But in a flash of gray fur and yellow teeth, the wolf-thing sprang to the top of the nearest dumpster and from there to the low roof of the building across from the club entrance. Jax’s head snapped up and he watched in amazement as the creature turned, yellow eyes glowing briefly in the moon light. It gave Jax a murderous look and then turned, silently disappearing into the night.
Bec was whining softly and Jax turned back toward the group. Nikki was sitting on the ground, shaking, Lori crouched next to her, arms around Nikki’s shoulders. For a moment, Jax was struck by the protective stance of the blonde woman, the feral grimace on her face as she watched them.
Bec had moved to the side, panting, glancing nervously back down the alley and then up to the top of the dumpsters as if anticipating another attack.
But Jax’s only focus was Nikki. She was staring at him, her eyes wide. He took a tentative step toward her, never breaking eye contact. She shrank back, the blonde woman almost growling at him. He made the conscious effort to lower his hackles, to relax his body, raise his tail. He took one step and then another, moving toward Nikki.
“Nikki, I’ve got mace in my purse. I’m gonna spray this thing if it doesn’t back off…” Jax saw the woman’s hand slid into her purse and he stopped, whining softly.
Nikki sat up, pulling away from the woman. “No, wait. Don’t…” She leaned forward, setting her hands in front of her on the pavement. Jax wagged his tail, just the barest movement.
“Nikki! Stop. Are you crazy? That’s a wolf, for God’s sake.”
“It’s okay, Lori. Really…somehow it’s okay.”
Nikki crawled forward, her eyes locked with Jax’s. He cursed his inability to speak, longed to tell her…something, anything. But all he could do was whine softly. Slowly he extended his muzzle and Nikki reached for him, her fingers brushing the fur beneath his chin.
“For fuck’s sake, Nikki, do you want to lose an arm?” The woman had her head down, frantically searching in her purse, panic coating her voice. Jax saw movement from the corner of his eye. Bec was standing now, moving silently toward the woman. With one quick tug, he grabbed her purse in his teeth, breaking the strap and backing away with it in his mouth, its contents falling onto the pavement.
“Oh, shit. Nikki…”
There was a noise behind them, at the club door, voices and someone rattling the knob. Jax stepped back and Bec dropped the purse, both turning in tandem, disappearing down the alley. When they reached the street, Jax stopped, looking back. Nikki was still on her hands and knees, watching him. Then the door to the club swung open and there were people spilling into the alley. Jax turned, melting into the shadows, heading for home.
*
“What the hell were you thinking? Are you fucking crazy?”
Lori was pacing across the living room of her cramped apartment, puffing nervously on a cigarette. Nikki had taken refuge on the couch, a deteriorating afghan wrapped around her shoulders.
“I’m not crazy, Lori.”
“Then you’re drunk.” She stopped in front of Nikki. “You can’t pet something that just tried to kill you.”
“It was a wolf, I think. And it didn’t try to kill us. It saved us.” Her voice was low, her mind still spinning, trying to make some kind of sense out of what just happened.
“You wouldn’t know a wolf if it bit you. You grew up in the middle of Philly. There are no wolves in Philly.” Lori finally stopped pacing, sitting down on the other end of the couch.
“Whatever…that one, the black one…it wasn’t going to hurt us.” Nikki looked down at her hand, the one that she’d touched the wolf with. She held it up to Lori.
“See? No teeth marks. I’m fine.”
“Well, my purse is ruined. That damn dog tore it out of my hands. You can’t tell me that’s not an attack.”
Nikki sighed. Her head ached and she was exhausted. Lori had given her a shot of whiskey when they’d gotten here, to calm her down, stop her shaking. But all it had done was make her tired. She slid down on the couch, pulling the afghan up over her shoulders.
“Lori, whatever it was…it wasn’t the thing that wanted to kill us. The gray wolf…animal…thing. That was the one that attacked us. The others, the black and yellow one, I think they were trying to protect us.”
