“Yesss, that’s right,” he panted. “I know her precious Richard. If it weren’t for him, Mallory would still be alive.”
I killed Mallory Monroe last August when she’d made the mistake of kidnapping my friend Richard Stacey. Richard was like a brother to me and I wasn’t about to leave him to that bitch, not when I could save him. With the help of Bade, who had been on his way to see Dr. Kane, we mopped the floor with Mallory and her bitches.
“Mallory didn’t have a chance,” I said as I stepped from behind the bike, “and neither do you.”
He laughed and blood flowed more freely from the gashes Marco had made in his side. “You expect me to believe you did that to Mallory single-handedly?”
“Oh, I had help,” I said silkily, “but not with Mallory. I beat her to death with a chair, and I enjoyed it.”
He hissed and a long thin tongue darted out of his mouth threateningly.
“That’s right,” I taunted, “I get all tingly just thinking about it.”
“That doesn’t surprise me,” he said with a sneer. “I always knew what you were. Richard wasn’t enough for you, so you moved on to the wolf king.”
He had barely finished the sentence before Marco backhanded him so hard I thought for a moment his neck was broken.
“You always knew shit,” I said viciously. My hatred for Alex Belcher was fully renewed. “In the years since I saw you last, I had forgotten how much I hated you.” I moved closer, but Marco made a point to stand between myself and the snakeman. “Here’s a news flash, I never had sex with Richard, you stupid mother—” He dove for me and Marco clotheslined him across the throat.
“Where is Dr. Williams?” Marco growled as he kicked Alex in the ribs so hard he lifted off the ground.
Blood dripped from the corners of Alex’s mouth, but he didn’t speak.
“Where is he?” Marco kicked him again, knocking him another six feet or so down the dirt road.
“You’ll never find him in time,” Alex groaned.
I ran forward. “Never find him in time for what?”
Alex only laughed as Marco approached again.
“We won’t get any answers from him, and taking him some place to torture isn’t practical,” Marco growled.
Alex looked up at me from the ground. “Are you just going to let him kill me?” When I didn’t respond he said, “So, you’re letting the werewolf fight your battles for you?”
“Yes,” I said softly, and turned my back. I heard a horrible crunching noise and didn’t dare turn around. There were scraping noises, and I knew Marco was dragging the body off the road.
I heard some limbs crack as he asked, “Do you have your cell phone?”
“Yes.”
“Call Luther, tell him to take care of this.”
I took the phone from my pocket and looked around to see what road we were on. Luther didn’t even tease me about being off with Marco. Once I told him the situation and that I was calling for Marco, he wrote down the directions and hung up.
“If you’ll look in my coat pocket, I should have a handkerchief,” Marco said.
I hadn’t realized he was so close, and jumped at the sound of his voice.
I went back to the bike, and gave him the handkerchief.
“I didn’t mean to upset you, Red.” His voice was soft and normal again.
“You didn’t upset me,” I said as I watched him wipe the blood from his hands that were also normal again. “I’m upset because we had to kill someone that I knew. I didn’t care about him, I didn’t even like him, but I knew him.”
“You knew Mallory too,” he pointed out softly.
“Yeah, and just so you know I didn’t really get off on killing her either. I was trying to provoke Alex into giving up some more details on Dr. Williams.”
“I figured as much.” I heard him put the coat back on, then suddenly his arms were around me, strong and comforting. “You sure you don’t want to rethink the reason you tremble?” he whispered against my ear.
“I’m sure,” I said. “Come on, Kat is waiting.”
“You still feel like eating?”
“Don’t you?”
“Well, yeah, but—”
“But, nothing, I’m starving.”
Marco looked both surprised and amused.
“Look, he was a horrible asshole; I guess I had hoped he would come around one of these days, that’s all. Richard always made the effort to get along with him anyways.” I shrugged.
