by Sky Winters
Her body swayed to the beat and met his. The ever-present desire between them intensified with every note and heavy bass beat. His hands rested low on her hips and she laughed as she collided with his body, her crotch meeting his.
He grabbed her up in an embrace and hauled her off the floor, spinning her in a slow circle for good measure while she laughed, her fingers clutching his broad shoulders.
The small hallway was empty. The wall scratched at her back through her damp tank top. His fingers wound into her hair, fisting it, and her breath caught in her throat as his mouth slanted down on hers, claiming her mouth in a long and furious kiss.
Her body arced toward his, and his hands slid into the waistband of her skirt then out, his hand going up her thigh and leaving a trail of shivering flesh in its wake.
Her skirt bunched around her waist. Her panties were thrust to one side. Her fingers found the buttons on his jeans. This was going to be fast and hard, and she wanted that as much as she wanted to dance and sing and be alive.
His staff met her hand, pulsing and thick. Her shoulders dug into the wall as she climbed up his body, her legs twining around his waist while his hand positioned his cock at her opening and then he thrust upward into her, filling her so completely that it took her breath away.
Heat and friction exploded in her clenching core. His lips muffled her cries. Her body lifted and she slid downward again, impaling herself on his cock, taking it all in and then swinging her hips in a slow revolving circle before lifting again, reluctantly releasing him so she could plunge downward again.
His cock pressed against the sides of her inner folds. Heated oil, creamy and thick, spilled from her body and coated his rigid flesh, easing his passage into her as she continued to lift and drop, her hands braced on his shoulders now as she strained to reach the orgasm hurtling toward her at top speed.
Her walls clenched and tightened, sucking him into her. Her eyes rolled back in her head and her fingernails bit into his shoulders. His tongue met hers and his breath blew into her mouth. Her pants became faster and harder. The scent of their sex came to her nose, making her even hotter.
Crying out now, coming and shuddering, her inner walls closing and opening as thick spurts of cum poured out of her body, all she could do was hold on while he moved faster.
His groan was guttural and loud, echoing down the short hallway.
Angelina hung there, pinned against the wall on his cock, her body slowly cooling as he braced a forearm on the wall and tried to get his breath back.
When he could move again, he lowered her gently to the floor. She looked up at him and then burst into laughter.
Drake gave her a confused look. “What?”
“I was just wondering what we’d do if we were in a big arena with dozens of people around us and we couldn’t do this,” she teased.
Drake gave her a mischievous grin. “Baby, I swear to you those are going to be some shocked people.”
She laughed all the way back out and onto the dance floor.
Chapter 8
Angelina sat up, her shoulders gleaming above the crumpled and messy sheets. “Bikes,” she said. The thread of fear in her voice caught Drake’s attention.
“I heard them.”
Her breath hissed in, hard. “Your guys, I take it.”
He nodded. They had to show up eventually. I’ve been too busy with her and the band and I haven’t been riding, and they want to know why. He threw the sheets aside and slid out of bed. Angelina was already up and out, too, grabbing for the clothes she had worn the night before, which now lay on the floor.
He was not afraid, not for himself, but he knew that if Morgan smelled her, he would react and fast. Morgan didn’t have the senses that Drake had—and he had managed to overlook her shifter, but Drake couldn’t guarantee that Morgan or one of the older bears riding in the MC would do that, too.
Angelina didn’t have to be told that. He could see on her face that she was scared. “Stay here. I’m going outside, okay?”
She nodded, but he saw her gaze dart around the room, either looking for a weapon or a way out.
He strode out, his thoughts churning as he wrenched open the door and stepped outside into the early morning sunshine.
Morgan swung a leg off his bike and came storming up. “Where the fuck were you last night? I kept trying to call you.”
“At a gig, a big one. One that was important to me.”
Morgan’s eyes narrowed. “Hell’s breaking loose, Drake, and you better get your shit and ride right now, because we have tigers in the hood, and what’s more—we got a few wolves upsetting the whole apple cart, so to speak. It seems that Joaquin’s sure that one of ours has his mate, and is calling for war.”
