Ch. 21 - Powerful

Chapter Twenty-One – Powerful

"What are you doing with this man?" Danny whispered, pointing at the guy in a suit that looked like the sort of salesperson who worked in expensive stores, ready to diss anyone who didn't appear to be a potential buyer for their overpriced items.

The uniform the prisoner was wearing said everything. That man had to be the employee from the scent store, and Jack and Vince had somehow decided it would be a good idea to tie him up and bring him over to Danny's place. Adding Theodore's situation to the present situation didn't help Danny feel any saner after witnessing the transformation of two wolfshifters in his very own living room.

"He won't talk," Vince said matter-of-factly.

"Hmm, and didn't it occur to you that he might not be able to do that because he has his mouth covered with duct tape?" Danny opted for the obvious.

"If we free his mouth," Jack intervened, "he's going to scream like a banshee. We need to go medieval on his ass." He cracked his knuckles and gave his and Vince's prisoner a long, assessing look like an archaeologist examining a just-unearthed relic.

That direct threat appeared to have an undesired effect on the scent store employee. He started struggling more and, behind the improvised gag, his mouth was opening and trying to suck in the duct tape.

"Oh, no," Danny groaned, "don't let him scream. We'll all end up in the street with two tied up men, which will be really, but really, difficult to explain to the police."

"Two?" It was only then that Jack noticed Theodore Pembroke lying on the ground. He squealed and hid behind Vince. Whatever the story was there, Jack must have stretched the limits of his courage to deliver Ryder's message to Theodore. Without a doubt, the owner of Pembroke Industries had threatened the clairvoyant.

"People, let's think," Danny suggested. He was waving his arms in an effort to look like he could lead this brainstorming session. "I have no idea what to do," he added right away. "Theodore is incapacitated, but it might not be for long because the rope I gave Ryder to tie him up with was bought at a discount store, so it might be past its expiration date. Can rope expire?"

Vince snapped his fingers in front of his eyes. "Danny, babe, focus. Leave the damn rope out of this."

"Hey," Ryder intervened, "I might not be used to your city ways, but you cannot talk to my mate like that. I should be the only one to call him 'babe'."

It seemed that it was only then that Jack noticed Ryder. "What did you say?" he squeaked, moving his eyes so fast from Ryder to Danny and then back again over and over that following him would make anyone dizzy.

"I said I should be the only one to call him--" Ryder said patiently.

"No, no, before that!" Jack said, bouncing up and down, and clenching his fists before punching the sky with a victory dance. "You said 'mate', yes, you said it! I knew it! Tell me I didn't call it! I so totally called it!"

"Mate?" Vince was within his rights to look as surprised as he did. "Like in your cards, Jack?"

The clairvoyant crossed his arms with a jubilant expression on his face. "Yep."

Vince grinned and smacked Danny's shoulder so hard he almost sent his bestie careening forward into the other wall. Danny was lucky that Ryder grabbed him and pulled him back, immediately wrapping his protective arms around him. The warmth that moved through him as soon as they touched was everything Danny had ever dreamed of.

"All that sexual tension and attraction couldn't be for nothing," Vince said with a grin.

"Guys, guys," Danny said, blushing to the tip of his ears, "let's focus on what's important here. We have two hostages—wait, where's your guy?"

In the chaos that had ensued after Ryder's revelation that he considered Danny his mate, the employee from the scent store seemed to have vanished.

"There he is," Vince said with relief, grabbing the man, who had been crawling along the floor and aiming for the door like a caterpillar since his arms were tied behind his back. "Can I smack him against the door, Danny? Hostages that are trying to get away get on my nerves."

"Nope, can't do that," Danny said brightly. "Mrs. Machi from next door will think I'm throwing an orgy on top of getting drunk and high. She likes to exaggerate things, but she means well," he added right away.

"Ryder, my man, you look good," Jack remarked out loud. "Did you and Danny make sweet love?" he said, drawling the words and trying – without too much success – to impersonate a rhythm and blues singer.

"An honest wolfshifter would never share such details about his mate," Ryder growled, obviously taking Jack's flippant tone as a personal offense.

"Yeah, I get it, sorry." Jack looked down, chastised and spread out his hands. "But you do look good, and you seem to no longer be in pain, so I just let my imagination run away with me and all that."

Danny could tell Ryder was about to comment more and maybe give Jack a lesson on personal boundaries, but they were pressed for time. Who knew how long Theodore would remain unconscious? They would have to save the banter and bad jokes for another time.

Vince was busy shaking the scent store employee to make sure he understood that there was no way out for him. The man in question appeared to have a different opinion because he continued to struggle.

Danny watched him for several moments. "That guy is scared," he exclaimed, pointing at him. "Are you scared because of Theodore?" He stepped slightly away from Ryder and gestured at the floor with both hands.

