They were wolves. Stubborn, dominant, wolves.
His eyes in the country, a good friend in the CIA, said she’d run off weeks after he’d left. A deep sense of guilt settled on him. If he’d stayed, would she still be there? He’d been the only buffer between her and the pack’s Alpha, a Wolf who ruled with an iron fist, and a brain short a screw or two.
It didn’t matter. Xio wouldn’t be there. He’d lost contact with her a long time ago, and other than the pack, he had no reason to come home. No family. No friends. His pack raised him, but the only person he’d felt close to had been his sister.
Yet, he couldn’t resist the pull, as though the Hills called him home, snapping an invisible lead, drawing him back. Perhaps his starting place would also become his end. He’d kept his promise. The pack had no reason to turn him away—other than he brought danger to their doorstep. If he lost it, nobody could protect them from him. Unless they killed him. Something inside him hoped it would be the case.
Xan turned down the main street and entered Los Lobos. People froze where they stood and watched him approach, as though he were a tornado about to rip their town apart. Seconds later, one mother scooted her children inside, followed by a town-wide exodus. Curtains snapped shut. Dead bolts locked. He knew he gave off a vibe, one the wolves sensed before any other. Even so, it wasn’t exactly the welcome he’d anticipated.
Did he look that rough? Dangerous?
Maybe a beer or something stiffer could help him relax?
He walked by what used to be the old dentist’s office and stopped to study the outside. Someone had painted it a cheery yellow. A wooden sign hung outside, swinging in the wind.
Liv Dunn, Psy.D.
His feet stuck to the street, as though he’d sunk into tar. Xan stared at the sign as it squawked, tempted to run to the local hardware store and secure a can of WD-40. If a person wasn’t insane, the sign could see them there in swift order.
Squawk, squeak, squawk.
What kind of dumbass put a sign up like that around those with sensitive hearing?
Squawk, squawk.
Xan rubbed the scruff on his jaw.
Squawk
.
He snorted.
Liv Dunn?
He sniffed and picked up the scent of a human female.
Fucking great. Humans
. Magnum would never have allowed them here.
What the hell is going on?
He wrinkled his nose and looked across the street to Gee’s Bar, a familiar sight. A new sign hung in the front window, but the rest of the building looked like his old stomping grounds. Again, not an unusual sight. The town hadn’t been in the greatest state of repair when he’d left, and the old bar had its share of fights in the past. From the looks of it, with one of the large panes in the front boarded up, the tradition remained alive and well. Familiarity won the day. Xan started across the street to get a drink and figure out his next step.
“Look at what the dust storm dragged in,” a giant polishing glasses by the bar said the moment he stepped inside. The man didn’t look up, but didn’t have to. The bear knew his family better than most. “Don’t even think you’re going to bust up my bar, Xan Davis.”
“Whiskey.”
The giant grabbed a shot glass and bottle of whiskey, poured, and headed his way.
Bust up his place?
Considering it was around ten in the morning and no other patrons were present, that made him what? A drunk?
Xan nodded and grabbed a seat at an empty table. Who the hell cared? He eyed the bottle Gee carried, the cheapest rot-gut a person could buy, and tapped the table. “Just what I need.”
He looked around, and if not for the big bruin at the bar, he wouldn’t have recognized the place. Blue walls? Scones. Spic-and-span floors so polished he could almost see his reflection in them. Off to the back sat a stage. Did people actually dance in here?
Hunh.
The bear towered over him, glaring down. “A little early, don’t you think?”
“No.” His inner Wolf bared its teeth.
“Suit yourself.” Gee slammed the glass down, sloshing the whiskey all over the shiny new wood table.
Xan resisted the urge to rake his nails over the perfection. Didn’t it make Gee a touch itchy being here? He certainly felt like a bull in a china shop.
“If you bust up my place, I’ll throw you out on your ass myself.”
“I heard you the first time. I’m not here to tear anything up.” He returned to surveying the room, taking in the recent renovation. Clean. So unlike what it had been before. Somebody went to a great deal of work to turn it into something other than an old Wolf’s dive. Whatever. He didn’t plan to tear it up—only drink his problems away.
Xan lifted the whiskey and poured it down his throat, bypassing his taste buds and going straight to stomach. He set it down and looked expectantly at Gee. The sooner he got drunk, the sooner he could forget.
