A Taste of
Shifter Geekdom
by
Annie Nicholas
Vanguards Elite, book two
Note to Readers:
Every time I return to the Vanguard world, it’s like taking a trip down memory lane. I’ve never been the type of person who fits in with the popular crowd. I marched to the beat of my own drum, even now as an author. So why wouldn’t I love writing about the outcasts of the wolf shifter packs. Sometimes a woman just wants to root for the underdogs.
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Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
About Annie Nicholas
More Books by Annie!
Chapter One
Moonlight streamed between the bare branches. Feet pounding into the hard packed dirt and heavy breathing accompanied the pack of misfit wolves as they ran through the forest.
Their vampire trainer, Pallas, was nowhere to be seen, but the raised hair on the back of Julia’s neck said he lurked in the dark forest, watching their progress. If anyone strayed, the pack would find them tarred and feathered at the manor by morning. Poor Gregor had to shave his whole body to rid himself of the stuff. Now he ran with vigor. No more straying for him, or anyone else in the pack.
Julia bumped elbows with Belinda, her roommate at the boot camp. The leggy shifter grinned and pushed their pace faster so they joined the alpha couple’s small group leading the run.
Clare and Ian were recently voted into their leadership role. They had authority on anything relating to the pack. Anything concerning the boot camp, training, or discipline fell under the vampire’s jurisdiction. It was a precarious balance at best, but they were all here to learn from him.
Well…she wanted to learn. But mostly, she wanted to hide.
The rifle on her back bounced and grew heavier with every mile. She grimaced. Shoulder muscles ached and her back spasmed. There would be target practice tonight and more gunfire recoils and more pain. She examined the callouses on her once-smooth palm. These were the hands of a stranger, someone who worked and trained hard. Small price to pay for freedom. She would endure whatever Pallas doled out if it meant never returning home.
“Are you trying to read your fortune?” A male voice, out of breath, asked.
She fisted her hand and glared at the male, sharp retort at the ready. Clear blue eyes met hers and she swallowed her razor-blade words. She loved to flirt and she loved men in general, but Pallas had strict rules about fraternizing. Nobody was worth risking punishment like tar and feathers.
Except him.
Darrell’s dirty blond hair tumbled around his chiseled features in messy waves. Sweat beaded on his forehead, giving her a glimpse of what he’d look like after a rough night in her bed.
She bit her bottom lip as she imagined licking that succulent mouth. He’d popped on her radar a last week when they’d been on the same scavenger hunt team, but he hadn’t said more than pass the salt to her since their team miraculously managed to avoid being sent home. Darrell had an honest desire to protect others. He’d helped and guarded other members of their team as they moved through booby traps, taking time to console the omega when she’d been afraid, and even catching Julia before she’d fallen in a water-filled trap.
“I can guess your future.” Sweat trickled along his jaw and dripped on his t-shirt despite the cold fall night. The thin material clung to his chest and abs outlining his well-defined muscles.
Butterflies took wing in her stomach. “What do you think the future has in store for me?” She hoped it included him and her in a dark secluded corner, lip to lip, bodies entwined—damn the vampire and his rules. Darrell was an oddity at the camp. Most of the males were out of shape or troublemakers. So far Darrell proved to be neither, which made her question his reason for being here. Packs had sent the worst of their worst to this boot camp.
“More rifle practice.”
Her smile dropped. “That’s nice.” Not ever. She tried to sound chipper, but failed. The words came out deadpanned. She hated the target range. She’d rather bury Pallas’ sports car again.
Darrell’s eyebrows rose. “Come on, it’s fun.”
“Our ideas of fun are obviously different.” She refocused on the trail. Damn it, they had fallen behind. Not that they’d be reprimanded but she noticed Pallas favored those who moved their asses. She narrowed her gaze, trying to make out a figure blocking the path ahead.
It was the vampire. Pallas directed them to the right, away from the shooting range.
Perfect, no shooting tonight. “Don’t quit your day job, handsome. Your fortune telling sucks.” She pinched his ass and lengthened her stride to catch up to Belinda.
He jerked and tripped over his own feet.
She tossed a look over her shoulder. Let that give him something to think about in the cold hours ahead. Her laughter bubbled up as her apprehension melted. No target practice meant no embarrassment or frustrated snapping comments from Pallas. She didn’t need a reminder of how inadequate she was as a warrior. She knew her level of incompetence before joining the boot camp. What she hadn’t known was how Pallas would send students home before the course was finished. She had hoped to stay hidden here for weeks and let her trail get cold before moving on.
Darrell caught up to her easily. Every time she shot him a look, his gaze would turn sultry. He stayed at her side even though he could have left her behind. If he continued, she’d cash in on those heated, silent promises.
Blain and Penny slowed, falling between them. They were shifters who hung around Darrell the most. A blind wolf and an omega. Darrell seemed to like those who needed protecting.
Penny wiped the sweat off her face. “I thought we were just running to the range. If I’d known we were going further, I would have paced myself better.” She looked deflated.
