who else was a werewolf ? They had a list of names from work, a couple of old friends, Paul, his relief vet, the members of my bowling team from two years ago.” He stilled and looked up at me. “No women, so they may know that we’re all male, but they were missing a lot of the men I know. I don’t think they researched me in real depth before they grabbed me.” “Good.” He nodded, and slid his eyes away from me. “Anyway, they kept up the questions for a while. What does it take to shift into a wolf ? How are werewolves made? If I bit one of them, would he become a wolf ? What if my saliva was injected into a human? Did I have a pack? How old was I? Shit like that. The oldest guy, he liked fire a lot. He had a…no, never mind, not important. I stopped answering anything. Easier to say nothing at all than to

210 Kaje Harper remember to say the right things. I passed out a couple of times, and I think they drugged me at least once. Next thing I knew I was here.” “You said three men were in the room with you,” I said. “Was there anyone else you saw in the building?” “Not that I saw,” Simon said. “But once, the short guy had been out of the room and when he came back in he said Rider wanted an update. Or maybe it was ‘the rider.’ But all three of them were there, so this Rider had to be a fourth guy.” “Or woman?” His forehead furrowed as he thought back. “I guess. I don’t think they said either way.” “No clue if this Rider was actually there in the building or on the phone or whatever?” “No.” “Okay.” I closed a hand on his shoulder where no burns marked him. “Time for you to shift and get some of this damage healing.” “Tell me what happened on your end first.” I nodded. “We tracked you down to a warehouse in South Minneapolis. The South Alpha gave us a hand and we retrieved you, took out the three men in the building. They blew up the building before they died and we torched the remains. Now we’re looking at clean-up.” Simon frowned, attention directed inward. “Someone’s hurt. Zach?” “He broke a couple of bones retrieving the humans’ computer for us. He’ll be fine.” I hesitated and then added, “Hanson lost a man when the building went down.” “Shit,” Simon muttered. “Tell him I’m sorry, tell him thank you, whatever he’ll take from me. I didn’t think he liked me enough to risk anything.” He was hurt worse than I thought if he hadn’t noticed

unexPected deMAnds 211 Hanson’s scent in the crowd around him. Simon jumped as Hanson growled, “Didn’t do it for you, wolf. No humans are going to hunt werewolves in my territory and get away with it.” “Alpha.” Simon bowed his head and exposed his neck as much as possible lying down. “Get yourself shifted and healing,” Hanson said. “So you can help us finish this.” His expression was cold but his voice didn’t quite match it. He glanced at me. “I’m going to check Dan and then we’ll set up those computers the bastards had and see what we can find. I’ve got a guy on his way, knows computers pretty well.” There was a growl from Zach’s bed. I had thought he was asleep, but clearly he had been listening in. The flavor of his response was possessive. “Layton is good, kid,” Hanson said to him. “Makes a box with wires sit up and beg.” I felt the ripple of energy as Zach reached for a shift. I automatically suppressed it down the bond as I pinned him to the bed with one hand. Hanson eyed us, and then raised an eyebrow. “Which isn’t going to keep the kid from wanting to get his hands on it. Right.” He called across the room, “Someone fetch some food down here. Enough for three trying to heal up in wolf form and breakfast for the rest of us.” He glared back at Zach. “You’ll eat and rest until Layton gets here, kid. And then maybe you can shift back, if your Alpha and your doctor allow it.”

chAPteR 12 Two hours later I sat on a chair someone had dragged downstairs for me, listening to Zach and Hanson’s expert, Layton, argue computers in a language that could have been Swahili for all the sense it made. Zach had downed several pounds of hamburger in wolf form, one careful bite at a time between breaths. His healing was still fragile, but when Layton had made no progress after an hour, I had to either help Zach shift back or physically sit on his head. I’d elected for the shift. Paul had re-splinted Zach’s leg and strapped his ribs, grumbling about bad patients. Zach had insisted on being propped up in bed, and he and Layton set to the tech work. To unenlightened eyes, it looked as though they were trying to make the two salvaged computers mate with Zach’s laptop. Layton had dragged in a case full of cables and discs, which littered Zach’s bed. Frankly, I was expecting Zach to crash at any moment. And I was ready to enforce his rest with full Alpha authority. But this computer puzzle appeared to be meat and drink to my boy. The more he and Layton debated, the brighter Zach’s eyes got. He was even breathing easier, distracted from his pain. Although after one unguarded reach for a cable, he had been smart enough to lie still and just contribute ideas. In the next bed, Simon drowsed. Paul sat on the floor by his side. And if the young vet’s head rested on the bed next to his mate’s hand, and if one of Simon’s unbroken fingers was twined in a lock of blond hair, no one commented. Simon had also refused to stay wolf after shifting and eating. He still looked like shit, but I didn’t argue with him about it. By the time I’d given him a boost back to human form, I figured I was fast becoming an expert at helping my wolves change shape. In the house above, the South Pack had been ingathering. Jackson’s body was gone. I didn’t ask what the disposal would be. Hanson’s Second had taken his cue from a glance and a nod

214 Kaje Harper from his Alpha, and gathered the blanket-shrouded form up in his arms. We’d watched silently as he climbed the stairs and was gone. Jackson might vanish, never to be seen again. Or perhaps an accident would be staged, sufficiently obvious and witnessed to avoid the risk of a detailed autopsy. I wondered if Jackson had been married. If there was a human wife who was not pack, disappearances could be cruel. She might never know where her husband had gone. But a good death scene was an art. In any case it was none of my business. Upstairs, the South Pack mourned its loss. “Got this one, Alpha,” Layton told Hanson now, turning to look over his shoulder. “The lab computer. It was shook up a bit but no one dropped a building on it, and the kid finessed the security. What do you want to see first?” There was a general surge toward the computer. A glare from Hanson quelled it. He strolled over behind Zach’s bed, to where he could see the screen our two experts were looking at. I joined him, giving Mark and Richard a nudge over the bonds to keep them back in their places too. Best to treat the two packs alike for now. “I’ve got text files and photos, video.” Layton told Hanson, turning the computer toward him. “What do you want to see?” “Can you tell if there’s any older video?” Hanson asked. “I’m wondering about the wolf shifting that Simon said he was shown.” He glanced back over at my Fifth. “You sure you didn’t recognize him?” “No,” Simon said hoarsely. Two quick shifts and several pounds of raw hamburger in between had helped heal his skin. The deep raw burns were scabbed over now and drier. But he looked drawn and tired. “Gordon kept me pretty isolated from everyone except our own pack for the last ten years since I was outed. I didn’t travel or meet any visitors from out of town. You might have better luck yourself.” He had to be damned tired; otherwise he would have found humor to cover his reaction to being the pack’s dirty secret. As it was, his bitter tone was all too clear.

unexPected deMAnds 215 “Got some with a file date over a year old,” Layton said. “Let me run it.” Zach groaned as he tried to shift up onto one elbow to see the screen better. If anyone had a right to see this it was Zach. I raised him up, stuffing extra pillows in behind his shoulders. Although I carefully didn’t lower my face to his hair, didn’t look at him at all, his scent brushed against me. He smelled of dust and blood, alcohol and adhesive. But under it all, of skin and pack. Mine. When he was settled, I perched on the edge of the bed, and nodded to Layton. The screen opened to a dim, slightly wavery video of a small untidy kitchen. For several minutes nothing happened, and Layton tapped the keyboard. The static kitchen became fastforward jerky. Then the door snapped open, and Layton slowed the video down. A wolf padded into the kitchen. He was medium sized, grey with darker points. His body language was relaxed, as though he had no idea he was being observed. The wolf nosed the door shut, curled up carefully on the floor, and shifted. Simon was right; it looked real, the shift as average as the man. The werewolf who finally stood in human form was medium height, with a wiry build. He looked about forty, which would put his true age somewhere in his sixties or seventies, perhaps old enough to have dropped one identity and started a second in the human world. His skin was fair, his hair short and brown; his face was nothing I recognized. I turned to Hanson. “I don’t know him. You?” Hanson was shaking his head. “Not to remember. He’s not an Alpha, or a Second, obviously.” Not just because Hanson didn’t know him. The way this man moved just wasn’t dominant enough. Even alone and unobserved, there was a confidence, a centeredness, to the wolves who would top the packs. This man didn’t have it. “There’s another video from the next day,” Layton said. “A bigger file.” He cued up the film. Daylight this time. A small suburban

216 Kaje Harper house with an overgrown front yard. A man walked up the path to the front door and rang the doorbell. The camera person was clearly standing a few yards back. As the door opened, a voice off camera whispered, “Here we go.” The homeowner was the werewolf from the previous clip. He looked less than pleased at finding a stranger on his doorstep, but made some inaudible greeting. In the doorway, the other man’s hand moved swiftly, slamming toward the werewolf ’s thigh. From the camera angle it wasn’t clear if he connected, but the wolf ’s reaction was obvious. His face registered shock. But even as he reacted, he was moving, pivoting and striking out in wellplaced blows. The man on the doorstep slammed to the concrete. “Shit!” Hanson’s voice and the camera narrator spoke together. For a second the werewolf ’s head came up and his eyes met the camera lens. They flared with anger and panic. His lips drew back in a snarl, no less threatening for being on his human face. From off camera someone was shouting, “Chad! Get him!” The werewolf hesitated one second longer, and then plunged off the front stoop into the bushes. The camera angle became a jolting mess. Grass, leaves, and the occasional snatch of the running man streaked across the field of view. Heavy panting from the photographer was overwhelmed by the roar of a motor. “Get on,” someone said. “Get on!” The view changed, and after a second I realized the cameraman was now riding pillion on a motorbike or scooter. He was still filming, over a shoulder clothed in dark leather. The camera lost focus erratically, as a close-up view of the biker’s ear alternated with the pursuit ahead. The werewolf ran erratically, plunging through yards and then ducking across suburban streets. His pursuers were hampered by bushes and fences, but not enough for him to get clear. The biker’s voice came suddenly loud. “He’s heading for the bridge. We can cut him off there. Thomas, get across and cover the far

unexPected deMAnds 217 side. We’ll get him between us. This time, shoot him. Use the gun if you can’t get close. Just don’t kill him. Fuck, Rider will kill us if we lose him.” Ahead, the werewolf ran on, but his stride was becoming choppy and irregular. He broke out of a yard and hesitated on the street for a moment. Ahead of him, the road climbed to a small bridge. On each side of the road, tall chain link fences screened the business yards. He could climb those, but not fast, and the bike was closing. With a desperate glance each way, he pivoted and ran up the bridge. The camera on the bike was getting closer. As the werewolf crested the bridge, he stopped. On the other side, two cars were parked, blocking the road. A man on foot approached from one of them, a weapon in his hand. The bouncing of the camera made it hard to discriminate gun from Taser, but he held it out and aimed. The camera suddenly steadied, and the bike’s roar dropped to a rumble. “You can’t get away,” the bike rider called. “We’re not going to kill you. Just give up…” At the peak of the span, the werewolf whirled, his back to the rail. He looked back and forth between his pursuers, his face wet with sweat, eyes wide. He took a step, awkward and stumbling in a way I’ve never seen a werewolf move. And then he turned and jumped. The loud cursing from the men on the bike drowned out our own reactions. The camera rushed forward and focused over the rail. Below the bridge, a roiling brown mass of water swept downstream. The camera scanned the water, back and forth, but there was no flash of blue shirt or dark hair. Just that muddy water, tumbling past. “Fuck.” The bike rider’s voice was breathless. “Fuck. Okay. Okay. Thomas, you take your side. We’ll get this one. Sweep downstream. He’ll have to come ashore somewhere.” “You think he can swim with the drug in his system?” “He’s a werewolf. Who the fuck knows. He sure didn’t drop in his tracks like we planned, did he? Shut that thing off and help

218 Kaje Harper me.” The video stopped. I stared at Hanson. “You think he died?” “We can be pretty sure they didn’t find him,” he said. “Or they wouldn’t have been messing around with your wolf that way. If they had a previous sample they would know silver and wolfsbane are less dangerous to us than a simple biopsy.” He turned to Layton. “Is there anything more?” “Next videos have yesterday’s date.” He clicked one on before I could say anything. Simon lay naked on a damp floor, his arms and legs shackled to metal staples set in the concrete. At his hip, the man named Curt stood over him, legs braced apart, cradling a dark cylinder in his hands. The light levels pulsed as Curt triggered a bright flame from the device’s tip. Welding torch. He leaned forward, and the floor at Simon’s hip hissed to steam with the heat. “You don’t have to go through this pain. There’s no need.” Curt’s words might have been calm, but there was an avid eagerness to his tone. He was enjoying this. “Just shift for us…” The end of Curt’s sentence was buried in Simon’s scream as the tip of flame moved from floor to skin. “Shit!” Layton clicked off the clip and glanced over in Simon’s direction, his eyes carefully lowered. “Sorry.” “S’okay,” Simon muttered. “Someone should probably look at that stuff anyway, see if there are clues I missed.” “That’s my job,” I said firmly. “And later, in private.” Paul’s head was turned to us and his gaze was steady, but his skin was milk-white. Neither of them needed to see that shit now. Layton was flipping through the other files. “Photos are all Simon,” he reported. “Including this one.” Sure enough, the picture from the train station was there, complete with superimposed bulls-eye. “Some surveillance shots taken from a distance with dates in the last few days.” He flipped up a few shots of Simon outside his house, Simon and Paul, Simon going into the workshop. “The rest seem to be lab notes.” He pulled

unexPected deMAnds 219 up text files, skimming through them. Simon was apparently “Subject 2” and they had kept a careful record of all the things they weren’t finding out. “Wait. Here.” Layton opened another file. “Subject 1. This was modified yesterday but it’s about the first guy.” He read, “Marcus Wayne Dalton, of Boston.” “Of course!” Zach exclaimed, and then coughed, gasping for breath. We waited while he wheezed through the pain in his ribs. “Of course what?” I asked when I felt the fire in his chest subsiding. “They found him on our pack website too.” Zach kept his voice soft and shallow. “You remember, Aaron, when we were, um, investigating postings on the web. I told you about a pack that had a problem with a girl. This was the wolf involved.” “Involved how?” “Apparently some girl accused this guy of raping her, and they got hold of a DNA sample before his Alpha could spring him loose. The Alpha decided the safest thing was to destroy the sample, so he arranged to have the police evidence room firebombed. Everything in there went poof. The cops were holding evidence against a big drug dealer at the time, so their assumption was that the dealer did the job. Then the girl dropped the charges, so the cops never went back after Dalton. A month later Dalton himself disappeared. “I tracked his name down pretty easily. I mean, how many police station fire-bombings are there? And even though charges were dropped, Dalton’s name is still floating around in the evidence-room lists. I figured his Alpha disappeared him, either to a new identity or permanently, but I bet these guys found him the same way first.” “And he went off a bridge, not into a new life,” I said. “I wonder what his Alpha knew, though. The humans were all over the guy’s place. His Alpha had to have some suspicion things were not as simple as fell in and drowned.” “Perhaps we should contact his Alpha and ask,” Hanson

220 Kaje Harper growled. “There’s the other computer,” Zach said. “That one had the Internet links. Maybe there’s email or other files.” “Maybe,” I agreed. “And you and Layton should see what you can find. But not now. You need more rest first.” I could feel how tired he was. Each breath was an effort, his eyes wanted to close. I pushed a little down the Alpha bond. “Sleep.” He spared the energy to glare at me. “Don’t do that.” “Your Alpha’s right, boy,” Hanson said. “Rest now. Let Layton take a crack at the other box. When he needs your input, he can wake you up. You’ll be no more use than tits on a boar if you don’t get some rest.” Zach grumbled under his breath, but didn’t have the nerve to talk back to two Alphas. “I need a couple of parts anyway,” Layton said. “Give me a couple of hours to get the drive from the smashed box hooked into yours and then you can help me look into it.” When there was no answer, I got up and looked at Zach. He was out cold, those ridiculously long lashes drooping against his pale cheeks. He still looked insubstantial, like he was only half there, breathing fast and shallow. I fought back a desire, a need, to reach out and touch his face. I wanted to trace the line of his cheek, feel his skin against my hand, to know the heat of his body and the throb of his pulse. For an instant I remembered how it felt to hear the building coming down, knowing he was under it. Crap. Now was not the time. “So,” I said to Hanson, “Am I the only one who wants to shut our website down until we know what the fuck we’re up against?” His answer was more growl than words.

chAPteR 13 A couple of hours later we followed Layton’s talented fingers through the email of the werewolf hunters. Zach rested with his eyes shut, although he was listening. He did twitch his arm away when I felt for his pulse. I let myself be comforted by his irritability. “So,” Layton summarized. “This Ryder guy, Ryder with a ‘y’ not an ‘i,’ got started looking for werewolves first. Nothing in here says why, or how he got onto our website. They found Dalton first, started with surveillance, and then moved in for the snatch. When they missed Dalton, they seem to have turned their attention to his friends and acquaintances. “At that point we have a dozen frantic emails about their men disappearing without a trace. Eventually, Ryder decides it’s too risky. The local wolves are obviously on the alert. He’s not ready to go public or bring in the authorities, so he pulls his remaining men back. Eight months later, they get a hit with Simon. They decide to move fast while they have the chance. Especially since they’re under the illusion that they need a full moon, and they didn’t want to wait an extra month. A week of surveillance while they set up the lab. They contracted that set-up, brought in just a few trusted men. Hired security for the lab so they’re not risking their own people like they did in Boston. This time the grab goes off as planned, and they begin their experiments with Simon. Until we arrived to break up the party.” “There’s a mention of us in there?” Hanson demanded. “No Alpha, sorry, poetic license.” “So the last thing this guy Ryder heard, they were hard at work on Simon?” I asked. “Yeah. Last update about six hours ago.” Layton looked at me. “He’s probably getting antsy. They were updating every two to four hours.”

