Hidden Passions (18 page)

Without warning, a tiny spark jumped off one.

Someone was approaching. Chris saw no one, heard no one, but he knew it was true. The watcher spell Tony had noticed earlier wasn't quite out of juice.

"Shit," Tony murmured, tensing up and leaning closer to the window to see out. His palm shifted to the butt of his firearm.

If fae were on the way, Chris knew they needed more protection than a gun. Gritting his teeth against his inevitable twinge of doubt, he let his cat's instincts take over. His heart center swelled, the energy of his tiger bursting free of its human cage. Clothing ripped as light swallowed his senses.

A moment was all it took. Chris's paws hit the floor, heavy but silent. He lifted his tiger's head, pulling back his lips to test any new scents across his tongue. He located the intruder with no trouble. He'd been moving faster than a human, blurring through the shadows where their sight couldn't follow him. He was at the back door now, jiggering the lock. That was too close for comfort. Chris had to head him off.

"Wait," Tony said.

The wolf couldn't change on demand. He needed the moon for it. In his current shape, Chris's tiger thought him too small to be of use. Chris butted him once for reassurance, then streaked off down the steps.

~

Watching Chris change stole what breath Tony had after their cut-off kiss. The way the other man looked at him, as if Tony were the center of his longings . . .

That marvel was shoved to the back burner by the effortless wonder of Chris's shift. In a literal twinkling, he became his tiger. His face went still, bright white sparks shot out from his center, and there his beast self was.

He was huge, his ears as high as Tony's shoulders, his black-striped flanks rippling with muscle. His cat's eyes glowed, their orangey color finally making sense. When his head lifted to sniff the air, Tony fought not to jump. Chris's fangs were longer than when he was in human form, maybe as long as five inches. If a person were caught within those toothy jaws, they weren't getting out.

Tony wanting to pet him in spite of this was admittedly crazy.

Once he'd overcome his distraction, he had a second to identify the scent that had sent Chris into protective mode.

"Wait," he said.

Chris's tiger butted Tony's side with sufficient force to make him stagger. Tony was still catching his balance when Chris's fur-covered muscles coiled. He streaked away before Tony could grab him.

"Fuck," he cursed, tearing after him down the stairs. "That's my brother-in-law! Don't attack!"

Johnny had just succeeded in picking the back door lock, after which he sped at shifter velocity up the hall. Why he hadn't knocked, Tony didn't know, but being leaped on by a thousand pounds of snarling tiger was unlikely to have been his goal.

Chris smashed Johnny to the poolroom floor, his immense weight stunning him.

"Shit," Johnny gasped as Chris bared his forest of teeth and growled.

"No!" Tony cried, jumping on Chris's back like a circus daredevil. He clenched both hands around the looser skin of the tiger's hackles, hauling backward with all his might. Chris grunted but didn't budge much that he could tell.

"
Friend
," Tony barked. "This wolf is Ethan's dad."

"Please," Johnny seconded. "If you don't stop growling, I'm gonna pee myself."

Chris's attack posture began to ease. Tony swung off him and retreated. Thankfully, Chris followed.

Freed from his weight, Johnny rolled--relatively slickly--onto his feet.

"What is your problem?" Maria cried, rushing forward from the others. Amazingly, Chris wasn't the object of her ire. They knew this because it was her husband's chest she punched.

"
My
problem," Johnny complained, rubbing it.

"You couldn't warn us you were coming? You had to pick the lock?"

"I was trying to be stealth. I figured you'd recognize my smell. Also, I have this cat I need to get rid of."

"
I'd
recognize you," she said, hugging him. "Some of the shifters here don't know you."

Johnny shifted his gaze to Chris. Still in tiger form and definitely still alert, he stood next to Tony with the dropcloth-shrouded bar behind them.

"Johnny Surrey," he said to Chris's inscrutable cat face. "And my wife, Maria Lupone."

Maria shoved him again. "He's met me, you idiot."

"Stop scolding," Johnny said, a smile softening it. His arms wrapped snugly around his wife, who didn't resist the embrace. "I thought you and Tony might like to know your brother is all right."

