Emily nodded. “Okay, thank you.” She felt better about leaving now at least. If only I thought Logan wanted me, then I wouldn’t have to do this alone.
Logan hadn’t returned a phone call in three weeks, or tried to see her. She’d left one final voice message on his phone, which was a good-bye. She didn’t tell him about the positive pregnancy test she’d been shocked with two weeks ago. Only that she was leaving to finally see the world and not to bother trying to come by the house anymore, not that he would.
She thought about leaving a message on his machine that he was going to be a daddy, but she quickly disregarded that thought. No, if he cared for me at all, he would have at least sent a text message. Instead, he’d ignored her. She tried to block out her mother’s accusing words from her childhood, but how could she deny their truth when Logan had turned his back on her? She was just a screw-up and she chased everyone away.
The doctor helped Emily sit up, and as the nurse was putting away the wand for the ultrasound, the doctor said, “I will let you get dressed and give you some samples of prenatal vitamins and some information about your pregnancy.”
Emily nodded. “Thank you. Um, I’ve been really sick lately. I throw up a lot, and I don’t have any energy.”
“Perfectly normal. It will pass in a few more weeks. The second trimester will see your energy back to normal.” The doctor and nurse both left and took the ultrasound with them. Emily looked down at her stomach. Now that an ultrasound had confirmed she really was pregnant, and she’d seen her baby, it felt even more real.
“It’s just you and me now, baby,” Emily said to her stomach. “God, I hope I’m doing the right thing.” Doubt assailed her and, she felt a strong compulsion to return to Wolf Creek and tell Gram and Matt everything. Then she imagined Gram looking at her like her mom used to.
For a moment, the doctor’s office vanished and Emily was a six-year-old again. “Look at what you’ve done, you little shit. You screw everything up.
“It’s not true,” Emily whispered as she wiped a tear away. She hated it when she had a memory triggered of her drug-addicted mother who’d taken her rage out on her. Emily would think she was doing so well, then with one small trigger she was that beaten-down little girl again.
Gram had taught her that she was never a screw-up. It was what kept her from just giving in and repeating her mother’s mistakes. Except now, she was pregnant with the father dumping her. That sent her thoughts on another bunny trail. If Matt found out Logan had knocked her up and then left, he would go and find Logan and beat him. She’d not only break up Matt’s friendship, but also get Matt thrown in jail. She got up off the exam table and reached for her clothes, feeling as if she had the weight of the world on her shoulders, but there was nothing she could do. She’d been the one to screw up by forgetting to take her pills for a couple of days. She wouldn’t be the reason everyone was unhappy, and knew she had to disappear.
Chapter One
Ten months later
Logan Grant melded with the wall as he concentrated on using his lycan sense to hear what was going on inside the house. He knew there was a human woman being held captive inside, but he wasn’t sure where. All Marcus had told him was she was bait to lure them there. He caught the stench of coyote and vampire filling the yard outside the house. Closing his eyes, he filtered out the background noise and concentrated on the conversation going on inside.
“I want to fuck her. It’s been too damn long since I had a woman.”
“Mortef said not to touch her, Earl. You screw her and he will make you wish he’d just killed you.”
A scuffle came through and Logan heard a female cry out in pain. No way was he going to stand outside and listen to coyote curs rape a female. Logan had done some shady things for the pack, but never rape. He’d killed a few supernaturals who had raped though. One of the pleasantries of being an enforcer, he was allowed to dispense shifter justice quickly.
Logan didn’t have time to get his phone out of the harness his sorcerer friend, Yerel, had made that could withstand the magic that shredded fabric when he shifted. By the sounds of the female’s screams, one of the coyotes no longer cared if his vampire master would be vexed. Logan lifted his leg and kicked in the front door in one wood-shattering kick.
The room stank of coyote, fear, and lust. The only reason Logan didn’t kill all the coyotes instantly was because he didn’t smell sex mixed with the pain and fear from the female. Still, he’d caught the muddy brown-haired coyote trying to pry the female’s bare legs apart while she weakly fought back. Her gaze locked onto his.
