Her voice seemed to pull him away from the pictures, and he turned toward the television. “I’m good,” he said, not looking at her. He grabbed the remote from the coffee table and turned off the television before heading back to the living room window.
What was he looking for?
When Beth walked into the living room, Natalie followed. She sat on the armchair across from Lila and Gabriel, resting on the arm, so Natalie had a space to sit.
“Can we get some kind of explanation now?” Beth asked once Natalie crossed her legs. “This emergency of yours is taking forever.”
“Last night I stopped for gas, and when I was about to get back in my Jeep, I heard something. Well, I went to look, and here I find Gabriel being beaten to a pulp over by the dumpsters.”
Beth knew the area. The gas station was creepy a night - dark and secluded. She avoided it. Lila apparently didn’t possess the internal voice that was supposed to tell her to stay away from places like that.
“They were beating him. I think they would’ve killed him,” Lila said, glancing at Gabriel before continuing. “I grabbed a tire iron and I... I smashed the one in the back of the head.”
That caught Beth’s attention. She would’ve started asking questions then, but something in Lila’s voice told her the story wasn’t even close to being over.
“Anyway, it turned into this big fight, but we managed to get out of there. Gabriel brought me back here then. The thing is, the one guy...he pulled me across the parking lot without touching me. He called me a witch.”
Kaleb had taken a step closer to them as Lila spoke, no doubt as interested as Beth was.
“We get back here, and Gabriel tells me that he’s a werewolf. Of course, this was after he changed and had claws sticking out of his hands at the gas station.” Lila glanced again at Gabriel as if searching for support before continuing, “He tells me that the men who were trying to kill him were warlocks. Then he tells me that they think I'm a witch and they were going to try to kill me, too.”
Beth didn’t know where to laugh, cry, or scream.
Natalie chose for her when she erupted into a fit of laughter. Beth was pissed.
Eight hours of overtime gone. She needed that money if she wanted to get out of the apartment. And here was Lila, telling her some cockamamie story about warlocks, witches, and werewolves.
It wasn't even Halloween.
“You made me miss work to tell me about some werewolf fairy tale?” Beth demanded, fuming.
Lila frowned. “It’s the truth.”
“It’s bullshit,” she cut out. Maybe she could call the hospital and ask if they’d been able to cover the remainder of the shift. She may still be able to get a few hours in. Although she didn’t know if she’d be talking to Lila for a few weeks after this mess.
“It’s the truth,” Gabriel said. “Both Kaleb and I are werewolves.”
She swung on Gabriel. “You, sir, are insane.”
Natalie glanced up a Beth, a shit eating grin on her face, before saying, “I think it’s funny.”
“You would.”
Natalie slapped Beth on the leg for her comment.
Kaleb was leaning on the windowsill, regarding the group with interest. She was surprised he hadn’t called Lila and his brother crazy too. Hell, maybe he believed it himself.
“Kaleb, show them," Gabriel instructed. Beth arched a brow as Kaleb strode forward toward her and Natalie. Gabriel joined him a second later, staying close to his brother but out of Beth’s direct line of sight.
When Kaleb stripped out of his shirt, his chest muscles rippling as he moved, her stomach clenched. Heat flooded her insides and her face when he pushed his jeans over his hips, letting them fall to the floor in a pool around his ankles as he stepped out.
He was naked. Where were his underwear?
Why, oh why, did he have to look like a statue of a well-endowed Adonis? Even with a semi-erect cock, he put most men to shame.
“Is this really necessary?” she snapped at Lila, her cheeks on fire.
Sweat beaded on her forehead as he caught her eye. Those green eyes were sucking her right back in. What she wouldn't give to just slide down him, nipping those beautiful abdominal muscles as she fell to her knees.
She didn’t need to mentally slap herself to get her head on straight, Kaleb did it for her as soon as his body started to tremble. It was an unnatural motion. Too fast, too jerky.
