No sooner had I finished thinking about him than Bade's golden mane appeared at the top of the stairs. He and Luther were the only ones besides Marco and myself who knew how to get into the king's apartment. As the rest of his tall frame appeared in one step increments I couldn't help but admire our intruder.
Bade was only wearing a pair of jeans, and he hadn't buttoned them. He must have gotten dressed in a hurry. Bade Garren is six foot four and built like a Greek god. His ethereal golden hair just touched the tops of his shoulders and the matching hair across his chest gleamed in the early morning light streaming through the windows. I knew for a fact that he was a natural blond, and tried not to blush as I met his pale blue eyes.
"I'm sorry," he said, nodding in my direction. I guess he wasn't going to apologize to Marco.
"I've got some news," he said.
Marco turned to face him unabashedly. He acted as if Bade hadn't walked in on him cooking breakfast in the nude. I knew that werewolves were very comfortable in their own skin, but this was ridiculous. I suppose Bade had just put on the pants for my benefit. "Or maybe," I thought upon closer inspection of those tight jeans, "it was for my punishment."
"Let's have it then," Marco said, turning back toward the stove.
"I was just watching the news downstairs. It appears that thanks to lunatics like your ex," he said as he gestured toward me, "we will now be subjected to new laws."
That got Marco's attention, and he put down his spatula to listen.
The werewolf community had not been able to keep what had happened to Elijah as secret as they'd hoped. They had toned down the attack quite a bit, but Elijah was legally obligated to tell his commanding officer what had happened. It had helped to spur on the debate of whether or not people had the right to know if their neighbors were werewolves. As it was, coming out was voluntary, just like for the vampires. But apparently that was coming to an end.
"They've just passed what they're calling The Werewolf Registration Act," Bade announced. "All lycans are required to register themselves as 'a living biological weapon.' Even the ones like Judas who are shifters, but not werewolves."
Judas is a were-leopard, the only one of his kind we'd found so far, and he was dating my friend Kathryn Roberts.
Marco sighed heavily. "Many will resist. I think most of the pack will go along with it, but what about school teachers, doctors, and lawyers? This will ruin them."
"I guess they're just fucked," Bade said with a shrug as he walked over to where I sat.
"No," Marco said decisively. "I know a judge who's a werewolf. He may be able to offer some advice. Until then, you get some people on the phone and tell the members of the pack who would lose their jobs over this to stay put. Take no action unless I say otherwise. I will not have my people destroyed over some idiots in Washington pissing on our community like we don't matter."
He sighed again and said more calmly, "But if it were me, I'd want to know if my neighbor was a werewolf."
All men are not created equal, but Marco was a good one. He always tried to put himself in other people's shoes, and that made him a good leader as well.
Bade went to the bedroom and used the phone to start calling some members of the pack. He passed along Marco's message and returned to sit beside me. Marco had gone back to cooking and I'd gone back to admiring his ass. No sense getting worked up even more about something we couldn't change.
"This place reeks of sex," Bade growled low for my ears only.
"That's because I spend every waking moment riding Marco like a wild stallion," I replied without batting an eye.
I knew Bade was just trying to get a rise out of me, and he wasn't going to succeed. His shock was clear, but he also seemed pleased. Oh great. Was there no way to turn this man off? Bade scooted closer and put his arm around me just as Marco walked out of the kitchen.
I watched in admiration as he moved around the bar with all the grace of an animal of prey. The curve of his upper hips is wonderful, but his lower hips are just as well toned. His long legs are sleek and sinewy and they flexed with his every step. If anything jiggled on Marco's body, it was supposed to. I watched his hips flex tantalizingly as he came closer and thought to myself, "Marco's not just eye candy, he's eye chocolate."
Take a rich piece of chocolate and let it melt on your tongue. That's what looking at Marco does for my eyes. He reminded me of a great cat as he walked naked across the loft. But Marco was far more deadly than any lion or tiger. He growled and snapped at Bade as he walked past us in a way that completely belied his human appearance.
