by Mina Carter
Sure, it wasn’t as swanky and upmarket as the wine bars her ex had taken her to in the city. The décor was less interior design and more whatever paint was on special at the time and would cover the tobacco stains. There were no fancy chandeliers or specially commissioned artwork on the walls. The carpet underfoot wasn’t designer anything, but a muted, faded pattern that was slightly sticky underfoot. Just the same as it always had been.
And she wouldn’t change it for the world.
Here, she didn’t have to dress up and pretend to be something she wasn’t. Didn’t have to be the perfect career girlfriend of the boardroom hotshot her fiancé had fancied himself to be. Their relationship had never been about them, it had all been about him. Team Aiden, he’d called them, controlling everything about her to better suit the image he wanted to project.
Some of his requests had seemed pretty harmless, even beneficial. Like the membership to the exclusive gym he’d insisted on paying for her. She’d needed to lose a few pounds after Christmas, so the chance to work out in an excellent gym without having to wait for the machines was heaven. Then had come the personal trainer, to ensure she got the “best out of her workouts.” From there it had been an easy slide into agreeing to lighten her hair, getting long blonde extensions, and having every detail of her wardrobe approved by the “team leader.”
But the final straw had come when he’d booked her in for a combined boob job and liposuction procedure for an early birthday present. She’d thought it was a joke at first but apparently her looking like a porn star was helpful for his promotional prospects. He’d genuinely been confused as to why she wasn’t happy. Then he was annoyed and called her an ungrateful bitch for the time and effort he’d expended to bring her “up to scratch.” It was then she’d realized he’d never seen them as equal; he’d always seen her as the girl from the hick town and beneath him.
She’d handed her ring back with a suggestion as to what he could do with it and walked out. All the way back home to Beauty. An afternoon with her besties and her hair was back to it’s natural chestnut brown and she sported a brand-new tattoo on her hip, courtesy of Creed.
Creed…holy fuck, the guy had aged well. She’d had a thing for him for years. Tall, dark and handsome, with the most amazing blue eyes, she’d watched him flirt with women in this very bar and secretly wanted more than anything to be one of them. But he’d never looked at her that way, not once.
She sighed and took another healthy swallow of her beer. Her ex-fiancé was a prick and the guy she wanted saw her as nothing more than a little sister. Sucked to be her.
The click of pool balls and a crow of triumph from Kacie drew Kait’s attention back to the game. She’d lost her game to Lilly so the other two women played now, but they were being watched from the other side of the bar by a group of local men. Young, they were barely old enough to drink, but that didn’t stop them eyeing the women with appreciation. Dressed for a night out on the town, all three girls sported jeans and strappy tops with heels. Dressed-down glamour perfect for Beauty.
“Hey, babe,” one of them called out. “Want me to show you how to hold your stick?”
“Sweetheart,” Lilly called over her shoulder as she set the shot up, “you wouldn’t know what to do with me. I’d eat you for breakfast.”
“Awww, don’t be like that, darling. How ‘bout we play next and when you lose I get a kiss?”
She moved quickly, a flick of her wrist making the cue in her hand strike the white with a solid click. It ricocheted into the one she’d aimed at, transferring the momentum, and the red ball cannoned into the pocket on the other side of the table right in front of the would-be Romeo. He whistled and looked impressed.
“We were state champions three times in a row,” Kacie said bluntly. “No way you’d be walking away from a match with her with anything other than your pride in a sling.”
The group moved away, their smiles good natured, and Kacie studied the table to decide on her shot.
“Whatcha do that for?” Lilly demanded, watching their admirers depart. “The one in the blue shirt was quite cute.”
“Pffft.” Kacie potted three balls in a row. “If you’re into cradle-snatching, maybe.”
“They were legal. And some men do like their women a little more…experienced. It’s not their fault they’re not Dean Sterling, now is it?”
Kait’s ears pricked up. “Dean Sterling? Hotshot jock Dean Sterling…couple of years above us in school? I thought he’d joined up.”
