Chapter One Hundred–Twenty–Three
DOMONC
By the time sunset rolls around I’m ready to wash my hands of Gabrield my father both. I have yet to make the time to go home and make proper love to my mate. I want to bang her in my house which is how our house and I want her to wake the dead with her screaming when I do. The bar is now full of patrons and still the four of us sit here No closer to any conclusions than we were hours ago. The whiskey may have had a little to do with that…
“We should leave tonight,” my dad is saying. “It will take a day and a half to reach her place in Montana.”
“You can’t just call her?” Gabriel snaps.
My dad shakes his head. “We don’t communicate that way. Never have. merely visit her every six months. So if you want to go to her, we leave tonight. We leave now.”
I growl absently, watching with veiled interest as three tourists step into the bar with gunpowder fresh on their clothes. I can smell it. Bartlett’s eyes meet mine from where he’s serving at the counter and in that instant I realize who the three men are. “I’ll be damned,” I hiss. That’s the fucker that shot up my club. My eyes flash toward my dad and Gabriel. I’m not going with them. No fucking way. I’m done taking trips and chasing ghosts for a while. I want to be here with my lady and my unborn pup. I want to go out and buy Draven another ring, this one bogger and badder than the last, then marry her on a yacht in the middle of the Puget Sound. Surrounded by the fog that she loves so much.
I am not going anywhere.
“You and Gabriel go,” I say without another thought on the matter.
Gryffin’s eyes perk up, a shadow of a smile gracing his lips. “What’s wrong? Done taking road trips?”
I chuckle, flipping him off as I stand up and face Gabriel. “This is your last chance Gabe. The only reason I’m allowing you to leave is because I promised to banish you. Jason or no. So go ahead. Leave. But don’t ever show your face in Red Wolf again.”
Gabriel sighs, his mouth twitching upward in a sneer. “What about here? I grew up here, you know. Much like you did. What if my mother wants to visit or my sister wants to come home. What if I swore allegiance to you as my Alpha. You might-”
–
“No,” I say coldly. “I’m not your Alpha Gabriel. One of the rules of our tiny little pack is this – No New Members. And we may have changed the mate rule, but that one remains the same.”
Gabriel swallows thickly. “Fine. I just thought-”
“You may visit. I will grant you that. But as far as being one of us… Well, I couldn’t make that decision on my own anyway. We don’t do things out here the way other packs do. I would have to discuss it with my brothers first.”
Gabriel nods, “Fair enough.”
“I think I’ll ride with you both,” Gryffin says. “I’m supposed to be mate hunting. What better way to do that than take a trip into uncharted territory?”
We lock eyes, Gryffin and I. “Keep my father safe,” I say with a smile.
My dad’s eyes narrow at me, and despite his frown of disapproval I can see warmth there too. “Are you kidding me? I’m not that damn old, pup. I could still kick your ass if I wanted to,” he snaps, taking a swig of the whiskey before coughing up a storm.
“Give me your keys,” Gryffin says to
my dad. “I’ll drive.”
I nod to him in thanks, knowing that Gryffin’s bike is still at my house and my dad won’t be able to return home until he stops here with Gryffin first. “You guys get out of here. I have a feeling things are about to get a little wild,” I say with a wink.
Then I turn my attention to the newcomers seated in the opposite corner of the bar. A tray of shots in front of them as they whisper to one another in secret. My eyes roam the rest of the place slowly, trying to gauge what kind of crowd is in tonight. It’s still pretty early and I don’t want to cause a scene while so many of the locals are present. I mean for the most part – they’ve known us long enough to understand there’s something about us that is not altogether normal. But as we don’t hunt humans, or kill without good cause coexisted peacefully for most of our lives out here in Port Orchard. And here is one thing we have in common for sure – the local humans and us Shifters – we don’t like when outsiders come around causing trouble. And those three tattooed, blinged up, bald headed males are both of those things. Outsiders and trouble.
we have
I think the best bet would be to get them on their way out. Knowing that their car must be parked in the back lot, I dial Rainier as I step out the front doors.
“Dom,” Rainier’s tired voice sounds. I can hear Angie in the background bitching and moaning about always being alone and for a moment my thoughts are on the missing ring and the whodunit.
“You’re at home,” I say softly, knowing that his shift is far from over. When our little entourage fled to Crown Mountain, the remaining deputies on duty were human. They were tired and pushed to the bone, so when we got back, Rainier gave most of them the week off.
“Yeah, I just need to see Angie for a minute,” he says. “What a fucking mistake that turned out to be.”
I laugh, Well listen, since you’re in a bad moon. I thought you might want to know what just walked into the bar about ten minutes ago.”
The other end of the line goes dead silent. “Do not let them leave. I have a couple of things to do before I can be there, but do not let them leave.”
I smile, my eyes freezing on the Cadillac parked in the back lot. “I won
RAINIER
I race into the station and stalk past the front desk heading straight for my office. The moment I step inside I freeze.
Felix and Timmons are lounging together on my sofa watching X–Men on t.v.
The rage that burns inside my gut at the sight of them cannot be normal. My dangs bite into my lip and I am forced to turn around so that she doesn’t see them. Not that she even realizes that I’m standing here. Neither of them seems to.
“What the fuck is going on in here?” I growl out. Noting that the cell to my left lay open and empty, without even a hint of the girls’s tantalizing scent inside.
“Hey Rain! Not much, we’re just watching a movie and enjoying an early dinner.”
I’m angry, I can feel my muscles swelling. The tinkling harmony of Felix’s laugh dances past my ears as Timmons teases her about some fucked up tattoo on her thigh. Why is he looking at her thighs? Why isn’t she still locked in the cell?
“I never told you to let her out,” I snap, trying like hell to get control of my fangs so that I can turn around and face them. I saunter toward my filing cabinet and pull the first drawer open, pretending to grab some ammo while I attempt to school the anger from my face.
“Okay,” Timmons says almost too softly and I can hear it in his voice that he’s confused. I did call him and tell him she was no longer going to be charged, but I never told him to let her out. I sure as fuck didn’t tell him to cozy up with her on my couch. “What’s up boss? Something wrong?”
I bite myself, pressing my fangs upward while holding my breath. I picture Angie, my wife. Picture the look on her face when she saw that I’d stopped in for a bite to eat. The happiness in her gaze when I strolled through the front door was like a hit to the gut. She loves me and I… I love her… I mean, I’m supposed to.
Chapter One Hundred–Twenty–Three
There you go, fangs gone.
I turn around, careful not to breathe as my eyes meet Timmons, bypassing Felix completely. Even so, I can see her in my peripheral. She is totally checking me out from her spot on the couch. Damn it.
My pants tighten and I nearly groan. Fucking hell. “Make sure the lower cells are ready and call Koda. Have him meet me down at the bar.”
“What’s up?” Timmons says, standing up.
I shoot him a look to remind him that he is on duty. “Our shooter has been sighted. He’s being detained.”
“Detained?” Felix’s husky voice breezes my way.
Finally I look at her, and I swear to God my dick now weighs twenty pounds. “I need you to promise that you will not leave this room, Miss Fitzgerald. If you can’t do that then I’ll have to lock you back in the cell.”
Felix bites her lip, her teal blue eyes blazing with heat that I refuse to examine. “Please, can’t you call me Felix?”
For a moment, I just stare at her. I think of what Draven said to me about all that Felix must be feeling. The heat and the tingles. The sensitivity to my every word. Despite my better judgment, I nod. “Stay in this room, Felix,” I rasp, and her name is like poison on my tongue. Sweet and deadly.
