Web Master (#8 Shifter Squad)

by J. C. Diem

  A woman in her sixties was waiting at the elevator. She wore a floor length coat made of real ermine. It was beautiful, but I felt for the poor animals that had died just to provide her with clothing. She wore matching ruby earrings, necklace and a ring that were probably worth the cost of a small mansion.

  A bellboy stood a few paces behind her with her luggage piled up on a cart. He held a small brown dog in his arms. I wasn’t sure what breed she was, but she obviously didn’t get enough exercise. The poor thing was far too pudgy. She was probably carried everywhere rather than being allowed to walk.

  Zeus trotted along at my side as we crossed to the reception desk. No one seemed to be disturbed by his presence. Trust Mark to find a hotel that allowed pets. The paintings suddenly made more sense at that realization.

  “Mark Steel and party,” Mark said to the receptionist. “Do you have a private sitting room that we could use?”

  “Of course,” the clerk replied. He booked the room on his computer then handed out keycards to us all. Waving at a passing employee, he motioned for her to assist us. “I’ll have the cost charged to your room, Mr. Steel. Meredith will show you to the sitting room. Would you like me to have your belongings taken upstairs?” He did a bad job of hiding his disdain for our choice of luggage. He didn’t seem to be very impressed with the way we were dressed either. Only Mark passed muster.

  “That won’t be necessary,” Mark said politely. We couldn’t risk anyone discovering our spare weapons and ammo. It was best to remain as low key as possible.

  The attendant that the clerk had signaled to hurried over to us. Without a word, Meredith gestured towards the elevators where the wealthy guest had disappeared. Short and plump, she had frizzy blond hair that framed her pale face. She strode over, pushed the button and waited impatiently for the doors to open. Giving the impression she was doing us a favor, she escorted us to the second floor and down a hallway to a sitting room.

  “Thank you,” Mark said and discreetly handed over a tip.

  Inclining her head slightly, she paused in the doorway. “Would you like tea to be sent up?” Her accent was thick and possibly Scottish.

  “That would be lovely,” he replied and she thawed beneath his unrelenting politeness.

  “Make sure they send up coffee as well,” Kala called out before Meredith could step outside. “Tea is for sissies.” She received a nasty glare before the door slammed shut. “Jeez, good help is hard to find these days.”

  “I’m sure she has to deal with rude people on a daily basis,” Mark said with a frown at her comment about tea. “It doesn’t cost you anything to be courteous.”

  “That’s where you’re wrong,” she said teasingly. “It hurts me more than you can possibly know to be nice to snotty cows like her.”

  The sitting room had comfortably overstuffed sofas and armchairs. The color scheme was cream and gold. Several glass topped coffee tables with ornate gold legs were situated close to the seats. More paintings of animals hung on the walls. The dogs, cats and birds seemed to be watching us. It was a little creepy.

  Mark chose a sofa and sat down to read. Kala flopped onto an armchair near him and switched on the TV. Flynn took the seat next to Mark and stretched out his long legs. Reece and I chose a sofa where we could watch TV. Zeus lay down on the floor and rested his head on my feet.

  Reece put his arm around my shoulders and I leaned against him. If the threat of imminent annihilation hadn’t been hovering over us, I would have been perfectly content.

  ₪₪₪

  Chapter Fifteen

  Meredith returned a short while later with refreshments. She wheeled in a trolley with both coffee and tea as well as a variety of snacks.

  “You’re an angel,” Kala beamed at her and received an uncertain look. Kala’s sudden mood swings were hard for even us to keep up with at times.

  Meredith placed the food and beverages on the coffee table in front of Mark. “Thank you,” he said gratefully as she poured him tea. She didn’t bother to pour anything for the rest of us. She’d decided he was the only one worthy of her personal attention.

  “Do you think your wee doggie might be hungry?” Meredith said to me when she’d finished serving Mark.

  Sensing she was talking about him, Zeus lifted his head and licked his chops. “He’s always hungry,” I said wryly. While I might not be worthy of her, Zeus apparently was.

