JOSH HAD never felt so electrified in his life. Every aspect of his life felt better, faster, and definitely more passionate. His body was more powerful and his senses snapped to alert at the most interesting times. Coffee smelled crisp, food had textures like never before, and the lust he felt whenever he looked at Nero was off the charts. Normally that would tank his concentration as he bounced between Food! Sex! Smells! But the moment he dove into the research, his hunger for knowledge skyrocketed. He wanted to learn everything about magic and monsters, but thanks to Nero’s challenge, he had a crystalline focus to his studies.
He was going to figure out the base structure beneath magic. Nero’s equation of belief = manifestation was bullshit. The world didn’t work like that, and so he set out to understand the basic laws that governed magic.
Normally the scope of that kind of project would overwhelm him in a few minutes and throw him into run-and-hide mode, but he felt sharp and determined. Everything he read was just one more data point in an ever-expanding pool of knowledge. And knowledge had always been his bulwark against an aggressive world. Sure, he couldn’t stop a bully from taking his favorite baseball cap in grade school, but he could figure out how to make a stink bomb and put it in the guy’s backpack. He’d terrorized his siblings with food that turned their pee blue and money that looked like it was on fire. And though he never made it onto any of the cool sports teams, he found friends and safety in being the innovative chemist among the science geeks.
And now he had an entire field of study that most people didn’t know existed, and he planned to crack it wide open and swim in its secrets.
That worked for less than twenty-four hours. Something about a 5:00 a.m. wake-up call the next morning completely destroyed his zest for life. He’d only fallen asleep an hour before—still in the library—and suddenly he was kicked awake by the biggest bastard of a drill sergeant he’d ever met. The guy was huge, had an Army buzzcut and the thick brow of a Neanderthal. He barked orders like he had a megaphone—which he didn’t—and he managed to terrify Josh’s sleeping brain enough that it had him stumbling outside into the Michigan winter before he’d fully cracked open his eyes.
They only good thing about Megamouth Yordan was that he appeared to be Pretty Boy’s handler, and that pleased Josh’s childish side. Let the guy who made his living smiling for a camera learn what real sweat was like. Especially since Bing looked truly miserable as he shivered in the cold.
Josh would have launched into a really bitter tirade—at least in his head—except that this predawn punishment was being handed out to the other trainers too. Nero was here, looking disgustingly awake, as were Captain M and Wiz. Those last two didn’t seem thrilled, but they did appear to grimly accept their fate as they stood—not shivering—next to Laddin and Stratos.
“Against my better judgment,” Megamouth blasted, “we’re not doing this naked. Werewolves need to get used to running around with their asses bared to the moon, but we’ll save that for another day.” He lifted his chin as if to show off that he was standing there barefoot, bare-chested, and with only a really loose pair of basketball shorts to cover his junk. “But we are going to do it barefoot, so let me see those lily-white feet now! I want to check them out before they’re covered in your own blood.” He laughed in a truly sadistic way while Captain M and Wiz toed off their slip-ons. Nero hadn’t bothered with shoes in the first place, but the rest of them just stood there gaping.
It was cold outside in the Michigan winter. And though most of the snow was gone right now, there were still patches of ice lurking in the shadows on the frozen ground.
“I suggest you take them off now,” Megamouth growled, his voice low and threatening. “Or I will take them off for you.”
“You’re not serious—” Josh argued, but he never got the rest of the words out. He’d been watching the drill sergeant, preparing for the guy to be a dick and attack him. But no, Nero was the asshole who took him down. He swiped Josh’s feet out from under him and let Josh drop face-first into the dirt. And then, before Josh could react, Nero had a knee in his back and was hauling off his shoes.
Fuck, the ground was cold.
Then Pretty Boy glared at Nero, his expression hard as he said, “Try that with me.”
Nero tossed aside Josh’s shoes, then hauled him upright by the back of his neck, as if he was trying to grab hold of the scruff of Josh’s fur, except Josh was fully human right then. And while Josh unsuccessfully tried to dislodge the guy’s hand, Nero looked at Bing.
“You’re not my problem,” he said as he apparently got tired of Josh’s struggles. He calmly swept Josh’s feet out from under him again. And while Bing watched with an amused curl to his lips, Megamouth took him down.
Or at least tried to.
Wow, Pretty Boy could fight. Josh knew very little about martial arts except what he’d learned in a college tae kwan do class. He knew there were different forms of martial arts, but that was about it. And as far as Josh could tell, Bing was a master of them all.
