by Dannika Dark
I suddenly remembered the cameras that had been installed. As in plural. I sure didn’t see the one outside, so if there were any inside the apartment, I was going to have to get Austin to take them out. That was a little invasive, especially since I liked walking around in my underwear on Saturday nights while watching movies and making quesadillas.
“Alexia? Speak to me.”
“I’m… what did you ask?”
“You were about to tell me your address so I can help you with your problem.” Before I could reject his offer he said, “I think it’s time the both of us come clean. I’m a Shifter, Alexia, and I know you’re one too. I don’t know what pack you belong to, but whatever trouble you may be in, my people can help. I’m a Packmaster. I got strong connections, money… whatever you need.”
And that was an attractive offer. More help.
“Did you hear about a mother and daughter gone missing?”
“Yes.”
“That’s my mother. We found my sister, but my mom’s still missing.”
He covered the receiver and I heard muffled conversation. “Tell me where you are. I got thirty men I can put on this right away.”
Thirty?
Lorenzo swung by in his monster black truck with the skull and crossbones on the back window and took charge of the situation. He was already on the phone with his pack, relaying information and barking out orders.
No pun intended.
He helped me into his truck and I felt like I was on a carnival ride due to being so high up. After a trip to my mom’s house, he shut me up in the back bedroom while he shifted into his wolf to sniff things out. That was around the time I started to notice a restless feeling stirring within me. Something so primal it felt innate.
Thirty minutes later, I locked up the house and we sat inside his truck.
“Nothing?” I asked.
“I picked up a scent,” he said, leaning his head back and sliding the key into the ignition. “Not the alpha who pissed all over the yard, but the one who took your mother.”
“Can you tell the difference between a Shifter and human? There were other men in and around the house.”
“Give me a little credit, will you? I picked up two Shifters and one human, aside from the feminine fragrance of your family. There’s also another Breed scent outside, but it’s faded. I think they were there before it happened.”
He slipped on a pair of shades and hooked his right hand over the steering wheel. The air from the open window blew some of his long black hair around. Lorenzo didn’t just look Native American, I was almost certain he was. His name didn’t match up, but then I didn’t know much about Shifters. I also knew a girl in school named Julie who was Cherokee.
Lorenzo pulled into the Dairy Queen parking lot and told me to wait in the truck. A light breeze blew in through the open windows and I watched a young teenage girl standing outside, chatting on her cell phone. How strange it felt to now be on the outside looking in, knowing that in this seemingly ordinary world, people like myself existed who weren’t human. When Lorenzo emerged, he came out with two vanilla cones. This had been the hottest June on record, and sitting quietly in his truck while eating ice cream really hit the spot.
“You got a pack?” he asked, licking off a drop of vanilla from his hand. He had devoured his cone in less than five bites.
“Kind of,” I said, dipping my tongue in the soft ice cream.
He wadded up the paper that had been wrapped around the bottom of his cone. “Kind of doesn’t sound like yes.”
“I don’t know if there’s some official ceremony, but someone has taken me under his protection.”
“Hmm,” Lorenzo murmured thoughtfully, sending a text message. He finally tossed the phone down and crowded my space, leaning over with his face close to mine. “Nashoba?”
“Umm, I don’t understand.”
Lorenzo never removed his dark eyes from mine as his tongue came out and licked a dollop of ice cream from my cone. His hands never touched me, but watching the animalistic look on his face felt intimate and magnetic.
He flicked his hot eyes to my mouth and asked, “Wolf?”
I nodded.
“I knew it. Only wolves refer to their family as packs.”
Something Austin had never gone into detail about. “What other kinds of animals are there?”
A smile spread across his face. “Panthers, birds, deer, bears—you name it. Tell me why you don’t know this?”
“Long story.”
