The Beast was snarling, close to the finish. Nisa let go again. Ecstasy exploded from every pore as the Beast bucked into her.
One BANG! Two BANGS! split the night.
The Beast brought Nisa with him as he crumpled to the side. Nisa wriggled out of his arms. He was whimpering, trying to get up. Something inky oozed from his fur. Nisa touched it and her hand came away bloody.
The Beast had been shot.
#
Nisa’s first thought was that they were being punished. You couldn’t be this happy and not pay the consequences. Her second was that she’d die before she let Arlo be taken from her. She stayed crouched as she spun to face their attacker. A tall, lean figure was moving in the shadows, a big fucking gun glinting in the moonlight.
“Nisa! Get away from that thing.”
Nisa knew the voice as well as her own, but here it was out of place. And Arlo wasn’t a thing.
“Nisa, move!”
Nisa squinted. “Blake? What are you doing here?”
Blake’s combat boots clomped over concrete; a six-foot-one Amazon in black overall shorts and a “Boss Bitch” baby tee. She grabbed a towel from the lounge chair and tossed it at Nisa. “Cover yourself.”
Nisa caught the towel but put it to Arlo’s wounds instead. Blake lowered the gun, thoroughly confused. “You’re seriously gonna Nurse Jackie that thing? It was ra…”
She didn’t get to finish. Something big had tackled Blake at the hips, and they both went rolling as the gun flew from her hands. She used the momentum to land on top and looked down to see she was straddling a Lycan. She made two elbow strikes to the side of the Lycan’s neck. The Lycan snatched her by the overalls and flung her away. Blake tumbled across the grass. Then she jumped to her feet, ready to box.
The Lycan rolled to a fighting stance, ready to box too. Blake kicked out first—making contact with his ribs and then going for his head. Like Arlo, this Lycan hovered around seven feet. Blake’s legs were long and her kick almost landed. But he ducked and shoved her a way. She pivoted, nailed him with an overhand right, then jabbed with her left. The Lycan moved fast, grabbing her by the neck and snarling in her face.
Nisa scrambled for Blake’s gun. Her hands were shaking badly, but she aimed as best she could, waiting for them to separate.
“Nisa,” Arlo rasped. “He’s got her. Let him handle it.” He was human again, wincing from the pain but none the worse for wear.
Nisa looked confounded. “I’m not aiming at her, I’m aiming at him.”
“The woman’s the one that shot me.”
“Well, that woman is my sister.”
Now Arlo looked confused. “Since when do you have a sister?”
“Since 1991. And that wolf’s catching a bullet if he doesn’t stop choking her.”
Blake twisted from the Lycan’s hold, hammered his foot with her boot, then screamed as canine teeth clamped her shoulder.
Arlo stumbled forward holding the towel to his side. “Owen, wait . . .”
Blake hit him with a right cross as the Lycan looked Arlo’s way. His jaw made a cracking sound and popped out of joint. Blake readied to punch him again, but Nisa ran forward and grabbed her arm.
“Blake, stop. This is Arlo’s friend.”
Blake was still raring to fight but begrudgingly backed off. Then she took the gun from Nisa and held it at the ready. Owen snarled and shot Blake a look of warning. Blake’s eyes warned him right back. One wrong move and he’d be eating lead. He snapped his jaw back into place, then he too turned human so he could talk.
“What’s happening here, Arlo?” Owen was six feet four and all lean muscle. He was African-American with dark, velvety skin and, despite the dislocation, a stern, square jaw. He was no nonsense—clearly a man not to be trifled with.
Nisa recognized him; not the man but the brindle-colored wolf. He’d started the fight in Mill Valley, the night Arlo had been jumped. Now he’d hurt two people she loved. “Excuse me, but who are you and why did you attack my sister?”
“I’m Owen. And your sister shot my pack-mate.”
Blake chimed in. “Because your pack-mate was assaulting my sister. Which reminds me.” She turned to Arlo, “Who are you, exactly?”
“He’s your sister’s sidepiece,” Shane called across the yard. He’d been standing by the back door, enjoying the melee. Then he pointedly smirked at Nisa. “The police are here. They want to talk to you.”
