Noble Wolf (A BBW Paranormal Shape Shifter Romance)

by Wolf, Terra

  Snow flew from beneath his paws as he darted forward at incredible speed, teeth clacking as he jumped into the fray. The tangy smell of iron was present. Chase was bleeding from multiple wounds, though none that he could see looked fatal. The small wolf tore another hunk of meat off whatever it was even as he watched.

  Then the full brunt of Bryce's attack struck the apparition. He rode it down into the snow, his weight keeping it in place while his jaws rent flesh from bone, ligament from muscle, and sprayed thick, black blood around, darkening the nearby snow even before it melted.

  There was no mercy in his attack, no desire to subdue it to interrogate it. This thing had attacked him, his mate, and his family. He wanted to kill it. There would be nothing left of it by the time he was done he decided, another large chunk of tainted, evil-tasting flesh ripping off beneath his jaws.

  Yet the thing was strong, stronger than even he was. It recovered from the surprise of his attack, and the next thing Bryce knew, he was flying through the air. He struck the side of the hedge maze and went right on through. The other two combatants disappeared from his view as he hit the ground, rolling once before scrabbling back to his feet.

  It had been mere seconds that they were out of sight, but as he leapt back over the hedge, clearing the eight feet in one bound, Bryce realized the battle had changed. Jake, the other wolf on duty, had arrived, and the attacker had fled back into the forest, its keening wail louder than ever now as it fled swiftly.

  Bryce changed back quickly, rushing over to Chase. Jake joined him.

  "I'll take care of him. Get inside, make sure she doesn't say a word, and get the others down here. Now!"

  The command in Jake's voice was interwoven between each word, making it an order Bryce couldn't resist even if he had tried. That was why he was the Alpha. His command presence was stronger than any of the others.

  "On it," he responded, already several steps to the building before he responded.

  "The back door!" Jake yelled after him, not that he needed to.

  Despite the attack, Bryce still had his wits about him. He was covered in blood, both his, Chase's, and from whatever that thing had been. The last thing the patrons at The Silver Bullet needed was to see him burst inside looking the way he did. So he took the back door, climbing the stairs swiftly. They opened up at the back of Thomas's office. Pausing, he used the phone on the desk to quickly call Holden and tell him to bring everyone.

  He burst out onto the top floor, heading for the stairs to check for Natasha, when a voice stopped him.

  "In here!" It was Joanna.

  He burst into her office to find her and Natasha on the floor, backs against the wall on the far side of the office.

  "What are you?" Natasha spoke before either he or Joanna could say anything.

  "You may as well tell her," Thomas said from behind Bryce, who was entering the room now as well.

  "One of these days," Bryce threatened, annoyed at the way Thomas could do that. "I'll tell her. Why don't you go out back and help Jake with Chase? He was pretty badly hurt."

  Thomas, for once, declined to argue, instead heading for his office and the staircase hidden there.

  "Where was he five minutes ago?" Bryce muttered, closing the door behind him. His anger wouldn't subside though. Although he didn't know for sure, it seemed likely that Thomas would have had no issue handling whatever the hell had attacked him and Chase.

  "Is Ethan okay?" Joanna asked quietly from where she sat, knees pulled up tightly to her chest, one arm around Natasha, who was leaning on her shoulder. There were several tear tracks down his mate's cheeks, but for the most part, she seemed remarkably composed.

  "He wasn't on duty tonight, he'll be here shortly though," he told her distractedly. His attention was completely on Natasha.

  "You don't look scared, or very shocked," he said slowly, crouching down until he was closer to her level.

  "I am. Trust me."

  "But?" he prompted, feeling the unspoken word hanging in the air.

  "I'm not completely surprised, either. I know things were going on. You told me as much, and there have been several clues as well. It's still a shock to realize that, holy fuck, werewolves do exist, but you guys aren't nearly as clever as you think," she said, strength returning to her voice as she spoke. "One thing I didn't realize though was how truly large you get when you, you—" she faltered.