Bing had been looking at Josh, but the moment Megamouth moved on him, he spun and landed blow after blow. Hands and feet, he delivered both punches and kicks in a whirlwind of fury that had Josh sitting up to stare. He’d always thought martial arts was a kind of dance, but this wasn’t anything so tame. It was fury in motion. Anger, hatred, and pure testosterone.
Josh had to give it to Megamouth. The guy took it all without so much as a sound beyond the occasional grunt. And Bing was making mincemeat out of Yordan, keeping him on the defensive while he attacked nonstop.
Until Megamouth decided he’d had enough. Bing’s mistake was that he stopped short of killing Yordan. Instead, he raised his hand and froze, just like in a movie where the hero has to decide if killing the bad guy is worth the cost to his soul. It was a pristine movement worthy of an Academy Award. But this wasn’t a movie, and while Bing remained poised, thinking about what he wanted to do, Yordan made the decision for him.
Yordan punched him in the knee and then the nuts. Bing went down with a scream, and it took a moment for Josh to realize that the cry was not from the blow to the groin. Bing was gripping his knee as if his life was over. And maybe it was, given that Pretty Boy used his martial arts skills on TV.
“Back off, you bastard!” Josh bellowed as he jumped to his bare feet and advanced on Megamouth. And he wasn’t the only one. Stratos was beside him, looking like she was going to rip off the guy’s nuts with her bare hands. The only reason Laddin wasn’t with them was because he had advanced on Captain M.
“He needs a doctor now!” Laddin was saying. “That’s his livelihood!” And if glares could kill, Captain M would be a smoking pile of ash.
But the woman held up her hand and pointed at Wiz. “Fix him,” she said.
Wiz responded with an angry snap. “I’m not a cleric.”
Before the captain could respond, Yordan growled everyone to silence. Or he tried. “I’ve got this!” He squatted down in front of Bing. Not a sound came out of the actor’s mouth, but tears fell as he gripped his knee. “You want to walk again? Go wolf. Dig down into your animal fury and let it fly. It’ll heal and you can try to kick my ass that way.” The grin in his swollen face was truly grotesque, but he didn’t let up. “Come get me, Red Wolf.”
Josh didn’t know what to do. He didn’t have a phone or any first-aid knowledge. All he could do was stand there as Bing went into a staring match with Megamouth. His gaze was dark and filled with hatred.
Then something happened to his eyes. A red glow simmered beneath the pupils. Josh had seen it on TV, and it looked even freakier in person. Then Bing whispered two words.
“Stay human.”
Oh shit. Josh knew what that meant. Bing was using his Red Wolf power to Jedi mind-trick Yordan. And sure enough, Megamouth blinked twice and echoed the words. “I’ll stay human.”
Bing lunged. It went so fast, Josh was still seeing human red eyes when suddenly there was a huge wolf on top of Megamouth. The guy screamed and toppled beneath the attack, and Josh smelled blood. He surged forward to help, but what could he do? Fortunately he didn’t need to.
Nero and Captain M were there before him, both wolves now, as they tackled Bing, dragging him off Yordan, who was bleeding arterial blood from the neck. Then Wiz shoved Josh aside as he went to press one hand hard against Yordan’s neck.
“Shift,” he said in a low, soothing voice. “Shift now.”
It worked. Yordan shimmered gold and stabilized as a huge black wolf, lying on his back with his mouth open and his bright pink tongue lolling out. Wiz jumped back as Yordan squirmed, then came up on his feet. That was good for Megamouth, but two feet away, Bing was not going quietly into the night.
Red Wolf was squaring off with Nero and Captain M. He had his wolf head lowered and his eyes blazing red, his body preternaturally still as he obviously decided who to obliterate first.
Captain M was a white arctic wolf, pristine and gorgeous. Despite being the smallest wolf here, she was the one in charge. She was face-to-face with Bing, her teeth bared and her body tight with power. Yes, she still had on her sports bra and sweatpants, which ought to detract from the image, but it really didn’t. It was all in the way she was bristling and growling “back off!” She was scary enough, but with Nero standing to her left, Josh was crap-his-pants scared. Nero was a big timber wolf, dark brown with shoulders the size of a Volvo, thanks to a scary ruff, and sharp white teeth. He wasn’t making any sound, but he sure as hell wasn’t going to let Bing attack.
“Holy shit,” Laddin murmured as he grabbed Stratos and started tugging her backward. A second later Laddin had hold of Josh’s arm, and all three of them took slow, steady steps back from the wolf fight to come. Wiz went with them, shedding clothes with careful movements. Everyone watched Bing. If anyone going to initiate disaster, it would be him. Or Megamouth, as the stupid black wolf leaped into the fray.
