Page 4 of Finding His Way (The Protetors #5)

J eremy stepped in the old building, nose assaulted with the intermingling scent of stale beer, urine, and body odor. Not a favorite of his but this place was a necessary stop. His contact was there.

Or rather would be. Early as per his usual so he could scope out the area, he gestured for a bottle of the local vodka and three glasses. The man behind the counter, rugged with a scar bisecting the left side of his face and where his eye had been, set it on the bar top. Barely slowing, he swiped it up and headed to the far corner where he claimed a seat allowing him to view the entire bar.

His cat raged within him, raking sharp as the finest honed blades tore into him. The beast wanted out. It knew his mate was in danger and needed to get there. To her .

He and his beast had always been a team in the past, the give and take semi-harmonious between them. However, since the second he’d discovered that Dianna was in danger, his cat hadn’t been in sync with him. It didn’t care about finesse or deals.

The predatory alpha wanted to seek and destroy. Protect his mate and take no prisoners when it came to the idiots who dared to kidnap and lay a hand on his woman. Basically, rip the throat of anyone who got between him and his mate.

He swallowed and retracted his claws before he uncapped the vodka and poured himself a healthy dose. Skimming the room, he lifted his glass and tossed it back without hesitation.

I’m coming for you, baby. Stay alive.

Jeremy watched two men stride through the door. His cat growled low for a few seconds as it took in the danger nearing. Then it settled. Even though he knew them, all three were alphas and extremely dominant. To have them in the same room was a credit to the willpower of their human sides.

Although, to be fair, sometimes it was the animal side who behaved better.

Dark brown hair with blondish tips on both. One longish on top and shorter on the sides whose face was clean shaven while the other had his hair shaved on one side and definitely longer on the top, he sported a beard and mustache. Both men were covered in tattoos and he knew their eyes were blue-gray.

Shifters.

All three of them had been orphans together. He was the outsider. They were brothers. Twins. Snow leopards, a creature generally known as “Ghosts of the Mountains” but the three of them had joined forces due to circumstances. He was older than them by two years and took them under his wing when he found them, hiding in the trunk of an overturned tree, trying desperately to stay alive and warm.

As an Amur leopard his kind didn’t generally associate with other big cats. He was larger than these two in shifted form but he’d seen them fight. Hell, he’d taught them some things and they all learned some together. They were his family and while he was friends with Lando Vargas and would fight by the sides of the others who made up The Protetors, the SAR group he worked as a part of, these two were his family. His blood brothers.

All three had identical scars on their palms when they became blood brothers, that they’d not allowed to heal and remove the mutilation. Another sign of their dedication and tie.

Macsen, clean shaven, jutted his chin when he strode up before spinning a chair and claiming a seat with the fluid ease of their kind. His older brother, by three minutes, Vaughn prowled after him, his entire vibe radiating “fuck off” to any and all who may make the mistake of approaching him.

Without speaking, he lifted the vodka bottle and filled the other two glasses before nudging them forward with the tip of one blunt finger. The twins moved in pure synchronization for the glasses. Even with the tipping it back and drinking, it was done in tandem.

“You are far from your new shores, brother.”

The words were spoken in Belarusian and he responded in kind.

“I’m making a retrieval.”

Vaughn stretched out his legs, the tips of his dark brown boots scuffed from use. “Your mate is a retrieval?”

His cat reacted instantly, furious and raging since he couldn’t lay eyes or hands on said woman. Locking down the beast he blinked and looked at the man who was his brother. Vaughn continued to sit there, face expressionless as he waited.

“How do you know this is my mate?”

The brothers shared a look before turning back to him, disbelief on their faces.

“You forget you told us about her?” Macsen poured himself and Vaughn another drink.

No but he’d not used the word mate.

“Despite our appearance, we’re not stupid.” Mascen gestured to Vaughn. “When word comes down through our contacts there is a group looking to find some shifters and took a woman linked to one, we put the pieces together.”

“You didn’t call.” Anger pulsed within him.

