Shifters of Mystery 2

Santana’s Discovery

Santana grew up hating werewolves for their senseless killing of

his parents. He joins a radical group that is out to destroy the

werewolves, not knowing that the leader of this group has been

lying to him the whole time.

Isaac moved to Mystery wanting a chance at a better life. He

thinks he's lost his mind when he starts falling for Santana—the

man who's already shot him once. As much as he questions the

attraction he has for Santana, he knows the struggle to remain

aloof is fruitless.

When the full moon rises and the shift occurs, Isaac finds that

Santana, the very man who shot him, has risked his life to save

Isaac. Can Isaac convince Santana to be his mate, and can

Santana accept the cold, hard facts of what happened in Mystery

so long ago?

And will Santana ever allow Isaac to bite him and turn him into

the very creature he's hated his whole life?

Genre: Alternative (M/M or F/F), Paranormal,
Vampires/Werewolves
Length: 37,435 words

SANTANA’S DISCOVERY

Shifters of Mystery 2

Lynn Hagen

EVERLASTING CLASSIC

MANLOVE

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A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK
IMPRINT: Everlasting Classic ManLove

SANTANA’S DISCOVERY
Copyright © 2012 by Lynn Hagen
E-book ISBN: 1-61926-629-6

First E-book Publication: March 2012

Cover design by Jinger Heaston
All art and logo copyright © 2012 by Siren Publishing, Inc.

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SANTANA’S DISCOVERY

Shifters of Mystery 2

LYNN HAGEN

Chapter One

“You get up when I tell you to get up, boy,” Flip sneered as he

spit on the ground next to Santana’s head. The smell immediately hit
Santana’s nostrils. The disgusting odor of snuff and bad breath
mingled together enough to make him nauseous. Santana wiped the
blood from his lip as he lay on his back, glaring up at the hick
standing before him looking as though he ruled the fucking world.

Santana wanted desperately to wipe the smug satisfaction from

Flip’s ugly mug. The man thought he was god’s gift to the world, but
in reality he was nothing more than a small guppy in an even smaller
pond. Santana was starting to regret ever coming across the crazy ass
bastard. It had sounded like a dream come true at the time when Flip
talked him into joining his radical group to wipe out the were-
creatures. The offer had been dropped into his lap when he was on his
path of vengeance.

Now he wasn’t so sure he had made the brightest move. Maybe he

shouldn’t have let his hatred be his guide. Flip didn’t seem to have a
full set of marbles. The man had craziness in his eyes from the very
beginning. That should have tipped Santana off about the guy, but his
hate had blinded him and now he lay at the bastard’s feet with a
busted lip and a bruised backside.

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Piece of shit hick.
Santana cringed before he could stop the reaction as Flip knelt

down beside him. The man rested one arm on his thigh, and used the
other to balance the hunting rifle on one shoulder. As disgusted as he
was with the man right now, Santana knew better than to piss off a
person holding a loaded gun. And Santana had no doubt that the mean
bastard would use it.

“Now, I’m going to ask you one more time, boy. Where are the

were-creatures?”

The threat was clear in Flip’s voice, and Santana wasn’t sure why

he was defending the werewolves who lived in Mystery. Hell, he
should be helping Flip hunt them down. Werewolves were what killed
his parents, killed the town, and now Santana found himself reluctant
to tell this backwoods asshole anything about the creatures.

Sage’s confession that humans, not werewolves, slaughtered his

family had him second-guessing everything he had ever believed. He
wanted revenge, but not at the price of innocent men. He wasn’t sure
if the werewolves in Mystery were innocent or not, but his conscience
wouldn’t allow him to point a finger in their direction until he was
one hundred percent positive that they didn’t kill anyone.

Damn, he wished Sage’s confession had come before he had met

Flip. That would have made shit a lot easier.

As it was…
“Boy, I’m getting tired of waiting.”
Santana gritted his molars until they hurt. If Flip called him boy

one more time, he was going to kick Flip’s ass back to his shack in
the woods. And what in the hell was with his alligator boots? Was the
guy for real?

“Pick him up,” Flip instructed the men around him. Santana

panicked, kicking out and shouting as he was dragged from the
resting spot he had been knocked down on. “We’re going to teach this
boy about lying to us.”

Santana’s Discovery

“Stop!” Santana shouted as multitudes of hands began to grab for

him. He didn’t know what else to shout in order to make them let him
go. This was crazy, insane, and probably going to get him killed.

He had shot two of the werewolves a few days ago and then

became their prisoner. But Santana had managed to escape when
everyone was asleep. He was seriously thinking that he should have
stayed inside.

The werewolves had treated him well considering he had tried to

kill them. They had fed him, made sure he was able to use the
bathroom, and gave him a room to sleep in. And he had snuck out in
the middle of the night the first chance he got. Now as Flip pressed
the heel of his alligator boot into Santana’s stomach, he wasn’t so sure
that had been the right thing to do.

“Tell me where they are and all this will end.” He turned his head,

spitting on the ground once more, and then curled his lip up as he
narrowed his eyes at Santana. Yeah, that whole spitting thing? Totally
gross.

Santana was afraid how this situation would end. He no longer

cared about protecting the werewolves as much as he was trying to
save his own ass right about now. He had a feeling that once he told
Flip that they were in one of the houses a mile from town, the man
would blow his brains out just for giving him such a hard time.

“They left,” he lied. “They knocked me out, and when I came to,

they were gone.”

“Liar!”
“I’m not lying!” Santana shot back at Flip, praying the man

couldn’t see the lie in his eyes.

“Then I guess I don’t need you anymore.”
Raw fear gripped Santana as Flip gave a jerk to his head and then

Santana was lifted from the ground. He broke free and tried to run,
only to be tackled a few feet away. He shouted, scratched at the earth,
but nothing stopped the men from pulling him up once again and
carrying him further into the woods. The irony of the situation wasn’t

Lynn Hagen

lost on Santana. He was in the very woods that surrounded the
werewolves’ home.

“I’m going to make an example out of you, boy,” Flip said harshly

as he lowered his gun, aiming it at gut level, Santana’s gut to be more
accurate. Santana felt as though he was going to pass out until Flip
lowered the muzzle of the rifle toward the ground.

Relief didn’t set in because the men still held on to him tightly,

but the rifle was no longer aimed at his abdomen. His eyes darted
around wildly as he tried desperately to think of a way out of this
fucked up ass situation.

Nothing was coming to mind.
He could tell Flip where the creatures were, but he knew that no

matter what he said at this point, Flip had reached his limits with him.
Why in the hell had he teamed up with this man in the first place?
Santana wasn’t a bad man. He wasn’t a cruel man either. He had just
been consumed with revenge for his parents’ death.

A revenge that had turned against him and landed him in this

situation.

“Tie him up,” Flip ordered as he grabbed a piece of rope from the

ground and tossed it to one of the men holding Santana. Flip swung
his head around, locking his beady eyes onto Santana. “I’m going to
leave you out here for a day or two to see if you’ll change your
mind.”

Santana could handle that. It was a better option than being killed.

He would use the time to figure out how in the hell to get loose and
get as far from this shitty ass town as he could. Although he had
wanted revenge so badly that he could taste it, his life wasn’t worth
losing over it.

“Strip him.”
“Oh, hell no!” Santana shouted as he once again struggled to get

free. There was no way he was staying out in this cold naked. His
balls would freeze off. Winter had come early, a light coating of snow

Santana’s Discovery

covering the ground. There was no way he would survive being left
out here in the woods if he was naked.

“Strip your clothes off or I shoot your ass and save myself a

headache,” Flip warned Santana as the rifle once again was lifted and
aimed at his body. Santana was getting pretty damn tired of that thing
pointing in his direction.

If he got free, he was going to hunt Flip down and kill his sorry

ass. Santana regretted the day he ever laid eyes on the hick as he
begrudgingly toed his sneakers off. The cold air instantly had his toes
curling under, trying their best to stay warm.

“Now the coat.”
Santana could see that Flip was getting pure, sadistic enjoyment

out of this. The man’s eyes were laughing as Santana pulled his coat
off and tossed it aside. His body had already started to shake from the
bitter cold as he jerked his sweater over his head. He glared at the
man standing there ordering him to freeze to death as he tossed his T-
shirt aside as well.

“Pants.”
“I’ll freeze before you come back.”
Flip chuckled, but the laughter never reached his cold, dark eyes.

“That’s the point, boy. I can’t have you changing sides on me without
retribution, now can I?”

“What the hell do you mean changing sides? I haven’t changed

sides.”

His words gained Santana a smack to his face with the butt of the

rifle. He was really starting to hate guns. His head swam as he held
his cheek, feeling warm blood trickle down his face.

“You changed sides when you refused to tell me where those

filthy animals are. Did you fuck one of them? Are you a werewolf
whore now?” Flip asked with disgust dripping from his words. “You
probably got all cozy with one of them.”

How Flip knew the entire household at Sage’s was male and that

Santana was gay was anyone’s guess. Santana had never breathed a

Lynn Hagen

word to the crazy hick about his preference for men, but the man had
called him on it just now. Santana had never hidden who he was nor
had he ever felt the need to justify his desires. And he wasn’t going to
start now.

But one thing was for sure. He didn’t fuck one of the werewolves

and never would. He may be protecting his own ass as far as not
telling where they were, but he had no love for the creatures. Until he
could prove what Sage had told him, in Santana’s eyes, those
creatures had killed his parents.

“You’re fucking crazy, Flip,” Santana argued, refusing to lower

his jeans and get frostbite on his balls.

“Am I?”
A quiet and deadly calm came over Flip, making him appear

menacing and cold. Santana felt as though he were standing in front
of the devil at that very moment. He had never been a religious man,
but the feeling that he should pray hit him hard. He swallowed, but
never let his gaze fall away.

Flip took a step in Santana’s direction, his eyes lowering to slits as

he spoke low, a promise of untold pain in his voice. “Take the pants
off.”

Santana’s body was shivering violently as he unsnapped his jeans

and slid them down his legs. His bits and pieces instantly shrank as he
kicked the denim clear of his body. He glared hatefully at Flip as he
tossed them onto the pile of clothes at his feet.

“Good boy,” the man said smugly as he turned toward the men

standing around. They looked just as wigged out as Santana felt. The
men probably were regretting their decision to join Flip’s asinine
group as well. Santana hoped every damn last one of them saw their
future in what they were doing to him. “Tie him to a tree, and you
better make it tight.”

Santana didn’t fight this time. Flip had taken on the persona of a

calm and deadly man, nixing any idea Santana had to fight his way

Santana’s Discovery

out of this. The man shouldered his rifle as he watched Santana being
tied to a tree.

“See you in a few days, boy. If you’re still alive, I’m guessing

you’ll tell me anything I want to know.”

Santana watched as his clothes were picked up and tossed even

further away. Flip turned before he disappeared, giving Santana a
two-fingered salute and then walked away.

“Fucking prick!” he shouted. It did no good, but made him feel

slightly better. Once Santana knew he was all alone, he began to
struggle against the rope. The cold was entering him quickly, robbing
his body of any warmth it had previously held.

“Damn it!” he shouted when his struggles didn’t loosen the ropes

that had his body tied tightly to the tree. Whoever had tied the rope
had made damn sure Santana wasn’t going anywhere. He could feel
the coarse material digging into his skin, making it sting and burn the
harder he fought to free himself. The bark was cutting abrasions into
his back, painfully hurting as the cold air invaded the scrape marks.

He was totally and utterly fucked.
The realization hit him hard as his nose started to run and his skin

began to turn red. There was no way he was getting out of this alive.
As badly as he feared death, it surprised Santana how calmly he was
accepting the fact that he was about to die.

Maybe the cold had frozen his brain already.
As he stood there wondering how long it would take for him to

actually die, his body began to shake violently once more as his teeth
clattered so hard that he thought they were going to shatter in his
mouth.

“Fuck this,” Santana grumbled as he began to struggle again.

Moving around seemed to keep him slightly warm as opposed to just
standing still, so Santana moved as much as the ropes allowed.

“Goddamn you, you crazy fucking hick!” Santana shouted into the

night. He could feel the tears coming as he tried his hardest to stop

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them from falling. They would only freeze as soon as they slipped
from his eyes.

Total despair and hopelessness washed over him as Santana

finally realized that he really wasn’t going to get out of this. Flip had
truly fucked him. Or more to the point, he had fucked himself by
protecting the werewolves. He still couldn’t figure out why he had
done something so out of character. It wasn’t that he wouldn’t protect
someone who needed protecting, but those creatures had killed his
family, his town—maybe.

The conflicting feelings were driving him mad as Santana tried to

wipe his nose on his shoulder. His flesh was bitterly cold as his nose
ran along his skin. The temperature seemed to be dropping fast as he
stood in the middle of the woods tied to a fucking tree.

Worry filled him when his body stopped shaking and warmth

started to fill him. He knew for a fact that hypothermia was setting in.
He hadn’t even lasted a damn hour out here in the cold. He was such a
wimp.

“If I die, I’m going to haunt the shit out of you, Flip,” Santana

promised under his breath as he leaned his head against the bark of
the tree, staring up into the cloudless sky. The moon was just a sliver,
giving very little light as he let out a long breath.

His body sagged as Santana’s eyes began to close. There was

nothing he could do. The ropes were too tight, keeping him bound to
this tree of death. As his mind began to fade, Santana wished he had
at least had sex before he died. Now he was going to die a virgin in
the middle of the fucking woods, naked. How truly fucked-up that
thought was to him as he finally gave in to the need and closed his
eyes.

* * * *

Isaac pulled the collar of his coat up around his neck as he walked

through the woods, enjoying the peacefulness of the night. It was

Santana’s Discovery

something he did often when he couldn’t sleep. There was something
about being alone with nature that made him feel at peace with
himself.

He shoved his hands into his pockets as he glanced up at the

moon. It was only a sliver tonight, but it gave him just enough light to
see where he was going. As he walked a path through the woods that
outlined the house he was living in with the rest of his friends, Isaac
stumbled and then stilled when he came across a naked man tied to a
tree.

He took a tentative step forward, wondering if the human was

dead. The man was blue and not moving a muscle. He pulled his hand
from his front pocket and pressed his fingers into the guy’s jugular,
feeling a very faint pulse.

“Shit,” Isaac murmured as he looked at the rope holding the man

to the tree. It was Santana, the human they had brought back to the
house, the fucking human who had shot him a few days ago. How in
the hell had he gotten out here?

Isaac walked around the tree, looking at the rope where it was

tied. He pushed his fingers into the knot, trying to loosen it. When the
rope finally gave, relaxing as he tugged, Isaac walked back around the
tree and pulled the rope over Santana’s head, pulling the limp human
into his arms.

As fast as his feet could carry him, Isaac rushed the man back to

the house. He wasn’t sure what was going on, but he wasn’t going to
let the human die. The guy had shot him, but Isaac felt he was the
bigger man here. He kicked the back door open and immediately ran
upstairs and into the one bathroom the entire house shared.

“Someone get your ass out here and help me!”
Doors began to open as his friends spilled out into the hallway.

They looked from Isaac to Santana and then rushed down the hallway.

“What in the hell did you do to him?” Pat asked as he ran into the

bathroom and began to run water in the tub. “Were you getting your
revenge from the shooting?”

Lynn Hagen

Isaac grunted as he lowered Santana into the tub. The water was

cool as he kept his arm around Santana’s shoulders, making sure he
stayed above the water. “I didn’t do this,” he shot at Pat. “Go get
some damn blankets.”

His friend ran out of the bathroom as Isaac looked down at

Santana. The man hadn’t opened his eyes the whole time he carried
him into the house or when he lowered the small human into the tub.
Isaac began to worry that maybe he was too late. It hadn’t slipped his
notice that he was trying to save a man who had tried to kill him
either.

“What’s going on?” Sage, the alpha who didn’t want to be alpha,

asked from the doorway.

“I found Santana tied to a tree in the woods. Someone stripped

him of his clothes and left him for dead.”

Sage walked further into the bathroom, gazing down at Santana’s

lifeless form. “I wasn’t even aware that he wasn’t in his room.”

Neither was Isaac. How the hell did Santana get out anyway?

They had secured the windows and the bedroom door. There should
have been no way for the small man to escape.

“Here you go,” Pat said as he ran back into the bathroom with

blankets. Isaac lifted Santana’s body from the water and waited as Pat
wrapped the blankets around him.

“I got it from here,” he said as he pushed past Pat and headed to

his bedroom.

“I’ll go make him some hot tea.”
Isaac carried Santana to his bedroom, kicking the door closed

behind him. He laid the small man on the single mattress in his room,
making sure the covers were tucked all around him. When Santana
started to shake, Isaac crawled onto the mattress with him.

“This is the only way I know how to warm you quickly, so don’t

get any ideas,” he grumbled as he stripped down and then got under
the covers, curling his body around Santana’s. The man’s skin was
frigidly cold as Isaac wrapped his arms around Santana’s shivering

Santana’s Discovery

frame. He began to rub his hands up and down Santana’s arms, trying
his best to warm the guy.

Once again he wondered why he was trying to save a man who

had tried to kill him.

Isaac knew the answer, even if he didn’t want to admit it to

himself.

There was something about Santana that drew Isaac to him. Fuck,

he needed his head examined. How in the hell was he attracted to a
man who put a damn bullet in him? Isaac wasn’t sure what was going
on, but he knew he couldn’t let Santana die.

He was better than that.
On most days anyway.
“Here you go,” Pat said as he entered the room. “It’s hot, so

watch—” He came up short when he saw Isaac lying on the mattress
with Santana. “I don’t even want to know. Just make sure he warms
up before you…” He waved a hand at Santana and then sat the mug
down next to Isaac.

“I’m just trying to warm him.”
“Yeah, that’s what I said about the last guy that fucked me. Just

make sure he’s conscious if that happens.”

Isaac rolled his eyes as he turned over and began to rub Santana’s

arms again. He didn’t think the man was going to wake up for the tea,
so it was up to him to bring the guy’s body temperature up.

Covering Santana’s body with his, Isaac pulled the heavy blanket

from his bed over both of them. Exhaustion cut off his thoughts and
seeped into his bones, dragging him down into sleep.

Lynn Hagen

Chapter Two

Santana woke, feeling a warm, solid body spooning behind him

and holding him close. The inside of him went absolutely frigid at the
warmth surrounding him. There was no way in hell Flip had come
back to save him—and the thought of that hick spooning him just
totally creeped him out.

Besides, Flip had a potbelly that was too round to be missed. The

body behind Santana was firm, molding into his back flawlessly. He
stared at the wall, afraid to move, afraid to make one single sound.
Who was behind him?

Santana could feel the panic set in as he realized whoever it was

was totally fucking naked, his soft cock resting against one lone ass
cheek. The soft flesh was unmistakable, and Santana wished he knew
who it belonged to. The thighs felt firm pressing into the back of his,
and he knew they were slightly dusted with hair from the tickle. And
whoever it was, damn, did he smell good.

“Relax.” The voice was deep, rich, and husky.
And Santana recognized that voice.
Isaac?
“W–What are you doing?” he asked as he tried to scoot an inch

away and remove the cock from being so close to his butt.

“Trying to warm your cold ass.” He tucked the blanket back

around Santana, pulling him back to Isaac’s strong frame. “So don’t
flatter yourself.”

Flattering himself was the last thing on Santana’s mind. He rolled

away quickly when images of a werewolf spooning him slammed into
his brain. “I don’t need you to warm me.”

Santana’s Discovery

“Buddy, from the way your skin was turning a pretty blue, I

would say you needed a lot of help,” Isaac retorted as he grabbed the
blanket and wrapped it around his naked waist. He got up from the
mattress that was lying on the floor. “But I could have been wrong. It
could have just been some kinky shit you were into.”

“A kink?” Santana gaped at Isaac. “You think I have some kind of

kink about being tied up outside naked in the damn cold with my balls
crawling so far into my body that I could taste them in the back of my
throat?”

“It takes all kinds. Do you?”
“Hell no!” Santana said loudly as he grabbed a pillow and shoved

it over his groin.

“Then what happened to you?” Isaac asked as he walked over to a

ratty-looking dresser, pulling a drawer open and grabbing a pair of
jeans. He dropped the blanket, showing his bare ass as he slipped the
pants on.

Santana quickly averted his eyes. “I had it out with a squirrel in

the woods.”

“It looks like you lost,” Isaac replied as he turned around just as

Santana looked back up at the man and saw that the top button of his
jeans was still undone. “Next time you should give him your nuts. He
just might leave you untied.” Isaac gave him a tight smile as he
walked out of the bedroom, slamming the door closed behind him.

Santana stared at the door for a while. Was the man serious? Why

in the hell was Isaac pissed? It wasn’t like he was the one tied up
naked in the damn cold. Santana scratched his head, trying to figure
out what the hell just happened.

He was grateful that he didn’t die out in the woods, a frozen

Popsicle, bound to a tree. That would have been an interesting picture.
But what disturbed him was the fact that he wasn’t disturbed as he
remembered the feeling of Isaac’s strong, thick frame wrapped around
him in a blanket of welcoming warmth.

Lynn Hagen

“He’s a fucking werewolf,” Santana reminded himself under his

breath as he got up and looked for his clothes. He didn’t see them
anywhere, which meant they were probably still out in the woods.
“Hell if I’m walking around naked,” he grumbled as he pulled the
dresser drawer open, finding a pair of lounging pants. He slid them
on, and they promptly fell to his ankles.

“Shit.” Santana rolled his eyes as he bent down and pulled them

back up, tying the side off into a knot. It figured he got rescued by a
man twice his size in clothing. He continued to rummage through the
drawers until he found a T-shirt. He pushed his arms in and then
pulled it over his head.

The hem stopped at his midthighs. He looked like a kid playing

dress up. Well, it was better than walking around naked.

He walked to the bedroom door, thinking that he needed to get his

clothes out of the woods, just as soon as he found something to put on
his feet.

Looking out of the door, Santana heard the small Chihuahua begin

yapping at him. “Hey, Terror,” he said as he closed Isaac’s bedroom
door behind him. “How’s it hanging?” She yapped some more,
running circles around him before trotting off and running down the
stairs.

He shook his head at the nutty dog before he walked back to the

room he had been held prisoner in. It looked bleak to him as he
walked into the sparsely furnished room. There was a mattress on the
floor and a pillow and blanket, nothing more. He noticed that the
windows still held the bars that were supposed to keep him a prisoner.

Like those helped.
“How do you feel?”
Santana spun around to see William standing behind him. He was

the only other survivor of the massacre so long ago and sleeping with
one of the werewolves. One of the werewolves Santana had shot. He
was surprised William was even speaking to him.

Santana’s Discovery

Santana couldn’t see what William saw in Sage. The man not only

reminded him of someone dark and moody, but he had four gashes
across his face that made him look ten times scarier than he already
naturally appeared. The man was moody, foreboding, and barely
spoke a word to Santana.

Of course, it could be the fact that Santana had put a bullet in him.
“Warm,” he answered as he closed the door to the prison room.

“Is there something to eat around here?” His stomach was kicking up
a protest, almost clawing its way out as it reminded Santana that he
hadn’t eaten since yesterday morning.

