by T. S. Ryder
And it was growling. It was growling so loudly that Bianca felt the walls of the elevator vibrate with the sound.
With a terrifying scrape of claws against concrete, the creature moved to jump, when something just as large and pitch black slammed into it, sweeping it away. They landed a few feet in front of the elevator, and the light barely reached them. Dazed, Bianca moved from where she stood to the elevator door to see better, too astonished by everything she’d just seen to think about insignificant details like self-preservation.
Mesmerized, she watched as what turned out to be another creature, the same as the first but for the color of the fur, and the original attacker snarled at each other and fought with a deadly focus.
The two creatures circled each other, walking on what she could only describe as hind legs, thick and powerful and shaped in angles more canine than human, ending in paw-like, clawed feet. She could see now that they had tails, too, covered in the same fur as the rest of them, but bushier, reaching to somewhere to around what she supposed she could call knees. The one that had attacked them snapped its massive jaw at the black one, but it wasn’t fast enough, and the black creature moved its torso back too quickly for the enormous, serrated teeth to close on its flesh. Then it used the momentum of its attacker against it and swung its powerful arm, the fingers on its hand spread wide and pointing down. On impact, the black one’s claws shredded into the brown one’s face, and some of the blood sprays landed right at her feet, making Bianca scream and cover her mouth with trembling hands.
The snarling grew louder, more violent, and the brown creature pounced on the black, but it was no use. The black creature grabbed its attacker’s shoulders and rolled down on its back, carrying the brown one with him, and then, with one powerful shove of feet against the brown creature’s torso, threw it far, far overhead. But no sooner was the black creature back on its feet than the brown one was attacking it again, tackling it under the torso like a football player – which was when Bianca heard the sound of screeching wheels, and a white sedan with Ms. Hutchinson behind the wheel collided with the brown creature’s body, mowing it down.
It squealed as it fell, dropping the black creature from its arms. The black one landed gracefully on the floor on all fours, facing the car. On impulse, Bianca stepped out of the elevator screaming “No!” terrified that the creature would attack Ms. Hutchinson, but all it did was draw its attention to Bianca.
It turned to her and let out a low rumble that she couldn’t exactly classify as a growl. Before it could do anything, Ms. Hutchinson barked, “Bianca! Get in the car! Now!” Bianca looked at the woman, still too scared to move. “Bianca, he won’t hurt you – but the other one won’t stay down for long. Get in so we can get out of here,” Ms. Hutchinson commanded swiftly. She was clearly not willing to let Bianca adjust, but was at least offering an escape, which was all she wanted right now.
With careful steps, she walked over to the white sedan and circled it from the back to reach the passenger door. All the while her eyes were locked on the black monster, who calmly returned the gaze. Ms. Hutchinson unlocked the door for Bianca, and she slipped inside. She’d just buckled her seatbelt when the back door behind her opened. Bianca screamed again, a noise that turned into an incoherent shriek when she realized that the enormous black creature was climbing into the back seat.
Ms. Hutchinson hit the gas pedal and, with a screech of tires, sped back in reverse before turning the car around and driving it out of the garage as fast as the sedan was capable.
Shaking in the kind of panic she never thought she would feel in her life, Bianca, still screaming, started pulling at her seatbelt, ready to do something, anything, jump out of the speeding car if she had to, just to get away from the creature behind her.
But then the creature started... melting, becoming smaller, its golden eyes dimming, changing color, its fur thinning, turning shorter. Mesmerized, Bianca watched as the fur went from black to gray to tawny to a sandy, golden blonde, turning from pelt to ordinary human skin, the clawed mitts transforming into large, male hands... hands she’d been daydreaming about feeling on her body that entire day.
It didn’t matter that her brain refused to believe everything she’d just experienced and seen; the black monster was gone and Eric McKenna sat in his place, looking exhausted – and gloriously naked.
Bianca stared in complete disbelief. She had no idea what to feel or how to react, but from the ease with which Ms. Hutchinson seemed to be taking it all in her stride, she could guess that this was nothing new, at least not to anyone but her.
Mr. McKenna sighed heavily, rubbing his hands over his face. “Janet,” he said. “Head to the compound. And hand me your cell phone, will ya?” Without missing a beat or taking her eyes off the road, Ms. Hutchinson handed her purse to Bianca. “Side pocket,” was all she said, but Bianca, dazed and confused as she was, didn’t need more. It took some fumbling around, her hands feeling as if they belonged to someone else. Eventually she got the telephone out and cautiously handed it to Mr. McKenna. He looked at her oddly, but took the phone without comment, and began typing what looked to Bianca like a series of long, angry texts.
Chapter Six
It took Janet’s sedan a little over an hour to travel from downtown Manhattan to the front gate of Oak Hills. If you looked it up online, the Internet would call it a ‘luxurious gated community’ located between the Cross River Reservoir and War Pound Ridge Reservation.
The New York Pack simply called it ‘the compound’.
