Sexy Beast VI. Lydia Parks
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guys are fucking nuts. He killed a dude and no one cares!” Logan took an aggressive step forward.
What the hell was he thinking? Jazzy reached out to stop him, but Tala wrapped her fingers around his arm and gently halted his forward movement.
Jazzy buzzed with a frisson of awareness that felt suspiciously like jealousy.
“Hey, bro…” AJ raised his arms up and stretched, but it was obvious he was doing a little alpha male display for Logan’s benefit. “It’s cool. We don’t treat death lightly. Honest, we really don’t, but we do value our packmates a lot higher than some scumbag out to do us harm. As far as me shifting without warning, well, I’m sorry if I shook anyone up, but it’s easier to show something like that than try and explain it. I know I about shit the first time I saw Ulrich Mason shift. Without warning, I might add.”
Mik, the big guy, laughed. “You and me both. I think it’s like a Chanku rite of passage. Scare the crap out of the newbies. Here…” He pulled a couple of chairs away from the walls. “Sit. We’ll explain.”
Tala dropped Logan’s arm. If Jazzy’d had hackles, they would have very slowly gone down. She couldn’t believe how territorial she felt over him. Logan sat on the edge of the bed beside Nicky. He looked so confused, Jazzy almost felt sorry for him. Tala moved closer to Mik, but she remained standing. As tiny as she was, she barely came to Mik’s shoulder, even with him sitting. “It was the memorial garden,” she said. “The grasses. They’re what drew you to that spot, what helped Nicky shift. You’ve been nibbling on the stems, haven’t you?”
Jazzy glanced at Beth and they both nodded. They all loved the taste of the sweet grass.
“I thought so. We—all of you and all of us—share a genetic identity, one that doesn’t manifest itself without certain nutrients. Those nutrients are in the grasses you’ve been eating. You were probably attracted to the garden by your body’s needs for the chemicals in the grass. Your instincts, latent though they are before your first shift, led you to the foods your body needs. They activated a small gland at the base of your brain near the hypothalamus. That’s what controls your nature and gives you the ability to shift. You’ll also be able to read each other’s thoughts.”
“That’s a bunch of crap.” Logan shook his head. “Nutrients in grasses changing our brains? People turning into animals? Mind reading? It’s impossible. It’s some kind of group hypnosis. I’m not falling for it. I think you people are fucking nuts.” He stood up and towered over Tala. AJ and Mik immediately rose to their feet. Logan blinked rapidly and took a quick step back. His legs clipped the edge of the mattress and he sat down whether he’d planned to or not.
Jazzy figured he might be rethinking his stupid moves. He was probably trying to figure out how to get out of this one alive.
Tala just laughed. “No need for a pissing contest, boys. It is what it is. If you want to put a name to your new reality, we are all Chanku. Shapeshifters with a common genetic background that appears to have evolved somewhere in Tibet, on the Himalayan steppe. Hence, the Tibetan grasses giving all of you a kick start.”
She turned and grabbed the door handle, then flashed a smile right at Jazzy. “I know it seems weird now, but trust me. You are going to love your new life. It’s an adjustment, finding out you’re not really human, but if I can do it, so can you.”
She winked, and Jazzy immediately felt herself relax. Not really human? Chanku. She liked the sound of that. There was a name for what they were. What she was.
She’d never fit in with regular people before, but this…
“I’ll see if I can round up some clean clothes for Nicky,” Tala said. She appeared to be in charge of both the guys. For some reason that struck Jazzy as absolutely hysterical, that tiny little woman bossing two big hunks around.
“Mik, you and AJ find out what you can about our new roomies and what they need. I imagine we’re going to have a long list. We have a lot of extra stuff here, but I’ll plan to make a run to the store after dinner for anything else if I have to. This apartment has two bedrooms and two bathrooms. There are extra rollaway beds in the closets. You’ll find new toothbrushes and other stuff in the bathroom drawers. Condoms in the bedside tables…” She grinned. “You guys comfortable bunking together?”
Jazzy nodded, but she couldn’t bring herself to look at the bed, or at Logan or any of the others. It suddenly clicked that she was sleeping here tonight. This was all just way too weird.
Last night she’d slept under a bush in the park. She glanced at the bed where Nicky still looked lost and scared, and ran her hand over the smooth spread. She couldn’t remember when she’d last slept in a bed with real sheets.
And she’d never, not once, slept with Logan.
Of course, watching the way he’d handled himself with Mik and AJ, she wasn’t so sure she wanted to anymore.
He’d played at being the alpha in their little pack. Here, up against Tala’s men, he wasn’t much more than a mangy mutt.
A very sexy mangy mutt, but a mutt just the same.
Mik interrupted her rambling thoughts. “Okay, you know we’re Mik and AJ. Miguel Fuentes and Andrew Jackson Temple, to be more specific. And you are?” He looked directly at Jazzy with those gorgeous eyes of his, and smiled.
And she forgot entirely about Logan. “Jazzy Blue,” she said.
“That a real name?” AJ laughed.
“It’s the only one I’ve got.” She wasn’t about to tell him her very first john had named her. She’d long ago forgotten the name she was born with. It was too foreign sounding and difficult to pronounce. Her pimp liked to keep things simple.
“I’m Chris March. They call me Deacon.” Chris shook hands with both AJ and Mik. Jazzy thought that was pretty classy.
“Nicholas Barden.” Nicky shrugged. “Just Nicky.” He dipped his head, but didn’t offer his hand.
“I’m Matt. Matthew Rodgers.” Matt sort of scuffed his feet and smiled. Typical. He was even more shy than Beth.
“I’m Elizabeth Garner. Beth.” She blushed and chewed her lower lip.
“It’s nice to meet you, Beth.” AJ held out his hand and she grasped his fingers very briefly, but Jazzy had the feeling she’d rather be far, far away instead of touching the hand of a strange man.
Mik leaned against the door and counted off names. “Okay, we’ve got Jazzy, Matt, Deacon, Nicky, and Beth.” He looked directly at Logan. “What’s your name?”
Logan glared at Mik for a minute too long. Jazzy wanted to kick him. “His name’s Logan,” she said, sensing the rising tension between the two men. “He’s really good at acting like a jerk.”
AJ laughed. Mik merely folded his arms across his chest. “Got a last name, Logan, or is that it?”
“That’s the only name I’ve got.”
“Works for me.” Mik sort of dipped his head in acknowledgment. “I think we’ve got enough clothes and stuff here for you guys to wear. Closets are full and so are the drawers. Everything’s clean. Just take what you need that fits. We’ll make a run to the store later and add in whatever’s missing, and we’ll get rooms straightened out for you as soon as we can. For now, take an hour to rest and get your bearings, feel free to explore the place. This is an old mansion we’ve renovated. Three stories, lots of small apartments like this, though in most of them the beds aren’t made up or the closets stocked with clean clothes. We’ll have dinner in the main dining room around six. It’s another floor up. Stairs at the end of the hall.”
With that, he smiled at Jazzy again, spun around, and left the room with AJ.
Jazzy watched the two of them go, and wondered what the hell was coming next.
The door shut with