by Powell, C. G. ; Lavender, Cait; Rayns, Lisa; Hardin, Olivia; Nelson, Stephanie; Schulte, Liz
“He was from Fort Bragg? Do you think dad knows him?”
“Dad knows everyone. Whether or not I want to ask him is a better question.”
Both sisters knew their father would be suspicious if they questioned him about anyone connected with the military. The Colonel was proud of the career he had chosen, but he didn’t want either of his daughters to be army wives.
“Maybe you can ask someone else?” Rose asked hopefully. Carlie didn’t have an easy time finding guys, since she worked at a strip club. Most guys that came in were either married or scumbags. She also had a tendency to pick guys who would piss off their father the most. They both did. But a human? Rose couldn’t even imagine his reaction.
“Dad would get wind of it. And if he thought I was considering a human, he’d lose his shit,” said Carlie as she got into her work clothes.
Their father wasn’t just a high ranking officer in the Army. He also was the local pack Alpha with authority over twenty lupine and hundreds of soldiers. Richard Jameson was a man who gave orders and expected them to be obeyed—something his daughters didn’t always agree with.
“Not only that,” Rose added, “if he found out you were dating a soldier, dad would make his life a living hell. I wouldn’t wish dad on anyone.” Both women grimaced.
“Which would be worse? Dad the colonel, or dad, the Alpha?”
“Oh hell,” Sully moaned, holding his head in his hands like it was going to shatter. I drank my cup of coffee and laughed loudly, which only caused him to moan more. I sat in an armchair in his bedroom in our shared apartment off base.
“Morning, sweetheart. How’d you sleep?” I asked in a syrupy voice. His glare promised retribution of bodily harm. I returned it with a smile, savoring a sip of coffee.
He growled. “Has anyone ever told you you’re a motherfu—”
“Now, there’s no call for that kind of language Ryan Sullivan.” I laughed as I left his room. His angry curse words followed me out the door.
I didn’t have much sympathy considering he’d done all the damage to himself. I rarely drank these days because I had to play nurse to his dumb ass. Still, I couldn’t imagine what he was going through. I would have killed the bastard.
My breakfast sat on the kitchen table waiting for me. After refilling my mug, I sat down and dug into the eggs and bacon I’d made for myself. It reminded me of my time with Shelby. She hated that I was a morning person almost as much as Sully did.
He finally shuffled in by the time I was almost finished, holding back a gag when I sopped up the runny yolk of my over-easy eggs with some toast. I popped it in my mouth with a shit-eating grin as he poured himself a cup from the last dregs of the coffee pot.
“If you kill the joe, make some mo’,” I ordered.
His eyes shot daggers at me again, but he went about making a fresh pot. “Why are you so happy? Other than enjoying my pain, I mean,” Sully grumbled.
“Hmm...besides the fact you’re covered in glitter and have a hangover? Maybe it’s because I met a smokin’ hot bartender last night and got her number.”
“Bastard,” hissed Sully.
I grinned. “Not according to my mother.”
He gave me both middle fingers. I chuckled and stood to wash up my dishes, making more noise than necessary just to piss him off.
Sully plunked down at the table and nursed his coffee. “That’s just great. I drop a couple hundred bucks and get nada and you drink a few beers and a hottie hands over her number. Story of my life.”
“Oh quit bitching. You should cheer up!” Sully raised an eyebrow suspiciously. “We’re going back!”
His pitiful whimper made me chuckle for the rest of the day.
“Sir.”
Colonel Richard Jameson looked up from his desk. It was his day off but he still liked to step in for an hour or so in the morning to make sure everything was going smoothly. Captain Phillips stood at attention on the opposite side of the desk, waiting.
“What is it, Captain?”
“Sir, another of Bragg’s personnel was found dead off post,” he paused, waiting for the Colonel to grasp the significance.
“They were found in the same condition?”
“Yes, sir. Beaten and drained of blood.”
Jameson sighed and waived at a chair. “Sit, Sean. Has anyone in the pack caught a whiff? I’d like to know where the upir are hiding.”
