A knock came to the door.
“Come in,” Vince bellowed.
The door opened and Seth stepped inside. He was cleaned up. He stood with his hands behind his back. His eyes were tired and weak. Fear and guilt spread across his face. Vince could almost read his thoughts, enjoying the fear as it poured from the man.
“Take a seat, Seth,” Vince said.
Vince kicked a chair out. Seth walked to the chair and sat.
“Vince, I have to explain this,” Seth said.
“I know you do. You were supposed to go and take care of something for me. For the club. That problem was supposed to be solved, yet that problem just fucking walked by me with Lucas.”
“Shit. She’s here?”
Vince nodded. “She’s here. Want to go see her?”
“No, please. I can’t. I can’t see her right now. Should I just take my jacket off right now?”
“You don’t have to take your jacket off, Seth,” Vince said. “Just tell me what happened.”
“It’s not easy, Vince,” Seth said. He ran his hands through his hair. “I got there and everything started to come at me at once. I had guns on the seat. I had knives on the seat. I waited for her. I stared at the apartment and saw the light on. I waited, Vince, I really did.”
“Okay. First thing, calm down. Let me show a little piece of faith here.”
Vince reached into his jacket and pulled out a handgun. Seth tensed and stiffened. Vince knew the power he held at the helm of Full Moon Mercy. The thing was, if Vince wanted Seth dead, he’d already have been dead. The hit on Leah was supposed to look fast, choppy, sloppy. That’s why he chose Seth. He knew Seth would hesitate, but he didn’t anticipate Seth to just pussy out on it.
Vince took the magazine out of the gun and put both pieces on the table. He then took his bottle of booze and offered it to Seth.
“Take a drink, brother. Calm down.”
“Sorry,” Seth whispered. He took the bottle and drank. His eyes watered and he swallowed ten times before slapping his hand to the table. “What in the fuck is that?”
“Good stuff,” Vince said. “Thickens the blood. Now keep talking.”
“I waited and the temptation started to build inside me,” Seth said. “It wasn’t like anything I’ve felt before. I wanted to shift, Vince. I wanted to take her down as a wolf. I wanted to taste flesh and blood of the woman that was going to take our club down.”
“Whoa, whoa,” Vince said. “Nobody said this chick was taking the club down. I needed a distraction taken away, that’s all. Shit, Seth.”
“I’m sorry,” Seth said. “The feelings were so intense. I had this sense of power running through me. I wanted to control it. I told myself I needed to just do it. Take care of the situation. Told myself that I would remember after, each time I stepped into the club and each time I saw Lucas. Then a car pulled in and I watched this couple get out. They were happy. They were horny. I could smell. Shit, Vince, I could almost taste it.”
“Tell me you didn’t kill them,” Vince said.
“I didn’t kill them,” Seth said. “Right after that, Leah came out of her apartment. Seeing her made me freeze. The panic set in. It’s Lucas girl, right? Can I just go up to her and kill her? Before I knew it, she was in her car and speeding away. It was almost like she sensed me looking at her.”
Vince rubbed his face. “Fuck.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Stop saying you’re sorry,” Vince said. “I tried to give you a chance to prove something to this club. To show me you could handle real situations. What did you do? You froze. You sat there and watched her walk away.”
“Vince…”
Vince put his hand up. “But with that, I guess I owe an apology.”
“An apology?”
“That’s a hard kill to make,” Vince said. “The situation is sensitive in itself and yet I sent you out there like that. You have nothing to fear Seth, okay? I just want you to take what you can from it and learn. Know that there are difficult times in this club and those difficult times require action.”
Seth stood from his seat and looked at Vince. Vince knew his words would be more of a shot to Seth than beating the shit out of him. Hell, even if Vince put a bullet in Seth’s arm or leg, the impact wouldn’t have been the same as what Vince just said. He basically just made it clear to Seth that he was weak. That he was unable to help when needed.
“I hope we understand each other,” Vince said.
