They strained to look out the back window while Trent opened the car door. “Stay inside. I’ll deal with this.”
Dan nodded, but Drew shook his head. “I’m coming with you. I want to see what this is all about, once and for all. I can’t take it anymore.”
As much as he wanted to keep his mate safe, Trent knew it was out of his hands. His destiny spiraled out of control, and Trent had no idea where its whims would carry him.
* * * *
It came to him like a wave of energy, so intense Valerius was surprised the helicopter didn’t crash. Flooding him, overwhelming him, the feeling of rightness and acute familiarity became even stronger as they approached their quarry. Valerius had sensed it, ever since they’d begun to follow the scent of Andrew Blunt and his companions from the good doctor’s house. In his heart, Valerius knew what it meant, and he cursed his luck. He was a Judiciary. He didn’t want a mate. He didn’t need one. For this reason, he didn’t frequent spirit wolves’ social gatherings. His life rotated around his duty, and for him, it more than sufficed.
“Are you well, My Lord?” a soldier next to him asked.
Valerius gave the man a cool look. They all knew better than to pose such idiotic questions. He was always all right. He wouldn’t have been chosen for this job otherwise.
Hunters never really appreciated the simplicity of their lives. They saw the world in black and white. It was kill or be killed, eliminate the enemy. Sometimes, Valerius missed those days, the time when he himself belonged with the hunters. It had been so easy, not like now, when he needed to deal with innocents who, to their misfortune, found out about the spirit wolves.
Few humans survived an encounter with the ferals and lived to tell the tale, actually preserving their humanity. Those who did have the insane luck to be mauled, but not bitten, recovered in special clinics, and after the danger passed, in human hospitals that had understandings with the spirit wolves.
But on occasion, it did happen for an individual human to find out about the spirit wolves. One of the most basic laws of their nation demanded that in such cases, the human needed to be dealt with by a Judiciary.
And now, it would be on one of his missions that he’d find his mate, the mate he’d never even wanted. Would it be this Trent Hart?
Valerius had looked at the hunter’s file and secretly found him attractive even before coming here. He should have backed off when he’d experienced the weird sensation. He should have given the mission to another Judiciary. But he hadn’t, and now, he couldn’t very well back down.
Soon, he noticed a car ahead, with two men waiting by its side.
His heart began to beat even faster. How could this be? Valerius had never once lost control, not since that awful day when he’d been forced to make the most difficult choice in his life. In hindsight, he knew he’d done the right thing, but this realization didn’t make it hurt less.
Valerius shook himself. He hadn’t thought about his brother in a long, long time. He forced the glum memories away from his mind and focused on his task. So what if Trent Hart was his mate? It changed nothing. They could try to initiate something between them, or they could go their own ways, after Valerius dealt with Andrew Blunt.
The helicopter landed in a clearing a short distance away from the road. As the blades of the aircraft finally stopped, Valerius opened the door and jumped out. “Stay inside,” he told his company of soldiers.
“Don’t come out unless I call you.”
He rarely needed them, but Judiciaries were always required to have a guard, regardless. His men nodded, already used to the routine.
Valerius closed the helicopter door and headed out to meet the mysterious doctor Blunt. He couldn’t help but wonder about this human who seemed to be looking into the mysteries of the feral virus.
When his eyes first fell on Trent Hart and Andrew Blunt standing next to each other, he felt like he’d been hit by a sledgehammer. Trent gave him a penetrating look, while Andrew seemed to be breathing hard and even looked slightly sick. Valerius himself felt overwhelmed. This couldn’t be happening to him. He couldn’t have a human mate, especially not in addition to a werewolf one. No, no, no, no.
But his denial didn’t make it any less true. He could feel it in his heart, in the way his body demanded physical contact with the men in front of him. Arousal swelled inside him, bright hot, and he forced himself to remember how much this complicated things, and how much pain a human mate brought in the past. The fates truly chose to play tricks on him today.
Still, he knew standing there, frozen, would solve nothing. He made his way toward the two men and shared the customary warrior wolf salute with Trent. As they gripped each other’s arms, heat flooded Valerius’s body, and the beast inside him howled in triumph, demanding that he claim his mates this instant. Valerius gritted his teeth and leashed his wolf. It hurt, but Valerius had experience in keeping his instincts in check.
