Should have Put a Leash On It (15 page)

Mars cursed and shielded himself from the sudden sunrays. “I thought you were asleep.”

“You were supposed to,” Rylan surprised him by saying. There wasn’t even a hint of sleepiness on Rylan’s face. The wolf was alert and aware. Micah was impressed, but thoroughly pissed off when Rylan came up beside him and refused to allow Micah to guard him.

Mars cocked his head to the side. “Huh?”

“I figured I’d be bait,” Rylan explained, looking undeterred by Micah’s anger and as if it wasn’t the most stupid thing Micah had ever heard. When all Micah did was stare, Rylan stared back with a definite spark of challenge. Micah wasn’t so angry that he didn’t see this was a test.

“Bait?
Bait!
” Micah glared at Rylan. He tried reminding himself that Rylan was an adult wolf and able to make his own decisions. Even if they were stupid fucking decisions.

“Yes. Something wrong?” Rylan was daring him to comment.

“Nothing,” Micah said through his teeth.

“Not to interrupt this little tiff, but we needed to see Rylan hadn’t gone over to the dark side and since you wouldn’t let anyone in, we had to get creative and pick the lock to sneak in. If you hadn’t done the deed by now and Rylan was still lucid I was supposed to have a crack at it.” The way Mars said it and lifted a shoulder, it was as if it was no big deal.

Mars really needed to learn when to shut up. The anger he felt at Rylan’s refusal to be protected found a new target. He took in the way Mars assessed Rylan, the way the wolf’s gaze lingered on Rylan’s bare chest and dipped lower.

Micah’s wolf froze inside him.

“Back away slowly, Mars. Right now,” Rylan warned.

“What, why?”

Clearly the shifter wasn’t picking up on Rylan’s purposefully calm tone. Probably because the wolf’s eyes were still roving over Rylan’s body. Micah could pick up on the appreciation in Mar’s scent. In that second Mars stopped being a threat and became prey.

“Because Micah is going to kill you if you don’t stop looking at his mate and smelling like lust,” Rylan said bluntly.

Mar’s head shot around to Micah, fear in his eyes. “Mate?”

“Yes. Mate.” Micah didn’t take his eyes off Mars as the shifter backed away. He sensed Rylan coming closer and he only looked away from Mars when the wolf was almost pressed flat to the door.

“Hey.” Rylan poked him sharply in the side.

Micah flinched and rubbed the sore spot. “What the hell was that for?”

Rylan poked him again, this time on the other side. “For being an overprotective ass and assuming I was asleep. I want to protect you, too, jackass.” Despite the harsh words, he saw the twitch at the corner of Rylan’s mouth.

“You say the sweetest things. Gimme a kiss,” Micah demanded with a smile, his anger draining away under Rylan’s words. Micah smacked his lips together and made kissing noises.

“Stop it.” By this time Rylan was smiling, too, and pushing Micah away with one hand on his face.

The sound of a phone beeping with a message broke the remaining tension and Micah could face Mars again without wanting to rip the male’s eyes out of his head. He did, however, growl when Mar’s eyes dropped lower that Rylan’s chest.

The wolf inclined his head enough to acknowledge the threat, but not so much as to give Micah authority over him. He and Asher were training Mars and Gabriel up, but they were both still betas, on equal rungs on the hierarchy ladder.

“Remy’s calling a meeting in his office, says it’s urgent.” Mars typed a message back before putting the phone away.

“Let us get dressed and we’ll be ready to go.” Rylan headed for one of the cardboard boxes and started pulling out clean clothes, throwing a t-shirt and sweatpants at him to put on. The t-shirt would be tight, but wearable.

Mars suddenly looked very uncomfortable. “Remy said just you, Micah.”

Rylan folded in on himself, sitting heavily down on the bed.

Micah turned to Mars. “I’ll be there in a minute.”

Mars glanced back at Rylan and nodded. “Sure, I’ll tell them you’re on your way.” The wolf left the room quickly.

“Remy thinks I betrayed the pack, doesn’t he?” Rylan sounded broken.

“No, that’s crazy. He knows you’re loyal.” Micah crouched down in front of Rylan and pulled Rylan’s hands away so he could see his face.

There’s no way Remy could think that. Hell, when Elder Lavi had even hinted that Rylan might have given Trevor information Remy had gone all alpha wolf on him. So why the hell was Remy effectively banning Rylan from this meeting? Remy had to know what it would be doing to Rylan.

