Little Wolf (59 page)

Tim glanced over again, picturing how easily the pixy would bleed, and fucking furious with Jerry for doing this with the baby. But though he still couldn’t see Jerry, he could see others. Rebecca, without the rest of the baby wolves but standing next to her mother. One of Mrs. Pinsky’s other renters. The were waiter from the Italian place slightly up the street where Tim had eaten spaghetti with Nathaniel. They were idiots, all of them, even if the growing number of weres was enough to make Tim’s hackles rise. They weren’t after him, but his body knew a threat was in the air.

So did Luca’s. Tim knew it without analyzing how, a hint in Luca’s scent maybe, a change in his heartbeat. Tim locked eyes with the waiter for one moment before glancing at Mr. Shimizu again. This time there wasn’t even the imaginary twitch of a missing tail. Mr. Shimizu simply waited.

“Should I tell them what you did?” Tim’s voice was too low. He pitched it louder. “How about it, Luca? Should I tell them what you did to me?” He didn’t want to. It had been humiliating saying the words to Nathaniel, realizing how wrong it had all been. “Should I tell them what you did to their sheriff?”

“Shut your bitch mouth and come with me!” Luca yanked Tim from the wall and twisted Tim’s hand behind his back at a painful angle. Tim stifled a yelp. “Always defiant aren’t you?” It wasn’t good that Luca was raising his voice. The whole town would hear him, but he was also losing his temper.

Tim tensed but shook his head again. “I’m not going to my uncle willingly, but you go ahead and kidnap me. Silas will like that showing up on the news. I wonder who he’ll blame.”

“Shut up.” Luca bent Tim’s wrist, and this time Tim couldn’t hold in his cry.

“Always ‘shut up’ when I’m trying to get you to see sense.” The words came out strained, but Tim tried to force fire into them. “You do this in public, and it will get out. Nathaniel will see you like he saw you before when you hit him with your car.”

Murmurs from the audience were music to Tim’s ears, even if he had no proof of what he was saying. He would bet on it, though. He’d bet that Nathaniel had glimpsed Luca’s face before or after the accident, that Luca had been that careless in his hurry to get away. He would bet that if this went any further, Nathaniel would find Luca and arrest him or handle it as weres did.

“You want your big alpha wolf to save you?” Luca stank of slippery anger and growing frustration. “Why would he come to you? Why would he bother now that he knows you? He already rejected you, but that’s who you choose?” Luca had tangled Tim’s shirt so tight around the collar it was nearly choking Tim, but though he gave Tim a shake, he didn’t seem to notice Tim struggling. “You didn’t even tell him your name. I know what you are.”

“What’s that? A bitch?” Tim’s arm was killing him, his stomach was pounding with pain, but he turned his head away from the crowd. It had to be said, but that didn’t mean he needed to watch their faces as he said it. “I’m not a kid anymore, Luca. I don’t want to do this with you. I was confused then, but you should have known better.”

“Better than what? As if everyone couldn’t tell how much you wanted me.” Luca was going to break Tim’s wrist soon if he didn’t let up on the pressure.

Tim closed his eyes and felt his face burning. “This just in, asshole—teenagers get crushes. But you shouldn’t have touched me.”

“Because I wasn’t good enough for you?” Luca hissed low into his ear.

Tim tried to glare at him and ended up growling at the wall. “You want the name, Luca? You want the Dirus name and all the shit that goes with it? Then fucking earn it. Go challenge Silas. Start a dynasty of your own if you can. But you won’t, will you? You’ll whine about how you aren’t good enough, and yeah, you aren’t. I used to think I wasn’t worthy of the name, but at least I’m not some cowardly, bullying creeper who preys on inexperienced pups who don’t know anything.”

“You wanted the attention.” Luca inhaled deeply at Tim’s pained gasps as if he was more interested in Tim’s scent than the noise their audience was making.

Tim couldn’t look at them. “I had no idea what I wanted,” he whispered, knowing it would still be heard. “You should have let me figure it out.”

Looking to the side and down offered him a glimpse of bloodied blue jeans, and he glanced up to sweep his gaze over Albert. There was a gash down Albert’s arm and tears in his shirt, but he was on his feet and his eyes were flashing. Tim swallowed his exclamation and glanced over, catching a glimpse of Zoe that made him freeze. Zoe’s presence meant one thing.

Tim tensed even further and shut his eyes. “You should have let me go. If you ever really wanted me, Luca, you should let me go now.”

“I’m not letting go of you, Timothy Dirus.” Luca rumbled in satisfaction. “You’re mine at last.”

