Twice Cursed (29 page)

Jack huffed. “…and that bulb on your
face strikes again.”

“
Really? And who was it
that didn’t recognize Ryan’s scent in my apartment? Who was it that
sniffed around asking if I had a cat, but when he learned the
detective had been there, accused him of leaving a funky odor
behind? Looks like I’m not the only one whose bulb doesn’t work,
Jack.”

Sean glared at him, and then shifted
his gaze to Lily, watching as she glanced between him and the
detective. “Stop worrying, he’s fine. I can smell him healing
already.”

Ryan coughed, trying to stand up
straight. “Smell me?” His voice scraped out of his bruised throat.
“What the hell does that mean?”

“
You are so lucky,” she
said, crossing her arms in front of her. Looking between Ryan and
Sean, she exhaled. “Well, we can’t stay here like this, and I still
need you to go inside and take a look at those bodies.”

Ryan’s eyes widened, and he took a
step toward them. “Am I in the fucking Twilight Zone?” he blurted
out, grimacing with the effort. “I’m giving you people to the count
of three to start talking. I don’t have to remind you, Lily,
assaulting an officer is a criminal offense. Don’t make me have to
arrest you and your friends.”

Lily gave Ryan a quick glance but
turned her attention back to Sean. She wasn’t letting him off the
hook that easily. “Ryan’s human, Sean…regardless of what you smell
or sense. Do you honestly think he’s a plant? That I wouldn’t know
by this point?”

Sean was still staring at Jack. “So
you didn’t know he was a Were, huh?” he said, ignoring Lily’s
questions. He moved across from where she stood, positioning
himself directly in front of the young hunter. “Granted, you never
saw him before, but you did sense him.” Raising one hand, he
gestured toward Martinez then let his hand drop. “…and yet you
still chose to ignore the signs, didn’t even bother to check things
out.”

“
Sean!” Lily yelled,
annoyed at being ignored.

“
Lily!” Ryan shot back at
her for the same reason.

Jack broke eye contact with Sean,
sliding his gaze over to the wall where Lily stood next to Ryan. He
raised his finger, pointing it in her direction. “She’s the one who
told me to go play tourist, that there was no threat, and no reason
for me to accompany her to the meeting—that Parr wouldn’t have had
time to infiltrate the NYPD.” He paused, his eyes hardening even as
his shoulders dropped. “It made sense at the time…” His voice
trailed off, his words as inept as his excuses.

“
You’re on thin ice
already, Jack, so shut up and stop blaming this on Lily. She’s
still human and doesn’t have the ability to make that kind of an
assessment. It’s true she has her own set of skills, but she
doesn’t know everything Weres are capable of in terms of
supernatural abilities and cunning. Especially Parr.”

Ryan’s head swiveled left and right,
his face a cross between incredulous and manic. “Human? Somebody
better start talking or I’m going to start shooting!”

Jack snorted. “Yeah, right. Lily’s so
guileless and forthright, that’s why she had hunted supes before
she got her ass handed to her by your brother. Ever since she came
into your life, Sean, you’ve reduced the hunters to nothing more
than glorified boy scouts. I’m sick of it! But then again, what
does my opinion matter? I’m only good enough for bedpan duty,
right?”

“
That’s bullshit, and you
know it!” Sean shot back. “I sent you here to protect Lily. I
trusted you and only you with the one thing that means more to me
than anything, but I guess I chose wrong.”

Jack’s upper lip rose at one corner in
a sneer. “You’re right, I’m the hunter, and I should have taken
care of this situation then.” Without warning, Jack’s body shook.
Sinew and muscle trembled and bones snapped, reshaping themselves
into a four-legged stance. Phasing on the fly, his clothes shredded
around him, and Jack stood in wolf form with his head lowered and
his teeth bared.

“
What the fucking holy
hell?” Ryan muttered in disbelief, his eyes wide as he stared at
the wolf standing where Jack had just been. Hands shaking, he
pulled his gun, but Lily grabbed his arm.

“
Ryan NO!”

