by Silver James
He turned his head, stared at me and I caught a flash of eye gleam, like an animal’s in the dark. The hair rose on the back of my neck and I shivered harder. Hollywood was something…else. Something wild. Something vicious. I needed to remember that. He wasn’t just dangerous, he was deadly.
I backed up until my butt hit the wall. I crouched down, using it to brace my body because my knees didn’t want to support me any longer. As I watched, Wood’s shadow seemed to expand, getting taller and wider. Then he turned the deadbolt, opened the door, and stepped out.
“What the fuck, man?” One of the thugs managed to get that question out before the door slammed shut.
Snarls. Angry and focused. Screams. Terror-filled. Gunshots. Then a sound I’d never heard before—like a sticky sponge being peeled off a counter, only ten times louder and a hundred times scarier.
The door crashed open and…something stood there, haloed by the mercury security light in the yard. It was shaped like a man only there was no… My brain scrambled to find a reference to compare. A biology book. In high school. An illustration of human musculature. Stripped of skin. The thing lurched toward me, a blood-chilling moan wailing from the dark hole that should have been surrounded by lips. It blundered into the room, hands outstretched, searching.
A whimper locked in my throat. The creature stumbling through my living room was a man with no skin. My brain refused to process this horror and the tiny bit clinging to sanity wondered if this was some elaborate practical joke—a teen slasher movie prank with amazing special effects.
Oh, yeah. Extreme special effects because a creature beyond all comprehension followed the walking biology illustration through the door. Half man, half animal, all nightmare-inducing terror. If my bladder had been full, it would have emptied. This was not the wolf that once sat patiently beside Hollywood’s bed begging me to pet him. This was…death.
The kitchen door crashed open. “Get on the ground. Police!”
Police? Who’d called the police? Surely none of the neighbors. They’d never called, not in all the times my parents had screaming domestics. Not when my dad beaten the snot out of Mom before turning on Larry and me. Why were the police here?
I turned to the door, saw two men in uniform. Both had their guns out. The big one was pointing his gun at me. I had my hands up—well, one of them. My right was back in a sling after Doc Carter had put a new cast on my arm.
“Don’t shoot!” I yelled. “I live here. Four men broke in—” I cut off what I was saying as I realized the cops were smiling in a really weird, whacked-out way.
The big one’s finger tightened on the trigger and then it all happened in slow motion. I realized he was going to shoot me and started to drop to the floor. A blur appeared from my right—Hollywood. Someone yelled. I heard howls and gunshots. What seemed like a hundred. Then screams. Lots and lots of screams.
Hollywood lay on top of me and I felt something warm and wet soak my shirt. He groaned and rolled away. His chest…Oh God, his chest. It was soaked in blood. More blood pumped from a jagged hole in his throat.
“NO!” I screamed my denial. “NOnonononoNOOOO!” I…I needed to stop the bleeding but where? How? There was so much blood. I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t swallow. I tasted blood. I grabbed my own throat but it was fine.
Jumbled voices floated around me. “Get Doc.” “Stop the bleeding.” “Change.” “Dying.” “Mating bond.”
I couldn’t stand the noise, the fear coating the back of my tongue. I hurt. Oh, God. So much pain. My throat clogged with unshed tears, trapping my voice.
Lainey.
“Hollywood?” Did I say his name out loud? I didn’t know. Hollywood? I said his name in my mind.
I love you, baby. I’m sorry. His voice whispered in my head.
More pain squeezed my chest. I couldn’t breathe.
“Losing him.”
A choked whimper fought loose and it was followed by a freight train of screams. I curled up in a fetal ball, my cast protecting my head, eyes squeezed shut, screaming and screaming and screaming until I had no breath and darkness finally saved me.
Chapter 22
Lainey
I CAME AWAKE with muscles twitching, unable to breathe, and terrified. The room was dark and unfamiliar. I forced air into my lungs, but only managed shallow breaths. I heard voices nearby—probably from the next room.
“You should not have separated them.”
I recognized that voice. The Russian. And boy was he angry.
