The Dark Monster (A Full Moon Mercy Novel) (shifter / MC romance)

by Ana W. Fawkes

  “What do you mean?”

  “Debbie, someone else is the father of the life inside you,” the doctor said. “It’s not Lucas.”

  “That can’t…” Debbie lost her words. She couldn’t lie to the doctor. Not to the man who loved her like this. She thought back, but it didn’t matter. Debbie had slept with a lot of men. She did it for extra money, and she did it for a little pleasure to steal the pain of her life. What did that matter though?

  “It’s true,” the doctor said. “That means you’ve had sex with another…”

  “Another what?” Debbie asked.

  What was Lucas? What was another? What was the doctor?

  The doctor turned on the light and looked at Debbie. She touched her stomach and groaned. The pain was starting to come back now. It swelled over and on top of itself, making Debbie moan. Tears filled her eyes and through the blurry vision, she saw the doctor come to her. He fell to his knees before Debbie.

  “Look at this,” Debbie said. “It’s happening. What you said would. It’s ending.”

  “Oh, Debbie, my love,” the doctor said. “Please hear me. Lucas is not the one who did this. This is not the end you think you’re having.”

  “Then what is this?” Debbie asked. She reached for the doctor. He took her hand, his fingers interlocking into hers. She liked his touch. She really did love him now.

  “This…,” the doctor said with a swallow, “Debbie, you’re about to give birth.”

  11

  Lucas stood at the side of the bed and watched Leah sleep. She looked at peace and comfortable. For now, this would be the best Lucas could offer her. He’d give her his body and his bed. He’d hold her, comfort her, and if that meant the illusion of safety, then so be it. As long as Leah knew the truth of the danger waiting out there, that was all Lucas could ask for.

  He bent and kissed Leah’s cheek. He nuzzled his nose to her cheek and closed his eyes, inhaling the scent of her skin and body. His senses could go beyond the smell of soap and shampoo. He could smell the depths of her skin. Her wants, needs, and desires. It made him smile when he picked up another sultry smell that came from her body after he kissed her. Leah’s love for him was as true as her lust.

  With one more kiss, Lucas left the bedroom and went to find Vince. He could sense Vince thanks to their deeper connection now. The bar was shut down and silent. The smell of booze and smoke lingered in the air. A couple of the guys crashed on the couches in the clubhouse, most of them with women nestled against their chests.

  Lucas left the clubhouse and charged down the steps. He opened the door to a very faint darkness. It was just about time for a new day to rise upon Mercy. Lucas looked up and couldn’t believe his eyes. There was Vince standing on the roof, leaning against the ledge. Lucas went to the ladder and climbed up. He jumped down to the solid roof and Vince looked back at him.

  “Worried about me?” Vince asked.

  “No. Worried why you didn’t tell anyone yet about the second body.”

  “How the fuck…”

  “Eyes see,” Lucas said. “Got a phone call hours ago. Yet you haven’t said a word to anyone.”

  “Christ, Lucas,” Vince said. “You have something you want to say to me? You’re on top of me as though I’m hurting this club.”

  “I don’t know what to think right now,” Lucas said. “What was written on the body?”

  “It’s the time,” Vince said.

  “It’s the time?”

  “That’s what was written.”

  “Chief Charlie must be pissed off.”

  “He’s livid,” Vince said. “The entire department is talking. The town is going to be grumbling about this shit. It’s not good.”

  “And we have no idea who did it.”

  “We’ll find out,” Vince said. “I have a meeting with Triel from the Oreno crew soon.”

  “What about Eli?” Lucas asked. “Seems kind of shitty to send the second in command to a meeting instead of the president.”

  “What do you want from me?” Vince asked. “You want to load up the guys and go out on a crusade? Go find our enemies and knock them all down? Let me ask you this, what enemies? And where?”

  Lucas smiled. “Seems you’ve dug a hole as big as I have.”

  Vince looked forward and nodded.

