Vivian was scolding him for staying away from the office all day. He had been drinking but no amount of whiskey or wine would make him as drunk as he wanted to be.
“I need time to process everything that happened,” he drawled. If there was one thing the alcohol in his system was doing right it was the blurring of his vision. Her face swam in his sight.
“I understand, honey,” she smiled sweetly. “But you might want to process a lot faster. You may need to kill her again.”
He blinked and regretfully her face became clearer. He couldn’t bare to look into her cold eyes. But it wasn’t only her eyes that bothered him now, it was her words. “What did you just say?”
She dropped her hand from his neck to his chin. Now the sharp edge of her sweet smile was clearer. “Margaret Storm is alive to take everything we have worked so hard to take.”
He couldn’t breathe as her words began to make meaning in his alcohol-infused brain. “She’s alive? S-She’s…She can’t be.”
The slightest pressure of her fingers in his jaw turned his head until he was looking right at the bar where Maggie sat stiffly. His heart dropped. She was…she was a ghost…she was alive!
Vivian held Maggie’s gaze as she rose on her tiptoes to speak into his ear. “You know what to do, honey.”
Lance didn’t.
His Maggie.
She looked so fiercely sexy in that red dress. It’s an illusion! His mind screamed but that illusion was rising from the bar stool now, her eyes accused him with sadness in them. His body began to tremble.
“If you don’t, the boys will take care of her.”
Maggie felt the shift in the air when all of a sudden bouncers began to appear from various corners of the room among the crowd, Ezekiel was one of them. She should have known someone was going to give her away. Her vision dimmed. It felt like a dream only that it wasn’t. It was a trap. Her surprise visit was a trap. The bouncers were coming for her now, they would kill her again.
As swift as lightning she climbed the bar stool and hopped over the bar counter.
“Hey!” people screamed.
She didn’t care. Survival was all she had in mind when she pushed the barmen serving drinks.
"Get the fuck out of my way!"
“Don’t let her get away! Get her!”
The bouncers pushed through the thick crowd, people stumbled left and right in a futile effort to move out of their way as they tried desperately to catch her.
“Geez watch where you are going!”
Blood rushed through Maggie’s ear as she pushed a door open. It led to the kitchen and the working staff were surprised to see the blur of a running woman as she tore wildly through the kitchen maze.
The staff jumped out of her way gasping in surprise only to scream when 8 bouncers came barreling through.
“Don’t let her get away!” they screamed.
Maggie’s heart pounded in her chest as she ran toward another door. When she opened it, she almost ran into a couple making out. They jumped out of her way and she made her way toward the parking lot hoping to find Caleb waiting there but there was no Caleb.
He left without her. She should have known. It was an ambush and like a fool she walked right into it.
Her breaths were coming in short hard puffs as she searched the plate numbers looking for a familiar one. When the back door of the kitchen opened and the bouncers began to pour out of it, she knew she didn’t have the luxury of time for that anymore. If she wanted to stay alive she would have to somehow outrun those bouncers with her heeled shoes and they were threatening to break.
But she had to give it a try. Survival was all that mattered. She would never let herself become their victim again. Her eyes suddenly watered as she ran into the streets with the bouncers still chasing after her.
Vivian knew she was dead. Above the din of conversation and music in the club she had heard snippets of their conversation which wasn’t easy since her powers were still so weak.
“You may have to kill her again.”
“Lady watch where you’re going!” someone suddenly pushed her and she stumbled into an alley. Even that was not enough to get the men to stop chasing her. Her ankles slipped twice in her rush. The alley was dark and wet and smelled of alcohol and vomit. She was now past the Phoenix’s Claws and was coming out of the other end of the district when she ran head-first into a solid chest.
“Get out of my way!” she cried trying to push past.
“Hey take it easy…wait it’s you again!”
At the sound of that voice, she looked up and relief washed through her. She never thought she would be seeing him so soon let alone be happy to see him at all.
“Asher!” Her whole body shook with relief.
“What’s after you?” he looked behind her. The bouncers were yet to catch up.
Maggie held tightly to his shirt and tugged desperately. “You’ve got to help me, Asher. Take me out of here I beg you! I’ll pay you!”
He would have loved to argue about her unethical methods of getting people to help her but when he saw the tears streaming down her face whatever he had to say lodged in his throat. “Come with me.”
She held the hand he offered tightly and kept up with him when he ran to another club where a large male and a female were guarding the door. While he spoke to them Maggie could not help looking back. Her pursuers were nowhere in sight but any minute now…
“Let’s go.”