He looked at me seriously. “Are you sure I haven’t—”
“It’s going to take more than that to change the way I look at you, Marco,” I interrupted. “Besides, I knew you were a werewolf when I picked you up.” I winked and his smile thrilled me.
We got back on the bike and started to drive off before he asked, “What makes you think you picked me up?”
When we finally arrived in town, Kat was waiting in front of her shop with her arms crossed, looking angry.
“Well,” she said with a smile, “at least I know why you’re late.”
“Where do you want to eat?” I asked, trying to change the subject.
“Admit it, you were off in the woods somewhere fornicating on the back of a motorcycle.”
Without missing a beat Marco replied with a smile, “If that were the case, it would have taken longer. Now, where do you want to eat?”
Kat seemed at a loss for words, but finally suggested a place about thirty minutes out of town. We followed her on the bike and I took the opportunity to grope Marco. My hands were freezing and about halfway to our destination, I ran them underneath his shirt. I felt his sharp intake of breath, but then he relaxed against me. I caressed the rigid muscles of his stomach, tracing the hair that ran down from his chest in a fine line to the top of his jeans. No matter how good a condition you’re in, when you sit bent over on a motorcycle, you’re bound to have a wrinkle or two. Admittedly, they were hard to find on Marco, but I managed to get enough skin between my fingers to pinch.
He laughed and said, “Are you trying to tell me I should order a salad?”
I just laughed. Harassing Marco’s sexy body was the most fun I’d had in a while.
After we sat down and ordered our drinks, Luther called. He asked me first to put the phone on speaker and I informed him we were in the middle of a restaurant. So, I held the phone out slightly and Marco and I pressed our heads together to hear. Luther had taken the snakeman back to what used to be Alfred’s lab and thrown him in the incinerator.
“Good thinking,” Marco answered at the same time I said, “You took that thing in my house?!”
“I didn’t make a mess,” he assured me. “Hey, was he wearing any clothes when you guys saw him?”
“What, you think I stripped him?” Marco asked with a smirk.
“I was just curious,” Luther said. “It’s not like he had anything worth flashing, if you know what I mean.”
“Unfortunately, I do, but I was trying not to think about it.”
Marco laughed at us both before ending the conversation by saying he was starving and if he didn’t eat soon he might grow paws in protest. After overhearing one side of the conversation, Kat was full of questions. I let Marco tell the story while I read the menu. As he spoke I ran my hand absently over his thigh, enjoying the powerful feel of his muscular leg next to mine. I looked up and saw people watching, but I didn’t care. There were worse places to touch someone in public. Besides, it felt good to touch Marco. Having my hands on him felt as natural as breathing, and just as necessary.
He ended up ordering a rare steak and shrimp, Kat had a salad and a margarita, and I had blackened chicken with angel hair pasta.
“I’m so glad I don’t know any of these people,” Kat said finally about the lunatics Richard had worked with. “So, you guys got any big Valentine plans?”
Marco’s smile looked positively sinful as he replied, “I’ve got some things in mind.”
“That sounded like a threat,�
� she said conspiratorially to me.
“Oh no,” he said slowly, “it’s a promise.”
“So, once you put a beating on his ass, are you planning to come by The Dread Moon?”
Marco threw back his head and laughed. It was a deep sexy sound that was at once completely wicked, and completely masculine.
“What?” Kat said. “It sounds like fun. It’s sort of like a semi-formal rebellion against a traditional Valentine’s Day.”
“How is it a rebellion?” Marco asked.
“Well, because everyone there can’t be part of a couple. How many people does that place hold?”
“Two thousand, if it’s packed to the rafters,” he said, while flagging the waiter down for more tea.
“See, you get two thousand people in there, you get them drunk, you get them dancing, and it’s bound to be fun, even if you’re not with someone.”
“That’s not a rebellion, Kat,” Marco commented kindly. “By the way, Beau said he was glad to see you.”
“Really?” she beamed.
