Wolf Rebel

by Paige Tyler

  After the kid left, Knox topped off their teas, then grabbed a slice of pizza. Rachel did the same, adding parmesan cheese to hers before handing the shaker to Knox.

  “Are you honestly saying you don’t remember chasing the SUV through the parking garage and halfway to the interstate while blood was leaking out of you?” he asked.

  She took a big bite of pizza. The crust wasn’t too thick or too thin, but somewhere perfectly in between, while the marinara sauce was spicy yet sweet, the mozzarella cheese was gooey and delicious, and the ratio of pepperoni per slice was perfect. She was even more glad now the kid had messed up and brought them large pies.

  “I know it’s bizarre, but it’s the truth,” she said. “I remember the ambush and running through the hall while tracking their scents. The next thing I can recall was standing in the middle of the road with my hands on your chest. I don’t remember getting shot or running after the SUV or anything in between.”

  “Has this happened to you before?” he asked, picking up another slice of pizza.

  “I’ve zoned out a few times since coming back from LA, but nothing like this,” she admitted. “I thought it was because I’ve only been getting an hour or two of sleep a night, but now, I’m not so sure.”

  “A person can’t go for very long on a few hours of sleep,” he said. “I’ve done it for prolonged periods a few times on missions and it sucks, but what you’re doing sounds worse. If you don’t give your body the rest it needs, it’s going to shut down.”

  She finished that slice of pizza and helped herself to another. “It’s not like I’m doing it on purpose. I’ve had a hard time sleeping lately.”

  “Nightmares?”

  She looked up sharply. “How did you know that?”

  It was Knox’s turn to shrug. “I was outside your apartment the other night, remember? I heard you scream, then saw you walk into the living room. You looked freaked out, and since no one else was in there with you, I figured it must have been a nightmare.”

  Rachel sat there with a half-eaten slice of pizza in her hand, trying to wrap her head around Knox seeing her after she’d had a nightmare when she was covered in sweat and looking like crap. That thought bothered her for some reason.

  “I get nightmares a lot,” she admitted, deciding there was nothing to be gained from lying or ragging on him for being a stalker and a Peeping Tom. “They make it hard to sleep.”

  “How often do you get them?”

  “Pretty much every night.”

  She stared down at her plate so she wouldn’t have to see the pity on his face. She didn’t want him looking at her that way—like she was broken AF.

  “Does this have to do with the clown who attacked you in the graveyard?” Knox asked.

  Rachel suddenly wanted to tell him everything. That the clown who’d almost killed her was still haunting her to this day. That he was driving her more insane every day. But she censored herself at the last moment, afraid she’d scare Knox away.

  So instead, she nodded. “His name is Horace Watkins, and he worked as a clown of one type or another for most of his adult life. If you ask me, that’s what drove him crazy. I mean, it has to be tough making a living being something that freaks everybody out. As far as I’m concerned, that’s worse than being a dentist.”

  Across from her, Knox’s mouth edged up.

  “Anyway, he went nuts one day and kidnapped a teenager, then dragged her to a nearby graveyard and started carving her up,” Rachel continued. “Someone called 911 saying they’d heard screaming coming from the cemetery, so since the place was on my beat, I went to check it out. In the interim, Hannah managed to get away from Watkins and hid in the woods. When she saw me, she ran out of the darkness and right into my arms.” She shuddered a little at the memory of that night. “I got her back to my patrol car just as Watkins showed up. He did a number on me with the same knife he used on Hannah, then went after her again. I finally took him down and cuffed him, but he damn near killed me. Even before that, I never thought much of clowns. But now, I frigging hate them.”

  “I don’t blame you,” Knox said. “I’m guessing he got one hell of a long prison sentence.”

