Big Bad Bite

by Lane, Jessie

  The sounds of shouting and growling followed behind them as Uncle Owen slammed and locked the door to the cabin, while unceremoniously dropping Jenna to the floor. Shaking like a leaf in a wind storm from the sheer shock, her head rose to look at the furious image of her beloved Uncle whom she’d thought dead because of his absence the past six years.

  With a sound that was more animal than man, he snarled, “What the fuck are you doing here, Jenna? What about the words ‘stay hidden’ did you NOT understand?”

  A loud thump against the door caught her attention. It sounded like a body being thrown. For the first time since laying eyes on her Uncle Owen, her brain started to function. The sounds of enraged snarls and fists beating flesh traveled through from the outside. “What are YOU doing HERE, Uncle Owen? And where the hell have you been all this time?”

  The door to the cabin crashed open suddenly as a body flew past them and into the living room, landing on the other side of the couch. Adam’s silhouette filled the doorway as Uncle Owen placed himself between her and the bloody Alpha. Rough hands grabbed her off the floor from behind and lifted her bodily to her feet, but not before she caught the momentary look of shock that crossed Adam’s face as he looked furiously back and forth between Jenna and her Uncle. But her police training kicked in before her assailant could even let her feet touch the ground. Dropping her shirt, because who cared about modesty when you’re about to whoop somebody’s ass, she threw all of her force into an elbow that slammed into the guy’s stomach. Not expecting the heavy blow, he ‘hmpfed’ before dropping Jenna so that she landed on the balls of her feet, giving her the chance to spring away from him.

  A bellowed “enough” ripped through the cabin from Uncle Owen and all activity, inside or out, came to an immediate stop.

  Frustrated, Jenna shoved sweaty hair out of her face. No longer caring how mad her Uncle was, she threw her hands up in the air, “What the hell Uncle Owen? I get that you’re mad! Fine! Maybe I’m mad now too. You just up and freakin’ disappeared on me!” Throwing her hands out wide to wave at the room, she shouted, “But is all of this really necessary?”

  Suddenly Uncle Owen dropped into the chair behind him, looking weary, and rested his head in his hands in a clear sign of frustration. Long moments of silence filled the air before he rubbed his hands over his face, looking from her to Adam, and back again before shaking his head in defeat. “Sit down, Jenna. Adam, please have Clay, Amy and Max come in here. We all need to have a talk. Logan, hand Jenna her shirt and then go find a towel for your sister so she can stop the bleeding.”

  With those words, Jenna froze. Surely, she did not hear him say that? With stunned slowness, she turned to look at the person she’d just elbowed moments before. Her eyes met an amused smirk set on a face that was remarkably similar, however masculine, to her own. With same black hair cut short that framed a face featuring her high cheek bones and straight nose. The only difference between them that she could see was his eyes, which were the same brilliant grass green with small gold flakes as her Uncles. He bent over to scoop her tank top up, and then reached to hand it to Jenna’s unsteady, outreached hand.

  Adam started to move towards her with determined strides when Logan stepped directly in front of her and started growling. Shocked into silence, she stood there watching as Adam tensed with narrowed eyes and growled back in a deep timbre that seemed to travel directly through her body, clenching muscles in a certain area that she didn't want to acknowledge at the moment.

  In a tone full of amusement, Uncle Owen told Logan to stand down and let Adam pass. Stepping around her younger, masculine version, Adam ran his hands lightly over her body, then her hair, as if checking for any injuries before giving a gruff order to Amy to get the bandages. Then he pulled her into the steel trap that other people called arms. As he cradled her head to his chest running a soothing hand over her hair and down her back, Jenna realized that he was petting her, but was he doing it to calm her or himself?

  The logical part of her brain reminded her that she had decided to stay away from Adam. That she shouldn’t let him hold her or comfort her in such an intimate manner. The overwhelmed and slightly scared half told that logical half where it could shove it. That here in Adam’s arms was exactly where she needed to be, and nothing had ever felt quite as right.

  His chest vibrated as he half growled, “Why isn’t she healing, Owen?”

