Cards Don’t Lie
Theodore gritted his teeth as he climbed the face of the building where his enemy was hiding. For a long time, he had trained to resist all the trickery used by foes of wolves and he had thought to have developed a strong resistance. Yet, that human had hit him in the head with the alpha-killing weapon, and he had fallen to the ground like a log.
His assistant had found him after calling exasperatedly to let him know that his schedule had changed but he could not reach him. In the end, his assistant had used an app to discover his location and acted immediately when he realized his boss was at a construction site that had yet to be completed. It had been Theodore’s bad luck to have to change back into his human before the young man had found him. Because of that, he had lost precious time by being admitted to the hospital and kept there while he was still unconscious.
Whoever those humans were, they would meet their end, along with Ryder Asherman. What sort of wolf mingled in such a forbidden way with humans? That was just one other thing to add to the list of terrible things the alpha of the Luna’s Sentinels was guilty of. Theodore had been forced to live in this city and among its inhabitants, but what was Asherman’s excuse?
It had to be the same sort of black magic Cassandra had used to contribute to the destruction of his own pack, a long time ago. Theodore knew her name, but she hadn’t been the only one behind the terrible fate of his packmates, his family. Asherman must have mentioned her without realizing that he would only confirm Theodore’s suspicions. That alpha could be simply dim-witted and nothing but a tool in Cassandra’s hands.
It didn’t matter. Whether he understood the error of his ways or not, he would be dead by midnight. Theodore licked his muzzle, his throat dry with a thirst he couldn’t quench. He needed to drink his enemy’s blood. That was the only thing that would satisfy him.
***
His victory was near. This time, it would be for good. No magic in the world could protect Asherman from his fate. It was just too bad that the alpha of the Luna’s Sentinels seemed to be quite adept at fighting. Under other circumstances, he might have been an honorable opponent.
But honor was a word Theodore cared nothing about. Now he had the other alpha underneath his paws, even if his eyes were defiant and his mouth continued to assert what he believed to be his own truths, Theodore knew there could only be one outcome.
He needed to destroy Ryder Asherman. And then, his thirst would guide him to destroy the humans who stayed by this alpha’s side – the one the alpha seemed to favor, the one with the strong arm who had managed to injure him earlier, and of course, the field mouse. Spilling their blood would bring little solace to his wounded heart, but there was no other way.
They had to die.
“You’re all bark and no bite, mutt,” the other alpha threw the well-aimed insult at him.
Theodore saw a veil of crimson lowering over his eyes. “Are you looking forward to dying, alpha? Die like a dog then.”
He opened his muzzle wide, ready to tear through the other alpha’s throat.
It all happened so fast, he didn’t have time to think. A sharp pain shot through his head, from the back to the front, snapping his muzzle shut, before darkness swallowed him whole.
***
“How are we going to proceed?” Jack was anxiously bouncing up and down by his side.
Vince looked through the large windows of the store at the man who was pedantically brushing off the invisible dust from the exhibits as if he were employed by a museum to preserve and protect precious artifacts, not at a store selling scents.
“You will have to trust me on this one,” he said.
“I always trust you,” Jack insisted. “By the way, nice job back there spilling the beans to Danny. ‘This guy’s a wolfshifter, this guy’s a clairvoyant’—didn’t you forget something important? Something, like ‘I’m a guardian, basically your guardian, and I’ve always known it’?”
“Shut up, hedgehog,” Vince murmured while planning his next move. “I’ll tell him when I’m ready. Don’t you think Danny has been shocked enough as it is?”
“He has, which makes it the ideal time to come clean. If you tell him what you are now, he won’t even blink. What’s another shock now? Nothing.”
“Danny needs allies he can rely on, not people he might doubt. Let’s not muddy the waters even more. Hey, are you cold? Why are you jumping up and down like that?”
Jack pushed his hands into the large pockets of his hoodie. “I’m nervous, can’t you tell? What are we going to do to this guy? Give him the chair?”
