by Erin R Flynn
“Hi, women’s rest room,” I chuckled easily, trying to keep my heart from racing. “Party is outside. I’ll be there in a minute.”
“Oh, we don’t want to party with them. We want to play with you.”
I stood up and leaned my butt on the corner of the sink so no one could get into position behind me while I faced him. “I said I’d play with you, not you and seven of your friends. Men who assume their friends are always welcome annoy me.”
Rage filled his eyes. “And women who don’t know their place piss me off.”
“I know my place. I’m fucking Alpha of—”
“Yeah, yeah, whatever little insignificant shifter-type pack you lead, blah, blah,” he drawled and looked at one of his friends over his shoulder. “Lock the door. I don’t want any interruptions to our fun.”
And it hit me, making me laugh so hard my stomach hurt from it. “Oh god, you are stupid. I knew you weren’t sharp, but fuck, you are stupid.” I felt a sting of pain as I heard the crack, my cheek heating from where he smacked me. I reacted on instinct and slapped him right back.
He didn’t like that. Especially when my hit drew blood and his hadn’t. “You can be a good bitch and party with us until we’re satisfied, and we’ll let you go back to your shitty little pack of whatevers. Or you can try that again, and we’ll tear you up and choke you with our dicks.”
“God, I hate men like you,” I snarled, barely in control after a threat like that. Especially so soon after Igor and what he’d done to me. “Women aren’t toys for your enjoyment. We aren’t trophies or conquests or things to stick your dick in whenever you feel like it. We’re fucking people, and how you think you’re so much better than me or any other woman is beyond me when you still don’t get where you’ve fucked up here.”
“What? How did I fuck up?” he chuckled, so much disdain and ego in the words he couldn’t have been more condescending if he wore a sign around his neck that said “all women are morons.”
“Why do you think I have two Betas that are much stronger than you?” I drawled, knowing that was the way to piss him off. “Wolves, idiot.”
“So what? The local cheetah bitches have wolves that protect them.”
“Are they their Betas or guards?” I rolled my eyes when he looked dumbfounded. “Jesus, no one, really? What do I smell like to you?”
He scrunched his eyebrows at that. “Now? Nothing. Last night you smelled like something I’d never scented before. Your power was different. It was all about sex and pleasure and just wow.”
“So you thought you’d just come and have a gang bang in the bathroom with all your friends just to prove you could conquer me?” He smiled, and I laughed again. “Yeah, you’d need to consider I saw how small your dick was.”
“Grab her,” he ordered, and someone moved around me and pulled me away from the sinks. I let him move my hands behind my back because it gave me cover for what I would have to do. “You and that mouth chose option B, you stupid whore. So you’re going to suck me and suck me good, and if you dare bite, I’ll start cutting you with gold blades and burn the marks so they don’t heal, and no one will ever experience you again.”
“I’m not your whore,” I snarled, my hands changing to claws. “I’m no one’s whore. I’m Alpha of the Chicago wolves, you fucktard. I’m also FBI.” I didn’t even give him time to react, yanking my hands up against the guy holding me so my claws sliced him from groin until his sternum stopped me. His hands let my wrists go, though, so I reached behind me and grabbed him by the throat, tearing it out as I launched him overhead at the others by the door.
Then I punched into the leader’s gut and yanked out everything I could to get him out of the fight. It wasn’t the red of the blood I saw as I shoved him to the ground, his men reacting finally and coming at me. No, it was rage, boiling, seething rage that I’d kept pushed down for a while now. Maybe since Riley had tricked me into sex with Jesse unless I wanted to embarrass the kid. Or how he’d pushed me originally when my power was unstable.
Didn’t matter, because Igor was at the center of it. Oh, and his man Dencil that had talked about passing me around, fucking me and bleeding me until I was dry and dead. And now this asshole? I was done being used and abused. I was done letting shifters and paranormals treat the women of our community this way. What the fuck was wrong with them to think they were more evolved than humans, and yet more of them seeming to do things that humans would be repulsed at?
