The True Beast (A Full Moon Mercy Novel) (shifter / MC romance)

by Ana W. Fawkes

  But it did care quite a bit about Leah.

  Leah rushed to Lucas and he scooped her up. He spun her around once and inhaled the scent of her. The scent of human. The scent of woman. And the scent of all the hidden desires that drove Lucas wild. He put Leah back on the ground and then held her face. He scanned her eyes and kissed her.

  “We don’t have to do this,” Leah said.

  “Of course we do,” Lucas said. “You wanted to do this. Remember?”

  “I was mostly kidding.”

  “No, you weren’t.” Lucas ran his thumb along Leah’s cheek. “Hey, what’s wrong?”

  “Nothing,” Leah said.

  Lucas could read she was lying to him. “Tell me.”

  “Can we go inside?”

  Lucas looked around. “Sure.”

  They went into the restaurant and took a table in the back of the place. A waitress approached the table with hesitation, like she was afraid of Lucas. Sometimes Lucas appreciated the fear Full Moon Mercy brought to town. Other times it straight up pissed him off.

  Lucas and Leah agreed on pizza and drinks. The waitress rushed away. Lucas kept a close eye on the woman and watched her walk behind the bar to a round man in a dirty white t-shirt. The man looked at Lucas and then moved from the bar.

  “We have company,” Lucas said. “Don’t worry about it, okay?”

  Leah looked back and then at Lucas. “What’s happening?”

  “He’s nervous, that’s all.”

  The man approached and offered his hand to Lucas. Lucas shook it, remembering he needed to keep a sense of respect in town with everyone.

  “Just wanted to introduce myself,” the man said.

  “Do you do that with everyone?” Lucas asked. “Or just people you think look like trouble?”

  “No, no trouble,” the man said. “I’m Peter. I own the place. Never saw one of you guys in here before. I hope… you know, things are okay.”

  “You think I’m here to cause a little trouble, Peter?” Lucas asked.

  “Didn’t say that. Just like to keep my place clean and quiet.”

  “Just like Mercy,” Lucas said. “Remember that.” Lucas took out a smoke and lit it up.

  “Hey, we don’t allow…”

  Lucas exhaled the smoke up in the direction of Peter. “I can make one phone call and this place would be taken to the ground. Unless you’re here to tell me my food is free, get the fuck out of here.”

  Peter made fists and nodded. “Okay. Any bullshit starts, I’m calling it in.”

  “Nice to meet you,” Lucas said.

  Peter stormed away back behind the bar. Lucas inhaled deep on his smoke and loved the looks he received. People who dared to look at him would only do so in small doses. A quick glance and then hurry to look away. The reputation of Full Moon Mercy in town was something vile yet the people had no idea what the club did for everyone. They only assumed violence, yet they didn’t realize that the actual violence from the town of Mercy itself didn’t really exist. People could walk the streets freely, even in the dark.

  “Does everyone do that to you?” Leah asked.

  Lucas put his smoke out on the edge of the table. “Only when we come around to places that are considered to be regular, you know?”

  “You don’t eat pizza?” Leah asked with a smile.

  Lucas leaned over the table. “Sweetheart, you know what I like to eat.”

  Lucas smiled as Leah’s face turned red. He then reached for Leah’s hand and squeezed it.

  “You looked angry when you got off your bike,” Leah said. “I know the club isn’t my business…”

  “It’s about Debbie,” Lucas said.

  Leah swallowed. Lucas hated himself for having Leah involved in the situation now.

  “Is she okay?”

  “Do you care?”

  “I don’t know,” Leah said. “That’s your child, right?”

  Lucas nodded. “That’s what Vince is trying to get me to face. I feel like an asshole, Leah. I didn’t sign up for this, but I did it.”

  “Yeah, you did.”

  “I look at you and I don’t know what to do.”

  “What do you mean? Do you have to run off and marry her?”

  Lucas laughed. “No. I wouldn’t marry that piece of trash even for money. She fucks anything with two legs. I just… it was one of those nights. I’m sorry for it.”

  “Why are you apologizing to me? I had nothing to do with it.”