Tim opened his eyes as Luca was ripped away from him, and twisted around in time to witness Luca slamming shoulder-first into the wall of the building next to the drugstore. Luca was on his feet but didn’t get his hands up before Nathaniel took hold of him and threw him across the alley, into the cement wall he had just had Tim pressed to. Tim stumbled and then fell, tripping on crates, but Luca wasn’t focused on him anymore.

“I’d imagine that feels like being hit by a car,” Nathaniel remarked. He was out of breath, but otherwise he appeared calm. He was unrumpled and utterly human on the surface if Tim ignored the reflective gleam in his eyes and the aroused rage-scent so at odds with his demeanor.

Nathaniel straightened up, but stayed where he was, as if he wanted to give Luca a moment to recover. Tim made a sharp noise of protest that died when Nathaniel looked at him.

Tim couldn’t bear that look. Tim had never been silently told to stay back and keep quiet while simultaneously being studied from his head to his toes. Nathaniel grunted when he noticed Tim’s swollen cheek and fat lip and stopped breathing when he saw the blood soaking Tim’s T-shirt.

“I’m okay,” Tim told him, uncertain why he’d say it when he was bleeding and bruised and scared, but then Nathaniel steadied himself, turned toward Luca, and finally, finally, took another breath. “I’m okay,” Tim told him again, getting it now. Fucking instinct. It always knew before he did.

Tim pressed himself to the wall when Luca pushed himself away from it. Luca’s eyes were narrowed, and he extended his claws and growled, shifting enough for some fur to grow along the backs of his hands. He tore at his shirt and slashed away buttons. Even then his suit grew tighter, his muscles bunching as he barely held back from being wolf.

Nathaniel hadn’t done anything. He was standing there, fully man, without even his gun drawn, and he was
waiting
.

Tim couldn’t take it. “This isn’t chess! You can’t wait and see what he does. He fights dirty!” He scraped out the warning with a tense, sick feeling and then shut his eyes when Luca lunged forward.

Tim moved, only opening his eyes afterward, like an idiot, and was caught as he tripped again. He noticed Zoe distantly, although her hold was firm and his arm was stiff with pain. Luca had leapt at Nathaniel, and Nathaniel had… neatly stepped to the side.

Tim’s mouth dropped open as he took in the scene. The slashing, snarling motions from Luca as he tried to get close enough to use his teeth and claws, and the swift, silent movements of Nathaniel, keeping himself out of reach.

The alley wasn’t that wide. There shouldn’t have been that much room to maneuver. There was even less with more people gathering at either side. Tim could trip over his own feet while standing still, but Nathaniel was weaving without once stumbling over an abandoned crate or hitting the wall. Tim studied him with dry eyes and pulled at Zoe’s hold on him, but Nathaniel didn’t, or wouldn’t, look back.

It was possible to wear down a werewolf, eventually, though most who tried wore themselves out first. Tim didn’t think that was what was happening here. Luca was injured, but he wasn’t slowing down. If anything, his swings were getting more forceful. He was mostly a man, but it wouldn’t take much to push him to shift completely. Nathaniel was controlled in the face of Luca’s glowing eyes and heavy rage, yet it was disconcerting when he spoke, offering a comment as he circled behind Luca.

“This is all you have?” Nathaniel ducked in with measured, strategic movements, as he shifted at last, just his hand, just his claws, and tore a stripe down Luca’s back. Then he was man again and stepping away, his nostrils flaring for the scent of fresh blood.

Tim had never seen anyone shift like that. He stopped moving completely except to take hold of Zoe’s hand on his arm. “
Zoe
.” He didn’t know what he meant to say, but she put her other hand over his and shook her head.

“I don’t understand. I thought you were something to contend with. Not this,” Nathaniel offered, attention on Luca.

Tim knew that quiet, furious tone. He shivered, and Zoe held him tighter.

Luca rounded on Nathaniel. “Understand what?” His words were hardly recognizable as words. He was in pain, but not nearly enough to stop him. If anything, Nathaniel was spurring him toward real fury.

“How you thought to win Little Wolf when this is the best you can do.” Nathaniel had blood on his fingertips, Luca’s blood, and the only mark on Nathaniel was the last, fading impression of Tim’s teeth at his throat. “This.” Nathaniel could have been growling like Luca, but his voice was soft. “This isn’t enough to win over a child. It would never have been enough for a wolf like Tim.”

“I don’t have to win him. Timothy Dirus was meant to be mine.” Luca caught himself before he lunged again, probably considering what had happened the last time he’d tried that. He hadn’t expected Nathaniel to sidestep the direct challenge. Tim hadn’t either. Nathaniel should have lunged toward him, enraged, already shifting. This was as though Nathaniel wasn’t afraid of him at all. Nathaniel was telling him he wasn’t anything, much less a real challenge.

