by KB Winters
“Be careful, River.”
I glanced back at the sound of Nicholas’ soft words only to find myself alone in the alleyway. It was almost as if the past few minutes were a figment of my imagination if not for the dull pain in my side. With a wince, I gripped the bottom of my now dirty shirt and lifted it slightly. The normally unblemished skin of my side was covered in a motley of bruises, but those weren’t what made me gasp. Near my ribs were five long gashes in my skin. They weren’t deep enough to need stitches, but they were bleeding and filled my head with a dull ache with every breath that I took. When the red and blue flashes of light reached the corner, I hastily let my shirt fall and lifted my head up. Kayla was running down the sidewalk toward me, and I let out a sigh of relief that she was okay.
I didn’t know what I was going to say to the police or how I was going to say it—but I knew I’d keep Nicholas’ secret—if only in order to get some answers of my own.
Chapter Four
The clacking sounds of my fingers on the laptop keyboard were comforting. It was a familiar sound and one that always calmed my thoughts and soothed my anxiety. It had already been a week since I discovered that not only shifters were real, but I had met not one—but five of them all in one night. That knowledge was thrilling—and terrifying. I’d been attacked by something that I couldn’t even have hoped to win against and if not for Nicholas’ interference, I’d be dead.
My phone vibrated and I glanced away from the blue computer screen to peer down at it. The number on the screen wasn’t one I was familiar with. In fact, over the past week, my phone had rang no less than thirty times from unknown numbers. I hadn’t left my house in days in fear of running into another shifter with grabby hands and a less than winning personality. Knowing these creatures were real was fine. Having a first-hand account of how frighteningly deadly they could be was something completely different and I wasn’t sure how I felt about it. I wanted to ask questions—so many questions—but I also wanted to hide from everything and everybody until I could figure out everything I’d seen.
Damn. Was this a normal feeling?
No, shifters weren’t normal. Nothing about this was normal.
A loud bang made me jump and I whirled around. It was darker outside than I’d expected. The last thing I did before hunkering down to write, was Skyping with Kayla around lunchtime. She was stuck in her office at work as well and I could tell from her haggard expression that she was probably going to be there late into the night. The big divorce case she was currently working on had turned sour with neither party willing to compromise with the other. We’d joked a bit about it before she signed off to get back to work and I felt inspired to write. Now, my concentration was broken.
And I hated it when I lost my mojo.
I stood up from my chair, turning all of my focus outward. My house was small enough that I could hear if someone was out front. There were only two bedrooms, one of which I had turned into my office. It was where I did most of my writing, but now I wished I’d thought to sit on the couch or at the kitchen table. When I reached the open doorway, I tentatively leaned over and peeked around the wood panel into the hallway. I could see the front door from my vantage point and it was still shut and locked like always.
Living in Los Angeles wasn't the safest, especially for a woman living alone, so I always checked and double-checked that my doors and windows were locked. It was also why I chose to buy a small house, even though I could have easily afforded something larger. The area I lived in was relatively safe, but I couldn't help the frantic beat of my heart as another thump came from the front of the house. I had left the kitchen light on, so thankfully, I wasn't in complete darkness, but I had also left the living room drapes open meaning that anyone who wandered by could see into my house.
Yeah, I was that stupid. What was I thinking?
"Fuck," I whispered to myself as I stepped softly into the hallway. I swallowed hard at the lump in my throat as I passed the empty hall bathroom. I couldn't help but glance over at my reflection as I passed by the open door and my face was white as a ghost. It had been a week since the events outside of the bar, but the cuts and bruises from that encounter were still on my skin and I felt a ghost of pain from them with every step closer I came to my front door. When I reached the living room, I stuck close to the wall and sidled over to the large windows that had initially drawn me to the property to begin with.
