“I’m not abandoning you. Get what info you can. I’ll come back.”
Wiz rolled his eyes and glared at Nero. “Get him out of here. He can come back when you’ve explained the facts of life to him.”
“Yeah,” Nero said as he tightened his grip on Josh. “Come on, hero. Let me explain how you arenotprisoners here and that this is ajob offer.” Then he hauled Josh out of the room.
Chapter 7
NERO HATEDlying. He’d been glib with his lies as a kid. Damned good at them, in fact. But ever since he became an alpha, every dishonest word bothered him. Most of the time he and his team were working with less than the full facts. The idea of purposely giving false intel set his teeth on edge. That he was lying to Josh made him sick to his stomach, but it was the only way to bring him into the fold. They needed him, and the world needed Wulf, Inc. So it was all for the greater good. And most important, Nero needed him to figure out magical fire.
Too bad his head didn’t care. It felt like it was held in a vise. He’d feel better after he slept, but for now he had a job to do, and that meant initiating Josh to the werewolf facts of life.
“The center of werewolf life is the kitchen. Sounds obvious, but we werewolves like to eat. You’ll take turns with kitchen cleanup, but unless you’re a gourmet chef, I’ll do most of the cooking. I try to make it healthy. You know, with vegetables and stuff. But we like our meats. Don’t know what we’ll do for Aine. I’ve never thought about gluten, but I guess I’ll have to research that soon.”
“Is that the redhead?” Josh asked.
“Yeah. But let her tell you that. She’s got a gaming name that she usually goes by. Straw—Strat—”
“Stratos?” There was shock in the word.
Nero looked hard at his newest charge. “Yeah. How’d you know that?”
“Because she’s infamous. In the gaming community, at least.” His tone was layered with “how could you not know this?” attitude. “She’s a kickass player with gorgeous looks. The whole package.” He looked back at the door to the basement. “That was her?”
“Yeah,” Nero said slowly. “So why is sheinfamous?”
“Because she’ll do whatever it takes to win. She’ll wear a push-up bra with drawn-on nipples, she’ll flirt outrageously with the opponents and promise the judges dates, and then when she feels like it, she’ll go all goth and tell everyone to keep the fuck away. She’s the definition of female attitude. Gamershateher because they can’t stop watching, even when she gives them the finger. Especially when she gives it to them.”
Nero snorted. “Sounds like a female werewolf to me.”
“Seriously?”
Nero shrugged. “I was infected by a female wolf. I’m a traditional lycanthrope, like in the old movies. She bit me, and I got infected. She told me later it was because she wanted someone to be a bitch to.” He held up his hands. “Her words, not mine. And then she pranced around naked to see if I would get it up.”
“Did you?”
He looked away as he palmed the security reader on the way into the main floor of the west wing. “When I first changed, yes. At least I think so, it’s kind of fuzzy now.” Thank God. “But by the time she got around to explaining what had happened, I was traumatized and starving. I wouldn’t have gotten it up for a Playboy Bunny. Unless she was a real bunny—then I probably would have eaten her.” It was too soon to mention that he’d already figured out he was gay by then. Josh, on the other hand, had completely surprised him in that department. Something about the way the guy had gone thermonuclear meltdown in his attack turned him on like nothing else. No holds barred, full-on destroy, take out everyone and everything in his path. That was apparently the way to Nero’s heart. It didn’t make sense, but then he’d learned that nothing about sexuality made sense, so he should go with his gut. Or his dick. After all, a lycanthrope like him didn’t have many options. And he hadn’t missed the woody that Josh had sported when he’d been pinned. The guy hated Nero right now. He sure as hell didn’t trust him. But that hadn’t stopped the old dick from rearing its head.
Fortunately Nero was in better control. He knew not to play with the trainee. So he stepped back far enough to give Josh room to set his hand on the reader.
“Palm it. You’re already in the system, so the door will open for you.”
Josh frowned. “It already opened for you.”
“Yeah. Palm it anyway, okay? There are holes in our security system, so it’s best to be sure. Maybe you guys can help us out with that.”
Josh nodded and did what he was told. The reader scanned his handprint and beeped the okay, unlocking the already unlocked door.
“So I’m free to go?” Josh asked as he stepped through the door.
No.“Sure. But we’re hoping you’ll stay around long enough to hear what’s going on. You’re a werewolf now. There are precautions you have to take for your own safety and everyone else’s.”
“Like chaining myself up every full moon?”
Nero shook his head. That was the curse of humans who caught a specific strain of the lycanthropy virus. Not him, thank God, though he had his full moon moments, but some of his wolf-kin were really screwed when it came to the lunar cycle. “As far as we know, you should be fine on full moons. None of your ancestors were ruled by it. But we can never be sure until you live through one, so don’t go running off. If you do, I’ll probably be assigned to watch you until after the full moon, just to be sure. Don’t make me do that. I haven’t slept in….” A week. “…my own bed in forever.”
Josh looked at him, his eyes narrowing. “I can tell when you’re lying. You know that, right?”
“What? I’m not—”
