Annie just laughed and walked to the door, opening it while looking back at him and smirking. “Please, I did that because my father would’ve killed me if something happened to you,” she told him. “But you’re welcome.”
She left him alone, with only his thoughts and memories to keep him company. He threw the only backpack that he had with him open, taking out the few possessions he had. He folded his clothes into the dresser the hotel room provided, shaking his head. When was the last time he’d had a dresser?
He remembered almost as soon as he thought it, memories rushing back in as if on an ocean wave that couldn’t be stopped. He was living in a little suburb of Kansas City at the time, working as a bartender. He had been a rogue for about a year, with no regrets to his name. He floated from town to town, always leaving when some shifter got wind of what he was. He stayed away from the cities and towns where the shifters congregated, only living in the places that were free of his own kind. But every now and then, a shifter would pass through and attempt to be a hero by killing Lukas.
In that suburb outside of Kansas City, he had been happy. He was a bartender at one of the local bars, not a great job but something that gave him enough money to have an apartment. He had friends, he had dates, and he had memories. He felt as if maybe life would be okay there. He could see himself buying a house and even putting a damn white-picket fence up if he found some lady to do it with him. To marry and have kids. Well, maybe not kids. He didn’t know how his potential wife would feel if he let slip that she would more than likely die after carrying his child. No . . . but a nice, little, human life wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.
But then, a shifter was passing through from the east coast to Kansas City. The wolf stopped in the suburb because he got a whiff of something off. That something off just happened to be Lukas serving drinks during happy hour.
Lukas, sitting on the hotel bed, lost in his memories, remembered that day that a shifter walked through his bar, glaring at him. They got in a fist fight right there in front of all those humans, though the shifter was smart enough to not shift in his rage at everything that Lukas stood for. Rogues were evil. They were enemies. And this shifter wanted to kill him.
Lukas still didn’t know how he was able to get away from this shifter, but he did. He ran out of the bar, bleeding from every part of his body it seemed, the bar ruined behind him with a momentarily knocked-out shifter that would wake up pissed off. He ran and never looked back.
Lukas regretted not going to say goodbye to his friends. They were good friends, hell, they were the best he ever had. He even had a girlfriend that he really liked. But he was so upset and angry, he just ran. He shifted into his wolf form and didn’t look back at the happiest moments of his life. And that, eventually, led to Lukas now sitting on his hotel bed regretting that he didn’t at least say goodbye. He just vanished, as if in thin air, leaving his friends wondering what ever happened to him.
Maybe now life will be different, Lukas thought. Here he was, helping out a pack that was actually accepting him, well, the alpha was. But that was still saying a lot. Lukas never thought he would have a shifter he could even consider a friend ever again, let alone have an alpha that wanted him to stick around for help.
And then there was Anastasia. Annie. The alpha’s daughter; who was a halfie. A big no-no. Yet, Lukas couldn’t get her laughter and witty remarks that she threw at him out of his head. Her smirk every time he knew she was mentally making fun of him in her head, her long hair, her beauty . . . Lukas needed to get her out of his head.
He knew she was nothing but trouble.
Chapter 6
“Where the hell have you been?” Thea, Annie’s roommate and human best friend, asked her as she walked into the house they shared. It was Annie’s mother’s before she’d died, and she’d left it for Annie when she got older. It was a huge house, almost like a castle in the middle of Maine, and when Annie finally moved out of her dad’s house when she started college, she decided to move into this house. With her dad’s help, they cleaned it up and got new furniture, making it Annie’s own.
However, after living in the house a few days by herself, Annie was going crazy. So, she asked Thea, who was living in the dorms to get away from her parents’ constant control, to move in for free. Now, here they were, years later, still living together and still best friends.
“Oh, it’s a long story,” Annie told her, flopping on the couch and rubbing her eyes, half of her mascara coming off with it. Thea was watching, yet again, a reality show that had more drama than Annie thought was possible.
