Eternal Pleasure (2 page)

Ty closed his eyes as he leaned against the elevator wall. He’d spent too much time in confined spaces during the last few million years. Fin had done his mental show-and-tell act to explain planes, cars, and elevators, but knowing something was a long way from
living
it.

On top of that, he could feel his aggression level punching through the roof. He wanted to kill something. Fin had warned him about this. Ty would never be able to stay close to Fin for any length of time without snapping that slender thread holding him to the human world. Something about Fin fed the animal in him. Good in a fight. Bad when he was trying to fit into this time, this place.

Could he make it work? Ramp up the need to hunt, the need for mindless savagery, the need for sex, and what you had was a walking disaster ready to blow.

The sex thing could be an immediate problem. Maybe Fin should get a male driver for him. If he hadn’t jumped from the car in search of prey, Kelly Maloy might’ve had a first night on the job she’d never forget. He allowed himself a smile born of all his deprived hungers rolled into one baring of the teeth. No, forget the male driver. He’d keep the small blonde with the big brown eyes and hot body.

The elevator doors slid open, stopping all conjecture about sexy drivers. He scanned the open area for danger before stepping out. Empty. No place for another predator to hide.

The pale walls, absence of windows, and white tile floor made him uneasy. It was alien, enclosed, and as the elevator doors slid shut, felt like a trap. The building’s strangeness made him want to roar and tear holes in things. He tightened his control, but still his need to strike out strangled him, made his breaths come in hard gasps.

There was only one door in the opposite wall. He took the seven strides necessary to reach it, then waited. Fin knew he was there.

The door opened.

There were three of them. A few inches shorter than he with lean, muscled bodies created for speed. They all looked the same—short spiky blond hair, bright blue eyes, and hard faces.

Nothing like him except for one thing. They all watched him from predators’ eyes that gleamed with challenge. They smiled.

Ty returned the smile, making sure they understood he was the biggest badass in this particular cave. “Three of you to take me down? Not impressed.”
Go ahead, push me
so I can kill you
.

Two of them stopped smiling. The third laughed and stepped forward. “Nah. One to take you down and two to watch.” Behind his grin and cold eyes, the man assessed Ty. Any weakness would be noted and stored away to be exploited later.

This guy was fighting the same battle as Ty. His need to destroy lived in his eyes. He controlled it, though. Barely. Too bad.

As for weaknesses, he wouldn’t find any. But Ty would make sure he kept all three of them in front of him anyway. A hunting pack could do plenty of damage. “Want to move aside so I can come in.” It wasn’t a question.

Tension thrummed between them. Ty let it hum and build, enjoying the feel of it singing through his blood. He wanted a fight,
needed
it. And when the other man finally nodded and stepped aside, Ty felt bone-deep disappointment.

“I’m Utah.” The guy didn’t offer his hand. “These are my brothers.” He didn’t introduce them. “You’re the last one.”

Ty said nothing. He waited for the three brothers to go into the room ahead of him. Let another predator get behind you often enough and you ended up missing body parts.

Respect touched Utah’s eyes for the first time. Glancing at his brothers, he did some silent communicating. They led Ty inside.

Ty ignored the marble staircase along with everything else meant to distract as he scanned his surroundings for danger or prey. Only when Utah and his silent brothers led him into a large room did he stop his search. He’d found the danger.

All the info Fin had crammed into his brain had given him a serious case of mental indigestion. But now his thinker burped out an immediate ID—dining room, entire wall of floor-to-ceiling windows, barrel ceiling covered with some kind of shiny metal, dim lighting coming from somewhere he couldn’t see, and stained-glass double doors probably leading to the kitchen. The walls were one giant mural—lots of trees, grassy fields, and glimpses of prey in the shadows. Color.
Home
.

He forced his gaze away from the mural and thoughts of home. Houston was his home now. The men sitting around a long table near the windows claimed his unblinking attention. Utah and his brothers took their places, and then everyone returned his stare.