With as much calm as he could muster, he introduced himself. “I am Valerius D’Averam,” he said in the human tongue.
“I am Trent Hart, and this is Dr. Andrew Blunt,” Trent replied in turn.
Valerius bowed courteously. “It is a pleasure to meet you both.”
He then turned to Trent and, in the language of the spirit wolves, asked, “How much does he know? Has he seen you turn?”
Trent hesitated, and Valerius knew the answer even before the man spoke. “He has, Judiciary. We were attacked by ferals, and I had no choice but to shift. It’s not his fault, for any of this.”
“It never is,” Valerius replied with a sigh, “but you know as I do humans must not know about our kind.”
“Surely something can be done,” Trent protested. “He saved my life.”
Trent’s words startled Valerius. Trent didn’t look injured in any particular way, and it hadn’t occurred to Valerius that Trent’s wounds might have been life-threatening before the doctor found him. “How so? What did he do?”
Trent opened his mouth to reply, but Andrew intervened. “Excuse me, but I’m right here,” he said. “Why are you speaking as if I weren’t present?”
Valerius gaped at the human. This time, he truly couldn’t contain his surprise. “You can understand us?”
Andrew just gave him a puzzled look, and for a few seconds, Valerius lost himself in the man’s deep blue eyes. If he’d had any doubt the human was his mate, this settled it. There could be no other explanation as to how Andrew could understand their discussion in their mother tongue.
“Of course I can,” Andrew drawled. “You’re talking in plain English. And as to what I did to save Trent…The injuries were too severe for antivirals to have much effect, but in combination with a proper care for the wolf, they helped. I wouldn’t have thought my aid would be enough, but his immune system must have done the rest.”
Even as the other man spoke, Valerius realized the situation was more complicated than he’d originally thought. Andrew’s credentials showed his experience and brilliance in the field of pathology, but Valerius only now began to understand it.
“That aside,” Andrew continued, “what do you intend to do with me? And can anyone explain to me what the fuck is going on?”
When Andrew shouted, the door to the car opened and a young blond human stepped out. Valerius blinked, shocked at his own lapse.
How could he have missed the presence of another? When another man followed the first, Valerius knew he was losing it.
“Dad?” the young blond asked. “What’s wrong? Who are these people?”
Dad? Oh, shit. Just when Valerius thought things couldn’t get more complicated, his mate’s son popped up. He recalled reading about the child in Andrew’s file. Paul Blunt, age fifteen. Mother Paula Turner, deceased. Lived with his remaining parent, the respectable Doctor Blunt. Great, just fucking great. He hadn’t read anywhere about the other man, however.
“This is my son, Paul, and my friend, Daniel Lawson,” Andrew said, as if sensing his confusion. “And I do have to agree with Paulie.
We’d be very thankful if someone actually gave us an explanation instead of pretending we’re not here.”
By some miracle, Valerius didn’t break down right then and there.
“I assure you, Dr. Blunt, you’ll find out everything in due time.”
They couldn’t exactly stand around in the middle of the forest and argue about this, so Valerius made a flash decision. “Follow me.”
He turned on his heel and headed back toward the helicopter. The four men must have understood the seriousness of the situation as they obeyed without protest. As he reached the aircraft, Valerius opened the door and gestured for his guard to get out. He needed space inside the chopper. They’d just have to find their own way back.
“Inside,” he told the four men.
“Now wait just a minute,” Daniel protested. “This is getting to be too much. First, some werewolf shows up and tells us we’re supposed to leave our homes because supposedly we’re in danger. Now, another stranger wants us to go with him in a helicopter. I think not.”
Paul’s eyes widened. “Werewolf?”
So the teenager did not know. That was good news. It would be easier to wipe away memories that didn’t have any visual basis.
Valerius turned his gaze toward Daniel and frowned. Something about the other man didn’t feel right. He couldn’t figure out the reason for his unease, so he resolved to deal with it later, when he could think more clearly. “Please, follow me,” he said once again, stressing the “please.” He didn’t want to give any explanation in front of Paul, and he intended to talk to Trent before he decided on anything.
