Thrown to the Wolves (Gemini Series) Read online

  Jo kicked her legs. “I can walk.”

  “Unleash an unknown threat among my pack?” His bitter laughter stung. “I don’t think so, Jo.”

  “I’m no threat to you or yours.”

  “You’re a lioness, an apex predator, and you’ve got wings.”

  There was no arguing the point when he was right on all counts.

  “Abram will tend to your aunt. The emergency clinic is small. There’s no room for you in there.” He carried her into what must act as a meeting room for the pack judging by the twelve chairs tucked under a long table and lowered her into a seat he pulled out with his foot. “That means you get to stay here and fill in the blanks. Play nice, and I’ll let you see your aunt when we’re done here.” He sat beside her, eyes locked on her with furious intensity. “Start talking.”

  The way he’d spat we’re done might have cracked her heart at any other time, but Aunt Li was more important than this—whatever this was—with Zed.

  “Zed, dial it down a few notches.” The redhead leaned her shoulder against the open doorway. “Aren’t you going to introduce us?”

  “Jo, this is Dell.” The anger bubbling under his skin almost boiled her alive. “Dell, this is Jo.”

  Dell Preston, the de facto alpha of the Lorimar pack. Under normal circumstances, she was beta to Zed’s gamma, but these weren’t normal circumstances. Nothing had been normal since the day a rift leading into Faerie had split open the sky’s underbelly and started raining fae on Butler.

  “Jo,” Dell mused. “Y’all are already at the nickname stage. That sounds serious.”

  “Butt out,” he growled.

  Dell strolled over, calm as you please, and rolled up a pamphlet someone had left on the table. Lightning fast, she thwacked him on the nose hard enough to make his eyes water.

  “Bad wolf.” She bared her teeth. “I’m willing to make allowances, but you’ve got to keep your cool.”

  The growl in his throat was a steady promise of violence, but Dell ignored him and claimed the seat at the head of the table.

  Before Zed lost his temper completely, Jo launched into the speech she had mentally rehearsed for months in the event this ever happened. Crossing paths with the wolves had been inevitable after all. “As I said in the truck, my aunt and I are Bìxié.”

  “Badass lionesses with wings and horns.” Dell winked encouragement. “Gotcha.”

  “Our species is native to China. We are few, but it’s hard for us to share territory past a certain age. My family is one of the largest prides in Shanxi. For that reason, four prides, led by my cousins, relocated to the US. My aunt settled here because the mountains remind her of Qingliang Shan, her home.”

  Uninterested in the history lesson, Zed snarled, “What were you doing in the woods?”

  “We were hunting kobold. We killed five last night, but there were at least that many left.”

  He rubbed his forehead. “Kobolds are dangerous.”

  “We can take care of ourselves.”

  “I almost ripped out your aunt’s throat,” he snarled. “If I hadn’t recognized your scent on her, I would have.”

  “It was a risk we were willing to take. It was only a matter of time before you discovered us.”

  “Why didn’t you announce your presence to the pack?” Dell asked. “It’s not like you haven’t had ample opportunity.”

  She meant when Aunt Li had been kidnapped. The pack hadn’t figured out she was Bìxié, and neither woman had seen a reason to tell them their deepest secret.

  “Our pride has taken a stand against the fae. They refuse to aid in the rift situation. Two of the smaller prides are moving back to China.”

  “Don’t they understand that if the fae take Butler, it won’t just be the US they infest? They will take over every corner of this world. They will use humans and all the rest of us as their playthings.”

  “My aunt and I agree. So do my parents and most of my siblings. But we have been forbidden by our pride leader to interfere. We couldn’t risk coming to you and revealing ourselves when we aren’t supposed to be involved.”

  “You could have been killed,” Zed growled.

  “We’re hard to kill.” Jo let her eyes bleed to crimson. “Aunt Li is the oldest Bìxié in this country. She was easy prey for a warg of your prowess.”

  Dell snorted before catching herself. “Why didn’t you attack Zed?”