“I got it,” Seth said. “If I could have shifted…”
“We know that not all kills are that simple. There’s a backlash to everything we do around here. To each other. In town. Surrounding towns and crews. You’re smarter than that, which I know because you didn’t shift and cause a bigger problem.”
“I need a drink,” Seth said.
Vince bumped his fingers into the bottle in front of him. Seth waved it off.
“I can’t,” he said. “That stuff will kill someone.”
Vince took the bottle and drank from it, proving another point. Then he stood and opened his arms, welcoming Seth in for a hug.
“Someday, brother,” Vince said. “Someday.”
“I was there though,” Seth said. “Just seeing her… it was like going after Lucas.”
“I know,” Vince said. “I know.” Vince took Seth by the face. “Now go get a drink. And a woman. Forget about tonight.”
He slapped Seth in the face and watched him leave.
Vince put his fingertips to the table and sighed. He needed Lucas to be focused. Debbie needed his attention and Debbie needed him. Lucas couldn’t abandon Debbie and the life inside her stomach. That life was important.
The door to the conference room opened and Mandy walked in.
Tall, sultry, and seductive, she always brought a smile to Vince’s face.
“I take it your meeting didn’t go as planned,” Mandy said.
“Did you see our guest tonight?” Vince asked.
“I saw,” Mandy said. “Doesn’t surprise me at all, Vince.”
“Yeah, I know.”
Mandy was close enough to touch and Vince grabbed her for a hug. The feel of her curvy body against his made Vince find more meaning to live. He inhaled the scent of Mandy. This life in Debbie’s body wasn’t just about Lucas. It was about Vince and Mandy, too. The life they could never create. The life they could hold.
“How is she doing?” Vince asked.
“Miserable,” Mandy said.
“That’s to be expected.”
“She wants to die.”
“We’ll get her moved soon. I just need Lucas to be there.”
“Your wish might be coming true then,” Mandy said.
“Is that so?” Vince asked.
“Lucas and his not-so-dead girl just went to go see Debbie.”
5
Leah hung behind Lucas, his hand wrapped tight around hers. They were down the back hall of the club and walking down a set of steps Leah didn’t know existed. The steps were inside but at the back of the building. They scaled top to bottom, right into a musty basement area.
“The front is where they keep supplies for the nightclub,” Lucas said. “Back here, nobody knows about and nobody is allowed to know about. Got it?”
“Lucas, of course,” Leah said.
She could be trusted. She would never say a word to anyone, not that she had anyone to talk to. Those she worked with were kept to relationships based on worked. Outside work, Leah had the town of Mercy and nothing else. Except Lucas.
Her mind then thought about everything Lucas had said at the restaurant. This situation with Debbie was more serious than Leah could have ever believed. The last time Leah saw Debbie, she was sitting on Lucas’s bed. Her stomach was flat, her demeanor was of sex, and she had the luster of a woman desperate to have sex with Lucas.
“We keep a few rooms down here in case of a problem,” Lucas said. “Cops, bullshit, you know? This is where we’re keeping Debbie. H
ope you can handle this, Leah.”
Leah nodded.
Lucas took a key from his pocket and opened the door. They stepped inside and Leah felt her jaw drop. This was a room, this was an apartment. A fully furnished apartment, complete with a full kitchen, appliances, everything.
Leah turned a corner and saw a living room. She heard the television and then saw Debbie sitting on the couch. The sight of her stomach made Leah gasp. That called Debbie’s attention. She looked and scowled.
“Why did you bring that bitch here?” Debbie asked.
“Debbie, we’re here to help you,” Lucas said. “Okay?”
“Help me?” Debbie asked. She lifted her shirt to show more of her stomach. She touched her stomach. “Tell me what’s inside me, Lucas. What did you do to me?”
“You know we’re not going to do that,” Lucas said. “Whether you like it or not, Debbie, you need Leah’s help.”
“Is that right?” Debbie asked. She pushed at the couch and forced herself to stand. “Why?”
“There’s a doctor that can help you,” Lucas said. “We’re going to take you there. To fix all this.”
“How are you going to fix this?”
“Debbie, you’re going to give birth soon.”