I shifted to my third form—half person, half wolf—as some of them started to, and attacked, blinded by anger, hurt, and the need to survive eight against one. I slashed, kicked, clawed, masticated, and everything in between as I went, every bit as much an animal but worse than any natural wolf could be with my training and current mindset. I wanted them dead. I wanted all men who felt and acted as they did gone.
And then it was over. No more snarling or gurgling sounds of death. No more growling or cries of pain. No, the only sound was my heavy breathing from exertion and the blood dripping from somewhere. I shifted back, sorry the swimsuit had gotten stretched out too much because it had been cute.
What an odd thing to think of right now! Oh, so this is what crazy feels like? I reached up to unlock the door, stepping over someone’s severed leg, and found my right arm wouldn’t work. That can’t be good. I used my left and sort of turned and almost glanced over my shoulder—my neck having problems too—at the carnage and gore. That will be one hell of a mess to clean up.
I opened the door enough to slide out, my left leg not working either, then hobbled towards the pool. I hadn’t gone to the main pool bathroom with the lockers and all of that, instead, I’d thought it better to duck into the small one on the other side of the pool just for people who had to use the facilities so I could take a moment to myself. How well that worked out now because that meant no one would stumble upon the horror show I left behind.
The music was fairly loud to keep up the appearance of it being a private party, and I wasn’t sure I had the energy to call over it. Luckily I didn’t have to because when I was about twenty feet or so from the party, heads suddenly started turning toward me, picking up the scent of blood. It was almost funny.
Suddenly the music died, everyone staring at me in horror.
“I wouldn’t go in that back bathroom, it’s not in working order,” I chuckled, adrenaline wearing off and pain starting to hit me. “Someone process the crime scene. I don’t think I’ll be conscious to do it.”
“Sera, what happened?” Reagan snarled, suddenly in front of me, but then I realized it wasn’t sudden from the panic in his eyes. I’d spaced out.
“We got the number wrong. Wasn’t four or five in the crew, it was eight, and they wanted a private play date in the bathroom, not caring if I was willing,” I muttered as my right knee went weak. “My left leg doesn’t work, and I can’t use my right arm. Standing hurts.”
“Your right arm is almost completely torn off, and your leg is broken in at least three places.” I bobbed my head as he explained.
“Hey, I didn’t die or let anyone else touch me in ways I didn’t want, right?” I giggled bitterly as they helped me sit. “Back to a hospital, huh?” I glanced around, not really hearing what was going on or Reagan. I found who I needed. “Harris, take over. Get the bathroom processed and a shovel for what’s left. Tell the ME I’m sorry it will be a puzzle to figure out what goes with who.”
“It’s okay, Chief, we got this,” he assured me, squatting down next to me. “Sera, why didn’t you call for help?”
I understood what he meant, or was asking without asking. Did I want to kill them and act the monster I probably looked? “Harris, if you guys didn’t hear that fight over the party and music, you were never going to hear me scream. The only way I got the drop on them was acting like I was fine until I reacted. Eight on one is never good odds.”
“Okay, just needed to check. You seem oddly okay with whatever happened.”
“Oh no, I’
m glad all those fuckers are dead after hearing what they planned to do to me because I seriously doubt I was their first unwilling gang bang with how coordinated and calm they were, excited even. The gold knives and burning wounds too.” I realized how true that was. “No one was nervous, all of them raring to go.”
“And no criminal isn’t at least nervous his first time committing a crime. I got it, Chief. We’ll handle things here.”
He ran off with a few of our team, already on his phone as an EMT crew came with a stretcher. I hadn’t heard anyone call for them. Reagan got me onto the stretcher, the guys not seeming to know where to touch. I made them stop as we rolled by Gearmo.
“Sorry about the bathroom, it’s toast. I doubt my gift basket will cover as an apology.” We’d brought that with us for the party, and he’d been awfully excited about it and the prospect of getting some of Nina Jezebel’s wares in his hotel or at least spa. “What was that favor you wanted? Would that make up for it?”
“Yes, more than you can imagine, but we can talk later,” he assured me, worry in his eyes. Then he glanced at the EMT. “I suggest you tell whoever is treating her that she’s in shock.”
