by Desiree Holt
Ric took the helicopter as low as he could. The damn woman stood frozen, her eyes wide, her mouth open in what Dante was sure was a scream. The wolves were circling and snarling, trying to herd the devil beast away from the house without getting attacked.
“We’ve got to get her back in the house,” Ben said. “I’m trying to get a bead with the rifle.”
Ric flipped the switch for the loudspeakers.
“Get back in the house. Now! You are in grave danger.”
“Fuck.” Dante growled the word. “You’d think a creature from some nightmare and a damn pack of wolves would be enough to scare her back inside.”
“Ma’am? I repeat. Get back in the house. Now.”
“Let’s see if we can do this without actually hitting anyone.” That was Garth. “Hold this damn thing steady.”
Dante turned enough to watch both men snug their rifles to their shoulders again, aiming for a spot to the right of the activity. They both pulled their triggers. The bullets hit the dirt to the right of the pack, the shifters racing away from the impacts.
Thank God, Dante thought to himself. They need to stay out of range.
“Thank god we didn’t hit anyone,” Ben yelled, echoing his thoughts.
“I trust you,” Ric told them. “And look, you did it. Mrs. Lamar raced back into the house like her panties were on fire.”
“Yeah, but the damn creature is still moving toward the porch. Take your shot, Dante. This may be the only chance you get before it does some damage to our wolves or the Lamars.”
Garth and Ben took their positions again, rifles ready as Ric turned the copter in a circle, blowing up dirt at both the wolves and the beast.
“Get ready,” Ric said. “I’ll take it down as low as I can.”
The creature turned in a circle, confused by the light. Before it could move into the dark—
“Now,” Ric snapped, holding the chopper steady.
Dante fired.
The creature jerked but still kept moving.
“Fuck! Fuck, fuck, fuck,” Dante swore.
“Again,” Ric ordered.
He made another swift pass over the area, getting the chopper into position. This time, as if synchronized, Ben and Garth pulled their triggers and kept firing until their cartridges were emptied. At the first shot the wolves paced far enough away to be out of immediate range.
The beast jerked and staggered with each shot—but inexplicably remained standing.
The two shooters jacked in another cartridge each and pumped six more bullets into the beast.
The creature emitted a roar that could be heard even over the rotors before finally collapsing to the ground.
Ben and Garth each took two more shots for good measure. When they were certain the creature wasn’t going to move again, Ric moved the chopper in for a landing.
And finally, all was still.
As soon as Ric landed the chopper, Dante, Ben and Garth hopped out and left the cabin door open for the shifters.
“We’ll wait here,” Dante shouted over the noise of the rotors. “Call Craig, then come back with some help for us. I’ll talk to the Lamars but we have to keep them in the house and the carcass isolated. And Craig needs to get his people here ASAP.”
Ric touched two fingers to his head to show he understood and lifted off.
Dante gave the vile carcass a wide berth as he trudged up to the back door of the house, working out in his mind exactly what he was going to say.
“What’s going on out here?” Spence Lamar shouted, striding out of the house carrying a rifle. “What the fuck is happening?”
Garth walked over to him and held out his hand. “Garth Myers, Texas Ranger,” he told the other man. “I think you’ve met one or two of my friends here. They’ve been helping us corral this beast.”
“Fucking shit!” Spence exclaimed, eyes wide and frozen on the beast. “Is that thing real?”
“More than you want to believe.” Dante had joined Garth. “Glad to see you again, sir, and happy that we got this thing before it attacked you.”
“Spence?” Cissie hollered at him from the porch.
“Go back in the house,” he told her. “I’ll give you the details later. Go on, honey. Trust me. You don’t want to be out here right now.” He turned to Garth. “Is this the creature you’ve been posting about on that Facebook page? Dan Hammond gave us a heads-up too, but I thought he was full of shit.” He looked at Dante and wiped a hand over his face. “I’ll have nightmares for sure.”
