When the Wolves Cry (Twin Flames Duet #1)

CHAPTER FORTY

JAX

“Dad was right,” Tala huffs, panning over the scattered papers and the bright screen of her laptop. “Loxley Quinten, Cora Winters, Riley Anderson, Sunny Wright, andBrynnMorgan… They were trying to find them.”

Those are the names of the missing women I stumbled upon when researching the fires.

I sit down on the furry rug next to her, handing the succubus her requested coffee. “How far did they get?” I ask, grabbing a paper withLoxley’sinformation.

“This is all I found in their safe,” she sighs. “I went to school withLoxley. We weren’t friends or anything, but she’d always wave over her books and have a rainbow pencil tucked behind her ear.”

It’s gut twisting to think all these women were kidnapped from their homes and weren’t given the opportunity to be found by law enforcement. Supposedly, Mayor Jenkins put a stop to all search parties and paid the families off, pretty much telling them to mind their own and to not snoop around for their loved ones.

There’s no chance he’s not involved. I just don’t have proof to back up my accusations—yet.

“You said you and Nadia wandered the castle, right?” I set the beaming smile down and look over the rest that probably haven’t shown in the year they’ve been gone.

She takes a big drink, swallowing it down and reaching over me to set her cup on the coffee table. “Four years ago, yeah. You think they might be there?”

“Hmm,” I growl in thought. “Possibly. But I think that’s too on the nose. I’m sure that was the first place your grandparents scouted out.”

“Would you go with me to look?”

“Baby, that’s not even a question. Whatever you want to do, I’m there and by your side. You could say you wanted to rob a bank, and I’d tell you to get your pretty ass in the car.”

Her brows knit. “Didn’t you threaten to kill me over something you fabricated in your own murderous imagination?”

I nod confidently, and grin at the aggravation resurfacing on her face. “I did. It wasn’t completely fabricated. I can read your Venus eyes, and I saw the thoughts of exploration circulating in them. Besides, Russia is different, baby girl. Once you become my sexy, little samurai, we can revisit the conversation.”

She closes her laptop, raking her nails over Sirohi’s head next to her. “I think helping rescue dogs is more attainable. You watched me trip over the rug in my bedroom this morning.”

It’s fascinating how she manages to stumble and fall over nothing.

“We’re working on that. And my hunt for Brutus will continue until a bullet is in his head and both the women and dogs are safe.”

She starts stacking the papers up, twisting her face quizzically at me. “You think he took them?”

I stick my hand out, running my fingers through her silky locks. “There’s not a doubt in my mind. Pyro, pyromaniac, the fires before their disappearances. It’s him.”

Her hair is so soft. It’s vibrant with raven pigment, reflecting the sheen of any light it can find, and glides through my fingers seamlessly.

Pulling through her ends, it tousles over her thigh and bends from how damn long it is. She snaps her amber eyes to mine, and I continue running my fingers through her hair. “Good boy. I’m training you well,” she hums, voice smooth as smoke.

Oh. Oh, fuck.

Do I like that? Evidently my dick does since it’s throbbing.

Disregarding the hunger burning in my eyes and my clenched jaw, she asks, “Do you know when the next fight is?”

“Mm-hmm. Tonight, at ten. Youcomin’ with me?”

I wrap her hair around my hand, and her throat bobs nervously. “Do you, uh, think I’m ready? We haven’t trained very much the past two weeks.”

Because every time we train, we get aggravated as hell with each other and end up fucking on the mats. It’s been two weeks since her comment about her dildo, and I’m making it my mission to surpass the number of times she’s come from it.

She’s a horny monster.

She told me up until her grandparents passed, she’d masturbate and have up to five orgasms a night. That would be around seven-fucking-thousand orgasms over the span of her having that damn thing for four years.

I wrap around her hair six times, exposingMaiko’spaw print on the back of her neck and the clasp keeping my blood secured to her.

“It’s street level. Four guys and two dogs. I think you can handle that, little wolf.” Using my free hand, I lightly trail my fingers down the side of her neck, watching the goosebumps rise as I work down to the notch of her collar bone.

A heavy breath jets out of her parted lips. She wets them, stitching her Medusa eyes to mine and turning me to stone. “Are you going to load my gun for me?”

“Yes, ma’am,” I drawl, letting her hair drift down her back.

A strip falls over her shoulder and conceals half her eye. I tuck it behind her ear, in complete fucking shock that this girl is mine.

Her hand slides across my thigh, landing in between my legs—right next to my dick. My heart skips a beat, tracking her slowly getting closer, emitting the warm vanilla that stops my brain.

I eye her lips, parting mine like a fucking fool and falling for her trap. Barely. Just barely, she grazes them against mine, reaching over for her damn coffee.

