by Claudy Conn
Zoie’s mother put a plate and a cup of coffee in front of their guest, and Zoie’s insides melted as she saw the smile her mom and Owen exchanged.
Oh yeah, he was charming. So completely charming, but what did he want with her when he could have all those tall lithe beauties out there? She sighed. Carmen was right. She was just a way to get to her father.
“I am assuming hybrids enjoy food as much as we shifters,” Zoie’s mom said softly.
He smiled broadly. “Yes, I do, thank you.” He locked eyes with Zoie.
Zoie sizzled and trembled. That was what his look did to her. His green eyes glittered with desire, and she had to look down at her plate to break the spell.
“Tell me,” Raymond said as he pushed his plate of half-eaten eggs aside. “Why are you here? We don’t know one another, and my experiences in the past with the hybrids I have encountered have been…less than stellar. So, I am more than curious to know why you want a meeting with me.”
“First, allow me to explain how I came by my information,” Owen said, sitting back in his chair and meeting the alpha’s look head on. “Through my recent travels, I met Rocco of the Rahound pack. Unfortunately, I attended a party he was throwing.” The hybrid’s brow went up and he looked directly at Zoie. “It wasn’t my style—his party, so I left nearly as soon as I arrived, but not before I overheard some of his drunken boasting. One of the things he let slip was the fact that you and the Wolfe pack border one another in the north and at that border a portal exists. That portal inhabits more of Bracken land than it does Wolfe property, and that same portal is one that was created by the Red Demons to give them access to this world from theirs.”
Raymond Bracken leaned forward onto his elbows and pyramided his hands. Ralphie leaned towards both the hybrid and his father.
Zoie and her mother sat back and exchanged glances.
“Tristan and I enlisted our pack friendly witches to shut the portal down,” Ray Bracken answered warily.
“There ya go,” Owen said, with a shake of his head. “You closed it, yes, but it still exists, and Rocco thinks he can get it open.”
Raymond stood up. “How?”
“Apparently, Rocco believes the warlock that has joined his pack has the skill to override the seal your witches have surrounding the portal’s mouth,” the hybrid said. “My questions to you are…is that possible and if so, how do we prevent them from doing this?”
“The Red Demons emit a toxin from their claws that is fatal to shifters and humans alike,” Ralphie said. “We closed that portal because in a battle with them, casualties would be immense.”
“Have you told Tristan Wolfe yet?” Zoie’s mother asked of Owen.
“No. I am leaving that to you. The portal’s mouth opens on your land. You deserved to be told immediately.”
Ray paced for a few moments. “Thank you, Owen. We will look into the matter immediately.”
Owen finished his eggs in one scoop and smiled at Belva. “Thank you, Mrs. Bracken. That was great.” He stood up and turned to Zoie. “I’ve been wanting to tell you since I walked in here, that, ah beauty, you look fierce.”
Her lashes fluttered…fierce? He thought she looked fierce? After no sleep and only a quick brushing to her hair? Zoie’s eyes opened wide and she glanced at her mother. Why, she wasn’t sure.
“You ready, baby?”
“Er…ready?”
“To go with me?” He wasn’t the least bit put off by her father’s narrowed glance.
Again, she glanced at her mother, only to find her mom’s eyes twinkling.
She shouldn’t go with him. The more time she spent with him, the harder she would fall. Maybe it was already too late? What should she do? He would leave in the end. He was a gypsy, not much different than a rogue shifter who doesn’t want to join a pack. Drifting was what Owen Slade did, from one place to another.
Knowing all that, she still wasn’t letting Owen Slade walk out that door without her!
She grabbed a black leather jacket off the wall hook as she followed Owen outdoors, throwing over her shoulder, “Later.” Outside, she asked, “Where are we going, hybrid?”
“You’ll see,” was all he answered as he pulled her into him. “Zoie, I don’t know what is happening to me, happening from the moment I laid eyes on you. Just the couple of hours away from you this morning had me nuts. I am so fucking hot for you, yeah, but it is more than that. I need to look at you, hear your voice, your adorable little laugh…be with you.” He ran his hand through his black hair. “Nuts, this is nuts.”
She didn’t answer as he continued to walk her to his parked, silver Mercedes and saw her seated inside.
As she made herself comfortable, he jumped into the driver’s seat and started the car, taking the wheel with one hand and her knee with the other.
She felt the heat race through her blood and tried to get on a safe subject. Should she remove his possessive hand from her knee? Nah, not after the night they had shared. It would be childish.
Instead, she spread her fingers over the rich leather upholstery and said, “Oooh, nice car. Are you rich?”
“Does it matter?” His fine dark brow arched.
He was so freaking sexy. She shook her head. “Nope,” she said, and then teased, “but it wouldn’t hurt.” She looked out the window as he took a narrow country road she knew well and frowned. “Where are we going?”
“I found this the morning after I first found you…”
“Oh, after you saved me?” she said, and touched the hand on her knee. “I am so grateful for what you did, Owen.”
He frowned and looked away from the road for a moment to catch her eyes. “I don’t want your gratitude, baby.”
