by Kayla Wolf
He had some success in distracting himself with work—there were plenty of people to talk to about their business, and to his surprise, they were running low on even the extra box of flyers he’d brought along by the time the conference hall was closing. Alice glanced up at him as he fought back a yawn, a smile dancing across her face.
”You look sleepy,” she teased him.
”I am,” he admitted, raising an eyebrow. “What’s your secret?”
”Med school,” she said, sounding a little smug. “Sleep deprivation is practically my natural state, even decades later.”
”You’ll have to give me some tips,” Daniel said, fighting back another yawn.
”You’re doing pretty well. I’m impressed, actually,” she said, turning to look at him. “You’ve really committed to the work this weekend. I haven’t seen this side of you before.”
He fought the urge to make a crude joke about other sides to him that she hadn’t seen before this weekend. They were in public; they needed to work together; he didn’t want to make her uncomfortable with inappropriate jokes … but then his eyes widened as he saw the wicked grin that was dancing across her face. She knew exactly what she was saying. He couldn’t help but laugh. God, what had this woman done to him? All he wanted was to be alone with her again. And not just to make love to her … though that was high on his list of priorities, he’d also be happy to just … be with her. Talk to her, lie in bed with her, make silly jokes, and chat for hours about nothing in particular. Was he going soft? Was this what had happened to James?
God, James. That was something he wasn’t going to let himself think about for now.
”Oh. Hi, Lawrence.”
Ice ran down his spine. While he’d been distracted, an unpleasantly familiar figure had appeared at the booth. Sandy blonde hair and a pair of narrow yellow eyes, this time with a decidedly hostile attitude in his posture. Daniel had almost forgotten about the terrible date Alice had gone on the night before. From what she’d told him, she’d been pretty clear with Lawrence about not wanting to see him again. What was he doing here? He stepped to her side, a protective instinct flaring, and he caught the brief glance of appreciation she shot him. Not that she couldn’t handle herself with this jerk, of course—she’d proven that last night. But it couldn’t hurt to provide a bit of backup.
“Come with me to the goodbye dinner tonight,” Lawrence was saying—Daniel’s eyes narrowed a little at the presumptive tone. “I’m sure you’ve been saving your best dress for last, right?”
”No thanks,” Alice said shortly—he could tell she was fighting back anger. “Daniel and I have other plans.”
The coyote’s yellow eyes moved to Daniel for the first time. “Is that so? I’m sure he’ll understand.”
”Maybe I wasn’t clear,” Alice said, her voice suddenly steely. “I don’t want to go with you, Lawrence. In fact, I’d rather not see you again.”
”Don’t be stupid,” Lawrence said brusquely. “I know you’re playing hard to get. There’s no point playing games with me; I’m too smart for that. Now, I’ll meet you in the hall at—”
”Listen, buddy,” Daniel said, feeling Alice go rigid with shock and anger beside him. “You’ve got your answer, okay? It’s a no. Now back off.”
”This doesn’t concern you,” Lawrence snapped, his yellow eyes still fixed on Alice as though Daniel was just an afterthought. “Don’t get in my way. It won’t end well for you.”
”Was that a threat?” Daniel asked, his jaw tense. He could feel the impulsive part of him that wanted to shift form, right here and now, to give this Lawrence guy fifteen feet of angry blue dragon to worry about. And maybe it was a shifter thing—some instinctive part of the coyote sensing the flaring of magical energy—but Lawrence shot him a glance and seemed to back down.
“You’ll change your mind,” Lawrence said to Alice as he backed away. “You’ll meet me in the hall at eight. If you don’t, I’ll come and find you.”
”What a douchebag,” Daniel muttered as the coyote disappeared into the crowd. Alice’s shoulders sagged.
”I can’t believe I thought he was nice. I swear, the first few times I talked to him, he seemed totally fine.”
”First impressions can be deceiving,” Daniel shrugged. It was a casual observation—he wasn’t expecting the broad smile that spread across Alice’s face as she looked up at him.
