by Leela Ash
She recognized him immediately as one of the strangers; the new men in town who had everybody all riled up. She almost laughed; satanic rituals were a new one. The things the people in her town could come up with to explain away the things they didn’t understand never failed to amaze her. She took a long look at the stranger’s appearance. He was neatly groomed, though it looked like he hadn’t shaved in a few days. But it didn’t make him look grungy so much as rugged. And his clothes were immaculate. This guy hardly looked like a devil worshipper. He did look remarkably powerful for completely different reasons, though…
“Hi there,” she said assertively. Yeah, this guy looked like trouble. His dark, intense eyes peered searchingly at her.
“Hello,” he said. His voice was deep and silky, and sent a hot jolt through her body. What the hell? Ronnie shook the response away to try and measure the guy up. There was no trace of guilt or remorse on his face. Whatever he was doing there, he felt entitled. That could be dangerous.
“You realize this is private property, don’t you?” Veronica asked him, placing a hand on her hip. She wanted to be near her gun, just in case.
The man’s gaze remained on her, unwavering. “I was just leaving.”
“I bet you were,” she said, glancing around the place for any other signs of life. “Where’s old Lester?”
If it turned out this guy actually had been involved in the Warner’s murder, she was going to have a fit. She’d better not walk in there and find the poor old man roasted alive.
“I don’t know. He isn’t home though.”
“So, you’re here on a social call?”
The man squared his shoulders and took a step toward her, a sexy no-nonsense look on his face. “Am I in trouble or something?”
Veronica tried to shake off the spell he had put her under and get back to trying to master the situation. She wasn’t used to men with such dominant energy. Usually, she could gain the upper hand in any situation, but somehow, he left her feeling off-guard. “Could be. You’re trespassing, after all.”
She had to get control of herself. And fast. Or this guy was going to read her like a book. Who knew what kind of danger that could put her in.
“Is that right?” The man’s gaze upon her didn’t lighten up. Was he going to attack her? Why did she enjoy the way he seemed to be measuring her up? He seemed confident that he had the upper hand, and for the first time in years, she considered herself as a woman in the proximation of a man. Not sheriff, not “Strong Ron” as her roughhousing buddies once called her. Just Veronica.
No; she had to snap herself out of it. It was just like her to be attracted to a potential criminal. Considering her bluntness and sometimes overly aggressive ways, only assholes of men could handle her. But she wasn’t going to fall into that trap again. It was plain to see this guy was no different. Otherwise, why would he be so direct yet so evasive at the same time? Was he trying to be slippery? She couldn’t let him get away with it.
“I’m here on some important town business,” Ronnie said, assuming her assertive stance once again and trying to meet the intensity of this man’s eyes with the power of her own. “And unfortunately, that puts you in the wrong place at the wrong time. I need to take you in for questioning.”
She expected some sort of reaction to the news. Most people acted irritated or belligerent when they found out they were going to have to come to the station with her. Some even cried. But this man just processed her words and gave her a nod of confirmation.
“All right.”
Veronica tried not to let it get to her. Maybe he was just trying to psych her out. Was it possible he had been able to sense her reaction to him and was going to try to play the charmer to get out of trouble?
Well, there was no way she was going to let that happen. Not on her watch. And if he thought his good looks were going to grant him any special favors with her, he had another thing coming.
4.
Achilles did his best to maintain his poker face as he followed the sheriff to her car. What the hell had that been all about? The second they had locked eyes it had been like a surge of electricity coursing through his entire body. The woman was beautiful.
So why was she hiding it behind that alpha attitude? It was painfully obvious to him that it wasn’t a natural thing for her. He had met his fair share of alpha women in the past, and it was an effortless attitude that came naturally to them. But for this woman, it was as if she had taken great pains not to show her true nature or physical beauty and hide it behind what she thought a tough person should look like.
Not that she wasn’t strong. It was clear she was an unmatchable woman. Not only had she managed to hold him captive with just a look - he had never seen eyes so blue before – but she was obviously capable of taking care of herself. She was independent. Her mind moved quickly. He could feel her energy, and how self-contained she was.
But not self-contained enough to hide the fact that she had felt the electricity between them as well. The thought of her reciprocation nearly drove the wolf within him mad with desire. No matter how much like a male alpha she tried to present herself, her feminine nature was there. And it was incredibly attractive.
Achilles scoffed inwardly. Leave it to him. Of course, the first woman he was attracted to in this town was a sheriff. So much for keeping a low profile. How the hell was he going to explain this one to his colleagues? Not only was he secretly longing to get closer to this woman but they were about to be more than close enough during his interrogation. He had been caught, almost red-handed but not quite. He had failed in his task. A task he wasn’t even supposed to have been on. The others were going to be pissed at him. He was pissed at himself.
And yet, he couldn’t find himself regretting it much. Especially not when he was in Veronica’s car, trapped by the scent of her perfume. Yes, even the overcompensating sheriff wore perfume. Mixed with her natural scent, he found himself in a begrudging form of heaven, despite knowing he was being carted to the police station for an interrogation.
