Pleasured By The Dark & Damaged (9 page)

I watched in silence with the rest of my pack. I waited to see if Julius would take the bait. Abel had to be kidding him right? A fight wouldn’t solve anything.

“Abel,” I said, and he glanced at me with a smirk.

“Hey sweets, don’t worry, I got this. Why don’t you take your brother to get something to eat? Looks like they’ve been starving him.”

I shook my head. “No way. I’m not leaving until you do.”

“I really don’t want you to see this side of me,” he said, and clenched his jaw.

It was too damn bad. He was putting himself out there for me and my brother. I wasn’t just going to leave.

“Too bad.”

Julius watched our interaction, and I could see the surprise in his eyes. He saw something different in me. Hell, I felt different. Already I had changed. Abel had woven a spell on me and I had no issue with it at all.

“Agreed, but if you lose I get your magic and I get to keep my bitch.”

Abel growled. “No, you get to keep my magic, and let them go as you originally agreed.”

“Fine.”

“What are the rules?” I had to ask.

Abel smirked again, and I just didn’t get how he could be so unaffected by this. “No death. And when one of us doesn’t get up for ten seconds it’s over.”

Julius nodded. “Fair enough, dragon boy.”

“Where are we goin’ to do this?”

“Field.”

Abel looked back at me and I tried to smile, but I had a very bad feeling. It wasn’t that I didn’t think he could protect himself, but Julius was a strong wolf. If he wasn’t he would have been taken down a long time ago.

Julius and his lackeys went out the back, and Abel came over to me. He kissed me, and I couldn’t ignore the excitement in his eyes.

“You’re excited about this?”

He shifted from foot to foot. “Hell yeah, I get to kick some ass and save my girl and her brother. It’s been awhile since I had someone to spar with.”

I glared and shoved him. “This isn’t some spar session Abel, it’s serious.”

His smile fell a little bit when he realized I was really freaking out. “Baby, it’s okay. I’ve got this. Have some faith in me. I’m your mate—”

“I don’t doubt you Abel, but this isn’t a game, and it seems like that’s how you’re making it.”

Levi chuckled, and I elbowed him in the ribs. “It’s going to be so nice having another guy around. I mean, once we’re out of here. Rae likes to think she is one of the guys, but she isn’t.”

Abel kissed me and smiled. “Let’s go. I’ll show you.” He grabbed my hand and pulled me with him. I looped my arm with Levi’s and dragged him behind us. Looked like I was going to have to sit back and watch my mate and hope he didn’t lose.

In the field the pack gathered around. Tension filled the air and everyone was excited to see a little blood loss. It was in our blood, and with it being so close to the full moon it was hard to control the excitement. This many shifters in one place, when blood was spilled, wouldn’t be a good combination. It was likely to be dangerous, and I knew more than just Julius and Abel would be fighting. Already I heard snarls from my pack mates.

Julius came forward and Abel kissed my cheek and met him in the middle. He bounced on his feet like a boxer with way too much pent up energy. And then they circled each other.

I held on to Levi’s hand like it was a lifeline.

“Rae, he’ll be okay. He’s strong.”

I glared down at my brother. “Levi, you don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Oh please, give him more credit. He controlled you, calmed you down. I think he can handle Julius.”

Abel sprang into action and wailed on Julius. He punched him over and over again, not giving my Alpha the chance to even breathe.

I stood in shock, watching as my mate let go of his beast, and then Julius flew back in the air and screamed. I’d never heard such a shocking noise come from him. He landed on the ground with a loud thud. The wolves gasped in shock and looked at Abel with wide eyes. My dragon was tough as shit, and he wasn’t done. He ran and sprang on top of Julius knocking him back on the ground and wailed on him. He beat him to a pulp and the whole time I heard him saying. “You killed them you asshole!”

I was beginning to think there was something I didn’t know. Who did Julius kill? He didn’t let up until Julius yelled out his submission.

“Okay, okay you win,” he said, and Abel stopped.

I ran to him, and when he looked at me I saw grief in his eyes. “See Rae, I told you I had this.”

I helped him off of Julius whose eyes were swollen shut. “Get out, and don’t come back. Ever.”

He laid back and groaned. I couldn’t hold back my smile. Someone finally had put him in his place, and he hadn’t even managed to touch Abel.

We walked together, leaving the field. I needed to pack and get the hell out. Finally I was free, and it was all thanks to the man walking next to me. His body shook with rage but he had so much control. “Are you okay baby?”

His eyes widened, but he smiled, and I felt my cheeks heat.

“I’m good, sweets. Now let’s get the hell outta this dump before I go back and kill him.”

I picked up his hand rubbed his swollen knuckles. “Let’s go.”

We went back to my small home and I sighed. I didn’t even feel like packing. I didn’t have anything of worth, and all I needed was some clothes. Levi went to the room I had for him and packed his bags, and Abel pulled me to him.