”You’re right,” she said softly, and despite his determination to keep things professional, he was about to sweep her into his arms and kiss her when they were both distracted by an announcement over the loudspeaker. The conference hall was closed—the day was over. They packed up their booth slowly, talking happily about what a success the event had been. But Daniel was preoccupied. Were they just going to drive back down to the peninsula, forget everything that had happened here? He couldn’t let that happen. So as they were heading out of the hall, he reached out and caught her hand.
”Hey—Alice? Do you want to check out the beach before it gets dark? See how LA’s best beach compares to the ones back home?”
She smiled at him—then her eyes twinkled. “I’d love to, but you heard Lawrence … I’ve got to meet him in the hall at eight o’clock sharp. It was an order.”
He feigned disappointment. “That’s a shame. Oh, well. I hope you’ll enjoy being lectured about public health, something that, as a doctor, I’m sure you know next to nothing about …”
She giggled. “Let me get changed, and we’ll head for the beach?”
So they found themselves on a long stretch of sand in the late afternoon sunlight. He had to admit, gazing around at the busy stretch of sand—it was pretty nice out here. But when he thought back to the beaches back home, there was really no competition. Alice seemed to be thinking along similar lines.
”They’re fine, I suppose. Home’s less crowded, though.”
”For now it is,” he pointed out as they strolled along the sand just above the tide mark, waves rushing towards their feet and retreating. “But with all the interest we’ve generated this weekend, that might not be the case for much longer.”
She grinned. “We’ve done well, hey? Pretty good weekend.”
”Amazing weekend,” he corrected her firmly. She glanced up at him, clearly a little surprised by the seriousness in his voice. “I mean it. Not just the business stuff, I mean—you.”
That laugh again. He’d barely heard that laugh before this weekend … it was addictive, intoxicating, drawing that giggle from her when she was usually so reserved. It made him feel special … powerful, somehow, as though he was privy to some kind of secret that not many other people were lucky enough to share.
“You too,” she said simply, glancing up at him with that incredibly fetching blush decorating her beautiful face. “I’ve really … I’m really glad I got the chance to get to know you a little better this weekend.”
”I feel like we’ve been wasting time,” he admitted, grinning. He wanted to reach out and take her hand in his, but he hesitated. Would it be too much? “We get on better than I ever thought we would. Not to mention last night.”
That wicked grin again. How had he ever missed how beautiful she was? “Oh, yeah. Last night was … amazing. You know I’ve never actually had a one-night stand before?”
He blinked down at her, a little taken aback by that. “One-night stand?”
”Yeah. I mean, I’ve been on a few dates before, you know—even kissed a few guys here and there—but it never got serious enough to think about seeing them a second or third time. So … I never really got around to it.” She shrugged. “I guess I never felt so strongly attracted to someone before last night.”
He bit his lip, not quite sure what to say. She’d been assuming this was a one-night stand this whole time? He supposed that explained why she’d been so odd that morning—cautious, as though she was keeping an eye on him for cues for how to behave. She’d thought he was just going to sleep with her, and … and then what? Jus
t forget about the explosive night they’d spent together, their unbelievable chemistry, the way their bodies just seemed to fit together as though they’d been made for each other? He was supposed to go back to a world where she was just his best friend’s sister, and he was just her brother’s best friend, some guy she vaguely knew? Some guy she’d spent one drunken night with and then moved on from? He supposed it was a reasonable assumption to come to, given what she knew about him … he’d never given any indication that sex was something he took seriously. But this was different. He could feel that in his bones. He didn’t know what it meant yet—hadn’t spent enough time figuring out exactly what it was he felt for her—but what he did know was that last night hadn’t just been a one-night stand.
But how could he tell her that? How could he tell her how he felt when he didn’t even know how he felt himself? He turned away from her, gazing out over the ocean as a way of calming his nerves. It always made him feel safer, more in control, watching the waves rush up the beach. They had fallen into a comfortable silence, and he cleared his throat a little as he turned back to her, the sunset over the ocean having calmed his nerves.