The car screeched to an abrupt halt. “Shit!”
The panic in Veronica’s voice prompted Achilles to action. He felt the presence of a dark and mysterious force pierce the air and looked around in concern. There was nothing he could spot from his vantage point in the back of a police car though. He tried to open the car door, but he had been locked in automatically.
“Let me out of here,” he commanded.
“Did you see that?!”
Veronica had paled and was staring out the window.
“No but let me out!”
The words came in a low growl and suddenly the sheriff was snapped back to attention and heeded his request immediately.
Achilles jumped out of the car and looked around. Great, so there were enemies interested in the old man’s information. Perfect.
When he got out of the car, he immediately regretted it. A powerful stench surrounded him as two men who appeared to have a sickening green sheen all over their bodies grinned at him from a distance. Kila.
He shut the door quickly before Veronica might be exposed to their deathly scent. “Stay here,” he ordered.
These were no ordinary monsters. These men foretold death and destruction. Changes and chaos. To see one up close for the first time was deeply unsettling.
Achilles didn’t hesitate before shapeshifting into his wolf form. He had only one thought in his mind. Protect Veronica.
He bared his teeth at the creatures, who were coming steadily toward him. He had to fight hard not to be affected by their fumes. He wished he could shout for the sheriff to hold her breath, but it was too late for that. The transformation had already taken place.
And so, he did the only thing he could. He fought.
***
“You think you’re going to win this time, shifter?” the taller of the Kila asked, his bulging eyes glowing with mirth.
“We are here to turn the tides! And there is nothing you can do to stop us
!”
We’ll see about that.
Achilles let out a loud growl before he lunged at the taller Kila. The other jumped away as he made contact and the despicable creature shouted out in agony. God, he tasted bad. Achilles released his grip for a moment, relocating his savage bite to the Kila’s jugular. It would be over soon enough.
He dropped the Kila’s body just in time to see the other one heading toward the old man’s house. Who knew what kind of information the monster would be able to find if he entered?
Achilles didn’t wait to find out. He blinked hard as the toxic chemicals that were part of the Kila’s structure began to affect him. He felt intensely nauseated and suddenly very heavy. The Kila laughed at this and continued toward the house mockingly. A barrier. That’s what they needed. They needed to protect this house, and this old man who had probably been trying to ward off these evil creatures ever since the beginning of his search. Those weapons had been proof enough of that to Achilles.
He fought through the toxic sludge that was slowing his system and finally caught up to the Kila, who had nearly made it to the door of old Lester’s house. He lunged and struck the Kila at the ankles, causing him to trip and fall as he yelped in surprising agony just as he neared the entrance to the house. Achilles wasn’t going to let them get away with this. He finished off the beast while he was down, ignoring his watering eyes and the awful images of chaos and destruction that were beginning to flash in his mind. He had been inadvertently exposed to the collective memory of the Kila; creatures who harbored destruction and told of horrible atrocities to come.
However, there were no futuristic predictions. Only strong images of the Kila stepping into a family’s home; the home of a professor who had unknowingly collected a text that may have served as information. The needless execution of that professor and his family as they sat down for a family meal. The skin as it peeled from their flesh from the incredible strength of the Kila’s toxic acid attacks…
He was lucky. It could have been far worse. He needed to get rid of the bodies of these monsters before anyone else was exposed to them.
Shit. Veronica.
He ran full pelt to the car, just as Veronica was stepping out o the car.
He shapeshifted as quickly as he could, but it wasn’t fast enough.
“No! Get back in the car!”
Veronica looked at him strangely, and he realized, suddenly, that he was fully naked. But that was of no concern, because almost immediately after their joint realization, her face contorted as the scent of the monsters hit her.
“Come on, get back in the car!” he exclaimed. Still, he knew there was nothing he could do for her. She, too, would likely have the visions. As a human, they would probably come to her in the form of a dream, when she least expected it and her consciousness was open enough to the possibilities of other life in the universe. It was something most humans had a hard time dealing with.
“What in the hell are those things?!” Veronica asked. She didn’t listen to Achilles. She simply looked around in confusion. “And what in the hell are you?!”
Achilles sighed. “That’s kind of a long story. But before I get into it, we really need to get these bodies somewhere where they won’t be able to hurt anyone else.”
Veronica was silent a moment as her face contorted in horror. She was seeing the visions. He could feel it. But how? She wasn’t even asleep yet.
“What have these monsters done?!”
She looked like she might cry, but soon, her tough exterior was presented, and she inhaled deeply.
“I guess I can help you get rid of them. But when that’s done, you’re coming with me. You have a lot of explaining to do.”
Achilles grinned despite himself. He kind of liked the way she was trying to boss him around.
“Yes, ma’am.”
5.
“We need to do this fast, before their bodies combust,” Achilles was saying, hurrying around old man Lester’s property, frantically gathering supplies. He almost didn’t even seem to notice that he was naked, but Veronica found it a detail that was hard to overlook.
