by JC Holly
Darren shrugged. “Sorry. Nice to see you again, Chris.”
Chris smiled in response, and Robby slapped him on the ass.
“We’re off somewhere quiet,” Robby said. “Wanna come?”
“No, I’m good,” Darren said. “Have fun.”
Robby laughed and led the man away. “I’m certain of it.”
Darren watched them leave, then turned back to the bar. The bartender had reappeared, but she was off to the side, chatting with someone else. They seemed to know each other well. From the size of the guy, Darren hoped never to get on his bad side. Strangely, he got the same odd sense of familiarity with the man as he did with the woman.
“Maybe I staggered in here drunk one night,” he muttered to his vodka.
There were a number of good-looking men on the dance floor, but the urge to dance was nowhere in sight. Instead he watched them gyrate for a while, then turned back to the bar. Yeesh. I come all this way, and now I don’t feel like doing a thing. If Robby didn’t reappear in twenty minutes, he decided, he’d head home.
“Hey.”
Darren glanced to his side to find a man sat there. Tall, short brown hair, piercing eyes…My night just picked up.
“Hey.” Darren swallowed the rest of his vodka. “Nice night.”
“Yeah.” The man held out a hand. “Name’s Paul. Not seen you in here before.”
Again, Darren got the weird sense, but this time he ignored it. Enough’s enough. It’s a bug or something. He shook Paul’s hand. He had a firm grip and warm hands. The kind of grip Darren liked on his cock.
“Darren. This is my first time. That I can remember, anyway.”
Paul smirked. “Partier, then?”
“Used to be. I’m preferring the quiet more and more lately.”
The man nodded and smiled. “Nasty mark on your arm, there.”
“Huh?” Darren glanced down to see that his shirt button had once again come undone, revealing his scar. “I really need to get a new shirt.”
“How’d you do that? Looks like a bite.”
“It was. Big dog while I was on holiday. Came out of nowhere.”
“Ouch.” Paul motioned to the bartender. “So, boyfriend? Husband?”
Darren smirked. He was back on familiar territory now. “Neither. You?”
“Same.” Paul turned on his stool a little, his knee brushing Darren’s. “Buy you a drink, or maybe we could head somewhere quieter?”
“Just the drink for now. I’ll take another vodka.”
He smiled and ordered a vodka and a beer from Avani, then turned back to Darren. “So. How long have you been a shifter?”
Darren’s stomach dropped through the floor. How the hell did this guy know about that? Darren hadn’t told a single person about his change. Not even Robby. He hadn’t even mentioned it on the various werewolf forums he’d trawled for info. Not even anonymously.
“I, uh, I don’t know what you mean.” He glanced from Paul to Avani. Both acted like it was an everyday occurrence. “What makes you think I’m a shifter?”
Paul raised an eyebrow. “You’re new, but you’re not that new. Smell me.”
Leave. Now. Darren swallowed hard. He was in over his head. What if these guys were hunters or something? Still, they hadn’t been anything other than friendly. He took a breath in through his nose like Paul had suggested. His scent was familiar, and it wasn’t just the niggle in the back of his mind this time.
“You were the other wolf,” he said, trying to stammer in shock. “Earlier today.”
Paul nodded. “This bar is owned and run by the local pack.” He frowned. “You didn’t know?”
Darren shook his head. “N–no. I–I, I mean, if I’d known…I know wolves are territorial.” He stood too quickly, and the vodka sped to his head. “I should go.”
He staggered toward the door, fighting the urge to fall over. He heard someone call behind him, but he kept going, his legs steadying as adrenaline kicked in. Have to get out of here. He pushed through the door, and a bouncer stepped into his path, no doubt on the command of someone inside. Darren pushed at the huge man’s chest, and to his surprise the man fell back as if hit by a car.
Darren turned toward home and ran.
* * * *
Paul watched from the doorway as Darren sprinted down the road. He could have easily caught up, but for now it was best to let the guy sober, sleep, and think.
“Nicely done, jackass,” Avani said from behind as she helped up the bouncer. “Real subtle.”