“Ooh, does it have anything to do with the shifters?” Thea asked her, handing her a carton of Chinese takeout food that she’d ordered for her. Annie grabbed it and dug in.
Thea had known about shifters and what Annie was since Annie had a drunk breakdown at a high school party when they were fifteen. Annie had caught her boyfriend, a guy she thought she loved, having sex with a senior girl, something that Annie wouldn’t do. She was devastated, drunk, and Thea was trying to calm her down when Annie decided to shift and run off. Of course, a drunken Annie didn’t realize what she’d just done until five minutes later. She ran back, in human form this time, to see Thea drinking a huge bottle of vodka and saying that she thought she was crazy.
A few sober talks later, and honesty from Annie, led to Thea finally coming around to the idea that Annie wasn’t an evil demon, nor was Thea crazy. Now, Thea was used to the whole shifter society, and Annie spilled every dramatic story that happened in the pack to her. However, Annie made her promise secrecy. Annie didn’t want to risk her best friend’s life and sanity if the Elders ever found out that Thea knew. Therefore, no one knew that Thea really knew. Not even Kato, who Thea and Annie both were best friends with as well. He had no idea that Thea knew what he really was. Her father didn’t know, either, and Annie wanted to keep it that way.
“Yeah,” Annie sighed, shoving cashew chicken into her mouth. “Trust me, you don’t want to know. It’s all sorts of messed up. I’ll tell you when I know more, though.”
“You can’t tell me anything?” Thea whined, ducking when Annie chucked a couch pillow at her head.
“Okay, I’ll tell you one thing,” Annie told her, putting her cashew chicken aside, so she could talk. “You know how I told you about rogues?”
“Yeah, the shifters that leave their packs because they’re on the run for murdering someone or whatever, right?”
“Right,” Annie nodded. “Except there are a slew of other reasons why shifters decide to abandon their packs. We all just think of murder because it’s what happens the most. Shifters literally can’t imagine leaving their family and their packs, it’s so ingrained in our existence that we survive better with a pack. It’s suicide to leave, mentally and physically. Anyway, a rogue showed up at the bar today.”
“What?” Thea exclaimed, sitting up straighter, her bright blue eyes shining against her pale blonde hair. Annie always thought she looked like a little fairy.
“Yeah, the guy walked in and wanted to talk to my father.”
Thea gasped, and Annie nodded, taking a sip of the soda Thea had gotten her. “Anyway, there’s some rogues grouping together, and he came with some details, but I’ll tell you those later when I know the whole story. We’re gonna meet with him tomorrow and learn everything about these rogues before this guy either stays or leaves to drift off like rogues do. But the main thing I wanted to tell you is about this rogue.”
“Ooh, is he all scary with scars all over his face? Does he have war stories that he tells every second? Or does he talk to himself? Is he certifiably insane?”
“No, the most I know about this guy’s personality is that he’s a total smart-ass.”
Thea snorted. “You two should get along.”
Annie chucked another pillow, making sure not to use all her shifter strength so that she didn’t accidentally hurt Thea with a mere pillow. “That’s not what I’m trying to tell yo
u!”
“Okay, sorry, what are you trying to tell me?”
“You have to promise not to tell anyone. I’m being serious here,” Annie told her, looking her dead in the eye.
“Scout’s honor,” Thea responded, holding up three fingers in a boy scout’s salute.
“Okay,” Annie took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. She had to get it off of her chest and just come clean. Maybe everything would be better if she did. Maybe she would get herself under control. “Okay, the rogue, Lukas . . . he’s a total babe, and it’s throwing me off my game hardcore.”
Annie covered her face with her hands, embarrassed as Thea laughed.
“Okay, and . . .? Is the guy, like, a horrible person? Is he a murderer?” Thea asked her.
