by Leela Ash
“Like with Bobby,” Carmen said.
“Exactly. I honestly don’t know whether or not I can trust him.”
Rachel gasped suddenly and reached out to grip Carmen’s arm. Her brown eyes were wide with excitement.
“I have an idea!”
Carmen shifted uncomfortably.
“What?”
“We should go out on a double date. Maybe the reason you haven’t met the right guy yet is because you’re fated to fall in love with a shifter!”
A wave of nausea swept through Carmen’s body as she remembered the deep frown on Mr. Thomas’ face during dinner. There was no way she could fall in love with a shifter; not if they were all as brooding and moody and dark as Rachel’s father.
“I’m going to set it up right now,” Rachel said, grabbing her phone.
Carmen was helpless to stop it and watched as Rachel gleefully scrolled through her contacts. Finally, she settled on someone and called.
“Hey, Greg! I have a question for you…Are you seeing anyone right now?”
Carmen wanted to sink into the bed. It was humiliating to be set up with anyone. It never went well.
“Yeah, she’s hot,” Rachel said, covering the receiver to look at Carmen and laugh. “But she’s a virgin so you have to be cool, okay?”
“Rachel!”
“What, it’s true! You don’t want him trying to paw you all night, do you?”
“Why would you set me up with a guy who would want to paw me all night?!”
Rachel didn’t answer, and focused her attention on listening intently to the man on the other line. “Great, we’ll see you then. Yes we! We’re going to do a double date. I’m going with Bobby.”
Rachel hung up and beamed proudly at Carmen.
“See! Piece of cake!”
Carmen smiled weakly at her friend and looked down at her bowl of ice cream. Whether she liked it or not, it looked like she was going on a double date.
7.
Clark leapt away from the door and rushed downstairs before the girls emerged. He hadn’t been able to help himself. Carmen was so reasonable and pure when it came to men and their intentions. It was admirable, really. It was completely unlike his own daughter, who had been a little bit boy crazy from the time she was three-years-old.
He had always assumed that Rachel and Bobby were fated to be together, but he couldn’t push these things. They would happen as they were meant to happen. Still, he was glad to hear that she had been swayed to give Bobby the time of day. He could remember how difficult it had been to date Rachel’s mother. He felt like he couldn’t make a move until everything was perfect, and by the time they were, it had almost been too late.
“Dad, we’re going out!” Rachel called.
“All right,” he said. “Be safe.”
“Duh,” Rachel said with a laugh.
He grinned and shook his head. Although she had shifter blood in her veins, she still hadn’t ever fully shifted into wolf form. He partly blamed himself for Rachel being a late bloomer. He had always stepped in when things got rough, and now she found it hard to be angry enough to tap into her shifting potential. Her mother had been a powerful shifter, but that was what had gotten her killed. Maybe, in a way, he had been far too overprotective because he didn’t want her to die the same way her mother had.
Clark sighed heavily and shook the thought away. He couldn’t think about his wife. Not now. Especially not when he had just deemed himself the biggest creep in history for stopping dead in his tracks when it was revealed, through his daughter’s bedroom door, that Carmen was a virgin.
The thrill that had electrified his body had been too delicious to refuse, and he allowed himself to be drawn into the conversation. He had never eavesdropped or spied on his daughter before, at least not intentionally, but for some reason, with Carmen in her bedroom, he hadn’t been able to help himself. What kind of sick asshole was he?
Clark was just going to have to keep himself busy, that was all. If hooking up with Missy hadn’t been the solution to his problem, then he would just have to find something better to do to keep himself busy.
As if by miracle, the phone on the wall rang shrilly and he jumped up to answer it.
“Clark!”
It was David, and he sounded more distressed than he had ever heard him. Something was wrong.
“What is it?”
“It’s worse than I thought. You need to come to Town Square. Now.”