The man began nodding furiously.

"Okay," Danny breathed out. "If Vince removes the duct tape from your mouth, do you promise not to yell and alert the neighbors?" It wasn't like him to threaten anyone, and most likely no amount of practice would make him any better at it, but he had to rely on his ability to make the guy more scared of them than of Theodore. Or maybe not even that. As the man continued to nod with his whole head, Danny thought it a good idea to add, "If you do, we're going to head out of here, leaving you two alone."

This time, the man shook his head frantically in the negative. It had worked, Danny thought. He made a mental note to give himself a pat on the back later.

"Okay, guys, I think you can let him speak."

Vince didn't appear fully convinced and watched his prisoner sternly while, from the other side, Jack mouthed the words 'we'll go medieval on your ass'.

As soon as his mouth was free, a stream of words began pouring out. "I'm just a guy who knows nothing. Pembroke did it all. He forced us and we didn't want to but I couldn't lose my job and then, there was this--"

"Man, hey, breathe," Danny advised. "We're not going to hurt you."

"Speak for yourself," Jack added, expressing his indignation. He pulled up his right sleeve and showed a bruise. "He hit me first."

"Let's not lose sight of what's important," Danny said, deciding that he needed to be the good cop in the current situation. "We need to treat this person like a human being, and then, as we earn his trust--"

He didn't have a chance to finish his sentence. In one swift leap, Ryder was in front of the man, grabbing him by the front of his shirt.

***

Danny was kind and his soul was as large as the moon, but they didn't have the time required to follow all the steps he was suggesting to get the truth out of this man.

"Start speaking," he said in a low growl. "Speak slowly. We do not care about your personal role in this, unless you were enchanted by a clairvoyant called Cassandra, who lives in Pinemoor."

"I don't know any Cassandra," the man whispered, obviously shaken.

"Ryder, please, don't scare him," Danny pleaded. "I'm sure there's a logical explanation, and we only have to be a little patient--"

"I understand," Ryder said. Danny's pull on him was great, and most likely he had no idea what effect his words alone had on a wolfshifter that was his mate. "Do you trust me, my mate?"

"I do," Danny said. "Are we really set on this mate thing? Because I feel like everything is happening really fast. Not that I mind, only we have two tied up guys and a lot of problems on our hands right now instead of thinking about an arranged marriage between us and all that entails."

"Marriage?" Jack squealed in delight. "That means a wedding, right? I've never been to a wedding. Can I be the flower girl? I mean the flower boy?"

Vince stopped Jack's verbal insanity by taking him by the shoulders. "For that to happen, we need to get to the bottom of whatever is going on."

The clairvoyant was in a heightened state of excitement and nervousness, something Ryder could understand. It looked like Jack was getting a grip on his gift, and all that new power flowing through him had to be unsettling.

"Leave it to me," Ryder said calmly. He intended to interrogate the scent store employee thoroughly, as he had to be holding at least a part of the truth. "You three may watch, but please, do not interrupt me."

"Hey, he's the boss," Vince said in a placating voice. "Since he's a wolfshifter, so obviously better at interrogating an acolyte of evil than the rest of us."

"Says who?" Jack protested.

Ryder looked over his shoulder at Danny. He asked for help without saying a word and waited with bated breath. If Danny was truly his mate, he'd understand him even if he didn't voice his plea out loud.

"Jack, let's trust Ryder on this," Danny said quietly, looking directly at Ryder with eyes that told him the only truth he needed.

"Okay," Jack agreed, not without reluctance, "but, for the record, I believe I can be a pretty tough interrogator. Hit the perp with a big giant phone book over the head, and all that."

"Where would you even find a big giant phone book?" Danny expressed his disbelief, while Vince chuckled to himself.

Ryder left them to their back and forth, training all of his attention on the man trembling before him. He looked right into his eyes, so the scent shop employee wouldn't be able to hide the truth from him.

"Speak," he said in a low growl. There were few, even among wolves, who could resist an alpha's powers of persuasion. "Start at the beginning."

The man relaxed in his hold. "Theodore Pembroke came to our store months ago. He entrusted us with a particular type of incense. Since we sell such items, we agreed."

"Why would he do that? He had a piece of it in his office, and then later, on himself. Why would he need to leave the power-shattering incense with you?"

As his voice became more threatening, the man trembled again. "I don't know. He said something about it being too much even for him. He took only a small piece and said that he would have to train his senses to become accustomed to it. At the time, we thought it was just him being an eccentric, like other rich people."

Ryder frowned. So Theodore was using the incense to train himself not to feel overcome by its horrible stench. But to what end?

"And the weapon that kills alphas?" he asked, feeling much tempted to shake the man more. After all, he'd been the one to hit his head with it that one time.

"Kills what?" The man blanched, showing that his knowledge of the matter was fairly limited.