Lilly nodded. “That’s the one and he did. Came back a couple of years ago when his dad died to take over the family business. Kacie’s got a thing for him. Like a biiig thing.”
“Screw you, Braun.”
“I’m flattered.” Lilly laughed. “But I’m sure you’d much rather screw Dean.”
Kacie flipped her the bird and concentrated on clearing the table. Knowing that the game was lost, Lilly grabbed her drink from the counter and drained it. Bright green eyes studied Kait.
“And don’t think I missed you mooning over Creed in the tattoo shop, missy.” She put her empty down and handed her cue over to Kacie to rack with the others behind the table. Obviously they were done playing pool tonight. “When you going to get your head out your ass and make a move on the guy?”
Heat rose to her cheeks before Kait could stop it. Great, she was barely in town for a day before her friends were on her case about her love life.
“I just broke off my engagement!” she argued. “I’m not looking for a relationship.”
“So just screw him.” Kacie rejoined them.
“He’s supposed to be shit-hot in the sack. Think, all those lovely muscles to get your hands on… And that ass!” She made a vaguely obscene squeezing motion with her hand about ass height in midair, and Kait couldn’t help it. She burst into laughter.
“Sounds like someone else has been checking him out as well. Perhaps you should make a move on him?”
It was only when both women grinned that she realized she’d been had. And admitted that, indeed, she had been checking Creed out. And his ass.
“Bitches.”
“Gotcha,” Lilly grinned. “Right, ladies, drink up and let’s get clubbing. I have been dying for a proper night’s dancing for months!”
It didn’t take them long to finish up and leave the Beast Bar. There was just one nightclub in the area, on the outskirts of town. Most of the week it was a strip joint, but once a month, they cleared the dancers out and opened the place up as a nightclub. Complete with stages and dance poles. Which, if a gal could work a pole like Kacie and Lilly, was awesome. Kait though, had never mastered the art and was very much a pole clinger rather than a dancer. In the city…well, she could just imagine the look on Aiden’s face if she’d even tried it so tonight, dammit, she would learn to dance if it killed her.
Joking and giggling, the three women made their way down the town’s main street, heading for the shortcut between the library and the small grocer’s. An alley led to a dirt track that would take them out past the industrial estate to the club. Since it was a nice night, they’d decided to walk.
Well, in Kacie’s case, Kait corrected herself, stagger on the impossibly high heels she wore. She watched her friend with amusement as the other woman navigated a pothole in the path with the same level of wariness normally reserved for bears or mean-ass rattlers. Shaking her head, she carried on walking, her heels rapping on the asphalt as they turned into the small alleyway that led to their destination.
Lilly stiffened beside her, a hand on Kait’s arm to stop her while calling out to Kacie a few steps ahead. “Wait, something’s not right.”
Apprehension swept through Kait as she looked around. The dark alley seemed somehow darker as three forms materialized out of the shadows ahead of them. Men, big men, and from the look of them, not locals.
“Come on,” she muttered softly. “Let’s grab a cab.”
Turning as she spoke, she pulled up quickly as two m
ore men stepped around the corner into the alley, blocking them in. Shit. No going back that way. The looks on their faces were hard, and the set of their bodies reeked of danger and violence. Despite herself, Kait stepped closer to her friends. This was not going to end well.
“Hey there, pretty ladies.” One of the guys in front of them swaggered forward into the dim glow cast by one of the overhead lights. There were only a few on the path, the rest shrouded in shadows. Kait thought fast. If they could slip past, perhaps they could hide in the darkness.
But Lilly’s hand tightened on her arm.
“Don’t run. It’ll make things worse,” she whispered, but her gaze was on the leader in front of them.
“You must be new around here.” Lilly’s voice didn’t betray any fear, and Kait gave her a mental high five. She’d never have been able to sound so self-assured, not while she was basically crapping herself at how they were going to get out of this. “So I suggest you run along before you get yourself into any trouble.”
