Taming The Alpha - BBW Paranormal Romance (8 page)

The
creature finally came into view beneath the feeble light from the
single bulb above the club door and Jax got his first good look.

The
fur was gray, long and matted, blood-soaked around the neck and
shoulders. As it advanced toward the women, Jax saw the low, long
body of a wolf, tail held low. Its lips were pulled back, yellowing
teeth visible. But there was something wrong about the proportions,
something misaligned about the whole creature.

As
he watched, the creature crouched, its hindquarters tensing,
preparing to lunge. The hackles went up across Jax’s shoulders,
a low growl rippling from his throat. He took a stiff-legged step
into the alley, Bec shifting around to his left, closing off the
entrance to the alley.

The
creature lunged at the women, jaws snapping and Jax was immediately
in motion, aiming low, going for the belly. He saw a blur of tawny
fur as Bec leapt in front of the creature, his body between the women
and the snarling mouth full of teeth.

Jax
heard Bec’s snarl and then a yelp of pain as the two connected,
Bec falling with a thud to the ground, but the creature’s
momentum was deflected away from the women. Jax hit it hard then,
knocking it to the ground. He immediately dove for the soft
underside, teeth tearing at the thick fur. The stench filled his
nostrils and now the taste of the animal was in his mouth, rank and
fetid.

But
the thing was incredibly powerful, twisting beneath Jax, kicking at
him with its back legs. Jax lost his grip and sprang back as the
creature quickly gained its feet.

It
turned, snarling, yellow eyes darting between Jax and Bec, who now
stood in front of the women. Bec stood with his front feet spread
wide, white teeth bared, but Jax could see blood welling from a gash
on Bec’s shoulder, a spreading stain darkening the blonde fur.

Jax
glanced at Nikki and the other woman. They were huddled together in
the doorway, apparently unhurt, but clearly terrified. He met Nikki’s
eyes and wished for all the world he could tell her who he was, that
he was here for her. That he’d kill for her.

Jax
looked back at the animal, watching it carefully as it started slowly
circling, moving away from Bec and the women, toward the dumpsters to
Jax’s right, and a possible escape down the alley to the
street. Jax advanced, intending to cut off it off, take it to ground
and tear out its throat.

But
in a flash of gray fur and yellow teeth, the wolf-thing sprang to the
top of the nearest dumpster and from there to the low roof of the
building across from the club entrance. Jax’s head snapped up
and he watched in amazement as the creature turned, yellow eyes
glowing briefly in the moon light. It gave Jax a murderous look and
then turned, silently disappearing into the night.

Bec
was whining softly and Jax turned back toward the group. Nikki was
sitting on the ground, shaking, Lori crouched next to her, arms
around Nikki’s shoulders. For a moment, Jax was struck by the
protective stance of the blonde woman, the feral grimace on her face
as she watched them.

Bec
had moved to the side, panting, glancing nervously back down the
alley and then up to the top of the dumpsters as if anticipating
another attack.

But
Jax’s only focus was Nikki. She was staring at him, her eyes
wide. He took a tentative step toward her, never breaking eye
contact. She shrank back, the blonde woman almost growling at him. He
made the conscious effort to lower his hackles, to relax his body,
raise his tail. He took one step and then another, moving toward
Nikki.

“
Nikki,
I’ve got mace in my purse. I’m gonna spray this thing if
it doesn’t back off…” Jax saw the woman’s
hand slid into her purse and he stopped, whining softly.

Nikki
sat up, pulling away from the woman. “No, wait. Don’t…”
She leaned forward, setting her hands in front of her on the
pavement. Jax wagged his tail, just the barest movement.

“
Nikki!
Stop. Are you crazy? That’s a wolf, for God’s sake.”

“
It’s
okay, Lori. Really…somehow it’s okay.”

Nikki
crawled forward, her eyes locked with Jax’s. He cursed his
inability to speak, longed to tell her…something, anything.
But all he could do was whine softly. Slowly he extended his muzzle
and Nikki reached for him, her fingers brushing the fur beneath his
chin.