Lori snorted. “You really are drunk, if you think that. Did you hit your head maybe?” She leaned over, reaching for Nikki’s head. Nikki slapped her hand away.
“Knock it off. I’m too tired for this.” She closed her eyes, wishing for sleep, almost wishing she’d gone back to her own apartment. Lori was wound up tight, from adrenaline or nerves or whatever got Lori wound up.
“You wanna crash in my bed? The sheets are clean, more or less. At least, I’m the only one that’s slept on them recently.”
Nikki opened one eye. “That means you’re too wired to sleep?”
Lori nodded, lighting up another cigarette. “Yeah. I usually am when I get home. This just made things worse. It’s not so bad if I have a date. You know, I have someone to work off all this energy with.” She looked over at Nikki.
“But I get the feeling you’re not up for that right now, are you?”
Nikki threw off the afghan, shaking her head. “No, sorry.” She leaned over, planting a kiss on Lori’s forehead. “I just want to sleep and try to forget whatever the hell just happened.”
In Lori’s room, Nikki stripped, climbing into the bed. She really didn’t care if the sheets were clean or not. She was tired and she wasn’t alone. Somehow knowing Lori was prowling around in the next room calmed her down.
Nikki turned off the bedside light, leaving the room bathed in the light of the full moon. She rolled over in bed, looking out the window. The moon was visible, hanging low in the sky.
Funny, she’d never really paid any attention to it before. It was just there, or not. It struck her that she didn’t know why it did what it did or when. She supposed if she’d paid more attention in school, or actually finished school, she’d probably know.
But she did know that things had gotten very strange lately. She yawned, pulling the blanket over her shoulder. She was on the verge of sleep when the thought came to her that things had gotten very strange just about the time Jax had appeared in her life.
Sunrise was not far off before Nikki finally fell asleep. And just on the edge of sleep, she had the briefest vision of silver eyes, glowing in the moonlight, watching her as she slept.
Chapter Six
The sun had been up for a couple of hours and Bec was the kitchen of Jax’s house, sitting at the table while Jax cleaned the wound on his arm. The gash was bloody and ragged, but luckily not very deep. Several pack members from both packs were there, standing back, watching silently.
“Shit, Jax. Take it easy, okay? Whatever the hell you’re doing, it hurts.” Bec was trying to pull away from Jax.
“Stop whining.” Jax wiped the wound again. “The bleeding’s stopped now,” Jax tossed the cloth into the sink, “you should have stitches, but I’m pretty sure you’ll live.”
“Yeah, no to the stitches. Just wrap it up. It should heal pretty quickly anyway.”
Jax grabbed some gauze and bandages from a nearby cabinet. “Finn, here. Help me with this.”
A short stocky man stepped forward, holding the gauze in place over the gash while Jax wrapped the bandage around Bec’s muscular arm.
“What the hell happened, Jax?” Bec, Finn and the others had been at the house when Jax returned, just before sunrise, and once they’d all returned to human form, the packs had drifted down to the kitchen.
“I’m not sure. We were attacked, but I’m not really sure by what.” Jax stood back, looking at the bandage.
“Bec, do you have any idea what that thing was?”
Bec flexed his arm, scowling at the bandage. “No idea.”
“Another pack maybe? Someone new that’s moved into our territory?” Finn was standing, his arms crossed, at the end of the table. There we
re murmurs from the other pack members.
Jax shook his head, pulling out a chair, sitting down beside Bec. “It’s not from around here. No other pack has said anything about this, and I’m pretty sure even our rivals would have said something.”
“There’s something off about it. The scent, for one thing.” Jax grimaced at the memory. There was something tugging at the edge of his mind, but he couldn’t quite place his finger on what it was.
“Jax, was the scent familiar to you?”
Bec’s brow furrowed. “No. It smelled bad, terrible.” He ducked his head and Jax let it pass. No use letting Bec’s pack know he had turned tail and ran.
