Big Bad Bite (5 page)

Spinning on her heel, she rushed off in the
opposite direction to freedom. Letting speed jolt through her body,
she flung herself as fast as she could get her legs to move down
the street. Kent’s shouts behind her, along with the Alpha’s snarls
traveling closer in her direction, forced Jenna to pump her legs
faster. When she was safely in the dark between residential houses
and out of sight she shifted as she threw herself over the fence
into the neighboring back yard and let her beast take over. Landing
on four paws, instead of her human two, she shook off the tatters
of clothing and pushed herself quickly through the residential
yards as fast as her agile legs would take her. The powerful light
of the moon caressed the fur on her back as she raced for her life.
Letting her instincts take over, Jenna moved through silent streets
towards the new house she was renting across town with no sounds of
pursuit coming from behind her. Avoiding traffic wasn’t all that
hard since it was so late at night, but it did slow down some of
her progress as she did her best to stick to shadows while heading
towards home at the edge of the city

Jenna’s beast was growling at the knowledge
that they had almost been caught. Angrier still that she planned to
shift back as soon as they reached the house so that she could
throw some new clothes on and hop in her truck to head home to her
Mama’s. Her beast wanted to run free to hunt. Taste fresh blood in
her mouth, as she devoured a meal of rabbit or squirrel.

Well her furry little ass could just get over
it. They had bigger problems to solve.

Luckily Jenna was supposed to have the next
forty-eight hours off anyways. So a trip home to Mama gave her some
much needed space to figure out what she needed to do next, and the
state protected forest behind her house for a good hunt. As she
crossed the space to the back yard of her place, she let her beast
sit and indulge in the moon’s light for a moment. She at least
deserved this for saving their asses tonight. Hell, who was she
kidding? Jenna needed the quiet comfort of nature too. The wind
blew gently across her fur, caressing her body and offering a small
sense of calm. Raising her head to the sky, she let a heartbreaking
howl rip through the night air. In that moment, Jenna had to be the
loneliest half wolf shifter on the planet.

Chapter Three

Adam trotted back to the bar in his wolf form.
First, he would see if Kent was still in the parking lot, then he
would shift and grab the change of clothes from his bike. After
that, he could contemplate the best way to reel in his new
obsession. It was a damn good thing he had remembered to grab a
fresh set of clothing to put in one of the saddlebags before he had
left his house. Somehow his instincts had told him a shift would be
needed, and he didn’t figure the authorities in Wilmington would
appreciate a naked man driving his motorcycle around the
city.

His heart was pounding from
his discovery and the chase she gave him. He now had more reason
than ever to track her down. Who would've thought that he would
find not only an unknown female shifter here in Wilmington so close
to his pack lands, but a female lone wolf?
It was unheard of.
Females were so
few among the packs that they were always sheltered and guarded to
the point of crazed possessiveness. Almost never letting them leave
pack lands. The males in the pack simply couldn’t afford to have an
eligible female, or their mate, taken or hurt, to deprive them of
the next generation they were supposed to produce. So who had let
this female loose? Or perhaps since she was such a feisty one she
had escaped her pack? Whatever it was, Adam intended to find out.
Then perhaps she could be persuaded to join his pack. Lust hummed
through his body as he thought of all the ways he’d like to
persuade her.

His animal was always there, just beneath
the surface, even more so than other shifters. There was a part of
him that was always wolf, even in his human form. Adam was faster
and stronger than any other predator out there. He had to be in
order to protect himself and those he cared for.

His eyes would never shift to what humans
might consider a normal color. Instead, they stayed their bright
amber hue in both forms. That feature alone was practically unheard
of. Shifters had normal shades of blues, greens and browns for eye
colors in their human forms. However, in their shifted forms they
sported eye colors closer to their animal brethren in shades of
brown, amber, gray, yellow and a small percentage with green. The
chances of a shifter carrying the same eye color in both forms were
slim to none. So Adam figured his nickname should be Slim.