Bade removed his arm from my shoulders, but he didn't scoot back to the other end of the couch.
?
Chapter Three
"I see he still tries to carry the world on his shoulders," Bade commented after Marco had gone into the bedroom.
"Yes."
"But he's not Atlas." Bade sighed. "And he's going to burn breakfast," he said as he rose to his feet.
I followed Bade into the kitchen and sat on one of the tall barstools while he flipped the pancake Marco had left to brown.
"It's not brown enough," I said.
"Picky bitch," Bade growled, but his smile let me know he was teasing.
He hadn't been awake for long either, because his Australian accent was always thicker when he first woke up. I couldn't help laughing. In spite of the fact that until recently Bade had been mine and Marco's enemy, we had become friends somewhere along the way. The first time I'd had any real interaction with Bade, I bit his nipple off. Now I found myself admiring the silver stud through that same regenerated nipple, and smiling as I did so.
Marco and Bade had been like brothers until Bade decided Marco didn't lead the pack well enough to suit him and split. He took almost half the pack with him, and they had returned with Bade. Marco had accepted him back like a prodigal son, and I believed he was right to trust him, though many disagreed. Bade truly regretted what he had done. And as it turns out, their rift was mostly because of me. He thought that since Marco was king, he should take what he wanted. He took it as a sign of weakness that he didn't and was tired of watching Marco pine away for me. Men are strange, and wolfmen are even more complicated some times.
"Stop it," Bade rumbled.
"Stop what?"
"I don't like the way you keep looking at my nipple," he said with a wink.
For some reason, being alone with Bade made me double check in my mind that I had actually remembered to take my birth control. The pill I took only had to be remembered once a year, so I had taken it four days ago on my birthday. Shame on me that seeing Bade half naked made me think of such things.
Most female werewolves were sterile. The ones who weren't would miscarry with the change. The only way for a male werewolf to have children was to have them with a human woman. The virus was not passed genetically, so his children would be normal. If I had been a full-fledged werewolf, we wouldn't have had to worry because I would have most likely been sterile. But with me and Marco, things were different. If we chose to, we could have children.
I was still laughing at Bade's nipple comment when Marco reentered the room. He was wearing a pair of well-fitted jeans and a faded blue t-shirt. As good as Bade looked in jeans, Marco put him to shame. He walked over and kissed my cheek as he said, "Every time I leave the room, I come back to find you flirting with my girl."
"I'm a man, I have to try," Bade said with a grin.
After breakfast, Marco and I went down to Bade's room to use the transporter in his closet. I pushed the white tile that would take us to my house and we stepped inside the small circular space. In a flash we were in Alfred's old lab. Alfred was my former partner, and ex-boyfriend. Now he worked with my father like he had before working with me. Even though he had been gone for a few months now, I had only recently been able to walk through his lab without crying.
Marco had brought a change of clothes with him, and we hurried up to my room where we packed his clothes and mine in a bright orange bag. Before I could throw on some old torn jeans and a t-shirt over my swimsuit, I heard Elijah blowing the horn outside.
"He doesn't knock?" Marco said sarcastically.
"Not since we aren't dating."
"Oh, so since you're not his, there's no need to be nice?" he drawled.
In response to that Elijah beeped again and I laughed. "Guess not."
"We're coming," Marco growled out the window as he grabbed my orange bag and I searched for a pair of flip-flops.
I slipped the shoes on about halfway down the stairs where we met Alek. The wizard looked good for his age, late thirties to early forties maybe, though he was much older. The fine lines around his eyes seemed to lend him a certain dignity that a younger version of himself might not have possessed. His eyes were brown, but not ordinary brown, more like a pale honeyed tea. He had the look of wisdom that a wizard should have and I liked that about him.