“I made sure I saved you a plate. Come on downstairs and eat

when you’re ready.” William turned and walked away, leaving
Santana there to stare at his retreating back. The man wasn’t being
overly friendly, but Santana saw that he was making an attempt at
being civilized. Realizing that there was no way that William was
going to bring Santana’s breakfast to him upstairs, he walked
downstairs and joined everyone in the dining room.

No one said anything to Santana as he took a seat next to Isaac—it

was the only seat available to him—and began to eat in silence. Still,
he could feel the curious stares of everyone there. Santana breathed a
sigh of relief when they eventually turned away.

“I’m heading over to Mystery today to take a look at what needs

to be done,” Isaac said as he grabbed a biscuit from the center basket
and dropped it onto his plate. “Which building are we starting on
first?”

Santana listened to the men talk to each other as if everything that

had happened to him was already forgotten. No one questioned him
about why his naked ass was tied to a tree. They didn’t even question
him on how he had escaped from his bedroom the night before. No,
everyone was acting as if he belonged at that table with them,
enjoying the morning breakfast.

Lynn Hagen

“We should start with finding a building for a grocery store,” Sage

replied as he wiped his mouth with the napkin in his lap. “I’m tired of
driving all the way to Mayfield County just to get food.”

“What are you going to do, buy the food from me from my own

store?” Isaac inquired as he sat back, resting his arm on the back of
Santana’s chair. Santana wasn’t even sure Isaac was aware of the
move he just made.

“That’s the general idea,” Sage answered. “If we’re going to own

our own businesses, it wouldn’t be smart to just give the stuff away.”

Made sense to Santana.
“And take Jesse James with you. Just make sure he isn’t packing.”

Sage’s command had Santana jerking his head in surprise. He knew
the man was referring to him. Did they think he needed a babysitter?
After what Flip had done to him in the woods, Santana wasn’t anxious
to run into the crazy bastard anytime soon. He had been scared out of
his mind when he shot the two men sitting at the table, and he had a
feeling it would be a long time before they let him live it down, if
ever.

“I’ll stay here,” Santana said loud enough for everyone in the

room to hear him.

“You’ll do as you’re told,” Sage barked angrily.
Santana wasn’t sure if it was his imagination or not, but he could

have sworn he saw Isaac sit up a little straighter, his spine stiffening.

“I’m not taking orders from a damn werewolf, especially you!”

Santana shouted as he jumped to his feet, his chair clattering to the
floor behind him.

The silence was heavy in the room as the intensity in Sage’s eyes

almost frightened Santana. The man’s expression was cool, but his
eyes were angry as they raked over Santana.

“You’ll do as you’re told, human.” Sage made the word human

sound as dirty and as vile as he could make it. “Isaac will be in charge
of you. If you shoot him again, I’ll remove your head from your
shoulders this time.”

Santana’s Discovery

Santana looked down when he felt a tight hold on his wrist to see

Isaac tugging at him to sit. Furious at every last person in the room,
Santana bent to pick his chair up and then dropped angrily into it.
Thoughts of leaving this place, of getting as far away as he could, ran
through Santana’s mind, but he knew he had nowhere to run to.

His foster family had pretty much told him good-bye when he

turned eighteen, and Santana had wandered from town to town after
that. And there was no fucking way he was going back to Flip and his
merry band of idiots. As much as the idea pained him, Santana knew
he was stuck here if he wanted a roof over his head and food in his
belly.

The conversation went back to what they needed to do to get the

store up and running and what purchases needed to be made, as if the
outburst had never occurred. Santana cut his eyes at Isaac to see the
werewolf calmly eating his breakfast. He knew that calmness belied
the rage the man was feeling at having to babysit him. Santana could
see it in the knot forming in Isaac’s jaw.

Hell, it wasn’t his idea. Let Isaac be mad at Sage for the decision

to stick the two of them together. He stood, walking toward the living
room when Isaac brushed by him.

“Let’s get this shit done,” Isaac said evenly as he walked by

Santana.

This was going to be one long ass day.
William hurried over to Santana, giving him Santana’s sneakers

and coat.

“I found them in the woods.”
Santana didn’t say anything as he slid the shoes on and then

pushed the coat over his shoulders. He wasn’t even going to ask
where his clothes were. Isaac hadn’t said a word about Santana
wearing his clothes, so he knew he could keep wearing them until his
clothes were returned.

Santana walked over to Mystery with Isaac, not trying to keep up

with the man’s angry strides. He’d get there when he got there. There

Lynn Hagen

was no rush in cleaning out one of the empty buildings, and Santana
wasn’t looking forward to the chore anyway.

“Today, midget,” Isaac grumbled as Santana walked into one of

the buildings. “Monterey will be bringing over cleaning supplies for
you. I want to check out what needs to be repaired.”

Santana frowned at the basic unfairness of it all. Why should he

be the one to do all the cleaning? It wasn’t going to be his damn
business. This was Isaac’s baby, so the werewolf could do the
cleaning and repairs himself. Santana was just going to stand there
and occupy space until the workday was over.

As Santana looked around, he could tell that this used to be some

sort of general store. Although he was one of two survivors of the
massacre, he was quite young when the murders took place. He really
didn’t remember too much about the town itself.

There were rows of dusty shelves just waiting to be filled once

more. Some were knocked over or leaning haphazardly, but Santana
could see that with some hard work and a lot of time put in…wait,
why was he even considering helping?

“I won’t know if the freezer and coolers are working properly

until there’s electricity in here, but the place doesn’t look too bad.”
Isaac walked through the store, touching this and picking up that,
going through an entire inspection of the place.

Santana leaned his hip into the counter, crossing his arms over his

chest in a defiant gesture. He wasn’t lifting a damn finger to help the
werewolf out. Let Isaac fix his own damn place up.

“Can you give me a hand over here?”
Giving Isaac an innocent smile, Santana shrugged. “I’m holding

the counter up.”

Isaac glanced over his shoulder, his face expressionless as he

studied Santana for a moment. “Then come hold this shelf up.”

Sighing dramatically so Isaac could hear him, Santana reluctantly

crossed the room. He was only going to help the werewolf with this,

Santana’s Discovery

nothing more. It wasn’t his job to get this place together. He didn’t
have to do a damn thing besides breathe.

“Are you going to tell me who tied you to the tree?” Isaac asked

as he pushed the shelving back into place. Santana helped, but he
could see that it wasn’t necessary. Isaac was all muscle, needing no
one’s help as he dusted his hands off. He wasn’t sure why Isaac asked
him to help when it was obvious the man could have done it on his
own.

“No,” he answered as he crossed back over to the counter. There

was no way he was telling any of the werewolves that he had sought
out the man who wanted all the were-creatures dead. He wasn’t
suicidal enough to hand over that bit of information to Isaac.

“Suit yourself.”
“Nice place,” Monterey said as he walked into the general store,

William close behind him. Santana knew for a fact that Sage wasn’t
that far away. The large, scarred man never let William stray too far
from his side.

“It will be once I get it up and running.” Isaac grabbed the items

from Monterey’s hands but didn’t give them to Santana. Santana
watched as the rest of the men piled into the store and pitched in to
help.

All of a sudden Santana felt stupid for just standing around doing

nothing. No one was looking at him, but he felt like everyone was
judging him. What did he care? Why should it bother him what these
werewolves thought about him? They were savages that had killed the
entire town, including his parents. It shouldn’t matter one bit what
they thought of Santana.

He knew it wasn’t this lot that had done the killing, but it was

their kind. That was enough for him. Even if Sage had said that
humans were responsible for the massacre, Santana wasn’t stupid
enough to just blindly believe the man.

Lynn Hagen

Santana rolled his eyes when he saw William struggling with one

of the large trash bags. He grabbed the bag around the opening and
hauled it over his shoulder, taking it outside.

“Thanks,” William called after him.
He wasn’t here to help, damn it.

* * * *

Isaac watched Santana as the man stabbed at his dinner, hardly

touching anything on his plate. His thick, dark brows were pulled
together in frustration, and his lips were pressed tightly into a thin
line.

If Santana wasn’t trying so hard to look pissed, Isaac would laugh.

It had been a rough day of cleaning the store of all the debris lying
around and getting the shelves back up, and he felt every one of his
muscles complaining. But he wasn’t sitting there scowling from
having to do an honest day’s work.

“Is your arm too sore to lift your fork?” Isaac teased, seeing

Santana’s jaw clench even tighter.

Isaac was getting pure joy out of this, and he knew it. He found

throughout the day that Santana was easily flustered, his cheeks
turning a sexy shade of red every time Isaac made him pitch in. The
werewolves had taken care of the heavy lifting, but it was fun making
Santana break a sweat.

“I can eat,” he grumbled under his breath as he stabbed the potato

so hard that Isaac was waiting for the plate underneath to crack.
Santana’s fingers were curled around the fork so tightly that his
knuckles were turning white.

The T-shirt Santana was wearing was another one of Isaac’s. The

guy hadn’t even asked if he could wear it, but Isaac wasn’t going to
complain about seeing the sexy man in his clothes. It looked good on
him and stirred some deep desire inside of Isaac as he watched the
way it hung on Santana’s frame.

Santana’s Discovery

He still wasn’t sure if he was bat shit crazy for being attracted to a

man that shot him. There was absolutely no logic behind it, but Isaac
couldn’t deny that Santana made his cock hard just thinking about
him.

“If you don’t eat all the food on your plate, no dessert,” Isaac said

with a straight face as a few men around the table snickered. The
tiniest of movements pulled at Santana’s mouth, resembling the start
of a smile, before he ate one of the small potatoes. Isaac wasn’t sure
why it pleased him, but it did.

“Speaking of dessert,” Pat said as he stood, taking his plate away

from the table, “there’s cherry pie in the kitchen if anyone wants—”

“Fuck yeah.” Jeremiah jumped up, racing Monterey to the

kitchen, the two men bumping into each other as they tried to beat
each other into the kitchen.

“I swear, those two pigs are the reason we have to shop so often,”

Pat mumbled as he walked by Isaac.

“Do you want some pie?” Isaac asked Santana. “Pat makes really

good pie.”

“I can get it,” Santana grumbled. “Sage said you’re responsible

for me at the store, not everywhere else.”

Isaac sat back, lacing his fingers together, and then laid them on

his full belly. He could see swaying Santana to his side for mating
was going to be a lot more work than he anticipated.

And he wasn’t even sure he really wanted to.

Lynn Hagen

Chapter Three

Santana pulled the blankets tighter around his shoulders as he

listened to the howls erupting in the night. He had been tempted a few
times already to go over to his bedroom window and see if he could
spot any werewolves.

Why he wanted to do that, Santana had no clue.
It was better than lying here on this mattress scared out of his

damn mind. He jerked when his bedroom door opened, Santana
barely biting back a shout until he saw William hurry inside the room.
The guy looked a little pale as he glanced Santana’s way.

“Hey,” William said as he twisted his hands together in a nervous

gesture and cast Santana a furtive glance.

“Hey.” Santana pushed the blankets off of him and sat up.

“What’s going on?”

“I’m not too sure.” William crossed the room and sat down on the

floor in front of Santana. “The guys went over to investigate. I
thought maybe, you know, you could use some company.”

“I don’t need company,” Santana lied as he crossed his legs in

front of him. “I’m not afraid of no damn werewolves.”

“Then you’re better than me,” William admitted as he blushed.
Santana studied the man, wondering why he would blush just

because he admitted his fear. It didn’t make any sense to him.

“To be honest,” William continued, “it was me that needed the

company.”

Santana could see where this was going, and he wanted to steer

clear of the train wreck. He didn’t do feelings, emotions, and all that

Santana’s Discovery

other sappy crap. He could see in William’s green eyes that the man
wanted to talk.

Lucky him.
Santana’s eyes quickly snapped up toward the window when a

few more howls rent through the air, breaking the silence in the room.
He wasn’t sure if those bars on the windows would hold if some
werewolves decided they wanted to break in. Santana felt chilled to
the bone at the idea of facing one of those things.

He may have joined Flip’s psychotic ass hunting group in hopes

of exacting his revenge, but Santana wasn’t crazy enough to go out
there. He’d seen what werewolves looked like. When he was first
taken prisoner by these men, they had all shifted in front of him. It
was a sobering sight to say the least, but it taught him that the
creatures were much larger and more lethal than he had ever imagined
they would be.

“Did that sound closer to you?” William asked as he leaned in a

bit further toward Santana.

“Dude, there are quite a few werewolves living in this damn

house. I’m pretty sure they have this covered.” God, he hoped that
was true. It would suck if Isaac and the other men of the house were
overtaken and killed.

Santana rested his back against the wall as Terror trotted into the

room, climbing into William’s lap and burying her face into the crook
of William’s arm.

“Is she afraid of the werewolves?” Santana asked.
“Probably more so than I am,” William replied.
Santana lay back down, tucking one hand under his head, and

reached out with the other, scratching behind Terror’s ear. He wasn’t
going to admit to William that he was glad the guy was keeping him
company. The howls were scary enough, but hearing them when lying
here alone was downright frightening. Nope, he wasn’t going to admit
that to William.

At least he had company now.

Lynn Hagen

“You men okay?”
Santana’s eyes snapped over to the door and then froze on Isaac’s

long, lean form. He found his gaze lingering longer than it should.
Sage moved in behind Isaac, his eyes locked on William.

“We’re fine,” William said as he smiled. “We were just keeping

each other company.” He pushed to his feet, Terror still in his arms as
William padded out of the room. Sage disappeared from behind Isaac,
leaving the two to stare at each other.

Fuck if this wasn’t an awkward moment.
“Listen,” Isaac began as he scratched his hand over his jaw, “I’m

not sure what’s going on tonight, but it might be safer if you slept in
my room.”

Santana snorted as he rolled his eyes. “Nice try.”
Isaac’s eyes narrowed down to slits as his upper lip pulled back

into a snarl. “It wasn’t a come-on,” he snapped, “but since you think
you can fend for yourself, stay in here.” Isaac reached out and
grabbed the handle of the bedroom door and then slammed it shut.

That went well.
Santana didn’t care. He didn’t need a damn werewolf to protect

him from a werewolf or whatever. He rolled over and pulled the
blanket back over his shoulder…and started scaring himself with
images of a werewolf outside his window, prying the bars loose and
coming into his bedroom.

That was ridiculous. He was on the second floor. How was a

werewolf going to get to the second floor? Even with that logic in
mind, Santana stared at the wall, feeling as though one of those
creatures was staring right into his bedroom.

Maybe taking his mattress into Isaac’s bedroom wasn’t a bad idea.

Santana flipped the cover off of him and then grabbed that, along with
his pillow, tucking them under his arm. He reached down and grabbed
the small mattress with his other hand, scooting it along the floor and
out of his bedroom, and into Isaac’s.

“Change your mind?”

Santana’s Discovery

“No,” Santana grumbled as he let the mattress fall on the opposite

side of the room of Isaac’s mattress. He lay down, trying his best to
get comfortable. Giving Isaac his back, Santana pulled the blanket
over his body. “I thought maybe you would need protection. So I
came to save your hairy ass.”

Santana heard a deep chuckle from behind him. “How do you

know my ass is hairy?”

A heated blush crept over Santana’s body, but he ignored Isaac.

The man was trying to embarrass him. Santana lay there and
wondered if Isaac was watching him. He closed his eyes, disturbed
that a small part of him wanted Isaac to watch him. Was he off his
rocker? Losing his mind? Why in the hell would he want a werewolf
staring at him?

Santana grunted at his thoughts, trying his best to push them from

his mind and go to sleep. There was no use entertaining those
thoughts when Isaac was a whole other species. It wasn’t working out
so well. Santana was wide awake now, hyperaware that Isaac was in
the same room with him.

A chill began to seep into his bones. The room seemed to drop in

temperature. Santana knew it was winter outside, but didn’t the
wolves believe in heating the damn place? He shivered, trying to wrap
the blanket tightly around his body.

“Hey!” Santana snapped. “What are you doing?”
“Hush,” Isaac said gruffly as he spooned in behind Santana.

“Don’t flatter yourself, midget. It’s freezing in here. I need some body
heat. Trust me, this isn’t a come-on, so relax and take your ass to
sleep.”

Santana settled back into place. Was the man serious? Relax?

There was no way in hell he could relax with Isaac spooning behind
him, their bodies molding perfectly together. Santana tried his best
not to think about how his ass was sitting in Isaac’s groin.

He’s a werewolf. This isn’t right.

Lynn Hagen

But damn if images of Isaac didn’t come to mind instead of

images of the creature the man truly was. He really should be thinking
about the creature because there was no way Santana was going to
admit that having Isaac lying behind him felt good as hell.

No way. He was not going to admit that fact.
“You’re thinking too hard,” Isaac mumbled behind him as he

draped an arm over Santana.

“And how would you know that?”
“Because you’re lying here stiff as a board,” Isaac replied. “Now

relax and go to sleep.”

“Maybe I could if you gave me an inch of space between us.”

Santana wiggled a little further away, tucking the blanket down
between their bodies. Why he thought that would help, he wasn’t
sure. Santana could still feel Isaac’s body heat radiating all over him.
He cursed inwardly, reminding himself over and over again that Isaac
was a werewolf, even as he felt his cock getting hard.

He was nuts for having that kind of reaction to the man lying

behind him. Santana leaned up, smacked his pillow a few times, and
then slumped back down, groaning inwardly, knowing that no matter
what he did, he wasn’t going to get a moment’s sleep.

* * * *

Pat stored the sandwiches for lunch in a basket as William

grabbed cans of soda from the refrigerator, dumping them into a bag.
“Do we have everything?” he asked as he scooped the basket from the
table. “Everyone is starving by now, so we need to get this food over
to Mystery.” He patted the basket. “A group of hungry werewolves is
not a good thing.”

William chuckled as they headed out the front door. “I think that’s

everything.”

Santana’s Discovery

Pat stopped on the front porch when he saw the sheriff’s car pull

into the driveway. A door slammed shut behind him, and Pat rolled
his eyes, knowing that William had run back into the house to hide.

Just because the little wolf had escaped from the loony bin didn’t

mean every cop in the world was looking for him.

“Afternoon, Sheriff Reese,” Pat called out with a bit of flirtation

in his voice.

Sheriff Reese closed his car door and then leaned against it,

tucking his hands over his chest, nodding toward Pat. “How’s it
hanging?”

“Soft and to the left, you?” He chuckled. Pat had always wanted

to say that. He felt like a real country boy now. He pushed aside his
wandering thoughts and drank the sheriff in. Damn if he wasn’t a
cutie. Unfortunately, he was still wet behind the ears. What was Sam,
twenty-five? Pat didn’t like younger men, even if there was only a
four-year gap.

Sam looked cocky and confident, but he was still growing into his

own. He’d be one fine ass man when he grew up, but hell if it wasn’t
fun making the man blush. Pat loved flirting. He’d flirt with a bush if
he could get a reaction from the thing.

He was a slut, so what.
“What brings you to my neck of the woods, Sheriff?”
“I came to see how things were progressing over in Mystery,”

Sam said as he grinned at Pat, showing off his pearly whites. They
looked magnificent against the man’s tanned face. Yum.

Pat began to walk down the front steps, adding an extra hitch in

his hips. “Then I think you took a wrong turn, Sheriff. Mystery is a
mile back down the road.”

The sheriff licked his lips and then nodded, touching the brim of

his hat with his thumb and forefinger. “Then I guess I made a wrong
turn. Are you heading that way?”

Pat bit his bottom lip. He knew there was no way in hell he was

going to get William into the sheriff’s car. He sighed, knowing they

Lynn Hagen

were going to be walking to Mystery if he had any chance in hell of
getting William out of the house.

Besides, Sage would skin him alive if he left the small werewolf

to walk alone. As tempting as it was to ride with Sam, Pat shook his
head. “In a moment. Go ahead without me.” Damn if William didn’t
owe him big-time for this. “Maybe I’ll see you over there.”

He batted his eyelashes playfully.
He had no clue why he was flirting with Sam. Maybe it was

because the guy blushed so easily. It was kind of cute. He could
practically tell what the man was thinking from where the blush
appeared on his body.

“I’ll do that, then. See you later, Pat.”
“Bye, Sheriff.” Pat twinkled his fingers as Sam climbed into his

car and pulled onto the country road. Pat rolled his eyes and stomped
back up the steps. “Get your skinny ass out here. He’s gone.”

The door cracked open, and William peeked out, a look of relief

on his face. “Sorry about that.” William closed the door behind him
and walked out onto the porch.

“Yeah, yeah.” Pat waved him off. “Let’s get lunch over to the

guys.” Pat looked off into the direction the sheriff’s car had gone,
wondering how spastic William was going to get if he discovered
Sam over in Mystery.

He grinned as he grabbed William’s hand and hurried toward

town. This could be fun.

* * * *

Isaac sat on a plastic crate as he tinkered with the cooling unit. He

had grabbed a battery from one of the trucks and rigged it up in hopes
that he could see if the unit worked. He needed to know if he had to
replace the damn thing.

As he worked, Isaac stole covert glances at Santana. After the guy

had fallen asleep last night, he had practically burrowed into Isaac’s

Santana’s Discovery

side. Isaac couldn’t say that it had bothered him. As a matter of fact,
he had enjoyed it. It gave him a chance to study the man unhindered
as the human slept.

He found that the more he studied Santana’s features, the more

handsome he had found the man. And didn’t that suck? Santana was
about as far out of Isaac’s reach as a man could possibly get. He
might as well be on the moon. Santana was never going to see things
Isaac’s way.

“Any luck?” Mercy asked as he walked over and squatted down

next to Isaac.

“I’m not sure yet,” Isaac replied. “I’m about to test it now.” He

finished tightening the wires and then stood, walking over and hitting
the units on the switch that was situated on the wall. The battery
sparked, and the unit motored, groaned, sputtered, and then turned
over. He quickly hit the switch to off, not wanting to short anything
out because the battery wasn’t designed for something like this.

At least he knew it worked.
Mercy reached over and disconnected the wires from the battery

as Isaac watched Santana. He glanced up when Mercy stood in front
of him, holding the battery in his hand.

“Have you said anything to him?”
Isaac grabbed the battery and set it off to the side. He looked at

Mercy in confusion—well, at least he tried to look confused. “I don’t
know what you’re talking about.”

Mercy shrugged and then walked away.
There was no way he was admitting to anyone that he wanted to

fuck the guy who had shot him. How crazy did that sound? They
would all try and lock his ass up. Maybe he’d share a room with
William.

No, no, no, that was such a bad thought. Isaac chuckled to himself

at the image of him and William having it out over the straitjackets.
He seriously was losing his damn mind.

Lynn Hagen

He grabbed a rag and wiped his hands the best he could when he

spotted Pat and William coming in with lunch. Isaac was starving. He
walked over to the counter as Pat laid out a cloth and then started
unloading the basket.

“Form a damn line,” Pat shouted as he shooed some of the guys

away. “You’re not going to come over here and bum-rush me.”