In an instant, Sean lifted his head
and sprang forward from a standstill. His body contorted in midair,
and the distinct scent of ozone was sharp in the hallway as his
body reshaped into a large black wolf before he hit the ground
again, this time on all fours.

The two wolves circled each other,
Jack’s silver grey was much smaller than the alpha’s sleek black,
but just as menacing. The grey wolf snarled with its head low,
snapping and growling, its thin lips pulled back over sharp canines
as he postured, its tone frustrated and angry. The black wolf was
quiet, its teeth bared but otherwise calm as he matched the grey
step for step, its keen yellow eyes following its every move, every
nuance as it waited for the inevitable assault.

With a violent jerk, Ryan shoved Lily
off of him and raised his gun toward the wolves.

“
Ryan, don’t!” she said,
jumping in front of his line of sight. “You don’t
understand!”

“
What don’t I understand,
Lily? Tell me…”

Lily’s eyes glared. “I think you
already know the answer to that question, Ryan. They’re just as
much human as they are animal. Just like you...” she trailed off,
watching his eyes register everything he saw with what she just
said.

The detective lowered his gun, his
handsome face ugly with anger and disbelief. “First vampires and
now werewolves? What kind of fool do you take me for, Lily? What’s
next? You telling me you fly around on a broomstick by the light of
the full moon?”

“
Ryan, please…”

He raised his gun again as he backed
away, two hands on the grip as if to steady himself from shaking,
his eyes never leaving the wolves. “No, you please. I’ve had
enough. I’m not buying any of this—especially not when you’re
telling me I’m some kind of being, a ‘Were-something-or-other’! In
fact, the only thing I’m ‘awere’ of, is that you and your friends
are consummate illusionists. Ever think of taking your act to
Vegas? You’d give Criss Angel a real run for his money.”

When he was far enough away, he
holstered his gun and adjusted his suit jacket, as if the routine
motions would make this anything else but what it was. “I’m outta
here. Tell your boyfriend to steer clear, payback is a
bitch.”

“
Ryan, wait. You need to
hear this. Just let me explain.”

He shook his head, this time his eyes
meeting hers, his gaze painful in its intensity. “Not a chance,
sweetheart. I am so done with you and your freak show.”

Sean whined, his head swiveling toward
where she stood, but Lily knew there was nothing he could do to
help. At that moment, Jack lunged, mouth open and teeth dripping
saliva as he aimed for the alpha’s throat. It was a blatant
challenge, but the grey wolf’s posturing was raw with blind anger
and that made it an empty threat.

The two collided in a hailstorm of
snarls and teeth, with Jack’s front claws scoring bloody gashes
along Sean’s flank. The wolves twisted in a vicious dance, crashing
into the concrete wall, the hit splintering the painted
cinderblock, and leaving a gory smear of fur and blood.

Lily pulled Ryan out of the way,
chipped paint and concrete dust covering their hair and shoulders
as they cleared the impact zone.

The grey wolf yelped as the alpha
gained the advantage, pinning him to his side before he had the
chance to strike again. Front and hind legs extended, the grey
pushed at the alpha, keeping the larger wolf’s teeth at bay and
tucking his neck against its razor sharp incisors.

With a low pitched growl, Sean bared
his teeth once more, biting down on the side of the grey wolf’s
throat in a show of clear dominance. Jack whined, its tenor a sign
of submission and acceptance, and as quick as the fight began, was
as quick as it was over.

Ryan coughed, his mouth a grim line as
he shook out his hair and wiped his hands over his sleeves. His
movements were stiff, as if he had to compel himself to stay calm,
yet his face had paled and his pupils had dilated to the size of
saucers. “Yup. I’m done. And I have news for you too; you’re done
with this case.” Without as much as a backward glance, he turned
and walked toward the exit. His stride moderated with restraint
like he refused to let them see him run.

“
Ryan!” Lily called after
him.

“
Let him go, Lily. There’s
no place he can run. When he wants answers, he’ll be back,”
Sean’s voice feathered across their shared mind
link.

