Into Death's Arms

by Mary Milligan

  “Good I’m famished,” a male voice responded. That was not Laurna. My head snapped up. Fuck, it was that Shifter. I hadn’t even sensed him and it was daytime! I reached for my gun. “Not the best idea,” he nodded toward my hand. He lay both his hands palm down on the table before me. Not armed yeah, I was not buying it. I know all about your claws buddy, I thought. I slid the Sig from its holster and laid it in my lap, hand still ready. “Is the safety on? I don’t fancy getting accidentally shot there,” his blond eyebrows rose, “If you get my drift.” I could just imagine. I didn’t have that part and the thought of having a gun pointed there made me nervous.

  “I’ve never shot anything on accident before maybe I should try it sometime,” I answered tersely. What was going on here? Didn’t any of these demons read the rulebooks? No Shadow-born when the sun was up. That was how it fucking worked!

  Macyn? That damn Vampire asked in that soft tempting voice.

  Not now Fangs, I’m busy! I shut him out. Funny hadn’t I just been lamenting his absence? “Where are your buddies,” I said to fluffy sitting across from me.

  “You’re glowing,” the Shifter, pointed out, calmly like he sat down to lunch with Ao every day.

  I looked down at my hands, damn I was. I focused the glow receded. “You didn’t answer the question dog boy.”

  He laughed, leaned back in the chair, snagged the waitress who blinked at him as if he’d hit her with headlights on high and ordered a Coke before answering me. “Don’t have any. I’m outcast,” he grabbed one of my breadsticks and began to eat it. Damn if he wasn’t eating it like an animal. Stuffing it in swiftly grabbing another like, he was starving. I did not feel sorry for the werewolf I told myself.

  “What did you do to get yourself all castigated Laith?” I asked leaning forward. Like I didn’t know but I wanted him to tell me.

  His eyes flared all golden at me when I used his name. Odd as they were black before. “Do you remember me AoD,” he asked his tone smooth but wary.

  “Remember you,” great he was a loon just what I needed crazy werewolves, “we’ve never met.”

  “Then you are remarkably well informed, AoD.” He kept saying AoD almost like it was a curse word. His tone suggested violence despite the fact that he hadn’t moved from his relaxed position.

  I wish I could do that. “Yes I am,” I admitted. Laurna came through the door. “Beat it dog boy,” I hissed flicking my hand at him dismissively.

  He smiled, my first impression was right he was beautiful, yuck. “Your pretty friend is here isn’t she,” he asked, his eyes lit with mischief. He didn’t bother to look over his shoulder I guess being a Shifter does have certain advantages like that great sense of smell and if I could hear Laurna leaving my house and getting into her car what exactly could he hear?

  I nodded slowly and slid my Sig back into its holster. I didn’t want to be in a firefight with Laurna here. Bullets have a nasty tendency to be indiscriminate. They kill just about anybody, fickle bastards. Beneath the table, I pulled one of my long knives and slipped it between his legs. “We’re going to play nice or someone’s going to die a eunuch, you hear me?” I smiled, mostly a showing of teeth. His eyebrows rose but that was the only indication he gave that his manly parts were being threatened with a very sharp blade.

  Laurna joined us. “Mace, sorry but traffic out there is…” she noticed the man-candy Shifter sitting across from me her mouth mad a big oh of surprise. She pulled herself together in record time. “Hi,” her voice was low and sexy as she held out her hand. I had to hand it to her she liked men and they liked her right back. God I wished I could do that.

  He took it and brought it to his lips, eyes on me the whole time. “Nice to meet you,” he said like he meant it. Of course he did Shifters kept harems and weren’t too particular about species and Laurna was prime harem material. She also seemed to have a knack for attracting supernatural attention. We were going to have to do something about that. “Normally I would rise and give you my seat, but the AoD has a very large blade resting on my manhood. I hope you will forgive my rudeness this once.” Smooth, blah, I hated Shifters.

  He placed his lips against her knuckles his eyes flared that gold again he looked up in askance at her than back to me. I nudged him with my blade. Reminding him, I could really hurt him if I wanted to, and right now, I wanted to.