  “Yeah, but that didn’t stop me from being a complete mess for weeks following the attack.” She dropped her gaze, finding it easier to talk to her slice of pizza than to the guy across from her. “The trauma of getting stabbed multiple times by a clown was bad enough, but I was also dealing with the whole werewolf thing to boot. One moment, I wanted to hide in a corner, and the next I wanted to rip somebody apart. But even that wasn’t as bad as the nightmares.”

  “Didn’t you talk to anyone?” Knox asked. “Police departments offer help for stuff like that, right?”

  “They do, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it.” She shrugged. “I guess part of it was the cop code. You know, never admitting something on the job is bothering you? But part of it was also my own stubborn nature. I was brought up in a tough family to be a tough girl. I refused to let something as stupid as a damn clown in a graveyard get to me. Besides, it wasn’t like I could tell the department shrink I’d been waking up in the middle of the night with blood in my mouth because I kept biting myself with my flashy new fangs. I was pretty sure that wouldn’t have gone over well.”

  Knox frowned. “So you’ve been having these nightmares since your change?”

  She shook her head, finishing that slice of pizza and reaching for another before answering. “The nightmares gradually faded over the next several months as I came to grips with everything that’d happened. It also helped that I was able to figure out the whole werewolf thing a little while later. After that, things became almost normal for a while. Then the nightmares started showing up again two months ago. They weren’t too bad at first, but they’ve been getting worse lately.”

  “Two months ago?” he repeated. “That was around the time I showed up at the wedding reception with the hunters.”

  She gave him a small smile. “As much as I’d like to blame it all on you, I can’t. I thought I’d dealt with my demons, but now I realize I’d simply done a good job of shoving them in a dark closet somewhere. Now those demons are out, and the nightmares are back worse than ever.”

  Rachel expected Knox to ask what she saw in those nightmares—something she definitely didn’t want to get into—so she was extremely grateful when he turned his attention to the pizza. Maybe she’d get out of this dinner without having to reveal how completely screwed up she really was.

  “How’d you figure out the whole werewolf thing on your own?” he asked, catching her off guard and with a mouthful of pizza.

  She sipped her tea to wash it down. That part of the story she could talk about without breaking into a cold sweat. “I didn’t really do it on my own. I was still working street patrol five months after the attack when I responded to a suspicious activity call down near the river. There are a lot of abandoned buildings down there, so it’s a prime location for transients to live. As I was searching the area, I picked up a scent that seemed vaguely familiar, so I followed it and found three female beta werewolves hiding out in one of the buildings, terrified and nearly starving to death. Hunters had been tracking them for weeks and had already killed their alpha, so they were beyond relieved to finally see another werewolf. I think they were hoping I’d become their new alpha, while I was just thrilled to realize I wasn’t alone in all this.”

  “What happened?” Knox prompted, transferring another slice of pizza to her plate, then doing the same for himself.

  Rachel picked up the cheese shaker and sprinkled some on it. “They lived in my apartment with me for about a month, and it was amazing. They taught me so much about what it means to be a werewolf, and I made sure they had food on the table and kept them safe. Being around other werewolves was calming for me, so that helped, too.”

  “So, why didn’t you want to b
ecome their alpha?”

  “It wasn’t that I didn’t want to,” she said. “While they were awesome to hang out with, my inner wolf instinctively knew we weren’t supposed to become a pack. But with hunters crisscrossing the country, killing every werewolf they could find, I realized it wasn’t safe for them to stay in Chattanooga on their own, so when they mentioned hearing about a SWAT team in Dallas made up of a huge pack of alpha werewolves who were offering protection to any werewolf who came to them, I put all three of them on a plane and got them to safety.”

  He finished that slice and grabbed another. “You didn’t come out here at the same time?”

  “I was tempted,” she admitted. “But I didn’t want to show up in their city looking for a handout, so I stayed with the Chattanooga PD for a little while longer, volunteering for SWAT cross-training, so I’d have the résumé of someone they’d want on their team.”

  Knox snorted. “You’re a cop and an alpha werewolf. Why wouldn’t they want you?”