God, he was attractive.
He came to her, his dark eyes alight as he sat a large bucket of water in front of her. “Since you were already exposed, there’s not much more harm they can do to you unless the bodies self-destruct. We need to douse them with water and bury them in a way that can contain the toxins.”
“Shouldn’t we be wearing hazmat suits?” Veronica pointed out. “Or… anything at all?” She couldn’t help but let her eyes wander below Achilles’ navel meaningfully, and he appeared surprised. He quickly got his footing again, though, and smiled. “First thing’s first. You get that Kila contained. I’ll deal with the other one.”
“We don’t actually have to bury them if you don’t mind them being deposited into a cavernous pit…,” Veronica said, grabbing the buckets and heading toward the corpse with them. “Nothing comes out of there once it’s in. There’s a strange number of caverns in this area. Nobody knows where they came from or how they formed. Just that they’re deep and there’s no escape from them.”
Achilles considered this a moment, then nodded. “Douse them first, then that should do. I just don’t want to risk any exposure.”
“That’s the last thing Lester needs,” Ronnie said, shaking her head. Ever since she was a child, she had heard the old man’s stories. In fact, she was almost certain he had mentioned monsters of the sort Achilles had just fought off. She had always wondered if there was something to those stories. Especially after her own grandfather had admitted to being part of Lester’s research team back in his earlier days. Her grandfather was the kind of man to believe in all possibilities. It had always sparked a secret curiosity within her. He seemed to believe in the extraordinary.
Completely the opposite of her father, who was stern, strict, and matter of fact. If he didn’t see it for himself, he didn’t believe it. And he had attempted to raise Ronnie to be the same way.
The guy had been quite the hard ass, honestly. He was the sheriff before her but had passed recently. It had been an honor to be able to take his place. The townsfolk had valued their family and reputation and keeping their last name in the department had helped many of the citizens to rest easy.
Still, she’d had big shoes to fill, and had always done her best to prove to her father that she was as capable as he was. Especially after her horrible, failed relationship. Words would never be able to describe the horror she had felt at seeing her father arresting the guy she thought she was going to spend the rest of her life with. The disappointment on her father’s face… it would stick with her for the rest of her life. There was no getting around that.
What she could do, though, was make sure she was never caught in that position again. No matter what, she wasn’t going to let herself be swayed by asshole common criminals. No matter how good they looked naked.
She finished dousing the body as Achilles appeared with a tarp. He was wearing a pair of tight-fitting sweatpants and immediately went to work wrapping the corpse of the Kila. He was shockingly efficient and quickly stood to examine his handiwork.
“We shouldn’t take them in your car if we can help it. I don’t want the fumes to linger there.”
“Where did you get those?” Ronnie asked, ignoring Achilles’ statement as she hefted the body up and headed for the trunk of her car. Achilles sighed and followed suit with the other body.
“I may have borrowed them from Lester.”
“Don’t say you ‘borrowed’ them unless you intend to give them back,” Ronnie grumbled, eyeing a large stain that had been left behind by their gritty task.
Achilles shrugged sheepishly. “I can replace them if he’s worried about it.”
“Sure you will,” Ronnie said. She got into the driver’s seat and motioned Achilles in with her. “Now. Let’s get rid of these and then get to the station while there is still daylight left. Don’t take this the wrong way but afte
r all that, I really need to process.”
Achilles smiled, softening the hardness of his handsome features just enough to make Ronnie’s traitorous heart skip a beat. Why was it always the weirdos that attracted her?
But she couldn’t think too much into it now. They had a job to do.
***
The body dumping was surprisingly uneventful, and as soon as they made it to the car afterward and headed to the station, Veronica fell into a deep silence. How in the hell had she found herself in this situation with such a strange man? What was keeping her from arresting him right there on the spot for murder?
But she had far too many questions for him at this point. And she had managed to see for herself exactly how the Warners had met their demise. Still, it could have been a form of brainwashing. Maybe this guy was a real master criminal and was manipulating her somehow. Maybe she had just been drugged with whatever that foul smelling stuff was and tricked into thinking that two people he had murdered were actually monsters and he was actually some kind of werewolf hero. None of it was making any sense.
Still, she had always been curious about these types of things. It was way too difficult to dismiss it, that easily. And to find supernatural occurrences at Lester’s house of all places? Well, it made as much sense as it possibly could. But there were still plenty of blanks left for her to fill in. And she intended to do so.
Once they arrived at the police station, she was relieved to find that Harley had gone home for the night. The thought of having her deputy there during questioning was less than appealing. Especially after all she had seen.
When they were sitting at the table in the makeshift interrogation room, Ronnie cut right to the chase.
“Are you a werewolf?”
For a moment, the tough exterior of the man across from her cracked and he stifled a burst of laughter. He had a nice smile. Really nice.
“Not exactly,” he said, clearing his throat.
