by Mac Flynn
I had no light except the slim beam that lay at the bottom of the door, but I took a deep breath and tried to remain calm. "Help! Help!" I screamed at the top of my lungs. The noise bounced off the cement walls, and they were joined by an angry grunt from the far corner of the room. I froze, and my head slowly swiveled over to that darkness. My eyesight was improving and I could see faint outlines of bars that grew out from floor to ceiling. Inside those bars lay a small figure, and from that figure I smelled something distinctly wolfish.
The figure shifted and grunted, and a pair of golden eyes fell on me. It opened its mouth to show off a nice set of long white teeth, and growled. I jumped back when it flung itself onto its feet and against the bars. The thing growled and snapped at me like a wild animal, but it had on a dark suit and I swear there were spectacles on its distended nose. The more my eyes grew accustomed to the dim light, the more I wished they didn't. The thing was a mixture of human and beast, stuck in the transformation to full werewolf. Hair grew all over its hands and face, and its ears were pointed. The clothes were ripped at the seams and covered in dry blood, and claws poked out of the black shoes on its feet.
I slammed my back into the wall when it reached out one of those short, hairy arms at me. "I-it's okay, Sphinx, we can change you back." I hoped. The creature growled and snarled, and generally just didn't seem keen on the idea. "Or we could get you a razor. Would you want that?" I received another bout of snarls and growls for my kind offer. My eyes caught flashes of white on the floor and I saw the ground was littered with gnawed bones. "Or maybe you'd like a nice, tasty Tasha. . ." I whispered.
The entrance to the room was on my right, and in the hall I heard the clack of high heels and the heavy clomp of boots. Then the door was unlocked and opened, and there stood Sphinx in all her non-furry glory, though a heavy veil hid half her face. A half dozen of her men stood behind her with their pistols in hand, and I had no doubt they all had silver bullets.
Sphinx reached out and flicked on a switch, and the light overhead turned on. A smirk slid onto her lips when she noticed my pale complexion. "You look like you've seen a ghost," she teased.
I pointed between her and the monster. "But you-I-who?"
Sphinx followed my gaze and sighed. "Oh that. I'm afraid Mr. Swallow didn't make it out of the fight with Mr. Patterson very well."
"Mr. Swallow?" I gasped. That creature was the fat little man who'd sat beside her on my first meeting with Sphinx.
"Yes. I think it's an improvement but he seems to disagree," she drawled. Sphinx stepped inside and to within a yard of the cage. The creature huddled back away from her and sneered at all of us. "He took a knick in the butt, if I recall, and the next night this happened. He was strong enough to overpower four of my guards before one of them knocked him out."
"H-he hasn't changed back?" I asked her, and she shook her head.
"Not at all. I actually believe he's grown even hairier than last I saw him." She cooed at the beast, who lunged forward and tried to grab her. Sphinx chuckled and took a cautious step back. "He's very stupid and eats all the fresh meat we've thrown at him, but his strength is impressive." She half turned and gestured to the thugs with guns. "I would be a very happy woman if such a change would come over my smarter boys. Think what I could do with a small army of such men." Her eyes flickered over to me when I didn't reply. "Do you see what I mean?"
I cringed. I knew what she meant. She wanted me to create that army for her because Swallow was too dangerous to handle. "Um, no?" I replied.
Sphinx's eyes narrowed and she signaled to one of her men. He raised his gun at my head. "You're very useless to me without some cooperation. I will give you ten-"
"Miss Sphinx!" a voice called from down the hall. The men in the doorway moved out of the way for another suited thug who held a very large and very familiar bouquet of flowers in his hands. He stood in the doorway and bowed to Sphinx. "These just came for you, Miss Sphinx. The boy wouldn't say who they were from and ran off."
Sphinx's face turned a nice shade of scarlet. "You idiot! Can't you see I'm-" In trouble because in the confines of the room Swallow caught a whiff of the wolf's bane. His reaction was like mine at the apartment, not happy, but with a special emphasis on the not-happy part.
