Page 2

Chapter

Two

E yre sat in the back seat of the hot as hell wolf’s SUV and…fretted.

Yes, he was fretting. Worrying. Worry-warting?

Ew.

He had no idea where they were going. He had no idea if the biker one, Quin, was hurt. He could smell blood.

And really, this was all his fault. Walt had wanted him to go home with him, and the pretty one had argued, and then there had been the drugging of the drink, and Eyre couldn’t just let Walt drag the guy off and hurt him.

He chewed his lip. But now he was—was he going from the frying pan to the fire? The one who had come to get them was gorgeous, just like his brother, only slick and expensive from his three-hundred-dollar haircut to the shoes that had to cost twice that. And he had a wicked smile when he glanced in the rearview mirror.

“You’re thinking very hard, foxy. I can hear it. What’s wrong?”

What was wrong? Seriously? He was poor, homeless, scared, frustrated, and he had a vicious headache. “Nothing.”

That grin softened. “How did you end up with the squealer?”

“Walt? I’m not with him. Wasn’t. I avoid him, usually, but I was at the club last night to dance, and—” He sighed. “I didn’t see him coming until it was too late.”

“He targets the lean ones, the little ones. You’re too nice for your own good.”

Gee, thanks.

The driver glanced at the wolfy one, who was human now and getting dressed. “And you, I suppose, have been targeting this Walt guy?”

“Yep. He needs to know he can’t fuck with omegas on my watch.”

“Mmm. Way to keep watch, by throwing your drugged ass into his bed, bro.”

Eyre had to chuckle softly at that.

“Shut up, Foxy. Thanks for the save, by the way.”

“No problem.” Except it was. He had nowhere to go, and everything he owned, which was, admittedly, not much, was in a stranger’s car. He hugged his arms around himself. “Where are we going?”

The wheelman glanced at him again. “To my place. I actually live here in the city unlike wonderboy here, and we can order some pizza.”

His stomach growled audibly, but he shook his head. He was broke, and he didn’t whore himself out.

“Just let him do his thing, Foxy.” Quin put his head back on the rest.

“Okay?” He swallowed hard. “But I don’t have any cash, and I don’t do—that.”

“Mmm. I would never ask you to do that in exchange for anything but pleasure, sweet. I’m Rian, by the way.”

His cheeks heated, because that was so—Okay, he needed to breathe.

“You dog,” Quin muttered.

“I am vulpine,” he murmured back.

“I meant Rian.” Quin sighed. “Always the bridesmaid, me.”

“Shut up, brother. You’ve worked your way through all the seedy bars?—”

“I know! And nary a yummy treat for me.” A tiny smile played on Quin’s mouth. These two sure were brothers.

He just held himself, breathing nice and slow. He needed to reserve his energy. Wherever he ended up, he would be on foot, and Denver was a sprawling city. He would have to be able to trek to one of his friends’ places, if any of them would have him.

If not, he’d have to head up toward the mountains, maybe…

“You’re thinking hard,” Rian said, merging onto the highway.

“Just making plans for the future…”

“Well, you just need to think as far as a shower and some food, all right?”

“That’s very nice of you?—”

“Oh fuck.” Quin burst into laughter. He’d thought he was asleep. “Rian is not nice.”

Was that another warning? Did he need to run?

“No, Quin, don’t give him the wrong idea. I’m not dangerous to young men on the run, I promise.” Rian turned off up toward Capitol Hill, where some of the fancy old mansions lined tree-shaded streets.

“I’m not on the run. I mean, I wasn’t.” Goddess, he was exhausted.

“Then what were you?” Rian asked. “At least as far as that guy was concerned.”

“A target.” He shrugged. “A hole. A patsy. How the fuck do I know?”

“You said you didn’t do that.” Rian’s voice went dangerously low.

“I don’t, but I’m sure he intended to.”

“Dammit, why do you think I was doing my sexy wolf dance, bro? There’s a whole little pocket of predators at that section of Colfax.”

“Okay, okay.” Rian turned into the long driveway of one of the mansions, heading toward the carriage house in the back.

“I would have taken you for a high-rise kind of guy,” Eyre said.

“I have one of those, too.” Rian gave him another one of those wolfie grins. “But I figured this would be a safer place for you. And for recovery boy here.”

“You can quit calling me that anytime, brother.”

“Sure. I’ll let you know when I’m ready.” Rian parked the vehicle under a car shade. “Come on in. I’ll order the pizza.”

“Seriously, you don’t have to do that, you know. You could just call me an Uber, and I’ll go?—”

“You’re not going anywhere. Follow me. I have some questions for you.”

