“He’s not in the house,” he said, eyes still closed. “Or in the neighborhood.” My throat tightened and a sharp pain wedged itself between my ribs. I felt like I couldn’t breathe.
“Where the hell—“
Reid held up his hand and I stopped talking. I could feel the magic pull back, and his face changed. Deeper concentration. He wasn’t searching actively with his power now. He was feeling for the bond.
“He’s in the woods,” he said. “Close to the clearing. He’s not alone, but it’s not one of ours. I would feel that.”
“Oh no,” I said. There was only one person it could be. Reid opened his eyes and they glowed like real fire. He yanked off his boxers and forced a change, going from human to wolf so fast the magic left me dizzy. He ran toward the front door. I was left behind feeling helpless. Reid would call the pack as the alpha. I wouldn’t do that. I couldn’t do anything. All I could do was wait.
And it killed me.
Two hours later and I was about as unraveled as I’d ever been. I kept pacing. I couldn’t sit down, I couldn’t think. I kept walking to the window and looking out without anything to see.
My phone rang and I answered almost immediately.
“Allegra,” John’s voice crackled over the speaker. “We found him. I’ve taken him home. Charlene’s watching him, you can go pick him up.”
I started crying. “John, thank god. Where was he?”
He hesitated before he answered me, but I think he understood that it was something I needed to know. This time he wasn’t going to ask Reid for permission to tell me.
“Sarelle had him,” he said and the phone clicked dead. I felt numb. I couldn’t feel my fingers or my toes, but I got in the car in my gown and drove to Charlene. I couldn’t stop crying. By the time she opened the door I was hiccupping through my sobs.
“Come on, Allegra. He’s right here,” she said and I stepped into the house. Kurt ran to me. His cheeks were stained with dirt and crying lines, and I could see he felt like I did.
“Oh, baby” I said, holding him tight.
“A bad wolf got me, mommy,” he said and squeezed his arms tighter around my neck.
“You’re safe now, sweetheart,” I said. “Daddy and the other wolves will always come protect you.”
“And the big wolf, too.”
“What big wolf?” I asked and looked at him. With his arms around my neck his face was almost again mine, but I wasn’t going to let go and neither was he.
“The big red one,” he said.
“Do you mean Harry?” I asked. Harry’s wolf was red, like an oversized fox. But Kurt shook his head.
“No, bigger.”
I nodded and let it slide. Whoever it was, he’d helped keep Kurt safe. That was all that mattered. I would find out more from Reid later, when the dust had settled and didn’t feel like I was going to fall over anymore.
“You’re wearing your robe out the house,” Kurt said, tugging at my sleeve. I smiled through my tears.
“I didn’t have time to change.”
“Let me make us all some tea before you leave,” Charlene said.
“That would be great, thank you,” I said and got up. I hugged Charlene, and she patted my back.
“I know this isn’t my world but I want to help where I can. No matter what, you’re always safe here.”
I smiled. It was nice of her. She was a good friend, even though we couldn’t always relate. She would never be able to know what it was like for me to be a part of a werewolf pack, but she was loyal, and sometimes that was all we needed.
I took a deep breath, and blew it out slowly. This was going to get worse before it was going to get better. I had to find a wolf to teach me how to deal with this, if Reid wasn’t.
Chapter 6
Reid had to go back on duty. None of us wanted him to leave. Kurt was starting to really bond with his father and where his leaving had been sad and a little difficult before, it was a tearful event now. Once he even managed to break free and run after Reid, and hauling him back was even worse than just seeing Reid leave.
Life without Reid during the months he wasn’t home went back to normal. The magic died down, Kurt became a normal human boy again, and we carried on with life as Reid would never know it. When he was away I was less aware of the moon, and there were weeks on end that I didn’t even think about the surges of power that accompanied my husband, the nights of magic when the moon was full, the complications that came with the fact that there was more animal than human in this family.
