by Sky Winters
“Look at the size of that French Poodle,” he marveled.
Mandy turned her head but saw nothing. Turning back to him, she found that he was kneeling beside the table, holding up what appeared to be a small cake toward her. He reached up and flipped open the top of the faux petit fours to display a large diamond ring.
“Will you marry me?” he asked, looking a little nervous as several onlookers watched with smiles on their faces.
“Yes. Of course, I’ll marry you!” she said happily as he pulled the ring from the box and slipped it on her finger.
They kissed as the crowd around them cheered loudly. Moments later, they stepped out into the sunlight again, a newly engaged couple. It was only the beginning for them as they began to plan the rest of their lives together. Though neither of them knew it at the time, they were already well on their way. A tiny seed inside Mandy was already growing into a baby who would become one of the most powerful wolf shifters in the history of the world.
THE END
Bonus Books
Motorcycle Club Romance Bonus
OUTLAW HERO
“Come on, come on, pick up,” Melanie Carr said under her breath, surprised that the payphone actually worked. She couldn’t remember the last time she had found a payphone, let alone one that still functioned. Stevie, her two-year-old son, was asleep in the carseat at her feet. She had driven all night from Dublin, Ohio to arrive in Washington DC the following morning. Melanie normally planned things better, but this time she had to act fast.
Finally, there came the sound of someone answering her call for help. “Hello?” the muffled voice of her former best friend Casey asked.
“Casey?” Melanie replied. “This is Melanie Carr from Ohio State, your sophomore roommate. We talked on Facebook recently about me visiting?”
There was a slight sigh on the other end that Melanie suspected she was not intended to hear. “It got that bad?”
She clutched the hard, metal, barely bendable phone cord and a sob came out as she spoke. “Yes,” she said. “It got that bad. I’m at a gas station outside 270. What’s your address again?”
After packing her kid back into the car, she made her way to Casey’s house in the DC suburbs, somehow finding it through her tears and the fog of the early morning. She was relieved to see that she would not have to go through the awkward business of ringing the doorbell once there; Casey was already standing on the front porch, waiting for her.
Melanie put the car into park and got out, keeping the back door of her small, white SUV open so she could retrieve her son and her luggage once the reintroductions were over. She shoved her hands into the pockets of her green rain jacket and walked up to greet her waiting friend. “I never intended to spring this up on you, but…”
Casey looked at her college friend. Melanie looked remarkably the same even though they were now eight years older. She was still slender with long, curly golden brown hair, blue-green eyes and a cute dusting of freckles across her nose. But the purple bruise around her left eye… That was new.
“Hush,” Casey said as soon as she noticed that. She opened her arms for Melanie, who gladly fell into them. Casey was several inches shorter than her friend, with short blonde hair and glasses, and she had always been the more nurturing of the two. Even now, even though Melanie had a toddler, Casey was more mothering. Melanie needed a friend like Casey back in her life.
They unpacked the car together and took little sleepy Stevie up to one of the bedrooms so he could continue to sleep, oblivious to his mother’s problems. “Thank you,” Melanie said, pulling her long hair into a ponytail. She looked exhausted. “Jake hit me for the last time. He went to bed and I hit the road. I promise, it will only be for a few days. Once I can get a job, we’ll be out of your hair.”
Casey waved that off, smiling at her friend. “You can stay as long as you need. I’ve got this house all to myself, and it’s so good to see you again.” She gently rubbed Melanie on her upper arm. “Get some sleep and you can start thinking about jobs and stuff later. You’ve got my number, right?”
Melanie smiled back, appreciative. “I do. Thank you so much.”
She went up to her bedroom that she would be sharing with Stevie for the time being. He was still fast asleep, wrapped up in the blankets. She did her best to get in beside him without waking him, and was soon asleep, too.
When Melanie woke up, it was well into the middle of the afternoon. Stevie was playing quietly with some of his toys in the corner, but he was relieved when he saw that she was awake. “Mommy, where are we?”
