Blind Wolf Bluff: Shifter Romance (Vanguard Elite Book 3)

by Annie Nicholas

  Damn, shifters could move fast. She had a better chance of out racing a gazelle than Todd.

  She turned the corner of the building straight into Todd’s outstretched arm. It caught her across the face, snapping her head back. Her feet left the ground as they continued with their forward acceleration and she landed on her back. Her gun was knocked out of her hold again. She’d never hear the end of it from William. The impact knocked the air from her lungs and she made a high-pitched wheeze.

  What a rookie mistake.

  Rolling onto her side, she struggled for breath. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a fist heading in her direction. Muscle memory kicked in and she ducked, barely escaping Todd’s punch. It landed so close to her head, she felt the breeze brush against her hair.

  She rolled, knocking him off his feet. He might be inhumanely strong and fast, but she’d spent months learning to fight people who were bigger and stronger than her. No matter what, she’d always be the underdog in combat but that wouldn’t stop her. Ever.

  As soon as he hit the ground, she scrambled on top, pressing her knee to his throat. Shifters had to breathe just like everyone else. Well, except vampires. Details, details. She stuck her thumbs into his eye sockets and put her weight behind the pressure. Shifters had weak points too.

  Todd howled, the sound feral and angry.

  An ancient instinct inside of her awoke at the noise. Cold claws of fear clutched her spine. It screamed for her to run before she was eaten. But she wouldn’t. She owed those girls peace. She owed her sister retribution. She owed herself salvation.

  With one swift move, Todd broke her hold and flung her away.

  She flew backwards high in the air. Time slowed as her arms pinwheeled and her legs kicked to keep from flipping midair.

  This would hurt.

  The uneven pavement of the garage parking lot broke her fall. She skipped over the surface like a stone, leaving behind chunks of her DNA. Gravel dug into her skin and stars flashed in her vision. She blinked, trying to clear it, and watched three wavy versions of Todd vanish into the field.

  The ringing made her head ache. She clutched her skull. The noise grew piercing like ice picks in her ear drums.

  Wait. Not ringing anymore. Sirens.

  Now help arrived.

  On her hands and knees, she crawled around the side of the building. She spotted an ambulance parked by the garage. A police car pulled into the lot. The EMTs knelt by someone. She gasped, sending a sharp pain through her side. Blain.

  She rose onto rubbery legs and weaved like a running drunk toward the chaos. He hadn’t been injured when she’d left him. What had happened?

  The police officer rushed from the car to steady her steps. “Take it easy, lady.” He pulled an old-fashioned handkerchief from his pocket and dabbed her face. It came away bloody.

  She showed him her badge. “Dat me padna.” She spoke with swollen tongue and sore jaw. She must have bit it when she hit the ground.

  He nodded and helped her toward the ambulance. The officer knew better than to stop her from seeing Blain. There was an unspoken rule among law enforcement. Partners were family.

  Her werewolf lay on his back, eyes and mouth swollen shut. He struggled to breathe, hands to throat, his feet thrashing the ground.

  One of the EMTs stuck a huge syringe into Blain’s thigh and pushed the plunger while the other tried to hold him still.

  “Heths a woof shiffer.” She offered the info in case treatment would be different. “De susspeck tossed powda in his face.”

  What had that crap been, anyway?

  “Get another EpiPen. Shifters usually need a double dose for anything to work.” Apparently understanding her, the EMTs worked together, attaching oxygen on Blain and giving him another shot. All the while Blain fought them off with weakening effort. She’d seen firsthand how strong a shifter could be. He should have been able to toss the EMTs loose.

  Her shifter was dying before her eyes.

  She knelt next to him. What would make him react like this? “I here.” Unshed tears strangled her voice and made her hoarse. She stroked his hair.

  He grabbed her hand. Her bones creaked but she let him hold on. “You be okay.” If she spoke the words out loud, then she would believe it. If she believed, then it would come true and he’d hear her truth.

  Please, please, let it be true.

  She cupped his face as he struggled to peer at her between swollen eyelids.

  His pale blue eyes changed to amber. The colors bled into each other until his irises grew and all the white vanished. A growl rolled in his chest as all his muscles clenched in a spasm. His back arched and he tore the oxygen off.

  The officer pulled Sonya away as both EMTs lunged on top of their patient.

  “Ged away,” she shouted. “He shiffing ape.” The adrenaline from the EpiPen must have hit his system and triggered the change.

  The EMTs rolled off Blain and scrambled clear.

  Blain’s body expanded, tearing through his clothes. A howl ripped through the muzzle forming from his mouth. She hadn’t seen a shifter change shape this close. They’d shown it on television, but it didn’t compare to seeing it live. Or maybe the difference was that she cared about this particular shifter.