  “I know you didn’t. I hate to have you in the middle of this. It’s a complete disaster.”

  “No, it’s not,” Leah said. “You just have to do what’s right.”

  “What’s right?”

  “Whatever you feel.”

  Lucas leaned back and touched his face. He tried to think about Debbie. Alone in a room, her body changing by the minute. The pain she felt. The isolation. She couldn’t go out in public because it would raise too many questions. Anyone who saw Debbie a week ago would be shocked to see the size of her stomach now.

  “Talk to me, Lucas,” Leah said.

  “She needs to be moved to someone who can take care of her. That’s our plan now. But for me to be there, to see her, I don’t know what to do. Of course I want to care for what’s mine. The baby will be part of the club. Raised by all of us to understand his or her purpose.”

  “Will the baby be… like you?” Leah asked.

  “Will it be a shifter?” Lucas asked.

  Leah nodded.

  “I’d like to hope so. But I can’t be sure of it. We won’t know until Debbie delivers. She can’t do that here though.” Lucas took a deep breath. “That’s not all that’s running through my mind.”

  “What else is there?” Leah asked.

  “The connection,” Lucas said.

  “Between you and Debbie?”

  Lucas nodded. “I don’t know what to expect.”

  “What do you think will happen? Will you fall in love with her? Claim her?”

  “No,” Lucas said. He shook his head. “No, Leah, I swear to you. No.”

  “Then what? What could happen?”

  “If I take care of her, it comes with obligations. Ways to relieve her… things that could happen beyond our control. It’s an instinctive thing, Leah.”

  “You mean sex?”

  The waitress came to the table with their pizza. She put it on a tray and reached for Lucas.

  “Peter wanted me to apologize to you,” the waitress said. Her voice cracked when she spoke. “Don’t worry about this meal. It’s on us. Hope to see you here again.”

  The woman smiled and then rushed away.

  Lucas looked at the pizza and sniffed it. The smell of the warm cheese and sauce, the fresh dough, and the subtle spices within the sauce and right on top of the pizza were definitely delicious but nothing like the taste of what Lucas really hungered for.

  Lucas put a slice on a plate for Leah.

  “You have to have sex with Debbie again?” Leah asked.

  “When you say it like that,” Lucas said, “it leaves me torn. I have to take care of what’s mine, don’t I?”

  “I guess so.”

  “That includes you, Leah.”

  “I can’t share,” Leah said. “I can’t do it.”

  “It won’t be sharing,” Lucas said. “Come with me when we leave here then. We’ll go see Debbie together. You can check on her.”

  “You want me to check on the stripper you got pregnant?”

  “Again, when you say it like that…”

  “How do I say it then, Lucas? What am I supposed to do?”

  “I don’t know,” Lucas said. “I’m ready to claim you, Leah. You don’t understand what that means, but it will connect us forever. But I can’t with this hanging over my head. If I bring you in, Leah, I bring you right here…” Lucas opened his jacket and touched his chest. “… I won’t be able to let go.”

  “So I have to accept whatever happens?”

  “That’s par
t of it all,” Lucas said. “I would never betray you, Leah. I will always protect you. You have to know that.”

  They ate in silence. Lucas had said all he could for the moment. Bringing a human into his life was a challenge. It really was much easier to just go down into the club and find a woman for a night’s comfort. But with Leah, it was so much more. The feelings ran deep into his body and heart. When he felt his heart racing, it made him think of shifting. It meant Leah had to potential to force him to shift. She was deadly sexy and Lucas couldn’t believe what he was doing right now with her.

  “You want me to help with Debbie,” Leah said. “I’m not a doctor. I work with elderly people.”

  “I know,” Lucas said. “I’m not asking you to care for her. I’m asking you to help me keep her somewhat comfortable. We have to get her to this special doctor and then it’s over.”

  “Until the birth.”

  “Beyond the birth,” Lucas said. “When my son or daughter is out of Debbie, the connection is gone. I will be a father…”

  That was the first time Lucas really spoke it.

  I will be a father.