Swallow bellowed like a bear and grabbed the bars. They twisted in his large, furious and furry hands, and he opened a space large enough for him to fit through. He jumped at the man who held the hateful flowers, and the poor guy screamed like a girl and ran down the hall. The other men turned their guns on the man-wolf, but they only managed a few wild shots before he was among them. His claws tore at their clothes and skin, and their howls of pain echoed up and down the concrete basement.
Sphinx and I stepped away from the doorway chaos and deeper into the cell. She slid over and grabbed me by the collar. That gave me a good look at her face, and I saw her beautiful skin was marred by a long gash from a claw. "You have to save us," she hoarsely whispered to me.
"How?" I hissed back.
"Change into a wolf and attack him! I know you're one of them or that other guy wouldn't care so much about you," she replied.
Her voice was a little too loud because it caught Swallow's attention. The guards were all down on the ground, and I had a feeling none of them would get up without the help of a coroner's stretcher. Swallow raised his head from his recent kill and growled at us. Sphinx broke away from me and backed toward the opening to the cell. "S-stay away from me, Swallow, that's an order!" she demanded. The man-wolf stood in a crouched position and slunk toward her, his fangs dripping with something that wasn't tomato sauce and his eyes bright with anger. "Swallow, don't you dare!" she ordered him.
Swallow dared. He jumped past me and dove on top of Sphinx. I turned away from the horrible scene and stumbled out into the hall. My mind was frantic with only the thought of escape, so I dashed down the hall toward the restaurant. A shadow came out from a doorway and caught me, and I struggled in their strong arms. "Let me go! Let go!" I screamed.
"Tasha, it's me!" Greg replied as he roughly shook my shoulders. I shot my head up and looked into his pale face. Tears sprang to my eyes and I buried my face in his shirt. He wrapped his arms around me and rocked me back and forth while I sobbed my relief. "It's all right, you'll be okay. I'm here now."
Those words caught my attention, and my ever-present sense of teasing. I pushed away far enough to give a scolding look into his face. "And about time. Where the hell have you been?"
"Trying to find Sphinx. Judging by your smell I'll guess you found her first," he told me.
I shuddered and glanced over my shoulder. The screams had stopped and there was an eerie silence in that cell. "I-I found her, but she wasn't the monster. It was that fat guy who was with her at the table the night we met her. He was the werewolf."
Greg followed my gaze and his lips pressed together when he saw the bodies. "I see. Are they still alive?"
"I don't think Sphinx is, but he might be."
"We'll have to make sure." Greg pulled me to the side and cautiously stepped forward. I followed close behind, and before we reached the doorway Greg pulled out the gun he'd swiped from Servino. We heard a faint noise of gnawing, and I couldn't stomach the smell of all the blood so I stayed back away from the bodies. Greg peeked around the corner of the doorway, and pointed the gun at something. He fired off a single shot and with one whimper the deed was done. Greg pocketed the gun and nodded at the end of the hall beyond him. "Does that lead outside?"
"Yeah," I croaked out.
"Good, let's get out of here."
Chapter 21
Greg led me outside and I breathed a breath of air, then gagged on the city stench. "You know, I might have to suggest we relocate to a nicer place until I get used to this new nose," I quipped.
"Not a bad idea," Greg chuckled and guided me behind the restaurant to the truck. Tom lay on the floorboard and yelped when Greg opened the passenger door. "It's all right, Tom, we're back."<
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He scrambled onto the seat and I slid in beside him. "Did you do what you needed to?" he asked us.
"Yes, nobody will have to worry about that gang again," Greg assured him.
Tom smiled and gave a nod. "Good, I was getting tired of them pushing us around."
Greg slid into the driver's seat and we headed out. We stopped to drop Tom off at his grandmother's flower shop and intended to head to a hotel, but Emily wasn't having any of that. She met us at the front door and wouldn't let us get back into the truck. "I won't be having anyone staying in a hotel when I can just as well offer you two youngsters my extra bedroom," she assured us. "It'll save you a sight, too."
Greg laughed. "You know I don't have to worry about money, Emily."
This was news coming from a guy that worked as an apartment manager. "You don't?" I asked him.