“There was something there, something familiar. But I don’t know what it was.” Jax shook his head. “Maybe I’m just crazy, but I have the feeling I know what that thing is.”
“If you knew what it is, would you know how to kill it?”
Jax looked up. Finn was looking at him intently, as were the rest of the pack members.
“Yeah, probably. Everything has a weakness. It’s just knowing what it is.” He ran his hands through his hair, tugging at his ponytail.
“It’s just trying to figure out what the damned thing is…and what it wants.”
*
“Hey, wake up.”
Someone was shaking her and Nikki wanted them to stop. Her head ached abysmally and her body hurt. She swatted at the hand on her shoulder and the hand swatted back. Groggily she opened one eye.
Lori was sitting on the edge of the bed, still dressed in her street clothes, holding the ever-present cigarette and a glass of juice.
“Here.” She held out the juice toward Nikki.
Nikki smiled, sipping the juice. “Thanks. What time is it?”
“After three. You’ve been out like a champ for hours.”
“Have you even slept?”
“Yeah, I think so. Maybe. But you were mumbling and whining in your sleep, so, you know, that kept me awake.”
“Liar. I never talk in my sleep.” She set the glass on the bedside table, sitting up against the headboard, pulling the sheet over her chest.
“So what the hell really did happen last night?”
“Honey, I have no idea. You thought you’d made a new best friend out of a wolf and I thought we were going to be torn to shreds.”
The words hung in the air, both girls staring wide-eyed at the other.
“Oh, shit. China…and her boyfriend. You don’t think…could it have been that thing?” Lori spoke first.
“I don’t want to think about it.” Nikki solemnly shook her head. “No way. Not going there. Too many bad things live in my head already. I’m not putting a wolf in the mix.”
Nikki sat up. “I need to go home. Move.” She poked at Lori with her foot.
Lori stood up. “You calling a cab or walking?”
“Cab. There’s no way I’m ever walking anywhere in this city again. Besides, my head is killing me.”
“I’ll call one for you while you get dressed.” Lori left the room and Nikki pulled on her clothes. They smelled funny, like rotting food. It made her stomach turn and she decided it must have been from the alley. She’d be home soon and take a long hot shower. Maybe even get in a nap before work.
“Cab’ll be here in about fifteen minutes or so. You want something to eat…” Lori stopped, laughing. “I take it by the shade of green you’ve turned, that’s a no?”
“Yeah, no. And never let Sam make you a drink on the house. I think that thing was straight up, no mixer. Strong.” Nikki shivered.
“You’re such a light-weight, Nikki. Here…” She extended her hand. In the palm were two white pills.
Nikki looked at them suspiciously. “And they are?”
“Aspirin. What’d you think I was giving you? You said you have a headache.” Lori shook her head as Nikki took the pills.
“Listen, my only vices now are cigarettes and men, sometimes a drink, nothing worse. Well, those are bad enough, but that’s it.” She held up three fingers.
“Scout’s honor, Nikki. Not for a long, long time. I’ve been good.”
Nikki went to the tiny kitchen and filled a glass at the sink, downing the pills. Lori followed her, leaning against the doorframe.
“You believe me, right?”
Nikki looked at her friend. Finally she nodded.
“Sorry, Lori. Yeah, I do. It’s been a long fucking night. Come here.” Nikki held out her arms and Lori walked into her embrace.
The sound of a blaring horn made both of them jump. They stepped apart, laughing.
“You working tonight?” Nikki was searching under the couch for her shoes.
“No, I have the night off. Plan to catch up on my sleep, now that there’s no mumbling, snoring body in my bed.”
Nikki shook her head, laughing, pulling on her second shoe. “I don’t snore.” She reached up, planting a kiss on Lori’s cheek as she opened the apartment door.
“I’ll see you tomorrow then, yeah? Take care and get some sleep.”
The cab ride was brief and Nikki was home, standing beneath the pounding hot water in her shower, letting the water sluice through her hair. She’d never been so glad to get out of her clothes, contemplating throwing them in the garbage. Even the cabbie had given her a dirty scowl as she got into the cab. It was funny; she’d never noticed that the alley smelled that bad, even with all the dumpsters.
