Night Creatures: Book 1

by Ebony Brightman

  Nisa and John finally made it to the patio. He put his hand on Nisa’s arm as she opened the sliding glass door and stepped inside.

  “Hold on a moment, Nisa. There’s something I want to say to you.”

  Nisa only half-turned, willing to listen to what John had to say, but she couldn’t bring herself to meet his eyes.

  He sighed, pulling out and lighting a cigarette. It was warmer just inside the house but her exhausted body was still shivering as he offered her a drag. For a moment she considered taking it, but then she shook her head no. Accepting anything from these people was dangerous.

  “The thing about Lycans is that they thrive on pack. Even if you’re not living in the same zip code or even the same city, just being part of one means you’re not alone.”

  Great. Now even John was telling her why she needed to just forget about Arlo.

  “But the thing about packs is,” he took a long drag, “sometimes you just have to make your own.”

  Nisa raised her eyes to his, and they crinkled around the edges as he took one more drag. Then he dropped the cigarette on the ground, crushed it with his boot, and walked back into the night.

  CHAPTER 19

  Shane turned as Nisa pushed the door to their room open and stepped inside. He was moving between the closet and the bed, hastily putting their clothes and toiletries back into their suitcases.

  Nisa barely remembered walking upstairs. Only thinking about what John could have meant about making your own pack, and then looking up to find that she was standing outside their room. The hallway was dark but for the light seeping underneath the door. For a moment she wondered if she should knock. Ten years of marriage and suddenly she felt like she and Shane were strangers. Not because he’d changed, but because she had. After a few seconds she’d pushed the door open and gone inside.

  “I rescheduled our flight.” He went back to packing, walking into the bathroom to grab his shaving kit and then walking back into the bedroom. “We’re on the 7:10. We’ll need to leave soon if we’re going to make it on time. It’s at least an hour’s drive.”

  Nisa nodded as she walked over to the other side of the bed. The bag with her dress from the evening’s activities was sitting near her suitcase. She opened it up and ran her fingers over the beautiful beading.

  “Todd brought that up.”

  “Toby, you mean.”

  “I wasn’t sure whether to throw it out or not.” Did his voice tighten ever so slightly? “I’m sure you want to shower. I left these clothes out for you to change into.”

  Nisa nodded again, closing the bag back up and tucking it into her suitcase. She didn’t want to forget about tonight. Not any of it. As odd as it sounded, this dress might be the last bit of proof that it had actually happened. There was no way she was going to let it go. At least not yet.

  “Crazy as it sounds, I’m actually glad we came here.”

  Shane had left out a pair of dark denim jeans, a white tee shirt and a heather gray shawl. Nisa, suddenly so much more tired than she ever thought she could be, dug in her bag for a bra and a clean pair of underwear.

  “It’s a chance for us to—”

  “Let’s skip the bullshit.” Nisa peeled off the robe she was wearing and flung it on the bed. She didn’t want to shower or wash up. She didn’t want to remove any trace of Arlo from her body. She just wanted to change and get out of there. Shane watched her as she stepped into her panties. “I’ve been told that if I agreed to return home with you and to keep writing with you, you won’t tell anyone what you’ve seen here this weekend. Is that true?”

  “Yes, it’s true.”

  She slipped her arms through her bra and reached behind her to fasten the hooks. “Well it looks like this weekend really worked out for you.” She could feel Shane looking her over, assessing.

  “And for you too.” He walked around to her side of the bed.

  Nisa spared him a glance before she began yanking on her jeans. He came a few steps closer as she zipped them closed.

  “You’ll have your name on something.” He clutched her arms pulling her to him. “Isn’t that what you’ve always wanted?”

  Nisa put her hands on his chest, pushing him away. But Shane only dragged her nearer, struggling to get his arms around her, to entrench her in his grasp as he had for most of their marriage.

  She twisted out of his grip. “The only thing I ever wanted, Shane, was a husband who loved me.”

  “I do love you.”

  She pulled her tee shirt over her head and laughed. “You loved that I could help you with your career. You loved that I was never going to steal your spotlight or your thunder. And what did I get in return?”

  “A nice roof over your head? Weekend trips? Those designer jeans you can barely fit over your ass?”

  Nisa scoffed and stepped around him. She walked into the bathroom and looked at herself in the mirror. Her hair was a mess. Her curls were mostly dry now and had truly gone wild, and there was hay in her hair left over from the stables. She wrested it into a ponytail holder.

  Shane stepped into the doorway, rubbing his forehead as Nisa splashed water on her face.

  “I didn’t mean that. I didn’t mean the thing about your ass.”

  She put lotion on her face and dabbed her lips with gloss. “Yeah, you did. But it doesn’t matter. I’ve made a promise, and so long as it keeps Arlo safe, I’ll honor it.”

  They looked at each other in the mirror.

  “So you’ll do it for that thing, but not for me?”

  “Why else would I agree to this? Our marriage? You stopped honoring that a long time ago, if you ever did in the first place.”

  “I’m big enough to admit I’ve made some mistakes, but you have too. I’m a man, Nisa, and you’ve made it too easy for me to do what men do.”