“You have to see it for yourself to believe it,” Dante agreed.
“It would be good if you and Mrs. Lamar went back in the house,” Garth urged. “Come on. Let me get you away from here.”
Dante lifted his radio from his belt and contacted Ric. “How’s our timeline?”
Ric answered at once. “Craig had his chopper ready at a place right outside San Antonio. They’ll be here in about fifteen minutes.”
“Good.” Dante turned back to Spence Lamar, who still hadn’t moved. “Our boss owns a lab that studies these creatures, tries to find out where they come from and how to eradicate them. He’s sending his people to pick up the body. They’ll be here shortly.”
“Can’t get that thing out of here fast enough for me.” He sniffed the air. “Is that turpentine I smell?”
“Yes, it is,” Garth told him.
“Damnedest thing. We had a yippy little dog hanging around today that had the same odor.”
Dante looked at Ric and Garth. The man would never believe the truth if they told him. “Maybe it strayed into the creature’s territory. I don’t think it will bother you again. Come on. Your wife looks about ready to pass out. Maybe you could make her a cup of tea. We’ll get this cleaned up as fast as we can.”
Garth finally got the couple back inside the house then he walked over to take a look at the beast. The bullets had ripped into its scaly, hard-shelled body, its guts spilling out, a vile scent rising on the air.
“If I didn’t see it with my own eyes I wouldn’t believe it.” He shook his head. “I don’t even want to see it yet I can’t look away. Shit. Look at those fangs and that tongue. What an abomination. And you think someone is deliberately breeding these things?”
Dante nodded. “We do.”
“I sure won’t get a good night’s sleep after this for a long time. What’s up with that smell?”
“We think it has something to do with its genetic combination,” Ben replied.
“Sure is an ugly, scary son of a bitch. I imagine those fangs are what did all the damage to the bodies.” He shook his head. “What a hell of a way to die. I wouldn’t even wish that on my worst enemy.” He looked at Dante. “If you get more of these cases in Texas, the Rangers will work with you. And we’ll help you hunt down the monster creating them, if he’s inside this state. I can promise you that.”
“Good to know.”
In a moment, they heard another helicopter approaching. Once Craig’s men landed, they were more than happy to let them take the lead.
“The Lamars will be a while recovering from this sight,” Garth said.
Dante nodded. “No kidding. At least they’ll be out of this nightmare. For us, it just means waiting for the devil to appear again.”
“And keep trying to find the location where some insane idiot is breeding them,” Ben added. “I’m guessing Ric will be back with some of the others soon. Let’s help get this place cleaned up as soon as we can and get the hell out of here.”
* * * * *
“I looked at that thing and I still couldn’t believe it.”
Regan was stripping off her clothes, energy from the shift still sizzling through her body. Studying Reed’s notes had been one thing, but seeing the creature for herself? She knew she’d never forget it. All she could do was hope it didn’t haunt her nightmares for too long.
Tonight she felt as though Reed’s death had been vindicated, and she appreciated Ric bringing her back to the scene u
pon the chopper’s return. Now if they could just find Lisa…
She knew she should have been exhausted. After the cleanup at the Lamars’, Craig and Ric had insisted on doing a complete debrief. But her body was on sensory overload, fizzing with energy.
“I think everyone feels that way,” Dante told her. “How are you?”
“Ramped up and exhausted at the same time. I’m sure the others are too.”
“I think they’re all just happy to have this episode over and done with.”
Regan chewed her lower lip. “But the thought that we aren’t finished yet, that someone is breeding these things…” Her voice trailed off.
“I know.” He cradled her face in his warm palms. “But we’ll find that place and get them. And we’ll find Lisa too.”
“Do you promise?” she asked, pain lancing through her heart.
“As much as I can promise anything.” He brushed his mouth over hers. “You know I’d give you whatever you asked for, don’t you?”
“I’m beginning to believe it,” she whispered, just before his mouth crushed against hers.
