As Wheeler prepared to tell me his dark secrets, I felt a flutter of anxiety.
What was the price of this kind of trust between two people who had previously disliked each other? I’d begun to see Wheeler in a different light—glimpses of who he was hiding from the world. A girl in my profession learns a lot about the masks men wear—the double lives they lead. The more I got to know Wheeler, the more he fascinated me. What made a man like him tick? Men weren’t grumpy just for the hell of it. Men also didn’t risk their lives to save a panther, and that selfless act changed everything about the way I saw him.
“Tell me about the chain,” I said, circling my finger around the dark curves of ink.
His chest rose and fell, a quiet breath escaping. “I used to be a big shot in certain circles. Legit work. Saying I worked for a few rich immortals is a gross understatement. I managed their money, made them more, and suddenly I had offers being thrown at me from all directions. I had standards. My clients had to be reputable, meaning no dirty dealings that could land me in Breed jail. My conditions were that they paid me a fair rate and allowed me to work from home.”
“Why would that be such a big deal?”
Wheeler rubbed at his chest. “Some of the rich boys live in mansions and like their trusted employees nearby. Sometimes they move their staff into the house to either live or work, that way they can keep a close eye on them. When they find someone good, they don’t want another immortal to lure them away with a better offer. That’s too much control, and I don’t do business with men who don’t trust me. Anyhow, it wasn’t a big deal to the guys I worked for because I learned how to draw up contracts that made everyone happy.”
“So what happened?”
“Ben happened.” Wheeler tugged at the short hairs of his beard with his left hand. “He makes money playing tournaments, but he’s also got a gambling problem. He wins big, but he loses bigger. Ben was never able to make money the way I could, so he learned early on how to get it fast with little work. He’s always been competitive with me, and maybe it didn’t sit well with him that I’d finally found a career making more money than he did. We’re both good with numbers; he just went in a different direction. He was always betting when we were kids. Always getting us in trouble, always daring me to do things I shouldn’t have. Back then, our own parents couldn’t tell us apart. It didn’t make sense for both of us to take the punishment when he wouldn’t admit his guilt, so I stepped up and took his place.”
“And your other brothers?”
“I’m older than I look, kitty cat. Reno was a grown man back then and the others hadn’t been born.”
“Ah. I bet you two were a handful for your parents.”
He chuckled nostalgically. “Yeah. Things weren’t so bad back then. As the years went on, Ben kept getting in trouble, and I kept digging him out. Maybe it’s not all his fault. I had it coming because I conditioned him that way.”
My finger ran across the broken link again. “You had what coming?”
Another quiet moment passed. “Back then, we were identical. Even now, people can still tell we’re twins. The first time it happened, he lost his ass gambling. I ran into a couple of guys who had a serious issue with how I didn’t pay them after losing a game. When I told them my name, it didn’t stop them from beating me with a crowbar.”
“He impersonated you? Oh my God.”
“Yeah. Only
what the fuck
were my words. The worst part about it? After Ben found out I took a beating for him, he said
thanks
. Didn’t even apologize for the fact I was tortured for an hour.”
“When did all this happen?”
“Mmm…” He gave it a little thought. “Austin was in high school, or just leaving. We weren’t living here, so I don’t remember. We stuck around long enough to be there for Austin’s childhood, then would visit for extended stays. After that, we diverged and did our own thing. Well, everyone except Ben, who followed me around like a shadow.”
I swept my hair back and tucked the pillow beneath my head. Wheeler appeared uncomfortable, so he locked his fingers behind his head, which left me staring at his armpit. I wrinkled my nose when he glanced at me.
“Don’t like the view?” he asked with humor in his voice. He dropped his arm again and scooted away. “The pack is oblivious to his gambling addiction because he’s portrayed it as a career. To them,
I’m
the problem child.”
“But why?”
“Look at me, Naya. Do you really have to ask?”
“So that’s why you started changing your looks? You were mistaken for Ben, and were afraid he’d keep doing it.”
“The damage was done. He’d ruined my reputation with a few clients, and the bitch of it was, I couldn’t explain. Telling the truth would mean betraying my brother, and that’s not what a loyal wolf does. The tats put an end to his impersonation game.”
“And the chain?”
He scraped his bottom lip with his teeth. Wheeler had more definition in his face than Ben. There was a shadow along the contours of his jaw, his brows sloped at a different angle, and his body type seemed tougher. I grinned when I mentally compared them to spaghetti—one raw and stiff, while the other was cooked and soft.
“What’s so funny?” he asked.
“Nothing. I was just imagining you as a noodle.”
“You’re a strange woman.”
“So I’ve been told.”
A smile played on his lips and he wiped it away with his hand. “I doubt that.”
“Not everyone finds me attractive. Some don’t like my playful personality, but this is who I am.
So what
if I’m a little flirtatious? I enjoy life too much to sulk about it.”
“Sounds like you’ve had nothing but good times.”
I sat up on my elbow. “Just because I have a positive outlook doesn’t mean my life hasn’t been seasoned with tragedy. I had to watch my mother die in a human hospital.”
“Shit. I didn’t know. Sorry.”
“How could you?” I eased back down and shivered. “My papa died when I was just a little girl, and it was up to my mama to take care of me. She worked her tail off to support us, and she did it the right way. Three jobs—and none of them involved taking her clothes off. She left behind some money, but not enough. Her plan was to keep working that pace to give me a future. Mama always said I was too much for any one man, so I needed to make enough money to live on my own. It’s hard to find another panther. Most of our kind keep it a secret, although I’ve heard about some places in the country where they’ve congregated in large numbers.”
“No panther online-dating service?”
