Grinding for the Coyote

by Serenity Snow

  The office was big with a simple desk with nothing except for what looked like a picture frame on the top. She ignored it, pacing past the leather loveseat.

  Still shaking, she sat on the edge of the desk facing the door beneath the low lights. They were too low. She could barely see and that bothered her even more. She went to the window to look out to the parking lot of the business next door. Boxes were being loaded onto a truck.

  She swallowed tightly. What was going on?

  Dogs—hyenas and coyotes attacking her, attacking each other and Randall was dead. Her apartment was a mess and Marjorie had sent Donna for her?

  Marjorie had no real reason to come after her. She didn’t know anything about shifters but she refused to believe last night had caused Marjorie to be this pissed off.

  Joelle.

  This had to be all about her, but how was Marjorie and Donna connected to her?

  Hit women?

  She’d sent hit men before why not women this time.

  Adalyn had known she’d needed to leave, but something kept her from running and it wasn’t money or a need for a new identity. She had enough money to get on a bus or a plane and she was pretty sure she could find a strip club wherever she went. After two or three weeks, she could be set to go even if she had to get a credit card in a fake name and charge a ticket out of the country.

  She moved away from the window, pacing again. Adalyn let out a low whine unconsciously as she lightly rubbed her arms. She really needed Samarra.

  “I’m fine. Unexplainable stuff happens to me all the time.” She laughed a sound bordering on hysteria as she wrung her hands.

  Adalyn went to Samarra’s desk to look at the picture in an attempt to focus on something else. There was a book on the desk in front of the picture. It was a woman and a man laughing, each had an arm around a girl no more than eleven. She recognized those eyes. Samarra had gotten them from her mother who had the same skin color and high cheekbones.

  The other picture was of the girl, a little older and a little boy. The baby was laughing and Samarra was grinning wickedly. She had been a beautiful girl and was a knockout woman.

  Adalyn set the picture back down and picked up the book. Beneath it was two pictures. They were both of her. Both had been taken months ago at the club picnic. She was laughing in one as she and Leah talked about something. In the other, she looked sad.

  She hadn’t seen Samarra there.

  Adalyn covered them back up with the book realizing it was an old leather bound journal. She opened it to a random page and the same tats on Samarra’s arm and shoulder were splayed out on the page.

  The notes next to them said something similar two what Sam had told her. She turned the page to find markings exactly like the ones on her own lower back. Next to them was a brief note. She glanced at it before drawing her finger over the drawing.

  The mark had been there her entire life, faint, markings that her neighbor had said made her special. She’d taken a picture of them and shown them to Adalyn.

  “Ah, this is why you are such a natural. Your power comes from these.”

  She’d frowned up at her. “My power?” The brown eyes of the older black woman smiled and she caressed Adalyn’s cheek gently.

  “Your power, doll. You have animal medicine of the shadow coyote.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “It means you have the nature of the beast inside you.”

  She turned her gaze on the notes next to the markings and began to read them when her cell phone rang. She felt her pockets and pulled the cheap little thing free. A glance at the number made her tense.

  Charles Sang.

  “Yes?” she answered.

  “Miss Wolf.” He sighed. “Where are you? Are you safe?”

  “Why?” she demanded with a frown.

  “I’m at your apartment with the local PD and three people are dead. Honey, you need to let me help you before this gets worse.”

  “How can you help me? I didn’t do that.”

  “I kind of figured that out,” he said patiently. “I’m here to protect you. We’re going to put you in witness protection until the trial is over and then you’ll vanish permanently.”

  She kind of had a problem with that permanent part. Trusting the cops wasn’t easy either. They’d been a part of the team that tried to kill her last time. She didn’t really believe a word he said and had no intentions of going anywhere near him.

  “I’m sorry—”

  “Do you have the information on you?” he asked. “The information your boss had that his wife wanted.”

  “What information?” she asked confused. “The woman wanted to kill me because I saw her kill two people.”

