Alphas of Summer: A collection of shifter romances

by Lia Davis

  "I don't see any boogie men, do you?" Dani untangled herself from his arms.

  Nik sighed, reluctant to admit he had no excuse to stay any longer. "No. No boogie men."

  She kissed him, not with passion but with finality mixed with a touch of humor. It was time for him to leave.

  He loved her humor. Even more than that, he loved when she laughed with him, her voice giving him the chills even as it loosened his stress. He watched her walk away from him, out of the kitchen and down the hallway, trusting him to let himself out.

  He loved the way she moved, her hair all wild and swinging down her back. He loved the way she focused on him, just him, when he talked, instead of multitasking with her phone. She acted as if he were the most important person in the world to her. He loved. . . .

  No, it was too soon for that. His lust was getting the better of him.

  This second visit also gave him another chance for a discreet examination of her security system. This time he knew what subtle signs to look for, hidden triggers no one would have noticed without a trained eye. His first assessment had been correct. This system had been designed by Thomas Carraro, one of his custom jobs. Nik would bet his next paycheck on it.

  Dani turned on the shower upstairs. It was time for him to leave. He sunk into the house's foundation and phased he way out to the street.

  A thought occurred to him as he surfaced in the parking garage of Harbor Regional hospital. Why wait to lose his paycheck? He could go right to the source and find out if there was something about Dani's situation he needed to know.

  He phased back into the concrete. Instead of heading home, he made a sharp left turn at the Fashion Square mall, bypassed the Arena, and phased a few minutes later into the Blackwoods' sunroom. Through screened walls, the sounds of frogs and other critters echoed from the expansive back yard leading to their private dock on Mystic Bay.

  A fuzzy black shadow rubbed against his ankles. "Evening, Eight-ball. Too lazy to hunt tonight?"

  He picked up the black cat for a quick cuddle, but Eight-ball purred his demand for scratchies. Nik knew better than to phase with a cat in hand. The one time he'd tried it he'd ended up with a few deep lacerations. Instead, he took the long way around by opening the back door and letting himself into the kitchen.

  His mother worked around-the-clock even on her most relaxed days, with Thomas matching her hour for hour, but he expected Garrett, their long-time butler, would be fast asleep.

  The faint sound of voices wafted through the kitchen. Nik headed for the entertainment room and found the door ajar. Inside, Hannah Quinn sat on the couch talking to his younger brother, Cory, whose face filled a computer screen. The squeak of the door's hinges caught Hannah's attention. She looked over to see Nik standing there and started to lean forward. Nik opened the door a little farther as he motioned for her to stay put.

  "Thomas?" he mouthed silently.

  "Office," she whispered back.

  Nik nodded and backed out of the room. His heart ached for the two of them. Hannah still sported bandages from the injuries she'd sustained before the quarry raid, but she'd healed Cory before Thunder City brought the hammer down on their relationship. The two of them weren't allowed to have any physical contact at all until they could prove they had control over their Alt powers. Not that the rules stopped Thunder City from buzzing with excitement over their newest Alts, but few truly understood the power either of them wielded. Especially, Hannah. Nik let out a tired sigh. On top of tracking Fagin, he still needed to read the latest reports on the fallout of the raid.

  That would have to keep until tomorrow. Or rather, later today, judging by the three a.m. chime of the grandfather clock in the hallway.

  Nik gave Eight-ball a last cuddle before releasing the cat outside of Thomas's office. He knocked quietly, but firmly, to make sure Thomas could hear him.

  "Come in," his stepfather called.

  Surprise set Thomas to blanking his computer screen as Nik walked into the room. Nik didn't blame him. As the oldest son, Nik had survived his parent's divorce when he was five and his mom's marriage to her second husband when he was six. Before Cory was even born, husband number two had been killed. Fortunately, his mother had the good grace not to bring home any other men until she met Thomas. Even then, Thomas pretty much left Nik, Evan, and Alek alone unless there was a situation involving Cory (whom he'd adopted), the house, or T-CASS business.