“Says a Davis.” The bear pointed at him and narrowed his eyes. He poured him another and nearly embedded the bottle in the table when he set it down. “It’s always a Davis who tears up my bar. This”—he pointed at the brown liquid—“won’t fix any problems.” Gee walked off.
What lodged itself up the bruin’s ass?
Not normally the friendliest person on the planet, Gee seemed to be more on edge than normal, if not borderline hostile. Xan lifted the drink, this time taking a sip. Maybe Gee was right. Xan lowered the glass. “Can I get a water instead?”
“There’s a trough and water pump outside. This is a business. Either order something to eat or leave.” Gee stood at the bar again, polishing glasses.
“Can I get a burger?”
Gee grunted, clearly done with conversing.
Some things never changed.
An hour later, the lights blurred and fuzzed. Shadows crept in and out of his view. No faces, but he didn’t need to see who had circled him. The devil dogs. Xan had a chair leg in each hand. Spinning them like a pair of tonfas, he took up a fighting stance. “Fuck you all.”
“Put the weapons down, Xan,” a male voice warned, familiar, but not enough to get him to drop his guard. He’d rather hand their asses to them.
“Come and take them if you think you can.” Laughter filled his head.
He, he, he, he.
“Payback is a bitch, you giggly motherfuckers.”
“Nobody wants to hurt you,” another male voice this time. It carried a hell of a lot more authority, but he also didn’t feel inclined to lie down and go belly up.
He’d been independent for too long. Xan shifted his gaze to the left and spotted a set of blue glowing eyes.
Right.
“Liars.”
“I will break him if he tears anything else up,” the first man snarled.
Xan spun the chair legs again. “At least one of you is honest. Well, what are you waiting for, princess?” he addressed the man who’d threatened. He squinted, only able to see the guy had to be twice his size. Not a big deal. He’d taken down much bigger. “The harder they fall,” he mumbled and blinked. The man split in two before both outlines merged into one again. Damn strong whiskey, perhaps of the home-brewed variety, or….someone had poisoned him again. “Come get a piece of me.”
“Get him under control before I do it my way.”
“Xan, its Xio. You need to drop your weapons.” This time a female begged him to surrender.
Right.
Did they really think him stupid? His sister had no reason to travel to Africa.
“Xander Davis, you don’t want to do this. Put the clubs down,” another male piped in. “Listen to Xio. We don’t want you to get hurt.”
“That thing isn’t my sister.”
“Xan, please,” the female said again.
“Blah, blah, blah. Shut up and take a swing already. Let’s get your ass-kickings under way.”
“Xander, I don’t know what’s wrong, but I will do whatever I can to make you better. But you have to start by setting the weapons down. I can’t stop Gee. You need to help me before he hurts you. Okay?”
“Lying bitch.”
“Xander Jericho Davis, now you’ve forced my hand.” She stepped into his space and grabbed his right wrist, attempting to put him in a lock.
Xan cocked a brow and rolled out of it, spinning to face her and attacking before she could catch her balance. “My sister would know I can counter a lock. Nice try though.”
She ducked to one side then the other, avoiding his makeshift batons, before sweeping his feet out from under him, something that would never have happened if he hadn’t been poisoned. Just as she went for another lock, Xander rolled and drew his knees to his chest, snapping up to his feet. “I’m not going to make it easy, sweetheart.”
She twisted to throw a roundhouse kick. Xan dropped his tonfas and grabbed a bistro table, swinging it in front of him like a shield. She bounced off the surface and flew back to the floor.
“You’re pissing me off, Xan. I’m pregnant, cranky, and not it the mood for your bullshit. Drop the damned table and surrender before I hurt you. You’re tearing up his bar. I can’t protect you from the bear if you don’t stop now.”
“You’re going to have to work much harder to take me down.” He shot the she-beast a crooked grin, doing his best to provoke her, so he could finish what they’d started.
Clunk
. Something hard smacked the back of his head, the strike coming from behind.
Xio’s face finally came into view, her hands on her hips, a hard glare on her face. Xan wobbled. “Xio?”
“Dumbass. Who did you think it was? Now you’ve gone and done it.” She stared at someone behind him.
Gee?
