Cynful

Chapter Eight

“So.”

Julian smirked into his coffee cup. “So?”

The cousins exchanged an amused glance. Gabe had caught up with them outside LA and declared he would watch the shop while the three of them grabbed a quick breakfast. It had been either that or watch while Glory eviscerated her mate with a tattoo needle. As entertaining as the second would’ve been, they’d all agreed pancakes were the better option.

Julian shrugged. “She’s mine.” Did he really need to say anything else?

Ryan snorted. “Tell me you didn’t actually say that to Cyn.”

Julian shrugged. Hell no, he wasn’t that stupid, but there was no way he was saying that in front of two Grizzlies. A man had some pride after all.

“And you lived to tell the tale?” Ryan shook his head. “Damn. Maybe I should just bare fang on Glory and see what happens.”

Julian almost choked on his coffee. “Your gonads would wind up dangling from one of her charm bracelets.”

“Ouch.” Alex grabbed the cantaloupe, smacking Ryan’s hands away. “You get the green melon thingies.”

“I like the yellow melon thingies better.”

The cousins glared at each other.

“If you two start bitch slapping each other over cantaloupe I’m not going to tell you what I learned from Chloe.”

They immediately focused on him. Alex immediately scowled, the mere mention of his cousin causing the big Grizzly’s protective instincts to go into overdrive. “Tell us what?”

Ryan’s expression turned grim. “Someone’s going to attack Glory, aren’t they?”

Julian shook his head. “If I knew why they’d gone after Cyn, I’d be able to say whether or not Glory is in danger as well.”

“Then we assume all three of them are in danger and go with that.” Alex picked at the fruit. “I won’t lose either of them; it would kill Tabby. She’s already telling the baby stories about Aunt Glory and Aunt Cyn. Some of them are even rated PG.”

“Agreed.” Ryan sat back with a grunt. He ignored the huge stack of waffles in front of him turning limp in the sea of syrup he’d poured over them. “I need to claim my mate.”

“Yeah, you do.” Alex pointed at Julian. “So do you. And you need to tell us what you learned.”

Julian sighed. He had no idea how the two of them would react to Bear’s message. “Two becomes one, one becomes three. Bear knows the way, but Fox holds the key.”

They sat there and stared at him expectantly.

Julian shrugged and drank his coffee. He didn’t have to wait long before Ryan lost patience. “That’s it? That’s why you had us get up at the ass-crack of dawn?”

He glared at Ryan, his eyes flashing silver. “You mean other than the attack on my mate?”

“Well, yeah, but… It’s eight a.m.!”

“Let me guess, long night sitting outside Glory’s window?”

“Exactly.” Ryan looked horrified. “You could have emailed me that.”

“But then I wouldn’t see your lovely face so bright and early.” Julian batted his lashes at Ryan, grinning when the Grizzly grumbled and finally attacked his waffles. “Seriously, when Bear delivers a message like that, it means he wants us to pay attention. You have syrup on your cheek, by the way.”

“How did I get stuck sitting next to you?” Ryan scrubbed the syrup away, but Julian could tell his heart really wasn’t in it. The threat to his mate was scrambling his good humor.

Alex’s focus remained on Julian. “What do you think it means? The message was meant for you, right?”

“I’m not sure.” Julian tapped his finger on the rim of his coffee cup. “But Chloe got the same message from Fox.”

“She did? She didn’t mention it to me.” Ryan put his napkin down and picked his fork back up.

“Maybe because someone’s been a Crappy Chris lately.”

This time Ryan snorted, but didn’t respond, due to his mouth being full of waffles. But his death glare was pretty good.

“Don’t you mean Grumpy Gus?” Alex’s brows rose as he stared at the two of them in confusion.

“If I did, I would’ve said that.” Alex rolled his eyes, but let it go. “Chloe made it a point to mention that Fox was specific in that two becomes one, not two become one.”

Alex froze. “Two becomes one, with an s?”