“Help me,” she cried in a near whisper. The hopeless terror in her eyes had Logan moving to rescue her before he’d had a chance to make a plan or call for backup.
“Assholes!” Logan’s nostrils flared, and his hands clenched into fists as he glared at his target. The coyote was no longer such a tough guy with an enraged enforcer pouncing on him.
The coyote lifted his face and inhaled as he tried to scent what breed of supernatural Logan was, and then he lifted a gun off the table and fired it at Logan.
Logan dodged the bullet easily and resisted the urge to roll his eyes as the coyote still tried to determine what breed he was while firing his gun at him. Logan decided to make things easier on him as his claws extended so he could rip his throat out.
“I am a lycan enforcer from the Wolf Creek Pack, and you are a dead coyote.”
“Is that supposed to scare me, dog?” The coyote shoved Logan hard and stumbled back. He snarled at Logan and pulled a knife out of his waistband. Logan didn’t want to waste the energy or ruin his new jeans by shifting.
“I don’t give a shit if you’re scared or not, mongrel.” Logan grabbed a chair and tossed it out of his path. The coyote’s head followed the crash, giving Logan the distraction he needed. He leapt on the coyote and knocked the gun out of his hand.
Moving quickly while the coyotes screamed and tried to hit Logan. The coyote tried holding Logan’s hands to keep the knife away from him, but Logan had the advantage of strength and the upper position.
“I may have allowed you to live, if you hadn’t tried to rape the girl. Now you are nothing but a stain on the earth that needs to be wiped out.”
The other coyote tried to creep up on his blind side, but Logan’s hearing picked him up and pinpointed where he was without him having to look. He kicked his foot out and heard his grunt of pain before he heard a crash.
“Please,” the rogue coyote stuttered. “I’ll leave this area.”
“It’s too late to try to make a deal. You tried to harm a female.” Logan spat on the ground in disgust that this piece of shit would think he’d make a deal with him.
“But, she’s just a human. You’re going to kill me over a human?”
Logan snarled as he applied more strength and shoved the knife into the coyote’s chest. His body tensed and shuddered as the blade pierced his vital organs.
“Yes, I am going to kill you over a human…you cur bastard,” Logan swore as he stood up and kicked himself free of the body. The earth was a little better off now with that sick fucker gone. Logan turned his attention to the other coyote who was slowly getting up from the floor.
“What about you? Are you ready to run back to your bloodsucking master?”
“You killed Earl!” Eyes wide with rage, the coyote launched himself at Logan. He braced himself to take the blow as he stepped back. He’d planned it perfectly. The coyote landed on the hard wood floor in front of Logan instead of on him.
“Bastard, you killed Earl over one of those disgusting humans! I’ll kill you!”
“Give up. Don’t make me deal with you like I did your friend.”
The coyote charged at Logan with his claws extended. He screamed as he tried to slash at Logan’s face.
“You killed him. How could you kill him?” His face was molten red, and he sobbed hysterically as he slashed at Logan’s face and neck.
Logan got his han
ds around both of the coyote’s hands and held him at arm’s length. If he could take one alive for questioning, perhaps he would know what the vampires and coyotes were doing associating with one another.
Foam dripped from the coyote’s mouth. “Fuck you, dog,” he said before he jerked one hand free, claws retracted, and he pulled out a gun.
“Fuck,” Logan yelled seconds before he tossed the coyote aside as he pulled the trigger. The bullet whizzed past Logan’s head, just barely missing him, and then the heat grew as his body started to change into a wolf. Motherfucker, I just bought these damn jeans, Logan thought a split second before his body shifted. The clothing made a tearing sound as the magic that allowed him to change from human to a wolf shredded all the material on his body, including his new jeans. Now I’m really fucking pissed. He’d given the mangy dog every chance to surrender, but he’d refused. He should have known better than to spend so much money on a pair of jeans. As a pack enforcer, it was his job to enforce the laws of the pack. It never failed: buy nice clothes and get into a fight, and then poof, clothes are gone.