Asher led her to a small littered parking lot to his bike and without handing her the helmet swung her on it.
“Hold on.”
She didn’t need to be told twice. Maggie held on to his midsection like her life depended on it. Hot tears fell on her cheeks and through her tears, as Asher zoomed past the alley she saw the men just getting to the alley. They watched as Asher zoomed off with her on the bike. Their yell of “Fuck!” hung in the air like a heavy cloud of doom.
Within minutes they were flashing across town, away from the busy streets into the outer part of town.
Asher half turned his head to Maggie. “For someone who is not a damsel in distress you sure do get in a lot of trouble.”
When her response was to bury her face into his back to howl her eyes out he realized she wasn’t in the mood for jokes. Maybe this was what occupied her mind earlier that day when she wanted to leave. He was suddenly curious to know what it was.
Against his better judgment, he steered the motorcycle off the 16th exit into the woods and headed for his territory. It was late at night but his pack would still be up and moving. He still had the pending issue of his actions last night. Now, foolish man that he was, he was bringing the bane of his problems back.
**
“What do you mean you lost her you incompetent fools!” Lance raged at the men who flinched. The veins on his neck were rigid.
“She left our territory boss, we couldn’t go further.”
He slammed his fist into the leather counter in the VIP exclusive lounge and the conversations in the room stopped. Even the stripper dancing suggestively around a pole stopped dancing. Lance realized they were all staring at him. It made him even angrier.
“Out! Every one of you get out!”
They scurried out of the room wondering what was up with him. Vivian was the only one remaining in the room and she was nursing a glass of gin and tonic.
“Vivian.”
She rolled her eyes before looking at him. “Where was that energy when we needed it? She got away while you were staring like a besotted fool. She came here to surprise you. Do you know what this means? She has come to fight for what’s hers.” She stood up and walked toward him raising one hand to caress his face. “Baby I don’t have to tell you what becomes of you. Of us. Of our baby when she comes back asking for war.”
“Give me time,” he said squeezing his eyes. “I just need time.”
“There’s not enough of that to throw around. Hurry up.” As she walked out of the room she threw a droll stare over her shoulder in his direction. “And just so you know, I’m not giving up another child for you so you can take your time finishing her. Be quick.”
He slowed down as they got near the clearing. The settlement was still far off into the woods. He was Alpha, he could do whatever he wanted but not to the detriment of his pack. He needed to know he wasn’t endangering them by bringing her in. But Maggie was harmless…wasn’t she?After tonight you still think so? He thought to himself. Those men who pursued her, he recognized them from the Red Light district, they were Ezra Storm’s bouncers. Now the real question was why were they after her?He brought the motorcycle to a stop and shifted so that he could see her under the dim light of the night sky.“Before I risk my neck for you, I need to know what got you in trouble now.”She had stopped trembling but she wouldn’t let him go. When she looked up at him he saw her eyes were puffed and red-rimmed and more tears brimmed in them.“I’m such an idiot.”That makes two of us, he thought to himself.She sniffed and finally let him before sliding off the seat to land softly on the ground. “Tha
But when she woke up after a fitful night the next morning there was no smiling. The first thing she noticed was the shouting and it was coming from right outside of Asher’s apartment.“Sheriff Boston was here this morning wanting a search of the place, do you know why? Because some people were looking for the girl and they are not our kind. If Chase had not put him off what do you think would have happened?!”“If you insist on shouting down my throat I don’t think you’ll be getting any answers from me!”She recognized Asher’s voice. Even though his voice was low and measured, there was a strain to it. She couldn’t tell the number of people who were outside talking to him but she had to assume it was the whole pack. She wasn’t wanted. That wasn’t news to her anymore. She had no pack and no place to call home. Asher was nice to her but even she knew the rules and bonds between pack members. She had to leave.Thankfully the pack members were outside the house and the back door Asher had
“Asher, what are you doing? You will tear down one of your own!” Chase’s veins popped as he struggled against Asher’s wolf. He turned his head to find Ginny hiding behind his sister. “Get out of here!”She didn’t need a reminder to join the others who left earlier. Chase and Carl held Asher down while he trashed about and all the while Maggie stood with her hands to her mouth watching them struggle with the huge black wolf. Carl’s fist suddenly struck Asher’s jaw and a whimper later he stopped struggling and calmed down only slightly. The silence that fell over them was heavy. A few seconds later Asher’s wolf began to transform, forelimbs became hands, hind limbs straightened into legs and the fur on his body faded. He slapped Carl and Chase’s hands away and stood up. His hair was disheveled and a huge frown marred his brow.“You would kill your own kind for a stranger, Ash?” the brown-haired woman clicked her tongue.“Asher…” Maggie tried again. “Let me go. I swear I’ll never cause y