222 Kaje Harper “If he’s heard about the warehouse explosion on the news, he’s more than antsy.” We had been following the radio reports of explosives and a dead body. Only Simpson had been left behind. He had presumably been killed by the explosion, but there was the empty holster on his hip that would look odd. The two corpses Hanson’s men had shot were safely brought with us, searched and disposed of. So far there had been no mention of bullet holes or weird laboratory equipment, but the explosives were generating enough comments. There was only so much the fire could have covered up. Eventually the cops would put together a strange scenario. I had sent Mark back home. It was his day off work, but he could check in casually. He’d let me know what leaked out on the police grapevine. “We could email this Ryder guy,” Zach suggested, his eyes still closed. “We have Curt’s passwords and everything. Pretend Curt was hurt in the explosion but got clear. Lure Ryder, and whoever else is left, out here where we can deal with them. Or at least, figure out where the guy lives, or a full name, something.” “Smart boy,” Hanson said. “What do you think, Layton?” “We’d only get one shot,” Layton said. “If he’s suspicious, he’ll cut us off. But yeah, if we phrase it right, we might get into his machine off the back of an email.” “We need to be careful,” Zach said. “If he has a good hacker on his team he might find out what access point we use from an IP address look-up. If we send the email from a hotel room through the hotel wireless, it would be safest.” “Has to be soon,” I added. “These guys seem to have been all about the chain of command. They would report in as soon as they were able.” “Figure out what to say,” Hanson ordered. “And what you need to get into his system if he takes the bait. I’ll get a hotel room.” Zach glanced at me for confirmation. At least the boy remembers who his Alpha is. “Do it,” I agreed. §§§§

unexPected deMAnds 223 An hour later I pushed a hurriedly tidied-up Zach in a wheelchair into a local motel. Yeah, I’d argued about the need to include Zach. Layton was good, and they’d done most of the work in advance. Zach needed to rest and heal up. But there was no arguing with the vital importance of giving this our best shot, and Layton gave Zach the nod. My boy was just that much more likely to respond right and fast if anything unexpected came up. We met in the room: Hanson, his Second John, Layton, Richard, and me and Zach. I insisted on putting Zach on the bed first, with his splinted leg supported, and pillows behind him. He was on the edge of collapsing, even if he wouldn’t admit it. Damned stubborn bastard. Once I had him home alone we were going to have a talk about listening to his Alpha. Except who was I kidding. We were all doing what we had to. And if Zach and I were going to have any kind of future, I needed to let him be grown up. Smother him in cotton wool, treat him like a child for real, and we would crash and burn. It was just hard. Out of sight among the pillows, Zach’s fingers brushed over my hand as I set him up. Just a touch, but a warm flush of affection flooded me through the bond, affection tinged with amusement. “I won’t break,” Zach said, voice nonchalant where his mind was intimate. “Let’s do this thing.” Layton stretched out on the bed beside him, laptop in his lap. “Got a connection.” He keyed up the prepared email. Major problems. Subject 2 tracked and rescued by outside forces. Simpson dead. Shore missing. Building destroyed. I have small number of samples and video. Injured but not critical. Orders? – Curt

“Send it.” Layton hit the send button. The message winged on its way, with whatever attachments Zach had crafted to ride along with it. “Now we wait,” Layton said. Zach lay back on the pillows, eyes closed. He might have been resting, but I saw the tension in

224 Kaje Harper his neck and shoulders. Tension and… “Zach,” I said. “Do you need more pain meds?” “Nah.” He didn’t open his eyes. “Don’t want to be fuzzy.” I went to stare out the gap in the curtains at the snow street, and cracked open our bond a little more, faced away from prying eyes. The leg was bad. It would be for a while. Paul said the bone was crushed, lots of fragments. He didn’t know how it would heal, recommended surgery but… Zach was a werewolf. We could heal almost anything that didn’t kill us. It just took time. The dislocated shoulder was a dull throb, the chest tight fire. But Zach was still with us. He was much tougher than he looked. Ten minutes later the computer chimed. “Yes!” Zach’s voice was a hiss of satisfaction. Layton’s fingers danced on the keyboard and we all leaned over to look at the screen. Return ASAP with any collected samples and data. Do not risk any contact with possible allies of Subject 2. Be sure you are not followed back to base. If any doubt, courier samples and get yourself lost. Confirm code. – R

“Now what?” I asked. Layton’s hands were busy on the computer. “If we’re lucky,” Zach said, “I’ve got a trojan in past his

security…” “Got it,” Layton interrupted. “Here.” A new screen came up. Computer Swahili again. He stared intently, clicked something. “Downloading.” “Want to tell us in English what you boys are doing?” Hanson rumbled. Layton nodded without looking up. “We’re downloading files from this Ryder guy’s computer. Hopefully we’ll get information, ID, location stuff. As long as he stays online we can tap in.” “We should confirm back to him if we can,” I suggested. “Keep him from getting suspicious and shutting down.”

unexPected deMAnds 225 “There’s a code they used,” Zach said thinly. “But we cracked it, I think. Send the longer one, Layton.” Layton nodded and hit a key. Will return when possible. Leg injured, may need a couple of days. If more than 48 hrs will contact & ship samples. $4gamma77. – C

“Now we’ll see if we cracked it right,” Layton said. Ten minutes later, another chime. Not good enough. Contact every 4 hours. Ship samples ASAP. – R Layton sent back, Will contact with shipment info. Send to base or other location?- C Send to base. Watch for surveillance. Out.- R

“He’s dropped off the net,” Layton said. “But we got a lot of stuff before he went.” “Then get on it.” Hanson’s tone was cold, but a valedictory tap on his man’s shoulder suggested it was for the situation, not the work. “Good job,” I told Zach. “Speak up when you have anything.” Hanson gave me a nod and led the way out into the parking lot. It was mid-morning but this wasn’t a popular location; there was little movement, and no one close enough to hear us. “When we find this guy, we’re going to have to go after him.” “Yes.” “He took your man, but your pack isn’t up to paramilitary weight. These guys had weapons, explosives, tech gear. I want to take point on the hunt.” “Ah.” I thought about it. For just a moment I indulged in the intense wish that I could let him just take this. Let Hanson deal with the humans and the inevitable violence at the end of the hunt. But it was my wolf they had in their cross-hairs still. My responsibility. And if I let Hanson take care of this for me, I would look weak. For my pack’s safety, I couldn’t risk that. There was only one answer. “You’ve got it. But I’m in, second to you.”

226 Kaje Harper “John won’t like that.” “John can go…” Not a good suggestion for a dominant Second. “John will have to live with it. Ryder took my man. I don’t need to lead in combat, but I get the nod otherwise.” Hanson wouldn’t respect anything less. And maybe in the end I could make sure that the violence went no further than absolutely necessary, as I had with Grossman and his men. Hanson looked at me. I met his eyes easily, despite the Alpha weight. My wolf, my pack, my right, and the decisions made would come back to me. After long minutes he nodded. “You’re in.” “Damn right.” He almost smiled. “You’ve got more stones than I would have expected.” His slap on my back was heavier than it needed to be. I managed to stand firm, despite his catching one of my healing bruises from the falling debris. I punched his arm back, also a little hard but not a lot. Dealing with Alphas was always a judgment call. After an instant of surprise he laughed. “All right. Let’s go see what our clever boys have found.” In the motel room, both our geeks were still bent over the screen. “Any good news, boys?” Hanson demanded. “Yeah,” Layton said. “We found some business correspondence, with return addresses. The guy’s name is Clayton Ryder, and the address is outside of Chicago, about a hundred miles west near Seward. No guarantee that’s their base, but a good place to start. IP for his email matches it. We’ll look for other addresses, but I found something interesting.” “It’s a PDA backup file,” Zach said. He was typing onehanded, sore shoulder hunched and his arm pressed against his ribs. “I think I can…Yeah.” He sat back. “Got the password,” he told Layton. “Go for it.” “Perfect.” Layton looked up at us. “This is the goldmine,

unexPected deMAnds 227 names, addresses. And fuck, it looks like he used it as a diary. Two years of stuff.” “We can read it on the way to Illinois,” Hanson said. “Set it up for us. I’ll assemble a team.” “You need us,” Zach said urgently. “If he has video surveillance, computer files, you’ll need us.” “I’ll bring Layton,” Hanson said. “You’re in no shape for an op.” “I’m healing,” Zach said. “I’m better than Layton. You need me.” Hanson raised an eyebrow at Layton, who shrugged and looked away. “He is better, Alpha. Depends on what you come up against.” Hanson turned to me. “Aaron?” Damn. I wanted Zach here, wanted him safe and healing. I also wanted him away from me, away from any possibility of Hanson’s sharp eyes catching my reactions to him. And it was hard to think past Zach’s pain. But he was an adult, however young. He was willing to help. And if I left him home, and we failed, that would be on me. “You stay miles away from any fucking combat,” I said to Zach. “You follow orders, and you tell me if you need attention or pain relief. You faint during a critical situation and I’ll break your other leg.” Zach tried to act insulted. “I won’t faint.” But his grin escaped around the edges. Dumb kid. Almost killed the last time and he still wants in on the action. I could still order him to stay here. Wipe the damned grin off his face. I stared at him dispassionately, trying not to let any of my thoughts show on my face. Because I realized that, however much I focused on calling him a kid, it wasn’t really his youth that was making me desperately want to hand him to Mark and Paul for safe-keeping. It wasn’t even the fact that he was mine and

228 Kaje Harper injured and vulnerable. It was because he was Zach. Probably the smartest guy I’d ever known, at least in pure, distilled, quicksilver intelligence. The guy who reached back for me when I woke in the night. The only one besides Michael who knew about Allen and judged me less harshly than I judged myself. The guy who looked at me like I hung the moon, like I could keep him safe from himself and the world, and be everything he needed. And I didn’t want that man along to see me track down our human persecutors and deal with them. I didn’t want him to watch me make the choice of safety over humanity. I didn’t want Zach to see my doubts, or to know the ruthless streak I had within me. And I knew this trip would expose parts of me that he might never again be comfortable with. I should be thinking only of his safety, but what rose in my mind to choke me was the thought, He might hate me after this. “Eighteen hundred hours,” Hanson said. “I’ll get the team and supplies. Aaron, you get yourself and the boy here ready to go. I’ve got outerwear, light and dark. Just bring the basic shit. Figure four days.” “Pick us up here,” I told him. “Zach might as well use this bed until we move out.” When Hanson and his men were gone, Richard turned to me. “Should I pack too?” I shook my head as I dialed Paul’s number. He answered on the fourth ring. I asked, “Did you get to Mark’s all right? How’s Simon doing?” We had decided that Simon’s house was too risky to go back to until we knew there were no more agents of this group lurking around. Mark had offered his home as a temporary refuge. “He’s okay. We were dropped off at the door and Patrick is on patrol. Again.” Paul’s voice dragged with fatigue. “Where are you? Do you want me to come look at Zach?” I hesitated. Zach shook his head at me, but of course I paid no attention to that. “Get someone to drive you so you don’t crash,” I said. “Go by my house. Simon has a key. Pack a couple

unexPected deMAnds 229 of bags, five days of clothes for each of us. Bring whatever meds Zach needs.” “You’re traveling? With Zach? Aaron, I don’t think that’s a good idea.” “I’ll explain when you get here.” I hung up before he could continue protesting. Pushy human. My wolves didn’t question my every move. Or maybe they did, because when Paul showed up he brought not just Mark but Simon with him. Mark, Simon, and Richard; all of them saying no, and don’t, send me instead, let me do this, until I surprised myself with the loudness of my snarl. “When the fuck did this pack become a democracy!” As one, my wolves looked down, sinews in their necks standing out with the effort not to bow heads and kneel. Richard did sit on the bed abruptly, putting himself below me. I wondered if it was telling that Simon didn’t. But maybe that was more endurance than dominance. Simon looked as if he wasn’t sure he could get up again if he sat down. “Aaron…” Mark’s tone was placating. “Shut up.” I let my gaze sweep over them. “Hanson is leading this little expedition. Do any of you think you can stand up to him?” No eyes rose to meet mine. “Mark, I need you here. This is not a sop to your pride. We can’t be sure there aren’t more of those guys out there. I’m trusting you to keep my pack safe. And to take care of Megan. That’s our pack’s baby she’s carrying and she’s not going to have one more ounce of worry or stress than necessary, you hear me?” “Megan can handle…” “She doesn’t need to. And it’s not just these bastards. Have you forgotten that it wasn’t long ago we were facing a gun in the hands of one of our own? I need you here.” Simon looked up sideways at me. “But this is my fight, boss. I have a right to see it through…” His voice trailed off, as perhaps he gave more thought to where this trip might be leading.

230 Kaje Harper “I don’t deny that,” I agreed. “But we’re leaving in a couple of hours and you are far from healed.” “Zach’s worse.” “Zach brings special skills to the table that you don’t. We may need his computer-foo.” I shook off the blank look he gave me. “Get Paul to fill you in on the details. Besides, these guys don’t just know your address, they have Paul’s photo, his name, his workplace. Are you going to let someone else keep him safe?” Simon’s eyes dropped and he shook his head slowly. “Babe.” Paul’s voice was soft, but held a world of pain. “If this is something you have to do…I don’t want you to go, but I’ll be fine if you need to do…whatever.” “No.” Simon sighed, but a weight seemed to come off him. He touched Paul’s hand with the tips of his splinted fingers. “I don’t need to leave you here and go off on some sort of revenge trip. I trust Aaron to take care of things.” Paul looked at me. “Are you sure you need Zach? That leg of his is splinted, but healing is going to take time. With a compound fracture like that it could heal crooked or short if it’s not treated right. And his ribs are back in place but not stable yet. A bang to the chest could collapse that lung again. Does he need to take that chance?” No, of course not. I was about to say so, but for once my brain beat my protective instincts to the gate. “That’s his decision. We have Layton, and he’s good. Zach could stay here, improve his chances of healing right. No one is completely essential.” “I’m going.” Zach’s voice was weak but firm. “Layton isn’t close to my skill level. If something happens, if this brings the humans down on all of us, I don’t want to wonder forever after if I could have made the difference.” I nodded and managed to keep my mouth shut. Richard cleared his throat and I rounded on him, more nasty than I should have been because I wanted Zach safe and out of this mess, and at the same time I did want him close to me, and

unexPected deMAnds 231 I couldn’t have both and couldn’t admit to either. “You’d be just muscle in this,” I told Richard shortly. “Hanson will bring plenty of top quality muscle.” Richard nodded, but I saw the wince and the tightness of his jaw. He was a smart, reliable man, who had stayed out of the action and done as he was told all through this. He didn’t deserve the slam. “You’ve backed me up well, but now Mark will need your help,” I said. “I want some security on the wood shop. That address and a staff list were in the humans’ computer too. I trust you and Mark to evaluate the threat and come up with a plan.” Richard’s second nod was less rigid. “All right,” Paul said. “If you’re going to travel with Zach, I brought meds and supplies. I want to go through it all with you, just in case. Unless you want me to come along for medical support?” “No!” I said quickly. No humans on this trip, bonded or not. Not when the inevitable end was going to be killing, possibly in cold blood. No way was I putting Paul in the middle of that kind of bad, even to take care of Zach. “I expect Hanson will bring his medic. Mark, head out now and get started on a security evaluation for our pack. My office is yours for the moment. Ask Vincent where the pack’s files are. Richard, I want you to drive Paul and Simon home and then the woodshop is your responsibility. Paul, tell me whatever you think I need to know.” I rubbed my eyes and settled in to listen. When I had the details straight, I left Richard for a moment to watch Zach drift off to sleep and guided Simon and Paul to their car. I pushed them in the back and got in the front passenger side. With my arm across the back I could turn and look at both of them. It was as private as we were likely to find. “What do you two need before I leave?” Simon shook his head. “Nothing, Boss. Rescue was good, though.” Paul laughed and leaned carefully against Simon’s shoulder. “Sleep without nightmares? Time? No one trying to kill us for a

232 Kaje Harper week or two? Nothing you can help with.” “I’m working on the not killing us thing,” I pointed out. “I think Simon should move out of his house ASAP and find a new place. Nothing in his own name. We can finesse the paperwork later. But if these bozos could track him down so could someone else.” “What about Paul?” Simon asked. “You said they had the clinic address.” “They only found Paul and the rest after they located and watched you. Hopefully if we take you off the radar, no one else will get that far along.” I frowned. “When we catch up to their boss, we’ll evaluate just how bad the breach of security is. For now, crash at Mark’s and stay out of sight.” Their surveillance of Simon had turned up half the pack. If we didn’t do some meticulous clean-up this had the potential to become a major disaster. Paul closed his eyes. “Jesus. It never gets simple, does it?” “It has, for years at a time,” Simon said. “Especially for me.