Dread filled his belly. Questions were always a problem. He never had the answers that people wanted to hear. But he followed Rian and Quin inside. The old house was done up in period furnishings, the wood gleaming from oil soap and polish. It was gorgeous.

“I’ll show you where you can take a shower. I’m not sure I have anything that’ll fit you, but I can give you a T-shirt and some shorts.”

Rian’s shorts would be like clam digger pants on him. “I appreciate that, thanks.” There was no way Eyre was going to turn down a shower if he was going to have to be here anyway.

“Once you get done, come on down. The family room is just on the other side of the kitchen here. Oh, what do you like on your pizza?” Rian was hanging up car keys and taking off his jacket.

“Yes, please.” He chuckled at Rian’s look. “Anything except maybe pineapple.”

“We agree wholeheartedly. No pineapple.”

“Ditto.” Quin grabbed a bottle out of the fridge and headed into the other room.

“Cool.” Eyre tried for a little smile, then headed to the bathroom that Rian showed him. He supposed that the shorts and T-shirt would appear on the bench outside the shower.

The shower had rain bath heads in, like, six different positions on the wall. That was the most amazing thing he’d ever seen, and he could totally get used to that and the amount of hot water that came out of the spouts.

Steam rose around him, and Eyre found some sort of spicy smelling bodywash that he could use to get the grime off of him. He tried his best to stay clean, but when he was moving from place to place, public bathrooms only allowed so much nakedness and so much time spent washing up.

He stayed in the bathroom probably way too long, but he really got his hair cleaned for the first time in weeks, and he smelled so much better when he came out. There was a long-sleeved T-shirt that he had to roll the sleeves up on, and a pair of shorts, but they were nice and warm, and the cloth was super soft, so he wasn’t going to complain.

He put on the pair of socks that Rian had left for him too and headed down to the kitchens to pass through to wherever this family room was.

It really was a family room, too. The rest of the house had a formal, well-scrubbed look to it. This family room was full of soft leather couches, a big-screen TV, a pool table, and a wet bar with tons of rugs scattered across the floor. A great big dog sprawled right in the middle of one of them.

“Hey, buddy,” he said, and the dog wagged its tail but didn’t bother to get up.

“That’s Sherlock,” Quin said from deep in one of the couches. “He’s not getting any younger, so don’t mind him if he doesn’t get up.”

“I don’t mind at all. He’s not gonna bite me if I come across and sit by you, is he?”

“Nope. He’s not much of a biter unless somebody attacks one of us?”

“Oh, good. That makes me feel better.” Eyre crossed the room to sit in the armchair crouching perpendicular to the couch. “Quin, is your brother gonna, like, cross-examine me or something?”

“Or something.” Quin cracked one eye open to stare at him. “I think he likes you.”

That made him laugh. “That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.”

“Are you calling me stupid?”

Something dangerous entered the air around him, and Eyre thought it was a very bad idea to tease any more. “Of course not. And I have to thank you for coming to my rescue last night.”

“Hey, you returned the favor and came to mine. It’s a thing. Don’t worry about it.”

“I don’t like when people get hurt. It’s not fair. Like not at all.” He could get plumb pouty about it, in fact.

Rian came into the room wearing a pair of expensive-looking gray leisure pants, and a long-sleeved Henley. He was superhot somehow, and Eyre tried not to stare.

“What does everyone want to drink right now? I ordered the pizza.”

“Is it too early in the day for a beer?” Quin asked.

“Well it is barely lunchtime,” Rian shot back. “But hair of the dog and all.”

Quin sighed. “Right. I’ll be good.”

“I highly doubt it.”

“Do you have anything with caffeine?” Eyre asked.

“I do. I have Coke or a Dr Pepper.”

“Oh, I like Dr Pepper.” And it’d been a while since he could afford to get one, too, so he was gonna take advantage of bubbles.

“Certainly. Quin, Coke or coffee?”

“Coffee. I’ll change to Coke once the pizza gets here.” Quin sat up, stretching and yawning. “And then I’m gonna take a nap.”

“That’s fine. So tell me what you mean about there’s a ring of bad people at these bars?”

Quin’s gaze sharpened. “Well, you see, they look like random shifters out for a good time, and they’re using Shiftr app to hook up with people, but then those kids are disappearing.”

“Disappearing how?” Rian went still, his whole demeanor changing.

“Like he said, they just disappear, and they don’t come back.” Eyre crossed his arms over his chest and rubbed up near his shoulders. “I’ve had a couple of friends go missing.”

“And what about the Shiftr.com angle?”

“That’s the dating app, right?” Eyre asked.

