by Sky Winters
The branch creaked again, an alarming sound. The faint jingle of keys worn on a hip sounded out and a keeper strolled closer. Antonio could hear far better than Magda, and he was the lookout. She looked down at him, sniffing hard as she did so.
He ran closer to the edge, where she could see him, and placed a paw out, aiming it in the direction the keeper was coming from.
Magda stayed put. The bare strands of moonlight played over her body, all lean and high angles and rounded breasts and hips.
Lust stirred up in Antonio, and he forced it away.
Bears and wolves did not mix. It was against nature and even shifters had to play by those laws. His thoughts went back to the pups he had created with a non-shifting she-wolf.
The pups had just been born a few hours before. They were there, in the pen, and they were his. He would take them with him, because not to do so meant risking them being shifters trapped in this existence, and risking shifters with no ability to handle the shifts exposing him and every other shifter in the world.
There were plenty of shifters in LA, established packs out there in the neighborhoods. He would take his children and find a pack or forge a new one. If they could not shift, he would have to send them into the steep canyons to live, where they could be free and away from the humans who would kill them.
The keeper stepped out from a thick clot of shadows. It was the ruthless one, Barry. There were keepers who loved every animal in the zoo, and then there were keepers like Barry, who was known to hit, kick, and hurt.
Magda watched him, and Antonio saw the expression on her face. A warning growl rose in his throat, but she ignored it.
Dammit! His body shifted instinctively as Magda went down, right on top of Barry.
Magda landed on the keeper, already shifting to bear form. The heaviness of her body took Barry down and she landed right on his chest, forcing all the air from his lungs and preventing him from being able to scream.
The thick and rich tang of blood hit the air, driving Antonio into a near-frenzy, no matter how much he tried to stay level-headed. He was not the only one reacting. Howls and growls rose up all along the long path that ran in front of that section of pens. It was just a matter of time before the other keepers showed up and they were all fucked.
Magda, bloody and triumphant, grabbed the keys from Barry’s hip and came to his pen. She smiled at him. Blood covered the entire lower half of her face as she laughed, “Change of plans, Antonio. You have to come out now, and there’s no time to grab those pups.”
“Like hell.” He shifted again and then again. He needed to be in human form to snatch the pups from their protective mother and he knew it, but he was risking much and he knew that as well.
The howls rose in the air and the she-wolf, stunned and sleepy from childbirth, but alert because of the blood riding the air and the crisp scent of a human in her pen, fought him hard, forcing Antonio to kill her even though that was the last thing he wanted.
The other wolves backed off, but their howls rent the air as Antonio gathered the limp and shivering bodies of the pups and ran for the gate and the unlocked door.
Once he was out, Magda locked the gate again and they ran, naked and with the smell of blood and newborns all over them, toward Patel’s cage.
Patel had done the only thing he could. As an outcast from the tigers, he lived on the fringes and right then he was up high in a tree, trying to escape the frenzied fighting below.
Magda said, “For God’s sake, let’s just leave him.”
“Fuck you, we need him,” Antonio retorted. “And besides, if we leave him here, he dies, thanks to your stupidity and blood lust.”
He set the pups in a small basket meant to hold trash. Fear rippled through him. If the animal tigers escaped, they would kill his young, or if he died in that pen, the keepers might not find them in time to save their young lives. It was a risk he had to take.
He grabbed the keys from Magda’s blood-soaked hand and opened the pen, then charged in, changing again to wolf form.
Magda cursed a few times and followed. All hell broke loose, but Patel, able to escape the attention of the other tigers for a moment, slipped out the open gate.
Magda and Antonio turned to the gate in time to see Patel holding it with one hand, a considering look on his face.
Antonio’s heart sank. If Patel let them die there, he had nothing to fear. There would be no way the keepers would know for sure that they, or he, had been a shifter.
Antonio and Magda would shift to human form in death—and there would be one hell of a mystery around the reason two humans had been in that pen, but nobody would ever guess the truth, and Patel would owe them nothing.