CHAPTER Six
Shane hadn’t been lying. When Nisa got to the front door there were two uniformed officers waiting on the walkway. A neighbor had reported gunshots and snarling. She told them she’d been having a pool party when some coyotes had wandered into the yard—that she’d fired at the ground just to scare them away. The police looked unconvinced. But then a call came through of a robbery in progress. They’d warned her not to do it again, then hightailed it to their vehicle.
Nisa returned to the kitchen to find Owen tweezing bullet fragments from Arlo’s rib cage. Blake was watching Arlo and Owen from a stool at the island, a fresh bandage on her shoulder. Both men had put on sweatpants but remained shirtless, and she was clearly enjoying the view. The last bullet tinkled as Owen dropped it into a mixing bowl.
Shane was lurking near the oven. Nisa had asked him to warm up the pizza before she’d gone to talk to the police and, to her surprise, he was actually doing it.
She walked over to Arlo. She didn’t quite feel right kissing him in front of all these people, but she did run her fingers through his hair.
“Are you all right? Maybe I should take you to the hospital.”
He brought her hand to his lips. “Nah. I’ll be fine by tomorrow.”
Nisa contemplated that answer. Most people didn’t recover from being shot overnight.
Arlo grimaced as Owen poured disinfectant on his wounds. A smile spread across Shane’s face. Nisa glared, but his smile only got bigger. Now she knew why he’d stuck around—to savor Arlo’s pain.
Blake had been watching the scene unfold, her eyes moving from Shane to Nisa, then back to Shane. “I think the pizza’s ready,” she said. Blake could be obnoxious but she was good at that—redirecting energy. Shane uncrossed his arms and opened the oven. Nisa’s stomach growled as the smell of hot pizza wafted through. So did Arlo’s. And so did Owen’s. Blake hopped off her stool. “I’ll get the plates.”
“There are paper plates in the pantry,” Nisa said. The last thing she needed was to clean up after anybody tonight.
Owen had put gauze over Arlo’s bullet wounds. Now he was taping up his ribs. The force of the bullets had probably cracked, if not broken, a few of them. Nisa hoped those would heal at superhuman speed too.
Owen cleared the medical supplies away as Blake helped Nisa carry the pizzas to the table. Shane poured whiskey for everyone but Nisa. If she hadn’t been pregnant, she’d have drunk the whole bottle just to calm her nerves. Instead she’d opted for water. They all sat to eat, even Shane, and Nisa looked up to see Blake eyeing her glass.
“Blake,” Nisa inquired, “when did you get back?”
“Monday. I was going to call you, but I was busy getting my place back in order. The sublease left it a mess.”
Cheese stretched as Arlo grabbed a slice of the Delux. “Where’d you go?”
Blake pulled pepperoni from her slice and popped it in her mouth. “Peru. I was apprenticing with a shaman. Six months of no cell phones, no laptops, no Netflix . . .” Blake had said “Netflix” as if she’d been denied running water. But knowing her, they probably hadn’t had that either. “We just healed people and lived off the land.”
Arlo glanced at Nisa to see if Blake was pulling his leg, but Nisa was still staring at her sister.
“So you drove all the way here just to say you were back?”
“I took a Lyft. And I came because Shane texted that you were in trouble.”
Everyone looked at Shane, but Nisa spoke first. “How did you know Blake was back?”
S
hane was smug, and his mouth was full of pizza. “Twitter.”
Nisa blinked at Blake. “You told Twitter you were back before your own sister?”
“Twitter listens better.”
That was another thing Blake was good at—saying biting things. The truth was, Blake liked a lot of attention and so did Shane. It was hard to give it to them both and, over the years, Shane had won out.
And, of course, Shane would have seen Blake’s tweet. A few short weeks ago he’d used Twitter to tell the world that Nisa was pregnant. He was probably on there daily still soaking up the accolades.
“Well, I’m not—in any trouble, that is.”
Blake looked around pointedly. “Uh-huh.”
Like most people, Arlo wasn’t yet sure what to make of Blake. So he turned his attention to Owen instead. “And what were you doing here, Owen? How did you know where I was?”