Trouble? Trouble? Kait shot the other woman a side look. What the hell did she think she was doing threatening these guys with trouble? At the very least they should be screaming and running away.
“Lilly,” she hissed. “Can you not piss them off and perhaps we might get out of this in one piece?”
She reached for her purse, where she usually carried a personal alarm and a can of something. Even hairspray in the eye was better than nothing and might give them a fighting chance. But the space by her hip was empty, her usual purse at home and replaced by an evening clutch.
“Yeah, Lilly,” the asshole who seemed to be in charge drawled. “Perhaps you should listen to your little friend and not piss us off. We’re dangerous when we’re pissed off and unclaimed women answering back tend to piss us off.”
Just like that Kait’s temper went from simmer to boiling over, but Kacie beat her to it. “Oi, jerkwad. Lay off the unclaimed women part. What do you think this is…the Middle fucking Ages?”
Kait felt more than heard Lilly’s intake of breath, and in the next heartbeat, all hell broke loose. The three men in front of them surged forward, snarling like animals with their arms spread and what looked like knives in their hands. Knives. No, they weren’t knives. Knives glinted in the light. They were straight and clean…not twisted inward, and dull colored like bone. And knives had handles, they didn’t erupt from the end of fingers…like claws.
She screamed. “They’ve got claws!”
How the fuck did they have claws? Turning, she tried to run, to escape the darkness of the alley and the trap that had been set for them…only to realize that the other two weren’t following.
“Come on!” she yelled, only to watch as Lilly raced at the nearest guy, who was about to grab Kacie, and body slammed him with a shoulder in the gut. He went down with a snarl, but cruel hands closed over Kait’s upper arms. She screamed again as she was hauled up against a hard body. She didn’t let up on the screams as she fought with all her might.
Jerking her head back, she felt the back of her skull impact with her captor’s nose. It gave with a satisfying crunch but she didn’t stop there. Bringing her knee up, she drove her stiletto heel down into his foot, trying all the time not to think about the fact that they had freaking claws. There was a grunt of pain, and his grip eased enough for her to tear herself loose and run forward.
Only to watch with horrified eyes as one of the others swung around, claws raking through the air in a terrible arch to slice across Kacie’s stomach.
* * *
Time slowed as Kacie staggered back, her hands over her abdomen. She looked down in the same direction as everyone else as red seeped out from under her hands to stain the pretty green top dark.
Their assailants backed away, horror on their faces.
“Fucking hell, Jack!” one muttered, looking at the leader, whose claws were stained red. “The boss said we were only supposed to grab them, not fucking hurt them!”
“Shit. There’s more on the way,” the one by the entrance to the alley shouted. “We need to get out of here. Get out of here now!”
In a stampede of booted footsteps and cursing, the alley cleared of men, leaving the three women looking at each other in horror.
Then Kacie paled and staggered. Instantly, the two others were there, supporting her as they lowered her to the ground.
“Shitshitshit,” Lilly muttered, yanking off her own top to wad it against Kacie’s stomach. “This is bad, so bad. Kait, grab my cell and call Dean Sterling. He’s in the quick dial contacts.”
“Dean? Why are we calling Dean? We need to call her an ambulance,” Kait’s voice was shrill as she grabbed Lilly’s purse and reached for the cell within. “Seriously, she needs—”
“JUST CALL DEAN!” Lilly’s bellow was unexpected, loud and way too deep to have come from her throat. Her eyes flashed dark for a second, obliterating the green, and Kait gasped. The speed, the strength…
“Seriously…shhh, Kacie, it’s going to be okay, I promise,” Lilly reassured the injured girl and then looked at Kait. “A hospital can’t do anything for her now. Call Dean.”
“Okay.” Hands shaking, Kait hit dial and waited for an answer. In the back of her mind a voice screamed hysterically but she ignored it, calmly sitting in the dirt with one of her best friends bleeding out through a gut wound and the other telling her some ex-high school jock would make it all better.
But it was all okay because this was a dream. A nightmare for sure, but since men didn’t really have claws, it had to be a dream.
