As he turned away and greeted his parents, he heard Gordon mutter, "Who is that and how the hell does he know what kind of beer I like?"
He almost felt bad for causing trouble for the tiger. Almost.
Wrapping his arms around his mother, he said, "Patricia told me where you were. When I heard, I had to come and pay my respects."
He didn't think they were really going to play poker, but he'd picked up a twelve pack anyway. Carefully following the instructions Grady had sent him, he turned his Porsche onto a gravel driveway and stopped, staring at the ruts and holes. "Well, damn," he grunted, easing the car forward, doing his best to avoid bottoming out.
From the state of the driveway, he expected the building to be a rustic little cabin in a weed-strewn clearing. He couldn't have been more wrong. The massive lodge with beautiful stone trim shocked him. He parked next to a truck and headed toward the impressive building.
The door was opened after only a few seconds by a short blond man with vibrant blue eyes. Jared had never found himself attracted to a man before, but even he had to admit that this guy was cute. He grinned and held out a hand. "Hello, handsome. I'm Jared Templeton. Grady invited me," he said.
The man took the hand and chuckled. "I'm Lark and don't let Declan hear you say that to me."
"Too late. I heard," an accented voice snarled.
He released Lark's hand and lifted it in placation, chuckling softly. "Don't worry. I'm not gay, but even I can appreciate that your … " he paused, realizing the large man who now had a possessive arm around Lark's waist had been at the funeral. He'd assumed he was the sister's husband or boyfriend. He'd been wrong. This man oozed alpha male from every pore. "Let me guess. You're a shifter and Lark is your mate?"
The growl from Declan almost drowned out Lark's shocked gasp. Suddenly, Jared found himself pinned against the door, an angry two-hundred-fifty pound male holding his throat. "How do ye know about us? Who the hell are you?"
He grinned, flipping through the different moves he could use to break the bigger man's hold and wondering if they'd work on the shifter. Instead he held out a hand, never breaking eye contact. "I'm Jared Templeton. You must be Declan McIntire. It's a pleasure to finally meet you."
"Whoa! Whoa, Declan, wait!" Grady rushed into view. "I was gonna tell you about Jared earlier, but it kinda slipped my mind with everything going on," he said in a rush, resting one hand on Declan's shoulder and the other on the man's arm. "He can help us."
Declan's lip curled. "How can this human help us?"
An indignant huff sounded from Lark. "Excuse me, big guy. Human standing right here. Do you want to sleep upstairs tonight?"
Slowly, the hand around his neck eased and dropped away. Declan stepped away and pulled his mate into his arms, a sheepish expression on his face. "Sorry, baby," he whispered. He gave Jared one more scowl before heading into the house.
Grady turned to Jared and shook his head. "Are you trying to get yourself shredded?"
Jared shrugged. "Of course not. How's Gordon? Is he here?"
"Yeah, he's in the other room and thanks for your comments last night. It took me an hour to convince him I'd never fucked you," Grady muttered, leading the way into a large study.
Laughing, Jared followed.
Twelve people crammed into the room made the study seem much smaller than it really was. He already knew Gordon, Lark and Declan. Grady introduced the others. Travis, Rainy and Cliff MacDougal-it didn't escape his notice that Travis and Rainy were clearly a couple- sat on a leather couch. On an easy chair sat Shane Alvaro, who Declan introduced as his beta. Todd Abernathy was curled up in Lyle Sullivan's lap in a matching recliner. Nick Greely and Carson Angeni sat on another, smaller sofa. The several inches between them told Jared that they were not a couple. And he made thirteen. Jared grinned. My lucky number.
His gaze returned to Carson. With long black hair framing classic native American features and a bump in his nose telling him it had been broken at least once, add in a firm, tone body, bronzed skin and piercing brown eyes, the man was truly stunning. He stared unashamedly for a second, watching Carson stare right back at him. He suddenly found himself reevaluating his earlier statement about not being gay. In the span of ten minutes he'd found himself appreciating the features of two different men and this second guy definitely made his prick take notice. Huh, maybe I'm bisexual.
His grin widened further and he turned to where Lark now sat curled up on Declan's lap. He waved a hand between them. "Okay, ya got me. Lark is handsome, but this guy's stunning. He just might make me reconsider my sexuality, because he's definitely fuck-worthy," he finished, giving Carson a lascivious wink.
Ignoring the shocked silence caused by his rather sadistic sense of humor, Jared settled into a chair and focused on Grady. "So, since it's obvious this isn't really a poker party, why don't we cut to the chase?" His gaze turned predatory as he focused on Grady. His lips curved into a malicious smile and his voice lowered as he asked, "Who do you want me to kill?"
Chapter Two
Carson forced his breathing to remain slow and even, refusing to react to Jared's words. It didn't help that the very mention of fucking between them had his dick so hard it hurt. Good thing he wore loose pants or he'd be hurting.
The second the muscular, light brown haired human had stepped into the room and he'd caught Jared's scent, Carson had known. This man was his mate. Then Jared had opened his mouth and all Carson's hopes were dashed. Not only was Jared not gay, or even bi, regardless of his barbed words, he was a damn assassin. What the hell is Fate thinking?
As Declan's enforcer, Carson spent his life upholding shifter law. How can this happen? What can I do? He'd looked for his mate for almost seventy years and then to be saddled with this man, a man with no conscience and an obvious knack for raising ire in others, if the snarled words said by his alpha while in the hallway that the entire room had overheard, was any indication.
It only took two seconds for Carson to realize that, if he decided he wanted the man, he'd have to fight not only Jared, but the man's profession as well. Slowly rising, he wondered if the human would be worth it. Fate only knew. "Fuck-worthy, huh? What makes you think I'd sully myself with someone like you?"
That drew Jared's attention. The human lifted his gaze until he looked Carson in the eye. He had the audacity to wink. "Oh, I'd be the best lay you ever had, Injun." Carson certainly couldn't argue that. The man was his mate, so of course he'd be the best lay he ever had, but the Injun comment stung. And it didn't take a genius to realize that was why he'd said it. It just confirmed that the human enjoyed riling people. Taking a second, Carson narrowed his eyes and studied the human. In his line of work, being a good judge of character was essential. He saw things others often missed, usually able to peg a person's personality within five minutes of meeting them. The skill allowed him to quietly advise his alpha of possible problems in the pack.
Still, Carson almost missed the wary gleam in Jared's eyes that made him realize the man didn't really mean anything by his comment. It was his mate's way of keeping people away. He kept his face impassive as understanding dawned. The human just may care about others after all. Jared just couldn't show it.
A small smile curved Carson's lips. In the next second, he grabbed Jared's shoulders, hauled him to his feet and pinned him to the wall with his body. "I doubt you could handle me," he growled.
He slammed his lips down on his mate's, knowing instinctively that he'd surprised the man and that didn't happen often. Jared probably didn't expect him to willingly demonstrate his sexuality in front of all these people, but these were his pack-mates and he knew they had his back no matter what.