Chapter Thirteen

~ Vanya ~

I glared at the man pinned to the ground with all of my rage. He needed to die, and I so badly wanted to be the one to end his life, but Remy"s words stuck with me.

Protecting him was more important that my rage against Brad, and if I killed him people would come looking for him. Right now I couldn"t have that. Not until we figured out what was going on with all of us.

Was it all of us?

I glanced at the woman standing a few feet from Brad and the others. The long blonde hair and barely covered breasts and ass gave me a good idea who she was.

The one thing she didn"t have was the earthy scent the others had. Granted, she was wearing a fair amount of perfume so it was hard to tell, but the underlying scent was not the same.

The flirtatious glances she kept sending my way were a bit odd considering the tears in her eyes and the way she wrung her hands every time she looked at Brad.

Wonder if I should tell her those flirty glances did nothing for me. I knew I was gay even before Remy came into my life. While I could appreciate the female form—most of the time—perky little blondes with blue eyes didn"t do it for me.

I preferred moss green eyes and sandy brown hair.

And no breasts.

I dismissed the blonde from my mind and turned my attention back to Brad. I firmed my jaw, holding onto my control by a thread. "Get him up."

Hudson and Carmine pulled Brad to his feet. The man glared at them before jerking his arms out of their grasp. "Get your fucking hands off me."

"Isn"t that what Remy said to you?" Yeri asked. "You smacked him for it. Maybe we should do the same to you."

"No," Remy called out. "He hit me after threatening to fuck me and breed me. He seems to think I belong to him."

I ignored the soft gasp from the blonde.

From the back of my throat, I emitted a low, primal growl. This was the man that had hurt what was mine. He had insulted Remy, demeaned him, and then hit him.

"What makes you think you have the right to do anything to Remy?" I snapped. "He has made it more than obvious to everyone that he wants nothing to do with you."

If a glare could kill a man, I"d be six feet under. Brad seemed to be pissed at everyone, but even more so at me, which made sense considering that I was questioning his words and actions.

"That little shit doesn"t have the right to deny me anything," Brad snarled. "He"s screaming like a little bitch because he doesn"t want everyone to know how much he wants it."

I almost smiled when I heard a gagging noise behind me. I wasn"t sure if it came from Remy, Yeri, or Akio, but whoever did it wasn"t wrong. What Brad had just said was revolting.

I crossed my arms and gave Brad a hard stare. "I"m only going to give you one warning. Stay away from Remy. He wants nothing to do with you."

"Who are you to tell me what to do?" Brad sneered as he looked me up and down. "You"re not my father or my boss. I don"t have to listen to you."

I clenched my hands, the aching need to wrap them around Brad"s throat riding me hard. "You are absolutely correct. I am not your father or your boss. I am, however, the owner of this campground. If you don"t like my rules, then leave."

I winced as soon as those words were out of my mouth. We were trying to get Brad to stick around for a little longer, not make him leave. I could already tell from his scent that he had been affected by the meteor just as we had. We needed to deal with that before he left, if he left.

I really hoped he left. I might actually kill him if he didn"t.

"You don"t own this campground," Brad said. "Yeri"s family does, and he doesn"t have the guts to tell me to leave."

"Leave," Yeri called out. "Please, for the love of god, leave."

"You shut up!" Brad shouted.

Yeri snorted out a laugh. "Make me."

He was not helping, even if it was a bit funny.

"You—"

The moment Brad took a step toward my baby brother, I moved in front of him. "You might want to rethink that. I"d be mighty upset if you hurt my baby brother, and if I get upset, well, I just might have to take it out on you."

Yeah, yeah, I know. I shouldn"t be making threats, but this guy deserved them. He was an ass with an unfiltered mouth and delusions of grandeur.

"You can"t threaten me!"

Was he serious?

I stood to my full height and looked down my nose at him. "I believe I just did."

Those extra few inches I had grown seemed to be working in my favor. Brad paled and then took a hasty step back.

"Remy is mine." My voice was low and deep as I spoke. I wanted to be sure that was clear. "Stay away from him or I will bury you."

Brad"s nostrils flared as his face turned red, his eyes narrowing as they went to Remy. "You fucking whore!"

That did it.

I grabbed Brad by the throat with one hand, lifted him up, and then slammed him into the ground. I snarled as I leaned closer, letting him see the beast seething behind my eyes.

"You threatened Remy saying you were stronger and more powerful. Well, I have news for you. I am stronger than you. I will always be stronger and more powerful than you. If you forget that, I would be more than happy to remind you."

I lifted him up and slammed him into the ground again, just so he knew I wasn"t lying, and then released him and stood. "I"m in charge here. If you don"t like it, tough shit."