Kurt only got restless during full moon when it was just us. It was like the powers that be knew that I wouldn’t be able to deal with it all. It was a relief. Life as a military wife was hard. Life as the mate of an alpha with a werewolf son was harder.
Kurt was getting had his fifth birthday and was old enough for play school. There was a little group for kids at the base and I dropped him off twice a week to start mixing with kids that weren’t Carla. He had to learn interaction. Human interaction. Most of his social situations the last couple of months had involved the pack. I didn’t want to raise a wolf that was even less human that Reid already was.
And Kurt loved it. He was a born leader, made to spend time among his peers, socially confident and strong. After I dropped him off I usually went home and took care of things that I couldn’t just do with Kurt around, like the admin for my beauty product sales that had fallen ridiculously behind.
I was juggling two werewolves and a child. Doing a job on top of that seemed unreal. And sometimes it was.
When I walked through the playschool gate and toward my car, I saw a shadow from the corner of my eye. It was quick, so quick I wasn’t sure if it had just been my imagination. But if I knew anything, it was that imagination meant nothing in the preternatural world. If you thought you saw it, you probably did.
I was scared almost immediately. My throat tightened and I forced myself not to look over my shoulder and give myself away. Fear was the catalyst. It excited the wolves, the thrill of the chase and the victory of a kill afterward spoke to their primal sides. Run, and you were going to be hunted. Fear, and you were going to excite them. Run scared and you were going to die. It sounded gruesome. It was.
I hurried to my car, pushed the unlock button. I had to get away as soon as possible. I was under no illusion that a werewolf wouldn’t be able to get to me in my car. A car really wasn’t that sturdy. They could rip metal like it was paper. But a car was fast. And getting away fast in a car wasn’t running. Good to know we humans could still beat the system.
When I had my hand on the door handle of the car, I froze. Power surged through me and pressed against me like a hand. It was warm, almost like humidity, and I had to focus to breathe.
Power like that didn’t happen unless Reid was home. But it wasn’t him. I could feel it. The power was different. His power was raw. This power, I could almost say, was grounded in heat.
And it was strong. So strong breathing was hard.
Sarelle didn’t have this kind of power. And I couldn’t feel her when Reid was away. I was a conductor, he’d said. I amplified the power, it passed through me and I passed it back. But I had none of my own, so when he was gone, so was the power.
Except now.
It suddenly dawned on me – with the pack gone Reid had made sure someone else was looking out for me. I looked up and scanned the area around the car. He had to be close.
There wasn’t much cover around the house playschool. In fact, I wasn’t sure where Sarelle would have hidden had it been her. But he was here. And close, I could feel it. I swallowed hard.
“You can come out,” I said. Nothing. I waited a moment or two.
“It’s pointless hiding when I know you’re there. It’s just awkward for me and uncomfortable for you.”
Still nothing. I sighed. I was in half a mind to just get in my car and drive away, let this elusive wolf do whatever he liked. But I wanted to know who it was. And I needed to talk to
a wolf. So I tried again.
“I would like to talk to you, I need someone to teach me how to protect myself.” There was still no reply but I kept going. “You’re not supposed to show yourself to me, I know Reid didn’t want me to know. But I know now.”
I’d turned and I was leaning with my hip and shoulder against my car, my arms crossed. I waited another five minutes before I rolled my eyes and gave up. I turned to open the car door and bumped into a man.
I jumped and gave a little yelp. He stood there leaning against my car like he’d been there for a while, and I hadn’t heard him walk up. I hadn’t felt him either, which was weird. Because the power was going crazy now, humming through me like I was a tuning fork.
He was solid and broad, even though none of that was fat. It was only muscle, and he carried himself like something important. Something powerful. He had red hair, but it was so dark it was almost auburn, except it was a lot more intense.
I thought back to what Kurt had said about being rescued by the big red wolf. I looked this man up and down and I was almost sure it had been him.
