4. Callum
CALLUM
Ash’s scent lingers in the air, potent and spicy, but it’s his words that stun everyone into silence.
As soon as he drives off, Morgan spins round and stalks over to us. “Did you hear that?” He runs a hand through his hair, gripping the strands, a mix of worry and anger rolling off him.
“Yeah, we heard,” Lynx growls, then glares at me. “I thought that house was empty?”
I don’t react. “It was,” I say calmly. “Tanner Grey said the remaining hunters in Evan Fox’s group had been recalled to the council. Last we checked, Morgan’s old house was empty.”
He growls again and the air crackles with magic as his wolf rears to the surface. And I get it. His instincts are volatile where Morgan’s concerned, but that’s not what we need here.
I stand and step closer to Morgan. When he meets my eyes, I raise my eyebrows and then send a pointed look Lynx’s way.
Using Morgan is the quickest way to get Lynx’s head back in the game.
“Lynx,” Morgan whispers, capturing his mate’s attention immediately. He moves closer until he’s standing in front of him. “What do you need?” He cups Lynx’s jaw and tilts his chin up. “Tell me.”
Lynx grips Morgan’s thighs and tugs until he straddles his lap.
It’s our cue to leave.
Mal and Flint stand, grimacing at the flood of arousal filling the air. I don’t care if they fuck right there on the picnic table as long as Lynx can focus on our current problems afterwards.
I lead the others away until we’re far enough for the scent of sex not to be so potent.
“We rode by there two days ago.” Mal gestures to Flint as he speaks. “There was no one there. No cars, no sign of life.”
“I know.” We kept a constant watch on Morgan’s house to start with, but when it remained empty for days on end, we scaled it back. Clearly that was a mistake.
“Could be squatters?” Flint offers. “Some random taking advantage of an empty house.”
“It could.” I run a hand along my jaw, thinking. “We can’t rule that possibility out, but what are the odds?”
Flint huffs. “With our luck? Fucking zero.”
I catch movement out of the corner of my eye and turn to see Morgan head into the house. Lynx stands and makes his way over to us. “You think hunters are back?” he asks, having heard our conversation.
“It’s a possibility.” One of many. “Too soon to have sold the house legitimately.”
“Where’s Morgan going?” Flint glances towards the house. “Thought he’d want to be involved in this conversation.”
“Same.” Lynx sighs. “Said he had plans with Luke and Nico.” He shrugs at my raised eyebrows. “I don’t think he can handle the idea of someone else being in that house. Besides, I think it’ll do all of them good to spend some time together.”
“I agree.” Morgan might be adapting to shifter life surprisingly quickly, and I know a lot of that is down to his mate bond with Lynx, but he’s still new to this life.
And so is Nico.
But where Morgan had Luke to give him a crash course on all things shifter when he was initially bitten by Birch, we don’t think Nico had anyone. He doesn’t know the fundamental abilities that come with this life, and if Morgan and Luke can somehow help with that, then I’m all for it.
But that raises more issues that we’ll have to deal with at some point. “Have you talked to Nico and Luke about what they want to do?”
“I thought Nico was staying?” Flint cuts in.
I let Lynx answer.
“He is. For as long as he wants.”
“And Luke?” I ask, because with everything that went down with Birch and Fox, we’ve given both Nico and Luke time to get over their trauma from the fight rings.
But we have so many fucking questions left unanswered, and they’re our best chance of getting to the truth.
“We need to talk to them, find out everything they know.”
“Yeah, we do.” Lynx sighs again. “I don’t want to make them relive any of that shit, but . . .” He shrugs.
If we stand a chance of discovering who’s behind the fight rings, then we need more information than my contact can provide. “I’ll go talk to them, feel them out.”
Lynx winces. “Morgan won’t be happy if we upset either of them.”
I bite my tongue on my immediate response. But Lynx knows me well enough to read me. “He’s trying,” he says softly. “This life is a shock to the system for him.”
“I know.” And I do. But we can’t afford to ease him into it. Not when shifter lives are on the line. We may have taken out Fox and his hunter group, but he wasn’t the guy in charge. According to my contact, the fight rings are still going ahead.
“I’ll talk to Morgan. You do the others.”
“I’ll go with you,” Flint offers.
“Course you will,” Mal mutters.
Lynx eyes them both before facing me again. “Where’s Jet, anyway?”
“No idea.”
Both Flint and Mal suddenly find the ground interesting, the subtle change in their scents setting my wolf on edge. “Something you want to share?”
“He followed Ash home,” Mal answers.