Brad"s face had been red with rage moments ago. Now, it was as pale as a white sheet. As soon as I released him, his hands went to his throat and he began coughing. His eyes were wild with fear. I was pretty sure he was moments away from pissing his pants.

"Stay away from Remy."

Brad was going to be a reoccurring problem. I could see it now. I needed to figure out what we were going to do with him. If I was still in the service, I"d simply send him to the stockade. Since I wasn"t, that was kind of out.

My first instinct was to kick him out of the campground and send him away, but that wouldn"t work. My thoughts kept coming back to that. I couldn"t just kick Brad out.

"Is this everyone?" I asked as I glanced around at the others.

"This is all of us," Remy stated.

"Let"s get this food on the barbecue and then we can talk."

Remy grabbed the platter of food I had given him earlier and carried it over to the barbecue. I grabbed some firewood and placed it under the grate before lighting it. I placed the grate over the flames and then took the platter from Remy and started placing the potatoes and corn on the grill.

"Hudson, can you go grab the plate of steaks on the counter in my cabin?"

"Sure thing."

I busied myself with making sure the fire was going well and the food was cooking, mainly to give myself time to figure out what I was going to say. It was clear that not all of us had gone through a transformation. I wasn"t sure everything should be discussed in front of everyone or just those that had been affected.

"Remy," I murmured for his ears alone. "How"s your sense of smell?"

"Better," Remy replied. "Why?"

"Can you go around and figure out who was affected and who wasn"t?"

"Sure." Remy"s bright smile relieved some of my worry. "Give me a few."

I watched as he walked toward the cabin. Hudson stepped out with the steaks, they spoke for a moment, and then Remy walked inside while Hudson headed for me with the steaks.

I took the plate from him when he reached me and placed the steaks on the grill. I doubted they would be there long. Rare meat sounded a whole lot better than charred.

When Remy came back, I leaned back against the counter and watched him flit from person to person. He was smiling and chatting and handing out cans of soda. I doubted anyone but I knew he was taking a discrete sniff of every person he passed.

When he finally came to me, I wrapped an arm around his waist and drew him to my side. "Well?"

"I know this is going to sound crazy, but I feel like only the males were affected. I didn"t smell anything different with Margot, Olivia, or Cindy. On the other hand everyone else smelled different except for Levi. I think he is still strictly human."

Strictly human.

Those two words had taken on a whole new meaning in the last couple of days. I never thought I would ever be considered not "strictly human".

I found it peculiar that only the men were affected. Maybe it was a genetic anomaly connected to the XY chromosomes. Males were the only ones born with the Y chromosomes, which determined male specific traits.

Maybe it was as simple as how much testosterone one had. I wasn"t a doctor, so I couldn"t say for sure, but I knew testosterone was associated with increased aggression, sex drive, dominance,and a wide range of behavioral characteristics.

It would explain a lot.

"We need to get the girls and Levi to go swimming or something. I only want those affected to be here for our talk."

"I can get Cindy to help out with that," Remy said. "You just have to figure out how to keep Brad here. I ain"t going near that asshole."

Gee, thanks.

"We"ll set something up after everyone"s eaten," I said. "I think they might be more agreeable with full stomachs." More compliant anyway. Well, most of them. I was pretty sure Brad was going to give me problems until I buried him.

He was now sitting next to Margot and his two friends. Margot was fawning over him, but he didn"t seem to be paying the buxom blonde an ounce of attention. His eyes were on Remy.

I smirked as I pulled Remy around in front of me, plastering him to the front of my body. "A little further upstream there"s a hot spring. What say you and I go up there later tonight and have a long soak?"

Soaking in the hot spring wasn"t the only thing I wanted to do.

Remy"s eyebrows lifted. "A hot spring?"

"Yeah, ever been in one of those?"

"I"ve been in a hot tub. Is that the same thing?"

I grinned at how naive he was when it came to the great outdoors. Boy, was he in for an awakening. "Close."

"Do you think..." Remy pressed his lips together before glancing down.

"Do I think what?" I asked.

"Maybe we could go for a..."

"What, baby?"

Remy sucked in a breath as he glanced up. I winced when I realized I had called him baby. I probably shouldn"t have done that. "Sorry."

"No, no, it"s okay." A soft flushed reddened his cheeks. "I like it when you call me baby."

I tried not to let my relief show, but the tension in my shoulders released anyway. "I like calling you baby, too."

Remy"s sweet smile was worth any discomfort that admission might have given me. "So, what is it you want, baby?"

"I was wondering if maybe we could go for a run later in..." Remy swallowed tightly. "In our fur."

I lifted one eyebrow at his question, but the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to do what he said. "That actually sounds like a really good idea."

"Yeah?"

I nodded.

I was pretty sure getting into our fur would be good for all of us.

I could be wrong.