  She smiled one of her most dazzling smiles, “Macyn does like to make life difficult Mr.?” she let her hand linger in his longer than was strictly necessary bah and I liked to make life difficult umm, not the one who has the Shifter/ Vamp magnet planted somewhere in my…oh well you get the idea.

  “Laith,” he supplied, “I find myself without a last name at the moment.” Shifters took their pack name as a last name. Therefore, no last name meant he really was outcast. That knowledge shouldn’t make me feel guilty but right now, it was doing a number on me. I had seen his past. I knew why he was outcast. He was exiled because he refused to kill me.

  Wonder why that was, not the Kinsley want me dead part, I got that. The refusing to kill me part, why would he refuse it’s not like they didn’t kill people every day, right?

  “Laith,” she took her hand back slowly like she was reluctant to let go of such a gorgeous creature and sat to my left. “I believe I could be induced to forgive you, this once.” She held up one finger. The waitress came back around and she ordered wine, with lunch? The owner came back out.

  She beamed brightly, “you girls finally brought a man with you!” I could see the matchmaker every elderly woman carries within her flare to life. “What will you be having today handsome,” she winked at Laurna.

  “I’ll have…” he started.

  “He’s leaving,” I flicked the knife under the table just a little so he’d get the point. Ha, I was funny.

  Unfortunately, this Shifter was made of sterner stuff. “The veal,” He continued, “I hear it’s excellent.” The woman praised his choice and gave Laurna another wink. What the hell, sure, I was less likely to pick up a hot guy than Laurna but I wasn’t completely without my charms. The Shifter was actually here to see me.

  I opened my mouth to tell him to get lost but Lauran had other ideas. “So what kind of creepy crawly are you as Macyn has a blade curled up next to your manly parts.” She leaned in toward him letting him know at the moment he was the center of her universe. I’d seen her do it before. The girl had never once had to pay a speeding ticket. She pulled the same number she was pulling now and the cops let her slide. I guess it helped that her daddy had more money than God and doted on her like a princess but money will only get you so far. Charm gets you the rest of the way.

  He looked directly at her, “I’m a Shifter.”

  “Ohhh,” she cooed at him. “So you’re like a werewolf?” She eyeballed him speculatively, like she liked a little animal in her man. Hell for all I know maybe she did. Eww, I was pretty sure my best friend wasn’t into bestiality I was going to have to remind her later that dating a Shifter would be bestiality.

  He nodded sending that newly cut blond hair into his eyes. “Like a werewolf, without the wolf.” He said softly, almost a purr. Damn apparently, he’d played this game before and from the seducer’s point of view.

  She crinkled up her face in a questioning expression. “What you mean without the wolf?”

  He shifted in his chair so my blade was closer to his thigh than his manhood and leaned toward her. “Shifters have a couple of forms, a fight form, a flight form, a human form, and a mixture of the fight form and human form.” He explained softly watching her mouth while he spoke.

  Laurna nodded at him and watched him as if he were to most interesting person alive. I thought about complaining again but she was getting so much real information out of him and hearing it from him was much more interesting than reading about it. I’d seen the fight form but I’d never seen the mixture. I guess that was what they always showed in the movies. I decided to keep my trap shut. The food arrived.
/>   They both dug in. I couldn’t figure out how to eat one handed so I didn’t eat.

  “Mmmm,” he moaned, “This is good.” He gestured at the food with his fork. He chewed swallowed and continued with his lesson. “Anyway fight forms are all based on natural predators, wolves, tigers, lions, bears, even snakes. Wolves are the most common. I’m not a wolf.” He shrugged, like he hadn’t just told her one of the big Shifter secrets. Usually you had to torture a Shifter to get anything out of him. His being so cooperative was making me nervous. Was he planning to kill us? That was the only reason I could think of for the honesty.

  Laurna finished off her drink. “What are you,” she licked the rim of the glass. Damn she was a good examiner. I mean it wasn’t stuff I didn’t already know but if he answered this next question, it would be.

  His eyes narrowed on her mouth. “Lion,” he said a little breathlessly. Okay, Laurna lets not bait the big lion much more because I was starting to get the feeling he was going to pounce her if she didn’t quit.

