Viktor ended up opening the store for the afternoon. Tommy and Natasha were sleeping at home, and despite the entire situation, an odd sense of calm washed over him. They were safe. Those who belonged to him were safe. Some of his anger at his sister had eased. He couldn’t entirely fault her logic. Considering the timing of their theft, she and Tommy obviously prevented a knight from getting the scroll. If rumor was true, Arcas already had one, and should he get his murderous hands on this one, then he would be halfway to completing the weapon. Natasha and Tommy had certainly bought shifters everywhere some time. But Viktor was under no illusions. Arcas would come for the scroll. His goal was to eradicate shapeshifters, and according to legend and myth, those scrolls were his best way to do it.
As a few customers milled around his small shop, Viktor‘s mind raced with fearful possibilities. He was also under no illusions the Agency would give up either. He was sure they meant well, but he wasn’t inclined to trust secret organizations. Perhaps it was the Russian in him. His father remembered the time before and after the Soviet Union fell. He claimed nothing really changed. Secret police existed everywhere.
Viktor shook his head at such thoughts and tried to turn his mind to some paperwork he’d put aside because of the conference. But his mind wouldn’t focus. It circled around to a certain Greek god named Agent Pan. He scowled at himself. They’d parted on good terms after their weekend of fun. And if Viktor wanted something more from Pan—he swore that wasn’t his name at the time—that was his own damn fault. And maybe he’d thought of Pan during a few lonely, sleepless nights, but he had no one to blame but himself. Pan made it quite clear up front that it was nothing but a tryst. A fling. He wouldn’t settle down. No, Pan actually said he couldn’t settle down. Viktor now knew why. The Agency was an agent’s sole purpose in life. They were soldiers for life. Not that Viktor wanted a mate… much. He’d long ago given up on pursuing a mate, seeing himself as too cynical and stubborn. A curmudgeon, as Natasha once called him. He wasn’t lovable. And yet… to have a lifetime like that one weekend? Men killed for a lot less.
His inner hawk fluttered with irritation, and he roughly pushed aside the stray thought his twin spirit sent him. He didn’t often argue with his hawk, but the hawk seemed insistent on pointing out something that simply couldn’t be true. His hawk claimed there was a reason he’d felt so cruddy for so long, ever since he parted ways with Pan.
True mates? Viktor scoffed. He didn’t believe in such things. It was just a fairy tale bird shifters told themselves. His father claimed he and his mother were true mates. Look how that turned out.
As if his thoughts acted as a conjuring spell, the bell above his door tinkled, and Viktor looked up. Agent Pan walked right in, as casually as you please. Viktor’s entire body tensed with a combination of irritation and lust. But Pan didn’t once look at him. Instead he walked around the shelves and tables, and Viktor got the sense he was actually looking at them. Viktor settled back in his chair and waited for Agent Pan to make his move.
It took about an hour. Viktor helped a handful of customers, and soon it was only the two of them in the store. Throughout most of the hour, Pan kept himself nose deep in a book, his eyes moving rapidly as he scanned the pages. But when the last customer left, Pan lowered the book and walked to the front door. He flipped over the Open sign, locked the door, and pulled down the curtain. Only then did he turn and approach the table with a cautious smile on his pretty face.
Pan set the book on the table and stuck his hands into his jacket pockets. “I’d like to buy this. And we should talk. It seems to me we got off on the wrong foot this morning.”
“There is no right foot when you are unwanted.” His hawk pecked at him. This was ridiculous. Why was his hawk so intent on believing a lie?
Pan’s smile flickered slightly, and Viktor hated that he felt regret. But not one to pass up a sale, Viktor took Pan’s money and sold him the book.
“I like your store, by the way.” Pan looked around again. “I was always into old things. Especially myths and legends and such.” Pan returned his gaze to Viktor’s face. “I suppose it’s the Spartan in me.”
Viktor raised an eyebrow despite himself. Did they have this conversation before? Three years ago? It seemed familiar.
