A Beast For The Eyes: A Steamy Shifter Romance (A Ravenswood Romance Book 2) (33 page)

At that moment, Gemma came over to the booth. “There a problem here guys?” she said sharply, all her warm cheer turned to ice. She’d been in the job long enough to know how to handle trouble makers. “Do I need to get the manager? Or maybe my husband, he’s the deputy.”

Willa turned to her in gratitude, and she caught someone looking at them at the far end of the diner. It was the young man she had the hots for. For the briefest of moments, their eyes met and an electric shock went up her spine. His face was a stoic mask as he watched the scene unfold, but his eyes seemed to burn with a wild fury. His gaze both terrified and excited her.

While she was looking at him, Flick released her. Dragging herself away from those fierce eyes, she returned to the matter at hand. Rubbing at her arm she quickly backed away from the booth. Flick’s squinting black eyes glittered with malice.

“We was only having a joke with the girly,” he said to Gemma, his voice thick with contempt. “No need to get heavy.”

“Willa, hun, get back to work,” Gemma said in a much friendlier tone. “If you gentlemen need anything else, I’ll be only too happy to oblige you.” Her tone made it crystal clear that they were not to bother Willa again for as long as they were here.

Flick shrugged his mountainous shoulders and started shovelling the waffles into his mouth. “Sure,” he grunted as he chewed noisily at his food. His two cronies shot venomous glares at Gemma and Willa, but said nothing.

Her heart fluttering, Willa forced her legs to work again and tried to walk nonchalantly back to the counter. When she looked back toward the blond young man, his booth was empty, save for the money for the coffee. Willa looked out the door, but he was nowhere to be seen.

CHAPTER 2

A chill wind knifed through her as Willa headed over to her car in the parking lot behind the diner. Usually after their shift was over, she and Gemma would leave together, or Big Al, the manager, would walk with her. Tonight though, Gemma had to go early to see to the babysitter, and Big Al had passed out in the back office again. He’d started drinking when his wife left him, and the diner was suffering as a consequence. Willa had the sinking feeling she’d have to look for another job in the near future.

As she walked past the boarded up buildings frowning down at her, she realized that was easier said than done. Willa had been in Moon Creek for six months now, and the town was slowly dying. The big steel mill had closed down a couple of years ago, taking with it most of the jobs. The smaller businesses had suffered as a result, and most people scratched a living on the farms out of town, or in the local stores, gas stations and bars. Everyone was more or less hanging on by the skin of their teeth, and Willa didn’t rate her chances of finding work quickly. Landing the job at the diner had been a stroke of luck. Big Al had taken pity on her when he’d heard her sob story and Gemma and taken her under her maternal wing. She owed them a lot, but severely doubted she’d ever be able to fully pay them back.

That meant going back on the road again. Willa didn’t relish that prospect much either, but deep down she had known it was somehow inevitable. Alec was sure to be still looking for her, and she might have been forced to leave even if the work was steady. She’d given up all hope of having a settled, normal life now. The only way to survive was to stay on the move.

The sound of footsteps roused her from her brooding. She had reached the parking lot and was zoning in on her beat-up Datsun, when she realized someone was close by. The parking lot was dimly lit, and tenebrous shadows stretched all around, oppressive and full of menace. Willa recalled the unpleasant encounter with Flick and his nasty gang and her heart beat faster. She never wanted to run into those freaks ever again, especially on her own and in the dark.

Scolding herself for freaking out, Willa calmed her nerves, and got her keys out of her handbag. She started to unlock the doors of her car when she heard the footsteps again. This time they were running. She turned round in panic just as someone grabbed her round the waist.

Willa let out a terrified scream, but a sweaty hand clamped over her mouth. She recognized the bad odour that was assaulting her senses and thrashed wildly. Whoever was holding her did not budge and several frantic moments flew by as she was dragged out of the parking lot and down a nearby alleyway.

An overhead neon sign cast the alley in a hellish red light, and she while she was still struggling, she was suddenly shoved hard against the back wall at the end of the alley. She hit it with enough force to knock the breath from her body. It brought tears to her eyes.

“Now, little girly,” said Flick. “There’s no-one around to interrupt us.”

Willa wiped her eyes and looked up at the big man and his two cronies. “Leave me alone,” she said, trying to hide the terror in her voice. “You’re making a big mistake.”