Shit. Drake didn’t let his eyes drift to the house. “You’re kidding.”
“Fuck, no, I’m not. Magda’s calling for order or death, and she doesn’t care which.”
“Of course, she doesn’t. She’s been itching for war for years.” Goddammit. “Let me grab my keys.”
He headed back into the house and grabbed a jacket and his keys. He went into the bedroom. Angelina stood near the door, a baseball bat in her hands. He held up his hands. “Don’t swing, I’m unarmed.”
Angelina’s eyes flicked over his shoulders. There was distrust in every line on her pretty face and in every rigid angle of her body. “What’s going on?”
“I need you to get somewhere safe and let me know where you are.”
“What’s happening?”
She was not going to let him off the hook then. “I don’t have time to explain it, but we have tigers in the hood and…”
“Joaquin.”
No use in lying. “That, too. I have about three seconds before Morgan crashes into the house. I have to go. Let me know where you are; promise me you will. In fact, I want you to go to Pete’s. He’ll let you hang, and he won’t try anything crazy. He won’t even ask for a reason—he’s that kind of dude.”
She nodded. “Okay.”
Not quite a promise, and he knew it. He wanted to press, but time was running out. He turned to go then paused and swept her into a quick embrace, pressing his lips to hers before heading back out.
His thoughts tangled and ran too fast for him to make any order of them. He had to protect her and right now the best way he could do that was to ride, and to get her out of the house and out of the way.
Drake swung a leg over his boke. Everyone else was waiting. He hit the switch and the engine roared into life, the powerful motor purring and rumbling below his body. His hands found the handlebars, and he let the idle ratchet up a little higher.
Morgan led the way, Drake falling in right behind him.
Resentment gnawed at him. He had never wanted to be Alpha, and that was the honest truth. He did not resent Morgan for being Alpha either, but he damn sure resented being ordered around and never being able to live his own life without the constant reminder of loyalty to a pack he didn’t really want to be a part of. He also resented the fact that he was a rider in a club comprised of criminal activity that could, and likely would, one day result in a prison sentence for him.
There was no doubt in Drake’s mind that if shit went wrong, he would be called upon to take the fall for Morgan, because Morgan was Alpha and they were twins and that was what Magda would demand.
His life was not his own, would never be his own.
The air ran across his body, and he kept the bike tooling along at a high speed. Morgan was careless and wild on the back of a bike, just like he was careless and wild in every other way.
Morgan thrived on the criminal element of his life. He loved it and the pack. He loved being Alpha, but unlike Joaquin and Magda, he was not power hungry, or willing to do whatever it took to get and keep power, which was probably his best and saving grace.
They hit the end of the hood, riding hard along the narrow and crooked streets. The houses, all middle-income and ranch style on that end, lay huddled unde
r the splashes of sunlight and shade from the tall palm trees dotting the yards.
Morgan lifted a hand. Drake looked forward, and his senses lit up. There, sitting at an outside table at a little café, was a man they both knew all too well. The bikes turned and Drake leaned over his handlebars as he goosed the bike up higher, racing along behind Morgan as Morgan waved a hand again, telling the others to split off and go to the right, a move that would cut off the man if he tried to run and make sure that if he had anyone at his back, they would know it. Plus, that would give Morgan and Drake the ability to speak with the tiger shifter in private, a boon.
Drake and Morgan coasted to a halt near the curb. The man stood and walked toward them, a smile on his wrinkled face.
Drake said, “Patel, you’re in the wrong hood.”
“I knew you would scent me, and I am not running, now am I?”
Morgan cut off his bike. Drake did the same. They’d have to keep shouting otherwise, and this was not a conversation they wanted anyone else to hear. The rest of the café patrons were far enough from the actual curb and traffic was heavy enough to cover their words, as long as they spoke softly.
Drake eyed Patel, who was old now, a wizened man with weathered skin and dark eyes.