Simple Simon?” “Dork.” Paul turned just enough to kiss Simon’s neck. Which led to what I wanted to discuss. “So, Paul, this proves the risk to the pack isn’t something imaginary. Does that help you see our point of view or not?” He shrugged. “I always believed it. I’m just not sure where doing the right thing lies, choosing between harming people and protecting the pack.” “Even now?” “Even now. One thing I do know, though.” He was quiet long enough for me to break down and ask. “What?” When he spoke it was to Simon. Their eyes met and the link between them was naked and intimate. “I love you, Simon, more than I thought I could. More than I realized was possible. When I thought you were gone… I’ve been holding back, babe. Trying to

unexPected deMAnds 233 keep some part of myself separate from the pack, I think. Trying to keep all that harshness part of them and not me. But you are pack and I’m yours, body and soul. So I’m pack too. For better or for worse. So right thing or wrong thing, I’m going to do my share for you and Megan and Nick and for Aaron. I hope, I pray that I won’t have to choose between human lives and yours, but if it comes, if it’s really life or death, I will choose you. Because now I know there’s no way for me to live without my werewolf.” He choked. “God, my heartfelt declaration and I come out with a line off the back of a drugstore romance novel.” “I liked it.” Simon bent stiffly to kiss him, wincing as the burn on his neck pulled the skin. A hint of mischief almost erased the tiredness in his eyes. “When you give me a ring I want that to be the inscription.” Paul couldn’t hold back a small laugh. “If I ever give you a ring I’ll come up with a better freaking inscription.” “I’ll hold you to that.” Simon slid one arm around Paul and pulled him close. He glanced over at me. “Do you need us for anything more, Aaron? Is Richard going to drive us home?” “No. And yes. I’ll send him out. Watch your backs and get some rest.” I slid out of the car. At least out of all that pain, Paul had been pushed off his fence on our side. I opened my mind to them for a moment as I walked away. And the golden warmth of their mate bond was solid and true, touched with pain and fatigue, but less darkness, less doubts. Those two would be all right. I went back into the motel room and gave Richard a nod. As he passed me I slapped his shoulder lightly. “Thanks, Richard.” He was mine too, and his steady reliability should be rewarded. I felt his pleasure at my touch and words. So strange to have that power, to lift a guy up with a nod. I’d always been able to intimidate a lesser wolf with a look, but being able to reward the same way was another part of the crashing change of being Alpha. I closed the door behind him and then turned to the bed. And locked down all my bonds but one. Finally, just Zach and me, in

234 Kaje Harper a space of our own. He was sleeping already. I sat on the other bed and looked at him. Two shifts and some clean-up had removed the smell of broken wood and concrete dust from his skin. The sharpness of disinfectant and ointment and bandages still lingered in pointed reminder of how close we had come. His young face was lined with pain, even in sleep. His full lips were pinched tight and a groove furrowed between his brows. I should have let him sleep but the need to touch him overrode all else. I reached out with a finger to smooth away that frown. He woke with a gasp of fear that became a hiss of pain as he moved. I moved over to pin him still with a hand on his good shoulder. “Sorry. So sorry, didn’t mean to wake you like that.” “No.” He closed his eyes for a moment, catching his breath and then they opened again. Dark, dilated, staring into mine with an intensity that I could almost touch. “Are we… is everyone gone?” “Just us for now. We have a few hours at least. You need to sleep and heal.” He shook his head slightly. “I thought you were dead. When the walls came down, I thought we were both dead.” “Good thing we’re so damned hard to kill.” I tried to keep it light, when underneath I was saying a fervent prayer of thanksgiving. He moistened his lips with the tip of his tongue. “Aaron, every bit of me hurts but…” Over the bond I could feel his need, not for anything approaching sex but for touch, for reassurance, for the simple contact of skin on skin. Or maybe I was projecting, because I sure as hell needed that. I leaned over carefully and kissed him. I meant to just brush his lips with mine, but he opened his mouth and sucked my tongue against his. And for a moment we stayed like that, almost unmoving, just that intimate touch, and our minds tangled together over the bond in immeasurable relief.

unexPected deMAnds 235 Then he tried to raise the wrong hand to the back of my head and the sharp knife of the torn joint capsule in his shoulder slammed us both. I pulled back and put a palm on his cheek. “Sleep. Heal.” He looked so battered, bruises on his temple and neck still nearly at full bloom. I pushed a little more energy into him, in a way that was becoming second nature. He said in a tentative tone that caught my protective instincts, “Would you stay close. Touch me? I’m sorry I can’t do anything but…” “Shut up. Of course I will.” I gave it a moment’s thought. Hanson might possibly walk back in here. But still… “Let me lie down on the other bed for a bit. But an Alpha touching a wounded wolf for healing—no one would think twice about that. Give me a moment.” I kicked off my shoes and stretched out under the covers on the other double for a moment. Tossed and turned and rubbed my scent onto the pillow. Then I got up. He was asleep again, completely drained. Carefully I stretched out beside him on top of the covers, fully dressed. I eased all of my other pack-bonds open a little, just for early warning. Simon still hurt a lot, but his pain was dulled by sleep. The rest were okay. I laid my fingers on Zach’s skin below his jaw, where his pulse beat strong, if a little fast. This time the touch of my fingers didn’t wake him. As I fed him energy, the lines of his face smoothed out a bit. When I’d done what I could I left my fingers there, and allowed myself to slide into an uneasy sleep.

chAPteR 14 Hanson’s Suburban rode the highway like a tank, lots of rumble but not much sway. Zach dozed, his head against a pillow propped on the window, and his bad leg elevated in my lap. Scooter, riding shotgun, squinted at the screen of Zach’s laptop. “Okay, I think I’ve found the first diary entry. Want me to summarize it?” “Read the whole thing.” Hanson’s voice was a deep rumble. He guided the big vehicle with two fingers on the wheel. “I want to get to know these freaks, see how they think.” Scooter nodded. May 28, 2006: Arrived in Indonesia. Took hours to get from airport to rental car, hours more to get to hospital in Yogyakarta. The hospital is overflowing with people, beds out in the courtyard under awnings, not enough personnel even with the first aid workers arriving. Jason looks like shit, barely breathing on a respirator. Docs say he has head and neck trauma, lucky to be alive at all. Lucky to have arrived at the hospital before they ran out of respirators. Apparently half a house came down on him in the quake. Other members of his missionary group died. His team leader came by to express sympathy, but no real help. May 29: Nothing to do but sit in the hospital and watch Jason breathe. He’s still unconscious. Docs say if he hasn’t died yet, he has a good chance. But he has a C-6 neck fracture and that’s bad news. I ask about him being able to walk again and they won’t look at me. May 30: Volunteered to go out and work with a rescue team at the village Jason was helping. Better than sitting counting the tubes in his body. He’s still in a coma. Village was totaled, buildings down

238 Kaje Harper and just heaps of rubble everywhere. The houses were built out of junk. None of them held up worth a damn. They’re still finding survivors. One of the S&R guys is especially lucky. He’s found a bunch of people the last two days and now he located two kids and an old man, three different places. Says he has good hearing and can pick up their voices. One of the kids died while we were digging her out but still, good day’s work. May 31: Jason woke up! Coherent, but no memory of the quake. Totally paralyzed though, still on the ventilator, not moving even a finger. My little brother, and his life might be over. The same guy out at the rescue site found a woman. She was alive, but the three kids in with her were all dead. She was sobbing the same thing over and over when we pulled her out. One of the volunteers said she was asking us to let her die too. If I was Jason, would I want to live? What if he asks me to let him die? June 1: Really freaky. I was working along with Stevens, the lucky guy, yesterday when we were digging the woman out. I saw his hand get trapped when a chunk of rock shifted. We got him loose with just some scrapes and a large torn flap of skin on his wrist. No big deal when you spend the day around mangled bodies. But today I happened to look at his hand and it’s almost healed. The scrapes are gone, and that flap has just a little scab on it, like it was a week old. I made some comment about super healing, and the guy made a joke about it. But he looked nervous. There’s something weird about that guy. I heard one of the Australians say he saw Stevens sprain his ankle the first day, swollen and everything, and he just kept going, like it didn’t even hurt. Like he doesn’t feel pain. They were all admiring his macho, but I wonder what he has, if it’s drugs or something. Going to watch him closely. I know what I saw.

unexPected deMAnds 239 June 3: For two days I’ve been shadowing Stevens, watching him. The rest of us have hands that look like we’ve put them through a meat-grinder, bruises and blisters even with the gloves. I’ve been sneaking looks at Stevens’ hands, whenever he takes off his gloves. Sometimes he has bruises, but then the next time I look they show nothing at all. I got a pair of binoculars so I can watch him from a distance too, day and night. Yesterday nothing new, except he found another survivor. It’s been a week. The guy’s throat had to be too dry to call out, and he was unconscious, not moving. So how did Stevens hear him? At night I keep an eye on his tent. But so far all I’ve got is sleep deprivation. I nap while he’s working around the crew. Claimed stomach flu to explain why I’m not always out there with them. June 4: Jackpot! But it’s too weird to believe! Except I know what I saw. The rescue folks were talking about shutting it down. This far out from the quake, there couldn’t be anyone left alive. We mostly agreed, but Stevens protested. Asked them to keep going a few more days. Some story about a woman found alive two weeks after some other quake. They agreed to two more days. Last night around two AM, Stevens sneaked out of his tent. Bright enough night to see. The moon was full, and the sky was finally clearing. I was watching from up on the hill, and he headed back to the village. Very furtive. He went into the remnant of a house, and a few minutes later a dog came out. Dog or wolf, dark colored, silent; it went down to the base of the village site and began sniffing around, quartering the ground, back and forth. Not normal dog behavior. There are other feral dogs out there, nosing in the ruins at night, but they gave this one wide berth. After an hour it had worked its way up half the slope, when it stopped to dig in the dirt. Two hours later it reached the top of the slope, turned and trotted back to the ruined house. Five minutes later Stevens came out of that same house, walked back to camp, and disappeared into his tent. Next morning,

240 Kaje Harper about fifteen minutes into the search, Stevens leads us to the exact spot where the wolf was digging. Sure enough, they find a little girl, buried deep. She might make it. No other finds for the day, and tomorrow we close down. I looked in that hut. Two sets of human tracks in the dirt, coming and going. Two sets of paw prints. No other entrances big enough for a man. Am I going crazy? June 5: I’m certain now. Yesterday I managed to accidentally-on-purpose whack Stevens’ hand with the shovel. Nice big bruise and a shallow cut. Today the cut was gone, and the bruise was almost completely faded, old and yellow. The guy heals way faster than normal. Last night he was out again, different part of the site, in wolf form. No digging, and no live bodies found today. I’m just going to say it. The guy is a werewolf. Okay, sounds crazy, but he’s not human. And if he has some kind of healing powers, I want them for Jason. The kid is no better. Not even a twitch of a finger. The docs say he might eventually get enough finger motion back to control some aide devices. Might. Jesus! That’s not acceptable, not for my brother. If Stevens knows something, I’m going to get it out of him. June 6: Disaster! I got Stevens alone, out of sight of the village, while people were packing up to move on. He was sitting on a log, working on his satellite phone, nice piece of technology. I took along a gun. You can buy anything here, and I needed an edge. I don’t have super strength and super healing. I sneaked up on the guy while he was texting away. The sound of a chopper landing at the camp site to pick up equipment covered my approach. Then it all went to hell. I stuck the gun to his head and told him to drop the phone, told him I knew his secret and I wanted information. He was fast! He whirled around, grabbed my arm. He would have gotten the gun, but his foot went into a sink hole where the ground collapsed. I didn’t mean to do it. We were fighting

unexPected deMAnds 241 for the gun when it went off, right beside his skull. He was dead before he hit the ground. Not even a werewolf could live through that. When people came running I told them he did it himself. I came on him holding the gun to his head and he did it himself. With what we’ve seen the past week, they believed me. He was always intense, broken up when the villagers died as we pulled them out. The kind who wants to save everyone. They believed me. I have his phone, still logged into some weird website. I’m going to rip it apart if I have to. I had the answer to Jason’s problems in my grasp. I know that. That bastard Stevens is dead without telling me anything but I still hope I can find the information. Now that I know it’s out there.

“Does the name Stevens ring any bells?” Hanson asked. “No,” I said. “But there are a lot of us, and half of us are on second or third identities, to hide how slowly we age. Names are changeable, and that’s a pretty ordinary one.” Hanson grunted his agreement. “Go on, Scoot.” June 8: Couldn’t get hold of Stevens’ body. SOB had made arrangements to be cremated if anything happened. I volunteered to pay for his body’s transport, make the arrangements, claimed guilt for getting there too late to stop him. But it was already gone. It makes me crazy. The answers might have been right there and now they’re ash. Selfish bastard. His phone is not much help, no stored numbers. June 9: I’m taking Jason back to the States. It’ll take most of my spare funds for the plane, med support and all, but it’s essential. And I can always make more money. That hospital is a joke. One of his group members died after a simple foot amputation—they let her get septic! Jason needs to be in the hands of real doctors, not these monkeys with mail-order diplomas. Maybe good US of A medical care will fix

242 Kaje Harper him without the super healing. Although I still want to know. It could be worth big bucks. And I bet there are people who could find a use for werewolves in other ways too, if I can prove they exist. June 17: Fucking US doctors are no more help than the Indonesian clowns. They talk about “too much damage” and “no regeneration” and act like they’re gods who can see the future. Fuck that! My brother is going to walk again. Hell, he’s going to run. Stevens is the key. June 26: Stone wall. “Stevens” must be a false identity. There’s no record of the guy more than four years back. And since then, just the listing with the relief agency. He’s been several places in Asia with them, but the hacker I paid couldn’t find anything worth knowing; no past addresses, no education or job records, nothing. The relief agency doesn’t know much either. He paid his own way, had no close friends, changed working groups three times in the four years since he signed on, no next of kin listed. I had false papers made up to show I was his estranged brother, but they wouldn’t or couldn’t tell me anything more. July 7: Jason is a little better. Which means he’s off the respirator and has a slight muscle twitch in one finger. He’s lost a ton of weight, looks like a corpse. I tell him I’m going to fix it, and he looks right through me. July 30: Researching werewolves on the web is getting me nowhere. A zillion hits for stupid fiction, but nothing pans out. No handle on Stevens anywhere. Maybe I imagined it all, but I don’t believe that. I know what I saw.

