Caleb

by Willow Hazel

  Sarah let out a loud groan. If she’d been hung over, she might have been able to convince herself it was all a drunken dream, but she didn’t even have that comfort.

  The truth was unsettling as it was exciting. From what Caleb had said, she carried werewolf genes, or however it worked. From what she’d already seen, there was no way to describe what she saw as anything other than magical, so she wasn’t going to spend too much time worrying about the biology of it all.

  What to do now?

  The question bounced around in her head, but she had no good ideas. Even if she were to tell someone, they’d think she was nuts, and if what Caleb had told her was true, it’d just end up with some scary shifter goon showing up to take her away.

  The only thing she did know was that she couldn’t deal with worrying about her thesis until she finished wrapping her mind around this entire werewolf situation.

  Sarah grabbed her phone and texted her advisor.

  Have come down with a bug. Not sure, but doctor says I’ll need a few days to recover.

  She waited, hoping he wouldn’t ask for more information. She had no reason to suspect he would. Twenty-five-year-old graduate students weren’t typically asked for doctor’s notes after all. Then again, her advisor could be an ass.

  Okay. Get well soon. Take some time while you rest. You’ve done well to focus your thesis project in these last couple months, keep it up.

  Sarah let out a sigh. That bought her a little time at least.

  She didn’t like lying, but she suspected that if she were going to survive the next few days, she’d have to learn to lie a lot more often. Unlike the shifters, she couldn’t erase anyone’s memories.

  Then, there was Caleb.

  Logically, she should be terrified of the man. He was a supernatural creature of the sort that didn’t have the best reputation in myths. And it wasn’t just a reputation. He’d proven how brutal he could be in his fight with the biker.

  She shuddered and rubbed her arms.

  Still, there was something about him. No matter how disturbed she was by the fight, the huge man was just her type. It wasn’t just that edible body, but also his roguish smile, and even the way his brown hair dipped in front of his eyes.

  “What are you thinking?” Sarah said. She slapped her cheeks.

  She’d just found out about werewolves, and she was having trouble thinking about something other than running her tongue along Caleb’s naked chest.

  Sarah wasn’t sure if that had something to do with her being Blooded, but she couldn’t say it was all that unpleasant. All the men she’d seen at Devil’s Den were hunks, but especially Caleb.

  Warmth pulsed through her, and she bit her lip. He’d said he wouldn’t let anyone hurt her, and the intensity in his eyes made her believe it.

  She hopped out of bed and walked to the kitchen. Lusting after werewolves would need to wait until she had some breakfast. She’d been too weirded out to eat last night, and her grumbling stomach wouldn’t let her forget.

  Sarah threw open her refrigerator.

  “Oh, just great.”

  Some sliced cheese, a half-gallon of a milk, and a bottle of wine. Not exactly the makings of the breakfast of champions.

  “Store it is,” Sarah grumbled.

  Being a werewolf Blooded wouldn’t stop her from starving. She just needed a quick shower first and a trip to her jewelry box.

  * * *

  Ten minutes later, she was heading westbound away from the university. She didn’t want to risk someone spotting her in the store and reporting her back to her advisor. Maybe it was dumb paranoia, but she couldn’t take any more stress.

  Her gaze flicked to her rear-view mirror. Two men on Harleys trailed behind her a few lanes.

  She chuckled and considered trying to flag them down to ask questions. Once all the werewolf nonsense calmed down, she’d still have a thesis to complete. Sure, she’d love to do it on werewolves, but she doubted anyone would let her get away with that.

  The light ahead turned yellow, and she slowed the car, stopping right as it turned red. The bikers made their way up and took positions on either side of her.

  A quick glance turned her curiosity to horror as she spotted the back of their jackets. Two crossed axes over a skull. True Sons. She didn’t recognize the men as any of the three from the fight in Devil’s Den.

  Sarah took a deep breath, but that did little to calm her pounding heart. It might be a coincidence. After all, bikers by definition had motorcycles, which meant they were mobile.

