He handed me the phone. “He wants to talk to you.”

I took it and made room on the bed for him to sit down. The moment I had both of them on either side, it was better. I’d begun to realize that I might be Nicky’s drug of choice, but the men that were connected to me metaphysically were mine, too.

Jacob said, “He sounds happy.”

“I do my best.”

“I buy that, but Blake, it’s too much money. Someone will take it.”

“Thanks for the warning.”

“It’s my fault you got your hooks into Nick. The least I can do is keep him alive.”

“So you called not to help me, but to help Nicky?”

“Yeah, because honestly I’m not sure I didn’t call you because I had to.

You rolled me a little, Blake, and I’m not sure I’m free of you. Did I call you to help Nick, or because at some level you’re my master, too, and I had to protect you? I tried just to not take the job, but I had to call you. I had to warn you, Blake, do you understand?”

“I think so.”

“Do you?” He was angry now.

“You kidnapped me, remember? You threatened to kill the men I love. Don’t go all victim on me, Jacob. You started the bad stuff, not me. I just protected myself and the people I love.”

“I know that, damn you. I know that I’m the bad guy here, but I still hate you, and it still scares me that I couldn’t not call you, couldn’t not warn you as if I were your lion to call, or something worse.”

“If I told you to come to St. Louis and help protect us, would you?”

I heard his breathing on the other end of the phone, fast, hard. “You said if; please, Blake . . .” He stopped and I heard his breathing go out in a shaky line. “I know you don’t owe me anything. Even this call, this warning, is probably because I can’t help myself, but please, don’t ask me again. Don’t take the if off that question. Don’t make it an outright request, please.”

“We’re looking for a new Rex, Jacob.”

“Not last I checked, Blake. You’ve got a stone-cold killer as your Rex.”

“Not anymore,” I said softly.

Nicky stroked his hand down my arm. Nathaniel hugged me tighter. It all helped, but . . . I still didn’t feel anything.

“Whoever beat him is your new Rex, Blake.”

“My dance card is a little full, Jacob. I don’t think I can add another job.”

“You did not beat him in a fair fight.”

“He cheated first,” I said.

He was quiet for a second or two. “So one dead Rex, but none of his lions won the job?”

“Yep.”

“You do complicate your life, Blake.”

“Things just go weird with the lions; why is that?”

“Our culture is harsher than most.”

“Maybe,” I said, “but we still need a Rex now. You’re a Rex with a pride and no territory of your own. We’re a territory with a pride and no Rex.”

Nicky had gone very still beside me, his hand still on my arm. He was concentrating like hell on the conversation now.

“Don’t ask me, Blake. Please, you don’t owe me this, but . . . don’t ask me.” His voice held pain.

“Do you really believe that if I asked you outright to come here and be our Rex, you couldn’t refuse me?”

“I don’t know, but I do know I don’t want to find out.”

I thought about it, but Jacob and his people were professional bad guys; we didn’t need more killers in St. Louis. “How long ago did they ask you to come kill us?”

He let out a shaking breath, as if he’d been holding his breath waiting for me to ask, or not. “It’s not enough money for me and my people, or anyone close to our talent. That’s what they’ll need to take you and yours out, Blake, but even amateurs get lucky.”

“How long do we have before they hit town?”

“It’s been forty-eight hours, so maybe no time.”

“So you waited two days to warn us? Thanks.”

“I knew you wouldn’t like that. I tried not to warn you. The contract is just on you, your master, and his wolf. I thought maybe Nick wouldn’t get in the line of fire, but I had to warn you. I couldn’t resist the urge to call you.”

“Next time call immediately, okay?”

He swallowed hard enough for me to hear it. “Okay.”

“Give me a number where I’ll always be able to reach you.”

“Don’t do this.”

“You waited forty-eight hours to warn me until the compulsion got too strong. I may not like you, but you and your people are good at your jobs. You’d make good muscle. If your delay makes things worse I’ll call. If your waiting gets us in trouble, I’ll ask you to help us out of it. If it makes no difference, I leave you alone.”

I heard him swallow again. “That’s fair, I guess.” He gave me a number.

“If you cancel the phone and I can’t reach you . . .”

“I don’t know if I could hide from you, Blake. I don’t know if whatever you’ve done to me would let me hide.”

“Then don’t try, Jacob. I’ll play fair as long as I can.”

“What’s that mean?”

“It means some bad shit is going to be hitting the fan soon, and we may need more muscle. I’ll try to leave you and your people out of it, because frankly I may have rolled you but I haven’t even met all your people. I’m not sure I want to bring that many wild cards into my town.”

“I hope you mean that.”

“I don’t usually say things unless I mean them, Jacob.”

“That I do believe,” he said.

“Thanks for the heads-up,” I said.

“Don’t thank me; I’d have let you die if I had a choice.”

“Aw, Jacob, you’ll hurt a girl’s feelings that way. I thought you liked me.”

“I do like you, that’s what scares me.”

“Good-bye, Jacob.”

“Good-bye, Blake.” He hung up.

I lay back against the bed for a minute while Nicky watched me in the dimness and Nathaniel lay quiet at my back. It still felt good to have them touch me, and I still wasn’t afraid, or even worried, and that, of course, was the problem. Too much fear will paralyze you, but too little fear will make you careless. I held Nathaniel’s arm against my body and knew that afraid or not, I’d do whatever it took to keep him safe, to keep the people I cared about safe. I’d said that before; last night felt like I’d proved it.

“What do we do now?” Nicky asked. He’d started petting my arm again.

“We tell the others and we prepare.”

“For what?” Nathaniel asked softly.

“Kill them, before they kill us.” I said it with my voice firm, sure, and devoid of almost any emotion. For once I wasn’t being brave; I sounded like I felt. I wondered how long I would feel numb, and what it would feel like when I stopped. I pushed the thought away, made Nicky move, and reached for my clothes. Assassins were either on their way or already in town. Eventually I’d be afraid, and before that hit I wanted a plan.

28

WHEN I OPENED the door, Nicky right behind me, I saw that he’d been sharing guard duty with Graham. Tall, broad-shouldered, he wore his straight black hair cut a little too long through the bangs, so that his eyes stared out through the hair like a cat watching from the grass. Though cat wasn’t accurate. He was a werewolf. Other than a little uptilt at the edges of his eyes and the straight black hair, his mother’s Japanese heritage seemed to have passed him by; most of him came from his tall, Nordic father. His parents were still the only ones to ever come down to Guilty Pleasures to visit their bouncer son at work. Graham had missed the orgy because he lived off-site and he was usually being a bouncer at the strip club rather than muscle here. He was wearing a bright red T-shirt, which meant he was available for blood donations or sex. So far I’d managed to keep him off my menu, and I was planning to keep it that way.

He grinned at me. “I can’t believe I missed last night.”

“Be happy you did,” I said.

He looked stricken and way younger than his early twenties. “It was an orgy. You fucked people that you’ve never touched.”