***

Okay, okay, so the situation was really, but really, crazy right now. They had just learned from that shop’s employee – whom he and Vince had worked hard to catch – that Theodore had been using that disgusting incense and that terrible weapon to train for something. Now, Theodore himself was on floor, hogtied, and the cards… well, the cards were pretty damn crazy, too, right now.

Jack scratched his head as he tried to make sense of what they were telling him. At any point, he could remind these people that he was actually very new to this whole clairvoyant thing, which most likely meant that he might not guess right all the time.

Only there was no guessing involved. The cards didn’t lie. Each time Jack shuffled them, they fell the same way. And Theodore appeared in there as being instrumental to the destruction of that Cassandra b-lady every time. What an asshole clairvoyant, that one – bent on destroying packs and alphas and whatnot. If that was what clairvoyants were all about, Jack didn’t want to have anything to do with other practitioners of the profession. He’d skip every conference they organized and all that; unless there was an open buffet involved. Then, he might just reconsider and do some networking.

“Cassandra truly destroyed his pack,” Jack said with finality. It was actually a sad story, and Jack did feel pity for the lonesome wolf. Then he had to remind himself that Theodore was a bad guy who had just tried to kill Ryder. “It isn’t you who must destroy Cassandra, Ryder. Theodore needs to do that. The thing is, how the hell are we going to make him cooperate? He’s a bloodthirsty animal and tried to kill us. I don’t think he’s going to be in a very good mood when he wakes up.”

“Who are you calling a bloodthirsty animal, human?”

Oh, the bloodthirsty animal was awake.

“Um, that would be you,” Jack replied promptly. “Prove me wrong.”

***

So, the lonesome alpha was a pain to convince of anything, but Jack believed that his own reputation as a clairvoyant was being put to the test by this unbeliever. According to his cards, Theodore Pembroke – whose pack had been destroyed by Cassandra – had to be the one to defeat her, and yes, on the lands belonging to the Luna’s Sentinels, Ryder’s pack. It was all a very convoluted story, but in the short span of time since he had learned about his gift, Jack had come to resign himself to the idea that he did have the ability to shuffle cards, have them fall a certain way, and then read them. So far, he had been right on the money. Ryder was finally coming to terms that Danny was his mate, and this story could very well have a happy ending.

If only Theodore Pembroke wasn’t being his usual annoying self and would cooperate for the sake of the greater good.

There was one single way to convince the stubborn alpha, which was to use the skill he had recently discovered.

“Do you want me to tell your future, Theo?”

It was so totally worth it to see the tied-up Theodore Pembroke sputter in shock and annoyance over hearing himself called that.

“Theo?” Theodore made some really cute choking sounds. Jack needed to write down somewhere: a wolf was at his cutest when tied-up and annoyed to high heaven. “Who do you think you are, clairvoyant?”

“I think I’m the guy who’s going to tell you that the only way for you to get out of here is to play nice and join us in our witch hunt. Ugh, that came out wrong. Anyway, I’m sure the cards will tell me that you must kill Cassandra, and since you seem like the type who enjoys this whole mumbo-jumbo thing, I’ll have to lay down the cards for you.”

Although he could just go ahead and do it, Jack wanted to have Theodore’s agreement over having his future told. Maybe it was all related to a code of honor for clairvoyants. One that b-lady Cassandra obviously wasn’t abiding by.

Under Vince’s pressure, Theodore caved in. “Do what you want,” he spat at Jack.

“Yes, win,” Jack said with a smile and shuffled his cards.

The cards felt warm in his hands. Jack frowned for a moment and stared at the other guys in the room, who were caught up in their own things, Danny and Ryder making goo-goo eyes at each other, Vince making sure Theodore remained down, and Theodore struggling from time to time like a trapped animal.

Hmm, maybe it was because he had held the cards close to his chest during these adventures of theirs.

He dropped the first card. Okay, so that was Theodore for sure. The handsome lone wolf, without a pack—

No, he wasn’t exactly without a pack. Jack leaned forward. The sun and the moon peeked over the wolfshifter’s shoulders. He still had his sword, but not because he was a bad guy – this time around – but because he needed it to sever—

To sever what? Jack began to place the cards in front of him, one by one. It was pretty strange. It was as if a fog was descending over the cards, making them difficult to interpret. One thing was sure: Theodore needed allies in his apparent quest to determine the location of his pack. No, not his pack. Those were lands. That was a landscape, all wintry and cold, it seemed. There was also a cliff in there, and a path—

Jack shook his head. He needed to get better at reading cards. Okay, so he needed to focus on the stuff he did understand, such as—

“Oh,” he mumbled.

No one heard him.

A guardian appeared in Theodore’s future. And there was only one guardian Jack knew. He held a shield in the cards, but he didn’t really need one in real life. Jack stole a glance at Vince. Could it be that Vince wasn’t a guardian meant only for Danny?

Moving on. Jack stopped as his hand hovered over the next card. What was a crystal ball doing in there? Crystal balls should be separated from card-reading. Wasn’t that like a hard pass in the world of clairvoyants?

He could say later that he had a foreboding feeling before placing the last card down, but for now he was none the wiser.

“Oh,” he repeated, only to himself.

The man with the sword was tangled in a hard embrace with the guardian with his shield and the little guy with the crystal ball. And that had to be such a load of bull. No, no, Jack decided and tugged at his hoodie, unzipping it completely. He felt way too hot, and for reasons unknown, he was thinking of how Theo had pinned him against the door, rubbing his hard cloth-covered dick against him.

“Do I need to remind you that we are pressed for time, Jack?” Ryder warned him with a low growl.

“No, no, it’s just that the cards can be a bit silly at times. Anyways,” Jack said, clapping his hands, “it’s all here. Theo, pay attention.”

“Stop calling me Theo. It’s Mr. Pembroke to you,” Theo said in a threatening voice.

“I’m not polite like Danny,” Jack shot back. “Someone like you, who owns the entire city, needs to be brought down a peg or two.”

Theodore’s nostrils flared. “And you think you’re the one to do that, puny clairvoyant?”

“Obviously,” Jack replied brightly. “Anyway, on a need-to-know basis, you’ll be glad to learn that the cards say you can rebuild your pack.”

Yep, that was hope, right there. Jack couldn’t help feeling a pang of sympathy upon seeing Theodore’s eyes light up for a moment.

“Lies,” the lonesome alpha spat.

Jack shrugged. “The cards don’t lie, just like the hips. Gosh, you’re such a hardass. Can’t you even take a joke? Anyways, what you must do is come with us to Pinemoor.”