“I’ll need your help once we get to the base. You know what the buildings are for, and possibly what we can expect. We’ll talk about what to do with you after we get in and get out.”
“With Alfred,” Marie insisted.
Cameron raised an eyebrow, and Marie dropped her gaze. “Hopefully with Alfred,” Cameron agreed. “We’ll walk from here.”
Andrea hopped out of the truck and joined the group. Silent and judging, Tiana eyed her up and down before turning on her heel and starting across the road. Cameron followed after, leaving Isaac, Marie, and Andrea to keep up.
“I thought there would be more coming?” Andrea voiced softly.
“Listen closely, little girl. Maybe you’ll hear the wolves between the trees.” Tiana laughed over her shoulder. As if to prove her point, a large shape darted in front of the group.
“They were told to hide their vehicles. We didn’t want to have a party on the side of the road. They’ve shifted, and they’re all around us. Now, keep quiet.” Cameron ordered.
Isaac suddenly lifted his nose to the air and sniffed deeply. “Nephilim,” he rumbled.
Andrea started as three figures formed in the shadows and stepped forward. They were covered in dark robes, and had their faces hidden in their cowls.
Andrea thought it was the center figure that spoke, though all three remained still. “Werewolves.”
Cameron held out a hand and everyone stopped. “We’re here on pack business.” His voice rasped softly.
“This damn Ross pack,” the Nephilim shook his head. “We have had enough of the trouble you cause.”
“We are trying to retrieve one of our own.”
“Oh, yes. The one called Alfred. He broke the law of exposure tonight.”
“It wasn’t his fault!” Andrea exclaimed, and immediately regretted doing so. All the werewolves eyed her like a piece of meat they couldn’t wait to swallow whole. The robed figures, whatever they were, made her feel like she stood there naked and dumb.
“Your human has an opinion?” The middle figure spoke again, turning back toward Cameron.
“She says this base belongs to hunters, and they forced Alfred to reveal himself.”
“Hunters are still human, wolf. You have no jurisdiction over them.”
“Yes, but they have taken our pack member and forced him to reveal a part of the otherworld. Doesn’t that make them responsible? We have the right to defend our own. Hunters have never been protected when they are attacking werewolves.”
The middle figure made a crackling sound, like leaves blowing in the wind, and Andrea realized it was laughter. “I see why you are in law, wolf. We will help you this night.”
Cameron nodded in agreement, and he and the hooded figures stepped forward. Tiana followed behind, urging Andrea to keep up. Andrea glanced back, and saw Marie and Isaac still remained with them.
Andrea tripped over her own feet when she could see clearly. The half moon didn’t provide enough light for her to see very well, and she stumbled into Tiana repeatedly. The woman growled, and grabbed her arm hard, yanking Andrea around obstacles.
Cameron conferred quietly with the hooded figures. Andrea couldn’t hear what was said, but Tiana could. She nodded when Cameron turned to seek her opinion.
“We’ll scout ahead, then.” The center figure said. He turned in a fluid motion with the others still at his sides, and they faded into the shadows.
Andrea peered after them, and saw no other movement. Only the trunks of trees were visible. “Where did they go?”
Tiana chuckled. “They’re godlings, little human. They can go wherever they wish.”
Andrea resisted the urge to grind her teeth. None of her statement made any sense. The scientist in her wanted to know more, but the rest of her felt like a babe in the woods. Some mysteries could wait. She needed to focus on helping Alfred.
She stumbled again, even with Tiana jerking her around unseen objects. She spilled forward, and caught herself on her hands.
Tiana pulled her roughly upright again. She spoke to Cameron as if Andrea didn’t even exist. “Why are we keeping her around? The godlings will tell us what’s ahead.”
Cameron halted, and the entire party stopped. He turned to face Tiana, and his eyes flashed. He kept his voice low. “Because she created the poison.”
“Exactly! Why would we keep that danger around us?”
“Consider what’s in that head of hers. We don’t know how much the hunters know. We should keep what we can to ourselves. She stays.” Andrea thought she saw his eyes shine a little brighter with the order.