“Yes.” Julian was worried. Alex’s eyes had turned dark brown. “Why?”

“When two becomes one, what does that mean?”

Ryan cursed softly. “Someone loses a mate.”

Julian shook his head. “The loss of a mate would mean the death of the remaining mate, remember?”

Alex grimaced. “Unless the shifter either has more than one mate, or it wasn’t a true mating.”

“There aren’t that many shifters who have more than one mate.” Ryan shoved what looked like half a Belgian waffle in his mouth.

“Wolves, Lions and Coyotes can have more than one mate. Other than that, I can’t think of any.” Julian waved their waitress over. He needed more caffeine before he dealt with everything going on. He’d have to call and leave Tai a message again. The Kermode hadn’t called him back yet. Julian was beginning to worry. Could Cyn have really ticked Tai off that much?

“You say Chloe got the message too?” Alex grinned, and it wasn’t a nice one. “Perhaps that means she’s the one who will get two mates?”

Julian shook his head. “No. I’m pretty sure Chloe isn’t the one. Neither am I.” And thank Bear for that. Julian had no need for a second mate. His Cyn was more than enough for him. Besides, once she was marked and changed her mating instinct would kick in and she’d eat anyone who came between them.

“Then who?” Ryan’s voice was beginning to rumble, his Grizzly close to surfacing.

“Two becomes one. It might not have anything to do with mates. We could be completely off base.” Alex ate the last bit of cantaloupe, rolling his eyes when his cousin snarled. “It could mean anything, really. When two becomes one, it means they join, right? So that means that when two becomes one, they separate. So what separates?”

“Eggs. Old mayonnaise. The Schwarzeneggers.” Ryan blinked as they stared at him. “What?”

“But then one becomes three.” Julian poured sugar into his coffee, ignoring the grimaces of distaste on their faces. So he liked it on the sweet side. Did Ryan really have to gag like that?

“Could it be chemistry? Or atoms, or something like that?” Ryan picked up his own mug of pure black coffee and took a sip, sighing in satisfaction.

“It could.” But Julian didn’t think so. Something told him this had to do with shifters somehow. He just couldn’t see the connection yet. “By the way, Gabe wants us to think about the possibility that whoever is after Cyn could be associated with the people who were originally after Tabby.”

“Well, isn’t that just fucking great? I’d hoped I was wrong about that.” Alex shoved his empty plates away with a rough sigh. “Who the hell stood over my cradle and cursed me to live in interesting times?”

Ryan’s expression was distracted, as if he hadn’t heard a word they’d said. “So what else separates then rejoins, other than people and chemicals?” Ryan shoved the last of the waffles into his mouth. He’d decimated a stack that would choke a horse in four bites. Julian wasn’t sure if he should be impressed or horrified.

“Seriously, Ryan, you have mating on the brain.” Alex grabbed his own plate and attacked the scrambled eggs. “Just bite her already. It worked for me, didn’t it?”

Ryan’s eyes darted to something just over Alex’s shoulder. “You think so?” Julian smothered his laughter as he saw what, or rather who, Ryan was staring at, a bag filled with take-out boxes in her hand.

“Oh, yeah.” Alex sat back with a self-satisfied smirk on his face. “I haven’t heard a single complaint yet. Tabby recognizes who’s the boss.”

“Really?” A soft, feminine voice with a deep southern drawl caused Alex’s face to freeze. “You think you’re the boss of me, sugar?”

“Shit.” Alex dropped his fork, paling at the sound of boot heels tapping on linoleum.

“Busted,” Ryan snickered, stealing Alex’s last bit of bacon as the big Grizzly turned to face his mate.

“Hey, baby.” Alex was out of his seat so fast Julian could’ve blinked and missed it.

“Don’t ‘hey baby’ me, Alex.”

“Aw, come on, don’t be that way.” Alex reached for Tabby, but she danced out of the way. “I didn’t mean it like that.”

“I think you meant it exactly the way you said it.” Tabby batted at Alex’s hands. “Don’t think you’re going to get out of this by being cute.”