  The light turned green, and she sped off, accelerating a little fast. She didn’t even worry about the police. If they showed up, it might keep the bikers away from her.

  Sarah usually risked five to seven over the limit. The roads were clear, so she started speeding about fifteen over. The bikers sped up, keeping themselves a few yards behind her on either side.

  She turned, hoping they’d keep going. They turned right after her. She took another turn, and the bikers followed.

  “Crap, crap, crap.”

  She swallowed. She doubted the True Sons were following her around just to say hello. Even if they wouldn’t kill her, that didn’t mean they wouldn’t kidnap her. Caleb all but suggested they would.

  Sarah reached into her purse to grab her phone. A few cops might help. Nothing. She’d left her phone at home.

  “Just wonderful. So smart, Sarah. Good job.”

  Not only did she not have her phone, but a quick survey of the area revealed that all her turns had moved her into some rundown area with sparse buildings. No one else was around. It’d be a perfect place for an attack.

  Wait. She thought she could see a truck in the distance.

  Apparently the True Sons didn’t care because they both pulled out pistols. Two loud bangs filled the air, and her back window shattered. She screamed.

  She considered flooring it, but instead slowed down, praying that a sudden idea might work and hoping they wouldn’t shoot again.

  The bikers both fell in behind her and motioned to the side. She slammed on her breaks. Seconds later they collided with her car and went flying over her.

  Her eyes widened. What had she done? The men crashed to the ground in front of her vehicle with a thud, rolling before coming to a stop.

  Sarah took several deep breaths. The men lay motionless on the street. Her hands trembled as she opened her door and stepped outside, the summer heat immediately enveloping her.

  “Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God,” she said. She’d killed them. Even if they’d shot at her, she’d couldn’t believe she’d killed them.

  One of the men groaned and pushed off the ground.

  Her eyes widened. The biker moved his neck back and forth. The cuts on his face slowly sealed themselves before her eyes.

  The other man pushed up as well. His arm hung at an unnatural angle. He glared at Sarah.

  “You stupid bitch,” he growled. “It’s going to take a couple of hours for that to heal.”

  “Well, y-you were shooting at me.”

  “I should shoot you here.”

  The other biker glared at him. “We can’t kill a Blooded.”

  “Yeah, yeah.” Sarah nodded quickly. “That’s right. I’m almost pureblooded. You can smell it, right? You hurt me, you hurt werewolves everywhere.”

  The first man gave her an evil grin. “Don’t mean we can’t smack you around a little, you stupid bitch.”

  Sarah reached into her pocket and wrapped the silver necklace she’d taken from her jewelry box around her fingers. Caleb had never confirmed if silver worked on werewolves, but she’d crashed the back of her car into them, and that’d only slowed them down. She was all out of other ideas.

  “You stay away from me,” Sarah said. “You stay the hell away from me.”

  The first man walked right up to her, looming over her. “Or what?”

  “Your leader will be mad.”

  He chuckled. “All Jake said was to make sure y
ou ain’t dead.”

  Sarah whipped her hand out of her pocket and punched the biker in the face. He grunted and stumbled back, holding his face.

  She stared. Burn marks lined his face. Marks that matched up with the silver chain she had wrapped around her hand.

  “I will fucking gut you, bitch!” he seethed. He backhanded Sarah so hard she saw stars.

  She landed on the ground, her cheek throbbing.

  “Woah. Calm down, Roy,” the other man said. He limped over. “She’s Blooded, you moron.”

  “That bitch used silver on me.”

  Still holding his cheek, Roy walked over to Sarah and kicked her in the stomach.

  She cried out in pain. Her blood pounded in her ears, and bile filled her throat.

  “Wait,” the first biker said, his voice sounding distant. “You smell that?”

  A huge brown wolf leapt out of nowhere and pounced on the man with the broken arm.

  Chapter Nine

  A Blooded had been hurt, and it was Caleb’s damn fault. He was supposed to have been watching her. What good did it do if he saw trouble and still let it get to her?