“How? How is it possible?”
Lucas let go of Leah’s hand. Leah hung back and watched as Lucas approached Debbie. When he was in reach, she hugged him. The jealousy came to Leah instantly and the look Debbie gave her only made things worse. Lucas didn’t hug Debbie back right away, but when he finally did, Leah found the strength to just accept it. Lucas was the father of whatever baby was inside Debbie’s belly.
“I can try to help you,” Leah said. “If you’re uncomfortable. If you need something.”
“I need to know why the fuck you care?” Debbie asked. Her arms were still tight around Lucas’s neck.
“I care about Lucas,” Leah said. “That’s why.”
Lucas broke the hug and backed up. “Tell me how you feel right now, Debbie.”
“I feel like death,” Debbie said. She had her hands to her stomach again. “Sometimes I feel like I’m connected to all this. Sometimes I don’t. Sometimes I look at my stomach and feel there’s something not human inside me. Like I’m going to explode. And the urges, Lucas, the urges are growing.”
“What urges?” Leah asked.
“Tell the bitch to leave,” Debbie said. “Or I’ll fucking kill her.”
“Whoa, wait a second,” Lucas said. He stood between Leah and Debbie. “Nobody needs to kill anyone.”
“Yes, I do,” Debbie said.
There was a look in Debbie’s eyes that scared Leah. The look was almost inhuman. Like she had the true urge to kill. Like she would actually do it.
“Why don’t I step out for a minute?” Leah asked. “I don’t want you uncomfortable, Debbie.”
“Then fuck off,” Debbie spat.
“Christ, stop this shit,” Lucas yelled. “This is why I didn’t want to come.”
“You didn’t want to come?” Debbie asked.
She looked at Lucas, her eyes filling with tears.
Leah began to step back and work her way to the door. Lucas eyed her and finally succumbed and nodded. They didn’t need to speak to communicate. The second Leah left the secret living space and closed the door, her heart sank. She knew she could just leave. Walk out and leave forever. The thought crossed her mind and the thought made sense. But there was that feeling inside Leah… beyond the way she felt for Lucas. It was that feeling of being watched. The moment she stepped out of her apartment before, the feelings attacked her. Even when she got to the restaurant, she spent the time waiting for Lucas by looking in her mirrors, hoping nothing would happen to her.
Now the feeling returned.
Leah put her ear to the door and listened to Lucas and Debbie talk.
“You can’t act like this, Debbie,” Lucas said. “Leah has done nothing wrong.”
“She fucking took you from me when I need you.”
“I wouldn’t be with you even if I didn’t have Leah. We hooked up, Debbie.”
“You knocked me up.”
“I know. I can’t be sorry because of… well, who I am. You’ll understand everything. Let Leah help you. You’ll have another woman to talk to. To turn to.”
Leah heard silence for a while. She then heard the sound of Debbie crying.
“You don’t know the feeling,” Debbie wept. “The feeling so deep…”
“What feeling?” Lucas asked. “I need to know.”
“I’m hungry.”
“Okay. Then eat. Whatever you want, I’ll go right now.”
“No, Lucas, it’s not that… the hunger…”
Leah shut her eyes for a second. She shivered at what Debbie probably hungered for. She found herself pressing on the door handle again and silently opening the door. She stepped back into the secret living space.
“What hunger, baby?” Lucas whispered.
Baby?
Leah swallowed hard and took another step.
“The hunger for life,” Debbie said. “Does that make sense? It comes to me, Lucas. It’s not just food. It’s life. Like I want to taste something…”
Leah looked around the corner and saw Lucas with his hands to Debbie’s stomach. It looked like it had grown in the few minutes Leah had been gone. That was probably impossibly, but maybe not.
“What do you want to taste?” Lucas asked.
Debbie leaned closed to Lucas. All Leah could do was endure. She damn well could have ran into the room and knocked Debbie out of the way, but she thought about Lucas at the restaurant. All he said. What this meant. The life inside Debbie’s body wasn’t human. Leah had seen enough of Lucas to know nothing was human around Full Moon Mercy.
