Taken by the Wolf: Collection (2 page)

“You have a name, big boy?” she asked.

“Bill,” he said, trying to think of the most mundane human name possible.

“I’m Tammy,” she said. “What brings you here tonight?”

“Just passing through. Thought I’d find a place with a good atmosphere,” he said, trying not to make eye contact. People always remembered his eyes; it was a blessing with the ladies and a curse everywhere else. When you were  pack enforcer you didn’t want everyone remembering you.

“What do you think?” she asked.

“It’s pretty good,” he said, looking around. “You know, except for the brawl.”

“Tell me about it,” she said, rolling her eyes. “Happens more than you think though.”

“Does that guy come in here a lot?” he asked. “The one with the long hair?”

“He started showing up a couple of weeks ago,” she said. “Always hits on the waitresses, but he’s never that aggressive.”

“I hope that young girl is alright,” he said, trying to sound concerned. It was kind of hard, human affairs didn’t interest him.

“Who, Eva? She’ll be fine. That girl’s tough,” she said, shaking her head. “Plus she’s as sweet as she can be.”

“Seems like it,” Rowan said, hoping she would drop the conversation. The waitress was interesting—human women usually couldn’t get him to half-mast, let alone fully hard. Eva was different, though. She had curves—dangerous curves-the kind that distract you from your duties. Beyond those curves, though, were the bluest eyes he had ever seen, like two sapphires that you could get lost in. They were perfectly framed by chin-length strawberry blonde hair, his favorite hair color.

Finally the bartender wandered off and Eva returned to the floor. He watched her as she served drinks, distracted by the curve of her ass as she bent over each table to pick up drinks. Any other night he would have talked to her, but tonight she was the wrong kind of distraction. Dangerous curves, indeed.

Chapter 2

Eva finally made her way back to the floor, trying to put the ugliness of earlier behind her. It was her first night and already a man had tried to grab her. She wasn’t use to this kind of attention from men, not since Jason—her ex-fiancé.

If Jason had been here, he probably would’ve watched the man grab her and then bitched at her for it later. For some reason she loved him, even though he was everything wrong with men today: insecure, jealous, cowardly, indecisive and lazy. But, he’d been the first guy to show her any kind of kindness beyond trying to get in her pants. Plenty of guys wanted to have sex with her; she knew how to use her curves to her advantage. It was hard for a man to say no when looking at her perky breasts or her round, thick ass. If he was a leg man, she had him covered there, too: she had thick, softball player legs that looked great in a short skirt and a pair of heels. However, she wasn’t the trophy wife type and most men seemed to be looking for that. Too many times she’d had sex with a man only to receive a text the next day that said “I’m just not feeling it.” Jason was different; he wanted to be around her, perhaps a bit too much. In the end. he’d ruined her life.

She sighed deeply, trying to shove the past out of her head as she brought two buckets of beer to a table of older couples. At least they were nice and they all tipped graciously, a departure from the frat boys that just left you the change.

As she walked back across the bar, feeling more confident than ever that she could handle this job, she looked up to see her Greek God staring her down again. She smiled at him and tried to look away, feeling her face flush. Butterflies danced in her stomach as she glanced over her shoulder, finding his eyes still locked on her.

“Tammy,” she asked her boss as she prepared another drink. “Who is that guy?”

“Which one?” Tammy asked, looking around, confused.

“The one at the end of the bar, in the tight black t-shirt,” Eva said, trying not to point. She didn’t want him to know she was talking about him.

“That guy? He said his name is Bill,” Tammy said. “Never seen him before. He said he was passing through.”

“Oh,” Eva said, feeling her heart fall just a bit. She had hoped he was new in town, looking for someone to show him around. There was something about this man, something that drove her wild when she looked at him. Maybe it was the way his honey-brown eyes locked onto their target and didn’t waiver. Maybe it was the confidence behind his smirk each time she caught him looking. But the biggest thing was probably the danger she felt radiating off him.

As Tammy walked away Paige leaned over the bar, looking for his tab. There was something off about him, something different, and she had a suspicion about what that was.

Yup,
she thought, reading the tab.
Only one drink.

