Prymal Lust (17 page)

When they were finished with the chili, salad, and the bread, Axe ordered Jaz to clear the table and load the dishwasher.

Tania held her breath waiting for her twin to explode.

Beet-faced, mouth compressed, Jaz complied.

She noticed he loaded the dishwasher with quick efficiency. Jaz had never touched the appliance when he lived at home.

“Don’t look so worried. You don’t go through four years of military college without learning how to spit and polish anything that can be spit and polished.” Axe caught her hand and rubbed her thumb.

All at once, scenes from the movie Private Benjamin flashed in her head. She turned to Axe. “What a chump, I am. Of course. I’ve seen enough military movies to know that. For some reason I didn’t put two and two together because it was Jaz.”

She shook her head. The whole evening had jolted her concepts of the way alphas treated females. Sure, she knew that in most first world countries men and women had equal rights. But, an alpha was an alpha. They ruled with iron fists. And women submitted to their rule.

But, here was her twin, Jaz, who’d never lifted a finger while he lived at home, stacking a dishwasher, and, she glanced at him, wiping down the counter and the sink.

Bandit snorted. “He ain’t seen nothing yet. Wait till Hell Week starts. And guess who’s the special guest instructor for Hell Week?”

Tania decided the apple pie and ice cream would be served under the stars. She’d shoed them out of the kitchen.

Axe and Lycus retired to the deck.

Bandit, Jaz, The Kydd, and Jurango headed to the barn to argue about the sleeping arrangements. The loft in the barn had two bedrooms and one bath. They’d either have to modify the four horse stalls, or bunk together because there was no way everyone would fit in Axe’s four bedroom house.

“You’re being a dip-shit a-hole. Never thought I’d see the day when you’d hold back. Fuck, Axe. She’s going to have to know it all eventually.” Lycus leaned back in the chair, took a puff of his cigar, and blew a series of perfect, pearl-gray spirals.

The mouth-watering aroma of java brewing filtered to Axe’s nose. Before he could compose a reply, the screen door opened.

“What am I going to have to know eventually?” Tania, carrying a tray with a carafe of coffee and five mugs, stood in the doorway.

Axe cringed. He knew the moment inevitable but had hoped to stall full divulgence a day or two longer. He bounded to his feet, relieved her of the tray, and set it on the picnic table.

Drawing her back to his chest, he wrapped his arms around her, and rested his chin on her hair. For a few seconds Axe allowed himself the luxury of simply holding her and absorbing the faint floral tint to the shampoo she used that morning, and the silken feel of her nestled within his arms.

“What you and we are up against,” Lycus replied.

For a moment she studied the Rogue wolf.

Then she craned her neck and twisted to the right and met Axe’s gaze. “Lycus is right. Thank you for this little oasis. I needed to get accustomed to everything. Not that I’m fully there yet. But, I have to know where I stand.”

Axe blew out a long sigh. He knuckled her cheek. “Yeah. It’s time.”

She edged away from him and fussed with the French Press. “Help yourselves to the coffee. I’ll bring out the pies.”

Right then Jaz appeared at the bottom of the stairs. “I’ll help, sis.”

Tania blinked a couple of times, obviously taken aback. Grinned. “Thanks, Jaz.”

When the twins vanished into the kitchen, Axe said, “Had a talk with the pup, did you?”

“Me? Nah. Bandit, Jurango, and The Kydd tore into him. Told him that he’d better learn manners around females, or he’d be knuckle-kissed within an inch of his life.”

“Knuckle-kissed? Guess they went easy on him in deference to his newly granted founding member status,” Axe mused. He glanced over his shoulder, gauged the twins’ progress, and said, “No mention of the scatting on her panties.”

“Agreed. Not necessary. I’ll let you lead the conversation. Just remember, as of tomorrow, Eva and Dax will be here.” Lycus pinched out his cigar and rested it in the lone ashtray on the table. He moved the crystal and the smoke to the other end of the deck.

“Handling that one’s the tricky part of all this.” Axe dreaded Tania’s reactions to Eva’s injuries. “Do we include the others in this?”

“Your mate will have to get used to all of us. We do this as a pack.” Lycus whistled, the sound a pitch above what a human could hear, and the Prymal signal for gathering immediately.

When Tania and Jaz returned loaded with pies and, a quart of ice-cream, they both swept surprised glances at the picnic table.

