Daddy Protector: MC Romance (Pythons MC) by Sadie Savage (20)

Everyone would be out of the house. Now was the perfect time to grab her stuff and run. She had friends in Silver Lake. She had some money set aside. She had a need to go. Exiling herself was the only option, but that would guarantee she was hunted. Joaquin would think nothing of crossing territory lines if she did. That would absolutely start a war, and she didn’t need that on her hands or conscience.

“So where the hell do I go?”

The question hung in the still air. Angelina cranked the car, muttering, “First, I go get my stuff. Then I go somewhere, anywhere. Not Silver Lake, and not into tiger territory. That leaves plenty of places. I hear Torrance is nice this time of year.”

She headed down the road, not noticing the motorcycle hanging back behind her, its rider carefully tailing her as she headed east.

**

The house was quiet. Angelina killed the engine and stepped out, her eyes scanning the front of the house. It was actually three houses that had connecting breezeways. The pack owned most of the street, and they had always taken pride in it and the neighborhood back before Joaquin had come to power. Now it looked seedy and sad, and there were broken bottles near the curbs. The old folks who lived a few streets over were overwhelmed by the new drug dealers and the addicts, by the heavy traffic of cruising cars whose passengers were looking to score and the unsavory element of pimps and hookers looking to be close to the illegal action.

Uneasiness swept over her as she walked toward the door. She scented the air but there were too many scents, both old and new, for her to be able to tell if Joaquin was there or not.

She paused, listening hard, still trying to smell him out, but there’d been a lot of traffic in and out of the house, as usual. She could smell him, and it was a strong fresh smell, but she could not tell if it was hours or minutes old due to the scents mingled with his.

Her eyes went back to the driveways and street. His car—a huge restored ’66 Caddy, was nowhere in sight. Joaquin didn’t allow anyone to drive his baby so he had to be gone.

Her fingers turned the key into the lock. Angelina didn’t close the door. She stood there, still listening and sniffing. Nothing. The smell of garlic and onions, eggs, and tomato hung in the air. Someone had cooked breakfast at some point then. Her belly rumbled at those scents, reminding her she had not eaten since yesterday afternoon.

She dashed to her bedroom. She closed the door and grabbed a bag. There was little she wanted beyond her clothes and the few photos she had of her and her family. It took all of about ten minutes to toss her shoes, the ones that were still in good shape, her clothes, and those pictures into the bag. She grabbed the old acoustic guitar. Its strings, stirred by the small breeze she created when she picked it up, chimed softly, a light whisper of sound that made the hair on the back of her neck stand up and goose bumps break out all over her skin.

She turned, her eyes going to the closed door. Was she imagining things or had she heard something out there, a creaking floor or a hasty step?

She hesitated but heard nothing for a few long seconds. Her eyes went to the door handle. She had locked it automatically, and her heart hammered hard in her chest as she saw the knob turn in a slow but deliberate way, one that she was most decidedly not imagining.

Joaquin’s scent came clear. Her pulse slid upward, and she moved fast. She went to the window, which she had left unlocked the night before, and looked out. The backyard was empty. The faint snick of the lock turning came again. Joaquin was trying to get in, and he was deliberately trying to do it very quietly. What was more—he had hidden his car so she would not know he was there.

The onions and garlic had been meant to mask his smell. She knew that now. Angelina tossed her bags out and went out behind them. She grabbed her stuff, slinging the bags over her shoulders and gripping the old neck of the guitar in one hand as she ran around the side of the house, her feet kicking up small pebbles.

The front door burst open just as she reached her car. Joaquin came roaring out. His face was contorted with rage and even from where she stood, Angelina knew he was two seconds away from shifting right there in the street and be damned to anyone who might see.

A loud roar from the exhaust of a motorcycle cut the air. The bike raced closer, cutting across curbs and the driveway, cutting Joaquin off just as he headed for her and her car.