  Even though he’d seen the True Sons, he’d kept his distance, thinking Malcolm might have been right and she was a spy. Then the bastards started firing. On a public road. In the middle of the day.

  Caleb didn’t want to have to tear men apart in front of Sarah, but when he’d hurried and caught up with her just to find them hitting her, he’d lost it. What kind of wolves would harm a Blooded?

  They deserved no mercy. He clamped down on the neck on the first one, not even giving him time to shift before bringing him down.

  Caleb stopped short of taking the bastard’s head clean off, something that would actually kill him. The biker’s current wounds would keep him out of action for long enough, and he needed to handle the other one.

  Not only that. The other one had kicked Sarah. He needed to be taught a lesson about respecting Blooded.

  The other True Son shifted into a dark gray wolf. Still gripping the first man in his mouth, Caleb tossed him with his powerful jaws as the other wolf leapt. The man slammed into the gray wolf, and they fell to the ground with a thud.

  The alpha sprang at the wolf, bringing down both his claws and jaws on the other wolf and tearing into its flesh. The battle was over in seconds, the other wolf collapsing to the ground, covered with blood. His wolf form shifted back to a bloodied biker with a torn jacket, proof that he was unconscious.

  Sarah moaned as she pushed herself to a sitting position. She held her stomach. Caleb’s hackles raised at the sight.

  Caleb growled at the downed men, resisting the urge to tear out their hearts. While he didn’t give that much of a shit about pissing off Jake, two bikers missing their hearts or decapitated in the middle of east Phoenix would raise too much attention.

  He wondered if Greg and the King would still be happy with their hands-off position on the whole thing, given they now had bikers shooting at people on the street. At this point, he didn’t care. He wanted to teach Jake a lesson for his own personal reasons.

  The angry alpha spared one glance at the wounded men. Some of their wounds had already healed. By the time anyone noticed them, they’d probably be conscious enough. Not like they were going to report him to the cops.

  For now, Caleb had something more important to handle. He shifted. Without a word, he swept Sarah into his arms and rushed toward her car. She let out a little yelp of surprise.

  “I have my truck stashed nearby,” he said. “I’ll come back and get it later. We don’t want any cops connecting you with this… uh… traffic accident, if they happen to show up. So I’m going to drive us out of here. You understand?”

  Sarah offered him a quick nod.

  His gaze dropped to the silver in her hand.

  “I wasn’t sure if it would work,” Sarah said softly. “Score one for myths and legends.”

  “Drop it now,” he commanded.

  “But…”

  “Just drop it. I’ll protect you,” Caleb said. “I’ll protect you from their whole damn pack if needed. You have my word.”

  They stared into each other’s eyes for a moment, and she nodded before unwrapping the necklace from her hand and dropping it to the ground.

  Caleb carried the woman to the passenger’s side and then opened the door and slid her in, her small form easy for his large arms to handle. He then hurried to the driver’s side, hopped in, and sped away from the downed bikes and wounded werewolves.

  “Fucking True Sons,” he growled.

  “I don’t understand why they attacked me.”

  Sarah’s pale face ate at Caleb. He started regretting not killing the other werewolves.

  “For breeding purposes,” Caleb said, shaking his head. “Dumbass got too pissy because you hurt him. Pack discipline is shit if Jake’s letting his wolves smack around Blooded. But they probably would have gotten what was coming to them eventually even if I hadn’t beat them down.”

  Sarah rubbed her upper arms and trembled. “From what it sounded like, they were planning to hurt me way worse.”

  Caleb let out a low growl. “Jake’s an alpha. If they’d taken you to their alpha all busted up, he might have torn one of them apart. Werewolves heal fast. Blooded don’t heal any faster than any other human.” He slammed a fist against the steering wheel. “Fucking idiots. They could have made you crash your car, and then they hit you. Stupid ass bastards.”

  “How are you any different?” Sarah said. “You just want me because I’m Blooded. It’s not like you’re just some nice guy who stopped by and decided to rescue me.”