“You’re not alert enough,” he said. “You didn’t even hear me coming.”
“I don’t have sharpened hearing like a wolf. I’m just a human, remember? Or you wouldn’t be here.”
He raised his red eyebrows at me. “Not a lot of people speak to me that way.”
I shrugged. I was suddenly annoyed. I’d been running on a thin line of fear since Reid had left, and there was only so much adrenaline a human could handle at a time before it rolled over into irritation and then exhaustion. I was speaking to him that way. He was following me, scaring me, and leaning against my car like he was god’s gift to mankind. I wasn’t as impressed as I thought I’d be.
I started opening my door to get in, but he grabbed it and held it there, just too narrow for me to squeeze through. I glared at him, and tried to yank the door free. But that wasn’t going to happen. He was a werewolf, and judging by the roiling power that still hung thick in the air he was a strong one at that.
“You asked for me to come out, here I am,” he said. His face was an expressionless mask and he spoke his sentence in monotone. But my skin crawled when the words left his mouth. I shivered and fought the urge to try and shake off the feeling. It hung around me, I wasn’t going to just run away from it.
“I don’t like secrets,” I said to him. “I ought to have known that my husband had spoken to you about looking out for us.” He just shrugged. Family disputes: not his problem. When he didn’t say anything, I took a deep breath and said what was on my mind.
“I want you to teach me what I don’t know about being part of a pack. I want to know what I need to know about protecting myself against a wolf.”
He looked at me, and I could see his mind working. His stance was casual but his eyes weren’t. He saw everything, noticed everything, and he was alert.
“What does a human like you want with the key to the pack?” he asked. His voice was condescending and it made me feel like I’d been ridiculous to ask.
“I’m part of the pack. And I’m in danger because of it. I have the right to know what to do, at least.” I hoped I sounded more confident than I felt. I knew that wolves could smell emotions, he would probably know that I was unsure. But to hell with it. I was the alpha’s mate.
I suddenly wondered where he stood in a pack. I doubted he was anything other than an alpha himself. Which made me inferior to him.
“You’re asking to learn about pack law. About everything that makes us different from humans,” he said. I nodded. I wanted know.
“That means that you’re leaving the human world behind completely. You’re separating yourself from everyone that’s like you.”
“But I still am human. How can I leave the human world behind?” I asked.
“You of all people should by now understand that what you look like doesn’t show who you are.”
And he was right. Reid, the pack, Kurt, they all walked in human form most of the time. And they weren’t human.
“I just want to know how to keep myself, my family, safe.”
He nodded and held out his hand. The movement came with power that washed over me, and I took a step back.
“Sorry,” he said as if he hadn’t meant it that time. But he must have, because wolves could control it unless their emotions were spiraling out of control. “I’m Ted.”
I took his hand and it vibrated with power.
“Allegra.”
He nodded. “We’ll start at sunset tonight. You have somewhere to leave your boy?”
I nodded. He nodded too, and turned his back to me, walking away. I looked down, fishing for my car keys. When I looked up again he was gone. Where did a big man like him disappear to in broad daylight? I didn’t know, but if he knew how to evade like that, I wanted to know how he did it.
This wasn’t a case of being protected. This had become survival of the fittest. I may have been working at a bit of a disadvantage – humans always finished last in the preternatural world – but I was planning for that to change.
Chapter 7
Reid
We were on duty for exactly four months when they sent us back home. Not everyone that was on duty was allowed to go home, but the wolves were all dismissed.
It was blue moon. There were two full moons in one month. Werewolves everywhere were going to lose it all over the place. It was bad enough that we lost touch with hour human sides and went furry once a month. It was even worse that moon pulled us out twice. The second time was that much more dangerous, that much worse.
What made it all that much worse was that it was the second blue moon this year. The last time something like this had happened was nineteen years ago. Of course, then the werewolf laws hadn’t been what they were now.