Paul turned back to her, his arms folded over his chest. “Bite me. Enforcers don’t do subtle.”
“Apparently not even when you’re off duty. If you hold down the bar, I’ll head after him.”
“No, it’s okay. He’ll need to cool off first. I’ll head over tomorrow or something.”
Avani nodded and headed back inside. Paul followed and took up his seat by the bar. Damn it. Avani was right. He rushed into it, and the guy panicked. He probably thought the pack were a bunch of assholes now.
“So,” Avani said, as she dropped her elbows to the bar, ignoring several customers’ calls. “You think he’d be a good addition?”
“Maybe. He’s certainly got the strength. You saw what he did to Dave, and that’s only after a few weeks, from what I saw of the scar. ’Nother week and it’ll be healed and he’ll be at full strength.”
“Dunno if he’s the enforcing type, though,” Avani said, chewing her bottom lip.
“True. Still, there are other spots he could take in the pack. Assuming he’s willing.”
A blond man walked up to the bar, a frown on his face. “You guys seen a guy named Darren? He was here earlier.”
“He said he was feeling ill,” Avani said. “Went home.”
“Oh.” The man rubbed the back of his neck. “Ah, I’m sure he’ll be all right. Can I get two martinis?”
Paul watched the man wander off toward a regular, then turned back to the bar. He’d check on Darren in the morning.
Chapter Three
The phone rang for the third time in five minutes, and Darren finally gave in and got out of bed.
“Yeah?”
“Darren, you okay?” Robby asked. “The bartender at the bar last night said you felt sick and went home.”
The night flashed before Darren’s eyes again, and he shuddered. “Yeah, I’m fine now. Nothing major.”
“Thank God for that. I was worried I might have caught something off you.”
“Ever the nurse, Robby.”
“Whatever. So you’re okay?”
“Completely.”
“Great, so I can tell you about my night.”
Darren restrained a sigh and sat on the edge of the bed while Robby described his two sexual encounters in great detail. Darren declined Robby’s permission to “jack off while I tell you” and instead ran over last night in his head pausing only to “uh huh” to Robby.
Paul had seemed nice, as had Avani, and there was no malice in their tones. Even when Paul mentioned that The Wolfpack was owned by the local pack, he didn’t seem to be threatening, or warning Darren away. It was more that he was just informing him. At the time, though, with confusion and adrenaline doing a number on Darren’s brain, he’d panicked.
“…he was hung like a porn star…”
“Uh huh,” Darren replied.
That sense of familiarity with certain people in the bar must have been some inbuilt shifter thing. The magic involved—was it magic?—must allow shifters to sense each other somehow. Which also meant that there were more shifters than Darren thought. At least half a dozen people had given him that same vibe, and who knew how big a pack was?
“And he came all over my face!”
“Uh huh.”
Ignoring the wolf side of things, there was also the fact that Paul had definitely been coming on to him. That, Darren could deal with. Did shifters mate for life, though? He wasn’t sure he wanted to be tied down so early on. And what abo
ut nonshifters? Darren hadn’t slept with anyone since the change, but was it transmittable through fluids other than saliva?
“Are you even listening?”
“Uh huh.”
“Darren!”
Darren snapped out of it. “Sorry, missed the last part.”
“Missed all of it, more like. Where’s your head?”
“My bad. Guess I’m still feeling a bit off. Bad head, sore throat, aches…”
Robby paused. “Hey, I have all those things, too. Shit.”
“Better get some rest. Maybe you can sleep it off.”
“Yeah, that sounds like an idea.”
Darren hung up and laughed. Robby had a hangover and was aching from a night spent fucking. It was cruel to make him think he was ill, but Darren wasn’t in the mood for talking.
Fate had other ideas though, it seemed, and someone knocked on the front door. Darren headed down and paused in the hall. The door was surrounded by opaque glass, but he could still make out a silhouette. Whoever it was, he was a big guy. Darren left the chain on the door and opened it a crack. His stomach lurched as Paul stepped back and peered through the gap.
