by Julie Wetzel
“What?” Krissy asked. Fear shot through her, and she took a step a small step away from him.
“You can hear other people’s thoughts and emotions,” Elliot explained.
Panic rose in Krissy and she took another step back, but Elliot did not release her hand. “How did you know that?”
Elliot gave her a reassuring look. “My dear lady, I felt you brush my mind. That’s not a gift you often see in a human.” He paused and raised an eyebrow at her. “You are human, aren’t you?”
Insulted, Krissy stopped retreating and stood up straight. “Of course I am! What else would I be?”
“There are many things you could be,” Elliot said. His voice was light with amusement. “But that’s not important right now. How about I introduce you to my friends?”
Krissy cocked her head, not understanding what he meant. Things were moving much too fast for her overwhelmed and aching brain to process, but she didn’t ask him to clarify his statement. She didn’t know if she wanted him to explain. Nodding softly, she agreed to the introductions.
Pulling on her hand gently, Elliot turned her around without releasing her. “This is Karl.” He pointed to the man on the floor. “He’s a medic.”
Karl smiled and waved, but he did not rise to greet her.
“That’s Zak.” Elliot pointed to the black thing on the floor.
Now that Krissy was calmer, she was able to tell that the furry thing was a dog. A Shih Tzu to be precise. “He was laying on me,” she said. Her voice was heavy with regret as she recalled what had just happened. “I kicked him.” The dog looked like such a sweet and loving puppy. It broke her heart to know she had lashed out at such a beautiful creature in her confusion.
“It’s all right,” Elliot reassured her. “He knows you didn’t mean it.”
“But I might have hurt him,” she fussed as she pulled out from Elliot’s hand to pick up the little dog. He climbed willingly into her arms and nuzzled her. She ran her hands over him, but he seemed unharmed.
“You can’t hurt Zak,” Elliot reassured her. “He’s practically indestructible.” He reached out to scratch Zak’s head, but yanked his hand back when Zak snapped and growled at him. Elliot held his fingers up to make sure the monster hadn’t caught them in his pointy little teeth.
“Hey,” Krissy said, chastising the dog. “That’s not nice.”
Zak whined and settled into Krissy’s arms, but he continued to glare at Elliot.
Elliot chuckled as he finished inspecting his fingers and dropped his hand to his side “He’s mad at me.”
Krissy looked down at the little dog to find that his ears were laid back and he was staring at Elliot with intent. She ruffled them to break the dog’s concentration.
Zak glanced up at her before settling into a less-tense state in her arms.
“Why?” Krissy asked, petting down Zak’s ruffled fur.
“I wouldn’t let him go with Vicky and Darien on their honeymoon,” Elliot explained.
Krissy’s eyes widened as she processed this. “So he’s not yours?” That would explain some of Zak’s aggressive behaviors towards Elliot.
Elliot laughed. “No. Zak belongs to himself. I’m just making sure he doesn’t tear the place down while my friends are away.”
“Oh,” Krissy said as she looked around the house. It was really a nice place from what she could see. Her eyes landed on the men standing behind Elliot, and she tensed up.
Zak gurgled in complaint as her arms closed around him tighter than was comfortable.
“That’s him,” Krissy said as her panic rose. She’d only gotten a glimpse of the werewolf as he shifted forms, but the man in the black coat was most definitely the creature from the park. The other man from the park stood next to him like nothing had happened. She started to back away from them, ready to run for safety.
“Hold up,” Elliot said as he wrapped an arm around her to keep her from running. “You are safe,” he reassured her. “No one is going to hurt you here.”
Krissy shot him a disbelieving look as he pulled her around to face the two men.
“Let me start by introducing them properly. I believe you’ve already met Phelan.” Elliot nodded towards the werewolf in the long coat.
Phelan crossed his arm over his chest and bowed.
“And this is Rupert.” Elliot nodded to the man who had been attacked.
Rupert nodded his head.
“Yes, they are both werewolves, and no, they will not hurt you,” Elliot finished.