Owen had been quiet this whole time, blending into the background. “I stopped by the beach house to see if you wanted to have dinner. When you weren’t there, I figured you might be here.”
Arlo set his slice down. “Have you told Willa?”
Owen paused to take a bite. “Dinner was her idea.”
Nisa gave Arlo a look. Less than a day and the gig was up.
#
Nisa spent the rest of dinner lost in her own thoughts. What she wanted most was for Willa to go fuck herself. Or at least that’s what she wanted Arlo to say to Willa the next time they saw her. But Willa was like a mother to Arlo. And most people didn’t tell their moms to go fuck themselves no matter how awful they’d been.
Blake cleared her throat. “I’m gonna crash here tonight.”
“As will I,” Owen declared.
“Now wait just a minute,” Shane said. “Blake, you wanna stay here? Fine. But you? I don’t know you.”
Owen was frosty. “I don’t know you either. But she”—Owen pointed his finger at Blake—“tried to kill Arlo. If she’s staying here, so am I.”
“Her name is Blake,” Nisa corrected.
Arlo jumped in before things could get too messy. “I’m fine, Owen. It was a misunderstanding.”
“Arlo. I’m staying.”
Shane bubbled with outrage. “How many of you people am I going to have to deal with?”
Blake’s look was sharp. “What do you mean ‘you people?’”
Shane rolled his eyes. “Lycans, Blake. How many Lycans.”
Blake looked at Arlo. “Is that what you people are?”
“Huh,” Owen said. “So when he says, ‘you people’ it’s a problem. But when you say it, it’s okay?”
Arlo took a sip of whiskey. “At least they called us ‘people.’”
“You ain’t lyin’.” Owen and Arlo clinked their glasses.
Nisa raised her voice. “Whoever wants to stay can stay. Blake, you can take the pullout in my office. Owen, you can take the couch down here.”
Blake pointed at Arlo. “Where’s he sleeping?”
“His name is Arlo,” Nisa growled. “And he sleeps with me.”
“Yes, Nisa,” Shane said. “I think that was made abundantly clear on the back lawn.”
Arlo’s glass hit the table with a thunk. “You should keep your mouth shut, Shane.”
“See,” Owen said. “That’s why I’m staying.”
Blake chimed in. “Me too, brother. Me too.”
It was Blake and Owen’s turn to clink glasses.
Chair legs scraped heavy against the wood as Nisa stood from the table. “GREAT. EVERYBODY IS STAYING. Now can we clean up and get to bed? I’m sick of all of you.”
#
Shane wasted no time retreating to his bedroom then slamming the door to affirm his displeasure. The rest of them cleaned the kitchen. Then Blake tromped upstairs as Nisa and Arlo helped Owen get situated. Nisa offered to show Owen how to work the TV, but he’d chosen to read instead.
Nisa’s next stop was the office to help Blake convert the pullout. By the time she got there, Blake was spreading the flat sheet over the bed. Nisa entered the room anyway and closed the door behind her.
Blake stopped and looked up. “You’re pregnant, right?”
Nisa sighed and nodded her head. “Yes.”
“And it’s Arlo’s?”
“Possibly.” Nisa shrugged. “Hopefully.”
“A lot happened while I was gone.”
“Yes, it did.”
“Wanna tell me about it?”
“Not really.”
“The broad strokes then,” Blake insisted.
Nisa gave in and sat on the arm of the couch. “Shane and I went on a business trip to the Bay Area. I met Arlo while I was up there, and we fell in love.”
“And he’s . . . a Lycan?”
“Yes. But listen. You can’t tell anyone.”
Blake looked dumbfounded. “Who would I tell? Who’d believe it?”
“I mean it, Blake. These people. They have power and they have money. And they are seriously invested in keeping their secret. They won’t let anyone get in the way of that.”
“Is that what you were doing in the yard? Keeping secrets?”
“Blake. Promise me.”
Blake tossed a pillow at Nisa’s head. “I promise.”
Nisa grabbed the pillow and hugged it to her chest. “I’m scared to death, Blake.”
“You and me both. Those guys are like the missing link. Only with bigger teeth. My brain can hardly compute.”