“We need to talk, Darren.”
“We do?”
Paul sighed. “Or rather, I need to apologize.”
“Oh, right.”
Darren fingered the door chain. How did he know where he lived? He watched yesterday when we were shifted.
If the guy wanted to hurt him, he’d have kicked down the back door, not knocked politely on the front while leaving his truck on display in the driveway. Darren opened the door and gestured to the kitchen.
“Can I get you anything?”
Paul shook his head. “I’m good, thanks. Nice home.”
“Thanks.” Darren followed the man into the kitchen, and checked out the guy’s body as he did. Pretty damn nice, too. “Sit down.”
“So, about last night,” Paul said once he’d settled into a chair. “I completely screwed that up.”
“It’s okay.” Darren fiddled with the coffee maker. “I overreacted.”
“You had every right to. I rushed into it. I didn’t realize you didn’t know much about us.”
“Shifters, or your pack?”
Paul shrugged. “Both, I guess. Did you ever talk to the Were that bit you?”
“Were? Oh, shifter. Right.” Darren shook his head. “I was out walking in the hills, I was attacked, I fought him off and ran. I spent the night vomiting and feeling like death, and then the next day I was on my flight home with an attractive new scar.”
Paul sighed. “No wonder you’re jumpy around us. We’re not all like that. You get whack-job shifters just like you get whack-job humans.” He gestured to Darren’s arm. “I’m guessing it’s been a few weeks, so that’ll disappear within another week or so.”
“Two months, actually.” Darren scratched at the scar. “Nobody has seen it, so it’s no big deal if it fades away.”
“Two months?” Paul raised an eyebrow. “Wow. Explains how you knocked that bouncer down so easily.”
Darren winced. He’d forgotten about that. “What do you mean?”
“You were bitten by an old shifter. A very old one, in fact.”
“You can tell that from the scar?”
Paul nodded. “The older a Were is, the more potent its bite is, and the longer it takes for their victims to adapt to the changes. It also means that they become more powerful if they survive.”
Darren’s eyes widened. “Survive?”
“Don’t worry, you’re safe if you get through the first night. Bites from young Weres aren’t fatal, unless you include blood loss and the like, but the older ones can be. Once the Were is past sixty or so years, involuntary victims have a nine in ten chance of dying.”
“Yeesh.” Darren dropped into the chair beside Paul. “I had no idea.”
Paul smiled. “Hey, don’t worry about it. Like I said, you survived, and you’re stronger for it.”
“So, anyway.” Darren stood again to finish making his coffee. “I was wondering about this feeling I got around you.”
Paul raised an eyebrow. “Horniness?”
Darren laughed. “There was some of that, yes, but I meant a feeling like I knew you, but not quite.”
“Oh, yeah. You sensed I was a Were.”
“Thought so. So Avani is, too, and the big guy she was talking to just before you appeared.”
“Yup. And that was Ethan, probably. He’s the alpha, the leader of the pack. Also owns the bar. He was probably curious about the new blood.”
Darren winced. “Should I be avoiding the bar from now on?”
Paul laughed. “No, not at all. We’re not a territorial pack. As long as someone plays nice, so do we.”
“I’m glad.”
“Just one thing, though.” Paul’s smiled disappeared for a moment. “Don’t tell anyone about us. It’s a…shifter-code thing. We don’t out each other to other people. In fact, we don’t tell humans at all, if we can help it. They tend to freak out.”
“I’m sure. I remember how I felt.”
Paul grinned. “Yeah, it’s quite the shock. So, am I forgiven?”
Darren smiled back. “Yeah, you’re forgiven.”
“Great. Now, I have another thing I want to talk about.”
“Oh?”
He licked his bottom lip. “What are you doing tonight?”
* * * *
To his surprise, Darren actually agreed to the date. Paul tried not to look shocked, and instead arranged to pick him up that night, then headed out to his truck. Darren came out with him.
“Nice truck,” he said, as he ran his hand along the side.
“Thanks. I need it for my work.”
