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"Make that three,” Shane said, his expression turning deadly serious, fast.
“Still,” Francesca said. “We’re going to need an advantage, something he isn’t expecting.”
Jace leaned back on the couch. “And what exactly would that be?”
“You’ll need to shift, Jace.”
He blinked several times, unsure if he’d fully processed what she said.
“You’re the only one I know who even comes close to matching his strength,” Francesca continued. “And you doing so would catch him off guard. Be something he isn’t expecting.”
“But Jacecan’tshift, can he? He’s only half wolf,” David said.
Jace cringed. Hearing the words said out loud in a room with two other hunters stung like a bitch. Anything was better than being one of the monsters. Hell, the black plague would have been preferable.
Francesca sat forward. “It’s not that he can’t shift, he justhasn’tshifted.”
Jace gritted his teeth and swallowed his rage at the whole discussion. “What are you talking about?”
“With some training, you could learn how to shift.”
Jace shoved himself off the couch and hobbled from the room, courtesy of his damaged leg. “No, I won’t do it,” he called back over his shoulder. Anger ripped at his insides.
David caught him by the arm. “J, at least listen to what she has to say.”
“Don’t you start this with me. You know—”
“J, we’re talking about people’s lives here! Would you stop thinking about yourself for one damn minute and listen to the woman?” David growled.
Jace stepped back into the living room. In all the years he’d known David, the man had never so much as raised his voice to anything other than some sick demon wearing a human’s body like a swanky new suit coat. Let alone snarled at him.
“Thank you.” David turned to Francesca. “Continue.”
Francesca nodded. “As I was saying, all you would need is some training.”
“And you could train him?” David asked.
She let out a long sigh. “Yes, but we’d need somewhere safe to hide out while he learned, a place to lie low. My pack can provide that. Shifting for the first time isn’t easy, and the presence of other wolves lessens the difficulty. Supernatural strength in numbers. There are a lot of things he’d need to learn, but the best place to do that is among other shifters, other wolves like you,” she chanced a look toward Jace. “Best case scenario, you learn with the alpha of the pack.”
“A packmaster?” David supplied.
Francesca nodded at that.
Jace scoffed. “There is no way in hell your asshole packmaster would allow a hunter into his pack.”
She shoved the blanket away. “It’s not the packmaster’s approval you’d need to worry about—it’s the pack’s. Wolves are territorial, clannish. Quick to make enemies of those who aren’t their own. It’s a survival strategy for our species. Nothing personal. But if you’re willing, I can guarantee they’ll accept you, at least temporarily.”
“How do you know you could get me past the packmaster? All he sent to look for that son of a bitch was you. No offense, Princess, but you’re only one person. If he cared so much about catching this killer, why didn’t he send more people?”
Her jaw set into a hard line. “Look, even though more people weren’t sent, it doesn’t mean anything. Trust me.”
“And what about the Execution Underground?” Jace asked. “You don’t want that kind of blowback for your pack.”
“We’ll deal with that,” Damon said, suddenly emerging from the darkness of the apartment’s shadows. “Formulate a plan to clear your name.”
“Shit,” Jace swore. He hadn’t even realized the vampire hunter had been standing there.
“God, I hate it when he does that,” David grumbled.