  "Shift," he supplied.

  "Shift?"

  "We aren't werewolves, Natasha. At least, not in the sense you might think. The moon doesn't affect us. Also, when we do change, we're completely in control. The wild animal isn't as strong mentally as a human, so we remain in charge of our actions. There's nothing to be scared of," he said, reassuring her.

  "So, what do you call yourselves then?" she asked.

  He was impressed. His mate had just had her world turned completely upside down with the revelation that there was more to it than just human beings, and she wasn't panicking or freaking out. If anything, she seemed—

  "You're loving this, aren't you?" he asked suddenly.

  "Well, I don't know if I would call nearly being killed by something non-human as loving it," she said dryly. "But knowing that all my childhood dreams and fantasies have a basis in fact, that something paranormal exists? Oh my God, I'm on cloud nine right now. I have so many questions for you!

  "Well, we call ourselves shifters, not werewolves."

  "Are there more than just wolves?"

  "Yes," he said, without explanation. There would be time for the full details of his world later.

  "So, what's the deal with all you security guys then? Are you all wolves?"

  "Yes."

  "So if you're the security chief," she teased, her voice stronger still, "does that mean you're the leader? The, uh what was the word I read...the Alpha?" she finished as it came to her.

  "No," he said with a chuckle. "That would be Jake. I'm just the biggest."

  "The muscle?" she said, bobbing her eyebrows suggestively.

  "The guardian," he replied evenly, letting her know that he took his job seriously.

  There was a clatter from Thomas's office.

  "I'll be back. Stay here," he said, dashing out.

  Chase was on the ground, back in his human form. It didn't look good. There was a huge hole in his side that blood was seeping from. He hoped it was a good sign that it was no longer pouring out of it, and that his accelerated healing abilities were fixing it.

  "How is he?" he asked as Jake looked up at him.

  "It'll be touch and go. He lost a lot of blood."

  "Dammit. I should have shifted earlier. I could have helped out more." Bryce began to pace back and forth, unhappy with himself.

  "Bryce, you're covered in blood. Go change, and clean yourself up."

  Bryce snarled, but did as his Alpha said. There were plenty of changes of clothes available, so he snagged a set from the security office, and went into the washroom. With a quick wash in the sink with his hands, the worst of it was gone.

  "Now I really wish we'd put a shower in here," he muttered, shaking his head as he hiked his leg up on the counter, rubbing it down to get the last of the blood off.

  Several minutes later, still wet but at least clean, he emerged from the washroom. From his right, he heard the sounds of the door from downstairs opening. Not knowing who it was, he went to the top of the stairs and started heading down, hoping to cut the person off.

  "Hi Bryce," came the annoyingly cheerful voice of Maria. "Can we talk?"

  Jake was going to owe him huge for this one.

  "Yes, but downstairs," he said, cringing at the idea of having to talk with her. But he needed to prevent anyone from going upstairs, and this would be the easiest, if most painful, way of going about it.

  "What is it?" he asked.

  "I heard about your problem. I think I can help."

  "What?" he said a little too loudly. Several heads in the private dining area turned his way. Grabbing
her by the shoulder, he pulled Maria out of the way. How had she heard already? Had she seen it out the back door?

  "I heard about your problem. I want to help you."

  "How?" he asked, suspiciously.

  "Why, you can get me pregnant," she said.

  Bryce stared dumbly at her. Oh. That problem. Part of him was relieved. Another was terrified. A baby? With Maria? He almost laughed out loud at the thought.

  "You can. We can start right here," she said, turning around, exposing herself to him. She wasn't wearing any underwear he noted, still trying to process what the hell was going on.

  "You can't be serious. You don't even know me."

  "I know, but I heard you talking. You need a baby to make your parents happy."

  Ah. So that was it. She wanted his trust fund. Joanna needed to fire this girl right away, or else it was going to get bad. Bryce had never had a stalker before, but he recognized all the classic signs of one.