She spent a long time drying her hair, sitting by the window in her bedroom. The street below was busy, but she knew in the next hour or so, as people started coming home from work, it would be packed.
It occurred to her, not for the first time, what an odd life she led. Just when most people were coming home from work or school, sitting down with family for dinner, she was getting ready to take her clothes off for a roomful of strange men.
She shook her head, padding back to the bathroom. There was no good reason to think about what might have been if things had gone differently. She’d given up years ago wondering how different her life would have been if her parents hadn’t been her parents, hadn’t fought every night of her life, hadn’t dragged her into the middle of the arguments, made her choose sides. And hadn’t died in a car crash two months before she was to graduate from high school.
Thinking didn’t change anything, it just brought up a lot of pain. Pain Nikki could really do without.
She thought about dinner instead, poking around in the still-empty refrigerator. Hiding in the back she unearthed a stale bagel and a tub of semi-petrified cream cheese. Toasted and covered with spread, she called it dinner.
It was almost time to leave for work but the last place Nikki wanted to be was at the club. But they were down two dancers and Lori was off. Nikki cringed, knowing why they were short. It didn’t make her want to be there, but she knew Mack would fire her in a heartbeat if she called in. He’d have a new girl hired and using her locker probably before Nikki would even have a chance to clean out her stuff.
But there was no way in hell she was walking down that alley. She opened the front door of the club, the sounds and smells washing over her. It was Friday and the place was almost full. As luck would have it, Mack was sitting at the end of the bar, right by the door. He caught her eye, scowling at her.
“You know better. Dancers use the alley door.” He jerked his head toward the door she’d just entered, indicating she should go back out. Normally she would have. But not tonight.
Something snapped. She walked over to Mack, leaning close, her hand on his arm.
“Mack, give me a break. People were killed in that alley, just the other day. China’s boyfriend held a knife to my throat. Last night…” She stopped. There was no way she could explain last night to Mack.
Mack’s eyes were cold as they met hers. “Yeah. And I have rules. You don’t like them, you know where the door is.” He jerked his head again in the direction of the front door, his voice hard.
“Look, Nikki. I like you. Really. You’re a gre
at dancer, the customers love you. But…you know, you’re stubborn. And you gotta respect that I got rules here. Okay?” He stood, opening the door for her. She stepped out onto the sidewalk.
“You got a choice. Follow my rules, use the alley. Or...”
The door closed behind her as she left the club without thought about how she would be able to pay the month’s rent. She had enough of Mack, the degradation, the always feeling as though she held no value other than in how hot she could make the men who stuffed her panties with one dollar bills. Enough already. Moving almost mechanically, she walked to the corner of the building, the mouth of the alley looming ahead of her.
The clouds obscured any moonlight that might have penetrated the depths of the alley and the dim bulb above the club door didn’t do much besides cast a faint yellow circle on the door. Nikki took a deep breath and turned, walking away from the club.
*
Jax opened the door to the club. He’d caught a whiff of Nikki’s scent, clear and rich, on the night air. He inhaled, closing his eyes, and then stepped inside the dim club.
The place was packed, but he picked up on a low level of disquiet in the air, a subtle tension. Jax moved along the back wall, watching the crowd, looking for Nikki, or for the tall blonde woman that had been in the alley with Nikki. But neither appeared to be mingling with the crowd.
And then it occurred to Jax that there didn’t seem to be any girls in the crowd, or dancing on the stage. He cocked his head, listening intently to the conversations around him, finally picking up the drift of what they were saying.
There seemed to be no girls working, or very few. Jax worked his way toward the bar, finally managing to catch the bartender’s eye.
“What can I get you?” The man…Sam, Jax remembered his name was Sam…seemed on harried, on edge.
“Campari and soda. And has Nikki been up yet?”
Taming the Alpha Page 6