She rushed to his side as he sat on the floor. She had been unable to pack all of his toys up so quickly in their spontaneous move, but she managed to bring his favorites along with them. “We’re at my nice friend Casey’s house,” she told him. “We’re going to be living here for a while until we get a new house.”
“Where are we?” he asked again, not understanding that they were far away from what they called home. “Where’s Daddy?”
Melanie bit her lip. “We’ve moved away from Daddy,” she told him, trying to give him the news as gently as possible. “We are going to live in Washington DC now. You will love it here. This is where all of the presidents live!” She widened her eyes and her mouth as she told him that, so he would feel excited rather than concerned about his no-good father.
Stevie gasped a little bit. “Even Taft??” The little boy had a strange fascination with President William Howard Taft ever since Melanie had shown him a picture of America’s heftiest president. Stevie liked him because ‘he looks like a walrus.’
“Even Taft,” Melanie said, nodding wisely. “If you are very good, I will take you to visit him at some point. Would you like that?”
Gasping even more, Stevie grinned. “Yes! I am very good!”
She laughed. “You have to prove it to me, though.” She looked at her watch. It was nearing five p.m. and Casey would be home from work soon. Casey worked for a TV news station in DC, and that had allowed her to be able to afford her nice house in the suburbs. Melanie was hoping that she might have the same luck if she got out there and applied herself. “My nice friend is almost home from work and Mommy needs you to stay with her for a while, okay?”
“Promise you won’t go see Taft without me?”
Melanie smiled at her son. “I promise.”
She kissed his head and unzipped one of her bags, pulling out her black laptop. Before she ventured forth to see what jobs she could go apply for, she needed to do some research.
When Casey came home, Melanie felt as ready as she would ever be. “Do you mind watching Stevie while I go apply for a few of these things?” she asked her friend. It was getting into the evening now, so many of the jobs that she found would have to be applied for online, but she had found some restaurants and retail positions that she could still go check out in person.
“Sure,” Casey said, smiling. “Here, you can borrow my Metro card.”
Melanie took the offered card and carefully placed it into her purse. “He’s really into grilled cheese and chicken nuggets right now,” she told her. “His bedtime is nine o’clock. I’ll hopefully be back by then.”
With that, she drove to the nearest Metro station and parked in the lot. She added money to the card and headed into DC. She’d visited the city once, on an elementary school field trip, but that had been when she was about eight, so she didn’t remember that much of it. It looked pretty as the evening slowly descended on it, however. She appreciated a city that was pretty at night. Growing up in Ohio, she was mostly used to seeing corn and farmland. She was ready for something different.
It turned out that the places she had written down as potential new jobs were all either not looking for someone new or not looking for someone like her. She ended up being told by one of them to try applying on their website, but that was the best news she received.
Feeling disappointed with herself, she decided to pop into one of the bars she saw and see
if maybe they needed any help. The place was lively even though it was a weeknight. Melanie admired the space and the people who were hanging out there. Most of the people seemed to be partying with their friends after work. They appeared to be around her age, which gave her hope. Maybe this would be a good place to network…
She sat down at the bar, not intending to drink but hoping to get someone’s attention. She had her son to get home to, after all, so she wasn’t planning to be there too long. The bartender came over to her. “What’ll you have?” he asked her.
Looking up at him, Melanie’s jaw nearly fell to the floor. He was tall and the perfect amount of muscular, with short, jet black hair and piercing green eyes. He also had several tattoos on his arms and chest, including a large one of a tiger on his upper bicep. Melanie smirked a little to herself. She hadn’t ever been interested in men with tattoos, but this one intrigued her for some reason. He was wearing a white tank top and slightly holey jeans. He also wore dog tags, which dangled from his neck as he looked down at her.
