by Alice Bello
He shook his head. “Not today. They were out. But I took a chance you might like these too.”
I opened the bag and looked inside. Whatever they were, they were deep fried triangles.
“They come with a special dipping sauce too.”
I took one out, uncapped the sauce, dunked it and took a bite.
Mmmmm…
“Your friend Lauren called them loaded potato bites.”
Crunchy on the outside, savory and smooth on the inside.
And that sauce!
“I think cheese sticks have been knocked out of the lead for my favorite appetizer.”
Benjamin leaned down and took a bite of my potato bite, smiling like the cunning wolf he was. “I’ve gotta get back to work. I’ve got a couple estimates to do, and I start a deck out on Montour Boulevard tomorrow.”
I nodded and took another step toward him. I popped up on my toes and kissed him, ever so gently, ever so slowly, and then stepped back.
Benjamin almost fell over.
“Better get to work then,” I teased as I took another bite of my new favorite snack.
His eyes didn’t leave me for a moment, but he did start to walk back over to his truck, a rueful growl escaping his lips.
I watched as he hopped up into his shiny red beast, started the engine and then drove off back to work.
Yep, I thought as I reached into that baggie for another potato bite. I may not know what’s happening with me, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t enjoy it.
Chapter 9
At seven fifteen Jerry got a call from his wife. She had cut herself at the house and was at the ER in the next town.
“Do you feel like you can handle this for an hour or two?” he asked, panic in his voice. “I hate to ask you to so soon, but—”
“I’m fine,” I said. “I’ll be fine. Go be with your wife.”
He left me his cell phone number and the key to the front door.
“I’m sure I’ll be back before closing, but if not just turn this switch—” He showed me power switch for the sign and the lights out by the gas pumps “—and lock the door. I’ll count the drawer and all that stuff when I come in tomorrow.”
“Okay,” I said. And watched him rush out the door. He was so worried for his wife.
Made me even happier that I was working for such a great guy.
It also made me glad I didn’t have to run a place like this. It would run you… not the other way around.
###
The first hour flew by. I’d have a little rush, then a lull… and then an even longer rush, followed by a lull.
Nothing I couldn’t handle.
Then, when I was stocking the milk, I heard a low rumble start.
Was it a semi truck?
I walked out of the cooler and headed up front.
And that’s when I saw them.
Over a dozen motorcycles weaving in and out of the gas pumps.
A cold fear shot through me.
Were these the bikers I’d heard of at the drive-in?
I hesitated for a critical beat.
Call the sheriff or lock the door?
I rushed toward the door, pulling the key out and dropping it.
I skidded, bent over and scooped them up from the floor. But when I looked up again a huge, tattoo-covered man was walking through the door, making that low dong sound go off.
I froze for another long moment, my breathing going faster… so fast, my heart thudding in my ears.
Two other men, one with deep scars on his face, the other twirling a knife in his fingers, came in right behind the first.
Had they seen me?
Could I hide?
And then their scents hit me.
Werewolves.
Oh god…
I crouched down, trying to melt into the display of beef jerky I was beside.
I needed to get out. I needed to run.
I needed to get away from these…
I heard their boots as they walked further into the gas station.
“Hey there,” a voice said from right behind me.
I yelped and spun around, standing up and almost falling over at the same time.
The man was no bigger than the others, just leaner and dirtier. But I could feel something absolutely terrifying washing off of him in waves.
Menace.
Insanity.
And then I smelled him.
He smelled like the loupe werewolf who’d bitten me.
No… please god no…
My feet started moving me away from him, in a staggered, stiff run. But that just threw me into the hands of the other werewolves I’d been hiding from.
I tried to get free, to push them away, but they were every bit as strong as me, and they had me outnumbered. I heard the door gong again and saw two more men amble into the station, and then three more.
“We just got here,” one of the ones holding me said.
He didn’t smell like the one, like the loupe. But he had insanity radiating in his eyes.
“Not very hospitable,” the loupe said from right behind me again. I turned to look just in time to see his fist as it slammed into my face.
Pain exploded in my cheek, followed by a flash of light and then everything went dark.
Chapter 10
Benjamin
I’d thought about her all day.
Chelsea…
I couldn’t believe she’d kissed me.
Kissed me more than just once.
Me.
I wasn’t near good enough for her, but for some reason, she thought I was.
I needed to work my ass off to earn that consideration.
She’d led me into her bedroom last night and slept with her face nuzzled in my chest like it was a pillow.
When I’d woken with her in my arms—and a raging hard-on—I tried my best to slip out of her bed without waking her.
Lucky for me she’d been sleeping like a log lately, ever since she moved out here to Maddox’s grandmother’s house.
I was worried though. She’d said she saw gray leeching into her skin.
From where I was looking she looked… gorgeous. Beautiful, luminous… perfect.
Of course, I’d seen how special she was before that nasty loupe alpha had bitten her. There was a radiance about her. And ever since she became a werewolf she’d shone a bit brighter every day.
