by Sky Winters
Mandy smiled up at him happily and inched closer to him on the sofa, reaching up to caress his cheek with her hand for a moment before kissing him softly on the lips. She pulled away and looked up at him, fighting back the happy tears that threatened to rise up against her will.
“I love you, too.”
“That’s a relief,” he laughed.
Mandy nodded in agreement. Then the moment had passed and they settled back into conversation about places they’d like to travel together. Things they’d like to see. Finally, their conversation drifted away as they sipped their wine and became lost in one another again. They ended up making love on the sofa, too eager to even make it to the bedroom. Afterwards, they made their way to bed and curled up together, drifting off into a peaceful sleep in one another’s arms. The following morning, they each went off to work without an inkling as to what was to come before they could stop it.
Chapter Ten
“Wow, that looks fantastic on you!” he marveled two nights later, taking in her finished costume.
“Almost as great as yours looks on you,” she told him.
“We are going to nail this contest,” he told her.
“I think so too,” she replied.
The two of them headed out the door, making their way to the haunted park first, enjoying the way people fawned over their outfits. It was like having a review of them done before presenting them to the main judges. So far, everyone that had seen them was bowled over by their creativity. Once they were done there, they began making their way to The Restoration, eager to get signed up for the contest and enjoy their first Halloween night together.
“Little Red Riding Hood and Her Grandma?” the young man at the registration table asked as he looked up at them.
Weston smiled. “Something like that.”
“Okay. Judging will be at midnight on the dot. Just come up to the stage area and wait until we call you.”
“We’ll see you then,” Weston said happily.
They became lost in the crowd, singing and dancing until they were exhausted. Though there were several other Red Riding Hoods about, none were done quite as well as her costume and she and Weston had a little surprise in store for the crowd during their judging time on stage. It was sure to win them the grand prize.
“I have to go find the restroom,” she told him. “I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
“Okay sweetheart. I’ll be waiting for you to come back over the river and through the woods,” he laughed.
Mandy laughed and disappeared into the crowd. She made her way through the crowd and into the bathroom, where she had to wait in line for a bit before getting in. On the way out, she bumped into another red-caped party goer and apologized.
“Don’t apologize, Mandy. It was fate seeing you here,” Cameron replied, taking a step toward her.
Her head jerked up, taking in the way he glared at her from beneath the large red cape that was nearly identical to her own. Of course, she thought, he had bought it at the costume shop; she had seen it draped across his arm. Only his lacked the special touches she’d put on it. For the first time, she wondered if he had been watching her. Had he decided to wear a matching costume for some particular reason?
“What are you doing, Cameron? I have nothing to say to you,” she said, angry that he was even there and even more so if he had planned to be, though she wasn’t sure how he would have known.
“You wouldn’t answer my messages, so you left me no choice but to follow you here so we could talk.”
“Talk? We have nothing to talk about. There was a time when I wanted to talk to you, but you couldn’t be found anywhere. And you know what? I’m glad I couldn’t find you. I’ve moved on and now I know you were just a huge mistake. Now, leave me alone!”
“I’ll leave you alone when I decide I’m done with you, Mandy. You’re mine and always will be. How dare you come here with someone else,” he said angrily, grabbing her by the arm and pulling her toward a nearby exit.
“Stop it! Let me go, Cameron!” she hissed at him, trying to tear herself away from him, but he ignored her, dragging her toward the exit as she continued to protest. When he didn’t let her go, she screamed loudly, but the sound was lost in the middle of the crowded club full of people and the blaring of the loud music all around.
“You need to shut your ungrateful mouth,” he snapped at her as they stepped into the alley behind the club.
Mandy looked around hopefully for someone who had stepped out for fresh air or to smoke, but it was completely deserted. She continued to struggle to get free of him, but he wouldn’t let go. He yanked and pulled, dragging her down the alley toward his car and shoving her into it. She tried to scream, but he clamped a hand down over her mouth and shut the door behind them. Inside, he quickly strapped duct tape over her mouth and around her wrists and ankles.
“Now, you stay here and be a good little girl,” he told her. “I’m going to go back inside and give your boyfriend a nasty little surprise and then I’ll be back to take you home where you belong.”
Her eyes widened, realizing that Kellye had been right. He was completely off his rocker. She struggled violently, trying to free herself as he left the car and returned to the club. His windows were tinted black, so there was no way anyone could see her in here. Her only hope of escaping whatever he had planned was to get free and get to Weston before he did. It was almost midnight and she had no doubt he’d be looking for her. She could only hope he didn’t venture out of the safety of the club and into the dark alley where things could get ugly really fast.
Time seemed to move so slowly as she tried to get the metal of the door handle between her wrists. It was too dull to cut the tape, but she was hoping she might loosen it by twisting it sideways. Instead, it only seemed to make it tighter, cutting off her circulation. She grimaced, but kept trying, hoping to loosen it and get it off. Her heart was beating out of her chest as she worried more about what might happen to Weston even more than her own fate. She knew Cameron was fucked up, but she never considered that he was this far gone.