Pan smirked. “Apparently I’m descended from those famous warriors of Sparta. Isn’t that a kick in the ass? A lot to live up to, if you ask me. Though I agree with their sentiments on war.”
“What sentiments?” Viktor said before he reminded himself he shouldn’t get too chummy with Pan. Again. But he had an odd sense of déjà vu.
“A good death.” Pan shrugged. “They were all about gaining a valiant death on the battlefield. It was their highest honor. I mean, sure, they were brutal jerks who owned slaves and took everything by force, but who wasn’t at the time?” Pan paused. “Right, I forgot. You haven’t seen that movie 300.”
Viktor shook his head. “Nyet. I prefer black-and-white movies.”
Pan grinned, and it simply lit up his face. “I remember. We watched some Hitchcock movies during… well, then.”
Viktor smiled at the shared memory before he stopped himself. He quickly pulled his face into a scowl and stood, towering over Pan. Pan was of average height and obviously toned, but as usual, Viktor commanded the room.
“Let me make this easy on both of us,” Viktor said. “You want scroll. I tell you it is safe. Now you may go.”
“Look—”
“I want no dealings with Agency. I will have no dealings with secret police.”
Pan looked stunned for a moment. “Dude. We are not the KGB or the fucking Gestapo or freaking Hydra.”
Viktor blinked, confused. “What? Who?”
Pan sighed heavily. “Marvel is so over your head if you haven’t watched a movie filmed in the last fifty years.”
“Marvel?” Viktor narrowed his eyes in thought. “You mean the superhero movies everyone is in love with?”
“Yep.”
“Nyet. I have no interest.”
Pan shook his head in apparent defeat. “Viktor, listen to me. The Agency protects, and sure, we keep secrets. But we keep shifter secrets. Who do you think cleans up shifter activity that gets a little too public? Who keeps videos off the web of reckless shifting and juvenile pranks? And do we ever ask for a thank-you?”
His insulted tone had Viktor feeling chagrined.
“If you want to compare anyone to Stalin or Hitler, use Arcas.”
“Depends on perspective. One man’s savior is another’s persecutor.” He’d learned that from his father.
Pan sighed again, and some of his mask slipped. “Viktor.”
Viktor met his gaze.
“We aren’t your enemy,” Pan said calmly. “Not me. Not the Agency. We know each other. A little. Enough for you to know you can trust me. And through me, the Agency. Or did I make such a bad impression before?”
“Nyet,” Viktor said quickly, realizing he was trying to reassure Pan. Then he shook his head. “This is not before. This is now. We are strangers.”
Pan swallowed hard. Then his mask was suddenly there again, and Viktor had a nagging suspicion it was to cover up pain. He felt like a jerk.
“Okay, then. We’ll be professional. I have a job to do, a mission to complete. I have bosses to answer to.”
Viktor thought of Glory. He too had someone to answer to. He hadn’t found the nerve to contact her yet. He called himself a coward.
“I cannot help you with that. I will not give you scroll.” Viktor crossed his arms over his chest.
Pan spread his hands, and his expression showed concern. “Viktor, please listen to me. I don’t know what Natasha or Tommy have told you, but let me give you the facts. The right-hand man of Arcas himself, Gregor, led two other knights in a hunt for the scroll you now have in your possession. He’s on a mission, and you’re standing in his way. Need I tell you what happened when a wolf pack stood in his way just days ago?”
Viktor slowly shook his head.
“Do you really want Natasha or Tommy to be harmed or killed?”
Viktor’s gut tightened at the mere thought.
“You know Jin and I aren’t here to cause trouble,” Pan said, pressing. “We want to help. We want to protect you and Natasha and Tommy, as well the scroll. Let us.”
“I need no protection.” The very thought was insulting. “You deal with knights. They are your problem. I deal with scroll. That is shifter problem.”
“It’s everyone’s problem,” Pan said sharply, his eyes beginning to burn with irritation. Viktor was strangely pleased to evoke such a strong reaction in someone with an impressive poker face. Then again, he certainly didn’t have his poker face on when he writhed and gasped in bed, pinned under Viktor.
Stop it!
