The Only Witness: The Center City Series: Book One

by Shannon Flagg

  “She's in trouble. I feel it. I feel her.” He looked up at his sister. “How is that possible?”

  “You know how it's possible, Deacon. You've got to accept it and embrace it. My truck is out front, take it.”

  “I can get there faster. Call Master, tell him to have someone go to her house, have them bring me clothes and my guns. And have him find Houdini. I want to know what was more important than watching Vera like I told him too.”

  “You told him to watch her?” Adelaide let out a satisfied sigh. “See, you know. Deep down, you know that she's...”

  “I don't have time for this shit,” Deacon told her. It was going to be taxing on his body, and mind, to change to get there and change back when he arrived. He was definitely going to need his guns if there was trouble. Truth was, he'd be lucky to still be on his feet. “Do it, Adelaide. Now.”

  The quickest way back to the center of town was with four feet, not two. He could only hope he got there before it was too late. He was going to kill Houdini, tear his throat out with his bare hands if he had to. He'd been very clear about making sure that nothing happened to her.

  The change was always painful, like being torn apart and set on fire at the same time. It wasn't something that you could ever get used to, but Deacon always forgot it the second his four feet touched the ground.

  The wolf let out a howl as the part of the mind that was still Deacon realized Vera was his mate. If she wasn't, he wouldn't be having such a strong reaction to her. It pissed him off just a little because he'd never expected to meet his mate, but now that he had, he'd happily die before letting anything happen to her.

  Vera wasn't aware of it yet, but she was his and he was not going to lose her.

  By the time that he reached the edge of the New to You lot he no longer felt Vera's fear, he no longer felt anything from Vera. Scents assaulted his sensitive nose; he could smell blood, and it was her blood. He didn't smell his Brothers, which was a problem but not as much of a problem as the fact that the front door was open.

  Deacon entered the building unarmed and as naked as the day that he was born. He grabbed a cloth off of one of the tables and wrapped it around his waist before he bounded up the stairs.

  Vera was on her bed, stretched out as if she were sleeping with her hands folded on her stomach. Her hair was arranged on the pillow and for a moment he thought that she was dead, but then he saw the shallow movement of her chest. “Vera!” She didn't stir. As he moved closer to the bed he saw that there deep claw marks on the mattress on either side of her. “Son of a bitch.”

  Deacon heard the front door open, caught a whiff of Fire's scent. “Get up here! NOW!” He was screaming and still Vera didn't even flinch. “Come on, Vera.”

  “Got your clothes, I don't want to look at your naked ass.” Fire tossed the clothes at Deacon. “What the fuck happened here?”

  “No clue, we need to get her to a doctor.” Deacon would have liked to take her to Adelaide; his sister was as good as any doctor, but he imagined she was otherwise engaged. Deacon got up from the bed and dressed in the clothes Fire had brought with him. “Fuck it, I'm not waiting for an ambulance. Help me look for her car keys.”

  “Houdini's phone is still off, got guys out looking for him.”

  “You tell him to find me the second you hear from him,” Deacon left the clawed blanket on the bed as he lifted Vera. She still hadn't so much as twitched. “You can open your eyes any time now Vera, any time.”

  <#<#>#>#>#

  It turned out Deacon didn't have to go to a doctor, a doctor came to him. Susan was pulling into the lot in Adelaide's truck as he carried Vera out of the house. They went to his place while Fire headed back to join in the search for Houdini.

  “She got her bell rung, that's for sure.” Susan took off her gloves and stretched her arms over her head. Vera was on his bed, as still as she'd been in her apartment. “The good news is I don't see any signs of concussion, her pupils are equal and reactive. Honestly, she should have woken up by now. I don't know why she hasn't. I'll stay, keep an eye on her.”

  “I appreciate that, you should try and get some sleep. There's a room down the hall,” Deacon's voice thickened at the thought of Finn's room. “There should be some clothes in the dresser you can sleep in.”

