“I like you,” she said breathlessly. She burned every time she saw Samarra and pretending otherwise wasn’t going to make the desire for her touch go away.
“Then, go out with me,” Sam urged. “Lunch is a good way to take each other’s measure without pressure. How would Coffee Crossing be?”
She loved Coffee Crossing. They made their own coffee blends. “I don’t kn—I don’t think that’s a good idea.” No. She couldn’t allow herself to get involved with anyone. It wasn’t safe. “I’ll be there at one. If you decide not to come, I’ll assume you aren’t as interested as you seem, and I won’t pursue the matter.” Sam continued to hold her gaze as she got to her feet and pulled her wallet from her back trousers pocket. She removed a few bills and rolled them up before tucking them down Marigold’s bra top. “Thank you for a very sexy dance.”
Marigold cleared her throat and Sam smiled.
Sam led the way to the door and pulled it open for her. “After you,” she said softly.
Marigold met Sam’s gaze and copper, enigmatic, and dark watched her. What was Samarra really thinking about her?
****
Adalyn Snow aka Marigold stepped out into the parking lot four hours later a lot more composed and with dry panties. But she was still kicking herself for the loss of control with Samarra.
She should have handled that the way she dealt with any other attempt to kiss her. She normally turned her head away, but then she wasn’t attracted to her other clients either. She didn’t fantasize about how their lush lips would feel on hers.
What had she been thinking though? She prided herself on not getting personal with clients to avoid messy complications later.
“Ugh.” She blew out a harsh breath as she mentally kicked herself again, but the memory of that bulge in Samarra’s pants sent shivers over her. She could appreciate a woman wearing a strap-on. It had felt so good against her clit even through the layers of their clothing.
Dildos added a dimension to sex that left her breathless especially when the woman using them used the toy with confidence, like it was an extension of her own sexuality.
What would a fling hurt? She was needy and a few nights of female companionship couldn’t lead to anything dangerous, right?
A shadow flitted across the parking lot and Adalyn stopped abruptly. She glanced around the lot searching for signs she wasn’t alone.
There was a scrabbling that sounded like nails on the concrete. An eerie laugh echoed around her sending chills down her spine. Her breath froze in her lungs as fear tore through her and old memories came back to haunt her.
Something moved fast from one car to another and what looked like a tail waved.
A ka-ka sound reached her from someplace closer to her. Adalyn slowly backed up as she broke out in a cold sweat. The sound was so familiar and her blood ran cold as she recalled the last time she’d heard it.
“You shouldn’t be waiting out here by yourself,” a calm voice said from behind her and she jumped, jerking around.
The bouncer, Sydney, was a couple of steps away.
“Didn’t mean to scare you,” Sydney murmured. “Need a ride home?”
“I was just going to call a cab,” Adalyn said breathlessly.
“No, I gotcha,” Sydney insisted. “Come on. My car’s in the staff lot, princess.” She motioned for Adalyn to go ahead of her.
She cast a last glance around the lot, her stomach in a tight knot. But Adalyn went deciding she’d rather not stand out here waiting to see if it was just coincidence and old ghosts haunting her or if the past had finally found her.
****
Cargo tapped his foot impatiently as he waited for his old packmate to pick up. He kept his gaze on the retreating couple with the stench of fear ripe in his nostrils. They had parted ways nine months ago when a more viable opportunity had come available for Cargo.
“What is it?” The voice on the other end of the line was cold and rife with annoyance.
“Word is you’re looking for something,” he said. “A woman.”
“What?”
“I think I found her. I’ll send you the shot I got and you can decide if she’s your girl or not.” He sent through the picture he’d taken of the golden skinned woman just moments ago. It probably wasn’t her. He heard the target had died in a house fire, but his old alpha wasn’t taking any chances.
They were never finished with a job until there was proof of death and that included a body. This girl’s body hadn’t been found and he knew from past mistakes a failed job could come back to bite the crew in the ass.
“Where are you, man?” His voice held an excited edge.
“Up north, in Snowbury.”
“Where the hell is that?”
“About an hour’s drive outside Mystic,” Cargo told him. “The guy I’m working for’s here trying to do a deal with a coyote, so beware the fact this is coyote country.”
Chapter Three
The iron rich bite of blood filled her nostrils from the stain on the wall and the carcass in the chair. No, it was closer. She had blood on her nails and her hands and her clothes.
The scent made her sick to her stomach, but the violence was nothing new to her though she’d thought she’d escaped it years ago. Obviously there were some things you couldn’t just shirk off like the color of your skin or the nature of who you were.
“You have no idea what I’m fighting for, Miss Wolf.” Her voice was cold, the ice of it making her shiver, but she didn’t move, didn’t breathe. “I’m a primal creature, an animal with needs.”
She swallowed tightly. She’d seen that animal and had a good idea of what those needs entailed. All four million of them. That wasn’t enough to kill for in her opinion.
“We have to go,” a masculine voice ordered. “Someone is coming.”
“Who?”
“I think it’s the secretary,” he said.