Luca and Nathaniel were about the same weight, with Nathaniel only a little taller. Tim had warned him Luca fought brutally. This wasn’t the time to fuck around. Tim started to say something again but closed his mouth. He had called Nathaniel here for this. Nathaniel would take care of Luca. He had to believe that.

“Oh, but you do.” Nathaniel appeared level, his wolf locked away, but his eyes were hard. “You have to win him, mind and heart, no matter what he does to yours.” He kept his attention on Luca, briefly lowering his gaze to the gashes across Luca’s chest. “You have to be able to take it. You weren’t even strong enough to take a no.”

Tim sucked in a breath, but neither of them was looking at him now. “You don’t have to,” he murmured, watching Nathaniel study Luca. Nathaniel didn’t have to go through this with Luca, but he was going to. Because he thought it was right. “Zoe,” Tim pleaded with her again, but she was keeping hold of him as firmly as if Nathaniel himself had told her to do it. He probably had. He thought about things like that. He thought about everything far more than he ever let on.

“A no from a
child
,” Nathaniel drew out, raising his voice to make his point. “To a boy who didn’t know any better, you must have been terrifying. The source of nightmares and irrational fears. That boy looked to you for guidance and got abuse instead.”

Luca struck out. Nathaniel moved faster than most weres, shoving aside Luca’s arm and then pushing forward to punch Luca in the chest. He used force but no claws, something that left Tim staring even while Luca was flying backward and roaring in pain. Weres could hit with hundreds of pounds of pressure. Nathaniel had directed all that force into the wound Tim had given Luca earlier.

The fresh blood scent was overpowering. Nathaniel snorted and released a puffing, heavy breath, although he hadn’t shifted again. “Did Tim do that to you?” Nathaniel asked Luca, his scorn carrying through the alley while Luca stared down at his raw, bloody chest. “You let him get close to you and you forgot he had teeth?”

Luca snapped his head up.

“You did.” Nathaniel had no mercy. “I knew what you were the moment he told me about you,” he added, leaving both Tim and Luca in shocked silence. Tim continued to shake as he stared between the two of them. He couldn’t think of a thing to say.

“You old wolves are all the same—” Luca was struggling with words, his teeth very much in evidence.

“No. This is
your
failure.” Nathaniel could show his teeth too, becoming something much more dangerous than even the powerful sheriff Tim sometimes glimpsed. Luca froze in the face of that. Tim wasn’t sure any other were wouldn’t have done the same, including Silas. “You showed your own weakness.” Nathaniel’s contempt was worse than his anger. Luca had no choice but to react to it, especially in front of so many witnesses.

He jerked to his feet, but this time Nathaniel moved offensively. He blocked one of Luca’s paws and closed his hand around Luca’s throat. His body was stiff. Tim knew without looking that Luca’s other paw had found a target. Luca would have used his claws. Nathaniel would be bleeding, would be in pain, but he must have known and accepted that before he’d acted. He could take it, like he’d said before.

“Claws,” Nathaniel murmured tightly. “Is that all?” And he twisted to take hold of Luca’s arm and throw him off balance. He let out a sound that said the action hurt but carried it through and slammed Luca into the wall again. This time he didn’t give Luca any time to recover. He put his hands, clawed hands, to Luca’s body and shoved him into the cement hard enough to make Luca wheeze air through cracked ribs. Luca’s head bounced back against the wall, and Nathaniel sniffed before tossing him out into the alley.

He immediately followed, not letting Luca rise to his feet before he had his claws in the back of Luca’s neck. He dragged Luca up, grunting at the weight and receiving a swipe from Luca’s claws, this one across his outer thigh. Tim got a word out at last, though he wasn’t sure what it was. Nathaniel was bleeding. That was all there was to focus on.

Luca looked caught off guard by what Nathaniel was doing. Nathaniel seemed to understand his confusion. “You were expecting an animal, like you. Some old ways monster from a human horror film.” He waited, as if trying to see if Luca would lunge at him again, and when Luca did, the movement slower and sloppier than it should have been, Nathaniel caught him midair with another single blow to the chest. It dropped him. Wolves went for the throat, the belly. Nathaniel had gone for Luca’s wounds, again and again, until Luca’s suit was dark with blood, and even from a distance Tim could hear the crushed sound of his breathing. Nathaniel wasn’t done. He was lecturing Luca in the middle of it. “You forget we are human too. Humans have ways of fighting to defeat even the strongest were. We could learn from them. Instead you absorbed those toxic lies about what we should be.”