Patel waved a hand. “Come on!”
Antonio’s legs pumped across the ground. He reached into the basket and gathered his pups. Four males and one female. The pups howled softly, their mouths nipping at his chest. They were hungry, and they were now motherless as well.
One of the pups, the female, bit down hard and began to fight him just as he made the gate and went through it.
She squirmed and bit, her little pup teeth sinking deep into his arm, bringing blood. The males were more docile, which angered Antonio for some reason.
He ran onward, ignoring the pain as they crossed between the pens and the tunnel that led to the employees’ work spaces.
The lockers were closed, but they were all strong. Antonio ripped one open. He pulled on clothes, his hands working quickly as he shifted the pups from side to side.
Magda said, “Maybe we should kill the rest of them. Or tie them down and force feed them.”
Patel, reaching for pants, added, “Make them breed with each other.”
Magda laughed. “They call it rape when they are forced. They call it necessary for us.” Her hand went to her belly. Antonio turned away. Magda’s cubs would be born soon, even if her human form didn’t show that fact.
Antonio said, “No. No time. Besides, there’s already one dead keeper and that is going to raise a huge hunt. They might have let us go far more peacefully, but now they’re going to be after blood.”
Magda tossed her head. “So?”
Antonio’s teeth showed. “So, they’re probably going to kill a bear and call it done. Now you’ve committed murder against your own kind with your foolishness.”
Magda’s eyes glittered. “When we’re done here, you’re my enemy.”
Antonio said, “I was your enemy before. So, nothing’s changed. Let’s go. No more death, Magda. I mean it.” He set the pups more carefully into the small jacket he had found, wrapping them securely to make sure the female would not continue to bite and scratch him.
Magda said, “Fine. Let’s go.”
CHAPTER 1:
Present Day, Los Angeles
Angelina hissed in a pained breath as the claw hit her calf. Her eyes went to the wolf crouching low in a playful posture and she laughed, then tickled him under the chin. Rough hair met her fingertips and love smote her heart.
She said, “Oh, Mario, I wish you’d be more careful.”
Mario whined softly, low in his throat, his white furred ears pricking forward. He bounded off, and Angelina watched him go, sorrow forming.
Why she could shift and Mario couldn’t was one of life’s mysteries.
She and her other brother, Sam, could shift. Mario alone was trapped forever in a wolf form, and because of that, they had to protect him.
Joaquin spoke from behind her. “You do know someone should just shoot that poor bastard and put him out of his misery.”
Her hackles rose and her teeth began to elongate at the words, but she was quick to hide those things. Sher turned. “He’s fine Joaquin.”
Joaquin, a dark-haired, olive-skinned shifter with light hazel eyes and a definite swagger in his walk, strolled farther into the room. “If you say so.”
“I do say so. I’m sure my brothers would also say so. Maybe you want to ask them?”
“T
hat’s enough.” His smile was unpleasant, all teeth and smugness. Angelina knew the only thing standing between her and Mario being killed was her. That and the fact that she was promised to Joaquin, who had been named Alpha of the pack after her father, Antonio, and Joaquin’s uncle, the former leaders of the pack, had been killed in a car accident the year before.
Antonio was in line to be Alpha, and had deserved to be, too. But with him and Joaquin’s uncle both dead, Joaquin had been placed as leader instead.
What a mistake that had been.
Joaquin eyed her carefully. “I need you at Los Lobos tonight.”
Her teeth ground together. “I don’t want any part of your drug trafficking, Joaquin. I don’t want any part of any of the things you’re doing in this neighborhood. You’re fucking it up for everyone, shifter and human alike, with that garbage.”
He was an asshole, and unfit to be Alpha, but he was fast and he was ruthless.
His hands were around her throat and her feet had left the floor before she could even register the fact that he had moved.