She suddenly realized that a long time had passed and she’d merely stared at him rather than answering his question. “Uh… Diet Coke, please?” she asked, instantly feeling lame. This bartender looked like the sort of person who expected everyone to drink hard liquor. And she could not blame him. Bartenders made their money from people buying the heavy stuff, not fountain drinks.
Instead of snarling at her like the villain in a Popeye cartoon, he smiled. “Sure thing,” he said. Skillfully grabbing a glass from the counter and flipping it in his hand so the right end was up, he poured ice and soda into it and handed it over.
“Thank you,” Melanie said politely. She had not expected him to have such a cute smile. He even had a big dimple in his left cheek.
“No problem,” he replied. “You’re not from around here, are you?”
It was her turn to smile. “How could you tell? Do I look that lost?”
He leaned against the bar, chuckling. “I didn’t say that. I just noticed your accent, and noticed that you were looking around like you’d never been here before. This isn’t exactly a tourist spot.”
Melanie blushed. She didn’t realize that she had a noticeable accent. Maybe she was just used to it. Casey had one, too, though it was somewhat fainter since she had lived in the DC area for several years now. “I just moved here from Ohio,” she explained. “I was hoping to find a job, but so far… Well, I’m here.” She held up her Diet Coke as if she was making a toast and then took a long sip.
The man’s eyes lit up when she mentioned needing a job. “I don’t know what’s cuter, your accent or how you blush when your accent is pointed out.”
Her blush intensified and she rolled her eyes a little bit, smiling shyly. This guy was charming. With his tattoos and the faint scars on his forehead that she just now noticed, he resembled the stereotype of an ex-con, but he was charming. She was enjoying this conversation instead of wanting to head for the hills. After everything that had happened with her husband – her ex-husband now, she supposed – it surprised Melanie that she wanted to chat with this handsome stranger.
“My name is Doug Albright. I may have some connections in town that could help you find a job.” He grabbed her glass and refilled it without her even needing to ask. She felt like she was suddenly the only other person in the bar.
Feeling like being playful, she raised an eyebrow and smirked at Doug. “What kind of connections?” she asked. “Like Mafia connections?”
He threw his head back and laughed. He came around the bar and sat beside her on a stool, holding a glass of something that looked like water but definitely did not smell like it. “Ohio, you are fun. I’m not in the Mafia. I’m the vice president of a motorcycle club called Stars and Stripes. And it just so happens that some of the other guys work in places around here. If you think you have what it takes, I’ll pass along the word that you’re looking to be hired.”
Now that he was closer, she could see that the tiger on his arm was pouncing out of an American flag. Stars and Stripes. Clever. But did she really want to get mixed up with a biker guy? Were they really just a club, or were they more like a gang?
“What’s your name?” he asked her.
She took another sip of her soda. What the hell. “Melanie Carr.”
Doug grinned at her. “You’re about to be a Carr riding a bike.”
CHAPTER TWO
Stars and Stripes
Melanie shifted a bit uneasily on her stool. This Doug guy was cute and charming, but he was also a stranger and she didn’t feel right just riding off with him on a motorcycle. She had little Stevie to think about. She had divorce papers to file before she even wanted to consider dating anyone else. She hoped that he would understand.
“It’s getting late,” she said, sounding somewhat deflated. “I should probably head back.”
Doug frowned slightly. “Yeah, okay,” he said. “Hey, if you want I could give you a lift.”
She shook her head. “No, thank you. I took the Metro and my car is at the station.”
He slowly smiled at her, showing off that adorable dimple of his again. How was it that a guy with such a baby face was the leader of a motorcycle gang? “I could give you a ride to the station,” he pointed out.
That she couldn’t argue with. The Metro would be a long ride back and she wondered how late it even ran. She looked at her watch. Crap. Is it already eight? Finally, feeling more resigned than excited, Melanie looked back up and straight into the eyes of Doug, who was awaiting her answer.
“Do you have an extra helmet?”