Vince grunted in disbelief. “I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that.”
“Because it’s stupid?” Jack asked, challenging him as he was likely to do, according to the little Vince knew of the guy so far.
“No, because I can’t see any chair inside.”
“Right,” Jack said. “Hey, are you just going in?”
“It’s closing time. Can you park the car right in front?” Vince handed Jack the keys without looking at him, his eyes trained on the man inside. He needed to be fast, but his abilities were still only that of a human with good training. No evidence had been given to him yet to cause him to believe otherwise.
“Am I the getaway driver?” Jack asked.
“Yes,” Vince confirmed.
“Cool, I’ve always wanted to be that.”
“So happy to turn your dreams into reality.”
“Oh, Vee, you have no idea.”
Jack scurried away, while Vince moved. If he did this right, everything would be over in less than a minute.
***
Okay, okay, so the situation was really, but really, crazy right now. They had just learned from that shop’s employee – whom he and Vince had worked hard to catch – that Theodore had been using that disgusting incense and that terrible weapon to train for something. Now, Theodore himself was on floor, hogtied, and the cards… well, the cards were pretty damn crazy, too, right now.
Jack scratched his head as he tried to make sense of what they were telling him. At any point, he could remind these people that he was actually very new to this whole clairvoyant thing, which most likely meant that he might not guess right all the time.
Only there was no guessing involved. The cards didn’t lie. Each time Jack shuffled them, they fell the same way. And Theodore appeared in there as being instrumental to the destruction of that Cassandra b-lady every time. What an asshole clairvoyant, that one – bent on destroying packs and alphas and whatnot. If that was what clairvoyants were all about, Jack didn’t want to have anything to do with other practitioners of the profession. He’d skip every conference they organized and all that; unless there was an open buffet involved. Then, he might just reconsider and do some networking.
“Cassandra truly destroyed his pack,” Jack said with finality. It was actually a sad story, and Jack did feel pity for the lonesome wolf. Then he had to remind himself that Theodore was a bad guy who had just tried to kill Ryder. “It isn’t you who must destroy Cassandra, Ryder. Theodore needs to do that. The thing is, how the hell are we going to make him cooperate? He’s a bloodthirsty animal and tried to kill us. I don’t think he’s going to be in a very good mood when he wakes up.”
“Who are you calling a bloodthirsty animal, human?”
Oh, the bloodthirsty animal was awake.
“Um, that would be you,” Jack replied promptly. “Prove me wrong.”
***
So, the lonesome alpha was a pain to convince of anything, but Jack believed that his own reputation as a clairvoyant was being put to the test by this unbeliever. According to his cards, Theodore Pembroke – whose pack had been destroyed by Cassandra – had to be the one to defeat her, and yes, on the lands belonging to the Luna’s Sentinels, Ryder’s pack. It was all a very convoluted story, but in the short span of time since he had learned about his gift, Jack had come to resign himself to the idea that he did have the ability to shuffle cards, have them fall a certain way, and then read them. So far, he had been right on the money. Ryder was finally coming to terms that Danny was his mate, and this story could very well have a happy ending.
If only Theodore Pembroke wasn’t being his usual annoying self and would cooperate for the sake of the greater good.
There was one single way to convince the stubborn alpha, which was to use the skill he had recently discovered.
“Do you want me to tell your future, Theo?”
It was so totally worth it to see the tied-up Theodore Pembroke sputter in shock and annoyance over hearing himself called that.
“Theo?” Theodore made some really cute choking sounds. Jack needed to write down somewhere: a wolf was at his cutest when tied-up and annoyed to high heaven. “Who do you think you are, clairvoyant?”
“I think I’m the guy who’s going to tell you that the only way for you to get out of here is to play nice and join us in our witch hunt. Ugh, that came out wrong. Anyway, I’m sure the cards will tell me that you must kill Cassandra, and since you seem like the type who enjoys this whole mumbo-jumbo thing, I’ll have to lay down the cards for you.”