  Reaching into her pocket, Meredith pulled out a dog biscuit in the shape of a bone. “Do you want this, darling lad?” Her brogue was hard for me to understand, but Zeus knew exactly what she was asking. He scrambled to his feet and rushed over to her. “Oh, no,” she admonished him. She held up her finger before he could snatch the biscuit from her. “You have to ask me nicely.”

  Look cute for her, I instructed him. Knowing the fastest way to a human’s heart, he lay down and rolled over onto his back. He stared up at her soulfully with his legs in the air.

  She caved in with a giggle and handed over the treat. He rolled over and took it gently rather than snatching it out of her hand. “You’re as clever as you are handsome,” she said and gave him a pat. “Try not to slobber on the carpet too much.”

  “I’ll pay for any damage that he causes,” I told her.

  She waved the offer away. “We’re well used to pets in this hotel, madam. It’s all part of the service.”

  “Madam,” Kala sniggered when she left the room. “Does that make you feel as old as it sounds?”

  “Yes,” I replied honestly. “I didn’t expect anyone to call me that until I’d at least reached your age.”

  “Nice one,” Flynn complimented me.

  Scowling, Kala snatched up a cookie and hurled it at me in retaliation. Reece snatched it out of the air without even looking and stuffed it into his mouth. “Thanks,” he said when he chewed it down and swallowed it.

  Mark manfully managed to ignore us as he concentrated on reading. He took notes as he made his way through the information. Just as he’d predicted, it was going to take him a while to get through it all.

  “I’m bored,” Kala declared after an hour of watching TV. She’d held out longer than I’d thought she would. “Let’s go for a walk, Lexi. With you along, we’re bound to run into a murderer or a rapist who needs killing. It’ll be more fun than sitting around here watching Mark ruin his eyesight trying to read on that tiny screen.” If we’d been in one of our compounds he would have sent the information to the monitors rather than using his tablet.

  “Why don’t you all go?” Mark suggested without taking his eyes off the screen.

  “Sick of us already, boss?” Flynn asked good-naturedly.

  Mark looked up from the report. “Let’s just say I could use a couple of hours of peace and quiet.”

  “You heard the man,” Kala said and heaved herself to her feet. “Let’s put our bags in our rooms then find something interesting to do.”

  “Try to stay out of trouble,” I said to Mark when I reached the door.

  “Yes, Mom,” he replied solemnly.

  Once again, I was sharing a room with Reece. Fortunately, we’d been given a room on the level above the others. That had to be Mark’s idea, Reece thought to me.

  That was nice of him. Our boss was always thinking of us.

  He probably just doesn’t want to listen to Kala whining about us having sex.

  You’re probably right, I conceded.

  “We’ll meet in the lobby in ten minutes,” Kala said when she and Flynn stepped out of the elevator and into the hall. “Don’t stop for a quickie and keep us waiting.” The doors slid shut before I could retaliate to her snide comment.

  Our room was at the far end of the hallway. Reece used his keycard and stood aside to let me enter first. I put my hand over my heart and heaved a sigh at his sign of chivalry. “After you, madam,” he said with a grin.

  “Ugh. Now I feel old again.” I stalked past him, but my bad mood was fleeting. The room was tastefully decorated, but the b
ed instantly caught my attention. King sized, it took pride of place in the center of the room.

  Reece stepped up behind me and put his hands on my waist. “I can’t wait to get you naked and between the sheets,” he whispered in my ear.

  “You’re going to have to make it up to me for the madam comment,” I warned him.

  “I’m sure I can think of some way to apologize.” With that, he spun me around, crushed me against him and kissed me.

  Zeus whined a while later, breaking us from our happy daze. He told me he needed to go to the bathroom again. I checked my watch and yelped when I saw we only had a minute left to meet the others. “Come on,” I urged Reece. “If we’re late, Kala will think we had a quickie after all and we’ll never hear the end of it.”

  I hastily tossed my backpack full of clothes into the closet, but I was more careful with the backpack that contained my sniper rifle. I didn’t want to leave it behind, but I doubted I’d need the rifle in the heart of the city.