  Anger was fresh and flowed easily through Lucas’s body. Vince was going to keep this shit under his wing for a little while. It shouldn’t have been that way. When something like this happened, it should have been a phone call to everyone. To get to the goddamn conference room and settle this. Instead, Vince wanted to keep everyone on a string. Maybe it was just stress. Maybe Vince was actually scared. But in the back of Lucas’s mind he couldn’t stop thinking of how Vince wanted Seth to kill Leah. All this shit was hidden, and hiding more stuff would only create bigger problems both within Full Moon Mercy and outside the MC.

  “I’m going to that meeting with you,” Lucas said. “We’re going to figure out what the Oreno wants from us. Then we’re going up on that mountain and finding out what the Reckingdune have in mind.”

  “Calling the shots now?” Vince asked.

  “No,” Lucas said. “You’ve done that already. I’m just coming along with an actual plan.”

  “Easy now, son,” Vince said. “Mind your place in this club.”

  Lucas stood and walked to the ladder. “I know my place. But it’s a little hard to look forward when I have to keep looking behind my back. Never know when someone is coming for me. Even my own brothers… and father…”

  It was the first time Lucas ever suggested Vince to be his father. And it certainly didn’t come with the kind of meaningful respect Vince wanted. It was the best Lucas could do to get to Vince without pulling a gun and shooting Vince between his eyes.

  Lucas jumped off the ladder halfway down and landed on his feet. He stared up at Vince, waiting to see what he would do. Would he jump? Would he shift? Or would he just simply stand there?

  Lucas took his chances and turned his back to Vince. Vince let out a whistle.

  “Call the meeting,” Vince yelled. “We do this right now.”

  Less than an hour later Lucas sat at the table with the rest of the guys. They all looked haggard after a long night of partying. Zayne, however, looked jumpy and nervous. Lucas spotted it from a mile away and now he could smell it on Zayne.

  Vince entered the room with a folded up piece of paper. He threw it to the table and then kicked his chair out of the way. It tipped over. Vince made fists and put them to the table. He leaned forward and looked at the table. Lucas sat comfortably, knowing what Vince had to share. The same for Cooper. Cooper was the one who had called Lucas to tell him there was another body. Cooper had been coming back from a late night ride to clear his mind.

  “Our problem is bigger than we thought,” Vince said. “That piece of paper proves it.”

  “Proves what?” Ian asked.

  “Another body,” Lucas said. “Attacked, killed, and left with a message on the body. For us.”

  “Christ,” Ian said.

  “What did it say?” Zayne asked.

  “It’s the time,” Lucas said.

  “What the hell does that mean?” Mason asked

  Lucas scanned the table. He looked at Ethan, Ian, Zayne, Cooper, and Mason. They all had their eyes stuck on Vince. There was power and there was respect. Right now, Lucas worried that the club looked to Vince maybe too much.

  “I don’t know what it means,” Vince said. “But it means we get set for a war. You bring blood to my town, to Mercy, you bring blood right to this table. We’ve had to bury a brother. We’ve had to hide a pregnant woman. And Lucas, my son, almost lost a love. I took a goddamn bullet to the shoulder and Zayne…”

  Vince nodded as the entire table looked at Zayne.

  “We’re meeting with Oreno,” Lucas said. “Second in command, Triel.”

  “That piece of shit,” Ian said. “Get Eli. He knows everything…”

/>   “In time,” Vince said. “We step slowly because of our situation beyond Oreno.”

  Lucas felt the heat on his face now. Yeah, it was his fault Debbie was pregnant. Yeah, it was his fault the club needed to maintain some kind of peace with Oreno. Yeah, Lucas knew it.

  “We have clubs and crews all around us,” Lucas said. “Whether it’s one or ten, we will fight this and overcome it. Mercy is our home and we take care of it.”

  Ian reached for the piece of paper and started to read it. “Good hell. What are the people going to think soon?”

  “Some asshole is raising hell,” Vince said.

  “Claw marks?” Ian asked. “Animals bites? Teeth… this isn’t some psycho. This is one of us.”

  Vince punched the table. “No! They are not like us. Their bodies may change, but they are not us. They will never be Full Moon Mercy.”

  “Got it,” Ian said. He tossed the paper to the middle of the table and folded his hands.

