Taming The Shifter. Lisa Childs
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your secret would have been discovered,” the vampire pointed out. “And to men like us, that’s worse than death.”
“And will lead to death.” Someone’s death...
He glanced up to that dimly lit window, too. She hadn’t turned on any lights in her bedroom, so she must have left the door open to the living room. What was she doing in there? Maybe someone other than Sebastian had been ringing her bell. Who?
“She’s a smart woman,” Sebastian said. “She’ll figure it out.”
“Your secret or mine?”
Sebastian gestured at him—in his changed form. “Your secret is more obvious. You cut it close.”
“Cut what close?” he asked, feigning innocence.
“I saw you jump out the window,” the other man informed him. “You were with her.”
“Jealous?” he couldn’t resist goading.
Sebastian uttered a sigh of such weariness that it revealed he was much older than his physical appearance would lead one to believe. “I’m concerned.”
“For her or me?”
“I don’t know you.”
Yet the man had been compelled to help a stranger—a strange creature, no less. Fortunately one legend—the one about vampires and werewolves constantly being at war—was myth.
“How well do you know her?” Warrick asked, that insidious jealousy winding through him again. He hadn’t been a jealous man until the people he’d loved the most had betrayed him. But he’d been a fool then. Their betrayal had made him much wiser.
“Kate is a friend,” Sebastian replied. “A good friend.”
“Does she know your secret?” Warrick asked. “Does she share your secret?” He didn’t think so; he had felt no fangs when he’d kissed her—only softness and warmth.
“She’s human,” Sebastian said. “And unaware of the Secret Vampire Society.”
“For now,” Warrick said, worry joining his jealousy. “But if she’s as smart as you think, she will figure it out.”
“You’re not one of the society,” Sebastian said, his light blue eyes narrowed as he studied Warrick. He must have noticed his concern because he added, “But you know its rules.”
“Our pack shares many of those same rules.”
“If a human learns of the secret society, she becomes a threat that must be destroyed,” the vampire said.
Warrick sighed with regret. “That’s one of the rules we share.” A rule that was necessary to protect the pack.
“The society has an amendment to that rule,” Sebastian admitted. “If a human learns the secret, he or she can avoid death if they become a member of the society.”
“A human can only become a member of the pack by mating with one of the wolves...” He swallowed hard, choking down bad memories and a pain he had once thought he would never survive. It had been much worse than the bullets Detective Kate Wever had fired into his shoulder and his heart. “For life.” There was more to it than that, like with vampires—biting was involved. But it was more a brand than a feast.
“The society’s rule is supposed to be the same,” Sebastian said, “but too many exceptions have been made to it for it to be stringently enforced.”
“That might be the rule that the pack enforces most stringently,” Warrick said. That was why he had lost so much. The love of his life, his family, his pride, his trust...
And now, dallying as he had with Kate Wever, he must have lost his damn sanity, too. He hadn’t really wanted vengeance against her; he had only been telling himself that so he’d had a reason to stick around. He’d also told himself that Reagan might not have left. But he wouldn’t have known because after she’d shot him, all Warrick had been able to see was Kate.
She was beautiful, but there was something else about her—a strength and an integrity—that attracted him.
But why would Reagan have stayed? If he was as smart as Warrick had always believed he was, he wouldn’t have stopped running yet. He was probably far, far away by now.
“You don’t have to worry about Kate,” Warrick assured the vampire. “I will be leaving Zantrax.” There was no reason for him to stay now. But he caught himself sneaking another glance up at her window.
“Going home?”
He shook his head. Just as he had no family, no mate, no honor—he had no home, either. “I still have unfinished business. I just don’t think it’s here any longer.”
Despite his usually exceptional tracking abilities, he had lost the scent that night. Reagan would have known to put distance—a hell of a lot of distance—between them. And Kate shooting Warrick had given him time to do just that. But his anger with her had cooled. If only his desire could...
Her scent filled him. She didn’t smell of flowers or some other cloying odor. She smelled like she tasted: sweet—sugar and vanilla and some spice. How could such a strong, fearless woman be so sweet?
Sebastian sighed, as if giving up a battle he had waged with himself. “You might be wrong about that.”
Confusion wrinkled the hair on Warrick’s brow. “I thought you warned me off her.”
“I did,” Sebastian said. “I’m giving you another warning now. The reason you came to Zantrax may not have left yet, either.”
“You’re saying...” His heart slammed into his ribs. “He’s still here?”
“The guy you tried tearing apart in the alley?” Sebastian nodded.
“How do you know?”
The dark-haired man grinned. “In addition to managing Club Underground, I fill in at the bar some nights. A bartender hears things...”
“Your surgeon friend treated him, too?” Warrick guessed. How else would he have known what Warrick had done to him? It had been just the two of them—and Kate—in that alley. Sebastian hadn’t come out of the passageway until Kate had left. She’d been getting him help; that was why she had rushed from the alley. But her paramedics wouldn’t have been able to help him—not when he had changed moments after she’d left him.
Sebastian shook his head, probably trying to protect his surgeon friend from Warrick’s wrath, because he wouldn’t meet his gaze. For Kate had let the murderer go and then the special surgeon had treated him...
Of course these people had no idea what Reagan had done—what kind of monster he was. Warrick must have injured the son of a bitch, though. Satisfaction filled him. But like Warrick, Reagan wouldn’t die easily, either. So he would have to try harder.
“Why do you hate him so much?” Sebastian asked.
“Because he took everything away from me that I ever cared about...” Until then Warrick hadn’t hated Reagan; he had actually been foolish enough to care about him, to love and respect him. But he had been an even bigger fool to trust him. It didn’t matter that they were brothers—at least, it didn’t matter to Reagan.
“Then I was right to warn you,” Sebastian said.
“Warn me?” Warrick considered it more good news than bad. He hadn’t lost Reagan’s trail, like he’d worried he had.
“Yes,” the vampire replied with a nod. “Sounds like this man you’re trying to find poses quite a threat.”
Warrick chuckled. “Hell, no. He can’t hurt me anymore.”
“But he could hurt someone you care about again.”
“There’s no one