  “Not just that,” he insisted. “She thinks you have some information her husband had on her and her criminal activities.”

  She rubbed the side of her head and walked away from the desk.

  “Shit.” Bobby looked up at her with imploring gray eyes after spilling the cold coffee lingering in his cup. “Please?”

  “Sure.” She went into the bathroom and grabbed a washcloth and wet it before going back to his desk to clean up the mess. He was standing at the window talking on the phone.

  “I’ve just downloaded everything. Thank you, Carlos. I owe you big.” He laughed. “Now, I not only get her out of my life, I can get them all put behind bars.”

  She left to get a dry towel and returned to find him holding a micro SD card. “Did you sign the papers?” she asked.

  “All signed. I need you to do me a favor,” he said.

  “I am not talking to your wife,” she said. “That woman scares the hell out of me. I mean, she’s very demanding.” She grimaced and he grinned.

  “No, I just need you to hold onto this for me,” he said. “It’s a file for a case I’m working on. If I don’t get back tonight, just email it to me and destroy the card.”

  “Okay.” She dried his desk and took the card and slipped it in its plastic case into her pocket. She’d put it in her phone later so she wouldn’t forget to email it to him. He wouldn’t be back in the office when she left.

  “Thanks, Adalyn, you’re a gem.”

  “So you keep telling me.” She smiled and headed to the bathroom with the towel.

  “Miss Wolf?”

  “I don’t have it,” she said softly. “I never had it.” She’d never read it, but she’d sent it to his private email. The one his wife knew nothing about because that was the one he used to communicate with the women he dated.

  “My partner believed you did, and I don’t blame you for denying it,” he said. “We need to meet. Come to your apartment and we’ll get you to a safe house.”

  The door opened suddenly, and Adalyn turned around guiltily. As Samarra stepped inside and closed the door, Adalyn disconnected.

  “Are you okay, Adalyn?”

  “Yes.” She caressed the hard plastic of her phone. “What happened? What did you tell the police?”

  “There was a dead body in your bedroom.” Samarra removed her phone from the pocket of the pants she wore.

  She wasn’t wearing a suit now. She’d changed into khakis and a polo shirt. She still managed to look damn good.

  “This is him.” Samarra held out her phone as she came to stand before her desk. “Who is he and why was he in your apartment?”

  Adalyn looked at the screen and then looked away with a gasp. “My Goddess.”

  “Who is it? He was in your bed.”

  “I can see that,” she exclaimed. It was Curtis. “Randall’s brother.”

  “Randall?”

  “The guy on the floor with no face.” Her stomach roiled and she gagged just thinking about it. She looked up at Samarra feeling light-headed.

  “A detective Sang told me you were a witness to two murders, and your boss’s wife has a hit out on you.”

  “She killed her husband, but she didn’t know I was in the bathroom,” Adalyn heard herself saying though she’d
intended to lie. She didn’t want Samarra mixed up in all of this.

  “You were having an affair with him?” The question was bland and her gaze enigmatic.

  “No.” She shook her head. “I was in there to get him to sign some papers and he made a mess of his coffee. So I cleaned up. I was putting the towel back when his wife came and killed him.”

  “The second person?”

  “I saw her kill the A.D.A. because he couldn’t get me to allow him to put me in protective custody. They would have killed me there. I heard him talking about it with someone on the phone when he came to the house to talk to me about the trial. I went to get him some water and came back and overheard the conversation.”

  “She came to your place to kill him?”

  “No.” She sighed. “He asked me to meet him at his office and I went because it was still early enough in the evening that the place shouldn’t be empty. They argued, and she killed him. I ran and right into a cop. He took me back to the office, and she was gone, but the guy was dying.”

  “The lawyer told the cop it was your boss’s wife?” Samarra asked.

  Adalyn nodded. “Yeah. My life just went into death mode from there, so I ran.”

