by C. D. Gorri
I knew exactly where I was going.
Chapter Two
Lena
I pulled into the parking lot of Blackie’s Bar and Grill. The name sounded innocent, innocuous even.
It was anything but.
My heart felt like it might jump right out of my chest.
To say that I was about to humiliate Zane in front of the entire world wasn’t an exaggeration. In our world, the world of wolf shifters, there were clear lines. You were either pack, or you weren’t. And you didn’t stray into friendships, relationships, or socializing with other packs unless it was approved.
At least not between the Darkbanes and the Blackwoods. There was some give and take between other packs, but not these two.
To the rest of the non-supernatural world, the two families were just rival motorcycle clubs. They had the look—leather, the bikes, the poker charity rides, all of it. But the clubs were a cover for a family rivalry that went back generations.
I’d been born Lena Raff to parents who were shifters. Not every shifter couple had all shifter children, although most of them did. Instead, I had magic. Well, some magic. Not enough to do much with, as my attempts at zapping Zane had shown.
So to keep me safe, to give me a position and a future—my dad had fostered me with the Darkbane pack, the pack he was allied with. Given that my father drank too much and gambled even more, I didn’t see why the Darkbanes kept him around. But whatever the reason, Yuri and Sofia Darkbane had taken me as a foster in their home.
The tears welled again. It had been one of my proudest days when Sofia came to me and said they loved me and would love for me to take their name. Like they were the ones who were being honored instead of me.
And then there was Zane. Three years older, dark blond hair, tall, with blue eyes and a lopsided grin, he’d stolen my heart from nearly the first time I’d met him. When he finally began to notice me as a woman two years ago, I’d thought I would die of happiness. He’d asked me to be his officially, as in sanctioned by the pack, the night he’d given me the necklace I’d just thrown at him.
From that night onward, my life had been wonderful.
Six months after I started dating him, Zane proposed. I accepted with smiles and tears and a feeling so strong and powerful that I could barely speak. We decided to get married on the day I turned twenty-one. We would celebrate my majority and the beginning of a new life.
That was all over.
Again, the sense of being duped, or played false, was the strongest thing I felt. It was more angry than heartbroken.
What did that mean? How could I not be devastated? Zane had been my life.
I turned off the bike and pulled the keys from the ignition. The light in the parking lot caught the sparkle on my left hand.
The ring.
I should have thrown that, too. Wrenching it off my finger, I added it to the keyring, then left the keyring, helmet, and bike in the parking lot. With luck, someone would steal it. It didn’t matter. I could get a ride home—if you could even call where I’d lived with my dad home.
But would Dad even let me in? He’d handed me over to the Darkbanes without even a second of hesitation. Of course, he’d been pretty hands-off with me since my mom died, but I thought he might have shown that he would miss me.
He didn’t.
Shit.
I walked back to the bike and took the keyring. I might need to get myself out of here, and I might have to hock the ring.
Freedom didn’t come for free.
At the door of Blackies, I stood for a moment. Once I walked through the door, all bets were off. I knew that the people here would know me, know who I was supposed to be. They would also know that tomorrow was supposed to be my wedding day and that my being here, on Blackwood turf, would be making a statement that couldn’t be taken back.
It wasn’t as though I’d ever even go near Zane again, much less marry his cheating ass. What did it matter if I burned this bridge to the ground?
I squared my shoulders and walked in the door.
Music played on a jukebox. The lights were low, with an orange glow. They were brighter over the three pool tables that lined the wall to the right.
I made my way to the bar, and by the time I slid onto a barstool, the entire bar had quieted. The tension was thick, and I could feel the undercurrent of danger just below the surface. One wrong step on my part, and it would explode, taking me with it.
I could sense that without any doubt.
“You lost?” The bartender, an older woman with dark hair, perfect eyebrows, and dark red lipstick asked. She wasn’t unkind, but she wasn’t ready to invite me in and bake me cookies, either.
She knew who I was and who I’d been connected to. Time to change what people thought they knew.
“Not at all.” I set my hands on the bar, making sure to splay out the fingers on my left hand, so the lack of engagement ring was visible.
The bartender looked down, and her eyes widened. Not a lot, but enough that she registered no more engagement ring. Then she looked up at me. “So you’re walking a new path?”
“That’s for damn sure.” The words came out hard and harsh.
“You twenty-one?”
“Not for another—” I looked at my fitness tracker on my right wrist. “Two hours and fourteen minutes.”
The bartender stared for another moment longer, then came to a decision. “Well, how about a tonic with lime until then? And maybe a big glass of water? Or something to eat?” She leaned forward. “You look like a mix of someone on a high and someone who is all in.”
“That’s pretty accurate. You could tell that just by looking at me?”
One side of her lip curled up. “Oh, honey. Yes.”
“Sounds great. Can I get a burger and fries with that tonic?”
“Coming up.” Her smile as she left was warmer than when she’d come over.