“
For
fuck’s sake, Nikki, do you want to lose an arm?” The
woman had her head down, frantically searching in her purse, panic
coating her voice. Jax saw movement from the corner of his eye. Bec
was standing now, moving silently toward the woman. With one quick
tug, he grabbed her purse in his teeth, breaking the strap and
backing away with it in his mouth, its contents falling onto the
pavement.

“
Oh,
shit. Nikki…”

There
was a noise behind them, at the club door, voices and someone
rattling the knob. Jax stepped back and Bec dropped the purse, both
turning in tandem, disappearing down the alley. When they reached the
street, Jax stopped, looking back. Nikki was still on her hands and
knees, watching him. Then the door to the club swung open and there
were people spilling into the alley. Jax turned, melting into the
shadows, heading for home.

*

“
What
the hell were you thinking? Are you fucking crazy?”

Lori
was pacing across the living room of her cramped apartment, puffing
nervously on a cigarette. Nikki had taken refuge on the couch, a
deteriorating afghan wrapped around her shoulders.

“
I’m
not crazy, Lori.”

“
Then
you’re drunk.” She stopped in front of Nikki. “You
can’t pet something that just tried to kill you.”

“
It
was a wolf, I think. And it didn’t try to kill us. It saved
us.” Her voice was low, her mind still spinning, trying to make
some kind of sense out of what just happened.

“
You
wouldn’t know a wolf if it bit you. You grew up in the middle
of Philly. There are no wolves in Philly.” Lori finally stopped
pacing, sitting down on the other end of the couch.

“
Whatever…that
one, the black one…it wasn’t going to hurt us.”
Nikki looked down at her hand, the one that she’d touched the
wolf with. She held it up to Lori.

“
See?
No teeth marks. I’m fine.”

“
Well,
my purse is ruined. That damn dog tore it out of my hands. You can’t
tell me that’s not an attack.”

Nikki
sighed. Her head ached and she was exhausted. Lori had given her a
shot of whiskey when they’d gotten here, to calm her down, stop
her shaking. But all it had done was make her tired. She slid down on
the couch, pulling the afghan up over her shoulders.

“
Lori,
whatever it was…it wasn’t the thing that wanted to kill
us. The gray wolf…animal…thing. That was the one that
attacked us. The others, the black and yellow one, I think they were
trying to protect us.”

Lori
snorted. “You really are drunk, if you think that. Did you hit
your head maybe?” She leaned over, reaching for Nikki’s
head. Nikki slapped her hand away.

“
Knock
it off. I’m too tired for this.” She closed her eyes,
wishing for sleep, almost wishing she’d gone back to her own
apartment. Lori was wound up tight, from adrenaline or nerves or
whatever got Lori wound up.

“
You
wanna crash in my bed? The sheets are clean, more or less. At least,
I’m the only one that’s slept on them recently.”

Nikki
opened one eye. “That means you’re too wired to sleep?”

Lori
nodded, lighting up another cigarette. “Yeah. I usually am when
I get home. This just made things worse. It’s not so bad if I
have a date. You know, I have someone to work off all this energy
with.” She looked over at Nikki.

“
But
I get the feeling you’re not up for that right now, are you?”

Nikki
threw off the afghan, shaking her head. “No, sorry.” She
leaned over, planting a kiss on Lori’s forehead. “I just
want to sleep and try to forget whatever the hell just happened.”

In
Lori’s room, Nikki stripped, climbing into the bed. She really
didn’t care if the sheets were clean or not. She was tired and
she wasn’t alone. Somehow knowing Lori was prowling around in
the next room calmed her down.

Nikki
turned off the bedside light, leaving the room bathed in the light of
the full moon. She rolled over in bed, looking out the window. The
moon was visible, hanging low in the sky.