“But I don’t remember everything. What if I did give Trevor something? What if I’m a traitor?”

Micah’s breath froze in his chest. “Listen to me. You are
not
a traitor. You would never,
ever
betray Remy or this pack. I have always admired your strength of self. Even when you were an annoying dweeb.”

He played the cute card, widening his eyes comically and slapped a hand to his chest as if he’d been shot, looking up at Rylan through his eyelashes.

It worked.

Rylan laughed, but it was a weak sound. “Look who’s talking about being annoying, dog breath.”

Micah stood up and pulled Rylan with him. “There’s my loving mate. Now give me a kiss before I leave for work, honey. I want tea on the table by five.”

Rylan flipped him the bird.

Micah dragged on the t-shirt and sweats quickly and blew a kiss to Rylan. He looked back over his shoulder when he walked over to the door. “I’ll bring back news, okay?”

Rylan nodded and it killed him to have to close the door behind him and leave Rylan all alone.

Micah slammed into the office. Storming into his alpha’s office just days after doing the very same thing was dangerous, but his self-preservation had been thrown out of the window the moment he saw a little part of Rylan break.

The door crashed into the bookcase behind it with the force that caused one of the shelves to collapse and upturned books about classic cars all over the floor. Even as mad as he was, he didn’t want any of the books damaged. Remy loved those things.

“This better be good, Rem. I think you all but ripped out Rylan’s heart.” He looked up from neatly stacking the car books to see Remy looking green with guilt.

“I didn’t have a choice,” Remy responded darkly.

“He thinks you think he betrayed you and that he’s a traitor,” Micah said quietly. He didn’t want Remy to feel bad, he wanted his brother to get up and fetch Rylan so he could be here with the rest of the inner circle.

A few of the others had come over to help him pick up the books, but he noticed Hunter and Mars were wisely giving him a wide berth. Soon the books were all put away nicely beside the bookcase and Zeke came over to measure the thing. His brother was probably already dying to get his hands on some piece of wood he had lying about the shop and was planning some intricate design. The way Zeke lit up made Micah wonder if he should go around the house just randomly breaking stuff so Zeke could make something new.

Micah walked further into the room and noticed that there were a few extra people present. He’d expected the enforcers and other betas and Skylar, of course. But standing right by the desk hugging a large folder against his chest was Jake.

From the way Jake trembled under his gaze, he guessed whatever the reason he was here wasn’t good. In his periphery vision he also noted Elder Lavi not far away from the jackal.

Remy followed his stare and said glumly. “Like I said, Micah, I had to. Is it true that you mated Rylan?”

Micah tugged down the neck of his t-shirt to reveal all the bite marks Rylan had left on him. To a human it might look excessive or even violent, but to a shifter it was a badge of honor that showed just how excited his mate had been was and how much Rylan wanted him.

“Fuck, that’s one hell of a mating bite,” Alex said, obviously impressed.

He felt some of the others eyeing the marks with jealousy and he heard Gabriel mutter that he hoped his were like that when he met his mate.

He let the elasticated neckband snap back into place. “He mated me, says he was able to tell I was his since the hospital and our wolves bonded. I assume Sage and Skylar filled you in on the rest.” Micah wasn’t in the mood to rehash everything, especially not in front of a crowd.

Sage fidgeted and nodded.

Elder Lavi stepped forward. “We know also. To deny a mate, to allow them to grow as a person instead of claiming them before they even thought it would have caused you much pain over the years.”

Micah nodded, taking the Elder’s words as a sign he wasn’t in trouble for the hanging-up-on-them incident. “I cannot claim credit for something I wasn’t conscious of. Although, if Jacko hears of you saying that, I think your wolf might disagree.” He said it with a small smile to let the vampire know he wasn’t criticizing Jacko.

Elder Lavi cracked a smile, too. “Yes, he is a wonderful handful.”

Remy stepped forward and caught his attention. “Back to why we’re here. Jake, would you mind?”

The jackal shifter shuffled over to him and handed him the brown card file. Micah took it and flipped it open after a nod from Remy. Inside were several sheets of paper with graphs and tables with all sorts of percentages and words Micah didn’t know. The first three pages were labelled blood test results. He didn’t understand whether the results were good or bad so he flicked past them.

Behind those were sheets of hand written notes. He could make out a few words, but the hairs on the back of his neck rose as he became very aware that everyone in the room was watching him. His heart rate picked up and his hands started to get clammy.