Not all members of the pack lived there, though those with children preferred the safety and freedom of living away from humans until their kids were big enough to learn how to control their preternatural abilities. The enormous grounds contained individually owned houses as well as a group of communal buildings in the center of the property, located under the small rise atop of which the Big House was built.
As usual, the compound was packed during the three nights of the full moon. Werewolves could shape at will, but the magic of the full moon, wild and strong, had a strong effect on them, and losing control over the urge to give into their animal half was nothing out of the ordinary in that period. Passions ran rampant, and people were just as likely to break out into a brawl as they were to throw their mate over their shoulder and find the nearest safe place to jump each other’s bones until neither one could walk straight anymore.
And into this volatile mix of hormones and emotions, Eric McKenna was about to bring a helpless human and some spectacularly bad news.
Damn it.
Fifteen minutes later, Janet parked the car in front of the Big House, the mansion that had served as the home of the Alpha and his immediate family ever since the compound was built. His Beta, Brian, was waiting for him there, along with the remaining eight members of the Alpha Guard – the strongest, most skilled people, whose duty was to serve and protect the Pack, and the Alpha with his Mate and children, in that order. Eric had made only two changes to the Guard when he took over, by the request of the Lieutenants he had replaced, and the team was a formidable unit, well versed in working both as individuals and as a group.
Right now, they were a welcome sight.
As Eric stepped out of the car, Brian brought him a terrycloth robe, while two of the Lieutenants went to help Janet and Bianca. Janet was holding up well, and Eric wasn’t as worried about her as he was about Bianca, who stiffened when the passenger door opened, too traumatized to move until Janet came around to her side and helped her out. She was pale and shivering, and kept looking over the grounds twitchily. Eric wanted to strangle the bastard who had attacked them for making her feel so scared and uneasy. She didn’t deserve to be thrust into their world like this, but there was no helping it now.
“Janet,” he called out to his secretary. “Take Bianca inside and find her a room. Get her to a shower, find her some clothes and something to eat... whatever she needs.” Janet nodded, her expression grave and compassionate, and she pu
t an arm around Bianca’s shoulders before gently leading her into the house. Bianca followed, silent and shaky on her feet, still too stunned to react any other way.
Once they were safely out of hearing distance, Eric looked to his Beta and ordered, “My office, now.” He didn’t need to say more; his guard, with Brian at the head, fell in line with fluid ease and followed him without a word.
An hour later, Eric left his office no calmer than when he had entered it.
No one took the news of the attack well, especially when he revealed the identity of the attacker. “Didn’t you feel him approaching?” Brian asked, focused and angry, and Eric shook his head. “He used a spice bomb to mask his scent,” he explained. “And he smashed all the lights in the garage before we went down. If he hadn’t left me for dead too soon and gone back to the elevator to take care of Janet and Bianca, I never would’ve guessed it was Jason.”
Lycanthropy was magic, and magic worked in ways that often contradicted science. Preservation of mass meant nothing to a werewolf – when they turned, they all looked pretty much the same; differences in build and height were generally minor, and they all had the same golden eyes. But each werewolf had a unique pelt and a scent that could identify them at hundreds of feet of distance, at least to another werewolf. Eric had been too focused on staying alive while they were fighting to look at his attacker properly, but when he had seen him bathed in the elevator lights as he prepared to kill Bianca, he had known instantly who it was.
And it broke his heart.
Up until that moment, he had been careful not to injure him too much, trying to take him down alive for questioning, which was how Jason had ended up having an upper hand over him. But as soon as he saw the threat he posed to Bianca, he lost all inhibitions and fought with unrestrained fury. The very idea that she could be dead poured dread into his bones, a strange thing to feel for a woman he’d barely just met... except in one specific case.
“There’s one more thing,” he told them, once all the arrangements and strategies for handling the situation with Jason had been settled on, “Bianca... I’m not completely sure yet, but I think she might be my Mate.” That got a round of whistles and howls, and even Eric, tired as he was, couldn’t help but chuckle at the reaction. He felt a little less guilty when he left his men to take care of things and went to find Bianca.
He didn’t need to ask where she was; her scent called out to him like a siren’s song, and it took him less than five minutes to find her. Even from the other side of the door, he could hear her stirring in the bed, undoubtedly too anxious to sleep. He was glad she was awake and knew he was a bastard for it, but he couldn’t make himself feel bad about it.
She was in his home, where he could protect and care for her, and that was all he cared about right now.
He knocked softly and forced himself to wait for a reply instead of just going in as he wanted to. For a while, he thought she might not have heard him, but then there was a faint rustle of sheets and the sound of a light switch being turned on. A moment later, she unlocked the door and opened it just enough to peer outside, letting Eric see only half her face and a shoulder. It killed him to see her so afraid.
“May I come in?” he asked, careful to pose his body in such a way as to communicate that he was not a threat, though he was not sure it would work on a human.
