Page 29 of Shifter and the Succubus (The Pack #1)

Bea set the breakfast platter of eggs and bacon on the table.

Jason didn’t know how he could truly thank her and Griffin for taking him in and for letting the BSR team practically move in with him.

He looked around the table at his team. Misha, Kyle, Jean Luc, Talia, and Dalton had also tagged along.

Bea added a plate of toast in front of them and sat down herself.

Griffin had already left for the day for some meetings, and Sabrina was at the hospital doing her job as well.

If only he could do his job without worrying about what he would turn into.

“Thanks, Bea, for making breakfast. You really didn’t have to do that,” Jason said.

“No problem. Jean Luc or Talia, would you like some coffee to sniff?”

“No thank you,” Jean Luc said.

Talia shook her head. “I can smell the coffee from here. It smells wonderful.”

“Okay. Everyone else dig in while it’s still warm.”

She didn’t have to tell Misha twice. Jason chuckled at his enthusiasm as he grabbed a piece of toast and put a spoon of eggs and some bacon on top before grabbing another slice to make a sandwich.

They ate for a couple minutes in silence until Kyle spoke up. “It’s good to have you back, T. Where’s Will?”

“It’s good to be back. Will has a bit of jet lag, so he’s sleeping in this morning. He should be able to adjust to the time zone change in a couple of days.”

“It didn’t bother you?” Jason asked.

Talia shrugged. “Vampires don’t need a lot of sleep, so travel isn’t an issue for us. Jean Luc has filled me in on what has been going on here. I’ll help any way I can.”

Jason nodded at her. He appreciated that Talia didn’t look at him with pity in her eyes. She was always a straight shooter and willing to step in when needed without overstepping.

“Jason and I want to fill you in on our trip yesterday to see Larry.” Misha spent the next few minutes catching them up.

“I did some more research last night online. It’s tricky because Rowling shut down his business around the time that the Internet really took off.

Larry suggested we look into organizations he might have been a member of. ”

Dalton leaned forward. “He was a lawyer in Chicago, right? What about the Chicago Lawyers Group? That has been around for decades. Maybe he was a member back then. I can contact Lauren.”

Kyle growled.

Misha leaned over to Bea and pseudo-whispered, “Lauren is Dalton’s ex.”

“I can hear you, Mish,” Kyle grumbled.

Dalton wrapped his arm around Kyle. “I thought we’d worked through this, babe.”

The tips of Kyle’s ears pinkened. “She propositioned you the last time you saw her.”

“And I’m taken now. Let me see if she can find out anything for us.”

“Fine.”

Misha grinned. “Proud of you, ba—”

“Finish that and you will be singing soprano.”

Misha blanched before recovering quickly. “Something else happened at Larry’s. His guard attacked Jason, and Jason took him down and zip-tied him.”

“And? Jason knows how to handle himself,” Kyle said.

Misha nodded. “Jason responded quickly, like John McClane in Die Hard. The first movie is the best. A downright classic.”

“Focus please, Misha,” Jean Luc said.

“Sorry. What I’m saying is that Jason’s animal didn’t react to the stressful situation.”

“I think I have an idea about that,” Bea said, setting down her coffee cup.

They all turned to her.

“I think your animal isn’t reacting to stress. It’s about protection.”

“If that’s the case, then why didn’t I turn? I was protecting myself and Misha,” Jason argued.

Bea nodded. “Yes. But there was a common denominator missing yesterday. Sabrina.”

Jason sat upright.

Misha leaned forward. “Tell us more.”

Could he tackle his friend before someone stopped him? Before he could decide, Bea continued with her theory.

“The first time Jason turned was in the lab. You thought it was stress related, but you didn’t turn immediately when you were trapped. Misha, when did his eyes start glowing?”

Misha frowned for a moment. “We were talking about the liquid that set off the biohazard lockdown, and Sabrina told him to stand back so she could get a sample to test.”

Bea nodded. “And at that point you didn’t know if it would hurt her or not.

The second time you had a reaction was when Griffin shifted into his lion.

That might be traumatic, but you had already seen Griffin shift a few days before and you didn’t react the first time.

The difference with the second time? Griffin standing right next to Sabrina in his animal form.

