Dice
Howlers MC
Book1
Amanda Anderson
Copyright © 2017 by Amanda Anderson
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Prologue
Mallory Blake pulled her long blonde curls into a tail on the back of her head and tied her red, halter top behind her neck.
“Girl, you look smoking!” Nancy fanned herself as she looked Mallory up and down. “If I was a lez, I’d do you.”
“Oh wow, that is serious hotness.” Mallory laughed as she flipped her hair over her shoulder and sent a wink to her best friend.
The other girls took time to appreciate her appearance before going back to their own primping rituals, and they were just that, rituals. They were the sacred ways of women who were on the hunt for action and a little fun before life got too serious.
They were in college, their last year and they wanted to have a little fun before they graduated and had to work the rest of their lives in the careers that their families had deemed appropriate. Mallory had gone against her parents’ wishes and gone into business instead of becoming a doctor like her father. Nancy was headed to law school as soon as she graduated and if she didn’t get into too much trouble on this trip. Amy would get a degree in business that she probably would never use since she was determined to continue her modeling career. Mary Beth was determined to become an animal nutritionist.
Everyone had their own plans and paths, but they had been close since preschool and had been planning this trip for years. There were vows to stay close and promises for other trips, but Mallory had a feeling this would be it for them in many ways and she planned to enjoy it as much as possible.
“Tell me again, why are we in Indiana?” Amy said as she flipped her strawberry blonde hair over her shoulder so it flowed down her back in one shiny curtain. She was a diva. She loved everything about the way she looked, but there was nothing wrong with that. It was the way she treated those around her that made Mallory like her less than the others. She tended to point out flaws in the other girls, not in a nasty way, almost too sweet. She did it in a way that if anyone pointed it out, she played it off like they were totally overreacting, making herself the victim. Mallory hated that kind of manipulation. Amy had been perfecting it since she was four years old.
“Because there are werewolves here! Haven’t you guys been reading Sadie’s Snippets?” Mary Beth rolled her big brown eyes. She believed that all the real news came from the Snippets, a rag of a newspaper that was put out only around the campus of UGA.
“Come on! You mean we really came here instead of going to the beach, because you honestly believe that there are werewolves? In real life? You have to be kidding!” Amy threw a hand towel at Mary Beth’s face.
Nancy rolled her eyes, making Mallory laugh. “Ladies… I don’t know why you are here, but I am here to play nasty with some bikers this week and the Howlers MC has its home chapter right here in Wolf Pack, Indiana.” She offered a sassy wink to herself in the mirror. “So, if you girls want to go out in the woods and look for nasty old werewolves then that’s fine by me, but I’ll get my nasty at the bar. Thank you very much.”
“You are such a slut Nancy.” Amy cringed. “Are you really going to let them touch you? You might catch something.”
“Oh Amy, don’t be such a snob.” Mary Beth rolled her eyes making everybody laugh, except Amy.
Mallory giggled, she loved Nancy and didn’t care one bit how much her friend loved men. She watched her as she applied another coat of mascara to her long, dark lashes. Nancy was a knock out. Her hair was cut short and made her look like a bad ass and her curves just made men want to see just how bad she really was. Tonight, Nancy had on a leather miniskirt that left very little to the imagination.
We were dressed to party and no matter how much Amy claimed she was too good for bikers, she was dressed to attract attention and she loved men as much as the rest of them. She was the sort of girl that made men drool and beg for her attention and that’s just the way she liked it.
They headed out and climbed into Mary Beth’s brand-new Subaru. The bar wasn’t far from the dinky little Motel they were staying in and that was good, in case they all needed to walk back later.
“Werewolves aren’t in the woods. They walk around among us, just like regular people! I read about this one woman who got knocked up by one of them, her kid was born with a wolf tail!” Mary Beth’s eyes were wide with excitement. “Can you imagine that? Make sure you use protection Nancy, you wouldn’t want to chance something like that happening. Your dad would have a squirrel.”
“I guess if he did that he couldn’t complain about Nancy’s werebaby now could he.” Mallory pointed out.
Nancy rolled her eyes. “You do know that stuff isn’t true, right?”
“You guys say what you want to, but there has to be a little truth to it, there always is.” Mary Beth’s eyes were dancing with excitement. She really believed they would see a werewolf.
They pulled up to the Full Moon Saloon and a chill ran over Mallory’s skin, causing the hair on her arms stand on end. There was something dangerous about this place. There was a row of motorcycles parked outside and the music flowed into the parking lot when the doors opened. This was a dive, not a bar like the girls had gone to back in Atlanta, this was a dive and it felt dangerous to even be sitting in the parking lot. There were a few other vehicles but they all ranged from mildly used to disreputable. Mary Beth’s Subaru stuck out like a sore thumb.