He grinned at her. “We can borrow one.”
Going back around the counter, he called to his coworkers. “I’m going on break, cover me! Hey, Lars, can I borrow your helmet?”
“Why? You got a hot—” The man who must have been Lars poked his head out of the back room. “—date?” He whistled when he saw Melanie, which made her blush and laugh. Meanwhile, Doug shushed him.
“Helmet?” he asked.
Lars tossed him a bright yellow helmet.
“Gracias.” Doug carried the helmet over and set it down on the bar in front of Melanie. He threw a black leather jacket on and let the way out back to where his waiting Harley motorcycle stood.
It was a black behemoth, with orange tiger stripes painted onto the hood of its front wheel. She could tell one thing for sure: he liked tigers.
“Where do you live?” he asked, putting on his shiny black helmet and watching as Melanie put hers on. He helped her onto the bike, allowing her to get on it herself for the most part, but there to lend his hand so she didn’t topple off or hurt herself in another way. She clearly had never been on a motorcycle before. She wondered if that would be a turn off for him, but when she saw his face, he was smiling and seemed completely enamored of her.
“Maryland,” she answered, “so I hope this bike has a lot of juice in it.” She smirked at him and he smirked right back at her. She had heard something like that in a movie once. She gave him the address of Casey’s house and Doug hopped onboard his motorcycle.
When it started up, her heart leapt a little. It felt so strange and not a small amount of intimidating, but she was also… thrilled?
“I know we just met,” he yelled over the engine. “But you’re gonna want to hold onto me. It’s dangerous to ride without anything holding you on.”
Melanie gulped but it was drowned out by the revving motor, which she was glad of. She knew that he could tell she was scared, but she didn’t want him to know that she was actually really, really scared. It was too late to turn back now!
She wrapped her arms around Doug’s middle and held on tight as he kicked off and they rode the Harley away from the bar.
“If you’re nervous, sometimes it helps to yell,” he told her, yelling just so she could hear him.
“What??” she yelled back.
He repeated himself, louder this time. She felt embarrassed for her first yell on a motorcycl
e being ‘what’ like some inattentive idiot. “WEEEEEEOOOOO!!” he suddenly shouted. He looked back at her, grinning, and she couldn’t help but smile back.
“WooooooAHH!” she yelled, laughing at her attempt.
Doug rode through the streets of DC as though this was what he did every night. Knowing what he did in his free time, he probably did do this every night. Melanie was grappling with whether she found that sexy or not.
When they finally stopped at the Metro station, behind her car, he helped her off of the bike and she looked up at him. She took off her helmet and shook out her hair.
“So, what do you think?” he asked. She couldn’t recall what he looked like when he wasn’t smiling. It did something to his appearance and made her almost forget about his tattoos and his scars… She suddenly worried about those scars.
“I’m glad you wear a helmet,” she said.
He laughed. “I meant about the bike. Did you have fun?”
Melanie smiled. “Oh,” she replied. “Yeah, it was okay.”
That made him laugh even more. He obviously got a kick out of her, and she was intrigued by him… But she couldn’t honestly say for sure if she saw anything coming from this. It had been nice of him to offer to help her find a job, but he clearly wasn’t just out to help her as a friend. Not the way he looked at her.
“Can I ask you something?” he asked her.
She shrugged her shoulders a little. “It’s a free country.”
“Where’d you get the shiner?”
Her eyes widened. Reaching up, she gingerly touched the bruise under her left eye. It still hurt. She had forgotten about it, till he mentioned it. It was like a bubble had burst inside her or something. She didn’t feel comfortable being around him anymore.
“Well, thanks for the lift,” she said, breaking the awkward silence that had formed. She handed the borrowed helmet back to him and moved to get into her SUV.
“Wait,” he said. He reached into his leather jacket and pulled out a piece of receipt paper. “Do you have a pen? I want to give you my phone number, in case I can help you again sometime.”
