Page 39 of Shifter and the Succubus (The Pack #1)

Jason sat on the exam table—waiting. Sabrina had given him energy two more times after the initial round while Lucas ran all his tests and practically bled Jason dry with the amount of blood he’d taken from him.

And during that time Jason had basically slept and eaten a lot of food that Bea kept pushing on him.

He felt fine. More than fine. Although he had noticed that his sense of smell and hearing had dulled back to the way they used to be.

And that was okay. Now Lucas and Sabrina hunkered over the test results in the main lab area, and Jason tried to be patient.

But his jittering leg had missed the memo.

He’d spent little time with his teammates. They had a lead on the smugglers and had been working the case. And honestly, he’d been fine with that since he didn’t know how to tell them about the deal that Sabrina had made. But he would tell them soon. They wouldn’t let her go either without a fight.

As if his thoughts conjured them, Kyle and Misha walked into the exam room.

“We came to be here for your test results,” Misha announced. “Jean Luc and Talia are on the stakeout or they would be here too.”

Jason couldn’t keep the grin off his face. “Nosy.”

Kyle grinned back. “Tell us something we don’t already know.”

Lucas and Sabrina walked into the room.

“Good news,” Lucas said. “With the exception of the mutation, which we can’t fix, your blood work is normal. I don’t expect you to have any issues again.”

Some of the tension Jason had been living with fell away, and he sagged a bit. “Thank you.”

Misha and Kyle cheered on either side of him, and he looked at Sabrina, whose eyes had a glassy sheen. His strong doctor was moved to tears.

He stood and reached for her, pulling her into his arms and kissing her soundly as the cheering around him got even louder. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Misha and Kyle hustle out of the exam room, taking Lucas with them.

He leaned his forehead against hers. “Thanks, Doc. I don’t know what I would do without you.”

“You’re welcome. I feel the same.”

He leaned back so that he could look into her eyes. “You aren’t going wi—”

She put her fingers over his mouth. “I’m going to talk to Lucas. I know you’ve been going stir-crazy not working the case. Why don’t you head out with Misha and Kyle for a bit if you feel up to it.”

His heart sped up, and he shook his head. “I want to be here for you.”

“I think it would be better if I talk to him alone.”

She was an independent and powerful female, but that didn’t mean he could shut off his need to protect her, or in this case to stand by her side. “Are you sure?”

“Yes. Now go on. If we leave Kyle and Lucas together for any length of time, we might have bloodshed.”

Jason gave her a soft kiss before heading out of the room. Lucas had disappeared, but Misha and Kyle were both standing there with matching cat-who-ate-the-canary grins.

“Come on. Let’s go check in with Jean Luc and Talia. I’ve been cleared to come back to work.”

Misha slapped him on the back. “Excellent, my friend.”

They walked down the hall toward the exit. He could feel both Kyle and Misha looking at him. “What?”

“You’re healthy again, and you and Sabrina were just kissing!” Kyle exclaimed.

“Why are you not singing from the rooftops?” Misha asked.

They walked to the SUV and climbed inside as he tried to think through all that had happened. “I need to tell you something, but I don’t want to have to explain this to you and then to Jean Luc and Talia.”

Misha started the car and Kyle grabbed her phone. “I’m not waiting for us to get to the stakeout spot to hear what’s going on.” She clicked on her phone and set it to speaker.

“Hello, Kyle. How is Jason doing?” Jean Luc asked.

“He’s great. He got a clean bill of health, and he and Sabrina are a couple now.”

“Magnifique!” Jean Luc said.

“Wonderful!” Talia said at the same time.

Kyle looked back at Jason. “Except I’m with him right now and he’s not happy like he should be. He wants to tell us all something.”

Jason took a breath. “Remember how Matthew overheard Lucas and Alexander talking about some sort of favor Sabrina owed them if Lucas helped me? Well, I found out what the deal is. She promised to go back with Lucas and Alexander to be with the clan.”

“Oh, hell no!”

“ Merde .”

“No way.”

“Guys!” Jason said.

“Misha, turn the car around! I’m going to kick that Incubus’s ass!” Kyle hollered.

“Hey!” Jason yelled. “Everyone calm down. Sabrina is talking to Lucas. I was going to stay, but she thought it would be better for her to talk to him alone. I don’t think Kyle’s ass-kicking threat would go over well right now.”

“It’s not a threat. It’s a promise,” Kyle growled.

“We’ll let Sabrina talk to him first. She’s stronger than all of us put together,” Jason said. Funny how his words of comfort to his teammates also comforted him.

“Jason is correct. Sabrina is formidable,” Jean Luc said.