  It hit him in his chest. A father. He would have to be a man to protect the child. This wouldn’t be like protecting the club or even protecting Leah. This was flesh and blood. His own creation.

  “I have to go,” Lucas said. “I shouldn’t have brought this up, Leah. I’m sorry.”

  Lucas stood and started to leave. Peter waved to him and Lucas didn’t say a word. He kicked open the door and walked outside. Darkness surrounded Mercy and Lucas took a few steps, pacing, the urge to shift and kill getting to him.

  What had he really done?

  He got a human pregnant. He found another human he wanted to claim. Now he had just started to explore the feelings and connections with both women and it was a disaster.

  Lucas went to his bike and put his helmet on.

  “Will you ever love her?”

  It was Leah’s voice. Lucas turned and saw her standing just inches away, holding the pizza in a box.

  “No,” Lucas said. “I swear on it. There’s no love, Leah.”

  “Are you scared about this?”

  Lucas could never admit fear. There was no fear in his life, in his world. There was survival. Struggle and survival.

  “I’m trying to find the right way to handle this,” Lucas said. “For my club. For myself. For Debbie. For you. Everything. Vince is only focused on the result. The baby. To him, it’s a bloodline that will continue in Full Moon Mercy. I get that. To the guys, this is just another fuck up from Lucas. Then I look into your eyes, Leah, and I see pain.”

  “I don’t know what to show you then,” Leah said. “It’s not easy to fall for someone and find out they have another woman pregnant.”

  “I didn’t know.”

  “I know that. I’m not angry. Just confused. Pissed off.”

  “Isn’t pissed off and angry the same thing?”

  Leah smiled. “Maybe. I’m not mad at you. I’ll go see her. Right now.”

  “You don’t have to do that. I shouldn’t have brought it up. We were talking about it at our meeting before.”

  “I understand,” Leah said. “This is what you need from me.”

  “I’m hoping you can see this now and understand it, because when we take her north… it could get rough.”

  “You want me there for that?” Leah asked.

  Lucas took Leah’s hand and pulled her close. “We’ll talk when that time comes. Now why don’t you tell me what you had on your mind?”

  “Right now, the only thing on my mind is getting on the back of your bike and wrapping my arms around you.”

  “You don’t want to drive?”

  “No,” Leah said, “I want you to take me, Lucas. I’m all yours.”

  “That kind of talk can get you into trouble,” Lucas said.

  “Then punish me,” Leah said.

  Her lips were close to Lucas’s. Inches away. He could already taste them. But he couldn’t kiss Leah right now. Kissing her would only take things to Leah’s apartment or Lucas’s room at the club. The way his body felt, there would be no holding back.

  “I’m going to have you tonight,” Lucas said. “But first, business.”

  Leah climbed on the back of the motorcycle and slid her arms around Lucas’s waist. Lucas looked down at her small hands as her fingers interlocked. Part of his heart knew he could simply let Leah go. He could send her on her way and force himself to hide his feelings for her. Maybe that was the right thing to do, maybe it was the smart thing. But Lucas couldn’t help himself.

  He needed to keep Leah close to protect her.

  There was death in the air and he didn’t know why.

  4

  Vince cut his way to the bar. A path cleared because it was Vince and he demanded the path to be cleared. Then again, it would have been a little fun to have some asshole not move just so Vince could grab him by the back of his jacket and throw him across the room.

  Behind the bar, a guy they called Bigg already had a cold beer in his hand for Vince.

  “Give me a shot,” Vince said.

  “Celebrating?” Ian asked as he came to the bar too.

  “We’ll call it what it is,” Vince said. “You okay now, brother? You seemed a little worked up at the meeting.”

  Ian drank from his beer. “I’m fine. Anger directed the wrong way, I think.”

  “It’s okay to be pissed off at Lucas. Don’t hold back because of me.”

  “I’m not,” Ian said. He looked at Vince. “You know my situation.”

  “Christ, Ian,” Vince said. “You can’t hold on like that, man. It’ll kill you from the inside.”

