Taming The Alpha - BBW Paranormal Romance (9 page)

“
So
what the hell really did happen last night?”

“
Honey,
I have no idea. You thought you’d made a new best friend out of
a wolf and I thought we were going to be torn to shreds.”

The
words hung in the air, both girls staring wide-eyed at the other.

“
Oh,
shit. China…and her boyfriend. You don’t think…could
it have been that thing?” Lori spoke first.

“
I
don’t want to think about it.” Nikki solemnly shook her
head. “No way. Not going there. Too many bad things live in my
head already. I’m not putting a wolf in the mix.”

Nikki
sat up. “I need to go home. Move.” She poked at Lori with
her foot.

Lori
stood up. “You calling a cab or walking?”

“
Cab.
There’s no way I’m ever walking anywhere in this city
again. Besides, my head is killing me.”

“
I’ll
call one for you while you get dressed.” Lori left the room and
Nikki pulled on her clothes. They smelled funny, like rotting food.
It made her stomach turn and she decided it must have been from the
alley. She’d be home soon and take a long hot shower. Maybe
even get in a nap before work.

“
Cab’ll
be here in about fifteen minutes or so. You want something to eat…”
Lori stopped, laughing. “I take it by the shade of green you’ve
turned, that’s a no?”

“
Yeah,
no. And never let Sam make you a drink on the house. I think that
thing was straight up, no mixer. Strong.” Nikki shivered.

“
You’re
such a light-weight, Nikki. Here…” She extended her
hand. In the palm were two white pills.

Nikki
looked at them suspiciously. “And they are?”

“
Aspirin.
What’d you think I was giving you? You said you have a
headache.” Lori shook her head as Nikki took the pills.

“
Listen,
my only vices now are cigarettes and men, sometimes a drink, nothing
worse. Well, those are bad enough, but that’s it.” She
held up three fingers.

“
Scout’s
honor, Nikki. Not for a long, long time. I’ve been good.”

Nikki
went to the tiny kitchen and filled a glass at the sink, downing the
pills. Lori followed her, leaning against the doorframe.

“
You
believe me, right?”

Nikki
looked at her friend. Finally she nodded.

“
Sorry,
Lori. Yeah, I do. It’s been a long fucking night. Come here.”
Nikki held out her arms and Lori walked into her embrace.

The
sound of a blaring horn made both of them jump. They stepped apart,
laughing.

“
You
working tonight?” Nikki was searching under the couch for her
shoes.

“
No,
I have the night off. Plan to catch up on my sleep, now that there’s
no mumbling, snoring body in my bed.”

Nikki
shook her head, laughing, pulling on her second shoe. “I don’t
snore.” She reached up, planting a kiss on Lori’s cheek
as she opened the apartment door.

“
I’ll
see you tomorrow then, yeah? Take care and get some sleep.”

The
cab ride was brief and Nikki was home, standing beneath the pounding
hot water in her shower, letting the water sluice through her hair.
She’d never been so glad to get out of her clothes,
contemplating throwing them in the garbage. Even the cabbie had given
her a dirty scowl as she got into the cab. It was funny; she’d
never noticed that the alley smelled that bad, even with all the
dumpsters.

She
spent a long time drying her hair, sitting by the window in her
bedroom. The street below was busy, but she knew in the next hour or
so, as people started coming home from work, it would be packed.

It
occurred to her, not for the first time, what an odd life she led.
Just when most people were coming home from work or school, sitting
down with family for dinner, she was getting ready to take her
clothes off for a roomful of strange men.

She
shook her head, padding back to the bathroom. There was no good
reason to think about what might have been if things had gone
differently. She’d given up years ago wondering how different
her life would have been if her parents hadn’t been her
parents, hadn’t fought every night of her life, hadn’t
dragged her into the middle of the arguments, made her choose sides.
And hadn’t died in a car crash two months before she was to
graduate from high school.

Thinking
didn’t change anything, it just brought up a lot of pain. Pain
Nikki could really do without.

She
thought about dinner instead, poking around in the still-empty
refrigerator. Hiding in the back she unearthed a stale bagel and a
tub of semi-petrified cream cheese. Toasted and covered with spread,
she called it dinner.

It
was almost time to leave for work but the last place Nikki wanted to
be was at the club. But they were down two dancers and Lori was off.
Nikki cringed, knowing why they were short. It didn’t make her
want to be there, but she knew Mack would fire her in a heartbeat if
she called in. He’d have a new girl hired and using her locker
probably before Nikki would even have a chance to clean out her
stuff.

But
there was no way in hell she was walking down that alley. She opened
the front door of the club, the sounds and smells washing over her.
It was Friday and the place was almost full. As luck would have it,
Mack was sitting at the end of the bar, right by the door. He caught
her eye, scowling at her.

“
You
know better. Dancers use the alley door.” He jerked his head
toward the door she’d just entered, indicating she should go
back out. Normally she would have. But not tonight.

Something
snapped. She walked over to Mack, leaning close, her hand on his arm.

“
Mack,
give me a break. People were killed in that alley, just the other
day. China’s boyfriend held a knife to my throat. Last night…”
She stopped. There was no way she could explain last night to Mack.

Mack’s
eyes were cold as they met hers. “Yeah. And I have rules. You
don’t like them, you know where the door is.” He jerked
his head again in the direction of the front door, his voice hard.

“
Look,
Nikki. I like you. Really. You’re a great dancer, the customers
love you. But…you know, you’re stubborn. And you gotta
respect that I got rules here. Okay?” He stood, opening the
door for her. She stepped out onto the sidewalk.

“
You
got a choice. Follow my rules, use the alley. Or...”