  Flesh stretched and fur sprouted. Everything moved so fast as Blain made pained noises. He hadn’t done that in the alley or in the forest when he had shifted shape. This time was different. Where Blain had laid supine stood a werewolf on his back legs in beast form, shredded clothes scattered on the pavement. He panted, tongue lolling from the side of his muzzle. His ears pivoted toward them then flattened as hair rose on his spine. His back was to the wall and they had formed a line between him and the road. He bared his teeth and snarled.

  “Ged back to da truck.” She motioned to the EMTs. “Slowly.” She spotted the police officer, gun in hand. “Put that away.” She knelt in front of Blain, making herself small and nonthreatening, offering her hand to smell. “It’s me.”

  He sniffed. The rolling growl in his chest quieted and his flat ears perked up and leaned forward. He knelt with her. His breathing slowed and he shook his coat. He nudged her hand, asking to be petted.

  She stroked his thick, soft fur. “You had me worried,” she whispered.

  He gave her a full body lean.

  She stumbled, almost falling on her ass. Rising to her feet, she noted everyone’s stares. “He’ll be fine now.” She sounded more confident than she felt. Every drive in her body wanted to shove him in the car and take him back to the hotel for a full body examination.

  The EMTs gathered their things, snatching open bags, scattering syringes on the ground as they packed in a hurry.

  She couldn’t blame them. That had scared the shit out of her too.

  Blain stayed kneeling next to her and she curled her fingers into the scruff of his neck. Not many things could incapacitate a shifter. That was why humans feared them.

  So what had been thrown in Blain’s face?

  The police officer still hovered, hand on the butt of the now holstered gun. “You sure he’s safe?”

  “Yes.” Safe? If Blain decided to eat the officer, she couldn’t stop them. Her confidence wasn’t in the fact that others didn’t need protection from him, but knowing Blain wouldn’t harm anyone. “You’re safe. I need you to put out an APB on a Todd Powers. He escaped on foot through those fields. He’s a suspect in multiple murders and considered dangerous.” She paused and glanced at Blain. “He’s also a wolf shifter.”

  The officer returned to his vehicle to radio in the information while she called William with her report. He didn’t take it well. She opened the rental car’s door for Blain and climbed into the driver seat.

  “Let’s get you some clothes.” Not that she minded him being naked, but it would be distracting.

  They returned to the hotel. She crossed the lobby with Blain in beast form. He walked on all fours, pretending to be a huge dog, and the concierge chased after th
em.

  “We don’t allow dogs in the hotel.” He came to a sudden stop a she spun around.

  Sonya stared at the huge werewolf next to her. His back reached her hips. He could lick her face without jumping. Dogs and wolves didn’t have the large shoulders and hips that werewolves sported. If Blain wanted, he could walk upright. Her guess was he walked on all fours not to freak out the locals.

  “He’s not a dog.” She pulled out her badge. “He’s a shifter consulting for us.” The elevator dinged its arrival and she entered with Blain on her heels. “Do people always react like this?”

  He nodded.

  “It’s annoying.”

  Inside his room, he went to the bathroom to shift again. She ordered room service, knowing he be starved. He was always starved.

  He came out, wearing just a towel low on his hips.

  Her breath caught in her throat. She’d never grow use to the side of him. “Charge the meal to the room.” She hung up.

  His foot caught the chair and he stumbled. He appeared healed except for his furrowed brow. “We have a problem.” He sat.

  “What is it?”

  “I can’t smell anything.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  The world smelled empty.

  Though Blain’s limbs didn’t tremble, his nerves shivered just beneath his oversensitive skin. He wanted to bite something and tear it apart. Sweat beaded on his forehead. His heart pounded. He needed to run, to burn off this excessive energy. The shift had been hard on his system.

  As he sat across from Sonya, he gripped the edge of the table. He could hear and touch and taste. That was it. If he went out running, he’d most like run into oncoming traffic.

  “What you mean you can’t smell anything?” Sonya shifted her weight in her chair as she leaned forward and pried one of his hands loose to hold.

  “My sense of smell is gone.” He inhaled. Nope. Nothing. Not even a hint from the smell-infested hotel room.

  “How is this possible?”

  Blain sighed. The packs didn’t like anyone discussing wolfsbane. They all wished it would go extinct, but he wouldn’t keep secrets from Sonya. His gut told him she’d never use it against his kind. “It’s a plant called wolfsbane. It’s also known as Aconitum. The oil produced on the leaves affects our sense of smell. Drying and grinding into a powder makes it even more potent.”

  “Why would Todd have a bag of the stuff in his pocket? Wouldn’t he be affected by it?”

  “He’d have to be very careful not to inhale it, but you saw what it did to me. He knew shifters would eventually catch on to what he was doing.” Most shifters were highly allergic to wolfsbane. Todd must be one of the few who was immune. “It’s still affecting my nose.”

  “And you won’t be able to track him from the garage.” She released his hands and flopped back in her chair.