Bandit, The Kydd, and Jurango were seated opposite Lycus and Axe.

“Well, that was quick. I thought you all were in the barn.” The plates on the trays rattled when Tania laid them on the table.

“Are you kidding, doll? We heard the fridge open and raced back here. ‘Sides we got everything figured out.” Bandit eyed the three pies. “Is that caramel trickled on top of the crust?”

“You have a good eye,” Tania declared.

“It’s the nose. Nada gets by this.” Bandit tapped his honker.

“Help yourselves to coffee. There’s creamer and sugar in the little jars.” Tania began slicing one pie into quarters. “I’m assuming everyone wants the whole enchilada?”

Her answer was a chorus of growled yeses.

Jaz settled across from Axe. He quirked a brow.

Axe gave him a surreptitious nod answering Jaz’s unspoken question—
are you going to tell her?

A bustle of activity occurred, followed by moans of appreciation, and second and third helpings. When not a crumb or lick of ice-cream remained, the men cleared the table and loaded the dishwasher refusing to let Tania help in anyway though she protested.

Axe bought a couple of extra minutes by brewing and serving another pot of coffee. After ensuring both he and his mate had mugs of the strong potion, he deliberately sat opposite her. She shot him a puzzled look, but didn’t say a word.

Jaz sat beside his sister.

Bandit parked his butt on the railing. He nursed a mug of bourbon-laced java.

The Kydd jammed a booted foot on the far end of the bench.

Jurango leaned his forearm on a thick, vertical post, and sipped his coffee.

Tania frowned, but remained silent.

Lycus cleared his throat. “It’s time, Tania, that you understand the circumstances and incidents that precipitated our and your current situations.”

“I agree. I have a ton of questions.” She curled her fingers around the mug and swept Axe a sidelong glance.

“Ask away.” Lycus waved a hand in her direction.

“Tell me what you have to tell me first.” She notched her jaw high and her lips pursed when she focused on Lycus.

Axe repressed a sigh. He’d come to recognized those twin tells of hers. She had her dander up. “About two months ago, Lycus and I nearly killed each other. The entire nineteen members of Lycus’s pack had been slaughtered, and what evidence there was of who’d done it pointed to me.”

Tania, in the middle of taking a sip of java, sputtered. She thunked her mug onto the table. Her glance wicked from Axe to Lycus and back again. “I don’t understand. I thought you two were joined at the hip.”

Axe snorted. “The Feral and Rogue wolves have been enemies for a hundred and fifty years. The only reason we hadn’t gone at each other before Lycus’s pack was murdered is because we’re both SEALs.”

She grabbed a paper napkin from the holder on the table and dabbed at the spilt coffee. “Don’t SEALs do everything together?”

“A SEAL Team does
everything
together. There are about twenty-five hundred active SEALs and nine teams. None of us here have served together for any significant period of time. We’re all over the place globally. Axe and Lycus knew each other, of course, but they weren’t on the same team—”

Lycus cut Bandit off. “Enough. Let’s stick to the game plan. To continue—about the same time as my pack was murdered, Axe’s grandmother, his only living relative, was raped, tortured, and killed. My coat of arms was carved into what was left of her torso.”

Tania gasped.

She cupped a hand over her mouth. Her eyes were luminous with unshed tears, the difference in their hues more evident than normal. She reached across the table for him.

Axe covered her hand with his. It took all he had not to leap over the table and haul her into his lap.

“I’m so sorry, Axe. How horrible. You must have been devastated.” She gave his fingers a little squeeze.

“I was enraged, Tania. I set out to hunt and kill Lycus.” A wave of the fury he’d felt that day washed through him. Axe struggled to clear away the red haze of anger.

“And I was doing the same thing—hunting Axe to tear him apart limb by limb.” Lycus’s tone was so matter of fact he could’ve been talking about the weather.

“Long story short. We fought. We’re equally matched—”

“Your opinion,” Lycus growled.

“For crap’s sake. They could hardly stand when I got to them. But that didn’t stop them from continuing to batter each other,” Jurango snapped.

Tania’s mouth formed a silent moue of surprise.

Axe couldn’t compress a quick grin.

Jurango wasn’t known for volunteering information.

He moved then to sit next to his mate, drew her onto his lap, crowded her, and shared his warmth. Her skin was cold and clammy.