  "Put your skirt down," he rumbled. She obeyed instantly.

  "Where do you want to do it then?"

  Sounds from above told him people were coming downstairs.

  "Not here," he said, moving to turn away and see who it was.

  Maria's hand flew out, grabbing him with strength that she shouldn't have possessed. Her hand pulled him to her face, mashing their lips together as she proceeded to make out with him. The shock at her actions and her sudden strength froze Bryce to the spot as the door to the stairs opened.

  It was Natasha. She looked around, spotting them almost instantly.

  "Wait!" he tried to cry, but it was unintelligible through the pressed lips of the crazy waitress.

  Fury came into Natasha's eyes, and she moved away, but not before she all but spat at him. "Once with the crazy bitch I could understand. But twice?" She shook her head.

  Bringing his wolf to the front again, Bryce took advantage of the strength it imbued him with and tore away from Maria. He would deal with that later, but for now, he needed to explain things to Natasha.

  "Natasha!" he said, but she ignored him, already halfway down the stairs.

  "Bryce, I need you up here, it's Chase!" his Alpha ordered, his voice echoing down the stairs from the level above. There was urgency and command in his voice. It tugged at Bryce, and though he tried to fight it, he couldn't. His feet moved of their own accord, dragging him up the stairs as his mate disappeared around the corner on the floor below, headed for the doors. Before he entered the closed staircase, he looked around for the waitress, but he couldn't see her.

  Enraged, he burst through the doors. "What the hell is it? There is some seriously fucked-up shit going on around here Jake, and I—"

  Chase was sitting up. He was pale, and looked extremely weak, but he was alive.

  In his hand, he was holding a tooth. "This was in my side," he managed to say.

  "That's no werewolf tooth," Bryce said, stating the obvious.

  "No, it's not," Thomas said with a heavy sigh.

  Chapter Nine

  Natasha

  She stormed out of the restaurant.

  "Unbelievable. How could he do that to me?"

  She was talking to herself. That couldn't have been a good sign, not with all that was going on.

  What was going on? Bryce was a werewolf. So were the other security team members. They had been attacked by something that had been able to fend off their best countermeasures. What the hell had she gone and gotten herself involved with this time?

  The worst part was that Natasha wasn't sure there was anybody she could turn to, to talk about it all. Pissed as she was with Bryce, there was no way her conscience would let her reveal what she knew about him to anyone who didn't already know. They had worked extremely hard to hide their existence for centuries. Just because one of them happened to enjoy kissing random women didn't mean she was going to go and burst that bubble.

  At least she had driven tonight, and she didn't have to rely on Bryce or a cab to take her home. Keys jingled in her pocket as she fumbled for them. There were still so many new ones that she had trouble quickly telling them apart. The thick plastic of her car key settled into her palm and she yanked them out of her pocket.

  "Wait!"

  She had to be kidding. Why would the waitress be chasing after her? Natasha paused mid-step, thrown completely for a loop. Maria was chasing her out in the parking lot...to do what? Apologize for making out with the man she had begun falling in love with?

  Natasha snorted and kept walking.

  "Wait, Natasha, please."

  Rolling her eyes skyward, Natasha shrugged her shoulders to reduce some of the stress and turned to face Maria. She had made good time across the snow-packed ground, trying to catch her. Even now, she could hear the snow crunching underfoot.

  "What do you want?" she snapped, not in the mood for any games.

  "I just wanted to say I'm sorry," Maria began, but Natasha didn't let her finish.

  "Whatever, I don't want to hear it." She spun, and headed back for her car. Perfect, she thought, noticing the big black sedan parked next to her, encroaching on her side of the space. Getting into her seat was going to be a bitch.

  "No, I'm serious," Maria persisted, following her between the cars as she fumbled for the unlock button. "It wasn't me. I don't want you to hate me. Bryce came at me, he wouldn't let me go."

  Natasha stared at her hard, wondering how this woman expected her to believe that.