He had thick, dark blond hair, graying around the temples and worn slightly longer than was fashionable. Long enough to be tucked behind the ears, and stick out above his collar. His eyebrows, like his hair were thick, though slightly darker. They seemed to highlight the pale brown of his eyes. He had a long, almost aquiline nose which cast a slight shadow over his lips. His lips, though far from thin and not large enough to be considered full, remained in a perpetual pout. His perfect posture seemed to lend his tall, slender frame a dignity his tousled hair could not distract from. The fine lines around his eyes and mouth enhanced his charismatic features. His face had an appealing, lived-in look that matched his voice so very well. Though Alek was much older than me, I had never thought of him as an old man.
"What the bloody hell is taking you two so long?" he drawled in his thick British accent.
"Forgot the sunscreen," Marco growled as we passed the wizard on our way to the door. You'd think they didn't all get along, but that was not the case. They just got along well enough to show how they really felt about things.
As we reached the foot of the stairs Johnny Angel came stumbling into the sitting room from the hallway. Obviously, we weren't the only ones running behind.
"Fucking hell," he said around a thin cigar while Elijah blew the horn again. "I'm fucking coming!" he yelled at the door while fastening the button on his pants.
Johnny had joined my Hunter Assault Team for Violators of Werewolf Code about a month ago. He was a gunslinger, and made a wonderful addition to H.A.V.O.C. However, his personality left much to be desired some days.
"No smoking, Johnny," I said softly as I took the cigar from his lips.
"It wasn't even lit," he protested.
I enjoyed a good cigar too, but not in the house.
"How do I look?" he asked, spreading his arms wide.
I stepped back and observed. His long black hair was unbound, and hung to his shoulders. Johnny was tall and lean, though not as tall as Marco. He was thin, but what there was of him was muscle. He was wearing a pair of torn and faded jeans with a white shirt which hung open to reveal his nearly hairless, but well-toned chest. He was also wearing three necklaces and a ring on every finger. As I looked down at his feet I saw he was also wearing a toe ring. This was typical Johnny. He had the most luscious set of lips this side of Dracula, and they curled into a smile at my approving look.
"Well, how do I look?" he repeated more softly.
"Like a bloody pirate," Alek snickered.
"Well, that's appropriate," Marco joked.
He and Johnny had met when Marco used to work as a Hunter. At the time he was stationed in Jamaica, and Johnny was stationed on a nearby island where he worked as a Hunter. Johnny was also an illegal rum runner, among other things, for the werewolves.
We had also dated before, and I was surprised Marco didn't mind him staying with me until he found a house close by. But, they were obviously friends and had been for a long time. I guess he just trusted Johnny, though I'm sure he had threatened him sufficiently to keep him in line.
"You look fine," I answered as I returned his smile.
He winked at me and put on a pair of round dark sunglasses. Johnny didn't go anywhere without his glasses, because they hid the fact that his eyes were blood red. Like myself, Johnny wasn't entirely human either. His mother was human, and his father Icarum, a race of winged people from the planet Icnar. Many of them lived on my home planet of Terra, though I was born and raised on Earth. His fingernails and toenails were as black as his hair, and though it looked like a fashion statement, this was another abnormality from Johnny's mixed heritage. Occasionally, people will still tease him because Johnny never got his wings. I thought that was cruel, but he took it well. My first lover, Julius Blight was also Icarum, and after having flown with him before I could honestly say Johnny had been jipped.
"We're late," Marco rumbled as Elijah laid on the horn again.
"I'm going to ram that bloody thing up his nose," Alek snarled.
"Maybe if you ring my bell, I'll get my wings and we can just fly there," Johnny said as he winked at me again.
To my discredit I giggled at which point Marco ushered me out the front door. Elijah was in mid motion to press the horn again when Marco made a low threatening growl.
"Don't even think about it."
Elijah turned pale, and put his hand back by his side. Marco and I had celebrated my birthday privately over the weekend. Today's outing was in my honor and it was Kat's idea. I waved to Kathryn in the back seat of Elijah's jeep and then waved to Luther who would be following us in Bade's red convertible. Bade must have come through the transporter right after us because he was in the front seat beside Luther. In the back was Beau, another pack member who played drums in a band called Creature Comforts, and Kat's boyfriend Judas.
Marco threw our bag in the back underneath Kat's feet.