“What do you want and how dare you come into our territory?” Morgan asked.
“I was looking for something.” Patel lifted a hand and for a second long and sharp claws showed at the ends of his fingers. “Your mother is too busy trying to take over the world to see what is happening in her own backyard, so I came to see for myself.”
Drake’s body tightened. He shot Morgan a look. He wanted to tell Patel to talk, but Morgan was Alpha so that had to come from him. Drake’s toes tapped at the asphalt impatiently while he waited for Morgan to speak.
Finally he did. “What’re you talking about, Patel?”
The old Nepali tiger shifter lifted his chin. “The muties are rising. All over LA, they’re starting to get a little angry. They’re being accused, and there’s talk of burning out mutie hideouts.”
Shit. Patel had to be kidding! Who the hell was threatening to do that? Drake looked at Morgan again, trying to read his face. Morgan was not privy to all of Magda’s shady political stunts, but it was not exactly a well-kept secret that Joaquin and Magda were in business, if not in bed, together.
Morgan asked, “Who’d burn out the mutie hideouts and why?”
Patel rolled his head on his shoulders, a cunning look on his wrinkled face. “So, you really don’t know? I’ll tell you then. Joaquin swears his mate got taken by a bear mutie. It sounds to me like he’s picked a fight, and now we’re all in it, whether we want to be or not.”
Tension tightened up Drake’s shoulders. “Why’s this your reason to come here again? I mean, if he caught the scent of a bear mutie, what does that have to do with us? We have no muties in our ranks and if Joaquin picks a fight, how is it ours?”
Patel’s face showed impatience. “Joaquin knows the muties are dying to start a war. They are just looking for a reason. His mate being snatched by a mutie seems like a damn good reason to start a war with them, and he has already started to push at them. He’s sticking a sword into a hornet’s nest.”
She’s not his mate. She never made that promise, her father did. Drake blanked that thought out of his mind before his anger could show on his face.
Morgan frowned. “How so, and why is any of this your, or our, problem? We don’t suffer muties; we set them out as soon as they are born, just like we all do.”
Patel’s eyes swept across the twin brothers, a spark of rage in those dark orbs. “I don’t know where the girl is, and I would not care, except for the fact that Joaquin’s using her running off with what he swears is a bear mutie as an excuse to try to wage war.
“We all know that there’s a lot of muties with something against me and mine. We were the ones who outlawed their being in the packs originally, and we were the ones who ordered all muties be sent away at adulthood—left without a pack. Then we were the ones who decreed that the muties should be sent to fosters when they were children to avoid the heartache caused by sending them off later.
“The muties have a score to settle with the tigers. We know this. We watch them. Joaquin’s pushing at them will end in war, and when it does, the hatred the muties have for mine will result in bloodshed. Maybe enough bloodshed that Joaquin can swoop in and take over; he might have the numbers to quell the muties, and indebt us in doing so.”
Drake’s mind staggered at the possibilities. Patel was right. Joaquin was the only Alpha with a pack large enough to hold off the muties, who outnumbered the shifters to a large degree.
His blood ran cold as he considered all the angles. That’s his reason on the top of it all, but the truth is he wants the tiger’s hood for its assets, and Magda also wants that territory for the same reason so she won’t ally herself with the tigers if the muties break loose. Joaquin has enough numbers to back them off from East LA, but once the blood goes to spilling, the muties won’t stop. They hate us, and always have, and if they can’t get at Joaquin, they really will go after their first enemy, and the bears will be next.
“You don’t let in dope or crime,” Morgan said softly. “There’s not enough money in your territory for it to be attractive. Besides, if the muties come after the shifters—and that’s a fight that’s been brewing for decades—you know we will have no choice but to band together. Joaquin knows it, too.”
Patel’s eyes glittered dangerously. “But would he? Would Magda allow you to band with me and mine? Or would she and Joaquin just watch my territory burn before they stepped in? I think it’s the latter. You can adore your mother all you like, but I see her game plan. She wants legit businesses and we have them. If she controlled that, and the drug trade and whatever else you are into, she would have a good way to launder money and everything else.”
