Black Rook (30 page)

“So . . .” Brynn blushed and stumbled over her words in a completely adorable way. “How intimate have you been with a woman?”

He liked the way she got flustered over the topic. “I’ve had sex, if that’s what you’re trying not to ask me. I had excellent self-control, but I do have hormones like any other guy my age. I was just very, very careful each time. And I made each time as memorable as possible for both of us.”

She licked her lips, and he liked knowing she was probably remembering their kisses. He wouldn’t mind showing her some of his other skills, too, which involved kissing of a much more intimate nature. That self-professed self-control reared up and kept him from drawing her into a kiss right there—they might be four stories up, but they were still in open view of anyone on the street who decided to look up.

Her eyes unfocused for a few seconds, and he watched as something came together in her mind. “Oh, I get it,” she said.

“Get what?”

“What Jonas said on the street earlier.”

Confused by the shift in topic, Rook shook his head. “When he said what?”

“That he’d already had a mate, so he’d have me because you couldn’t.” She waved her hands in the air. “I know, that’s a very random thing to say, but it just clicked for me.”

“Jonas was being an ass. Technically, I suppose I could sleep with you without it being a mating promise, since you aren’t full-blooded loup, but I wouldn’t do that to you.”

“You wouldn’t sleep with me?” She almost sounded offended.

Adorable. “I wouldn’t take that kind of step unless I could promise you forever. You deserve that and more.”

“Thank you.” She sighed deeply. “Do you think Jonas’s mate—wife?—mate? Was she killed last night?”

He needed to get her mind off Jonas. Just the guy’s name irritated him now. “I’m not sure. I was never introduced to a wife, so she may have already passed away.”

“Such a tragedy would certainly help explain some of his hostility.”

“Maybe, but it doesn’t give him the right to threaten you.”

“Considering a half Magus helped slaughter his run, I think he’s allowed some leeway in that area.”

“No.” Rook practically growled the word. “No one is allowed to threaten you, ever. You may be Magi, but you’re also loup.”
And you’re mine
. “Our Alpha has welcomed you, so you deserve the same respect as any other member of this town.”

“But I’m not a member, Rook.” She squeezed his wrist, her face twisting into a sad smile. “I can’t imagine your people will ever accept me.”

He covered her hand with his, the simple gesture not enough when he wanted to sweep her into his arms. “The Alpha’s word is law, and once you are declared under the protection of the Alpha, any act against you is in violation of our laws. We have fewer than fifty humans who live here, openly, without fear of being attacked by the loup. They are safe from violence. Peace isn’t perfect, and we can’t police anyone’s thoughts, but everyone knows better than to cross the Alpha.”

“Being a guest of the Alpha isn’t the same as being accepted into the run. I’m not saying that’s what I want, or that there’s any need, but it is an important thing to consider as we go forward.”

“Ah.” He got it. She was worried about the kind of future they’d have here if they chose to explore the simmering chemistry between them. To pursue a relationship, despite everything fighting against their potential happiness. “Please don’t let Jonas skew your view of the people here. Emotions are running higher than usual for a lot of reasons. People are scared and angry, and usually a run’s White Wolf is able to deal with those emotions and keep the peace.”

Only his run’s White was dealing with his own personal trauma, and Knight’s agitation seemed to be bleeding out into the town at large. Maybe it hadn’t been part of Fiona’s master plan, but she’d found a way to hurt them all from the inside. All runs, especially those as large as Cornerstone, depended upon the positive influence of their White Wolf. He was the drummer keeping the beat for the entire town. Without him, Cornerstone’s song was unsteady. Unbalanced. Fiona had struck right at their heart and left an unhealing rift.

“This can’t be easy for Knight,” Brynn said. “Being the target of an insane vampire-loup hybrid intent on making him the father of her children, on top of the all the murders she and her sisters have committed.”

Rook raged for his brother’s pain, hating that he had no way to fix it. “He’s having a hard time.”

A car rumbled past, drawing his attention back to the street. Jonas and his friends—whose names Rook couldn’t quite recall—were a block and a half away. The handful of Cornerstone residents around were giving them a wide berth. The Potomac loup had a reputation for being a little crazy, and Jonas seemed to be enjoying the notoriety. Jonas’s threat to Brynn infuriated Rook all over again. Jonas was used to being the top dog in his run; he needed to have his ass handed to him.