“Not that I know of. Maybe we should call a meeting to apprise everyone of the situation?”
The Colonel scrubbed his face and hair with one hand. It had been years since any upir were in his territory, and now they were going after his people. Brazen evil...
“Yes, notify the pack.”
“Carlie, look who’s here,” whispered Jill.
Jill was a cocktail waitress and one of a few women who worked at the club and didn’t take off her clothes on a regular basis. Jill had a shock of flaming red hair that was born from a bottle and vibrant blue eyes which at the moment were twinkling with amusement.
Carlie glanced over her shoulder and spied two soldiers walking in the club. Jack wore wranglers, boots, and a button up shirt. He looked like a spokesman for PBR. His friend glanced at her. A frown flashed across his face before he stalked over to the stage. She shrugged and went back to her drink orders, not wanting to appear too eager to see Jack.
He walked straight toward her and sat down at the bar, never sparing the dancers a glance. A warm rush of pleasure at being the object of his attention flooded Carlie. She wasn’t used to being more interesting to a man than the girls on stage. She wasn’t the most petit woman either and that alone scared off a lot of men. But nothing scares him off, does it?
Saturday was always a busy night and Carlie didn’t have many moments to spare. Jack watched her with a contented smile on his handsome face and nursed a beer. Every now and then she’d walk past and catch a whiff of his scent and breathe it in deeply. It was spicy, sexy, and masculine. It called to her in a powerful way.
“How are you?” Jack asked when Carlie had a momentary lull. “I’m glad you’re working tonight. I’d hate to drag my buddy here just to make him leave.” His eyes sparked with mischief that made Carlie laugh.
“That would have been a shame.” She chuckled, offering him a fresh beer. She was pleased that he came back just to see her.
Jack’s gaze was glued on hers as he raised the bottle to his lips and took a sip. Carlie suppressed a sigh, refusing to be jealous of a bottle. A hot flush ran down her face, settling in her groin, and she walked away to cool off. He’s a human, he’s a human, she repeated to herself.
The night wore on and the crowd thinned out, giving her more time to chat with Jack. He was very sweet and quick with a joke. His deep, rumbling laugh was infectious. Carlie knew her tips wouldn’t be as much from all the dirty looks coming from the other men, covetous of her attention, but she didn’t care. Something about Jack made her want to curl up at his feet and she ached to have him run his fingers through her fur. That he was human and would freak out if he found out she was a lupine became less and less important.
“Well, beautiful,” said Jack as he rose from the bar. “I think I’d better be going. It’s getting late, and I should take him home.” He pointed over his shoulder at his friend who sat by the stage with his head on his arms and looked unconscious.
She grinned, knowing the poor guy would hate life the next day. “Okay, I’ll—”
She cut off sharply when someone left through the club’s front doors and scent of death and decay whooshed in on a gust of cold night air. Upir. Goosebumps ran up her arms and she fought the instinct to shift and kill. Carlie’s eyes flashed toward Jack. He looked at her with a puzzled expression, waiting for her to finish what she was saying. There was no way in hell she could allow Jack and his drunk friend to walk outside without her. From the strength of the upir’s scent it was probably lurking right outside the club, waiting for easy, alcohol-marinated prey. Only she could protect t
hem from that kind of evil.
“No!” she exclaimed. Jack’s eyes widened in surprise so she tempered her reaction with a smile. “I’m still a little shaken up by that guy last night. Would you mind walking me to my car?” Carlie hated sounding like a helpless little girl, but she knew he would comply since he was Captain America.
“Sure,” he said gently, and sat back down to wait for her.
Carlie liked to do a thorough job of her closing chores but tonight she wanted to make sure everyone got home safe, so she half-assed them before closing up. The last of the men walked out of the club and she locked the front doors behind them, motioning Jack and his friend to follow her to the exit in the back of the building.
“I’ve just got to grab my purse and then we can leave,” said Carlie. She was pleased that his eyes were glued to her instead of the departing dancers like his friend’s.
“Take your time,” he said with a smile.
