With Caution

smell anything with all these people around? And why the fuck did he always get hard thinking about Jake? Jake was a guy. Remi groaned. He should be dissuading his sibling from playing matchmaker, not trying to figure out his strange reaction to another man. “Sterling…”
    “Hmmm, what do I want to eat?” Sterling looked away, still smiling, and picked up his menu, flipping it open.
    A purplish spot peeked out of the cuff of his long sleeve T-shirt. It looked like—
    The sick feeling Remi had banished returned with a vengeance. It felt like someone twisted a knife into his heart. He seized Sterling’s hand, and Sterling dropped the menu.
    “What—?”
    Pushing the cuff out of the way, Remi studied the bruises. They were perfectly shaped like a hand. Someone had held Sterling around the wrist, hard. Further up his arm were bigger spots. Nausea swam in Remi’s throat, making him swallow hard. He gritted his teeth and his vision clouded over. If that son of a bitch hurt Sterling… “When? When www.samhainpublishing.com 11
    J.L. Langley
    did this happen? Did Dirk hit you? Where else are you hurt?” He growled, trying—but failing miserably—to keep the anger out of his voice. Some of his own past beatings filtered through his mind. The fear, the hurt and the anger had never faded with age. It was bad enough Sterling had to witness their father’s cruelty toward their mother, and even to Remi on occasion, but there was no way Remi was going to allow the bastard to beat his baby brother. “Answer me.”
    Sterling’s eyes widened, looking startled. Slowly, he shook his head. “He hasn’t hit me.”
    Yet. Their father hadn’t hit Sterling yet, but he would. Remi was going to throw up.
    Even now, after all this time, he was terrified to face the old man and hated himself for the weakness. Somehow he’d convinced himself, by being the model son, he could make things right. He’d promised to behave as long as Sterling was not harmed, but now because of his own fear he’d failed his brother. He should have taken the kid years ago and run away. Why had he thought the asshole would stick to his end of the bargain?
    Closing his eyes, Remi took a deep breath. A warm, fresh scent assailed his nose and a sense of peace overcame him. No, not peace exactly, he was anything but calm. It was strange, like a feeling of safety, a lessening of his physical tension, if not his mind.
    A hand touched his shoulder. “Remi. I’m glad I ran into you. I’ve got something for you, can you follow me outside?”
    Remi gazed up into a chiseled face and nearly black eyes. “Jake, hey, uh…” It was Jake he’d smelled earlier.
    Glancing at Sterling, Jake dropped a hand around Remi’s biceps and tugged. “Will you excuse us for a moment?”
    Sterling mumbled something, but Remi was too busy trying to figure out why Jake was dragging him out of his seat to catch it. His head whirled, barely registering which end was up. That was very rare for a trained firefighter, but given the circumstance and Jake’s nearness, Remi doubted anyone could blame him. Not that he was going to let anyone know how Jake affected him, of course.
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    www.samhainpublishing.com

    With Caution
    Staggering to his feet, Remi was given no choice but to go as Jake continued to pull him along. What the fuck? Why was Jake leading him out of the diner? Halfway to the door, Remi mustered the strength to draw his arm back. “What—?”
    “Your eyes. Come on.”
    Huh? His eyes? Fuck . Everything was black and white. Which was probably Jake’s fault. Every time Jake was within three feet of— Oh shit . What if Sterling saw?
    Following Jake out the door and to his SUV, Remi concentrated on seeing color, like Keaton had taught him.
    Jake opened the SUV’s door and motioned toward the seat.
    Remi sat, peering up at his…well, his friend. Jake had become a friend during the last few months, since Remi had become a werewolf. Despite his effort to steer clear of the man, Remi usually ended up hunting with Jake on the night of a full moon. “Where’d you come from?”
    Leaning his arm against the door, Jake stared at Remi. He took the mirrored sunglasses off the top of his head and held them out.
    Damn, Jake was big. Accepting the shades, Remi put them on, then shook his head to clear it.
    “I smelled you when you walked in. I was going to come and say hi after I was done eating, but your scent changed and I figured I better try to help you get a handle