  "It's a bit of a late night for you, Nik. What's wrong?"

  Nik took the proffered chair next to Thomas's desk. "I have a question for you. About one of your clients."

  Thomas leaned back in his chair, his face already closed before Nik even asked. "I don't talk about my clients, Nik. Any more than you would talk about your own or your father's."

  It was a bad start to the conversation. His feelings for Dani were still too new and too strong. Thoughts of Dani in danger overwhelmed his best judgement. He needed to try again.

  "You're right. I'm sorry. Let me try again. I met Daniella Rose yesterday. I've known her since we were kids. Mom and Dad know her parents. We grew up together, but I haven't seen her since we graduated from high school. Back then, she was a different person. She didn't have many friends, but I do know she ran into trouble toward end of our senior year.

  "I've also been to her home in the Fargrounds. I saw the security system and recognized it as one of your custom jobs.

  "All I want to know is: do you feel in your expert opinion that there is an active threat against her? Should I be as worried as I already am?"

  One of the qualities Nik had to admire about Thomas was the man's ability to listen to you when you talked. He never interrupted. Even now, he sat there looking at Nik with his arms draped over his stomach, rocking slightly back-and-forth.

  "What sort of system do you think you saw?" his voice casual, non-accusatory.

  "The grand package: multiple cameras, glass-break, motion sensor, panic button, and I'm assuming twenty-four hour monitoring. Stuff I would expect around here, not in a tiny cape in the Fargrounds."

  Thomas didn't respond. Instead he stood up and grabbed a glass from the curio where he kept some fine liquors. He poured himself two fingers of what Nik suspected was brandy — Thomas's preferred drink — before raising the bottle to Nik, offering him some of the contents.

  Nik declined with a raised hand. He'd had enough to drink for one evening.

  Thomas reseated himself. "If I'm understanding the situation, your interest in Daniella is personal, not professional."

  Nik hesitated, but what was the point? It wasn't like everyone in T-CASS wouldn't be able to figure out he and Serena weren't getting back together, the next time either one of them reported in for a shift.

  "You're correct," Nik said. "Serena and I gave it one last shot, but decided it was a waste of our time to keep trying to rekindle something that died a long time ago." Except this time he'd been the one to walk away, but Thomas didn't need to know the details. "I needed to contact Dani on behalf of a client and things proceeded from there. When I saw your system in her home, I became concerned."

  "Why don't you just ask her?" Thomas took a sip of his drink before placing his glass on the desk to once more lean back and study Nik.

  Yeah, Nik, why don't you just ask her? "It's too soon for that and I don't want her to think I'm investigating her."

  "Aren't you?"

  Thomas would make one hell of an interrogator. "No, I'm not. I mean, yes, I ran a skiptrace so I could locate her. She wasn't difficult to find, but she'd moved a number of times since I last saw her. That's not the same as what you're implying. I'm not investigating her because I think she's doing anything wrong. I don't want her to think I'm suspicious of her."

  "For what it's worth Nik, I don't blame you for your concern." Thomas took another sip of brandy. "A young woman with a past could be touchy about someone poking their nose into her business. I'll even admit that when the sales department contacted me about some concerns
they had about her request for the grand package, as you called it, I made a few inquires myself. I wanted to see if there was anything else I could do to ease her mind concerning whatever was causing her to purchase such an extensive system. I don't need a reputation for making money by scaring young women. But, at the end of the day, Doctor Rose knew what she wanted and could afford it, so we gave it to her. She's not an Alt, and not subject to the agreement Catherine signed with Thunder City, so my inquiry went no further."

  "Officially —" Nik prompted, with more hope in his voice than he'd intended. He knew Thomas often played in the gray areas of the law, sometimes on behalf of T-CASS, sometimes for his clients, and other times just to keep himself one step ahead of the competition. Nothing like what he used to do before he married Catherine — or so he had claimed over the years.

  "And, unofficially." Thomas sat up, bringing the conversation to a close. "I don't have time to chase after ghosts, pardon my pun. Doctor Rose is as secure as I can make her. If there's a security breach on her property, my employees will know about it and will know how to handle it."