  She’d left something wet on his hand. He rubbed his fingers together and his pounding heart skipped a beat. It felt thicker than water. He brought his fingers up to his nose. Fuck. He never realized how much he depended on his sense of smell. After shifting at the garage, he’d been so disoriented that his wolf had almost gain complete control. If not for Sonya’s voice, he might have attacked someone.

  But smell wasn’t his only sense. He licked his fingers and bared his teeth. “You’re bleeding.” He grabbed her hand and used it to guide him to her. “Did he bite you?” Blain pulled her from the chair and yanked her jacket off.

  “No, I don’t think so. They’re only scratches.”

  He pulled her shirt over her head, then ran his hands over her arms and torso. “How can you not remember?”

  “I hit my head when he threw me. My brain was a little rattled.”

  Blain’s gut knotted. The asshole had thrown her? He ran his hands over her scalp and felt a bump, but no cuts or lacerations.

  “Ow.” She jerked from his touch. “Wait.” She smacked his roving hands. “What are you doing?”

  He dragged her to the shower. “We shouldn’t take any chances. You have open cuts. If his saliva gets in your bloodstream…” He couldn’t say the words. It was his worst nightmare. He turned on the water and stripped off the rest of her clothes.

  “Your eyes are changing color again.” She pushed his hands off her, but she was a trained fighter. Blain knew she struggled halfheartedly. “Ah, hell.” She helped him with her clothes.

  “It’s not like I can see you.” He lifted her over the tub’s edge under the stream of hot water.

  She hissed. “The cuts burn.”

  He climbed in after her, his towel falling to the floor. He rubbed soap all over her soft skin. With his fingertips, he searched for the rough edges of her wounds. “You’re covered in cuts.”

  Her back was pressed to the tiled wall and she didn’t move. “Asphalt wasn’t made to slide across.” She winced but no longer struggled against his touch. “You’re not going to shift again, are you?”

  “Too soon, I’d pass out. But my adrenaline is still revving from the attack.”

  “No shit?” She stroked his wet hair. “Take it easy. You’re kind of freaking me out.”

  “Fucker hurt you. I’m going to tan his hide and use him for a rug.” If his nose worked, he would have smelled the blood and treated her sooner. He would also be able to sense how deep the wounds went. Nothing he touched seemed to need stitching. “We should take you to the hospital.”

  Sonya’s fingers brushed over his bare shoulders. “I’m fine.” She pushed the stray strands of his hair from his face. “You sound terrified.”

  He leaned his for head against hers, their bodies almost touching. They were both naked in his shower. Now he trembled. So close he could lick her all over again. He closed his eyes and recalled how she smelled to ease his need to cover her in bubble wrapping and never let anyone else near her again. “Most people die from the infection. I wouldn’t risk you. Not for anything.”

  It would also mean the end of her career with the FBI. Something he wouldn’t take from her.

  She was so close. So naked. So vulnerable.

  He shut the water off and reached for fresh towels. He knew exactly where everything was placed. He lifted her out of the shower and set her on the counter.

  “I can walk.”

  “I know.” He shouldn’t have let her engage Todd. It had been an unnecessary risk. She should have stayed in the car until he assessed Todd’s scent.

  He ran a towel over her skin, double checking each scratch, scrape, and bruise.

  “I’m all right.” She brushed her fingertips over his lips, his eyelids, and his cheeks. “You’re the one who almost died.”

  “I need to do this.”

  *

  When Blain lifted his gaze to meet Sonya’s, his eyes were still the wolf’s amber. Butterflies took wing in her stomach. She had never wanted him more.

  “My wolf needs this. Just let me take care of you.” He went back to drying her skin. Disinfecting her scraped elbows and applying antibiotic cream to smother over each cut.

  “Where did you find that stuff?” She knew the hotel didn’t supply rooms with first aid kits.

  “The omega of our pack is a bit of a worry wart.” A small smile broke through his worried expression. “She packed me this kit.”

  Room service arrived and he shouted for them to leave the cart inside the door, but he didn’t leave her to eat, though she knew he hadn’t had anything since breakfast.

  She flinched when he touched her side. It was where she had taken the brunt of her fall.

  “May I?” He hovered over the area.

  “Knock yourself out.”

  He ran his large hands along her ribs, his touch gentle and warm. Her breathing quickened and suddenly she realized they were just wearing towels.

  Wow, how had that happened without her taking advantage of him yet?

  She hissed as he fingered the sore spot.

  “You have a hairline fracture in your ribs.”

  “How c
an you know that?”

  “I can hear your bone shift when you breathe. No grinding means nothing is broken. Next time, you might not be so lucky.”

  “Next time, I’ll take your advice and shoot first. Ask questions later.”

  “My advice was to shoot to kill. No questions asked. A wounded shifter is three times more dangerous.”