“You’re growling,” Brynn said.

He stopped immediately, surprised that he hadn’t even noticed. The need to protect Brynn brought that out in him without thought or intent. He wanted to haul her against him, to kiss her until they were both stupid with it, to mark her as his so no other male would dare harm her while he lived.

She looked out over the waist-high wall of brick and down to the street. “Ah, I see. Forget him and tell me more about the town.”

He did, pointing out the roof of the Flynn Boarding House, the old sawmill that hadn’t been used in over sixty years, and several other places of interest. His inability to show her these places in person frustrated him, but he understood the reasons. Her safety took priority over entertainment.

Tense tones rose up from the street below, words laced with sharp snarls. Jonas’s trio was facing off with four young Cornerstone loup on the sidewalk in front of the diner directly below them. Fists were made and posturing was in full force. Not good.

“Damn it,” Rook said.

He didn’t explain himself or ask Brynn to wait. He slid past her and ran for the fire escape, climbing down so fast he missed a few rungs and banged his knee on the rusty iron. The pain was lost under a burst of adrenaline that carried him around to the front of the building. Jonas was in the face of Alan Smythe, a Gray with all of the personal subtlety of a steamroller and no sense of self-preservation if he was goading a Black.

“—with humans like they’re your equals,” Alan snarled. “It’s disgusting.”

“You have humans here, you fucking hypocrite,” Jonas replied.

“Our humans know their place.”

Rook didn’t have time to ponder the absolute asshole-ish nature of Alan’s comments—or the fact that his sister was married to a human male—because Jonas took the bait and swung. Alan’s head snapped back, blood spurting from his nose. Bodies collided into a full-out brawl.

“Knock it the fuck off!” Rook shouted as he entered the fray. An elbow clipped his chin and rattled his teeth. He grabbed Alan and shoved him toward the diner wall.

“He said knock it off!” Bishop’s voice boomed across the street like a detonation, and the brawlers scrambled apart. Leave it to Bishop to break up the skirmish in five words or less and without lifting a finger. He didn’t carry the title, but he was already treated as the next Alpha. The realization didn’t hurt as much as Rook thought it might.

Bishop joined Rook on the sidewalk between the two groups. Rook’s heart was hammering from adrenaline and the excitement of the fight. The battle had been ill timed and for the wrong reasons, but loup garou enjoyed physical altercations as a stress reliever, and Rook had a hell of a lot of stress to exercise. A passing car slowed, and Bishop waved them on. While the Cornerstone loup stood with their heads bowed, the perfect pictures of regret, Jonas stared Bishop down.

“This is the second time I’ve caught you starting trouble here,” Bishop said to Jonas. “Is this how you show gratitude?”

Jonas squared his shoulders, seeming to ignore the cut on his cheek that was pouring blood down his face. “Your hospitality leaves a lot to be desired,” he said, answering Bishop while glaring at Rook. “Are we banned from your restaurants, as well?”

“You’re banned from exactly one place in this town, and you know why.”

“Then maybe you should explain that to him.” Jonas pointed at Alan, whose broken nose was already swelling. “It seems my kind isn’t welcome in his family’s establishment.”

Bishop turned the full force of his annoyance onto Alan. “What kind is that, exactly? Last I checked, we’re all loup.”

“Not all of us,” Alan replied. He looked down the sidewalk, where Brynn watched from the corner of the building.

Jonas snorted loudly. “The little witch is never far from you, is she?” he asked Rook. “She must have stamina.”

Rook bristled and took a step forward. “I warned you once, Jonas. If you wish to remain a guest here, you’ll watch your mouth about the people under our Alpha’s protection.” He whirled to glare at Alan. “And you. The Potomac residents are our guests, too, and you’ll treat them as such. Is that clear?”

“Clear,” Alan said. He backed down, even though he was obviously not happy to concede. One glance at Bishop’s furious face, though, and Alan’s attitude disappeared completely. “It’s clear, sir.”

“I think we lost our appetites,” Jonas said with an obvious look at Brynn. “Something stinks of rotten oranges.”

“You should get used to the smell,” Brynn said, even though she still wore the necklace that hid her Magus scent. She surprised everyone by striding up to Jonas, hands balled into fists, face set. She radiated confidence, which only made her more beautiful. “I’m here until the end to see those hostiles stopped and your people avenged. Why are you here?”