“Always expect to run longer.” Pallas passed them as he ran in full combat gear. Show off. Vampire stamina should equal a shifter’s but as werewolves, they were failures.
As they crossed into the pond training area, Pallas slapped their shoulders and gave individual instructions. He hit Darrell and shouted, “Water rescue.”
She crossed her fingers. Clinging to Darrell as she faked drown sounded like a nice way to stay warm, even in the freezing water.
Pallas struck her upper arm. “Swim. Keep your rifle dry.”
“Ow.” She rubbed the spot. That would leave a bruise.
Belinda joined her on the edge of the pond. “I got swim as well.” She sounded so disappointed. They’d all done these exercises before and didn’t need further instructions from Pallas.
Darrell deviated from their alpha, Ian, and strayed close to her. “Good luck.” Then he continued back to his rescue partner.
“What about me?” Belinda called out, pretending to be offended. Or maybe she wasn’t pretending.
He waved.
“You two breaking camp rules in fun, sweaty ways?” She glanced at Julia as they raced into the icy water fully clothed. She gasped. “Because I want details.”
“Not yet.” Julia’s breath was taken away by the temperature of the water.
“But things are looking promising.” The rifle weighed a ton when held above her head with one arm. She swam across the pond at a lily pad’s pace. If her rifle got wet, Pallas would make her redo the exercise. Been there, done that.
He shouted from the shore. “This isn’t about physical endurance. It’s about—”
“—mental toughness.” She mouthed the words, hating him just a little more every day.
Pacing in his heavy boots, the vampire wore his usual black fatigues with a t-shirt even though the temperature plummeted to the low forties at night.
The full moon illuminated Julia’s path across the water. She followed Belinda and Penny’s wake until her running shoes kicked against pond bottom. She splashed forward, face under water, but kept her arm and rifle above her head. She came to her knees in the shallows. Fully dressed, she moved slow, burdened by the extra weight of soaking clothes. If her father could see her now, he’d see his princess wasn’t made of silk and lace.
To be honest, she was pleased to discover her inner core was made of stronger stuff. If only passing the marksman’s test required guts instead of skill. After a week of rifle training, she still couldn’t shoot straight to save her life. Sure, she could fire the dang thing, but she had a better chance of shooting off her foot than hitting the target.
Limbs stiff with cold, she waded to the shore where Clare inspected her weapon for any water damage.
The alpha female ran her dry hands over the trigger and barrel. “Good job, Julia. Take a breather by the fire.”
Teeth chattering, she joined the other half-frozen wolf shifters by a small camp fire that Clare must have started.
Penny handed her a damp towel. “Pallas didn’t bring enough so we have to share.”
“Only the weak need to be dry and warm,” she whispered to the omega. The vampire was too busy shouting by the pond to hear her mocking him.
Pallas had a mean streak. The work he assigned was hard, the training brutal, and survival apparently was optional, but he was making warriors out of them. She slipped out of her shoes, pulled her socks off and wrung out the water.
The pond bothered the other wolves but she had grown up on the shores of Possum Kingdom Lake in Texas. Her whole pack swam those waters. She did hate the cold though. Forty degrees was dead winter for her Southern blood. She seemed to lack the gene that some shifters owned that tolerated the cold. Many of them still ran in t-shirts and shorts. Only Belinda’s teasing kept her from wearing full winter gear.
Oh, and the gun training. Her heart faltered every time shooting practice was announced, and every night since the scavenger hunt they practiced—standing, kneeling, sitting, and prone. She could dismantle and rearrange her rifle blind folded, she could fill clips and reload her weapon in less than twenty seconds, and she could readjust her sight and keep her rifle clean. None of that would count toward passing the marksman test.
Instead of swimming exercises, she should be at the range. At first, she avoided practice at any cost, then realized she needed to concentrate on her weaknesses, not elude them, or she’d end up being sent home. The last place on earth she wanted to go. She sighed. This meant she’d have to lose precious sleep and go to the range during the day for extra time target practicing.
More recruits made it to the shore. Not everyone did the same exercise at the same time here because the pond was too small. The old manor they lived in was on sixty acres of forested land. Perfect for a pack of forty-seven wolf shifters. After this week there numbers would be less.
Anyone who failed the marksmen’s test and the Fit to Win challenge would be sent home to their packs as failures.
None of the packs had taken the vampire’s offer to train their hunters into elite warriors seriously. They had sent him their weakest wolves, their misfits. Her pack hadn’t sent anyone because she’d kept the invitation from her alpha and ran away to join the boot camp. So failure would be…bad. On so many levels.
Pallas didn’t seem to care who arrived on his doorstep. Clare didn’t agree with her. Her alpha female insisted she’d seen him turn wolves away. Didn’t matter, the vampire treated them all like shit, even those with real skill. Her gaze wandered for a glimpse of Darrell.
Shifters lay in the cold mud around her, gasping for air and shivering. One cried quietly as Clare sent him back to redo the swim due to a wet rifle. Most huddled around the fire while watching the separate group practice simulated drowning victim rescues, where one person sank to the bottom of the pond while another acted as life guard. The victim was supposed to struggle when rescued, as some victims did, while being pulled to the surface and the shore.