His legs lengthened, growing several inches, as did his arms. Joints popped, bones snapped, muscles stretched. Fingers grew, followed by lethal looking nails. His delicious human mouth turned into a snout, elongating before wild canines slid down from his gums.
His chest barreled, his muscles bulked. The only thing that hadn’t changed was his eyes, but right now he was looking at Natalie.
Then he growled.
Fear threatened to strangle her as she stood to her feet. No way did she want to be this close to him. This was so wrong, so unnatural. So... she didn’t know. Too terrified to be curious, she was ready to bolt.
Those dark green eyes homed in on her, and she sucked in a harsh breath. He gave her a look she’d never seen on his human face before. It was as if he recognized her, but she couldn’t tell if it was as a friend or a food source.
His nose sniffed the air, and he took a step toward her. His eyes narrowed, pupils dilated. Beth’s belly dropped to her feet, her hands shaking. Gabriel stepped in front of him.
“Kaleb,” his brother said, thankfully taking Kaleb’s attention from Beth and putting it on him. “That’s enough.”
Kaleb’s eyes closed, and his joints began popping yet again, this time shrinking the werewolf back down into a man.
Jerking his clothing on he was back to his old self, but he avoided looking at her. Why wouldn’t he look at her?
Beth wanted to say something to him. Anything. There were no words she could possibly say at that point. How didn’t she know this? How had she managed to live for twenty-six years on this earth without knowing about the existence of werewolves?
Hell, she’d even made out with one.
Kaleb went to the front door as soon as he was dressed. She wanted to go after him but restrained herself. The transformation seemed to have a taken a lot out of him, and she still had to process her own thoughts about what just happened.
“How do you do it?” Natalie asked Gabriel, jerking Beth back to the other people in the room.
“Change?” He sat back down on the couch next to Lila, who was taking all this in stride.
“Yeah,” she said, leaning forward in her chair, more curious than anything. “Were you guys bitten by other werewolves?”
“No. We were born this way. There are no bitten werewolves.”
Beth glanced toward the front door again and caught sight of Kaleb walking in the front yard, his head down, and his shoulders slumped.
“Do you go running around chasing rabbits and stuff at the full moon?”
It was apparent Gabriel hadn’t prepared for Natalie’s line of questioning. Beth listened as she watched Kaleb.
“Umm...we do change involuntarily at the full moon, and I’ve eaten a few rabbits in my day.” Gabriel shifted uncomfortably in his seat.
“Too cool!” Natalie’s laughter caused Gabriel to tilt his head, brows furrowed.
Everything that had transpired had been too much for Beth. Way too much. Kaleb disappeared into the yard somewhere. His truck was still sitting outside. Frustrated, Beth turned back to Lila.
“So, you just wanted us to come over, so you could show us your new pet?” She sat back down on the arm of the chair and took another sip of her coffee, proud of being able to keep her trembling hands steady.
“No. There's more,” Lila said, her voice low.
She glanced at her watch. The only thing they'd accomplished in the past fifteen minutes was scaring the crap out of her and amusing Natalie. “Spill it then.”
Lila took a deep breath. “They - Gabriel and the other werewolves -
are part of the Netherworld. The Netherworld is like a government for supernatural beings. Different groups joined, like werewolves, witches, warlocks, fae, umm...”
“Shifters, dragons, and vampires,” Gabriel supplied.
“Yes. Well, there's a council and other nonsense, but what’s important is what I said earlier. The men who attacked him - attacked us - were warlocks. The warlocks are at war with the witches. The warlocks also now believe that I'm a witch. That we are witches.”
Gabriel looked at Lila before looking toward Beth and Natalie. “They’re going to hunt you down.”
“They are. Now that the warlocks think we’re witches they want to kill us.”
It didn't make sense to Beth. It didn't make sense to Natalie either, because she asked, “But why us?”
“Remember last weekend?” Lila asked. “They think we’re witches.”
Crap.