What most of the younger generations of
shifters didn’t know was that this complex level of genetic
deception in appearance was due to the evolutionary beginnings of
the shifter race. The shifter race was not born onto this planet as
they lived today. Instead, as the humans evolved from primates that
walked up right into their current highly intelligent state, you
could say that the shifter race evolved right along with them. They
started as some of the original predatory creatures on the planet.
In fact, they lived during the reign of the dinosaurs.

The shifters that survived the asteroid that
wiped out most of life from the planet, including the dinosaurs,
went on to live their lives in the drastically changed world. The
need for survival in dire circumstances somehow had wired their DNA
to adapt to what was needed to survive in the environment around
them. Where other species of animals died off, unable to live and
find nourishment in the new harsh climates, the shifters’ ancestors
survived. With time, as their surroundings continued to change,
their DNA changed with them. Those changes led to large, lethal
animal forms, considerably higher intelligence, and immensely
longer life spans than that of the other species around them.

Eventually, mammals were born and became
plentiful on the planet. The changes in the world just kept coming.
So the evolutionary changes in the shifter species also continued.
Around the time primates were formed, shifters came in many shapes,
sizes and forms. The ancestors of the wolves, predatory cats, and
bears spread throughout the world, living in packs to promote the
continuation of their species. Compared to their unintelligent
animal brethren they were stronger, faster, and now lived hundreds
of years longer than what could be considered their closest
cousins, such as the Saber tooth Tigers. Although shifters had a
hard time producing offspring, the cubs they did give life to
seemed to be that much healthier, sturdier, quicker, and lived that
much longer than their parents before them.

As humans evolved from
primates, traveling farther out into the world, and procreating
much faster than any other mammal species in existence, the now
highly intelligent shifter race knew they would become a threat one
day. Somehow, that extra significant survival gene allowed them to
push their bodies into the next stage of evolution. To become the
ultimate chameleon in the rapidly changing predator game of
life.

They obtained the ability to change their
appearance from their respective animal form into that of the now
highly dangerous human form who hunted them for food and supplies.
With the ability to blend, shifters gained one last advantage in
the game of survival, the ability to hide in plain sight by
blending in with their enemy. It was excruciatingly painful to
force their bones to break apart and reform into their enemies’
likeness, but after years of trying they were finally successful.
In human form, they had the same soft, vulnerable skin devoid of
hair to keep their bodies warm, but they also grew slightly taller
and bulkier than the humans did. They might have seemed weaker
since they didn’t retain their claws or canines but they could use
their preternatural speed, intelligence, and their hands to use the
humans own weapons against a perceived enemy. To wage war and
maneuver humans away from wherever shifter packs claimed that
territory.

His voice was just this
side of a growl no matter how harmless he tried to pretend to be
and his wolf was always there, never fully letting go.
Others
like him would
have been put down for being too close to their animals in such a
way. These kinds of traits could be symptoms of feral shifters.
However, Adam had always been enough of a controlled bad ass to
scare even the most dominant of Alphas. There was less than a
handful that could take him. Those that could kill him, well they
seemed to like him better alive. Lucky him.

Rounding the corner he came into view of the
bar parking lot and saw Kent standing next to Jenna’s bike. Bobbing
his head to indicate Kent follow him, Adam made his way behind the
bar where his bike and spare clothes were parked. He shifted
quickly and was pulling jeans on as Kent walked towards him.

“Seein’ as though you’re alone, I’m takin’
it that you didn’t catch her?” Kent drawled.

“No. She’s a fast little one. But I need to
find and talk to her now more than ever. Do you think you can get
her phone number?” Adam pulled a white t-shirt over his head.

Cocking his head to the side, Kent studied
him for a moment before speaking, “Why do you need to talk to her?
I gotta tell you, I’m not feeling too enthusiastic about running
off the newest member to my SWAT team. If she doesn’t bother to
come back because we scared her it could be the end of her career.
Not to mention I don’t much like havin’ made the poor gal so
upset.”