  “So who were you talking to?” Sam asked and her tone held a hard edge.

  “Detective Sang. He said his partner Detective James was dead. He wanted me to meet him and let them put me in a safe house. He also wants some file my boss had.”

  Samarra took Adalyn in her arms. “Everything’s going to be okay,” she assured her gently. “You need to rest, and then we’ll talk more about what to do.”

  “I can’t,” Adalyn protested urgently, her hands starting to tremble now. “I have to move, and I can’t do that without money.”

  Sam kissed her forehead. “I’ll take care of you, Adalyn,” she told her. “I’ll protect you with every fiber of my being.”

  She stared up at Samarra, chest tight, and shock tying her tongue into a knot.

  “I should talk to the feds. I don’t want to put you in danger.”

  Sam frowned. “You have to give a statement, but that’s all you’re doing.”

  “You—are you one of them? Hyenas.”

  She growled an actual growl before scowling and Adalyn blinked taking a step away from her. “Do not compare me to those bottom-feeding cowards.”

  “Sorry?”

  Sam captured her hand and pulled Adalyn back to her. “You don’t have to fear me, Addy.”

  “You were the do—coyote Sydney let into the car?”

  “Yes. Now, have you eaten?”

  She shook her head. She had been planning a sort of romantic lunch for them.

  The rap on the office door made her jump.

  “Easy, darlin’,” Samarra crooned. “Come in.”

  “Adalyn, are you okay?” Mallory demanded as she closed the door.

  She nodded as Sam turned them to face her. “I’m just shaken up.”

  “You’re taking the night off,” Mallory told her firmly. “In fact, I’m giving you the rest of the week off.”

  “I can’t. I need the money.”

  Mallory’s gaze darted to Samarra’s. Sam had an arm around her waist and Adalyn was snuggled against her side taking full advantage of her comfort.

  Mallory shook her head gravely. “You’re in no shape to work, and I’m not letting you attempt to. Go home.” Mallory looked at Sam before exiting the room.

  “You’re staying with me,” Sam told her firmly. “Besides, there are a few things we need to discuss.”

  “I can’t.” Break up time, but she couldn’t go back to her place. It was a mess and a crime scene. Not to mention that she just wouldn’t feel safe there anymore.

  “You shouldn’t be alone right now.” Sam captured her chin.

  She held Sam’s gaze and smiled faintly. “You have an insatiable need to protect me?” she teased.

  Samarra smiled. “You being close will make that so much easier,” she murmured.

  “Okay.”

  Chapter Twenty

  Adalyn sat quietly hands folded on her lap. Music played softly from the radio, but she barely heard it. Her gaze was focused out the window admiring the mixture of old and new buildings of the city. She was comforted by the bustle of people going about their lives ignorant of the fact that shifters existed in their midst.

  She had been told as a child they existed, but she’d never seen any proof her neighbor and babysitter had been telling the truth. Yet their lives had run parallel to hers, crossing paths but never intertwining until six months ago when she’d gotten her first glimpse.

  She’d more or less blocked it out in the face of the terror and fight for survival. Now, there was no way she could refuse to accept it or deal with it. After all, she was sleeping with one.

  “Are you okay?”

  Not really, no, but this wasn’t any worse than what she’d lived through six months ago. It was in fact, less traumatic because she hadn’t had to run and try to hide not knowing who to trust.

  Funny how she thought Samarra was safe. She had teeth and claws.

  “Answer me, Adalyn,” Sam ordered tightly.

  The birthmark, that’s what her mother had called the paw and claw marks on her back. Did it mean she was a shifter too? She’d never changed form though.

  “I don’t know,” she said. “I’m shaken up.” Samarra had grabbed that book from her desk she’d been looking at. She hadn’t had a chance to find out exactly what was mentioned about the ones just like hers.

  “It’s to be expected,” Sam murmured. “You’ve had a trying day.”