They’d had a girl’s night the previous weekend. One that involved a few bottles of liquor and a lot of laughter. It also included their friend Carey thinking it would be a good idea to try casting a spell to find their soulmates.
Being half lit and bored, Beth had gone along with it when they’d nicked their palms with a paring knife, and stood around Lila’s kitchen table, muttering Carey’s nonsense. It had freaked her out when the wind outside had started roaring, and the candle flames had extinguished just to reignite.
Carey had always been very open about being a witch. Beth had just rolled with Carey’s declarations and odd behavior. Maybe Carey wasn’t as full of crap as Beth sometimes thought she was. Nuts but also perhaps legit?
“I knew something crazy was going to happen,” Beth said, remembering the strange feeling that had overcome her the Saturday before, “I just never in my wildest dreams imagined it would be something like this. Leave it to Carey to try to find our soulmates for us by using her magic.”
“I liked the idea of finding a husband,” Natalie argued.
Beth rolled her eyes. “Oh, who the hell cares about husbands or soulmates, Natalie? If there are werewolves, then there are probably a lot of things out there, and apparently, some of those things want us dead. It just figures.”
She got up and went back into the kitchen. She needed a moment to come to grips with what was going on. Werewolves, warlocks, vampires. Were there gnomes too? How about the Valkyrie? Or mermaids?
Her head pounded at the thought.
She poured what was left of her coffee down the sink, too sick to finish it. Folding her arms over her chest, she stared out the kitchen window.
Kaleb stood in the yard, staring down the driveway. How could that man - the very same man who’d kissed her with such fervor all those years ago - be a werewolf?
She never would've put it together, but now that she knew the truth, she saw the little things. It was the way he lifted his nose, sniffing the air. It was in the way his eyes focused on movement. It was in the way he moved, so sure of himself. He’d strut around like there was nothing larger or more terrifying than him, but then again, there probably wasn’t. He was a damned werewolf.
Her heart picked up in her chest.
Just watching him did things to her. There was something wrong with her. How was he able to get under her skin like this? It had been two years – two years! – since she’d been in his truck. And here she was, still wanting him just as badly as the night he’d rejected her.
Sighing, she went back into the living area to hear Gabriel say, “We hide you away and keep you safe until either the lingering magic wears off or the warlocks are no longer interested, whichever comes first.”
“And how long is that going to take?” Natalie asked.
He shrugged. “I would imagine not until the next full moon, which is three weeks away. Just as long as you guys don't practice any more magic.”
“Three weeks!” Beth exclaimed. There was no way she would be able to go into hiding for that long. “I have work!”
“I have plans!”
“Would you rather be dead or dateless, Natalie?” Lila snapped.
“It's the same damn thing!”
“There's no way I can take that much time off work. I have bills to pay.” Bills to pay and a house to buy.
“How am I supposed to function?” Natalie asked. “This is insane.”
Lila covered her eyes with her hands, not answering either of them.
“What am I supposed to do? Just lock myself inside the apartment and order delivery?”
The door banged open, silencing the tirades in the room. Kaleb came inside with another man. She recognized the newcomer but couldn't place him. He looked like both Kaleb and Gabriel, but his complexion was lighter. His hair was cut shorter on the sides but was slightly longer on the top. It was sticking up in places making him look as if he’d been rubbing his hand through it.
His lips were narrow and his brows drawn. The stern look at his face made her wary.
“What did you find?” Gabriel asked, getting to his feet.
The man was silent, glancing from Gabriel to Lila. It was apparent it wasn’t good news, but Beth kept her mouth shut. Her interruption wouldn't be welcome at that moment.
Lila jumped to her feet. “What did you find? Did you find Andrea?”
Andrea’s missing? Andrea was not only Lila's cousin but one of Beth's good friends as well. Beth waited as patiently as she could, needing more information.
The man's face was grim as he looked to Gabriel for permission. Gabriel gave him a swift nod.