“I normally am,” I agreed with a sigh and let them wheel me away. The pain really started on the ride to the paranormal hospital, and honestly, I was glad Vegas had one because not every city did yet, and if they didn’t, they could refuse treatment to a paranormal for fear of contamination.
And with as many open wounds, bites, and blood on me, I would have turned me away to keep everyone safe.
“Fuck, what did this to her?” someone who came to meet us at the ambulance bay asked.
“Eight cheetahs,” Reagan snarled.
“How do the other guys look? They coming next?” he asked, not to be a smart ass, but honestly to find out what they needed to prepare for.
“No, they’ll be in your morgue.” Reagan’s answer shocked the guy, glancing from me to him as we raced along.
“Hey, more power to you, sister,” a woman who was on the other side of me praised. I tried to turn my head to her, but my neck didn’t want to listen. “Stop moving. You’ve got a chunk of you missing on your neck amongst many, many other injuries. Just go sleepy, and we’ll fix you up, ma’am.”
“Chief Thomas,” Reagan informed him as I felt a needle go into my arm. “She’s FBI. She got hurt on the job.”
“Okay, we’ve got her,” the guy assured him. “You brought her here, but now we need you to step back so we can work.”
“I didn’t protect her. I’m supposed to protect her,” he choked out, and it broke my heart. I wanted to tell him that I was okay, that it wasn’t his fault, but they gave me something good, and my world went fuzzy. We couldn’t do pain meds or be knocked out for long, but when we were in bad shape at the hospital, they would still try at least for the big stuff.
And I had a feeling my arm and leg were big stuff.
I remembered bits and pieces. Watching them hook my leg up to some type of traction thing so even with rapid healing it aligned then fused back together the right way. Same with my shoulder and arm.
When I woke sometime later, I was shocked to find Chief Hull sitting next to my bed. I blinked at him a moment, sitting there holding my hand as if we were friends or something. He patted it when he saw my eyes open.
“You were right. We were in over our heads, completely cocky that we didn’t need a MNSTR division.” I frowned, and he smiled. “A non-human branch of the FBI. Sorry.”
“Am I dead? Is heaven where everyone says what you want them to?” I teased, my throat dry.
He reached over and handed me a cup with a straw. “No, you’re not, but if it had been any of us, hell, several of us, we would have been, and that would have been on me. So thank you, Chief Thomas, for keeping my people safe.”
After hearing that, it made sense why he was sitting there with his hat in his hands, basically asking for my forgiveness. No one wanted to be the reason good people got hurt or lost their lives, especially when you were the boss.
“If you could pass the word to other offices that we’re not a joke anymore and they shouldn’t pull the crap you did, well, that would be all the thanks I need. Coming in on cases late is harder, you know that.”
“I do. And I will. After what you went through to help us, well, it’s the least I can do.”
I glanced around and handed him back the cup. “I can’t believe you’re okay with being alone with me. I’m sure you saw what I did in the bathroom.”
His face darkened. “You weren’t armed. You were undercover. Fuck, if you hadn’t been able to do that, I wouldn’t have been able to sleep at night knowing what they would have done to you.” He gave me a look after setting the cup down. I might be a shifter, but I was a female colleague to him first, and one of us getting hurt in that way… A bullet would have been better to the people around us. I didn’t disagree.
“What did I miss?” I tried when the silence got a bit awkward.
“Ms. Villegas’ ex-husband confessed to everything, even having a high school buddy in the county’s office who did all this damage by typing in that Ms. Villegas was deceased. Seems he had a few buddies, like one in Vegas patrol who made their domestic dispute calls a footnote even if Ms. Villegas and Trixie ended up with bruises and ER visits afterwards. We’re handling that with pleasure.”
“Good. She seems like a nice woman, and Trixie I think will be just fine with that kind of spunk.”
“We agree. Robinson changed his tune and is all over it like white on rice. Honestly, he had some custody issues a few years back, his ex-wife shutting him out when a new boyfriend came on the scene and yadda, yadda, and I think he inadvertently let that cloud his judgement.”