“At your parent’s house, you started to turn when your mom pointed the gun at Sabrina. And then once the gun was gone, Sabrina was able to calm you down. And that’s another thing…” Bea stopped talking as if she was thinking through what to say next.

Why did he think he wasn’t going to like what she had to say? But that wasn’t going to stop her. “You might as well spit it out,” Jason said.

“Griffin has tried to use his alpha power to calm you down on multiple occasions and I have tried to calm you as well, but it didn’t work. Only Sabrina seems to be able to calm your animal.”

“Bea’s right,” Misha said.

“That doesn’t make sense, does it?” Jason asked.

“It has happened before,” Jean Luc said. “When Griffin was hurt a couple years ago, I was taking him to get help, and his animal tried to protect Kyle when he sensed a vampire. Griffin wasn’t fully conscious, and his animal instincts took over. Kyle talked him out of turning.”

Jason looked around the table. “You’re saying my animal is trying to protect Sabrina.”

“Yes,” Bea said.

“Why?”

Bea glanced at Kyle and Dalton before continuing. “In Griffin’s case, he was protecting Kyle because he had feelings for her. Our animals are very protective of those we love.”

They all stared at him. Damn. Were they expecting him to make some sort of proclamation? He felt exposed enough as it was. And if there were any proclamations to be made, it wouldn’t be to them.

“Huh. That puts an interesting spin on things with you and Sabrina, doesn’t it?” Misha said with a told-you-so smirk.

The tackle idea was back in play. Would Callie be upset if Misha came home with a black eye? He probably shouldn’t test it.

Before Jason could tell his friend to shut it, Kyle’s hand shot up. “Oh, oh, oh! Can I tell Sabrina about Bea’s theory?”

Give him strength…

Jean Luc turned the corner and Jason braced himself. The vampire drove like a stunt driver half the time, which was impressive since they were in the team van. Kyle sat in the front passenger seat, and Jason sat in the back with Misha, who was finishing off a burrito.

Jason had persuaded (quite adamantly) Kyle and Misha to let him speak to Sabrina about Bea’s theory first. Luckily Doyle had finally come through with the contact who might have information about the smugglers. That had served to distract them from their meddling since they were heading there now.

“So what do we know about this guy?” Jason asked.

“Alan Cummings is a Pavel demon. Officially he is in the transportation business,” Jean Luc said.

“And unofficially?” Kyle asked.

“Stolen goods, money laundering,” Misha said around a bite of burrito.

Jason frowned. “Are we talking mob ties?”

“Probably,” Misha answered.

“So why did he agree to meet with us?” Jason pushed.

Misha crumpled up the food wrapper. “To get rid of the competition.”

Jean Luc turned into the restaurant parking lot.

It was early afternoon, and the lot was practically empty since the restaurant wouldn’t be opening until dinner.

They walked through the front door and were greeted by a guy—or demon like Jason sensed, and wasn’t that a cool new shifter power to have?

This male was even bigger than Misha, and that was saying something.

“Cummings is expecting us,” Jean Luc said like they were there for high tea or something.

Big dude looked them over. “Weapons?”

“Just my rapier wit,” Kyle announced.

Jean Luc simply lifted an eyebrow at the guy as if that was answer enough. Misha shook his head. Then the guy turned to Jason and scowled. “What about you, human?”

Jason normally carried but had locked up his gun in his safe when he started losing control. He held up the edges of his coat so that the demon could see underneath.

Finally they headed into the restaurant, and Jason did a double take.

This room felt like every mafia movie Misha had forced him to watch—dark wood, black-and-white photos on the walls, and an intimidating man…

well… demon sitting at the round back corner table watching them approach.

Jason glanced over at Misha and could tell by his dancing eyes that he thought the same thing.

Hopefully he wouldn’t start quoting The Godfather movies until after they left.

The big-ass demon stood sentry next to his boss, who gestured to the seats at the table. Jean Luc, Kyle, and Misha sat while Jason remained standing, mirroring the demon guard.

“Alan, thank you for meeting with us,” Jean Luc said.

Alan smiled. “Of course, of course. Anything to assist the BSR. What can I do to help?”

Now Jason knew damn well this guy wouldn’t have agreed to meet with them if he were clueless. Luckily Jean Luc had taken point on this since Jason lacked diplomacy. Not as bad as Kyle, but he came in a close second.

“We have a situation. We believe that stolen goods are passing through this area. We would like to put a stop to it.”