He was surrounded by drunkards who didn’t come to Cowboy’s Landing for the atmosphere. The drinks were cheap, plentiful and they made the clientele look better after you downed a few. Instead this man had only ordered one Jack and Coke. He wasn’t drinking for a reason; he needed to be sharp for something.

What’s your game, Mr. Bill?
she thought, eyeing him again.
What are you up to?

On cue his head shot up and his eyes narrowed, piercing right into her own. Her face immediately flushed and she looked away, unable to hold his steely gaze. She could feel his eyes burning into her the rest of the night, but she never returned his looks. Getting weak in the knees and acting like a giggly schoolgirl wasn’t a good look for Eva.

The rest of the night went on without a hitch; nobody else grabbed her ass or made a pass at her. One frat boy gave her a particularly lurid smile, but he could’ve burst into flames from the look she shot him. Like a scalded dog he slunk away, afraid of the big bad waitress.

“Two hundred and forty two dollars,” Tammy said, handing Eva her portion of the tip share. “This was a great night. It’s not always going to be that high, especially on weekdays.”

“I understand,” Eva said, about to explode at the extra cash in her hand. She slaved away at Lane Bryant in the mall folding clothes and helping curvy girls pick out bras, all for seven bucks an hour. This was huge and would help her pay all her bills on time this month.

Eva walked out the front door to an empty parking lot, her white Camry sitting like a lone sentinel at the very end of the lot, close to the road. She felt on top of the world, half skipping as she made her way across the gravel lot. Maybe her life wasn’t going to be so bad after all—maybe eventually she would be able to save up to go back to school.

She didn’t see the man until his reflection appeared in her window and his hand shot forward, slamming her door shut and pinning her between himself and the car.

“How’s it going, beautiful?” the greasy biker from earlier asked. “How about that date?”

The stench of alcohol mixed with his foul breath burned her nostrils. It smelled like a dead animal was rotting just behind his teeth. Even though he stunk of alcohol his eyes were completely aware, not drunk at all.

“Please leave me alone,” she begged, turning her face away from him.

“Oh come on, beautiful,” he said, leaning forward and sniffing her neck. “I can smell the fear on you, and that’s not a good smell. Don’t be afraid.”

“Don’t touch me,” she moaned, feeling tears streaming down her face.

“Shhhh,” he said, stroking her hair with the back of his hand. “You don’t need to be afraid beautiful, Axel won’t hurt you.”

“Please, Axel,” she begged; hoping that her using his name would calm him. “Let me go home. I’ll give you all the money I have.”

“I don’t need money,” he whispered. “I need something else.”

He reached up and squeezed her left breast hard, causing pain to shoot through her chest.

“Those are real nice,” he whispered. She cringed and nearly screamed as she felt his snake-like tongue run its way up the side of her neck.

“NO!” she screamed, bringing her elbow up underneath his chin, knocking him off balance. He cried out and stumbled to the side, leaving her an open path to the bar.

She took off running, her legs pumping as hard as they could. It seemed like she’d covered a good distance, but the man was on her in less than a second. Her vision blurred as she felt him grab her hair, yanking her hard to the ground. All the air left her body as she hit gravel. A stinging sensation shot through her head. She tried to cry out, but her breath was completely gone. Instead she could only whimper as she rolled over, trying to get away. The hot, sticky sensation of blood trickled down the back of her neck. She was feeling lightheaded and dizzy, but she had to get away.

“Crawl all you want, beautiful,” the man said, walking up behind her. He put his boot on her ass and shoved, sending her sprawling onto her face from all fours. “You’re all mine.”

* * *

Rowan sniffed around the back of the building, looking for some trace of the Satan’s Angel. He had never seen the man before, meaning he was probably a low-level thug. Still, he wouldn’t have traveled this far without his pack. The wolf’s motorcycle sat behind the bar, all by itself in the open. His scent was easy to pick up, but he wasn’t out here—at least not out back.

Where the fuck did he come from?
Rowan cursed in his head. He continued to curse himself, ashamed that he had let a human woman distract him so much. Instead of doing his duty as Sheriff of Bucklin, he had stayed in the bar to make eyes with the human woman. She was beautiful, probably one of the better-looking humans he’d ever seen, but that didn’t excuse his not following the biker when he was thrown out of the bar.