“The door was ajar, and I went in,” he said. “It was obvious there had been a struggle. The TV in the living room was on, and there was an ironing board and iron on the floor. I followed the scent of the female upstairs to her bedroom where I found the smell of gunpowder, two shell casings and a warlock's blood on the wall next to the door and on the floor. She injured him, but not mortally. The other bullet struck her ceiling.”
What the…?
“From what I could tell they dragged her downstairs and out the back door where they had a car waiting, probably a van or SUV, judging by the size of the tire treads. I smelled three warlocks inside, one of whom was very powerful. He was the one who was injured.” The man turned from Lila back to Gabriel.
Beth was focused on Lila. Panic rose within her own chest, but Lila looked ready to collapse. She was breathing rapidly, and her voice was near hysterical when she demanded, “She's alive. Isn’t she?”
“When they took her from the house, she was alive.”
Bile rose into her throat, and she slapped her hand over her mouth to keep herself from getting sick on Lila’s floor. Andrea was still alive, she told herself. She was still alive, even if the werewolf made his doubt clear.
Taking a deep breath through her nose, Beth tried to calm herself. Andrea was smart, she'd find a way to get home. She had to.
Lila sunk back down onto the couch, her head in her hands. Beth was on her in an instant, pushing Gabriel out of her way. She couldn't imagine how Lila felt in that moment. Andrea was her only family, or the only family that mattered to her.
Beth squatted down in front of Lila, stroked her arms, and tried to soothe her as her friend quietly broke down.
Natalie was there with her, her hand stroking Lila's hair as she sat next to them. “We have to report this to the police.”
“No police involvement,” Gabriel said.
Natalie shot to her feet. She squared off with the werewolf, not an ounce of fear on her face. “Someone has to report her missing!”
The newcomer agreed with Gabriel. “We can't involve the police or any other human for that matter. There's too much at stake.”
Andrea was a human with human friends. “Someone probably will report her missing once she misses work for a day or two,” Beth said.
“Not for several days at least.” Lila looked up at her. “Her coworker said she got a weird call from her this morning saying she was sick.”
The hope she had deflated.
&
nbsp; “I don't like this,” Beth said, glancing up at the three men. Kaleb was watching her, his features soft.
“There’s no other way,” Gabriel spoke calmly. “The police won’t be able to find her if we can't and involving them risks all of the Netherworld to the threat of exposure.”
“What happens when someone comes to her house to check on her and finds it disturbed with blood on the walls?” Lila asked.
The man straightened and cleared his throat. “I straightened it. If someone does come by, they’ll find the doors locked and the house free from signs of a struggle.”
Anger clouded Lila's face when Gabriel interjected. “Lila, if the police get involved it will only put them all in danger. Warlocks will kill without regard to human life, especially if humans come around snooping. From the outside, it will appear as if she just vanished. Only the people in this room will know the truth.”
Beth stood and moved to the side as Lila stood up, taking a step toward Gabriel.
“I want her back.”
“I don’t know how we can find her," he said. “We don’t even know where their compounds are, and we’ve been looking for them for some time now. They are shielded by magic, and I'm sure they will be well protected. The only thing we can do right now is to prevent it from happening again by assigning your friends a protector and splitting up.”
Splitting up?
“Why not all stay together?” Beth asked. “There's power in numbers.”
“It's easier to hide one or two people all over the place than to have one large group together, especially with warlocks. If the magic you used is still clinging to you, having all of you staying together would just have them here that much faster," the unknown man said.
He had to be related to Kaleb and Gabriel. She knew she’d seen him before and it was killing her now that she didn't know his name.
Kaleb was looking at her when he spoke. “They'd have a much harder time trying to track you if the signals you send out are weak and spread out, rather than having one large beacon which would bring them here like a homing device.”
“The council you spoke of before," Lila said to Gabriel. “Why don’t they do anything about the warlocks?”
Wild and Untamed (Netherworld Series Book 4) Page 4