Ten plus him. The Eleven. Together. In one room. It had never happened.
Ever
. In the past, Fin had kept them far apart from one another, from him. Fin’s psychic link had been their only connection. Ty didn’t know the faces or the men behind them. He took the last seat, between a guy in a suit and one wearing a black duster with his hair in a long braid that almost slapped his ass. Beneath the table, Ty curled his hands into claws.
Control
.

Then Ty watched everyone watch one another.

Silent aggression filled the room. Ty gathered himself in response to the unspoken threats bouncing back and forth. As the violence potential ratcheted up another notch with each passing second, he made his plans. He’d take out the guy with the duster first. After he grabbed that braid, he’d yank the man’s head back and slit his throat.

He hesitated. Problem. No sharp knife, just a dull-edged, useless piece of crap lying next to his spoon. Hell.

“No.”

The voice was soft, compelling,
familiar
. Not a voice he’d ever ignore. Everyone jerked his attention to the man at the head of the table.

Fin.

“I did
not
almost kill myself putting your sorry asses in the ground sixty-five million years ago for this. I did
not
monitor your safety for sixty-five million years for this. I did
not
drain myself yanking your aforementioned sorry asses out of the ground after sixty-five million years for this. You
will
respect one another.”

Fin’s voice was a weapon, each “not” a psychic punch to the side of Ty’s head. The final “will” was a kick in the gut that almost doubled him over. Good thing Fin wasn’t seriously angry. Ty leaned back in his chair and gasped for air.

He cut his gaze to his neighbors to find they were doing
the same thing. Ty closed his eyes and shoveled earth on his need for violence. Okay, fire banked for the time being. He opened his eyes.

“Where’d you get our bodies?” The guy asking the question was bigger than Ty, with a need-to-kill gleam in his eyes.

Ty smiled. He’d always hunted alone, but if Fin ordered them to team up, he wouldn’t mind partnering with this dude.

Fin scanned the table before answering. Probably checking to make sure lots of respecting was going on. “I rose last year. Then I searched for big male bodies.” His pause left the suggestion out there that maybe he should’ve looked for small female bodies.

Everyone sucked in a breath.

“I claimed the bodies right after their human souls turned out the lights, locked the doors, and went on permanent vacation.” Fin’s smile made even Ty shudder. “I’m good at breaking and entering.” He shrugged. “After that it was just a case of some minor tweaking. I gave you faces women would lust after so none of you could bitch about not getting laid. Every body’s in prime condition. Keep it that way.”

Fin stopped smiling. “Because here are the hard facts. If someone destroys your bright and shiny new human body, you’re down for the duration. Sure, your body can heal from most injuries, but you can’t grow a new head. So don’t lose it. Yes, I can yank your soul out of your body if it dies, but my power’s pretty much tied up right now. I’d have to tuck your soul away for safekeeping somewhere. Not the way you want to end up.”

Ty intended to hang on to his body. No way was he taking any more extended naps.

He looked around again. Yeah, Fin had gotten it right. He’d seen a lot of human males on his trip from Ireland, and the men around him were definite upgrades. Ty glanced back at Fin. “Man, you’re going to stand out in a crowd. Why’d you make yourself look like that?”

For just a moment, Fin lost his supreme-leader expression. He grinned. “Because I could.”

It wasn’t a case of
could
but
should
. All the others except Fin had hard faces, dangerous in a way that would make people think twice about fucking with them.

Fin’s look said,
Come to me. Stay with me. Be awed and
amazed by me
.

His long silver hair fell over his shoulders and down his back. Not gray, but
silver
. Each strand sparkled in the dim light. His eyes were metallic silver rimmed in black with a hint of purple when you looked at them just right. Their cold brilliance was freaking weird if you asked Ty. Women would think his face was beautiful. Fin’s image promised that he was a benign god who never grew angry, never harmed. What a crock.

“You just hurt my feelings, Ty.” Fin’s eyes gleamed with wicked amusement.

“Yeah, well the guys we’re hunting won’t have any trouble finding
you
. They can just follow the glow in the sky.” Ty had stopped worrying about Fin rooting around in his thoughts a long time ago.

Fin smiled, a smile that turned all that beauty into something really terrifying. “Think of me as a big, shiny spider sitting in the middle of my superglue web. You guys are out there at the end of the web waving your arms and giving out invites to visit me.” His smile widened. “I eat visitors.”

