by Crystal Dawn
The Tulsa Pack
Book 1
Dirty Deeds
By Crystal Dawn
Edited by Eagle Editing
Cover by Star Bound Books
2017 Copyright by Crystal dawn
This book is a work of fiction. All contents, including names, places, and events are the product of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to persons, living or deceased, businesses, locations or events are completely coincidental.
None of this work may be used, reproduced, exchanged or transmitted by anyone but the person the book was purchased for. Any reproductions of this book in any part or any form must be done with the express written permission of the author or not at all.
Thank you for respecting the work of this author.
Prologue
Loud music blared from inside as a group of riders on motorcycles pulled up. They looked tough as hell and ready to rumble if necessary. The one that lead the way looked the toughest of all, but not in the usual way. The male was handsome, with no sign of scars nor did he have the look that often went with hard living.
His triceps bulged showing he was no weakling. It also drew the eyes of the ladies, if you could call the females hanging out at Dick’s that. Jared Calvin Woods would never insult a female, but these females weren’t the kind that would interest him. This place, not too far from Tulsa, but far enough to avoid the hectic pace of the city, was what had pulled him in.
An unbelievable story, but he’d won it in a card game last night. His fancy Tulsa lawyer had assured him it was all legal and he was now the proud owner of what was currently called Dick’s place. The second he’d walked in the door, the smell of cigarette smoke coupled with the stench of urine had hit his nose.
As offensive as the odor was, it could all be washed away. The building was solid built with brick and mortar. The inside was in need of cosmetic repairs, but nothing he and his guys couldn’t fix. They were tired of the road with having no place to call home. This would be their headquarters, the start of the pack he intended to build.
The council had already given him leave to claim the fourth of the state in the upper right hand corner of the map. A few small packs were located here, but none had been smart enough to get sanctioned by the council. JC didn’t care. He’d leave them alone if they left him and his alone.
It was nineteen thirty-five with prohibition just coming to an end. It seemed a good time to own a bar, even a dump like this. He had big dreams, but not much money. That was okay, because this was a good start.
While prohibition was still enforced in Oklahoma, this bar operating as a private club had managed to stay in business in this remote area. JC had won it including everything it contained so he could start serving drinks as soon as he ran off the people currently inhabiting it. That included the sore loser he’d won it from.
Apparently the guy had believed his low life buddies would discourage JC and his crew from taking over. He didn’t realize that these bikers were more than just tough, they had inhuman strength. They’d also lived a life on the run performing whatever dirty deeds were necessary to support themselves. While JC wanted better for them, that life was in the future. Right now they were about to do what they did best, kick ass.
The man he’d won the bar from was hiding in the back more than happy to let his rough customers take on the battle for him. Checking out the men in the bar, he didn’t see a single one he felt would be a challenge. Some were so drunk, they could barely stand. The sound of shattering glass rang through the room as those men broke the tops off their beer bottles to turn them into weapons.
That wouldn’t be enough to change the tide of the battle about to take place. What it would do, was ensure that if any of them harmed one of his males, they would suffer for it. The wolves growled low as they watched the low lifes the owner had gathered prepare to fight.
His beta didn’t wait, he jumped the biggest guy in the group. A kick knocked the broken bottle out of his hands sending it crashing to the floor where it shattered with a loud sound. The guy, he was big as a mountain but you know the saying. A fist to the head made his eyes roll back in his head. His body went tumbling to the ground without his brain to instruct it.
As soon as their champion fell, all hell broke loose. JC believed some of the bums were just running toward the door because a few slunk out the back. His males didn’t see it that way. They rushed to face them head on. The owner was pale and shaking.
“You ready to call an end to this?” JC asked.
“I’ve no place to go.” The older man said.
“You put up the only place you have to call home in a poker game?”
“I had a good hand.” The old guy protested.
“I had a better one. There were several hands that would have also been better than yours. Half the table held hands better than yours.”
“It’s true. I’m an old fool.”
“Call off your buddies so we can talk.” JC suggested.
They both looked around to find most of the fighting was over. None of his wolves had been hurt so he was feeling generous. The upstairs had several rooms for customers to stay. He let the old guy stay there and he never regretted it. With Herbert’s help he managed to begin his plan of owning all the land around the bar one house and one business at a time.
Herbert was an alright guy when he was sober. Twenty years later, they laid him to rest and JC fought the tears that came to his eyes. Maybe humans could be okay after all.
Chapter 1
The Tulsa Pack
Things had certainly changed a lot since the thirties. Not everyone agreed if it was for the better or the worse. His pack had flourished, most members owned businesses of some sort or worked for those owned by the pack. He’d sent some of his males, the ones that had been with him from the start, to college. Cade was a lawyer, sharp as a tack once he’d decided it was what he wanted to do. Grant, the quiet one that looked out for everyone was the pack doctor.