"It's probably just the wind, River. Don't be a fucking pussy." My hissed words did little to calm me down, but I pushed myself to reach out and grab the window cover. With a quick flick of my wrist, I flung the drape across the window from the view of possible prying eyes. I tiptoed forward cursing myself when I had to cross in front of the second wide-open window. I glanced outside, my heart hammering in my chest, my knees almost buckling from fear, and I saw a silvery shape slide between the bushes. That made me forget creeping and I lunged while flinging the final piece of fabric across the windows and closing the view of my living room completely.
“Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God.” What do I do?
I stood frozen in fear. My breath came out in pants and my hands trembled. I twisted my fingers together, trying calm myself down. There wasn't anyone I could call. I hadn't told Kayla the truth about what had happened at the bar and I didn't have Nicholas' number. There was still so much I didn't know.
This time the noise was less of a thump and more of a normal knock on the front door. I turned to look over my shoulder. I wasn't sure if I wanted to open the door—no, that was a lie. I knew I didn't want to open the door. I was surprised that whoever or whatever it was didn't just break it down and barge in. Maybe I’d lost my mind. Or the flash of whatever it was I saw outside the window was just my imagination.
"Please open the door, River." I blinked at the sound of the familiar voice muffled behind the thick wood of my door. "I don't want to sound creepy, but I can hear your heart pounding. I didn't mean to frighten you."
"Nicholas?" That had me turning fully around and taking a few steps over to the door. "You can hear my heart pounding?" I called out, wondering what else he could do.
"Yes. I can also hear you breathing hard enough that I know I must have scared you."
My feet carried me closer to the door. "Hell yeah, you scared me! What the hell were you doing in my bushes? Are you spying on me? Damn!” The frustration built up inside me.
“Sorry, I just wanted to—”
“You know most people call or text before visiting. They don't just show up in the middle of the night.”
His answer to my question was slow coming. "No. I’m not spying."
I reached my hand out, wrapping it around the doorknob. Now it was me hesitating. Did I want to let him in after everything I’d seen from last week? And the stupid story I told the cops? That I had been drinking and tripped over my hooker heels, and my purse strap left those marks on my neck?
“I don’t have your cell phone number, and I wanted to check up on you and make sure you were all right. You haven’t been at the gym.”
I frowned. “I know I haven’t, but you found my house, so why didn’t you get my number from my file?”
"I could have,” he conceded. “But I knew you’d probably have questions about everything and I thought it better if I answered them face-to-face."
"So now you're a mind reader?" I asked. The sound of my fingers turning the lock seemed loud in the otherwise silence of my home. I waited for a moment to see if he would push things.
"I'm not going to come into your house uninvited, River."
"Is that because you can't?" I asked the question before I could stop myself. With a deep breath, I twisted the knob of the door and jerked it open. The sight that stood on the other side of the door was worth it. Nicholas stood there in a thin t-shirt and loose pants. I swallowed again, this time against the sudden production of saliva in my mouth as I let my eyes wander down his lean body. I blinked when I saw that his feet were bare. "Was that y
ou that I saw in my bushes?" I asked again jerking my gaze back up to his face.
"Maybe," he answered cryptically.
I put my hands on my hips at his response. "Maybe? I'd say definitely." I ran a hand through my hair wincing when it caught in a snag. "What were you doing anyway? Peeing in my bushes or something?" I chuckled to myself at the thought of it. When I was met with only silence, my humor died down and I looked at him with narrowed eyes. His once amused expression had turned guilty. "Did you pee in my bushes?"
Nicholas glanced to the side. "Perhaps we should discuss this in your house."
My eyes widened. "You're avoiding my question."
"Not avoiding, just—"
"Avoiding," I said cutting him off. I took a step back into my house and nodded for him to follow me. When he stepped passed the doorway, I turned my back to him to close the door to think for a moment. "I can't believe you pissed in my bushes."
"I didn't," he said putting emphasis on his first word.
I locked the front door again before slowly turning to look at him. "Are there very many white wolves in Los Angeles?"
"There aren't any wolves period."