Furious, Angelina kicked out with her feet. There was a satisfying meaty thump and her toes, inside the cute little sandals, tingled as her feet met his hard flesh. Joaquin’s fingers tightened though. Blackness danced on the edges of her vision. Her breath stopped in her throat.
“Let her go.”
Joaquin dropped her. Angelina gave his jaw a swift punch. Joaquin staggered, his head whipping around.
It wasn’t over. He’d never call it done, not if he could help it.
Sam, her brother, stepped closer, menace showing on his strong features. His eyes swept from Angelina to Joaquin. “Don’t touch her like that again. Alpha or no, I will kill you.”
Joaquin bristled. “She deserved it. She disobeyed. Nobody gets to disobey me.”
The churlish tone made Angelina’s shoulders tense, but Joaquin finally left.
Sam asked, “What was that about?”
Angelina threw her hands up in the air. “He said Mario would be better off if someone shot him, and I disagreed. He demanded I go to his drug den tonight, and I disagreed.”
Sam glowered at her. “You’ve got to learn your place.”
“Are you insane? Don’t you…it’s only been a year since he was named Alpha and everyone acts like they do not even remember what it was like before he came to power. I remember! I remember we used to look after the neighborhood. We didn’t try to tear it down. We didn’t deal drugs and we damn sure didn’t deal it to our neighbors! Joaquin’s power and money hungry, he’s destroying our homes and lives, and all you are going to do is tell me to learn my place!”
Sam said, “That’s what I’m saying.”
Anger flushed heat through her system. Shift came with it. Her teeth elongated and fur rippled into place along her spine and neck. Cool out, she told herself as her nails grew, becoming sharp and dangerous. Cool out. He is still your brother and Dad would be upset if we fought. Not that I won’t fight him if I have to, but now is not the time or place.
Her body shifted again, the teeth and claws no longer showing, the fur replaced by smooth and supple skin. Her forehead puckered into a deep frown as sorrow gathered in the place of the all-encompassing rage. “How can you do that? Dad would be ashamed of you.”
“Don’t tell me what Dad would feel. He isn’t here, and you don’t get to speak for him. Even if you were his favorite.” Sam’s teeth were showing, too, even if he had not shifted.
The old rivalries between them still stood. She had always been their father’s favorite. He had called her his little warrior, and with reason. She had always been the fiercest of her litter, and Antonio had often laughed as he talked about how, on the night he had escaped from the zoo with them, it had been her who had fought and drawn his blood.
Don’t say it. You’re on thin ice here and it’s obvious Sam will protect you, but only up to a point. Don’t set him off and make him mad enough to let Joaquin have his way. You need Sam as an ally here.
“Thanks for not letting him choke me to death,” she said in a tight and strained voice.
“I might not be nearby next time. Watch your mouth, Angelina, before it gets you killed. Learn your place in this pack and keep it. If you don’t, I might not interfere again, not even if it means you dying.”
The warning was clear, and vicious. It laid bare all his allegiances. He would protect her as long as she was necessary. She was necessary but only because Joaquin wanted her as a mate, and that gave Sam some leverage in the pack. If she didn’t mate with Joaquin, and learn her place, go docile like a pet dog, she would be killed. Sam would be disgraced and probably exiled as a result, and they both knew it.
At that moment, she understood something else, too. Sam would kill her himself if Joaquin ordered it. Her legs turned liquid. She was alone and on shaky ground and the alliances within the pack were equally shaky and subject to change. None would stand against Joaquin, either because they stood to gain too much or because they stood to lose too much.
Okay, then.
Angelina moved to walk past Sam, but he grabbed her arm and held it tightly. His voice was low and deadly. “You’ll do as you are told.”
All her inner warnings and cries for restraint washed off in a fog of anguish mingled with rage. “The hell I will. If you had your way, I would be out there slinging meth on the corner and sleeping in his bed tonight, and all in the name of giving Joaquin what he wants. It must be so easy for you, since it’s not you who has to mate with him.”