“Where’s Ginny?” Asher asked Cathy as soon as he caught up with the rest of the pack. Their routine was the same every day. The kids stayed indoors while the adults went out to work to provide for the rest of the pack. Maggie’s arrival was a break in that routine. The few kids in the pack remained indoors while being tender to by the teenagers, Ginny, Leo and two others.After Asher dismissed them the others had walked away from his apartment to the front of the shed to converge in silence knowing that sooner or later he would join them. So they weren’t surprised when he rounded the corner of his apartment and walked toward them wearing a frown and his sweatpants.Cathy threw her head back in the direction of Chase’s apartment which was similar to the crudely built rough wood structures where they all lived. “She’s in Chase’s. You scared the living daylight out of that girl.”“Can’t say I can complain about that. It’s about time someone put the fear of God in that girl before she does
Cathy, Mason, Jayden, Edna and Carl transformed into wolves immediately, the sounds of their clothes ripping filled the air. Their teeth bared, they snarled, ready to attack whatever it was that was going to jump out of the woods. Asher took the lead in his human form, his muscles bunched and ready to leap. He held a hand out to Cathy and the others to stall them from attacking.When Maggie started to move closer he snapped his eyes in her direction.“You should hide.”“No, I should stay and see who they are. I am done hiding.”“What if they attack?”“I’ll kill them.” Her fingers were curved into claws and her wolf’s claws gleamed in the sun ready to kill.He was amazed by her strength especially since he would see clearly that there was a slight tremor in her arms she still stood her ground and waited patiently. He admired her courage so much that he moved a bit so that he was standing between her and his pack and against their incoming enemies. The smell of blood was the first to re
When Maggie entered the infirmary, Steph was bent over Caleb inspecting the gash in his neck with a pair of dubious looking tweezers. She frowned as she moved toward the flat, bare bed in the cot. Chase, Carl and Jayden stood watch over him and Noah sat on a small chair beside the cot looking at them with distrustful eyes.“Are those tweezers even sterilized?” Maggie expressed her concern.Steph simply smiled at her. “We do with what we have Dark Storm.” Her voice was gentle but there was slight reprimand in her tone.“And your bodyguard wouldn’t be needing our less than stellar treatment if he hadn’t gotten himself injured anyway.”“Of course because I planned to get my ass handed to me while on duty for my master’s daughter.”“What good is a guard dog that can’t protect its master?” Carl asked scornfully.“How dare you you fucking…Fuck!” Caleb ended in a grunt as pain lacerated through his body when he tried to sit up.Steph pushed him gently back down on the squeaky bed while casti
Maggie was waiting for him when he came back and it was around late afternoon when he did. Cathy had stayed back to soak in the water for a bit. Usually, when they rendezvoused like this they would leisurely enjoy the water, letting the cool liquid wash the heat off their bodies. But there was no heat in him just a foreboding feeling.Maggie raised her brows as he approached. He was still naked from the waist up. He offered her a small smile and shrugged helplessly.Maggie raised her hands. “It’s none of my business.”“It isn’t. How is your bodyguard?”“Steph is taking care of him. She thinks he might have been stabbed with something called Mekai? I don’t know what that is.”He frowned. “Hmm, that’s not good for a wolf. Steph will take care of him.”Maggie nodded then she cocked her head toward the woods. “Do you think she has forgiven me for intruding in your home?”Asher smiled at her. “Cathy will come around.”“Hmm I don’t know, she seems to have it out for me. Are you both an item
“I may be wrong,” her voice was low but heavy with suspicion. “But he may have been stabbed with the Mekai.”“Mekai? What’s that?” Noah asked.“Do you Ptakkagaris know anything at all? The Mekai is a dangerous liquid that ends our immortally as descendants of the gods. The one thing that can kill all gods forever is theShe rushed to the cot and touched his hand, “Caleb! Caleb are you okay? Can you hear me?”He cracked an eye open. “Miss Storm…” his teeth nearly chattered as he spoke. “You need to go without me. Take Noah with you.”“Not a chance…”“You have delayed long enough. Three days is enough time for the pack to get over your reborn, if you delay any longer they will regroup and attack and attacking you a second time will be deadly.”“You have to much clarity for someone on death’s door,” Carl suddenly cut in.“Carl can you not?! Not now…”“Let him blab his mouth. It’s what dogs do when they are not barking.”If Chase had not stopped Carl with his steely gaze, Caleb would have