Rook barely managed to keep a smile off his face, while his heart swelled with pride.

Jonas loomed over her, so much bigger, but she didn’t seem cowed. “I’m here because one of your kind helped murder my people.”

“Those vampires were half loup, as well. Your own kind killed your people. Or did you forget that pertinent detail in your quest to make me the villain?”

He snarled. The muscles in his shoulder bunched and flexed, hinting at his intent to swing, and Rook lunged.

Bishop was faster. He caught Jonas’s right arm before Jonas could strike, and the force of the stalled punch pulled Bishop off balance. Jonas snapped his arm backward. The crack of his elbow connecting with Bishop’s chin was muffled by the rumble of a car motor. They were too close to the curb, and Bishop’s foot slipped off the sidewalk. He lost his balance. Jonas kept turning, fueled by rage, and landed a solid punch to Bishop’s mouth before Rook could intercede.

Rook used Jonas’s momentum to spin him forward and send him crashing into his friends, who went scattering like bowling pins to the sickening notes of tires squealing and a solid thud.

Chapter Nineteen

Brynn couldn’t move. The frozen shock lasted only seconds, but it felt like an eternity. She’d lost her temper with Jonas and said things that had surprised even her, and she certainly hadn’t expected the brief fight that erupted when Jonas tried to grab her. She didn’t expect to see Bishop lose his balance, get punched in the face and stumble backward into the path of an oncoming car.

The car wasn’t going fast, fifteen or twenty miles an hour at the most. The impact was strong enough, though, to knock Bishop up onto the car’s hood and crack the windshield. The driver slammed onto the brakes, and the sudden lack of motion sent Bishop skidding back down the slick surface of the hood and onto the pavement with a stomach-churning thump.

Rook spun around, his fury-flushed face going momentarily slack. “Bishop!”

Brynn shook herself out of her shock and dropped to her knees next to Rook. Bishop had rolled onto his back and blinked up at them, dazed, his face bloody from cuts on his chin and right temple. She ignored the hysterical driver behind her who’d just realized who he’d run over as she searched for other obvious injuries.

“Hey, look at me,” Rook said. He leaned over Bishop’s head, studying his eyes.

“Ouch,” Bishop said.

“Someone send for Dr. Mike,” Brynn said. She didn’t look to see whose footsteps took off in the direction of the doctor’s house.

“It’s not that bad.”

“The hell you say,” Rook said. “Does your head hurt?”

“I just got hit by a car. Yes, it hurts.” He tried to sit up. Rook put a solid hand on his chest and held Bishop down. He bent down and whispered something into Bishop’s ear, too soft for Brynn to hear. Whatever he said, Bishop grimaced and replied.

Rook conceded something, and he helped Bishop sit up. Neither tried to stand. Bishop massaged the back of his neck, then looked at the blubbering, apologizing driver.

“It’s okay, Larry,” Bishop said. “It wasn’t your fault.”

The loup who’d first argued with Jonas came around and took Larry over to the sidewalk to calm him down. Jonas stayed by the wall of the diner with his friends. The fact that he hadn’t fled impressed her. A small crowd was gathering, drawn to the accident like bees to a picnic basket, buzzing with hushed conversation and speculation.

“What’s going on?” Thomas McQueen’s voice startled Brynn. He stalked down the sidewalk from the direction of the auction house, Jillian and Mitchell Geary following right behind him. Onlookers moved aside to allow them to pass; others backed up from the sheer force of their arrival. “Everyone who is not involved, go about your business. Now.”

The gawkers scattered, leaving only Jonas and the man he’d argued with bleeding on the sidewalk and Larry on the bench.

“Jonas,” Geary said, his voice as powerful and intimidating as McQueen’s. “Explain this immediately.”

Jonas wilted under the force of his Alpha’s anger. He came forward, head down. “An argument poorly ended, sir.”

“That’s not an explanation.”

“With your permission, Alpha,” Brynn said. She stood up, which earned her the attention of every person in the crowd. She held her head high and waited.

Geary studied her a moment, his nostrils flaring. “Go ahead, young lady.”

She explained the fight, sketching the specific actions with just enough detail to make all motivations clear. She didn’t attempt to reduce her own part in Bishop’s accident, and neither did she assign specific blame. They were all participants. McQueen managed to hide his feelings well, but Geary did not.