  “I didn’t want to hurt him.” Shame spiraled through her core. “By the time I recovered from the shock of his appearance, the damage was done.”

  “I thought you were human,” he accused. “You have no scent. How is that possible?”

  “Maybe your nose isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.”

  “My nose is not the problem.”

  Dell was snickering at this point.

  “Dell,” he said warningly.

  “He’s not wrong.” Dell sobered under his glare. “It’s a miracle you haven’t gotten hurt before.”

  Jo refused to duck her head. “You need the help. We’re helping.”

  “This might explain why the fae took Li in the first place. I thought it was odd she was the only human taken.” Dell sighed. “Now that we’ve got a pair of Bìxié, what do we do about them? We’ve got our hands full with the fae. We can’t risk enraging a pride of freaking lions too.”

  “Li and Jo will go back to playing human.” Zed told her with authority he didn’t possess. “We’ll get your aunt patched up, Jo, but then you’re going to keep your whiskers out of pack business.”

  “You can’t stop us,” she argued. “As you’re so quick to point out, we aren’t pack.”

  He rapped his knuckles on the table. “We can handle this alone.”

  “Is that why there’s a kobold nest on the edge of town?” Her glare bounced off him. “Or why there was a troll near the lake two weeks ago?”

  “A troll?” Dell growled. “How the hell did that get past us?”

  “The rift is widening. You’re one pack against all of Faerie.”

  Dell scratched her scalp and rose. “I need to think about this.”

  “There’s nothing to think about,” Zed snapped.

  “I’m not backing down,” Jo protested. “You need me.”

  Zed rushed forward, capturing her face between his palms. “What I need is for you to live.”

  Life in a bubble was no kind of life at all. “Are you treating me this way because your mate died?”

  “How do you—?” He dropped his hands and backed away like her touch had scalded him. “Don’t talk about Meredith. You have no right. None.”

  The backs of her eyes stung from his acid dismissal, but she didn’t blink in the face of his roiling fury.

  “I might look Chinese, but I speak English just fine.” Jo let her claws slide from her fingertips to click on the table. “There’s no reason to yell.”

  “Ms. Zhuang.” The healer from earlier entered the room. “Would you like to see your aunt?”

  “Yes.” Jo rushed from the room, grateful when the ache of Zed’s rejection turned to joy at seeing Aunt Li propped up in bed with her eyes open. “Nǐ shēntǐ hǎo ma?”

  “Shì.” She patted her hand. “I’m going to rest now.”

  “All right.” Jo smoothed back her hair. “I’ll be right here when you wake.”

  A handsome young man of Hispanic descent had joined them, and she recognized the scent of magic on his skin. It reminded her of their witch contact, though this man’s presence was far more potent. “Hi. I’m Enzo Garza. Abram called me in to consult since he’s never treated a Bìxié.”

  “Have you?” The odds were high if he said yes that he had treated a relative of hers.

  “Yes. Once.” The smile he flashed was apologetic. “I’m no expert.”

  A commotion in the hall drew her attention from the witch. Doors slammed in rapid succession, and Dell ducked through the doorway.

  “What’s wrong?” Enzo stole the words from her.

/>   “Zed has lost his damn mind, that’s what.” She huffed. “He’s gone kobold hunting.”

  “What?” Jo leapt to her feet. “He can’t face them alone.”

  “I’m sending some of the others with him.” Dell grinned with too many teeth. “We’re wolves. We don’t hunt alone.”

  Jo itched to contradict her swift reassurance. After all, Zed had hunted them in the woods alone, but she needed to remain in Dell’s good graces for her aunt’s sake. If he’d wanted his beta to know what he was doing, he would have told her. It had to mean something that he hadn’t, right?

  “Go with them,” Aunt Li murmured. “I’ll be safe here.”

  “I want your word,” Jo demanded of Dell. “Swear you will keep her safe.”

  “I swear to you, your aunt will come to no harm from me or mine. We’re not the bad guys here, Joann. We want to protect you.” She nodded at a large man in the hall. “That’s why I can’t let you go out there.”