Alex pouted. Even Julian had to agree that Alex was damn cute when he pouted. He really did look like a giant teddy bear. “Aw, come on.”

Tabby turned on her heel and started to walk out of the restaurant. “Hmph.”

“Tabby!” Alex ran after his mate, leaving his cousin and Julian to pay the bill.

“That was almost worth how much this is going to cost me.” Julian waved the waitress over as Ryan doubled over and laughed his ass off. “Check, please!”

“Thinks he’s the boss of me, huh?” Tabby was damn near growling, her eyes flickering back and forth between their normal deep brown and her Wolf’s gold. “Just kidding, my ass.”

Glory tilted her head. She looked completely innocent, so Cyn knew something outrageous was about to pop out of her mouth. “But I thought non-Alpha Wolves liked being submissive and stuff like that.”

Tabby snarled, and—

—were those fangs? Someone was cranky today.

Cyn rolled her eyes and pointed to a chair. “Down, girl. Sit. Stay.”

“Yeah, no eating the coworkers,” Glory snickered. “It’s bad for business.”

“Glory? Shut the hell up.” Seriously. What was she going to do with these two? They had been rubbing each other the wrong way all day. Cyn was ready to boot both their asses out the door.

“You know what we need?” Glory spun in her chair, her head tilted back as she stared up at the ceiling.

“New shoes?” Tabby’s expression lightened at the thought of going shopping.

“Only if they’re dancing shoes.” Glory’s expression was positively wicked as she stared at Cyn and Tabby. “When was the last time we drove into Harrisburg for a night out on the town?”

“Do we dare?” Tabby nibbled her thumbnail, a sure sign she was tempted to do something she probably shouldn’t. “With everything that’s going on it might not be the safest thing to do.”

“We could always ask the boys to join us.” Cyn wouldn’t mind dancing the night away in Julian’s arms. Just the way the boy walked made her drool. Being on the dance floor was a whole other experience, one that should probably be illegal in several states.

Glory was already shaking her head. “Oh hell no. There is no way Ryan is horning in on my girls’ night out.”

Cyn had an idea. She began rubbing her finger on the glass counter. Something had to be done about Ryan and Glory before they drove her completely insane. “It’s the perfect opportunity to make him crazy.”

“He already is crazy.” Glory was mumbling, but that evil pixie sparkle was starting to appear in her eyes. She probably had a clue where Cyn was going with this, or at least thought she did.

Tabby coughed, hiding a grin behind her fist. “It could be fun. Think about it. You in a short skirt and a teeny top, out on the dance floor, surrounded by men. Dancing with everyone but him.” Thank God Tabby had caught on quickly. She, too, was getting tired of the way Glory was dancing around her attraction to Ryan. She never gave anyone this level of shit unless she was interested. “I don’t think he’s ever seen you in a club, has he? Every time he’s been around you you’ve been in your mystic geek gear.”

Glory frowned and picked at the beads on her skirt. Her head was down, but Cyn could just make out the evil little smirk on her face. “You’re right. I don’t think he has.”

“And nobody says we have to tell him where we’re going.”

Tabby shared a grin with Cyn. “Just because we tell Julian and Alex…” She left it like that, knowing full well neither Julian nor Alex would leave Ryan in the dark about this little expedition.

“Nocturne?” Cyn named their favorite hangout in Harrisburg. It had been months since they’d been there.

Glory looked up through her bangs, her expression at once both innocent and sinister. Glory was the only one Cyn had ever met who could pull that look off and have it be totally believable. “Doesn’t Cyn’s ex-boyfriend bartend there now? The really hot one with the ripped abs and the to-die-for blue eyes?”

Cyn waved her hand dismissively. Her ex-boyfriend wasn’t an issue. He wouldn’t bother trying to start anything with her. And if Glory tried to start something with him Ryan would take care of it. “Old news. I’ll be bringing the latest headline along, so it shouldn’t be a problem.”