“Oh, I never asked what it was you did for a living.”
Paul smiled. “I’m in construction. I’m a foreman most of the time, but I like to help out the guys when I can. Hence the need for a truck. How about you?”
“Nothing so burly. I’m a graphic designer.” Darren laughed. “In fact, I think I designed the logo for your company.” He pointed at the transfer on the hood of the truck. “Yup, that was me.”
Paul grinned. “Small world. Well, you do good work.”
The pair exchanged small talk for a few minutes, then Paul climbed into his cab and told Darren he’d see him later. They parted with a wave, and Paul pulled out of the driveway and headed to the main road. As he pulled up and waited for a break in the traffic, a call came through on his cell phone. He scrabbled through the crap on the passenger seat and retrieved his Bluetooth headset and hooked it around his ear.
“Paul Christenson.”
“Hello, Paul.”
“Gabriel.”
The leather of the steering wheel creaked under his grip. Of all the people he wanted to hear from, the alpha of his last pack was at the very bottom of the list.
“It’s good to hear your voice,” Gabriel said. “Been a while, hasn’t it.”
“Since you kicked me out? Yeah.” In the rearview, Paul spotted Darren still watching. “What do you want?”
The traffic let up, and Paul pulled out onto the main road and headed for the nearest parking space. If Darren hadn’t been watching he’d have parked there, but he didn’t want to alarm him. Still, he didn’t want to be driving during the conversation, either. Gabriel only called for two reasons. Blackmail and extortion.
“I’d like you to come visit your old pack, Paul. We’d like to talk.”
“That’s not going to happen, Gabriel.”
“You know I prefer ‘master’.”
“I’m not part of your pack anymore, Gabriel.” He pulled into the parking lot of a convenience store. “Say what you need to say over the phone.”
“No, I think not. You’ll meet us, or your new alpha will hear what you got up to in your last pack, as well as why you were removed.”
Paul rested his head against the steering wheel and let out a long, slow breath. “You’re a piece o
f shit, you know that?”
Gabriel tutted. “Now, now, Paul. Even second-in-commands have to watch their tongue. Especially ex ones.”
He hissed the word “ex,” and Paul flinched, despite himself.
“I’ll tell you what,” Gabriel continued. “Just you and I. No pack. And you may choose any neutral grounds.”
Neutral grounds meant nowhere that either pack owned or considered their territory. Paul sighed. “Fine. I’ll call you back in ten minutes. I need to change an appointment.”
Gabriel agreed and hung up, and Paul punched the driver’s door of his truck.
He knew he’d not heard the last of Gabriel, but he’d hoped it would be a long time before he came back in need of something. The man held Paul’s role in his new pack as a bargaining chip, and there was nothing Paul could do but lay down and roll over like a good little dog.
The sensible thing to do would be to go to Ethan, his new alpha, and tell him what had happened at the last pack. It could mean demotion, or even expulsion, but Gabriel would lose his hold over him. Paul had considered it several times, but he knew Ethan, and the first thing he would do would be go to Gabriel and punish him for blackmailing one of his own.
Which would lead to a pack war.
Chapter Four
Paul climbed out of his truck and took a deep breath of wintery air. The cold didn’t bother him much, but it still served to perk him up. He glanced around the parking lot of the coffee shop he’d chosen as a meeting place. Gabriel wasn’t there yet, and no other Weres were in the area either. That, or they were far away enough that Paul could neither smell nor sense them.
May as well get a drink while I wait. The shop was small, and a little way out of town, but it was known for its great coffee. Since he had little choice in the meeting itself, he figured he may as well choose pleasant surroundings.
The woman behind the cash register smiled as he entered and told him someone would be with him in a moment. He told her there was no rush and then settled into a comfy chair by the front window, then sized up the room.
There were three entrances to the shop. Front door, bathroom door, and a door behind the counter. The last time he visited, the bathroom window had been unbarred, but that had been some time ago, so he discounted it. That left the front door and the kitchen door. Both were clearly visible from where he sat, and both could be reached in a few strides if needed.