  Shaking his head at my panic, Reece loped across the room after me when I rushed for the door. The elevator would take too long, so I scooped Zeus up and raced down the stairs. I put him down when I reached the ground floor and we jogged across the lobby to where Kala and Flynn were waiting.

  Tapping her watch, Kala smirked at us when we joined them. “Five seconds to spare. That was cutting it close.” Her smirk widened when she took in my slightly messy hair from having Reece’s hands tangled in it. “I guess I don’t need to ask what kept you.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I lied as I ran my fingers through my hair to put it back in order.

  “Uh huh,” she said and rolled her eyes. “That’s totally believable.”

  “The receptionist told us there’s a dog park a couple of blocks away,” Flynn said, rescuing me from having to come up with a response for her sarcasm. He handed me some plastic bags.

  “What are they for?” I asked.

  “Poop,” Kala said succinctly then grinned. “It’s illegal to leave dog poop lying around.”

  “Eww,” I complained. “Nobody told me I’d have to pick up poop.”

  “That’s the price you have to pay for having a dog,” she said with false regret.

  Please tell me you don’t need to poop, I thought to Zeus. He avoided my eyes and grinned shamefully. He didn’t like the idea of me having to clean up after him any more than I did. “Let’s get this over with,” I said both out loud and mentally.

  We walked the two blocks to a park that was teeming with dogs of all descriptions. So much had happened lately that it was easy to lose track of time. Clearly, it must be the weekend.

  Sensing that a pair of alpha wolves had entered the area, every canine in the park turned to look at Reece and me. Pretend we aren’t here, I told them. They returned to what they were doing before their masters became suspicious of their strange behavior.

  Zeus informed me that he couldn’t go if we were all watching him, so Reece and I turned our backs. Kala sniggered, but did the same. Flynn shook his head in amusement as he turned around as well. We stood in a row with our backs to Zeus as he went about his business.

  “He’s a shy one, huh?” a woman stopped to ask. She was in her fifties and wore a hot pink sweat suit. She was walking a tiny white fluff ball. The fluff ball looked up at us with huge brown eyes that hovered on the edge of worship. He loved his master, but he’d have gladly joined us if we’d wanted him to. With that knowledge, I realized that all of the dogs felt the same way. Every one of them would have pledged their loyalty to Reece and me in a heartbeat.

  “He is,” I said to the woman absently.

  “He’s young,” she advised me. “He’ll grow out of it.” Clucking at her fluff ball, she resumed her walk.

  “What’s going on?” Flynn asked when she was out of earshot. “I can feel something strange happening.”

  Kala crossed her arms and rubbed them as if trying to smooth out goosebumps. “I feel it, too.”

  “They know we’re alphas,” Reece explained. “They want to leave their masters and come with us.”

  “Come with you where?” Flynn asked.

  “Wherever we need them to go,” I replied, feeling as if I was in a daze. I linked my hand with Reece and our power swelled. All across the city, dogs stopped what they were doing and went still. Our wolves rose and we trembled on the edge of transforming. My wolf threw her head back and howled in my mind. Every canine in the city responded by howling out loud.

  Even Zeus was caught up in the moment. He howled in joy at the knowledge that we were part of a pack that stretched further than my mind could imagine. Reece’s wolf howled as well, joining his song to mine.

  It wasn’t just dogs who heard our combined call. All across the country, werewolves shuddered when they felt our power. They knew that we weren’t just alphas. We were something more. They felt both awe and dread when they sensed that something momentous was coming.

  Just as quickly as it had come, our power faded and the moment passed. The howls cut off as if a switch had been flipped.

  ₪₪₪

  Chapter Sixteen

  “What the hell was that?” a woman called out in a scared voice. Everyone was staring at their dogs as if they were possessed. For a moment, they almost had been. Our power had been strong enough to subvert them all to our will, if we’d wished it.

  “I’d like to know the answer to that as well,” Flynn muttered. “We should head back to Mark. He needs to know about this.”