“This world isn’t divided into them and us, Viktor.” Pan met his eyes, strength and courage showing in his own. “We are one family. Fae, human, and shapeshifter alike. The Knights have forgotten that. Must shifters as well?”
“I—”
“If one family perishes, we all do,” Pan said firmly. “That’s what I believe. That’s what all agents believe. It’s why we do what we do.”
Viktor stared at Pan, at his beautiful face, his dark, smoldering eyes, and felt his muscles loosen. His hawk cooed with interest and, dammit, affection. That fire in Pan wasn’t faked. He truly believed what he said. But while his intentions might be pure and good, it didn’t mean all the Agency’s was. Viktor remembered Pan’s blunt honesty three years ago and the trust they shared as their activities became more… intense and experimental.
“Look,” Pan said, taking obvious breaths. “Gregor escaped capture. I know he’s still after the scroll, and he’ll kill anyone who gets in his way. He knows what Tommy and Natasha look like. He knows Jin and me and what our abilities are. He’s a fanatic, a true believer of Arcas. We also think he’s Arcas’s lover.”
Viktor frowned. “Why do you tell me this?”
“So you will trust me.” The passion in Pan’s voice conjured his memories once again. Viktor’s cock stirred with interest and pushed uncomfortably against his slacks. “Trust me a little. At least enough to drop some of the hostility. Just talk to me.”
Viktor knew himself to be stubborn, but he wasn’t stupid. His gut, his memories, and his hawk’s instinct, all of them told him he could trust Pan. And the fact of the matter was he wanted to trust Pan. He never thought Pan would enter his life again. It was as if, in an odd way, he’d been given a second chance.
Caution, hawk.
Viktor nodded and sat down in his chair. “What do you wish to know?”
Pan blew out a breath and surprised Viktor by coming around the desk and sitting on the edge, facing him. “Is there anything you can tell me about the scrolls?”
Viktor hesitated. Secrecy was ingrained, but the longer he stared at Pan, the more he wanted to share. It was just like before. Pan tugged at him in a way he’d never felt before, and he wasn’t sure if he liked it or not. But it was there all the same.
His hawk nudged at him again. True mate. Bullshit. That didn’t exist. His parents were proof of that.
“What do you know of scrolls?”
Pan’s mouth twitched. “Okay, fine. I’ll go first. The info the Agency has is mostly vague, but we have a few specifics. The scrolls were made centuries ago and entrusted to bird shifters. Only bird shifters. The scrolls were always to be kept separate. If anyone got a hold of all four, then they could unleash some weapon that would destroy all shapeshifters and even the world. The Agency has a few records of who had what scroll when. Apparently in the late 1700s, a falcon shifter from Egypt ended up with two. But when he traveled to the US, the ship capsized, and he lost both scrolls in the drink. The scrolls were then entrusted to shark shifters who guarded them until the 1970s. One scroll was discovered and fell into the hands of Diana Knight, Arcas’s mother, but the other was lost in the sea. Well, until now, that is. You have that one.”
“And the others?” Viktor, in fact, didn’t know any of the more recent events. He was eager to learn more.
Pan shrugged. “We suspect one of the scrolls might be in Haven, Montana. But we’ve yet to confirm that. And as to the fourth… we don’t have any leads.”
Viktor nodded. Haven was a town founded by shifters for shifters back in the late 1700s. It was supposedly founded by the master wolf shifter, Imelda. Viktor knew it to be fact. Glory knew of Imelda, though they rarely contacted each other.
“Fun fact,” Pan said. “We have some sources that claim Haven was not only founded by Imelda, but also the falcon shifter who originally owned the scroll you now have locked away somewhere.” Pan raised an eyebrow. “Your turn.”
Viktor’s mouth twitched. He leaned back in his chair, considering Pan. After a moment of silence, Pan huffed out a breath.
“You haven’t gone all stoic on me, have you? Fair’s fair. Dish, hawk.”
Viktor snorted at Pan’s tone. “I can easily chuck you out window, and yet you take attitude with me.”