“Ah, come on, Pat. I’m hungry,” Jeremiah complained.
“Then get in line,” Pat snipped.
Isaac quickly got in line, not wanting to argue with Pat. He wasn’t

stupid, after all. He was just hungry. He spotted Santana standing off
to the side, watching them but not making an attempt to get in line.
When Isaac neared Pat, he grabbed two sandwiches and two cans of
pop. Pat arched an eyebrow, but Isaac just jutted his chin toward
Santana. Pat smiled and nodded.

As Isaac passed Santana, he held up the food. “Come on outside

and eat lunch.”

Santana quickly followed without a word. Isaac found a spot on

the side of the store and flipped a few crates over for them to sit on,
handing Santana his food as he bit into his sandwich. He chewed as
he looked over the town. There was a light dusting of snow all
around, but it wasn’t too cold outside. They weren’t in the dead of
winter yet. This was just a teasing of what was to come.

He glanced over at the human, seeing that Santana wasn’t

shivering, so he must not be cold. Maybe sitting outside hadn’t been
his best idea. Humans’ tolerance for this kind of weather was lower
than werewolves’. Even though Santana wasn’t showing any signs of
being cold, he couldn’t be too comfortable sitting out here.

Isaac wanted to start a conversation with the small man sitting

next to him. He had a few questions, especially about why Santana
was tied naked to that damn tree the other night. But the man had
been so prickly that Isaac knew he wasn’t going to get anywhere. So
he ate in silence.

Santana’s Discovery

“This is pretty good,” Santana said as he held the sandwich up and

then took a bite.

Isaac nodded in agreement. “Pat’s a pretty good cook, always has

been.” He stopped chewing when he noticed Santana stiffen. He
followed the guy’s line of sight toward the woods, but Isaac didn’t see
anything suspicious.

“What’s wrong?” Isaac asked as he set his can of soda down on

the ground next to him.

“Nothing, nothing at all,” Santana answered a little too quickly

and then shoved his lunch into his mouth, his eyes dropping down to
where Isaac’s soda sat.

Isaac glanced back over toward the woods, studying them a little

harder. There were some pine trees that still held their needles, giving
someone a possible place to hide, but he didn’t see any tree cancer or
any movement. After a few moments, when he didn’t see anything out
of the ordinary, he began to eat again. But his guard was still up, and
his senses were still on full alert.

Once both of them were finished with their lunch, Isaac stood to

go back inside. He placed his hand on Santana’s arm to stop the
human from walking away. “If there’s trouble heading our way, and
you know about it, you need to tell me. I won’t have my friends in
any danger. And if you think it’s something that you can’t handle, I
will help you, Santana. But you have to tell me what’s going on.”

Santana looked down at the ground, chewing on his bottom lip,

and then glanced back up at Isaac. He could tell the man wanted to
say something, and he was on the verge of it.

“Get your asses back in here,” Jeremiah shouted as he came

around the corner. “We have too much work to do.”

Isaac kept his eyes locked on Santana a moment longer before he

dropped his hand and walked back into the store. He moved out of the
way when Mercy and Monterey began to bring in sheets of drywall.
Isaac glanced back at the door, seeing Santana slowly make his way
in and then scoot out of the way when Mercy and Monterey headed

Lynn Hagen

back outside. Their eyes met briefly before Isaac turned around and
went back to work.

Santana knew something, and one way or another, Isaac was

going to find out what it was that the man was hiding. He didn’t like
mysteries, and Santana was shrouded in one.

Santana’s Discovery

Chapter Four

Santana stood under the showerhead, washing away the day’s

grime. He wasn’t sure how he got roped into helping out at the store,
but he had busted his ass today—which wouldn’t have been so bad if
Isaac hadn’t kept watching him like a hawk.

The man had a way of making Santana feel as though he was

looking right through him. He knew Isaac didn’t believe him when he
said it was nothing at lunch. He had acted guilty as hell, but he wasn’t
going to tell Isaac that he thought he saw Flip watching them from the
woods.

He hadn’t been positive, but there was someone out there, and

who else could it be? Turning the shower off, Santana stepped out and
dried himself off, getting dressed before exiting the bathroom.

“Use all the hot water?”
Santana turned his head to see Jeremiah walking down the

hallway with his toiletry bag in his hand. The guy’s light brown eyes
seemed to assess him and find Santana lacking. What did he care?
Jeremiah’s opinion of Santana didn’t matter.

“Nope, it’s all yours.” Santana shoved his hands into his pocket,

watching Jeremiah walk into the bathroom as he started down the
hallway. “Ow—”

“Watch it,” Isaac said as he caught Santana before he fell on his

ass. He hadn’t even seen the guy coming. Of course, it would have
helped if he had watched where he was going. Isaac’s arms tightened
around him as the smell of musk filled Santana. Damn if the man
didn’t smell good. “Keep your hands out of your pockets. It prohibits
the use of your arms when you’re falling on your ass.”

Lynn Hagen

“I–I will,” Santana stammered as he pulled his hands free.

“Thanks.”

Isaac released him, but not before his hands slid down Santana’s

back, barely touching his ass before taking a step back. “Dinner is
ready.”

Santana stood there in the hallway after Isaac went down the

stairs, sporting a hard-on and incapable of words just yet. Why was he
letting the guy get to him? Isaac was making Santana see him as a
man instead of the beast he knew the man to be—and that wasn’t
good.

Not when it was werewolves that had killed his parents—maybe.

Santana stood there feeling confused as hell. He didn’t know what to
think anymore.

The one thing Santana could be certain of was that his attraction

to Isaac was growing. He had to figure out a way of stopping it. This
could never be. He was human, and Isaac was a werewolf. How could
the two ever have anything in common?

“You going to stand there looking lost all night or come and eat?”

Isaac called up to him from the bottom of the steps.

Looking lost sounded pretty damn good right about now. Santana

wasn’t sure if he could endure another meal sitting next to Isaac as his
attraction grew by leaps and bounds. Unfortunately, his stomach was
kicking up a fuss. Walking downstairs, Santana took his usual seat,
feeling even more frustrated when he saw that Isaac had already
prepared Santana’s plate for him.

Isaac sat there talking to Pat, as if Santana hadn’t come in and sat

down next to him. He wasn’t sure what the man’s angle was, but
Santana wasn’t going to allow himself to feel any attraction toward
the man. This had to stop.

As Santana lifted his fork, he heard a gunshot go off somewhere

outside. His insides froze as the men around the table scrambled to
their feet and took off toward the kitchen and the back door.

God, had Flip found them?

Santana’s Discovery

Santana prayed it wasn’t Flip. The man was nuttier than a box of

rocks, but he didn’t think the man was stupid enough to come here.
He was no match for the werewolves that resided under this roof.

William got up from the table and wandered into the kitchen,

leaving Santana by himself at the table. After a moment of wondering
what to do, Santana got up to investigate. He couldn’t take not
knowing what the hell was going on.

He joined William in the kitchen as both of them looked out the

small window into the backyard. “Have you seen anything?”

William shook his head, his lower lip caught between his teeth.

“Nothing so far.”

Santana didn’t even see the werewolves that had left the house.

This couldn’t be good. It had to be Flip. He didn’t think a werewolf
would shoot off a gun. His stomach roped up tighter the longer he
didn’t see anyone.

Santana decided right there in the kitchen, standing by the small

window, that if Isaac made it back alive, he was going to tell him
about Flip. He’d spill his guts.

And then pray the man didn’t kill his ass on the spot.
“I think I see someone.” William’s hands gripped the windowsill

tighter, his fingers turning a ghostly white as his eyes darted around,
searching the backyard.

Santana looked, but didn’t see anything. “Where?” He nudged

William over, trying to get a better view, but still didn’t see what the
man was talking about.

“Never mind, I must have been seeing things,” William said as he

crossed his arms over his stomach, anxiety filling his green eyes. “I
don’t like this. I don’t like it one bit. It’s too quiet.”

Santana agreed. If it had been werewolves, they would have heard

howling, fighting, and any other noises that animals made when in
battle. But the backyard was blanketed in silence. He was tempted to
go outside and investigate, but he didn’t want to leave William alone,
even though Jeremiah was upstairs.

Lynn Hagen

Oh shit, Jeremiah!
“I’ll be right back,” Santana said to William as he rushed out of

the kitchen and up the steps. He banged on the bathroom door,
hearing the shower cut off.

“What?” Jeremiah’s voice sounded irritated.
“A shotgun blast sounded in the backyard, and the other men took

off to see what was going on,” he shouted through the wooden door.
He could hear Jeremiah curse and then the door swung open, steam
escaping into the hallway. Santana stepped aside as Jeremiah ran
down the hallway with a towel wrapped around his waist and then a
few seconds later emerged fully dressed and raced out of the house.

Okay, maybe that wasn’t such a smart move. It left William and

Santana alone. They had no werewolf to protect them now. Okay,
William was a werewolf, but the guy was just too short compared to
the rest of the men to ease Santana’s worries. Santana joined William
in the kitchen once again. “Anything yet?”

William shook his head. “No, just Jeremiah tearing out the back

door.”

Santana began to pace the kitchen as William stayed glued to the

window. He started to chew on his thumbnail, worrying that Flip
would shoot Isaac. He didn’t even want to think about the man not
returning. Maybe if he had told Isaac about Flip sooner, then the
werewolves would have known what they were up against.

But Santana had kept his mouth glued shut, and Isaac was out

there unaware of the crazy ass backwoods motherfucker with a
shotgun. Feeling panic set in that Isaac could be harmed drove home
the fact that Santana had developed some feelings for the man.

When and how that happened, he wasn’t sure, but it had. And he

knew it went deeper than attraction. He wasn’t sure if it did go deeper.
He couldn’t figure anything out right now. Maybe sleeping with the
guy would cure his infatuation, lust, or whatever it was he was feeling
toward Isaac.

Santana’s Discovery

Santana wasn’t sure what to think anymore. All he knew was that

the thought of Isaac being out there facing Flip scared the hell out of
him.

Goddamn it, he did care.
Fuck!
Santana rubbed his hand over his forehead, feeling a migraine

coming on. Why in the hell was this happening to him? Why was he
starting to care about a guy who could transform into a whole other
creature? That went against nature. He should be saying there was no
such thing. But unfortunately Santana knew for a fact that werewolves
existed.

And he knew that Isaac’s kind had killed his parents…

maybe…shit.

“You look like you’re going to be sick,” William said from the

window. “Maybe you should sit down.”

Santana stopped pacing and walked over to the sink, resting his

hands on the edge of the counter, taking a deep and steady breath. He
would deal with his feelings for Isaac later. Right now he needed to
figure out what to do about this situation with Flip.

“Here they come,” William said as his eyes brightened. Santana

could almost see the electricity snapping around the man as William
moved away from the window and stood at the back door.

The kitchen door opened, and Santana saw some of the men piling

in. William rocked from foot to foot nervously as he gazed up at Sage.
“Well?”

Sage shook his head. “We didn’t find anything. Isaac and Mercy

are still out there looking.”

Santana could feel his gut knotting into a painful twist. Why did

Isaac have to be the one of the ones who stayed out there? Why
wasn’t he one of the men standing here? Santana pushed past the men,
heading out of the kitchen door to go find Isaac when a strong arm
wrapped around his shoulders and pulled him back.

“Let me go!”

Lynn Hagen

“I don’t think so,” Sage said roughly. “It would only hinder their

search. If whoever fired that gun is still out there, then I don’t need
you making the situation worse by getting kidnapped or shot.” Sage
leaned in closer, his lips close to Santana’s ear. “Because believe me,
human, being shot hurts like a bitch.”

Santana stared at Sage defiantly for a moment, feeling his anger

mounting, and then stomped out of the kitchen, dropping down onto
the couch in the living room. He ran his hands over his face, wanting
Isaac back in the house, safe.

Fuck, this whole situation was just screwed up.
There was no way he was just going to sit here on his thumb while

Isaac was out there searching for Flip.

And it had to be Flip. Who else could it be?
Santana pushed to his feet and snuck to the front door, peeking

down the hallway toward the kitchen. When he didn’t see anyone, he
hurried out the front door, closing it quietly behind him, and then
hurried around the house, racing toward the woods.

* * * *

Isaac stood there staring at the barrel of a gun, wondering how in

the hell anyone had snuck up on him. He hadn’t heard a damn thing.
What really amazed him was the fact that it was Flip standing there
holding the shotgun. He should have at least smelled him. Flip reeked
of sweat and chew.

How the hell did this guy find them anyway? Flip was a part of a

hunting group—or as Isaac liked to think of it—a radical group that
swore they were going to wipe werewolves off the face of the planet.

But Flip had hunted werewolves back when Isaac was with his

birth pack.

That was states away from here.

Santana’s Discovery

“I never thought I would see you again, Isaac,” Flip said as if he

were almost as shocked as Isaac was. “You’re the goddamn werewolf
terrorizing these parts?”

Isaac hadn’t a clue what Flip was talking about, so he let the

bastard continue without saying a word. They weren’t exactly on
amicable terms as it was. The bastard had already tried to shoot him
twice back home.

“Nice of you to join me.” He chuckled. “I can’t believe I finally

get a chance to shoot your ass again.”

“Why are you here, Flip?” That was the question that was

foremost on Isaac’s mind.

Flip shrugged. “Got a phone call from someone wanting to join

my group. I don’t mind traveling to meet like-minded people.”

“You mean psycho ass radicals.”
“If you want to call us that. Santana was a good prospect. He had

a lot of hate in him for you creatures, but he changed sides on me. I
figured I’d stick around so I could find where the werewolves were
hiding. And bingo!” Flip’s laugh was anything but humorous.

Isaac felt bile rise in the back of his throat at the mention of

Santana. He was a part of Flip’s crazy ass group? And when did
Santana switch sides? The guy still spouted off about hating
werewolves. Maybe he was Flip’s mole. What if Santana was
working for Flip? It pissed Isaac off to the point of seeing red.

And here he was falling for the human. World’s Biggest Fool

should be stamped on his forehead. “He didn’t change sides.” Isaac
growled. Fuck if it didn’t hurt to say that, even if it was the truth.

“It doesn’t matter now,” Flip said as he raised his gun a little

higher, aiming it at Isaac’s chest. “I tied his naked ass to a tree and let
nature take its course. Good riddance to bad rubbish, if you ask me.”

So it was Flip who had done that? Isaac was confused as fuck. He

didn’t even know Flip knew what the word riddance meant.

“You’re gonna die for killing all those people in this town so

many years ago.”

Lynn Hagen

“I didn’t kill them,” Isaac shouted in anger as he balled his hands

into fists. He was tired of the werewolves getting the blame for
destroying the town. There were some bad ones that had paid some
despicable humans to kill every innocent human in Mystery, but there
were bad people in every race.

“I know.” Flip winked at him. “My pa was a part of the killings,”

Flip said, and then his lips thinned, his eyes narrowing. “But he was
on the wrong side. He was in it for the money. My pa was blinded by
you bastards. He should have killed the ones who paid him. I’m here
to correct that error.”

Isaac caught movement behind Flip. Ah hell. What in the fuck

was Santana doing out here? He was going to get both of them shot.
The man was just standing there, his mouth hanging open as he stared
at Flip.

Looking back at Flip to hide the fact that Santana was behind him,

Isaac prayed Santana didn’t do anything stupid. Considering that
Santana was part of Flip’s little group of idiots, he wasn’t sure that
was possible.

“I see you radicals are trying your best to hide the fact that

humans killed this town.”

“And as you can see, it’s working,” Flip said. “Now, enough talk.

I’ve waited a long time to kill you, Isaac.”

“No!” Santana rushed toward Flip in a flurry, a large branch in his

hand swinging wildly. He swung the thick limb, knocking the rifle
from Flip’s grasp. “You liar!”

Flip spun around, knocking Santana in his face with a well-

planted fist. Flip went for his gun, but Isaac was quicker, lunging
toward the man. Despite what Santana had done, and he had done a
lot, Isaac couldn’t let the man get hurt.

Flip screamed when Isaac grabbed for him, jumping back as fast

as he could. He turned and ran toward the woods. As Flip took off
into the trees, Isaac was half tempted to go after the man, but he ran
toward Santana instead. “Are you all right?”

Santana’s Discovery

Santana was holding his jaw, his eyes a little dazed. “I think so.”
Isaac helped him to his feet. “Next time, duck.” Santana swayed a

little as Isaac wrapped an arm around his waist and helped him back
toward the house, rifle in other hand. “So Flip is the one who tied you
up?”

Santana didn’t say anything as Isaac opened the front door and

helped him into the house. He stumbled to a stop when he saw Sage
standing just inside the room, his arms crossed over his chest in a no-
nonsense pose.

“I thought I told you to stay put.” Sage growled the question.

“What happened?” The tension lines in his face eased once he got a
better look at Santana.

“We ran into Flip Carson in the woods.” Isaac helped Santana

over to the couch, the small human wobbling as he sat down. Damn,
Flip must have hit him harder than he thought. Santana looked dazed.

“Flip?” Sage asked in astonishment. “How did he find us?”
“Can someone get me an ice pack?” Isaac asked over his shoulder.

He wasn’t going to answer Sage’s question and implicate Santana.
The human had proven his worth out in the woods. And from the
stunned look on his face to Flip’s confession to who really killed the
people of Mystery, the man had enough to deal with.

“He got away,” Isaac informed Sage as he grabbed the ice pack

Pat handed him. Isaac gently moved Santana’s hand away from his
face, cursing inwardly when he saw the knot on Santana’s jaw. The
human winced when he pressed the cold pack onto the abused flesh.
“Relax.”

“You say that a lot.” Santana looked up at him, his brown eyes

still not fully focused yet.

“I do?” he asked as he smiled down at the small man.
“Yeah.” Santana blew out a breath, looking as though he was

coming out of his daze. His eyes shot up to Isaac, worry filling them.
Isaac gave Santana a nod of the head, stopping him from blurting out

Lynn Hagen

about his involvement with Flip. It wasn’t important. The only thing
that mattered now was that Santana was on their side.

And from the way he had attacked Flip, Isaac had no doubt who

Santana was gunning for now. He ran his knuckle down the side of
Santana’s face, giving him a smile before straightening.

He turned to look at Sage. “We need to take care of Flip before he

tries any of his usual antics. We don’t have a pack backing us this
time.”

Sage nodded in agreement. “If he’s still half as nutty as he used to

be, we’ll find him. There’s no way he left town, especially now that
he knows we’re here.”

“He’s only seen me,” Isaac commented as he glanced back down

at Santana, making sure the human was okay.

“He knows that we stick together. So if he’s seen you, he knows

we’re here, too.” Sage walked out of the living room without another
word, his brows pulled down in thought.

“Why—”
“Hush,” Isaac said as he sat down next to Santana. “We’ll discuss

your involvement later.”

Santana nodded as he pulled the ice pack from his face. “I didn’t

know.”

Isaac sat back, blowing a breath out heavily as he laid his hand on

the small of Santana’s back. “Are you starting to get a clearer picture
of things now?”

Santana nodded as he got to his feet and walked upstairs. It must

be confusing to know what he had believed his whole life was a lie.
Isaac would give him time to absorb it. And then he was going to get
answers.

* * * *

York grabbed a branch as he peered at the looming house ahead of

him. That had been quite a show back there in the woods. He had

Santana’s Discovery

learned a lot about what was going on in this small town—more than
he really wanted to know, actually.

The problem was, he wasn’t sure if he should call the alpha and

let him know he had found his son and friends, or help Sage and the
group out. There were some squirrelly things going on, and he wasn’t
sure who he could trust.

Learning that Sage’s father was the man leading the small band of

werewolves trying to overtake the human population was mind-
boggling. York had quickly agreed to go in search of Sage.

But what the alpha didn’t know was that he hadn’t planned on

returning. His loyalties screamed for him to call the alpha, but York
knew what he had to do. He just hoped Sage didn’t kick him out
afterward.

Lynn Hagen

Chapter Five

Santana watched as Isaac entered the bedroom, another ice pack in

his hand. “I’m fine,” he complained as the cold compress was handed
to him. The man was treating him like he had a concussion. His jaw
was sore, but it wasn’t anything he couldn’t deal with.

“Your jaw is pretty swollen. The ice will help.” Isaac ignored his

protest as he grabbed the pack from Santana’s hand and pressed the
cold lump onto Santana’s face. He wanted to smack the pack off of
him. The shit was cold.

“I think I’ll live,” he argued as he pulled his head back only for

Isaac to grab the back of his head, stopping him from moving. This
whole situation was screaming for a dramatic eye roll, and Santana
wanted desperately to give in to the urge to do just that. He would
have, too, if Isaac hadn’t had such a tight grip on his hair.

“Yeah, well, I didn’t think you would. If you ever pull some

bullshit stunt like that again, I’ll tan your ass. He could have shot
you.”

Santana crossed his arms over his chest, scowling up at Isaac.

“And he could have shot you. The man isn’t right in the head. And
how do you know him anyway?” Santana asked sharply.

Isaac sat the ice pack aside, exhaling heavily. “Us werewolves”—

Isaac waved his hand to encompass the entire house—“used to belong
to another pack. One that Sage’s father led. They didn’t quite see eye
to eye, so we left. But before that, there was a group of radicals there
as well. I had a few run-ins with Flip back then. He damn near shot
me twice.”

Santana’s Discovery

Santana sat up straighter, feeling the color drain from his face as

he gaped at Isaac. “And I called him here.” Horror laced his quiet
whisper. “I’m the one that led him right to you.”

Isaac stood, shoving his hands into his front pockets as he walked

over to the window, staring out into the unknown. Santana watched
him, taking in the man’s strong form. He couldn’t believe the
confession he heard from Flip. It really was humans that killed the
town, not werewolves.

How could he have been so blind?
It only cemented his resolve to kill that backwoods bastard the

first chance he got. Flip could have told Santana the truth, could have
told him that humans killed the town. Instead, he let Santana go on
hating the creatures for something they hadn’t done.

Now he sat here feeling like a total damn idiot for the way he had

treated the men in the house. “But I still don’t know why it
happened,” Santana said. “Why were the humans in Mystery killed?
Why were my parents killed?”

Isaac turned, his face grim as his eyes searched Santana.

“Because,” he said and then looked back outside, “some werewolves
believe that there is a cure in Mystery.”

“A cure?”
Isaac nodded, his jaw clenched tight. “Yeah, a cure. They believe

a cure exists that will stop them from changing into werewolves.”

“Why, is it a disease?” Santana couldn’t stop the question coming

out in a squeak. He laid his hands in his lap, staring down at the floor,
hoping like hell Isaac didn’t growl at him for that question.

“Some believe so. But I was born this way, and I wouldn’t change

it for the world. I don’t want a damn cure. I want to be left alone. I
want this town to be left alone. I’m sick of chasing werewolves and
radicals away.”

Santana stood, joining Isaac at the window, swallowing hard

before he spoke. “I’m sorry I brought Flip here. I didn’t know the
truth.”

Lynn Hagen

“And now?” Isaac asked, refusing to look Santana’s way. Santana

could tell Isaac was a proud man from the way he stood there staring
out into the night. His features were strong, his eyes honest. How
could he have ever doubted this man? His hatred and need for revenge
had blinded him from the truth.