Donning his usual stance, Adam stood there
with his arms crossed over his chest. The demon was starting to
agitate him. His inner wolf snarled at the unconscious poke at his
dominance. “It’s pack business now, Kent. While I appreciate your
help tonight I think the rest of this no longer concerns you.”

He stood eerily still with his face
expressionless, beating down the urge to flash his canines in
annoyance. Kent stood there a minute longer staring at him
incredulously. “Are you trying to tell me that she’s a wolf? Is
that what you’re trying to insinuate here? I’m finding that
possibility a little hard to believe if she felt me trying to skim
her thoughts. Look, I’m not going to let you run Jenna off like
that. I think she’s good people. So unless you tell me what the
hell is going on, then you can forget about me helping you out
anymore. Like I said, I’m not going to let you scare Jenna
off.”

Adam heaved a heavy sigh. “Kent, I saw her
with my own two eyes. She’s a wolf. Whatever else is going on with
her… I don’t know. Whatever the reason, it honestly doesn’t matter.
She’s a lone female wolf without a pack and that’s just not
acceptable. So will you help me or not?”

Kent pushed an irritated hand through his
hair. “Look, I’ll be honest. I don’t much like the idea of you
trying to force pack on Jenna. If she’s a loner it’s for a damn
good reason, I’m sure.” As Adam started to interrupt, he held up a
hand to stop him. “On the other hand, I’m also afraid Jenna might
need help of some kind. So I’ll get her number but I’m going to
call her and try to smooth this over. Ask her to meet us somewhere
to get her bike. I’ll call you as soon as I can get a hold of
her.”

Adam climbed on his bike and started the
engine. Giving Kent one final, harsh look, “You do that. But don’t
think I don’t smell her scent all over you, Demon. She’s a wolf,
leave her alone. She belongs to our kind. I’ll expect a call
tomorrow.” As he left Kent standing in the dust behind the bar and
headed towards his home, Adam’s inner wolf howled in pure
lust-filled interest. This was becoming the kind of chase he could
never resist. After she had shifted, her scent became stronger.
Damn, did she smell delicious! Like wild honeysuckle and sugar
cookies. Never in his life had he wanted to roll around in
someone’s scent so much so that it coated his skin, drowning out
everything around him. His beast was happily growling at the
thought of tracking little Jenna down, getting all of her dirty
little secrets, and then wooing her into submission. If he had
anything to say about it, he’d be taking her back to pack lands as
a potential mate. For himself.

*****

Jenna climbed the back steps to her Mama’s
house naked, exhausted, covered in blood, and utterly happy. She
woke up long before the sun lit the sky to go for a run and catch
some breakfast. Her inner wolf was restless. The small deer she
took down this morning would hold her over for most of the day but
she would probably have to go for a run tonight. The few hours she
had spent this morning in the woods had helped to clear her mind,
but now that she was back in her human form, she needed to decide
what she was going to do about yesterday’s events.

As Jenna made her way to the bathroom, she
noticed out of one of the living room French doors that her Mama
was reading on the porch. Good. She had some time to take a shower
and clean off. Locking the door, she turned the shower spray on hot
and climbed in. The water sluiced down her body as she dipped her
head beneath the spray. Shampooing and rinsing her hair she thought
about her options. She could run off some place and hide. Tell her
Mama and Uncle Rick everything, and they would help her disappear.
That idea made her feel like a coward though, and she didn’t like
that feeling much.

She started to soap up her body while her
mind continued to think. Her next option would be to tell Uncle
Rick and get her old job back here in River Bend. Leave Wilmington
behind, and hopefully the demon and Alpha wolf would forget about
her. Somehow she doubted they would. Were they determined enough to
track her down to River Bend? That brought her to her last option.
Go back to Wilmington, confront the two, and convince them to leave
her alone. Perhaps it was time to stop running from what she was.
Maybe Kent was telling her the truth when he had said that they
meant her no harm.