by Michelle Fox
“Walk tall, lone wolf,” returned Dixon.
Gretchen held up her bottle, but neither Keira nor Dixon touched their beers to hers. Feeling dumb, she took a sip when they did, acting like nothing had happened. When they settled onto bar stools, she followed suit, not wanting to stand out. With shifters, being different sometimes meant being a target and they’d already snubbed her once.
“Walk tall, lone wolf,” she echoed. “I haven’t heard that one before. And isn’t ‘never say die’ from a James Bond movie or something?
Keira rolled her eyes but gave a friendly smile. “Stray talk. That’s all. We have our own lingo out here in the big, cruel world.”
Gretchen felt a blush heat her cheeks. Gah. She hadn’t meant to be rude. “Sorry. I didn’t intend to pry.”
Dixon waved a hand. “Don’t worry about it. We’re still shifters. We’re not that different.”
Keira choked on her beer. Swallowing and wiping a dribble off her chin she said, “Speak for yourself, Dixie.”
“What’s it like?” Gretchen asked. “I mean,” she ducked her head, “if you don’t want to talk about it, you don’t have to.” She looked around the bar, a dim, seedy room where everything in it, from the floors to the walls to the furniture was scarred and in not great condition. She did notice the kitchen visible through the pick-up window behind the bar looked clean, although the fry oil smelled like it needed to be changed. “Do you guys live here?”
Keira shook her head. “No. It’s just our command center.”
“Talon owns the bar and keeps his office here,” added Dixon. He pointed up to a loft overhead. “We have some work space up there. My computers for example and there’s some cots for the few times we don’t make it home.”
“What about Talon? You said he owns the bar, is this where he lives, too?”
“I think he does stay here a lot, but he actually has a home,” said Keira walking back behind the bar to snag a bowl of peanuts.
Dixon’s eyebrows went up. “Talon has a house?”
Keira gave the man a look, pausing mid-step. “Yeah, you didn’t know that?”
He shook his head, watching as Keira set the peanuts down in front of them. “But I haven’t been here as long as you have.”
“How long has it been?” Gretchen reached for a peanut and cracked it open with her thumbs. She wished she could slip back into the kitchen and whip up a nice pizza, but there probably wasn’t time and it wasn’t likely to be well-received. Shifters were territorial about everything and she knew better than to do anything without an invitation.
“Me? Just about six months.” Dixon took a handful of nuts and broke the shells with a quick squeeze of his fist.
“My ten year anniversary was last month,” said Keira, her tone flat.
“I can’t imagine being a stray that long.” Gretchen shook her head. “I can’t even imagine it for a day.”
“Well, you’re living it now.” Keira spread out her hands. “Welcome to the wild side, little girl. You’ve got no pack, no one to care if you live or die and no place to call home. This is where hopes and dreams die long before your body is done.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to offend you.” Gretchen cringed at the harsh tone of Keira’s voice.
“I’m not offended, but be careful what you ask, you might not like my response.” Keira tilted her head back and sucked down the last of her beer. “I won’t tell you pretty lies.”
Taking Keira’s blunt invitation, Gretchen asked, “How did you end up a stray? What happened?”
Keira’s movements instantly slowed as she absorbed the impact of Gretchen’s question. She gently set her now empty beer bottle down on the table and stared into the peanuts for several long seconds. Then with a soft, quiet voice she said, “I killed my mate.”
Gretchen tried to keep her expression neutral, but she couldn’t prevent her eyes from widening. Next to her, Dixon had gone completely still, his eyes darting nervously from Gretchen to Keira and back again.
“Why?” Gretchen asked.
“Because for all that he owned my heart, he was a murderous bastard.” Keira locked gazes with Gretchen, her expression fierce. “It was either me or him and I wasn’t about to lie down and die. I’m no alpha, but I’m not a helpless bitch either.”
“I’m so sorry,” Gretchen said, trying to wrap her mind around a pack that would let a man beat his mate, for surely that was what Keira referred to, and not step in. Those situations were never supposed to go so far. It was the alpha’s job to ensure they didn’t. “Didn’t your alpha do something?”
