Chapter 14
Maverick
The safe house had a small closet full of clothes in all sizes, but none of the pants were large enough for a bear of my stature. I forced a pair of black sweatpants over my thick thighs and then cursed when the cheap fabric split.
Damn it. This was fucking ridiculous! I couldn’t be naked around humans; I’d attract too much attention.
“Need a hand?” The vampire stood in the doorway with a smirk. His red eyes scanned my bulky frame, lingering on my dick. His blatant stare irritated me, and my bear growled, angry about his dominance being questioned.
I pushed down my instinctive need to assert my alpha status. As much as it pained me to admit it, we needed the vampire.
“Nothing fits,” I gritted out, tossing the now ruined pants to the floor. I made a mental note to tell Boon to stock bigger sizes in our safe houses. Shifters were typically smaller than me, but some, such as bull shifters, could be bulky, so they would need XXXL pants.
“You are bigger than the average bear,” the vampire agreed, still smirking. I had a feeling he wasn’t referring to my inside leg measurement.
Ignoring his blatant interest, I grabbed a towel from the bed and wrapped it around my waist. At least I didn’t feel the cold. If we needed to leave this cabin, I could shift into my bear until I found clothing that fit.
“I can magic you some clothes.”
I’d forgotten he had that ability. Maybe he wasn’t such an asshole after all.
“Sure, that would be helpful. Thanks.”
Magic washed over me. The towel slid to the floor as a pair of skin-tight leather pants materialized. The butter-soft material hugged my legs and butt, leaving very little to the imagination.
Was he fucking with me?
“Perfect.” With one last smirk, the vampire asshole sauntered back into the living room. I examined my reflection in the cracked mirror hanging on the closet door. Fuck my life. Now I looked like a walking ad for a fetish porn site. But I supposed it was better than being naked.
Zane’s choked laughter when I rejoined the others suggested otherwise.
The minute we found my little mate, I’d kill the fucking vampire.
“Feel free to try,” he purred in my head.
Once Zane had finished laughing his ass off at my skintight leather pants, he threw his phone at me.
“You’re famous, care bear.”
What? I caught the device in mid-air, only to be greeted by a photo of a naked butt.
“Your ass has its own hashtag, care bear. #sexybutt is trending on every social media site, human and magical.”
“How?” I choked. Fuck my life. If the authorities knew we were behind the massacre at Tiberius Vane’s estate, they would hunt us down like feral shifters.
Boon claimed Vane had not reported the attack, but that had clearly changed in the time it took us to reach this safe house. I’d better call him for an update.
“Reddit thinks the massacre is the work of human supremacists,” Zane announced, apparently disgruntled that his creative kills were being attributed to human activists.
“Does Vane know it was us?” I barked when Boon picked up my call.
“Of course he fucking does, you moron.” My friend snorted. “Vane isn’t a fan of fancy security systems, but there was an old camera fixed to a tree. The local cops found it and downloaded the images. Unfortunately for you, there were some great closeups of your ass.”
“So I see,” I gritted out. “And how did those photos end up online?”
“A wolf shifter admin in the sheriff’s office took a liking to your furry backside. She posted it on her ShifterTok account, and it went viral.” I ignored his laughter. This was not at all funny.
If anyone identified me from the photo, we would have a problem. And the longer the mage bastard had my little mate, the more danger she was in.
“Are there warrants out for our arrest?”
“Yeah, ’fraid so. You’re going to have to lie low for a while, dude.
I’m trying to get the photos wiped, but it won’t stop the mages from arresting you and your band of psychos.
They’ll lock you in the magical penitentiary to await trial, regardless of the evidence.
Or lack thereof.” Keys clacked in the background.
“Vane’s really pissed you killed Rink. He’s been ranting to us all morning.
He hasn’t mentioned the female you found, though. ”
If the female currently lying on the sofa wrapped in blankets was who she claimed to be, I doubted Vane would report her missing.
