Sunglasses at Night

by Jessica Lynch

  Though Tabby understood why Adam needed to wear his mirrored shades around the clock, she wished the sun didn’t burn his eyes so. Once he’d been turned for a few years, it wouldn’t be so bad. Older vamps could often go without the trademark shades. For now, though, she just marveled at the way he felt comfortable enough to remove them while sharing her bed because, as she peered through the darkened room at him, she realized she was even better at reading his facial expressions when she could see those gorgeous silver peepers of his.

  It tickled her all the way to her toes to see the flash of annoyance he normally would’ve been able to hide as he said flatly, “Your handler, right?”

  Oh. He didn’t like hearing about Boone at all, did he?

  At some point she should probably tell him that he had nothing to be jealous over. Because Boone was her mother’s older brother, they had different last names; only the inner circle of the Society knew that they were so closely related. As the head of the Society, Boone was careful to guard Tabby. Luckily, that was one secret Tabby had never had a problem keeping.

  If this thing brewing between them became more serious, she’d eventually have to bring Adam home with her. First, though, she needed to finish up with Grayson and, somehow, talk Adam into no longer going out to hunt on his own until she got her case all squared away. As far as Tabby knew, there had never been an actual Nightwalker slayer in the Society’s history, but she’d be willing to put her ass on the line to help him get a license. Maybe even sponsor him into the Society. She’d seen him fight, and she watched him turn his falchion on himself countless times to check for the tell-tale ruby-red glow.

  Adam was a good man. Even if he was a dead one.

  “Yeah,” she said at last. Pack first, she told herself. Close the big case so that Boone overlooks the one Nightwalker you let go. “My handler. Actually, he’s kind of this bigwig in the Society. He had an idea that, now that Bowers got involved, maybe we should contact the local pack.”

  Local… the Eastern Pack was one of the largest and most diverse packs in the country. Made up of hundreds—if not thousands—of predatory shifters, there were wolves, bears, and big cats. Everyone knew about them—and rightfully feared them.

  In the fifty years since Paras were forced out in the open, the slayers had been able to stay behind the curtain, remain a vague, yet very real threat to the paranormal races. But how much longer would that secrecy last? Sure, it was the code, but with a pack like that one on their side, the slayers could still be elite hunters with a shifter army providing cover for them.

  Too bad the Alpha said no.

  Right?

  There was something in the way that Adam was watching her. He didn’t brush off Boone’s idea, but he didn’t say anything else about it, either.

  So she continued.

  “He tried to contact the Beta, the Alpha, even the former Alpha a couple of times. No dice. Even with Grayson turning into a paranormal hotspot, the pack closed ranks, keeping to their territory. He just sent me a message that the lead’s a dead-end. Pack declines to help.” With a huff, she leaned back against her pillow. “I don’t get it. The good guys are supposed to stick together. The one time the slayers try to work with Paras, prove we’re not really the bogeymen they think we are, and we get the doors slammed in our face. This sucks.”

  “Let me get this straight,” murmured Adam, inching closer to her. She could feel his length prod the side of her hip. “You’re annoyed because the pack won’t talk to you.” He was already hard, and she was ready to tell him to just drop the convo and grab the condoms when he added, “Is that all?”

  She squinted over at him. “What do you mean, ‘is that all’?”

  Tabby was shocked to hear that Adam had an in with the Eastern Pack. And, yeah, he guessed it sounded impressive that the man he made deliveries for was the Beta, and he knew the Alpha.

  When she asked him how, he told her the truth—at least, he told her a portion of the truth. How he was the Grayson PD liaison who partnered with a pack representative last winter to create the task force that went after the killer Nightwalker gang.

  That explained his close relationship with Colt.

  He just… he didn’t tell her how he knew Maddox Wolfe.

  It didn’t seem right. Laying in her bed, her cinnamon scent wrapped all over him, her taste on his mouth, and his cock ready and raring for a second round… it didn’t seem right to bring up his contentious relationship with the wolf shifter—or Eva.