“What do you want, hybrid?” She meant only to tease, or did she?
He stopped the car right in the middle of the road, put it in park, and bent over and held her neck with one hand while the other cupped her breast. His lips brushed against hers gently. His tongue lapped at her bottom lip, then found its way inside and danced around hers.
All at once, she wanted out of her clothes. She wanted to tear off his clothes, but he splashed some cool water on her and said, “Later, gorgeous, I am going to fuck you over and over again, and until you say it.”
“Say what?”
“That you are mine,” he answered, and put the car in drive once again.
She couldn’t breathe. He actually took her breath away. The way he touched her—kissed her was more than lust. It was tender, so tender. How could that be?
He would leave. She was sure that Carmen was right and he would leave.
His cellphone rang and he picked it up and said, “What? Now? Yeah, I’ll be right there.”
“What?” Zoie asked.
“Aric. He wants me over at the Wolfe house. Your dad and brothers are all there, and they want me included. Sorry, baby, we’ll have to put this off ‘til later.”
“Sure, I have some errands to run, so you can just drop me…”
“No, I’m not that far. You take my car and I’ll go wolf. They can lend me some clothes when I get there.”
With that, she watched as he got out of his car and transformed into the big black wolf and padded off into the woods.
He had given her his car and his car was a luxurious expensive machine. Does a man who is about to leave you do that? She shook her head. This was all too fuzzy in her head. She just didn’t know what to think and was afraid to think that perhaps, just perhaps, he might…no, she wouldn’t even say it in her mind.
She made a U-turn towards the road to Bracken Village and went to the library. She had loads of research that needed to be done, and it was some hours later when she looked at the clock and gasped. Four hours had gone by.
She got into Owen’s car and headed over to Blue Creek and Aric’s place. She couldn’t find a spot at first and parked a distance down the road. She walked the distance to the entrance of the Wolfe’s Den and stopped short as soon as she saw him.
>
Owen was seated at the bar, a tall and leggy blonde, a human, was between his knees, with her hands locked around his neck. His hand was on her hip. A smile was on his face.
She couldn’t move. Something in her heart spiked and burst. She felt the tears well up and didn’t know why he looked across to the doors at that moment, but he did, and their eyes met. Caught in the act.
There was nothing he could do, and why should he? He was a free agent. He had marked her, yes, but maybe hybrids took harems! She was an idiot. Carmen had warned her. She had warned herself.
Fuck! She needed to run! Zoie turned sharply and was out the door. A few moments later, throwing off her clothes, she went wolfen and sped towards home.
Chapter Seven
A mile into the forest that would lead home, Zoie was no less distressed than when she had started her run.
She had raced through the trees without direction. Panting, she stopped and howled with heartache.
It was the fall season and the leaves had been turning, and gliding on their way to the earth. Zoie tried concentrating on the beauty of it all.
Think about the leaves, she told herself as she tried to come to grips with what she had been telling herself all along. Owen Slade was a player. Why had she thought otherwise?
It was Saturday, and by now, Ralphie and Brock were probably closing up the mill and the store. Think of something other than Slade became the mantra of the hour. Right—like that was going to work.
Where was she? She looked around and realized she was at the North Woods where Wolfe met Bracken lands. The portal? Damn, if she wasn’t near the spot.
She got up and slowly made her way a quarter of a mile to have a look, but as she got closer, she got a buzzing sound in her ears. She shook her pretty silver mantle and swiped at her nose with her paw.
What was that? An odd scent and the humming noise? Where was the sound coming from?
No doubt, Tristan Wolfe and her dad would make arrangements with their most powerful witches to maintain the seal and keep the portal impenetrable. However, they would need more than power to defeat an experienced warlock. They would need specific skills.
All at once, she thought of her friend.
Carrie Engles had always been a loner during her years at school, but she and Zoie had met and become tight.
Carrie was so much more than an earthly witch. She had been orphaned and raised by the Engles, earthly witches that were part of the Bracken pack and lived at the edge of Bracken Falls. The little family had kept to themselves most of their lives, except during emergencies when they were always there for the pack. Their magic was of the ‘light’ variety, and it was their goal to use magic as little as possible.
The Wolfe and Bracken packs made it known they were not to be bothered, and as a child, and then later as a teen, Carrie had always been safe amongst the shifters.
Humans? Quite a different story.
Some of the human teenagers started picking on Carrie when she walked the halls alone. At first, it was all about her quirky clothes, which Zoie actually thought suited her friend, who looked ‘old world hippie’. Then, it was all about Carrie’s long platinum hair.
Zoie and Carrie were friends, but Carrie, who was shy, never told Zoie what humiliations she was suffering at the hands of some ‘mean girls’ in school.
Zoie found out quite by accident.
Five ‘popular’ human girls, girls Zoie had always avoided, chose to circle Carrie in the gym. Zoie had been passing by the gym’s closed doors when her fine hearing had picked up on the slurs, and she slammed the doors of the gym open wide as she stormed in.
She found Carrie looking down at the floor as the girls in bully mode hurled verbal abuse at her friend, just before they started pushing her from one to the other.