“Damn right I do,” Pan said on a laugh. He blatantly looked Viktor over and nodded. “Yeah, you’re certainly beefy enough to chuck me headlong out the window. But I’m not so easy to catch. Unless I want to be.” Pan’s smile changed, and Viktor’s cock strained harder against his slacks. “Maybe you should be nice to me, and I might let myself be caught.”
Viktor’s stomach jumped. His hands twitched to grab Pan and devour that sensual mouth, to nibble once again on those full lips. His slacks suddenly felt far too tight, and he took careful breaths through his nose.
Pan chuckled as if he knew what he’d done.
“Seems I remember you like games,” Viktor said in a low voice.
Pan wiggled his eyebrows. “So did you, especially when I was the prize.”
Viktor cleared his throat. “You are awful.”
Pan grinned. “I know. Now come on. I showed you mine. Show me yours.”
Viktor chuckled, unable to control himself. “Always so needy.”
“You liked it when I was needy.”
Viktor had to look away from that inviting grin to keep from kissing Pan. Kissing would inevitably lead to something else.
“Where is your partner?” Viktor asked.
Pan raised an eyebrow. “Jin? He’s on the street somewhere, covertly keeping an eye out. He’ll text me if something happens.”
Viktor nodded. He glanced at the door, then back at Pan. He considered him and decided trust had to be a two-way street. Wasn’t that what he kept telling himself concerning Natasha and Tommy? He thought about his charges and where they slept back home, safe and sound. Pan and Jin had brought Tommy home, and though he didn’t have the story out of Tommy yet, he now suspected they had protected him.
Pan wasn’t the enemy. If done right, he didn’t even have to be an opponent. He could be an ally.
“You’re worried about them,” Pan said gently.
Viktor knew who he meant. “Da.”
Pan deliberately reached out and gripped Viktor’s shoulder. The touch seemed to electrify his body, going all the way to his core. Viktor remembered how those hands felt skimming over his body. He’d tried to keep physical contact at a minimum, but now he wanted more.
He cleared his throat again as Pan looked him dead in the eye. “I promise you right now that Jin and I will make sure nothing happens to them. Whatever the Knights fling at us, whatever decision is made about the scroll, I want you to know that they will not be collateral damage.”
Viktor’s eyes widened at the ferocious glint in Pan’s dark gaze. “Why?”
Pan dropped his hand and sat back. He lifted his chin. “I’m an agent. It’s my mission, my duty, and my reason for being. On a more personal note, I think shifters are beautiful and sexy, and the world would be a damn boring place without them.”
Viktor’s jaw dropped.
Pan smirked again. “Yes, I knew you were a shifter when I hit on you in that bar. I didn’t know what kind until now, though.”
“How did you know?”
“I’ve been with the Agency for my entire adult life.” Pan shrugged. “I know shifters. I like shifters. One family, remember? So you going to trust me or not?”
Pan was just as blunt as ever. Viktor moved slightly in his chair, trying to relieve the pressure in his groin. It didn’t work. His hawk wanted to mate. His hawk wanted to pin Pan to the table and ravish him until they both screamed. He had a feeling Pan wouldn’t mind.
“I will trust you,” Viktor said hesitantly. “But do you flirt to get me to trust you?”
“I flirt because I remember how fun our weekend was three years ago.” Pan smiled easily. “I flirt because I still find you sexy. But we can’t let that—or our erections—distract us from the more important issues.”
Viktor blinked several times before he glanced at Pan’s crotch. Because he knew what to look for, he discovered the bulge. Now the subtle scent of Pan’s arousal drifted on the air. At least he wasn’t the only one in discomfort. But Pan was right. They needed to focus.
“What can you tell me about the scrolls that I don’t already know?” Pan asked.
Viktor sat up in his chair and ruthlessly pushed aside the image of Pan’s naked legs wrapped around his waist. He also wanted to tug Pan’s hair loose and tangle his fingers in the soft strands.
“You know much of what I know,” he said. “But I did not know about shipwreck or Arcas’s mother. I tell you what my father told me.”