  “You probably don't know this, but Vera is one of my good friends—though I'd have come even if she wasn't. I've always had a great deal of respect for you, Deacon, despite the differences between our kind. Right now, I think that it's smart for us to band together as much as possible in these changing times.” Susan folded her arms over her chest. “This change of leadership doesn't bode well for anyone. I've seen the handiwork of The Grievers firsthand, especially that Michael guy. Bastard gives me the creeps.”

  “We'll figure it out.” Deacon didn't know when or how, but he needed to believe that they would because the alternative wasn't acceptable.

  “I hope that you're right about that. Wake me if she wakes up.” Susan started out the door but didn't get far before Houdini ran straight into her.

  Deacon curled his hands into fists. He would not lose his shit with Vera just a few feet away. He would not turn and rip his Brother to pieces, no matter how tempting it was at the moment.

  Even the gravity of the current situation couldn't stop Houdini from flashing his megawatt smile at Susan and introducing himself. Deacon wanted to let out a groan when Susan smiled back and introduced herself. “Houdini,” Deacon growled the words, “flirt when you're done telling me what the fuck happened tonight!”

  “Chief Will happened,” Houdini explained with one last smile at Susan. “We were almost back here after dinner and he pulled me over. Told Vera to head home and I thought that it was the right thing. I thought that she'd be safe.”

  “You were wrong,” Deacon told him. “What the fuck did Will want?”

  “He wanted to question me about Grant Caldwell disappearing. I don't know where that piece of shit is. Probably high as fuck in a dark dank room somewhere and he'll surface when he's out of whatever he's on.” Houdini ran a hand over his head. “It's bullshit he's accusing any of us and just because of who we are.”

  “Ignore him, we didn't have anything to do with whatever happened to Grant. We've got bigger things to be concerned about right now. I need to tell you what else happened tonight. I need to tell you all what happened tonight. Get everyone here.”

  “Here?”

  “Here,” Deacon confirmed as he looked back over to where Vera lay on the bed. There was no way in hell he was leaving her, not tonight and not fucking ever. “I want everyone here within the hour.”

  Houdini left, no doubt glad that Deacon hadn't handed him his ass. Oh, he'd wanted to. It had been right there on the tip of his tongue. He'd held back, if Vera woke up he didn't want her seeing him angry. He didn't want to scare her.

  With no real clue what had happened to her in the apartment, his mind went to worst case scenarios. The things he imagined were enough to have him pacing back and forth, so he pushed them out of his mind, sat on the bed next to Vera and picked up her hand.

  “You need to wake up. We've got shit to talk about. Not quite sure how you're going to take it.” Deacon felt a little foolish talking to her like this but he had to do something. “Whoever did this to you, they're already dead. They just don't realize it yet. No one is going to get away with doing this to you, no one.”

  <#<#>#>#>#

  Deacon told the story without mentioning his revelations about Vera. Those feelings had no place here, nothing to do with the club he was starting to wonder if he could hold on to. The Grievers in Center City meant one thing, they were headed for an all and out war, since neither group was going to back down.

  “Smart old bastard,” Whiskey let out a laugh. “Best way around Deacon not letting him use us for his dirty work. Complicates things, though. Dealing with challenging The Old Man is one thing, challenging Josiah is a whole different thing. He's new generation, fightin
g with honor isn't going to be high on his list.”

  “If honor is out the window,” Fire grinned, “we can just kill all of them.”

  “We're not killing anyone. Not yet. Something else has to be going on here.”

  “This is the shit I was talking about earlier,” Master spoke up. “I don't give a fuck about your pack and its politics. I care about this club, about these guys. You tell me how we're going to survive this shit. Tell me, Prez. Tell us all.”

  “I don't know how this is all going to play out,” Deacon had to be honest with them, lay his cards on the table. “I'll tell you what I do know, The Grievers are going to cause trouble here, they're feral. They've been on the road too long with no consequences. We will do everything we can to stop that, to stop The Grievers. We need to be vigilant, keep our eyes open. Stay armed. Stay alert.”

  “What's the plan?” Houdini spoke up.

  “It'll be quiet at least for tonight,” Deacon replied. “We'll regroup in the morning. Figure out a plan. I just wanted to keep you all up to speed. I'm giving you full disclosure here, that's how we're going to get through this.”