“But my car…” Daniel protested.
“My men can bring it to you.”
Daniel stared at him, looking conflicted. Truly, the human didn’t have much choice. Valerius could very well force them to come if they refused to go willingly, but he didn’t want to resort to that sort of thing.
Daniel tossed the keys to his car to one of Valerius’s guards. “At least can we get our stuff?” he said bitingly.
“Certainly,” Valerius replied. He nodded to his men, who rushed off toward the car. Paul didn’t see them move faster than humanly possible. Valerius ushered the humans inside the helicopter. Once all the passengers were loaded and secure, his men returned with the bags and tossed them in the back.
“I trust that’s everything,” Valerius said.
When Andrew nodded, Valerius closed the door to the helicopter and directed the pilot to head home. He still had no clue how he’d deal with this, but perhaps once they reached a safer, more familiar setting, he’d figure it out.
A few hours passed since leaving Tennington, and Drew wondered how he’d managed to get himself into this mess. He’d thought he’d left his adventuring days behind when he’d abandoned his pathologist career, but instead, he’d somehow jumped out of the frying pan and into the fire.
Meeting Valerius D’Averam shook him greatly. The man awoke the same feelings inside him as Trent did. His piercing gray gaze made Drew dizzy, and those full lips begged to be kissed. While Trent’s handsomeness reminded Drew of a modern Hollywood actor, Valerius looked like an elegant noble of old. Everything about him screamed refinement, from his stance to the way he bound his black hair back. Drew had not even managed to wrap his mind around his conflicting emotions for the first wolfman, and another one appeared, bombarding him with a second set of sensations.
With so much on his mind and heart, he couldn’t bring himself to make any protest regarding Valerius’s order. He kept Paulie close, however, remorse coursing through him at the thought that he’d dragged his son into such a dangerous situation.
The trip passed in tense silence, none of them speaking. Before he knew it, the aircraft landed on a helipad on the roof of a skyscraper in New York. Drew had been to the Big Apple before, but he saw it with different eyes now. Who knew the great metropolis hid werewolves—
or rather, spirit wolves?
“This is my home,” Valerius said as they left the helicopter. “I hope you’ll enjoy your stay.”
They used a large, luxurious elevator and went down into the penthouse. Paulie’s eyes boggled as he took in the unnecessary lavishness of the space. To Drew, the whole penthouse looked cold, like something he’d have seen in a designer’s catalogue. There were no pictures, no personal touches, nothing. In spite of Valerius’s words, he felt like this was a five-star hotel, and not an actual home.
A black-clad butler appeared and bowed. Valerius introduced them and then said, “Thom, would you please lead Paul and Daniel to their guest rooms to rest?”
“But…”
Drew pulled his son away and said, “You do need to get some sleep, Paulie. Relax. I’ll solve this.” He paused, not wanting to lie to his son, but reluctant to scare him, too. Dan’s careless words had done enough. “In brief, the wolf we found the other day bore a virus. We’re discussing the implication of its discovery now. I brought you along because I felt you weren’t safe there without us.”
“Oh,” Paulie said. “But Dan said—”
“Never mind that,” Drew interrupted his son. “I’ll tell you the long version later.”
“Your dad is right,” Dan piped in. “Come on. Let’s leave him to his complicated scientific talk.”
Paulie looked doubtful, but in the end, nodded. Drew knew his son would have liked to hear this, given his love for science and animals. But Drew himself didn’t know if giving this information to Paulie would be recommended, at least not at this point.
As his son and best friend followed after the butler, Drew turned toward Valerius and Trent. “All right. Now we can really have an honest to God discussion. All the cards on the table. I want to know what you intend to do to us.”
“Very well,” Valerius said. “I think that would be best, too. We should take this conversation to my office.”
Valerius led them from the main foyer into an adjoining chamber dominated by a huge desk. Armchairs and a marvelous bookcase completed the design. Valerius gestured them to sit, and Drew complied.
Valerius sat at the desk, and the physical barrier the desk represented struck Drew with surprising intensity. “First of all,”