  Now that he was pulling up into the warded cul de sac in Wolf’s Creek where Eva lived with her beast of a mate, he realized he should probably be a little more honest, a little more open with Tabby so that she knew what she was walking into.

  Wolfe was aware that they were coming. Adam knew that for sure. Even if he hadn’t made a quick call to Evangeline before he agreed to bring Tabby over, Wolfe’s instincts were nearly unmatched. Adam figured that’s what made him the Alpha, the head shifter that controlled the Eastern Pack now that he’d pushed his father, Terrence, out of the role. He was born and bred to be bigger, stronger, faster, and more dangerous than any other predatory shifter on the east coast.

  And that was before he spent three years in the Cage, mourning a mate who had never really died.

  No doubt in his mind, Wolfe knew the second Adam’s coupe rolled past the invisible lines of Wolfe’s territory.

  He found the rustic two-story house backed up to the woods easily. After all, this wasn’t the first time he’d come to see Eva at home.

  He parked at the curb, not wanting to be too overly familiar by pulling into the driveway. As soon as he killed the engine, Tabby peeked out through the passenger’s side window, pointing at the house.

  “This the place?”

  Adam nodded.

  “Are you sure?” She peered closer at it. “It’s nice,” she said, as if nice was another way of saying boring. “Don’t get me wrong. But the Alpha is supposed to be the most powerful shifter of the pack. I know the Eastern Pack is loaded, too. I guess I just thought he’d live somewhere… different. I— isn’t this a mixed neighborhood?”

  “Yeah. New Alpha wasn’t always Alpha, Tab. You have to remember that. He only took over at the beginning of the new year and… let’s just say that he’s a stubborn wolf. He didn’t want to move to the heart of pack territory since this was the home he made with his mate. As for it being mixed?” Adam shrugged. “He calls humans Ants, but he doesn’t mind them. Don’t know what to tell you about that.”

  “But you know him, right?”

  “We have history,” he said evasively.

  “I’ve been thinking about it… you were a cop, right? Did your time as a Cage guard.”

  He didn’t like talking about the year they pushed him into the prison instead of patrolling Grayson. He could’ve put off the requirement, but he needed to get it over with if he ever wanted a promotion within his department. It worked; only a few months after he left the Cage, he was Corporal Wright.

  Of course, then he felt like he had to quit, so that was a waste of time now, wasn’t it?

  He couldn’t understand why she was bringing that up now. “I did.”

  “Is that how you know him?” she asked. “The Alpha? Even among us slayers, there was a rumor not to fuck with the Eastern Pack’s new Alpha, that he actually pulled off an escape from a Cage.”

  He should’ve known better. It didn’t matter that he waited until he was parked outside of Wolfe’s house to tell her about their contentious relationship. She’d already figured a big part of it out on her own.

  Just not the biggest part.

  “The legend of Maddox Wolfe,” he said, the scoff coming out all on its own.

  “So, it’s true?”

  Adam didn’t like the way Tabby turned in her seat, looking at him with a mixture of curiosity and awe.

  “He was in there,” he heard himself snap. “They let him out. No escape involved.”

  “Huh. I guess hist
ory is an understatement.”

  She didn’t know the half of it.

  “They’re expecting us. Did you want to go in and talk with them or should we just turn around and head back to Grayson?”

  “I don’t know. Are you sure he’ll actually see us?”

  Adam jerked his keys out of the ignition, palming them so he didn’t misplace them. “He won’t have a choice.”

  “And you’re so sure of this because…”

  “His mate will make him.”

  “Evangeline,” Tabby said knowingly. “She’s human.”

  His fingers were curled around the door handle. He paused before popping it open, glancing back at Tabby. “You know about her?”

  “That’s about it. The Society is good at gathering intel, but we have a lot more on the new Alpha than we do about his mate. The whole pack is very careful to keep her shielded. We figure it’s because she’s human and not a shifter.”

  Oh. “It’s something like that,” he admitted. He popped the door, climbing out of the car.