I don’t know how she couldn’t see it.
I can’t believe anyone else couldn’t see it either.
But that’s not why I love her, or why I followed her across the country just to be with her.
She’s so good—a real-life good person—so sweet and kind, in her backward kind of way, who wouldn’t love her?
And then there’s how stunning she is. Even with her hair pulled up in a messy bun, or right out of bed. She’s simply the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.
Maybe my wolf chose her the instant he saw her… but so had I.
For once in my long life, my wolf and I had agreed completely.
About her…
I’d made her breakfast and packed her lunch for her, leaving a note on her pillow before I headed out. I had a job in a mid-priced, newer subdivision on the west side of Grayslake.
After what happened with the skinwalker I’d thrown myself into work. Back then it had been on Billy’s logging crew. But now I was a small time contractor again, and to be honest, it was nice creating and fixing things instead of chopping them down.
I’d dug in at the house on Ole Antangy. There were clogged gutters and two sections that needed to be replaced altogether.
That alone made me shake my head. This house and the ones around it were all less than ten years old. What substandard materials had the construction crews used to build a house that was showing such wear and tear so quickly?
Luckily the screws and nails used on the gutters were made of better grade material, so at least I didn’t have to fool with rust-stuck screws.
After that, I met
a couple to do an estimate on renovating their basement. It was an older house, and the foundation was free of leaks or water damage, so that would be a much easier job than it might have been.
I had two more estimates to do… but it was about time for Chelsea to have her lunch.
So I drove downtown to Carly’s Burgers—they were out of cheese sticks, but I got Chelsea an order of loaded potato bites. I’d had them a few days ago when I first came to town and thought she’d like them.
She looked so damn good when she came out of Jerry’s Gas Station. The way her skin glowed, the way her dark hair blew in the breeze, the way her hazel eyes locked on me the moment she saw me and didn’t let me go until she had her arms around my neck and her lips feasting on mine.
Honestly, it was all a blur. But I do remember her smiling, and kissing me… and kissing me some more.
Somehow I ended up driving in the wrong direction to get to my next job, so I had to high tail it in the opposite direction to get there on time.
But I had snapped out of it by the time I got to the house on Montour.
It was a nice craftsman style that had seen better days, and the couple wanted to repair the roof, overhaul the porch and then start on the inside. They hadn’t moved in yet. Wisely, they decided that the remodeling of their dream home would go better if they didn’t have to live through it in person.
If you can afford it, it’s what I would recommend.
The good news was the inside was in better shape than the outside. The previous owners had kept up with updating plumbing and electrical work. Mostly I’d be pulling up the creaky teak flooring and replacing it with walnut laminate and giving each room a new paint job.
It would be weeks of steady work, so I started to plan it out in five parts.
By the time I left for home it had been dark for a while. I wanted to get some steaks and burgers from the grocery store—I’d worked up an appetite. And I was sure Chelsea would be famished once she got off work.
I’d thought about going out of my way not to go past the gas station. Not wanting to be a helicopter mate—whoa… I’d just thought of myself as Chelsea’s mate.
That was just going too far too damn fast!
Yeah, but it rang true enough in my head.
By the time I’d had this little mental argument with myself, I was already driving down the main drag and would be within visual range within seconds.
Oh well, I wasn’t seriously considering not going past…
Wait a minute…
I stopped my truck for a beat, my eyes honing in on the tableau taking up the entirety of the gas station parking lot.
Motorcycles, huge leather-clad bikers, and the door to the station being held open by one of the bikers.
There had to be twenty or more bikers.
I almost went for my phone, to call for that alpha bear sheriff and his whole department—hoping Chelsea had already run out the back when she saw them coming.
But that’s when a big old monster of a man came out of the gas station, and right on his heels two more men had a limp and bleeding Chelsea by the arms, pulling her along with them.
I was out of my truck and running toward the bikers before my mind had caught up.
I had my pocket knife out and took out the Achilles tendon of the first man I came upon—he dropped to the ground, but not before I smelled that he was a werewolf too.
Jesus… I didn’t know if I could take this many shifters. Fragile humans, sure… but shifters?
I stabbed the second wolf in the guts and spun and slammed the next into the parking lot pavement.
I would have to act as fast as I could if I wanted to save—
She made a wounded, pained sound that snapped my attention from eliminating the enemy to getting to her.
My wolf bared his teeth and we drove through their ranks like the scythe of Death himself.
But then a car hit me.
Out of nowhere a big black Pontiac Caliente from the seventies flew into the parking lot and rammed right into me, knocking me at least ten feet in its wake.
Nothing like a bulky, full metal muscle car to leave its mark after hitting you.
I tasted blood when my eyes snapped open and the overhead lights temporarily blinded me.
My blood.
What the…
Chelsea!
I tried to push myself up off the pavement, but a big-ass shit kicker pressed down on my head, pinning me to the pavement.