“Of course. We don’t want that.”

Kyle coughed, but Jason was pretty sure she tried to cover a laugh.

“Would you like some water?” Alan asked with fake concern.

“How about some straight answers,” Kyle said in her cut-the-shit tone.

Alan’s eyes narrowed. “Where did you run into them?”

Jean Luc mentioned the warehouse address.

“We have heard rumors that someone new is trying to broach… enter the Great Lakes region.”

“And what have you heard they’re transporting?” Jean Luc asked.

“Anything their clients want. Stolen goods, weapons.”

“Drugs?” Misha asked.

“We hadn’t heard that, but it’s a possibility.”

“Any names you can give us?” Kyle asked. “Any disgruntled employees who might have gone out on their own?”

“Not a possibility.”

“We think that Dean Baxter might be involved,” Misha said.

Alan sneered. “Baxter is freelance and will do pretty much anything for money. I don’t trust him.”

“No honor among thieves?” Kyle said.

“There is a smart way to do business. Strategy over greed.”

“Well, he’s dropped out of sight,” Misha said. “You wouldn’t have an idea of where we could find him, do you?”

“Possibly. Baxter has a new girlfriend, Sheila Stanton. She lives in Westlake. They’re still in their honeymoon stage. You could talk to her, but I don’t think she’ll give him up.”

Kyle leaned forward. “What about an old girlfriend?”

Alan cringed. “Tina DeMarco. You can try talking to her. There is no love lost between them. Word is that she threatened him with a knife to his balls for steppin’ out on her.”

“He sounds like a real winner,” Kyle said.

“Yeah, especially since Sheila is, well… was Tina’s best friend.” Alan grinned. “Sheila sported a black eye for a week after Tina let her have it too.”

Kyle smiled. “I think it would be a good idea to pay Tina a visit.”

They left a few minutes later, and Jean Luc drove them back to the office. Talia and Will were sitting at the almond-colored table when they arrived.

Kyle and then Misha hugged Will. Jason nodded at him. “Good to see you.”

“You too. All of you. Glad to be here, although I could do without the cold weather.”

Kyle chuckled. “This is spring for us and it’s actually warming up. You’re spoiled in Vegas.”

“I am. But I’m here to help out where I can.”

They all sat at the table and brought Talia and Will up to speed about their conversation with Cummings.

“I’m serious about wanting to talk to Tina. She might be able to lead us right to Baxter,” Kyle said.

Talia nodded. “Agreed. And I think Kyle and I should meet with her. She might be more open to sharing details with us.”

“If we can’t get any leads from her, it might make sense to stake out Sheila’s place. See if Baxter shows up,” Misha said.

Kyle’s phone rang and she smiled when she looked at the screen. “Hello…. Yep, I’m with the team. Hold on.” Kyle clicked the speaker button and set her phone down. “Go ahead.”

“I reached out to Lauren about the Chicago Lawyer’s Group,” Dalton said.

Kyle scrunched her face like she smelled something rotten.

Dalton sighed over the phone. “Kyle, stop making that face.”

Kyle jerked upright like she’d been goosed. “What face?”

Dalton chuckled. “Right. So we got lucky. The group just celebrated their seventy-fifth anniversary and had collected pictures from both their retired and active members to scan as part of a slideshow they unveiled at the party. Lauren spoke to one of the committee members responsible for collecting the pictures and she found a picture of Rowling.”

Misha practically bounced in his seat. “Email it to me. Let me see if I can find him online using it.”

“On its way now. I’ll see you guys later. And babe, I’ll be home around six. We can talk about your green-eyed monster act then.”

“By-eee!” Kyle grabbed the phone and disconnected. She glared at everyone as her ears turned red. “No comments, or I will hurt you.”

Jason grinned at her response as her scent took on a strong lemon-tinged hue.

Misha didn’t hold back. His belly laugh started, and his sugar-cookie smell increased like they had just been pulled from the oven.

And since Misha’s laugh was normally contagious, Jason joined in, followed by Will and Talia.

Jean Luc smiled, letting his fangs show, which was a major response for him.

Kyle held up her hands in front of her. “Okay, okay. Let’s get back to work.”

They finally had leads on both the case and his past. Having a direction to go in was liberating. He could actually look ahead and hope for a future.