  Tabby didn’t wait for Adam to come around to her side. She opened her own door, shutting the door gently as he met her near the curb. She had a distracted look on her pretty face and Adam realized that she was still stuck on what he said.

  “You know her.”

  “Know who?”

  “Evangeline,” Tabby said. “The Alpha’s mate. You said Maddox Wolfe would let us inside because his mate would make him. Because you asked her to?”

  His slayer was way too perceptive.

  He shrugged.

  “How do you know her?”

  “She’s a… a friend.”

  “Good friend?” pushed Tabby.

  “I’ve known her since we were kids. We were family friends.”

  “And that’s all?”

  She wasn’t going to stop until she pulled it all out of him, was she? Adam realized that it was his fault. If he hadn’t acted so cagey every time Wolfe was mentioned—if he hadn’t been so eager to impress Tabby by helping her get to the Alpha of the Eastern Pack—he wouldn’t be in this situation.

  “We dated for a bit.”

  Adam waited for another question. To his surprise, Tabby didn’t say a word after that. She just glanced over at the house before looking over at Adam, a small frown curving on her lips.

  Hang on—

  “What’s the matter, Tabby?” he asked. “You’re not jealous, are you?”

  She lost the frown in a heartbeat. One part scoff, one part amused laugh, she tossed her ponytail over her shoulder before starting toward the walkway, calling back, “Not even a little, but you’d like that, wouldn’t you?”

  Yeah, Adam realized.

  He would.

  Tabby was jealous.

  Damn it.

  She only hoped that Adam didn’t catch the massive whopper she’d just told him. He’d already proven his uncanny ability to tell if she was lying or not a few times during their conversations. It was a good thing she never tried to truly hide what she was. With the way he could see right through her, he would’ve picked up on the truth sooner rather than later, even the Nightwalker part of him didn’t figure her for a slayer.

  And it wasn't like she expected him to be some kind of saintly virgin. With a body like that, she knew he’d been with plenty of others before her. Shit, she’d lost track of how many guys she’d taken for a ride herself. But that wasn’t the point. Half the time, it was just about scratching an itch.

  With Adam, though? It was different.

  Unfortunately, there was something in the way he spoke about the Alpha’s mate that told Tabby that, to Adam, this Eva had been different, too.

  Ugh.

  She had half a mind to go back to the car and call this whole thing off. If it wasn’t for the promise of coming out of this meet with something to tide her uncle over with, she would’ve.

  Instead, she marched ahead of Adam and, with more confidence than she felt, knocked on the door.

  The door swung in, revealing a predator that gave off such dangerous vibes, Tabby immediately lowered her gaze so that she wouldn’t inadvertently challenge him. It was a common response to alpha shifters, an instinctual behavior that Tabby had worked on during training. She could shake it off, though it took her longer than the slayers who specialized in feral shifters.

  “Come in.”

  A female voice offered the invitation. Since it obviously didn’t belong to the wide-shouldered, handsome man with the sun-kissed skin and wild golden eyes, Tabby figured that must be Evangeline.

  By the time she shuffled into the front room, she was able to stand up straight again. And that’s when she got her first glimpse of Adam’s Eva.

  She was tall, more than eight inches taller than Tabby’s respectable 5’3”, and that was in her sock-covered feet. She had thick mahogany-colored hair that swept halfway down her narrow back, eyes that reminded Tabby of the forest, a sprinkling of freckles across the slope of her nose—oh, and a bump slung low on her belly that belonged on a woman more than eight months pregnant.

  Okay, then.

  When a soft growl split the air, Tabby’s attention immediately jumped to the bigger threat in the room. Jesus, he was so big that, when he stood next to the women, she actually seemed to appear tiny.

  Tabby figured she probably would look like a doll next to him. Good thing she was standing with her Nightwalker.

  “Maddox Wolfe,” the big bastard barked out. “Alpha of the Eastern Pack. And this is my mate.”

  Her green eyes glittered, one part amusement, the other part in welcome. “Hi. I’m Evangeline.”

  “Tabby Winslow.”