“I never wanted you to see me lose it like that.”

“It’s okay, I wasn’t scared.”

He shook his head. “It’s hard for me. He sent his goons to kill my parents and my little sister. I needed to beat the shit out of him for me as much as I needed to get you and your brother away.”

I gasped. I had no idea Julius had killed his parents. No wonder why he lost it so easily. “I’m so sorry.”

“I’ll mourn them now, but if it weren’t for them I would have never met you. We were going to leave the country after the debt was paid off.”

I wrapped my arms around his neck and held him. I felt him come apart in my arms and all I could do was hold him while he finally mourned for his loss. I understood it. I’d felt it myself. Now we could leave and start our lives just as we talked about. I wanted to go to a place where no one knew us. I wanted to start over.

He pulled back and kissed me. “I know it’s soon Rae, but I love you.”

“I love you too.”

Levi came out of the room. “Okay, now that we’ve established we love each other can we get the hell out of here before Julius sends his wolves after us? I really don’t want to die today.”

I laughed, but it was forced. We knew how Julius was. I nodded and went to my room, packing as quickly as possible. I didn’t need much. I had the two most important men in my life, and I was free. Finally free.

Paranormal Romance

My sleek, black limousine had just turned onto Orleans Street when I awoke from my snooze. Taut limbs urged me to stretch and I did so, accompanying the movement with a long yawn. Blinking, I surveyed my surroundings.

Andrew Jackson’s bronze steed reared as the limo passed. Burnished metal reflected the light of the street lamps and Old Hickory glared grimly across the square. His expression reminded me of the reason I had come here in the first place.

“What’s our ETA, Greg?”

“We’re almost there, Miss Chaney.”

“What’s holding things up? We were supposed to be at the hotel fifteen minutes ago.”

“It’s the car ahead of us, ma’am. He’s going about five miles an hour and the car behind has us hemmed in. I can’t seem to get around them.”

The vehicle ahead of us was a white Ford Taurus. Taillights flared red and the vehicle suddenly halted. Greg sounded the horn.

A jolt knocked me out of my seat and onto the plush, white carpeting. The car behind had rammed into us. We were boxed in.

Greg opened his door and leaped out. He strode up to the Taurus, and knocked on the driver’s window. When the glass lowered, Greg began to shout and wave his hands at me.

The rearview mirror displayed the dark Chevy behind us. The doors opened and two naked men got out. Both men bore a tattoo in the shape of a pentagram.

Naked men aren’t that big a deal to me. I see them all the time. Pentagram tattoos, on the other hand, make me piss my panties. It meant only one thing. These men represented the Red Eye Pack.

They transformed the minute their feet hit the pavement.

Human faces elongated into snouts, black hair sprouted and limbs contracted. Crimson eyes glowed in the darkness and each creature’s breast resonated with a low growl.

One look told me that something was very wrong with them. Unlike true wolf-shifters, these two still retained some of their human characteristics. They stood upright, clenching and unclenching their clawed hands.

I scrambled into the driver’s seat to lock the doors, then leaned on the horn to warn Greg.

My companion had stopped shouting. He stepped back from the Ford as the driver pushed the door open, and a third werewolf joined the other two. His eyes widened and he transformed. All human traits erased within a single second and a grey wolf stood in his place.

Werewolf Greg turned and ran, the black creature on his tail. They disappeared into the blackness beyond. Howls of triumph accompanied his retreat.

I snatched up the car phone and dialed the emergency number that all werewolves in my pack were required to remember. A female voice answered on the first ring.

“What is your emergency?”

Struggling to keep the panic out of my voice, I said, “This is Cherry Chaney. I’m in Jackson Square. There are two members of the Red Eye Pack here. I think they have Blood Fever.”

“Did you say ‘Blood Fever’?”

“Yes. Please, get someone here as soon as you can.”

“Miss Chaney, this had better not be a joke. Blood Fever is highly contagious.”

The werewolves had taken either side of the limo. The first one stared at me with his single eye, the other having been reduced to scar tissue. He sniffed the door and tried the handle. When it didn’t open, he began to scratch on the glass.

The other werewolf, not as subtle as the first, began to pound on the vehicle with his fist.

“I’m locked in Morte’s limousine and they’re trying to get in. Get someone here fast!”

Mentioning the Alpha male’s name did the trick and the dispatcher went into action.

“We’re sending someone to your location now.”

Both werewolves began to beat on the car. Two-eyed wolf leaped up on top and hammered the windshield with his fists. The bullet-resistant glass didn’t break under his assault, but when he moved to the roof, the steel shrieked in protest.

I jumped when a hole appeared above me. The werewolf reached in, his talons inches from my face. Knowing that my human body healed more slowly than my werewolf form, I quickly changed.

