by Sky Winters
“Hi,” Hunter said, surprised by how high-pitched his voice sounded in comparison to the motel manager’s. He was still scared. “Do you have any vacancies?”
“Sure do,” the manager said, his cheerful voice somehow contradicting the stern look on his face. Hunter wasn’t sure the night could get any weirder. “Just how long are you planning on staying?”
“Oh…I’m not sure. Is it possible to put me down for a month? I can pay up front.”
“A month, eh?”
This time, the manager’s face was as surprised as his voice, and Hunter felt oddly satisfied at being able to change the man’s tired expression.
“A month, sir.”
“I suppose that wouldn’t be a problem. Mind if I ask what you’re planning on doing here during your stay? Most folks head to the campgrounds a few miles back.”
Mention of the campground tied Hunter’s stomach in knots.
“I’m not sure what I’m doing, yet,” he admitted, just as much to himself as to the motel manager. “I’m trying to figure that out.”
“Well, Dire is a good place,” the manager said, smiling decisively. “My name’s Ed. Take this card. If you need anything, my number’s right there.”
“Thanks,” Hunter said, unable to keep a shy smile from parting his lips. There was something strange about Ed—about the entire place. But if he stayed on Ed’s good side, he might just get to like him.
“Here’s your key,” Ed said, sliding a key ring across the table to Hunter. “I assume a one bedroom is good enough for you.”
“More than good enough,” Hunter said. He had been expecting just a single room with a refrigerator and bed cramped side by side.
“It’s upstairs to the right,” Ed called as Hunter headed out the door to get his belongings.
Hunter opened the trunk of his car and sighed as all of his worldly possessions came into view. He could probably just do with bringing in the essentials for now. At least until he’d had a shower. He slammed the trunk closed and looked up at the clear, star-blazed sky. A town called Dire. Nothing to worry about here.
Chapter 5
The forest was alive at night, and Bronson crept stealthily through the foliage. He was following the trail the mountain lion shifters had left the night before. He’d gained enough strength over the night to investigate and now, he was certain, he was hot on their trail.
Bronson’s skin tightened as a surge of static made him shiver. A mountain lion shifter was close. He would have to be careful. He was injured, and they weren’t known to have mercy; especially on the Alphas of the wolf shifter clan.
He stopped in his tracks, hoping to get a sense of where the shifter might be. He had to get some answers. The fight that had happened between himself and the mountain lion shifters the night of the ceremony had left him feeling unsettled. They were getting bolder, and soon, he knew, they would make their move. But it was his pack’s mission to protect the town of Dire and the humans who dwelled there, and they wouldn’t abandon their people.
“A week is all it should take,” Bronson heard the tweedy voice of a mountain lion shifter say.
“They’re on their last legs,” another man sniggered. Bronson’s chest constricted with a rage so painful it was almost impossible to hold back. But this wasn’t an ambush, he reminded himself. It was reconnaissance.
“With the mutts out of the way, we’ll finally be able to take back the sacred land,” the first shifter said. “It’s been far too long.”
“The blood of the humans who have desecrated the land there will rain down as an offering to Bast. This will please the goddess.”
Bronson cringed as their laughter echoed in the darkness. The mountain lion shifters started moving away, back toward the territory line that separated them from the wolf shifters, and Bronson allowed himself to finally release the breath he’d been holding.
So that’s what they were planning. If anything happened to Bronson’s pack, the humans who lived in the town of Dire were going to be in grave danger.
Bronson knew the history of this place, all members of the pack were taught it when they were young. He wasn’t sure how much of it he believed, but the rumor was the mountain lions wanted the town because of a secret source of power, a sacred spot near the town hall that had once been the resting place of an ancient mural and the bones of the mountain lion’s deity, Bast. There was supposed to be some kind of underground lair, a sacred spring they said, that could give the mountain lion shifters supernatural strength. If they were ever able to reach it, the town would return to them and all the innocent people who lived there would be sacrificed.
Bronson wasn’t sure just how true the myths were. The wolf shifter packs didn’t have a deity or any source of secret power, so he didn’t know if it was possible for such a thing to exist. But it was real enough for the mountain lion shifters, and their claim to the land was long-lasting and vicious. When the humans had settled here, they’d quickly become a blight the mountain lion clan wanted to wipe out as quickly as possible.
But the elders of the wolf pack that lived nearby had watched the humans moving in. These were ancient wolf shifters, wise beyond their years, and together, they’d decided that it was right to protect the oblivious humans from the malicious cruelty of the mountain lion shifters, who saw anybody outside their own kind to be a virus. They completely refused to try to coexist with the humans as the wolves did. The mountain lion shifters felt they were above it all, and turned a hateful eye to anybody who fell outside of their expectations. Not to mention that supposed sacred spring.
Now it was time for Bronson to take the lead and continue the mission his forefathers had started so many decades ago. But to do that, he would need to get organized. It was time to head to Fangz.
***
“Where have you been?” Lance asked when Bronson finally walked through the bar’s double doors.
