Sullivan (Leopard's Spots 7) (15 page)

“You’re the reason Bobby’s been wearing turtlenecks.” Paava pointed at Bobby. “Except for now, and holy shit, that’s a mating bite, isn’t it?”

“Yeah,” Bobby answered proudly, trying not to preen. He couldn’t help but cant his head to the side just a little, giving a better showing of the bite. Then he got over himself.

There were more important things going on than his need to show off. “Tell me what happened.”

Paava’s happiness faded and he sighed as he closed his eyes, tipping his head back on the couch. “We closed up, no further problems. I was doing the paperwork, and we were short a few hundred bucks. There were receipts missing from the bar, and I figured things got screwy at the door, you know, when Jerry was pulled off working it. Anyway, I guess I dozed off, because I woke up when I heard someone laughing, and it was one of those crazy laughs, like you see in cheesy horror movies.” Paava chuckled dryly, no amusement in his expression. “Thought I was dreaming. Then the smell hit me, and the crackling sounds, heat…” He shook his head. “I don’t think the laughter was real, because by the time I woke up, the place was practically a torch. I had to break out the office window, otherwise I wouldn’t have got out.” He shuddered and Bobby put a hand on his shoulder. Sully stepped closer then nudged Bobby’s hip.

Bobby got the message—his mate was good with his friendship with Paava. He sat beside Paava and hugged him. “I’m fucking glad you woke up, buddy.”

“Me too,” Paava huffed. “Dunno why I didn’t wake up sooner. Just worn out, I guess.”

“Unless someone doped you.”

“Nah, not possible. I’d have known I was drinking something tainted,” Paava said.

Sully grumbled and Bobby had to agree with his mate. “Not necessarily. There’s got to be shit that can be used on us. I mean, we aren’t unbreakable and all that. Coulda been in something you ate, too.” Paava glared and Bobby continued. “Or you could just be a worn-out old man already. You got those bags under your eyes.”

“Aw, fuck you.” Paava rubbed at those bags for a moment and yawned. “Anyway, the fire department showed up as I went out the window. I was questioned somewhat, but they were really busy trying to put out the fire. I’m supposed to go in for an interview in—” Paava looked at his wrist, where a pale line showed. “Well, fuck. I don’t know what happened to my watch. S’posed to be somewhere at nine—”

Bobby knew Paava was worn to a nub, but he still had questions. “Did they say if it was arson? I should go down there.” He stood and waved a hand at Paava when he would have argued. “Seriously, stay here. Shower, sleep, whatever.” Bobby rushed into the bedroom and grabbed the first pair of jeans he found.

“I’m coming with you,” Sully told him.

“I’m glad,” Bobby admitted. “Something’s off, and I don’t know what.” Sully moved so silently Bobby almost didn’t hear him. He touched a finger to Bobby’s lips then glanced in the direction of the living room. That was when Bobby felt it, the first true tendril of their mental link as Sully’s voice eased into his mind.

“How well do you trust him?”

“Paava?”
Bobby frowned, thinking of that shadowy doubt he’d felt earlier.
“I’ve known
him all my life, honey. Granted, we ain’t ever been in each other’s pockets exactly, but he’ll be my
beta.”

“Do you trust him?”

Bobby had no reason not to.
“I’ve never caught him in a lie, or seen him do anything
dishonest.”
Was that because he hadn’t looked?

Sully didn’t say anything else, just got dressed alongside of Bobby. They left the house.

“You want me to drive?” Sully asked.

“Naw, I’m strangely calm,” Bobby told him, then gave him a quick grin. “Considering I was just about to fuck you senseless, I think it’s miraculous that I’m walking.”

“You can fuck me senseless later,” Sully promised.

Bobby was damn sure going to hold him to that.

“Seems like to me someone official would have come and told you about the fire.” Sully had seen enough TV shows to know that was how it went down…although he also knew those shows were fictional-ish.

Bobby grunted and turned the truck onto the highway. “Things are different when there’s some shifters working for the Fire Department. We have pack everywhere, and Paava is known as my beta, so if he wanted to come by himself, he’d be allowed. I’ll be interviewed and all that shit soon enough.”

Sully tried to wrap his mind around that. His limited interaction with shifters was pretty much familial. He hadn’t even known there were other kinds of shifters until a little over a year ago. The idea that they could be anywhere, holding regular jobs instead of secreted in offices somewhere—or out on digs, whatever—startled Sully. He’d just never thought of it.