  “Laurna um, tact,” I suggested tilting my head toward the Shifter.

  She ran her hand down the stem of the wine glass kind of stroking it. I blinked I couldn’t believe she was still pushing it. “What’s your flight form?” relentless. That I respected but this situation was seriously making me sweat.

  “Raven, Jesus, Laurna are you trying to get me killed,” his face was flushed. I nudged him again just for good measure. He didn’t even look at me.

  She blinked those big blues innocently at him. “What am I doing Laith?”

  He growled, “You’re flirting with a Shifter. A Shifter who had to give up his entire harem, we don’t go without well.” He moved his legs trying to get comfortable with my blade nestled against, well hell I don’t want to think about what it was nestled against.

  “Was I flirting,” she asked softly. “I didn’t mean anything by it.” She bit her bottom lip. Damn she was still doing it.

  He laughed it was a short bark of sound, “If I thought you meant anything by it I would have bent you over this table and had my way with you already. Don’t worry I can smell your man all over you and I only do single women. I especially don’t do women attached to men like yours I learned my lesson the hard,” Whoa, Laurna had a man? Since when this was all news to me, okay this sucked. I was missing way too much and the Shifter seemed to have the inside track.

  Wait she had a man the lion Shifter didn’t want to piss off? What kind of man? What kind of man scared a Shifter? I was pretty sure I didn’t want to know the answer to that question.

  Laurna blushed, Oh my god it was true she did have a man. I managed to refrain from demanding to know who he was. Oh, what if he was a Shadow-born? She had asked if I thought they could be good, she had kept on me about it. How had I missed that? That dream came back to me in full force Laurna kissing that Vampire. What if I hadn’t been seeing the present, but the future? “You’re not fucking Bouncer-Vamp are you,” yeah, I know, tact I had just said it, I need to work on my self-control.

  Laurna spluttered Laith choked on his laughter. I got so flustered by their reactions I lost control of my blade and it slid to the floor making a very distinct clinking noise. Great just what I needed I’d lost control around a Shifter because my best friend was slumming it. “It’s not funny,” I glared at the Shifter. “Are you,” I looked beseechingly at her. Please say no, please say no, I thought.

  “Desert,” the owner popped up behind me. I jumped about a foot. What was with all the spry old people around here must be the weather? “Oh Macyn, you didn’t eat.” She scowled at me. I didn’t explain it’s hard to eat pasta while holding a blade on a werewolf’s junk. I should get bonus points. “Is it too hot? Too cold? Did you not like it,” she seemed so concerned, leaning her plump body over my plate like she could look at it and figure out why I hadn’t eaten.

  “No, no,” I explained. “I’m just having some issues.” I glared at Laith. He was my issue. Laurna at the moment was my issue. Hell I even had mental contact with Vampires’ issues.

  She patted my shoulder, “Just like your mother. She could never eat when she met with her young man here.” She nodded at Laith.

  I felt like my brain was bleeding, what the hell was she talking about? Laith turned three shades of white and looked at the door like he was thinking about sneaking out. I crinkled my eyebrows at him. “What young man,” I asked the woman. “You don’t move,” I demanded pointing my finger at Laith as he started to scoot back his chair. He gave me a smile that would have charmed most girls, not me, but most girls.

  “Well I would assume it was that young man’s father.” She shrugged her shoulders, “he looks just like him.” She hustled off to get me a to-go box.

  I cocked my head to the side. “Did you know my mother? That’s why you said we’d met?” I asked the Shifter sitting across from me. He looked down at his hands. A thought shook me to the marrow had my mother been unfaithful to my father. Even I had to admit the Shifter was gorgeous. I felt sick to my stomach. Earlier concerns about Laurna completely forgotten, “answer me!” I demanded in a voice just a little too loud. The other diner’s turned to glare at me then quickly looked away.

  “You’re glowing AoD,” he whispered. This time AoD didn’t sound like a curse but almost an endearment. He was looking down at his lap avoiding eye contact. I didn’t care. I continued to glare at him. He sighed, “Yes, I knew her.” His voice was very soft, filled with regret.

