Mountain Wolf

by Amber Ella Monroe

  The gunman nudged the barrel of the gun in the center of her back, and her body became rigid.

  "Walk backward now," he ordered. His breath was putrid. Foul. It smelled as though he'd douched himself in liquor.

  "Please…" Her voice quaked as she spoke. "Don't shoot me. I have a parent waiting at home…I take care of him."

  "Shut up!" His answer was solid and uncaring. "Say another word or attempt to escape and I'll kill you."

  Trina bit her bottom lip, holding her next protest. It was either be a sassy-mouthed woman and potentially lead this fool to shoot her or keep her cool and avoid being his next victim.

  The gunman shuffled backward toward what appeared to be the only exit in sight. In the process, about a dozen people got stuck inside at the mercy of this crazed individual. Those who did remain shuffled back behind the bar as the gunman waved his gun to taunt them.

  "Leo…let me speak to Leo," the gunman ordered.

  Leo was the guy she'd spoken to about the position.

  A guy rose from behind the bar slowly. "Leo's gone. He ran an errand. What the hell do you want with him?"

  The shooter lifted the gun and fired the weapon. The guy ducked back, crashing into a display of top shelf liquor. There were more screams as the bottles shattered and and the liquor poured out on people's heads.

  "Don't tell me he's gone! Get him now. I want my money."

  "Hold on a minute." This voice came from darkened corner of the room. A man emerged from the shadows behind a curtain, holding up his palms.

  Trina instantly recognized the stranger with the smoky gray eyes. A tiny spring of hope rushed through her, but her body was still cold with panic.

  The gunman swung them around to face the man. Although Trina was relieved that the gun was no longer on her back, she felt concern for the man who now stood in the line of a bullet.

  "Get me Leo and tell him to bring my money."

  "Alright." The stranger nodded. "I'm a friend of Leo's. What's the problem?"

  The gunman's finger shook on the trigger. "Fifty thousand he promised me for work I did here. I ain't seen a damn dime of it."

  The stranger edged closer. "Okay. Alright. Fifty thousand."

  "Stay back, wolf!" The gunman's gripped tightened on her forearm. "You are all a bunch of lying dogs. Stay back!"

  The stranger's eyes darkened and thinned into slits. "Let the woman go. She has nothing to do with this."

  "Show me my money and I'll let her go."

  "We can fix this, but only if you release her and put down your weapon. The woman for the money."

  "Are you fucking kidding me?" the gunman raged. "I want my money for the work I did." He thrust the gun into her spine. "Make another move toward me, animal, and I shoot."

  The gunman's breath was hot and horrid on her ear as he breathed heavily. The assaulting fumes made her eyes water.

  "This woman did nothing to you," the stranger continued. "Do you think Leo would care if you shot a bystander with no connections to him whatsoever?"

  Trina felt the gunman's hands go slack on her arm.

  "What are you saying, wolf?"

  "Let's make a trade-off. You take Leo's nephew—myself—as hostage, then you get Leo's attention. Isn't that what you want? Leo's attention?"

  "Prove it? Get him in here! Get him on the phone!"

  "Alright…" The stranger slowly reached into his pocket and pulled out a cell phone. He punched several buttons and held the phone to his ear. "Leo…we've got a situation here…a hostage situation." There was a long pause. "Club is being held up and Mr. Gunman here is asking for his money." He lifted his eyes and carefully held the phone out toward the gunman.

  "Who are you?" Apparently, the phone was switched to speaker mode.

  "You know who I am. We had a deal. I brought you all this new furniture for this run-down club and my money never came."

  "I don't owe debts. I owe no one."

  The gunman tightened his grip and she flinched and jerked her arm to no avail.

  "I got your club held up. I will burn this bitch down if you don't deliver my cash now."

  "How much are you talking?" Leo asked.

  "Sixty grand."

  A moment ago, the gunman had said fifty thousand, now he'd just raised the amount. It was further evidence that the dude was either lying or a crazy drunken crook.