“I couldn’t work on him with her there.” That voice was familiar too. Doc Carter? Maybe. Where was I? Who were they talking about? Then it hit me. Everything came flooding back. The men. Hollywood turning wolfman. The cops. They were going to shoot me, but Hollywood… I choked, couldn’t breathe again. Hollywood jumped in front of me. Took all the bullets. So many. I remember hearing so many shots. I held up my left hand, but could barely see the pale outline of it in the oppressive dark. I didn’t see any blood though, in my imagination, I could see it and feel it—hot, viscous as Hollywood’s life drained out of him.
I couldn’t stop the sob that had built up in my chest and burst out with a sharp cry.
The door flew open and light flooded in. I retreated, cringing against the pillows at my back.
I didn’t expect the voice or soft hands that touched me. “You’re okay, Lainey. Safe. Okay?” Fingers brushed hair away from my face. “Remember me? I’m Sam.”
I did remember her. Vaguely. She…was with Easy and they’d taken care of Louie and Levi. Oh, God.
“The twins?” My question was a screaming demand.
“Shhh, shhh,” Sam soothed. “The club is out looking for them. The guys will find the boys and bring them home.”
“No. Nonononono. This…it all went wrong. Hollywood. Where’s Hollywood? He promised to keep them safe. To find them. But…oh God.” I’d never cried so much in my life, but even though my eyes and throat burned, no tears came. “He’s dead, isn’t he?”
Sam glanced over her shoulder to the men crowded in the doorway. The Russian shook his head. “No, he lives still.”
I caught the implication, the words he didn’t say. For now.
“I have to see him.”
“Yes.” The Russian flicked on the lights and I blinked against the searing brightness. When I could see past the light flares, I realized I was back in the hospital only…not.
“Where am I?”
Dr. Carson appeared next to the Russian. “A patient room in my clinic. You need to stay where you are.”
The Russian hit him with a stare that made me want to pee in my pants. “Take the IVs out or I will. She needs to be with him.”
A few heartbeats later, the doctor did as he was told. The Russian scooped me up into his arms with a gentleness that startled me in its exquisite care. We didn’t go far. There was a large mattress on the floor of the next room. The man carrying me stopped just inside the doorway.
A huge, dark brown wolf with golden-tipped fur lay in the middle of the mattress. Bandages wrapped around his throat and his chest. I could see skin where the thick fur had been shaved. An IV needle was feeding liquid into a vein in his foreleg. And his eyes—the big, sad, burnt umber eyes I was desperate to see—were closed.
“He’s dying.” I could feel his life ebbing away, and I wanted to grab onto the thin tendril with both hands so I could jerk him back.
“Yes,” the Russian said.
I hadn’t realized I’d spoken aloud.
“You can save him.”
I whipped my head around to stare at him and collided with his chin. It was like banging my temple on granite. I blinked away the pain. He looked unfazed. “I’m not a doctor.”
“No. You are his mate.”
I’m pretty sure I looked completely lost—like he was speaking Russian instead of English. “I don’t understand.”
“You are his mate. His wolf accepted the mating bond. Hollywood extended it to you.” I was still
confused so he continued. “You are his mate. Honor the bond. You can keep him here. He will live for you.”
“How? I…this is…it’s like science fiction. Or…high fantasy or something. I feel like I’m in the middle of Beauty and the Beast.”
“Accept him or lose him, Lainey Walker.”
“I don’t know how!” My left hand curled into the Russian’s T-shirt and I jerked the material before thumping his shoulder.
Sam appeared next to us. “That’s the easy part—and the hardest part of all. You have to love him.”
Love him? How could I love a man I didn’t know? They made this mating thing sound like some chemical imbalance, like being hypoglycemic or something. I struggled against the Russian’s hold. “Put me down.”
He did, but kept an arm around my waist to steady me. The wolf—no, not a wolf, Hollywood—whimpered in his sleep and one foot twitched. None of this added up. Numbers had always been my forte. Juggling them, balancing them, reconciling them. There was no juggling, balancing, or reconciling what was happening here.