  Wolfe shot her a nasty, knowing look. “She’s a slayer. You brought a slayer to my house, Wright? I knew I should’ve coded you out of the wards.”

  “How did you know that she’s a slayer?” Adam asked, ignoring Wolfe’s muttered comment. He turned to look at Tabby. “I didn’t tell him. I wasn’t sure you’d want me to.”

  “The Slayer’s Code is big on secrecy,” she said, “but most Paras who have been around can tell that I’m different. Nightwalkers have a sense about it which is why it surprised me when you didn’t know when we first met.” She jerked her chin over at the big shifter. “You’ve met one of my kind before?”

  “Yeah. A slayer visited me when I first got put in the Cage. Wanted me to change my mind about the choice. No fucking way. I’d rather be locked up than let one of the killers take my head.”

  Tabby didn’t lose her smile, but it was rough. “Not a killer. Just doing my job, sport.”

  “‘Sport?’” growled Wolfe. The shifter’s fangs punched out, obviously annoyed.

  Adam laughed. “It if makes you feel any better, she calls me ‘champ’.”

  With one hand cradling her baby bump, Evangeline leaned into her mate, laying the other on the top of his bicep. “Mad, stop trying to scare Adam and his friend.”

  “Friend?” Wolfe’s nostrils flared. Suddenly, he didn’t seem so big anymore. Still built like a linebacker with an animalistic beauty to him, but he stopped looming as he slung an arm around his mate’s waist. “Nice to see you finally moved on, Wright.”

  That wiped the last of Adam’s humor away. “Keep your nose to yourself.”

  Oh.

  Oh.

  Tabby realized what was going on. With his enhanced shifter’s senses, Maddox Wolfe must’ve realized that Tabby and Adam were wearing each other’s scents. Obviously, he’d figured out they were sleeping together.

  Shooting a glance at Evangeline, she wanted to see the woman’s reaction. When Evangeline smiled encouragingly back, Tabby lost the chip that had been firmly lodged on her own shoulder.

  She smiled back. “Anyway, Adam said you had something to talk to my mate about.”

  Oh, right.

  “So you know I’m a slayer. The Society’s been trying to get in touch with the Alpha of the Eastern Pack for a while now. It wasn’t so bad when it was just a couple of
targets in the area, but lately the number of rogue Nightwalkers and other Para threats keeps climbing. Especially in Grayson. I know you know,” she added, “since the last Alpha agreed to let one of your pack members work with the Grayson PD last year.”

  “That was my dad,” Wolfe told her unnecessarily. “My brother got put on the task force with Wright here. Poor Colt.”

  Under his breath, Adam muttered, “Poor me. I still haven’t forgiven him for stealing my car.”

  Tabby tucked that nugget in the back of her mind for later. While she knew that Adam was on the task force—it was how he ended up being turned in the first place—she was super interested in hearing the story about the stolen car.

  “My point is, now you’re Alpha. Don’t you want to start your time in charge by building a relationship with the slayers? My handler is interested in a meet. He wants you to back us up, especially if we have to head into your territory for a hunt.”

  Wolfe didn’t even think about her proposal for more than a few seconds.

  “No,” he said abruptly. “Not happening. Thanks for coming, but you can go now.”

  Evangeline rolled her eyes. “Sorry. He’s been like this since I found out I was expecting. Luckily, I don’t have much longer to go. One benefit of carrying a pup.” She had a pretty laugh, rich and husky and deep. “What my mate is trying to say is that we can’t get involved in Grayson right now. Unfortunately, I have my own troubles. You see, my Mad had this… let’s call her an admirer.”

  “Psycho witch,” Maddox chuffed under his breath. “Let’s call Cilla that.”

  “Right, babe. She is a psycho. And if she finds out we’re having a pup, we don’t know what she’ll do. We have to worry about that for now. After the pup’s here…”

  “After the pup’s here, the pack will be happy to help. Until then, every packmate is dedicated to making sure my mate survives her pregnancy.”

  Evangeline rubbed Wolfe’s arm. “Nothing’s going to happen to me, Maddox. I promise.”