It had to be…didn’t it?
If it was, it was the most surreal dream Kait had ever had.
Dean Sterling picked up the call with a curt, “What the hell, Braun? I told you guys I was busy tonight.”
Oh shit, he sounded pissed. On a normal day, that wouldn’t bother Kait in the slightest, but this wasn’t a normal day by any stretch of the imagination. Any day that involved men with claws was so far from a normal day it was laughable.
“Uhm, I’m sorry. Lilly told me to call…that you could help.”
Heavy footsteps sounded behind her as she spoke. Twisting in panic, she breathed a sigh of relief to see their admirers from in the bar earlier. Only right now, they didn’t look so young and harmless. They looked grim and dangerous as they surrounded the small group of women protectively.
“What happened?” the one who’d tried to chat them up in the bar demanded, his attention all on Lilly. The charm was gone now, and the look in his eyes made Kait shiver.
“We got jumped.” Lilly’s response was no nonsense and rang with an authority Kait had never heard from her before. “Secure the alley and one of you go get a truck. We’re going to need to move her to the lodge.”
“Hello?” Dean’s voice brought Kait back to the conversation. “Hello? Are you still there?”
“Yeah, I’m here.” She’d obviously slipped into some surreal nightmare, but she was still here.
“Good. Who is this… Kait, is that you? Kait Turner?”
“Yeah, it is.”
You had to hand it to small towns. Dean hadn’t needed more than a few seconds to work out who she was based purely on the fact she was in Lilly’s company. No doubt the gossip network had swung into action as soon as she’d driven into town earlier.
“Kaitlyn. I need you to tell me what happened.”
She took a deep breath, trying to calm her racing heart and so she didn’t sound hysterical. Because what she had to say was crazy. Crazy and hysterical? They’d be carting her off to the nuthouse in Elim Springs.
“There were men,” she started, looking up with a smile of thanks as one of the new arrivals put a jacket around her shoulders. Why hadn’t she realized she was shaking so much? It couldn’t be the cold. It was too mild for that.
“Men in the alley waiting for us. They had…they had claws,” she said quickly and made the mistake of looking over at Kacie. She lay on her back, her eyes closed and her face pale.
Everything about her was pale apart from the vivid scarlet across her abdomen. “Oh god, there’s so much blood.”
Before she could say anything else, the cell was plucked out of her hand by one of the men. “Prime? It’s Bennett. We got a couple of intruders. Five by the smell of it. They caught Braun and her friends in the alley by the library. One got tagged and it’s bad.”
“Which one?”
Kait clearly heard the question as she wrapped the jacket more securely around herself. She felt like an owl as she watched those around her. Three of them, including Lilly, crowded around Kacie, trying to stop the bleeding.
The guy with the cell looked down, a crease between his brows. “Yeah, it’s Kacie Leroy. How did you kn—”
The whole group heard the roar of pain and fury from the other end of the line. The guy holding the cell held it away from his ear, a wince on his face. He must have caught the full force of the sound before he’d yanked it away.
“Yes, Prime,” he said when the noise died down and he replaced the phone against his ear. “We’re on our way. Scott went to get a truck…” He paused and looked up, as though listening for something. “He’s just about here now.”
Sure enough, within seconds a truck pulled up to the entrance to the alley. Kait was shunted to the side as two of the men loaded Kacie onto what looked like a body-board and carried her toward the vehicle.
Lilly straightened up and regarded at her with an odd look in her eye. “Kait, I’m sorry, but you’re going to need to come with us.”
“Duh, way to go, Captain Obvious.” How she was still walking and talking, Kait didn’t know, but at least her powers of sarcasm hadn’t deserted her. “Where she goes, I go. Why aren’t we taking her to a hospital again? She’s bleeding… From. Her. Stomach. That shit’s serious. Like way serious.”
All of a sudden it hit home and the blood drained from Kait’s body right until she felt queasy. “Shit, she could die, couldn’t she? Screw this, I’m calling an ambulance…the sheriff. Anyone.”