Angelina wrenched her door open and slid inside, slamming the door hard as the rider, whose face was hidden below a large helmet with a dark face guard, kicked out one long leg. Joaquin, unable to run forward without running right into the back end of the spinning bike, halted, but his shout was long and loud. Angelina could hear that cry over the roar of her car’s engine.

She hit the gas and reversed quickly. The bike kept slewing in circles. She did not know who that was but she hoped whoever it was had the good sense to get the hell out of there and fast.

Damn! She paused, wavering with indecision. She should make sure whoever that was didn’t get killed by a ticked-off wolf. Before she had time to fully form that thought, a new one hit.

At first, she had thought that the biker had lost control of the chrome beast and was just spinning wildly, but now she realized that spinning was an act of utter and total skill, and the man on that bike was using that skill to get between her and Joaquin!

“Thanks,” she muttered, slammed the car into drive, and hauled ass.

The bike stopped spinning. The rider cut a wide arc and ended up on the other side of the street, going too fast for Joaquin to catch up even if he shifted and ran wolf-like after the bike.

Angelina knew all the shortcuts out of the hood and she took them. She kept an eye on her rearview and saw the biker fall in behind her, the sun gleaming off the helmet and the heavy black leather jacket.

Drake.

It had to be Drake!

They careened out of the neighborhood and ended up in a side street that would dump them off an exit and on the crowded freeways just beyond. There was no time to stop. She had to keep moving and make sure that Drake—and she was positive that it was Drake now—did not get caught by Joaquin, who had obviously been about to either rape her to force her to be his mate or kill her.

If she had to bet, she would guess the former. Joaquin would do anything to prove how powerful he was, and he knew she did not want him. As long as she refused to mate with him, he could do nothing but if he got her with child, it was a whole different ballgame.

The bike roared up beside her car. Drake flipped the visor up and he shouted, “Take the third!”

The third exit would lead them to Beverly Hills or beyond, out to Sherman Oaks. Scared and worried now, and knowing Silver Lake was not an option at the moment, she nodded. Drake fell into traffic just ahead of her. The traffic slowed. A snarl was up there somewhere. Sweat trickled down her face as she considered the situation.

Joaquin might be following them, but in her car her scent was too narrow. There was too much traffic and all its stink to make it possible for him to track her that way.

Silver Lake was dangerous because she would be a wolf in bear territory. Drake might have given off his scent, and if Joaquin knew that the man on the bike was a bear that would be the first place he headed. He wouldn’t be able to scent track Drake either, not unless he went to ground and sniffed Drake’s house out, but shifting to track in wolf form was too risky even for Joaquin.

He had contacts with Magda though. Angelina knew that. Joaquin’s major supplier of heroin and other dope was the bikers that Magda ran from her house over in Silver Lake. Would Magda turn on her own son?

Probably—especially since he was not Alpha and his twin brother was. Damn, how had she forgotten that? Her father had told her that, last year. That one of the twins had been displaced as Alpha for the other. He had not known why, but he had worried about it. Now Angelina found herself wondering, too.

They reached the hills. Angelina’s hands were slick with sweat as she turned the wheel to follow Drake down a long and winding road that raced along a steep gorge before dropping out to a flatter and more level stretch that he took at a surprisingly fast speed.

He pulled up at the gates of a small house and hit a button. The gates opened, and he pulled in with her right on his heels.

Angelina got out of the car. “What the hell was that?”

Drake lifted the helmet off. Sweat made his hair stick to his head and his face glisten. He unzipped the jacket, pulling it off to reveal his broad and fit upper body. The bike sat between his legs, held their by the sheer strength of his lower body and a wave of heat crashed over her yet again. Her mouth went dry. Goddamn, that was so sexy. Him, the bike, the sweat, the stubble on his jaw, the piercing gaze—all of it.

Drake leaned closer, cutting off all thought but not the lust. The lust just intensified. A little bead of sweat hung in the tiny little hollow of his throat, begging to be licked away. Her fists clenched, and her stomach filled with butterflies trying to wing their way out.