“But,” Krissy stammered, clutching Zak and trying to take a step back. She came up hard against Elliot’s arm.
“My lady,” he said softly in a matter-of-fact tone that pulled her attention away from the two werewolves standing in the doorway. “You are currently cuddling the most dangerous thing in this room. If he hasn’t eaten you by now, then I assure you, you are safe.”
Krissy looked down at the black dog. Its beady black eyes looked back at her, and it gurgled in a reassuring way. She could not believe that such a cute pup could be anything dangerous. “What is it?”
“Zak?” Elliot asked, hesitant to tell her the truth. Seeing she needed to know, he answered. “He’s a hellhound.”
Krissy froze. She looked down at the creature in her arms, unsure how to respond to this information. He sure didn’t look like her idea of what a hellhound would be. Shouldn’t they be huge black monsters with teeth dripping saliva and burning red eyes?
Zak whined and kneaded her with his front paws.
Reaching out, Elliot scratched the dog’s back, reassuring him.
The fact the dog genuinely seemed concerned about her opinion of him helped Krissy to feel more comfortable. She petted him before looking up at Elliot. Her fingers played with Zak’s fur as she cocked her head and considered the tall man. “Aren’t hellhounds and werewolves supposed to be powerful creatures?”
“They are,” Elliot confirmed.
Krissy’s brow furrowed in confusion. “Then how can you assure me I’m safe?”
Elliot smiled at her. “That’s easy. First off, they are my friends, and I know they won’t hurt you. And second, they wouldn’t dare bring violence here. Darien may be away, but I hold his home in my keep until he returns, and I will not allow the sanctuary he offers to be violated.”
Krissy stared at him in astonishment as she took in the severity of his words. For him to be able to stop something as scary as werewolves or a hellhound, he had to be something just as scary. “And what are you?” she asked with trepidation.
Elliot considered her for a while before giving her an answer. “I’m a vampire.”
The room vibrated with tension as his words hung in the air. Krissy clutched Zak to her, trying to think her way through the situation. Every fiber of her being screamed for her to run, but Elliot stood between her and one door and the werewolves were standing in the other. There was no way she was going to escape without going through them.
Noise from the hall broke into the rigid atmosphere filling the room. Elliot let out an exasperated breath and rolled his eyes. “Excuse me for a moment,” he said as he turned away from Krissy to deal with the chaos erupting in the other room
Surprise filled Krissy as he stepped through a darkened doorway.
“Can’t you guys come and go quietly?” he snapped.
This sudden change in his presence made Krissy raise her eyebrows in amazement as he continued to reprimand the group that had just arrived.
“Have a little consideration,” he chided. “Sue still isn’t feeling well. Ann is upstairs asleep, and you all know she hasn’t taken this weekend well. Plus, Rupert and Phelan are here with a guest. So shut the hell up for once in your blessed lives. For the love of Pete, you’d think you were teenagers!”
“Yes, Dad,” a male voice sassed, making several girls giggle.
Krissy suppressed a matching sound as she looked over at the bewilderment on Rupert and Phelan’s faces. They were both trying to find so
mething interesting to occupy them, so they didn’t seem as if they were eavesdropping on the reprimanding going on in the hallway.
“I am not your father, Jakob,” Elliot snapped.
“Luke, he is not your father,” a second male said in a deep, raspy voice. The girls giggled again.
“You two are the most obnoxious…” Elliot started to yell, but cut himself off before his voice could carry to the people he had been talking about.
Krissy tried to keep her amusement from her face as Elliot stormed back into the room.
“I’m sorry about that,” he said as he ran his hands up through his hair, pushing it back from his face. He was obviously irritated and trying to calm himself back down.
Krissy tensed up as he came near again. Just because he had to deal with daily life didn’t mean he wasn’t a dangerous creature.
“What the hell are you doing to that poor girl?”