  Her Uncle’s reply was cautious, “Because Jenna doesn’t actually have that ability. She heals only marginally faster than a human. Her strengths lay elsewhere.”

  Trying to get some semblance of normal back, she pulled herself out from Adam’s arms. Refusing to acknowledge the frown she somehow knew was adorning his face. Thankfully, Logan appeared with the towel, followed by Amy with the bandages and medical tape. Needing desperately to put some control back into her spiraling surroundings, she threw those thick titanium and concrete-enforced walls back up around her emotions. Practically daring anyone to try and tear those bad boys down again. In doing so, she became the distant but effective cop, rather than the uncertain and unnerved Jenna O’Conner.

  “Amy, will you lead me to the bathroom so that I can bandage this back up?”

  Nodding her head silently, she took Jenna’s hand and pulled her through a bedroom to a small private bathroom beyond. Shutting the bedroom door behind them, so that they could have a semblance of privacy away from the testosterone laden room they just exited.

  “You okay, Jenna?” Amy’s voice was heavy with worry.

  Jenna’s mind went into overtime. Her Uncle Owen was sitting in the living room with someone he claimed was her brother, along with the Alpha of a wolf shifter pack who seemed strangely protective of her at the moment. Maybe protective wasn’t the right word. Possessive, that seemed to fit the situation better. Hell, he might as well have tattooed ‘MINE’ on her forehead. That was not a response or emotion from Adam that Jenna had signed on for. Somewhere in this cluster-fuck of a moment, Jenna had allowed herself to become overwhelmed; slipping into a small state of shock. That reaction just wouldn’t do. It was time for her logical self to slip back into character and back into control. Jenna had questions, and Uncle Owen had damn well be ready to give some answers.

  Amy watched her intently as Jenna thanked her for the help before slipping her tank top back on. With smooth, controlled strides, she flung the bedroom door open angrily and walked balk into the living room to take a stance formidable to Stonewall Jackson’s, waiting for the battle to begin. Her feet placed shoulder width apart. Arms crossed confidently over her chest. A menacing, pissed-off-female look flashing all over her face, as she stared at her Uncle.

  “And where in God’s green earth have you been all these years, Uncle Owen?”

  Logan’s gave a gruff baritone chuckle from the chair he sat in across the room from his Uncle. “Well, I guess you weren’t joking when you told me she had Dad’s temper. The next family reunion should turn out to be rather fun.”

  Jenna ignored the comment as she watched her Uncle wearily swipe his hand down his face before looking back to her. “Sit down, Jenna. As much as I would love to coddle your stubborn ass, you’ve just dumped a load of problems on me that I don’t have time to deal with.” As Jenna’s mouth opened to make an exasperated, and furious, retort he held up a hand to silence her. “Shut it for a minute, Jenna! I mean it!” Uncle Owen’s nostrils flared, as his face tensed with anger. The tart smell of his aggravation filled the room. “Imagine my surprise, when I pick up the newspaper this morning to find your picture plastered on the front page. It was a damn good thing I happened to be here to track down some rogue wolves. Somehow since the last time I saw you, where I implicitly remember explaining the need for you to hide for your own safety, you’ve lost all the God-given brains you had! What’s done is done, but now we have to salvage this situation so sit your ass down before I make you sit down!”

  She stared at her Uncle, trying to remember if she’d ever seen him thi
s mad before. With his fists clenching the arms of his chair so tightly, it looked like it may break any second, combined with the fact that his face had turned a riveting shade of red, the answer seemed easy. She came to the conclusion that it was a resounding no. Wanting answers more than she wanted a fight with him, Jenna stomped to the nearest chair facing the entire group and flopped down into it.

  When she was settled, Uncle Owen glared at her for a good minute before finally speaking again. “I’ll give you this, Jenna. At least you have solid instincts when defying a direct order given to keep you safe. Adam is one of a handful of people that I would trust with the knowledge of your existence at this moment. At least until I’ve finished tying up some loose ends.”

