Gavin said, "Leidolf found their website and—" That's when he stared at the gun Faith was wielding, although she lowered it quickly, and then he saw Cameron sitting on the Dark Angel. "Holy hell, who's he?"
"Brought our meals, but he gave us the wrong brand of tartar sauce," Cameron said, sarcastically, pointing at the man's hand bearing the tattoo. "He recognized us, started to book before he had his tip. Now the question is, what kind of torture should we use on him to get him to reveal our partners' location?"
Gavin closed the door, stalked into the room, and stood with his boots pressed against the top of the man's head. "We're werewolves, right? So why don't we turn into wolves and start eating body parts? Slowly."
The man began to tremble. He might think he's a killer, but he wasn't anything more than a scared pup, probably talking big when he was with his gang. Without them as moral support, egging each other on? He was nothing.
Faith crouched next to him. "Gavin's teasing. He's got an insanely sinister sense of humor. Werewolves don't exist. But their partners' lives are at stake, and right now, I doubt I can keep them from torturing you so they can learn their location. If you don't think they'll do it, believe me, they've used some techniques even I can't stand to watch. And I've seen some pretty hideous stuff, being a forensic scientist."
Gavin raised his brows at Cameron. Cameron gave him a small smile back. The woman was worth her weight in diamonds.
"We've seen you change," the man bit out, his words muffled with the way Cameron was pressing him against the hotel's carpeted floor.
"Me?" she asked and Cameron detected a hint of alarm.
"Not you, specifically. But some of the others."
Cameron figured Gavin wouldn't believe any of it, so he assumed the best way to get the truth out of the guy was to play along with it. "My partners?"
"They're wolves right now. The bastards are in a cage nice and safe and sound—for the moment."
Hell, didn't sound good. Did they have the shape shifting trick down pat? Or would they inadvertently shift at the wrong time?
Gavin grunted. "Hell, you've got some of Kintail's wolves and think they're David and Owen?"
"We saw them shift, damn it. Them and some woman they had with them. They buried their clothes and shapeshifted near where Kintail's lodge was. Surprised the shit out of us. We were watching the lodge, ready to get any of his men who ventured out of the place alone, when these three ran for the barn like the devil was after them. Then in a few minutes, they headed for the woods as others from the house shouted they'd escaped. At first we assumed the three of them were prisoners, and we thought to rescue them from Kintail's people. Then we'd solicit them to join our group."
He squirmed a little, but Cameron tightened his hold on him.
The man groaned and quit resisting. "After they started tossing their clothes, we changed our minds. You sure as hell turn fast. One minute a man or woman, the next a wolf. If I'd looked away for a second or two, I would have missed the whole episode. But it wasn't the first time we'd seen it happen. When we were on that trip with the hunter guide, Trevor Hodges, looking for Bigfoot? We got separated from him, and then we saw Kintail's woman shapeshift. We wanted to tell Trevor and Kenneth O'Malley, the weird dude who kept taking notes. But then we thought they wouldn't believe us. So we kept them out of the loop and changed our focus from hunting Bigfoot to werewolves. For a long time, we just watched Kintail and his wolves. And then we decided to act. Why should they pretend to be normal people like us? So we killed them with silver and it worked."
"Anyone can die from a lethal injection of silver. Even anyone as stupid as you," Faith said.
The man's eyes widened, then narrowed. "Says you."
"If you're so well read up on stuff, you could easily find out that what I'm saying is true. In fact, we could run to the health food store tonight and get some silver supplements to feed you. See how long you live. Hell, how do we know you're not a werewolf?"
He scowled at her. "We wanted you to join our team. We thought you'd understand us. But it seems you're one of them now. Either that or just clueless." He didn't say anything for a few seconds, then took up with his story again. "So here are your friends running as wolves through the forest in the direction of Charles's resort. We figure he's either a wolf, too, or a friend of theirs. The next thing we knew, Kintail's men were in hot pursuit of your partners and that woman. At first, we just observed them, not sure what to do. Then we figured, what the hell. We have what it takes to show who's superior. Who shouldn't exist. And we showed off our guns, and that made their pursuers run away like scared little rabbits. So much for them being bad ass wolves. Didn't take long for us to run your partners and the woman down and dope them up. We got Kintail's main squeeze, too."
"Where are they?" Cameron growled.
"If I tell you, you'll kill me."