“I don’t know,” Santana answered honestly. “Am I welcome to

stay here?”

Isaac gave a tight nod. “You’re welcome to stay here. Just as long

as you don’t shoot anyone.”

Santana groaned. “Am I ever going to live that down? I was

screwed up in the head. What do you want from me? Tell me you
wouldn’t have done the same thing.”

Isaac looked like he was mulling it over and then smiled. “Yeah, I

guess I would have. Thank god you’re a lousy shot.”

Santana smiled and then jerked back when Isaac cursed, his palm

pressing against the window pane. “What is York doing here?”

“York?”
“He belonged to the old pack. He shouldn’t know where we are,”

Isaac replied furiously. “Does everyone know where we are now?”

Santana looked out the window but didn’t see anyone. He was

starting to think that maybe he needed glasses. Everyone was seeing
something out of a window except him. When Isaac rushed from the
bedroom, he quickly followed the man down to the front door.

“Stay here,” he said as he pointed down at the floor. “I don’t want

you trying any heroics. Do you understand?”

Santana quickly nodded. “Understood, boss.”
Isaac shot him a glare, looking the least bit amused as he stormed

out of the front door. Santana flipped Isaac off—after he left, of
course—and then went into the living room to look outside. He saw
Isaac talking heatedly with another man, pointing in every direction
and then raising his fist as if threatening the stranger.

“What are you looking at?” Pat asked as he sat down next to

Santana.

Santana’s Discovery

“York and Isaac.”
“York!” Pat jumped up and raced out of the living room.

Somebody was going to have to tell him who the hell York was,
besides an old pack member. From everyone’s reaction, Santana knew
he wasn’t going to like the man.

Santana felt devilish. He pushed from the couch and walked into

the kitchen where everyone seemed to be congregating. “Some guy is
outside with Isaac and Pat. Isaac said his name was York.”

As predicted, growls erupted and the other werewolves took off.
“That was mean,” William said as he set his cup in the sink. “I

saw that little glint of mischievousness in your eyes.”

Busted.
Santana shrugged as he opened the fridge, digging around for a

snack. “I didn’t want everyone coming to me one at a time with
questions, so I sent them all out of here to go find the answers
themselves.” It was partly the truth. He sniffed at a block of cheese
and then carried it over to the counter, slicing a thick piece off.

“If you say so,” William said suspiciously, as if he didn’t trust a

word Santana was saying. He smiled as Isaac walked into the kitchen,
looking ticked off.

“Who’s York?” William asked Isaac. Isaac looked like he wanted

to shout, but placed his hands on his hips and looked toward the
ceiling, silently counting from the way his lips were moving.

“A pain in the ass,” Isaac finally replied, looking a bit frazzled. “If

York found us, anyone can. The man is incompetent and
scatterbrained. I’m shocked the alpha sent him to do anything other
than buy staples for the pack.”

“That’s not very nice,” Santana said before William could say

anything. The smaller man had his lips fixed to speak, but Santana
wanted to tell Isaac off.

“You say that now…” Isaac stopped and looked at Santana as if

noticing him in the kitchen for the first time. “Aren’t you supposed to
be upstairs with an ice pack on your face?”

Lynn Hagen

Santana ignored him. Too many things had gone on tonight for

him to worry about a damn ice pack. His jaw would heal, probably
bruise to an ugly black and blue, but it would heal. “I’m going to bed.
This is too much excitement for me.”

He kept his eyes on Isaac for a moment when the man’s nostrils

flared slightly. What was that about? Santana shook his head and
walked to his bedroom, remembering his mattress was in Isaac’s room
at the last minute. He changed course and strolled into the man’s
room, eyeing the mattress and deciding he was too damn tired to carry
it back to his bedroom.

Kicking his shoes off, Santana laid his head on the flat pillow and

covered his body. The adrenaline from earlier faded, and he found
himself exhausted. Santana closed his eyes.

* * * *

Isaac looked up at the ceiling, wanting to go upstairs and check on

Santana. The man had looked a little green around the edges, and he
wanted to make sure Santana wasn’t in the bathroom throwing up or
anything.

“You say my father is heading the war on humans?” Sage asked in

astonishment.

York nodded his head quickly. “Yep. I heard him and his beta

discussing the details as I brought him his lunch. Nasty business, I tell
you. He means business, and I don’t think I want to be around when
he starts his little conversion process.”

Isaac sat there stunned. If Sage’s father began converting humans,

within a matter of time they would be discovered and hunted, on a
larger scale than Flip ever dreamed of. The hunt would be massive.

“I need to stop him,” Sage said as he paced the dining room. The

man’s agitation was in every heavy step he took. “If a human is
converted and not shown the ways of our people, then we’ll just have
bloodthirsty werewolves on our hands.”

Santana’s Discovery

“They need a vârcolac to show them the way,” Mercy said quietly

from beside Isaac. “Not a converted human.”

Isaac agreed. A vârcolac was someone born a werewolf, someone

descended from Romania, a lycan. A converted human wouldn’t
know the first thing about what it was like to live like they should and
not indiscriminately convert. Sage’s father wasn’t trying to take over.
He was trying to commit genocide. The population would explode
and there would be no way to hide that many werewolves from
humans. If he went through with his plan, the werewolves would be
hunted to extinction.

Every month vârcolacs shifted into his or her werewolf form

against their will until they found and claimed a mate. Only then did
they have the power to control their shifts. If humans started being
converted like a damn factory, all hell would break loose.

“I may have an idea,” Isaac said as he sat back and rubbed his jaw

with his hand. “Since Flip is in town, why not use him for our cause?”

“Flip’s here?” York yelped.
“I like the way you think,” Jeremiah said as he smiled. “Pit one

against the other. Nice.”

Isaac shot a look over to Sage. Even though the alpha had banned

Sage from their pack, and gave him the mark of an outcast with the
slash marks across his face, the guy was still Sage’s father. “Sage—”

“Don’t.” Sage held up his hand to stop Isaac’s words and sat down

heavily into the chair in front of him. “He brought this on himself. I
always knew he craved power. I just never knew to what extent he
would go.”

The room fell silent as Sage rested his arms on the table, deep in

thought.

“Do you have any pudding?” York asked. “I have a mad craving

for pudding.”

Isaac cocked his head and studied the loony wolf. “In the

kitchen.”

York got up and walked out of the dining room.

Lynn Hagen

“And you guys want him to stay?” he asked as he stared at

everyone in the room. No one had actually said they wanted York to
stay, but no one had told the man to leave either.

“I like him,” William said as he smiled. “He’s nice.”
Everyone groaned. Isaac sat back, wondering if Mystery wasn’t

going to fall to the ground once York went over there. The small town
was already in desperate need of repair, but with York around, it may
just fall apart.

“Leave York alone for now,” Sage said as he rested his arm over

the back of William’s chair. Man, did the guy have it bad or what?
William whimpered, and Sage was ready to remove heads from
shoulders. Sage would let York stay since William liked the guy.

Fuck, they were in trouble.
“We need to find Flip first,” Monterey pointed out.
“Which means we need a werewolf to draw him out. Since I can

shift voluntarily—”

“Oh, no!” William shouted as he slapped his hand on the table.

“You are not offering yourself up for the slaughter. I won’t let you.”

Isaac could see the frustration in Sage’s eyes. The man wasn’t

used to anyone going against him. But Isaac also knew that Sage
would take William’s protest for his safety into consideration.

Having a mate was a lot of work. Isaac had never really thought

about that aspect of mating before. But of course, he never really
found the right man or woman before either. No one seemed to spark
his interest enough for him to consider making that person his mate.

Until Santana.
Isaac raised his eyes to the ceiling once more, wondering if his

mate—fuck…did he really just think that? Isaac sighed inwardly as he
clasped his hands in front of him, wondering where in the hell that
thought had come from.

“Let’s call it a night, and we’ll figure things out tomorrow after a

good night’s rest. York, you’ll have to take the couch since I don’t
have any available rooms.”

Santana’s Discovery

“He can have Santana’s,” Isaac offered. The man was sleeping on

the mattress in his room anyway. At least he had last night, so Isaac
didn’t think Santana would object to his offer to give up his room.

“And where is Santana going to sleep?” Pat asked with a smirk.
“You know damn well where he is sleeping.” Isaac grunted before

standing and walking out of the dining room. He didn’t want to hear
anyone’s shit right now. So he liked the guy. Maybe that made him
nuts, but Isaac had never been on the sane side of things to begin
with. “I’ll move his mattress back to the bedroom for York.”

Isaac jogged up the steps and entered his bedroom to find Santana

fast asleep. Just as he thought. The man was already considering this
his bedroom. If that was the case, Isaac needed to get a real bed.
Sleeping on the floor didn’t bother him, but he didn’t want his…fuck.
He yanked his mattress up and hauled it to the other room before he
could go any further with that thought. He dropped the mattress on the
floor and walked straight back to his bedroom.

He closed the door and began to pace. What would Santana say

when he found out Isaac had given away his bedroom? It wasn’t like
Santana had declared his undying love for Isaac. It sounded like a
logical solution downstairs, but now that he was standing over the
small human, Isaac wasn’t so sure. He had stated they were sharing a
room without even asking Santana what he thought about it.

“What’s wrong?” Santana asked as he yawned and turned over,

staring up at Isaac with those sleepy brown eyes. God, they were sexy
as all hell. “Why are you pacing?”

Isaac walked across the room and leaned a hip into the dresser,

studying the man sleeping on his bedroom floor. “York needs a
bedroom.”

A veil fell over Santana’s face as he pushed the blankets from his

body. “Oh.” He said the single word then reached over and grabbed
his shoes, sliding them on.

“What are you doing?” Isaac asked as he watched Santana lace up

his sneakers.

Lynn Hagen

“York is pack. I understand.”
That made one of them. Isaac was lost as hell. “And?”
“And he needs my room. It’s cool. I’ll find someplace else to

sleep.” Santana’s eyes darted to the door, instantly chewing on his
bottom lip. “Can I at least sleep on the couch tonight? I’ll go in the
morning.”

Isaac was amazed that Santana would think he was being kicked

out into the cold like that. How coldhearted did he think Isaac was?
“No.”

“You’re making me leave in the dead of night?” Santana gaped at

him, hurt radiating in his eyes.

“No. What I was going to say is that I want you to sleep in here

with me.”

“Tonight?”
God, the man was thickheaded. “No, for as long as you want.”
“Oh.” The word snapped out quickly from Santana, a look of

confusion and then surprise flashing across his face. “But there is only
one mattress.”

Isaac didn’t say a word. He let the implication of the one mattress

settle into Santana’s brain.

“You want”—Santana’s eyebrows shot up—“oh.”
There went that word again. “I don’t want anything.” Isaac was

actually able to keep a straight face through that lie. “But I don’t see
the harm in sharing the space.”

Santana kicked his shoes off, scooting over. “That’s cool.”
Isaac hid his grin as he reached into the dresser and pulled out a

pair of pajama pants. “Put these on. They are a lot more comfortable
than sleeping in jeans.” He tossed the pants to Santana, who caught
them midair and then stared at them as if he had never seen pajama
pants before.

“Change in the bathroom.” Isaac helped Santana’s stalled brain.
“Right, bathroom.” He got up from the floor and left to go change.

Isaac took that opportunity to yank his boots off his feet and then kick

Santana’s Discovery

his jeans off and slide a pair of pajamas on. He sniffed under his arms
to make sure he didn’t smell and then yanked his shirt off, damn near
tearing it in his frenzy.

Sliding under the thick blanket, he made sure there was enough

room between him and the wall for Santana. He took a deep breath
and feigned casualness as Santana came back into the bedroom.

“Isaac, you have to scoot over,” Santana said with a bit of

uncertainty in his voice. Isaac pulled the blanket back, indicating
exactly where he wanted Santana to lie down. The guy hesitated for a
moment and then crawled between Isaac and the wall, giving Isaac his
back.

“’Night,” Isaac said as he draped the blanket over Santana’s body.
“’Night,” Santana replied and then scooted closer to Isaac.
What the hell was he supposed to make of that move?

* * * *

Santana was a quivering mess. He wasn’t sure what he should do.

Ever since Flip’s confession, his stance on things had come to a
screeching halt and was now going in the opposite direction.

Besides, he’d never slept with a man before—Isaac trying to keep

him warm when Flip left him to freeze to death didn’t count—and he
felt like he was going to fall apart right there on the mattress. Hell if
the past twenty-four hours wasn’t something for the books. Okay, so
he had made the first move by scooting closer, so now the ball was in
Isaac’s court. If the man truly wanted him, he would make the next
move. If not, then Santana would know that this was just a platonic
situation.

He held his breath.
Santana’s nerves were coming unglued at the hinges as he waited

for Isaac to do something, anything. He knew the man could change
into a werewolf. That hadn’t been forgotten. But somewhere along the
way Santana had started seeing Isaac as a person, as a man he

Lynn Hagen

wouldn’t mind getting to know better. And what better way was there
than sleeping with the man?

“You’re thinking too hard again, midget,” Isaac mumbled. “And

stop shoving your ass into my groin.”

Santana immediately pulled away, only to have Isaac reach out

and pull him back. Hell if the man wasn’t throwing mixed signals at
him. Santana gave up trying to figure out what to do and settled down.
It seemed nothing was going to happen between them, and begging
Isaac to fuck him wasn’t high on his list of things to do in life.

“When it’s right.”
What the hell was that supposed to mean? “What?”
“You just got over your aversion to werewolves, and now you

want one to fuck you? Seems a little too fast for me. How much do
you know about me, Santana?”

Santana felt the embarrassment mount inside of him at the fact

that he had been throwing himself at Isaac and that he really didn’t
know the man too well. He gave a tight shrug of his shoulders.

“Exactly,” Isaac said as his arm tightened around Santana. “Get to

know me first, and if you’re still interested, we’ll explore that option.”

“I think I’m old enough to know what I want.”
“Yeah?” Isaac pulled at Santana until he turned around. “How

many guys have you been with?”

Santana could feel his face heat as he turned back over, refusing to

answer the man. It was none of Isaac’s business.

“That’s what I thought. Get to know me first if you want me to

fuck you.”

Santana ignored the bastard as he slammed his eyes shut and

prayed sleep pulled him under because he was so damn embarrassed
that he wanted to run from the room.

“’Night.”
Santana remained silent as he fought for sleep.

Santana’s Discovery

Chapter Six

Santana walked outside, grabbing more firewood for the house,

feeling as though he could take one of the logs and knock Isaac over
the head with it. It had been two long and agonizing weeks, and Isaac
still hadn’t made a move on him.

They had gotten to know each other pretty well working together

side by side, but the man still refused to fuck Santana. He wasn’t that
damn ugly. He didn’t think so. Santana piled the logs in his arms,
grumbling to himself about having blue balls when he heard a twig
snap.

His heart started to immediately race as his eyes scanned all

around him. Sage had been going out in werewolf form, trying to
flush Flip out. Was that Sage out there or Flip? Or was it someone
else from Isaac’s pack coming to report to the alpha that they had
found Sage and his group?

Santana took a step back, reaching behind him for the door

handle. It could also be a wild animal in the woods. It didn’t have to
be someone out there watching him. His breath whooshed from his
lungs when he saw Isaac emerging from the trees. Damn, the man had
scared the shit out of him.

Their eyes locked, and Isaac’s jaw tightened. What the hell was

wrong with him? Isaac was the one refusing sex. Santana hadn’t done
anything wrong to gain such a sour look.

“Go inside, Santana.”
His eyes once again scanned the area, but Isaac didn’t seem

worried about his surroundings. He was tense, Santana could see that
in the way Isaac rolled his shoulders, but he didn’t look worried.

Lynn Hagen

“Why, what’s wrong?”
Isaac shoved his hands into his pockets, and Santana could see

that they were balled into fists. “I’m not very good company to be
around right now.”

He had noticed a change in Isaac, in all the men except Sage and

William. Even York was acting quirky. Okay, quirkier than usual.
Isaac seemed irritated a lot lately, and Santana didn’t know why.

“If you’re tired of sharing a room with me, just let me know. I’m a

big boy. I can handle rejection.” Not really, but Santana wasn’t going
to be somewhere he wasn’t welcome. He may have contemplated
begging Isaac to fuck him, but he wasn’t going out like that. Santana
did have his pride after all, and begging Isaac to keep him wasn’t
going to happen.

Santana blinked when Isaac was in his face within seconds.

Damn, the man was fast. “Just because it isn’t safe to be around me
right now doesn’t mean I want you to leave. Stop thinking this is all
about you.”

That didn’t sound like the Isaac he had gotten to know over the

past two weeks. The man he had gotten to know was caring and
funny, always joking with him. This man in front of him was hostile
and acting like a jackass. “Why are you acting this way? What the
fuck is going on?”

Isaac grabbed Santana’s free hand and pressed it into his groin.

Santana’s eyes rounded. He could feel the hard outline of the man’s
erection pulsing under his fingers. “The change is coming, and I’m
very close to fucking you hard until the shift.”

“H–How long is that?”
“Five days. So if you aren’t prepared to get fucked for five days

straight, go inside.” Isaac released Santana’s hand, his baby blues
locked onto Santana.

Santana stood there thinking five days was a very long time.

Could he do that? Could he let Isaac fuck him for five days straight?

Santana’s Discovery

“Would you be doing it because of some chemical need racing inside
of you or would you be doing it because you want me?”

“Both,” Isaac answered without hesitation.
Santana could live with that. He dropped the logs, throwing his

arms around Isaac’s neck and smashing his lips into Isaac’s with a
need so desperate that Santana was willing to strip right here on the
back porch.

Isaac growled low as he pushed Santana against the side of the

exterior wall and took over the kiss, delving his tongue roughly into
Santana’s mouth. “You drive me fucking crazy,” Isaac said as he
broke the kiss, his hands all over Santana’s body. “I’ve wanted you
for weeks now.”

Santana yelped when Isaac grabbed him and turned him around,

pressing Santana’s chest into the wall. Isaac’s body molded to
Santana’s, his cock rock hard and pressing into Santana’s lower back.
He pushed up on his toes until Isaac’s erection was pressing into his
ass.

“You feel that?” Isaac asked as he rubbed his hard cock up and

down Santana’s ass. “You want me to fuck you, Santana? Do you
want my cock buried deep in this tight little ass of yours?”

“God yes.” He blurted out his reply as he stilled, praying Isaac

was going to take him upstairs and rock his world. Over the past two
weeks, Santana had learned a lot about Isaac, and his feelings toward
the guy hadn’t diminished, but grew by leaps and bounds. He wanted
every part of Isaac, even the scary part, his werewolf. He had seen
Sage shift multiple times over the past two weeks to the point it didn’t
freak him out any longer so he knew he could handle Isaac in his
creature form.

“Take me.”
Isaac growled as he curled his fingers around the back of

Santana’s neck. “You want a werewolf to take your virginity.”

Oh god! “How—”

Lynn Hagen

“How did I know?” Isaac asked as he ground his cock harder into

Santana. “I knew. That’s all that matters.”

Santana’s heart was beating so fast that he became a little dizzy.

He bit his lip, smashing his eyes closed as he thought of Isaac fucking
him. God, he wanted that so badly that every inch of his body ached
with need.

“That’s what I thought,” Isaac snapped as he released Santana.
“What?”
“Go back inside while I can still restrain myself.”
Santana took off inside, hurt that Isaac had looked at him with

such loathing. He must have mistaken Santana’s facial expression.
There was no other explanation. He wanted to run back out there and
tell Isaac that he’d been mistaken, that Santana hadn’t closed his eyes
in disgust. But he knew Isaac was beyond reason right now.

Santana quickly closed the bedroom door and stripped out of his

clothing. Fuck, it was cold in here. He dived under the blankets and
anxiously awaited Isaac to come upstairs. One way or another, the
man was going to fuck him. Santana was tired of waiting, and he was
tired of Isaac rejecting him.

Santana was going to get laid tonight.

* * * *

Isaac cursed the tightness of his skin and his out-of-control libido.

Santana didn’t deserve to be treated that way, but Isaac couldn’t help
himself. The change was coming fast and he felt irritable, hornier than
hell, and his skin felt tight, itchy.

His cock had been hard as steel since he woke up this morning,

and he growled at anyone who came too close to Santana. He had to
explain to the human the need to stay away from him, but his cock
was leading him right to the man.

Isaac climbed the steps, praying that Santana was already asleep

and praying he could keep all of his body parts away from the man.

Santana’s Discovery

He saw that Santana was already under the covers, his eyes closed as
Isaac entered their bedroom. Shucking his clothes, Isaac crawled
under the covers and then froze.

Santana was gloriously naked.
Isaac curled his fingers in, trying his best not to touch one square

inch on the man, but the feel of Santana’s warm, exposed flesh was
too much for him to resist. He had been fighting his attraction for
weeks, and he could only take so much temptation. The man had
crawled under his skin and taken up permanent residency.

Slowly, with more patience than he thought he possessed at the

moment, Isaac reached out and skimmed his knuckles over Santana’s
bare flesh. He closed his eyes at the contact, hoping this was what
Santana wanted. After the man’s reaction on the back porch, Isaac
wasn’t sure.

“Do you want me?” Isaac whispered into Santana’s ear, knowing

the man was fully awake. The change wasn’t the only reason Isaac
wanted the small human. He had gone through the change before,
fucked while going through it, but never desired to bite anyone and
make them his mate. But Isaac was finding it very difficult not to do
that very thing to Santana.

Santana didn’t answer him. Instead, he pressed his ass into Isaac’s

groin, the same way he had done a few weeks ago. Isaac ran his hand
over Santana’s hip, feeling the human shiver under him. Leaning
forward, Isaac licked a trail from Santana’s shoulder to his upper arm,
hearing the man underneath him inhale sharply.

Isaac turned Santana over, staring down at his groin. The hair was

lying against his pelvis like a soft pelt. The man obviously shaved
down there because it wasn’t sitting in a rough patch like Isaac’s was.
No, it was soft to the touch, barely there. “Spread your legs for me.”

Santana’s legs spread wide as his hands grabbed Isaac’s

shoulders. Santana’s cock was hard and weeping, jumping slightly
from the throbbing of blood rushing south. He was going to eat this
small human up.

Lynn Hagen

His hand moved to Santana’s abdomen, smoothing over the skin

as he watched Santana’s nipples harden as they peaked. Isaac
growled, his tongue licking one nipple, his lips nibbling sporadically
as Santana moaned. The hand on Santana’s stomach moved down the
man’s body until the back of his knuckles grazed over hard, heated
flesh.

Santana jerked, his hips rocking forward slightly. Isaac’s fingers

trailed over Santana’s balls, which were drawn up to the base of his
erection. He tugged at them slightly, gaining another moan from
Santana.

“You like what I’m doing to you?” he asked as he moved to the

next nipple, teasing the small circle of flesh with his teeth.

“Yes,” Santana whimpered.
Isaac ran his fingers over the head of Santana’s cock, gathering

the clear liquid before dipping his hand down between the flared
mounds, pressing the tips against Santana’s small opening and then
rimming them around the tight muscle.

“What am I, Santana?” He was breathing hard and rough as his

head raised to wait for the human to answer him. “Tell me.”