“I called once. You didn’t answer. Figured we would do some hunting on this end and reach out again when we had more. Then this fucker, found out you had landed here.” He spread his arms wide then downed his second drink. “So here we are. You’re welcome.”

Despite his frustration with not laying eyes on his woman, he couldn’t help but smirk at his brother’s antics. Macsen had always been the lighthearted one, but they’d done the best they could to protect him. As a shifter, who’d come up as he had he had been exposed to shit, but he and Vaughn had done their best to keep him safe and out of it.

“I’m not sucking your dick just because you came here with a smile.”

Macsen leaned forward, his hair falling forward over his eyebrow. “But if you suck my dick, we’ll both be smiling.”

“Fuck off.”

He toasted him with his empty glass then reached for the bottle to top it off once more.

“Enough.” Vaughn’s one word settled his brother down. Macsen huffed but reclined back in his chair, glass dangling from his fingertips.

Shifting his gaze to Vaughn, Jeremy reined back his cat who instantly wanted to strike out. That’s new.

He wrenched the chains on the beast within him to secure the control. Vaughn didn’t respond other than lifting an eyebrow. His cat, realizing not only this was family but not a threat to his mate settled.

“Do we know where she is?”

Macsen rocked back in his chair while waiting for him to answer Vaughn’s rumbled question. His words were graveled and rasped. It touched him, how even though they’d never met her, hell hadn’t even seen a photo of her, they knew this was his woman and would do what was necessary to help facilitate her being rescued.

“I know who took her.”

Macsen’s gaze darkened with danger. “Who?”

“Ivan Ková?ová.” Both men growled low. Ivan was a lowlife who worked with scum.

“He’s not far from here but he’s not smart enough to do this on his own. Her partner sold her out. Someone told them she knew shifters and so they’re hoping they come.”

The twins leaned back, eyes filling with the death of those involved.

“Do you think they know about you? That she belongs to you?” Vaughn shifted in the seat, the motion smooth and dangerous like the shifter himself.

“No.” Jeremy filled up his glass again. “One of her best friends is Selena, Lando’s consort.”

“Fuck.” Macsen voiced it, but Vaughn’s expression agreed with it.

“Are you telling Lando?”

He drained the drink in one swallow. “Nope. He’s mated and he will bring everything down on this place, leaving his people exposed.”

“Plus, it’s your woman.” Vaughn nodded.

“Exactly.” And once he had her back within reach, he was going to let her know. No more of this keeping away from each other.

“I hate to bring up more bad news,” Macsen muttered. His tone low enough that those in the rundown bar couldn’t hear, but he and Vaughn easily could because of their enhanced hearing. The man put his cell on the table and rocked forward, forearms on the scarred wood. “Aleks ‘Frost’ Morozov landed at the local airport not to long ago.”

Ice slithered through his veins before settling and chilling him from the inside out. If he had a mortal enemy, it was that man. Aleks had been his tormentor as he was growing up. The man had tortured him and the twins until they had gotten large enough to fight back.

He wasn’t feline, the man was a bear shifter. A Kamchatka brown bear, the largest bear species in Russia. This man, was the nastiest. He enjoyed making people bleed.

“This changes everything.” Vaughn flexed his hands on the table but that was the only sign of any anger pulsing through him.

It was there though, Jeremy could feel it coming off him in waves, it ruffled his cat’s fur the wrong way and set him on edge.

He agreed. “Chances are if he’s here, he knows I am part of The Protetors SAR group.”

“Think it’s a trap?”

“Maybe from Ivan, but not Aleks. He’s arrogant enough that he feels he can still beat me.”

The last time they’d been in the same space, the fight had been brutal and he’d been tossed over the edge of a cliff, barely surviving. But that had been years and years ago and since then, Jeremy was definitely not the same shifter he’d been back then. His cat had matured and together, they’d become far deadlier. All three of the men sitting at the table were.

Aleks was in for one hell of a surprise if he thought Jeremy would be an easy target.