He took my chin with his fingertips and stared at my mouth for an uncomfortably long time. “Good. I like long stories. Makes for a long date.” His finger grazed my cheekbone and Lorenzo analyzed my face. He pulled my straight hair around and smoothed his fingers down it before sitting back on his side of the truck. “Your mother is human?”
I kept staring at the little swirl on my ice cream that he’d made with his tongue. “Even longer story.”
“Tell me where you’re staying,” he said. “I’ll take you there.”
“What about my mom?”
“That’s what I want to work on,” he said, starting up the engine. “You mated?”
I bit the inside of my cheek. “No.”
He threw the truck into reverse and kicked up a cloud of dust. I tossed the rest of my cone out of the window and just as we hit the main road, a motorcycle pulled up beside us. It was a classic beauty with a long black seat, and the silver chrome gleamed in the sunlight as if it had never known a speck of dust. It didn’t look like those big bikes I’d seen, and “Triumph” was written on the side. We slowed at the light and while Lorenzo was fooling with the radio, the rider lifted the face on his helmet.
“Shit,” I whispered.
It was Reno, and by the look on his face, he wasn’t surprised to see me. Nor was he happy.
When we finally reached Austin’s secluded house, Lorenzo skidded to a halt. “Your friend isn’t very subtle,” he said, tilting the rearview mirror.
Reno sped around us on his Bonneville and parked beside a large truck. Thank God the Challenger wasn’t out front.
“Is Cole here?”
“No,” I said, scratching my cheek. “Thanks for helping out.”
Maizy came bounding through the front door and Reno quickly corralled her back inside.
Lorenzo lit up a smoke and stared at the house, taking a few drags before he spoke. “You could be living a lot better than this.”
“It’s temporary until I find my mom.”
He nodded. “Temporary’s good. Real good. You should go back home in less than three days.” Lorenzo took another draw of his smoke and I unbuckled my belt.
“Why three?”
Then his hot eyes flicked over to mine and made a long journey all the way down to my lap. I knew it had to do with that heat word. Whether all the men could sense it or just the alphas was a mystery, but it made me uncomfortable when it kept coming up in conversation.
I used the side step to get out of the truck and almost tumbled on my ass. Lorenzo stayed in the truck until I made it inside and then he sped off with a few intentionally loud engine revs.
Reno cornered me in the front entrance, gripping his keys tightly. His brows were low, but they weren’t dark, and he looked like the kind of guy who could star in his own action movie. A tiny scar on his lip caught my attention, but not for long when his eyes narrowed. “We got a camera hooked up outside your apartment, remember?”
I shrugged. “I don’t really care if you have an issue with this. Lorenzo’s going to help.”
“That’s not how it works,” he said gruffly, hanging his keys on a nail above the letter R.
I kicked off my shoes and, in Naya fashion, put my hands on my hips. “Then how does it work? My mom was kidnapped and my little sister was abandoned on the side of a fucking highway. She’s lucky someone didn’t snatch her or run her down. Tell me, Reno, how does it work that I can’t get more people helping out since you guys won’t call the cops?
”
“Human cops aren’t going to solve your problem,” he replied in a you should already know that voice. “And we don’t bring other packs in our business unless the Packmasters come to a mutual agreement. That’s problematic. You want to be beholden to someone you don’t know? He’ll want the favor returned, and it’s going to be a big lump-sum payment.”
“Well, he’ll have to get on the payment plan because I’m flat broke.”
Reno blocked me from going into the living room and poked my shoulder with his finger. “The plan is you.”
Then he walked off.
Denver shot me a judgmental glare when I strolled into the living room. Maizy rolled around on the floor while cartoon animals on the big TV paddled across a river.
“Did she take her nap?” I asked.
“She’s not tired. Are you, Peanut?”
I looked down at her restless legs and back at him. “Of course she’s not tired. How much sugar did you give her? Maizy isn’t used to eating sweets all the time; she gets hyper and then throws fits because she can’t sleep.”