Santana whimpered again, his back arching as his ass pressed

down toward Isaac’s fingers. “A werewolf.”

Isaac rewarded the man with a bite to his heated flesh, sucking the

nipple in and rolling it with his tongue. Santana cried out, pressing his
chest against Isaac’s mouth.

He lapped at the skin and then raised his eyes to stare at Santana

thrashing his head back and forth on the pillow. “And you’re fully
aware that a werewolf is about to fuck you?”

Fingers dug into Isaac’s shoulder as Santana’s eyes fluttered open.

Santana glanced down at Isaac with those pretty brown eyes. “Yes.”

He lowered his head again, this time kissing the flat plane of

Santana’s stomach. Santana’s fingers clenched and unclenched over
Isaac’s shoulders. He could feel a slight pressure and knew Santana

Santana’s Discovery

was trying to guide him down to his cock. Isaac kissed one hip and
then the other as the tip of his finger breached Santana’s tiny opening.

“God, you taste so good,” Isaac muttered as he kissed the velvet

skin of Santana’s pelvis before he licked and sucked around the angry
purple head of Santana’s cock. “Like spice and man.”

Santana’s whimper was louder this time, a begging note to it.

Isaac drew the head into his mouth as his finger slid all the way into
Santana’s untried channel. The man’s ass was so tight that Isaac had
to let his finger rest until Santana’s body relaxed after the intrusion.
He felt his control being stripped away as Santana cried out.

Isaac used his tongue to trace the path of the long vein running

alongside Santana’s cock. His free hand skimmed back up Santana’s
stomach and tweaked a nipple, feeling it pucker under the tips of his
fingers. Santana’s head twisted around on the mattress, his arms and
legs locking and unlocking as Isaac explored the man’s length with
his mouth.

When he felt Santana’s entrance relax, he began to move his

finger around. Isaac was straining, fighting against the need to take
Santana in the way of his people. Werewolves, vârcolacs, fought for
the right to claim someone when they were in heat. Santana not only
was human, needing a gentleness Isaac was fighting to give him, but
the man was also a virgin. He wasn’t going to make Santana’s first
time anything but pleasurable.

Isaac breathed through his nose as his mouth slid back up

Santana’s length before releasing the shaft. Isaac’s skin was tight,
itchy as he fought the need to take Santana harshly. He stared down at
the glistening shaft, wet with his saliva. “Damn, baby.” His breathing
became ragged again as he watched Santana writhe under him.

Isaac pushed forward, entwining his tongue with Santana’s,

feeling the desperation in the way Santana kissed him back. Isaac
removed his finger from Santana’s throbbing ass and then broke the
kiss. “I need to get some lube.”

Lynn Hagen

Santana nodded, his lips kiss-swollen, his eyes glazed with lust as

Isaac hurried over to his dresser and grabbed the bottle from the
drawer. He dropped it next to Santana as he knelt between the
human’s legs, smoothing his hands over Santana’s thighs.

“Fuck me, Isaac. Please.”
Isaac felt a surge of heat course through his body at Santana’s

plea. He was barely holding it together as it was. He didn’t need
Santana begging. That would take him over the edge, and he was far
from finished with this man.

But he couldn’t deny that the words made his cock jerk in

approval.

“Is that what you want?” he asked as he dripped lube onto his

fingers and then tossed the bottle back down onto the mattress,
separating Santana’s cheeks as he lubed the entrance to Santana’s
body. “You want my cock here?” He pressed two fingers in this time
as he watched Santana’s head fall back and a cry leave his lips. Isaac
couldn’t remember anyone reacting this passionately to his touch, and
he wanted more. Seeing Santana respond this way made his cock
impossibly harder.

Santana lowered his head, his eyes staring at Isaac imploringly as

his body rocked on those two fingers buried deep in his ass. It took
every ounce of restraint Isaac owned not to pull his hand free and fuck
Santana right that second.

“Let me get you ready for me.”
Biting his lower lip, Santana nodded. Isaac’s skin felt hot,

stretched tight as he leaned forward and slid his tongue over Santana’s
chest. When he felt Santana could take it, Isaac let a third finger enter
the man.

“Please, Isaac. Don’t torture me,” Santana pled as his bottom

snapped down to meet Isaac’s thrusting fingers.

“Baby, I’m not torturing you on purpose. I won’t let you be hurt.”

Isaac nibbled his way up to Santana’s neck, sucking on it until he felt
Santana scoring Isaac’s flesh with his fingernails. He lifted his head to

Santana’s Discovery

see the bruise he had left behind. He had marked Santana, letting
everyone know that the human was his.

And he planned on marking Santana with his seed as well.
Isaac stilled when he felt the claws on his free hand elongating

and his canines trying to descend. That had never happened before.
What the fuck was going on?

“What’s wrong?” Santana asked as he pushed at Isaac’s shoulders,

trying to get Isaac to lean up and look at him.

“Something is happening to me. I’m not sure you want to see it,”

Isaac said as he swallowed hard.

“Let me see you.” Santana pressed the palm of his hand against

Isaac’s face.

Isaac took a deep breath and leaned back, staring down at Santana,

feeling the most vulnerable he had ever in his life.

“And this has never happened before?”
Isaac shook his head. “I am an unmated vârcolac. The shift only

occurs on the full moon. I still have five days. No part of me should
be shifting.”

“Unmated?” Santana asked as he stared at Isaac’s canines. “What

does that mean?”

“It means I haven’t found the right person to spend the rest of my

life with,” Isaac answered, unable to stop his fingers from moving
inside Santana. The human gasped as his eyes fluttered, his legs
spreading even further apart.

“Are you going to bite me?” Santana asked softly.
“No,” he answered honestly as he kissed Santana’s chin. “But I

can’t promise the same answer as the time grows nearer to my shift.”

Santana’s hands threaded through Isaac’s hair, tugging at it

slightly as Isaac kissed his way to the man’s ear. “If I bite you when
in my vârcolac form, you will become a werewolf, and also my
mate,” he whispered softly. “So think long and hard before begging
me to bite you.”

Lynn Hagen

Santana’s throat moved tightly under Isaac’s lips as the man

underneath him swallowed hard. “Then I’ll settle for you fucking
me.”

Isaac smiled into Santana’s skin, inhaling his scent as he

continued to move his fingers inside Santana’s body. “I can give you
that.” Pulling his hand free, Isaac reared back and grabbed the lube.
As he spread the clear gel onto his cock, he reached over and began to
stroke Santana’s shaft, watching the man arch and moan. “Pull your
legs back.”

Santana cupped the back of his knees with his hands, pulling them

back with shaky hands as Isaac leaned forward, pressing his chest into
Santana’s legs, helping him hold them in place as the tip of his cock
touched Santana’s tiny entrance. “This would have been much better
on your hands and knees, love.”

Shaking his head, Santana eased down onto Isaac’s shaft, a gasp

leaving his lips as the head of Isaac’s cock stretched Santana’s body
open, gripping the head tightly. Isaac closed his eyes for a moment
and breathed out slowly, calming the need to thrust to the root. He
could feel his muscles straining and his jaw clenching with the effort.

Santana dug his fingers into Isaac’s chest, his nails breaking skin

as he panted heavily. If the man didn’t move soon, Isaac wasn’t going
to be able to control himself. There was no way he could stay like this
much longer.

His molars ground together as Santana eased down a little more,

teasing, testing. Isaac’s hands were balled into fists, smashed into the
mattress as he commanded his body not to move. Santana’s eyes
widened when Isaac’s hips snapped uncontrollably, pushing his cock
just a little further into Santana’s sweet ass.

“You liked that, didn’t you?” Isaac asked as he watched Santana’s

eyes begin to smolder. He repeated the action, his cock sinking a little
deeper.

“I want to…” Santana gasped and then whimpered as Isaac

pressed in an inch more. He was taking his time, allowing Santana’s

Santana’s Discovery

body to adjust to his intrusion, but heaven have mercy if it wasn’t
torturous for Isaac to do so. He could feel every move Santana made,
every shift of his body, and the feeling radiated down his cock,
sending waves of pleasure shooting through his bloodstream.

Isaac pulled back slightly and then eased back in, going just a bit

further this time. He watched Santana’s face, watched for any signs
that the man was in pain. He could see a mixture of pain and pleasure
as Santana moved with him, easing down as Isaac moved forward.
Isaac had never felt anything so exquisitely torturous in his life.

Santana’s hole pulsed around his cock as Isaac gritted his teeth,

his canines breaking skin on his lower lip. Sweat began to trail down
his back and temples as he fought to go easy on Santana. How the hell
did humans do this? Isaac was going out of his mind as his hips
strained to hammer into Santana’s tight little ass.

Isaac shouted in surprise when Santana thrust down the rest of the

way. His cock pulsed out the same beat as his rapidly beating heart as
he gazed down into the human’s dark brown eyes.

“Take me,” Santana begged as he began to move his hips.
Isaac dropped to his arms, stopping his weight from crushing the

man as he pulled one of Santana’s legs into the crook of his arm,
Santana hitching the other around Isaac’s waist. He pulled back and
then thrust forward, shoving his cock to the hilt inside Santana before
repeating the act.

“Isaac,” Santana cried out as he gasped for breath.
“Nobody has ever been inside of you until now,” Isaac said as he

leaned forward, scraping his canines over the spot between Santana’s
neck and shoulder, temptation riding him hard to bite the human.
“And nobody else better ever come after me.”

Possessiveness wrapped around Isaac, making him insane with

jealousy thinking of another witnessing Santana in the throes of
passion. The man was breathtakingly beautiful in bed, and no one was
going to witness that but him.

Lynn Hagen

Santana cried out, his hole and cock jerking as Isaac fucked him

hard. The friction of Santana’s flesh with his made him want to shout
with indescribable pleasure. His vision blurred as sweat trickled down
into his eyes, but Isaac refused to break the rhythm the two shared.
Not even the house burning down around them would make Isaac
retreat from Santana’s body.

He nipped and sucked at Santana’s neck as his cock drove deeper

into the tight fit of Santana’s body. God help him, he wanted to mate
Santana, to make the man his. Never before had he felt this way, and
Isaac was hard-pressed not to bite the man.

It wouldn’t do anything. He wasn’t in his werewolf form, but the

urge was there nonetheless.

Santana clawed at his back as he met Isaac’s strokes, his ass

slamming onto Isaac’s cock as his human cried and begged to be
fucked harder. As Santana’s nails dug deeper into his flesh, Isaac’s
growl surprised him. He tucked an arm under Santana’s shoulders, the
other gripping his hip tightly as Isaac drove deeper, harder, and faster
than he had ever thought he could take a human.

It was almost like taking another werewolf, the force behind his

thrusts unstoppable as he tried to literally crawl inside the man
writhing underneath him. The leg Santana had wrapped around
Isaac’s waist kept slipping down from the perspiration covering both
their bodies.

Isaac slammed both his hands into the mattress on either side of

Santana’s head as his body reared up, his thrusts driving even deeper
into the human. He couldn’t seem to get enough of Santana. It was as
if the man had crept into his very soul.

Taken by surprise, Isaac fell back when Santana pushed Isaac off

of him and then rolled over, getting to his hands and knees. Isaac
didn’t stay stunned for long. He drove his cock back into Santana and
grabbed his hips roughly, pounding into his willing body with such
force that the mattress slid a few inches.

Santana’s Discovery

Santana’s shoulders fell to the mattress as he cried out, his hole

pulsing around Isaac’s cock, indicating to Isaac that Santana had just
come. The smell of spunk hit Isaac hard, driving him crazy as he
slammed Santana onto his shaft, trying desperately to fall over the
edge with the man under him.

A few more thrusts and Isaac was howling out his release, his

body exploding like fireworks in the sky as his seed felt as though it
was being ripped from him. His balls were drawn so tight that Isaac
actually winced.

Santana collapsed under him, his body glistening with sweat as he

heaved in air through his mouth. Isaac stayed buried inside Santana as
he wiped the perspiration from his face, gasping for air himself. He
eased his death grip from Santana’s hips, seeing small indents from
where his fingers had almost burrowed into the man’s skin.

Isaac leaned forward and kissed the back of Santana’s neck,

nuzzling his face in the man’s sweat-soaked skin. “Sleep.”

Santana didn’t even nod. Isaac bent to the side, seeing that

Santana’s eyes were closed and his breathing was becoming even. He
smiled as he pulled his cock free from Santana’s body and then
stretched out beside him, pulling the human into his arms as he
covered their bodies.

Hell if the wait hadn’t been worth it. And Isaac knew for a fact

that this wasn’t the last time they would have sex. Santana had just
entered his bloodstream and become the most addictive thing in
Isaac’s life.

Lynn Hagen

Chapter Seven

York stood there for a moment as he watched Santana wince when

he bent over to grab some drywall screws. Everyone in the house had
heard Isaac and Santana going at it every single night for the past
week. Which didn’t help since York was ready to let anyone with a
stiff cock fuck him. He hated going through the change. It made him
irritable as hell. He scratched at his skin, wishing lotion would take
the tight feeling away.

Thank god the shift was tonight or he’d scratch his damn skin off.
“Are you okay?” William asked as he set down a small pail of

tools.

“Yeah, just fleas.” York scratched some more before grabbing the

hammer from the floor. He was seriously considering using the claw
end to get at the tightness between his shoulders. Why the hell did he
have to itch?

William stood there gaping at him and then smiled. “It’s just the

change. You’ll be okay after tonight.”

“Come back in a few hours and repeat that. My itchy body and

hard cock can’t hear you right now.” York raised the hammer to
scratch his back when it was plucked out of his hand.

“You’re not allowed to use the tools,” Monterey reminded him.

“Go sweep or something.”

York growled as he walked over to the door and began to scratch

his back on the frame like a grizzly bear. “I will, just as soon as I stop
itching,” he snapped.

“What the fuck ever,” Monterey grumbled.

Santana’s Discovery

“God, is this what it’s going to be like around you guys until you

mate?” William asked as he looked between the two.

“Some of us aren’t as lucky as you, William.” York stomped his

foot, pissed that his back wouldn’t stop itching. Maybe he could find
someone to fuck him while scratching his entire body with a scouring
pad.

Wouldn’t that be a heavenly relief?

* * * *

Santana handed Isaac some more screws as he looked at all the

men around him. Everyone, with the exception of William and Sage,
was biting each other’s heads off. Never in his life had he seen a
group grumpier than these men.

“Hold this.” Isaac shoved the screw gun into his hand as he tapped

at a piece of wood. “I think this one needs to be replaced.”

They had torn down the existing walls, checked the wood

underneath for any rotting or termites, and then began to hang new
drywall. Santana wasn’t sure why Isaac was checking the two-by-four
again, but as sour as the man was acting, he wasn’t going to ask. But
if Isaac kept snapping at him, Santana was going to beat him over the
head with the screw gun.

They had shared a beautiful night every night this week, Isaac

practically catering to him every day afterward, but today he was
acting as if he had a thorn in his ass. He was told about the whole
irritated, itchy thing everyone was going through, but Santana only
had so much understanding and patience, and Isaac had worn him
thin.

“Will you hand me the screw gun?” Isaac snapped at him as he

held his hand out. “Stop daydreaming.”

Santana tossed the gun to the floor. “Get it yourself, crabby-ass.”

He turned and walked into the back stockroom before Isaac could
growl another word at him. He understood what Isaac was going

Lynn Hagen

through, sort of, but Isaac needed to remember that Santana was new
at all of this and needed some leeway.

He was that close to popping Isaac a good one.
“Sorry.” Santana turned to see Isaac standing in the doorway.

“You know it’s not me.”

“You could try a little harder not to take my head off.”
Isaac crossed the room, his lips pulling back into a snarl, and then

he took a step back, breathing out heavily. “I’m trying. Trust me when
I tell you that I’m trying.”

“I think maybe I should go home for the day. Being around you

guys when you PMS isn’t very thrilling. I can only take so much
snapping and growling.”

Isaac tipped Santana’s chin back, his blue eyes dark with some

untold emotion. “If you feel that’s what you want. I’d rather have you
here at my side, but I know my edginess is wearing on you.”

Santana wanted to stay, but if Isaac, or any of the other men,

snapped at him one more time, someone was getting a hammer over
the head. “I’ll see you tonight.”

Isaac nodded, releasing Santana’s chin, but not before giving him

a scorching kiss that made Santana’s cock harden and his toes curl.
He stood there a bit dazed as Isaac walked out of the stockroom.

Holy fuck could that man kiss.
Santana wanted to run behind Isaac and beg for another, but knew

he needed to give the man some space. Maybe after this whole shift
thing was over they could go back to laughing and fucking. Until
then, Santana planned to stay as far away from Isaac as possible.

Walking out of the store, Santana gave one last glance at the

handsome man before he stepped outside.

“I’m going to walk you back,” Jeremiah said as he began to walk

without Santana. Great, another prickly man to deal with. He’d rather
have had Isaac walk him home. “Isaac asked me to take you so you
wouldn’t have to walk by yourself.”

Santana’s Discovery

Santana nodded as he tried to keep pace, but Jeremiah’s legs were

much longer than his, eating up the space more quickly. “I thought
you were walking me home?”

Jeremiah grunted. “I am.”
“No, you’re walking home and I’m running a marathon back here.

Slow down.”

Jeremiah didn’t look too happy, but he slowed his pace. They

cleared town and turned down Highway 114, heading toward the
house. Santana wasn’t sure why they were walking when they could
have easily driven. He noticed that the werewolves liked walking
everywhere. His truck was sitting on the side of the house in need of
repair, so he had no choice but to walk the mile back to the house.

Santana pulled his collar up around his neck and then shoved his

hands into his front pockets to try and cut down on the freezing wind
cutting across the field next to them. Maybe he should have stayed at
the store instead. A deep yearning to be near Isaac mingled with the
bitter cold was making him rethink his decision to leave.

He was thankful when they finally made it home. Santana rushed

inside, straight to the fireplace.

“Pat will be over here in a little while to keep you company.”
Santana narrowed his eyes as he spun around. “I don’t need a

babysitter.”

Jeremiah shrugged, looking indifferent. “Take it up with Isaac

then.”

Santana gave the surly man his back—before he picked something

up and hurt the guy—as Jeremiah left the house and headed back to
town. It was bad enough Jeremiah had an already-sour disposition,
but this shifting thing was making all the men downright pissy.

Shrugging off his coat, Santana tossed it onto the couch and then

sat down on the floor, crossing his legs in front of him as the fire
heated his cold bones. He thought about helping Pat cook dinner for
everyone, but they were already in cranky moods. He didn’t need to
make it any worse with his lack of culinary skills.

Lynn Hagen

A floorboard squeaked behind Santana. “That was fast.” He

turned, but he didn’t see Pat behind him. “Pat?” Santana listened, but
didn’t hear anything else. Must be the house settling. He turned back
around, pressing his hands close to the fire to warm them. Maybe he
should think about investing in gloves.

Santana’s head snapped back around when he heard another

floorboard creak. This time it was upstairs, right above him. There
was no damn way the house was settling this time. Santana knew that
sound came from right above him. The guys wouldn’t be back for a
good hour or so. The shift was tonight, when the sun set, and since it
was winter, that wasn’t too far off. But the werewolves would have
come through the front door, and Santana hadn’t heard their sour
asses walk by him.

He pushed to his feet, walking slowly until the second floor came

into view. He held his breath, his eyes scanning the upstairs area, but
he still didn’t see anyone. Was he stupid enough to call out? No.
Santana strained to listen, to hear anything, but the house was silent.

He wasn’t a chicken, but he wasn’t crazy either. There were more

than just humans in the world, and he knew there were things out
there that could seriously hurt him. Santana’s eyes cut to the door, and
then back up at the second floor. Why did he have to be in such a
large house? And in a town that had been the scene of such a grisly
crime so many years ago? He shivered at the thought of anyone
upstairs.

Maybe his imagination was just getting the better of him because

tonight was the shift. That had to be the case because Santana hadn’t
heard anything else. The floorboards remained quiet.

Chalking the noise up to his overactive imagination, Santana

settled back down in front of the fire. Pat should be here soon, and he
wouldn’t be in this big house by himself. Of course, he wasn’t going
to admit that he had been sitting here scared out of his mind either.

Pulling his legs to his chest, Santana wrapped his arms around

them and rested his chin on his knees, watching the flames and

Santana’s Discovery

listening to the soothing sound of the fire crackling. Why couldn’t life
always be this peaceful?

Santana could feel himself dozing in front of the fire, the heat

warming him inside. He stilled, his eyes flying open when he felt a
hand barely brush the back of his neck. Santana swallowed, afraid to
turn around.

He seriously doubted it was Flip. The man was too big to sneak up

on him, and Flip would be throttling him right now, not lightly
touching him.

“Are you asleep?”
Santana felt his balls unclench when he heard Isaac’s deep,

baritone voice. The question was spoken softly, but he would know
Isaac’s voice anywhere. “No.”

“Come on upstairs.”
He heard Isaac leave the room and then walk up the steps. Santana

unfolded his legs, stretched, and then glanced around. He didn’t see
anyone else. Isaac must have come home early. Santana just prayed
Isaac had left his moodiness back at the store.

Pushing the bedroom door open, Santana stood there speechless.

Isaac was totally naked, the bottle of lube in his hand, and he was
stroking his hard shaft, twisting his wrist and looking as though he
were having a pretty damn good time without Santana.

Good god, he had to be downstairs dreaming all of this. The man

looked like a god standing there in the middle of the room pleasuring
himself. Santana’s feet finally remembered what to do as they carried
him into the room, stopping right in front of Isaac’s worship-worthy
body.

“I’m sorry about earlier,” Isaac said between gasps, his hand

squeezing his cock tightly. Santana couldn’t take his eyes off of the
hand doing exactly what Santana wanted to do. “You have to believe
that I’m fighting it.”

Santana wasn’t listening to a damn word Isaac was saying.

Instead, his eyes were eating up the long cock in Isaac’s hand. The

Lynn Hagen

man could be telling him all the government secrets right now, and
Santana wouldn’t pay the guy any attention. His sole focus was on the
throbbing cock that he wanted to taste as badly as he wanted to
breathe.

He dropped to his knees and reached his hand out, his fingers

playing in the clear liquid seeping from the head of Isaac’s cock as
Isaac’s hand stilled. Santana ran his fingers together, the sticky mess
sliding across the pads of his fingers, and then he stuck them into his
mouth.

Santana moaned.
“God, baby, please suck me.” Isaac’s hand tightened around his

shaft as it pulsed.

Without hesitation, Santana leaned forward and took the head of

Isaac’s cock into his mouth. Pre-cum hit his tongue, making Santana
moan as he let the cock slide a little further into his mouth.

“Son of a bitch,” Isaac growled, his breathing becoming heavier.

The lube dropped to the floor as the hand that had been holding the
tube ran over Santana’s short hair. Santana felt like he was in a haze,
disconnected, still dreaming as his pulse soared. Isaac was too good to
be true, and he feared waking up and finding out that all of this had
been a dream.

“Suck it, baby.” Isaac’s fingers dug deeper into Santana’s scalp,

but he ignored the pain as he took Isaac to the back of his throat.
“God, yes.”