“Why would he want Sabrina to come back to the clan?” Talia asked.

“Because he wants her help with finding a cure for a disease that their clan suffers from called the Fade. Lucas and Sabrina have tried for centuries to find a cure, but they haven’t been able to and it’s fatal.

Over a century ago, Lucas lost his mate to the disease, which caused a rift between Sabrina and him.

According to Sabrina, he is obsessed with finding a cure. ”

“So he wants her help again,” Misha said.

“Yes. The clan’s numbers are small now and they live somewhere that even Sabrina doesn’t know about.”

“We need to trust that Sabrina can come to an amicable solution,” Jean Luc said.

“We can help if needed,” Talia added.

“I still want to kick his ass,” Kyle said.

Misha grinned. “We know, little one. We know.”

Jason shook his head. “Okay. Fill me in on what’s been going on with the case.”

Misha turned a corner. “We got news that Dean Baxter is still in Northeast Ohio. Jean Luc and Talia are currently watching the new girlfriend’s house. Will is watching a business associate of Baxter’s.”

“Sheila had food delivered today and she’s been anxiously looking out the front window every hour or so in between cleaning her house,” Talia said.

Kyle nodded. “You think Baxter’s planning to visit?”

“That would be my guess.”

“So what is the plan if he shows up there?” Jason asked.

“We can either confront him,” Talia said. “Or we can follow him and see if he leads us to the rest of the smugglers.”

Jason leaned forward. “If we’re afraid he won’t flip on his team, we may want to follow him.”

“We could put a tracker on his car as added insurance,” Misha said. “There’s one in the van in the black case in the very back.”

There was a rustle of sound over the phone before Talia responded. “I’ve got it, Misha.”

“You can use your vampire speed so no one sees you put it on Baxter’s car.” Kyle sighed. “I wish I had vampire speed.” She cringed. “Sorry, Jason, that was thoughtless of me. I know you lost your shifter senses.”

He shrugged. “I’m okay, Kyle. You didn’t insult me.”

“We’ve got a visitor,” Talia announced.

Kyle sat up straighter. “Baxter there for a booty call?”

“Yep. He’s carrying flowers. Cheap ones at that.”

Kyle shook her head. “Why am I not surprised.”

Jean Luc interrupted. “Misha, when you arrive, park the next street over. We do not wish to alert him.”

“Got it. Get the tracker on there as soon as you can.”

They hung up and Misha drove for another twenty minutes before he parked in a neighborhood of brick bungalows.

Kyle’s phone dinged and she looked at the screen. “They planted the tracker on the car. Talia said she thinks he’s going to be a while.” Kyle started typing.

Misha nodded. “We can catch up while we wait.”

Kyle turned to look at Jason. “Yeah. Catch up time.”

Jason didn’t like where this was going already. “You’ve caught me up with the case.”

“Nice try, my friend,” Misha chuckled. “So what are your and Sabrina’s plans?”

“With everything that’s been going on, we haven’t exactly had a lot of time to talk about the future.” He hesitated for a second before continuing. “But if you’re asking my intentions, I’m all in.”

Kyle did a little shimmy dance in her seat. “I knew it. Finally! I’m so glad you both got it together. I mean, you all are worse than Misha with denying relationships, and that’s saying something.”

“Hey! I will admit it took me longer than it should to realize Callie was perfect for me, but it all worked out in the end. And it’s going to work out for Jason and Sabrina too.”

Jason smiled. He promised to make sure of it.

They talked about all sorts of things as they waited.

At one point, Kyle threatened them both if they didn’t stop talking about Magnum, PI episodes—original series, of course.

So they switched to a conversation on the A-Team, and Kyle’s swear words flowed in English, Russian, and French.

Luckily Talia called them before things got too bloody. “Baxter is on the move. We’re staying far back and letting the tracker do its work.”

Misha started the SUV. “Just let us know which direction, and we’ll follow slowly as well.”

They drove for a while until Talia informed them that Baxter’s car had stopped and gave them the address.

Misha turned down a cross street and parked the SUV so they could watch the building.

It was an older building that looked to be part office space and part warehouse with large bay doors on the side.

A perfect place for smugglers to hide their trucks and stolen goods.

Two other cars besides Baxter’s were parked in the lot as well.

“What’s the plan?” Kyle asked.

“We can go in, but we don’t know how many people are inside,” Jason said.

“But we can find out,” Misha answered with a grin. “Talia, in the back of the van you will find some heat signature goggles.”

“Seriously?” Talia blurted. “Never mind. Of course, you’re being serious. Hold on.” A minute later she chimed back in. “Got them. Jean Luc is checking the building now.”