Pain shot through my joints as I tore my clothes off. One-eyed became excited by the sight of my breasts and the hair that bristled over them. He paced outside the door, his tongue lolling.

“I smell it! She’s in season,” Two-eyed cried from above. His voice was raspy and had the same effect as nails on a blackboard.

I snarled up at him, baring my teeth.

“Get her out,” One-eyed cried. “We must take her to our Alpha.”

Two-eyed reached for me again. Growling, I snapped at his hand. The disease wasn’t contagious if I bit him. If he sank his teeth into me, however, it would be another story.

Howls of pain accompanied his withdrawal. Jumping up and down on the roof, he acted more ape than lupine. One-eyed leaped up on the hood and began to pummel the roof. A dent appeared and he quickly turned it into another hole. Using it like a handle, he began to pull the metal back like the top of a sardine can.

Lifting my head, I began to howl.

They worked together to open the top. I jumped into the back and stood, front feet splayed as they peered in.

“Grab her,” One-eyed said.

Two-eyed climbed in and bared his teeth. When he placed a hand on the back of the front seat, I lunged in and snapped off as many of his fingers off as I could.

Blood spattered over the back seat as he grabbed hold of his wrist. I tasted his blood in my mouth and spat the now human fingers out onto the carpet.

Two-eyed lashed out with his uninjured hand and caught me on the side of the face. I yelped in pain and fell back against the seat.

He came after me, beating me about the face and shoulders. I tried to snake between the blows, but he nailed me between the eyes. Dazed, I dropped onto the seat. He hit me again, this time in the back, and I heard something snap.

Pain shot through me and I whimpered. I tried to rise, but my legs betrayed me.

Two-eyed unlocked the door and threw it open. He lifted my body and took me out of the vehicle.

His colleague reverted to human form and climbed off of the car. He hurried over to us and held his arms out to take me away. Two-eyed surrendered me. He fell onto the pavement, staring at his fingerless hand.

“What have you done, Fen?” One-eyed cried.

“I…I don’t know.”

“She is the last fertile female in a thousand mile radius. If you’ve damaged her—”

I whined as my broken spine began to repair itself.

“She damaged me.” Fen held up his hand. “I can’t grow these back.”

“If you can’t control the Fever, I’m going to have you taken off this patrol. If you’re going to be like the humans we’ve turned—”

“I’m not like the humans.”

“You don’t remember what you’ve done.”

Fen cradled his hand. “I know what happened. The pain made me forget for a moment.”

I lay limp in One-eyed’s arms. The longer I stayed in my werewolf form, the quicker I would heal. If I changed, I might be disabled for life.

Weariness washed over me. I could barely lift my head and the world was still spinning. If I gave into unconsciousness I would return to human form. Had to stay awake.

One-eyed hefted me in his arms. “Let’s get out of here.”

“What about Ra?”

“Ra can take care of himself.”

Two-eyed rose and began to walk toward the Chevy. One-eyed followed.

Without warning headlights blinded us. I cracked my eyes against the glare as the two men stood frozen. When a shot rang out, they began to run.

Bullets whizzed over my head as I was jostled into the waiting vehicle. One of the missiles hit the windshield and I was showered by gummy shards of glass.

Two-eyed opened the passenger side door and screamed as a bullet crashed into his back. His eyes widened as he tried to achieve conversion, but he died before it finished. Black blood trickled from his mouth onto the seat, and he fell to his knees before slipping down onto the pavement.

One-eyed had started the car. He backed away from the limousine and then pulled up on the other side of it. The vehicle shielded us.

Now that the spine had been mended, strength filled my body. I lifted my head and stood, just in time to see the man standing in the road ahead of us.

His wore a black para-military uniform completed by the studded collar around his neck. Shaggy white hair acted as a halo and yellow eyes glowed in the gloom. I didn’t recognize him.

One-eyed tramped on the accelerator and the car surged forward, straight toward him.

Instead of running away or dodging the vehicle, my packmate charged. His white wolf form streaked toward us and bounded up onto the hood. He dived through the bullet-shattered window and attacked my captor.

White wolf tore into the driver as the car swerved and finally careened into an iron gate. One-eyed struggled against the jaws that were fixed firmly to his throat as blood seeped out onto his shirt and the wolf’s muzzle. His teeth snapped ineffectively as he tried to affect the change.

Footsteps clattered on the pavement beside us and three men appeared, guns drawn. The white wolf backed away, as one of the men dragged me from the car.

They fired into the car the second I was out of it. Muzzles flashed as silver bullets found their mark and riddled the enemy’s body.

Weariness crept through my body and I collapsed upon the asphalt, no longer able to stop the change from coming. Limbs elongated, hair receded and my snout contracted. Cold stone lay beneath me, leeching the warmth from my body.

The White Wolf approached in his human form. He knelt, naked, before me. On his chest he bore the triangular tattoo of the White Tooth Pack—my pack.