Santana couldn’t take the pressure any longer. He unsnapped his

jeans and pulled his dick free, using the pre-cum as lube as he stroked
himself. This was the second-best thing he had ever experienced,
Isaac fucking him taking top pick.

“Your mouth…” Isaac moaned and then drove his cock deeper.
Santana flattened his tongue, allowing Isaac’s heated shaft to glide

over it as he stroked himself faster. He could see Isaac’s balls close to
the base of his erection and knew he would be coming soon, and
Santana wanted to fall over the edge with him.

Santana’s Discovery

“Damn, baby…just damn.”
Santana created a seal with his lips and then began to hum,

knowing the vibrations would tip Isaac over the edge. And it had.
Isaac grabbed Santana’s head with both his hands as he cried out, hot
ropes of seed hitting the back of his throat.

But Isaac’s cock didn’t soften. Before Santana reached his

orgasm, he was pushed to the floor, the cock yanked from his mouth
as Isaac tore at his clothes. “I need…”

Santana knew what Isaac needed. He kicked his jeans free as Isaac

grabbed the lube. Rolling to his hands and knees, Santana canted his
hips into the air like a slut, begging with his ass to be fucked.

Isaac’s thick fingers entered him, his movements jerky,

uncoordinated. Santana knew it was going to be a quick stretching,
and he readied himself to be taken with a little pain. Isaac threw the
bottle aside as he drove his cock deep into Santana’s ass.

He cried out, scratching his fingernails into the floorboards, the

pain of not being stretched properly radiated through his ass, but
Santana bit his lower lip, spread his legs, and let Isaac take what he
needed.

The pain didn’t last long, not when Isaac was fucking him like a

madman. The pleasure ripped through him, making Santana’s limbs
shake. It felt as though Isaac was trying to shove his cock all the way
into Santana until it hit the back of his throat.

“Santana…you…I need…” Isaac wasn’t making any sense. His

hand wrapped around the back of Santana’s neck as his cock rammed
into Santana’s ass. He’d never seen the man so out of control before.
He was starting to wonder if this was such a smart idea so close to
Isaac’s shift.

When Isaac fell forward, his hands hitting the floor, Santana could

see long, black claws emerging from Isaac’s fingernails. His head
shot sideways, looking out of the window. Santana swallowed hard
when he saw that the sun had set.

Lynn Hagen

Small hairs started to emerge from Isaac’s arms as he hammered

into Santana’s ass. “Wait!”

“Please…don’t be scared…I…” Isaac’s voice had gone gravelly,

sounding as rough as sandpaper. “I would never hurt you, Santana.
Please, you have to believe that.”

Santana could see the hairs on Isaac’s arms clearly now as the

cock inside of him grew impossibly thicker, longer. He dropped to the
floor, Isaac’s cock pulling free from his body as Santana crawled
forward and then flipped over to sit on his ass. His elbows held him
up…as he stared at a werewolf.

Isaac whimpered, falling forward onto his hands. “Please don’t

fear me.”

Santana’s heart was racing so fast that it hurt. Isaac, or the

werewolf, had grown at least a foot in size and was fully covered now
with fur. His nose had elongated and pointy ears sprouted from where
his human ears should be.

He jumped when Isaac shouted and then strained, looking as

though he were in a great deal of pain.

“Are–are you hurting?” He wasn’t sure what else to say. Santana

was terrified, but something deep down inside of him hated to see
Isaac in any kind of pain. He was torn on what to do.

“It’ll pass,” Isaac said through gritted teeth, his voice still deep

and gruff. “Just please, Santana, don’t be afraid of me.”

Santana swallowed hard and then nodded, even though Isaac’s

head was lowered and the man couldn’t see the move. He tried his
best to tamp down his fear as he pulled to his hands and knees. “I’m
afraid, Isaac.”

“I know, love. I know.”
Santana scooted a little closer, trying his best not to make any

sudden movements as he approached Isaac. He could do this. The
man had said he wouldn’t harm Santana, and he believed Isaac.

Flip had said that it was humans who had killed the town.
He had seen Sage shift, and the man hadn’t hurt him.

Santana’s Discovery

Isaac had been nothing but kind to Santana in the past three

weeks, showing him a side of the man that had made Santana fall in
love with Isaac.

He reasoned all of these facts as he lifted his hand slowly to touch

Isaac. Santana fell on his ass when Isaac reared his head and let out a
bloodcurdling howl. He slapped his hands over his ears, the sound
deafening.

Isaac’s head slowly lowered, his blue eyes locking onto Santana.

“Mine!”

Santana stayed frozen to the spot as he took in the werewolf

before him. Isaac looked possessive, wild, and crazed, but his eyes
were gentle, soft. Santana chewed on his bottom lip as he stared into
Isaac’s beautiful eyes.

“Come to me, mate.”
Santana pushed from the floor, once again slowly crawling toward

Isaac when the closet door flew open, Flip aiming a shotgun at Isaac’s
head.

“No!” Santana shouted as he lunged, throwing himself at Isaac.

The gunshot blast echoed in the room as Santana felt like he was
being ripped apart. The pain exploded in his body as he gripped
Isaac’s body tightly.

“I told you that you switched sides, you deviant,” Flip shouted,

and then another gunshot blast ripped through the air. Santana heard
howling and then fighting, but he was in too much pain to focus on
the noise. The shotgun went off for a third time, and then all fell
silent.

“Santana!”
Santana wasn’t sure who it was shouting his name as he slipped

into darkness.

Lynn Hagen

Chapter Eight

Isaac kicked Flip’s lifeless body away as he scrambled over to

Santana. There was so much blood that he didn’t even know where
the human had been shot. The bedroom door burst open, werewolves
filing in, but Isaac ignored them as he grabbed his shirt from the floor
and began to wipe at Santana’s body.

“Flip shot him,” he growled as hot tears filled his eyes. “He

fucking shot Santana.”

“You’ve been shot, too, Isaac,” Monterey said as he dropped

down next to Isaac, pressing his hand into Isaac’s side.

Isaac pushed Monterey away from him, a heated growl erupting

from his throat. “I don’t care about me right now. Save him!” He
pointed down to Santana’s still form. “He’s what matters right now.”

He knew he sounded crazy to everyone, but Isaac had realized in

the split second before the shotgun had gone off that he was deeply in
love with Santana. The human had become his world, and he wasn’t
going to let anything happen to him. He had to save Santana or Isaac
might as well lie down next to him and let his wounds overtake him
because he couldn’t be without the man.

Mercy knocked Isaac aside, growling at him when Isaac reared

up. “I have to get the bullet out.”

Isaac wished he hadn’t killed Flip because he wanted to kill the

man for what he had done to Santana. He howled when Mercy dug
the pliers into Santana’s thigh. An artery must have been nicked
because the wound was bleeding like crazy.

Santana’s Discovery

Isaac paced, knowing damn well he couldn’t dig the bullet sprays

from Santana. There was no way he would cause Santana any harm,
even if the man was unconscious.

“Got them all,” Mercy said as he tossed the pliers aside and then

grabbed his first aid kit, digging the needle and thread out. “Get him
set up on an IV bag for infection.”

Jeremiah raced from the room as Mercy worked to stop the

bleeding. Even though they were magical creatures, werewolves
couldn’t heal on their own, not even in their vârcolac form, so they
kept medical supplies just in case.

“I’ve sewn up the artery, and the bleeding has stopped. Now all

we have to do is watch for infection.”

Isaac nodded as he dropped down next to Santana, pulling his

mate’s head into his arms. And there was no doubt that Isaac was
going to make Santana his mate. Never in his life had he ever felt this
way about another person, and he knew Santana was it for him.

“We need to look at you,” Mercy said as he cleaned the pliers.

“You were hit as well, Isaac.”

Isaac nodded as he slowly lowered Santana to the floor. Pat

grabbed a blanket and covered Santana’s naked groin and stuffed a
pillow under his head.

“Thanks,” Isaac said to Pat and then turned to Mercy. “Make this

quick.”

Mercy nodded as Monterey grabbed Isaac and held him down.

“I’m getting awfully tired of holding you down.” Monterey smiled
down at him. “Stop getting shot.”

Isaac glanced over at Santana to see William, in his small

werewolf form, bent over his mate and tucking the blanket around
him. He focused on that as Mercy dug into his side. Isaac gritted his
teeth, refusing to pass out. Santana needed him to be conscious in
case he woke up. The human would be afraid, and Isaac needed to be
there to soothe his mate’s worries away.

Lynn Hagen

Isaac growled when Mercy started digging inside of him. Fuck if

it didn’t hurt like a bitch! Isaac swung out before he could stop the
reaction, his fist connecting with Monterey’s jaw.

“I owe you for that,” Monterey growled as he grabbed Isaac’s

hand and locked it into place. “Hit me again and I’ll pour alcohol on
your wound.”

Despite the gravity of the situation, Isaac smiled. “I dare you.”
Monterey winked at him and then smacked Isaac upside the head.

“Lie still and be wounded, will ya?”

“I got it all out,” Mercy said as he patched Isaac up. “You need an

IV as well.”

Isaac pushed Monterey off of him and scooted over to Santana,

pulling his mate into his arms. “Now you can stick me with the
needle.”

“You gonna make him your mate?” Monterey asked as he jabbed

Isaac.

“Yep. If he’ll let me, that is.”
“Good luck with that. Santana is a prickly little man. I’m not too

sure he’ll let you convert him.”

Isaac knew this. Monterey wasn’t saying anything he hadn’t

thought about already. Santana may be more at ease with the
werewolves, but letting Isaac convert him was something he was
going to have to approach with caution.

“Kick back and relax,” Monterey said as he stood. “You’re both

fucked up, but you’ll live. Hell of a way to spend the evening of your
shift.” He chuckled.

Isaac had been looking forward to the run they indulged in every

full moon. Fucking Flip. “Someone get that dead body out of here. I
don’t want Santana waking up and freaking out.”

“I’ll get him,” Sage said as he pushed past everyone. “Get some

rest.”

Isaac nodded as he curled around Santana the best he could with a

needle stuffed in his damn arm. “Have fun without me.”

Santana’s Discovery

“Oh, we plan to.” Pat smiled at him and then patted him on his

shoulder. “But you take care of your man. We’ll be back to check on
you.”

Isaac sighed as he closed his eyes. He guessed his run would have

to wait until his next shift.

* * * *

Santana slowly opened his eyes. The room was completely dark,

but he felt a heavy weight at his side. He lay there for a moment,
remembering everything that had taken place. Was Flip dead, or was
he running around free somewhere?

He started to wonder about Isaac, but he felt a soft pelt of fur at

his side and knew the werewolf was lying right next to him. His leg
ached like a bitch, so Santana remained still, refusing to move and
cause himself any more pain.

As he lay there, he soaked in the warmth next to him, allowing

himself to adjust to the fact that he had a fur ball curled up at his side.

“How do you feel, baby?” Isaac’s voice was still gruff, but it held

so much concern in it that Santana smiled.

“My leg hurts like hell.”
Isaac sat up, staring down at Santana with those soulful blue eyes.

“Do you need anything?”

Santana shook his head as he studied Isaac. “You’re not so scary

now,” he commented as he gazed at Isaac’s face. And he wasn’t.
Santana had been terrified earlier, but now that he could study the
man, he just looked a lot hairier, with pointy ears and a long muzzle.

Isaac grinned, or Santana prayed it was a grin. “I’m glad.”
Santana reached up, wincing when his leg pulled slightly, and ran

his fingers over Isaac’s nose and ears. “This is so damn weird.”

Isaac nipped at his fingers and then licked them. “It’s who I am.”
“I know.” Santana let his fingers press at Isaac’s ears and then ran

the tips under the man’s eyes and back over his snout. “I heard him.”

Lynn Hagen

“Who?” Isaac asked as he grabbed Santana’s hand and kissed the

palm before pressing it against his face. It was as if Isaac wanted
Santana’s touch any way he could get it. The man seemed more
vulnerable, less threatening when he gazed down at Santana like
Santana was his world.

“Flip. I heard the floorboards creaking, but I thought it was the

house settling or just my overactive imagination from being in this big
house by myself.” Santana could feel the blush stealing across his
cheeks as he admitted to Isaac that he had been scared by himself.

“I wish I had known,” Isaac said as he ran his knuckles over

Santana’s face. “I hate that he watched us being intimate together.
You giving me the best blow job ever should only be for my eyes
alone.”

Santana grinned widely. “The best?”
Isaac leaned forward, nuzzling into Santana’s neck and then

licked a small patch of skin right under his ear. “The very best.”

Isaac lay back down next to Santana, making it easier for Santana

to explore his furry body with his hands without straining. “You make
a warm blanket.”

Isaac chuckled as he stretched his arm up, allowing Santana to run

his hands down his side. “Insulation for you?”

“Lord knows you guys don’t like to heat the place. It’s freezing in

here half the time.”

Isaac frowned. “Why didn’t you say anything? I’ll have a heater

put in here first thing in the morning.”

Santana nodded as he cupped Isaac’s face, his thumb playing over

the bottom of Isaac’s jaw. “Open your mouth.”

“For what?”
“I want to see your sharp teeth.”
“Why?”
Santana sighed. “If you want me to get used to you like this, I

need to see every scary part of you.”

Santana’s Discovery

Isaac opened wide as Santana touched his sharp canines. He

shivered thinking about how those teeth had scraped over his skin,
bringing him so much pleasure. “What’s it like?” Santana asked as he
finally moved his hand away.

“What?”
“Being a werewolf.”
Isaac shrugged as he grabbed Santana’s hand, running his fingers

over the back of Santana’s. “I never really thought about it before. I
was born this way. I guess it’s a freedom like no other. The ability to
change into something as fierce as a werewolf has its advantages.”

“Like what? A thicker and longer cock?”
“The better to please you with, my dear.” Isaac wiggled his brows

as Santana rolled his eyes. “Tell me you didn’t love that.”

“I was too busy freaking out at the time,” Santana said and then

smiled. “But I did notice the change in size.”

“And you loved it, admit it.” Isaac pulled Santana into his arms

and rested his head next to Santana’s. It was so peaceful between
them, so good that Santana never wanted this night to end. He was
enjoying Isaac, even if he was a bit furry at the moment.

“Can I ask you something, midget?”
Isaac’s voice was so low that it was almost inaudible. “Go ahead.”
He could feel Isaac shift his head, his arm circling around

Santana’s waist. “How opposed would you be to becoming my
mate?”

Santana remembered Isaac telling him about mates. He would

have to be bitten and become a…what was that word Isaac used? “I’m
not sure I want to be a werewolf, Isaac.”

Isaac nodded, but Santana could also feel a slight slump in the

creature’s shoulders. “Is it now or never, or can I have time to think
about it?” Was he really going to consider becoming a werewolf?
Seriously? Santana never thought he would see the day when he
would even consider becoming one of them.

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“Take all the time you need,” Isaac said as he pulled Santana

closer. “I’m just glad you’re not flat-out refusing.”

There was a soft knock on the door, and then William poked his

head in. Or he thought it was William. He didn’t think the small
werewolf could be one of the big men in the house. “William?”

“I just wanted to check on both of you.”
Santana studied the creature. William was a bit taller, but not by

much, and he was a little broader in the chest, but it was definitely
William.

“We’re fine. He doesn’t have a fever.”
William nodded. “And you?” William asked, looking at Isaac.
Santana snapped his head around, noticing the tube in Isaac’s arm

for the first time. How had he missed that? There was a long pole
behind Isaac with two fluid bags hanging from them. Fuck, when he
focused on something else, he totally blocked out everything.

“I’m fine, William. Tell Pat we’re okay.”
“Get some rest. I’ll bring you two some breakfast in a little

while.”

“Thanks,” Isaac said as he settled back down next to Santana.
“Why didn’t you tell me you were hurt?” he asked as he looked

Isaac over. The side he was lying on held a white bandage. “Why are
you lying on your wound?”

Isaac growled softly. “Stop worrying about me. I’m fine. You’re

the one who needs to rest.”

Santana wasn’t happy about Isaac getting shot, but he looked

okay. He settled back down, resting his head against Isaac’s chest as
he closed his eyes. That was the second time Isaac had been shot. If
he hadn’t inflicted the first wound, he’d be kicking Isaac’s ass for
downplaying things. But as it was, Santana felt guilty as hell for
shooting the man in the first place, so he kept quiet.

“Get some sleep, mate. I’ll be right here if you need me.”
Santana played with the word mate in his head as he exhaled. It

didn’t sound so bad. But he wasn’t sure he could let Isaac bite him.

Santana’s Discovery

He had hated werewolves his entire life and was just now getting over
that prejudice. Asking him to become one of them was a tall order
that Santana needed time to figure out.

Until then, he was going to enjoy the feel of the fuzzy man next to

him.

* * * *

Isaac watched as Santana wobbled as he walked. It had been a

week since the shooting and his mate—which Isaac was praying
Santana would soon be—was making great progress. But he still
walked stiffly and at times had to take a break to sit down.

He used to hover around Santana when he walked, but having his

head bitten off wasn’t something he was looking forward to again.
The man was very self-sufficient and hated to be treated otherwise.

But that still didn’t stop Isaac from watching his every move,

making sure Santana didn’t need for anything. So he was hovering.
Sue him.

“Don’t you have a store to work on?” Santana asked when Isaac

tossed a pillow under Santana’s ass before he sat down.

“For the hundredth time, midget, I’m not leaving you here by

yourself,” Isaac reminded Santana. “I don’t care if Flip is dead. You
might need something, and I don’t want to be a mile down the road
when you do.”

“You are really starting to work my nerves, Isaac. William and Pat

are here. If I need something, I’ll ask them.”

“They are not your mate,” Isaac gritted out. “I am, so it’s my

responsibility to care for you.”

He could see Santana working himself up. This was not what

Isaac wanted first thing in the morning. Technically Santana wasn’t
his mate…yet, but he was praying the man gave it some deep thought,
and arguing with the human wasn’t winning him any favor. He left
Santana sitting on the couch steaming as he walked away. Giving

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Santana time to cool off always seemed to work. Isaac wasn’t a saint
either. He was getting just as pissed at Santana’s refusal to let Isaac
help him.

“Ah, the wonderful world of a lovers’ spat,” Pat teased as Isaac

walked into the kitchen. “Try knocking him out. That should keep
him quiet for a little while.”

Isaac wished that was the solution. He’d put painkillers in

Santana’s food and be done with it. But he knew knocking his mate
out cold wasn’t the answer.

As tempting as the thought was.
“Just give me some juice for him, please.” Isaac took the moment

to exhale. Trying to get a store up and running, taking care of his
wounded mate, and walking on pins and needles waiting on Santana’s
decision to be converted was wearing on him.

Besides the fact he hadn’t had sex in a week.
He was ready to take one of the men out back and work off some

of his aggression with a good ole fight. Too bad no one would
volunteer to spar with him. They all said he was nuts and that they
weren’t fighting a man with pent-up sexual frustrations.

Bastards.
The only other solution was to wait until Santana was healed and

then fuck him until he was limping again.

Goddamn, he was standing in the middle of the kitchen hard as

hell. If he didn’t get some relief soon…Isaac sighed.

Pat handed him the glass and then smiled at him. “You know, a

hand job wouldn’t be too strenuous.”

Isaac took a step back. “No thanks. You’re cool and all…”
“Dumbass, I was talking about you and Santana. Don’t flatter

yourself. I wouldn’t touch your cock if you were the last man…well,
maybe the last man. Get the hell out of here,” Pat snapped at him
before walking back over to the sink.

Isaac grinned as he took the glass to Santana. He saw his mate

sitting there pouting, his bottom lip poking out. Sitting the glass on

Santana’s Discovery

the coffee table, Isaac grabbed the blanket from the back of the couch
and then took a seat next to Santana, covering both their laps.

“What are you doing?” Santana asked as he eyed him

suspiciously.

“Relieving some tension,” he answered as he reached over and

unsnapped Santana’s jeans. His mate’s head jerked around, scanning
the living room. “No one is going to see us.”

Isaac opened his own jeans, grabbing Santana’s hand and pressing

it into his swollen shaft. He hissed, nearly coming when Santana
gripped his cock tightly. His mate snickered, licking his bottom lip as
he gazed up at Isaac with those pretty brown eyes.

Turning, Isaac tried his best to get comfortable, but clothing was

getting in his way. “Hang on,” Isaac said as he glanced around and
then snatched the blanket off of them. He quickly removed Santana’s
jeans and then covered both of them again. “Much better.”

Santana moved closer, his fingers once again around Isaac’s

heated flesh. “I’m so damn horny that I feel aggressive,” Santana
confessed as he began to stroke Isaac’s cock.

“I know the feeling.” Isaac wasn’t going to draw this out. He

needed to come badly. He wet the fingers of his free hand and then
dipped it below Santana’s balls, spearing his finger right into his
mate’s tight hole.

“Fuck,” Santana yelped and then moaned.
Isaac leaned forward, making Santana lie back as he fucked his

mate with his fingers and stroked his cock simultaneously. “Come for
me, baby.”

Santana ground his ass onto Isaac’s fingers as he pulled at Isaac’s

cock. Isaac twisted his wrist, finding Santana’s sweet spot right away
as his mate cried out. He didn’t give a shit right now who heard them.
Isaac was on a mission to come and make Santana come as well. To
hell with everyone else.

“More, give me more,” Santana pleaded as his fingers vise-

gripped around Isaac’s cock. He slid a third finger into Santana’s ass,

Lynn Hagen

fucking the fingers hard as he jerked his mate off. Santana shouted,
his back arching as he came.

Isaac milked his mate’s cock and then leaned back, batting

Santana’s hand away as he masturbated over Santana’s sated form.
His head fell back and a roar ripped from his chest when his orgasm
erupted inside of him and his seed shot out onto Santana’s shirt.

Fuck, the only took a small edge off of him. Isaac was wired and

ready to fuck.

“Great, a hairy ass. Thanks, Isaac,” William said as he spun

around and walked back out of the living room.

Santana clawed at Isaac’s shoulders, ignoring William’s

interruption. “Fuck me, please.”

It seemed he wasn’t the only one in need of more. He wasn’t a

selfish prick, though. “But your leg.”

“I know how to lie still. I promise.” Santana clutched at his shirt,

his grip deathlike as his eyes pleaded with Isaac to take him.

Somehow Isaac doubted that Santana could lie still.
He adjusted his jeans and then wrapped the blanket around

Santana’s exposed backside as he scooped him up from the couch and
raced up the stairs. He slammed their bedroom door closed and then
gently laid Santana on the bed he had purchased right after the
shooting.

As Isaac stripped his clothes off, he prayed for the patience to

fuck his mate slowly because he was about to lose his damn mind.

Santana’s Discovery

Chapter Nine

Santana pulled his shirt over his head, watching Isaac as the man

damn near fell over trying to get out of his clothes. If he wasn’t so
needy at the moment, he would laugh. He wasn’t in the mood to
laugh. He was in the mood to shout out another orgasm.