Tabby was practically gnawing her finger through. “You think we should check with Gabe, make sure this is safe?”

“Good idea. Why don’t you give him a call and tell him what we’re thinking of doing.” The bell over the door jangled, and Cyn turned with a smile to greet the customer. “Welcome to Living Art Tattoos. What can we help you with?”

Ryan and Alex escorted Chloe and Heather into the shop, and Cyn grinned. From the chastised look on Alex’s face, it was going to be an interesting visit.

She smiled at the ladies, hiding her wince at Chloe’s shorn hair. When it grew in it would be like a really cute pixie cut, but until it did the thin trace of her scars would be obvious. “What can I do for you ladies?”

Heather and Chloe exchanged a glance and both began talking at once. Cyn leaned back and enjoyed the vivacious chatter of the cousins as both girls became excited over the thought of matching, two-tailed kitsune tattoos.

At least her life was never boring.

Julian stared at the phone as if it was going to reach out and bite him in the ass. “You want to do what where now?”

“Dancing.” The duh tone of Cyn’s voice was obvious. “It’s that thing you do when you move your body to music and pray you don’t look like a total spaz like that woman on the Seinfeld reruns.”

He sighed heavily and brought the phone back to his ear. “Sweetheart, did you clear this with Gabe?”

“I had the Stupid tattoo removed from my forehead a long time ago, Jules. He says we should be all right as long as we bring you guys with us and keep him informed if anything happens.”

He thought over his schedule for the following day and realized he didn’t have to be in work until the afternoon. “Sounds fun then. I’m in.”

“Excellent.”

“I don’t suppose you could wear the Sailor Mars outfit just for me?”

“I’m planning on wearing something even better.”

His heart nearly stopped even as his cock sprang to attention. “There’s something better?” Man, his voice hadn’t cracked like that since he was thirteen.

“Think leather. Tight leather.” She chuckled, low and rough and so very Cyn. “Don’t whimper like that, you’ll get to see it tonight.”

Damn. She’d heard. “But tonight is so very far away.”

“Don’t pout, Care Bear. Maybe tonight I’ll rub your tummy symbol.”

If he were a canine he’d have been panting. “I’m going to hold you to that.”

“You might get to hold something else if you’re really good.”

Did he just whimper again? He was dying to get to second and third base. He figured he really would die if he ever slid home. “Did you tell Alex and Ryan where we’re going?”

“Nope. Tabby might tell Alex, but we’re leaving it up to you to tell Ryan. You’ve never seen Glory in club clothes, have you?”

He groaned. “I’m not going to like this, am I?” If Glory was going to flirt with danger, she was going to get her cute little ass bit. If Ryan caught another man’s scent on her, he’d go ballistic. They’d be lucky if he didn’t kill the man.

It was never a good idea to taunt a Grizzly.

Then again, he might have a way to keep Ryan occupied. “What do you think about bringing Chloe with us? Poor girl hasn’t been out of her apartment for weeks except for doctor trips and physical therapy.”

“Can she handle that level of noise and light?”

Julian was touched by the level of concern in Cyn’s voice. “I can ask her. If she can go it might just cheer her up and keep Ryan distracted at the same time.”

“Much as I might like having her there, the whole point of inviting you guys along is to protect us. If Chloe is there, Ryan will be too busy taking care of his sister.”

Julian laughed. “I don’t think you understand exactly how strong the mate bond is. If he thinks for even one second that someone else is trying to steal his mate that person will be twisted into a pretzel so fast not even Bear himself could stop it. He’s already on red alert thanks to the attack on you. Trust me, he’s going to notice every move she makes.”

“And if he doesn’t?”

“Then we’ve entered some sort of freaky alternate reality where shifters don’t exist, ’cause that’s the only way that’s going to happen.”

“If you say so.” He could practically see her shrugging, dismissing Glory and Ryan’s budding mating. “Will you be noticing every move I make?”

Damn. He really needed to stop whimpering. It was so…unmanly.