“It happens.” Hey, I wasn’t one to throw stones. Most of my rage had stemmed from the trauma Igor had caused me.
“Your team has closed all the other smaller cases in a day, impressive. Their knowledge and training shows,” he complimented, something any boss wanted to hear. “All that’s left is the vampire draining people and the unidentified killer tearing into victims.”
“We probably won’t be able to help on that last one until there’s another body,” I admitted again, hating to say it. “But if we can’t locate the vamp while I’m here, I’ll leave Cooper to work with Mr. Sosa. When they find him, they’ll handle it.”
“Just like that?”
“Just like that, Hull. We don’t like bad guys in our community. Makes waves. Makes headlines and leads to more distrust than we already have to deal with. Orders across all species of paranormal are you fuck up, especially kill, everyone hunts you.”
“Wish humans worked that well with us to stop crimes,” he muttered.
Yeah, I knew the feeling. I’d been with the regular FBI for years, after all.
Before leaving, Hull said his goodbye and he’d let someone know that I’d woken up. I must have dozed off because when I opened my eyes again, the next person I wouldn’t have guessed sitting at my bed was there.
Seriously, is this heaven where everything gets an ending? Or purgatory where I think it’s resolved and then I find out it was fake?
“Was I airlifted back to Chicago or something? Hull didn’t mention anything was all that wrong, so I figured I was okay.”
“Hull is human and doesn’t understand rapid healing since he doesn’t experience it,” Tristan corrected, his cobalt blue eyes meeting mine. “Yes, you are going to be fine, but your arm was almost completely torn off, and your knee was shattered along with the bone in a few spots from the deep bites. Your neck didn’t simply have to heal, but regrow tendons to keep your head up as a normal person’s should. How they missed the main artery there truly amazes everyone.”
“Okay, so it was worse than I thought.”
“You shouldn’t have been able to make it out of that bathroom on your own, Sera. No one understands how you did.”
“I find pride and sheer stubbornness can explain a lot of
things that aren’t possible,” I muttered, tired and thirsty. Hungry too. “Where is everyone? How long was I out again?”
“A few hours.” He studied me and scooted closer. “You mean why am I the one at your bedside when I wanted nothing more than to be free of your influence and blood?”
“Something like that.” There was no reason to deny it. I was shocked he was there, with no idea why he would want to be.
“I’m still your emergency contact on file. I called Noah to tell him since I thought your adopted parents and children would want to know what happened. Alena sent Noah and Theon on her plane, and I hopped a ride with them, much to Vlad’s dismay, but he can go fuck himself.”
I hadn’t heard Tristan speak like that much, always reverent and a bit fearful of the vampire hierarchy and city masters. I blinked at him a moment and then sighed. “Now I really am worried I’m dead. Hull apologizes and is nice to me, you’re going rebel on me and not loving Vlad—”
“Sera, he let a councilman back you into a corner without offering you any aid—fuck, he practically shoved you into the corner with the councilman,” Tristan seethed, his eyes flashing power. “I needed someone to break our blood bond, but that doesn’t mean I’m okay with what he did. I have trouble even looking at him. A lot of us do. He’s gone too far one too many times acting like a little king of everyone because he’s built a vampire army. He used me to scout wolves and assured me it was fine. I thought he meant he’d talked to you.”
“You thought I knew you were in Vegas,” I surmised, getting part of the picture on what had happened before.
“I thought you knew before I left,” he sighed, leaning his forehead down to my hand. “But I shouldn’t have assumed Vlad had discussed things with you because it was easier. I should have talked to you myself. I think I was scared of begging you to let me stay at your side. I was out of my mind that you’d sent me away.”
“I sent you to cool your head when you upset the boys, who are not my adopted children, by the way. They’re my little brothers.” He shot me a look that said I was splitting hairs. “Hey, older siblings can be legal guardians if parents die.” I took in a slow breath and tried to pull my hand away, Tristan tightening his grip on it. “I’m sorry I didn’t change you from my emergency contact, but why are you here, Tristan? You’re so excited to be free of me and the crazy my blood brings, my job too, so why did you fly to Vegas when I’m fine?”