As she left, conversation around the bar began again. I wanted to look around so badly to see what had caused it, and I wondered if it was the bartender.
It didn’t matter.
She’d seen my hand. She’d heard what I’d said.
There was no going back now.
My future, which had, only an hour ago, been planned down to the shoes I’d be wearing for the next month, was completely blank and wide open.
It was exciting.
“I’ll start you a tab, Lena Darkbane.” The bartender was back, setting a glass in front of me.
“Lena Raff.” I corrected her. Not Darkbane. Not ever again. To hell with them.
Her half-smile showed itself again before disappearing. “Lena Raff. I’ll make a note of it.” Her words carried a promise of more than just a tab.
I was right. She was a big deal in the bar, which meant she was probably a big deal in the Blackwood pack. What were they called? Oh, right. The Lone Wolves Motorcycle Club. Not that they were lone wolves at all, but it was all part of the charade put on for the human world. I just thought of them as the Blackwoods. The Darkbanes were Bane’s Rough Ryders.
The clubs allowed the packs to do business with one another formally, without allowing family rivalries to get in the way. The Darkbanes and Blackwoods had been fighting over leadership roles for years, and at the moment, the Darkbanes were on top.
Zane knew all the Blackwoods. He would have known who the bartender was, as well as most of the people in the bar.
I didn’t go out with him a lot or make a lot of public appearances with him. He was next in line for leadership of the pack. Zane told me he wanted to keep me safe, keep me close. Zane, his mother, and his father all said the Blackwoods were notorious for going after the women of leaders of other packs. This had always been said with a scowl and much anger.
But Susan had been free to move around as she wanted, I remembered.
That had always pissed me off.
I guess it paid to be the side chick of the next pack leader rather than his soon-to-be wife.
“Don’t do it.”
The voice, gruff, aged, like someone who’d smoked three packs a day and regretted nothing, carried down the long bar. “She’s not for you. I dunno what she’s doin’ here, but there’s nothing good that comes of this.”
Someone replied, but the words and voice were indistinct.
They were talking about me.
Heat rose from my chest to my neck. Thankfully, the lighting wasn’t all that bright. Hopefully, no one would see. I needed to look like I wanted; no, I planned to be here, that it was all part of my plan.
I took a sip of my tonic water and then casually turned my chair one-quarter of a turn to look around the bar.
While people were talking, and the noise level was moving back toward what it had been when I walked in, they were still watching me. Carefully. Like wolves who weren’t sure what was going to happen.
I was going to eat a burger, and then I was going to get the hell out of here. I couldn’t go home or back to my dad’s. It had been silly to think that I could. I needed to accept that I was alone. Well and truly alone. But I had a bike and a ring, and I could sell them both and disappear.
Coming here had been revenge motivated, but now, I saw that I’d also chosen the safest place to be where I could buy myself some time. No one would rush to tell Zane. No, they’d wait and see what I did and then tell him later, to taunt him.
Which meant I could be hours away and get to a pawn shop before anyone from the Darkbane pack knew where I was.
The fear I felt at the thought of them coming after me made me start, almost sending me off the barstool and out the door. But I forced myself to sit still, take another sip of my drink, and scan the people at the bar one more time.
A flash of light? Or something very light in color caught my attention out of the corner of my eye. Someone was walking toward me, or at least toward where I was sitting.
It’s not all about you, Lena. Zack’s words rang in my head. Yet another thing I’d heard regularly.
Shut the fuck up, Zane, I told the voice. I don’t have to listen to you anymore.
But it’s not all about you. You’re nobody without me. The voice was an evil whisper that played on all my fears.
I shoved Zane’s voice from my head and continued to stare at the crowd, most of whom had stopped staring at me.
“Would you like to dance?” The blond hair stopped in front of me.
It belonged to a man, a tall, well-built man who had to be a shifter. He just had that look. After so many years around them, I could spot them even if I wasn’t one myself. His hair was light blond, almost white, and his skin had a faint tan, as though he was outside regularly. His eyes that held mine from underneath unruly bangs were dark. Not black. Gray, or silver.
Okay, now I was getting fanciful.
“I’m sorry?” I had to ask because I was too busy staring at him to remember what he’d said.
He smiled, his full lips curving up and making me wonder what it would be like to touch those lips. “I asked you if you’d like to dance?”
I blinked. Whatever I’d been expecting, that wasn’t it. “I…”
“It’s not a trick question. Or a test. Just a dance.” He sounded like he was trying not to laugh.
I’d come here to humiliate Zane. The fact that I could do exactly what I planned while dancing with one of the most handsome men I’d ever seen was a bonus. “Yes.”
He held out a hand.
I slid my hand into his as I eased off the barstool.
I wasn’t prepared for what happened next.
As his hand curled around mine, lust, pure, unadulterated lust, raced through me like a wildfire out of control. My mouth went dry, and my legs felt weak, trembly.
I wanted this man.
In the worst way.
My eyes went to his to see if it was just me.