Keira snorted. “You’re a total innocent, aren’t ya? Listen, when the alpha is your mate’s brother, he doesn’t do shit. That’s the truth of how packs work.”
“Not in my pack,” Gretchen said.
“Eh.” Keira waved her hand, unimpressed. “Wait until you’ve put a few more miles on that body of yours. You’ll see the truth of it sooner or later. Packs are political as shit and even alphas have to be careful about who they cross” Keira slouched on her barstool, arms crossed over her chest. With a sigh, she said, “At least they let me see my kids.”
“You have kids?” Gretchen’s eyes went wider still. She couldn’t help it, everything Keira said was a shock. Her life hadn’t been peachy keen either, but Keira’s was worse. Way worse. For all that her mom had run out on them, she’d always had her pack and her dad. Keira had lost everything.
“Yeah. Two. A boy and a girl. They know the truth, and once they’re of age, they’re with me out here.” She gestured to the bar.
Gretchen started to point out that being strays didn’t hold much promise for their future, but thought better of it and bit her lip instead.
“I’m never going back and my kids want nothing to do with the Moon Claw pack. They know what their dad did.” She stared at her empty beer bottle, glum.
“I would give anything to go back,” said Dixon quietly. “Being a stray is no way to live.”
“How did you end up here?” asked Gretchen.
Dixon looked away, his shoulders slumped. “I’m not like Keira. I don’t like to talk about it.”
“All right, time to suit up, guys.” Talon strode out of his office, the heels of his boots thudding on the floor. Gretchen’s wolf jumped up at the sound of the sheriff’s voice, her ears pointing straight up.
He waved everyone over to him. “Let’s put this one to bed.”
Dixon and Keira left the bar to retrieve their costumes along with the rest of Talon’s crew, most of whom had been playing cards in the booth at the far end of the bar. When Gretchen saw the others pulling on their costumes, she followed suit. Once they were dressed, everyone piled into a large cargo van, their masks tucked under their arms. Gretchen moved to take a seat in the rear of the vehicle, but Talon pulled her back.
“You ride up front.”
Keira looked at the sheriff with narrowed eyes, her hand on the passenger door handle. “She does?”
“You got a problem, deputy?” Talon stared Keira down while Gretchen looked away, not wanting to be part of the confrontation. Anger scented the air along with the brute, peppery dominance of Talon’s testosterone.
The deputy didn’t answer, just turned away and scrambled into the back of the van.
“I don’t want to cause trouble,” Gretchen said as Talon held the passenger door open for her. “I can sit in the back. It’s not a big deal.”
Talon motioned for her to get in. “I want you where I can see you.”
Casting an apologetic look back at Keira, Gretchen sat where she was told, which made her wolf very happy. Her other half wanted to be as close to Talon as possible. Chill. Nothing’s going to happen.
Talon drove them out to a secluded area, ringed by trees on all sides. No one talked much, but there was music at least. Honky-tonk blared from the speakers and Gretchen couldn’t help but tap her foot as she wondered what was next.
It was dusk now, the sun just a smear of n
eon orange across a dark sky. The moon was only quarter full, but Gretchen felt its pull anyway. The moonlight, weak as it was, teased her inner wolf, doing its best to coax her furry side out for a run.
Gretchen ignored the moon and focused on Talon, watching as he drove the van, his forearms flexing as he held the wheel. He’d treated her like one of his gang, his manner brusque and indifferent. She found herself missing the intensity of their earlier exchange. He’d scared her a bit, but also excited her, bringing a warm flush to her cheeks.
She’d refused to really think about it when it was happening, instead focusing on pressing her case and securing help for her father, but now she remembered the way the air had been thick with the earthy musk of his scent and how his gaze had made her feel like the center of a very small universe. Not to mention, her wolf had responded to the man like he was fresh meat.
Talon was handsome enough, with thick dark hair, eyes to match and the physique of a man who had total mastery of his body and its strength, but that wasn’t what had caught her attention. It had been his presence, the way he sucked all the oxygen out of the room that she had noticed most.