“I’m scared because I love him. So much it hurts. It terrifies me.”
Blake walked around to kneel in front of her sister. “I know, Nees. But whatever this all is, we’ll kick it in the balls.”
“Shane told you I’m in trouble but I’m not. At least not how you think.”
“Shane brought me here tonight to cause chaos, and I’m sorry I let him. But I’m not sorry that I came. Because I can also see that you’re in over your head. Arlo obviously loves you. It’s written all over his face. But I won’t leave you here with the wolves at your back . . . No pun intended.” Blake tried to keep a straight face but she couldn’t do it. Neither could Nisa and they burst out laughing.
Nisa wiped her eyes. “Shane really is an asshole, isn’t he?”
“I’ve been telling you that for years.”
Nisa laughed again, then stood to help finish making the bed. Blake stood too and grabbed the other side of the quilt.
“How’s your shoulder?” Nisa asked. “In fact, how’s your whole body?”
“Sore. My shoulder stings a bit but it’ll be fine.” A little bit of blood had seeped through Blake’s bandage.
“You sure?” Nisa fluffed the pillows. “That fight was intense.”
Blake grinned. “I got in a few good hits though, right?”
“You most certainly did.”
#
When Nisa got back to her room, Arlo was in the shower. And if Arlo was in the shower, then she wanted to be too. He watched through the glass as she peeled off her clothes. Then she stepped in behind him and rested her cheek against his spine.
Arlo turned to face her. He’d been using the handheld nozzle to keep his bandages dry. Now he used it to run water down her back. Nisa looked up, closing her eyes as he kissed her lips.
“I’m sorry my sister shot you.”
“I’m sorry she shot me, too.”
“Does it hurt?”
“Some, but I’ll heal.”
Nisa looked down, her fingers lightly touching the gauze. “How does that work exactly? How can you get shot and be fine the next day?”
“Lycan physiology, I guess? Supercharged metabolism?”
She touched the stubble on his cheeks. “I remember that night in the stables. You were all clawed up. That was Owen’s handiwork, right?”
Arlo hung up the nozzle and ushered her under the stream. “Mostly.”
“So why is he here now?”
Arlo soaped his hands, then kneaded Nisa’s shoulders. “Because Willa sent him. He�
��s checking up on me.”
“But how did he know you were here. Was he following you?”
Arlo’s hands moved lower. “I’m guessing he caught your scent at the beach house.”
“You can do that? Identify people by scent?”
“Some of us better than others, but yeah. It’s part of Owen’s job, so he’s honed that skill. He pays attention to it.”
“Can you do that?”
“Your scent is easy for me. I’ll always be able to pick that up. But to give you an example, Shane was in our room today. I know that because his scent is fresher than it was when we left this morning.” Nisa made a noise of disgust. “But I couldn’t smell someone in a crowded market, then know their scent more than a week later. Owen can do that with very little effort.”
“Why is my scent so easy to pick up?”
Arlo’s hands were on her backside now. “Because you’re important to me. It’s imprinted now. I’ll always know it.”
Nisa turned to face him. “I know your scent too. I’m not sure how, but I just do.”
Arlo’s hands started at her neck, then ran down the slopes of her breasts. Soapy bubbles clung to her nipples as they moved under her bosom, then slid to caress her rounded abdomen.
He went down on one knee and began to wash her sex—fingers slipping between her labia and brushing against her clit. It was a swift, light touch, sweeping from the front of her slit to the crack of her ass. Then his hands moved on to lather her legs. He even washed her feet, his hands loving and methodical until her entire body was clean.
He stood up and grabbed the nozzle again to rinse her off. Nisa watched his face. He looked content. Occupied with the task of caring for her body. “I don’t want to make love tonight.” She wasn’t sure why she’d said it, but it was true.
A smile played on Arlo’s lips. “I know.”
He did what he did before, only this time with water, running his hands over her breasts and between her legs. But she trusted him to do only that. As forceful as he could be, he never tried to coerce or convince her she wanted sex when she didn’t. He just wanted to be with her any way he could. And, in the short time she’d known him, he’d proven that again and again.
Night Creatures: Book 2 Page 4