  There was nothing else Nik could do. He stood up and reached to shake Thomas's hand. It wasn't right to expect Thomas to cross his own ethical line to soothe Nik's concern. Nik couldn't say he'd have reacted with more grace if the roles had been reversed.

  "What do you intend to do?" Thomas followed Nik to the door. "Will you pursue this or let it drop?"

  Nik paused, his hand on the doorknob. He never dealt well with vulnerability, and vulnerability sprouted from a lack of knowledge. Not knowing who was threatening Dani drew him to her even more. He could still taste her wine-flavored kisses on his lips. He wanted to race right back to her house and feel her body pressed against his once more. "I don't know. What would you do in my place?"

  "In your place, I would take what I already knew about the young lady, analyze it, give it a good hard think, and see where that leads me." This time Thomas hesitated. "One of the first questions I would ask myself is what sort of security Dani used when she lived in Star Haven? Then I would go talk her. Sooner rather than later."

  Nik gave his stepfather a hard stare. Thomas was giving him a clue. One that he intended to follow up on. Sooner rather than later, Nik repeated to himself as he gave Thomas a half-wave and phased into the wall. The man was right. Thomas had handed him a key, and Nik intended to use it.

  Dani yawned as she waved good-bye to the security guard at the exit to Generation Med. He gave her a nod. The man might be good-looking, but Dani found him sober and serious and completely uninteresting. There was a time when it wouldn't have mattered to her whether or not a man was interesting, but age and maturity had upgraded her taste. She had a taste for Nik Blackwood, a taste she'd yearned for even as she dated other men while believing Nik would always remain out of reach. He was in her grasp now and she had no intentions of letting him get away.

  The open-air Generation Med parking lot didn't offer much in the way of cover. No matter what time of day she arrived, she always managed to find the last open parking spot farthest from the emergency security posts. Given the neighborhood in which Generation Med resided and the loss of sunlight in autumn, Dani made it a point to keep an extra eye out for unaccountable shadows and other creepy things.

  Despite the lack of sleep last night, her extra eye still raised the hairs on the back of her neck. She had just passed a pickup truck parked opposite her compact coupe. The judgmental side of her, the side she fought with a passion, made a quick deposit in her brain. Who at Generation Med would own a pickup truck? Most of her colleagues were plugged-in hipsters or millennial geeks, always looking for the newest fashions and coolest gadgets. The truck could belong to one of the guards, but their shifts started before she arrived and their cars would be closer to the building. Same thing with the janitorial service.

  Instinct took over. Dani stopped short of her car and pulled out her compact, letting vain and wicked come out to play. Anyone looking at her from a distance would think she was checking her hair and makeup in case she got pulled over by a cute cop on the way home. Always concerned with her outsides instead of her insides, as Grandma Carmelita would gripe. Well, the old bat knew how to push Dani's buttons until the day Dani stopped caring and pushed back. Offended, Grandma Carmelita packed up and left the house that same day. It was the last time she saw her grandmother alive, thank heavens.

  Dani spotted menace number one slipping out from under the pickup while menace number two hopped out of the truck bed. Hum, one of the darlings carried a pack under his arm. Really? This was more than a purse snatching.

  If she didn't time this right, it wouldn't work. She snapped her compact closed. She had made a deal with one of the security guards to hold her purse in the security suite while she was in the building. It was a routine she stuck to every day, depositing her purse and picking it back up again, ensuring that her purse — and its contents — never passed through the building's security perimeter.

  Three...two...one. Just as the twin menaces reached for her, Dani used her small stature to her advantage. She ducked under their arms and plowed her body backwards, taking them by surprise. Before they recovered, she had her Smith & Wesson in her hands and fired it over their heads.

  "Freeze, assholes," she said with as much sweetness as lemonade on a hot summer's day.

  From behind her, she heard clapping. "Nice trick, little lady. Just not fancy enough."

  Dani didn't bother to turn her head. She didn't have to. She knew that beautiful baritone voice better than anyone in Thunder City.