It didn’t matter how much they trusted us in the field, no one wanted a wolf who wasn’t in control behind a gun.
Allegra waited for me at the square. I saw her when the bus pulled in. The doors opened with a hiss and the soldiers peeled out like cockroaches. I kept my eyes on my wife. Kurt was next to her, his silver hair standing out like a beacon. His hand stretched up and disappeared into Allegra’s.
When I walked up to them, I picked Kurt up and hugged him. He wrapped his arms around my neck, legs around my waist, and squeezed. It had only been four months – much shorter than usual – but he had gotten bigger again. It felt like every time I saw him he was a different person than the little tyke I’d left behind. One day he was going to be a grown man standing there.
I turned to Allegra and she smiled at me. She stepped up to me, but instead of the usual hug, her faced inched closer for a kiss. But instead of a kiss, she rubbed her cheek against mine. Her body language was submissive.
She pressed her nose against my neck right behind my ear, and I stilled. She held very still, her neck exposed to me, an offering that I could accept by pressing my nose against her, breathing in her scent – acknowledge her position and accept her greeting – or reject by biting her in the neck, showing that I considered myself superior.
It was a wolf’s greeting. The way one alpha or mate acknowledged another. A greeting a human wouldn’t know. I stepped back from her, narrowed my eyes at her.
“You’ve been seeing someone,” I said. She turned her face back to me, careful like she was wasn’t sure if her greeting had been accepted or rejected.
“I had to know what it’s like to be a wolf. To be part of a pack. I can’t defend myself physically when you’re all so strong, but if I understand the politics maybe I have a chance.”
“Who taught you?” I asked. I was teetering on the line between anger and awe. She’d gone out of her way to understand what it was like being me. To really understand my world. But she’d been doing it behind my back.
“I’ve been talking to Ted,” she said, and she swallowed. Kurt was fiddling with my dog tag, calm because I was holding him. He could sit here all day before he got tired
of me. If he felt the rising tension between us he didn’t show it, but he must have. He had a wolf too, and they never slept, not really.
I felt myself tip toward anger.
“Ted is dangerous,” I said and my voice was hard. “You can’t just go behind my back and talk to him. What if something happened to you?”
She looked down, and I wasn’t sure if it was a sign of submission or if she was just avoiding eye contact.
“You were already prepared for that by having him follow me. So we talked when he did, instead of him hiding behind things like a stalker. Besides, are we going to argue about something happening to me because of Sarelle, or because of Ted? Don’t talk to be about doing something behind your back, Reid.”
I took breath to throw another argument at her, but instead I swallowed my anger. She was right. I’d gone behind her back, too. All she’d done was take the opportunity. But Ted wasn’t part of a pack. He was rogue, and it was impossible to predict a rogue wolf. He had more control than any wolf in a pack I’d ever seen, but he was still rogue. There was a reason they called wolves with no pack ‘rogue’.
I let out my breath with a sigh and turned, putting Kurt down on the ground. I took Allegra’s hand and pulled her close to me, a hug with my body pressed down the length of hers. God, coming home would be miserable without her. She surprised me every time.
We drove home. Kurt talked most of the way, telling me things he’d learned at playschool, something about a friend that was his best friend in the whole world, and how he wanted to surprise me with a banner to say welcome daddy but I spoiled it by coming home early.
“But it’s okay,” he said. “I’m not mad.”
Allegra and I glanced at each other and smiled. It really was good to be home.
We parked in front of the house and I got out, unbuckling Kurt and setting him down on the ground. He ran toward the house while I got my bag. Allegra and I walked to the front door hand in hand. I felt him before I saw him, and when I did see him, Kurt was sitting in front of him, looking up but as low as he could go without lying down. His wolf had recognized Ted’s wolf, and the hierarchy was established.
BAD BOY ROMANCE: DIESEL: Contemporary Bad Boy Biker MC Romance (Box Set) (New Adult Sports Romance Short Stories Boxset) Page 126