Lynx groans. “I hope he kept his fucking distance. The last thing we need is Ash finding more reasons to worry that Morgan’s in danger here.”
“He’s not stupid,” Mal says, coming to Jet’s defence.
“I know that.” Lynx looks between Mal and Flint.
“But neither is Ash. He’s suspicious enough as it is.
I don’t trust him not to go to the police if he thinks we’re a threat to Morgan, no matter how many times Morgan told him he’s safe here.
And if he catches sight of a motorbike following him, he’s bound to have doubts. ”
“I can talk to him too, if you want?” I don’t want to; it’ll only piss Jet off, but—
“No, I’ll do it.” Lynx grips my shoulder, his smile wry. “If he’s going to be pissed off at someone, it might as well be me.”
“Fine.” That’s one less thing for me to do. “What about Morgan’s old house?”
Lynx draws his bottom lip between his teeth. “We need to know who’s moved in.”
“If it’s hunters,” Mal says, scowling, “then we don’t want to draw their attention.”
“Can’t we call Grey?” I pull out my phone. “Ask him if he’s heard anything?”
Lynx stays my hand. “Not yet. We don’t know how closely him or his hunter group are being watched right now, and I don’t trust him enough to think our conversation would be private.”
“Fair enough.” I slide my phone back into my pocket. “So covert surveillance for now?”
“Yeah. Like Mal said, we can’t afford to draw any attention.”
“And Ash?” He might be Morgan’s best friend, but he’s still a potential problem for us. “I know you don’t want to spook him into reacting, but I’m with Jet. We need to keep an eye on him. For his sake as well as ours.”
Lynx frowns. “You think he’s in danger?”
“Maybe.” I shrug. “Birch might be AWOL, but the other Feral Beasts are still out there.”
Lynx growls, low and menacing.
“They were there when he bit Morgan. They were working with Fox too. I don’t trust them not to go after Morgan, now Birch is in the fucking wind. And if they can’t get to him, who’s the next best thing if they want to hurt him?”
“Ash.” Lynx closes his eyes. “Fuck.”
I think of black hair and hazel eyes and the feisty protective streak Ash has for Morgan. My wolf stirs. Then I imagine what the Feral Beasts would do to him if they chose to go after him.
The spike of rage catches me totally off guard and I’m not quick enough to rein it in.
Three pairs of eyes lock onto me, curiosity evident.
“If they attack Ash like they did Morgan, we’ll have the hunters back here in a fucking heartbeat.
Ash has family here, people who’ll miss him if anything happens to him.
” Mal and Flint nod in agreement, but I feel Lynx’s gaze boring into the side of my head. I turn to face him. “What?”
He watches me for a long moment, then, “Nothing.”
Before I can call him on it, we hear the telltale rumble of Jet’s Fat Boy in the distance.
When he finally rides in through the gates, we all head over to meet him.
He eyes us warily as he turns the engine off. “What’s with the welcoming committee?”
Out of all my brothers, Jet is the most suspicious, constantly on guard, even here.
Sometimes he needs careful handling—not that I’d ever admit to it, because I value my bollocks thank you very much—and with what’s happened recently, I think now is one of those times.
All this shit with the hunters has to dredge up memories and feelings that he struggles to deal with.
Again, I’d never tell him I think that.
Lynx is still in a weird headspace after Ash’s revelation. Anything associated with Morgan has that effect on him. It’s bound to. I share a look with him, telegraphing my intentions, and he takes a step back in acknowledgement.
“Anyone follow Ash home?” I ask, ignoring his question.
“Just me. And he didn’t go home. He went to the hospital.”
“Hospital?”
Lynx cuts in, “Morgan said something about his nan being there.”
I focus back on Jet. “Nothing suspicious on the way?”
“Nope.” He rolls his eyes. “He drove exactly the speed limit all the way there, and no,” he says before I can ask, “he didn’t see me.”
“You sure?” I fully expect the curl of his lip and derisive look, but he expected me to ask, so . . .
“Yes.”
“Good. Let’s keep it that way. We’re gonna keep an eye on him for a while. Without him knowing,” I add, in case that wasn’t already obvious.
“Something happen while I was gone?” Jet asks, one eyebrow raised.
“Ash said he saw people at Morgan’s old house yesterday.”
Jet stiffens. “Hunters?”
“We don’t know.”
Lynx leaves us to track down Morgan while I fill Jet in on everything we discussed earlier.
When I’m finished, he gets off his bike and starts pacing.
He looks murderous.
Great.
“So Grey lied when he said they wouldn’t give us any trouble after Fox’s death? I fucking knew it.”