Something brushed across my mind, like long fur on a wagging tail. A whisper of sound. I focused inward, trying to grab that elusive touch.
Lainey?
My name. I looked around, but I was alone in the room, swaying a little on unsteady feet.
Love.
I concentrated on the wolf. His tail…did it move? Just a whisper of a wag? All my strength leaked out and I let gravity take charge. On one hand and knees, I crawled to the mattress. It was like a hospital bed, covered in a clean sheet. I didn’t know where to touch the wolf, didn’t know how.
“Hollywood?” My voice broke as that lifeless tail thumped the bed once.
Instinct took over. I scooted behind him, curled my body around his back and carefully stroked his side. I kissed the fur between his ears and smiled when one twitched.
“Don’t leave me,” I whispered in that ear. “I don’t know what this is, but I know I don’t want you to go. I need you, Hollywood. I want you.”
A low whine, a brush of his tail against my bare legs.
Lainey.
The voice in my head was stronger. “I’m here, Hollywood. I’m here. And I’m staying.”
Love.
Was he telling me he loved me or asking if I loved him?
Mine.
I laughed. The entire force of Hollywood’s arrogance and personality was inherent in that word. “Yes, yours.”
The wolf sighed, pressed back against me and feelings of contentment washed over my psyche. Maybe I was crazy. I didn’t care. “That works both ways, Hollywood Hilton. You’re mine, too.”
Hollywood
SLOGGING THROUGH THE darkness was like hiking through swamp sludge. I had warmth and light at my back that kept pushing me. I inhaled deeply. Almonds and coffee. Cut grass in the rain. Sweet lavender. Lainey—and she was concerned about me. And hopeful. I wanted to kiss her then realized a couple of things at the same time. I was hooked up to a bunch of medical shit, and I was in wolf form.
Then I remembered. I’d gone to half form to deal with the four thugs. I took them out, with the help of the brothers hiding outside Lainey’s house. One of them got away after the Russian had peeled the fucker’s skin off. I followed the asshole back inside—just in time to see Gerald and his partner raise their pistols to shoot Lainey.
I’d reacted without thinking to protect my mate. I winced, remembering the searing pain as the slugs tore into my body. I vaguely remembered changing to full human as I hit the floor. And I could still hear Lainey’s screams before passing out.
The door creaked open and I came to full alert, relaxing when Wizard poked his head in.
“You’re awake,” he whispered.
I thumped my tail in acknowledgment.
“Good.” He glanced at Lainey. Her front was curled up to my back and her right arm, still in a cast, draped carefully over my ribs. “Wanna shift?”
I wagged again.
He came over to the bed and knelt down on the edge of it. Without touching Lainey—a good thing because I probably would have chewed his hand off—he called to her.
“Wake up, sleepyhead.”
I felt her stir behind me.
“C’mon, Lainey. You need to get up. Doc needs to check Wood here, I’m betting you’re hungry and could use a shower.”
“Are you saying I stink?”
Wiz laughed. “I can’t tell, babe. All I smell is wet wolf.”
I snarled at him, giving him teeth. Lainey jumped up and rolled away. That made me growl. I twisted my head—fuck that hurt! Yeah, shit for brains. Gunshot wound to the throat. I whimpered and Lainey was beside me in an instant, one set of fingers tunneling through my fur. Damn but that felt good. Maybe I wouldn’t change.
“Dude, you don’t change, I swear Doc is gonna call a veterinarian.”
Lainey giggled and something in my chest relaxed. She rubbed my ears and dropped a kiss on the top of my head. “I want real clothes and food. And I don’t do well with icky stuff. Let Doc look you over. When he’s done, I’ll come back and sit with you, okay?”
Very okay.
Her eyes widened. “Did you just say something?”
Duh.
“You can talk in my head.” She’d totally forgotten Wiz was squatting there about to bust a gut.
Yeah. Works both ways.
Her brow furrowed like she was concentrating hard. Can you hear me? I just thought I imagined the whole thing.
I snuffled her bare leg and ran my tongue over her skin. Damn but she tasted good. I told her that and got a huge boost to my ego when she blushed all the way to the roots of her hair.