“Those were some pretty moves you used there on my boys,” a gravelly voice said in an intimate tone. “I’m impressed.”
My next breath I took told me the man stepping on me was both a werewolf and a freaking loupe. I’d smelled this a few times before, and every time had made me want to throw up. The sickening sweetness of carrion, of rot and decay.
If this gang was led by a loupe alpha, they would go insane and go loupe with him.
I couldn’t let them take Chelsea anywhere.
I reached up and grabbed hold of the boot pinning my head to the ground.
I tried to push him off balance, but instead, he just slashed my hand with a knife.
A silver knife, from the way the cut burned like hellfire.
He used his big foot to stomp on my head, making the world spin and then shake like I was on the inside of the Liberty Bell.
I couldn’t hear anything for a beat or two, but when I did I heard, “This little fucker has my new bitch’s scent all over him!”
The foot came off my head and he grabbed me by the hair, pulling me up off the pavement and shaking me like a rag doll.
I could suddenly see Chelsea again, hanging between her two captors, an angry red mark along her eye and cheek, and blood dripping from her mouth.
“I’m going to kill you!” I roared. I didn’t care what I had to do; neither he nor any of his gang were going to touch Chelsea again.
I saw a shining arc as he brought his knife to my throat, and felt the telltale burn of its silver against my skin.
“I’m not much for sharing my humps,” he said, pulling my head back and up so he could slit my throat easier. “So you’re gonna have to die, little man.”
Chelsea’s eyes flew open, writhing with black flame.
In a split second, she simultaneously stood up and knocked the men holding her away from her as if they weighed nothing.
My mouth gaped as she rushed at us, the most stunningly angry expression I’d ever seen on her face.
She jumped into the air and a huge white wolf exploded out of her, fur gleaming, eyes burning and black, and her fangs exposed as she hit the loupe alpha like a load of bricks.
The silver knife was on the ground in front of me, and I heard the other man’s cries, and then wet gasping noises as wolf Chelsea ripped his throat out.
I pushed myself back up to my feet in time to see Chelsea spit a hunk of the loupe alpha out onto the ground. The man was motionless, and his blood was spreading in a circle around his head.
Wolf Chelsea growled her menace at the rest of the biker gang, and they all fell to their knees, some of them changing to their wolf forms involuntarily, and exposing their necks to her.
I don’t know if it was the over head lights of the gas station, but Chelsea’s wolf glowed like she was being lit by a freaking strobe light.
Maybe I’d just had my bell rung a little too hard by the Pontiac Caliente, and the loupe’s boot-clad foot, but I would swear my gorgeous lady love was full on lighting up the neighborhood.
I heard the whoop-whoop of the police cruiser a moment before the red and blue lights flooded the parking lot. Three of them descended on us at once, and I stumbled drunkenly over to put myself between them and Chelsea.
I had my hands up as the sheriff surged out of the cruiser with a deep and monstrous roar, his shotgun drawn and ready.
“Don’t shoot! The wolf is the good guy… girl—whatever, you know what I’m trying to say!”
The bikers started to move, but I hea
rd Chelsea growl like a monster out of a fairytale movie adaptation, and they all went back to cowering on the ground at her feet.
For a tense moment I saw the sheriff sighting from one to the next of the bikers, and then on Chelsea.
“Stop!” I fell to my knees in front of her, trying to shield her with my body.
A moment of dead silence later the sheriff lowered his shotgun, shook his head and actually cracked the barest of grins.
“Is that Miss Moray, Lauren’s friend the Hungry Girl?”
Chelsea growled and I felt the weight of her dominance press down on me. Made my heart stop beating for a few beats, and made my already ringing head hurt like I was being hit in the head with a freaking brick.
“That’s her,” I said through the head-splitting pain. “She was just defending herself.”
The sheriff pursed his lips and looked around. “Looks like you finally shifted.”
I looked back at Chelsea and felt a massive swelling of pride for her in my chest.
She’d shifted, she was the most dominant wolf I’d ever felt… and she was fucking, epically magnificent.
“After you shift back,” the sheriff said, “you’ll have to order your clan to surrender to police custody until we can figure this shit all out.”
I blinked and then rubbed my eyes.
Her clan?
Oh, Jesus… this was going to be a hell of a mess.
Chapter 11
Chelsea
I have to confess, ripping a man’s throat out is absolutely disgusting.
But when that piece of crap put his knife to Benjamin’s throat my wolf and I had only one thought.
Kill him.
I probably would have killed more of them if they hadn’t been groveling on the ground.
I didn’t shift back right away. Guess my wolf had been cooped up enough and wasn’t ready to go back inside.
She is one scary girl, my wolf. No wonder I had felt so crazy and out of it.
Once she came out, that’s when I knew I hadn’t been whole.
I needed her, I needed to embrace and meld with her.
We needed each other.
It’s just good Benjamin wasn’t hurt worse. I can’t imagine she would’ve taken it well.