  "Bullshit!"

  The gunman aimed the gun at the ceiling and shot at one of the disco balls. It shattered to pieces, causing another outbreak of screams from behind the bar. The dark stranger ducked out of the way just in time to dodge a piece of thick glass hitting him over the head.

  "What the hell was that?" Leo's voice sounded scratchy on the other end as the stranger regained his composure.

  "He's fucking your club up. Do you owe this idiot any money?" the stranger barked into the phone.

  "Hell no! Fuck, I don't know! That fucking no-name creep is lying."

  "No name?" The gunman drove her forward to get closer to the phone. "Call me Renovation Man. You better have my money here in fifteen minutes or I will burn this whole place down. And when you collect the insurance money, you will pay me for my work."

  "I've told you before and I'll tell you again," Leo stated, gruffly over the phone. "I owe nothing. We settled this a month ago."

  "Look, man…"

  Spittle flew from the gunman's mouth and some of it landed on the side of Trina's face. She cringed and gritted her teeth. Bile rose in her throat as the remnants of lunch began to creep upward.

  The gunman raised the barrel of the gun, extending it outward until it was pointed at the dark stranger. "I will shoot your nephew if you don't comply."

  "Listen, you idiot. I will track you down. I will hunt—"

  Like a flash of lightning before her eyes, a thick rope whipped out in front of her face. The gun slipped from the gunman's hand as the rope tightened instantly around his wrist like a lasso. It misfired and a bullet ricocheted off the wall and splintered through a table.

  The gunman fell backward but not before he grabbed her by the arm, pulling her down with him. She landed in a thud against his burly chest. Before she could catch her breath, he wrapped his arm around her throat and squeezed tightly. She elbowed him in the gut, but he grunted and only pushed tighter against her larynx. Her blood rushed hot to her face as all oxygen escaped her.

  The dark stranger tumbled toward her. Where his lips had been stretched taut only moments early, his canines were extended. His face and entire body distorted and shifted as he advanced toward them.

  Clothes and skin disappeared in a haze. Gray eyes turned into coal. She could no longer see the stranger, only the white underbelly of a wolf as it leapt into the air.

  The gunman screamed, but Trina could not…

  The sound of teeth ripping into the meaty flesh of the arm that held her immobilized was the last thing she heard before she passed out.

  Chapter 6

  When Trina woke up to the smell of antiseptic, bleach, and metal, and to an annoying chill racing up and down her arm, she lifted her heavy eyelids and took in her surroundings.

  She groaned when she realized that she was on a hospital bed. When she looked to the right of her at the large window, the curtains had been pulled open but all she saw was swirls of clouds against a dusky backdrop.

  She sat up in bed and recalled what had happened to her. Relieved to find that she wasn't hooked up to any offending IVs or needles, she pushed the blankets off of her and began to inspect her body for any traces of wounds. The only part of her body that burned with the remnants of the attack was the skin at her throat.

  She was still wearing her watch and she gawked when she realized that it was three in the morning.

  "Oh, my God."

  The moment she swung her legs over the bed was the moment a nurse pushed through the doors holding a clipboard and a bag of medication.

  "Oh, hello. Glad to see that you're finally awake. How are you feeling?"
>
  "I'm…Where am I?"

  "Aspen Valley Medical Center."

  Trina scanned the nurse's name badge. "Cecilia, I'm not sure why I'm here, but I really can't afford this."

  "Don't worry. It's all been taken care of. And you're doing just fine. You just seem to be under a lot of stress. We saw no harm in running some tests just to make sure everything was okay."

  "How did I get here?"

  "By ambulance. Don't you remember?"

  Trina shook her head. "No, I don't. When can I be released? The last thing I need is another large medical bill right now."

  "Like I said, Ms. Daniels, you're all clear. Your last test results should be ready in another hour, so you should be good to go by six a.m. I'll just need you to call someone to drive you home."