I snorted. "Says the werewolf who pissed in my bushes." I crossed my arms over my chest and eyed Nicholas. He stood beside my couch and gazed steadily back at me. His expression was open and a little flushed which caught my attention. "Are you…are you embarrassed?"
He rubbed one hand on the back of his neck. "I'm not totally embarrassed. My wolf is a lot less…well, he acts essentially on instinct."
"Your wolf…instinct." I put a hand over my eyes as I tried to wrap my mind around this conversation. "I have a werewolf in my house. I invited a werewolf into my house." I peeked up at him between my fingers. He stood in front of me as if he were totally unbothered. "I think I need a drink."
"No," he said. "No alcohol. I want to tell you—I'm here to answer the questions I'm sure you have, and I need you to be completely sober when I do. I don't want to leave anything ambiguous between us."
I pursed my lips thinking about the half-empty bottle of fireball in my freezer. As good as I knew it would be, I knew even more that Nicholas was right. Getting drunk now would just create more problems later. "Fine. But if your freaky pee killed my bushes, you're paying for them." I walked around him until I could sink down onto my couch cushions. "In fact, I might bill you for the whole almost being mauled by another werewolf thing. I mean seriously. One minute I am minding my own business, the next I am being attacked by some guy with terrible manners and even worse hygiene.” I sighed and then mumbled to myself. “I have the worst luck with men."
Nicholas walked around the side of the couch and sat down on the cushion beside me. "I’m sorry about that. I never meant to put you in any danger. I’d actually left to try to find that guy. I could smell him a little when you and Kayla walked into the bar, but I hadn't been able to pinpoint exactly where he was."
I frowned again at Nicholas’ apology. "He was our Uber driver. The police found the car a few blocks over from the bar and figured he’d probably been sitting there waiting for one of us to come out alone, and I just drew the short end of the stick.” I cocked my head to the side as I studied him. “What do you mean you smelled him? Do you have some super-duper stealth smelling sense?”
Nicholas shook his head. “Werewolves are a lot like real wolves when it comes to our senses. For example, I can smell that you’ve had at least three cups of coffee with hazelnut creamer and that you haven’t yet showered today.”
“Ouch!” I squirmed at his shower comment and tried not to show my embarrassment. “I’ve been writing for most of the day and when I get into one of my moods everything else tends to fall by the wayside.” I hunched in on myself a little not wanting him to smell anymore.
“It’s fine,” he replied. “I wasn’t…it doesn’t bother me.” He put a hand over his face. “I’m sorry. It’s been a long time since I’ve talked with non-shifters outside of work, and apparently, I’m going about this all wrong.”
“Oh.” I curled in on myself a little more as I tried to take a sniff. I didn’t think I smelled bad considering the fact that I’d taken a bath late the previous night, and I hadn’t even left the house today.
“Yeah.” He dropped his hand. “To be honest, I actually really like it. It makes it easier when people keep their natural scent instead of covering it with perfume. Most wolf shifters don’t wear artificial scents unless we are trying to hide ourselves from other shifters. Your natural scent is…nice.”
I sat up slightly. “My unwashed scent is nice?”
His lips quirked up slightly. “Very. I’ve been distracted by it a few times while I was training you. Your scent is…invigorating.”
“That…” My voice trailed off as I took in his words. “I don’t know how to respond to that. I never really considered whether I smelled nice or not. What do I smell like?”
Nicholas closed his eyes. He tilted his head again and I wondered if it was something all shifters did. “Wild. Like untamed nature and unclaimed earth.”
“I smell like dirt?”
He opened his eyes then and my breath caught. His gaze was red hot and I couldn’t have looked away even if I’d wanted to.
“No, not dirt. Wild. Free.”
I bit my bottom lip to keep from moving. Never before had I felt like prey, but right then I had the distinct thought that one false move from me would have serious repercussions. Still, I almost wanted it. I wanted to see what he would do.
“Who are you?”