Although he could just go ahead and do it, Jack wanted to have Theodore’s agreement over having his future told. Maybe it was all related to a code of honor for clairvoyants. One that b-lady Cassandra obviously wasn’t abiding by.
Under Vince’s pressure, Theodore caved in. “Do what you want,” he spat at Jack.
“Yes, win,” Jack said with a smile and shuffled his cards.
The cards felt warm in his hands. Jack frowned for a moment and stared at the other guys in the room, who were caught up in their own things, Danny and Ryder making goo-goo eyes at each other, Vince making sure Theodore remained down, and Theodore struggling from time to time like a trapped animal.
Hmm, maybe it was because he had held the cards close to his chest during these adventures of theirs.
He dropped the first card. Okay, so that was Theodore for sure. The handsome lone wolf, without a pack—
No, he wasn’t exactly without a pack. Jack leaned forward. The sun and the moon peeked over the wolfshifter’s shoulders. He still had his sword, but not because he was a bad guy – this time around – but because he needed it to sever—
To sever what? Jack began to place the cards in front of him, one by one. It was pretty strange. It was as if a fog was descending over the cards, making them difficult to interpret. One thing was sure: Theodore needed allies in his apparent quest to determine the location of his pack. No, not his pack. Those were lands. That was a landscape, all wintry and cold, it seemed. There was also a cliff in there, and a path—
Jack shook his head. He needed to get better at reading cards. Okay, so he needed to focus on the stuff he did understand, such as—
“Oh,” he mumbled.
No one heard him.
A guardian appeared in Theodore’s future. And there was only one guardian Jack knew. He held a shield in the cards, but he didn’t really need one in real life. Jack stole a glance at Vince. Could it be that Vince wasn’t a guardian meant only for Danny?
Moving on. Jack stopped as his hand hovered over the next card. What was a crystal ball doing in there? Crystal balls should be separated from card-reading. Wasn’t that like a hard pass in the world of clairvoyants?
He could say later that he had a foreboding feeling before placing the last card down, but for now he was none the wiser.
“Oh,” he repeated, only to himself.
The man with the sword was tangled in a hard embrace with the guardian with his shield and the little guy with the crystal ball. And that had to be such a load of bull. No, no, Jack decided and tugged at his hoodie, unzipping it completely. He felt way too hot, and for reasons unknown, he was thinking of how Theo had pinned him against the door, rubbing his hard cloth-covered dick against him.
“Do I need to remind you that we are pressed for time, Jack?” Ryder warned him with a low growl.
“No, no, it’s just that the cards can be a bit silly at times. Anyways,” Jack said, clapping his hands, “it’s all here. Theo, pay attention.”
“Stop calling me Theo. It’s Mr. Pembroke to you,” Theo said in a threatening voice.
“I’m not polite like Danny,” Jack shot back. “Someone like you, who owns the entire city, needs to be brought down a peg or two.”
Theodore’s nostrils flared. “And you think you’re the one to do that, puny clairvoyant?”
“Obviously,” Jack replied brightly. “Anyway, on a need-to-know basis, you’ll be glad to learn that the cards say you can rebuild your pack.”
Yep, that was hope, right there. Jack couldn’t help feeling a pang of sympathy upon seeing Theodore’s eyes light up for a moment.
“Lies,” the lonesome alpha spat.
Jack shrugged. “The cards don’t lie, just like the hips. Gosh, you’re such a hardass. Can’t you even take a joke? Anyways, what you must do is come with us to Pinemoor.”
“An alpha doesn’t walk into another alpha’s territory without getting ready for war,” Theodore said in a somber voice.
“No war,” Jack said. “Ryder, a bit of help here, please?”
“I accept your presence at Pinemoor,” Ryder declared solemnly. “The Luna’s Sentinels welcome you, alpha.”
Jack sighed in relief. “Great, now that’s out of the way, let’s synchronize our watches. Pinemoor, here we come?”