  Fagin didn't stay behind her. He moseyed passed her to the two thugs he'd hired. Boys really. Fagin always caught them while they were young, impressionable, and angry. Then, he trained them up and wove them into his network. Just like he had done with Dodger all those years ago.

  She could see him now. How could such a beautiful voice belong to such an ugly man? His hair was shorter now, with more salt than pepper. Prison had added an extra left turn to a nose that always had more zags than zigs. The left turn accentuated his long, horse-like face covered by wrinkled skin.

  "I can already see, Daniella, that you are going to be a challenge. I suppose asking you to join me before your security friends show up is too much to ask?" Fagin held out a meaty, left hand to her.

  "I'm afraid I'll have to decline," she said, her gun steadier than her heart. She could hear sirens in the background. Security had heard her shot.

  Fagin shrugged as he turned his back on her and started to walk away. "Let's go, boys. The hunt just became more interesting."

  Menace one did as he was told. Menace two stared at her as if he wanted to try and charge her again.

  "Please," she said. "I need the practice."

  His right foot shuffled a half inch forward. Then the ground exploded next to him, knocking him on his ass, and his pack spilled open to reveal a syringe, cloth, and rope. Ghost in all his costumed glory loomed over the jackass.

  "Is there a problem here?" Nik dared the three men to challenge him.

  Dani's heart skipped a beat. Oh, how she loved it when her man took charge, looking all sexy in his uniform.

  Fagin stopped in place and slumped his shoulders — in exasperation, no doubt — before he turned to face the enemy.

  "Nothing happening here, Ghost. Just a little misunderstanding."

  "And, just what sort of misunderstanding would cause a woman to pull a gun on you, Fagin?"

  "The honest kind." Fagin removed his sunglasses. "The little lady has a flat tire."

  Only then did Dani notice that the tire on her coupe was, in fact, flat. Fagin must have sliced the tire, just in case she kicked up a fuss and made it to her car. He always planned ahead like that. Dodger used to help him plan.

  "My boys and I wanted to offer her a ride, but she...overreacted."

  Sirens still wailed in the background. Dani might have to go to the police station, no matter what, to explain why she had discharged a g
un in an open parking lot. She could accuse Fagin of accosting her, but the charge would lead to nothing. It never had...until the last time.

  "The gentleman is right, Ghost. It was all just a misunderstanding." She slipped the Smith & Wesson back into her purse just as the police arrived.

  Ghost backed away from the menaces until he stood beside her, his eyes not leaving Fagin. "Are you sure, Dani?"

  The concern in his voice tempted her to say no, she wasn't sure, but saying no came with extreme risk. Fagin wasn't stupid. If anyone could figure out that Dani was once Dodger, it would be Fagin. Ghost wanted to nail him almost as bad as she did, but saying yes was the safer option.

  "I'm sure, Ghost. It's fine. He did nothing wrong. It was all just a misunderstanding."

  Dani watched Fagin and his two thugs walk off the lot, her luck following them. She stepped closer to Nik as her heart slowed, her hand finding its way to his lower back for a supportive rub. He didn't look at her, his eyes fixed on his retreating targets.

  T-CASS always worked in groups of at least two or more, but tonight Nik was alone. Fagin was sure to read something into that. If Fagin hadn't known Nik was following him, he did now. By walking into Fagin's crosshairs on his own, Nik had given Fagin the leverage he needed to use Dani against Nik, and vice versa. A hundred different horrible scenarios, most of Dodger's own design, flashed through her mind. She had to stop Fagin and she had to do it soon.

  Dani's free hand stroked her purse, bulging with her gun inside. Vain and wicked would have its day.

  Chapter 5

  "Nik."

  No response. Oh, dear. Nik sat half turned on his side of the booth, stirring his steaming bowl of soup. The steam swirled around his still gloved fingers. His eyes were unfocused, and he was deep in thoughts Dani suspected were not about her. Or rather, he thought about her and why a guy like Fagin would want to kidnap her. Which was not how she wanted Nik thinking about her.