Scooter shifted in his seat, scrolling down the computer screen. “The entries are pretty sporadic for a while, mostly about

unexPected deMAnds 243 the brother.” He scanned the text. “Looks like he brought the kid home, set him up with a caretaker. Kid wasn’t doing much better. Wait, here’s something.” June 7, 2009: I finally hooked up with someone else who believes they’ve seen a werewolf, and isn’t Looney-tunes. Christ, the kooks I’ve waded through the last four years! Simpson is a biologist, a respected researcher and smart enough not to put his interest in werewolves out in public. We’ve been dancing around it, but last night I told him about Stevens. He admitted that as a kid he saw his neighbor turn into a wolf when he was peeking through the guy’s window. The neighbor moved after a house fire the next week, but Simpson never forgot it. He’s been doing the same research as me for years, but finding nothing. When I told him I had Stevens’ phone he got all excited. He thinks we might get DNA off it. He was about ready to kill me for ditching my shirt with Stevens’ blood on it back in Indonesia. I let him swab the phone, but I’m not handing it over. June 22: Finally got back the DNA results from the phone, but it’s bad news. Whatever there might have been was contaminated and degraded. Simpson’s geneticist friend said he would try again if we could get him a better sample. No hope for that. June 23: Simpson brought over another friend of his. I don’t like letting more people in on this but he swears by the guy. Tooley is a computer nerd. Simpson convinced me to turn him loose on Stevens’ phone. June 25: Tooley pulled some erased phone numbers out of the memory of the phone. I agreed to cut him into whatever we get out of this, and he and a friend of his are going to track the numbers down. He also found the site and password for that place on the web Stevens was logged into. It’s the only noncommercial site in the browser history. That must

244 Kaje Harper mean something. Aug 4: I’m convinced that the website is some kind of werewolf home base. The stuff just reads as weird, until you assume it’s werewolves. If you treat it like they mean pack leader when they say boss, and pack when they say group or club, it makes sense. These guys bitch about their jobs and wives and stuff, but no women ever post anything. And they all have a “group” or a “club” they talk about. And there’s a lot of ambiguous shit and euphemisms. Simpson agrees with me. We log on nightly, to see what’s been posted. I’m making charts, trying to match screen names with wives and packs, and who knows who else. Tooley isn’t convinced, but I offered him a nice bonus for every identity he could come up with. This could be it! Sept 6: Tooley still hasn’t come up with any names from the website. He claims the security is tight. Which is suspicious in itself to me. How many chat rooms have any security worth talking about? Maybe for viewing kiddy porn, but not for stupid chats like this. I wonder if a better hacker might get results, but Tooley freaks when I suggest it. Simpson insists the guy is good, but I’m about ready to go behind his back. Sept 9: We might have a break. Personal details about one of the guys on the website, screen name “Kritter.” Seems like the asshole raped a girl and got caught. That’ll put him into a bunch of databases. I’ve recruited a state trooper with a taste for the weird. He’s going to search for arrests that match the date and description in the gossip. I just know this is finally going to work! Sept 12: I finally told Jason what we’re doing. Now we have a name, now there’s a chance. He thinks I’m crazy. Like seriously deranged. He thinks I’m so broken up about him that I’ve gone off the deep end.

unexPected deMAnds 245 He begged me to kill him rather than waste my life going after miracle cures. I tried to tell him it’s not just about him. There’s serious money to be made here, and other people are involved. They don’t think I’m crazy. A few hours later, his caregiver found Jason with his wheelchair tipped over on the floor, trying to stick his tongue into an electrical socket. He was trying to commit fucking suicide! Now, when the answer is almost within reach! I told the caregiver if he let my brother hurt himself I’d break every bone in his body. And he’d damn well better believe me. I hoped we’d have time to go after this guy right, safe and slow. But not if Jason’s going to find a way to die when the cure is within reach. Travers says he can recruit some guys for us, to make the trip to Boston for surveillance and retrieval. Full moon is not far off. I want cameras in place, and I want this guy. If I can prove to Jason we’re on the right track, he’ll have a reason to hang on. I’m not losing my brother now.

Scooter said, “That’s the last entry in this file. Either he got a new PDA or he stopped backing up, or whatever.” “Picture’s clear enough,” Hanson grunted. “Along with the emails we saw. He ran a gang up to Boston, they found this guy, filmed him, and then tried to kidnap him. The grab went wrong, the wolf died. The guy the werewolf hit on his doorstep and some of the others they had doing surveillance on the wolf ’s packmates disappeared too, and eventually the humans pulled back to look for a safer target.” “And found Simon.” “Yeah. Which doesn’t let Weston, the Boston Alpha, off the hook. He obviously did a lot of clean-up on this one, and locked it down tight. Not a word of warning.” “Maybe he figured he got them all,” Scooter suggested. “Probably. He still should have put out the word, multiple guys, surveillance and cameras. That’s something other Alphas should have heard about.”

246 Kaje Harper “I’ll let you point that out to him,” I said lightly. Weston had a nasty reputation, even for an older Alpha. I would have expected him to dispose of the rapist wolf himself, would never have thought to question why the guy disappeared. Weston would not take well to criticism. Hanson growled. “I will. Later.” “Text on my phone from Layton,” Tanner said. “They’re finished going through the kidnappers’ emails. They think there are at least five guys left. That includes the brother, who’s no threat, and the caregiver, plus Ryder and a couple of other guys. One of them may be a scientist type, one is probably an investigator with maybe security background.” “That’s not bad,” Hanson said. “Unless they’re fortressed up we can take four plus the brother.” “We have to kill the brother.” Zach’s words were not quite a question. “Yeah,” I said. That would be the hardest one for Zach. He needed to hear me say it, because I was afraid if the word came from Hanson, Zach might argue. “We do. Ryder says he showed his brother the evidence. We can’t leave him alive.” But saying it opened a cold place inside me too. I bit my cheek and silently cursed the greed and ingenuity of Ryder and the others that was dragging us out to slaughter a crippled boy. “Hey,” Scooter twisted to give Zach a wry look. “We’re doing the mutt a favor. He tried to off himself already and the brother stopped him. But there is no cure. Can you imagine being trapped in a chair forever? I’d beg someone to kill me.” Zach stirred restlessly, but didn’t answer. Surreptitiously I rubbed one fingertip against his leg above the splint. I opened the bond a fraction. Just when we started feeling human, like we fit into the greater community, something like this always came up. There was a level of violence among werewolves that kept us isolated, alien. An innocent bystander would die, because of what he saw. It wouldn’t be the first time, but, God, I wished I could believe it would be the last.

unexPected deMAnds 247 Over the bond, Zach was unhappy but the emotion barely skated over the surface of his pain. Damn the man. He wasn’t half as healed as he was pretending to be. Although perhaps his physical ills would be a good distraction, keep him from thinking this through too much. “Where are you planning to stop?” I asked Hanson. “Ridott is northwest of Seward, where Ryder’s place is. I figure we’ll get a cheap motel and let the guys do some reconnaissance while your boy works the computer.” A cheap motel would be less likely to keep a record of ID or license plates. Although I had noticed that the Suburban now wore Texas plates. And if false ID was called for, I was sure Hanson would be prepared. For all my insistence on being included, I was bone-weary and glad someone else was planning the details. I lifted Zach’s other leg into my lap, so he could lie across the small back seat better, and settled myself into the corner. The vibration of the Suburban’s ride rattled the metal against my skull. Zach had our only pillow. But I closed my eyes and bet that I could fall asleep anyway. “Wake me when we get there,” I said.

chAPteR 15 The compound around Ryder’s place was fenced with chain link. It was also electrified and surveyed by cameras, according to the scouting report from Scooter and Tanner. Inside the fence, the main house was barely visible through the trees. It stood three stories tall, made of stone and brick. Zach’s search through property records had pulled us a floor plan, and the fact that there was a full basement. Permits were on file for a remodeling project a year ago, but the details of that project were missing. Satellite photos of the property had shown at least three other outbuildings, probably a guesthouse, a stable, and some kind of servant quarters. There was also a roof small enough to be a shed or utility room. Zach had cursed the fact that the photos on record were all taken in the summer, under full leaf cover. He coveted the ability to tap into current satellite surveillance, but decided even his skills didn’t have the mojo for that. It was probably just as well. The last thing we wanted was to risk coming to government attention. Zach did get into the Illinois DMV, and pulled up three vehicles registered to Clayton Ryder. The house was in his brother’s name. There wasn’t enough information on the security guy, “Stuart” in the emails, to find him. But the scientist type was called Chandarian, an uncommon enough name to allow Zach to pin him down on the Web. A bunch of citations in articles about genetics and gene splicing, education at Northwestern and Dartmouth, and a DMV mug shot that showed a tall, balding man in his early thirties. Unfortunately, surveillance had also picked up at least two more guards walking the property. Joel had parked himself in a tree outside the gates, trying to get us an exact count. Best guess was four guards in addition to Stuart, and the other four men we knew about. Hanson’s men were scornfully dismissive of the security

250 Kaje Harper precautions. With no hostage at risk, they were sure they could get in and neutralize any threat. After all, three ex-SEAL werewolves against less than a dozen vanilla humans? Piece of cake. The thing that held us back was the concern that Ryder might have a doomsday plan. The explosives-in-the-warehouse thing suggested it. He might simply have means and will to blow the place to hell if attacked. That would be bad, but not a complete disaster as long as some of us survived to do clean-up. And it took more guts, and more fanaticism, than most people had to commit suicide that way. Ryder was in it for gain, for money and for the cure. His writing read as obsessed, but the way he sent others out to the front lines while he pulled the strings didn’t suggest a willingness to die for his secrets. Alternatively, he might have an information bomb. If he despaired of getting and keeping the answers for himself, he might plan to release them. He could have his video and collected information ready to send out on the Web, either to one recipient or to the world at large. That was the real threat that had held us back through the long day. Zach was working to craft a counterstrike that would shut Ryder’s computer down if he went online as we moved in. As we sat in the Suburban, a mile from the front gates of the compound, I heard wheels approaching down the rutted dirt track we had selected for our staging area. I climbed out and watched in the dimming twilight as a vehicle drew near. And I had to smile. Because this was Zach’s bright idea. We’d been sitting around the motel room, trying to work out an approach into the compound that wouldn’t look suspicious. Scooter had muttered that if there was a delivery vehicle that passed the gates, he could find a way in too, either on it, in it, or under it. Perhaps a mail truck, service vehicle, grocery delivery. “Why wait for one?” Zach asked. “When we have the perfect answer ready-made.” Scooter blinked. “Run that by me again.” “A courier van,” Zach said. “Ryder asked us, well asked Curt,

unexPected deMAnds 251 to courier the samples to him. So he would expect an express truck to show up, about six hours after we email him that it’s coming. We can even use one of our guys as the driver.” “That’s fucking brilliant!” Tanner said. I reached out a quick hand to intercept a hearty slap on the back aimed at Zach’s bad shoulder. Tanner said, “Oops, sorry,” but his look made me wonder if the gesture had been deliberate. Dominant wolves don’t like to be shown up, even by their allies. An accidental-on-purpose physical takedown would even the scales. From Hanson’s glare he was thinking the same thing. “Don’t break the tech guy,” he snapped. “You and Scooter go steal me a truck. Better go into Rockford. It’s less likely to be noticed quickly.” “On it, Alpha,” Scooter agreed. “We’ll call you with the company name when we have one.” They slipped out of the room, leaving me blinking a little. Hanson’s solution to needing a courier truck was to steal one? Clearly his men had a different skill set than mine. I was really glad Mark was not along on this trip. He had more trouble than most with the moral ambiguities of our way of life, and this trip was going to push my own limits close to breaking. Zach and Layton had come up with an email to send from where Layton still held down the Minneapolis hotel room with Curt’s computer. Ryder: Samples sent by express courier. Packed in regular ice, need immediate transfer when arrive. Leg worse, sorry. Will try to stay in touch.- C

A call from Scooter had let them add the Midwest Express Services name into it before sending. We deliberately kept the details sketchy. Without a tracking code, or knowing what false name the sender might have used, we hoped Ryder wouldn’t get suspicious if he tried to track the package and couldn’t find it. Zach had cruised online, trying to catch Ryder logged in, but hadn’t found him. Eventually, as the time rolled around, Hanson’s

252 Kaje Harper men suited up and we moved out. Now the MES truck pulled into the clearing. Tanner was driving, dressed in what appeared to be an authentic uniform. Scooter climbed out of the Suburban. His winter gear was close in color to the white of the truck. I wondered if that was luck, or if the two men had chosen this truck for that reason. Joel followed Scooter over to the truck, laced his fingers together, and gave the smaller man a boost. Scooter got fingers on the edge of the roof and hauled himself up. The man was seriously jacked, if he could do fingertip pull-ups. Joel tossed up a couple of small items. “Suction handles,” Hanson told me. “Clamp those to the roof and he can ride easy.” He nodded as Scooter disappeared below the roofline. The truck was tall enough that it would take a lot of height or distance to see the man lying prone on the roof. Joel walked to the front of the truck and passed Tanner a white foam cooler, sealed with official looking tape. Perhaps it would turn out be overkill, but we had mocked up shipping forms, and even obtained plausible samples from a butcher and a clinic. Blood vials and slivers of meat and skin, chilled down in ice, would look like the real thing if Ryder was suspicious enough to open the cooler on the doorstep. Tanner set the cooler into the back of the truck and gave his Alpha a little salute. Skillfully, he reversed the big van and headed back down the track. “Showtime,” Hanson muttered. We hung back from the truck as it turned onto the road and drove toward the compound. Hanson had an earpiece on, monitoring commentary from his men ahead in the darkness. “They’re at the gate,” he reported. “Gate’s open. Tanner’s giving him the line.” That meant he was telling the gate guard that the cooler would only be turned over on Ryder’s personal signature. Either Ryder would have to come down to the gate in the cold, or the van would have to be allowed through. We had plans for both contingencies. Hanson gave a satisfied nod. “They’re in. Move up slowly, Joel.”

unexPected deMAnds 253 We crept ahead, lights out, and pulled over at the spot Hanson’s men had chosen. Zach had his computer open, with the screen brightness dialed way down. “No open access point so far. I’m monitoring.” “You stay on him, and stay put,” I said severely, zipping my winter gear. Zach was also dressed for the snow, and a pair of crutches lay across the floor of the Suburban, but the plan was for him not to move an inch. I was about to open my mouth to reinforce that when he grunted. “Wait.” His slender olive fingers flew across his keyboard. “Yes! I think…wait…yes. That did it.” He glanced up at me, exhilarated grin spread across his face. “Ryder started to come online and I dumped that virus in so fast he never got past logging in. His software should be fried.” “You crashed his computer?” Zach gave me the pitying look of an expert for an ignorant plebe. “Not the whole computer. I took out his browser and most of the other portal software he needs to get online. I left the computer working. I want him to mess with fixing it, not just run to another one. And we may want to look at it, later.” “You think you got it, kid?” Hanson growled. “Oh, yeah. It’s toast.” Zach’s pleasure was familiar, electric warmth in my mind. I didn’t realize how open our bond was until my body reacted to it, like feeling his hands on me. I shut the contact down to a trickle, glad that the darkness would hide the flush on my face. If I was breathing fast, well, excitement, upcoming combat, there were a lot of innocuous reasons why. “Keep monitoring,” I told Zach, trying to keep both pride and desire out of my voice. Time enough to tell him later. “And don’t put one finger out of this car unless someone is coming after you. Hear me?” “Yes, Aaron.” It would have sounded like submission to most people, but I caught the echo of mockery in it. My boy played at submission in bed too, until I took him down and made it real. “I mean it.” I slammed him with my Alpha authority, hard enough to draw a grunt from him.

254 Kaje Harper “Yes, Alpha.” This time it sounded sincere. Hanson, Joel, and I opened our doors. The dome light was off to preserve our night vision and hide our presence. One by one, we shut the doors quietly and slipped down the road, keeping to the shadows. We reached the trees closest to the compound gate just as the van’s headlights swept toward us, coming back from the house. Tanner had his high beams on, and the guard at the gate put a hand over his eyes to block the glare as he coded the gate open for the truck to leave. On cue, we ran across the road and through the opening. The bulk of the truck skidded into the gate camera. Hanson took the guard out with a quick motion. I didn’t see the blow or a weapon, but a moment later the guard was crumpled in the snow next to the truck, unmoving. The first casualty. I had saved Grossman’s men, but I could do nothing for these. Innocent or guilty, this was the end game and they would pay the price for being here. I had sent an email via what Zach said was a secure spoofed route earlier in the day, to the personal email address he had found for Tom Grossman. They were batfuck enough to blow it. We rescued one, lost one. Do what you need to do.