“Nowhere,” Bronson said. His mind had been whirling ever since he’d overheard the mountain lion shifters speaking, but he didn’t think he was ready to let the rest of the pack in on what he’d heard. It wasn’t like it was a huge secret that the mountain lion shifters wanted the pack out of the way, but the new timeline was something Bronson had to really consider before consulting the pack with a plan of action.
“You didn’t miss much,” Lance continued. “We’ve been waiting for you.”
One of the wolves at the bar pulled a stool out for Bronson. He paused for a moment before he sat down, letting his dark eyes roam over the familiar faces in the bar. He had a strange feeling; as if something big was about to happen. It might just have been his nerves though. Eavesdropping on the mountain lion shifters had given him a sense of foreboding and urgency. They needed to protect the town at all costs.
“We’ve decided we’re going to take to the road and split up,” Lance began. “We have to do something to find those hybrids the elder was talking about. I’m sure we’ll be able to smell them if we get close enough. If we don’t go now, it might be too late. We might not get another chance. Are you in?”
Lance’s dark blue eyes bored into Bronson’s. He could tell the pack had been seriously considering the journey, but there was no way he could go, not when he knew what the mountain lion shifters were planning. But it might be just what was needed to protect the remaining wolf shifters from the vengeful mountain lion clan.
“I think that’s a great idea,” Bronson said, trying to choose his words carefully. He knew Lance was hoping to get his approval and lead them all on a quest to reclaim the glory of the earlier years. But he couldn’t leave. “You guys seem to have this all figured out, so why don’t you head out tomorrow morning. I have to stay here and speak with the elders about a few things first, and then with their approval I’ll head out on my own.”
The men around him looked crestfallen, and he knew they had probably hoped he’d jump on board with no second thoughts. But he couldn’t leave the human populations vulnerable. There was something
that was bothering him. Something he couldn’t quite place. It felt better to stick around and figure out what it was, to consult the elders before his feeling of foreboding translated into something even more sinister.
Everyone in the bar stopped speaking suddenly when the door creaked open and a human that Bronson had ever seen before walked in. He knew everyone in the town, so he knew instantly this was a traveler, a stranger to Dire. Bronson’s heart thudded as he watched the handsome, golden-haired man cross the room and sit down in a booth by himself, keeping his eyes low to the ground. He was lean, with sharp features and intelligent silver-blue eyes. The man’s hair looked like it was normally kept crisp and close to his scalp, but right now it seemed unruly despite his best efforts to smooth it to the side.
“Let’s get out of here,” Lance whispered. The rest of the pack agreed and stood, waiting for Bronson to stand up and join them.
“I just got here. I’m going to have a drink first, but you guys go on ahead. I’m sure you have a lot of planning to do.” Again, Bronson could tell that Lance seemed to feel deflated by Bronson’s lack of enthusiasm and Bronson sighed inwardly. “I think you guys are really on to something. I’m proud to walk beside men like you.”
For the first time since Lance’s mate had died, Bronson held his gaze and smiled approvingly. It seemed to reanimate Lance, and he straightened to his full height.
“Let’s go guys,” he said, and led the rest of the pack out the door.
Chapter 6
The second Hunter walked through the double doors of the bar, he felt like he had made a mistake. He was hit by a wall of cigarette smoke that stung his eyes. When he blinked it away, he saw that the whole place was filled with men that seemed five times his size, dressed in dark leather clothes. He had inadvertently found himself in a biker bar.
He tried to keep his eyes on the ground, trying to remember an article he had read once on avoiding confrontation, and slunk into a booth in the back corner. They had all glared at him murderously, and he knew that one wrong move could be his last. To his surprise, most of the men left not long after Hunter arrived. All of them but one mysterious man with a pensive—almost sexy—gaze who lingered behind. Hunter couldn’t fully see his face, and he couldn’t help but wonder what the rest of him looked like.
“What do you drink?”
Hunter was surprised out of his thoughts by the voice of a middle-aged waitress, who was looking down at him impatiently. She looked just as brutal as the men who had just left, but there was something a little bit gentler about her. As if she were more like him.
More like him? What was that supposed to mean? He shook the thought away and answered.
“Got rum and coke?” he asked, trying to keep his eyes from settling on the handsome stranger at the bar. The man’s jeans were sinfully tight, showing off the gentle curve of his firm ass. He was wearing a black leather jacket, and his hair was shoulder-length and dark. Hunter couldn’t make out any features other than the man’s ruggedly stubbled cheeks, but for some reason he was convinced that if the man turned around to face him, he would be absolutely gorgeous.
“Of course,” she said. “You want one?”
Her voice was impatient and sarcastic, and Hunter nodded dumbly, looking down at the table. He fingered a napkin as the waitress disappeared and returned a few moments later with his drink. Hunter wasn’t sure if he should thank her or if it would be viewed as a sign of weakness, so he gave her a weak smile and brought the drink close to his body.
What the hell had he been thinking coming into this place? He might as well have bought a bottle of whiskey at the gas station and gotten drunk alone in his room. But he had been spending far too many nights doing that since he’d lost Tyler.
