by Stormie Kent
Suddenly, Nic’s arms were around her. “Shh. Stay here while I check it out.”
She tried breathing slowly to calm herself. Nic disappeared inside her apartment, and she wrestled her fear and won. She wouldn’t allow him to face danger alone. She was moving when he suddenly appeared in the doorway.
“He’s gone, but it’s bad. Prepare yourself.” He held out his hand, and she took it.
Leila held on to Nic tightly. “Was it him? The Brain Surgeon?”
“Yes, this is the same guy I’ve tracked at each crime scene.”
The living room was completely destroyed. Someone had run amok in her space, having a gigantic temper tantrum. There were burns in her couch and wall that could only have come from an angry witch or wizard tossing energy balls about. The place looked as if an earthquake had shaken her pictures from the walls, books from the bookcases, and vases from tabletops.
Leila stepped over the detached leg from her cocktail table. “Does the entire place look like this?”
“I’m afraid so. I’ll call the police while you look to see if anything is missing.”
The crazy bastard had done the same thing in each room. In the bathroom, her towels were actually shredded. She closed her eyes for a moment, and the rest of her senses took over. She could hear the hum of the light and discern what she was coming to recognize as the vandal’s personal scent. Something new inside her sat up and growled. When she found this guy, she would tear him limb from limb.
Nic stepped in front of her. “A patrol car will be here any minute. Does it look as if anything is missing?”
“Nothing but my sense of security.”
She didn’t resist when Nic pulled her close and rested his chin on her head. She had to believe they would find the man who’d attacked her. The sorcerer who was still attacking her by stalking her and tampering with her personal possessions. He was telling her without words that he could get to her.
The doorbell rang, and she and Nic walked out to let in the police. She waited, arms crossed over her chest and hands clutching her upper arms, for Nic and the guys to finish shaking hands. He knew the two responders and took a few minutes to talk with them about what was going on. Then the questions started. How many ways could she tell them that no, she didn’t know the guy personally, and she didn’t think anything was missing?
Finally, she turned to Nic and refused to say another word. Before she knew it, he’d smoothed over her silence and escorted the policemen out with their evidence. They wouldn’t find anything. The Brain Surgeon wouldn’t have had to touch anything to do his damage. The guy had magic, and he wasn’t afraid to use it.
Nic said, “Pack a bag with anything that isn’t destroyed. You can’t stay here. I’m going to see if I can find a trail to follow.”
Then he was gone. Leila went to the bedroom, reluctance in every step she took. Without Nic there to be strong for, her throat grew tight and her eyes watery. She was like her things, strewn about, sad, and displaced. She looked through her possessions, but she couldn’t make herself touch any of it to place in a bag. She would simply have to buy some new things until anything salvageable could be cleaned. She left her bedroom and went out to the living room to wait on Nic.
When he returned, she could feel the frustration roiling off him. “I lost the trail about a block away. He must have gotten into a car.”
“Are we ever going to find this guy?”
“We’ll get him. He has to slip up eventually. In the meantime, we stick together. I’ll watch your back, and you watch mine.”
Leila stared at the strong lines of his face. He hadn’t lied to her yet, and frankly she trusted him. They would find the killer, and he would pay for what he’d done to her and those other poor witches.
Leila took another look at the destruction around her. “If he’d left something of his, I could have done a finding spell. It doesn’t appear he did more than have a full-on hissy fit and expend a great deal of power damaging my things.”
“We keep following the clues. If we don’t find the right guy in this county, maybe we get a lead on him from the next county over. No matter what, we don’t stop until you’re safe. I promise you.”
She walked over to him and wrapped her arms around him. He cradled her close, and she pressed her nose to his collarbone and inhaled his scent. She needed to feel better and couldn’t with the sorcerer’s smell all around her.
“Can we go? I’ll buy some new things. I don’t think I could put any of this stuff on right now.”
“Let’s go.”