“Well fuck,” Wiz interrupted. “Now you’re doing all the sexy shit in your heads. I’m outta here. C’mon, Lainey. He won’t change as long as you’re sitting here making big eyes at him.”
Wiz stood and reached down a hand to help Lainey to her feet. She wavered, getting her balance.
“A little dizzy,” she explained. “I do need something to eat.” She blew me a kiss. “I’ll be back as soon as Doc is finished.”
Promise?
“I promise.” Then she added the words I needed to hear, for my ears alone. I love you.
Chapter 23
Hollywood
THE GOOD NEWS WAS, I was healing. Slowly, but I wasn’t going to die. Doc was all grouchy, muttering about patching up idiots who had no self-preservation instincts.
“You won’t be doing shit for at least a month.”
“When can I eat?” I wanted a rare steak almost as much as I wanted to taste Lainey’s pussy.
“What did I just say? Read my lips this time. You won’t be doing shit for at least a month.” He narrowed his eyes. “And that means no fucking.”
Well…fuck.
“I did some of my best work putting your sorry ass back together. Then the Russian forced you to change because evidently your wolf metabolism heals faster. Spend a lot of time as a wolf and maybe you can have soup in three weeks.”
“Soup? To hell with that. I want beef.” And Lainey.
“Don’t make me sedate your ass.”
“Fuck you, Doc.”
He turned and walked out the door, leaving a one-fingered salute in his wake. Damn but I liked the asshole. And he was a fan-fucking-tastic doctor to boot.
Lainey slipped in before the door closed. I’d been moved to a real room so I patted the side of the bed and she climbed in.
“Can I kiss you?”
“No.” Her face fell. “Cuz I’m gonna kiss you, cowgirl.” I caught her startled laughter in my mouth and it felt fizzy like soda water. My dick went hard and tented the sheet. That made her giggle harder. I liked this side her, of us. Fuck. We were mated. That made me all kinds of puffed up proud and shit. She went all boneless next to me and I had to remember I could neither pull her over on top of me nor roll her to her back and fuck her senseless.
We broke the kiss and she settled at my side. Yeah, I’d be sp
ending a lot of energy shifting back and forth with my wolf. I wanted to heal fast so I could make love to my mate again. Lainey sighed, her head resting gently on my shoulder.
“What’s wrong?”
She remained silent for so long, I was worried she wouldn’t answer me. I inhaled deeply. A faint whiff of ammonia so something was scaring her a little. Bleach and blueberries. Confusion. Yeah, I understand that too. “Us or something else?” I prodded.
“Yes.” She murmured it but brushed her cheek against my skin as she moved her head to look at me. “I’m worried to death about Louie and Levi. There’s been no word.”
Fuck. I’d forgotten about her brothers. “What about your mom?”
Her nose crinkled like she was smelling roadkill. “She doesn’t care, according to Wizard. She’s on a marathon gambling binge. And no one has been able to find Larry, either.”
I suppose it was shitty of me to hope her asshole big brother was dead in a ditch somewhere. Or a John Doe in the morgue. Would serve him right. But he was Lainey’s family.
“Why did they take the twins, Hollywood?” Lainey’s eyes glittered with tears shimmering over her anger. “Why not Mom or Larry? They’re the ones who got me in this mess in the first place!”
Well, alrighty then. Maybe I could wish for Larry the Loser to be on a slab somewhere. There was a whole lot I wanted to find out about once the twins were safe. I wanted to know what Gerald was doing there and why he was trying to kill Lainey. I wanted to know who the loan sharks were, and who was setting the Nightriders up to take a fall with Chasin’ Tail. And I wanted to know why a fucking Hell Dog was involved.
Three quick raps on the door had me moving to cover Lainey. I hid my wince from her as I listened and sniffed. Wiz. “Dammit, asshole.” He was laughing as he ducked through the door.
“Shit, I was hoping to catch Lainey naked.”
If I’d had something to throw at him, I would have. “Fuckin’ asshole.”