  "Do I really strike you as that dumb? I saw the way you had your hands clamped around his face. He tried to get away once he saw me, but you held on. That's pretty impressive. You must have some hidden strength in there," she said, glancing sarcastically at the other woman's arms.

  They writhed and flexed under her gaze, as if emphasizing the fact that she had been able to hold Bryce still while she kissed him.

  But Bryce was extremely strong. She had witnessed that firsthand several times.

  If he had wanted to get away, it should have been an easy thing to do. Unless...

  "What are yo—"

  The waitress's hand clamped down over her mouth, silencing any further questions or cries for help. She was impossibly strong, and even as Natasha tried to struggle, she realized how totally she was outclassed.

  The door to the car next to hers opened, and she was pushed inside. Her vision was dimming as she tried to breathe, but the hand was clamped firmly over her mouth and nose. Natasha kicked and squirmed, but her efforts seemed to just bounce off the attacker. She reached out with one last burst of strength to try and claw at her attacker's face, but the second hand caught her attack and stopped it with effortless ease.

  Then the darkness claimed her completely.

  ***

  She awoke still in the back of the car. Her wrists were tied behind her back and she was firmly strapped into the back seat by the seatbelt and some other sort of contraption.

  The waitress, Maria, was driving the car. The night was cloudy, though the rain the forecast had called for earlier hadn't arrived yet. Glancing at the clock, Natasha estimated that no more than thirty minutes had passed before she woke up. Her brain was remarkably calm considering the situation, she noted.

  Turning to stare out the window, she began to look at the terrain before realizing that she wasn't in Seattle. Natasha knew next to nothing about the local territory. Instead, she kept her eye out for any landmarks, or signs—anything that she could use to tell someone where she was, in case she got her hands on a phone.

  "You will not see anything," the cold, emotionless voice from the front seat told her.

  "You have no idea what I'm looking for," she responded tartly.

  "It does not matter. Whatever it is you search for, you will not find it out here."

  Natasha raised her eyebrows. The speech pattern sounded familiar to her, but she couldn't place it. She kept racking her brain, but it wasn't coming to her. She needed to hear more.

  "Who are you? Why are you doing this?"

&nb
sp; "I do as I am told. That is all you should be concerned with. I am what I am."

  "How delightfully cryptic of you," Natasha said, deadpan. "Care to try that again? You're like the others, aren't you?" She didn't outright say how, in the event she was wrong, but something told her that it was all related. The werewolves, the attack earlier, this crazy bitch kissing her man, and then abducting her. There didn't seem to be too much room for coincidence there.

  Natasha subscribed to the theory of Occam's razor: that which seemed the most obvious conclusion was most likely correct. Not that there was anything remotely obvious about werewolves and whatever else. She snorted, unsure that anyone would have seen that one coming. But now that she knew, it fit the criteria for the situation.

  The person driving—she refused to think of her as Maria anymore—didn't respond.

  "You know they're going to come after me, don't you?"

  As a matter of fact, Natasha wasn't sure herself that Bryce or any of the others would come after her. Not after the way she'd left things with Bryce. They may assume that she had just returned to Seattle, uninterested in continuing her new life there.

  Or, she thought cheerfully, the maniac who had kidnapped her might ensure that she didn't live to care if they came to rescue her or not. That truly was the worst case scenario, though why she was still alive now was a mystery.

  "Why am I still alive?"

  "It is...necessary."

  Sigh. Fine, she would play along. "Why is it necessary?"

  "None of the other specimens were strong enough. We shall see if you are any different."

  "Other specimens?" she repeated, her voice strangled as fear seeped into her. This was bad. Very, very bad. How many others had there been before her? What happened when they weren't strong enough? Natasha had many questions, but once again, her captor had gone silent.

  The car turned off the road, heading straight for the trees.

  "Hey! What are you trying to do, kill us?!" she shouted as they barreled straight for the thick trunks.