“Are we sure about this?” Mallory’s voice wobbled. “I’m not sure I even feel safe sitting here in the car.”
Nancy threw her head back and laughed. “Are you chickenshit? Come on Mal, we have never been allowed to do anything this reckless and we have one week to get our freak on before we have to go back to smiling and being good. Yes, I am fucking sure I want to go in there and I am double sure I want to ride… one of those pretty bikes.” Her smile was cunning as she checked her lipstick one more time and smacked her lips.
Nancy pulled a wad of condoms out of her purse and handed them out. “Safety first ladies. Don’t bring home any wolf pups ‘cause we know our parents would shit over that! Plus, it would totally ruin our figures.” She winked and stepped out of the car.
“Well, here goes.” Mallory followed with Mary Beth and Amy taking up the rear.
Mallory walked through the door and lo
oked around the smoky interior of the bar. When she saw him, her heart skipped a beat. He sat with a group of friends who all wore leather vests over their t-shirts.
“Oh Honey, you do have an eye for good things.” Nancy purred. She linked arms with Mallory and before she knew it they were standing at the bar beside the hunk Mallory had spotted. She jumped when she felt a hand slide across her ass and when she turned, there he was, his green eyes burning with something she didn’t understand. He didn’t speak to her, just pulled her close and claimed her mouth, there was no other word for what he did to her. He claimed her body and soul and ruined her for any other man for the rest of her life.
“You’re mine baby girl.” He whispered in her ear and she felt heat run through her like fire. “You don’t know what that means, but you’re still fucking mine.”
There had never been another man for her.
1
Five years later
Dice leaned his arms on the bar at the Full Moon Saloon. It was getting harder for him to seem normal, even around his brothers. His wolf was going insane and it wouldn’t be long before River had to put him down. Dice knew it.
The Moon was their hangout, their clubhouse. The back rooms held the rooms where they did business and there were rooms for the brothers to bunk in if they needed to crash. They partied hard here, it was home and most people knew to stay away. There were always the odd tourists or punks looking for a fight, but most of the patrons knew the ropes. The Howlers Mc was bad ass and they didn’t take shit from anyone. If locals wanted a good drink and maybe a few naked girls dancing on the bar, they knew where to get it, but they also knew the boundaries. The beer wasn’t free and the women were for the brothers only. As long as the rules were followed, there was peace.
Peace… that was something Dice didn’t have much experience with, never had. He gritted his teeth to keep from remembering that brief moment in time when his demons had been quiet and he’d almost found heaven. It would do him no good to travel that path again. She was gone.
He tilted his bottle back and drank the last of his beer. He needed about a dozen more to even take the edge off of the way he’d been feeling lately, but he would settle for one more. He nodded toward the prospect that was manning the bar and accepted the cold bottle and drank deeply.
“Get your head out of your ass. There’s someone here to see you.” River, the alpha, and club president of the Howlers MC said as he stepped up beside Dice.
“I’m not interested in another bitch Riv.” Dice said tiredly.
“I don’t much give a shit what you think or what you want Dice. What I do, I do for the club.” He drank down half a beer before he turned to the woman. “Now then sweetheart, you show Dice a good time. He’s an asshole, but i know how women are. You do this and I’ll do what we talked about, don’t,” He shrugged. “I guess you’ll figure something out.”
“What the fuck are you up to?” Dice snarled. “You know damned good and well I can’t…”
“I’m up to making damned sure your wolf doesn’t lose his shit and force me to buy a fucking headstone. I need you in this club. You haven’t fucked a woman in five years. Hell, that would drive anyone crazy.” River shook his head.
“I haven’t fucked a woman because I have a mate, you know it!”
“What you have is a human who had a real sweet pussy, but we all know she wasn’t your fucking mate and it is past time that you got the fuck over it! You know you need this so stop pouting like a fucking two-year-old and get to it.”
“Don’t tell me what I know!” Dice slammed the bottle down on the bar and it shattered.
“Please. Look I don’t know you or your issues, but River promised to help me if I can get you to fuck me. I’m willing to do anything, please.”
Dice turned on the woman. She had long red hair that was so full of hairspray that he wondered if it would break if he touched it too hard. He inhaled and smelled her pain, sorrow.
“What’s wrong with you?” He growled.
“Hyenas took my daughter.” Her voice shook and he smelled tears, but she didn’t let them fall. “She’s special... “she looked around like she shouldn’t say more.
“Don’t all mothers think their kids are special?” Dice snorted and turned away.
“She’s more than that.”
“Tell me how.” He narrowed his eyes as he looked at her over his shoulder.