“You’re the one that made the mistake, bitch!” Ratty hissed. His eyes were roaming all over her. Willa fought the urge to throw up.

“I’ll scream!” Willa threatened. “The manager will hear me! He’ll call the police!”

Flick barked a laugh. “Scream all you want, it’ll only make us hornier.”

“Tight little bitch,” Ratty said. He came up to her and ran one grubby finger down her cheek. “We’ll make you scream.”

Something inside Willa snapped. Being handled like a piece of meat brought back brutal memories of Alec. t was enough to make her anger override the terror that gripped her. Without hesitation, she spat in Ratty’s face and clawed his face with her sharp nails. The little man hissed in pain.

“Whore!” he snapped, and smacked her hard across the side of her head. “Dirty little whore!”

Stars exploded in front of Willa’s eyes and her ears began ringing. She felt her legs crumble beneath her and she collapsed into the garbage and filth on the floor of the alley. Despite the stinging pain, she glared up a Ratty.

“Go fuck yourself!” she retorted.

“Oh, you’re gonna get it now,” Ratty snarled. He looked really mad, and Willa’s new found courage shrivelled up and died.

“Rip out her cunt!” the horse-faced man suddenly said. It was the first time she’d heard him speak, and his voice had a weird buzzing quality to it. His eyes looked glazed over and sticky black slime was dribbling down his chin. Willa stared at him in open horror. What kind of people was she dealing with here?

“I knew you had some fire in you, girly,” Flick said. Unlike the other two he seemed to have remained calm, which made him more frightening. “I could smell it on you. It makes it so much more fun.”

“Please,” Willa’s voice quivered. “Just let me go. I won’t tell anyone this happened.”

“They’ll know soon enough when they find what’s left of your body,” Ratty said nastily.

“We’re getting ahead of ourselves,” Flick said. “I think it’s time we show pretty girly what’s really going to fuck her.”

Willa’s confusion must have been written large on her face, because Flick let out a belly laugh. He was still laughing as he began to change. His skin darkened and scales started to sprout over his face. His teeth thrust forward in his mouth, blackening and sharpening into fangs, and four black horns erupted out of his forehead. His body was transforming too, swelling and bulging with muscle. His grimy overalls began to split, and a pair of curving pincers jutted out of his chest.

His two friends were also undergoing a similar terrifying metamorphosis. Ratty was rapidly living up to the appellation Willa had given him. His features elongated until he looked identical to a rodent, and grey fur spread like wildfire over his bare skin. There were patches in the fur infested with boils and leaking pus. His hands twisted into monstrous black talons.

Next to him, the horse-faced freak had transformed into some kind of grotesque insect with metallic chitin encasing his body. Membranous wings sprouted out of his back and his mouth became a gaping hole writhing with bloated maggots.

Willa stared at the monstrosities unable to comprehend what she was seeing. Behind them the mouth of the alleyway was a beacon of freedom, and her whole body screamed for her to bolt for it but she was utterly paralyzed by sheer terror.

“No!” she heard herself whimper. “Please! This isn’t happening!”

Flick’s eyes, now yellow and reptilian, flicked over her in raw hunger. “Pretty little girly,” he crooned in a bestial voice. “Now we’ll make you scream.”

Before she knew what was happening, he lashed out with one huge scaly claw and clutched her throat. The world lurched around her as he pulled her off her feet and thrust his face into hers. Tears streamed down her eyes as he sniffed her with his snout. A swollen black tongue slithered out of his mouth and lathered her face. Foul smelling drool burned her skin. Moaning pitifully, Willa squeezed her eyes shut and prayed he would just kill her here and now.

“Let her go,” a soft male voice suddenly said, drifting down the alley.

Willa’s heart staggered in her chest, recognizing the voice from the diner. She forced herself to open her eyes. The voice had been so low and quiet she thought she’d imagined it. But behind Flick’s seething bulk, a figure was now standing in the alley.

Brusquely, Flick dropped her on the floor. Willa panted hard as she gulped in the air. Her throat burned with pain. She lay like jelly, helpless and exhausted. She watched as the three monsters turned on the figure.

“You dare interrupt!” Flick growled. “We will tear you to pieces!”