David hung up and Clark scowled. It took all he had not to shift into his wolf form and bound to the center of the town, but the townspeople had stressed the importance of remaining decent. Shifting into your wolf form meant that shifting back would leave you standing in your birthday suit, and it was seen as lewd and dishonorable the further humanity reached into the modern times. Although it was obnoxious, it was a rule he respected.
Instead, Clark jumped onto his motorcycle and sped off as quickly as his bike would let him, and tore into Town Square, his wheels blazing. There was a crowd gathered, and a dark man elevated on a shoddy wooden stage peering out over the townspeople.
“Over here!” David’s voice boomed. Clark spotted him immediately and gave him a quick nod, then joined his friend in the crowd.
“I understand that this comes as difficult news,” the man was saying. His voice grated on Clark deeply. There was something very wrong with this man. “But I assure you, it is for the best.”
“What’s going on?” Clark demanded as the crowd jeered at the stage. A sickening smile spread across the gaunt man’s face, and he remained quiet as the townspeople voiced their protests. It was almost as if he relished in the anger he was stirring up.
“This guy says that King Lobos just appointed him as head of security.”
“But he’s one of the outsiders,” Clark said in disbelief. “He doesn’t belong in a position of power.”
“Actually, Alexander was out here before any of this was announced. He said he was doing research into the royal’s family tree. Apparently, this guy is more closely related to Balthazar than Lobos is.”
“That’s impossible!”
“No, Alexander showed everyone in black and white. He even printed pamphlets.”
David thrust his wadded up pamphlet at Clark and Clark snatched it up, his eyes scanning it in disbelief. According to Alexander, Lobos and Balthazar were distant cousins, while this man standing on the stage, labeled as Thames in the pamphlet, was distantly related to Balthazar’s brother, making him a distant nephew.
“This is horse shit,” Clark growled, silencing the crowd.
“Do we have a problem?” Thames asked, his dark eyes dancing.
“Yeah, there’s a problem,” Clark said. He felt all eyes turning on him, as it tended to happen whenever he got angry on behalf of his pack. They were always looking to him for guidance. It was his job to protect them. “I’m the rightful head of security!”
“I’m afraid not,” Thames said, his infuriating smile widening. “It’s all right there in black and white.”
“Challenge him!” an old woman whispered to Clark. But it had been King Lobos himself who had made the decision. How could he go against the word of the king? The town would descend into chaos.
“I see,” Clark said carefully. He would have to handle this situation with caution, otherwise they would have a riot on their hands. And in the case of a riot, there would be hell to pay. Most casualties were innocent women and children, not the people who were causing the mess in the first place. He would have to play it smart. “So you wouldn’t mind if I spoke to the king myself?”
“Of course not, if you can gain an audience,” Thames said, mirth shining in his beady eyes. It took everything Clark had not to put him in his place right then and there. But the documents looked legitimate enough. In fact, he was lucky that Thames wasn’t making a play for the crown. At least, not yet.
“Wonderful, thank you,” Clark said, doing his best to keep his voice steady. It wasn’t f
or his sake, though. It was always easier to keep his temper when he was acting on behalf of the innocents in his pack. It’s what had made him such a good single father.
“Of course,” Thames said, condescension dripping in his voice. “Don’t mention it. Now if that will be all, I have to undergo some training for my new position. It was all very unexpected…” he trailed off, flashing the crowd a sinister smile before exiting the stage.
He was surrounded by a circle of bulky men, bodyguards, and escorted into a black vehicle with tinted windows. Clark shook his head in disbelief as one of the bulky men climbed into the driver’s seat and Thames and his crew sped off toward the underground palace.
This wasn’t good.
8.
Carmen shifted awkwardly in the booth of the little diner. The whole town was small and old-fashioned, and she got the impression that new trends took quite a while to reach shifter clans.
Greg was sitting beside her, his eyes glued on her chest whenever he thought she wasn’t looking at him. He was really kind of a pig, and Carmen did her best to ignore him.
It wasn’t difficult. She was fascinated by Rachel and Bobby, who were sitting on the other side of the booth. There was a wild chemistry between them, completely unlike anything she had ever seen or experienced first-hand. It definitely paled in comparison to what Rachel and Roger shared.