  I took a deep breath. “You met with her, here?” My voice was shaking. Laurna put a calming hand over mine. I looked up at her. Her eyes were filled with sorrow for me. She knew that I hated that I knew so little about my mother. She was my father’s world. Please God don’t tell me he wasn’t hers.

  He licked his lips. “Yes, every Friday,” He looked up at me his face full of pain. “Sometimes you would come with her.” He had made some kind of decision I could read it in his eyes then he reached into his back pocket. Pulled out his wallet and held out a picture. I took it. I looked down at the picture. My mother, Laith, and a two-year-old version of me looked back.

  I felt my jaw drop. “I don’t understand,” my voice sounded weak even to me. “Why would my mother meet with you? Why would she bring me?” I was starting to feel a little faint. I mean if she’d been unfaithful, she wouldn’t have brought her daughter along for the event would she?

  Laurna leaned over and took a good look at the picture. “Wow! So you’re related to Macyn’s mom,” she exclaimed. It was like hearing her through a tunnel it took a minute for me to understand the words but when I did.

  My head snapped toward her so hard I think I hurt something in my neck. “What,” I hissed.

  “Jeez, Mace look at ‘em standing next to each other.” She pointed at the picture. “They look just like each other,” I looked closer.

  Then looked up at him, holy perceptive, jeez, indeed I sucked as an AoD I hadn’t even seen how much the Shifter sitting across from me looked like my own mother. How was I ever going to get this all right? “You are,” The fact that I was baffled must have shown clearly on my face.

  He chuckled. “Yeah,” he took the picture back and put it back in his wallet. “It’s the only one I’ve got and I bet you’ve got lots.” He was right I did. Tons, I think for a while before they had me, dad went a little photo crazed.

  This was too much. I could feel my blood pressure rising you know when your ears get all hot and you feel kind of queasy. “How are you related,” I rubbed my forehead hard. It hurt like mad.

  He growled low. Was that supposed to be an answer? The owner came back and stuffed my food into a box for me. I waited for her to go and opened my mouth to ask again. He answered before I could. “I, I am not sure I should answer that.” He looked tormented but I really didn’t have any patience for anybody else’s crap right now I was having a hell of a time dealing with my own.

  For a moment, I contemplated killing him just loping of his head and walking away
. Sure, it’d be on the news and I’d probably get locked up for life but it was seeming like a fine option. “You better answer it; I am getting real sick of this silly game you are playing with me. You’re gonna answer or Laurna and I are out of here and I have the pretty distinct feeling you didn’t come here in the first place just to piss me off.” I grabbed my purse and my to-go box and started to stand up.

  He held up a hand, a placating gesture. I was so not in the mood to be placated. “You are right,” he took a deep breath. “Iris is related to me in exactly the same way she is related to you.”

  Huh was that English. I hated that whole double talk thing he was…wait a minute… “No,” I exclaimed very loudly. Nobody glared at me this time. I stood completely. “That isn’t possible.” I hissed at him. “My mother would never…” I dropped my voice so only he and Laurna could hear me. “My mother would never have sex with a Shifter. Let alone let herself get pregnant by one.” Disgust coiled deep in my belly. It wasn’t possible my mother was a good AoLi one of the best.

  I took a deep breath I knew I was glowing and had to get that under control before someone looked too closely at me. I know I had just been thinking about the fact that she might have had an affair with Laith but he was gorgeous. I’d seen Kinsley he wasn’t he was…I shuddered.

  He nodded like he was agreeing with me. “Iris was held prisoner by Kinsley for something like fifty years.” Oh, God he was agreeing with me.

  “So,” I felt faint maybe I should have eaten something Father Mike had warned me about eating regularly. I wasn’t done with the after effects of the change. I needed to keep up my strength. “Wait I thought Shifters could only breed with one person, a mate or something like that?”

  He smiled, his eyes lit up with a hellish type of glee. “Why do you think he hates your father so? He may be able to play with his harem but he can’t breed with any of them.” He barked out a loud laugh, “and he doesn’t exactly like the one son he did manage to get out of her.” I blinked several times. I had little motes floating in my vision now. “Are you alright?” he reached out toward me.