  Aunt Li chuckled, a rasping sound, that reminded Jo of her lioness hacking.

  Jo bowed her head and gave the appearance of accepting defeat. “All right.” She rubbed her hands up her arms. “Do you think we could go outside and let me walk off some of this adrenaline?”

  “Sure.” Dell gestured to the behemoth in the doorway. “Haden, can you escort Joann to the walking track?”

  “No problem, boss.” He eyed Jo with concern. “Would you like some clothes? We keep spares.”

  “I’m good.” She wrapped the blanket tighter. “I won’t stay out long.”

  They exited the building, and he gave her space to walk ahead of him. It was all the opening she required to embrace the change. Magic tingled over her skin as his curse rose, and then she was whirling on him, roaring a challenge that he try and stop her. He stumbled back a step, eyes rounder than the moon.

  “You’re a fucking lion?”

  Jo snapped out her wings and leapt for the sky as glamour encased her. She hunted best on land, and the trees weren’t doing her any favors, but it would give her the head start she needed to beat Dell to Zed.

  Picking up the ripe scent of kobold, Jo circled the area, scouting their nest. Satisfied she knew the whereabouts of each creature, she selected a large clearing and touched down. Golden eyes glowed in the dark ahead, at least four sets. One pair burned brighter than the others. Zed. As she prowled toward them, she let her glamour drop. Dell might be beta, but Zed was gamma and not submissive by any means.

  The rangy wolf who prowled out to meet her lowered his head, ears slicked against his skull. Still mad at her. Jo wasn’t a wolf, and while Bìxié had their own hierarchy, she wasn’t submissive, but she was willing to compromise. She strolled up to Zed and butted under his chin, a purr revving in her throat. His wolf froze, unsure how to react to a big cat nuzzling him. The split second of hesitation didn’t last long before he nipped her on the chin and bumped his shoulder against hers. He wanted her to turn back.

  Jo slid her body down the length of his and shivered at the contact. Shifting gears, she growled just to let him know she was serious then set out in the direction where the kobolds were congregating. The wolves hesitated before following, and Jo could tell from their intent expressions that they could communicate mind-to-mind the same as she could with fellow pride members. Too bad she couldn’t tap into their wavelength for the night, but she would have to be mated to a warg for that to happen, and Zed had made it clear he wasn’t interested.

  Pushing down that hurt, she prowled into the clearing until she spotted the beasts. Three feet high, with a humanoid build, kobolds weren’t physically impressive. At least not until the razor claws and piranha teeth came out to play. Without glancing back at the wolves, Jo leapt onto the smallest kobold and sank her teeth in his jugular. Metallic blood spilled over her tongue and down her chin as she ripped off his head. Claws swiped down her side and then vanished before doing any real damage. She turned to find Zed covering her flank, tearing into the few kobolds brave enough to charge him. The rest of the wolves spread out and started rounding up the stragglers before they got a chance to escape. Zed stuck to her side the entire time. They fell into a rhythm, slashing and clawing, biting and tearing, and before long they stood on a killing field, soaked in silvery blood, panting hard.

  The other wargs flicked their tails at Zed then dispersed, leaving them standing alone. He jerked his chin and guided her in a different direction, and she followed with a slight hesitation he noticed. He barked once, urging her on, and she fell in beside him as he led her through the woods back onto Lorimar pack lands. He took her to a small camper and indicated she should wait while he lay down and began the painful shift back to a man.

  Jo winced at the agony of his change and saw for herself why some claimed the wargs were cursed. She loved her inner beast, but Jo wasn’t sure she was strong enough to pay for the lioness each time she shifted the way he tithed to his wolf.

  “Are you going to shift back?” he rasped as he sat upright. “I’ve got clean towels and a shower. You can wash off the blood.”

  Jo took a step back, understanding this was his home, his den, and doubting that he wanted her sharing it with him.

  “I’m sorry, Jo.” He held out his hand for her to sniff. “I shouldn’t have lashed out at you.”