She didn’t want to tell him, but she stepped closer. “Her daddy was a lion, her features… she’s special. She can’t change like he did, but she has part of what he was in her. The hyenas took her. They...” She held her hands out as if she were showing him they were empty.
“I hate to tell you this sweetheart, but she’d already dead or wishing she was. Hyenas are nasty and they don’t play nice. Honestly, she would be better off if she were dead.” Dice hated the pain he saw in the woman’s face, but he was being honest.
“She’s only been gone a few hours. Theo, that was my husband, before he died he told me where to go if I ever needed help. He told me you would help me.” She held out a tattered card with the Howlers’ logo on it. “He said you would…”
“I’m sure he’d be real proud that the boss man is making you pay in sex. Way to go boss. Way to keep the people looking to us for help. All it costs you is the innocence of your first born!” Dice mocked as he shook his head in disgust. “Way to show the people they have a place to turn.”
“She knows what we are. She is human, seemed your type. I had to try. You need to try Dice.” There was a hardness to River’s voice.
Dice turned on the man that had saved him, given him a home, a club that was more like a family, and a pack that tried to help keep his wolf from going insane.
“I have a fucking mate! This woman is standing here telling you she had a kid with a lion! She was mated to a fucking lion. Why is it possible for her and not us? Why? You fucking tell me why you are so sure Mallory wasn’t my mate. You make me believe it or I swear I will kick your ass right fucking now.”
River’s voice lowered to a whisper. “It is possible, for some. The results are never good. Look at this kid, she has obvious abnormalities because of the choices her parents made. Maybe they were mates, but at what cost?” He closed his eyes and Dice could feel his alpha reaching for calm. “It wasn’t exactly that you chose a human. Dice, your wolf… a mate would suffer. He isn’t stable enough to choose a mate. You can’t give a mate what she needs, especially a human.” His eyes pleaded. “Trust me Dice. That woman would never have stayed with you.”
River was on the floor before Dice realized he’d lifted his fist. “Fuck you for that.” He was vibrating with rage. “Who are you to decide that? Who gives you the right to fuck with my life?”
“I’m your alpha.” River’s quiet words hung in the air as Dice fought with his beast to stay in human form.
“Find this woman’s fucking kid Riv. Leave me out of it. If I even tried, my wolf would kill her. You don’t know what I’m doing to keep control right now, What I do every second of the day. Give me some fucking credit!”
“I already have a few men looking for her kid. I hope you knew that. I hope you did. I hope your head isn’t so screwed up that you thought I’d depend on you for that shit.” River took Dice by the head and pressed his forehead to Dice’s. The contact helped soothe Dice’s monster.
“I had hoped that Trish could help you Dice, that’s all this was. This pain hurts all of us. I need my pack to be whole again. I want to see you whole. The world is a shit place, we have to be strong to do the shit we need to do.”
“Then bring my mate back. Please River. Bring her back. Let me try.”
Dice had wanted to go after her, had tried, but the further from the pack he got, the crazier his wolf became. He was helpless. Going against his alpha would leave him without the stability of the pack, of the club. Without that he would lose his mind.
River looked morose. “I’ve had Books looking for her for two
years.”
Dice jerked back in surprise. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I didn’t want you to get your hopes up. Books can’t find her. I’m sorry.”
2
Mallory was exhausted. She hated her job more with every passing moment, but she had to eat, had to pay her bills, and take care of Sam. She tossed her purse on her desk and started sorting through the papers in her inbox.
“Good morning Miss Blake.” Thomas Rankler said as he passed her. She hated her boss. He was handsome enough, but he had a personality that made her want to shower after encountering it.
“Good morning Mr. Rankler.” She said and offered the obligatory smile. She had been warned not to be too friendly. Some of the women in the office looked at he like she was walking death row when she first got this job, but it hadn’t been too bad. It paid the bills and that was the only thing that mattered to Mallory. The rest she could let roll off her back.
“Come on in here. I need you to do something for me.” He said with a straight face, but Mallory felt a chill skirt up her spine. She wanted to say no, but she knew she couldn’t.
She picked up her laptop and headed for his office. She hated being in that room with him, she knew the stories, had heard the warnings, but it was part of the job so she calmly walked inside the lion’s den and sat in a chair across from his desk.
“Get me a coffee Miss Blake. I have had a shitty morning.” Mr. Rankler ordered as he made himself comfortable in his leather office chair.
Mallory did as she was told, but when she sat the cup down on his desk he grabbed her wrist. His head was tilted and he looked at her legs, displayed in her skirt. It wasn’t too short, it fell just at the tops of her knees, but he had a look on his face that said he didn’t approve.
Dice: Howlers MC Page 1