Mark had told me the cops didn’t have Grossman’s name yet, but if I had any measure of the man, once he heard about the dead body he would contact them. I wanted him to know whose finger had pushed the button on the explosives. If I was lucky, he would give the cops everything but me. I hoped the lives of his men would buy me that luck. If I wasn’t lucky, well, I wasn’t very distinctive in appearance, and there was no reason for a scientific writer from Anoka to be suspected. Barring a photo on someone’s camera phone, I was probably still safe. No safety for these men tonight, though. Ryder’s men had killed Jackson. Hanson would make sure that none of them survived that offense. “Move out,” Hanson whispered. As planned, Tanner jumped

unexPected deMAnds 255 out of the truck and ran toward the main house at Hanson’s side. Scooter would already be there. Joel and I headed for the guesthouse. From what we could tell, the guesthouse had been remodeled for handicap access. The main house had not. While Hanson expected to find the remaining guards, and Ryder’s men, at the house or patrolling the grounds, Joel and I were looking for Jason Ryder and his caretaker. Joel glanced over a couple of times at the big house as we approached our target. No question where he would rather be; in the thick of things, not rounding up strays. I’d rather be there too, but not from any particular love of firefights. The men there were guilty, as the two in this house were not. “We’ll make this quick,” Joel said, “And go back up the Alpha.” “The other Alpha,” I growled. “Right.” Joel bent to the doorknob, finessing the lock. If Hanson ever turned to a life of crime, he would have all kinds of talent at his disposal. The door was just opening under Joel’s hand when the snap of a gunshot echoed from the main house. Joel jerked upright, attention riveted behind us, and then glanced at me. “Go,” I said. The plan had been to get through this without any shots fired. Somewhere, we had lost that edge. And Hanson’s men had silenced weapons. That shot had been from the defenders in the house. “I have my orders,” Joel growled, but he was still staring over his shoulder. “What, you don’t think I can take out a cripple and a male nurse by myself ?” I snapped. “Is someone hurt?” Joel’s nod was brief. “Then go.” I wasn’t his Alpha, but I put as much authority into it as I could. He melted away into the darkness. From the main house, more shots rang in the still air. I wished that was my pack, so I would know what was happening. I wished Hanson wasn’t such a snob that he wouldn’t give me a headset. I wished I didn’t have to do this. I slipped into the house.

256 Kaje Harper The guesthouse was a one-story building. The front rooms were dark, but light spilled into the hallway from a door ajar at the far end. I stalked silently toward that bright rectangle. It didn’t take werewolf hearing to pick up the voices. “Go see what’s happening.” “I’m not leaving you alone here. Ryder would kill me.” “Those were gunshots, Brad! My brother is over there.” “And if there’s trouble my job is to keep you safe.” “Fuck your job! Clay might need help.” “Your brother would be the first one to tell me to stay here.” “Don’t you get it? If anything happens to him, I might as well

be dead! Get the fuck over there and help him!” Enough. I reached in my pocket for the weapon I had brought. Hanson had given it to me; small, deadly, and silenced. He made me prove I could use it. That was no problem for a Wyoming boy. At least, hitting a paper target was no problem. Gun steady in my right hand, I stepped into the doorway. Across the room, a young man sat in a wheelchair. His body was held upright by straps, his right forearm splinted in some kind of rig, and a metal tube hovered to one side of his mouth. His face was carved deep with lines, although his hair was dark and thick. His eyes snapped up to me as I stepped into view and his mouth dropped open. I ignored him to focus on the other man. Jason Ryder’s caregiver was a husky man in his late forties. As I appeared, he was standing between Jason and the door. In one hand, he held an automatic, but it dangled loosely, pointed at the floor. His body was angled toward his crippled charge, his focus on the young man. For one fatal moment, he hesitated, caught between bringing up the gun, and putting himself between me and his helpless client. In that moment, I killed him. The report was no more than a loud pop; not total silence, but not enough to echo outside the room. My bullet caught the

unexPected deMAnds 257 man between the eyes. A body shot was easier, but the head shot was more certain. I could hardly miss at that range. The man fell, dropping in a boneless heap. The gun slid away from his hand. I knew he must have been dead from the second that the lead hit his brain, but for an instant his eyes seemed to cling to mine, pleading. Then his gaze fixed beyond me and he was gone. In the wheelchair, the young man stared at me. A few drops of blood-spray freckled his arm. His pupils were wide, swallowing up the amber of his irises. I should have shot him then, before he had a chance to speak or cry out. I didn’t. Slowly, his gaze dropped to the man on the floor. “He wasn’t really a fighter.” His voice was almost conversational, but I could hear the screaming underneath it. He drew breath, and tried again. “My brother tried to get me a bodyguard who knew how to handle weapons and tactics, but men like that don’t want to wipe a cripple’s ass and do his laundry. Brad was really a caregiver at heart, no matter how much training Clay gave him.” His eyes came up to meet mine. “Who are you?” There was no reason to answer him, no reason to drag this out. I cleared my throat. “Who do you think I am?” “My brother would claim you’re a werewolf.” I inclined my head. “No shit?” Jason’s mouth dropped, and he swallowed. “I always thought he was deluded, you know. Off in his own fantasy world, looking for the fountain of youth or the Holy Grail or whatever freaking prize was at the end of the rainbow.” We stared at each other. “Can you really turn into a wolf ?” he asked. I shrugged. My gun pointed straight at him, but my hand wasn’t closing on the trigger and he was fixed on my face. “Would you show me?” he asked. “Consider it my last request?” “If you’ve seen that tape, you’ve seen how we shift. If you’ve seen the next one, you’ve seen how we die.”

258 Kaje Harper The boy looked down for an instant, color flooding across his face. “Clayton always swore the werewolf survived.” I couldn’t actually rule it out until I had a chat with his Alpha, but I shook my head. “We die like anyone else.” “Clayton claimed you have super healing. That’s how this whole thing began, you know, looking for a cure for me.” “Don’t delude yourself,” I replied. “I’ve read his diary. Your brother was after the money, right from the start.” “Yeah, money as well,” Jason said evenly. “Clayton has his share of greed. But he did want to find a way to help me.” “Wouldn’t have worked,” I told him. “We’re born, not made. Unless your father was a werewolf, there’s no way you’ll ever be one. We can’t pass it along. And anyway.” I looked at him, trapped in that chair. This boy was only a few years older than Zach, but he looked worn to the bone. “We’re not immortal,” I told him. “You can kill us by breaking our necks. I don’t know if even a werewolf could heal an injury like yours. Not years later, with an injury this old.” I shook my head. “Even if you could become one of us, after all this time, you would still be trapped in that chair.” Jason might have claimed that he thought his brother’s quest was a delusional dream, but I saw his face change as I spoke. Somewhere in that boy, his brother had planted hope, and I had just killed it. Of course, I was going to kill him too, soon enough. As if he heard my thoughts, Jason’s face paled. In the dark outside, a single shot snapped out, and then quiet returned. “Are those…your men out there?” “I know them.” “And my brother?” I gave him the truth. “If he’s not dead now, he will be soon.” “Damn.” It was barely a breath. For a moment we held still, listening to the silence from the big house. I had no doubt Hanson’s men would complete their task. Somehow, they had screwed up the silent takedown, but it wouldn’t change the

unexPected deMAnds 259 eventual outcome. “Why?” Jason demanded. “Why kill us? We just wanted to know…” “You just wanted to know,” I growled. “Enough to murder, and kidnap, and torture. And even if you hadn’t, once word of us gets out, there would be plenty of others who are willing to do the same. We’re only safe as long as we’re a myth, a joke, like the Yeti and the abominable snowman. As long as we have super strength and can’t cross running water and burn at the touch of silver. As long as we’re not real enough to lock in a lab and draw secrets from with a blow torch.” His eyes were puzzled. “A blow torch?” So he didn’t know the details of how far his brother and the other men would go for our secrets. I wished he had, wished I could kill him now in rising anger at what was done to Simon. But he didn’t know. It didn’t change things. “It doesn’t matter.” “So now what? You’re going to shoot me too?” I should have just done it. I stood there. There was no choice. If I didn’t do this Hanson would. And if I tried to protect Jason, Hanson would just take me out. Probably he’d be relieved to have a good reason. For the sake of my pack, I needed to be ruthless now. “You might as well,” Jason rasped. “You’ve killed my brother, my caregiver. You might as well kill me. Hell, you’re doing me a favor.” “I don’t have a choice.” “Good. Good! Do it. Shoot me. ‘Cause you know, I can’t do it myself.” He looked up at me, eyes damp but chin raised. “Do you have any idea what it’s like to live in this fucking chair? To be able to move one finger on my right hand, on a good day? My brother used to say, ‘One day you’ll walk again, Jason.’ To hell with walking! I want to be able to pee without a catheter. I want to be able to put a bite of food in my own mouth, instead of

260 Kaje Harper being fed like a baby. I want to be able to brush the sweat out of my eyes, scratch my own itch, blow my own fucking nose instead of waiting with the snot running down my face until someone does it for me! I want to touch a girl’s skin when I kiss her.” He gave a jerk of his chin, perhaps the most movement his body was capable of. “Not happening, not then, not now, not ever. So kill me! I want you to. Because I can’t.” He was breathing hard, a sheen of sweat on his forehead. And yet his body sat there, so unnaturally still, not a twitch, not a motion, formal and square in his chair. “I’ve tried, you know,” he said. “I’ve tried to kill myself. But I can’t. Now everyone I care about, everyone who ever cared about me is dead. And I still can’t die. Until you do it for me.” It was mercy. I could take this shot, and call it something less than murder. The boy was right. In his place, I would have begged for an ending too. Those people who struggled on, who made something worthwhile out of lives so constrained, had far more courage than I ever would. It was mercy. His eyes looked up at me, dark and shining and young, and I didn’t squeeze the trigger. But there was a soft pop from behind me. In the boy’s lined forehead, a third eye opened, and wept red tears. His heart stuttered and stopped. It was quiet in that room, except for the slow breathing of the man behind me. I turned. “Zach?” He stood balanced on his crutches, the gun in his left hand. Hanson had given him one, once he showed that Minnesota boys were taught to shoot too. It was for protection, in case someone came after him in the car. It wasn’t meant for this. “You didn’t want to do it,” he said softly. “No, of course not! But Jesus, Zach, I sure as hell didn’t want you to do it instead!” He shrugged, the motion limited by the pain in his healing shoulder. “I could feel it, hurting you. You looked at him and it ached, all the way down the bond. And I knew it wouldn’t hurt

unexPected deMAnds 261 me the same way.” He was lying. I could feel the flutter of shock under his cool exterior, the way that simple quarter-inch pull of one finger had changed him. And yet he was right. It hurt him in quite a different way. “Now we each killed one,” he said, trying for nonchalance. “We’re even.” I went to him, and took the gun slowly out of his hand. He let go gradually, one finger at a time, as if he had to teach his hand the motion all over again. When the gun was free, I put the safety back on and held it out to him. “Hang onto that. You might need it.” He stared at me, and then took it back and stowed it in his parka pocket. “I fucking hope not. You dominant types are supposed to be taking care of all the rough stuff.” His voice was steadier. “And you submissive types are supposed to follow orders and stay where I put you,” I countered. “What part of ‘Don’t get out of the car’ didn’t you understand?” He looked up at me. “Are you angry?” “No.” I let out a breath and just said it. “No. You’re right. It was necessary and it was my job, and I didn’t want to do it. Too many dead boys on my conscience already.” I moved closer, looking down at Zach. I wanted to kiss him. I desperately wanted that mouth under mine, and the heat of his body against me, and all that warm life surrounding me. But Hanson would be sending someone after us any time now. And it was a luxury we couldn’t afford. I tried to put it into my voice, with the bond open wide. “Thank you, Zach. And I’m sorry.” “Don’t be sorry.” Over the bond, his need and caring wrapped around me, where his arms couldn’t. “I’d do it again, if it helped you.” I could hear the front door open. We only had seconds, and I couldn’t say what he needed to hear. I did say, “You can’t guess

262 Kaje Harper how much it helped.” And then Hanson swept in, giving the scene a quick glance. “Messy,” he grumped. “Good thing my boys are experts at cleanup. What’s the kid doing here?” “Helping,” I said. My heart was lighter than it should have been, with dead men all around me. “Speaking of messy, I heard more than a couple of shots from your silent takedown.” Before he could retort I added, “I’m taking Zach back to the car. He isn’t supposed to be walking around on that leg. Are your men up to finishing this thing?” “Sure,” he growled. “Tanner got grazed by a stray shot; he’s fine. We’ll bring the computers out to the motel for your boy to check, and take care of the rest.” He tossed me a set of keys. “Take the Suburban. Both of you go get some sleep. You look like you need it. I’ll ride out in the van later.” He looked around one more time, gave a grudging nod in the direction of the corpses, and was gone. Zach stood there silently, balancing on one foot. He looked at the two dead men. My victim, slumped on the floor, face mercifully slack and expressionless now. And his, head drooping but otherwise pinned erect by the same chair and straps that had restrained him in life. I let Zach look and didn’t push him to move on. I saw his throat work, swallowing hard, and his nostrils flared. I thought it was the smell of death, bringing our actions home. Then I saw where his eyes had tracked to. On a side table, a half-full bottle of Glenfiddich sat beside two glasses, one with a finger of liquor in the bottom, the other full and fitted with a plastic straw. “Shit,” he said softly. “I just killed a guy, and all I can think about is how good that scotch would taste about now. Take away all the pain.” He eyed me sharply. “Aren’t you going to tell me how stupid that would be?” I shrugged. “Do I need to?” “No.” He breathed out slowly. “I’m not going to drink. I

unexPected deMAnds 263 swore it. And anyway, Paul Hunter would probably kill me. He’s pretty fierce for a human.” He turned away abruptly. “It’s just harder than I thought. Sometimes it’s all harder than I thought.” Over the bond I felt how that familiar smell pulled at him, an itch begging to be eased, a need almost like the climbing heat of sex, the promise of a deep dark fall into pleasure if he would only drink it down. He was tired and hurting, and shaken by his own actions. I wished desperately that I had left him home. His head came up even as I thought that. The bond was not telepathy, but Zach said, “No. I’m glad I came. I needed to help, needed you to let me help you. I don’t regret it. And I just have to take the not-drinking thing one day at a time. I can do it.” He could. There was much more to this boy, this man, than I would have suspected a few weeks ago. Zach turned, hobbling with difficulty on his crutches. I could feel the pull on his broken ribs, and the way the crutch levered his bad shoulder upward. His leg ached like fire. “I think I strained something, getting here,” he muttered. As we reached the courtyard, I wanted to pick him up in my arms. Carrying an injured comrade was very butch. Just watch any war movie. But I wouldn’t take one inch of his independence away tonight. He could ask for help if he needed it. Just past the gate his crutches slipped on the ice. I grabbed his arm to keep him from falling. He leaned into my grasp for support, his hip coming against mine. “A Suburban with three rows of seats all to ourselves,” he murmured on a bare breath, “And I’m too sore to take advantage of it.” “If we had sex in Hanson’s car,” I returned on the same breath, “There wouldn’t be a country far enough away to hide us. I’ll take a rain check.” Zach nodded. I felt the stresses of the last few days hit him, draining his reserves. Then I did lift him, for those last few steps to the car. His body was heavy and limp in my arms. “I’ll hold

264 Kaje Harper you to that,” he said. And I’ll hold you, I thought, as I struggled to keep my feet on the icy ground and carry him like it was easy. I didn’t want anyone offering to help. I’ll hold you as long as I can.