The figure stepped into the neon light and Willa knew she’d been right about the voice. It was the blond man who had come into the diner earlier. He had removed his baseball cap to reveal his sleek pale hair, and his eyes seemed to glow like jewels in the gloom.

“Let the girl go,” he said, keeping his tone chillingly low. “She isn’t for you.”

Flick grunted a laugh, and flicked his claw dismissively in the man’s direction. “Kill him,” he said to the horse insect.

Without hesitation, the monster lunged at the young man, his wickedly curved claws ready to shred him to pieces. Willa froze, petrified at what was going to happen. She was no longer frightened for herself, but suddenly had an instinctive urge to protect her would-be saviour.

The man remained motionless, either too stricken with terror to run or completely concerned. Horse Face let out a cackling buzzing noise and was poised to deliver his fatal attack. At that moment though, the man sprang into life. He tore off his shapeless overcoat and a searing blue light suddenly filled the alley.

Willa let out a half-strangled cry as she was momentarily blinded by the blaze. Dots and multi-coloured squiggles cavorted before her eyes as she blinked away the sudden light and regained her vision. What she now saw in the alleyway though, took her breath away for a second time.

The blond man was standing tall and terrible before them, surrounded by an aura of spectral blue light. It crackled and sparked like electricity, and the sharp smell of ozone hit Willa straight in the back of the throat. The man was shirtless under his coat, and the scintillating light accentuated the sculpted curves of his smooth chest. His skin was the colour of burnished copper, and Willa stared in open wonder at his iron hard pectoral muscles and abs. They were laced with scars that glowed like quicksilver. His arms were thick and powerful and he wore tight fitting leather jeans, shiny and black, that suited his strong legs perfectly and on his feet were knee-high black boots. His eyes, so dazzling and mysterious when she’d first looked into them, were now glowing beacons of blue fire.

But most fantastic of all, was that the man now sported wings. They rose up, proud and majestic, from his back and their feathers were coloured a pale light blue. As Willa watched, he extended them so they brushed the sides of the alley, and a sardonic smile played at his perfect lips.

“Demon filth,” he said in his seductively silky voice. “Leave now, while you still can.”

Horse Face had stopped dead when the man had literally transformed into an angel and now shot a look at Flick. Willa was behind and crouched just off to the side of the big demon and could make out the shocked look on the foul monster’s face in the blue light. The shock quickly turned to fury and Flick let out a feral roar.

“Kill him!” he shouted.

Horse Face jumped to it, and made a swipe at the angel. With graceful, fluid movements, the angel neatly avoided the clumsy attack. He clutched Horse Face by the throat and slammed him into the wall. The demon made a gurgling noise and fell to his knees. The angel kicked him hard, sending his foot into the chitin shell covering his opponent’s back. It cracked like an egg under the force of the impact and the demon yowled in agony.

Flick roared again, and like a runaway freight train he barrelled toward the angel with Ratty scurrying at his side. It was Ratty who reached the angel first, lashing out with his talons. The angel tried to avoid the attack but was too slow. The talons slashed at his bare chest, tearing through the flesh. The angel let out a sharp cry of pain and staggered back. Seeking to press home the advantage, Ratty rushed at him again, this time aiming for the angel’s beautiful face. This time though, the angel was ready for him. He brought up the heel of his hand into Ratty’s fleshy chin and punched him straight in the gut with his other hand. The demon spluttered and went down like a lead weight.

Willa almost cheered when she saw the vile creature get his comeuppance, but her heart jumped into her mouth when Flick bore down on him. The angel sent an uppercut to the demon’s jaw, but Flick moved his head so it only grazed the side of his face. Balling his claws into fists, the demon hammered down onto the angel’s broad shoulders sending him sprawling to his knees.

“No!” yelled Willa, overcome with horror.

Flick bellowed with laughter and grabbed the still prone angel. Yanking him to his feet he dragged him across the alleyway like a ragdoll. The angel looked like he was just about to recover when Flick grabbed a fistful of the angel’s hair and smashed his face into the wall. Willa heard a sickening crack as the angel’s nose shattered and all too human looking blood leaked over his face. Grinning from ear to pointed ear, Flick yanked the angel’s head back and repeated the process, reducing his face to a bloody pulp.