Angelina yanked her arm out of his grasp and headed out of the room. Mario appeared, slinking along the ground and whimpering softly. A single glance showed her a boot print near his ribs and a long torrent of swear words came from her mouth as she sank onto the floor on her knees and gathered Mario into her arms.
She whispered, “I am so sorry. It was me he was pissed off at. You were just the weakest target.”
Mario whined, his muzzle thrusting against her neck. His hot breath washed over her shoulder, racing across the strap of her tank top and Angelina held him, tears spilling down her face.
It was getting clearer all the time that she could not stay. There was no way that she wanted to live with Joaquin as her mate. She could not even stomach having him as Alpha, and she would never bear him a child if she could avoid it. She would avoid that in any way she could—even if it meant running away.
She leaned back and stared into Mario’s eyes. His ears came forward again. His eyes often held a human expression but, more and more since Antonio had died, he had gone off on his own—traveling way up in the hills and away from the pack and the house.
She sighed. “I have an idea. Let’s take a ride up to the big hills, what do you say? We could go scope out the canyons, way over in the spots you can’t get to without me because of the freeway. You want to do that?”
Mario panted and jumped; his eagerness showing. Angelina smiled in spite of the awfulness of her situation. “Let me grab my keys and purse, okay?”
She cupped his face in her hands and whispered, “I won’t ever let him kill you, Mario. You have to believe me on that one. I won’t.”
A rough tongue swiped across her face, licking away her salty tears. Angelina stood. Mario might not be human in form, but he was intelligent. How intelligent, nobody knew. He would never communicate, not even when they were all in wolf form, and even when they were all in wolf form, he was usually left out.
Exiled for being different.
Angelina knew her promise was hollow. Joaquin would kill Mario eventually. Joaquin hated the non-shifter.
Sam and her other brothers, Harold and Benny, would say nothing. They had been conditioned from infancy to accept the word of the Alpha who had led the pack that had taken them in after they and their father had escaped the clutches of the zoo.
Like Joaquin, they would feel like they were doing Mario a favor. He was neither wolf nor shifter. He was something in between and there was no place for hi
m in the world.
CHAPTER 2;
“Drake, man. That riff was killer. What the hell chord did you use?”
Drake grinned at his band mate Peter. “No idea, man. I call it the Hendrix chord.”
Peter swung his bass off. “Well, figure it out, because I think you went off key. If you did, we have to find a key that works with that riff.”
Drake laughed. “Says the dude with the classical education in music to the self-taught guitar player. Here, I’ll show you, and you can tell me what key it is.”
His fingers moved to form the chord, way down low on the satiny rosewood neck of his guitar, but he paused, his head tilting to one side as a faint sound drifted to his ears.
“You forget it that fast?” Pete set his bass in the holder and stretched. “I can sort of tell you from ear what strings were in it.”
“No, I just thought I heard something.”
There was no thought to it. His ears were sharper and his hearing better than a human’s. He had heard an unmistakable sound and his body tensed as he caught it yet again. Not close, not yet, but coming.
Pete said, “I think it was a barre, or at least a partial and it sounded like it was a minor… Dude, you okay?”
“Yeah sure. Just frustrated maybe.” Drake unstrapped the guitar and swung it from free from his broad shoulder with some real relief. The thing was a custom beauty made of the finest wood and parts—and it weighed a goddamn ton, or felt like it anyway.
The roar of bikes outside halted the rest of whatever Drake had been about to say.
“Looks like you got some company, man,” Pete told him. “I have to get going anyway, but let me know about the chord, because I think we need to work that in on that song. It sounded good right there—except for being off the key.”
The clash of chromed and deep-throated engines rose higher yet, making Drake’s entire body feel rigid and tight. He forced that tension away and tried to focus on Pete. “Yeah, sure. Shit. I can’t believe we lost another bunch of folks. We have to do something about finding people who want to play.”