“Don’t be silly,” I said, lightly slapping his arm.
He turned his head to face me. “You could call it Purrfect Connection.”
“You’re getting less funny.”
Wheeler pinched his eyebrow and smiled.
“I had to make tough choices,” I continued. “Now I’m out of a job, and I’m not sure if I’ll be able to dance again. Not in this town.”
“Sometimes when one door shuts, another opens.”
“Hmm,” I said, tickling his armpit with a stroke of my finger. “Are you sure you’re Wheeler and not Ben? That’s so optimistic of you.”
He narrowed his eyes at me in the sexiest manner before looking back up at the ceiling. “You have connections. Take a job as an event coordinator or personal assistant. Lexi should be paying you for helping with the menus and website, not just the people you’re connecting her with.”
“That’s what friends do for each other.”
“True. But you could be doing that for a whole lot of other people who don’t have connections. You seem to know everyone and keep good business relations. I’ve seen men hire professionals who do what you’re doing. Chew on that for a while.”
“And who is going to take an exotic dancer seriously?”
“Who wouldn’t?”
I laughed and snuggled against the pillow. “Are you going to tell me about the chain, or are you going to keep dodging the question? I have an excellent memory, darling.”
His face flushed, but it wasn’t from embarrassment. Something else was culminating within him—a confession. “Ben wanted to go big time, always looking for a pot of gold. Then he discovered cage fights. There was an unscrupulous ring in east Texas, deep in the backwoods. You don’t mess around with that world. Poker is one thing; Shifter fights are something else.”
My heart raced at his admission. I’d never known anyone involved in this life, and it’s something that haunted my dreams because of the stories my mother had told me about my father’s past.
Wheeler flattened his hands on his chest, rubbing at his shirt as if he were feeling physical discomfort. “Ben lost a fight and took off like he always does. I don’t know how he got away with not paying in full up front, but he’s always been a smooth talker. That left me to clean up the mess. We lived together at the time, and they tracked down our house. There was a knock at the door, and Ben looked out the peephole and panicked—actually slid underneath the bed to hide. These guys were going to collect their money or cut his throat. What the hell could I do? I had no choice.”
“You paid them off.”
“Didn’t have that kind of money. I made good money back then, but what Ben owed… Forget it. I bargained for his life, but they wouldn’t agree. No payment plans, nothing. So I did the only thing I could—the only alternative they offered. I paid off his debt by going into the pits.”
“You did what!” I shrieked, sitting up and looking down at him in horror. “Tell me you’re kidding.”
“The band on my wrist,” he continued, holding up his right arm. “That’s where they shackled me. A year of my life. A fucking
year
. I was in survival mode; there was no way out even if I came up with the money.”
“You fought?”
He rose up on his elbows and looked at me with tortured eyes. “I survived.”
“But no one walks out of the pits alive. I’ve never heard of such a thing!”
“You’re right, and it would have been a matter of time before my luck ran out. That’s why the chain on my arm is broken. One of the guards got a little too drunk, stood a little too close to the bars, and that’s all she wrote. I opened all the cages, but some of them didn’t go. Can you believe that? They were gone—mentally,” he said, tapping his head.
I hadn’t realized I was covering my mouth with my hand. “How did you live?”
“What I did to survive I’ll never wash off my conscience. The tats? They started as a way to separate myself from Ben for good. But some of them are hiding scars. Sometimes they’d throw us into the pit in human form against an animal to toughen us up. Sometimes they whipped us. After I escaped, I went back to get my revenge, but they’d already packed up and moved. I never got my due justice.”
“You’re kidding me. Please tell me this is a joke.” Tears welled in my eyes. My God, what this man must have gone through, and all for his
brother
!
“Nope,” he said, easing onto his back. “So maybe you get a little tense around people because you think they’ll find out what you are and see you as a threat, but I’m the real deal. I’m the Shifter that gives people waking nightmares. I killed to eat, breathe, and live another day. There’s no glory in that, even if it was survival. I was undefeated, and they pitted me against some of the baddest fighters out there.”
“Panthers?”
His voice cracked. “Yeah, panthers. Maybe that’s why I’ve never been a cat person. Throw a man into a pit against a panther and it changes his perspective on things. I fought them in human and wolf form. Maybe you see me as a reticent man, but when you’ve stared into the soul of a panther who is dying in your arms and drawing their last breath, something inside you shuts off.” He threw his arm over his eyes and went quiet.
“You have to tell Austin.”
“I can’t,” he whispered.
My eyes sharpened and I pushed his leg. “You
have
to. Ben will weaken the pack, and if he gets out of control again—”
“
I can’t!
” he roared, leaning up on his elbows. “He’s my twin. He’s the other half of me. Betraying him would be like killing myself. No matter what’s happened between us, I still love him.”
His Adam’s apple bobbed when he swallowed thickly, and Wheeler fell onto his back and covered his face with his arm again. Rage and shame—that’s what this man had been reduced to.
“I’m sorry. I should have never asked you into my bed. Now I know why you’ve always hated me.”
His laugh was short-lived and quiet. “I don’t hate you. That’s the problem.”
When I touched his leg consolingly, he sucked in a sharp breath. And just like that, without the man even looking at me, I turned him on. My whole life I’d used my body to make a man desire me, but Wheeler hardened from a single touch of compassion. I watched his arousal as it began to tighten his pants—straining against the fabric. His entire body tensed, and he kept his arm shielding his eyes as if it could hide him from the truth.
The truth that he wanted me, despite his loathing for panthers. That explained the inner conflict. I was his enemy; I represented what he had killed to stay alive.
I wanted to reach out and touch him some more, but he was too vulnerable.