“That was me saving your ass. I saw him coming down that little hall between the houses, and I knew it was him. I decided to circle the block, see if you came back out. When you didn’t, I rode a little farther up and waited. I was going to give you a half a minute more when I saw you come running around the back with all your stuff and figured you must have outrun him. I also figured he was going to come out next, so I decided to stall him so you could bolt.”

“Thanks.” She rubbed her arms up and down her arms. Now that she was not in present danger, the adrenaline died out, leaving her tired and limp.

“You hungry?”

Her eyes went to the house they were parked in front of. “Are we breaking into this house?”

“Yeah, do you mind?”

“Only if we get caught.”

His lips canted upward. “There’s that.”

“I’d rather not go to prison. You know, all things considered.”

“I can see where you could disrupt the hell out of the general population.”

The joking made her relax, her muscles loosen and the tension ooze away from her neck and shoulders. “Ditto. For real, if we are about to engage in some B&E, you had better hope there’s food in there.”

“There is. It belongs to my bass player, Pete.”

Her eyebrows raised. “Oh?”

“Yeah, getting a rich kid in your band’s sort of the new trend.”

Just then, the door opened and a scrawny guy with dark brown hair and a sallow face appeared. “What’s up, dude?”

“Not much; just thought I’d check in with you and introduce you to someone. She’s a hell of a singer.”

Was he kidding? “I’m not. I mean I’m a singer but I’m not…” She glared at Drake, who just grinned back at her.

Pete said, “Okay then.”

Drake said, “Dude, we’re starving.”

“I got some steaks. I was about to toss one on the grill and it would be no biggie to add a couple more.” Pete jerked his head toward the door.

The house was a post and beam thing with long wide windows and designer furniture. The pool was right outside the back door, and Pete led them that way, making a brief stop at the kitchen to grab some steaks from the fridge.

They stepped out into an outdoor kitchen that would have made a gourmet chef green with envy, but Angelina was more interested in the thick and marbled meat that Pete laid on the gas grill than wondering if that counters were the granite they seemed to be.

Pete finished laying the steaks out and added a few potatoes to the grill then pointed the way to the fridge that held some really good wine and beer. Drake seemed to know the way pretty well. He took out a bottle of red, uncorked it and poured three glasses.

“Thanks.” Their fingers met as Angelina made to take the glass he offered to her. She turned her face down quickly so he wouldn’t see the naked desire playing out in her eyes. She needed him to not know how she felt. She had to figure out what to do next. She did not need the crazy emotions and physical attraction Drake kept bringing up in her.

“Welcome.” Pete stretched out on a chair and asked, “So you sing?”

“I do.” The words were reluctant. Her fingers curled around the stem of the glass. The sun lay thick and heavy on her head and shoulders, and she turned her face up to it.

Pete asked, “You any good?”

“Man, you should hear her. She can play rhythm, too.”

Drake sure was pushing hard—wasn’t he?

“We tried it, like me and him, but I don’t think it will work,” she said.

Pete said, “Oh. Shit. That is too damn bad. I don’t know what it is about Drake, but he seems to run people off left and right for some reason. No idea why—he’s a good dude but he scares folks or something.”

Her eyes met Drake’s. His held a troubled expression. The wine warmed as her fingers moved up to cup the glass. “I get that. Sometimes people are jerks.”

Or they sensed the difference and got scared—or mean. Sometimes both.

There was something Drake’s eyes that triggered a feeling of kinship. He was running away, too. He didn’t want to be a part of his pack. He wanted a life filled with music and normalcy. So did she. But they were different and always would be. They could never escape that, no matter how hard they tried.

The food was delicious, and she was starving. After the meal was over, they went inside. Pete had a whole room dedicated as a music space and Angelina took one look at all the gear and went to go get her guitar.

I’ll just play with them today, but that’s not a promise to be in the band. She settled onto a low sofa with the guitar over her legs.

Drake wrote down the lyrics and the chords to a song. “Can you just strum along? Don’t worry about trying to figure out a pattern just yet, just do the chords on the time and sing the words?”

“Sure.” Angelina looked down at the paper and nodded. “I need a capo though. I suck at the B minor chord.”