Tiana stroked her cheek against Cameron’s throat. “As the alpha says.”
Andrea tried to keep her heart in her chest. She felt like a rabbit caught between wolves.
The werewolves walked through the darkness with no problems, and Andrea stumbled her way along with them. She could hear movement in the darkness around them, and she didn’t know if it was comforting or frightening to know it was other werewolves in their animal forms.
She was beginning to think she’d made a mistake to come at all. She should have demanded to be left behind. She could have jumped at Tiana’s excuse of why she was there, and said she was utterly useless. Just as her despair reached a new level, and her knees ached from crashing onto the ground despite Tiana’s efforts, Cameron held up a hand to stop their party.
The hooded figures materialized before them again, and Andrea jumped. Tiana did her best to hide a laugh, but Andrea could still hear it. Though maybe that was the point. She frowned. It wasn’t her fault she had only human senses.
“The base is mostly empty,” the middle figure again took the lead with speech.
“Is Alfred there?” Marie asked from behind.
The figure turned his gaze toward her, though how Andrea wasn’t certain how she could tell. She left the figure linger over her before turning his attention to Marie. “There is a wolf present. If it is your pack member, I’m not sure.”
A sigh escaped her lips. She knew it had to be Alfred. “AmWo didn’t have any others on base, though they insisted others were elsewhere.”
The middle figure paused. She shivered under the gaze she couldn’t see. “We will discuss this further.”
“Not now. We need to get Alfred out of there,” Cameron interrupted.
“Patience, wolf. Your pack mate will be released soon enough. Your wolves will be alerting the humans to their presence shortly.”
Cameron rumbled with a low growl. “I don’t appreciate my wolves taking orders from others.”
“We don’t appreciate exposing the otherworld to human scrutiny. The humans are under our jurisdiction. Try not to harm them too much.” The figures disappeared into the shadows again.
Before Cameron could respond, a spotlight flashed on, and moved over the bare ground in front of the base wall. Andrea was surprised at how close to the wall they were. Shouts started from inside the camp. People appeared on the walls, with light moving all around.
One by one, the people lining the walls were dragged down. Their screams pierced the night, full of cold fear. Someone shouted for the gate to be opened, and trucks full of people raced out into the night.
“You can smell their fear,” Marie said in awe, and rubbed her nose.
“Nephilim,” Cameron muttered, almost a curse.
They approached the open gate, and Andrea choked back her desperation. The road between the handful of houses stood empty. At the end, near the main buildings, stood Joel and a handful of others. They were loaded up with weapons, all pointed at the wolves coming through the open gate. Alfred had been pushed to his knees in front of them, and Joel pointed a gun at his head.
The transformed wolves hung back, and let the rest of the humans step forward. Andrea pushed her way to the front, despite Tiana and Marie trying to hold her behind them.
Joel chuckled cruelly. “We should have locked you up when we had the chance, huh, Doc? You found yourself a whole mess
of beasties. Thanks for bringing them on in for us. Wolf pelts will look nice by the fireplace.”
“You will give us our pack mate back.” Cameron made his demand in a regal tone that spoke of no other option. He would have his wolf back.
“Now, you go talking like that makes us upset. You come in here, spook damn near half my men into deserting, and now you demand our prisoner. Are you trying to get us off on the wrong foot?” Joel scratched his head and made a face to the rest of his men, as if he couldn’t believe the ask Cameron was making of him.
Cameron remained silent. Marie shifted beside her, and Andrea couldn’t help but reach out and squeeze the other girl’s hand. It was beyond tough to see Alfred so close, and be impossibly apart.
“How about you send the Doc on over, and we’ll give you your wolf back.” Joel called.
Andrea kept waiting for the hooded figures to reappear and do something to help the standoff, but no one came. She looked to Cameron, and nodded. “I’ll go. It keeps Alfred from being used again. And maybe I can help any other werewolves they let me near.”
“No!” Tiana hissed.
“It’s the only shot we have!” Andrea argued.