Carlie ducked into the locker room to grab her things and warn the dancers and Jill to be careful. Most nights the bouncer would walk all of them to the parking lot, insuring that no admirers got out of hand but he was nowhere to be found. She’d just have to insure their safety herself.
The three of them walked outside into the cool winter air, and again she scented the blood sucker was close. The desire to plug her nose against the smell of rotting, moldering flesh of upir gnawed at her. Glittering, my ass.
Carlie was on edge, and I didn’t know why. She said it was because of the man last night, but I wasn’t buying it. She didn’t seem like the type of woman who needed a big strong man to protect her. Plus, she hadn’t been that afraid of the guy. Frankly, I thought she would kick my ass if I ever even implied it. She was strong, capable and smart.
And God was she beautiful. She had on another pair of skin tight jeans and a concert T-shirt. Her skin was creamy and smooth, and I ached to taste those dark red lips. I struggled against something deep and primal to keep myself from pinning her against the wall and ravishing her.
I followed her out the back entrance of the club. She scanned the parking lot as if Michael Myers was going to jump out at us from behind a parked car. Her body was tense and despite her supposed fears she positioned herself in a defensive stance in front of us.
“Where’d you park?” Her voice was so low I almost didn’t hear her. Taking a cue from her body language, I motioned to the Jeep a few rows away. She nodded, still scanning for some unseen danger.
“Hello, wolf,” said a deep, eerie voice behind us. The speaker had an odd double timbre, almost as if there was more than one person speaking, and it sent goose bumps skittering across my skin. We all spun, Sully a little slower on the uptake than Carlie and me.
A man stood in the darkness. He wore dark colored, nondescript clothing and had a plain, dark featured face. His black eyes reflected a menacing glint of red from the dim lights overhead.
“Back off, leech.” Carlie growled. “Leave now, and I’ll let you live.”
Carlie shook with tension and her eyes glowed green in the darkness. Something about that was familiar but I couldn’t spare the focus to figure out what. This man made her nervous and I wasn’t going to doubt her judgment. I slipped my hand slowly in my back pocket, easing my knife out and ready at my side. I didn’t like him.
“We don’t think so, dog,” laughed the man. “We’ll take our chances. You should run, or will you stay to protect these humans?”
Huh? “What’s he talking about?” I whispered, “Is someone else here?”
Carlie glanced at me with regret before returning her attention to the strange man. “If you do this, you’ll be bringing the whole pack down on you and whichever coven raised you,” she warned.
The stranger took a menacing step forward. “Not if you don’t leave here alive.”
An angry growl rumbled out of Carlie as she darted to her boots and pulled a knife out of each. I glanced at Sully before stepping in front of him. He had his own weapon out and ready, a wary expression painted on his features.
The stranger lunged so fast, I almost wasn’t able to dodge his fist aimed at my head. Carlie spun and stabbed at him with her blades but the man moved like a ghost, spinning and feinting with lightning speed. Part of my brain registered that his speed was inhuman, and so was Carlie’s. She was always a step ahead of the man as he tried to get past her toward Sully and me.
We fought this way until my breaths came in burning gasps, and my muscles screamed in protest. The man shot forward and I couldn’t stop him before he landed a blow on my side. My ribs snapped and a jolt of pain sent me to my knees.
Through a haze of agony I watched as time slowed. The man’s face was triumphant, and he moved in for the killing blow. A primal roar ripped from Carlie. She burst into pieces of shredded cotton while a large black and silver wolf leapt clear. Sully let out an astonished curse as the animal dove and ripped out the man’s throat, almost severing his head from his shoulders. I knelt in stunned silence, pain the least of my concerns, and watched the fierce wolf tear the man to shreds. The malevolent red glow faded from the man’s eyes, and finally the beast stopped, sides heaving from exertion.
“Did she just turn into a freaking wolf?” Sully whispered.
The wolf turned and regarded us with intelligent, bright green eyes. Numb with shock, I watched it take a few steps until it was within arm’s reach. It was much larger than any wolf I’d ever seen; its shoulders were the same height as my hips. Its fur looked soft and glossy, longer than I expected a wolf’s should be. What does it feel like? I extended my hand with caution, wary of its reaction, until I buried my fingers in its thick coat.