”I’m really glad last night happened,” he said softly, trying to figure out the best way to say what he wanted to say. “It was … it was amazing. We’re really compatible.”
”You think so?” She raised an eyebrow, looking up at him with that smile dancing around in her eyes again. “Like I said, I don’t have much experience, but I did think we did pretty well …”
”Absolutely,” he assured her. “I—I’ve learned a lot this weekend, I think. Not just about you—but about myself. And I think—”
But he frowned, something pulling him out of his train of thought. They’d wandered up the beach such a distance that the crowds had thinned right out … he realized with a start that there was practically nobody around. Nightfall might have had something to do with that, as well—the sun had slipped down over the horizon, and though there was some lingering orange light from the last traces of the sunset, it was definitely dark on the beach. It seemed that most people had headed home.
But that wasn’t what had caught his attention. There was a prickle on the back of his neck, and when he turned around, he realized with a jolt what had caused it. There on the beach behind them, cutting them off from retreat, stood Lawrence, a smug grin on his cold face. And he was absolutely surrounded by what looked to be an enormous pack of coyotes.
Chapter 11 – Alice
Alice felt frustration rise in her chest. What had Daniel been about to tell her? He’d seemed strange all day—ever since they’d finally torn themselves away from each other and started getting ready for the day after their night of passion, she’d had the sense that he was keeping something from her. He’d surprised her all day … there was something different about him, something more attentive somehow, more gentle. A care in even the most casual of touches that hadn’t been there a few days ago. And sometimes, she’d look around to catch him looking at her with an expression on his face that made her heart pound and caused a fluttering in her stomach. What was going on with him?
She’d been doing her best to be cool. That was how people handled one-night stands, right? You fell into bed together, had a great time (an unbelievable time, if she was being honest—it still felt like her whole body was glowing in the aftermath of their lovemaking), and then you played it cool the next day. Just one night of sex, that was all it was. It didn’t mean anything these days. Sex was just one more activity people could do together, like … like tennis. So she wasn’t going to read into anything. But part of her was desperately hoping that maybe, just maybe, Daniel was.
So when he stopped talking in the middle of what was looking to be a very interesting sentence indeed, she had to stop herself from sighing in exasperation. But her frustration was quickly replaced by worry when he whipped around—she could feel the tension in his body, sense right away that something was wrong. And when she turned, she realized what it was straight away. There on the beach was Lawrence. Her shock was quickly replaced by anger. He’d followed them all the way out here? Intruded on their privacy? Had he been listening to their conversation? Hot anger and embarrassment warred for dominance.
”You’re late for our appointment, Alice,” Lawrence called to her across the beach, his voice mocking. “I don’t like to be kept waiting.”
”Take a hint, Lawrence,” she snapped back, well past the point of being even remotely interested in trying to be polite to this guy. “I don’t want anything to do with you.”
”Well, I want you. Our resort happens to need a doctor, and we don’t like having humans on staff. You fit the bill just fine—and it helps that you’re easy on the eye. So come with me now, and I won’t see any need to hurt you or your lackey here.”
Daniel bristled beside her. “Are you joking? What kind of a pathetic job offer is that?”
”It’s not an offer, it’s an instruction,” the coyote snapped, his eyes glowing with anger even in the low light on the beach. “I don’t take rejection well, and you’ll notice you’re outnumbered,” he added, gesturing to the coyotes around him. They all had the same yellow eyes as he did, and Alice narrowed her eyes as a handful of them growled. Shifters were easy to tell apart from their wild cousins—whether it was wolves, bears, or coyotes, a shifter was always considerably bigger. Wolf shifters in their wolf shapes were generally closer to the size of small horses … and coyotes, it seemed, were about the size of wild wolves. The pack was a lot more intimidating than a non-shifter pack would have been, and if Alice and Daniel had been human, the threat might have carried some weight. But they weren’t.
”You can’t be serious,” Daniel was saying, and she could hear the anger in his voice. “You know what we are, right? Even a hundred of you would be no match for one of us.”