Funny,
she’d never really paid any attention to it before. It was just
there, or not. It struck her that she didn’t know why it did
what it did or when. She supposed if she’d paid more attention
in school, or actually finished school, she’d probably know.

But
she did know that things had gotten very strange lately. She yawned,
pulling the blanket over her shoulder. She was on the verge of sleep
when the thought came to her that things had gotten very strange just
about the time Jax had appeared in her life.

Sunrise
was not far off before Nikki finally fell asleep. And just on the
edge of sleep, she had the briefest vision of silver eyes, glowing in
the moonlight, watching her as she slept.

The
sun had been up for a couple of hours and Bec was the kitchen of
Jax’s house, sitting at the table while Jax cleaned the wound
on his arm. The gash was bloody and ragged, but luckily not very
deep. Several pack members from both packs were there, standing back,
watching silently.

“
Shit,
Jax. Take it easy, okay? Whatever the hell you’re doing, it
hurts.” Bec was trying to pull away from Jax.

“
Stop
whining.” Jax wiped the wound again. “The bleeding’s
stopped now,” Jax tossed the cloth into the sink, “you
should have stitches, but I’m pretty sure you’ll live.”

“
Yeah,
no to the stitches. Just wrap it up. It should heal pretty quickly
anyway.”

Jax
grabbed some gauze and bandages from a nearby cabinet. “Finn,
here. Help me with this.”

A
short stocky man stepped forward, holding the gauze in place over the
gash while Jax wrapped the bandage around Bec’s muscular arm.

“
What
the hell happened, Jax?” Bec, Finn and the others had been at
the house when Jax returned, just before sunrise, and once they’d
all returned to human form, the packs had drifted down to the
kitchen.

“
I’m
not sure. We were attacked, but I’m not really sure by what.”
Jax stood back, looking at the bandage.

“
Bec,
do you have any idea what that thing was?”

Bec
flexed his arm, scowling at the bandage. “No idea.”

“
Another
pack maybe? Someone new that’s moved into our territory?”
Finn was standing, his arms crossed, at the end of the table. There
were murmurs from the other pack members.

Jax
shook his head, pulling out a chair, sitting down beside Bec. “It’s
not from around here. No other pack has said anything about this, and
I’m pretty sure even our rivals would have said something.”

“
There’s
something off about it. The scent, for one thing.” Jax grimaced
at the memory. There was something tugging at the edge of his mind,
but he couldn’t quite place his finger on what it was.

“
Jax,
was the scent familiar to you?”

Bec’s
brow furrowed. “No. It smelled bad, terrible.” He ducked
his head and Jax let it pass. No use letting Bec’s pack know he
had turned tail and ran.

“
There
was something there, something familiar. But I don’t know what
it was.” Jax shook his head. “Maybe I’m just crazy,
but I have the feeling I know what that thing is.”

“
If
you knew what it is, would you know how to kill it?”

Jax
looked up. Finn was looking at him intently, as were the rest of the
pack members.

“
Yeah,
probably. Everything has a weakness. It’s just knowing what it
is.” He ran his hands through his hair, tugging at his
ponytail.

“
It’s
just trying to figure out what the damned thing is…and what it
wants.”

*

“
Hey,
wake up.”

Someone
was shaking her and Nikki wanted them to stop. Her head ached
abysmally and her body hurt. She swatted at the hand on her shoulder
and the hand swatted back. Groggily she opened one eye.

Lori
was sitting on the edge of the bed, still dressed in her street
clothes, holding the ever-present cigarette and a glass of juice.

“
Here.”
She held out the juice toward Nikki.

Nikki
smiled, sipping the juice. “Thanks. What time is it?”

“
After
three. You’ve been out like a champ for hours.”

“
Have
you even slept?”

“
Yeah,
I think so. Maybe. But you were mumbling and whining in your sleep,
so, you know, that kept me awake.”

“
Liar.
I never talk in my sleep.” She set the glass on the bedside
table, sitting up against the headboard, pulling the sheet over her
chest.