Okay, that made Ty feel better. Fin was…Fin. He’d
always drawn people to him, made them forget what he really was. But he took care of his own. Ty didn’t know how he knew this. He couldn’t remember ever seeing Fin’s physical body before, but somewhere he knew he had. When…?

“Don’t think about it, Ty. Keep focused on the enemy.” Fin wasn’t smiling anymore.

“How about filling us in on this enemy? We need details.” The guy with black hair across from Ty sounded like he thought all this talk was a bunch of crap. His expression said,
Let’s get on with the good stuff
.

Ty added his personal vote to that thought. He liked the man’s attitude. Ty took a moment to wonder what he’d been before. Not that it mattered.
Now
was what mattered.

“And why didn’t you warn us before you did your disconnect thing with our souls? I was in the middle of—”

Fin turned his gaze on the guy, and he shut up. “Dinner’s ready. I’ll answer questions while we eat.”

On cue, the double doors opened and a small man rolling a cart filled with food came through. Ty, along with all the others at the table, eyed the covered dishes and then the man, trying to decide which was dinner.

The man met their gazes and growled. Predator. Ty lost interest.

Fin narrowed his eyes. “This is getting old fast. You’re human. Act it. Get over the predator-prey thing. Here it’s all about friends or enemies. Greer is my chef. He’s otherkin. His soul’s
other
. Like us.” His mental message was,
Not exactly
.

Greer nodded, but his expression said he’d never turn his back to any of them. Smart man.

Ty watched as Greer put the uncovered dishes on the
table. He forced himself to remember the how-to-eat-like-a-human lessons Fin had poured into his head along with everything else. He wanted to pounce on the steaks, drag them all onto his plate, and devour them before any of the others could try to take them away. He only took two. Ty ignored the potatoes and vegetables. Maybe he’d try them at another meal, but for now he wanted meat.

While Ty resisted the urge to abandon his knife and fork in favor of his fingers, he eyed the chef. “Great food. What are you, Greer?”

The chef almost smiled. “My soul is tiger.” His eyes said the men at the table might scare him witless, but a tiger didn’t cringe.

Ty nodded his approval.

Fin watched the chef return to the kitchen. “Ty’s experience tonight is worth mentioning.”

What experience? Ty paused in his eating.

“Houston isn’t a hotbed of otherkin, but from now on I’ll make sure any of them that come in contact with you guys have predator souls.” Fin glanced at Ty. “Steve won’t be coming back to work. By now he’s probably in Dallas. You were broadcasting your need to kill and get laid so loud, I almost reached for my earplugs. Oh, and right now Kelly is trying to figure out why you sent her into a panic and what her sudden craving for sex was all about.”

The other men at the table grinned. Fin didn’t. His stare wiped the smiles from their faces. “Here’s where everyone pays really close attention. Ty went hunting tonight.”

Everyone except Fin looked envious.

“When he found his prey, he got excited. His soul form bled through and scared the shit out of his intended prey. Luckily for everyone, Ty’s driver showed up and distracted
him.” The glance he sent Ty wasn’t condemning. It just said,
Don’t do this again
.

“I don’t care how hard it is—start blending. You’re human. You’ll never be anything else again. I’ve done the last nifty body exchange I’ll do for a long time. So learn to fit in.” He left the
or else
unsaid.

Ty looked down the length of the table, met every man’s eyes. “Hell, all of you would’ve done the same thing.” Satisfied, he watched their gazes slide away from him.

“So would I.” Fin’s murmur silenced the table. No one moved; no one
breathed
.

Ty’s imagination couldn’t begin to wrap itself around what it would mean if Fin ever lost control. Death and destruction like the earth had never known.
He’d seen it happen
once
. The thought took root and refused to budge. His memory was wrong, though. He’d never
seen
Fin before tonight. Then what…?

Fin fixed him with an unblinking stare. “Forget it.” Fin never raised his voice. He didn’t have to.

Ty frowned as the thought faded. It hadn’t made any sense anyway.

“We need to know what we’re facing.” The guy in the suit sitting next to Ty spoke up for the first time.