Rowan started to walk around to the side of the building, ready to give up and return to the alpha council with his head bowed in defeat. They would not like this failure; if any other alpha besides his own sat in the head chair he’d probably be busted down to deputy or worse. Even so, he was going to have to endure quite the ass-chewing before all was said and done, if any of the alphas were brave enough to confront him.

He started to open the door to his ‘89 Chevy when a stiff breeze blew through, bringing something new to his nostrils.

Blood,
he thought. He sniffed again.
The biker.

Rowan was going to get answers out of the bastard if it was the last thing he did. Satan’s Angels would not find their way back into Cedarville and Bucklin.

He walked around the corner of the bar, his eyes settling on the scene before him. Eva was flat on her stomach, obviously struggling for air. The beautiful blonde hair that had attracted him earlier was now stained red with her blood. Over her stood the biker, unbuckling his pants as he looked down at Eva like she was a piece of meat.

All good sense left Rowan’s mind as rage began to course through his veins. His inner wolf screamed to be let out, demanding vengeance for a rival pack member daring to try and violate his human.

Rowan broke into a dead sprint, gravel flying up behind his boots as he blazed a trail across the parking lot. The biker sniffed the air, looking up just in time to eat a crushing shoulder block to the jaw that sent him off his feet and sprawling to the ground.

He tried to get up, but Rowan was on him, shifting quickly into wolf form. He was an impressive wolf, much larger than a standard wolf and colored jet black.

“Oh my god!” the other wolf screamed, trying to shift. Rowan didn’t allow him to; he was on the smaller wolf quickly, his jaws clamping down on the man’s throat.

As he prepared to deliver the killing blow he looked up, his eyes landing on Eva. She was awake, staring at him as he held onto the biker.

“My hero,” she whispered, closing her eyes. “The werewolf.”

Rowan let go of his prey, sense and judgment returning to his rage-addled brain. He had screwed up; he had screwed up big time by being so impulsive.

He quickly shifted back to human form, his eyes growing wide. How was he going to fix this? He looked down at the biker, who was still alive, barely.

“Why the hell are Satan’s Angels back in Cedarville?” he demanded. “You know the deal.”

“You broke the deal,” the biker muttered, barely clinging to life. “She’s missing...retribution…”

Rowan dropped the man to the ground, his brain now a mass of confusion. What was he talking about? How had they broken the deal?

He looked over at the girl lying on the ground. She’d seen too much. She had to be dealt with; they couldn’t allow any humans outside Bucklin see them shift. The only humans who could know of their existence were their mates. He bent down, his hands starting to find their way to her neck. Just a quick twist and it’d be all over—no witnesses.

Nobody except our mates,
he thought. He looked up at the sky, a light bulb going on somewhere in his head.
Our mates.

Chapter 3

Birds chirping and bright sunlight assaulted Eva as she opened her eyes the next morning, trying to get her bearings. War drums beat in her head like a raiding party coming to take her away and each breath jabbed at her sides.

Where am I?
she wondered, sitting up in a strange bed. She was in a twin bed in a tiny bedroom. Nauseating pale blue wallpaper with yellow flowers adorned the walls. The only pieces of  furniture to grace her little slice of heaven were the bed, an end table and a dresser. The windows were covered with white, lacey curtains right out of
Green Acres
.

She tried to swing her legs around to get out of bed before realizing she was completely dizzy. The room started spinning and next thing she knew she was on the old wooden floor, lying beside the bed.

The floor began to shake, warning her that someone was coming, just seconds before the door flew open. She looked up, her vision still a bit blurry, but it wasn’t hard to make out the man that stood before her. Rippling muscles, slicked back dark-blonde hair, just the right amount of stubble and two pools of honey-brown for eyes: it was her perfect man from the bar. She lifted her head, the focus starting to return to her eyes. He was looking down at her, one eyebrow cocked, as she fumbled to get up. For some reason he was dressed in a tan Sheriff’s uniform, complete with big gold badge pinned to one breast.