"Really?" Maria pressed her hands to her mouth. She looked at Tony, and both their eyes welled up. For a moment, it was like being kids again, before life and its complications made them more separate. Rick was their big brother: their unasked-for boss, their playmate and friend, their rock-solid dependable protector. The idea that he might be harmed was intolerable.

"Really," Johnny assured her. "I dropped him and the others at a top-secret location. I'm afraid you guys can't stand down yet. Rick killed the first bad faerie, and his new girl and her dad are safe, but there's one more you-know-what hunting fae unaccounted for. On the bright side, Adam seems to think we'll have the second pureblood in our trap soon."

Chris's furry head butted him again. Giving in to temptation, Tony scratched him behind the ears. His fur was incredibly thick and soft.

"Okay," he said, voice hoarse with relief at hearing his brother was alive. "What's this you were saying about a cat?"

"Hold on," Johnny said. "I left her inside the back entrance."

He returned carrying the sort of plastic bucket professional plasterers used. As he reached Tony and Chris, a desperate scrabbling noise issued from inside. Tony peeked into the lid's air holes, which appeared to have been punched by Johnny's claws. Green eyes stared accusingly up at him. They had vertical pupil slits.

"It's a housecat," he said.

"Apparently," Johnny said. "We found her in the cave where Rick and his new girl were hiding the you-know-whats. We assume she's Cass's. I don't know why they took a pet on the run, but she doesn't seem to like me."

"You stuck her in a bucket," Tony said.

"Believe me, kid, her mood was worse before I put her in there."

The cat yowled as if agreeing.

"We'll take her!" Evina's cubs chimed in unison. "We're cats too. She'll like us!"

Tony considered the unhappy cat. Her gray ears were flattened against her bony head, her fur puffed up in threat or fear. Abby and Rafi might be fellow felines, but they were also six-year-olds.

"Uh," he said. "I don't think this cat is up for being played with. Chris and I will look after her. Maybe coax her to take a nap."

Braced for more angry noises, Tony took the bucket handle from Johnny. The cat stayed mum. In fact, she sat down in the container.

"Well," Tony said, surprised and pleased. Domestic cats didn't always get along with werewolves.

"Okay then," Johnny said. "I guess I'll go back to Adam."

"You're not staying?" Maria objected.

"I can't, sweetie. I'm the weapons expert, and they brought an arsenal."

Johnny
was
Special Tactics, but Maria knew her husband's penchant for being where the action was. She frowned at him skeptically. "An arsenal for one faerie."

"Faeries are the Big Bad, honey--at least some of them. We want to squash this one good while we have the chance." He kissed her forehead to mollify her. "You don't need me here. You've got Tony."

Tony was relatively certain that fact impressed no one.

Maria didn't seem happy, but she let her husband hug her goodbye. Ethan got a squeeze as well, plus a giggle-inducing growl. Then Johnny slipped out the back way again.

His exit left a brief lull.

Syd, the dreadlocked weretiger, ended it.

"Pants," he said, holding up a pair in one hand. Tony gaped at him blankly. "For Chris. He'll have ripped his when he shifted."

"Right," Tony said. "I'll, um, give them to him if you want."

Syd tossed the garment, which Tony caught. Abruptly awkward but not sure what else to do, he carried it and the cat bucket up the stairs. There was a pause, and then he heard Chris's tiger padding up behind him. His fur brushed the peeling wall, his substantial weight causing the steps to creak. Tony didn't think it was his imagination that Chris's strides sounded self-conscious. Everyone knew Tony was attracted to naked men. The idea that he might watch Chris pulling on the sweats was unavoidable.

When Liam muttered a snarky comment beneath his breath, Tony deliberately blocked it from his hearing.

~

Under other circumstances, Tony turning his back while Chris pulled on a pair of sweatpants would have been humorous. Deciding not to attempt a joke, he tied the drawstring without comment.

"Sorry I attacked your brother-in-law," he said.

To prevent the cat from fleeing, Tony shut the door to the poker room before prying up the bucket lid. "You didn't know Johnny was a friendly."

"I should have listened when you told me to wait."

The cat wasn't hopping out of her enclosure. Tony reached in and pulled her out. She hung in his hands and stared at him. She was a skinny thing, her gray fur crooked from having been puffed up.

"She doesn't seem to hate me," Tony said.