The sudden memory of his loss combined with the immense stress of the bizarre encounter on the road that night and the overwhelming feeling of being in such an unwelcoming environment brought an involuntary sob from deep inside Hunter. He was horrified at himself for showing weakness, especially in a place like this. He probably wouldn’t be able to make it back out to his car without getting beaten up. And it would be his own damn fault if that happened. He never should have come here.
But it was too late for second thoughts now, and Hunter bowed his head into the crook of his arm and allowed himself to hide his face as he cried. There was no point in hiding it. He was overwhelmed and there was nothing he could do about it. He almost looked forward to the inevitable beating he was going to get when he left the place. He felt like a piece of shit.
Suddenly, he felt a heavy hand on one of his quaking shoulders and Hunter’s chest constricted painfully. Apparently, the violence was going to start earlier than he’d anticipated.
“Are you okay?”
Hunter was surprised enough to sit upright at the sound of the smooth but masculine voice. He turned his eyes toward the man beside him and his mouth immediately dried up. He felt like he was in a scene in a romantic movie, faced with a man so attractive that he almost appeared otherworldly. He couldn’t stop the thought that this was the sexiest man he had ever seen in person, and was too stunned to speak. Fortunately, the stranger smiled kindly and pulled his hand off Hunter’s shoulder.
“Nobody in here is going to hurt you, so you can relax.”
“How can you be so sure?” Hunter asked, stiffening up as the man took a seat beside him in the booth. He begrudgingly scooted over until he was sitting next to the wall. The man’s broad shoulder rested easily against Hunter’s.
“Well for one, I’m the only guy in here right now,” the man said, smiling. The playful gesture made his dark eyes twinkle mysteriously. “And secondly, the guys in here do what I tell them to. So just trust me. Stay on my good side, and as long as I’m around you’re safe. So what’s the trouble?”
Hunter wasn’t sure he could trust this man, though every bone in his body wanted to. Something about him seemed so kind and familiar. And yet one look at him convinced him that if the guy wanted to, he could bite Hunter in half and have him for dinner. Though what kind of person would do that? It’s not like they were animals. Just men, sitting together in a bar.
“Don’t feel like talking about it huh?” the handsome stranger asked. “I get that. The real problems… Well, there aren’t enough words for them.”
The man had taken the words right out of Hunter’s mouth. It was strange to speak with someone who truly understood how he was feeling, without him even having to say a word. There weren’t enough hours in the day for Hunter to begin to describe what his relationship to Tyler had meant, no way to express the nagging emotional strain he felt at having to justify moving to Montana to his oblivious and homophobic mother. And the incident out on the highway? Well, nobody would ever have believed him if he’d tried to explain it anyway, so what was the point in finding the words for it? Nobody was interested in him, and they wouldn’t ever truly understand, no matter how hard he tried to explain. It was a relief that someone out there could understand that.
“My name’s Bronson. Bronson Walker.”
He held out his big hand for Hunter to take. Hunter hesitated before grabbing it and giving it a firm pump.
“I’m Hunter Lewis,” he said, trying to ignore the way Bronson’s strong hand felt wrapped around his own. It was were warm and welcoming. Different from Tyler’s, but similarly exciting. The comparison almost made Hunter lose his meager dinner. Bronson must have noticed the change in his facial expression because immediately let go.
“What’s the matter?”
“It’s just… I don’t know if I can really talk about that here.”
The atmosphere of the bar was unwelcoming. Hunter wasn’t sure he would be able to talk about anything there, least of all something as personal as his feelings concerning his late fiancé. It was hard enough to think about by himself, let alone trying to explain his feelings to someone else. Someone who’d never met Tyler and couldn’t possibly know what an amazing man he had been. It almost made him ang
ry to have to talk about it to people who would never know what he’d lost.
“Something’s really bugging you. Seems like you could use some time away from here,” Bronson said thoughtfully.
Hunter jumped in fear and surprise when Bronson slammed his fist onto the table. At first, he thought Bronson was angry, but when he turned to face Hunter, his face was brightened by a surprisingly handsome smile. Hunter was dazzled for a few seconds and had to blink hard as Bronson spoke.
“I have a great idea. You’re going to love it. Follow me.”
Without another word, or even a look back to see if Hunter was doing as he said—as if he was a man who was used to giving orders and expected full obedience—Bronson headed out the door.
Chapter 7
Bronson sauntered out of the bar with confidence; he could tell Hunter was walking close behind him. Just what he was doing, even speaking to this guy, he had no idea. If anybody caught him fucking around with the outsider, they would have a fit. He was supposed to be solving all of his pack’s problems and getting in touch with the elders to let them know what he had overheard when he was trailing the mountain lion shifters, not trying to turn some pretty boy’s frown upside-down.
But it was none of their business what Bronson did. Besides that, the boy was clearly scared as hell, and had been since he’d walked into the bar. Something was up, and it was Bronson’s job to find out what. It could count as one of his Alpha duties, couldn’t it? He wasn’t a total slacker after all. It could mean trouble from the mountain lion pack. But if the boy wasn’t going to talk about it in the bar, he would just have to make him more comfortable.