  “I need a minute first,” I said. My legs were trembling and I just wanted to sit down for a few moments. Reece was almost as shaken as I was. We stumbled over to a bench and plonked down.

  “Someone has to do something about that mountain of poop,” Kala said when we received pointed stares from other dog walkers. Zeus sidestepped away from the pile, vainly trying to pretend he wasn’t responsible for it. I’d have to remember never to let him eat an entire roast again if this was the end result.

  I went to stand and Flynn waved at me to stay where I was. “Give me one of the bags,” he said stoically. I passed one to him and a smile hovered around Kala’s mouth as he approached the poop in trepidation. Watching how some of the other dog walkers dealt with the problem, he shoved his hand inside the bag then bent and scooped up the mess. He held his breath as he pulled the plastic over his hand and quickly tied the bag shut.

  “Nicely done,” Kala said and clapped. “You didn’t even get any on you. You could be a professional poop scooper.”

  He cut her a glare then looked at me. “Now what do I do with it?”

  “How the hell would I know?” I shrugged. “I’ve never picked up poop before.”

  A man walking past pointed at a trash can that sat in the distance. “What do you think you do with it? Carry it around in your pocket? You throw it in the trash.” Shaking his head at our pathetic lack of dog park etiquette, he continued on.

  Kala managed to contain her laughter for a full two seconds before she exploded. She staggered over to the bench and dropped down beside me. “I can just imagine people walking around with bags of poop in their pockets,” she gasped then descended into giggles again.

  “I think this is one of the reasons why my Dad wouldn’t let me have a dog,” I said sadly. “There’s no way he would have suffered this kind of indignity.” Zeus walked over to me and put his head on my knees. “It’s not your fault we have to pick up your poop,” I told him and stroked his head.

  “Yeah, fleabag,” Kala said. “Everyone has to crap. The only difference between you and us is that we don’t have to carry ours around in a bag.” That made her start laughing again. Apparently too weak to sit upright without help, she slid closer and put her head on my shoulder.

  The look on Flynn’s face told us that he was contemplating throwing the bag at Kala. “You’ll get us, too,” Reece warned him.

  “I know,” Flynn said morosely. “It’s still tempting.”

  R
ealizing his intent, Kala finally sobered up. “Sorry,” she said in almost believable contriteness. “I don’t know what came over me.”

  “Give me the bag,” I said before temptation could win out and he hurled the bag at her after all. “Maybe you can throw a stick for Zeus for a while.”

  Springing away from me, Zeus tore over to the nearest tree and returned with a stick. He pressed it into Flynn’s hand then stared up at him imploringly. “You want to play fetch, do you?” he teased. Zeus put his head down on his paws and gave him his cutest look.

  “Aww,” Kala said with a grin. “There’s not a person alive who could resist that look. Not even a coldblooded reptile like you, Flynn.”

  Narrowing his eyes at the insult, he pretended to throw the poop bag at her. With a shriek, she leapt off the seat and bounded away.

  Chuckling, Flynn walked over and handed me the bag. I took it from him and heaved myself to my feet. Reece’s shoulders heaved in silent mirth as I headed for the trash can. I sent him a dirty look, but it did nothing to curb his amusement.

  One or more of the bags had broken open and the smell was almost bad enough to make my eyes water. I held my breath, tossed the bag inside then hurried back to the bench. “I vote we stay away from dog parks in the future,” I said when I sat down.

  “Agreed,” Reece replied and pulled me in close. As a sign that he loved me, he didn’t mention the horrible stench that now clung to my clothes.

  Flynn and Kala took turns tossing the stick for Zeus. They had to pretend to be human and couldn’t throw it as far as usual, but he still enjoyed their game. Other dogs watched them longingly, desperate to join the game. Their owners were too intimidated by Zeus’ size to let them anywhere near him.

  With the uncanny knack of knowing that something had happened, Mark called Reece. “I’m just checking in,” our boss said when he answered his cell phone. “Is there anything I need to know?”