“Then, let’s go,” Joelle muttered but she could feel the other woman’s uneasiness as she felt the wild energy of the man who’d spoken.
He was like Joelle. Dangerous.
“Check the bathroom and get your ass out here,” Joelle ordered.
“What about the package?” he asked as he approached the door.
“It’s at the apartment he keeps to take his women to,” she muttered. “I’ll wait for you outside.”
He peered through the crack, but he didn’t come in. Still, she didn’t breathe a sigh of relief.
“Shit, this is a waste of time,” he muttered. “Can’t she smell—”
She clamped a hand over her mouth as a small rat clambered onto her shoe. The tail thumped the floor and she bit down on her cheek as it nipped the side of her shoe before its head came up. The rat leaped off her shoe and scurried in the direction of the door.
“Fuck!”
“What is it?”
“A rat,” he called. “It’s a damned rat.”
The rat sailed into the room and its body slammed into the wall near the toilet and she swallowed her scream, nails digging into her cheeks as she kept her hand in place. Then, he was gone, and she sagged against the wall listening intently.
They could be tricking her, so she sank to the floor burying her hands in her face as tears streaked her skin.
The alarm clock went off like a shotgun, and Adalyn jerked awake with a soft startled cry. She rolled onto her side and reached out to slap the snooze button before rolling onto her back, breathing hard.
“It’s morning again?” she asked grumpily as she brushed sweat from her forehead. She pushed out a tired sigh. The damn dreams were a constant companion that she didn’t seem capable of escaping.
And after last night, she wasn’t entirely certain she was still safe, but the last thing she wanted to do was bolt and run. She would need time to plan her next move. If she didn’t she’d just be out there adrift, easy for them to pick off when she made a mistake.
Here she still had knowledge of the city and maybe a few friends s
he could turn to until she could get out of here.
Adalyn sat up and shoved the covers back. “No.” She couldn’t put them in danger any more than she could actually take the risk of trusting too much.
That had almost gotten her killed the night they’d set her house on fire, she mused as she stalked into the bathroom. She swallowed tightly and grabbed her toothbrush from the third slot of the holder and removed the snap cap cover.
She’d go for coffee and start researching her next home. She needed to know how much she’d need to set her up for four months at least. And she’d have to think about what she’d do for a living based on the city’s economy. She’d take a bus and pay with cash not that she had a bevy of credit cards to choose from. She’d never had, but she’d been getting her life to a place she’d wanted it to be when Joelle tore it to shreds.
****
Sam rounded a corner in the underground portion of the den that housed their security command center. The center was underground to prevent it from being an easy target as well as to conserve space above ground where most of the houses were located.
“Morning, Lieutenant,” a freckle-faced nineteen-year-old called as he hurried past.
“You’re late, again.” She shook her head. The boy was going to get busted back down to an unranked novice at this rate.
Age was merely a number in the pack not a measurement of ability or maturity. Skill had to be demonstrated, maturity proven, and trust earned before the young of the pack were given responsibilities especially those of protection. This boy was capable but showing signs of unreliability which didn’t bode well.
“I know. Syd is going to have my butt.”
She was definitely going to chew him out. She didn’t take much crap from the kids in her command. “She’s going to do more than that,” Sam warned him. He would be punished and his rank busted until he could demonstrate trustworthiness.
A door up the corridor opened and the young woman stepping out looking pissed glanced her way. “Alpha wants to see you,” she muttered and strode past, shoulders squared, and determination in her stride.
Mya was always in trouble. She had trouble controlling her temper, but she thought the answer was simple.
“Mal.” She stepped into the spacious office to find her alpha sprawled behind her desk with a scowl on her face.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do with that kid,” Mallory muttered. “I can’t seem to get through to her.”
“She’s not soldier material, Mal,” she with a shrug. “You remember what it was like at her age. We were tough bitches looking to take down the next boy who thought he could lord over us because he had a dick. But we had no problems following orders even when we didn’t agree with them.” She’d come to Snow Fur at sixteen, and she and Mal had bumped heads before becoming the best of friends.
“What are you saying?” she demanded grouchily.
“She’s not a dominant. Sure she’s strong, but she doesn’t have the will or want to bust heads. She’s better at caretaking.”
Mallory sighed. “Fine, I’ll reassign her.”
Sam took one of the guest chairs in front of Mallory’s battered old desk. The claw marks on the top were indicative of more than one loss of temper on Mallory’s part in the past ten years.
“What’d you want to see me about?” she asked. Mallory wasn’t just her alpha. They were business partners. Mallory had taken over the small pride of Snow Fur ten years ago when their alpha had been executed for betraying the pack to lions looking to take over the territory.
The lions had savaged the pack, but the coyotes had managed to hold their ground with the help of a small pack who were now Mallory’s lieutenants and most trusted advisors. That small pack had been led by Sam who’d once belonged to Snow Fur briefly before leaving Snowbury and going to college.
“Sorrento came to see me again last night about buying the club.”