She tried not to lean too heavily on Nic as they headed back to the SUV. She was a powerful witch and had a strong beast growing inside her. She shouldn’t ever need to be scared. Yet she still remembered the cold feeling of her magic slowly being sieved from her body. She would never forget it. He’d been taking a part of who she was, leaving her with nothing that would have allowed her to live.
Leila and Nic stepped out in the sunlight, and Nic immediately moved in front of her. Surrounding his SUV were four men. She felt the tingle of magic and sniffed the air. She recognized the subtle undertone of what she could only describe as musk and wildness. Shifters.
“Manuel wants to see you, Nic.” The guy was big with dark hair. His gaze centered on Nic and slid to her briefly before his nostrils flared.
It must have been a signal, or else a breeze had come up behind her because suddenly the shifters were all scenting the air. The men spared her fleeting glances, but their gazes always returned to Nic.
Nic leaned forward. “Tell Manuel I’m working a case and will come in as soon as I can, Jake.”
The broad-shouldered brunet shook his head. “It can’t work like that. He knows you’re avoiding him, and he’s pissed. We are to bring you in any way we can.”
She watched Nic’s shoulders swell. He was radiating menace so strong it rubbed like grains of sand against her skin. The other shifters changed stances as if preparing for anything. The air charged, and the wild new animal inside Leila woke up and stretched. Claws extended from her nail beds, and the sting of it sharpened her focus. If they wanted to take her mate, they would be going through her jaws and claws first.
And then Nic seemed to calm slightly. The intensity of a few moments ago eased, and Leila could think beyond tearing out throats. Jake and the other shifters watched Nic and Leila warily.
Jake said, “You’ve been hiding what you are. And now you have her. Though her energy is weird, you can feel the alpha female rolling off her. There is only one way to resolve this.”
Nic made a slashing motion across his body with his palm. “No, Jake. I could have left. Manuel has been pushing my hand for months, and I haven’t reacted. All I want is to protect my family.”
“He has your mother,” Jake said.
Leila was in motion before the last word left Jake’s mouth. She had every intention of maiming at least one of the shifters. Nic caught her around the waist, and she growled at him in warning. Then he caught her gaze. She resisted the stare as long as she could. Something in his gaze made it almost impossible for her not to drop her eyes. She fought it, snarling. Then her wolf grudgingly backed down…this time. Leila looked away and not down. She wanted him to know she’d let him win this round.
She turned to the other shifters. Their eyes were lowered, but they clearly watched her interaction with Nic in fascination.
“We’ll come in our car.” Nic’s tone suggested it was nonnegotiable.
Leila allowed Nic to settle her in the passenger seat of the SUV, all the while keeping her eyes on the other wolves. She waited for him to climb in before saying, “You shouldn’t have stopped me.”
She watched as he locked his gun in the lockbox under the driver’s seat, and she took the phone he handed her. Metal didn’t disintegrate like clothing during a complete shift. It appeared he expected to go full wolf.
Nic looked at her. “It isn’t their fault. They must obey the alpha. It is very rare for a w
olf to be strong enough to resist his or her alpha. It’s why Manuel wants to bring me to heel so badly. The others have probably begun to question who’s stronger.”
Nic started the car and drove out of the parking lot.
“What do I need to know?”
He took his eyes off the road briefly to glance at her. “At this point just be on guard. If he’s taken my mother, he’s desperate. There isn’t any way to avoid this confrontation now. Manuel hates nonshifters. You being a witch is going to send him into a fit. He will also be frothing at the mouth because my mate is an alpha female. This entire encounter has disaster written all over it.”
“You didn’t want this confrontation, did you?”
“No, I’ve been planning on leaving the pack as soon as I knew we’d mated. Sooner than that, if I tell the truth. It has gotten harder and harder to pretend to be more submissive. My wolf has been rebelling. I wouldn’t have lasted much longer.”
They were quiet on the rest of the drive. She’d known where the shifter lands were located, near the Coldwell city limits situated on the edge of the state forest extending over to Grantsville. It seemed like a good spot for a pack of wolves. They could run as they pleased after dark when the park closed. Nic drove through dense patches of hickory and oak trees until the area suddenly widened to a clearing surrounded by homes.