Yes, the idiot leaped over Captain M, spun around so that his exposed back was to Bing, and then growled the captain and Nero back. It was almost funny the way those two shied backward in surprise. Even more so as Yordan stretched up onto his hind legs and became human, still in those huge basketball shorts. Except that wasn’t funny so much as really cool. And damned if Josh didn’t have the urge to drop on his knees and say, “Teach me!” like Benedict Cumberbatch in the first Doctor Strange movie.
Meanwhile, Yordan was grinning like it was Christmas morning as he spun around and clapped his hands in delight. “You did it!” he chortled at the wolf Bing. “Now prove that you’re under control and come back to human.” He squatted down stupidly close to Bing’s jaws. “Then you’ll get the day off to do whatever the hell you want. I might even let you send out an email.”
Josh held his breath. He gave it even odds that Bing would lunge for Yordan’s throat, but the wolf stood there with his teeth bared. Josh could hear the animal’s breath too. In and out in a tight pant.
Then—without even a glow or shimmer or anything—suddenly Josh was looking at the human Bing on all fours on the ground. The guy looked pretty-boy perfect. He didn’t even shiver from the cold as he rose smoothly to his bare feet. And then—in a morning full of surprises—Bing looked at Yordan and bent at the waist.
Bing bowed to Yordan in a show of respect.
Holy shit. Had hell frozen over? Meanwhile Megamouth accepted the gesture with a regal dip of his chin, and then he abruptly hauled Bing into a big hug, wrapping his huge arms around the man and clapping him heavily on his back. Bing accepted it with a pained expression. Clearly the guy wasn’t used to such exuberant shows of masculine bonding. But his lips were curved in a smile. And when Yordan finally let him go, he was able to nod at everyone else as well. Then, with an increasingly smug expression, he sauntered past them into the house.
His parting words were enough to make Josh hate him a little more.
“I think I’ll eat breakfast now,” he said. “And maybe read in bed before taking a nap.”
“Go on, buddy!” Yordan bellowed. “You earned it.” Then, after Bing was inside the house, he turned to the other trainers. “And you all owe me five hundred dollars each,” he crowed. “My guy—first to shift, first to manifest a special power. Woohoo! I’m going shopping!”
He started doing a happy dance which, honestly, looked a little disturbing, given how well his hips moved. Meanwhile, Wiz gaped at him while Josh realized they’d had a five hundred-dollar bet on which trainee would learn to shift first.
Wiz snorted with disgust. “Just because we’re not bastards about it—”
“Doesn’t matter,” Megamouth answered. “Results are what count.”
Captain M—still in her wolf form—blew out a snort, then turned around with her tail stuck up high as she headed into the house. Wiz leaped to open the door for her as she retreated. It was a very classy retreat, but Josh suspected she’d still pay up.
Then, when Nero started to turn, Yordan stuck a meaty finger at him. “Don’t you dare!” he growled. “You’re assigned here.” He glanced at Wiz. “You too.”
Which, apparently, was true, because Nero remained, though he refused to shift back to human. He retreated to a corner where he watched everything with steady wolf eyes. It was sort of like being watched by a police dog. The thing was polite, but it didn’t lessen the scare factor. Which left Wiz shirtless, barefoot, and in low-slung jeans. He shrugged and said, “Bring it on.”
Megamouth did. Calisthenics to warm everyone up, sparring outside to “show our stuff,” and when no one wanted to fight him, he sent everyone off on a horrendously freezing jog around the estate. And to deter anyone thinking of jumping the fence, Nero was there in his wolf form to make sure everyone stayed in formation.
And the most humiliating part of it all? Josh was the slowest. He didn’t mind being less capable than the trainers. They were probably subjected to this idiocy often. Laddin was Mr. Nervous Energy, so running was just another way to burn off calories. But being less in shape than Stratos—a woman who was the picture of a pale gamer geek—stung his male pride. Apparently even techies who spent their days and nights attached to their gear got more physical exertion than PhD students. It wasn’t his fault. He’d been in a cramped lab nearly 24/7 for five years now. Of course he was out of shape. He just hadn’t expected to be this pathetic, especially since Nero took great delight in nipping at his heels whenever he got too slow.
By the time they made it back to the mansion, Josh’s feet were numb, which was a very good thing, because he knew they were cut all to hell. He stumbled back into the main backyard only to hear everyone groan about something. Oh hell, he wasn’t sure he wanted to know what. But as he collapsed on the frozen ground, he stared balefully at Laddin. “What now?” he groaned.