“Oh yeah,” he said with a wink. “Unfortunately, his leg hasn’t regenerated enough for dancing.” He sighed. “I tell you what, the press will be there, so we’ll have to put in an appearance. Why don’t you save a dance for me?”
“Well, you’re a sweet little wolfman, but I don’t need your charity,” she said as she emptied her drink.
“Perhaps I can offer you a ride to an AA meeting then?”
She glared at him.
“Look Kat, either talk to the man, or move on with your life.” We all knew he was talking about Charles. “Beau likes you, why don’t you go see him for Valentine’s Day?”
“I might,” she said dejectedly. “He is kind of cute.”
“I’ve literally had to beat women off of him with a stick before.” Marco grinned. “Somehow I think cute is an understatement.”
I definitely agreed. Beau was somewhere around Marco’s height with light shaggy blond hair, an ass like muffin tins, and beautiful baby blue eyes.
“Maybe you should go, Kat. It couldn’t hurt, and I’m sure Beau is lonely. How did you know where to find the clinic anyway?”
The werewolf population has their own clinic. Even though they could go to a regular hospital, most of them preferred not to for obvious reasons. Many didn’t want others to know what they were, and some were just afraid of receiving poor treatment due to prejudice. The doctor who runs the place is a werewolf, and so is his brother who is a nurse practitioner. But no one knew what they really were either, it would have ruined them. They ran the clinic in a large metal building on the back of several acres of private property.
“Marco told me,” Kat answered.
I looked up to find Marco smiling at me. I never figured him for playing matchmaker, but it was sweet that he wanted to help Kat get over Charles.
Before we left Kat pulled me aside and asked, “If that weirdo hadn’t interrupted, would you have been late because you were fornicating on a motorcycle?”
“I don’t think so.” I laughed. “He said he wanted to take things slow, remember?”
Kat looked at Marco walking ahead of us as if she was still hungry and he was desert. “How slow can you go with that man?”
That was the sixty-four thousand dollar question I contemplated on our drive home. I rested my face against Marco’s back, enjoying the smell of man and leather, as well as the protection his body provided from the wind. I put my cold hands on his stomach again and he only squirmed a little bit. I had almost been lulled to sleep by the nearness of his warmth and the hum of the engine by the time we started up the long gravel driveway in front of my house.
I got to my feet reluctantly and noticed Marco hadn’t switched off the engine.
“I’m sorry, Red, but I’ve got to be going.”
“That’s all right,” I said as I ran my fingers through his hair again. “I’d probably just molest you anyway,” I teased, “and we can’t have someone taking unnecessary liberties with the wolf king, now can we?”
“You can’t take advantage of the willing, Red,” he said with a grin. “But unfortunately, I do have to go.”
“I’ll see you Friday,” I whispered as I leaned in to press a kiss against his soft lips. Marco growled and I trembled once again. Pulling myself away from him was difficult, but I managed.
On my way to the door I noticed Richard’s car parked beside my house. I hadn’t seen Richard for nearly six months, and we’d spoken only briefly. He had been pretty shook up about being abducted by one of his fellow professors who turned out to be a werewolf intent on murdering him to hurt me. The only thing more disturbing than that was she was in cahoots with another professor who had experimented on himself with a strand of the lycanthropy virus he had personally altered to contain snake DNA. Dr. Bill Williams was definitely a sick son of a bitch.
Chapter Twenty-One
As soon as I walked through the door, it was obvious I wasn’t going to have the happy reunion with Richard I had been expecting. Dracula met me at the door with a finger to his lips for silence. He had a very serious expression on his lovely face, and I was suddenly afraid. He pulled me aside, his long cloak flowing over me as he put his arm around my shoulders and led me to the sitting room.
“What’s going on?” I asked. “Has something happened? Where’s Richard?”
“He is in the kitchen with Alek.” He paused and took a deep breath. “He has been telling us about what happened to him last fall.”
“You mean when Mallory and Bill tried to hurt him?”