"You might have my scent on you. Try holding her on your shoulder."

Tony shifted her onto it and petted her cautiously. The cat closed her eyes and relaxed, as if her bones had magically melted.

"She's purring," Tony said, surprised by it.

Chris smiled. He could hear that from where he stood.

Tony turned to him. "Adam is probably right about this being over soon. Our alpha has good instincts."

Was he sorry about that? Chris couldn't read his guarded expression. "You must have good instincts too. You knew it was safe to drag my tiger off your brother-in-law."

"Why would you hurt me?" Tony asked reasonably.

That was the million-dollar question, wasn't it?

"We should go back on lookout," Chris said. "Just in case."

Tony carried the cat to the chair, petting her ruffled fur smooth with long slow strokes. Chris sat too, soothed by him soothing her. The neighborhood outside slowly came awake with businesspeople and vehicles. Nothing alarming happened. Chris and Tony didn't repeat their kiss. In truth, they barely spoke.

Despite the uneventfulness of their watch, Chris knew he'd always remember being here with the man he loved.

ADAM called Ari, keeper of all the cell phones, with the news that the danger was over. She sprinted upstairs to tell Tony as soon as she hung up. The bad faeries were dead, the dragons were safe, and Adam wanted the squad and its family members to gather at the estate of Cass Maycee's close girlfriends. Apparently, this was the top-secret hideout Johnny had mentioned.

It was afternoon. Johnny hadn't left them more than a few hours ago.

"That's great news," Chris said, squeezing Tony's shoulder.

It was great. Tony swallowed back his urge to ask if Chris could come to the house with them.

"I'll bring Cass's cat," he said.

Ari flashed a grin. "Adam says your brother was really brave. And his new half-faerie girlfriend is badass. I can't wait to hear the whole story!"

Ari had hung her weight on the doorframe as excitedly as a kid. "Me either," Tony said as she bounced one last time and then trotted down the stairs.

"So . . ." Chris said.

He didn't get a chance to say more. The tiger called Jonah, the one next in rank after Chris, stuck his head in the door. His glance flicked scornfully toward Tony before shifting back to Chris. "You hear, boss?"

"I heard," he confirmed.

"We're gonna head to the station, if that's okay with you. Cook a big feed for everyone."

That he meant everyone who was a tiger was obvious.

"Okay," Chris said. "Anyone need a ride?"

"We're good, boss. See you there in a bit."

"You need help closing up things here?" Tony asked.

"I'll be fine," Chris assured him. "You go be with your brother. It's been a long time since you've seen him."

It had, but Rick wasn't the only person Tony cared about. This place wasn't somewhere Chris ought to be alone.

"Shake a leg, boss!" someone called from downstairs. "Vasur's going to barbecue spareribs."

Because it seemed the circumspect thing to do, Tony extended his hand for Chris to shake. The other man looked at it like Tony was crazy.

"Please thank your crew for their help," Tony said.

Chris gripped his palm cautiously. "Tony . . ."

The door was wide open. Tony didn't allow him to continue.

"I'll see you around," he said. He pumped his hand once, briskly, before releasing it.

~

Evidently, the battle to save the dragons had been epic, involving fireballs, magical doppelgangers, and faerie zombies whose life force had to be sucked out to the last drop before they died. Tony heard everything Ari knew by the time he drove her and the baby to the mansion in Westchester.

Tony had gone to high school with Jin and Bridie Levine, but the half elf cousins hadn't lived here then. This was quite a spread, set in the sort of gardens people paid good money to tour.

"Holy crap," Ari said as they pulled up in front of the sprawling ivy-covered edifice.

Few things cowed their alpha's wife, but this seemed to do the trick. Ari's origins in the human world were humble. For a while, she hadn't had a home at all.

"It's just a house," Tony said, reaching over to squeeze her arm.

"They're on TV, aren't they?" Ari asked, meaning Jin and Bridie. "I think I've seen them throwing parties here on the gossip shows."

"They host
As Luck Would Have It
, the program where the guests have had a big stroke of good fortune."

"Uh-huh." Ari bit the side of her thumb.

"Jin used to fart in math class," he informed her. "It was after lunch, and she had . . . issues with Mystery Meat."