I’ll give you the Special Fucker discount
Lukas couldn’t help the laugh that escaped.Do you want my ass that badly?
It’s a pity discount
Fuck you
You think too highly of yourself, wolf
Lukas rolled his eyes and stubbornly ignored the sharp pang in his chest. It was harmless flirting and banter; Rían didn’t mean anything by it.
“What the fuck’s got you in such a good mood?” Quinn asked, sprawling on the sofa with his head in Lukas’ lap.
“Nothing,” he replied, locking his phone and tucking it under his thigh. He pretended not to see Quinn’s smirk as he sipped his coffee, ignoring the fact Quinn likely hacked into all of their phones on a regular basis to snoop through their shit.
He resisted the urge to adjust his pants to hide the growing problem Quinn’s head in his lap was causing. Instead, he motioned towards Max, who was scooping what smelled like scorched eggs onto plates. “You still think this was a good idea?”
Quinn followed his gaze and sighed. “You weren’t there. His father’s men beat the shit out of him, and I’m pretty sure it wasn’t the first time. His own father was going to kill him.” He shook his head, his scent twisting with anger and heartache. “Besides, he’s cute.”
“You think everyone is cute,” Lukas muttered. That was one of the first things he learned about Quinn. The second was that Lukas wasn’t Quinn’s type.
“Not true,” Quinn said. The devious twitch of his lips gave him away, but his next words weren’t for Lukas, they were pitched louder for Max as Caius came down the stairs. “I would never call Cap cute.”
Not one to ruin a good prank, he raised his own voice so that Max could hear him. “Caius is definitely a smokin’ hot Daddy.”
Max nodded his agreement without looking up. “Damn right he is.”
The look on Caius’ face was priceless, before he shot Lukas an accusing glare.
Lukas raised his free hand in aWTF do you expect? gesture as Quinn cackled like a madman.
Max finally looked up, saw Caius, and turned red all the way to his ears. “I uh…. Breakfast is ready.”
Between Caius and Max smelling like mortification and embarrassment, and Quinn’s manic delight, breakfast alternated between excruciatingly painful and endlessly entertaining.
Lukas let them stew until he finished his third cup of coffee. “Rían will be here tomorrow.”
Caius latched on to that like a drowning man. “Good. Does he need us to get anything?”
He shrugged and pulled out his phone to ask. “If he does, I’ll go grab it later.” He took his dishes to the sink and rinsed them. “Going for my run,” he said, heading to his room.
Caffeine hardly had an effect on him anymore, but he was still buzzing with a restless energy he was used to after coming off a long mission. He could, and had, waited days for a target before, but the longer he had to wait, the more he had to move once he was back home.
He changed into his running pants and windbreaker, found his cordless headphones, and scrolled to the bilateral stimulation music that helped him relax on his way out the door. He didn’t much care where he went, so he picked a direction and took off, his feet keeping to the pace of the stim beats.
The scents of the city were still new enough that he paid attention to his surroundings, but even that wasn’t enough to distract him from mulling over Max’s wariness towards him. Max didn’t seem to have a problem with Quinn or Caius, even after the attack yesterday. If Max grew up in an abusive environment, Lukas could only assume he reminded Max of someone.
As much as that grated on him, there was nothing to be done about it except to wait for Max to realize Lukas wasn’t a threat. Unlike the guy following Lukas from twenty paces back. He wasn’t sure if it was the Order or the mob or a petty thief, but they were about to have a very bad day.
He turned into a park, still deserted this early, and headed for the small tunnel where one of the jogging paths looped over itself. There, he stopped and turned off his music, waiting in the middle of the dim tunnel. He didn’t have long to wait, and the guy stalking him proved he wasn’t alone. While the one who’d been following him came up from behind, two others stepped into the tunnel in front of him.
None of them smelled like a mage. Only stupidity and arrogance.
He tilted his head as he breathed in their scents. They were clean, so not desperate or homeless. There was a tang of metal and gunpowder on each of them. Regular bullets, no aconite. Not too surprising, considering most shifters avoided this city as much as possible. He still wasn’t decided whether Caius was a genius or absolutely mad to be trying to establish pack territory here.
Regardless, the men either had to be with the mob or hired hit men. They obviously thought he was the weakest member of the pack. There was a slim chance they were one of his own enemies, here for revenge for someone he’d taken down on a mission, but he was always careful to cover his tracks.
Not that it mattered. A fight was a fight, and when they rushed him instead of pulling their weapons, his adrenaline spiked. Always a fun time when they underestimated him. He knew he looked young, but he couldn’t be too annoyed when it gave him an advantage. He was evenfeeling charitable enough to let the first guy get a couple of hits in, before grabbing his face and ramming the back of his head into the cement wall.