Harvey had become an accountant. He’d been the youngest of the originals and the most serious. Jack was his mechanic, he ran the pack’s garage which did both mechanical and body work. Jack was a genius when working with anything with a motor. His beta, Tanner, well, being beta was a full time job. He oversaw the security and enforced pack as well as council law. He headed the pack enforcers, they had a dozen or more at any given time.
The pack had grown into one of the largest around. JC didn’t like assholes which many of the alphas of the smaller packs in his area had been. As new members joined giving information about alphas that did heinous things, the council had encouraged him to take those alphas out. Rogues or renegades had swelled his ranks from all over the country when they heard he was fair to everyone.
It didn’t hurt that the pack itself was wealthy. They didn’t need money from their members to support them. JC loved the ladies, but he would never force one as so many other alphas had done. Someday he hoped to find a she wolf to make him whole, but he’d wait to mate until that happened. Meanwhile he ran his bar, it catered to supernaturals. Wolf Springs, the surrounding town was magically warded so most humans couldn’t find it.
His pack pretty much ran itself most of the time. His members were happy. Everyone knew happy wolves were easy to handle. They did their full moon runs once a month and celebrated all the appropriate holidays. JC went before the council once a year to inform them of whatever they thought they needed to know. Their pack had treated with many packs, even the St. Louis pack now that it had a decent alpha.
JC had to admit life was good. If he missed having a mate with a couple of pups, well right now he had the single life. Mitz
y, his main squeeze for now, thought he’d change his mind and mate her. Never going to happen, he’d told her so but she ignored him. She was hot, but she could be a real bitch, no pun intended. When he found his mate someday, he wanted someone with a sweeter disposition.
She needed to be kind as well as sympathetic to the females of the pack. Yeah, Mitzy would never do. He ought to send her on her way, but he was too lazy to hunt a replacement. She was also a good waitress, reliable and efficient. The males liked her, but the females not so much. The bitch was nicer to the males because she liked her tips. It was time to sever their relationship.
The female in question walked by as it was closing time. She put a little extra swing into her walk. Maybe one more night together. Mitzy knew how to scratch his itch. That might sound animalistic, but he was a wolf and so was she.
The next day was back to work as usual. “Hey, Boss. I needed to talk to you. As I’m sure you are aware, I was seeing Donita.” Tanner said.
“My bartender? Yeah, I heard something about that.” JC admitted. He wasn’t liking the way things were sounding.
“We split. She just packed up moving across the country to Washington State. I figure she didn’t give you notice.”
“You’re right about that.” JC observed. He could get mad chewing Tanner out for dating an employee, but he was doing the same thing. “I guess we’ll put Sheila in until we find someone else.”
“Sheila? Are you sure?” Tanner asked.
Sheila wasn’t the best, that was for damn sure, but she was all they had. “Slim pickings around here. Start putting the word out so we won’t have to use her for long.” At least he hoped they found someone else.
“Sure thing.”
JC poured himself a cold one. It didn’t look like Tanner was going anywhere so he poured one for him too. “Something else on your mind?”
“You ever wonder if we’ll ever find our fated mates.”
“I may have thought about it once or twice.”
“So what do you think?”
“The goddess will send them to us when she’s ready. Nothing we do will speed it up. Best thing we can do is enjoy the time we have as single males. Drink good alcohol and ride some wild females. That’s what I intend to do.” His eyes moved to Mitzy.
“You know she thinks you’ll mate her.” Tanner offered.
“I’ve told her countless times it will never happen.” Mitzy looked up smiling at him. The gleam in her eyes was obvious even from here.
Tanner snorted. “I see she’s taking you seriously. Find a new bartender before you tell her you’re through. Once you do, she’ll be outta here. Then you’ll be short a bartender and a lead waitress.”
“Is that what happened with Donita?”
“Yep. First she giggled, she thought I was joking, as if. What kind of male jokes about that? Then she started crying. Finally she got pissed and started throwing things. Broke half my dishes and nearly took my head off.”
“Were you honest with her up front?” JC asked.
“I certainly was. A little bit of fun I said. Let’s not take any of it serious I said. We both have fated mates out there I said.”
“Well, what did she say?”
“It’ll fill in the time with some fun, she said. She knew better than to take a male with my reputation seriously, she said. Donita is too smart to fall into that trap, she said. You think every female will fall in love with you so I’ll show you that’s not so, she said.”
“Did she say what changed?”
“You stayed so long, she said. I thought I meant something to you, she said. You never even looked at the other females, she said. You bought me flowers, she said.”
‘You bought her flowers?”
“I did not. That one was your fault.”
“Mine? I didn’t buy her any flowers.”
“Mitzy wanted flowers for the tables on Valentines. Red roses to symbolize romance since many of the mated males brought their females for the event we had. You remember, steaks and strawberry marguerites?”
“Yeah, we made a killing. How is that buying her flowers?”