“No food,” the guy answered, his misery palpable.
Josh jerked upward. Dreams of a six-egg omelet were the only things that had kept him going for the last mile. “What?”
Megamouth came to stand right over him. “You able to shift yet?”
“I’m exhausted and starving. Plus, I was up all night trying to figure out your magical fire problem. Of course I can’t shift. No one has told me how.”
“It’s not a tell thing. It’s a do thing.”
That was it—that was all he said as he stared at Josh, expecting him to somehow poof into a wolf. Just like his father, who couldn’t understand why his son couldn’t catch a ball or punch a bully or handle tools in his machine shop. Just because they could do it without thinking, suddenly Josh was deficient because he wasn’t good with his hands. Or his body. Or anything physical at all.
“Spoken like every natural athlete on the planet. Congratulations. You’re good at something.” He straightened up onto his numb feet and matched the asshole glare for glare. And he said exactly what he’d been dying to tell his father since he was three years old. “Too bad you’re lousy at teaching, which is what you’re supposed to be doing right now. So if you want us to go wolf, then tell us how to do it!”
And just like with his father, his words meant jack shit. Megamouth poked him in the chest. “You’re pretty pissed off right now, aren’t you?”
Josh slapped the guy’s meaty arm away. “Yeah, I am.”
“What you going to do about it?” Another poke.
Josh slapped it away harder this time. Or at least he tried to. His swats didn’t seem to have a noticeable effect.
“Want to attack me? Want to rip my throat out like Bing tried? Huh? Huh?” Poke, poke, poke.
Yeah, he did, but he wasn’t stupid. No way could he take on Megamouth physically, and he didn’t have the ability to do a surprise shift. So he went where he always did when threatened: chemistry.
“I’m going to put methylene blue in your Gatorade and stain your teeth. I’m going to put sodium iodide and hydrogen peroxide in your toilet and wait for the next time you flush. And if you don’t take the hint, then maybe I’ll make sure that whatever the fuck solution I have to your plasma fire problem doesn’t work for you. And maybe then we’ll get a teacher who knows how to teach.”
It took a moment for his words to sink in, but when they did, Megamouth lost his snide grin. It faded slowly until it was replaced with a cold, dark stare. “You’re threatening the life of a packmate?”
“I don’t see a pack here. And believe me, if I did, I wouldn’t be part of yours.”
“That’s right,” he replied. “Because I wouldn’t have you in mine. And for damn sure I’m not going to trust any tech you give me.”
“Exactly—”
“Which means you can’t trust any order I give you, any mission I send you on, or even any training scenario you land in.” He gripped Josh’s chin and tilted it up, forcing Josh to stare him in the eye. “A pack survives on trust, and you’ve just proven yourself too much of a whiny child to be worthy of it.”
Josh tried to rip his face out of the guy’s meaty fist, but the bastard’s grip was too strong. He had a dozen smartass things to say back, but he couldn’t move his jaw enough to say them. And right when he thought he might manage a garbled “Fuck you, asswipe,” Megamouth shoved him away.
“Maybe you’ll grow up after another run. Go!”
Josh wasn’t going anywhere. He was done with—
A sharp nip at his heels had him jumping sideways in surprise. It was Nero, standing between him and the mansion. And when Josh made to go into the house with everyone else, Nero snapped at him again. The bastard made it clear that Josh wasn’t going anywhere but on his run. Josh tried to feint left or right, but it didn’t work. Even a small dog was faster than him, and Nero was a huge wolf.
So Josh stood still. He’d be damned if—
“Ow!”
Nero bit his kneecap. And it wasn’t a light bite either. He’d drawn blood!
“What the—ow!”
Another nip, this time on the other knee. And when Nero came at him again, Josh had no choice but to shy backward. Which meant Nero could advance. Another nip, which Josh tried to block. He got a bloody forearm for his trouble. And before he could recover, Nero bloodied his thigh, a half inch above the other cut.
It was the triumph of brawn over brains, the whole fucking story of his childhood. Josh had no choice but to stumble backward or lose more blood. And the longer Josh refused to run forward, the more he was jumping backward to avoid getting bitten. So he could do the whole run in backward hops or turn around and run straight.
He ran. And with every step on his numb feet, he cursed Megamouth, Nero, and even Captain M, who had abdicated her responsibility by leaving a psychopath in charge. He let the hatred boil through him—for at least fifteen minutes. But that could only last him so long, and it took too much energy to maintain his fury.
So he switched to plotting revenge. For him, that took no effort at all.