“It could be a good distraction,” Isaac offered.
Finally, Cameron nodded his ascent. “She’ll go,” he called to Joel.
“Send her on over then!”
Cameron shook his head. “No. Let them meet in the middle. I won’t have you take her and keep them both.”
Joel scowled at that, and spoke to his men quietly. He hauled Alfred to his feet, and shoved him forward a step. “Sounds fair, wolf.”
Andrea resisted hopping from foot to foot. It would be over soon enough. Alfred would be free. If she was hauled back to some base to work on AmWo projects for the rest of her life, it was worth saving Alfred.
At a signal from both sides, she and Alfred took their first steps forward.
A darkness inside her told her it was wrong. Joel, who was willing to declare public war on an unknown number of werewolves, would never let Alfred free. He’d never let her out of his sight. She’d save Alfred, but her projects would be used to harm countless others.
She tried to shake the voice out of her head, but it persisted with its warnings of doom. She concentrated on Alfred’s face. His beard was shorter than when she last saw him; they’d let him shave at some point. His dark hair was threatening to cover his eyes and badly needed a trim. She memorized the details of his straight nose and sharp jaw as they neared passing.
Her fingers touched his as they drew together. She locked eyes with him, pushing up her glasses to see him better. He smiled down at her. “I won’t abandon you,” he whispered.
They stepped forward and were past each other. She stiffened her spine and straightened her shoulders to meet her fate.
And saw the glint of a gun as someone on the roof above Joel lined up a shot.
She turned just as the noise of the gunshot hit her ears.
She pushed into Alfred just as the pain of the bullet hit her nerves.
Everything rushed around her. She heard curses from men and howls from wolves. Guns were fired, and screams echoed through the night. She didn’t care, because Alfred was cradling her in his arms.
“No, no, no,” he said over and over, and she couldn’t see why. She tried to sit up, and he held her down. “Don’t move, little mouse. This can be fixed.”
He pushed her hair back from her face, and she felt a warm wetness. She looked down, and saw blood covering his hands that were pushing on her stomach. She smiled at him. “It’s okay. I saved you.”
One of the hooded figures finally appeared. She wanted to give him a piece of her mind, but she was so sleepy. It could wait until the morning. The sounds of the fight were fading in her ears.
“Our magic won’t heal this in time, even if we were inclined.”
“What do you mean, ‘inclined’? Fix her!” Tiana yelled.
“We are battle Nephilim. We don’t know the healing magic.”
Alfred caught her eyes. “Do you remember what I told you about bites and changing?” She tried to nod. “Andrea, I’m going to give you some of my blood. You’ll be a werewolf. I won’t even be mad if you want to take your stupid poison and never shift.”
She smiled. Why would she want to take the serum? She wouldn’t be able to run wild with him if she was human all the time.
Alfred bit savagely at his arm until blood welled from his skin. He pulled her ruined shirt away from her skin, and pressed his wound to hers.
Everyone gathered around them, nervously watching her. She was surprised to see how quickly Alfred’s skin stitched itself back together. She wished everyone would stop staring.
“What will you do with the hunters?” Cameron conferred with the hooded Nephilim.
“They will tell us what they know of the otherworld, and what else they plan to threaten exposure. They will be held until they wish to change their ways.” Andrea could see they were lined up again, and the middle one spoke for them.
“And Alfred?” She asked weakly.
“The cat’s out of the bag now. Or rather, the wolf. It’s only a matter of time before humans discover there are more than just werewolves in their world. Since the Ross pack is incapable of staying out of trouble, we’re moving to have a vampire lord make this city his base. You will answer directly to him.”
Cameron and Tiana exchanged a look, but Andrea couldn’t be bothered to figure out the significance. Vampires existed? Why should she be shocked when she had undeniable proof that werewolves and half-breed angels were real.
“How much longer?” She whispered to Alfred.
He stroked a hand through her hair. “Soon.”
“Does it have to be here?” The thought of shedding her skin and revealing herself to everyone didn’t sit well. She knew she’d eventually need to become comfortable with the idea, but she couldn’t discard everything human about herself in one night.