The
door closed behind her as she left the club without thought about how
she would be able to pay the month’s rent. She had enough of
Mack, the degradation, the always feeling as though she held no value
other than in how hot she could make the men who stuffed her panties
with one dollar bills.
Enough
already.
Moving almost
mechanically, she walked to the corner of the building, the mouth of
the alley looming ahead of her.

The
clouds obscured any moonlight that might have penetrated the depths
of the alley and the dim bulb above the club door didn’t do
much besides cast a faint yellow circle on the door. Nikki took a
deep breath and turned, walking away from the club.

*

Jax opened the door to the club.
He’d caught a whiff of Nikki’s scent, clear and rich, on
the night air. He inhaled, closing his eyes, and then stepped inside
the dim club.

The
place was packed, but he picked up on a low level of disquiet in the
air, a subtle tension. Jax moved along the back wall, watching the
crowd, looking for Nikki, or for the tall blonde woman that had been
in the alley with Nikki. But neither appeared to be mingling with the
crowd.

And
then it occurred to Jax that there didn’t seem to be any girls
in the crowd, or dancing on the stage. He cocked his head, listening
intently to the conversations around him, finally picking up the
drift of what they were saying.

There
seemed to be no girls working, or very few. Jax worked his way toward
the bar, finally managing to catch the bartender’s eye.

“
What
can I get you?” The man…Sam, Jax remembered his name was
Sam…seemed on harried, on edge.

“
Campari
and soda. And has Nikki been up yet?”

Sam
hesitated, looking up at Jax. “I remember you.” He shook
his head.

“
No.
And she won’t be up.” Sam turned, speaking over his
shoulder.

“
Is
she off?” Jax frowned. Nikki usually worked Fridays.

A
voice at his shoulder spoke. “She’s off alright.
Permanently. Bitch quit.”

Jax
turned, scowling. An older, heavy-set man was standing next to him.
Jax recognized him as the club owner.

“
Quit?
When?”

“
Tonight,
start of her shift. Wanted to come in through the front door. She
knows the rules…dancers use the back alley or not at all.
Guess she chose not at all.” The man suddenly seemed to realize
he was talking to a customer.

“
But,
you know, we have lots of other girls…Eden is working tonight,
should be up any minute. She’s gorgeous, you’d like her.
If you want, I’ll reserve a private room for you, set up a
dance…”

Jax
barely heard the rest of the man’s pitch. As he shouldered his
way past him, pushing open the front door to the sidewalk, he heard
the guy calling after him but he didn’t stop to listen.

Once
on the sidewalk, he ran a hand through his hair, panic rising up in
him, his heart skidding out of control in his chest. The irony of the
situation hit him; he’d finally found the perfect woman, only
to lose her over something as stupid as this, as simple as not
knowing where to find her.

There
was no other way for him to find Nikki than to trail her through the
city. The thought had crossed his mind to get her cell number or ask
for her address, but the time never seemed right, or it had slipped
his mind. Or…

As
much as he wanted to, he couldn’t blame Bec for this, even
though he’d barged into his room, barged in on him in bed with
Nikki.

He
shook his head. There wasn’t time now to worry about what he
hadn’t done. It was time to find Nikki.

His
senses were still on overdrive, the wolf still strong in him. Even
though the moon wasn’t completely full, it still affected him
deeply. He closed his eyes, opening his senses to the sounds, and
particularly the scents around him.

Last
night, he’d followed Nikki and Lori back to Lori’s
apartment. He’d hung in the shadows, ghosting behind the women,
never letting them know he was there. Once they’d entered the
aging red brick building, it took longer to find which apartment
they’d gone into, as he’d climbed the rickety metal fire
escape, working his way slowly around the building.

Finally
he’d found her scent and he’d crouched outside the
bedroom window, watching her sleep as sunrise grew closer. He risked
being caught outside the den, barely making it back to his room
before he changed back to his human form.

Tonight,
the clouds and the impending rain worked in his favor. The air was
heavy, holding scents like a sponge. Nikki’s was there, as
clear as if she was right in front of him.

It
wasn’t long before he realized he was heading in the same
direction, down the same streets he’d gone the night before.
She was headed back to Lori’s apartment.

Jax
hesitated outside the building. There was no easy way to do this,
he’d just have to go get her. If she didn’t want to come
with him…he didn’t want to think about that right now.
If necessary, he’d just carry her out of the apartment.

The
apartment was in an old building, the street door open, two guys
sitting on the steps sharing a bottle. Jax walked between them,
ignoring their comments.

He
climbed the stairs to the third floor, counted the doors in the hall,
trying to get his bearings, envisioning what the building looked like
from his vantage point on the fire escape. Her scent was so heavy
here, mingled with dozens of other pungent scents, it was difficult
to know exactly where she was. Taking a deep breath, he knocked on
the door he hoped Nikki was behind.

There
were voices, and he recognized Nikki’s and then Lori’s,
as she undid the multiple locks on the door. It finally opened a
crack, the safety chain still in place and Jax caught a glimpse of
Lori’s face. She looked at him for a moment, then the door
closed. He could hear the chain being pulled back and then the door
opened again.

“
Come
in.” Lori held the door for Jax. Her face was an unreadable
mask, her voice neutral, but he could sense disapproval in her
posture, in the tension at the corners of her eyes.

“
Who
is it?” He heard Nikki’s voice from somewhere in the
depths of the tiny apartment.

“
It’s
for you…” Lori closed the door behind Jax. He let her
walk ahead of him down the short hall, into a dingy living room.

Nikki
was curled up on the couch, a glass of what smelled like straight
whiskey in her hand. When she saw him, her eyes went wide with
surprise. But her voice was cold.