At the top of the clearing, near the biggest house, a crowd had formed. In the center, a man stood apart, arms crossed over his broad chest. He was big, like the biker in the gang all the others were afraid of. Close-cropped dark hair and a dark tan were what she could mostly make of him.
“I guess the guy in the center is Manuel.”
“Yeah, the lady behind him is his mate, Mary.”
They parked in a sparsely grassy area at the edge of the clearing and walked closer to the gathering. Leila concentrated on Manuel. He had the close-set eyes and perpetual scowl of bullies everywhere. He held his mouth tight, with a slight smirk to the edge. She had a feeling he had an agenda bigger than simply making Nic follow his orders. She glanced back at the alpha’s mate, Mary. Mary’s expression was blank. She stared at them, but Leila had no idea what she might be thinking. Strawberry blonde, she was pretty in a girl-next-door way. Leila could imagine her carpooling kids to soccer.
Nic tried to walk slightly in front of her, but she wouldn’t let him. He wouldn’t be taking any strikes meant for her today. She stopped when he did, about a meter from Manuel.
Nic clenched and unclenched his fists. “Where is my mother?”
Manuel narrowed his eyes as he regarded Nic, and the contemptuous slant to his mouth turned cruel. “You’re a wolf. You could have tracked her. You know this meeting between us is long overdue.”
“You don’t have to do this, Manuel. I’ve never made a play for your pack. All I want is to leave here safely with my family.”
“You should have thought of that before you began disobeying direct orders. Including consorting with witches.” Manuel’s gaze fell to Leila briefly before returning to Nic. “I formally challenge you, Nic Lobo. Before witnesses, I ask for no interference from pack.”
“Challenge accepted.” Nic grabbed Leila’s arm and guided her to the side of the circle of shifters that had grown around them.
“Leila, you may not enter the fight to attack Manuel. Stay out here, safe, until this is over. If I don’t win, get my mother out.”
“Win. I don’t want to answer to this guy in any way.”
Nic grinned at her, then held her close for a quick, bruising kiss. He let her go and walked slowly back out to the center of the circle, shedding his shoes, belt, and shirt on the way. Manuel did the same until both men faced each other barefoot and in their boxers.
Manuel was larger than Nic, bulky where Nic was more sleekly muscled. A day or so ago, she would have been much more horrified by this display of barbarism. Now she simply wanted Nic to wipe the floor with the guy, grab his mom, and take Leila somewhere so she could sleep. She’d had a tiring day.
The two men circled each other.
Leila expected the crowd to be loud and boisterous, but they were eerily silent. Across from Leila stood Manuel’s mate. Outside of clenched fists, she looked as expressionless as she did when they’d first walked up. Leila didn’t understand how she did it as Leila’s heart felt as if it were jumping out of her chest.
Both men suddenly ran at each other, fists up. Manuel hit Nic in the jaw, and Nic responded by returning the favor. They pounded on each other, though Leila could see Nic blocked or dodged most of the blows. Each strike rang out clearly in the silence. It was plain to see that, despite the difference in their sizes, they were evenly matched when boxing. Nic was slightly more skilled, yet Manuel seemed to have an edge on brute strength.
Then Manuel grabbed Nic about the neck in what Leila thought was a choke hold. Nic twisted and was suddenly free. He turned his entire body and kicked Manuel in the chest. The shifter slid across the space and landed at his mate’s feet. He stood quickly and ran back at Nic. One second he was a man, the next he was a large brown and black wolf. Nic shifted form before Manuel reached him and moved, twisting to the side. Manuel connected a claw strike with Nic’s back right leg.
Leila tensed at the first appearance of blood and the first sign Nic might be hurt. She forced herself to watch as the two wolves bit and swiped at each other, each trying to strike a mortal blow or force the other into submission. Nic struck out at Manuel’s flank, raking a bloody gash across his side. He continued the attack, clawing and biting at vulnerable points along the other wolf’s injured side, weakening him.