“The San Antonio pack has been here for as long as the city has existed,” Bobby explained. “Before that, there was still a pack, it was just different times, probably had more room to run and stricter laws. Killing someone as punishment for being mouthy is frowned upon now.” Bobby smirked and arched a brow at him before turning his attention back to driving. “Who’da thunk us wolves would get all politically correct?”

“I wouldn’t call any of us shifters politically correct,” Sully said, thinking about the members of his family who had killed to protect or defend others. He didn’t think they’d done anything wrong, but in the eyes of modern law… “I don’t think we
can
be, considering we aren’t strictly human. Our beasts have to have a say, too.”

“Yup. Hey, baby, you oughta get something with a few more cylinders,” Bobby muttered as he zoomed past a slow driver. “Bet he could pedal the damn car faster than he’s driving it.”

“Hey, that’s a hybrid. You can’t expect much from those,” Sully pointed out. He shuddered, looking back at the tiny car.

“I don’t expect jack from them. I wouldn’t have one of those rinky-dink kiddie cars for anything.”

“Not even if it helps the environment?”

Bobby cackled then snorted. “Won’t be helping the environment none if I buy one of those and torch it because it’s a POS.”

“Some of them might be good.” Sully realised they were having a relatively inane conversation, both of them trying not to dwell on what the issue was—someone setting fire to Bobby’s club.

“Unless they’re as big as a tank, or my truck, and have eight cylinders, they’re useless.” Bobby exited the highway without slowing down and Sully gripped the ‘Oh Shit’ bar. “I won’t roll this truck, Sully.”

“Didn’t think you would, but I still am not letting go of this.” He jerked the handle.

“I think the first fire was deliberate,” Bobby said out of the blue, breaking their attempt at avoiding the subject. “Maybe that insurance guy Mr Bircher was wrong, and someone thought it’d be fun to stir up some shit. Got a kick out of it and did it again.” Sully wrinkled his nose as he thought about it. “I could be wrong, but I’d think this was the same person who assaulted Mando.” He sat up straighter and patted at his shirt pocket.

“Can I call and check on him? What if it is the same guy—?”

“Use my phone,” Bobby interrupted, tossing his cell to Sully. “Remus is on speed dial, number two.”

Sully pressed the number and Remus answered before the first ring was finished. “Uh, Remus, sir, I’m—this is Sullivan Ward. There’s been a fire at Bobby’s nightclub, and we wanted to make sure Mando’s there and safe.” There was no sense beating around the bush.

“Mando is asleep,” Remus said in a melodious voice that soothed Sully’s nerves. “He is a strong young man, and with the pack as family, he will recover. I will not let anyone hurt him, Sullivan. Bobby can reassure you that I keep my word.” Sully’s heart fluttered at the thought of Remus believing him a doubter. “I didn’t mean to imply that you weren’t capable or—or anything like that. I’m just freaking out, I guess, and if the person who hurt Mando is the same one who started the fire, then I have to wonder why, and if he’d come after Mando, too.”

“Someone wants to hurt Bobby, and is trying to do so,” Remus murmured. “Mando is well-guarded. My sons are not going to allow anyone to enter our home, or hurt their new brother. But Bobby must be warned that everyone he cares for may be in danger. He has to take this seriously and not let the threat of it roll off his fur.”

“He won’t,” Sully assured Remus even as chill bumps pebbled his skin. “I’ll make sure he understands.” Sully ended the call with a thank you then he set the phone on the seat. He looked at Bobby.

“I heard him,” Bobby said before Sully could speak. “And I’m taking it plenty serious.

What I feel inside and what is seen on the outside don’t always match up.”

“A protective covering.” Sully nodded. “Yeah, but why?”

“I don’t know. I told you, I’m just a dick sometimes, I guess.” Bobby sucked in a sharp breath and Sully glanced away from him, looking in the same direction Bobby was. Even in the darkness, he could make out the smoke, and when he inhaled, the air reeked with the odour of the fire. “Fuck. I’m gonna break someone’s head open for this.” Although said lightly, Sully knew Bobby wasn’t joking. He shivered and thought of the power he’d felt coming from Bobby. Sully had a lot to learn about packs and what an alpha really was. He knew the basic definition, but also that there was much more to it than just being a leader, like disciplining pack members…

“What about Jerry?” Sully sat up straighter and pulled at his seatbelt, which felt like it was trying to saw through his neck. “Would he have done this to retaliate?”