The voice from the doorway drew Krissy’s attention from Elliot. A tall woman in a skimpy black dress was stomping her way across the floor. Her long red hair was pulled up in an artful do that was showing the signs of a great night out. Another girl, a brunette, and two matching men stood in the doorway behind her.
Elliot spun to face her. “What do you mean by that, Vanessa?”
Vanessa glared at him as she passed. “Why are you scaring the hell out of her?” she asked, coming over and wrapping her arm around Krissy.
Krissy flinched away from her, but there was no dodging the woman’s grasp.
“I am not scaring the hell out of her,” Elliot snapped, affronted by the accusations. He took a deep breath before continuing in a more level tone. “She saw Phelan shift in the park, so I was explaining things to her.”
“You weren’t just wiping her memory?” Vanessa asked, holding on to Krissy.
Panic rose in Krissy again as she tried to move away from Vanessa.
“No, I wasn’t going to wipe her memory,” Elliot said, placing his hands on his hips and glaring at the woman. “You know altering memories isn’t that easy. Besides, I wanted to know how she stopped Phelan from attacking Rupert.”
“You attacked Rupert?” one of the men in the doorway asked.
“It’s not what you think,” Phelan said, flustered with the whole situation.
“Then explain it,” Vanessa pushed.
“I can’t,” Phelan snapped, his anger rising again.
“He was out of control,” Krissy said, stepping away from Vanessa’s protective hold. Setting Zak on the floor, she went over to where Phelan was standing. She looked up into his face. He stood taller, as if he was taking her invasion of his space as a challenge, but she could feel his regret and frustration with the whole situation.
An undeniable need to puff up when hurt or threatened was a very common instinct for an animal. This base reaction from Phelan reminded her of the things she dealt with at work and that calmed the fear troubling her. “I see this all the time.” She reached out and laid her hand on his chest. He was hot to her touch, but it helped her to know what he was feeling. “Pain, anger, fear, sorrow, regret. They build up until something gives, and you lash out at those around you.”
Phelan let out a pained whimper, closed his eyes, and hung his head.
Dropping her hand from his chest, Krissy turned back to Elliot and Vanessa. “It happens to all of us every once in a while, but this was different.” She looked back at Phelan. “I can feel his stress over this whole situation.” She paused and turned to look at Rupert. “But there’s no sign of the rage that pushed him over the edge in the park.”
“Phelan is as levelheaded as they come,” Karl said as he stood up from where he had been watching from the floor. “He and Sue are the counterpoints that keep Rupert from going over the edge when things get out of hand. Rupert may be the alpha, but we know it takes all three of them to keep the Brenton pack in line.”
“And Sue’s been stuck here,” Elliot said with a heavyhearted sigh.
A soft whine from the doorway drew Krissy’s attention. She turned to see a very fat, tawny wolf slink into the room. She stepped away from Phelan and Rupert as the creature came over to rub against Rupert’s leg.
The imposing man knelt down and ran his fingers through the wolf’s fur, comforting her. “It’s not your fault.” He buried his face in her ruff and held her to him. “I want you safe until the pups are born.” He slid his hand down over her side.
“And we’ve been keeping her that way,” Elliot said. “But that puts more pressure on Phelan to take up the slack.”
“Her absence from the pack hasn’t made my job easy, but it isn’t more than I can handle,” Phelan said defensively.
Elliot turned to look at Phelan. “Until tonight,” he countered. “What changed?”
Phelan shook his head. “I don’t know. We were walking along, talking about the issues with the pack, and I… just lost it.” He paused to think about the situation. “Everyone’s been on edge lately.” He tucked his hands in the pockets of his coat and pulled it around him tighter, as if that could hide him away from the people scrutinizing him.
“This is true,” Elliot agreed. “I haven’t talked to her in a while, but Cassie was complaining about how snappy everyone’s been lately.”
Phelan and Rupert exchanged a worried glance.
Elliot’s eyes moved between the pair, taking in their concerned gaze. “Has something happened to Cassie?”