With a desperation borne of the high mix of emotions boiling inside her, she tore at his shirt and dragged it down his arms, frantic to feel the skin of his body against hers. His crisp chest hairs abraded her nipples, sending shards of heat through her. Dante’s hands were firm against her body as he traced her curves. When he bent his head to take one nipple in his mouth, she drew in a breath, feeling the pull clear to her cunt. A moan slid from her throat.
“So sweet,” Dante murmured, his lips cruising a trail down the line of her neck and up to the sensitive spot behind her ear. He nibbled at the flesh of the lobe, tiny bites that he soothed with his tongue before moving to the hollow at the base of her throat. Regan had to dig her fingers into his shoulders to keep her balance.
“Clothes off,” she gasped. “Now.”
“Yours are already off.” His chuckle had a hoarse sound to it.
“I mean yours. Want you. Against me. In me. Now.”
“So impatient.” He lifted her and carried her to the bed. “Time to repay the favor from the other night.”
Before she could think, he had her lying back on the bed, legs spread. Kneeling, he opened the lips of her pussy and took a long, slow lick. Electricity zinged through her, the walls of her cunt spasming from just that one caress.
“Delicious,” he crooned. “Like peaches and strawberries mixed together.”
Another lick, this time even more leisurely, with a pause to swirl the tip of his tongue over and around her aching clit.
For the first time since that initial frantic afternoon, she felt claimed by him, just as she was claiming him for herself.
He ate at her with such a leisurely pace. Why didn’t he hurry? Move faster? His tongue caressed every inch of her pussy, dipping into the well of her vagina then back to tracing her slit. Over and over until she wanted to scream. When he slid two fingers inside her, she almost wept with joy, then groaned when he drew them out.
But in the next moment he dragged them down the sensitive skin to her anus, painting her with her own juices before slowly inching a finger into her dark, hot tunnel.
Dante!
She wanted to scream his name but he was stealing her breath.
He worked his finger carefully in and out, the sensation a combination of icy and hot, while his mouth continued to ply her cunt. Desperate, she wrapped her legs around his neck and tried to draw him to her even more tightly, but he was determined to work her at his own pace.
After a while she forgot to demand, to beg, losing herself in the wash of sensations gripping her. The pulse in her womb beat heavily, heat crawling over her skin, her blood pounding a steady rhythm.
Her orgasm hit with the force of a cyclone, smashing into her, shaking her body, every muscle contracting and pulsing. His mouth never left her cunt and his hot finger never left her ass, both working her until she thought she’d explode from the force of the climax.
She lay on the bed, gasping for breath, sweaty, heart pounding, as Dante pulled off the rest of his clothes and grabbed a condom from the nightstand drawer. Then he was inside her, driving so deep he touched her womb. She felt him everywhere, her body gripping him with renewed hunger.
“Mine,” he growled. “Now I can say it, Regan. Mine. And I’m yours. Always, from now on. Say it.”
“Yes,” she cried, arching up to him. “Yours. I’m yours. We belong to each other.”
He drove into her harder and faster, riding her as if his life depended on it. A second climax burst through her without warning and Dante followed at once. His cocked pulsated inside her as he emptied himself again and again. Bending forward, he crushed his mouth to hers, his tongue plunging inside, carrying with it her taste. She sucked greedily, locking him close with her strong legs.
She had no idea how long they stayed that way, his body pressed to hers, mouths still hungry, hearts beating so frantically it shook them. Eventually he eased himself from her body. Lifting her from the bed, he carried her into the bathroom, where he turned on the shower and disposed of the condom.
They stood together beneath the hot water, her head on his shoulder, his arms holding her tightly.
This is where I belong. Forever.
As if he could hear her, Dante put his mouth close to her ear and echoed, “Forever. Mine, forever.”
* * * * *
Dante looked at the people around him. The patio was jammed with Night Seekers and their mates, and today Garth Myers had joined them. The celebration was subdued, but only because they were still so fresh from the recent Chupacabra incident. Craig Stafford had gone out of his way to make sure Logan and Rebecca’s wedding had both class and meaning. The justice of the peace who married them was an old friend and had conducted the ceremony with grace.