  “Direct order? I’m not in the military, Uncle Owen. And you sure as hell aren’t one of my supervising officers on the force. So I don’t remember you giving me a direct order!” She scoffed back at him.

  In the space of a breath, her Uncle’s furious snarls were blowing hot air across her face as he hovered inches above her. Damn, she didn’t know he could move that fast. “Yes, Jenna! An order! A simple order at that! STAY HIDDEN!”

  The walls of the cabin practically shook as his roar echoed around the silent room. The atmosphere was beyond tense as he eased back slowly to sit back in his chair while she stared back at him coolly. The room was, in fact, so tense that it felt like an explosive pressure filled the space. It was a pressure that continued to build, expanding rapidly. Hell, it reminded her of a balloon being blown up too quickly. She was just waiting for the house to mimic that balloon, and explode.

  Uncle Owen huffed in irritation again. “I realize that you don’t know the slightest thing about pack life, but you’re going to have to learn quickly. Your absence from this side of your heritage has gone on long enough. It’s time for things to change. Until I resolve a few more issues that concern your safety you won’t be able to come home to your pack. Adam’s pack will serve as your temporary pack until then. Understood?”

  Silent moments ticked by as she sat there staring at her Uncle, conjuring up a resolve of steel, promising herself that one day she would find the strength to beat the shit out of him. It would have to be at a time when she thought she’d have a shot in hell of winning. Like when he was old, wrinkled, and decrepit. Her family was turning out to be downright ridiculous.

  When Uncle Owen finally got tired of waiting for her answer, he leaned his head on the back of the chair and huffed again in frustration. Hell, Jenna was starting to believe that if he huffed and puffed any more, then he should be required to threaten to blow someone’s house down.

  Adam cleared his throat, effectively catching their attention. “Pack Master, if I may, why is Jenna’s life in such danger that you’ve gone through such lengths to hide her from our society? Her being a hybrid is controversial, but not enough to elicit such measures, is it?”

  While Jenna was silently wondering what the hell a Pack Master was, her thoughts were cut short when everyone in the room turned to stare at her. Not exactly the kind of attention she was comfortable with.

  Her Uncle’s exasperated voice asked, “How much do they know Jenna?”

  “Not everything.”

  “Are Adam, Amy and Clay the only ones that know of your existence? Or is there anyone else I need to know about?” Her Uncle’s cold calculating tone returned.

  “My partner Kent knows too, thanks to Adam being so nosey. And you should probably know that he’s a demon.”

  A litany of curses sounded from Uncle Owen. “Is he a threat, Jenna?”

  “Absolutely not! He saved my ass last night. If it weren’t for Kent, I’d have a hell of a lot more than just these grazes. You leave him alone. Besides, Adam seems to know him so he can’t be all that awful, right?”

  Uncle Owen looked to Adam, who nodded his agreement. “Kent’s alright, Pack Master.”

  Rubbing his hands down his legs, Uncle Owen shifted forward in his chair so that his elbows were braced on his knees. Looking around to analyze all the occupants of the room he reached some inner decision before finally speaking again, “What we discuss next does not leave the confines of this group. Anyone who violates that will be subject to punishment by me.” Looking back to her with his face filled with worry, Uncle Owen kept going, “Jenna’s one of a kind. She’s not a wolf shifter-human hybrid. Her mother is a demon. So Jenna is the first of any shifter kind that we know of to have successfully merged with demon genetics and live.”

  The room became eerily silent as Adam and Amy watched her, both with shell shocked awe. Clay’s mutter of ‘holy shit’ long moments later clued Uncle Owen that he could continue. “That is why Jenna was hidden from everyone. Her father and I didn’t want to take a chance with those who would murder her for what she was. I kept limited contact while I could, but after Jenna and Logan’s father was killed during the pack wars and I took over as Pack Master, the risk was too high to continue to do so. That’s why you haven’t heard from me in so long, Jenna. It was necessary for your own safety.”