“It is, and our brother owns it.” Those amber eyes flashed bright gold for a moment, the wolf right there.

Dude, these guys were high-class. “I don’t have a phone right now so I’ve never used it, but I know some friends of mine hooked up with people that way. Other shifters who were supposedly like-minded.”

Quin tilted his head. “Like-minded. You mean like alphas and omegas?”

Eyre’s cheeks heated a little bit. “No, it’s a tiny skosh more specific than that. My friends were into, you know, fun and games, spanking kind of stuff.”

“And what are you into?” Rian asked, the air shifting to that dangerous feel again.

“I don’t know you well enough for you to be asking questions like that.” He held that hard gaze, chin up. He wasn’t ashamed of himself, no way no day.

Quin barked out a laugh. “Good answer, kid.”

“I’m not a kid.”

“No? How old are you?” Quin looked him over with a practiced eye. “Twenty?”

“Twenty-four. I just look young.”

“God help me. He’s ancient.”

“Leave it, Quin.” A tone pinged inside the house. “Go get the pizza.”

“What, is it Hiram’s day off?”

“Yes.” Rian winked at him. “Hiram is my man about the house. And the yard. And the garage.”

“He looks like a gorilla shifter, but he’s really a bison.”

“Oh.” Eyre had no idea what was a joke there and what was real.

“I’ll be right back.” Quin peeled himself off the couch, leather pants and leather upholstery just a bad match.

“Does your brother really own Shiftr?”

“He does. He lives in Boulder. That’s where the office is for the business, too.” Rian circled around to hand him a Dr Pepper.

“Nice.” He’d never been to Boulder, but he liked the pictures. It looked more rural. Good thing he was a fox and he could adapt to city living.

He’d been dropped off in Denver by a trucker, and he’d been just getting by ever since. As places to live went, it was pretty decent, with lots of public spaces and a good-sized shifter community.

Too bad a lot of the alphas were…bad apples.

“It can be, yes. He prefers a more Zen existence than Quin and I have.”

Quin chuckled. “You mean he’s dead boring.”

“Except when he’s not.” The brothers shared a grin, and there was another in-joke, he thought, that he didn’t get. So he zipped his lips and took a drink of his Dr Pepper, moaning happily at the flavor and fizz.

That brought Rian’s attention to him again. “Good?”

“Perfect. Thanks.”

“You’re very welcome, sweet. So tell me what else you know about this ring of people downtown.”

“Uh—” He blinked, changing lanes. “Okay. I know that at least three of my friends have disappeared. They all swiped on an alpha on Shiftr and were going on a date. And I never saw them again.”

Rian studied him. “How good of friends?”

“What?” Rian chewed his lip, staring right back.

“How good of friends were they? Would you know it if they just moved on? You said you didn’t have a phone.”

“Yeah.” He waved a hand. “We met twice a week at the Little Owl Coffee in Union Station. We checked in just because we were all sort of rootless.” It had been the one thing that he’d really enjoyed, truly loved.

“Okay. I believe you.” Rian held up the hand not holding his Coke. “So they didn’t check in?”

“No. And then when I asked around, it was like they’d never been here. But I know better.” And the only thing all of them had in common was that they were all meeting men from Shiftr.

Rian tapped his Coke can with his fingers. “So someone is using the app to lure them in and?—”

“That’s why I was there,” Quin said. “Symon got word that unusual user patterns were happening.”

“Did he?”

Oh, that was a grumpy growl.

“Yeah. You know his mate. He’s all about the algorithms.”

“True. Still—you both should have called me.”

“We did. You were in meetings all day with that merger group.”

“That was two days ago, Quin.”

“Yep.”

It was like a tennis match again. Back. Forth.

“So tell me what happened to you in complete detail.” Those amber eyes pinned him again, surprising him.

“I borrowed a phone. I swiped right. I went to meet the alpha at the club, just to see whether my friends were there.” And they hadn’t been. But that piggy bastard had been.

“Ah. And how did you keep him busy while Quin was out cold?” Rian made air quotes with his free hand.

“I danced.” The dude was into watching, and he had a little bit of a spark, enough to keep a predator still and easy if he was dancing.

“You danced.” Rian sounded unconvinced, and he looked just about the same, one eyebrow going up, his lips pursing.

“Kid’s pretty good at it. I saw him at the club,” Quin said. “Nice and slinky.”

“Really.” Rian glowered at Quin like he had some beef with him all of a sudden. “That’s enough out of you, brother.”

Quin just grinned like a cat licking cream. Well, if a wolf could look like a cat. “No problem, Ri.”