Her phone buzzed in her pocket. She had forgotten it was tucked into the black pants beneath her cape and wondered if it was Weston trying to find her. How could she get to it to call for help? She kept working at loosening her wrists. It was her only hope of getting out of this mess. Whether he just intended to scare her or do something far worse, she wasn’t sure, but she would prefer not to find out.
Her thoughts were disrupted by a ruckus coming from outside the car. She looked up to see Cameron, in wolf form, running toward the car. The large white stripe down the side of his face was unmistakable. Behind him was a large jet black wolf with huge yellow eyes bearing down on him fast. Was it Weston? She didn’t know what his wolf form looked like.
She watched as the two large wolves tore into one another viciously, tumbling around in circles in the middle of the alley directly in front of the car. It was hard to tell who would be victorious with the way they twisted back and forth, awful howls and growling filling the air around them. Looking beyond the dog fight unfolding in front of her, she noted that a large crowd had gathered behind them, watching and cheering them on.
Then, she watched as Cameron tore into Weston’s throat, slinging him back and forth with a horrible cracking sound before throwing him to the ground. The large black wolf lay there, not moving, as Cameron turned and began limping toward the car, his menacing green eyes seeming to pierce her even through the dark windows of the car.
“Oh, God. Get up, Weston. Please don’t be dead. Please get up,” she tried to say, her voice muffled by the tape, but he didn’t move. Instead, he jumped onto the hood of the car and howled loudly. The crowd behind him, having no idea that the animal they were dealing with was more than just tonight’s entertainment, cheered loudly and began filing back into the club.
Mandy closed her eyes, resigning herself to whatever horrors Cameron intended to bestow on her, and mourning the loss of Weston.
Tears rolled down her face as she waited for him to change and get into the car, taking her away with him. Then, the air around her was shattered by what sounded like the scream of a woman. Her head snapped up just in time to see the large black wolf twist his head mightily to one side, tossing the limp carcass of what used to be Cameron down beside the car.
She watched as he quickly converted back to human form and opened her car door, pulling her out to one side of the seat. He slowly peeled the duct tape from her mouth and she couldn’t help but sob.
“Oh Weston!”
“Shh, shh, it’s okay, I’m here now.” He used his car keys to tear open the duct tape and peel it from her hands and feet. It hurt like hell. He stayed there with her, consoling her as she cried, while they waited for the police to arrive.
“I thought you were dead,” she told him.
“Not by a long shot,” he told her with a smile.
It took hours to explain what had happened to the police, who took statements from witnesses that had watched as Grandma had met Little Red Riding Hood on stage. At first, they had thought it was just part of the costume competition as Grandma morphed into a Big Bad Wolf right before their eyes, but then Little Red Riding Hood had done the same. It quickly escalated into a horrible fight before the two large beasts had gone running outside, chasing one another.
The crowd had abandoned the contest, chasing the two of them outside to see what happened next, thinking the fight was something that had been put on by the club for entertainment purposes. When it ended, they all filed back inside to continue their night of fun. Cameron had apparently not been aware that Weston was also a shifter when he had decided to take him on and refused to back down once he learned that he was. His demise was his own doing.
Chapter Eleven
It took months to clear Weston of any wrong doing, but in the end, it was ruled self-defense. Though they had missed their planned holiday vacation, the two of them had only gotten closer since the night that Cameron had attempted to abduct her and kill Weston. Follow up interviews by the cops had revealed a man that was much sicker than she had ever realized. He was a classic sociopath, hiding it well until he finally crossed a line. She was lucky to be alive and probably wouldn’t be if not for Weston.
“I’m sorry that we haven’t been able to go anywhere with all my legal troubles,” Weston told her one night as they sat curled up listening to music.
“Oh, Weston. You don’t seriously think I’m worried about that do you? I wouldn’t even be here if not for you.”
“I was just looking forward to it and I know you were too. Instead, we’ve been stuck here until everything was over. Plus, there’s all the scrutiny now that everyone knows what I am.”
“I know. It’s been hard, but we’re getting through it. People seem to be more accepting of it than you expected.”
“Yes. There is that. It’s a relief really not to have to hide it anymore.”
“So, we’ll go to Paris some other time.”
“Well, I hear it is beautiful in the spring. I will find a way to squeeze in some time for us to go anyway.”
“That would be nice, but I completely understand if we can’t.”
“I know you do, but I really think we deserve a vacation after all of this.”
As it turned out, they did make it. On a warm spring day in April, the two of them boarded a plane bound for France, spending a week just taking in the city and enjoying the sites. Stepping into a small sweet shop as they walked down the street, the couple sat at a small table in back and ordered a small plate of mixed petit fours and wine.
“Look at the size of that French Poodle,” he marveled.
Mandy turned her head but saw nothing. Turning back to him, she found that he was kneeling beside the table, holding up what appeared to be a small cake toward her. He reached up and flipped open the top of the faux petit fours to display a large diamond ring.