  “I didn’t want to make it because I had claws and fangs,” she said. “I wanted to make it because I’m a good cop.”

  They polished off two more slices of pizza while she told him what it had been like for her to show up at the SWAT compound and ask for a job, as well as how quickly her teammates had accepted her into their pack.

  “They’re like family now,” she added.

  “Speaking of family,” he said in between bites of pizza. “Does your real family know you’re a werewolf?”

  Rachel almost snorted iced tea out her nose. She could only imagine how her family would react if she sat them down and announced she was a werewolf. Half of them would hurt themselves laughing, while the other half would probably go for their guns.

  “No, they don’t know I’m a werewolf,” she said. “I love the hell out of my family, but there’s no way I could trust them with something like this. If it were just me, I might try it, but there are other werewolves I have to worry about. If I told my family and one of them slipped up and said something they shouldn’t at the wrong time to the wrong person, it could mean death and misery for a lot of innocent people.”

  “Don’t you think you’re exaggerating a little?” he asked. “I think people can handle the truth better than you think.”

  She lifted a brow. “You mean like your hunter buddies did? They handled the truth by hunting us down, torturing us, and executing us for fun. You don’t think there aren’t thousands of other people out there just like them who’d want to kill us simply because we’re different? If you don’t realize that’s how the world works, then you aren’t as smart as I gave you credit for.”

  Knox flushed beneath his tan. “I was being naïve, I know. I guess it’s because I was hoping I’d be able to tell someone else about what I am. You’ve got your pack, but I don’t have anyone, and I’ve already experienced how shitty it is dealing with this on my own.” He sighed. “But you’re right. Telling people would be risky. For everyone.”

  He fell silent after that, and Rachel felt kind of crappy for snapping at him. She knew what it was like to go it alone with this werewolf thing. It sucked.

  She was about to point out that he wasn’t in this thing alone and that she would help him when her phone beeped at her. Wishing she could ignore it but knowing she couldn’t, she dug the thing out of the cargo pocket of her uniform pants and checked the screen.

  “It’s a text from Diego.”

  Knox’s mouth quirked. “Don’t tell me he’s worried I’ve kidnapped you already?”

  She laughed. She’d kind of thought the same thing. “No. He wanted to let me know they’ve identified the guy you shot at the mall. His name is Keylor Mora and he’s a freelance killer for hire from Costa Rica. They also found the SUV we chased in an alley a few miles from the mall—on fire. No one thinks they’re going to find any evidence when they get the thing put out, so no clue yet on who the other two assassins are. The chief is working with the State Department and TSA to see if all three might have flown into Dallas together.”

  “That’s unlikely, especially if they’re professionals.”

  Rachel silently agreed. Alton Marshall hiring outside help made complete sense, but there was nothing to say the three men came from the same part of the world. More likely, they were complete strangers who’d arrived separately. No doubt each one had their own escape plan in place.

  “Here’s your bill. Thanks for coming.”

  She looked up to see their server standing at their table. This time he didn’t leave but, instead, waited for them to pay. In the kitchen, the remaining members of the restaurant staff were eyeing them with expressions that clearly said they were eager to go home.

  Rachel glanced at her watch to see that it was well after midnight. She hadn’t even realized until then that both pizzas were gone, along with the breadsticks and iced tea. She reached for the bill, but Knox got there first. She let him win. While she was all about girl power, she still liked the guy to pay. Besides, he still owed her for being a hunter.

  Once outside, they walked over to his bike, a big Harley that made Rachel think of huge guys with long gray beards. Not that Knox fit that image.

  Tugging off her ponytail holder, she shoved it in her pocket, then picked up the helmet. She was about to put it on when the look on Knox’s face stopped her. “What?”

  “Nothing,” he said. “I just wanted to tell you that if you ever need someone to talk to about those nightmares, I’m available. I know I’m not a therapist, but I’m a good listener. I also have more than my fair share of experience with nightmares and trying to forget things that keep a person up at night.”