“I have no idea. That’s why I’m so confused with myself. I shouldn’t be attracted to people like him. I don’t know what he did to become a rogue, and just because he’s shaping up now and trying to help out the pack doesn’t mean shit. He’s still a rogue. He’s just unbelievably sexy. But then he opens his mouth and starts talking, and I want to punch him in the throat.”
“I hate to tell you this, Annie, but you have horrible taste in men. One sniff that they’re a bad boy, and you’re running to them to end up in a miserable mess.”
Annie scoffed. “I am not attracted to bad boys.”
“Really? You’re not?” Thea crossed her arms, leaning back on the couch and smirking at her best friend. “So, you’re not currently sleeping with Milo, local human, bad boy, and bartender of the sleaziest bar in town? That’s not happening, right?”
Annie glared at her, fighting the urge to smirk right back at her. “That is completely different, and you know it!”
“The only thing that I know is you’re a good girl attracted to bad boys. It’s a common thing, don’t worry. You’re definitely not alone in the world. However, you may be the first librarian in Maine that can be found in a sleazy bar with a sleazy man. But hey, it’s okay! I’ve got your back!”
“Just because I’m not attracted to nerds like you are, doesn’t mean that I’m attracted to only bad boys.”
“First of all, Jake isn’t a nerd, he’s a doctor, and he’s brilliant. Second of all, it’s not just bad boys you’re attracted to. If there’s even a hint that the guy has baggage or any type of issue, there you are ready for a relationship.”
“I have dated and been interested in men without baggage!” Annie, of course, knew that wasn’t true, but she would never admit that, even to her best friend.
“Name one.”
“I don’t like this conversation anymore,” Annie laughed, chucking the last pillow on the couch to where Thea sat.
“Okay, so you can’t even flirt with this guy because he’s a rogue, correct?” Thea asked, digging back into her Chinese food.
“Correct. I just think I’m in a phase, is all. I’ll get out of it,” she assured Thea.
“How?”
Annie smirked, an idea forming in her head. “Maybe a visit to Milo’s will cure me.”
Thea groaned as Annie hopped off the couch to run upstairs and get ready. If Milo couldn’t cure her, nobody could.
Chapter 7
Lukas needed to get out of his hotel room. He had only been in there for an hour before he started to become stir crazy. He had a desperate need to get out in the fresh air and do something. He didn’t want to be cooped up in a little room, bored out of his mind with only reality TV to calm him down.
So, he did something incredibly stupid for a rogue in enemy territory. He left his hotel room and went to the first bar he found. He only had to walk for five minutes before he came across a bar, even though it looked like a total hole in the wall. That was fine by him, he just hoped he wouldn’t run into shifters here. He doubted it. They had their own bar; that much he knew. They wouldn’t be mixing with the humans in town. Shifters tended to do stupid things when they were drunk, so staying away from human bars was almost a must.
Lukas stepped into the bar, a hazy smoke engulfing him as he walked through the doorway. Yeah, it was pretty sleazy. No one paid much attention to him as he walked up to the bar, ordering a glass of straight whiskey. He felt himself relax slightly as he took a sip. Humans had always made him feel more at ease. If a situation arose, he would be able to deal with it and bounce quickly because of his shifter strength. But he never truly had any situations like that with humans. Just shifters, it seemed.
“You seem to be new in town,” a voice murmured to him. Lukas glanced to his left to see a young woman slide onto the bar stool by him, ordering her own drink. She had blonde hair, that Lukas knew came from a box, and a cigarette between her fingers. She looked like she never went outside to see the sun. Lukas smiled slightly at her, not wanting to be rude even though she looked like she never left the bar to do anything other than sleep.
“I’m just passing through,” he said, sipping his whiskey. Maybe he could continue this conversation. He was all wound up from his mixed feelings about Annie. Maybe a night with someone would help him out . . .
“What’s your name?” she asked, twirling her hair and leaning closer to him. Lukas turned more on his stool, opening his body up to her more and sending an inviting signal. She smiled and leaned even closer.