“Will you marry me?” he asked, looking a little nervous as several onlookers watched with smiles on their faces.
“Yes. Of course, I’ll marry you!” she said happily as he pulled the ring from the box and slipped it on her finger.
They kissed as the crowd around them cheered loudly. Moments later, they stepped out into the sunlight again, a newly engaged couple. It was only the beginning for them as they began to plan the rest of their lives together. Though neither of them knew it at the time, they were already well on their way. A tiny seed inside Mandy was already growing into a baby who would become one of the most powerful wolf shifters in the history of the world.
Young Wolf
CHAPTER ONE
The Divorcee
“This app is great, just trust me,” Isabelle Grant’s best friend Ramona told her as she clicked and swiped around on Isabelle’s phone.
Isabelle’s divorce had just been finalized and, though the marriage had been pretty much the definition of ‘loveless,’ she was still broken up about it. She’d put years of her life into that relationship, and still somehow things had soured. Now, thirty-six years old, she had to start again.
And Ramona thought the best way to do that was to sign up for the ComeShift app, a dating service that connected people with shifters. Werewolves, werebears, even dragons, apparently. Isabelle was mystified by the whole thing, and she didn’t think it could possibly even be real.
“There.” Ramona smiled proudly at Isabelle’s phone before handing it back over to its owner. “Your profile is all set up. You even have a picture already. You’re good to go. And you’re so hot that I bet the messages come flooding in.”
Isabelle laughed, then realized something. “Where did you get a picture for it?”
Ramona got a bit shifty-eyed. “I used one that was on your phone.”
Eyes widening, Isabelle clicked her phone back on and stared at her profile picture. It was one of her in some black lingerie. She’d taken it, and sent it to her ex-husband in a vain attempt to get him in the mood.
“I thought I deleted that!”
Ramona giggled. “You can change it if you really want to. But the guys on there are wild and sexy, and into kinks. I’ve heard that sex with werewolves is the hottest thing ever. Just have fun with it.”
When her friend told her that she wanted to come over to visit her after work, Isabelle hadn’t expected this. Isabelle was a leasing consultant. She was successful in her own right. She felt that if any good came out of this divorce, it would be that she had more freedom now. Rebounds weren’t really her thing. But she appreciated that her friend cared, and she humored her so that Ramona would feel like she’d helped in some small way.
As soon as Ramona was gone, Isabelle sank into her couch. She doubted very much that anything good was going to come out of this app. She’d heard horror stories about guys on things like this. She was so much older than the generation that used these things. When she’d last been in the dating game, dating apps did not exist. In fact, cell phones merely existed as ways to call and maybe, maybe text people if you had a fancy plan that included limited texting.
But now apparently, you could pick up your phone and browse singles in your area. Single werewolves, no less.
She still thought that was a load of shit.
Setting her phone down on the coffee table, Isabelle stood up and went into her bedroom to change out of her work clothes. She threw on some pink pajama bottoms and a Jem and the Holograms t-shirt. Nothing would give her age away better than this. Well, aside from the odd gray hair she found peeking around amidst her black-dyed hair. Whenever she saw one of those forming at her roots, she plucked and touched up her coloring.
She supposed that she had good looks going for her. She was short at five foot two, but she was curvy with large breasts, and a sizeable ass to go with it. Her body wasn’t quite an hour-glass shape, but she certainly wasn’t overweight. Well, maybe a pound or two.
Isabelle sat back down on her couch, folding one of her legs underneath her, and started watching T
V. She checked out the news for a moment, but that was too depressing, so she turned on a channel that was predominantly cartoons, and allowed herself to feel more like a child again.
She didn’t need a man to be happy or whole. But she did sometimes think how nice it would be to spend time with a man who cared about her. She wished she could kiss someone again. She wanted to sleep with a man again… It had been over a year. It was something she didn’t want to talk about of course, but it bothered her. A lot.
Right as she was about to consider one of the more ‘normal’ dating apps, her phone lit up with a notification from ComeShift.
“Great,” she sighed. “Which Hot Topic-wearing weirdo is this going to be?”
She looked at her message and saw that it was from a guy named Devon Howard. He was surprisingly and thankfully gorgeous, with dark brown hair that was combed into an almost 1950’s style, hazel eyes like the sky during a storm, and scruff on his cheeks. He wore a leather jacket in a lot of his pictures, and revealed in one of them that he had a motorcycle. He was also, sadly, only twenty-eight years old.
Isabelle felt awkward even thinking about going out with a guy who was almost ten years younger than her. Ten years was a decade, after all! But she didn’t want to deny him one date, since he had taken the trouble of messaging her…
She went from his profile to the message and smiled at how sweet and fun he sounded.
BigBad666: Hey cutie. Want to get a drink sometime?
Isabelle blushed. This werewolf guy thought she was cute. Of course, she didn’t think he was actually a werewolf. Surely the people who used this app were just in some sort of Halloween-themed cult, right? Also, his username was ridiculous. She would have cringed more if he wasn’t so good looking…
Nevertheless, she wrote him back. Why the hell not?