“What are you doing?” Sully hissed in alarm.
“It’s so soft,” I murmured, ignoring his protest. I was numb. My brain struggled to cope and the easiest thing to do was focus on the incredible animal in front of me. The wolf leaned into my hand as I scratched a spot behind its ears.
“Are you batshit, man? It just killed a guy!”
“It saved our lives, dumbass,” I growled, beginning to get irritated. Couldn’t he see I was busy? The wolf backed away, never taking its emerald eyes off me before shimmering and shifting into a stark naked Carlie.
“Holy shit,” Sully and I breathed simultaneously.
Desire fisted in my groin and my erection pressed against the zipper of my jeans. I stared at the naked expanse of her creamy skin, her rosy nipples pebbled with cold. Cold, you idiot. She’s naked and freezing!
I grunted from the pain radiating in my side as I stood and pulled my shirt off, taking a few steps to wrap it around her. She shivered underneath the warm cloth. It came down to the middle of her smooth thighs. I suppressed a thrill of approval seeing her wearing my shirt. I threw my arm around her and tugged her toward the Jeep where I thought I had a spare blanket in the back.
“Are you okay?” I asked as I helped her into the passenger seat.
“Seriously?” she laughed. “You just saw me shift and kill a guy, and you’re asking me if I’m okay?”
“I don’t know if doing that is painful or not, like in the movies,” I said, shoving Sully into the back seat.
She looked at me sideways. “You’re taking this well. Did you hit your head?”
I paused, pretending to think about it. I might be temporarily insane but my head felt fine. “No, I don’t think so.” I grinned and sat down behind the steering wheel.
“I’m not okay!” Sully roared in the back seat. “What the hell is happening?”
Carlie winced. “I’m so sorry you both were mixed up in this.”
“In what? You just ripped a guy’s throat out!” he yelped.
While I was concerned about that fact and that we’d left him lying in the middle of the parking lot, my focus was on the gorgeous woman next to me with no panties on.
“It’s okay. As soon as the sun hits the dead guy will turn into dust. It was an upir, what you know as a vampire. They’re evil and need to die.”
“Okay, so supposing you’re not insane and what you’re saying is true, the cops won’t be dragging our asses in for questioning?” asked Sully, trying to work it out.
“No.” Carlie chuckled.
“Good... good,” he mumbled before passing out. Carlie and I looked at each other before bursting into hysterical laughter.
Jack drove for a few minutes in silence. Carlie didn’t know what was going to happen. She tried so hard to keep the upir at bay without having to shift, but it just wasn’t possible. When she saw it swoop in to kill Jack, she’d changed on instinct and let the wolf take over. By the time she stopped to think, she had blood dripping from her muzzle, and the two men stared at her wide eyed. Shit.
Carlie thought about ditching them and darting into the trees, waiting to shift back until they left. But when Jack reached his hand out and ran it through her fur she nearly rolled onto her back and let him scratch her belly. His strong, warm hands reached a spot she never could when she was a wolf and her leg threatened to shake in bliss. That would’ve been embarrassing.
Now she was in the car with a handsome, shirtless man. They were nearly the same height, but he was wide. His shoulders were broad, wider than the car seat; his chest and arms were thick with ropes of muscle. She was surrounded by his scent wafting from his shirt and it did funny things to her mind. She stared at the large expanse of his toned, tan skin and suppressed the urge to mark him.
“Um,I don’t know where you live,” Jack said softly, jolting Carlie out of her thoughts.
She realized they’d been driving for several miles in the wrong direction. If she went home in the state she was in, her sister would freak. “Can I go home with you?”
Jack’s knuckles turned white on the steering wheel and he cleared his throat. “Of course,” he croaked then coughed. “So how did you do that?”
“How did I shift, you mean?”
Jack nodded.
“I’m a lupine, a werewolf to you. But we’re born, not bitten, and we’re not crazy, slavering beasts.”