  “Yeah, and you’re a hot little thing, too. The difference is, I’m man and wolf enough to not go where I’m not invited.”

  “But you were following me.”

  “Yes. Not just me. The pack has been taking turns keeping an eye on you.”

  “You’re stalking me together? Sure, not creepy at all.”

  “No, we’re making sure you don’t do something stupid that will get us in trouble.” He snorted. “Good thing, too. If we’d not been watching you, then the True Sons would have you now.”

  Sarah sighed. “Would your other pack members have protected me like that?”

  “Unlike those bitches working for Jake, my men aren’t idiots, and they follow orders.”

  Sarah fell silent, and Caleb watched the road, wondering if he’d screwed up. If he’d made her stay with him to begin with, she wouldn’t have been attacked. He also might not have had to nearly kill two other wolves. Even if he had let them live, a pack war might be inevitable.

  “I need you to stay at my place,” he said, “until all this shit blows over. You’ll be safe there. Even if I’m not at Devil’s Den, there are pack members there. We’re not going to let anyone lay a hand on you again.”

  Sarah let out a long sigh, her blue eyes filled with defeat. “After that, I don’t think I have much choice.”

  “Are you hurt bad?” Caleb glanced over at her. “I can take you to urgent care or something.”

  “No magical healing wereunicorns?” she said, rolling her eyes.

  Caleb grinned. He could really get used to that kind of feistiness. He was happy to see her in a position to push back a bit.

  “Nope. Why would we need ‘em? Takes a lot to kill us. Need to take the heart or the head. Most everything else won’t work. Even if we lose an arm or a leg, it grows back in a day or two.”

  “Those men… or, well, those werewolves, you didn’t kill them, then?”

  “Nah. They probably have already gotten up to crawl off, but they’re not exactly going to be in fighting shape right away. Even if some ambulance picks them up, they’ll wake up, do a little animal magnetism, and wander off.”

  “But silver works. I burned one.”

  Caleb gave a grim nod. “Yeah, it burns, and silver wounds take longer to heal. I made you drop it because just being around it can slow down our healing.” Cale
b shrugged. “That’s for the wolves. Not everybody’s the same.”

  “What about dragons?”

  Caleb huffed at that. “Legend says you need some weapon touched by the essence of fire. Whatever the hell that means.”

  “Interesting. So you’re saying you don’t know their weakness?”

  “Weakness is to throw enough shifters at ‘em and take their heart. Or a freaking rocket launcher or something. I’ve heard about dumbasses going after them with flaming swords, and that not doing much good. The damn dragons breathe fire, so of course it’s not going to work.” He glanced over at her and winked. “Don’t worry. If you’re lucky, you’ll never have to deal with one. They are major pains in the ass, and they are smug pricks who think they are better than everyone.”

  Sarah looked down at her hands and sighed. “Is your world always this violent?”

  Caleb snorted. “Actually, no.” A motorcycle appeared in his rearview mirror. He bit back a growl and slowed a bit. The bike passed, and he realized it was just some middle-aged joy-rider, not a True Son.

  Sarah tensed, and her eyes widened. She watched the biker, and then a look of visible relief spread over her face.

  “Look,” Caleb said, “the thing is if shifters were fighting twenty-four seven, then people would find out. Back in the day, yeah, a single werewolf could probably take out forty guys with swords like nothing, but now humans, they’ve got guns, they’ve got bombs, they’ve got goddamn nukes. I’m a wolf. I’m territorial, but I also get that being dumb about it ends up with me dead.”

  “But the True Sons—”

  “Are dumbasses who have gotten too used to beating up human bikers. I think they’ve forgotten what it’s like to deal with other werewolves.”

  “Are you the only two packs in this area?”

  Caleb shook his head. “Nope. Though the only two packs in the West Valley.” He scoffed again. “This will finally convince Malcolm.”

  “Malcolm?”

  “My pack beta. You saw at Devil’s Den. Dark hair, hazel eyes, late twenties, looks like he has a stick up his ass.”