Dracula gripped my shoulders tightly as he said, “They did hurt him.”
I tried to break free of his hold and run to the kitchen, but he held me tight. “No,” I moaned miserably. “What did they do to him? When did they hurt him? I saved him,” I cried as I beat my fists against Dracula’s chest. “I saved him.”
Once I calmed down enough to be coherent, Dracula took me by the arm and led me into the kitchen. Richard was facing Alek with his back turned to me. My heart hammered in my chest. He looked normal, but when I rounded the table and saw his eyes, Dracula had to support me. Richard looked up at me with the cold yellow eyes of a snake.
“I hate snakes,” he wailed sadly.
I staggered toward Richard, even though my legs were weak with shock and threw my arms around him. He cried like someone had torn his heart out, and I joined him. Several minutes later I sat down beside him and asked what happened. He said Dr. Williams must have injected him with the virus immediately after knocking him unconscious, just before Bade and I had come running through the door.
“We were too late,” I said. My voice sounded far away, like I was watching this happen to someone else’s friend and not mine.
“You saved my life,” he said gently.
“If I had only gotten there sooner …”
“We could drive ourselves crazy with what might have been,” he said. “I’ve been talking to Bade, and he thinks he may be able to help me control the change.”
As I recalled, Bade and Richard seemed to hit it off, but I was a little surprised to find they had been talking to each other.
“How did you even know how to contact him?”
“David told me.”
Dr. David Kane was also a werewolf. He was still part of Marco’s pack, though he had been interested in Bade’s research to develop a pill that would suppress the transformation. That was the business they’d had together the night we tried to save Richard, and that was the reason Marco had kicked David’s ass. David insisted he wasn’t taking sides, he’d merely been interested in the drug. However, he was consorting with someone who openly challenged Marco’s authority as king, and that constituted a beating.
“Where’s Luther?” I asked Alek, who was sitting quietly with his chin propped against his interlaced fingers and listening.
“He’s gone to get Richard a sedative.”
Since Alfred had gone, I didn’t have anything in the hous
e strong enough for a werewolf, or a snakeman. Luther had probably gone to the clinic, and that was a twenty minute drive. Richard’s hands shook badly as he reached for the glass of water Dracula offered him.
“Your friend Luther told me about what happened today. I’m glad he’s dead,” he said with a touch of hiss in his voice.
“Richard, you don’t mean that.”
“Yes, I do. That bastard knew what had been done to me, and he taunted me with it at work. He called me into his office before the first full moon to ask how I was feeling. I felt fine. I hadn’t begun to notice any changes yet, so I had no idea what he was talking about. Then he told me. He locked the fucking door and transformed in front of me! He showed me what I could expect in a week or two.” Richard’s voice shook worse than his hands as he said, “Yes, Lilith, I’m glad the son of a bitch is dead.”
“I’m so sorry,” I whispered.
“I’m only sorry you didn’t get Dr. Williams too. I want him dead. I want revenge!” he yelled.
“Vengeance is never enough,” Dracula said quietly from the corner where he stood just out of the reach of any sunlight.
“At least you got the opportunity to see if it was enough,” Richard spat.
Dracula touched my shoulder comfortingly as he explained, “I shared with Richard my experience with injustice while we waited for you.”
“The truth of the matter is, there is no revenge for what was done to you,” he said to Richard. “You cannot reclaim your humanity any more than I can raise the dead.”
“But I don’t want to be a monster,” Richard whimpered.
“Then do not be one,” Dracula said forcefully. “Do not become a monster by taking your revenge on this man, I tell you the only thing it will change is you. It will start you on a dark path you do not want to travel.”
“Then what should I do?” he said softly.
“Let us take care of it. I have killed so many, one more will not break my mind. You are not a killer, Richard, and that is not an insult.”
About that time I heard Luther coming through the front door. He hurried into the room and removed a large blue pill from the bottle he was holding.
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