“Why the question mark?” Danny asked.
“Um, maybe because I don’t know what airline will take us there?” Jack expressed his doubts directly.
“How did you get here, Ryder?” Danny asked. “Is it very far?”
“It is far,” Ryder confirmed. “An alpha can rush through forests and rivers, cutting a clear path for himself. But that isn’t possible, given our current circumstances.”
“You must go with Theodore then,” Danny said. “The rest of us can wait here. Unless you need Jack with you, of course.”
“I will not leave this place without you,” Ryder said fiercely.
Jack and Vince were both following the exchange between the two fated mates with growing interest.
“Are you people forgetting who I am?” Theodore hissed, drawing attention to his person again. “Release me, and we will take one of my aircraft.”
“Of course, he has aircraft,” Jack said, opening his arms wide. “Don’t tell me you even know how to fly such things.”
“Of course, I do know how to fly such things,” Theodore shot back.
Yes, of course. He was a handsome alpha who owned a city and knew how to fly aircraft. Jack was starting to wonder if he wasn’t trapped in a strange romance novel featuring an absurdly attractive male lead who could do it all and had it all and—and most likely had a big thing in his pants, too.
What was he thinking? He had never thought of other guys’ ‘things’ before discovering he was a clairvoyant. Did clairvoyants usually swing that way? Jack needed to conduct more research on the matter. After all, Vince’s playful banter and teasing also made him hot all over and especially in places that had no business heating up out of the blue.
Ryder pulled Theodore up and cut all the ties restraining him. “Take us to your aircraft. We must not postpone this one moment more. Cassandra is very likely expecting us since she can foretell the future.”
“Unless she’s busy doing something else,” Jack intervened. “It’s not like she’s playing with her crystal ball all the time, right? Or with her cards?”
“That is the only thing I have ever seen her doing,” Ryder replied.
“Goddammit,” Jack cursed under his breath. “I so hate overachievers. Ryder, tell me again how good I am at this clairvoyant thing.”
“We don’t have time for your whining,” Theodore warned, cutting Jack’s words short.
“You are very good at being a clairvoyant, Jack,” Danny said, gripping Jack’s shoulder to offer him reassurance.
Theodore made Jack and Danny yelp by moving to their side. “You will answer for your deeds, clairvoyant. And you will disclose the secret you hold close to your chest.”
“I’m not hiding anything,” Jack protested.
How could Theo tell he was hiding something? Was it because he had the nose of a wolf? He wasn’t a dog, though. Who had better lie-sniffing capabilities, wolves or dogs?
As soon as Theodore moved away, Danny caught Jack’s hand and whispered in his ear, “What you’re hiding is nothing bad, I hope, Jack. Is it?”
“No, just weird as fuck,” Jack replied. “Wait until Vince hears it.”
“What is it?” Danny insisted.
Jack waved him off. “I can’t tell you right now. And the cards can change at any moment. I’ve seen it happen before, when Ryder was supposed to die by trying to mate with Theodore. There’s no sign of that now. That Cassandra witch is our main problem. What comes after we deal with her, well, we’ll see.”
Yep, that was a good idea. Sweep it all under the rug, until it turns into a huge little pile of… something. But, before that, he needed to share some of this crazy stuff with Vince.
Because, well, Vince, was really good at being a guardian. He had never failed so far. So maybe the cards were just silly, and Vince actually had to guard Jack’s tiny asshole from having to meet Theo’s humongous ‘thing’. That was what mating was all about right?
Ass-fucking. Something Jack knew nothing about.
TBC
Thank you for reading!
@Derek - yep, we'll have all their interactions now! And some will get quite heated...
@DavidB - we will have this braid-like thing for some chapters, and then the story will sit on its own :)
@Mark Mortland - I had to laugh at that! Jack just flows out of my fingers as a character, I just love him (not that I don't love all my characters).
@FCW Reading - So happy to know that you're enjoying the sequel!
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