  “You’ve been rehearsing that line haven’t you?”

  “I may have slept with other women but I was never in love with any of them. I know you, Nisa. You’re in love with this guy. How is that supposed to make me feel? You’ve broken my heart, but I’m still trying to save us. I’m still trying to save you.”

  “Save me? From what?”

  “How about a lifetime of bestiality?”

  Nisa cracked a slap so hard across Shane’s face she might have loosened a tooth. Shane grabbed Nisa by the throat and in turn she grabbed him by his. He was bigger than her, stronger than her, but in this moment she didn’t care. She didn’t have a whole lot to lose.

  “Shane, for most of our marriage you’ve broken my heart every single day. The only thing I need saving from is you. And that Beast who made love to me all weekend? Who made me come as many times as he came inside of me? Hell, more even. He’s a better man than you’ll ever be.”

  Shane shoved her away, not bothering to hide his disgust.

  Nisa grabbed the rest of her toiletries and carried them to her suitcase. “When we get home you’ll move into the spare bedroom. We’ll continue to live together until one of us can find some other suitable place to live. We’ll continue to write as we always have. I’ll write the first draft, you the second and then we’ll revise from there.” Only now I’ll actually be getting credit. “Our marriage is a business arrangement. As long as you don’t bring them to the house, fuck all the Shelbys you want.” Nisa looked up to see Shane looking down at his suitcase, “Agreed?” Then it occurred to her. “What exactly is Shelby getting out of this anyway?”

  For the first time, Shane looked uncomfortable. “Willa guaranteed her a role in each film when our scripts get made.”

  “Terrific. Glad I could be such a boon to her career.”

  “Benny brokered the deal. He seems to have a better handle on the way Willa and Callum operate than I realized.”

  What an understatement.

  “I’m pretty sure Shelby was ready to call TMZ but he intervened. You know Benny, he can always sniff out a deal.”

  Nisa bit her tongue as she put the last of her belongings into he
r luggage and zipped it shut.

  There was a soft knock at the door. When Shane answered it, it was Toby telling them that the car taking them to the airport had arrived. Toby grabbed Nisa’s bag and Shane followed him out of the room.

  Nisa lingered, walking to the window and pulling back the curtains to reveal the balcony. It was almost five a.m. The sky had just begun to lighten, straddling that moment between day and night. She looked out over the backyard, and down the slope toward the stables. She wondered if Arlo was still in there, chained to the wall. No one had said as much, but she had a feeling that the sooner she left this place, the sooner they’d set him free.

  Arlo had told her they’d be together again, and John had encouraged her hope, but she couldn’t possibly see how. These Lycans, they were a secretive group. Arlo, Benny, Willa, Callum . . . None of them had been forthcoming with information about who they were and what it all meant. John had been there in the stables watching Arlo. Did that mean he was one too? And Toby. He was definitely in on it. She had so many questions—the answers to which, she feared she’d never know.

  CHAPTER 20

  By the time Nisa reached the driveway, the driver was putting their luggage in the trunk. Nisa was coming down the steps, and she could see that Shane was forcing a cash tip into Toby’s hand. Toby didn’t want to take it but Shane insisted, shoving it into Toby’s palm and curling his hand around it. Toby turned a little pink and finally accepted it, then walked to the steps to say good-bye to Nisa.

  Toby had been a kind of guardian angel the last few days, and she wasn’t sure how to tell him how much she appreciated him. The only thing she could think to do was hug him. She kissed his cheek as they embraced and whispered a heartfelt, “Thank you,” in his ear. In return, he’d hugged her tighter. When they let go, Toby looked her in the eyes and said, “You take care of yourself, Nisa.”

  Shane was holding the door open for her as she walked over to the car. She looked back to give Toby one last wave, only to find Willa standing in the doorway looking none the worse for wear after their late night. Nisa stared at her, a scorned deer caught in the headlights. She’d always liked and respected Willa. She was a self-made, no-nonsense woman. But having succumbed to her iron will chafed Nisa, and she wasn’t sure she’d ever be able to forgive Willa’s interference.

  Willa tilted her head, giving Nisa a last, knowing nod. Nisa returned it in kind before retreating to the darkness of the SUV.

  Shane climbed in next to her, and they were pulling out of the driveway before he could even buckle in. It had only been a few days, but it felt like she had been at this house for a lifetime. They wound their way along the long driveway and out onto the two-lane road that led down the mountain.

  Shane watched her in the muted light. “I know you’re angry, and you have every right to be, but we’re stuck with each other now.”

  Nisa turned toward the window and her breath caught in her throat. It was hard to make out, but something fierce was moving through the trees. It kept pace with them as they drove toward the bottom of the mountain, but when they hit the main road the driver accelerated.

  “For better or worse, we’re in this thing together.”

  Nisa leaned closer to the glass, craning her head. The driver was widening the distance, but she could still see Arlo’s dark figure chasing them, darting in and out of the shadows. She smiled to herself and fell back against the seat.

  “I guess we are.”