But, apparently, it did, because Bianca opened the door wider and stepped back to let him in. For her sake, he moved slowly and sat on the bed. Bianca leaned against the door, her eyes firmly on him. She was nervous and quiet, looking so fragile in a soft cotton shift with her hair loose, wavy tresses reaching just a few inches below her shoulders. He knew she needed to process this in her own way and at her own pace, and was willing to give her any help she needed to deal with everything she’d seen tonight.
“What are you?” she asked, her voice strained and weak.
“You know what I am,” he replied softly.
She took a breath and nodded. “I do... but I can’t bring myself to say it.”
“That’s okay,” he told her, nodding. “You don’t have to.” She nodded, and the room felt silent again. “Do you want to talk about it?” Eric asked, letting her know he was there if she needed it.
Bianca looked uncertain. “I want to know what happened in the garage,” she told him. “I want to know where I am... what’ll happen next,” she said, and the tremble in her voice spoke volumes about how much she feared the answers to those questions.
“I am the Alpha of my Pack,” he told her openly, seeing no need to mince words. “And it would seem my brother Jason is trying to take my place. I won’t go into details, but the gist of it is that he tried to frame Hector for embezzlement, hoping we’d jump at each other’s throats over it, which would eliminate one or both of us for him. But he underestimated how much we trusted each other, and when he heard we’d be hiring an outside firm to investigate, he panicked and attacked. You and Janet just... got caught in the middle of it.”
She nodded along as she listened, and he did his best to remain calm and collected and fight the urge to scoop her into his arms and never let her go.
“We’re near War Pound Ridge now,” he continued. “We’re registered as a housing estate, and it’s where most of the Pack members live. This house belongs to me as the current Alpha, and if you need anything at all, just find a staff member and ask for it. They’re all instructed to give you anything you need.” He paused, and cautiously added, “Except let you go – but only until this thing with Jason is dealt with. It’s not safe for you to be out there alone right now, but I promise you that, as soon as it is, you’re free to go.”
She did not look convinced.
“Aren’t you afraid I’ll tell the authorities about you?” she asked skeptically.
Eric shook his head. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but... who’d believe you? Werewolves belong in fiction, don’t they?”
She lowered her head, but she scoffed a little, and Eric smiled. She was shocked and hurt and afraid, but she was strong, so strong. A lesser person would be banging on the nuthouse door by now, but not his Bianca.
“Do you know when all this’ll be over?” she asked him.
“A day or two,” he replied. “My men are already out looking for Jason, and as soon as they find him, he’ll be dealt with.”
Bianca raised her head again. “Are you going to kill him?” she asked, and Eric nodded, grim. “Good,” she said, squaring her shoulders. “I know he’s your brother, but I want to see him dead.” Eric chuckled. Oh, yeah. Definitely Mate-material.
But that was something he would discuss with her later. Even if she didn’t turn out to be his fated one, he still intended to pursue a relationship with her, if she wanted him. Because there was no denying he wanted her. In his bed, in his life... forever.
He stood up, slowly, and walked to the door.
“I’m gonna go now and let you rest,” he told her, “I just came by to see if you’re okay.”
He reached for the doorknob, expecting her to move away so he could leave... but she didn’t. Instead, she slowly raised a hand and put it over his. “And if I asked you to stay... would you?” she asked, her voice but a whisper.
Eric felt his entire body respond to that touch, desire rousing in the pit of his stomach. “I would do anything you asked me to,” he murmured, lowering his head to hers, laying a kiss on the top of her head. Her hair smelled like the same shampoo he used. Every bathroom in the house was stocked with the same brand, and it made him feel ridiculously happy, as though she had chosen to mark herself as his.
Her hand traveled up his arm, up his shoulder and neck, until she cupped his chin and whispered, “Then stay.”
Eric sighed at the touch, the skin her palm covered starting a strong, slow burn. “Bianca...” he pleaded, not caring about his pride, but all she did in reply was peel herself away from the door and step into him. His heart pumped faster, threatening to burst out of his chest when she
slid her other hand across his torso before reaching up and snaking it to the back of his head. “Stay,” she murmured, looking into his eyes, and he could see it – the longing, the hunger and all the fear and sadness she was trying to fight off. She was looking for comfort and protection, and he... he really wanted to be the one she received it from.
Slowly, Eric lowered his lips to hers and kissed her, more gently than he thought he was capable of at this point. Bianca sighed, melting into him, wrapping her arms around his shoulders. He pulled her into an embrace, tight and warm, and deepened the kiss.
Chapter Seven
Bianca knew that what she was doing – what she was feeling – made no sense at all. Eric (because, after tonight, he could never be just Mr. McKenna) was right; she should rest. But lying alone in a strange bed, a strange house, strange... everything just didn’t seem like the right thing to do.
She had nearly died tonight and had found out about an entirely new world that existed parallel to hers, a dangerous world that she could now never discount as fantasy again. She could no longer stay on the sidelines of her own life, a life that she only now realized could be taken away from her so easily, by man and monster alike. Tonight, she would go for what she craved because Heavens only knew whether she’d ever get a chance again.