Jurango ambled over to the table and poured himself another cup of coffee. “Lycus and I have known each other for years. When my pack was massacred, Lycus offered to help me hunt their killers. After the murder of his pack, I helped Lycus investigate the scene. Once Lycus discovered the evidence incriminating Axe, he lost it. Before I could try to stop Lycus, he’d taken off after Axe.”

Tania huddled deeper into Axe’s embrace.

He kneaded her knotted shoulder muscles.

Jurango sipped his brew and then continued, “There was something about the evidence pointing to Axe that seemed off. It was too easy to find and way too blatant. I went over every inch of the scene and picked up an odor I recognized. That same smell had been present when the members of my pack were butchered. I went after Lycus and persuaded him to listen to reason.”

“The word ‘persuaded’ in Jurango-speak equals beat the crap out of Lycus until he had no other choice but to listen,” Bandit explained.

Jurango flipped Bandit the bird. “The second I heard about Axe’s grandmother, I went to the scene. Got there just before the cops. Didn’t take me long to find that same odor. I knew Axe’d go after Lycus. Knew they’d kill each other. So, I hunted them down.”

“That’s when you found them fighting?” Her voice held a reedy note.

“Yes. I knocked both of them out cold, tied them up, and waited for logic to return to their dinosaur brains.” Jurango shot Axe a wrap-up-now glance.

“Jurango-speak translation—he poured ice water over their faces until they agreed to be rational.” Bandit flashed Tania a wink.

Tania tucked her fingers under Axe’s.

Axe felt the tension and fear radiating from his mate. He rubbed her hands between his.

“When Axe and Lycus were calm enough to think clearly, we analyzed all the evidence we’d found at the three murder scenes—my pack’s, Lycus’s, and Axe’s grandmother. We didn’t have to have Mensa IQs to come to a couple of obvious conclusions. One—someone or ones had deliberately pitted Axe and Lycus against each other. Two—that same someone had murdered my pack members.” Jurango gave Axe an over-to-you nod.

Axe shifted Tania so they were face to face. He tucked a wayward curl of silky hair behind her ear and met her stare. “We found other wolves, both Rogue and Feral, whose packs had also been butchered. The Kydd and Bandit and others you haven’t met yet, all of them have all had their pack members slaughtered.”

Tania blinked. Shot Axe a puzzled frown. “You all think it’s some sort of conspiracy?”

“Bingo,” Axe said.

“In all of the cases, we found a similar pattern. A Rogue pack murdered with the evidence pointing to a Feral alpha or one of his pack or the reverse. Two days ago, we discovered the pattern of Feral and Rogue pack massacres goes back at least five decades.” Lycus pushed off the bench. “Axe?”

Axe waited until Lycus walked around the table and joined Bandit, Jurango and The Kydd.

Then he nudged Tania’s chin.

Her eyes had widened to baby-doe size.

“While we have no proof right now. Each and every one of us here believes we’ll discover the pattern goes back at least a century.” Axe wished he could soften the blow to come.

Tania’s nostrils quivered and dread rolled off her in waves.

“We founded Prymal to hunt the person or persons behind the slaughter.” Axe hesitated. How to say what he had to say gently?

She jutted her jaw. “Just say it. Don’t try to sugar coat it for me.”

“We’ve evidence linking Triple W Corporation to the killing of not only our packs, but all the other slaughters we’ve discovered.” Axe kept his focus trained on his mate.

“No.” She shoved at his chest. Shook her head. Scrambled off his lap and lurched to her feet. “No. I won’t believe this.”

Axe was aware of nothing beside Tania, her fingers clenched into tight fists, the violent trembling of her lips, and the way she worked her jaw.

The usual night noises faded. Axe ignored the owls hooting in the distance, the wind whistling up a canyon somewhere above them, and a couple of raccoons fighting over food at the bottom of his property.

Slowly, he got to his feet, keeping his movements even and unhurried though every alpha instinct shouted he do the opposite. Axe approached his mate like he would a terrified cub.

“Stop. Stay away,” her voice cracked on the last word.

Axe froze studying her wan complexion and her hunched, defensive stance.

“You can’t possibly believe that my father or my other brothers are involved,” she spat out the declaration, eyes narrowed, mouth canted down.

Axe noted Tania omitted her Uncle Viktor from her fierce avowal.