She wasn’t looking for love. The very last thing she needed was to complicate her life by getting involved with anyone, let alone a sheriff who lived among the strays. If her mom had lived in the pack her whole life and cut and run anyway, what would make a man with no ties stick around?
Chapter Eight
~Gretchen~
Talon pulled off the road and drove into the grass, the uneven ground jostling everyone in the van. He parked behind a row of trees crowded by thick bushes. “Okay. We’re here. Everyone out.”
With a sigh, Gretchen tucked her purse under the front seat and got out of the van with the rest of the shifter crew. Clutching the wolf head of her costume in front of her, she awaited further orders.
Talon wasted no time in barking out instructions. “We’re going to fan out and circle his house. Once we know his position, we’ll put on a show he can’t miss.” He waved one half of the group to the right. “You go that way. The rest of you go the other way, and you,” he pointed directly at Gretchen, his voice dipping down into a bass register, “come with me.”
She nodded as the rest of the group moved out as instructed. Within seconds they were alone and Talon was looking at her with a gaze that made her freeze. He stalked over to her and grabbed her hand. “Stay close to me. Do what I do. Follow my lead, got it?”
“Yes,” she said, her voice husky. Even with the costume blocking skin-to-skin contact, the feel of his strong hand wrapping around hers made her mouth dry. Her wolf was flipping out at the contact. She’d rolled onto her back displaying her belly while she wagged her tail. Don’t be such a slut, Gretchen barked at her other half, but she may as well have been talking to a wall. Wolves had their own agenda and it took a lot of effort from the human side to keep them from running amok.
They walked in silence through the woods ringing the housing development that she assumed was their target. The night was cool, but the costumes were hot and sweat ran down Gretchen’s back, dampening her hairline. Talon led the way with sure, steady strides, his ass contracting powerfully even through its faux fur covering. She watched him, transfixed by the idea of him naked, and then, inside her costume, she curled her fingers into her palms until her nails bit into her skin.
What is wrong with me? It wasn’t like she’d never seen a handsome alpha before.
Talon raised his arm and stopped abruptly. Gretchen tried not to crash into him, but she bounced off his back despite her best efforts. That caused the sheriff to spin around and lift up his mask so he could glare at her.
“You okay there, Halbmond?”
She lurched sideways, trying to regain her balance, and caught herself on a tree. “Yeah. Sorry. I wasn’t paying attention.”
“We’re almost there. Now’s not the time to check out.” He frowned at her before dropping his mask back in place.
“I know,” she said as the heat of embarrassment burned her cheeks. She was grateful the costume hid her reaction from him. “Where does this guy live, anyway?”
“At the end of the cul-de-sac,” came the short reply. “See the lights up there?” He pointed and she followed the line of his arm. About a half a block away sat a small ranch home. It looked like the rest of the homes in the development except the backyard was lit up like it was noon. Once full dark hit, it would glow like a super nova.
“What’s going on up there?” She narrowed her eyes and tried to puzzle out the reason for the lights, but the costume didn’t give her a clear view. Between the fuzz around the small eye holes and the way the stupid head kept moving forward on her head, she was lucky she hadn’t walked into a tree.
“I don’t know. We’ll need to find out. I don’t want to walk into a situation cold.” Talon yanked off his wolf head and wrestled with his costume, freeing his arms and then pushing the whole thing down to his waist so he could access his jean’s pocket. Pulling out his phone, he sent a quick text. A few seconds later, his phone chirped as a response came in. Reading it, Talon shook his head.
“What is it?” Gretchen tried to see his phone, but her wolf head kept shifting forward and blocking her line of sight.
“He’s set up an outdoor theater and is doing a live webcast. Perfect. I couldn’t have asked for a better situation.” He stashed his phone and shrugged his furry suit back on. Grabbing her hand, he said, “Come on. Let’s go.”