Bobby was a mysterious man, tall, broad, and masculine. He was nothing like Roger. The complete opposite, in fact. His hair was black, and his eyes were a piercing blue. He was unbelievably handsome, and the only time his serious expression changed was when he looked at Rachel, or she spoke to him. Then his face would soften, and the tenderness in his eyes was unmistakable. Carmen had never seen such an outward display of love before, whether they wanted to call it that or not.
Still, Rachel was playing hard to get, and did her best to pretend she was oblivious to Bobby’s feelings for her. What she really needed, Carmen knew, was to hear how he felt. It wasn’t enough for him to feel it. Not if he wasn’t acting on it or honest with her about it. Why their relationship was so on again off again was beyond Carmen. It seemed obvious that the two were crazy about each other.
“So, what’s your major?” Greg asked Carmen. She sighed.
“I’m undecided.”
“Nice. A woman who likes options.”
Carmen pursed her lips. Greg was hardly a conversationalist, though he did rival Bobby in the looks department. His face was more playful and less brooding, but he was ridiculously handsome in his own right. Despite his many flaws, Carmen could tell why Rachel would want to introduce them. He was sweet, in a way, and he looked like he worked out about seven hours a day.
Still, he was kind of a pig. That wasn’t the kind of man she wanted to be with. He was hardly a man at all. A real man would have more self-restraint than to stare at her breasts all afternoon. She couldn’t imagine Mr. Thomas doing something like that…
“Are you listening?” Greg exclaimed. “I asked you what you wanted to be when you grew up. Not a lot of shifters get the option to go to university, you know. We kind of get stuck in the community.”
“Yeah,” Rachel said. “And it didn’t help that most universities didn’t open up to shifters until about ten years ago. Why bother going somewhere you aren’t wanted?”
“But you’re going,” Bobby said darkly.
“That’s because I can’t wait around for my life to come together or rely on anyone else to do it for me,” Rachel said sharply, fixing a glare on Bobby. “I want a fulfilling life. I’m not waiting around for anything.”
Bobby glowered down at the table but stayed silent. Carmen felt a pang of guilt. If she hadn’t been thinking about Rachel’s dad, the conflict might not have happened.
“Sorry,” Carmen said quickly. “I didn’t want to be anything in particular. I just wanted my own house.”
“That’s funny,” Greg said.
“Yeah…” Carmen replied. Why bother telling them that her father had never given her any support growing up? That he had shit on all of her dreams until her only real wish was to live alone where nobody else could ever hurt her again?
“Hey, the movie is going to start soon,” Rachel said, digging in her purse pointedly to pay the bill. Bobby grabbed her arm and pulled it away from her bag, and dropped two twenty dollar bills on the table.
“Let’s go,” he said darkly. He slid his hand down her arm and gripped her hand, and Rachel’s face brightened. She caught Carmen’s eyes as everybody stood from the table. Carmen smiled weakly. At least one of them was having a good time.
***
The theater in Stonybrooke was a drive-in, and Bobby and Rachel wasted no time in making out. Carmen was only mildly disgusted, but her agitation mounted when Greg, who was sharing the back seat with Carmen, tried to feel her up.
“Hey, cut it out!” she exclaimed, smacking his hand away.
“Dude, chill out about it,” Greg laughed. “You’re hotter than I thought you would be. I’m a good guy, you know, you don’t have to worry about anything. I won’t tell anyone.”
“First of all, there isn’t anyone around here for you to tell. And secondly, I’m not even interested in you, okay? So just leave me alone.”
“Rachel, why did you bother hooking me up with such an uptight bitch?” Greg exclaimed. Rachel and Bobby broke away from each other for a minute, Rachel’s face bright red.
“You fucker, I told you to be cool!”
“Oh yeah, she’s a virgin,” Greg said, his voice mocking. “Poor little virgin doesn’t know how to have any fun. It’s not like I’m going to fuck you or anything.”