  Trina sighed. "You don't understand. My dad…he's…home alone."

  Nurse Cecilia frowned and narrowed her gaze at her, giving Trina the impression that maybe the nurse thought she was crazy. That wasn't good. She didn't want to give them any cause to perform anymore tests.

  "Okay, yes…I can call a neighbor to come pick me up."

  Nurse Cecilia smiled and wrote something on a clipboard. "Very well then. Once you have it confirmed, please give me their names so I can relay this information to the front desk."

  "I will." Trina racked her brains trying to figure out who she could call that wouldn't inquire about why she was at LIVE nightclub anyway.

  "Also the cops might be in touch to ask you questions about the gunman later today. He's already in custody and has been charged…Thank God. They were in here earlier trying to ask questions, but I told them they had to go. I take care of my patients first and they can ask questions when you're all better."

  "Thank you," Trina said.

  "No problem, that's my job." She smiled. "Oh, I almost forgot, your boyfriend left this gift card here for when you woke up. It's good for anything you'd like from the restaurant on the first floor." She lowered her voice and said, "It's much better than our cafeteria, but you didn't hear that from me." She placed the gift card on the end table. "Either way, I need to see you eat something. Your iron levels are a bit low. Please include meat or fish. They have vegetarian options too if you'd prefer it."

  "I'm sorry. You said my boyfriend?"

  "Yeah…he had to go. We had a handful of folks come over from the nightclub…out-of-towners and such, but Dr. Nally stuck to his guns. He doesn't allow anyone in here who isn't a relative or next of kin of any of his patients or without prior written consent." Nurse Cecelia handed Trina a thermometer to place under her tongue. "Either way, your boyfriend wasn't listed on any of the forms in the medical database, and we checked both here and Cross City. You might want to get those updated if you need to add others. Plus, we figured he wasn't your next of kin either…he's a shifter. He seemed very out of place and paranoid. I could tell he was worried about you, but he didn't like this hospital for some reason. They have their own doctors and nurses, you know."

  Something clicked in Trina's mind, freezing her brain from all else except a clear picture of the sexy, dark stranger who'd saved her from the drunken creep who'd held her hostage.

  Nurse Cecelia took the thermometer and stuffed it back into the machine and then wrapped a blood pressure cuff around Trina's right upper arm. "But if you ask me, shifter or not, he was a complete gentleman about the situation the whole time he was here. Any man that leaves money to make sure his girl can eat when she wakes up and reroutes all of her medical charges to his credit card is a good man indeed."

  "Did you get his name?"

  Nurse Cecelia laughed dismissively. "You don't know your boyfriend's name? Honey, are you sure you're okay? Might need to check that medication dose again." She lifted up a sheet of paper on the clipboard and bit a her bottom lip as she stared at it.

  "I mean, sure I know his name. I just…" Trina swallowed. "I don't understand why he would…"

  A buzz sounded from the pager on Nurse Cecelia's hip. She answered the page, which turned out to be another nurse informing her that she was needed in another room.

  "Alright. I'll be back in a few minutes." She thrust a menu at Trina. "Here's that menu from the restaurant. I want you to have your order ready when I get back. While you're waiting on your food, please think about who you can call to check you out of here."

  With that, Nurse Cecelia was gone, leaving her in more shock than she'd been when she'd woken up.

  The stranger had come with her to the hospital and paid her bills…?

  Trina didn't even know his name. She didn't know him at all. How was she going to thank him?

  Chapter 7

  Four days later…

  Trina was surprised and rendered speechless when a woman answered the phone, but she looked back down at the slip of paper again to confirm.

  "Bachelor Looking for Temporary Wife," it said. "Call to inquire…" She scanned the number displayed on her phone again. It was a little early in the morning. Maybe she should have called after nine a.m.

  "Hello," the woman said once again on the other end. "Anyone there?"

  "Yes." Trina cleared her throat. "I'm responding to an ad I saw."

  "Can you be more specific?"