  “Orders stay the same,” Vince said. “We stay close and tight. Eyes open. Keep our phones on and ready. Me and Lucas…”

  “And Cooper,” Lucas said.

  Vince looked at him and gritted his teeth. “Sure. And Cooper. The three of us will go to the Oreno meet up. We leave in an hour. The rest of you… get out there and move around. Wake the hell up, get the women out of your beds. I’m not declaring war, but it’s in the air. I smell it and I taste it. You should too.”

  Vince called the meeting without ever sitting down.

  The table stood with the exception of Lucas and Zayne. Zayne sat with his fingers bouncing off the table as he stared down at it.

  “What’s wrong with you?” Lucas asked.

  The door clicked shut and Zayne stood. His chair flew back and he rushed down the table. For a second, Lucas thought Zayne was going to attack Vince. Lucas quickly stood and prepared to draw his gun… or shift.

  “We’ve got even more problems,” Zayne said. “I couldn’t say anything in front of everyone else.”

  “What now?” Vince asked.

  “I got a woman in my bed…”

  “Doesn’t sound like much of a problem to me,” Lucas said.

  “Yeah, well she’s been looking after us, the club. And she’s looking for Debbie.”

  “For what?” Vince asked.

  “Probably some kind of sisterhood of the strippers thing,” Lucas said with a smile. “Missing one of their girls, they get nervous.”

  “No, man,” Zayne said. “Listen to me. She’s with some guy, she calls him her boss or something, but they’re out to collect on debt.”

  “Debt?” Lucas asked.

  “Debbie’s debt.”

  “Oh, shit,” Vince said. He punched the table again and then crossed his arms.

  “Let’s sit down and talk this out,” Lucas said. “Come on.”

  He got Vince his chair. Vince sat. Lucas sat and pointed to the other empty seat next to Vince.

  “When the hell did this all happen?” Lucas asked.

  “We were followed before,” Zayne said. “That black car.”

  “I remember. I could smell the asshole still.”

  “That was her boss, Jane’s boss.”

  “What does this have to do with Debbie?” Vince asked.

  “She owes money to drug dealers and shit,” Zayne said. “Whoever is calling the shots wants her bad. But it gets worse.”

  “How?” Lucas asked.

  “The night she left the strip club sick… I guess she was in pain because of… well, you know…”

  “Just tell the damn story,” Vince said.

  “That night the guys were there to get her. So when she left and ended up in the care of Full Moon Mercy, it looked kind of shitty.”

  “Damn,” Lucas whispered.

  “And nobody has seen her in a while. So either she’s alive and we’re hiding her or she’s dead by our hands. Either way, we need to hit this head on.”

  “We?” Vince asked. “This woman is after us and you let her in?”

  “It’s not like that,” Zayne said. “She… we… I’m just passing along all I know about this. Okay? This is serious. We might have a human enemy after us now.”

  “No,” Lucas said. “This is bullshit. You tell this woman to arrange a meeting with her boss.”

  “What?” Vince asked.

  “We kill him,” Lucas said. “He wants to follow us around? He wants to act like he has a big dick? He wants to collect on debts? Then come collect.”

  “Calm down,” Vince said. “You look ready to shift, son.”

  “I’m ready,” Lucas said. “Enough is enough with all this. Attacks on us. A dead brother. Zayne’s face. Leah. Debbie. These bodies with messages. It’s time we take action and right now.”

  “If that’s what you want,” Zayne said. He then looked at Vince. “And you…”

  “He’s second in line,” Vince said. “It’s his situation and call.”

  “It’s done,” Lucas said. “Talk to your friend. Set this up. It’s time we fight back and send a goddamn message. Coming to collect on fucking debts. Here? With us?”

  “Okay,” Vince said. “Then we do this. We take care of this debt problem and we focus on the bigger ones.” Vince put a hand to Zayne’s and squeezed. “Right now, brother, me and Lucas need to get ready for our meeting.”

  “I understand,” Zayne said.

  “You did the right thing bringing this to us,” Vince said. “I appreciate it. From my heart. I’m really sorry about what happened to you, Zayne. But you can’t let it control your life. Think straight and act smart. Trust me, when this blows over, I’m going to arrange a hunt for all of us.”