“Lukas,” he replied, downing the rest of his whiskey in one gulp. Before she could say anything, they both were interrupted.
“Beat it, Shirley.”
Lukas sighed, recognizing that voice before he even turned his head. Shirley sighed and muttered something under her breath as she got up and left Lukas alone. Annie slid onto the stool that Shirley had been sitting on, a bewildered look on her face. Lukas leaned slightly back, his feelings and sexual desire for her hitting him full force.
“Really? Shirley?” Annie questioned him, lacing her fingers together and crossing her legs, smirking slightly even though her eyes looked angry.
“Are you following me around now, Anastasia?” Lukas sighed, wishing the bartender, who was helping someone else, could come back and give him another glass of whiskey.
“Actually, I didn’t think you would be here,” Annie told him. “But boy, was I surprised when I walked in here to see you lounging at the bar. Are you insane? You do know that you’re a dead man walking, right?”
“So, you’re telling me you came to this bar on your own? You come here often, then?” he asked her, smirking right back and ignoring her whole “dead man walking” statement. He knew that, but he didn’t really care. He had made it this far, hadn’t he?
“That’s none of your business.”
“Right, right,” Lukas laughed and nodded his head at the bartender, holding up his glass to signal that he wanted another. The bartender walked over with his new drink, smiling at Annie.
“Hey, babe,” he said as he handed the glass to Lukas. Lukas tried his hardest not to laugh. So that was why she was here. “I’ll be off in an hour if you wanna come back then, but we’re packed right now, so I can’t talk.”
“It’s fine, I’ll see you later,” she smiled slightly as he walked away.
“Oh, so we’re into bad boys that also look like heroin addicts, are we?” Lukas laughed and took a sip of his drink. He ignored the bitter feeling that had swept into his chest when the bartender had called her babe. He ignored all the feelings in his chest that he got once Annie sat down.
“Shut it. I’m getting you out of here before someone walks in and tries to kill you, again.”
Lukas downed his whiskey as she pulled him out of his seat and started pulling him towards the door, both of them making their way through the smoky haze.
“Do any shifters even come here?” he asked as they walked around bodies to get to the door. Lukas could just barely see Shirley, through the fog, glaring at them from the corner.
“No, but that’s not the point. All they have to do is smell your scent, and they’ll be here in an instant.”
“I feel like that’s making a huge assumpti
on that’s more than likely wrong. Have you ever run into any shifters while you came here to meet your little friend over there? And really? A human?”
Annie responded by shoving him out of the bar, Lukas laughing the whole way.
Chapter 8
Annie couldn’t believe her luck. Lukas just had to be at the bar where Milo worked. He just had to be there when she was going to try to get him out of her system by sleeping with Milo.
Annie also couldn’t understand what the hell he was thinking, going to a bar in the middle of enemy territory? That was just dumb. Annie knew that Grant wasn’t the only shifter pissed that Lukas was still around.
Annie was also beyond mad at herself for the possessive instinct that kicked in when she saw Shirley talking to Lukas. She was even more pissed off that Lukas seemed to be into it. Into Shirley? Was he serious?
“So, where are we headed now?” Lukas asked, walking ahead of her down the street, now that she had shoved him out of the bar. She desperately wanted to go back in and see Milo. Not because she missed him or anything. No, she needed to get this weird feeling she had for Lukas out of her system pronto. And she had a feeling sleeping with Milo would help her, at least a little bit.
“We are headed nowhere,” Annie corrected him as she caught up with his long strides. “You are going back to your hotel, and I am going back home.”
“What, you’re not gonna wait around for your bad boy in there?” Lukas smiled at her. She wanted to punch him.
“It’s pointless now,” she muttered. “You’ve officially killed my mood.”
“I think I’ve just made your night that much more exciting, if you ask me,” he said, chuckling as they walked along. “And I’m the one that should be mad at you, you interrupted a delightful conversation I was having with that Shirley.”
Moonlight Wolves Box Set Page 3