He leaned back in his chair, crossed his ankles, and laced his fingers together across his stomach. “I’m not apologizing for giving her candy,” he replied in a smartass tone.
“Ooo, Lexi!” Maizy squealed, whirling around. “Denny has a biiiiig yellow candy jar with lots of different kinds of candy. There were worms and bears and chocolate and—”
While Maizy listed off what she had for lunch, I smiled. “Uncle Denny is going to watch you all day, would you like that?”
She squealed a yes.
Punishment served. Once Maizy got wired and tired, Denver was never going to give her sugar again. Especially when her magic wand made an appearance and she started whacking him on the head to transform him into a prince.
He acted nonchalant, so I hauled my bag I’d brought with me into Jericho’s bedroom. Austin had a point. Staying in the same room with Maizy was too risky. Even though I had no recollection of turning into a wolf, I knew I must have been dangerous by the scrapes I’d put on Austin.
“Well, well,” a familiar voice said from behind me as I was bending over and making up the bed. The door clicked shut and I peered over my shoulder. “That’s the position I like the most,” Jericho said, holding the door up with his shoulder blades and staring at my ass.
“Long night?” I asked, noticing the hickeys on his neck. I tried to avoid looking at the shiner on his eye because I felt responsible. On the other hand, it didn’t appear to have been of any hindrance to him getting laid.
He stripped away his graffiti T-shirt and tossed it onto a pile of clothes on the floor. There were more hickeys, and mostly around his navel area. I guessed groupies liked staking their claim on a rocker with their mouths.
“You sleepin’ in my bed, Goldilocks?”
“I can’t stay with Maizy for obvious reasons. Austin told me you guys have more control over your wolf and I’m new to all of this.”
He moved his mouth around as if he were sucking on a piece of candy. “You’re taking it pretty well.”
I shrugged. “I’ve always had to be the rock in my family; I guess it’s not in my nature to go apeshit over finding out I have paws and a tail. I’m handling it the best way I know how.”
“Denial?” Jericho snorted and tossed a set of keys on his dresser. “I can say this because I’m his brother, but maybe you should stay away from Austin.”
“Why?”
His eyes hooded behind the long strands of loose hair that had fallen free from the band he’d used to tie it back. “A girl like you wants a man who can control his temper. Austin’s not quite there yet. He’s good, real good. We’ve watched him grow up and become alpha material, but he has a switch in there and if you flip it the wrong way, then look out.”
“Everyone has that switch,” I argued.
“When Wes died, that switch stayed flipped for a long time.”
Then I got it. Jericho thought I was going to push Austin over the edge again and tear apart the pack—that I’d hurt him the way Wes did by dying.
“We’re not tight like that, so you don’t have to worry.”
He glanced down at the floor. “My brother’s socks are lying on top of your lacey bra. That’s pretty fucking tight.”
A sudden knock rapped on the door and it cracked open. Jericho anchored his feet to the ground and pushed it closed with his back.
“Let me the fuck in,” Austin growled.
When the door opened, Austin looked between us. He gripped Jericho by the back of the neck and guided him out into the hall before shutting the door behind him.
“What’s this about you seeing Lorenzo?”
I stayed quiet. It seemed like the best way to avoid a fight and Austin had an agitated look on his face.
“Well?” he pressed, looming above me and closing the tiny gap of air between us.
I placed my hands behind me on the bed and gave him the “so what?” silent look.
“Always so difficult,” he finally said in a softened voice. “Even when you were a kid.”
“You were mean to me.”
He tilted his head, rubbing that thick jaw of his. “When I was eight or twelve I might have been a jerk, but after puberty…”
Austin actually blushed and when I smiled, he turned around and stared at a Led Zeppelin poster.
“Lorenzo is searching for my mom. He doesn’t seem like a bad guy, Austin. I don’t have any reason not to go out with him, and no one else is calling on me.”
