Kris Kendall - Just the Tip - Short stories of love and lust

“ Then why push this? Why do you want so badly for me to consent? If I did what you asked, I’d be sending you straight back to him. And if he ever found out what you were really doing there, that you were spying for me, he’d do worse than kill you.”

“ Yes, but until he found out-if ever-I could supply information that we need. He trusts me, Jensen.”

“ Correction, he trusted you. He no longer does. Not after you turned your back on him.”

Originally, Kiley had gone with Jericho, had stood by his side and arranged the Truth’s. She’d taught them, led them. Lived with them. But inside she’d known what was wrong and right, and she’d realized that her mate had gone over the edge.

Jensen still couldn’t believe that she’d had the courage to come to him directly, to stand before him and the entire pack of Moonshines asking for acceptance and forgiveness. She never told him what had finally pushed her, what Jericho had done that was horrible enough to get her to leave, and he didn’t pry. She kept her secrets for a reason, and he wanted to respect that.

She’d gone without saying goodbye to her mate. She’d gone and she’d never stepped back, never looked back as far as Jensen was concerned. She’d pledged loyalty and since that day she’d lived it.

“ I need you here,” he finally said. “I would be lost without you. Besides, what about Tobias? He would never allow you to do something like that.”

Her older brother was just as stubborn and hard headed as she was. No, he wouldn’t be too keen on the idea of sending her off to her possible demise, and Jensen couldn’t risk losing both of them.

“ Toby isn’t a factor in this equation. I’m over one thousand years old. I can make my own decisions.”

“ So long as they don’t go against your king, and I’m against it. I’m pack leader, Kindle.” The nick name had been a long standing one between them, a testament to her hot temper.

“ So back to what I learned.” She switched the topic over with ease. The tension that had appeared at his question draining out of her. “Turns out, Jericho’s been trying to find a way to side with the mortals. His hopes are to rise against us with their help.”

“ My brother hates the humans,” Jensen frowned.

“ My thoughts exactly. Which can only mean he’s planning on using them, then discarding them once he’s through. My guess is they won’t last a month before he’s piling their bodies on the pyre. But if he can convince them we’re the true evil, they’ll help him reach his goal. And with us out of the way you can sure as hell believe he’ll destroy any trace of their race on this continent.”

“ The other sects will stop that from happing,” he waved her words away. “The Vampires especially, given that mortals are their main food source.”

“ Still, I’d rather be alive to see Jericho beaten, even if it is by a blood sucker and not by you or me.”

“ Do we know how he’s going to attempt this?”

“ Sadly, no. Gregor says that Jericho’s keeping that tightly concealed from everyone else. He’s trusting no one ‘sides Warren with the information, and he won’t be spilling any time soon.”

Warren had once been all of their best friend, but when the old king had been found murdered, he’d sided with Jericho. None of this would have happened at all if their father had just named the eldest of the twins as the heir, but he’d seen in Jer what the others had not. He’d seen the darkness.

“ We could beat it out of him.”

They turned towards the new voice which came from the entrance. A tall man with wavy brown hair appeared with a slight curve to his lips. He paused just inside, shoving his hands into the pockets of his pants.

“ Tobias,” Jensen inclined his head in greeting. “A brilliant suggestion.”

“ Yeah, one I came up with years ago.” Kiley rolled her eyes.

“ You wound me, sister,” he laughed, walking over to her and planting a noisy kiss on the top of her head.

She waved her hand in the air as if shooing him away.

“ Should I be following War?” Tobias asked, turning back towards their leader.

“ Not just yet. He won’t talk, that’s a given. We’ll have to find another way. Get Gregor to earn Jericho’s trust faster. There’s got to be some way to get to the mortals first, influence them to our side before he can get his claws-literally-into them,” Jensen said.

“ I could go,” Kiley volunteered. “I know a few of the villagers who aren’t prejudice against our kind. They might be willing to help.”

Toby frowned. “How do you know humans?”

She shrugged. “Ran into them down by the river. Their son fell in so I fished him out.”

“ You don’t have to save everyone, you know.”

“ You would have done the same.”

“ And you’re sure that they’ll believe you?” Jensen broke into the conversation before it could take a turn. “They’ll be able to sway the others in their village?”

“ Should.” She flashed a wicked smile. “They’re in charge of it, after all.”

“ Ah, my sister,” Tobias chuckled. “Always knows how to make the right friends.”

“ Except for that one time,” she said, the sadness lacing her voice despite the fact she was clearly trying to joke about it. It was clear she was referring to Jericho.

“ Well, yeah, except for that,” Toby responded back softly. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her in for a hug. When he let go, any signs that she’d been upset were gone.

“ I’ll go with you.” Jensen decided then. “It’ll give us a better chance if they speak to the leader of the pack.”

“ Why don’t you think Jericho’s done that already?” Kiley asked.

“ Probably because he doesn’t know how to make friends,” Toby said.

“ You should stay here,” she turned to Jensen. “I don’t know how comfortable they’d be with a massive male werewolf around their miniature children. Let me talk to them first, put the idea in their head before you go over and scare the life out of them.”

He sighed. She was probably right. “Try and be back before dark,” he said instead of arguing.

“ Sure thing.” She plopped the knife back onto the table and stood. There was a small burst of light, not enough to blind them, and in the next instant there was a large white wolf in her place. She shook her head and winked in his direction before taking off out the opening to the cave.

Kris Kendall

Just the Tip: Short stories of love and lust

Chapter 2:

Jensen ran as fast as he could. The muscles in his legs tightening to the point where he thought they might explode beneath him. Still, he pushed harder, ran faster. What else was he going to do?

It was hard to take his mind off of the past, off of the present. It took everything he had to forget-even for a moment-that he was empty. The knowledge just kept springing back, taunting him. He’d lost everything the day his father had been murdered. They’d found his body decimated in wolf form, ears ripped from his head, feet cut off… Jensen had puked when he’d seen it for himself.

No one knew for sure who’d done it, but there were rumors that it had been Jericho. Not a week before Jensen had been named heir to the pack, and his twin, older by a minute, hadn’t taken the news well. He’d been destroyed, in fact.

He’d turned on his family, and now there wasn’t any family left.

The one thing that still remained was his friendship with Kiley and her brother Tobias. The Sinclair siblings held him together, the only reason he hadn’t gone and killed himself by now. It was a horrible truth, but there it was. He no longer had a father, or a brother. What more was there?