§ § § §

Zach sprawled out on the motel bed, snoring lightly. I had checked his bandages and administered the morphine Paul sent with me. Zach’s protest had been weak, mainly for the principle of the thing, and I overrode him easily. He needed rest. He needed pain-free sleep and time and healing. And not just for his injuries. The first time you kill, it takes something from your soul. Maybe every time you kill, because the face of that caregiver as he died was lurking in the back of my own mind even now. But for Zach, Jason was his first. As Karl had been mine. When I dreamed of that fight, it wasn’t the moments when Karl almost had me that brought me awake with my heart pounding. It was that moment when my teeth found his vulnerable spot, when his lifeblood choked him and I knew he would die under my jaws. Sometimes in my dreams I took dark pleasure in that moment. Sometimes I tried to let go before death was inevitable, but knew I was too late. I always woke stained by it. For Zach it might be worse. He had killed for me. It could be seen as a mercy killing perhaps, but still was harder than killing in the hot blood of a fight. He had meant it as a gift, but it hurt that I hadn’t kept that darkness away from him. The man had things hard enough. And yet, some small selfish part of me was glad that he had done it, was glad that we had this in common too. That we would understand the demons that woke each other in the small hours of morning. For now, the morphine gave him rest. His face was lax and still, and I could sit and look at him without embarrassment. Already I knew every line of him. I could gaze at the curve of his neck, and know how the soft skin

unexPected deMAnds 265 would taste. His jaw held the faintest shadow of stubble, and I knew it would barely rasp against my tongue even after two days without shaving. There was a small crease in his forehead. Even in sleep, the stress and pain of the last few days hadn’t fully let him go. My hand itched to reach out and smooth it, but I kept my place. Let him sleep. I had never had a lover like this in my life. I had never expected to have him. I tucked my feet under me in the chair, and settled in to watch him. I would take every moment I could get, for as long as he would let me. Someday this man would move on. He was just discovering who he was and what he could do. He needed me now to dominate him, to give him guidance and limits. His past was still too fresh, his addictions too strong. But I thought Zach didn’t realize the reserves he carried inside himself. He wouldn’t always want to bow head to me and be ruled by me. He would find work, and his place in the world. I wondered if I should push him to go to college. Clearly his skills were wasted in a Midwest cabinet shop. Zach could be anything, anywhere he chose. I tried to just be glad that for now, he chose to be with me. I wasn’t surprised by the soft tap on our door. I had expected Hanson to come calling. I checked Zach one more time, and slipped out to join the older Alpha. Side by side, we walked out of the motel parking lot and headed down the road. Away from the neon sign, the darkness closed in. To a human, the footing might have been dicey, on the rutted snow-and-ice verge that wound past slumbering businesses. To a pair of wolves, even in human form there was enough light. “The kid okay?” Hanson asked. “He’ll be fine.” “My guys called. They have a few more hours to clean up and set the scenario. They’ll ride out in one of Ryder’s vehicles and call me for pick-up somewhere when they’re done. They’ve found five computers for our boy to check through. He’ll be busy tomorrow.” He gave me a reassuring glance. “They’re the best. We’ll be out of this takedown clean. If the bastards haven’t

266 Kaje Harper already sent their data out elsewhere, then no one will connect this place with werewolves or with us. I guarantee it.” I nodded. “I know.” After a few more strides I made myself say it. “I owe you. My pack, and me personally, we owe you and yours. We might have survived this alone, but not cleanly, not safely. And I know what you lost.” “Jackson would have given his life in a second, to buy all the packs time and secrecy. But yeah, I want payback.” I almost said, name it. At the last moment I changed it to, “Go on.” I could hardly refuse anything he asked, but I wasn’t issuing any blank checks. “Three things.” The faint light silhouetted Hanson’s short, strong fingers as he ticked them off. “First, that kid of yours. When he’s healthy, you send him to do a full security sweep of all my pack’s computers. He gets everybody up to snuff, all the protection he can think of in place, and I want him to teach Layton how it’s done.” “Will Layton go along with that?” “Hell, yeah. He does what I tell him. But in this case it’s not necessary. He thinks your kid walks on water. Geeks!” It was a disgusted snort, but when he spoke again his voice was thoughtful. “You know, that boy is a bottom-of-the-pack submissive if I ever saw one. And yet, when he gets his hands on a keyboard, he just might be the most dangerous wolf you have.” I thought about saying that to Mark, or Richard, and bit back a laugh. But I might tell Zach that Hanson had said it, if he needed a lift someday. “Second, I’m holding a marker in reserve. One day I might need help from one of yours. When I call in the marker, you back me up, no questions asked.” “I can’t guarantee no questions. But if I can return the favor, I will.” Hanson nodded. “Third…” There he stalled. We walked in silence. The ground under our feet was slick and ridged, but wolf

unexPected deMAnds 267 reflexes kept our steps matched and even. The cold air was good. Eventually, Hanson stopped and turned to face me. His face was in shadow, eyes hidden. “Third, I want you to take one of my pack into yours.” “You want…” I stopped. Alphas never gave up a pack member just like that. Sometimes a wolf might make the request to transfer, especially if he was traveling too far to stay with his home pack. But our wolves were ours. We controlled them, disciplined them, did what was necessary to keep the pack together. We didn’t give them up to our nearest rival. “My pack isn’t very stable right now. I can’t take on a troublemaker.” Hanson shook his head, a quick motion that he cut off short. “He’s not. This is a kid, just fifteen. But he’s not going to fit in with my wolves.” It suddenly made sense. “He’s gay.” Hanson made a sound in his throat. “Yeah. I don’t think he even knows it yet. Or he’s not admitting it to himself. But I’m his Alpha, and his mentor, and I pay attention. I know what catches his interest and what doesn’t. I’ve been watching, trying to decide. But if he keeps shifting naked with the men of my pack, the others are going to catch on soon.” It was an incredible step forward that Hanson was taking this way out, instead of dealing with the boy as he undoubtedly had with others before, but I still wanted to push a little. “They’re your pack. And if anyone has Alpha control over his men you do. Can’t you make them take him as he is?” “No!” Hanson’s head tilted down and he stared fixedly at the ground. “Look, I heard what you’ve said. I’ve met Simon, and I don’t feel the need to rip his throat out. But change is slow with us. My pack has men in their seventies, eighties, nineties. They’re not going to change quickly or easily. They’ll make the kid’s life a living hell, or find a way around my control and kill him. This is not the boy to try it with.” “Why not?” “For one thing, he has no acting ability. A wolf like your Simon,

268 Kaje Harper who was able to hide with the pack for ten years before being outed, he could take it. And the others knew him well, before they learned that he was…that way. This boy is transparent, and not as tough as he needs to be.” Hanson looked back up. “And he’s my brother’s boy. His mother died when he was born, and my brother…well, my wife and I raised Peter since he was a baby. He’s like our own. I can’t use him to make the first exception with my pack. They’ll assume it’s because he’s family, not because the law needs to change.” “But you agree it needs to change?” “Take this kid,” he growled. “And the next one that comes along I’ll ram down my pack’s throat and protect him myself. I swear it.” “As soon as Peter comes to me, everyone will guess why.” “They’ll know soon either way. In your pack, he’ll have protection, and tolerance. He won’t have to watch his back every second of every day.” “Okay,” I said slowly. “Okay, I can do that. Although I don’t want my pack becoming the ghetto for gay wolves.” “You owe me.” “I said okay.” I huffed a breath. “Can it wait a month or two? We’re still scrambling to put my pack together and see if we’re safe.” “A couple of months, maybe. If it has to be sooner, I’ll let you know.” “Done.” I looked at him curiously. “How does it work? I’ve never seen a wolf changing to a pack so close to his old Alpha. I always figured distance helped break the old bond, to make room for the new.” Distance from Wyoming. Distance from Denver. This was my fourth pack, but I’d always had distance, or death. “Not just distance. Otherwise no wolf could ever travel far. Distance thins the bonds, makes it hard to get information from them. But they’re still there. You can still feel your wolves in your head, and when you head back home, the bonds slowly firm

unexPected deMAnds 269 up again. No matter how far you’ve gone. Only the Alpha can choose to cut off a wolf from the pack. It’s a deliberate act. Well, deliberate or the result of the Alpha’s death.” “Ah.” Abruptly, I wondered if Tobias, my old Alpha, would have ever cut me loose. Maybe his death long ago had been an unperceived blessing, setting me free to live the life I’d had. “You’ll show me how it’s done?” “I suppose I will. When you take the boy.” “He’s fifteen,” I went on, considering the complications. “But if he’s living with you and your wife, neither of you is likely to move into my territory with him.” Hanson snorted. “Who do you figure he’ll live with?” “Your wolf, your problem. Kid needs someone, that’s for sure. He’s soft. Not physically. He’s had all the training I can get into him. But he doesn’t think tough. Must come from his mother’s side of the family.” “Are there any other relatives on her side?” “Nope.” He eyed me. “You’ve got the one kid living in your house, I heard. Maybe you can take on two.” Was he fishing for information about Zach and me? I thought I’d been careful, but this man was sharp. I decided to give him half the truth. “Zach has a problem with alcohol. Living with his Alpha is better than AA for the boy. But there’s no extra room, and Peter might be safer away from me. I’m probably going to be a target, one way or another, for decades to come.” “Planning on continuing to rock the boat?” Not planning, exactly, but I knew I wasn’t going to back off the issues that threatened my wolves’ safety. “Yeah, probably.” I sighed. “I’ll ask around, find him somewhere to stay.” “Good.” Hanson repeated, “Good.” He sounded like a man trying to convince himself. For the first time I had a sliver of sympathy for my father, back in some moment of decision when I was a boy, torn between caring for his son and hating what his

270 Kaje Harper son was. But only for a second. My father had chosen his path; Hanson had found a different one. “So,” I said brightly, turning our steps back toward the motel. Zach slept in the room, in drugged slumber. I wasn’t leaving him unprotected for long. “This clean-up your men are doing. Is it likely to involve fire?” Hanson shrugged, his body losing its tightness as I changed the subject. “I wouldn’t be surprised. Fire covers a multitude of sins. Fire, theft, camouflage, disappearing bodies, house cleaning, whatever it takes. Tanner is an artist.” “Will we have to leave town in the middle of the night?” “Nah. Not if it’s done right. I figure one more day here, to rest up and make sure there are no loose ends. Then we’ll head home.” He didn’t look at me. “Your boy should have some healing time, before we move out.” And I had to wonder just how successfully I had hidden myself from this man’s sharp eyes. But if he didn’t ask, I wouldn’t tell. And for now, I had Zach asleep in the motel room down the road. No one was looking for him, no one would steal him away to captivity and torture. And in two days, we would have time home alone again. Two days would be long enough to ease his pain and let me come up with some good ideas of how to use that alone time. Although if I knew the bright and resourceful young man I was living with, he would undoubtedly have some ideas of his own. I was looking forward to that.

chAPteR 16 Paul and Simon were waiting for us at the house when I finally got Zach home from that long hard trip. Paul came to the door of the car to help ease Zach out without bumping the leg. I could tell Zach was trying to look competent and half-healed, but over the bond I could feel the aches and pains, and the low subliminal buzz of his wish for a drink. I could have picked him up, but not in front of Hanson’s wolf in the driver’s seat. Zach’s skills, and his willingness to kill to protect us, had garnered him grudging acceptance from the hard men Hanson surrounded himself with. His stubborn refusal to show any pain gained an added ounce of approval. It was my job to make sure he kept every bit of that. So I stood back and let him make his own way. Zach slid his crutches under his arms and headed up the walk to the door. Paul hovered at his elbow, alert for slips on the snowy pavement. It took all I had to turn my back on them and look back in at Tanner. He gave me a nod. “Boss said to tell you he’ll be in touch.” “He knows how to reach me.” I didn’t nod back, and stared hard enough to make Tanner drop his gaze. Games. I was tired of the fucking dominance games but my wolf knew how they were played, and when. I grabbed our bags out of the back, and Simon appeared beside me to reach for them. I started to pass them over and then hesitated. “How are the hands?” “Healing.” I gave him the bag with a shoulder strap. “Take that one.” I shoved the car door shut and stepped back, watching Tanner drive away. Simon stood beside me until the Jeep turned the corner and was gone. We each took a deeper breath, and then Simon smiled. “Welcome back, Aaron. Come on in and relax. Paul’s been waiting to get his hands on Zach and check him out. And you look like a shower and some food wouldn’t be a bad idea, reduce

272 Kaje Harper the scruff level.” I tried to glare at him for suggesting his Alpha looked scruffy, but decided not to bother. This was Simon, after all. There was no challenge in it. “Did Mark get what he needed from the files?” I asked. “Yep. He says he’s done here for now. He’s gone home, and I told Vincent you’d call if you needed him. It’s just us. Paul brought his medical supplies and I cooked. My mother’s chicken and biscuits, which are not to be missed if I do say so myself.” I followed him in my own front door, and bumped it closed behind us with my hip. And felt the tightness just melt from my neck. This was our haven, here. And these two additional men in it were no threat. I dropped the bag and headed to the living room. Paul had Zach stretched out on the couch, sweatpants off to expose his bandaged leg. With gentle, swift hands, Paul cut and removed the wrappings. I looked over his shoulder at Zach’s leg as it was exposed. There were bruises blooming still, in purple, black, and green. And the leg was swollen around the break. But it looked better to me. Paul felt the area carefully, and then moved Zach’s knee through a limited range. “Probably a waste of time to ask if that hurts,” he muttered in a gruff tone. “Damned werewolves.” Simon put a hand on his shoulder and Paul glanced up for a moment. I saw Paul’s eyes flick from the nearly-healed burn on Simon’s cheek back down to the battered tips of his fingers where new nails were beginning to appear. And I saw the gentle answering warmth in Simon’s eyes. “We’re a stubborn lot,” Simon said softly. “No kidding.” Paul returned to his examination of Zach, pushing the hem of Zach’s sweatshirt up to expose his ribs. Paul took his time with stethoscope and skilled fingertips. I appreciated his thoroughness but surely he was taking awfully long, just to say everything was fine. Unless it wasn’t. When Paul silently reached for the supplies to rewrap Zach’s

unexPected deMAnds 273 leg, I couldn’t wait any longer. “Report!” Paul stared at me, and the low growl from Simon made me aware of the tone I had used. “Sorry. It’s been a long few days. But I do want your evaluation, Paul.” Now, please. Paul turned deliberately to speak to Zach. “You’re doing well. Your chest looks amazingly good. The leg isn’t quite straight. If you can get Aaron to bring you by the clinic tomorrow after hours I’ll do an x-ray and see what the healing callus looks like. But it is healing, which was better than I was afraid of from the look of that bandage.” He touched the muddy edge of the old wrap with one finger. “I thought I told you to stay off it completely.” Zach gave him a tired shrug. “Things happened.” “Well, see they don’t happen again for a week or so. Rest, eat protein and lots of calcium. And stay off the damned leg until I tell you otherwise.” “I’ll see he does that,” I said. “I bet you will.” Paul used thick cotton and gauze to create a bulky stiff wrap from foot to groin. I eased my bond to Zach open enough to know when the pressure hurt, but it wasn’t too bad and I said nothing. Paul helped Zach into a sitting position on the couch with his leg on the cushions, and Simon appeared with two plates of food. “Sit and eat, boss.” I should have resisted the order, but the smell of that chicken left no room in my brain for anything except hunger. I dropped into the armchair and reached for a plate, satisfied to see Zach do the same. After a dozen bites I slowed down enough to ask, “Aren’t you two going to eat?” “Had ours already. Unless you need something else, we’ll head out.” I paused, and fully opened my inner perceptions to the rest of my pack. Megan was happy, praise be, and Mark felt intent