The city was a small but prosperous one. However, their customers flocked in from the cities and towns around them for a good time. The additions and renovations she’d paid for two years ago had increased their patronage and their bottom line making Coyote Closet a prosperous venture for them both.
“He doesn’t seem to be hearing no too well, so I’m thinking he’s not the voice just the mouthpiece for the deal.”
“Hyena?” Sam sighed deeply. Hyenas could be dangerous creatures, and she didn’t enjoy living close to them. The shifters were smart and lived in small pack-groups with a dominant female.
It was rare to see the breed in colder climes, but not unheard of. However, male hyenas were a little more cautious as they entered new territory, but if one was attempting to buy a business it meant he was a dominant looking to set up a den for his pack.
He would be equally deadly and cunning as a dominant female hyena.
“Three hyena females have been coming into the club for the last week, so I’m thinking one of them wants to muscle in on our territory,” Mallory told her grimly. “I’ve been keeping my eye on them, and there is a clear leader among them.”
Female hyenas were generally more dangerous than the male and more contentious and they had no problems poaching on someone else’s territory. They often moved freely in other predators’ lands and without permission. They didn’t run from a fight. They reveled in them.
“Have they asked permission to be in our territory?” She knew they must have, or they’d be dead by now. You never went into a predator’s territory without consent because it was a sign of aggression.
Allowances were made in cases of true ignorance.
“They’re in the city visiting relatives from all indications,” Mallory told her. “They applied for temp membership to the club, and I’m using that information to check them out.”
“What about the man?”
“Nothing more than what he’s told me,” Mallory told her. “He’s looking to settle down and wants a thriving business to run.”
“He’s lying about something,” she mused.
“Syd said there was a shifter outside in the parking lot last night prowling around, and she suspected it was a man. Sorrento, the guy trying to buy the club, did say he’d brought male guards.”
“He could be looking to lay claim to our property and women for mating,” Sam murmured. “Or he could just be looking to take over the city with the females. I’ve seen this before.” Her pack had been destroyed by a similar game. Now, that town was run by hyenas from the city council to the governor’s mansion.
Shifters didn’t usually seek political power in the human world but with it came more control over the shifters in that city or state. It was easier to wipe out the exiting shifter populations legally and claim the city as their own for decades.
“Syd suggested I hire a few more guards to handle the parking lot and set up more patrols around the den.”
“Hyenas can be crafty bastards and bitches,” Sam said coldly. “We should update the security system in both places too. We want to see them coming.”
“You’re just worried about Marigold,” Mallory said in a teasing tone.
“I don’t know what you mean,” Sam said evenly. “I like her style, and she’s attractive. Both make her an asset to the club.”
Mallory smirked. “You can’t seem to stay away from her, and you marked her with your scent last night.”
“So?” Like all creatures they had a strong drive to take a mate. Mating was merely a hunger for sexual and emotional companionship that could lead to more.
“So, there was no need for it unless you want her for yourself,” Mallory said pointedly.
Sam frowned. “I’m not interested in taking a life partner. This woman just so happens to appeal to my animal more strongly than anyone I’ve met lately.” Anyone she’d met in years, but there was nothing more than chemistry. It would fizzle as it always did and when she went into heat again, she’d take another temporary mate.
“Are you sure? I’ve seen the way you l
ook at her,” Mallory narrowed her eyes.
“I’ll be back later,” Sam said coolly. “I have a meeting.” She had a new client. Sam was an accountant and investment broker.
Mallory gave her a considering look. “Running?”
She knew her interest in Marigold was something different. It wasn’t just the heat driving them together. The dancer had a vibrant energy that drew her coyote like a moth to a flame. However, it wasn’t Mallory’s business right now.
“I’m not running,” Sam answered calmly. “I’ll go over the schedule when I return and see how many more soldiers we can put on watch and which areas may be the most vulnerable.”
“I have a staff meeting at the club at eleven, so why don’t you stop by? Marigold will be there. You might run into her.”
Sam grunted. “Great, later then.”
Chapter Four
Adalyn stepped into the lounge that afternoon to a hum of conversation. The club’s décor was simply done in black and paired with the perfect shade of red to give the lounge a casual air.
Mallory was sitting at the bar with a couple of the security team members and Adalyn wondered if they were going to address those broken lights in the parking lot and adding more security. Mallory rarely ragged them about customer service.
“Ladies, I’m glad you all could make it,” Mallory said. “I want to address a couple of things. I’ve hired four new security personnel.” She introduced the women who each stood. “I don’t know what happened to the lights in the parking lot, but they will be fixed by tonight, and these fine ladies will be patrolling the grounds at all times.”
“Thank god,” one of the dancers said. “There was an ugly dog out there last night.”
“The dog will be taken care of but we can’t do anything until we see it again,” Mallory assured them.
Adalyn felt a little less stressed on hearing that. She’d thought whatever had been out there had been after just her.
“I’ve noticed a few of the patrons getting grabby,” Sydney said. “Let us know if anyone harasses you in any way, and they’re gone immediately. We’re here to protect you, but we can’t if we don’t know you need it.”
Grinding for the Coyote Page 2