“No,” Carmen said. “You’ve got it backward. It’s not like I’m going to fuck you.”
She opened the car door and stormed off.
“Carmen, wait!” Rachel called, scrambling out of the car after her.
“I need to be alone!” Carmen exclaimed. “I can find my way back, just enjoy your night without me.”
“Fuckin’ bitch,” Greg mumbled.
“Are you sure?” Rachel asked. It was clear she didn’t want to leave Bobby, and Carmen honestly didn’t want any company anyway.
“I’m serious, just everybody leave me alone,” Carmen said firmly. “I’ll be fine.”
“All right…” Rachel said. “But it’s kind of dangerous around here.”
“Whatever,” Carmen sighed.
Rachel shrugged and got back in the car. “Suit yourself. Just be careful and don’t talk to anybody.”
“Don’t even look them in the eye,” Bobby said seriously. It was the first thing he had said to her all night.
“Thanks,” Carmen said, surprised by his concern. “I won’t.”
The sound of the movie playing at the theater grew more and more distant as Carmen walked toward the Thomas residence, grateful that the place was so small that she could easily find her way home.
“Fuck yes,” a deep man’s voice suddenly hissed. “Just what I need after that bullshit. What kind of a name is Thames, anyway?”
“What?”
Before she could help herself, Carmen looked up at the man and he caught her eye gleefully.
“Oh, wanna play, do you pet?”
“No, I –”
Carmen’s heart hammered in her chest as he lunged at her, his meaty hands just barely missing her shirt.
“What’s the matter? Don’t like games?”
“What is with people tonight?!” Carmen exclaimed.
“Hey!”
Carmen grew hot as a familiar, masculine voice shouted across the distance. She looked up, a mixture of relief and fear flooding her. Mr. Thomas was quickly closing the distance between himself and Carmen and her assailant, a dark, dangerous look on his face. If she ever found herself on the receiving end of an anger like that, she didn’t know what she would do.
“Chill out Clark,” the man said, stepping away from Carmen and laughing. “I was just messing around.”
Clark. So that was his name. It suited him.
“You know you’re supposed to stay away from visitors, Joseph,” Clark said darkly. “They don’t know the rules here. Besides, she’s half your age!”
“Sorry, man. It was just a joke.”
So putting your hands on a woman was a joke now?
Rage filled Carmen’s chest but she said nothing. All she could do was watch the interaction between the men as the energy between them grew less intimidating. Clark stared hard at Joseph until Joseph laughed and shook his head, walking away as if nothing had happened.
“Are you all right?” Clark asked.
“Thank you,” Carmen said shakily. “Can we go back to your house now?”
Clark smiled gently and put his hand on her shoulder. It was the first time he had touched her, and the heat in her body intensified. What was going on with her?
“Of course,” Clark said, dropping his hand quickly and clearing his throat. “I’ll drive you.”
9.
“I’ve never ridden a motorcycle before,” Carmen said. Clark could feel the heat on her cheeks from a foot away, and she stood reluctantly beside the bike as he dug a helmet out from the boot.
“Don’t worry about a thing,” Clark said, tossing her the helmet. She caught it easily, but her face still looked uneasy. “I’ve ridden this thing a thousand times. Just hold on tight and by the time we get back to the house, you’ll be glad you gave it a chance.”
He mounted the motorcycle and squeezed his eyes shut. It was unbelievably difficult for him to keep his thoughts pure. How could he blame Joseph for going after Carmen? She seemed to have no idea just how sexy she was. But that shouldn’t be a surprise. Virgins like Carmen didn’t know a damn thing about how to use what the good Lord had given them. In fact, they were completely oblivious to how insane they could drive a man. And god help them all once Carmen finally figured it out.
“Like this?” Carmen asked, draping one long, luscious leg over the seat and sliding down his back to the seat behind him. Clark was hard instantly. He just couldn’t help himself. The way her middle scraped against him; he could still feel the trail of heat her body left on him.