That was all it took for Zoie to stampede the group and shove them away.
“Who the fuck do you asswipes think you are?” Zoie shouted.
One girl dared to respond, “Only having a little fun, Zoie.”
“I don’t call it fun when it is five against one. Do you know what Carrie could have done to you, had she been like you? No? Well, let me show you what I can do when riled.” Zoie allowed her claws to grow and she put them up in the air. “If you don’t have something nice to say to anyone…don’t talk, and you ever gang up on Carrie again, you will, all of you…whether one or five do it, answer to me. Jerks.”
“Oh, look, the bitch has spoken,” one of them said.
Zoie slammed her to the ground and whispered, “If I go wolfen, I may not be able to control myself.” She motioned to the others. “Get your…what is she? Your leader? Yeah, right. Get her and get your sorry tight asses out of here.” She grinned. “Oh, and remember, this bitch has canines.”
Bullies, Zoie noted, were usually cowards and these were no different. They scattered.
After that, no one bothered Carrie whether Zoie was around or not.
Over their school years, and then university life, they became even closer, but in the last year, Zoie hadn’t seen much of her friend because she had been forever working, going to class and trying to get her PhD.
Carrie had moved out of her family’s home and had a really pretty little cabin not far from Bracken Woods, just off a dirt road that led to the main road to town.
Zoie had been there only once, but she knew just where it was. She turned to head towards a shortcut path that would lead her right to the dirt road to Carrie’s place, and stopped short.
That unusual scent she had detected earlier wafted stronger here. What was it? Not human, definitely not shifter.
Zoie knew at once. Every shifter knew the scent. Red Demon in Human Glamour.
She couldn’t quite make out whether the scent came from the left or the right because the scent seemed to be everywhere. Zoie sniffed the air above and growled.
One of them stepped out from a clump of evergreens and said, “Hi there.”
He was of average height and build. His hair was shaggy, but not in an attractive way. His features were odd, as though hazed over.
Her first reaction was to turn and run.
She was already in wolf form and her speed was faster than a demon’s speed. All she needed to do was get to Carrie’s cabin because Carrie could outdo a demon’s magic any day of the week.
Another demon in Human Glamour stepped out and stood beside his twin. They looked absurd in their tightly buttoned plaid shirts and jeans. When the third, and then fourth, all look-alikes, stepped out and stood beside one another, Zoie turned and loped off as though she was just a wolf heading for its den.
“Wait,” one of them called at her back. “We just need directions to town.”
Damn, damn, damn. They knew she was a shifter. They knew.
“Zoie. Zoie Bracken,” one of them called.
Oh holy shitsky, they knew her name. How? Move, she told herself, and widened her pace as she raced over fallen branches and weaved through brush.
They were using illusion. They were still in demon form and only giving the façade of human. That took less effort than actually trying to transform.
She had always heard they weren’t fast, yet these guys were hot on her heels.
One of the demons had managed to get ahead of her and cut her off. She stopped short and bared her canines. In wolf form she couldn’t speak to them, but she snapped at the air, making her intention to fight, even though she was outnumbered, quite obvious.
“We are here to give your pack a clear message. If you, like the vampires, align with us, your pack will come to no harm.”
Zoie growled and lunged at them. If anyone was going to give a clear message, she decided it was going to be her. She connected with one of them, biting and grabbing him by the ankle. She brought him down and pounced.
Before the others could reach her, she had ripped open his throat and lunged away to face the other two.
Green blood dripped from her bared canines and her blue eyes told them sh
e meant to dish out more of the same if they attacked.
The remaining three demons came after her with a roar of fury. She flew at one and knocked him over, immediately twisted and got a hold of his throat before the others could tackle her. She hadn’t realized how ferocious she could be as she ripped his head off, shook it like a plaything, and flung it far.
Two demons left and they both dove at her and before she could sidestep either of them, one slashed the air and connected with her shoulder.
Ordinarily, this would not have been enough to bring Zoie down. But his claws had poured his demon poison directly into her system.
That poison worked fast, and Zoie yelped out in pain as the toxin sped through her veins, and blood poured out of the wound.
Bad, this is so bad, she thought as she felt the seizures begin. Poison. Demon poison is fatal. And she hadn’t even had a chance to…
All at once, she heard the two demons’ sounds of triumph turn into grunts of surprise and distress.
She saw a haze of black fur. She heard crunching of bones and through eyes that were no longer able to focus, she saw red demon scales…torn bodies…
How? Ah, the black fur. Her Big Black Wolf…had come to save her. Great, who was going to save her from him? And then Zoie blacked out.
* * * * *
Owen had seen Zoie standing there and knew at once how it would look to her. He felt sick, actually sick to his stomach.
She turned and he tried to detangle himself from the blonde whose name he couldn’t even remember. He had been trying to be kind. He had explained he was taken, but instead of turning her off, she became aggressive.
He had been blocking her advances as politely as he could for the better part of ten minutes and now, he simply threw her off, a behavior that was unlike himself, but he couldn’t let Zoie leave thinking what she was thinking.
He ran outside after her, but she was already out of sight. Would she head for home? He saw his car down the road.