Greg sheepishly smiled and shrugged. "I only did that to keep myself busy. I have enough money stashed away to live off it very comfortably."
"Stored in more boxes?" I teased.
"No, the money's actually in banks. About half a dozen of them. I should get the money out before those crooked cops suspect us of doing in their gang friends and freeze my assets."
"How much do you really have?" I incredulously wondered.
"Oh, a couple million."
I froze and one of my eyes twitched. "Then what are you waiting for?"
"The banks to open. It's almost nine," he pointed out.
"And time enough for Tom to be off and you two to be getting to bed," Emily scolded us.
I opened my mouth to argue but instead found myself stifling a yawn. After so much 'fun' I was exhausted. "That sounds like a good idea."
A sly grin slipped onto Greg's face. "Yes, I could go with some bedtime myself."
Emily narrowed her eyes and stuck out her jaw. "There'll be no making children in my extra bed or I'll put you on the couch," she warned him.
Greg's face drooped. "On second thought, maybe we will go find that hotel room."
I rolled my eyes, turned him toward the flower shop and pushed him inside. "I need my rest, so we're staying here."
Emily set us up with a good dinner, lively stories of her youth with good ol' 'Rob,' and then it was off to bed. After so many nights in the rural wilderness I for one was glad to sleep under a warm blanket atop a comfortable mattress. Emily even let me borrow an old nightgown of hers that smelled of flowers and stifled the scent of the city. Greg slipped in behind me and wrapped his arms around me. He pressed my back against his strong chest. "No making babies," I teased him.
I heard and felt his chuckle rumble through his chest. "I think it's already too late for that," he softly replied.
My eyes widened and I turned to glance over my shoulder at him. "You mean-?"
He affectionately smiled back at me. "Yep. Your scent's changed just enough for me to tell."
"A boy or a girl?"
"Too early to tell."
"Will it-will it be a werewolf, too?"
"Good chance, but that won't bother us. I'll teach it to hunt and you can teach it to turn-tail."
"Hardy-har-har," I replied before I turned away from him. My hand slid up to my flabby stomach and a soft smile touched my lips. "I guess that means we'll have to have the wedding soon," I mused.
"Yep."
"And invite all our friends. I want Mr. Wilson and Emily to be there," I told him.
"Why them specifically?"
"Because without them we would've been in a lot more trouble," I pointed out.
"Point taken, but are you sure you want Emily there? She was an old flame of mine," he teased.
"I'm pretty sure she's taken herself out of the competition."
"True, she did betray me by getting married and having kids."
"And grandkids. I want some of those. You have enough money to buy me some?"
"I could buy you a whole orphanage full, and a house to put them. How would you like to live in a shoe?"
"That sounds like it'd smell worse than even this city." I wrinkled my nose and pulled the covers over my nose. "Were you serious when you said we could move out of here?"
"Absolutely. Where were you wanting to go?"
"Some place that doesn't have any gangs, werewolves, crooked cops, and trouble."
"I can guarantee we can avoid everything but the trouble. That seems to follow us everywhere we go," he pointed out.
I scoffed at his including me. "It seems to follow you everywhere you go. I was just an innocent bystander in this whole mess," I protested.
Greg choked out a laugh. "Me? Who was the one who started all this mess by getting attacked in the laundry room?"
I faked a look of indignation and an innocent, hurt tone. "I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about." Greg playfully growled and jumped on top of me. I squealed and pulled the covers over my head as he tried to burrow his way into me. That's when we heard a rap on the wall behind us.
"That's enough of that fun, now get to sleep!" Emily scolded us from her room on the other side of the thin wall.
Greg growled, but in a less friendly manner. "Like all women, she's annoying me on purpose."
I stuck my head out of the blanket and snorted. "I think you've been a lone wolf too long. You need a good, firm hand to smack you when you misbehave."
Greg grinned and settled down beside me. "And I think I found the right woman for the job."
"You're darn right, now go to bed."
We slept, and awoke, and started our long, happy, furry lives together. Who would have thought that a trip to the laundry room one fateful night would have led to this?
For all books by Mac Flynn visit her All Romance author's page
or visit Mac Flynn's website.
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