274 Kaje Harper and interested. Working probably. I could feel the presence of the other wolves arrayed around them in my mind, the golds and greens, smoke grey and blue of the minds of my pack, laid out to my inner eye. No one hurt, no one bleeding, no one terrified. It was good. I closed the bonds back down and looked over at Simon. “Nope. We’re fine. Go get some sleep. You probably need rest too.” “That’s what I keep saying,” Paul agreed. “The dumb mutt keeps shifting, trying to heal faster.” I flicked a quick second look at Simon’s condition, but in my head he felt only ordinarily tired and somewhat sore. Not bad. “Trust him to know what he needs,” I suggested. Paul nodded. “Maybe he’ll sleep better now you’re back. Welcome home, Aaron. Call me if Zach needs anything.” He gave me a little smile. “Or call Megan—she wanted to come help out tonight but we headed her off.” I winced. I loved Megan already, but tonight I wanted just quiet privacy and the taste of Zach’s mouth and the smell of his skin. “Thank you.” Simon helped Paul gather his supplies back in his bag, but as Paul headed for the door, Simon hung back a moment. He whispered, “Was it bad, Aaron?” A true Alpha should have shrugged that question off and looked strong. A traditional Alpha wouldn’t even have measured the human cost that kept his pack and his people safe. But I was sitting there still heartsick, with my desires wrapped around the little finger of the man on the couch, whether he knew it or not, and I wasn’t sure what kind of Alpha that made me. A modern one, I could hope. “It was hard,” I said softly, below Paul’s hearing level. “It had to be done, I believe, but I never want to be part of that again.” Simon nodded slightly. “Me either, God knows. If there is a God. Hope there is, because making this pack a place where Paul can feel happy and not need to start a crusade may take a

unexPected deMAnds 275 miracle.” My lips quirked. “Hanson is going to send us his gay nephew soon. I’m more of a believer than I was.” Simon blinked, and then glanced at Paul waiting by the door. “Sometime you’ll have to tell me the whole story, boss.” “You and Mark. Sometime. Not tonight.” Simon’s grin suddenly appeared, bright and mischievous, with a hint of a tease. “Absolutely not. I have other plans for tonight. Pity your boyfriend is on the injured list, Alpha.” As long as Zach was healing, as long as he was here, I could wait. “Get the hell out of here, Fifth.” As Simon caught up to Paul in the doorway, they brushed against each other. Just a bump of hip on hip, but I saw Simon’s hand slide across the back of Paul’s wrist. And I could almost feel the heat that trailed that touch, and leaped into flames in both their eyes. Simon bent close to Paul as they exited, but my keen ears caught the words, “But I still think getting kittens is a bad idea…” Huh? I put the question away from me—I didn’t need to control everything in my wolves’ lives. The door closed quickly behind them and they were gone, heading home. Although from the feel, they had paused on the doorstep and Paul had found the best way to stop Simon’s mouth… I closed my bonds down a little tighter. Zach slid his empty plate onto the coffee table and caught my eye with an open, trusting look. “They look damned good together.” They did. Eventually I heard Simon’s truck start up and pull away. And I went and knelt beside the man on my couch. It would take more than a broken leg to keep Zach from kissing me. After the last three days, we both needed it. §§§§ I woke with my heart trying to pound its way out of my chest. The flat taste of sleep in my mouth was supplanted by bitter

276 Kaje Harper fear. Automatically I reached out. Smooth warm skin over hard muscle slid under my fingertips, and the panic eased. One of us had had a nightmare again. Zach, I thought. I had the emotions but not the images in my brain. Beside me in the bed he whimpered, and I pulled him close. “Wake up, Zach.” For a moment he froze, every muscle tight. Then he relaxed a fraction and turned in against my chest, nuzzling my skin, pushing his face into my armpit. It wasn’t sexual. His dick was soft against my thigh. Comfort, pure and simple, and I wrapped him in my arms and let him take what he could. His nightmare, but it could have been mine. It was about a fifty-fifty proposition these days. Long minutes later I felt him ease, and his frantic burrowing became a softer kiss. “Hey, pup. Better?” “Yeah. Sorry I woke you.” “Shut up.” I tipped his face up and kissed him, and then pulled him into a spoon, his ass against my thighs. He whimpered slightly as he moved. The bone in his thigh was healing, but not as fast as the ribs had. And despite Paul's care and splinting, the leg had come together crooked and a little shorter than the other one. After a few months and a lot of shifts that would probably improve, as each reforming of his body moved closer to the genetic ideal. But for now he was still hurting and lame. I ran my hand firmly over his thigh, digging my fingertips into the knots of tension where the muscles cramped. At the same time I breathed calm and relaxation over the Alpha bond. He sighed. “You're good at that.” “Getting far too much practice.” “Yeah.” He wriggled farther onto his side and I felt his pain ease a bit more.

unexPected deMAnds 277 Gradually I throttled the bond down to a thread again. With my other wolves it now took something life-or-death to throw the bonds open wide without my conscious choice. With Zach, though, that contact opened all too easily and without deliberate thought. And it was triggered as easily by my bad dreams as by his own. He didn't often tell me what he dreamed of, but I had learned the flavors. The deep dark fear-in-sorrow that marked the echoes of his grandfather's beatings. And the sharp new heartsickness that meant he had dreamed of a helpless man and a gun in his own hand. This had been the second kind. He stirred restlessly against me. “We're really not human, are we?” I caught the bitterness of his whisper and brushed my mouth over his hair. “No, we're not. And yet we are close, so close.” I should never have let him take that shot. But in truth, there had been no letting about it. I had tried to keep him out of it safe in the car. He was the one who had chosen to come and interfere and give me that gift. And if he was paying more heavily than he had expected for it, he still swore he wouldn't change it. But I would. Oh, I would. “It's like being a soldier,” I told him, for about the tenth time. “The guy on the other end of your weapon may be some innocent, drafted farm boy, but he's on the wrong side. He's a threat to all you love. You do what you have to do.” He gave a little rasp of a laugh. “Would be more convincing if you believed that yourself.” I rolled up on my elbow to look at his face. “I do. I have to. But that doesn't mean soldiers don't have nightmares about the face on the other end of their guns, too.” “I guess.” He sighed. “Man, I need a…” I grabbed his wrists, pinned him, and kissed the word drink off his lips. “No, you don't. You won't let that happen. I won't let that happen.”

278 Kaje Harper “Yes, Alpha.” His capitulation was shot through with satisfaction. Nothing settled Zach faster than having me restrain him and command him. It was odd, still felt a little wrong. I kept expecting him to show some fight, some kind of resentment and ambition when I rolled him. But instead I got those peaceful eyes, under the fall of long dark hair. God. I kissed him again, let him feel the heat that shot through me at the sight of him. He smiled a little, but his mind was still back in the past. “Aaron. I'm a crappy soldier, because I don't think I could do that again.” I could, if I had to. For this man in my bed, for Paul and Simon, for little Nick and Megan and the baby she was still carrying, still holding on to. I paused, reached out a tendril of contact to find Mark, and with him Megan, still safe, still happy. Mine. For any one of the wolves in my pack, I would commit murder. And in public, around the other Alphas, I would carry it off cool and unruffled. Only this man in my bed would know what it cost me. I had fears and doubts and just the wrong dammed temperament to run a pack. But there was no better candidate. And I was committed now, unable to give them up except in death. Luckily, it seemed that I had the rest of them fooled. We were still standing, hell, still running. But here at home, I trusted Zach as I had trusted no one before. I let Zach see the times when I thought I was a lousy Alpha. Let him feel the truth, that I was not the cool confident figure I pretended to be. It was the nature of wolves to see weakness as opportunity. Even low ranked wolves. But somehow Zach could see my doubts and weaknesses, and still choose me as his Alpha every time. He would tease me, challenge me, and then take joy in having me restrain him and bring him down. And his unwavering belief helped us both. I kissed him, tasting the salt of fear-sweat still on his lips. Zach asked plaintively, “Do you think the packs can ever change?”

unexPected deMAnds 279 “We'll have to. Because society is changing, humans and wolves alike. Violence is no longer seen as a natural part of daily life. You're not the only one who's not cut out to be a soldier. It describes half the damned pack.” “Not Lucas or Simon or Mark.” “You're wrong. Lucas, maybe. He's a pragmatist. Simon, only if Paul was threatened. Simon would take on the universe for Paul.” The events of the last week that had bitten so deep into Zach and me had somehow healed Paul and Simon. Maybe those hours of separation, the fear that their bond was lost for good, had done it. Or maybe it was just the time spent in loving and healing. Of course Simon had scars that would take weeks more to fade, and no doubt they both had their share of bad midnight moments that would take much longer. You don’t come through loss and fear and torture unscathed. But there was a relaxation about Simon now, and a confident serenity to Paul, that was sweet to see. I thought about Simon and Paul now, as I moved carefully over Zach in our bed. They had come fast and unprepared to their mate bond, those two, but now the connection between them was solid as any I had ever seen. Oh, they were still fighting out the boundaries of their relationship. Other brief meetings since we got home had shown me that. I could tell that Paul was still chafing at Simon's protectiveness. And apparently Simon was arguing for his right to go along when Paul finally made a trip back to see the mother he had left behind years before, while Paul wanted to keep Simon out of some perceived disaster in the making. But it was clear they were building for a lifetime. The love was deep and wide in the bond. The rest was just details. I wondered what that felt like, to be so sure of your lover. To have the certainty that, barring death and disaster, you would have tomorrow, and next month, and next year, and even ten years from now, to create something lasting together. The thought that another gay wolf had claimed his mate was bittersweet. Because I knew I couldn’t.

280 Kaje Harper But I would take what I could get. Having Zach in my bed, in my arms, was good for however long it lasted. Waking in response to his nightmares and soothing him out of the darkness was a deep satisfaction. Letting him do the same for me was a comfort and a revelation. And the side benefits were pretty damned amazing too. I dipped my head to kiss Zach, his wrists still pinned in my hands. The new air-bed I had bought for us squeaked under my weight as we moved from my harder side to the cushioning softness of his. He opened his mouth for me, but there was still a shadow in his eyes. I pulled my mind back to our conversation. “And it's Mark I'm thinking of most when I say things must change.” “Mark? But he's a cop. He's the one with the gun.” “Yeah, he is. To serve and protect. Wolves and humans alike.” I had been so glad to have left Mark behind on our trip of bloody self-interest. “Mark believes in law and order. Breaking it hurts him more than me. Next time someone harms one of us, I want to be able to go to the cops and report it. I want the remedy to be one of law and not teeth. But we're not there yet.” “But you think we will be.” “I think we'll have to be. And soon. I'm talking to Chicago, and Seattle, and some others. Planning. But I think we'll never get agreement on coming out voluntarily. We'll have to wait until something pushes us out into the light so far we can't hide anymore. And then deal with it right.” I sighed. “There's plenty of potential for disasters. I don't want to think about it now.” I shifted so my weight pinned his hips, my belly against his flat abs, tipped to his good side, working for arousal without pain. “Hear me, Zach?” Between us, I felt the stirring of his interest. “Yes, Alpha.” As I kissed him and licked his full mouth, working my hips so we pressed against each other, I opened the bond again to taste the heat building in Zach. For now we would lose ourselves in flesh and warmth, slide and touch and fast harsh breath. Later it

unexPected deMAnds 281 might be my turn to wake shaking. The nightmares were stacked pretty deep in my mind these days. But right now I had this beautiful man in my bed. And he was worth my full attention. I gave it to him.

ePiLogue Three months later I found myself watching Zach watch Peter, as Hanson’s boy pulled shorts back on over his bare ass. Still shy and awkward with his new pack, the teenager always dressed and undressed facing the wall. Which gave interested parties a good view of his other assets. And Zach was clearly interested, at least to someone who knew him as well as I did. The men of my pack streamed out the door into the cool evening air, calling their goodbyes. Mark gave Pete a friendly thump on the shoulder as they left together. Thank God for Mark. If he hadn’t opened his home to the boy, on the thin pretext of the teenager being a help to Megan in her delicate state, I might have had to take Pete in myself. I could hardly have told anyone why I didn’t want that muscled blond boy sharing the house with Zach and me. I still wasn’t out to any of the straight members of my pack. Zach and I still took precautions, covered our scents, stood apart from each other in public. Although I wasn’t sure which wolves in my pack were still oblivious, and who were simply closing their eyes and pretending not to see. I had my doubts that we were fooling Mark for a minute. But whether he took on Pete for my sake or for the boy’s own, it kept Zach and Pete from sleeping in the same house. Pete was still finding his footing after two weeks with us. And he had not yet turned sixteen. But I had a feeling it wouldn’t be long before he began to believe he was safe here. And then he would let himself admit that Zach had caught his eye. And vice versa. What would come would come. They were a good match, that bright teen and my brilliant Ninth. It would hurt, inside me, when those kids turned to each other, as I thought they eventually must. No need to rush it. I would keep Zach for a little longer, if I could. Zach was changing day to day, becoming the man who had

284 Kaje Harper been hidden in that defiant boy with the smell of paint on his hands, so short…so long…a time ago. He was working full time on computers now. Hanson had insisted on paying him for his hours, and then Joshua had asked the same for his pack. That job was almost done, but word-of-mouth to human friends had brought him new requests. I had collected college information for good tech programs, but the brochures sat on a table gathering dust. Zach said if he could get the work without wasting the years in school, why not earn money rather than spend it. He might be a man, but he was still an opinionated brat. We didn’t talk about that night in Illinois much anymore. At least, not directly. But we still sometimes dreamed about it. Just last night, I woke from restless sleep, my hair damp with sweat. Zach was already reaching for me before the remnants of my dream had faded. I took the hug, pressed my face against the warm skin of his neck. “Aaron,” he said after a few minutes, leaning away from me. “Yeah?” I took a deeper breath, blew it out through my nose, and beside me, Zach’s breathing eased too. As I tried to calm my body, deliberately relaxing my muscles, I felt his heart rate slowing. Such an amazing thing, to have him close, almost a part of me, but I eased the bond shut again. My nightmares were more frequent than his own these days. I sometimes wondered if now I took more comfort than I gave. “Are you and Rick Brown still working on a coming out strategy for the packs?” “Working on it. Spreading the word.” I’d given Rick Brown an edited version of Ryder’s activities, since his had been the nearest pack. His anger and frustration echoed my own. As a pack, as a people, we would have to find a new path. But without enough consensus, without organization and planning, murder might be replaced by suicide. Megan’s belly was rounding with the child inside, a baby werewolf, gift and pride of the pack if it lived. Mark’s small son was learning to ice skate, under the watchful eyes of every one of my men. I wasn’t ready to risk them to save

unexPected deMAnds 285 humans. Not yet. Beside me, Zach leaned up on his elbow, dark eyes fixed on me. I wasn’t ready to risk him either. “Give us time.” Zach slid down in the bed and pressed a kiss against my hip. “Just…let me help,” he said. “Let me tell you where technology can give us an edge, or trip us up.” His next kiss concealed a sharp bite that almost broke the skin. “After all, you old guys aren’t up on the tech front.” I rolled and pinned him to the bed. “I’ll show you who’s old and not up in front,” I growled. And demonstrated. It didn’t take long for my regrets and anxiety to be crowded out by pure aching need. And by the delight of satisfying it. That we surely still had. Although I had moved my office to the cabinet business for pack duties, the downstairs of my house was still work space, where we walked wide around each other and left no trace. The upstairs was our playground. I’d never had another lover, even in my most hedonistic days, who pleased me, challenged me, fulfilled me like this boy. This man. And there was the rub. He was becoming confident, strong. The pull of his need for alcohol was easing, although I sometimes caught the edge of it and I thought he would always fight that battle. But now I thought he had a good chance to always win. And surely, he would need to grow beyond being my boy, subordinate in my space. Beyond seeing me with all my faults and still letting me have the final word, the last control, every damned time. The online gay-bashing had settled down to a grumble of complaint. I no longer expected assassins in the bushes, although we all remained alert. Nonetheless, I figured I was never going to come out myself. The pack needed a straight Alpha for safety. But as my own pack began to ease around Simon and Paul, I could visualize Zach coming out some day. Maybe even finding a mate bond with someone. Someone his own age, open and unweighted by the kind of baggage I carried. Someone he could

286 Kaje Harper walk openly in public with. Like Pete, a few years down the line. I’d come to that realization bitterly and slowly. I still fought it. Sometimes I left him asleep in our bed and went out to run, pushing myself to my limits to burn out my stupidity. I wanted to order him to stay. I was scared that when the time came I might beg him to stay. And both of those would be wrong. I tried to just be glad of the gift of his time. Sometimes I almost convinced myself it could be that simple. But I knew his leaving would tear me apart. I was damned proud of myself that I had finally struggled to the point where I believed I wouldn’t let it show. Alpha cool and calm. I’d maintained that already in the face of failure and pain. I could do it again. Outside I could hear my wolves leaving, cheerful and relaxed after our pack run. Cars started, pulled away. Eventually Zach and I were alone in the main room of the old farmhouse, safe from view behind blackout blinds. I had set the place up to be as private as possible. No one with a video camera was going to spy on my wolves shifting. As I locked the door, I tucked my feelings away tightly, out of reach of any bond. Then I leaned over and thwapped Zach on the back of the head. “The kid’s jailbait,” I growled. “You’ll have to wait a bit longer.” “I wasn’t…” Zach began, but then he grinned at me. “Okay, so the kid has a really fine ass. You can’t fault a guy for looking.” He paused, and the grin slowly faded from his face. “Or maybe you can. What do you think is going on here, Aaron?” I shrugged, with a lifetime’s nonchalance. “Nothing yet, I’m sure. The kid barely knows he’s gay, and you’re not one to rush things.” “And then?” There was inexplicable anger in Zach’s voice. “Who knows?” I said. “He’s cute, he’s almost old enough and he’ll be available…” “He’s a child!” “He’s a lot closer to your age than I am,” I pointed out.

unexPected deMAnds 287 “Children grow up fast. He’ll be legal in just a couple of months.” Pete would be growing up, getting stronger, better, more selfassured. I would just be getting older. I grunted as Zach slammed his fist into my stomach. “Damn you, Aaron!” he ground out. “What?” I backpedaled awkwardly, ducking out of reach. “What’s wrong?” “You!” Zach’s fist caught my chest, and then his other hand slammed my ribs. “You stupid son-of-a-bitch!” “Stop!” I grabbed his wrists to hold him still, and barely managed to resist using my Alpha command to subdue him. You didn’t hit your Alpha! But I was other things to Zach that maybe you did hit. That tightrope of authority and submission was one we never got away from. It would be easier for him with someone else. “Zach,” I said, trying for a reasonable voice. “I’m not jealous, I just…” “Why not?” He twisted his arms hard, and I had to let him go or hurt him. “Why aren’t you jealous?” “I don’t understand.” “Don’t I matter enough for you to get jealous when I look at another guy?” I blinked. That wasn’t the point. “You matter. Of course you do. So okay, I was a little jealous. Or maybe sad.” I wasn’t good with honesty and feelings, but for Zach I would try. “I’m possessive, you know that. I’m trying to overcome it.” “Why?” I just stared at him. After a moment he sighed and took my hand. He lifted it to his face, so my palm cupped his cheek. “I like you possessive,” Zach said. “I like belonging to you. I like thinking that if I start chasing another man you’ll shove him in the lake and drag me home by my hair.” “I wouldn’t.” “Not literally, stupid.” He turned a kiss into my palm.