Rupert blew out some air and stood up. “Phelan isn’t the only one of my wolves to have lost it in the past few weeks,” he admitted. “As I was telling you in the kitchen, we’ve been having some issues lately.”
“You mentioned that there was a new pack encroaching on your territory.” Elliot crossed his arms as he considered the alpha. “What else is going on?”
Rupert looked around the room at the number of people waiting for him to spill the beans. “Do you think we can talk about this someplace more private?”
Elliot dropped his arms and looked around, realizing they had drawn a crowd. “Josh,” he called to one of the men by the door. “I’m sorry to have disturbed your night. Take the girls and your brother and go do whatever you had planned, just keep it down.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” Vanessa said. She crossed her arms defiantly over her chest. “Not while you’re harassing that poor woman.” She nodded towards Krissy.
Spinning around to face the rebellious woman, Elliot glared at her. “Then take her with you.” He waved towards Krissy.
“I don’t want to go,” Krissy complained. She was finally coming to terms with her situation, and she wanted to know more about what had caused Phelan’s issue. She had a feeling that she may be able to help them.
“She has to stay.” Rupert added his opinion to the discussion. “I want to know how she stopped Phelan.”
Elliot let out an exasperated groan before giving up and turning back to Rupert. “You have my full attention, but if you want her,” he waved at Krissy, “then you’ll have to deal with her.” He waved back at Vanessa. “Because I don’t have the patience for that fight tonight. And if Vanessa stays, Beth is going to want to stay. Even if I make the boys leave, you know they’ll just be upstairs, listening in on what’s going on down here.”
Rupert snorted in amusement. “You know your people are infuriating.”
“Try living with them,” Elliot said sarcastically.
Another chuckle slipped out of Rupert. “Fine,” he said, giving in. “I don’t think I have the strength to fight with them either,” he admitted. “But can we at least take this into the living room to sit down? It’s been a long night.”
This time, it was Elliot who laughed. “Lead the way.” He held his hand out to the open door between the rooms.
Without another word, the entire group shuffled into the living room and found seats on the blue sofas. Vanessa, Beth, and the twins claimed one couch while Elliot took the love seat. Rupert and Phelan sat on opposite ends of the other couch
, leaving the middle cushions open.
Krissy considered her options as she looked over the room. There were three possibilities left. She could take the seat next to Elliot, crash on the floor with the pregnant werewolf and Karl, or sit in the area between Phelan and Rupert. Since she didn’t know how she felt about sitting that close to a vampire, and she didn’t want to be that close to the wolf, she claimed the more open space between the werewolves in human form. Even though she’d seen the attack and Phelan’s shift, the space between them seemed better than trying to squeeze into the seat next to Elliot.
Bunching up as best she could, she sat down between them, but they didn’t seem to mind her invasion of their space.
“So,” Elliot said, bringing them back to their conversation. “What’s going on with the werewolves?”
Rupert leaned forwards to rest his elbows on his knees. “My wolves are moody to begin with,” he stared. “But recently, they’ve been even more so.”
“The pack’s been scrapping over everything,” Phelan carried on the explanation. “Territory, food, opinions. Last night, we broke up a fight over seating at the wedding. Just last week, Rupert and I pulled four of them apart when they were fighting over ordering pizza.”
“Choosing pizza toppings can be dangerous business,” Jakob said in a very serious tone.
“Not when everyone wanted the same meat lover’s pizza,” Phelan countered.
Josh sat up in surprise. “Then what were they fighting about?”
“Who was going to call it in and get the reward points.” Rupert shook his head as he spoke.
Elliot exchanged a disbelieving and worried look with Josh. “It definitely sounds like you have an issue.”
“That isn’t even the half of it,” Rupert said as he sat up and leaned back against the back of the couch. He rubbed his palms on his pants as he continued. “There have been several fights where my people have shifted and gone at each other over trivial matters.”
“In broad daylight, nonetheless,” Phelan added.
“Yeah,” Rupert said. “I’ve got Trevor trolling the net, but so far, we’ve been lucky enough that no one has caught them on camera.”