Morgan snarled, “Watch your tongue, old man, or you might just lose it.”
Drake’s hand met Morgan’s arm. “Chill out,” Drake said softly. “He’s speaking the truth and you know it. Magda’s desperate for legit businesses she can stash money into. I don’t know if she wants yours, Patel, but I’m willing to concede that but nothing else, so watch your tongue. I may have little love for Magda, but Morgan’s my brother and Alpha. I’ll back him up even if he chooses to kill you right here on the sidewalk.”
He would, too. He would have to.
The expression on Morgan’s face didn’t change. “Is the girl with a mutie?”
“I don’t know if she is with a bear or not.” Patel’s smile was thinly bladed as a knife edge. “But I’m quite sure there may be some truth to her having run off with… someone. If she did, she deserves to be brought to justice for breaking the laws that govern us all. No shifter may mate outside its species.”
Drake’s blood ran cold as Patel’s eyes met his. The old man seemed to be talking directly to him. Was he? Did Patel know about him and Angelina? The old bastard was a slick fucker, always sticking his nose into business best left be. Curiosity and cats and all that.
Patel went on, “What I do know is she isn’t planning on going back.”
“You think not?” Morgan’s body shifted slightly, his weight going to the balls of his feet. Drake dropped his hand. Morgan was listening now, and not so tense. Thank God. Drake wanted to hear whatever Patel had to say next.
Patel snorted. “I know she isn’t. The non-shifting wolf—it’s gone. The girl was apparently fond of it, as it was a litter mate. Again, I don’t know if there is any truth to the bear thing, mutie or otherwise, but I tend to believe it’s just a cause to come into my grounds.
“If Joaquin isn’t satisfied. If the girl’s not returned, and the muties are prodded into war that effects my territory, I’ll bring full war to you, Morgan, and all of yours—humans and shifters alike. That’s a promise.”
Morgan looked at Drake. “That’s only fair, but you have no proof that the girl’s
with a mutie. You also have no proof that Magda and Joaquin are plotting to take your territory. Besides, Magda wouldn’t grant permission for Joaquin to take over your territory even if you did have to wage war with the muties and even if that war left your kind on the run and your hood open for that.”
Patel’s teeth showed sharp and pointed. “She does not have the power to grant permission, you mean. Remember that. Magda has no permission or power to run things in my territory, but she would absolutely turn her head and pretend she did not see Joaquin breaking the territory pacts if it gave her something she wanted. If she could manage to take over my ground after a war, she would set one in motion. Magda’s not the only problem right now though, and I came here to not only tell you what I see Joaquin and Magda attempting, but to tell you we all have a bigger problem at hand.”
Drake broke in, “The muties.”
Patel nodded. “It’s going to be a war. They hate us, and they hate humans. We’re all things they hate and they outnumber us. We need to band together right now, not fight, at least not until we solve this problem.”
Morgan said, “I’ll send you an answer on that. For now, I want you out of my territory. Don’t breach it again, Patel, not unless you’re given permission to do so.”
Goddammit. Morgan’s smarting and letting it show. He’s Alpha in name only and everyone knows that Magda still pulls all the strings. It’s eating at his pride, and Patel just cut his pride, too. This won’t stay chill unless Patel gets out of here.
Patel headed for the small compact car he had parked along the curb. He drove off. The bikes came roaring back down the road.
“You better get that girl out of your house, Drake. Like yesterday,” Morgan said under his breath.
What? Drake’s eyes jerked to Morgan’s.
Morgan gave him a weary smile. “You smell like wolf. Do you think Patel didn’t notice? For all his talk, he will switch sides in a heartbeat and you know it. Trusting him’s like trusting a busted engine to get you down the road.”
He did smell like Angelina. He’d been careless. His heart sank as he realized that. He might have just given her location up, especially if Patel decided to run to Joaquin and tell him in a bid to buy time.