Like that, my question seemed to break the tension that had been surrounding us. The red bled from his gaze and his sharp smirk turned softer until it was almost as if the moment between us never happened.
“An enforcer.”
I blinked. The abrupt change confused me. “An enforcer?” When he nodded in response I frowned. “What does that mean? What do you enforce?”
“All shifters have a code—a set of rules the clans agree to play by in order to get by undetected. We keep a low profile for everyone’s sake and try to handle disputes legally if possible.”
“What if it’s not possible?”
“Then that’s where I come in. If someone is causing problems or if humans start getting a little too close, it’s my job to handle things quickly and thoroughly before the secret of our existence gets out.”
“So what do you do, just go around killing anyone who gets stuff right about werewolves?” I joked. I stood up from the couch needing to move or do something. Being in such close contact with Nicholas was making my head dizzy, and I needed a bit of space to think about everything. “I’m going to grab some water. Do you want anything to drink that’s not alcoholic?” When I didn’t hear any noise behind me, I paused and turned in confusion. Nicholas was sitting frozen on the couch. His head was down as if he were hiding his expression from me. “Nicholas?”
He turned his head at my prompting. “We don’t…I don’t…” His voice trailed off.
“You don’t what?” When he finally lifted his head, the expression on his face made my smile disappear. “You don’t what?” I asked again quietly.
“We don’t actually kill people.”
I swallowed thickly as his words hit me. “You don’t kill people?”
“Yes. I mean, no.” He shook his head. “Sometimes things happen like what happened to you and then it might be inevitable, but violence isn’t our first response.”
It felt like my stomach dropped at his words, and I felt that same cold fear from a week ago start to come over me.
“Don’t.”
His forceful word was like a physical slap, and I felt my heartbeat speed up. It hit me full force then. I was in an enclosed space with a creature that could kill me before I could even utter a scream.
“Don’t do that,” Nicholas said. Before I could blink he had gone from perched on the edge of my sofa to standing in front of me. His multi-colored eyes were bright and earnest as if p
leading with me to understand. “Don’t be afraid of me, River. I’d never hurt anyone, especially not you.”
I took a few quick breaths to try to calm my heartbeat. “I want to believe that, I really do.”
“Then believe it.” His hands shot out and gripped my shoulders. He bent low until our gazes were locked together and I felt compelled to not break it. “Believe me, River. Believe that I would never do anything to hurt you.”
“Why?”
Nicholas blinked as if he were the one under a spell and not me. “Why? What do you mean, why? I wouldn’t lie to you, River.”
I shook my head slowly. It felt as if my mind had been dulled. My head felt heavy as if I were pushing against a wall of molasses just to get it to cooperate. “No,” I said simply. My tongue felt thick and useless, but I pushed through. I had to make him understand. “Why wouldn’t you hurt me?”
His eyes widened as if my question were the truly shocking part of our entire conversation. “Why wouldn’t I hurt you? What kind of que— “
“You don’t know me,” I said cutting him off. “I mean, you train me at your job, sure, and I’m thankful that you saved my life—but I’m nothing to you.”
“You are everything to me,” he hissed vehemently. His grip tightened on my arms bordering on painful. It made my heartbeat speed up again, but I still didn’t break his gaze. The color of his eyes seemed to be swirling as he peered into mine. Slowly the green-gray hue melted away until I was once staring into his new bright crimson gaze.
“I am noth—” My denial was halted and muffled under the abrupt crushing of his lips against mine. It was a hard kiss—almost punishingly so, but it made a sharp tendril of warmth shoot through my center and before I could even think…I found my arms lifting to wrap around his broad shoulders.
Nicholas and I clung to one another desperately. When I shifted the angle of my head, our lips slotted together perfectly, making me sigh as a deep feeling of need flashed through me. His hands slid up from my arms until they reached my hair. His fingers tangled up, gripping softly and taking control of the angle of my head. I felt his tongue slide across the seam of my lips and I didn’t hesitate to part them inviting it to duel and dance with my own.