He laughed. “I hate that chord. I always capo the third and play it with the G, C, and so forth.”

“You could have just written that down,” she teased as she grabbed a pen and began to make the changes on the paper.

Drake said, “Well, I had to know if you’d try, anyway.”

“We had a guy who was a piano player turned guitarist, and he insisted on playing the hardest chords because he could. Drove us nuts,” Pete added.

“Well, you don’t have to worry about that with me.” Angelina blinked. What am I saying? This has to be the last time I play with Drake, in every way. I can’t be with him!

She shook that off. There was far too much uncertainty going on right now. Music was static, it was a good thing, and she needed it just then, and badly.

Her fingers met the frets and formed the chords. Notes rang out. The supple strings bent and she closed her eyes, getting the sense of the rhythm from Pete’s throbbing bass lines and Drake’s long string of melodies. She strummed along instinctively, putting some sixteenth note strums in, varying the pattern.

When they reached the end and started the song over, Angelina began to sing, her husky voice lingering over the melody and then wrapping around the words and sliding behind the beat.

The song ended. Pete let out a whoop and said, “Hell, yes! Man, you’re awesome!’

“You’re awesome,” Angelina said. “You can really play that bass!”

Pete grinned. “Now if we could just find a decent drummer before Saturday!”

Drake said, “I had a guy call me earlier. I could call him back and see what he says—if he wants to come jam or whatever.”

Now was the time to bow out. Now was the time to say she couldn’t stay.

Angelina knew that, and she knew she should speak up.

But all she said was, “That would be great.”

“Hey, man, do you mind if we stay here for a few days?” Drake asked Pete.

“No, why would I?” Pete replied.

Angelina caught Drake’s eye. She knew what he was thinking. If Joaquin dared to go to bear territory to find her, he’d find nothing. Her scent at Drake’s would have dissipated by now and a few days at Pete’s, high in the hills where shifters did not go, would be the perfect way to keep him off their trail.

But what would happen when they did get found and caught?

 

CHAPTER 7:

The Whiskey was packed. The band, with its new lineup that included Angelina, Drake, Pete, and Zeke, the new drummer—an eager and hyper guy fresh off the bus and from a tiny town somewhere in Idaho—stood in the miniscule dressing room located down a dingy hallway in the back of the Whiskey. The night’s headliners had the big dressing room and their entourage spilled down the musty concrete hallway, making one hell of a drunken racket.

Angelina took a long breath, trying to steady her nerves.

Drake put a hand on the back of her neck. “You okay?”

The warmth and weight of his hand on her nape helped a little. “I don’t know,” she admitted.

It was true. The last month between the day where she had fled Joaquin and her pack had gone by in a blur. She’d moved in with Drake and so far they had managed to keep everyone at bay, even his MC, but she knew that could not last long. The gigs they were playing had been all that she had allowed herself to think about.

She spent her days and nights in a haze of making music with the band and love with Drake. It was a special moment, a long and winding time where she could actually believe that everything was going to be okay even with all the obstacles in front of them.

Drake’s bear-ness didn’t show most of the time, and she kept her wolf-ness out of sight, too. There were times when that was harder than others but she was in full-on survivor mode, desperate to keep both her and Drake safe.

The emcee was speaking and the runner, an older man with a shock of gray hair and a heavily tattooed right arm, stuck his head into the dressing room. “Time, guys.”

Angelina grabbed her guitar and held it tightly. Drake gave her a wide smile. Pete, usually cool and collected, stumbled and nearly tripped over his own feet. Zeke gulped and jerked a few times, his eyes showing his nerves.

“Cool out, dude,” Pete said. “We’ve been here before.”

Zeke didn’t look too convinced. He just swallowed a few times and nodded. Drake whispered into her ear, “That guy’s nervous every time. I don’t know if he’s going to make it if we make it big.”

She chuckled. Once onstage, Zeke was a wonder. Drake knew it, too.

“I love it that you think we’re going to make it big,” she told him.

“I know we are.” His eyes held determination. “How could we not?”