She looked at him, her body and mind
weary with the weight of everything. “I hope sooner than later,”
she murmured. She didn’t need to verbalize it. Each understood the
situation would only get worse before it got better if Ryan didn’t
get a grip.

Sean nudged her arm with
his muzzle.
“Stop worrying. You can always
find him later and try to talk some sense into him. In the
meantime, why don’t you find hothead and me something to wear so we
can do what we came here to do?”

Lily nodded. “Okay, but are you two
going to behave while I’m gone?”

Sean rumbled a low wolfish
chuckle low in his throat and bumped her hand with the top of his
head.
“Junior and I need a little heart to
heart, but I promise there’ll be no more trouble”

She looked down at Jack’s shaggy head
and twined her fingers into the fur at the scruff of his neck,
giving it a short tug. “Be the hunter I know you to be, and pull
yourself together, okay Jack? We have work to do, and not a lot of
time to do it. If what you both suspect is true, then Ryan is a
half-breed who has no idea who or what he is. It’s our duty to help
him acclimate, not scare the piss out of him or make him think he’s
crazy. You’re not the only one at fault, though,” she said, sliding
a critical glance toward Sean. “We’ll all handle it better once I
bring him around.”

Jack whined, the sound mournful, and
full of doubt and regret.

Lily slid her fingers around, giving
Jack a quick scratch beneath his chin before turning toward the
double doors and the main hospital corridor. “I’ll be back as soon
as I can. Try not to be any more conspicuous than you already
are.”

Chapter Twelve

***

“
This is the best I could
do without calling too much attention to myself,” Lily said,
handing Sean the bundle. Her adrenaline level was still in
overdrive; nonetheless she nearly went into full panic mode when
neither wolf was in the hall where she’d left them. She crossed her
arms in front of her chest, a plastic supermarket bag with other
essentials dangling from her wrist. “Clever. I didn’t even notice a
utility closet on this floor.” She ran a hand through her hair,
taking in the small, confined space. Leave it to Sean to stay
quick-witted in an unexpected crisis.

His face and body language made it
clear he’d done this before. “Like they say, any port in a storm,”
he replied, stepping into the navy blue scrubs he unwrapped from
the bundle. “You’ve got to be resourceful; otherwise you end up in
jail for public nudity.”

Jack whined from the corner towards
the back, still in wolf form and lying on a stack of standard issue
hospital towels, as if to say ‘been there, done that.’

She snickered, a sound
somewhere between a chortle and a snort. “Public nudity, huh? I can
see it now, WeTV’s newest reality series,
Weres gone Wild
…drama, hot guys and
lots of infighting. Right up Edward’s alley, dontcha think? It has
everything he wants...fame, devoted fans…throw in a little network
control and you’ve got a real ace up your sleeve. A real
dealmaker.”

Sean glanced up from knotting the
drawstring on his pants. “Not funny.”

Lily slid in behind him, slipping her
hands onto his shoulders and skimming her palms across their broad
expanse. “It would be worth it just to see the look on his face at
the proposition,” she said, resting her chin on the back of his
shoulder blade.

He turned, glancing at her crosswise.
“How about we stick to removing him from the equation, altogether?”
Taking her hand, he planted a quick kiss on the flat of her palm
and then moved to look at where the pants met his bare feet. “Not a
bad fit,” he said, turning around to face her. “Looks like you can
be pretty resourceful yourself.”

“
A perfect fit, if I do say
so myself,” she said, helping him slip the boxy shaped top over his
head and wrapping her arms around his waist in the
process.

“
Hmmm,” he murmured,
leaning in for a little more than a quick peck. “A perfect fit,
indeed.”

With her hands on his chest
she took a step back and scooted under his arm. “Bad timing, bad
place,” she said, wrinkling her nose.
“Not
that the idea of wild monkey sex in a utility room isn’t appealing,
but we have work to do,”
she murmured
through their shared mind path.

Sean’s lips curved up, and his eyes
darkened. Even without the telltale bulge in his pants, Lily knew
exactly where his thoughts were headed. Psychic sense not
required.