  A sense of sorrow settled into the pit of her stomach. Then the overwhelming surge of anger that had been festering only moments before was washed away by the onslaught of emotions Jenna now felt for a man she had never known. Her father was dead. Should she hurt for him? He’d never seen her a day in her life. Yet part of her felt mortally wounded by the knowledge that she would never know him. Never know whether part of him cared or wondered about her at all.

  Logan stared back at her with affection in his eyes. Before she realized her mouth had opened, she heard herself say, “Did he look like us? Our Dad?”

  Logan smiled. “You look a lot like him. I’ve got pictures I can show you later, but I’ve always been told I’m a younger version of him. If it weren’t for your freaky blue eyes, I’d say you look just like him too.”

  Cocking an eyebrow, I responded, “Freaky blue eyes?”

  Logan’s smile widened until it resembled the Cheshire Cat. “Yeah, freaky. They look like a serial killer’s eyes. Got any bodies in your closet you need us to bury?”

  “The closet is empty right now, but if you’d like me to fill it up we could start with your body.”

  Everyone in the room snickered, but Uncle Owen only sighed. “Seriously, children. You’ve known each other for less than ten minutes and you’re already starting the bickering siblings crap?”

  Logan shrugged. “Just wanted to make her feel like family, Uncle Owen. No reason to pretend to be anything but what we are.” He rubbed his hands together in glee, “How soon can we take her home? I’d like to see how she pans out against a few people I have in mind.”

  Owen dropped his head to the back of his chair in apparent despair. “Logan, you cannot use your sister as your personal guard dog against your ex-girlfriends. Frankly, you deserve every clingy and obnoxious moment. Might teach you a lesson about where you dip your wick, so to speak.”

  Jenna covered her face with her hands. Really? She’d had a brother for less than half an hour and she already had the insane urge to smack him around. Peeking through her fingers, she looked over to Adam who smirked back at her. And it was a smirk that said he’d pulled the same stunt with his own sister.

  Jerk.

  Sexy jerk, but still a jerk.

  Chapter Seven

  The tension that had blanketed the room just moments before slowly started to seep away. Shoulders un-bunched, bodies loosened. The signs of aggression that had choked the room were replaced with wariness and curiosity. Feet shuffled as everyone stopped preparing for a fight and instead started aligning themselves around their respective alphas, Owen and Adam.

  Jenna let her body relax back into the cushy chair that she sat in. Uncle Owen reached behind his back and pulled a copy of the Wilmington Daily from the waistband of his pants. Unfolding it, he held it out in front of him, flashing the picture of Jenna sitting on the ledge of the ambulance talking to Kent.

  “Want to explain this? I bet your
mother hit the roof.” Waving the paper around nonchalantly, “Or blew it off the house.”

  Jenna shrugged her shoulders. “What exactly do you want to know about it?”

  His deadpan expression was almost enough to make her laugh. “Why you allowed yourself to be injured would be an excellent start to the many questions I want answered.”

  Sitting forward to let her arms rest on her knees with hands clasped lightly in front of her, she looked at her sports bra in the picture. That was seriously going to bug her. Absentmindedly she murmured, “It wasn’t like I stood still and pretended to be a turkey trussed up on Thanksgiving. They were fast. Shifters.”

  Owen’s demeanor tensed back up. “Shifters? Do you know what kind?”

  Tapping her nose, “Wolves. Several of them.”

  Owen and Logan stared at each other; having a silent conversation consisting only of small facial tics that utterly fascinated Jenna. She had a feeling they brought paranoid to a whole new level in her family. After several moments they simultaneously looked back to her.

  “Can you get us to the morgue to see the bodies?”

  She pulled out her cell phone and dialed a number. Kent’s smooth baritone mumbled something after he picked up.

  “Kent, its Jenna. Are you busy?” She heard what sounded like clothes rustling before a disgruntled female voice asked him where he was going.

  “Be right back baby. You keep that delicious little body right there. It’s work; it’ll be just a minute.” A door closed just after Jenna heard the words ‘promised me an exclusive’.

  “Are you sleeping with a reporter?”

  She could hear the smug smile in his voice as he responded, “She propositioned me, I swear.”