  Willing to hear him out, she padded closer and rubbed her jaw along his fingers, showing him how she liked to be scratched. Confiding in the cat would be easier than talking to her, so she held onto her other self.

  “I was mated to a human a couple years ago, like you said.” His sigh held old pain mingled with shame she could scent on his flush skin. “Wargs mate with humans often, and some become pack members in their own right. But humans are fragile, and there’s always a risk that they can’t handle the truth.” He buried his face in the fur at her neck and breathed her in while she returned the favor. “Meredith didn’t know what I was when we started dating. I won’t even lie to myself that she was in love with me, but I loved her. Enough I decided to tell her the truth. I had to know she could handle it before…”

  Jo purred to encourage his confidence.

  “I had it all planned out,” he said. “The night I told her I loved her, I also told her what loving me back meant.”

  She tickled him with her whiskers, but she didn’t earn a smile.

  “Meredith didn’t believe me. She asked me to shift. And when I did, it terrified her. She got in her car and drove to the end of my driveway. She didn’t look before she pulled out and was hit by a tractor trailer. She was gone before I could shift back and reach her.” His voice softened. “Not even Dell knows that. She read an article online about a local woman who was struck by a drunk driver at a crosswalk and made assumptions I’ve never corrected. It was easier that way. For me at least.”

  Jo let the magic fall away and gathered him into her arms. “I’m so sorry.”

  “Dell saved me from myself.” His arms banded around Jo. “All this time, I’ve been living for her. She’s my best friend, and I didn’t want her to think she’d failed me. I didn’t want her to have to live with that guilt.” His words were warm at her throat. “I don’t think I’ve drawn a single breath in all that time until the day I met you. You smiled at me, and everything changed. The air was lighter somehow.”

  “I wish I could have been honest with you when we first met.” Keeping the secret from him had hurt more the better she got to know him. “I had no one to turn to. I might never have seen Aunt Li again if not for you and your pack. I owe you so much.”

  “You don’t owe me a thing,” he corrected. “Protecting innocents is our job.”

  “Is that all this is?” Her chest ached with renewed pain. “A job?”

  “No.” The word sounded torn from his throat.

  Heartened by his tone, she dared a glance up at him. “Your wolf has been stalking me.”

  “You noticed, huh?” Laughter crinkled his eyes. “I thought I was being subtle.”

  “I
worried when you stopped coming to Panda for lunch.” Jo hesitated, reluctant to let him see how much she cared. “I missed you. I wanted to talk to you. That’s why I used the wolf as an excuse.”

  “I’m glad you called. I was freezing my—” he set his jaw, “—paws off out there.”

  “Get a room!” someone called from across the way.

  Jo realized then she had been sitting in Zed’s lap naked, and that he was just as nude, and they had both been sitting in the snow but hadn’t felt a bit of cold.

  “Come inside.” He stood with her in his arms, not giving her a choice. “You need to wash off the blood before we go check on your aunt.”

  Jo tensed in his arms.

  “She’s fine. I just checked with Abram.” He tapped his temple, indicating the pack bond. “He said she’s napping.” A moment’s hesitation settled his expression into worried lines. “I’m sorry I hurt her. I was primed for the hunt, and the scent of a predator on pack lands sent the wolf into a frenzy.”

  “We understood the risk.” She smoothed the crease from between his eyebrows. “Neither of us will hold it against you.”

  “You’re beautiful, you know that?” He stared down at her. “Not just you—but your cat. She’s gorgeous.”

  “Thank you.” Jo flushed clear down to her toes. “I was raised among females. I’ve never seen a male of my species. They’re supposed to have one long horn that grows from the back of their skull. It’s quite majestic, or so I’m told.”

  A steady rumble filled his chest. “Is there…? Are you…?”

  “I’m not mated, and I’m too far removed from the seat of power to warrant an arranged marriage.”

  His sigh eased the knot in her chest. “I’m glad.”

  Jo cocked her head as her inner lioness rose to the fore. “Why is that?”

  “It means I don’t have to kill anyone for trying to take you away from me.”