Pan nodded.
“The scrolls were created in a time before recorded history. The time before the pyramids and before the Sumerian civilization.”
Pan blinked. “Whoa.”
Viktor nodded. “It was the time of Merlin.”
Pan whistled. “The master shifter of all shapes.”
“Da. The scrolls were made during his early life. The weapon was locked away and the scrolls created as keys.”
“Any idea what the weapon is exactly?”
Viktor paused. “There is someone I know, a knowledgeable source, who believes it is a creature.”
Pan frowned and tilted his head. “A creature? Not a disease or something?”
“A creature. A beast that can spread infection.”
“A parasite?”
“Nyet. The source does not know for sure but says it is like a beast of rage, held securely in a prison. The scrolls are the keys.”
“Fuck.” Pan ran his fingers through his hair, tugging strands out of his ponytail. “And Arcas wants that beast. But how can he control—” Pan’s eyes suddenly widened. “Oh fuck.”
“What?” Concerned at Pan’s sudden paleness, Viktor stood and gripped his shoulder to steady him.
“I’m fine. Just… all this at once. And I think some pieces of this shitty puzzle fell into place.”
“I do not understand.”
Pan looked up at him. “And I can’t say. Not right now. Still have to mull it over. Anything else you can tell me?”
Viktor wanted to press but told himself to trust. It needed to start somewhere. He took his hand away reluctantly but stayed standing.
“The scrolls were not created by shifters. It was a… you call them fae? Da, a fae, an ancestor of your people, who created the scrolls and the prison. Then she—my source says it was a female—gave the scrolls to four different bird shifters. They separated and the guardianship began.”
Pan frowned, his eyes glazing over in thought. Viktor watched him curiously. The dark slacks and jacket were well-fitted and showed off a lithe form Viktor knew was rigorously maintained. There was fierce intelligence and dogged determination showing in those chocolate eyes, and Viktor couldn’t help but admire them. He’d noticed it before, but the different circumstances allowed him to see parts of Pan hidden three years ago. Having Pan as an ally wouldn’t be horrible. He was certainly dependable.
“I gotta tell Jin what we discussed,” Pan said as he stood. “We need to come up with a plan. I don’t know where Gregor is, and that worries me. I also don’t know if there are any knights in Portland. If there are, Gregor might have contacted them. They could be looking for us.”
Viktor’s gut tightened. “You and Jin?”
“And Tommy and Natasha. Gregor got a look at them, remember.”
Viktor’s skin rippled, and his hawk flapped its wings, ready to tear free and gouge out some eyes.
“Hey.” Pan reached out and gripped his arms. “Easy. Just be careful. Don’t let Tommy or Natasha out until Jin and I come up with a plan. Okay? Please?”
Viktor forced himself to ease down. “I want to blame you for bringing knights here. But I know this is Natasha’s doing. She is headstrong and impertinent.”
Pan grinned. “Seems to run in the family.”
Viktor grunted.
“Don’t be too hard on her, Viktor. She and Tommy did a good job. Without them the scroll would be with Gregor. Arcas would have half of what he needs.”
“Da. I know.”
Pan let go, and Viktor missed the connection.
“Can you tell me, at least, if the scroll is indeed safe?” Pan asked.
Viktor nodded.
Pan blew out a breath. “Perfect. Okay. I’ll be in touch.”
He grabbed his book and turned to leave, and Viktor already missed his presence. Foolishness. Viktor was not one for foolishness. But look at that ass! It had fit so well in his hands.
“Be careful,” he said before he could stop himself.
Pan looked back as he reached the door. He gave Viktor a crooked smile. “I didn’t sign up with the Agency to be careful.”
“You cannot protect Tommy and Natasha if you are dead.”
“True. Okay. I’ll be careful for them.” Pan unlocked and opened the door. But then he turned back again. “And for you. I still think you’re hot.”
He startled Viktor by blowing a kiss. Then Pan closed the door, and silence reigned in the store. Viktor ran his hand over his short hair, puzzled and horny. If they lived through whatever was coming their way, he might have to convince Pan to give them another shot.