  “Thank you, Vince,” Zayne said. He stood and nodded at Lucas.

  “Get out of here,” Lucas said with a smile. “Tell that woman what I said. Make this work.”

  “I will,” Zayne said.

  He left the room and Lucas looked at Vince. Vince had a look on his face, his lip snarled and his eyes widened like he knew more than everyone else in the world.

  “What?” Lucas asked.

  “This Debbie thing is really becoming a pain in the ass.”

  “It’s getting you your bloodline,” Lucas said. “Remember?”

  “I remember, son,” Vince said. “But what becomes of Debbie after this?”

  Lucas smiled. “Well, that kind of comes with a story. It seems your good doctor friend has a little bit of crush on Debbie.”

  “Say what?”

  “Leah heard them fucking.”

  Vince pushed back in his chair. “I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that.”

  “Hear it again,” Lucas said. “Dr. Carane is sleeping with Debbie. Taking care of her wildest needs and urges. Kind of crazy shit happening up there.”

  “And Leah survived through that?”

  “She’s a tough woman,” Lucas said and reached for a cigarette. “Takes a lot to bring her down.”

  “Seems that way,” Vince said. Vince rubbed his chin. “So Dr. Carane and Debbie…”

  “Just putting that into your head for a minute.” Lucas stood and lit his cigarette. He took a drag and said, “I’ll meet you outside in a little bit.”

  Lucas left the conference room with his smoke between his lips. He looked around the clubhouse and saw a lot of his brothers as they were greeting the new day. The days felt much longer than they used to.

  *

  Leah sat up and felt good. Really good. Maybe it was just being away from that crazy doctor and Debbie or maybe it was from the wild passion with Lucas that did it, but this was the first day Leah woke up and felt okay. It was good to be alive, even if the rest of the bed was empty.

  Leah plopped back down and rolled to her stomach. She scooped up the pillows and blankets, closed her eyes, and smelled them. They smelled like Lucas and damn if it didn’t turn her on. Just the smell of him made her body create the most intense images in her mind and needs in her body. She rolled to her back and kept
her eyes on the door.

  When the door opened, Lucas came walking in carrying a plate of food in one hand and a steaming cup in the other. As he moved to the bed, Leah picked up on the smell of bacon and coffee. Her mouth almost began to water.

  “Brought you some breakfast,” Lucas said. “Hope you don’t mind, but you’re going to have a long day here, love. I have business and will be gone for a while.”

  “Dangerous?”

  “You know that answer already, Leah. You’ve been around here, and me, long enough.”

  Leah hated that answer as much as she understood it. Her relationship with Lucas had started with danger all around them, so why would anything change now? That was a tough dose of reality to take in, knowing that the man you loved lived a life standing next to death. And if that weren’t enough, that man who was sexy and beautiful could jump into the air and have his clothing fall from his body as he turned into a massive beast.

  When Lucas put the plate and mug down, Leah went for the coffee first. It was cheap coffee, very hot and watery, like it hadn’t been made the right way. But it tasted good enough for her. Coffee was coffee. Leah took the plate of food started to pick, but didn’t really eat.

  Lucas was at his dresser, getting a change of clothing. Leah saw two guns on him, one on his right side and another tucked into his left boot. She shivered. It didn’t seem right that a man who could shift would need guns.

  “Can I ask…?”

  Lucas turned and grabbed his leather cut off the dresser. He tossed it to the bed and then sat next to Leah. His white shirt hugged his arms and when he ran his thick fingers through his hair, it turned Leah on. Everything turned Leah on.

  “You have to promise me you’ll stay here,” Lucas said. “You can’t mess around.”

  “If you tell me to stay, I’ll stay.”

  “You’re protected here. There’s always someone here. We would die before letting someone into this place, okay?”

  “Okay.”

  Lucas made a fist, opened his hand, then made another fist. “There’s some really serious shit going on out there, Leah.”

  “I know.”

  “No, you don’t. Someone has killed two people and written messages on their bodies.”