  Trying was when you had to wait in a long line at the grocery store and when it came your turn, you realized you didn’t have your wallet.

  This was a nightmare. Something right out of a Twilight Zone episode.

  “How many more of them come to the club?”

  Not many. Hyenas aren’t common in the North. They majority of them seem to hate the cold. The city is wolf and coyote country,” Sam told her. “The club employs both wolves and coyotes as security.”

  “You hired humans so we could be what? Food for the animals?”

  “Even animals have sexual appetites,” Sam said coldly.

  “You get off on fucking humans?” Adalyn demanded, angry, yet fascinated and confused.

  “Me personally or shifters in general?” Samarra asked coolly.

  “You shifters!”

  “Everybody has their poison, Adalyn, and you’re mine,” she retorted.

  “For the time being,” she said in an agitated tone. “You’ll just move on to another human when you’re done with me?”

  “What are you trying to ask me? I can’t read your mind, so you’ll have to say it.”

  “What’s a breeder?” She held her breath. She’d started reading that note in the book next to the tat like hers and the word breeder had been present.

  “You’re an intelligent woman,” Sam commented. “You know what it means.”

  “In terms of what you are, what does it mean,” she pressed. “I need to know.”

  “It means a human carries the right set of genes necessary to give birth to a pure shifter child.”

  “Pure?”

  “The child’s animal side will be stronger than the human side. We do what animals do in certain situations rather than what the more civilized human mind thinks is right. So will the child.”

  “Is the breeder a shifter’s offspring?”

  She shrugged. “Not normally, but it’s theorized she has some shifter genetics that have become watered down over the generations making her more human,” Sam told her.

  “What’s shadow animal blood?”

  “A shadow is an Indian-born shifter. They’re different. Stronger.”

  “Were there breeders just for shadows?”

  “I’ve heard there were,” Samarra answered. “She would show an innate understanding of the animal nature and vocalizations of the shifter species she�
�s a breeder for. She even produces some of the vocalizations herself instinctively.”

  Adalyn turned the last sentence over in her mind. As she recalled the pictures in the book, she watched the city fade into a backdrop of trees and undeveloped land except for the occasional house.

  The next thing she noticed was they were pulling up to a sprawling single-story ranch with a circular drive. Flower beds edged the wide front porch that appeared to wrap around one side of the house.

  Samarra followed the path they were on around to the back of the house and a three-car garage. The door slid up and Samarra pulled inside and cut the engine.

  “You might see a coyote or two, but don’t mind them. They’re here to help keep you safe. I can’t take you to the den just yet.”

  “Den?”

  “Where the pack lives. This is my office and sometimes residence.”

  “Oh.”

  Sam told her, and then climbed out of the car. A second later Sam was pulling her door open. “Mal asked me to give her a loan for the club and I did, but then she wanted to renovate and expand. So, she asked for another loan and made me a partner.”

  “She’s part of your pack?” Adalyn climbed out and looked up into Samarra’s eyes.

  “Mal’s pack leader.” She grinned. “So, I can’t argue with her decision to give you the week off.” Sam moved in just a little closer, resting her hand on the roof of her car. “Shifters are what I wanted to talk to you about.”

  “That’s what you meant when you said all wasn’t as it seemed? You being human is the illusion you mentioned.”

  Sam nodded. “I still want to help you no matter what.”

  “Even if I don’t want you to touch me ever again?” She couldn’t fight the pull between them. Even now she was leaning toward Sam rather than away. Everything in her felt connected to Sam, felt as if Sam belonged to her.

  “It changes nothing,” Sam told her. “You saw the book that’s why the questions?”

  “Yes. The mark on my back—people think it’s a tattoo. I’ve had it all my life it was just fainter than it is now. Why is it so dark?”

  “You’ve found your life mate.”

  Adalyn licked her suddenly dry lips and met Sam’s gaze. She’d read enough romance novels about vampires to understand the concept of a mate. “Do you even want to have children, a wife?”