Isaac grabbed the lube from the dresser drawer and tossed it next

to Santana before he crawled between his legs. Fuck if the man didn’t
look good down there. When he opened his mouth and sucked
Santana’s cock in, he cried out and arched his back, his legs spreading
wider. Santana winced, but ignored the pain in his thigh as he tried to
drive his cock deeper into Isaac’s hot, moist mouth.

He whimpered when Isaac pulled Santana’s dick from his mouth.

“You’re supposed to be lying still.”

Santana bobbed his head up and down in agreement. “Okay,

okay,” he said as he panted. “Just suck me.”

Isaac grinned, his smile making Santana’s heart flutter as he took

Santana’s length back into his mouth. Santana ground his molars as
he fought to stay still. His fingers raced through Isaac’s hair, pulling
at it as his hips threatened to buck. Isaac was doing a damn good job
at sucking Santana’s cock, and not moving was becoming impossible.

Isaac licked a long path up Santana’s length and then scooted in

behind him, spooning Santana. “I move, you don’t.”

“No problem,” Santana said as he pressed his ass into Isaac’s

cock.

“I said no moving.”
“I didn’t.”

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Isaac growled as he placed his hand on Santana’s hip. “No

moving,” he warned as he slicked his cock up with lube and then
lined it up to Santana’s waiting hole. Santana bit his lip as Isaac
slowly entered him. Fuck if he didn’t want to thrust back, but feared
Isaac would pull free, and that was the last thing Santana wanted.

“God, you feel so good,” Isaac groaned as he ran his hand over

Santana’s hip. “So tight.”

Santana slid his leg up, praying Isaac didn’t say anything as he

repositioned himself for Isaac to go deeper. He knew it wasn’t going
to be a fast fuck, and Santana didn’t have any complaints about that.
He had been craving Isaac so badly that he would take the man any
way he could get him. “Do you know what it’s like when two
werewolves fuck?” Isaac asked as he slid his cock in and out of
Santana’s ass.

“No,” Santana panted.
“It’s unbelievable. The sensations are ten times more heightened.”
Fuck if that wasn’t a persuasive argument for Santana to allow

Isaac to bite him on his next shift.

“It’s like our nerve endings are exposed and we feel every move,

every touch with ten times the magnification.”

Oh god, if Isaac kept murmuring to him, Santana was going to

come. The man’s baritone voice was driving him crazy. Santana loved
that about Isaac, loved that the man’s voice was so damn deep. It was
such a turn-on.

“Be my mate, Santana. Let me show you how good being a

werewolf truly is.”

Santana bit his lip as Isaac thrust his hips, moving faster, pushing

his cock deeper. He circled his fingers around his shaft, stroking it to
Isaac’s rhythm. Santana cried out as he came, Isaac scraping his teeth
along Santana’s neck.

“Do you know how beautiful you are when you come for me?”

Isaac asked as he gripped Santana’s flesh harder, working his cock

Santana’s Discovery

until he growled out his release. Santana felt boneless, sleepy, as he
lay there. He closed his eyes, feeling Isaac kissing him down his back.

He smiled at the way Isaac treated him so caringly as he drifted

off to sleep, thoughts of werewolves and full moons lingering in his
mind.

* * * *

Santana pushed the trash aside, getting it ready for William to bag

and dispose of it. It had been two weeks now since the shooting, and
Santana had practically gone out of his mind with cabin fever. After
days and days of nagging, Isaac had finally agreed that Santana was
well enough to come back to the store and work.

Not that he was in a hurry to get back to work. It was more like a

need to get the hell out of the house. If he had to spend one more day
listening to York’s craziness or helping Pat cook, Santana would
scream. Anything was better than sitting around doing nothing. Too
bad Isaac and Sage had gone to Mayfield County to buy more
supplies. Santana had been looking forward to spending the day,
outside the house, with Isaac. Monterey was walking around here
somewhere, making himself known every once in a while. It was up
to Santana and William to get the place ready for work the following
day. They had to put all the tools together, clean up any trash that had
collected, and sweep up.

It wasn’t too bad a job for his first day out of the house, but damn

if it wasn’t boring. And Santana hated the fact that it was too cold
outside to enjoy the fresh air. The store was closed up tight with a
small generator and a space heater for their warmth.

“Slow down,” William complained. “If we rush through this,

we’ll only have to go back home.”

“I thought you liked being at home,” Santana said as he began to

sweep at a much slower pace than he had been. The last thing he
wanted was to rush and end up staring at the walls back home.

Lynn Hagen

Santana loved that he had a place to call home, something he hadn’t
had for a long time, but sitting around doing nothing was starting to
wear on him.

“I do,” William answered. “But as sweet as York is, he’s driving

me crazy. He follows me around, questioning everything. It’s as if
he’s never cooked or done laundry before in his life. I know he
doesn’t mean to be a pest, but…well, being here kinda gives me a
break. Do you know what I mean?”

“Yeah, I do.” William set the broom against the wall and walked

over to the counter, taking a seat behind it. “My leg still bothers me
some—”

“Why didn’t you say something!”
“I’m fine.” Santana brushed away William’s concern. “But if

Isaac knew, I’d still be stuck in the house.”

William grabbed the broom from against the wall, letting the

bristles sweep around the floor in lazy circles. “I won’t tell, just as
long as you promise not to strain yourself.”

“Promise,” Santana said as he leaned forward and rested his arms

on the counter. “What’s it like?”

William glanced up, his brows pulled together. “What’s what

like?”

“Being a werewolf. Doesn’t it hurt?” Because it looked awfully

painful when Isaac was shifting. Santana had never seen that level of
pain on Isaac’s face before. It had scared the shit out of him.

“Only the first shift. After that it feels strange, but not painful.”
“And you like being a werewolf?” Santana asked. He wasn’t sure

if he was contemplating it or not, but it didn’t hurt to have all the
facts. He couldn’t deny that he was curious about the whole werewolf
thing. Besides, questioning William had a purpose. Isaac was born a
wolf. He had never been human. William used to be human. He could
see the change from a human perspective.

“I do,” William admitted. “Although my introduction into this life

was a bit more painful. One of the wolves that was terrorizing this

Santana’s Discovery

town last month snuck into the house while the men were out and bit
me on purpose. Sage had to convert me in order to stop the fire that
was burning inside of me. From my understanding, there are different
ways a werewolf can bite you. Some can be very painful while others
are very pleasant.”

Santana smiled when William blushed. He just bet William knew

all about the pleasant biting. “But you still haven’t told me what’s so
special about being a werewolf.”

William set the broom against the counter, his face scrunched up

in thought. “The only thing I can tell you is that I feel stronger, more
able, and the feeling of freedom when I shift is unbelievable. We go
for a run when the shift comes, and being within a pack is
exhilarating. It’s just different, hard to explain.”

Santana was starting to get the picture. He had thought

werewolves were savage beasts that killed indiscriminately and had a
lust for blood. He was learning that there was a whole other side to all
of this, a more civilized side that he never knew existed. “Thanks,” he
said as he leaned back.

“I don’t know what for, but you’re welcome.”
Santana quickly stood, grabbing a shop rag from the counter when

Sage and Isaac walked through the door. His eyes focused solely on
the strong and handsome man who continued to call him mate even
though Santana hadn’t given him an answer. Isaac was so damn
handsome. His dark blond hair and beautiful blue eyes seemed to
make Santana’s heart stop every time he laid eyes on the stunning
man.

And then Isaac locked eyes with Santana, making him feel as

though no one else existed in the universe. “How do you feel?” Isaac
asked as his eyes scanned Santana from head to toe.

Santana grinned, feeling no irritation this time when Isaac

questioned him. “I’m okay. Did you get everything you went after?”

Isaac nodded as the men started carrying in the supplies. “We’re

set for a while.”

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Lynn Hagen

Santana ran the rag over the counter, not really paying any

attention to what he was doing as Isaac stood there still staring at him.
He knew that look. Isaac wanted him. He swallowed, thinking about
how the man would be next week. He better take advantage of the
good mood before all the men turned into grumpy bastards, including
the blue-eyed man standing there looking at him with lust in his eyes.

Unfortunately Isaac was pulled out of the store and put to work,

nixing any sexual plans the man may have had for them. Santana
sighed as he walked around the counter and got to work, careful of his
still-sore leg. And he had had such plans for the back room.

William helped him most of the day, making sure Santana didn’t

strain himself too much. Isaac made him take breaks throughout the
day as well. By the time the sun started to set, Santana was exhausted,
his leg throbbing slightly. Everyone cleaned up and then headed back
toward the house.

The smell of dinner had Santana’s stomach rumbling in approval

as he slowly climbed the front steps. Isaac slid his arm around
Santana’s waist, smiling down at him as everyone entered the house.
It truly felt as though Santana had a family, people who would look
out for him, even Jeremiah. The man acted surly as hell, but he knew
that was just the guy’s nature.

“Dinner is ready,” Pat called from the dining room. “Go wash up

and get down here before it gets cold.”

Santana bit his bottom lip as he smiled, Isaac holding on to the

back of his waistband as they climbed the steps to their bedroom. Had
Santana ever been happier? If he did, it didn’t come to mind. There
was something so surreal about all of this, about the man hanging
onto him and even about the men downstairs, that Santana was afraid
he would wake up and find it had all been a dream.

That was what it felt like.
“What are you smiling about?” Isaac asked as he pressed his chest

into Santana’s back, wrapping his arms around Santana’s waist and
resting his chin on Santana’s shoulder.

Santana’s Discovery

101

“How lucky I am.”
“How so?” Isaac asked as he pulled Santana closer.
Santana tilted his head, enjoying the feel of Isaac wrapped around

him. “When I came here, I had nothing but vengeance and hate on my
mind and in my heart. You didn’t give up on me, kept pushing my
limits, making me slowly feel as though you truly cared. Now look
what I have just by letting go of that hate and letting you in.”

“Well, you did shoot me. For some reason, I found you attractive

after that.”

Santana chuckled as he swatted at Isaac’s hands. “You’re truly

sick, my man.”

Isaac kissed Santana just under his ear. “I love you, Santana.”
His heart fluttered as his stomach knotted. No one had ever said

that to him. Not that he could remember. Maybe his parents, but that
had been so long ago. His breath hitched as he nodded, his throat too
constricted to give Isaac a reply.

Santana dropped his head, his chin resting on his chest when the

bathroom door opened. Isaac released Santana and walked around
him, blocking his emotional state from Mercy as the man exited the
bathroom.

“It’s all yours.”
“Thanks,” Isaac said and then pulled Santana into the bathroom by

the hand, closing the door when he cleared it. “I didn’t mean to make
you cry, baby.”

Santana shook his head, clearing his throat and praying his voice

returned to him. “I know. It’s just that you’re the first person to say
that to me in over two decades. I love you, too, Isaac.”

Isaac pulled Santana in his arms, holding him close before kissing

the side of his face and then releasing him. “Come on. If we take too
long, those greedy bastards will eat everything. And I’m starving.”

Santana wiped at his eyes as he laughed. “They do eat a lot.”
They washed up quickly and then headed back downstairs,

Santana moderately composed by then. As he filled his plate, Isaac

102

Lynn Hagen

slid his fingers behind Santana’s neck and pulled him over, giving
him a peck on the lips before they started eating dinner.

Santana felt like he was home as he stared at the men around the

table, laughing and enjoying their food. The mood was light, and
everyone seemed to be relaxed, having a good time. Isaac scooped
more mashed potatoes from the bowl and dropped them on Santana’s
plate, winking at him as he chewed his food.

God, he was in love. Santana was in love for the first time in his

life, and he wanted to shout it to everyone sitting around the table and
anyone he ran into for the rest of his life. He never thought he would
find someone like Isaac, but he was thankful that things hadn’t turned
out differently after he shot Isaac and Sage.

What a mistake that had been.
“I have a guy from the utility company coming out tomorrow to

get the electricity in the store turned on,” Sage said to Isaac as he sat
back and patted his stomach.

“Just make sure he doesn’t have a drinking problem,” William

said and then chuckled. “Or we might get a visit from the sheriff.”

Santana had no clue what they were talking about, but he enjoyed

the light banter anyway.

“Let Sam come.” Pat winked at William. “Any way he can.”
“Perv,” Monterey said as he grabbed another dinner roll. “I swear

you’d fuck anything that had a dick attached to it.”

“And your point?” Pat asked.
“He’s not even your type.” Jeremiah chuckled as he ate. “Hard

up?”

“Hardly,” Pat replied. “He just blushes so easily. It’s cute.”
“Who’s Sam?” York asked.
“Have you been listening?” Pat asked. “The sheriff. And let me

tell you, he is one sexy ass man.”

“Really?” York asked as he sat up straighter. “How sexy?”
“Oh, hell no. I saw him first,” Pat snapped.
“But you just said he’s not your type,” York complained.

Santana’s Discovery

103

“No, Jeremiah said he wasn’t my type.”
Santana’s head bounced back and forth between the two arguing

men. Pat looked as though he was getting heated as York continued to
state that Pat wasn’t interested in Sam. The man’s face was turning a
strange shade of red as he threw his napkin on his plate, his hands
fisting on the table.

“You go near him and I’ll string you up by your balls!” Pat

shouted.

York shrugged. “I was just making a point.”
Santana snickered. York had scored on that one. Pat just proved

that he was very interested in Sam, more so than just flirting with the
man. It seemed to Santana that Pat was staking a claim.

“I—” Pat closed his mouth and stared at York, looking a little

confused, and then shook his head. “There’s no way it’s anything
more than harmless flirting.”

“Yeah, right,” Sage teased. “You were just about to take York’s

head off for even considering going near the man.”

“Was not.”
Santana rolled his eyes. Hell if Pat wasn’t in denial. The man had

it bad and didn’t even know it. Santana knew how Pat felt. He had
done the same thing when he found he was falling for Isaac and tried
to deny his feelings.

Pat had a rough road if he didn’t come clean with himself.
“Then you won’t mind if I ask him out, then?” York asked

innocently, but Santana could see the challenge in York’s eyes.

“Not one bit,” Pat lied through his teeth. “Go for it.”
“Remember, you said it,” York said happily. “Now, who the hell

is Sam?”

Santana smacked his hand over his face, shaking his head.

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Chapter Ten

Isaac rolled his shoulders, stretching his muscles and trying his

best to work out the tightness in his limbs, his skin, and everywhere
else the pending shift was making him ache. He had promised himself
that he wasn’t going to bite Santana’s head off this time. Not this time
around. If he became a crabby bastard, how was he going to convince
the man to be his mate? Wooing him did not consist of snips and
barks of orders.

Santana never took that well anyway.
So, no matter how irritated he became, how pissy he felt, he

wasn’t going to take it out on Santana. That was why his mate was at
home today instead of helping Isaac. He didn’t want to take the
chance that he would snap at the man. Fuck, it would be nice to be
able to control his shifts. That would only be a side bonus to having
Santana was his mate. Isaac wanted to settle down, wanted to have
someone he could joke and laugh with. Santana was the perfect man
to crawl into bed with every night, and Isaac knew he would never
tire of the human.

He tamped down his grumpiness as he gathered the trash around

the store. It wasn’t like he wanted to be like this in the first place. It
was just a natural reaction a vârcolac had to the approaching change.
That and being itchy as hell. Isaac felt like he was going to scratch his
skin raw before the shift came tomorrow night.

And then there was the need to fuck Santana until his mate

couldn’t sit for a week. They had just had sex this morning, and
already Isaac was ready to run home and shove his cock into any part
of Santana that he could. It was bad enough when he was by himself

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and going through the change. Finding a willing partner had never
been a problem for him back in his old pack. But now he had Santana,
and it seemed his symptoms had multiplied. He wasn’t sure if he
would survive until tomorrow night.

“Do you think he’ll let you change him?” Monterey asked as he

cleared the used plywood from the other side of the store, setting it by
the door. “I mean, he’s seen us in our werewolf form and hasn’t
freaked out. William shifts every damn chance he gets.”

Isaac shrugged, trying his best not to think about the decision

Santana was considering because he couldn’t even think of the
possibility that Santana would say no. Isaac was gearing himself up
for disappointment, but was holding a small part inside of himself that
Santana would say yes. The not knowing was only fueling his
irritability. He just wished the man would say one way or the other
already.

“It’s his choice. I can’t force him to be my mate.” Even though

everything in Isaac screamed for him to just go ahead and bite the
human. But that would only lead to resentment, and how could they
build a life together like that?

Fuck, this was frustrating.
Isaac grabbed the scrap plywood that Monterey had set by the

door and took the pieces outside to toss into the Dumpster. He thought
of Santana’s golden skin, his pretty brown eyes, and how those eyes
always seemed to sparkle whenever Isaac was near. It hadn’t gone
unnoticed how Santana acted whenever Isaac spoke to him or touched
him. Santana seemed to hang onto every word of Isaac’s.

If only the man knew that Isaac had the same reaction to

Santana’s voice, his looks, even his gestures. The man simply amazed
him. Isaac lifted the pieces of plywood up, tossing them in the
Dumpster one at a time, listening to them hit the side of the container.

Feeling someone standing behind him, Isaac began to spin around,

but he felt something heavy hit the side of his head before he could

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see who it was. His vision swam, his reflexes stunned as he crumpled
to the ground.

* * * *

Isaac blinked a few times, his head feeling as though it were in a

vise grip. The pounding felt like his head was shattering every few
seconds. He reached up to cup his head when he realized his hands
were bound, the sound of a chain rattling in his ears.

What the fuck?
“Glad you’re back with me.”
Isaac stiffened, his hand held midair as he tried to focus. He knew

that voice, had heard it his entire life. This was bad. Really, really
bad.

“I told Sage that if anyone followed him that I would kill them.

Did he think it an idle threat?” Martin, Sage’s father and Isaac’s ex-
alpha, stood before him, looking as big and menacing as ever. He
loomed over Isaac, his frame large and wide. Isaac saw that he was
lying on a wooden floor, which only made the alpha’s presence more
threatening.

He pushed himself up into a sitting position, feeling as though he

had been just dumped onto the floor when his muscles complained.

Isaac hadn’t exactly thought things through when he packed his

bags and left his birth pack two months ago. All he knew was that he
wasn’t going to stick around to see how things played out once Sage
was turned into an outcast. Isaac had grown up with Sage, along with
the other men he lived with, his entire life. He would rather take his
chances and join Sage in this dump of a town than stay in a pack that
scorned gay men.

Now he was about to pay for that decision.
“I considered bringing my pack here and wiping your little ragtag

group out, but picking you off one at a time is a much better plan.
None of you will know who’s doing the killings or who will be next.

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The tension and fear will make everyone careless, and that’s exactly
what I want.”

Isaac looked down at his wrists, seeing that he was bound and

helpless to do anything other than listen to the pompous bastard.
Thick leather bands were wrapped around his wrists with chains
extending from the leather, holding him in place. He could also feel
the leather straps around his ankles without even looking.

He was utterly screwed.
Martin turned away, walking across the room. Isaac took that

opportunity to glance around. It was some sort of small cabin. Maybe
used for hunting? It was just one large, open room. There was a
potbelly stove in the center, a bed, a small kitchenette, and a door,
which Isaac assumed led to the outside. Something this small
wouldn’t have a bathroom with working plumbing.

Where in the hell was he?
“The shift is tonight and I had other plans, but once I found out

where Sage was hiding, I immediately headed this way. Did you think
you could hide from me, Isaac?”

Isaac refused to speak. Anything he said wouldn’t matter anyway.

Martin was off his fucking rocker and looking for a fight. Isaac could
see it in the man’s eyes. Being bound and helpless, he wasn’t stupid
enough to provoke the man.

Isaac gritted his teeth when Martin crossed the room and kicked

him in the gut, sending shards of pain throughout his body, but he
refused to shout or even whimper. He wasn’t going to give Martin any
kind of satisfaction.

“I see being around Sage has made you think that you are better

than me,” Martin sneered as he squatted in front of Isaac, fisting a
handful of Isaac’s hair and yanking his head back painfully. “You
suck cock. There’s no way you’re better than me. You aren’t even fit
to be an omega.” Martin’s fingers tightened in Isaac’s hair to the point
of agony and then released him, standing. “Besides, I’m the alpha.
Who is better than me?”

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Isaac had to bite back his response. Telling this insane man that a

stray dog was better than him would only reward him with another
kick to the gut. And damn if the first one didn’t hurt like a bitch.

“Besides, I need you for an experiment of mine. I considered

using my own pack, but when I discovered Sage’s location, I decided
to use you men instead.”

Isaac’s head snapped up as he studied Martin. What experiment?

From his understanding, Martin wanted to convert every human being
into a werewolf. Was he going to make Isaac bite someone? The
thought made his stomach tighten into knots and a lead weight settle
inside of it.

Santana. He had to get to Santana before Martin discovered the

human was there. There was no way his human would be able to
defend himself against the alpha.

As Martin moved closer to him, Isaac instinctively moved away.

He kicked out as much as he could and tried his best to throw a
punch, but the chains stopped him as Martin grabbed his arm and
produced a needle, shooting Isaac full of god only knew what.

“That’ll knock you out until the shift.”
As Isaac once again succumbed to the darkness, he swore

inwardly that he was going to tear the bastard apart just as soon as he
regained consciousness.

* * * *

“What do you mean he just disappeared?” Sage asked Monterey.

“How does a fully grown male just disappear?”

Monterey shook his head as he stood in front of Sage, his head

cast down. “I’m not sure, Sage. I came outside to see what was taking
him so long and found some pieces of plywood on the ground by the
Dumpster, and Isaac was nowhere in sight.”

Sage ran his hand over his chin, wondering what the hell had

happened in town. Flip was dead, his followers scattering. Could one

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of them come back for revenge? There was no way one of Flip’s
grunts had overtaken Isaac. The man was too large, too strong for a
human to get the upper hand.

Unless he had a gun. But Sage knew Isaac would risk getting shot

rather than let some radical capture him.

That only left one other person, and a chill raced up Sage’s spine

at the thought of his father being here in Mystery. Sage knew that
when the alpha had banished him and forbade anyone to follow, that
there would be repercussions to the five men joining him. He wasn’t
too sure if his father knew about York, but he soon would if the alpha
was here.

“Mercy, I want you to stay here with William and York. The rest

of you come with me.”

“Yes, alpha,” Mercy answered without hesitation.
“I’m not your alpha,” Sage growled. He didn’t want a hierarchy

here in Mystery. He wanted everyone free to do as they pleased,
within reason of course. Sage had seen firsthand what being an alpha
did to a man, and he wanted no part of it.

Mercy shrugged as the other men gathered at the door. “What’s

going on?” Jeremiah asked as he grabbed his coat from the front
closet.

“I think my father has finally discovered our whereabouts.”
“Oh no!” York screeched as he ran in circles. Monterey held his

arm out, stopping the man from running into the wall. “He’ll kill us
all. I knew I should have gone back when I had the chance!”

Sage rolled his eyes at York. The small wolf had a talent for the

dramatics. “Just stay here with Mercy and you should be okay.”

“Should?” York screeched. “That’s not very comforting

considering your father is a lunatic. He’ll eat us all.” York whimpered
as he dropped down onto the couch, burying his face in his hands.
Sage quirked a brow, but the men around him just shook their heads.