She smiles, then curls her plump lips around the straw. Taunting me.

Creeping around the side paneling, I count the four domes I was promised.

Two of them are smiling hard, drinking beer out of cans and watching the other two wipe the dogs down.

Despite the snow, they’re doing it in a sketchy backyard, lighting the plywood pit up withtikitorches.

Sharp nails claw my back, her fingers sinking into my waistband. I retreat from the corner, looking into the golden eyes that glisten with the night. “Stay here. Watch. Keep your gun raised and your ears out for incoming steps,” I whisper.

She frowns, but nods in understanding.

I wink at her, and head in their direction. The goddamn flurries are blowing in my eyes, weaseling under my hoodie and melting on my neck.

But the alarm flashing on their faces requires my attention.

“You can’t be back here. Sign says private property,” the closest man holding a beer says edgily.

The bigger man with a white Pit Bull stands straight, hardening his scowl and reaching for his gun.

I stop next to Beer Breath, close to their makeshift pit, and pin down the idiot drawing his pistol. “Damn,” I say dryly. “Here I was, coming in to chat, talk to you about your dogs, and you want to start a war you won’t win.Tsk,tsk.What a shame.”

“The fuck’s that mean?” he asks snappily.

“I’ll show you.” I dart my hand to the handle of my gun, hastily whisking it out and firing the first silenced shot at the man next to him.

The dogs yelp, instantly ripping through the men’s grips on them and taking off in the fenced in backyard. Terror possesses his eyes, blowing them out to saucers, and I line my sight up, quickly firing the next bullet in between his brows.

The man next to me starts to flee. I zip my free hand out, roughly grabbing his hoodie and yanking him closer, and track the other dude hauling ass with the end of my barrel.

With no sweat on my back, I pull the trigger. His head jerks to the side, and his body tumbles down to the snow.

I make eye contact with the brown eyes caught in my trap, and smile at how vigorously he’s shaking for being a grown man. “What do you know about Pyro?” I ask, fixing my attention on the piss puddle blooming in his jeans. My smile dissipates, and I shake my head with a huff. “Did you forget your fucking diaper today?”

His lip quivers, eyes turning glassy. “I d-don’t know who Pyro is,” he stammers, voice shaking with nerves, yeast emanating from his tongue.

“Brutus Tuffin. That one ring any bells?”

Out of the corner of my eye, I see shiny, raven hair bending down for one of the dogs that’s striding straight towards her.

Damn, it feels good to have a fucking partner.

“No,” he shakes his head, tears and snot dripping down his face. “The only man I can think of is Silas White in Fairbanks. He’s the guy they got their dogs from.”

“The breeder?”

He nods jaggedly. “He trains and pits them too. Costs an arm and a leg for stud fees and charges two-hundred K for a fight against his top dog.”

“Thanks, man,” I say, faking enthusiasm. I shove my silencer to his forehead and fire before another pitiful tear falls down his scruffy face.

The fabric of his hoodie grows taut in my fingers, supporting his dead weight. I let go, staring at the way he plummets to the ground like a rag doll.

Like the magical being she is, Tala is down on her knees petting both dogs, smiling at the rapid speed their asses are wiggling at.

I head towards her, chest stiffening with the realization that my teammate is the woman I’m madly in love with.

“Clean up is on the way. I won’t clap since you yelled at me last time,” Leon chimes.

“I didn’t raise my voice with you,” I counter.

“Volume doesn’t matter when you sound permanently pissed off, man. Speaking of… Did that guy piss himself?”

“Mm-hmm.” Gazing into twinkling amber, I direct my undivided focus on her. “See? Wasn’t so bad,” I grin, fetching out the slip leashes from my hoodie pocket.

She stands up with desire hooding her dreamy ass eyes.

I guess she likes watching me kill people.

Must’ve with the way she’s molding her fingers to the back of my neck and ushering me down. She doesn’t say anything. Her lips press into mine, her tongue swirling past the seam of my lips and bursting sweetness over my taste buds.

I groan in utter contentment, pressing the side of my gun into her back to push harder into the fervent kiss.

She pries away, sliding her hand down my chest. “And now what? We just leave the bodies and take the dogs to Dr. Zion?”

My brain is vibrating in my skull, ecstasy breezing over my skin and stars flickering around her heart-shaped face. “Yes, ma’am.”

The gate opens behind her, shuffling in the women thatstillwon’t look at me. They smile and wave at her though.

Tala has an irresistible energy. You want to get closer, inspect the divinity structuring her vessel. Her eyes siphon your soul and caress it open, looking in to read your life, your story, what haunts you and what brings you enjoyment.

There is no hiding from the siren.