Leila instinctively looked to the wounded wolf’s mate. Mary wasn’t there. Leila glanced from face to face in the crowd, but the woman wasn’t among them. Had she left, escaping once she saw her mate losing? Leila brought her focus back to the men. They rolled together now, each trying to find a new place to hurt the other. The crowd was quiet and still around them. A flash of reddish fur caught her attention.
A reddish-brown wolf wound its way through the legs of the crowd, eyes on the battling wolves. Something was wrong. Could that wolf be Mary? Whoever it was, she was dangerously close to entering the circle. What if she intended to attack Nic if he won? He would be vulnerable and unprepared for the sneak attack.
Leila moved toward the reddish-brown wolf. She stayed out of the circle and kept to the ring of spectators. She never took her eyes off the red wolf, though.
She wasn’t surprised when, the moment the snarling stopped in the circle, the wolf sprang forward. The new wild part of Leila took over, forcing her legs into a run and jump. She felt the shift take her midleap. She hit the red wolf, knocking it to the side. Leila clamped her jaws over the wolf’s throat and used the hold to keep Mary pressed to the ground. The wolf struggled, and Leila’s teeth sank in deeper, drawing warm, salty blood.
She could kill the wolf, snap its neck as its punishment for trying to interfere. The blood coated her mouth, and she shook the other wolf a little. Then she felt a gentle hand on her fur.
“Let her up now, Leila.” Nic was using his alpha voice on her again.
Leila raised her eyes to his. He was back in human form. Behind him, the brown and black wolf lay quietly in the dirt. Slowly, she released the hold she had over the reddish-brown wolf. She brushed against Nic’s legs but didn’t change back. She wasn’t sure how to. Calming her breathing wasn’t working, and she didn’t have any clothes.
“Bring my mother.” Nic’s voice was full of command. She felt it under her skin just like when they’d been in the parking lot of her building.
Everyone in the clearing waited while Jake split from the group and strode to the largest house. The wolf Leila had taken down crept close to the alpha wolf, whimpering and nudging him. He rolled up sluggishly and sat. He didn’t acknowledge her efforts, nor did he change back to human form.
Jake returned with Ana Lobo. The older woman ran and hugged her son. She looked down. “Leila? You’re
beautiful.”
Leila nudged her hand in gratitude.
Nic raised his voice. “I accepted your alpha’s challenge and won. As his mate attempted to attack me, my mate subdued her. You can sense she is an alpha female. She is also a witch.”
He paused while murmuring swept through the crowd.
“I won’t give up my mate for any reason. I have won the title of alpha. Any who don’t like it, feel free to leave.”
She watched as Nic turned his hard gaze on each of the people standing in the crowd and watched as every eye dropped. Then, with one arm around his mother and a hand in Leila’s fur, he walked through the crowd toward one of the smaller houses. He allowed them both to precede him inside before closing the door firmly behind them.
NIC LOOKED AT his mother. “Are you hurt, Mamá?”
“No, Nic. I’m fine. Find Leila some clothes. The pack won’t leave you alone for long. You’re the new alpha, and they will need to know what to do next.”
Nic hadn’t wanted to be the new alpha. He wasn’t even sure he had the temperament for it. He did know some of the pack had given up mates because of prejudice. That wouldn’t happen any longer. Mates should be together. He looked down at Leila, his hand still clutched in her fur.
He led her to his bedroom and let her fur go. She walked around sniffing.
“If you want to regain your human form, you’ll have to force the wolf back.” He went to his dresser and took out a T-shirt and a pair of sweatpants. At least she could roll them at the waist to make them fit properly.
He turned at her first whine and came down on his haunches before her. She paced, tail tucked against her body and head moving from side to side. With a small yelp, she crouched low to the ground as the change began. Fur receded even as her body contorted and elongated. It took longer than it would for another adult shifter, and Nic remained still and silent in an effort not to distract her.
By the end, she knelt on the floor, panting, gloriously naked and grubby from rolling around in the dirt with Mary. “Thanks. Is it always so hard to change back?”