“What's your confidentiality policy?” Arden asks suddenly.
She cocks a pale eyebrow. “Are you speaking for Dr. Phisher?”
“Talyn,” I say.
She gives a tight chin dip in acknowledgment.
“No, but I was wondering.” I look at Arden and we exchange a look of understanding.
“I don't tell anyone anything.” Narah Adrienne doesn't over-explain things. She's a fact-stater. It makes me curious as to her background.
I'll pulse Google her later.
She cocks her head, eyeing me. Her eyes glitter like peridot jewels. I can't see fangs, though I'm ashamed to admit I have an almost freak show-act curiosity about vampires. Reality pulsevision just isn't enough.
Arden holds up the baggie with the canine.
Narah tracks it with eyes like a predator. She snatches it before he can take his next breath. We simultaneously gasp.
Adrienne ignores our reaction.
“Where's the original piece that this came off from?” Her eyes light on me with new interest.
Maybe I'm not some quack after all.
I walk to the junk drawer and slide it open.
I step back, sucking in air.
The tooth. It's gone.
Enforcer Adrienne must see my panic and she's by my side in a blur of pale flesh before I can form a question. “What is it?”
I feel clumsy—thick. “I had it right here—in my junk drawer.”
Narah asks, “How big was it?”
I widen my index fingers to about five inches apart.
Narah's low whistle threads through the kitchen like a creepy string plucked. “Looks like you've got yourself a Lycan problem.”
Arden gives me another look.
Her gaze moves between us, noting the glance. “What's with all the surreptitious looks, guys?”
“We wondered,” Arden says.
Adrienne's lips tilt. “You wondered, huh?”
“What with the world all vamping out,” he says then gives her a guilty look.
“It's okay, Arden—there's a lot of miscommunication.” She seems resigned to that fact.
Arden smiles slightly. “I don't know. You're as lethal as I thought a vampire would be.”
She grins. Fangs appear like sharp little pearly curved claws.
We back away.
“Chill out. I can't smile without some fang.”
I'm as tense as I've ever been in my life.
Arden recovers first. “So you're saying there are Lycans.”
“Yeah.”
I'm pretty sure the world at large doesn't need to know that yet.
We look at each other again, he shrugs. “So what can you do?” I ask, frustrated.
“Depends on what our boy wants.” She lifts a shoulder, black tank perfectly matching black combat pants. Weapons stud her belt, hanging off her like deadly jewelry. Except for her gage plugs in her earlobes, she doesn't wear any. No—I take that back—a slim metal band of Tungsten encircles her left ring finger.
“That's it,” I fling my hands out. “I don't know what he wants.”
Her pupils dilate, capturing my gaze. A weird sensation like static electricity flows over me and is gone. “Quack like a duck.”
“What?” I reflexively laugh.
Adrienne frowns.
Arden cooperatively quacks behind me.
I whip my head in his direction. I'm a little alarmed at how realistic he sounds.
His face is slack, eyes glazed.
I turn back to Adrienne and she says, “Okay—so here's the news: you're a hybrid.”
“A what?” I ask in a choked voice.
“Part-human, part-Lycan.”
I shake my head. It was a mistake to call in Final Enforcement.
She nods. “It's okay. A doctor will find abnormalities during a rudimentary physical. They're really looking for that now.” She chuckles again as though sharing a personal joke with herself.
I'm not laughing. I sit on my bar stool by the kitchen peninsula. Hard.
She continues. “That's why you've got a Changer sniffing around.”
“A Changer?” I ask through numb lips.
“Yup. You're Lycan enough to be changed and he's probably the boy assigned to do it.”
“Blue-eyes?” I ask, though I don't feel like I really need the confirmation.
“How bad did he tear up the asshole—Duncan?”
I don't even pause, “Badly. And fast.”
She nods thoughtfully. “Okay, so he won't hurt you.” She throws up her palms.
A quack sounds.
Adrienne's face screws into annoyance. She looks at Arden. “Stop quacking.”
Arden wakes up.
“That didn't work on me,” I note.
Adrienne looks at me, and I notice for the first time she's sort of pretty beneath all the piercings, tats and gage plugs.
She shakes her head. “A little test of mine. Lycans are resistant to vampire thrall.”
God. “Well that's something, I guess.”
We glance at Arden. He looks insulted. We ignore him.
Adrienne puts hands to hips. “So you're calling me in to—what?”
“He's stalking me—this Lycan man,” I explain to her slowly.
“Don't condescend to me, Dr. Phisher.” Her voice is instantly cold.
“I apologize, that wasn't my intention.”
“Might be natural,” she says coolly, her pale eyebrows rising slowly.
We stare at each other.
Finally she says something that gets my full attention, “He is a protector—not a stalker.”
“I don't want—if I am—Lycan, to be changed or whatever he's planning. He has no right.”
Adrienne's head dumps to her breastbone, and she speaks to the floor. “This isn't about rights.” Her face rises, eyes locking with mine. “You will die without him.”