"Quickly, mostly painlessly," Gavin said. "Believe me, you don't want a wolf eating at your organs while you're still alive. That's got to hurt, lots."
"I don't know where they are, exactly. They took them to one house, but Chris said he'd moved them to another later. Just in case anyone might have tracked us."
"Why not kill them like you did the other men?" Cameron asked, still puzzled about why they'd keep them alive this time.
"Hell, we could just kill all your sorry asses. But we'd have to do it secretly, and someone would eventually try to arrest us for mass murders. So we have to prove you're werewolves. And then, we can become famous for finding the first real werewolves. Fame, fortune, we'd be able to make public appear ances on all the talk shows, maybe even get honorary degrees. If we were in England, the queen would even knight us.""Lead us to the house Chris had taken them to," Cameron said.
"Change into a wolf. You're not going to shoot me with that gun. And you can't scare me like this. Shapeshift, growl at me, bare those wicked teeth. Then I'll take you there. But I can't guarantee they'll be there."
"Sorry, we're all newly turned. We can't just shape shift any time we want to," Faith said shrugging.
"But I can shift anytime I want to," Leidolf said, and everyone turned around to see him standing in the doorway, his amber eyes lethal.
Chapter 21
HOW IN THE HELL HAD LEIDOLF UNLOCKED THE DOOR? Cameron's lock picks wouldn't work on key card slots. And how long had he been standing in the room listening? The guy moved like a phantom.
But he got the Dark Angel's attention.
"Do it, tough guy," the man sassed back as if he didn't really have the faintest idea how dangerous Leidolf could be.
Maybe it was Cameron's heightened senses that clued him in, besides the threatening tone Leidolf used, or the look of aggression on Leidolf's darkened face. But a scent of a coming battle hung in the air. Of murderous intent. An alpha who would show the beta he wasn't one to be messed with.
"Gavin's not one of us," Leidolf smoothly said, his voice still deep and dark, his fierce gaze locked on the man's eyes. "Can't do it in front of him."
The man studied Gavin, who was looking every bit as menacing. "He said he was one."
Leidolf smiled, but the look was pure evil. "He might wish he was, but he isn't. Trust me."
"Whatever. Have the dude leave then."
"You won't like what you see when I shift."
"It's the only way I'll feel intimidated enough to tell you where they are."
"Fine." Leidolf glanced Gavin's way. "Leave, before it's too late." The way Leidolf said it wasn't as much of an order, as more of a challenge.
"Sorry, I'm staying for the show."
Hoping to encourage him to leave before his partner lived to regret it, Cameron said, "Gavin."
Gavin shook his head. "We're all on the same team, no matter the circumstances."
Cameron knew his friend would not believe this one iota, but Leidolf wasn't waiting, wasn't about to try to talk any sense into him, and began stripping out of his clothes. Faith looked like she was going to be sick. She caught Cameron's eye. He knew what she was thinking. If Leidolf went through with this, Gavin had to be changed. And the man who tried to sound so brave, would die once they located the house where their partners were being held hostage.
She left to put on her boots, not bothering to watch Leidolf get naked and shift.
Cameron watched the man, saw the stupid smirk on his face. Gavin observed the Dark Angel's expression, too, probably wondering how Leidolf's stripping out of his clothes was going to force this man to reveal anything to them.
But as soon as Leidolf growled, baring his teeth, his nose and face wrinkling, his eyes narrowed with dangerous contempt, and his hackles raised as a highly pissed-off red wolf, he garnered everyone's attention. For a moment. Cameron quickly glanced at Gavin to see his take. Faith was watching him, too. But Gavin was still observing the man's posture, seeing if Leidolf's threats were working, as if he didn't need to see what Leidolf had become. As if he already knew.
The man had quit smiling, and he was trembling again, but even so, Cameron didn't feel as though he was ready to spill his secrets. That's when he released his hold on him. That's when the man started to sit up, and that's when Leidolf lunged at him with a fierce snarl that made Cameron both respectful and proud to be one of them.
Faith quickly turned on the television to help drown out the sounds in the room.
The so-called Dark Angel threw up his hands to instinctively block his face. Leidolf clamped down on one of his hands, and the man screamed out in pain.
He looked like he was about ready to faint, his skin turning ashen, his eyes rolling into the back of his head. Leidolf quickly released him, then stepped aside, shifted, and dressed. "He's one of us now," he said with menacing conviction. He glanced at Gavin. "You should have left the room when you had the chance."