  EPILOGUE

  Nisa had started locking her bedroom door at night. Shane was having a hard time accepting that their marriage was effectively over, and twice she’d woken up with his tongue in her pussy. She missed Arlo. The pain of it was crippling, so both times she’d closed her eyes and pretended Shane was him. Even with the door locked he would still show up sometimes. He would drink too much and then there he’d be, rattling the handle and begging for them to fuck.

  Once the baby bump appeared the night visits had stopped, but Nisa still felt better sleeping with the bolt on. They’d been home for about two months before she realized she’d hadn’t had a period. She and Shane had been dancing around the idea of kids for several years now. Nisa was getting older, so even without Shane’s go ahead, she’d stopped taking The Pill. That had been a few months before their fateful trip. Shane had found her pregnancy test in the trash and gone ballistic, demanding to know if the baby was his. The only thing Nisa could tell him was the truth. She honestly didn’t know. But she did have hope, and her hope was that baby belonged to Arlo.

  At least a few times a week she dreamed about him and it was always bittersweet. She’d be running through the redwoods under a white wash of moonlight, rushing to get back to their clearing, and when she’d arrive Arlo would be there. He’d kiss her and they’d satisfy each other’s bodies until the sun came up. Then as the first rays peeked through, whether the wolf was out or not, he’d fade into the light and so would her pregnant belly. Nisa would wake up feverish, clutching her abdomen to make sure the baby was still there, then spend the rest of the next day craving and missing his touch.

  Nevertheless, Shane had decided the baby was his and against her wishes, tweeted out an announcement. She didn’t know he’d said anything until she’d received an email from Benny asking how the new draft was coming and extending congratulations. Most, if not all, of Benny’s emails were sent to both her and Shane. This one had been addressed only to Nisa.

  It was a few weeks later that she was lying in bed staring up at the ceiling. She was four months into her pregnancy and things were starting to ache. She’d been working all day, and now her breasts were sore from the hormones and her back was sore from the writing. She was just starting to fall asleep when Shane began knocking at the window.

  “Wow. This man has no shame.”

  She was going to ignore it but Shane could be persistent. She decided to give him the benefit of the doubt and assume he’d locked himself out of the house. She grumbled to herself as she climbed out of the bed and walked to the window. This whole cohabitation thing was not working out. This was just more proof that she needed him to move out.

  She yanked up the shade, already yelling for Shane to, “Go away!” But of course it wasn’t him. It was Arlo. Nisa couldn’t get the window open fast enough, and she tripped over the edge of the dresser backing up to let him in. He was naked and out of breath, swinging one leg over the windowsill and then the other as he climbed inside.

  Arlo was on her in a second, his mouth descending recklessly on hers. She melted into him, pushing him toward the bed until he was sitting on the edge. She tore her mouth away, wanting to see his eyes, to assure that he was real. In return he kissed her palms and brought her hands to rest on his cheeks. She buried her face in his hair. He reached for her nightgown, pulling the straps down until it rippled to the floor.

  Her breath was coming so fast, her breasts heaving as his eyes poured over her body to rest on her newly swelled belly. He put his hand there, looking up with the question in his eyes. A tear fell down his cheek as she put her hand over his. He leaned in resting his lips on her stomach, then ran his hands up her naked back as she straddled him on the bed.

  She could feel his sex lengthening, getting hotter and harder against her flesh. He reached down between her thighs, sampling her wetness, teasing her clit. Her belly rubbed against his, encouraging him, inviting him in. His fingers twisted in her hair as he again brought her lips to his.

  “This is my pack,” he whispered. “You are my home.”

  Nisa exhaled a sob, arching her back as he pushed himself inside of her.

  NIGHT CREATURES

  BOOK 2

  COMING FALL 2018

  A NOTE TO THE READERS

  If you enjoyed this novella, I’d be honored if you left a review on Amazon!

  As a brand new author, reviews help other readers find my book by increasing its visibility. They also let me discover what excites the readers about the story and what I can do better
in the next one.

  Thank you, thank you, thank you for taking the time!

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  My family is awesome. Even when I write things that make them blush. Thank you guys for all the love and support. Without you, this wouldn’t have gotten done.

  My beta readers are also awesome. Your input, your wit, and your never-ending thoughtfulness made this story better. April, The Munchkin, Irene, Kim, Meredith, Angelica, Miriam, Devon . . . I am eternally grateful. Next time I make waffles.

  Thank you to The Family Vibe for prying the website from my nervous hands, to Marta for the stunning cover art, to Jay for the beautiful cover design, and to Troy for the meticulous copyediting. (If there are mistakes in the manuscript, they are undoubtedly because of my post-copyedit meddling!)

  COMING SOON

  COMING OCTOBER 2018

  Night Creatures: Book 2

  Nisa’s story continues with all new twists and turns, and a smorgasbord of steamy sex.

  https://www.amazon.com/Night-Creatures-Book-Ebony-Brightman-ebook/dp/B07HVZRC15/

  Available Now

  Dark Seduction: Part 1

  Luciana has never liked pitch-black basements. Good thing she’s not the only one down there. Is it her husband rekindling their sex life? Or has a savage stranger set her passions aflame? Read to find out, and discover how even in the dark, desire can light the way.