Page 54 of Wind with a Chance of Wolfsbane

“You found them?” asked Jonathan, he and his wolf excited for the chance to kill them each slowly.

“Yeah, in the county morgue,” added Dwayne. “Somebody beat you to it, boss.”

Jonathan frowned. “Pity.”

Leo snorted.

Dwayne acted nervous before speaking. “Yesterday, when I was meeting with the local wolf-pack leaders, I might have mentioned you losing your shit and the red eyes thing.”

Jonathan gasped. “You told them?”

“It slipped out,” confessed Dwayne. “I’m sorry, but one of them made an off-the-cuff remark about blood rage. Keep in mind, they didn’t know much about the red eyes, but they did mention something about a blood rage.”

Jonathan knew of it. He’d seen shifters suffer from it, and nothing about it was pretty. They were mindless animals and beyond deadly. He tilted his head, thinking about it more. “I’ve only ever heard of a shifter going into that state over their mate. When their mate is in mortal danger or dead. None of them had red eyes when they did it.”

“Well, I’ll ask again, did we misread the young women?” asked Leo. “And is one of them Jonathan’s mate?”

“No,” said Jonathan. “I’d have known.”

“You’re sure?” asked Leo. “Listen, I’m not like you so I don’t know how it works for wolf-shifters. How was it for you, Dwayne?”

“I was drawn to Marjorie straight away, but she didn’t much care for me,” confessed Dwayne. “Didn’t matter. I still wanted to be in her orbit, and I wanted her safe.”

“Did you instantly know who she was to you?” asked Leo.

“No,” admitted Dwayne. “I just thought she was super-hot, and the idea harm might come to her left me acting like a fool.”

“I feel dirty asking this, but, Jonathan, were you attracted to one of the young, and I do stressyoung, women?” asked Leo.

“No!” shouted Jonathan. “But I did want her, erm, them safe.”

Dwayne’s eyes widened. “There is a local shifter here in town that I met. His mate is younger than him by a lot. He’s two hundred and something. She’s in her twenties now. He made a joke about the fact that until she was of claiming age, nothing on him worked and that he didn’t find her remotely attractive. He just wanted her safe.”

“What do you mean by nothing worked?” asked Leo.

“I mean, he met her when she was young—too young to claim—so his shifter side shut off everything to do with sex in him. It locked it down for him. That didn’t let up until after she became legal if I’m making myself clear,” said Dwayne.

“A natural fail-safe to handle age gaps in supernaturals?” asked Leo.

Dwayne nodded. “Yeah. I think so. I’ve heard of it before, here and there. Could that be what happened?”

Jonathan was tired, hungry, and wanted a shower. “Undo these chains. The girl can’t be my mate. She’s not a supernatural. End of discussion. And I had sex a few days before I got to Detroit. In fact, I was having a lot of sex before I got here. I’ve been kind of busy since my arrival and spent nearly a week chained, which has dampened my game. Kindly undo me so I can eat, shower, and then hit a bar to find a beautiful woman to spend the night with.”

As he said the last bit, he winced. Oddly, he had zero interest in seeking out the company of a woman. Thoughts of the woman with the broken glasses surged through his head, bringing with them arousal.

He tensed.

“Looking a little green around the edges there, boss,” said Leo. “Which part of your statement turned your stomach? Was it the food, the shower, or sex?”

Jonathan narrowed his gaze on the man.

Dwayne tensed. “Holy shit, the twin with the broken glasses, is she your mate?”

“Enough!” shouted Jonathan, jerking on the chains. “I’d know if she was.”

“I didn’t know Marjorie was mine to start,” said Dwayne.

Jonathan growled and began peeling off what remained of his shirt. Some of it got hung up on the shackles. “I’m not exactly like you, am I?”

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