He was staring at me, the smile gone, his mouth open a little as though in shock. “Who are you?” His words were a whisper. “What are you?”
Chapter Three
Lena
I tried to reply, but I couldn’t. I was lost in his silver eyes, lost in their depths. I never wanted to leave.
His fingers tightened on my hand. “We need to dance.” He sounded like it was hard for him to speak.
Good. I’d hate to be the only one who was struck speechless.
“People are staring.” He looked around.
“They’ve been staring since I came in.” My words came out in a croak.
He looked down at me once more, and then with my hand securely in his, he led me to the small dance floor in front of an even smaller stage.
The jukebox chose that moment to go silent, and I could hear the silence of those around us.
Oh, shit.
This wasn’t good, was it?
I was afraid to look around because then I’d have to deal with other people, and all I wanted was to be closer to the man who held my hand.
His hands went around my waist, and he pulled me closer to him, but not as close as I, my body, my entire being wanted to be.
What in the name of all the gods was going on here?
Part of me was trying to figure it out, while the other part was wallowing in the way I felt.
I’d never felt this way with Zane.
Not ever.
Not even the night he proposed.
“Why are you here, Lena Darkbane?” His head came down to whisper in my ear.
The warmth of his breath made goosebumps break out all over my entire body. JC on burnt toast. I couldn’t even think after that.
“Raff.”
“What?” His head dipped even closer.
If he moved a little more, he could kiss me—
“Lena Raff.” My voice didn’t sound like my own. “I’m not a Darkbane. I’ll never be a Darkbane.”
He threw back his head and laughed.
Everyone stared.
He glared around at the bar, and they all looked away.
Interesting.
The jukebox switched songs, something slow that I didn’t recognize, filling the silence.
We began to move together, not really dancing, but it was something that was bonding me to him, as sure as I was supposed to be bonded to another.
I should run away right now.
I moved closer to the man with me.
Then he looked down at me, and his face was softer. “That’s the best thing I’ve ever heard in my entire life.” His hand picked up a strand of my red hair, loose and tangled from my ride. “Raff, huh? Red wolf?”
I nodded. That was the translation of my last name.
Wow. Not many people knew that.
“But you’re not a shifter, are you?”
I shook my head. “No. I have magic, but not much.”
He looked at me. “Oh, I think you have more magic than you give yourself credit for.”
“Why?”
“Because since the moment you walked in, I haven’t been able to take my eyes off you. Then when I touched you… “ He stopped. “You felt it too, didn’t you?”
“I did.”
“And now, all I want to do is kiss you. I don’t care that you’re Zane Darkbane’s girl or that my dad will go on a rampage against me like you read about. I just want to kiss you, Lena.” His voice roughened, coming out in almost a growl.
I shivered. That almost growl promised a world of things. Of pleasure, of long nights and late mornings. Of time together wrapped in white sheets.
Oh, my gods. What was happening?
“I can’t handle it. Will you come with me?” His growl deepened, vibrating through my bones and sending waves, actual waves of pleasure to my very core. I felt myself get wet at his words.
Holy.
Shit.
“Yes.”
The word was barely out of my mouth before he took my hand again and led me off the dance floor and toward the door.
I could hear people talking around us, and someone called out to the man w
ith me, but he didn’t slow down or even turn his head. Before I knew it, we were out in the night, and the cool air hit my face.
I shivered again.
“Are you cold?” He noticed immediately.
“No.”
“Then come here.” He turned to me and wrapped me in his arms.
It felt like coming home.
“Who are you?” I felt like I could speak normally again.
“I’m Bran.”
“Nice to meet you.”
Bran didn’t reply, but his lips came down onto mine.
To say that I fell into something I’d never felt before in Bran’s arms was not giving this moment enough credit. I was on fire again, like I’d been when he touched my hand the first time. I wanted to be alone with him, tangled up naked and sweaty with him, and I wanted to feel his lips and hands all over me.
His hands moved into my hair, cradling me, holding me to him, all while his lips devoured mine, pulling me deeper into the spell he wove around me.
I’d always heard of people within the shifter world who met someone and knew instantly that they’d met their mate. Instalove, or instamate, Sofie had called it.
If that feeling was even a thing, this had to be it.
I wanted to be with Bran always.
Oh, my gods.
Oh. My. Gods.
“Let’s go somewhere else,” Bran murmured against my lips.
“Yes.”
“Did you drive here?” He pulled away from me.
My entire body cried out in angry protest.
“I did.” I nodded toward Zane’s Fat Boy.
It took Bran a moment to see where I was looking, and then he burst into laughter. “You took his bike?” He had a hard time getting the words out.
“I did.” The pride in his voice made me almost purr in satisfaction.
“How in the hell did you get it away from him?”
“Well, he was holding his balls and crying like a baby, so he wasn’t in a position to tell me no.”
Bran laughed harder.
His laugh surrounded me, and I found that I started to laugh with him.
“Let’s take it with us.”
“I want to sell it.” My words came out quick.