He moved faster now, almost running. Within minutes they came upon the house, and at that point, Talon slowed down, moving more carefully and considering his steps before he took them. Gretchen worked to stay close without flubbing it like she had earlier. Tripping and falling into Talon once had been humiliating enough.
They approached the backyard from the side of the house. The sound of people talking and laughing filled the air. Talon peered around the corner, taking in the scene, his hand up to keep Gretchen back. “He’s just about to show the video. Once that sinks in, you and I are on.”
“What are we going to do exactly? No one explained anything to me,” she hissed at him.
“Just a little play acting. Do as I do and roll with it, all right?” His fake wolf head spun to look at hers. Gretchen wondered if he could see any better than she could.
There was a communal gasp from the audience in the backyard as the video played. Aside from that, Gretchen heard animal grunting noises, which she attributed to the video. People were tittering now and a few actually guffawed. Curious, Gretchen peeked around Talon to try and see what was going on.
The backyard was set up for a party with several tables of food, and people sat in rows of plastic lawn chairs watching a large movie screen flicker with the image of two people dressed as furries and simulating sex. It was like watching stuffed animal porn. She started to giggle and Talon pulled her back.
“Shh. I don’t want them to spot us before we’re ready.” He threw back his head and released a short, high pitched howl.
An answering howl sounded in the distance, followed by another. The rest of Talon’s crew arrived, making as much noise as possible. They rustled the bushes and purposely moved slow enough to be spotted.
The people in the backyard muttered amongst themselves, trying to figure out what was going on.
“Okay, it’s show time.” Talon took her hand again and pulled her after him as he sauntered right into the thick of things. No one challenged them, just watched them pass with wide eyes and slack jaws. Talon went up to the screen and knocked it over with a swift kick.
“Hey, what are you doing?” yelled a heavy-set man wearing baggy camo pants and a T-shirt that read ‘Bigfoot is real.’ He darted over and quickly righted the screen. Then he stepped toward Talon, ready for a fight, but Talon stuck out a leg and tripped the guy.
Pulling off his costume head, he leaned down and said, “I could ask the same question. What are you doing taping my girlfriend and I like that, you sick
perv?” Talon gave a brief howl and the rest of the ‘furries’ stepped out of the shadows, revealing themselves to the crowd. Reaching for Gretchen, he pulled off her mask. “You didn’t have our permission to tape us or air it anywhere. You’d better not be making money off this, man.”
The guy scrambled to his feet, careful to stay well out of Talon’s range. “Dude, I didn’t tape you. I caught a werewolf. A real shape shifter. I don’t know where this video came from. It’s not mine.”
Talon scoffed and waved at the screen. “That’s me and her.” He pulled Gretchen close in a one armed hug. “See, our costumes match. We’re not werewolves. We’re furries, right honey?”
Gretchen nodded, her cheeks flaming with humiliation as everyone looked at her. Even her wolf was cowed, snapping out of her attempt at seductive submission and adopting a more protective stance.
Gretchen had never expected to be cast in the starring role of the furry porno. From the expression on everyone’s faces she knew all the humans were imagining her sex life as a stuffed animal. Great. Just great. She tried to step to the side, aiming to hide behind a bush, but Talon’s hand snaked out and caught her fake paw before she got too far. He yanked her against his hard, lean body with a warning look. Turning to the humans, he roared, “This woman is mine and I don’t share.”
Talon lowered his head then and seized Gretchen’s lips. Stunned, she didn’t respond at first, but as she registered that Talon was engaging in a very public display of affection, one that made her look like she thought foreplay involved dressing up like a stuffed animal, she freaked out. She shoved at his shoulders, attempting to get him off her, even though she knew from their earlier exchange that wouldn’t work. She bit at his lips then, but that just seemed to egg him on. He gripped her hair and held her in place as his tongue thrust into her mouth. Finally, she went for his feet, stomping as hard as she could on his toes.
He broke the kiss and stared deep into her eyes. “Easy baby. Go with the flow, remember?” his voice was a rough whisper, a register so low that, to humans, it would sound more like a growl than anything else.