He searched the room for Asher. His brother might not know the extent of Micah’s difficulty with reading, but he did understand his hatred. Asher felt the same way about math. He looked at Asher as pleadingly as he dared with the others watching and hoped Asher picked up on what the problem was.

Asher rushed up to him and pointed at the graphs, pretending to be showing Micah what each one was. “Those are Rylan’s tests results and the other ones are from Simon, Zeke’s friend. Hey, why don’t you explain it, Jake? It will be quicker than reading it all again.” Asher took the file and handed it back to the jackal. Micah caught Asher’s eye and mouthed a quick thanks. Asher winked conspiratorially.

Jake fumbled with the file and a few pages slipped out, but Sage caught them, moving fast, and handed them back to the jackal who was now sporting a rather cute red tint to his cheeks. If Micah wasn’t mistaken he’d swear that Sage wore a little glow, too.

“Thank you,” Jake squeaked.

The jackal shuffled the papers back into order and looked up at Micah, gulping audibly. Was Micah really that scary?

“Hi, Jake. Can you explain all that to me? I’m afraid my brain is wired more for math and fighting than science.” He tried to come off as non-threatening, relaxing his stance and shoulders.

“O-okay. I took samples from Second Rylan and the other wolf—Simon,” Jake corrected when Zeke growled softly in warning. “Well, I found something important.”

Micah perked up excitedly. “Did you find out why Rylan can feel the mate pull now?”

“Yes.” The jackal didn’t look pleased. “Whatever Trevor did to him worked like a detox. I think Trevor needed a blank slate to work on. I compared Rylan’s results with Simon’s and found a distinct match.”

A sick feeling churning in his stomach. “What kind of match?”

“The kind of match that tells me both wolves were infected with the same manufactured drug. However I also found during other tests, especially in the skin samples, that there appears to be some attachment of the drug to Rylan’s shift. Has he shifted yet?”

Micah’s mind was reeling from all that information and the implications. “No. He said Trevor shaved him because he was angry he didn’t get Jacko. I haven’t pushed because he got so upset at the hospital.”

Jake sighed in relief. “Thank God. Okay. I think that Trevor did something similar to what he did to Simon and that Simon and the other shifters that have gone missing were trial runs in an experiment to weed out the bugs. The drug in Simon’s system wasn’t attached to anything, it was just there, turning him into a programmable soldier. I think that Trevor or his minions have managed to fine tune that process and give it a trigger.”

Micah looked around at the others and most of them looked as lost as he felt. Jake noticed it, too, and smacked the file in his hands. It was the most animated he’d ever seen the man.

“If I’m reading the test results accurately, then I think Trevor programmed Rylan somehow and used his shift as a trigger. Whatever it is will kick in after Rylan shifts,” Jake concluded.

He focused in on Remy, seeing that this wasn’t news to his brother. Jake must have briefed Remy before calling the meeting. “But that would mean Trevor knew we were going to find him all along. Who was on the team that found Rylan?”

Remy sat back in the big computer chair, making the leather creak. “A handful of volunteers, Ryder and Liam. Why?”

Turning his attention to Ryder and Liam, he shot questions at them. “You only found him because of an overturned truck that made you take another route, one further away from the road, right?”

They looked at each other and nodded.

“Who suggested the new route?”

Hunter answered, obviously seeing where Micah was going with this. “Son of a bitch. A volunteer. It was the same fucker whose son we thought was driving the car, the wife said he felt guilty for making us chase a cold lead.”

“Let the rest of us in on whatever you’ve thought of, Micah,” Gabriel said, sounding annoyed.

“Trevor set us up. From the beginning. He may have wanted Jacko to make a point, but he found a way to make it work with Rylan. He knew we’d never have brought Rylan back here if he was acting like Simon. We’d have taken him somewhere else or had to put him down.” Bile rose at just the thought of Rylan killed.

Micah turned back to the file Jake had placed on the desk and slammed his hand down on it. How could they not have seen it? “That fucking bastard. He made it look like Rylan was left for dead and only found by accident. He shaved Rylan’s wolf so he wouldn’t want to shift straight away and so we wouldn’t push because it was traumatic. It made sure Rylan would come back here, back to the pack. He doesn’t know, Remy. I swear he doesn’t.” Micah met Remy’s gaze and didn’t waiver even when his wolf tugged at him to break the connection and submit.