  “What about the bitch?” Master questioned. “The mousey one you took out of the used shit shop.”

  Deacon curled his hands into fists. “Vera,” he emphasized her name and met Master's eyes, “is upstairs, still knocked out from being attacked in her store. Her store in our town. This shit doesn't happen in Center City.”

  “So, you're taking in the injured now? Don't say full disclosure and hold shit back.”

  “Vera is with me now.” Deacon rose to his feet. “That's as much as it concerns the club. She's mine.” The table grew silent; no one had seen that coming. “Alright, get out of here. Be at the warehouse, tomorrow at ten.”

  One by one the men left, except Houdini, who lingered behind. “I can hang around, keep an eye on shit down here.”

  The other guys all had family to go back to, Deacon knew that he was the closest thing Houdini had to family. Truth was, he'd rest easier knowing that his friend was in the house. “You know where the blankets are.”

  Houdini nodded. “I'm sorry about earlier, I fucked up. I'd have never thought she'd get attacked at the fucking shop. It's on me. We'll find him and we'll make it right.”

  “Yes, we will.” Deacon knew that Houdini had experience making things right. He'd lived a hard life before he came to Center City.

  “So, what's up with the lady doctor?”

  “Don't start, Houdini.” Deacon felt himself smile, he couldn't help it. “And she has a name.”

  “Her name is Susan. And she's smoking hot.”

  “That's really what you're thinking about with everything that's going on?”

  “Well, yeah, things are going to hell but I'm still a fucking guy. Like you aren't thinking about Vera.”

  “She's most of what I've been thinking about,” Deacon admitted. “I don't really know what to do here, Brother. Not with her or any of it.”

  “You'll figure it out, Deke. The club shit will be easy. Vera, well that will likely be harder. Women always are, especially when they're worth something.”

  “Thanks, I think.” Deacon patted Houdini on the shoulder. “I'm going to head up. I'll see you in the morning.

  Vera was still sleeping when he walked into the room. Deacon shut the door and toed off his boots. For a moment he just stood there, watching her, wondering if she was going to wake up and what would happen when she did. What would happen with The Grievers? How would the town survive? Adelaide and Josiah. There were too many thoughts in his head. He couldn't see past them.

  Chapter ELEVEN

  Vera was warm, really warm, and she didn't know why. It took a few moments for her sleep muddled mind to realize she was warm because she wasn't alone. There was an arm around her waist and a body, definitely a male body, pressed against her back. She allowed herself to consider the fact that she was still asleep; that had to be the answer. This was all a dream. Everything had been a dream. She'd wake up and it would be the morning. She'd laugh and laugh when she thought back on the nightmare. The comfort of that thought was almost enough to lull her back to sleep. If the perfect silence of the room hadn't been broken by a loud snore, she would have been able to believe her fantasy. No fantasy in the world included snoring.

  Fear uncurled like a snake inside of her stomach as the grip on her waist tightened. She felt something hard against her back as she was drawn closer. The person shifted even closer, hand slipping under her shirt and that seemed to give her back the ability to scream. The sound cut through the stillness of the room and the arm released from around her waist. Vera got off the bed so fast that she fell, blind in the darkness she scrambled forward until she reached the wall. “No. Please. No.”

  “No one is going to hurt you here, Vera.” Deacon's voice was thick with sleep, the sound of it as much a shock as waking to being held. The light flipped on and he stood on the far side of the bed wearing only a pair of sweatpants.

  Relief flooded through her body, but she forced herself to blink several times and pinched the tender skin inside her elbow until her eyes teared up. Her eyes remained on Deacon as he crossed the room and crouched down next to her. “I thought...”

  I know,” he sighed and reached out to stroke the side of her face, “but it was just me. I'm not going to hurt you.”

  “I know that,” Vera couldn't seem to make her body cooperate to get off of the floor. “I didn't when I woke up, I thought... I thought that it wasn't over.”

  It's over,” he said firmly.