“Die?”
She gives a sharp nod.
“What's his role?” I ask. I have to ask.
“It's different for Lycans, I guess. For vamp female hybrids, a male Turner brings you over through blood exchange.”
Gross.
She reads my expression and laughs.
“So he's going to fang her?” Arden asks with a nervous chuckle.
“Nope,” she says, “he's going to fuck her.”
14
Merck
I scent the female vampire hybrid the instant she slides out of her vintage Mustang.
I don't attack for a couple of reasons. One: she's female. Two: she's Final Enforcement. The word on the supernatural street is she has two males. Vampires—one a former Hunter.
My female would never be in a job as dangerous as this one.
I hang back, watching their conversation from my vantage point in a huge ash tree. My talons bite deeply furrowed bark, readying my stance in case the truly bizarre happens.
And Narah Adrienne decides to go berserker on my change.
When Talyn collapses, Adrienne reaches for her, and I jump from my perch.
I loathe what I'll have to do but I can't have anything happen to Talyn.
I rush the back door, shouldering through the glass in a ball of speed. It shatters into tiny pieces.
Non-tempered glass shreds me into ribbons.
A human male shrieks, pinwheeling backwards.
Hair sprouts from my skin as I go wolfen. I shake hard, the glass clinks to the ground as my skin repairs the shallow cuts that cover my exposed flesh.
Narah Adrienne looks up from an unconscious Talyn.
“Get the fuck away from my change, vamp.”
She rises smoothly, a wisp of a female and hisses, standing protectively over Talyn's body. “Do your worst, wolf.”
My eyes flick to the naked silver hardware in her hands.
I charge anyway.
I'm almost on her when two vampires plow through the glass carnage.
Narah's gaze shifts to their presence, and that's all the
distraction I need. I backhand her, her head whipping to the left.
Her foot also connects with my chin but she's going down.
The two vamps close in.
They're her mates, I realize through scent alone. Their claim is all over her, knitted between them in a trio signature of claiming.
And pretty soon, my life will be next thing they claim.
THE END
SHIFTER
An Alpha Claim Brief-Bites® Novelette
Episode 2
New York Times Bestselling Author(s)
MARATA EROS
TAMARA ROSE BLODGETT
All Rights Reserved.
Copyright © 2015 Marata Eros
Copyright © 2015 Tamara Rose Blodgett
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This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer's imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental.
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Cover art by: Willsin Rowe
Proofed by: Corinna
1
Talyn
I open my eyes in the middle of world war three.
Two huge men crash through my already broken french doors, and immediately separate, staking their claim to the perimeter of my living room on opposing sides.
I try to sit up and heat sears through me. I groan.
“Stay down,” Enforcer Adrienne commands in a low voice of authority. A hand flashes above me like a flesh lightning strike and she flies backward, her foot connecting with a strong jaw on the way down.
Blue eyes.
But he's got more than blue eyes happening now—he's not all human.
Sharp teeth are barely contained in his mouth, a snub snout has wide nostrils that flare with his obvious emotion. He's seven feet tall of solid muscle. Forget six packs—he's got a keyboard of muscle on his stomach.
And he just attacked Enforcer Adrienne.
She gives back as good as she gets, his face rocking from the impact of her well-placed kick.
He stumbles backward.
The two men who came in through my back door open their mouths and hiss.
Oh my God—it's supernatural week. Hysteria begins to have its way with me.
I roll over, crawling through the bodies and try to reach the kitchen.
My gaze frantically rolls around the space as grappling begins behind me. Where the hell is Pooky—where is Arden?
“Tal!” I hear a geeky squeak from my left. I fling my hand out without thinking. Our hands touch. I hang on for dear life as Arden drags me to him. I look up in surprise, realizing Arden's stronger than he looks.
A lamp crashes and an electrical surge sparks from my archaic electrical connection.
Adrienne leaps to her feet, moving her jaw back and forth and comes to crouch in front of me and Arden protectively.
She and Blue Eyes square off. The two males look ready to pounce.
“Stand down, Lycan.”
The huge creature backs toward the door as the two vampires charge forward.
“No!” Adrienne says and they hesitate. “He's in Changing mode, guys. He's all hot to transition Dr. Phisher.”
The two huge men look like they'd like to transition him.
I note Adrienne calls me by my official title.
“Aeslin—Matthews, it's okay,” she says, clearly trying to talk them down.
The one with the bald head growls, “The hell it is, this mutt just struck our female.”
Adrienne nods as if she wasn't the one who was just hit. “I get it. But this is part of the job. You guys can't just burst in here every time some supe gets a bee buzzing around in their bonnet about bringing it.”
The other male, still giving Blue Eyes the stink eye, straightens slightly. “Nor can we stand back and watch another male beat on our female.”
Blue Eyes stands in the periphery, chest heaving, eyes darting surreptitiously between the trio.