Debbie placed her lips to Lucas’s lips and Lucas pulled back. “Debbie, please…”
“I need it,” she whispered to Lucas. “The hunger. The urge.”
“Not right now,” Lucas said. He touched Debbie’s hair and moved it behind her ears. “Just relax the best you can. I’m trying my best right now. I need you to find a way to trust me and Leah. We will get you to the right doctor and this will all work out.”
Leah stepped from the shadows and stood in silence. Lucas looked back at her and smiled. Just looking into his eyes made her feel safe and comfortable. The more distance put between he and Debbie, the better Leah felt.
Leah looked at Debbie and offered a quick smile.
“Don’t fucking judge me,” Debbie said.
“I’m not,” Leah said. “I wouldn’t.”
“Look,” Lucas said. “We came to see you, Debbie. I feel bad for just stepping away like I did. This isn’t Leah’s fault. This is my own fault. I’ll make everything right. I’ll make…”
A pounding sounded at the door.
Leah jumped and Debbie cried out.
“Fuck,” Lucas said. “You two stand back.”
Lucas took a gun from the back of his pants and pointed it at the door. He ran to the door and Leah heard it open.
“What the hell, bro,” Lucas yelled. “Damn, Cooper.”
Leah sighed. She looked to her right and saw Debbie standing just inches away from her.
“We gotta leave,” Cooper said. “Right now, brother.”
“For what?”
“Big mess.”
“Shit. Hold on.”
Lucas appeared and looked at Leah, then Debbie. Then back to Leah.
“You have to leave,” Leah said.
“Business,” Lucas said. “I’d rather you down here, Leah.”
“Okay,” Leah said. “That’s okay with me.”
“Debbie?” Lucas asked.
“Whatever. The bitch can stay.”
Lucas made fists and looked at Leah again. Leah wanted to run to him and jump into his strong arms. The arms of a man and the arms of a beast. But she resisted, knowing better then to do that in front of Debbie.
“Be safe,” Leah said.<
br />
“Be safe,” Debbie mocked.
Lucas was gone and the room was full of tension. Leah knew she needed to move gently around Debbie. There was so much to say, so much to ask, but she knew Debbie was on a thin line of patience.
“You can sit,” Debbie said.
“I’m okay here,” Leah said.
“You think you’re fucking special, don’t you?”
“I never said that.”
Debbie turned and stepped toward Leah. Leah backed up until she hit a wall.
“Are you afraid of me?”
“No.”
“I could kill you. You have no idea what’s rushing through my mind right now.”
“I trust Lucas,” Leah said. “He’d never put me in harm’s way.”
“Is that so?”
Debbie smiled. Leah saw Debbie’s hand a split second before it connected with her face. The slap hurt, bringing a temporary blackness to her vision, but also constant pain. Leah didn’t touch her face but she feel if she did she’d felt the fingerprints of Debbie’s hand.
“You just hit me,” Leah said.
“I did. What the fuck are you going to do about it?”
Leah couldn’t control herself. She needed to take a stand. If not now, then Debbie would walk on her every time they were together.
Leah came at Debbie with force, pushing her first and then punching her in the face second. Her fist connected with Debbie’s cheek and Leah cried out more than Debbie did. Debbie stumbled back and fell to her ass. She put her hands to the floor and looked down at her stomach.
“I’m pregnant, you bitch.”
“It’s not my baby… or thing,” Leah said.
She stood over Debbie and after a few seconds, she offered her hand. Debbie took it and Leah pulled her up.
“You’re psycho,” Debbie said.
“How long have you been pregnant? Seven months?”
Debbie’s lip curled. “I thought you were here to help.”
“I am. But I’m not going to be attacked by you or anyone around here. Understood?”
“Fair enough. Can we sit down? It hurts to stand for too long.”
The two women sat on opposite ends of the couch. Leah held her silence, leaving Debbie to open the door to conversation.
“Do you know anything about this doctor?” Debbie asked.
The True Beast (A Full Moon Mercy Novel) (shifter / MC romance) Page 3