Eyre shrugged. “Look, I danced. It kept him entertained, and then he pooped out and went to sleep.”

The other eyebrow went up, climbing to Rian’s hairline. “I can’t imagine going to sleep after watching you dance.”

His cheeks heated almost painfully, because there was something incredibly hot about the way Rian said that, and he didn’t want to believe it was about him, but at the same time, who else was there? Rian was looking at him now, not his brother, and that look was going to make his toes set on fire, or maybe his hair.

“He did. He’d had a long night, and he’d done his share of drugs.”

That captured Rian’s attention again. “So there’s more than roofies involved. Casual drugs or otherwise?”

“Oh, that guy’s totally a dealer. He’s just a slimeball.” And Eyre had managed to escape unscathed.

“Quin, did you get all the details so we can look into him?”

Eyre could almost see the air quotes again around look into him even though Rian didn’t make them physically. And then, thank God at that point Rian got some sort of text on his phone.

“I need to call someone. Be right back.”

He left the room, and Quin grinned over at Eyre. “Saved by the pizza.”

Eyre chuckled, rubbing his cheeks with his hands. “I guess so. He’s intense.”

“Really? I mean he’s my brother, so I just think he’s a giant dick.”

That made him laugh even harder. “Wow, I bet nobody else calls him that.”

“Not to his face, no. Maybe Symon does. He’s our other brother.”

“The one you said owns the app, right?” It was crazy he knew somebody who was related to the owner of the Shiftr app. It was just hard to believe, and man, if he was a decent guy, which Quin and Rian both seemed to be on the right side of decency so maybe the brother was too, he was going to be pissed off that people were using his app for nefarious purposes.

The smell of pizza made his nose twitch, and his belly rumbled like it was a volcano waiting to erupt.

“How long’s it been?” Quin asked, the question oddly gentle.

“Three days.” Long enough.

“Damn. Well, eat slow, huh?” Quin uncoiled from the couch and moved to grab some paper plates and napkins from the bar area.

“I will.” He rubbed his stomach.

“Here we are.” Rian came back with a stack of pizza boxes. “I also got some garlic knots and Quin occasionally chews the grass, so I got a big garden salad.”

He could have just cried. This way, he could have a piece of pizza and maybe one bread and a bite of salad without seeming like a total charity case. The small amount of food would hold him for a long time.

Foxes needed less fuel than wolves.

He kept himself still, because that was the only way to not whine with hunger. Calm. Stay calm.

“Hey.” Rian came to hand him an empty plate. “There’s more food than Quin and I can possibly eat. Start slow, but you can have as much as you want.”

“I’m sorry. I just—I haven’t had that. It’s not…” He wasn’t making any sense. He knew he wasn’t making any sense.

He’d been part of a show. It was all a con. The omegas danced. They conned the guys out of their money. They went home and, weirdly, everyone was happy.

Except for him, he didn’t—He didn’t want to do it. That. Whatever. He didn’t want to use his secret talent to screw people out of money or to screw anyone physically. So he’d left. He’d gone out for “cigarettes”. Hopped in a semitruck and fled town.

It had made perfect sense at the time; it had felt like he was leaving on some grand adventure. Now he wasn’t so sure that this had been a good idea at all.

But the pizza was going to make him cry, it smelled so good.

“Just breathe. Have a sip of the Coke. The sugar will help even out the wild stuff going on in your head.”

“How do you know what’s going on in my head?”

Rian’s amber-gold eyes flashed bright for him, holding his gaze. “I can tell. It’s like a storm in your eyes, sweet.”

“You see me.” His breath left him in a rush, and his fingers twitched with the urge to touch Rian’s cheek, his chest.

“I do.” Then Rian smiled, and the bubble around them popped. “Now. Have a drink. Then you can eat. There’s marinara and ranch for the garlic knots.”

“Garlic is proof there’s a God and she loves us.” He snatched one, nibbling on it.

“It is. Bread isn’t bad either.”

“I like meat,” Quin said, opening a pizza box.

“We all know that,” Rian quipped.

Quin chortled. “And cheese.”

“Cheese is amazing.” Eyre was totally into it.

“It is,” Rian agreed. “But he was being crass so I was too.”

“You don’t seem the crass type.”

“No? Wait until you get to know me, sweet.”

His cheeks went nuclear hot at that smile, and Eyre was kind of sorry he wouldn’t get that chance.

But he wouldn’t. As soon as he ate and got his clean clothes back from the washer and dryer, he was out of here.

He nibbled on a second garlic knot, humming deep in his chest.

He’d enjoy this little bit of luxury while he could, huh?