He rocked on his heels and I stood up, unzipping my bag and grabbing my purple hairbrush. I stood in front of a dirty mirror and combed my hair, which hung just past my breasts. Guys liked my straight hair and invariably commented on it, so I usually wore it down. Otherwise, I didn’t think there was anything remarkable about me. My eyes were the color of bourbon, my cheekbones high, and I had a few faded freckles on the bridge of my nose. My slim figure received a number of compliments, but I wasn’t ample in either department. I worked what I had (my legs being my best asset), but always wished I had larger breasts or curvier hips.
“You don’t trust that I can handle this and find your mom?”
“The more help I can get, the better, is all I’m saying, Austin.”
He spun around, arms folded. “I have to take a trip tonight and I want you to come with me.”
“I can’t leave Maze.”
“Denver and the boys got it taken care of. Shifters are protective of kids, even if they aren’t our own. It’s why Prince stopped his car for Maizy and didn’t keep driving. You can trust my pack. They’re older and have their wolves under control. They’ll fight to the death to protect her, if that gives you any comfort.”
And it kind of did. “Why do you want me to go with you?”
He flexed his jaw, staring at me in the mirror. Then his eyes slid down and I knew it was that heat word again. Austin didn’t want me in the house with his brothers.
“Okay, so where are we going?”
The “we” in my question satisfied him immensely. “Oklahoma. It’s about a six-hour drive and we’re staying overnight,” he said, looking at his watch. “We should be back tomorrow before dark.”
“What do you have to do?”
“Talk to someone” was all he’d tell me.
Chapter 15
The Challenger’s motor purred along I-35 until Austin turned off at the exit and changed direction. Maizy hadn’t revealed much about her adventure outside of what we already knew. What detailed information could I expect from a girl her age?
I had purchased all kinds of beef jerky from a gas station just outside Gainesville. Austin had merely watched as I piled the individually wrapped sticks on the counter. I’d never really liked jerky very much, but the long car trip was grueling and I was famished.
“Craving?” he asked with a twitch of his lip.
I ignored him, paid the cashier, and stuffed the bag in the back seat.
&
nbsp; Austin played a few old songs that brought some forgotten memories to the surface. We laughed and shared stories, finding out little snippets about each other we had never revealed back in the day. When Aerosmith came on, it brought back memories of a camping trip we took to the lake one summer with a group of friends. I was stuffed in a tent with three girlfriends while Wes and his buddies camped closer to the wooded area. In the middle of the night, my friends decided to sneak over and raid their tent. What can I say? We were seventeen. I didn’t go because my favorite Fleetwood Mac slow song had come on my portable radio. I walked to the shore and sat down, watching the moonlight slide over the waves like icing.
I still remember that night so clearly in my head. Feeling the warm summer breeze in my hair and listening to the water lap up on the shore as footsteps approached from behind, competing against the squeals of the girls and complaints of the boys in the distance. Austin had sat beside me that night, wearing his leather coat and denims with a hole in the knee. He didn’t say a word. We just sat together and watched the waves until the song played out.
Of course, he was smoking a cigarette and looking all Joe Cool Badass while I was wearing a ponytail and pink pajama bottoms with strawberry designs. Nothing happened between us. It was just one of those beautiful moments in life that means something for reasons we can’t explain.
Austin had quit smoking since then. You can always tell when you get up close to someone or check out the car ashtray and find loose change instead of cigarette butts. Strangely, he was even cooler now than he had been before. Maybe it’s because back then he was trying hard to be somebody, and now he finally was that somebody.
“Does this mean I’m not going to age?” I asked, staring out the window as a billboard went by.
I felt his eyes on me in the dark interior of the car. “It slows. I’m guessing you’ll look this way for a while.”
I shifted uncomfortably in the seat and pulled my legs up. After a few scrapes of my fingers through my long hair, I put my feet back on the floor and tried to recline the seat.
“What’s wrong?” he asked. “You need to go to the little girl’s room?”