  "There's a guy looking for a temporary wife. I need more information."

  "That's about all the information I can lend. If you're not serious, I suggest you hang up now," the woman spoke in a chastising manner.

  Or at least Trina found it off-putting.

  "When I called, I expected to get the man who placed the ad. I'd like to speak with him directly to get more information."

  "I'm his corporate secretary and I'm the one doing the screening," the woman replied, curtly.

  "Screening?"

  "Yes…if you are serious, I just have a few questions for you."

  "I'm serious."

  "Good. Like I said, I'll just need to ask you a few questions. I'll be taking some notes that I'll share with him. If he picks you for a second interview, I'll call you back and we'll go from there."

  "Okay."

  "Are you a shifter?"

  Trina wondered why that would matter. The ad didn't say anything about her needing to have shifter blood. "No."

  "Bachelor is a shifter. Do you have any problems with that?"

  Trina swallowed. The ad hadn't said anything about the man being a shifter either. She had friends and did business dealings with shifters and she'd even had a few shifters on her team when she worked as the lead marketing executive at the New York firm. But…she'd never dated one. Her only problem was whether she could relate. For six weeks…

  Yet, anything was better than walking around uncomfortably in a nightclub. After what happened to her, she doubted that she'd ever visit another nightclub again. Although, she had thought of returning to search for the anonymous stranger who had saved her life and saved her ass from being one step closer to dead broke with the medical bills. The investigator who'd questioned her about the shooting had warned her to stay away from LIVE nightclub and she had assured him that she would.

  “He’s a shifter. Any problems with that?" the woman repeated.

  "I don't have any problems with that at all," she replied.

  "Do you have children?"

  "No."

  "Pets?"

  "No."

  "How old are you?"

  Everyone she'd never met personally took her seriously until they found out what her real age was. For some crazy reason, she'd met a few hiring managers back in New York who measured abilities, smarts, and business-savvy expertise based on age. She supposed they were right half of the time, but her accomplishments to date had always proved them wrong. She thought maybe she should fib about her age, but then decided against it.

  "Twenty-eight."

  "Ever been married?"

  This was a tricky question. She'd almost been married. It took a tragedy to reveal her fiancé's true side.

  "No."

  "Would you mind givin
g us your name? This will be kept confidential, but your chances of nailing this opportunity are greatly increased if he knew a tad bit about your background."

  Trina swallowed. "Sure, as long as it's not broadcasted around town. I lead a very private lifestyle."

  "That's even better," she said. "Don't worry. We won't be broadcasting anything. After all, my boss is a shifter and he'll be requesting confidentiality as well—if you're chosen. Now what's your name?"

  Trina gave the secretary what she needed. Even after that, she seemed to have dozens of other questions, not just a few, but Trina needed cash fast—if at all possible, and the other opportunity had almost put her in a wooden box six feet under.

  "Well, that's all for now," the secretary said when she was done with her prying questions. "I have your contact information and if he wishes to move forward with the next steps, I'll give you a call. If you don't hear from us in two days, you can assume that you weren't chosen. Thank you for your time, Trina Daniels."

  After Trina hung up the phone, she laid back on the sofa and closed her eyes.

  The memories from that dreadful night just five days ago still haunted her. Maybe it was too early to be looking for extra work again. She'd need more than a few days to get over the attack. Never in a hundred years would she have anticipated a gun being held to her back and her life threatened. On the other hand, she'd never thought her desperation to help a parent would lead her out of her comfort zone.

  But if she hadn't been lead out of her comfort zone, she never would have realized that it was possible to experience attraction so hot that she could hardly control herself. How could she have wanted to offer her body and slap the sexy stranger across the face at the same time? Had she made the right choice by slapping him and running?

  She sighed.

  In the days after being released from the hospital, she had tried to find her shifting savior, but it seemed that he was a mystery. Something told Trina that she'd have to return to the shifter community if she ever wanted to reunite with him again.