Now they all stood around sipping champagne and nibbling on the expensive hors d’oeuvres Craig had flown in, his gift to them for having to postpone the wedding.
“No apologies,” Logan told him over and over again. “If not for this group, the two of us would never have met, so we really owe you.”
“I’m just glad good things have come out of this nightmare,” he said.
Dante pulled Regan to his side, wrapping his arm around her. “I know it seems sudden,” he said, “but we need to talk about us doing this before too long.”
“You don’t think we’re moving too fast? I mean—”
He touched a finger to her lips. How could he find the words to tell her how full his heart was now that she was with him? He had life again, and could look forward to the future. He’d never get rid of all the pain but he had something to replace it. And he was sure Felicia would approve.
“I think I’ve finally figured out that life is too short to waste. What about you?”
She smiled, the warmth in it reaching into his heart. “I completely agree.”
“Is it too soon for me to ask if you’re thinking of moving back to your house?”
Regan laughed. “No, not at all.” Her faced sobered. “I’ve found something here that I never expected to have. Not just a human mate but a new family, a new pack. You have no idea how special that is to me. To someone like me.”
“I’ve watched and listened to the others,” he told her, “so I have an idea.”
“But mostly I don’t want to be separated from you.”
“And you don’t have to be.”
Neither of them realized Craig had moved up to stand beside them.
“Sorry for eavesdropping.” He smiled. “I just wanted to tell you, Dante, how nice it is to see a smile on your face after all this time.” He chuckled. “I never thought when I put this group together I might end up running a matchmaking service, but that seems to be what’s happening.”
“I think the common bonds draw us together,” Dante said. “And keep us together.” He tightened his arm around Regan. “I know I’m keeping this one.”
“What do
you plan to do about your house?” Craig asked Regan.
“I’ll probably put it up for sale,” she said. “We’ve moved a lot of my things here already.”
“Why don’t you let me take care of it for you? I think it’s a foregone conclusion we’d like you to be a part of Night Seekers. You could provide valuable insight and assistance. Our battle is far from over. And your friend Lisa is still out there, along with Chloe’s friend, Melinda. What do you say?”
She looked at Dante. When he smiled at her and nodded, she said, “Yes. Thank you. It would be an honor to join this team.”
“Good. Okay then. You and Dante pack up whatever you want out of your place and I’ll get it trucked out here to the ranch. Then I’ll oversee the sale.”
“I can’t ask you to do that,” she protested.
“You’re not asking me. I’m offering. And I really want to make it easy for you.”
“She says yes,” Dante answered for her. “And we appreciate everything you’re doing.”
“We’ll be doing more construction around here, so as soon as you’re ready, let’s get together on plans for what the two of you might want in the future.”
“I don’t know how to thank you.” Dante’s throat tightened painfully as emotion swamped him.
“No thanks necessary. I should be thanking this whole team. Now…let’s give the happy couple our good wishes.”
Craig walked to the center of the patio, picked up a spoon and tapped it against his crystal champagne flute. “If I can just have everyone’s attention for a moment. He let his gaze roam over the group. “I want to officially say congratulations to the new Mr. and Mrs. Logan Tanner.”
He raised his glass in the direction of Logan and Rebecca and everyone followed suit.
“I’m glad they finally got to have the wedding,” Regan whispered to Dante. “I really like them. Well, not just them. Everyone.”
Dante kissed her forehead. “I know they feel the same way.”
“This last case was tough on all of us,” Craig went on. “For one thing, it was close to home and made us realize how vulnerable we all are. We have no clue as to where the next attack will occur.”
“I hate to say it,” Ric told him, “but I don’t think whoever is behind this is through with this area yet. Everything I’ve analyzed leads me to believe the center of this is somewhere in Texas. The incidents keep coming back here.”