He looked at her protectively, then anxiously around at the surrounding houses. “Of course not. Should we go back to your home? I don’t think we can make it back to the mountain.”
She nodded. It was big of him to stay, even though she knew it must make him uncomfortable. She hoped she could make everything up to him and the awful memories fade.
Chapter Nine
He carried her into the house, and closed the door on all the objections. She appreciated it. She didn’t know anything about werewolf bites and bringing someone back from the edge of death, but if things were to go sideways she wanted to be alone with Alfred.
The pain in her abdomen was fading, and her thoughts were clearing. Alfred was rambling on about being a werewolf, and what she should expect. He would need to repeat himself, because she didn’t understand half of it.
He settled her on the couch, and protested when she sat up. She painfully peeled back the scraps of shirt on her skin. She was amazed to see the skin looked almost normal. There was no gaping hole, just lots of bruises. Bruises that she suspected would fade quickly.
“Healing happens faster when you’re about to shift. Some of us will shift to prompt it,” Alfred murmured from her side. He brought a bowl of water and a washcloth to help clean her.
“Will the first time hurt?” She chewed on her lip.
He shook his head. “It looks painful, but you don’t feel any of it. The in-between state is almost like a blackout. And you won’t remember your time as the wolf for a while. It takes some time to control it, and share memories.”
“That almost sounds like a disconnect between brain hemispheres. One side holds on to an object, but the other side can’t identify what it is.”
He chuckled and passed a hand over his face. “I don’t know anything about that, but I’m ready to learn about it with you.”
“Alfred.” She put her hand to his cheek and made him look at her. “I’m sorry. For everything. For bringing you to this horrid place, and putting you on the serum. I didn�
��t understand.”
He cupped her hand. “It’s okay. I know you were trying to help.”
“I shouldn’t have left you here with them.” Tears threatened to leak down her face.
“You had no choice. They would have hurt us both. They told me they could track you down anywhere you went, and would hurt you if I didn’t cooperate. I don’t want to think about what they would have done if you were here.”
The tears finally spilled over and she buried her face in his shoulder to hide them. “I missed you so much!”
He smoothed down her hair and tried to quiet her. She gulped for air, and caught a new smell. It was something heady, and reminded her all too much of their night together. She drank it in, and found her body responding in an entirely new way.
“We don’t need to ever be apart again, little mouse,” Alfred mumbled into her neck.
The warmth of his breath sent a shiver down her spine. He pulled back, and looked at her deeply. His eyes had turned honeyed, and a flush darkened his face. A wealth of emotions circled in his depths. Desire. Need. Love. Heat surged between them when Alfred brushed his lips against hers.
Andrea sighed with relief. It was all she could do to cling to him and enjoy the fresh surge of emotion within her. Their hands raced over each other in a race to reacquaint. Her hands roamed over the hard planes of his chest, while his cupped her hips, her waist, her breasts. Their lips clung to each other, tongues dancing together. No amount of time would be enough. They would need a lifetime.
Then Alfred lifted her in his arms. He cradled her sideways and walked slowly toward her bedroom. He could hear her heart sped up, her breathing become ragged, as he pushed open the door with his foot. He carried her over the threshold, and laid her softly on her bed.
A shiver ran through her when she met his eyes. The heat of his gaze was enough to spread warmth through her veins. When he looked at her, she felt irresistible. She was the most desirable woman in the world rather than a mousy doctor in tattered scraps of clothes, and new to his lycan life, to boot.
He settled next to her, strong hands buried in her hair and fingers gripped the nape of her neck. His body softened against hers, hard muscle yielding to her curves. A small moan escaped her lips as his lips crashed down on hers. Desperation laced Alfred’s kiss, and he was determined to memorize every detail of her, from her taste to her shape. She would never be snatched from his grasp again. The thought of it made a growl enter his kiss.
Cutthroat City Wolves Volume 1: BBW Werewolf Shifter Paranormal Romance Page 17