  Before she could answer, Knox climbed on the bike and started it up, the deep rumble of the engine echoing in the night. Slipping on the helmet, she threw her leg over the seat, climbing on and putting her boots on the rear pegs like he’d taught her. She wrapped her arms around his middle, tucked her hands under his coat to keep them warm, then pressed her bare cheek against his back and held tightly as he applied the gas and they took off.

  The bike growled under her like a beast, vibrations spiraling through her body. The sensation was surprisingly relaxing, like the monster they were riding was keeping other more menacing monsters at bay.

  As they sped along the street, Rachel thought about Knox’s offer to tell him about her nightmares. Her first instinct was to scoff at the idea. If she was going to tell anyone about her dreams, it would be someone in her pack, right?

  But then she realized she didn’t want to talk to any of her pack mates—not about the nightmares at least. The idea of talking to Knox appealed to her on a level she had a hard time understanding. How could she want to tell her secrets to a guy she barely knew? Especially one who’d wanted to kill people like her only a little while ago?

  She didn’t have an answer to that question. Luckily, she didn’t have to worry about it because the bike was way too noisy to think anyway.

  Scooting up closer to Knox’s back, Rachel squeezed her arms around him a little more, letting the rumble of the bike and the heat of his body soothe her conflicted soul.

  Chapter 8

  Knox had to force himself not to glance down when a herd of teenage girls walked past him, all of them trying to act as if they weren’t looking at him out of the corner of their eyes and failing horribly. When the girls fell apart in a fit of giggles after making it a few feet, he gave up and looked down at himself just to confirm he had, in fact, remembered to put on pants tonight. Yes, he had, and no, that didn’t make him feel any better. He’d never been happier in his life than when he’d left the juvenile drama of high school behind, yet here he was, right back in the middle of it and hating it as much as ever. Whose bright idea was it for him to play bodyguard/chaperone at this high school dance anyway?

  Then he heard a devious chuckle from beside him and remembered exactly whose fault this
was.

  “Damn, have you ever seen so much jailbait in your whole life?” Theo murmured, his eyes narrowing as he scanned the crowded gymnasium of kids all dressed in their finery for the Valentine’s dance.

  Knox tried to decide whether he wanted to slug the asshole or simply throw up. Since the former would almost certainly get him charged with assault and the latter would make a mess all over the place, he went for option three. “I might have said this before, but in case I didn’t, I think you’re the most disgusting human I’ve ever met. And trust me when I say this—I’ve met some people that seriously qualify as scum of the earth.”

  Theo didn’t have enough character to be insulted when someone called him a piece of crap. Instead, the moron laughed like he thought it was the funniest thing in the world.

  “You know, that’s one of the things I like about you,” he said, clapping Knox on the shoulder. “You’re willing to say what’s on your mind even if it could get you fired.”

  “Acting first and worrying about the consequences later is the story of my life,” Knox said dryly. “Should I go back to the office and turn in my weapon and tactical gear?”

  “Yeah right. Like I can do without you right now.” Theo let out a snort. “Our dear prosecutor seems to trust you with her daughter’s life. After what happened at the mall the other night, I doubt she would have let her kid even come to this dance if you weren’t here to protect her. For whatever reason, the woman demanded you and that sexy piece of ass, Rachel, be assigned to protect her kid 24–7.”

  Knox bit back a growl. Hearing Rachel’s name come out of Theo’s mouth was enough to make him want to rip out the guy’s throat. The thought made his fangs extend half an inch, and this time, he did let out a low growl. Good thing the music in the gym was so loud or there’s no way Theo would have missed it. “Maybe it’s because Jennifer recognizes we actually care about keeping the kid safe.”

  “Whatever.” Theo shrugged as if he couldn’t care less. “Speaking of protecting the brat, I’m going out front to nab Ethan and Gerald and take them back with me to the mansion.”