Jin gave Pan an expectant look after they reached their hotel and shut the door. They’d already swept the place for bugs—habit—and knew it to be safe. The short walk back had helped Pan organize his thoughts and bottle up his emotions again. The walk also helped to work off his erection. Despite the seriousness of the situation, Pan wanted to straddle Viktor’s lap and ride both of them into oblivion.
Pan gently set the book down on the table by his bed. It was already one of his prized possessions.
“He’s willing to trust us. Grudgingly.” Pan sat on the edge of the table as he had in Viktor’s shop. “He gave me some more details about the scrolls.” He then proceeded to inform Jin about their possible origin and Viktor’s source, who claimed the weapon wasn’t a thing, but a creature.
Jin’s eyebrows beetled over his dark eyes. Pan easily read his look.
“Yeah. I know. Arcas’s mind-control experiments. The ones we know of, anyway.”
“Xavier,” Jin said.
Pan nodded. About a year ago, a fellow agent had captured what they thought to be a rogue wolf shifter. The wolf had killed other shifters in a countrywide murder spree. But once they captured him, they realized someone messed with his mind. Either with magic or science, or perhaps both, the Knights managed to disconnect his wolf spirit from his human spirit and turn his wolf into a monster. Pan didn’t understand all of it, but the point was, the wolf shifter named Xavier had been controlled by Arcas like a mindless pet. With the help of Josh, a former Agency aide now turned his mate, Xavier managed to break free from the control. But the fact was Arcas had, for a time, controlled him.
Then there was the suspicion that Xavier wasn’t the only one messed with. There might be others, ordered to harm family members of chosen recruits. The Knights wanted their members to hate shifters, and what better way than to have a shifter kill someone they loved? They hadn’t found proof of that yet, however.
“We have to be missing something.” Pan rubbed his chin.
Jin nodded.
“If Arcas gets all the scrolls and unlocks the prison, what then? Yeah, okay, maybe he can control the ancient beast or whatever it is. But how is one beast going to kill all shifters? Viktor said his source claimed the beast can spread disease. It’s like a rage beast or something. You think that’s a metaphor? Rage beast that infects others. It sounds like one.”
Jin sighed softly, showing fatigue for the first time since the mission began. He walked over and sat on the table next to Pan, nudging him slightly to make him scoot over. They sat side by side, and Pan suspected Jin felt as out of his depth as he did. Hunting down knights and infiltrating compounds was one thing. He could understand that. But ancient scrolls, magic, and rage monsters? He suddenly knew what Dorothy must have felt like when she landed in Oz, only they didn’t have a neat yellow brick road to guide them to the end.
In a rare show of exhaustion and vulnerability, Pan rested his head on Jin’s shoulder. Jin tilted his head, pressing his cheek against Pan’s hair.
“I can’t handle another massacre, Jin,” Pan said quietly. He closed his eyes tightly for a moment, remembering the dead wolves, the scent of smoke, and the cries of pain. The battle with Gregor. “We can’t let anyone else die. This has to stop.”
Jin rubbed his cheek against Pan’s hair, wordlessly showing his agreement and support.
“Objective remains the same,” Jin said.
Pan sighed. “Agreed.”
“Write up your report so far.” Jin gently pushed Pan aside and stood. “I will write mine.”
Just like any other investigating or enforcement organization, there were reports on everything. Every assignment and every incident needed to be written, coded, and cataloged. Field agents especially had an obligation to record everything they did and said. Exposure was always a risk, and the Agency strove hard to make sure that, just like the shifters they protected, their organizations and activities remained hidden from the general populace. No one wanted another witch hunt, and it would only take one well-timed phone or iPad recording to expose them all to capture, imprisonment, and experimentation. Since the Knights felt the same way about exposure, the war continued underground and in the shadows, just out of eyesight of vanilla humans.
Pan hopped down and reached for his bag and iPad. “Then can we eat?”
“You’re always hungry.”
Pan suddenly thought of Viktor, naked and hung. He murmured, “For one thing or another.”