  “He was... it was... it was in my bedroom when I got home. I was... I was already scared because of the wolf I saw in the parking lot. What the fuck was a wolf doing in my parking lot? And then I went upstairs to lock myself in the apartment but it was already in there.”

  “Why do you keep saying it?” Deacon asked, his voice was soft. She wondered if he was already thinking she was crazy. If he wasn't, she was damn sure that he would be soon.

  “It was... I had to have started seeing things. I mean the mind can do that right? When you're really scared or something you see what you fear and not what's really there. I mean it couldn't have been what I saw. It just isn't possible.”

  “Baby, tell me what you saw.” There was an edge to Deacon's voice, it sent worry through Vera even as she realized that he'd called her baby. “Vera, come on.” He reached out, stroked the side of her face. “I get you're scared but tell me what you saw.”

  “You'll think I'm crazy and you definitely won't be calling me baby anymore. Let's just... let's just not, okay?

  “I promise that I won't think you're crazy.”

  Vera let out a sigh. He could say that he wouldn't think she was crazy but who wouldn't think she was crazy with what she was going to say? “You're going to think I'm crazy. I think that I'm crazy.” And promising not to think someone was crazy is what you say to a crazy person.

  “Just tell me, please.” Vera didn't want to, she really didn't want to, but he obviously was not going to let it drop. Fuck. He wasn't going to be looking at her the way he was now once she told him. “Vera?”

  Vera sighed. “Fine, it was... it was a wolf man like those old black and white movies where it was a half man, half beast thing.” She shut her eyes before continuing, there was no way she was saying this while looking at Deacon. “It was horrible, all claws instead of hands and fur everywhere. And it touched me, it was terrible. So terrible. I thought that I was going to die, that it was going to kill me but instead... it kept telling me how I shouldn't fight him and that it was a shame because he'd have liked to keep me, like a pet. That's the last thing I remember besides the feeling of his breath on me.”

  “I'm going to make sure that you're safe, Vera. Can you tell me about the wolf you saw outside?”

  “Tell you about it? Like what?” Vera frowned. After everything she'd just told him, why would he focus on the wolf outside? Was he trying to pretend he'd never heard wha
t she said? If he was, she really couldn't blame him. Sadness bloomed inside of her, spread from her toes up, because there was no way he was going to want anything to do with her crazy ass.

  “How did it look?”

  “It was big,” Vera could still see it in her mind so clearly, it was almost like she was still standing on the porch. “Gorgeous, really gorgeous with a black, white and gray coat.” She frowned as she suddenly felt a wave of anger roll off of the man crouched down in front of her. “Deke?”

  “No one is going to hurt you,” his voice was low, his hands and jaw were clenched.

  Comfort washed over her. Vera didn't know why; she'd never seen Deacon look more menacing, but somehow she knew that he wouldn't hurt her, he'd protect her. “You don't think I'm crazy?”

  “No,” he said shortly.

  Vera was still comforted by his presence but there was no denying that something had changed. He'd moved a little bit back from her but that wasn't it. It was something else, a weight that she suddenly felt all over. “Are you okay?”

  He let out a snort of laughter. “Look at you worrying about me when you're the one who's been unconscious for hours. I'm okay, Vera.” Deacon rose to his feet and held out his hand to her. “You should get back in bed. I'll get Susan to come take a look at you, make sure that you're okay.”

  Vera took his hand and he helped her to her feet. Susan? Her Susan? Center City wasn't exactly a big town despite what the name implied, and she couldn't think of any other Susan he'd want to have look at her. “Susan Scarpone? The doctor?”

  “Yes, she's a friend of mine too.”

  “I didn't know that.”

  “It's not like we've done a lot of talking,” he pointed out, no smile on his lips.

  “Are you sure that you're okay Deke?” Vera asked even though she knew the answer. He wasn't okay, not by a long shot.

  “Yes, Vera, I'm fine.” He leaned in and kissed her forehead.

  Vera let him help her into bed and let him have his lie. She didn't know what was going on or why he wouldn't tell her; it bothered her, but she'd let it go for now. Fragments of the night before kept running through her mind. She tried to push the fragments away as Deacon fixed the covers over her. “Deke?”