As his wolf burst forth, Logan leapt on the coyote that was about to kill the dark-haired human. The coyote screamed and tried to beat Logan off his back. He pulled a gun from his waist and fired it, blasting several holes in the walls and ceiling, and then pointed his gun at the female huddled on the floor weeping.
Logan took a breath, as time seemed to slow. Now was not the time for cockiness, since it only took one lucky shot for the innocent human female to die. His focus narrowed on his prey, and he let his wolf take control.
The coyote’s eyes widened, and he changed into his animal. He squealed as Logan leapt onto him and his claws and teeth shredded him. The coyote shifted back to a human and pulled a gun out of a coat pocket that was draped over the arm of a chair. He pointed it at Logan with a shaking hand.
“Now you die, enforcer.”
Logan shifted back to his human skin. “Fuck this shit.” Logan was done playing with this cur. Moving quickly, he grew his claws out and ripped the coyote’s throat out.
The coyote’s body stiffened, and he wheezed as he dropped the gun and raised his hands to try and cover the gashes Logan had slashed in his neck. The coyote swayed on his feet before his knees buckled and he fell over in front of Logan.
Logan kicked the bleeding mongrel away from him. Snarling, Logan stood up to finish the job of executing the coyote.
“Stop!” the coyote cried. “You kill me and my mate will hunt you down.”
“Let her come.” Logan sank his teeth into the coyote’s throat and felt the warm blood fill his mouth. One little female coyote didn’t scare Logan, and she was better off without such a dishonorable mate.
The coyote wheezed out his last breath as his blood pooled on the floor.
Logan began to look around for something to wear. He stopped mid-turn and just stared. The carnage in the house was horrific. There were several bodies on the floor and they looked like they’d been slowly tortured to death. One was a female, and Logan didn’t want to think what she’d gone through. It didn’t take long for the scent of sex to clear a room. The coyotes would have shown their captive what she could expect when they got to her just to terrorize her. Coyote rogues thrived on fear. It was like a drug to them, and they only killed their victims once they were too far gone to care.
What this poor female witnessed must have been terrifying, and he had no idea how long they’d held her. The poor female seemed too terrified to even move. She simply huddled in the corner with her knees drawn up to her chest.
“Roy!”
Logan turned to see a pudgy black-haired man standing there. The scent told him he was another coyote. “Roy is dead. Him and his buddy, Earl, they killed these humans and tried to rape this girl.”
“They were my ma—they were my friends.”
Logan shrugged, not feeling any remorse over the dead coyotes. “Not anymore. Do you want to be next, or are you going to surrender?”
Rage and grief simmered in the coyote’s eyes. He stepped forward, and the hair on Logan’s neck stood up. He’s going to shift and fight me. Oh, this will be fun. The chubby coyote started to shimmer. Logan glanced over at the human woman, hoping she wouldn’t suffer a mental break, so he wouldn’t have to fight her off as well. Humans who panicked tended to be completely irrational, and more than one supernatural had died because one freaked out.
She just sat there, her eyes almost blank. Even though Logan didn’t scent any sex now, it didn’t mean she hadn’t been touched. That thought sent his anger into a fiery rage. Male supernaturals were far stronger than human females. They should protect them, never hurt them.
A crash sounded in another room and the sounds of fighting fleeing dogs filled the night. The pudgy coyote’s eyes widened.
“I will get you for this, lycan. One day I will take what you love away from you, and you will never get it back.” He fell to his knees next to his lover—and Logan was sure they were lovers. The grief in the other coyote’s eyes made it clear they were far more than friends.
“Whatever,” Logan said without remorse. The scent of fear and death in the air was giving Logan the urge to kill the coyote in the room, but he knew Marcus would want some alive. The coyote was too busy whining over his dead pack mates to be any kind of a fun fight anyways. He’d just turn him over to Marcus. Marcus held the same opinions on protecting females as he did, so he was sure the asshole would suffer. He took a breath through his mouth to try and ease the urge to kill his prey.