“I would have said no a day earlier, but I just…” Bobby sighed and touched his chest, as if his heart ached. “I just don’t know right now. Everything’s a mess, and I’m even doubting Paava, who I have no reason to mistrust, you know. I feel this…this pressure inside me, to protect the pack and the people I care about. It’s my wolf railing in here.” He thumped the spot he’d touched. “He wants out, wants to rend and kill, and I think—” He paused while navigating around cars parked on the side of the road. “When I was a kid, the power inside me used to scare me. I was afraid I’d get lost to it, to my wolf, because I was just this skinny, mouthy brat, and how could I ever measure up to the wolf in me? I didn’t think I could. The wolf is noble, loyal, intelligent—lots of things an awkward kid never thought he’d be, you know? So maybe that’s why I’m weird.”

“I don’t think you’re weird,” Sully said, needing to defend his mate even if it was from a self-directed attack. “I think you’re interesting, complex, and I really need to learn more about your pack’s ways and what you being their alpha entails. Like, what is expected of you now, when you aren’t the alpha but everyone knows you will be, what happens when you are alpha, and what my role with the pack is.”

“But not your role with me.”

“Do I have one?” Sully looked at the fire trucks and firefighters still on the scene. He didn’t see any flames, but there was lots of smoke.

“No, no role. I just want you.” Bobby parked the truck. “Fuck, look at it. I don’t see how it can be rebuilt without being torn down first. Fuck!” Sully was looking, and he had to agree. “It’s not just your place, though. The whole strip is damaged, and it wouldn’t surprise me if it all got torn down.”

“Your attempt at sympathy doesn’t make me feel any better,” Bobby sniped. “Might wanna work on that.”

Sully flushed hot under the criticism but he didn’t think Bobby truly meant to be a dick.

The hum of their mental link was there, a bare connection in which he could feel Bobby’s tension and anger flaring. Bobby had kept it under control up until now, so that Sully hadn’t been aware of it, but now it was unavoidable. Sully raced to get out at the same time Bobby did.

“Wait for me,” he said, fingers slipping on the old door handle. He got out and Bobby waited just long enough for Sully to reach him before he strode purposefully forward.

Sully’s skin pricked with the power coming out of Bobby. He wondered how everyone around them kept from quaking, but perhaps Bobby had it centred or something, calling out to a pack member.

A fireman ran towards them, holding a hand up. “Stay back—oh! Mr Baker, uh, let me get Mason over here for you, sir. Please wait right there.” Bobby growled and took two steps forward, his chest puffed out and head up defiantly, as if daring the man to tell him to stop. When the fireman only tipped his head down, Bobby stopped walking. “Fine. Get him or Carter.”

Sully stiffened at Bobby’s tone. Not in anger, but in something close to arousal. His stomach fluttered as his groin tingled. He liked the commanding note in Bobby’s voice—a lot.

“Later,” Bobby promised as two firefighters jogged towards them. One was tall and rail-thin while the other was short and stocky. “What happened, Carter?” The shorter one skidded to a halt, the taller man right on his heels. “Someone spread accelerant all over the place. Did the entire building, to some degree, but really doused your club.” Carter didn’t meet Bobby’s eyes. “I’m afraid it’s destroyed. Whoever did it knew what they were doing.”

Those words reverberated inside Bobby’s head.
Someone who knew what they were doing…

The realisation shot through him like an electrical jolt so that he actually jerked. He knew someone who was an expert on fires, didn’t he? Someone who hated him, and his ‘kind’.

“Bircher,” Bobby muttered, anger rolling from him in acrid waves. “Motherfucking insurance man would know how to set the perfect fire, how to destroy my club.” Carter canted his head but still kept his gaze averted. “Why would an insurance adjustor want to do this?”

“’Cause he’s a bigoted asshole with a microphallus and serious penis envy issues,” Bobby growled. “I don’t fuckin’ care why he did it, just whether or not I’m right. If he did it…”

“If he did it, and he’s human, it’s out of your hands,”
Sully thought. Out loud, he added,

“I’m sure they’ll figure out who did this.” And Sully wondered if it made him awful to hope it was a shifter who’d done it after all, so that pack justice could be applied. He wanted someone torn to shreds for hurting Bobby, and while it didn’t show on the outside, he could feel the pain of Bobby’s loss, the anger and frustration at being attacked in such a way. Sully wanted to defend his mate, to avenge him.