"Tell me about the weapon," Ryder repeated.

"The boomerang? Yes, he brought it to us later. He told us it was a powerful artifact capable of providing protection to the wielder. That's why I used it that time against you. I thought it was stupid, but it was the first thing I could lay my hands on, and you were trashing the store--"

"Enough," Ryder ordered. "Was Theodore training with it, as well?"

"I don't know. He did come to the store at odd hours. He was paying a hefty fee for the privilege, and we learned not to get in his way when he did. As far as I could tell, he was only walking around the room, looking at the items on display. It got boring pretty fast. Soon enough, we no longer remained present when he was there, because it looked like he didn't need our assistance anyway. I don't know anything else, I swear."

What was Theodore preparing for? Ryder doubted those were questions that this insignificant human could offer answers to.

He needed Theodore awake.

"You may leave," he said, removing his hand from the man's shirt.

"Thank you, oh, thank you," the man said, bowing repeatedly.

"Hey, you don't get to decide that on your own," Jack called out. "We caught him, and this isn't the catch and release channel."

"We have no more use for him," Ryder replied curtly. "You must focus on reading the cards again, clairvoyant Jack."

"Clairvoyant Jack, yep, I like the sound of that."

The scent store employee disappeared through the door, saluting awkwardly as he closed it behind himself. He was lucky that Ryder had given Jack something else to focus on.

Ryder decided to sit on top of Theodore. He needed to keep the white wolf under his close supervision but, at the same time, he needed to know what the cards were saying now.

"Doesn't that hurt him?" Danny asked, while approaching him slowly. He leaned forward and brushed his lips against Ryder's ear. "I admire your strength of character. Thank you for letting the man go. He didn't seem to be bad, per se."

Praise from his mate was as sweet as honey on his lips and warmed his heart. Ryder couldn't help smiling. He took Danny's hand. "Please, join me, while Jack reads the cards."

Danny showed reluctance to sit on Theodore's unmoving body, and after a few moments of hesitation, he chose to place himself at Ryder's feet, his legs folded under him. With one arm wrapped around Ryder's right calf, Danny rested his head against his mate's knee.

Had he ever felt as powerful as he felt right now? Ryder knew the answer as he put one hand on Danny's head, caressing his soft hair.

Jack seemed lost in thought as he arranged and rearranged the cards. He had chosen to place them directly on the floor and was sitting in front of them with one knee raised on which he rested his chin. Whatever the cards were telling him couldn't be anything good. Ryder could see no other reason why Jack felt the need to gather, shuffle, and lay them down again so many times.

"Jack," he called out, "let us hear it."

His heart sank as Jack gave him a look that spoke of heartfelt apologies and pity. Could it be that Danny wasn't his mate after all? But Jack had been so convinced of it before, and the cards could change, but not that much.

"I want to know the truth," he added. If Danny no longer appeared as his mate in Jack's cards, he would have the clairvoyant speak to them over and over until they told the truth.

"The curse is still… ongoing," Jack whispered and winced, as if it were his personal fault that was the case.

Of course. He had to bond with his mate to lift the course. Until now, he had been cautious when making love to Danny, because of the unwanted effects of an accidental bond between a wolf and a human. Nothing stood in his way anymore, he realized. He had a mind to send Jack and Vince packing right now, but there was also the matter of Theodore lying unconscious right there, and Ryder couldn't see himself mating with his beloved, while his enemy was a few feet away.

"So, what does Ryder have to do to lift it?" Vince asked. Then, he grinned as realization must have dawned on him. "Does that mean that we have to leave you alone, kids?"

"If it only were that simple," Jack countered. "No, this curse needs to be uprooted and destroyed."

"Cassandra," Ryder growled. "I must destroy her."

Jack's eyes lit up. "Can I be there? Wait, we're not talking about blood and gore, right? 'Cause I don't think that's something I can stomach."

"Then I'm afraid I will have to leave you behind," Ryder said. "I will take my mate and set out immediately for Pinemoor."

"Wait, aren't you forgetting something?" Jack asked, gesturing at Theodore's unmoving body. "You will have to take him with you."

"Why?" Ryder asked at the same time as Danny.

Jack grimaced. "These cards may be a little hit in the head. They say that an alpha needs to bleed on the ground to unmake the curse."

"Does it have to be his blood?" Ryder asked. Danny was leaning forward, bent on finding out what Jack meant by all that.

"Cassandra truly destroyed his pack," Jack explained. "It isn't you who must destroy Cassandra, Ryder. Theodore needs to do that. The thing is, how the hell are we going to make him cooperate? He's a bloodthirsty animal and tried to kill us. I don't think he's going to be in a very good mood when he wakes up."

The body underneath Ryder shook, and a low growl rumbled out. "Who are you calling a bloodthirsty animal, human?"

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

TBC