“Do you really think your threats scare me? Your coward friends couldn’t hurt me on my worst day.” He spat again as distaste for the mongrel filled his mouth. Everywhere he looked, he saw the evidence of their crimes.
“Don’t kill them all!” Marcus yelled. Logan glanced over and saw Marcus looking at the dead humans with a thunderous expression. “I want some of them alive. They will answer for this!”
The coyote hovered over the body of his friend and sobbed. The scent of fear and blood in the air set off the predator in Logan. He could feel his wolf just under his skin, and his long black claws slid out of the tips of his fingers. It would be so easy to slice the coyote’s throat open and let him bleed out next to his lovers. He deserved that much for what had happened to the innocent humans in the house. Instead, Logan forced his wolf down.
“I’ve got one in here, Alpha.” Logan glanced at the female and slowly approached her. She whimpered and pulled her legs in closer, and her entire body shook as she stared at him.
Using every bit of control Logan had learned over the years, he pushed his lycan side down and concentrated on not scaring the human female. “It’s okay. I’m here to help you. No one is going to hurt you now.”
Her head tilted to the side, but she said nothing as she kept her gaze on him.
A crash had him turning back around. The dead coyote still lay on the floor, not far from the traumatized female, but the chubby one had run right through the back window. He’d been so focused on the female that he’d blocked out the coyote behind him. It was a stupid mistake that could have gotten him killed, but today the cur wanted to escape, not kill. The coyote ran through the backyard screaming in mindless grief.
Logan turned and saw an enforcer who was visiting from a pack in Texas. “Dylan, get that fucker that helped kill these humans, while I deal with the female here!” Logan decided she was scared enough without handing her over to a young lycan.
Dylan’s face was grim before he shifted in the room. Logan had no idea how lycans did things in Texas, but he’d have to make it clear to Dylan that they tried to be discreet around humans.
Logan watched the coyote shift and run seconds before Dylan chased him with a howl. The sound of glass shattering made Logan spin around. The female had busted out a window with her fists, and she gripped the sharp edges.
“Fuck.” Logan snarled and ran over to her. She would slice herself up on all the broken glass if he didn’t get
to her soon enough.
When he gripped her around the waist, she threw her head back and let out a long thin wail. “Please, no, no, no.”
“Shhhh,” Logan whispered. He knew holding her was adding to her distress, but if he let her go, she could hurt herself in her panic.
“Listen to me,” Logan said, using the same smooth voice he used on a sub who was frightened and needed to calm. He held her firmly in one arm while the other stroked through her hair in the most soothing way he could. “You’re okay now. I’m not hurting you. The ones that hurt you are gone now.”
Marcus walked up behind Logan. “Rachel,” he said with a rough voice.
Logan turned to see the Alpha of their pack, Marcus, standing close by. “This is my mate’s best friend, Rachel.” Marcus’s eyes darkened. “Did they hurt her?” He shook as rage darkened his features.
“I don’t think so. I think she’s just really scared and not thinking straight.”
Logan turned his attention back to Rachel. She cried silently now instead of screaming as if she resigned herself to her fate. There was no way to convince her that he wouldn’t hurt her, so he picked her up.
Rachel froze in his arms, but she didn’t fight him anymore, and they took the lull to get her out of the room that the coyotes had tortured the humans in. Logan heard Marcus talking on the phone, ordering members of the pack to come and clean up the scene. They couldn’t risk human police investigating murders done by supernatural, or a landlord calling the police over a ransacked house. All the evidence of the horrors that had happened in the house would be gone by the time the landlord came to collect the keys.
The human police would never know about the crimes committed here, but lycan justice was far harsher than human. Still, they would do their best to give the families of the dead closure while protecting themselves from the government.
The living room of the den was untouched, so Logan stopped in there and Marcus followed him after a few moments. Marcus ran his hand over her face and stared into her eyes. She didn’t try to move away from him as Marcus checked on her. His brow furrowed as he concentrated and placed his hand on her head. With a breath, Marcus dropped his hand.
Enforcers Embrace [Southern Supernatural Alphas] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) Page 2