”If you decide to be stupid enough to force us to shift out here,” Alice added, hearing her voice shake with rage. “Putting the entire shifter population of California in danger for your own selfish ends? Seriously? What’s the plan—take me prisoner and force me to work for you? It’s not going to work. Back off while you’ve still got the chance.”
Lawrence’s face twisted, and he snarled—an ugly, animalistic sound that accompanied a strange shifting in his features and in his body. In seconds, he was gone—in his place, a large coyote, its head lowered as it growled at them. Daniel glanced around the beach—Alice could see him checking whether there was anyone in view. And then, as the pack of coyotes rushed forward to attack them, she saw and felt the transformation rip through her.
It had been too long since she’d been in her dragon form. It felt so good to stretch her wings, to lash her neck around and bare her sharp fangs at the coyotes—she only barely remembered to suppress the urge to roar, not wanting to draw any unwelcome human attention. It was completely dark now, which was some relief, but she still kept her body low and close to the sand, hoping that her dark blue scales would blend in with the night sky. At her side, she could see Daniel, his scales dark blue like hers, his wings flared out in a gesture of aggression towards the coyotes that were still rushing towards them—though, she noticed smugly, they seemed to have slowed a little at the sight of the true form of their prey. What kind of dragons had they been expecting? Komodo dragons? They were fifteen feet long … and Alice knew that their species ran on the smaller side. There were other dragons out there that were up to thirty or forty feet from their snout to their tail. A pack of coyotes like this would be no match for a dragon that size.
But against just the two of them … well, that was giving her cause for concern. The coyotes, for all that they were small, were clearly crafty. Before long, they’d separated Daniel and Alice, taking advantage of their size to circle them, making it difficult to keep all their enemies in sight at once. They began to attack, darting in and attempting to land bites on her unprotected flanks—she hissed, swiping at the coyotes she could reach, but it was surprising
ly difficult to pin them down. Daniel, too, was having trouble—she could sense his frustration and anger as he swatted at the coyotes. To her growing displeasure, she could feel the creatures landing successful attacks on her—blood began to run from a handful of wounds where the coyotes had managed to get their sharp teeth beneath her scales.
They fought on, determined not to let the coyotes get the best of them. The key, it seemed, was to work with each other the way the coyotes were working as a pack—they got close, cutting off the coyotes’ ability to flank them, covering each other’s blind spots as they fought. Soon enough, they were turning the tide of the battle, picking the coyotes off one by one with damaging, though not life-threatening injuries. Alice may have been furious, but she didn’t want to take any lives. Lawrence was awful, but these coyotes—she didn’t have anything against them, even if they were attacking her. It was pretty clear they were just following his orders. But she didn’t hold back when it came to dealing out injuries with her sharp talons—though her hesitation to deliver mortal wounds may have contributed to the growing collection of rather serious injuries she was taking.
Finally, it seemed that the battle had been won. There were a dozen coyotes limping away from them, nursing wounds and injuries that were stopping them from fighting—Alice could see them shifting form, returning to their human shapes to recover. It seemed that, like most shifters, wounds sustained in their coyote forms were less serious when they transformed back to their human shapes. Alice could see a handful of yellow-eyed people she dimly remembered seeing around at the conference. Lawrence really had brought a sizable delegation along. Were they all family, like he’d suggested?
Speaking of Lawrence … she hissed, realizing too late that she’d let herself be distracted by what looked like victory. There was a familiar coyote in front of her, and he leaped at her as she turned back to look at him, his jaws wide. She felt him land hard on her neck, his paws scrabbling for purchase as he dug his teeth deep, deep into the space between scales there—a weak point in her armor. She suppressed the urge to roar in pain, shocked by how strong his jaws were, and to her horror, she felt him tear a chunk of flesh away from her body. Blood was pouring down her neck in earnest now, and she staggered a little, suddenly weakened by not only this final blow but the collection of wounds she’d sustained. She had to transform—had to get back into her human shape, where the life-threatening wound she’d just received wouldn’t be quite so serious. But if she transformed with a bloodthirsty coyote on her back …