288 Kaje Harper “It’s hard,” I said softly. “If I let myself think that way, if I let myself own you the way I want to, I may actually do something just about that stupid when you decide to go.” “Why would I go?” Because he was more than I deserved. Because he was young, and just tasting life out from under his grandfather’s shadow. I had found him first, but eventually he would realize there were better choices out there, and he would move on. My wolf fought against those thoughts, in violently possessive demand, but I subdued it with the ease of long practice. I had always let my brain rule my heart. Always. Except once, and look how that ended. In twenty years I would be in my late sixties, and he would have barely reached forty. Even for werewolves, that was a big gap—I’d be at the top of a downhill slide, he’d just be coming into his prime. “Things change,” I said with a shrug. “I know I’m your first real lover, and that will always be special, but eventually…” “You’ll find someone you want more than me and kick me out?” “No! Of course not.” I pulled my hand back. “I’ve had my share of men, and I know what I want, who I want, but you…” “I’m too young and stupid to know what I have with you?” “I’m old and set in my ways. I’ve been hiding my whole life, and I may never come out. This hiding, closeted life is probably the one I’ll always have. With someone like Pete, you could have a real lover, out in the open, someone young and not uptight. Hell, you might even mate bond with him, without worrying about all the complications of mixing mate bond and Alpha bond together.” He didn’t need to know how often I had thought about that, or the reluctance with which I had decided never to offer it. The two bonds might interfere with each other. Or worse, might open us to each other too deeply and uncontrollably. I wouldn’t risk that for him. “You two could have a life you’ll never have with me.” “I don’t care about age or even about being out, Aaron.” Zach

unexPected deMAnds 289 sighed and took a couple of steps to lean against the wall. He looked up at me, dark eyes gleaming behind that heavy fall of hair that I razzed him about and secretly hoped he’d never cut. He looked so good to me, slim legs and that incredible package showcased in tight jeans, his chest rising and falling softly under the stretch of a cotton tee. “Aaron,” Zach said softly. “Peter is a child. And in ten years, he’ll still be a child to me. He has never been through what we have. He’s never hidden his desires in absolute terror of being found out and killed. He’s never been beaten until his ribs cracked by someone he trusted to protect him. He’s never come close to dying. He has never killed a man.” Zach’s lips curved in a sad smile. “He doesn’t know how it feels to see the person you love most in all the world one moment from death. Or how it feels to celebrate afterward, when that death hasn’t claimed him. He isn’t you.” A building falling in dust and noise, and somewhere under it, my lover might be taking the weight of falling debris. A flash of light off the long barrel of a gun, as it rises to point at a heart dearer than my own. Zach’s thoughts or mine, I wasn’t even sure. “I love you, Aaron. Not like, not lust after, or desire, or trust, or admire. I love you. Forever. Mate bonded or not, in the open or in the closet. I’m yours.” In a storybook, I would have said the same. Birds would have been singing and little hearts rising up from my eyes. That’s what Zach had every right to expect. Instead, I stood frozen, looking at him. I opened my mouth and what came out was, “I’d like to believe that.” I bit my tongue. Stupid, unfair. But Zach was giving me his sweet smile. “I know,” he said. “You’re not one for leaps of faith. And I can feel the way you still wonder if I really want it when you take charge, when you give me safety and strength by topping me. You think I’ll outgrow you. You can’t believe that will never happen. So we’ll take our relationship like I take my sobriety, one hour at a time, one day at a time, until the days become months and years. Can you believe in us for one hour?”

290 Kaje Harper I pinned him against the wall and closed his mouth with mine. Let him take whatever answer he chose from that. His mouth was hot and eager. His tongue stroked mine, tangled, and dove deep. His feet were still bare. It took only seconds to strip off his shirt and jeans and pull him down on the hard tiles. I liked him like this, on his back with his eyes shining up at me. Desire flushed his cheeks, sped his breath. He was mine, to do with as I chose. I chose to push his legs up and open, to bury my face in between his thighs and taste. I breathed in his heat and his musky scent. A taste like nuts and salt on my tongue as he softened and opened for me. He made small, needy sounds. “Lie still,” I growled when he squirmed, reaching for me. “Lie still and take me.” I tugged my zipper down. I had what I needed in my pocket. Being around Zach was making the Boy Scout motto a way of life. I ripped open a packet, and the clear gel slipped between my fingers. A stroke over my aching length, a little more pressed into his soft pucker, and then I leaned into him. He whimpered as I entered him. Eagerness, not pain. His hands opened and closed, obediently flat on the floor as he took my control, my pace. I pressed home, and deeper, and again. Each time he arched to meet me, his eyes dark and hungry, mouth open a little. This was good, so good, face to face. I leaned in, forcing his back to curve, his hips to come up as I bent to kiss him. We were linked, Alpha bond wide open to each other. I never had any doubt that he enjoyed this. He nipped at my lips, pushed in with his tongue, growing bolder as my pleasure became his. I pinned him with my weight. The hot, wet tip of his cock slid against my belly as I found my stroke. I held his wrists imprisoned to the floor. He twisted his lips away from my kiss, his mouth open to gasp, “Please, Aaron, oh, God, please.” No question what he wanted, what he needed. His desire rose to the knife edge of climax in my mind. I shifted my grip from his wrists to free one of my hands, and slipped it between us as I deepened my thrusts, faster, harder.

unexPected deMAnds 291 His gorgeous erection was hot and hard in my palm as I wrapped my fingers around him. His words became a babble of meaningless sound. No rhythm, no connection to my pace, as he balanced on the edge. I slid my hips back, barely inside him as I stroked his cock hard, base to end, his foreskin soft and sensitive under my touch. I slipped my fingers around over that flared head, slick and wet with his precum. Then I closed my hand and pulled as I slammed deep into him. He arched as if hit by an electric shock. His cry was short and shrill as his hot seed pulsed out over my fingers. Then he shuddered and gasped as the shockwaves rippled through him. Before he was done I let go. I balanced forward on my arms, and drove myself home. Fast and hard, again, again, the slap of skin on skin as my hips found his ass. And then I came in a rush that darkened my vision and took my breath. Zach laughed softly underneath me. “Oh, yeah. At least we always get this right.” I rolled sideways to keep my weight off him and collapsed to the floor, breathing hard. His kiss brushed against my shoulder. “Are you okay?” I asked without opening my eyes. “This floor is kind of hard.” “I’m fine.” He rapped a knuckle on the new tile Simon and Richard had laid on the old farmhouse’s living room floor. “I wondered why you wanted something easy to clean.” I nipped his neck lightly. “I was thinking of mud and blood, not…this.” “If you say so.” Zach wriggled out from under my thigh and stretched. “It is too hard to lie around on for long. I’ll get the cleaner.” I rolled on my side and watched with pleasure as he rose, still naked, and went to the kitchen for a bucket and water. I was still lounging there when he came back. He tossed a rag at me, landing it on my chest. “Come on, help out here. I’ll get the mud that pack of yours tracked in on their paws. You get the other stuff.”

292 Kaje Harper The water in the bucket gave off a chemical pine scent. It wasn’t strong enough to be unpleasant, at least to my human nose. I got up slowly and bent to soak my rag. As I straightened, a glob of foam from Zach’s sponge just happened to flick across the space between us and land on my chest. His eyes glinted. “Oops, sorry.” “Yeah, right.” I bent to wipe our scents from the tile. Zach’s eyes on me were a warm shadow in my mind. With the Alpha bond still wide open, I knew he was staring at me with the lingering echo of satisfaction, and just a hint of new desire. New desire? “Jesus, boy,” I growled. “Don’t you ever get enough? Get your cute ass to work there.” He bent to scrub at a clump of mud drying on the tile. His hands were industrious, but his posture was designed to point that cute ass directly at me. I snorted and snapped him with the end of the rag. Zach sighed as he straightened. “You know Aaron, I think I’ve found my purpose in life.” “Cleaning floors?” The wet sponge hit my hip and left a trail of muddy water down my thigh. Zach grinned at me. “No, you moron. Teaching you to play. You’re way too serious. You need me.” “I need this floor clean.” I held out the sponge. Zach reached for it carefully, wary of payback. “Hey Aaron,” he said, as we moved to actually finish the job. “Let’s go back out and run together, just the two of us. We haven’t had alone time in fur for ages.” He dropped his sponge in the bucket and turned to me, his expression eager. “Race you to the lookout rock.” Eager became wicked. “First one there gets a blowjob from the loser.” He stepped away from the bucket and dropped to the floor to shift. I stood and watched him. No one looked beautiful in mid-shift, but on Zach it wasn’t so bad. In both his forms, he had balance and grace. And he made a cute wolf. When his shift was over he looked at me. I was still human,

unexPected deMAnds 293 still dressed except for my jeans gaping open. Zach snorted and shook his head violently like a bug flew up his nose. Pine-scented cleaner. He trotted over to the door. After a moment’s hesitation I unlocked it and cracked it open. We stared out the gap together. The moon was just rising, frosting the clearing at our doorstep with pale light. Beyond the swath of grass, brown from winter’s hibernation, the woods rose up in dark ranks. Simon had found this place, near an old house he owned, and the pack had bought it with every dime we could scrape together. Here there was enough space to run and no neighbors to see us do it. It wasn’t the grand place that the lodge had been, polished by the work of generations of wolves. But it was even more private and stood on more land. And it was ours. We had only taken possession two weeks ago. We were still learning the lay of the land. But already we had favorite trails, and lookouts. There was a pond for swimming, once the weather warmed up. And most of the property was screened by dense woods. The tree branches silhouetted against the night sky showed swelling tips, where leaves would soon explode out into Minnesota’s brief spring. The trails below were shadowed. But not too dim for a wolf ’s eyes. I drank in the sight of it. Zach looked up at me and whined in invitation. When I hesitated, he turned and stuck his chilled wet nose inside my open jeans, where chilled and wet did not belong. My return swat missed his wolf ears by millimeters as he danced back. Zach’s jaw dropped in a lupine grin. Then he was up and out the door on swift feet. Winner gets a blowjob. Taking that boy’s equipment in my mouth was no kind of punishment. On the other hand, Zach had learned to do some amazing things with his tongue. And then there was the principle involved. I yanked off my clothes and dropped to the floor. Zach had a head start, but I was the fastest shifter I knew. And I could outrun the boy even before his leg got injured. There was more than one path to the lookout rock. Maybe the boy would get a surprise. I shifted.

294 Kaje Harper §§§§ I’m running through the forest, full out on four legs, over ground strewn with last year’s moldering leaves and soft with the melting snow. The air is dark and cool and clean, with the first hint of spring breathing over the hill. I’m not running for my life or anyone else’s, not this time. There are heavy footfalls coming fast through the wet leaves behind me, but I know that gait now, almost better than my own. I know the slight hitch when that shortened leg hits the ground, and the sudden swerve that matches his path to mine. I dodge at the last moment, so his shoulder brushes me instead of bowling me over. Then I turn the tables on him. A twisting dive spills the slender black wolf onto his back in the melting snow. My mouth is on his throat and I feel the pulse of his life there, underneath my teeth. Unafraid, he lies sprawled on his back beneath me, waving one paw limply in surrender. His dark eyes laugh up at me. Clown. I nip him in reproof, hard enough to draw a little sound from him. When I nip him again, it is not a punishment and his eyes grow warm. I can’t offer him a mate bond. I never will, unless I can be sure we won’t risk replacing one intimacy with the other, or cracking him so wide open with a double hold that he can never again keep his thoughts private. But in this moment I open the Alpha bond wide and show him. Even like this, with no human desire, no press of skin, no driving need, he is in my heart. I know that in the night when I wake, as I still do, shaking and cold, I will not be alone. When my mind is full of death and blood, when all I can see is the image of a huge grey wolf with eyes frigid as glacier ice and breath like carrion, when my past overruns my present, this man will be there. His arms will hold me, his skin will be warm against me, and his voice will call me home. I am his as he is mine. It is more than I ever believed I could have. He is more. And if these stolen hours stretch to a lifetime, I can live with that.

About the AuthoR KAJE HARPER grew up in Montreal and spent her teen years writing, filling binders with stories about what guys like Starsky and Hutch really did on their days off. (In a shelteredfourteen-year-old PG-rated romantic sense.) Serious authorship got sidetracked by ventures into psychology, teaching, and a biomedical career. And the challenges of raising children. When Kaje took up writing again it was just for fun. Hours of fun. Lots of hours of fun. The stories began piling up, and her husband suggested it was time to try to publish one. Kaje currently lives in Minnesota with a creative teenager, a crazy little omnivorous white dog, and a remarkably patient spouse.

tRAdeMARKs AcKnowLedgMent The author acknowledges the trademark status and trademark owners of the following wordmarks mentioned in this work of fiction: Coke: The Coca-Cola Company Domino’s: Domino’s IP Holder LLC Glenfiddich: William Grant & Sons Ltd Highlander: Toyota Motor Sales, Hummer, Suburban: General Motors Jeep: Chrysler Group LLC. MacDonald’s: McDonald’s Remington 700: Remington Arms Company, LLC Taser: Taser International, Inc. Triple-A: AAA

Rainbow Romance Writers Raising the Bar for LGBT Romance RRW offers support and advocacy to career-focused authors, expanding the horizons of romance. Changing minds, one heart at a time. www.rainbowromancewriters.com

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If you’re a GLBT and questioning student heading off to university, you should know that there are resources on campus for you. Here’s just a sample: GLBT Scholarship Resources http://www.hrc.org/resources/entry/tell-us-about-an-lgbt­ scholarship Syracuse University http://lgbt.syr.edu/ Texas A&M http://glbt.tamu.edu/ Tulane University http://tulane.edu/studentaffairs/oma/lgbt/index.cfm University of Alaska http://www.uaf.edu/woodcenter/leadership/organizations/ active/index.xml?id=61 University of California, Davis http://lgbtrc.ucdavis.edu/ University of California, San Francisco http://lgbt.ucsf.edu/ University of Colorado http://www.colorado.edu/GLBTQRC/ University of Florida http://www.multicultural.ufl.edu/lgbt/ University of Hawaii, Mānoa http://manoa.hawaii.edu/lgbt/ University of Utah http://www.sa.utah.edu/lgbt/ University of Virginia http://www.virginia.edu/deanofstudents/lgbt/ Vanderbilt University http://www.vanderbilt.edu/lgbtqi/