“Let’s head out,” Sage said as he pulled the front door open. He

glanced back at Santana, who was standing there as if he’d just been

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punched in his gut, his face a mask of horror. As the other men piled
out, Sage walked over to the human. “I’ll do my best to find him and
bring him home.”

Santana swallowed and nodded, chewing on his lower lip as his

eyes darted to the door. “Please bring him back to me.”

Sage turned on his heel and left, closing the door behind him.

“Let’s head over to the store. I need to see if we can find any clues.”

“You know if it’s your father, we’re screwed. He wasn’t too

happy when you left,” Monterey said. “He looked as though he was
finally losing it.”

“Some people think it’s the end of the world when they find out

that their son is gay. My father being one of those people,” Sage said
as he walked over to Monterey. “I could have done a lot worse than
preferring men.”

“Yeah,” Monterey said through gritted teeth, “like trying to kill

your own cub.”

Sage nodded. He could be doing a hell of a lot of worse things

than showing William how much he loved him. No matter, if it was
his father in Mystery, Sage was going to deal with the man once and
for all.

* * * *

Isaac, for the second time today, came awake feeling his head

pounding. Although this time he knew who had him, he still didn’t
know where he was. He glanced around, seeing that he was still held
in the cabin.

When Isaac’s gaze swept the room, he spotted a lump on the floor.

Isaac froze. He could tell the lump of rumpled clothes was a man,
lying there unconscious. Just what in the hell was Martin up to?

“Hey,” Isaac called out to the prone man. Nothing. He wasn’t

getting a good feeling about this. Martin had said something about
experimenting, and Isaac wondered what that entailed.

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111

Glancing at the window to his right, Isaac could see the sun

setting and feel the change inside of him trying to take place. He lifted
his hands to see that he was still bound in leather. What the hell was
Martin up to?

The single door in the room opened, and the devil himself strolled

in, looking pleased and excited. Isaac’s stomach felt cold and a
warning buzz shot through his body. Martin was up to something.

He crossed the room, not speaking a word as he walked over to

the single bed and laid a dull, black leather case down. It was small,
roughly seven inches by five inches. Isaac could hear the zipper as
Martin opened it.

Isaac stole a quick glance at the lump to see the person still

knocked out. His eyes quickly swept back over to what Martin was
doing. Isaac gasped and growled when he saw the alpha turn back
around with a syringe in his hand. The liquid inside was light
iridescent blue.

“What are you doing?” Isaac forced the words past his lips as he

watched Martin straighten.

“Oh, now you want to talk?” the alpha sneered. “Too late for that,

Isaac.” Martin pressed the plunger of the needle holding the blue
liquid into a clear bottle, the fluid filling the bottom. Next Martin
grabbed another syringe, this one empty. Isaac scooted back as two
men entered the single room in the cabin, heading straight for him.

“Hold him down.”
“You bastard!” Isaac shouted as Martin jabbed him with the

needle, withdrawing Isaac’s blood. “What the fuck are you doing?”

The sting of the needle withdrawing grabbed Isaac’s attention. He

saw the tube filled with his blood. His brain scrambled as it tried to
figure out what was going to happen to him and the helpless man on
the floor. The guy was human. That much Isaac could discern.

“I told you, Isaac,” Martin said as he pressed the plunger once

more, mixing Isaac’s blood with the blue liquid. “An experiment.”

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Martin shook the bottle, Isaac watching as the two fluids mixed
together. “I can’t very well go around biting people, now can I?”

Complete horror filled Isaac as he stared at the glass container in

Martin’s hand, realizing what the monster was up to. “You’re going to
use that shit to inject humans?”

Martin turned back toward Isaac, the side of his mouth pulled

back in a cold smile. “Very good.”

When Martin began to approach the human, Isaac started fighting

against his restraints. “Wait! You can’t do this. Stop, don’t hurt him.
Leave him the fuck alone. I’m going to kill your ass just as soon as
I’m free.” Panic was setting into Isaac as he watched the men who
had come into the cabin grab the human, rolling his sleeve back and
placing a rubber tourniquet around the guy’s arm.

“And who is going to stop me?”
“You fucking sick bastard!” Isaac fought to no avail as the chains

rattled, but held. He tried to lift his wrist to his mouth, biting at the
latches on the leather, but his hand came up short, not quite reaching
his mouth. “Get away from him!”

Isaac felt the first wave of pain tear across his chest, indicating

that the change was beginning. He had to get free. Isaac had to find a
way to stop Martin from injecting the poor human. He wasn’t sure
what the clear blue liquid was, but this wasn’t normal. This was no
way to convert a human.

Martin glanced over his shoulder at Isaac, his smile triumphant as

he jabbed the human in the arm, pressing the plunger until the casing
was empty. Isaac stilled, dragging in ragged gulps of air as his eyes
fixated on the man still unconscious.

He howled when another wave of pain shot through him, his

canines elongating as fur started to sprout all over his body. As the
pain took over, Isaac still couldn’t keep his eyes off of the man.

The door flew open to the cabin, Martin’s beta standing there.

“We have company.”

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Martin cursed as he stood. “Gather my things.” The alpha ran

toward the door as the beta snatched the black case from the bed, all
four men vacating the cabin. Isaac yanked at the chains that were
securely attached to the floor, trying his best to break free.

He stilled when the human whimpered and then groaned, rolling

over onto his stomach. Isaac had no clue what was in the liquid that
was injected into the human, aside from his own blood, and he wasn’t
sure what was going to happen next.

The next noises that came from the man sounded like a

whimpering pup, low at first and then getting louder by the second.
Isaac tried to watch, tried to gauge what was happening to the human,
but the change was on him, his bones cracking and realigning,
growing, stretching. Isaac howled again, feeling the leather around his
wrists tightening.

Isaac yanked with all his might, the eyebolt holding the chains

snapping away from the floor. Getting to his feet, Isaac reared back
and howled, feeling the vârcolac inside of him break free. There was
only one thing on his mind, one person Isaac wanted right now, and
Isaac was about to go find his mate.

“Help me,” the man cried out as he rolled over to his back and

then arched, as if every muscle in his body were locking down on
him. Isaac’s foot faltered as he stared at the door and then at the
human writhing on the floor. His head snapped up when he heard
numerous howls rend through the air.

Isaac quickly crossed the room, placing his body between the

human who was trying to claw his way across the floor to the door
that suddenly flew open as werewolves spilled into the small space of
the cabin.

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Chapter Eleven

“What’s going on?” Sage asked as he stared between Isaac and the

human. Isaac spun around to check on the human as soon as he
realized that the werewolves invading the cabin were his friends.

“Martin.” He spat the word. “The alpha took some of my blood,

mixed it with some blue shit, and then injected the human. I think he’s
going through the change.”

The man cried out again, tearing at his clothes as his skin flushed,

indicating a fever. Isaac reached out and pressed the back of his hand
to the man’s face, confirming his guess. The guy was hot to the touch,
and his skin was clammy.

“What the fuck did he inject him with?” Jeremiah asked as he

dropped to his knees next to Isaac.

“I don’t know. All Martin said was that he was using us for some

sort of experiment. I guess that injection is used to make a human
convert faster than being bitten. I don’t know what to do for him.”

Jeremiah scooped the man up into his arms, heading for the door.

“We need to get him home.”

“Where are we?” Isaac asked as he got to his feet, unbuckling the

leather bands from his wrists and then his ankles.

“About a mile east of town.”
Fuck, he’d been that close? “I need to get home. Martin and his

men took off when his beta said that we had company. I need to check
on Santana.”

“William,” Sage growled and then took off out of the cabin like

his ass was on fire. Isaac wasn’t too far behind. He prayed Martin

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hadn’t found out where they lived. If he was there already, Santana
was fucked.

* * * *

Not knowing who had Isaac or what they were doing to the man,

Santana paced the living room. Worry and dread filled him as he
waited to hear any sort of news about Isaac. He felt as though a hole
was in his chest.

He shouted and jumped when the front door crashed open. His

heart seized in his throat when the werewolves ran in. Instinct kicked
in, and Santana took off, running down the hallway toward the
kitchen. Those were not the werewolves who lived here. For some
reason—maybe the violent way the door crashed open and the evil
looks aimed at him—Santana just knew this.

He yanked the back door open and ran toward the woods as fast as

his feet would carry him. There was no way he was looking behind
him. His footsteps crunched loudly over the frozen, snow-filled
ground, but Santana kept running. He could hear someone giving
chase, and he wasn’t going to allow that person to catch him.

There was no way in hell he was going to be tied to a tree again,

or worse…

“Get the fuck back here,” the werewolf shouted. That wasn’t Isaac

shouting at him, so Santana refused to stop. He shouted when his feet
were kicked from under him. Santana rolled until his body slammed
into a tree. Fuck, that hurt. Just as quickly as he fell, he jumped back
up and spun around, grabbing a large branch off of the ground and
swinging it at the large creature.

“Stay back!”
The werewolf chuckled, but it didn’t sound like a chuckle, more

like sandpaper grinding together. “I only want to give you a shot, and
then I’ll leave you alone.”

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Yeah, right. There was no way in hell Santana was letting this

beast do anything to him. When the werewolf lunged for him, Santana
swung the branch again, making the werewolf jump back.

“How long do you think that branch will keep me back, human?”
“Long enough for me to tear your fucking throat out.”
Santana wanted to drop the branch and run into Isaac’s arms, but

he remained where he was as Isaac came into the clearing. When the
werewolf who wanted to give Santana a shot turned to look at Isaac,
Santana ran forward, crashing the branch over the creature’s shoulder.
An arm swung out, knocking the breath from Santana’s lungs as he
flew backward, landing on his back.

Isaac howled and then attacked, the two creatures battling it out.

Santana jumped to his feet, staying clear of the fighting as Isaac killed
the other werewolf. Santana winced and turned his head, not wanting
to see the death in front of him.

“Come to me, mate,” Isaac said softly.
Santana lifted his hand when Isaac reached for him, allowing the

man to take it as they sidestepped the bloody mess on the ground.
Santana’s stomach rolled at the bloody sight. He was going to be sick.
“Who was that?”

Isaac didn’t say a word as he pulled Santana back toward the

house. They entered through the kitchen, stopping when Sage came
into the room. “The others got away.”

Isaac cursed and then pulled Santana down the hallway and up the

steps. Santana pulled his hand free, refusing to go any further until he
had some damn answers. He stopped in the hallway just outside their
bedroom, crossing his arms over his chest. “Tell me what’s going on.”

Isaac pushed their bedroom door open, pointing inside. “Not out

here.”

Santana eyed him for a moment and then stepped into the

bedroom, watching as Isaac closed the door. “There’s a lot I need to
tell you, but I can’t think right now.”

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Santana’s eyes widened when Isaac turned, his larger-than-normal

cock jutting out from his groin. “I need, Santana.”

Santana knew exactly what Isaac needed. It was apparent from his

erection what was going to take place in this bedroom tonight, but
Santana knew Isaac was referring to the need to know his answer.
Isaac had never brought it up after the last shift, and Santana was
grateful the man hadn’t bugged him.

“That’s a big decision to make, Isaac,” Santana said as he pulled

his shirt over his head. “I’ve only had a month to think about it.”

Isaac stood still, his eyes watching every move Santana made, but

didn’t make any attempt to come closer. Santana kicked his shoes off,
and then pushed his jeans down his legs, his cock jutting out just as
proudly—but not as largely—as Isaac’s.

“And I need to know what’s going on around here. Who that man

was that chased me from my home.”

“I promise to tell you everything,” Isaac said as he moved in

closer, wrapping his arms around Santana. “But I can’t think right
now.”

Santana could feel his body slightly trembling as he stared up at

the werewolf standing before him. He didn’t think he would ever get
used to seeing Isaac in this form, but Santana knew it was Isaac.
Looking into the man’s beautiful blue eyes only reminded him of that
fact.

Isaac’s fingers, decorated with claws, ran over Santana’s face, his

lips parting slightly. “You don’t have to give me an answer tonight. I
can wait as long as it takes for you to decide. But you’re still my
mate, no matter your decision.”

Santana nodded as Isaac pushed him onto his back on the bed. “I

can live with that.”

Isaac smiled down at him, his large form looming over Santana,

making him feel as though he were safe, protected.

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When Isaac pushed his way down Santana’s body, worry filled

him. “You have awfully sharp teeth right now. Don’t bite my cock
off.”

Isaac chuckled and then wrapped his lips around Santana’s cock,

sucking it all the way to the back of his throat. Santana shouted, his
back arching as his hips drove forward. He’d never get enough of
Isaac sucking him. The man was an expert in all aspects of sex, and
that made Santana one happy ass man.

Running his tongue up Santana’s length, Isaac probed at Santana’s

ass, worry filling him once more. “No claws.”

Isaac pulled back, lifting his hand to show Santana that his claws

had retracted. Santana nodded and then parted his legs, throwing
himself into what Isaac was doing to his body, to him. As the fingers
plunged into him, Santana cried out, feeling as if he’d never get
enough of this man, wolf, whatever.

His ass chased fingers when Isaac removed his hand. He didn’t

want Isaac to go anywhere. He never wanted Isaac more than an inch
away from him again. “Fuck me,” he begged as Isaac crawled over
him. “Fuck me, please.”

Isaac pushed Santana’s legs back, a glint of feral lust in the man’s

dark blue eyes. Santana could see that Isaac was holding back, trying
his best to take things slow.

Santana didn’t want slow.
Not tonight.
He wrapped his legs around Isaac’s waist, pulling at his broad

shoulders, trying his best to bring Isaac closer. The only thing about
Isaac in this form was that Santana couldn’t kiss him, not with a
mouth full of razor-sharp teeth.

“I have to bite,” Isaac grunted as he placed his hands behind

Santana’s knees, pressing his legs harder into Santana’s chest. “I have
to fucking bite.”

Santana knew Isaac wasn’t trying to force the bite on him. From

the way Isaac’s jaw was clenched tight, it seemed more like an

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instinct when in this form. Could he do it? Could Santana let Isaac
bite him and become a werewolf? Uncertainty and indecision
swamped him as Isaac thrust into him harder, his cock feeling as
though it had grown even thicker than before.

Isaac’s claws wrapped around Santana’s knees as he fucked

Santana within an inch of his life. The guy was acting as though this
was a marathon to see how fast his hips could snap. Santana was
losing his damn mind with pleasure and getting his teeth rattled at the
same time. When Isaac snapped his jaws, his face straining, Santana
made the decision.

He wasn’t sure if it was the smartest decision, but he tilted his

head nonetheless. “Go ahead, make me your mate.”

Isaac was on him even before the words finished leaving

Santana’s lips. His canines sank deeply into Santana’s shoulders,
making him cry out as his seed erupted from his cock. Fuck, had he
known it felt that good…

Isaac’s hips began to falter, losing the rhythm as he grunted and

groaned against Santana’s shoulder. He could feel the large cock
pulsing inside his ass, but Santana was too lost in the moment, his
back arching as he shouted when Isaac pulled his teeth from Santana’s
flesh. He must be crazy as hell, because Santana wanted Isaac to bite
him again.

That had felt fantastic!
“My mate,” Isaac crooned as he slowed his rhythm, but Santana

could feel that Isaac was still hard inside of him. “My Santana.”

Santana reached up, cupping the side of Isaac’s elongated jaw.

“My werewolf. My Isaac.”

Isaac nuzzled against the palm of his hand before pulling his cock

free from Santana’s sore ass. “I will be with you on your first shift.
You won’t go it alone.”

Santana nodded as he curled into Isaac’s side. He had a lot to

think about, a lot to work out in his mind, but as long as he had Isaac

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helping him through his first change and in his life, Santana knew he
could deal with anything else. “Now who was that man?”

Isaac sighed deeply. “That was a man who worked for Martin.”
Santana pinched a small bit of skin on Isaac’s chest when the man

didn’t continue.

“Ouch!” Isaac jerked and grabbed for Santana’s hand.
Santana arched an eyebrow. “And just who is Martin?”
“Martin is Sage’s father. He banished Sage when he came out and

left that big scar on his face. Sage left, but Martin threatened to kill all
of us if we tried to follow Sage.”

Santana lifted his head to stare into Isaac’s face. “And you did it

anyway?”

“We grew up with Sage. None of us were willing to stick around

as his father went insane. You of all people should know how
dangerous that would have been for us, for me. I’m just as gay as
Sage.”

Santana frowned and dropped his head back onto Isaac’s chest. “If

this guy banished Sage, then why is he here?”

“At first, I thought he was here to go through with his threat to kill

us all. Now, I’m not so sure.”

“Why?”
“He had me dead to rights, Santana, chained to a floor. He could

have killed me at any time he felt like it. Instead, he took my blood,
mixed it with some sort of blue shit, and pumped it into an innocent
human.”

Isaac’s swallow was so hard that Santana felt the man’s muscles

move beneath his cheek. “I think he’s trying to convert humans,
Santana.”

Santana inhaled, tensing. Being bitten and forced into becoming a

werewolf was one of his worst nightmares. Isaac had let him decide
on his own whether he wanted to be a werewolf or not. And it had
been nothing like he had dreamed it would be. It had been so much
better.

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121

But if Sage’s father was drugging innocent humans, there was no

way it could be pleasant. It was the stuff that made up Santana’s
nightmares.

“Can he be stopped?” Santana whispered.
“I don’t know, baby,” Isaac murmured. “I just don’t know.”
“Then I think we need to find that cure. People need to be able to

decide if they want to be werewolves or not. If we had that cure, we
could give them a choice.”

“Baby, we don’t even know if the cure exists.”
“And we don’t know that it doesn’t either.”
Isaac was quiet for a moment, and then he chuckled, patting

Santana’s hip. “Okay, mate. We’ll talk to Sage in the morning and
start looking for the cure.”

* * * *

Jeremiah paced as he watched the human writhe around in agony.

He may be moody, a prick, and everything else everyone called him,
but to see needless suffering cut him deep. The guy wasn’t built
strong and large like he was, and the pain of the conversion seemed to
be tearing the man apart.

“What exactly did Martin do to him?” Jeremiah asked Sage. “It’s

as though he has bitten him painfully, but there are no marks on him.
How can he be going through a change?”

“He has Isaac’s were-blood inside of him now, and some kind of

an enhancer. I’m not sure what my father has done, but I don’t think
the human is going to survive this.”

Jeremiah studied the man. He knew one way that might work, but

was he willing to tie this stranger, this human, to him for the rest of
his life? That was a huge sacrifice on his part, especially if the man
turned out to be an asshole. He wasn’t even sure if he should take the
decision from the guy. Maybe the human was better off dying. No one
knew for sure what Martin had injected that man with.

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Lynn Hagen

“Get out,” Jeremiah growled as he watched sweat soak the man’s

body, his skin so red that it looked as though he were going to burst
into flames.

“Are you going to claim him?” Sage asked, not moving. “That’s

something you need to think long and hard about.”

Jeremiah saw the raw pain in the man’s hazel eyes and knew he

couldn’t allow anything to happen to him. The human was staring at
him, pleading with his eyes for Jeremiah to stop the agonizing pain
inside of him.

“Get out,” he said more calmly this time.
Sage nodded, leaving Jeremiah’s room, closing the door tightly

behind him. Crossing the room, Jeremiah cupped the human’s face,
making the man focus on him. “What is your name, human?”

“S–S–Sylvester.” He wrapped his hands around Jeremiah’s arms,

pulling at them with strength Jeremiah didn’t think the guy had. “P–
Please.”

“Do you want to live, Sylvester?”
Sylvester arched his back, letting out a bloodcurdling scream that

chilled Jeremiah right down to his soul. Jeremiah gripped his head
tighter, making the man look at him. “Answer me. Do you want to
live?”

“Yes!” he shouted as his fingernails dug into Jeremiah’s arms.
“Then you will live.”

* * * *

Isaac grinned as he looked at the stocked shelves, his store finally

looking like a real store. He polished the counter as Santana filled the
coolers with fresh milk. “I think I’m going to like it here.”

Santana loaded the last gallon into the cooler and stood, stretching

as he stacked the crates. “I’ve never been a partner in a business
before. Hell, I’ve never had a business before.” Santana paused for a

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123

moment, as if thinking hard, and then shook his head as he laughed.
“I’ve never had a partner before either.”

Isaac chuckled. “We’ll be fine. As soon as we start filling the

town up with people and repair more businesses in Mystery, things
will feel more like home.”

Santana walked behind the counter, leaning up to give Isaac a

quick but heated kiss. “As long as I have you, home can be in a
cardboard box.”

Isaac wrapped his arms around Santana, wondering what his life

would have been like if his midget hadn’t shot him. He knew for a
fact that he wouldn’t be this happy, as crazy as that sounded. “You
know, people are never going to believe me when I tell them I fell in
love with you when you shot me.”

“So, don’t tell them.” Santana snorted dramatically. “Seriously,

don’t tell them.”

Isaac laughed and turned toward the door when he heard

footsteps.

“Looks good,” Sheriff Samuel Reese said as he walked into the

store. “One business back up and running, ten more to go.”

Isaac rolled his eyes as William shot to the storage room. When

was that squirrelly man going to learn that Sam wasn’t on the hunt for
him?

“Give us time,” Santana said as he pushed closer into Isaac’s side.

“This town will feel like home.” He winked up at Isaac.

“This is Sam?” York said as he walked from a back aisle, his hips

slinging widely from side to side. “Damn, Pat wasn’t lying when he
said you were sexy.”

Sam blushed as he nodded toward York. “And who might you

be?”

“Off-limits,” Pat said as he walked into the store, shooting

daggers at York. “Just a nut job looking to get his ass handed to him.”

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Lynn Hagen

Isaac grinned as he watched the staring contest between Pat and

York, both glaring menacingly. Damn, he needed popcorn for this
show.

“I think I’m going to head out,” Sam said as he looked between

the hostile men. “Nice meeting you…”

“York. And come by anytime, Sheriff. Maybe we could go out on

a date,” York said as he turned toward Sam with an innocent smile
plastered on his face.

“Sorry, he can’t,” Pat said as he walked over to Sam and grabbed

the sheriff’s arm. “He’s too busy taking me out.”

“I am?” Sam asked, looking confused.
“Yes, you are.” Pat pulled Sam from the store, the human looking

helpless.

York began to laugh. “I knew it would work.”
“What would work?” Santana asked as he pulled away from Isaac.

Isaac wanted to protest his mate leaving his side, but he knew they
had a lot to get done today.

“That idiot can deny he has feeling for Sam all he wants to. I’m

going to make him open his eyes to what he has. But, damn,” York
said as he scratched his chin, “now that I’ve seen Sam, just damn.”

Isaac rolled his eyes. “Stay away from him, York. You’re too

small to tangle with Pat.”

York waved a hand in dismissal. “I know. But it will be fun to

make Pat work for Sam’s affection.”

Isaac watched York leave, humming happily to himself and

looking pleased as punch. He shook his head as he glanced over at his
mate straightening the shelves, feeling his chest swell with love and
pride for the man who had shot him, fought him, mated with him, and
loved him.

If nothing else, Mystery was an interesting place to live.