  “My girl and daughter were killed,” Ian said through gritted teeth. “She was a baby. And my girl… she didn’t know…”

  “Okay,” Vince said. “Okay. I get it then.”

  “I see Lucas and it just, it just gets to me. He can go out and fuck some woman and just like that, the bloodline and throne continue.”

  “It’s not like that,” Vince said. “He’s like a son to me, Ian. We know what would happen if Debbie got out of here. If she went out and gave birth.”

  “Maybe the best situation is her death,” Ian said.

  Vince sighed and looked at the amber shot in front of him. He moved it down to Ian and nodded to it. “You better drink that. Then go for a ride. Clear your mind. This is going to work out, Ian. I’m sorry about your memories.”

  Another shot was poured and placed in front of Vince. Ian lifted his glass and offered it to Vince. Vince lifted his and they tapped glasses.

  Ian threw his shot back and groaned. “That’s good. That helps.”

  “So will the road.”

  Ian stood and put a hand to Vince’s back. “Thanks for the shot and the talk.”

  “Anytime, brother. Anytime. It’ll work out, Ian.”

  “I know,” Ian said. “I know.”

  Ian took his beer and left.

  Vince couldn’t keep his eyes off the door. He needed to tread very carefully for the next little while. There was a small celebration to enjoy but then would come the sorrow. The mourning. The pain that Lucas would feel, and it would all be given to Vince to take care of. That was okay though. Vince could handle it. He would ease Lucas in the right direction.

  The door opened and Vince put a foot to the ground. He saw Lucas enter first and the second he saw him, he knew something was wrong. Then came a second person through the door. It made Vince’s lip curl. With his hand around the shot glass still, he squeezed and the glass broke.

  Leah was with Luke.

  That was supposed to be impossible.

  Leah was supposed to be dead.

  Vince looked down at the bar and knew he had to control himself. He looked up at Bigg and nodded to the broken glass. Bigg hurried to pour another shot and Vince took it and drank it.

  “One more,” Vince said. “Come on. Hurry the fuck up.”

/>   Bigg rushed and Vince took another shot. By the time he put the glass back on the bar, Lucas was right next to him. Lucas grabbed Vince by the shoulder.

  “Hey, you okay?” Lucas asked.

  “Fine,” Vince said. “Thinking about our meeting. Planning. Drinking.”

  “Okay.” Lucas leaned in. “You were right about things. We’ll talk tomorrow, but just know my head is in a better place right now.”

  Vince slapped Lucas in the face a few times. “Good to know, brother. Enjoy your evening.”

  Lucas walked away.

  Vince’s eyes were glued to Leah.

  What the fuck happened?

  She was supposed to be taken care of, not be seen walking through the club to Lucas’s room.

  Vince stood from the bar and walked down to Cooper. He clamped a hand on Cooper’s shoulder and squeezed. Cooper cried out and collapsed, his hands in the air.

  “Vince…”

  “Where’s Seth?”

  “Seth? I haven’t seen Seth all day or night,” Cooper said.

  “Is he in this fucking club?”

  “No.”

  Vince let go of Cooper. “If you see him, you find me. Got it?”

  “Sure, Vince. Everything good?”

  Vince took a deep breath. “It will be. Soon.”

  Vince left the club and made it one step down when the door opened. Seth stood at the bottom of the steps. Blood was on his hands and on his mouth.

  “What did you do?” Vince asked.

  “I’m sorry,” Seth said. “I’m sorry, Vince.”

  “I think we need to talk.”

  “Are you going to kill me?”

  Vince folded his arms. “Go clean yourself up and meet me in the conference room in ten minutes. If you’re not there, Seth, then I will fucking kill you.”

  “Vince…”

  Vince didn’t want to hear a damn thing. He went back to the club and stormed through. He grabbed Cooper again and pulled him to the door.

  “When Seth comes up, send him in. Private meeting.”

  Vince entered the conference room and walked to his seat. He pulled out a cigar and tasted it without lighting it. He found his bottle of good booze under the table and pulled it out. He twisted the cap off and drank the thick, syrupy liquid. It was hell running down this throat and into his stomach, but it made everything feel more tolerable.