He wobbled and reached up to touch the back of his head. Bright lights burst across his field of vision. “The bear behind me?”
Grunt.
Fuuuuck.
Everything went black, and he kissed the bar floor.
“You didn’t have to knock him over the head. He could have brain damage.”
“I think he already does. You failed to get him under control. When he wakes up, give him this. And keep him the hell out of my bar. Better yet, both of you stay out.” The sound of paper crinkled, followed by footsteps and a slamming door.
“A bill?” Xio groaned and sank onto the bed beside him. “I sure hope you have the money for this, because I’m barely making ends meet. He just fired me, and I’m still paying for the damages to the bar from before.”
Xan opened his eyes. “From before?”
Xio squeaked and launched herself on him, squeezing the breath from his lungs. “You’re awake and you!” She sat back. “You are you, right?”
“Unfortunately.” He frowned. “What did I do?”
“You don’t remember?”
Did he?
He searched his memories, trying to extract anything about his time in the bar. He went in, ordered a drink, someone hit him from behind, and he saw Xio’s face and went face-first into the floor. God, why couldn’t he remember anything in between? He gritted his teeth and immediately regretted it. Sharp pains exploded across the back of his cranium. “Not much. Did I kill anyone?”
“Kill? No. I wouldn’t let you commit homicide, but you kind of tore up Gee’s Bar.”
“From the sounds of it, I’m not the only one who’s trashed the place. What did you mean you were already paying for damages from before?” Even in a fog, his agency training kicked in and he processed all incoming data like a hard drive. Even before training he tended to remember the little details—just not in flashback mode. This highly observant side of his personality bought him a ticket into the program.
Xio sighed, the sound hanging between them like a deep admission of guilt. Yeah, he wasn’t the only one who caused problems for the old bruin. He’d hit the nail on the head.
“My mate and I kinda tore up the bar a few weeks ago after a Mexican drug lord and his gang followed me here.” She scrunched her nose, and the corner of her mouth twitched, fighting the shit-eating grin only Xio could pull off. “Guess it’s a family tradition.”
What? A mate!
He hadn’t seen that one coming. How had his sister managed to find a man who would put up with her shit? Then again, he had been gone for over ten years. So much he’d lost out on. He’d never get back the time stolen by his gung-ho youth.
“You’re mated? Why am I just hearing about this now? You knew how to get into contact with me. Isn’t this something you’d think to share with family?” Xan sat up. The world spun, and pain shot across the back of his skull. He sank back to his pillow.
“You haven’t exactly been around, and I couldn’t…. Look, my reasons are complicated, and contacting the government was the last thing on my list of stuff to do. I left here after you. Magnum lost it, and I didn’t know when, and not if, he’d come after me to finish the job he started when we were born. The pack thought you were dead. You just fell off the map one day. I knew you were alive and had a feeling you’d come home. Call it twin instinct. I figured we could catch up when you arrived. But I didn’t expect you so soon.”
“It’s been over ten years. That’s not soon enough? I shouldn’t have left you here with Magnum in the first place.”
“Doesn’t matter now. He’s dead. His son is Alpha now.”
Drew?
Hadn’t he run off like a coward?
Well, he must have found his courage because if he carried the title of Alpha, it meant he’d killed the sonofabitch who should of died years before. Couldn’t say he felt disappointed. “So much has changed.”
“Yes. Quite a bit has. I need to tell you something.”
He braced. The look on her face said whatever she had to say wouldn’t give him a warm and cozy feeling. Why now? Why after all these years? She had no excuse for not reaching out—about her life, her mate, and put such a grave expression on her face. During those ten years, he’d heard nothing from her.
“Magnum killed our father, and our mother barely escaped him. Dad didn’t die in a hunting accident. Mom is alive. She’s coming to visit when my babies are born.”
“Mom is alive? Magnum killed Dad?” Xan blinked.
Babies?
He reached up and pinched the bridge of his nose. “When am I going to meet this mate of yours, the father of these babies?”
“Easy, Xan. I know this is a lot to process. Yes, she’s alive and coming home. Magnum had our father killed, but things have changed. Drew isn’t like his father. He’s a good man and leader for this pack. Marcus will return soon. He’s away on pack business but expected back tonight. We can talk about everything then.”