***

Jack stopped by the side of the building, clutching his chest tightly. What on earth had just happened? One moment, Theodore freaking Pembroke had him pinned against the door, something definitely poking Jack in the back, which wasn’t some concealed weapon for sure, and the next, he was threatening to kill him.

Wolves were so weird, he decided. Damn, but the mouth of that horribly handsome asshole was really something. Jack pursed his lips. “I’m not a tramp,” he told himself while pulling out his phone.

And sure as hell, he was going to show Theodore Pembroke that he was a real clairvoyant who actually did see things in his cards, things that were real or were about to become real.

After sending the message to Danny, he took a moment to draw his breath. He felt the need to complain about that freaking asshole, but Danny and Ryder had a lot on their minds. Ah, he could always call Vince, who, despite his overbearing personality, was still one of the good guys.

He made his decision in the short fragment of time needed for him to call Vince.

“Hi, my guy,” he said quickly. “I just had a wild idea and please don’t stop me.”

“As if I could,” Vince replied.

“I’m going to the meeting point. I’m going after that fucker Pembroke.”

“What happened?”

Jack felt a cramp in his jaw. “He’s an asshole. I want to strangle him. Not like in killing him or anything. I don’t believe in murder but more like in letting him know he’s a major asshole.”

“What did he do to you?” Vince’s voice came out worried and protective.

Of course, one thing Danny didn’t know about Vince, but Jack knew because of the crazy conversations – that felt a lot like drilling – he’d had with the man, was that Vince was actually a guardian, something Jack still had a hard time wrapping his head around because of the many strange things happening to him and around him.

It all made sense. Danny was destined for Ryder, no matter what the big wolf was saying, and it felt natural that he had a guardian, too, seeing that there were many dark forces at work.

“Nothing, nothing,” Jack hurried to say, although he did feel a bit like crying tears of fury. A lot of people had made fun of him in his life, but he had always brushed it off. Somehow, with Theodore Pembroke, he couldn’t let it go.

And it didn’t help that he was so handsome. In that horrible office where that disgusting smell was everywhere, it had even crossed Jack’s mind for a moment, no, a fraction of a moment, to grab Theodore’s nose and pull hard on it, only so he’d make a nasty face that would look awful even in doctored pictures.

“Come on, you can tell me,” Vince insisted.

“He made fun of me,” Jack blurted out. “He told me my bag is empty, although it’s full of all sorts of useful things.”

Vince snickered, pouring salt on the wound. “That’s a strange insult. And let’s say it like it is, Jack, carrying a single sock around is a bit, eh, quirky even for you.”

“Hey, it’s a good luck charm,” Jack protested. “Like a rabbit’s foot, but no animal had to die.”

“Okay, that’s a fair point. But what about the jar of glitter? Is that another good luck charm?”

While searching for a notebook earlier to write Ryder’s note on, Jack had unloaded his entire bag in front of Vince. Clearly, he was being judged here.

“No, but it’s pretty. Whenever I have a bad day, I take it out and shake it. Then it’s not that bad a day.”

“I understand that. I know what present I should buy for your birthday.”

“But my birthday just came and went,” Jack complained.

“Then it’s going to be a belated gift. Now, for real, Jack, what did Theodore Pembroke do to you?”

Jack hesitated before expressing his weird suspicions. He lowered his voice and covered his mouth as he spoke into his phone. “He like pinned me against the door and I felt something hard poking me in the spine. Like his… you know what.”

“Are you sure you weren’t imagining it because you were stressed?”

Jack peered around the corner, checking for Theodore Pembroke. “I was stressed, but that wasn’t a concealed weapon, I’m telling you.”

“Well, once you pull back your hedgehog spikes, you’re pretty sexy,” Vince commended him playfully.

“Shut up. I’ve never been told that. Before you,” Jack added quickly. “I just think this Theo character is horny like a dog. Also, he’s way too kinky for my taste. I’ve heard of praise-kink, but insult-kink? Forget it.”

“Theo?” Vince teased him. “Let’s not forget he’s a cold-blooded killer.”

“We don’t have any proof of that yet. Although he is obviously bent on killing Ryder. By the way, he’s very hot-blooded.”

“Don’t tell me you had the time to get involved in skin on skin action with him.”

“No, what the hell, Vee?”

“Ah, am I getting an endearing nickname, too?”

“Who else is?” Jack asked, pulling back fast as he noticed Theodore leaving the building to get into his car, a sleek black thing that looked like a nightmare.

“I’ll grab Danny and meet you there. Don’t do anything stupid by yourself.”

“Don’t you worry about that,” Jack whispered into his phone. “I prefer doing stupid things as a group.”

TBC