Not after he’d tortured her for fuck knows how long.
If Adam Vane couldn’t remove the enchanted collar, I’d have to track down Magenta, my witch contact, but I hoped that wouldn’t be necessary.
“I didn’t kill the mage,” I corrected. “He activated a suicide spell to avoid talking, but I’m not sorry he’s dead.” The fucker had played a role in stealing my mate from me, which meant he had to die.
From his snort, Boon clearly didn’t believe me, but his next words distracted me from my annoyance.
“I’ve been looking into the synthetic blood production facility, by the way.”
We needed more blood bags for Rasmus, but he could wait.
“It bothered me that the facility is still making product when there are no vampires, so I got my hacker friend to look at the records for the place. It turns out that a shipment goes to an address in Arizona once a month. Now that struck me as odd, so I dug deeper. The address is a dead end. There’s nothing at those coordinates but a derelict farm in the middle of nowhere. ”
“Have you sent anyone to check it out?”
“Not yet, but I have a snake shifter agent in the area. He’s heading that way tonight.”
“Let me know what he finds.”
The mages wouldn’t go to the time and expense of making a product for no good reason. If they were shipping synthetic blood to a random address, at least one other vampire was still alive.
“I’m going to Texas shortly to speak with my mate’s guardian. If anything changes, let me know.”
“Will do. And, Maverick…no more shifting in front of cameras, yeah?”
“Fuck you,” I muttered, provoking more laughter before he hung up.
“Are we ready to ship out of here?” I barked at the others. The merman’s hair was still wet from swimming in a nearby pond, but he’d pulled some pants on at least. I wondered how he would cope with the warmer, dry air in Texas, and then decided I didn’t care.
“Hang on,” Zane said as he tapped his phone screen. “I set up a Magigram account for your ass. The DMs you’re getting are thirsty as fuck.”
“You fucking did what?”
“Just capitalizing on interest, care bear. In case you want to monetize your newfound fame.” The irritating bastard winked at me.
Rage had my upper body partially shifting, causing the scuffed timber floor to creak under my weight. The others all threw worried glances at each other.
“Calm down, bear,” the vampire said. “He’s—how do you kids say it? Winding you up?”
“I’ll fucking wind the bastard up,” I growled as my bear stood down. “In pieces!”
“You know that makes no sense, right?” The incubus rolled his eyes. “Goddess. Did the mage attack fuck with your head or something?”
Maybe it did. I hadn’t been myself since Raven went missing. My bear whimpered in distress. He wanted his mate back. We needed to know she was safe. Cared for. Fed. Loved.
Deep down, I knew being an asshole was the incubus’s coping mechanism. His behavior had always been erratic, but he was acting more unhinged than usual.
None of us was coping all that well.
The merman had retreated into himself, barely saying a word, while the vampire’s fangs kept appearing, an indication he needed to feed, and not from any of us.
There was no sign of the kitsune either, which worried me. The last I’d seen of Kenji was when he knocked out the wards at Vane’s estate. Had the mages caught him? I hoped not. My witch would never forgive herself if anything happened to her familiar.
At least the pig was safe, as we’d brought him with us. I heard him snuffling around in the kitchen, unfazed by the change of scenery.
We planned to leave him with Raven’s guardian. From what Raven had told me, Adam had a farm, so Fig would be safe there.
“Are you ready now?” I ground my teeth irritably when Zane continued messing with his phone.
The leather pants creaked as I stretched out my legs. They were surprisingly comfortable. Maybe the vampire wasn’t such an asshole after all.
“Wait,” Rasmus said. Silky fabric brushed against my chest, and when I looked down, he’d magicked me the sort of flowing white shirt a trashy romance book hero might wear.
I scowled. “Seriously?”
“Nobody will recognize you now, bear,” he said with a grin.
Zane snorted. “He looks like that long-haired dude who was famous for his romance book covers. Fabio?”
“My hair isn’t long!” The minute I rescued my little mate, these assholes were dead.