“There were some leftover because you took out half a dozen tables to make a dance floor. Donita was the one who put the flowers on the table. When she saw some were leftover, she grabbed them and jumped in my arms. ‘Can I have these?’ She asked. ‘I don’t care what happens to them.’ I told her.”
“You’re kidding?” JC asked his beta.
“No, why does everyone think I’ve suddenly developed a damn sense of humor?” Tanner asked.
“Females are crazy. She thought letting her keep leftover flowers was a romantic gesture?” Now he began to think about anything he might have done that Mitzy had taken wrong.
There were so many things. She’d gotten her best bonus ever last year. It was because she was that good, but had she misconstrued it? Last winter when the snow was bad he’d let her stay in the rooms upstairs because she had a long drive in bad weather. No one was using the room anyway. It also meant he could be sure she’d be there to cover her job.
He’d bought her countless meals, of course he’d bought them for the whole staff whenever they did really well and worked hard. JC had bought her a uniform, along with the other staff. There’d also been flowers used as Christmas decorations he’d let her take them home afterwards. Fuck! So many little things he’d thought nothing of, but would she twist them into romantic nonsense?
It was time to stop putting off the breakup. Good sex wasn’t enough to keep the relationship going. Not that it was a relationship. It was a convenient arrangement that didn’t seem so convenient anymore.
“Just look for a replacement for Donita.”
“What if she changes her mind then wants to come back?” Tanner asked.
“She quit, left the bar high and dry because her sex life didn’t work out the way she wanted. Stamp her file not to rehire. I can’t abide drama or someone that can’t manage their private life.”
Tanner looked relieved. JC didn’t blame him. A female that didn’t know when to let go was too much trouble. Donita had done them all a favor by leaving. Some might feel he was cold, but personal business had no place in his business. Donita was a good bartender, she would get another job easily. He wouldn’t do anything to hurt her chances of getting another job. JC didn’t believe in being petty.
Looking around the bar, he noticed it was packed. Trey was tending bar. The guy was one of Jack’s mechanics, but he liked money so he worked other jobs at night. He covered the bar on the two nights a week Donita was off. Maybe he could talk Jack into covering one more night a week, at least until they found someone. The guy was a workaholic. He worked four other nights at the bowling alley leaving only one night free. That night he usually got a female and did the dirty.
He could still do that after work if he covered the bar that night. Bartenders made good tips here. Donita had done better, but males tended to be the best tippers and Donita was a hot she-wolf. She knew just how to work the customers to get the best tips. Now a new bartender could learn to wring the best tips out of the customers. There was little doubt she would want to comeback when she missed the good pay she made here, but that door was closed.
JC spoke with his beta a little longer while they waited for the rest of the inner circle to arrive. He was the alpha, but it took more than a leader to run a pack. Tanner was his second. He’d been his right hand male since the day he’d organized his club.
They got quiet as Tanner stood pacing away from him. He wore the black leather jacket all the club members wore. The club name, Ravenous Wolves, was on the back with a picture of black wolves howling at the moon, their fangs dripping with saliva as they prepared for the hunt. It symbolized his group at the time. Not just the club, but the small pack he’d organized. The club was still made up of the hungry hunters, but the pack had gone through a major metamorphosis.
Where there had only been unmated males, now there were families as well. Fe
males, children, fathers, but none of his original members had mated. The families had all been added as rogues joined their ranks and he defeated small pack alphas that didn’t take care of their people.
A lot of alphas were challenged all the time. He rarely was because the fight would be fast and brutal. JC had no time to play around with would be warriors who thought they were better than him. It was hard to say how large his pack was because members stretched out all the way to the borders with only around twenty-five percent of the pack living right here on pack lands.
That was part of what this meeting was about. The council wanted numbers and names. Why was hard to say, but he’d learned early to avoid trouble with them. Give them what they want or as close to it as he could. It used to be the most corrupt group of wolves anywhere, but recent changes had been kind to the wolves. Good males like Damon McDougal had gotten inside where they could make changes for the betterment of all their kind.
There were still some bad apples hiding in the shadows, but things were so much better. The money they now paid into the council was much less likely to line someone’s pocket and more likely to go where it was needed. As an alpha, he didn’t mind paying his share if it was used properly. He and his pack did a lot of good without much help from the council. If he was honest, they’d ask for his help, but he didn’t really need theirs. It didn’t hurt to keep them happy, just in case.
The council was the one that handled human law enforcement for their members. They were supposed to help with any legal matters the wolves needed help with. His pack didn’t need their help, they had Cade. His number three often helped the council, but they never helped back.
His number four was the pack healer. Grant had gone to college to learn healing from the humans then he’d stayed among the witches to learn supernatural healing. The male had turned out to be a natural. The pack had several nurses and medics because their small hospital was in high demand. It wasn’t just the members of their own pack, but people came from all over to be healed by him.