Julia rose to her feet and shuffled closer.
Ian worked with Darrell since both were roughly the same size and strength. They also had matching blue lips as they marched toward her, teeth chattering.
Pallas blocked their path. “One more time, and Darrell, don’t make it so easy for Ian. No ass kissing your so-called alpha.” He pointed them back to the pond.
“I’m not sucking up to anyone. I just want to get my ass out of this fucking water.” Darrell crossed his arms, standing firm in his spot.
Ian pulled the other shifter to deeper water. “One more time won’t kill you.”
Wiping water from his eyes, Darrell grimaced. “What are you talking about? Water can kill me. Drowning is the number one killer of our kind.” He hated swimming in the dead heat of summer. Even on a sunny day in a clean blue pool, he wasn’t tempted to get wet. Middle of October at night in the stinking pond? The only thing that sent him in the water was the threat of being sent home. Not even a beating from the formidable Pallas would have motivated Darrell to play drowning victim. He barely had to fake it.
He came from a very small, poor pack. One that couldn’t afford to give him this kind of training. With these skills, he could provide them protection and maybe make a better living. He’d love to buy them a better pack house, like this manor, where the roof didn’t leak and they had a forest to run through.
The water came to Darrell’s chest and he pushed off, stroking to the deepest area out of the way of those who did the rifle swim. Now that exercise he didn’t mind as much. The rifle part anyway. Give him a weapon any day. He’d grown up with a knife in his pocket. Had to in the part of town where he lived.
Ian swam next to him. “Let’s get this done fast.”
“Uh-uh, I’m not having Pallas turn my ass around again. He wants me to give you a hard time and that’s what I’m planning.” Darrell dove into the water. Darkness swallowed him, murky sediment floated around his head. The bottom would smack him upside the head before he saw it. He slowed his strokes and sank. This should be deep enough for Ian to find him.
Limbs numb with cold, he closed his eyes and imagined going to sleep. He sank deeper. Pressure increased in his head and his lungs burned for air. Where the fuck was Ian? He opened his eyes in stinging water and searched for motion. His new alpha could be on top of him and he would be difficult to spot. It was up to the other shifter to find Darrell, not the other way around, but if he didn’t show soon Darrell would be forced to surface. Werewolves could hold their breaths longer than humans but not forever like vampires.
His feet touched bottom and he flinched from the slimy mud. He hadn’t meant to go so deep. Kicking, he swam upwards but something snagged his leg.
Heart drumming, he yanked hard but only managed to pull himself back to the bottom.
Fuck.
Waving his arms, he straightened in the water. Moonlight lit the surface and he could see a silhouette swimming toward him. He felt along his leg to release whatever had a hold of his pants. Darkness narrowed his vision that had nothing to do with the murky water. His head spun and his lungs wanted to explode. He fought not to inhale. A sharp object pricked his fingertip. It went through his jeans and into his leg.
A hook? A fishing line attached to it had wrapped around his ankle. With a jerk, he tore it free of his flesh. Pain should have flashed
through him but he’d gone completely numb.
He floated free underwater and stared at the moon above. It rippled like a flag in the wind. So beautiful and shiny. He wanted to touch its surface but his arms wouldn’t move.
He inhaled.
Water rushed between his lips and he convulsed as his throat constricted. He jerked once…twice.
Something soft and warm brushed over his lips. A mouth. It left him then returned.
Kissing. He liked being kissed. He pursed his lips and twisted this weak hand in her hair, pulling her closer. Desire warmed his thick blood. She tasted like his.
She pulled free. “He just kissed me.” A familiar voice sounded above him. It was difficult to hear over the hum of others speaking.
A cough bent Darrell in half and he rolled onto his knees vomiting pond water. He kept coughing until stars filled his vision and he remembered how to breathe. “What happened?” Someone patted his back and stroked his hair from his face. He glanced over his shoulder expecting Penny or Claire, an apology for kissing them on the tip of his tongue. His heart skipped a beat when his vision cleared.
Julia plucked a piece of algae from his hair. Wet clothes clung to her luscious curves, leaving just enough for his imagination, and boy, did he have an active imagination. He smiled. She had just watched him empty his stomach. Classy. On the outside, she appeared soft and delicate like a female who couldn’t take care of herself, but she could definitely hold her own. Pulling his ass out of the water and saving him proved that.
Ian knelt next to her, his face drawn with worry. “What the fuck, Darrell? You weren’t supposed to actually drown.” He hugged him hard then released him as fast as it had started. They had both lost a friend to this boot camp a couple weeks ago.
“I got tired of waiting for you to save my ass.” His throat felt raw and he sounded hoarse.
“Luckily, I found you floating to the top and Julia knew CPR.” Ian nodded to the female.
Darrell resisted the urge to pull her away from the alpha. She would feel soft and comfortable in his arms. The things that his whole life lacked.
A Taste of Shifter Geekdom: Shifter Romance (Vanguard Elite Book 2) Page 1