Narah slaps her hands on her hips and gives a harsh exhale. “Males,” she mutters. She swivels her head, whipping all those small braids over her shoulders.
She turns her attention to Blue Eyes. “Name,” Adrienne barks.
“Merck,” he says with a voice that hovers between human and other. To my ears his voice sounds like gravel falling.
“Okay,” she spreads her hands. “Don't make me kick your Lycan ass.” The two males by her side protest. “Shh, Aeslin,” she turns to look at the slightly taller vampire of the two. His dark hair is in sharp contrast to the other guy—Matthewsʼ—nearly bald head. Her hand reaches up and cups his jaw. His face softens at her touch. If a face that hard can be called soft.
His own hand covers hers but he never takes his eyes off Merck.
I'm hoping I can just become invisible.
“Stay out of this, vampire,” Merck says.
I can't take my eyes off the strange half-form of Merck. He looks like a huge human man, with a superimposed image of a wolf over everything. Short talons grace his fingertips in molted colors of beige, ivory and tan. A light coating of reddish-brown hair runs over his exposed skin.
And there's a lot of skin flashing.
Lust strikes me like fiery pain and I can't stifle the groan.
Merck's gaze finds me in the corner, huddling against Arden.
Fear scorches me. It mixes with my lust in an intoxicating rush of I want him.
His eyes remain the same. I'd know them anywhere. He's the one that protected me from Jamie Duncan.
He's also the one who was staring at me through my office window.
Adrienne steps between us, blocking my view of this luscious wolf-man. Werewolf.
Lycan.
“I can't have you taking out a client, wolf.”
I can see the corners of his elbows around her body as he folds his arms in a very human-like gesture. “I have no intention of harming Talyn Phisher. You, of all people, should understand my intent.” He sounds like he has a speech impediment, of the growling variety.
Adrienne's men stay close but don't try for Merck again.
“The humans are just getting used to us being in the picture, we don't need the complication of introducing the entire supernatural underworld in all its stunning variety to them.”
“I don't give a damn about political correctness or the humansʼ sensibilities. I have a change, and by moon, I'm going to transition her.”
I frown, bristling. Oh really?
“Adrienne said you need to sex her,” Arden says unhelpfully, and I elbow him.
“Ouch! Damn—Tal, he's not going to beat on us.”
“And you're sure because this is so normal?” I swing my palm at the four dangerous supernaturals, a busted up house filled with estrogen, testosterone and everyone on edge. Odds are high for more violence. “I'd like to say something.”
All eyes turn to me, reflecting in the gloom of my place. The undercabinet lighting seeping from the kitchen is just enough to make out their shapes as the sun sinks for the day.
I push myself up on my butt, and lean against the underside of my kitchen peninsula, shoving a bar stool out of the way. The hard wood behind my back feels good. Solid. “Enforcer Adrienne just told me I'm,” I feel utterly ridiculous articulating the whole thing but what the hell, I have three vampires and a were-something in my house—it can't get much stranger, “a hybrid-Lycan woman.” I suck in a cleansing inhale. “I haven't asked to be one. I have a normal life and was happily living it.”
Adrienne's lips twitch.
I narrow my eyes on her. This situation is a lot of things but funny it's not. “What?”
&n
bsp; “It's just the same song and dance I gave the guys.” She jerks her thumb behind her at the huge vampires.
I ignore that. “We are different women with divergent life circumstances.”
It's Adrienne's turn to shoot me a glare. “Not so different. I bet you look at this as a robbery of your independence.”
“Of course,” I bite back.
“It doesn't have to be. I'm still working.” She lifts an eyebrow.
I snort. “Look at you.”
Merck steps forward, and the vampires turn to him, hissing—talons tearing out of their fingertips.
I might make a tiny mewling sound.
The image triples in my vision and I start sucking deep breaths again. Heat climbs from my feet and I smack the surface behind me before I pass out.
He holds up his long-fingered hands, talons clicking with the movement. “Hang on.”
I choke back bile.
“Nice right hook, Lycan,” Adrienne says without rancor.
He nods as though she's an opponent on a Judo mat, his eyes steady on her face, while his body holds the tension of a possible fight. “Excellent reaction time, Enforcer.”
They stare at each other after their mutual admiration moment.
She steps back.
Her retreat leaves Merck wide open to our mutual perusal. Cold sweat beads on my forehead and I mark each breath. In. Out. In. Out.
The silence stretches between us seemingly without end as we check each other out.
Finally, his nostrils give a hard flare and he stretches out his hand in my direction. “You're degrading. My job is to transition you, female.”
My face jerks back like I've been hit, the warmth of my lust cools. The panic.
Merck just absolutely dismissed what I've just explained. He's Mr. Fix-it? No.
I've been clear about me owning my life. Mine.
My jaw slackens, and I shake my head. “Right. But this is not how I see things happening.” I squeeze closer to Arden, and God love him—he wraps his arms around me.
Angelic Blood (#5): Alpha Warriors of the Blood (The Blood Series) Page 25