It was their dream. To hit it big and play all the big arenas. It wasn’t the money. Drake didn’t care about money, and Pete didn’t need it. Zeke was about money and maybe even the fame. She and Drake were in it for something else, for the sheer pleasure of getting to play. The more people in the audience, the better, because both of them fed off that energy in a way that was both wonderful and wild. It often sent them straight to bed, their bodies and hearts eager to shed some of the crazy, electrically charged excitement that always filled them after a gig.

The audience was already hyped up. It was like walking into a party that had already started and as soon as they hit the stage, Angelina felt the charge of it all.

Her guitar was poised, and she looked at Drake, who nodded and called out a one, two, three count before they charged into their first song, rocking it out in a hard and fast groove.

Pete played tight in the pocket, and Zeke kept perfect time. They had gelled in a way that was inexplicable and magical. Drake, with his guitar slung across his body and hanging low, strode across the stage—beyond hot in a pair of black leather pants and a plain white tee that outlined every inch of his smoking body.

Just looking at him made her want to grab him and haul him off to a dark corner. He prowled closer, all drive and thrusting hips, flashing fingers and wailing strings. Her voice and his blended, their guitars making a perfect counterpoint and harmony to each other.

The set was short, just thirty minutes, but for those thirty minutes, Angelina forgot about everything but Drake and the music and the crowd.

She was soaring when they got off stage and headed back to their dressing room. Drake grabbed her hand and asked, “Should we go watch the other band?”

She nodded eagerly. They cased their gear and hauled it out the back door and into the van then dashed back inside and down the hallway, just in time to watch the headliners take the stage.

Drake caught her in his arms and they started to dance. Angelina let go.

Her body swayed to the beat and met his. The ever-present desire between them intensified with every note and heavy bass beat. His hands rested low on her hips and she laughed as she collided with his body, her crotch meeting his.

He grabbed her up in an embrace and hauled her off the floor, spinning her in a slow circle for good measure while she laughed, her fingers clutching his broad shoulders.

The small hallway was empty. The wall scratched at her back through her damp tank top. His fingers wound into her hair, fisting it, and her breath caught in her throat as his mouth slanted down on hers, claiming her mouth in a long and furious kiss.

Her body arced toward his, and his hands slid into the waistband of her skirt then out, his hand going up her thigh and leaving a trail of shivering flesh in its wake.

Her skirt bunched around her waist. Her panties were thrust to one side. Her fingers found the buttons on his jeans. This was going to be fast and hard, and she wanted that as much as she wanted to dance and sing and be alive.

His staff met her hand, pulsing and thick. Her shoulders dug into the wall as she climbed up his body, her legs twining around his waist while his hand positioned his cock at her opening and then he thrust upward into her, filling her so completely that it took her breath away.

Heat and friction exploded in her clenching core. His lips muffled her cries. Her body lifted and she slid downward again, impaling herself on his cock, taking it all in and then swinging her hips in a slow revolving circle before lifting again, reluctantly releasing him so she could plunge downward again.

His cock pressed against the sides of her inner folds. Heated oil, creamy and thick, spilled from her body and coated his rigid flesh, easing his passage into her as she continued to lift and drop, her hands braced on his shoulders now as she strained to reach the orgasm hurtling toward her at top speed.

Her walls clenched and tightened, sucking him into her. Her eyes rolled back in her head and her fingernails bit into his shoulders. His tongue met hers and his breath blew into her mouth. Her pants became faster and harder. The scent of their sex came to her nose, making her even hotter.

Crying out now, coming and shuddering, her inner walls closing and opening as thick spurts of cum poured out of her body, all she could do was hold on while he moved faster.

His groan was guttural and loud, echoing down the short hallway.

Angelina hung there, pinned against the wall on his cock, her body slowly cooling as he braced a forearm on the wall and tried to get his breath back.

When he could move again, he lowered her gently to the floor. She looked up at him and then burst into laughter.

Drake gave her a confused look. “What?”

“I was just wondering what we’d do if we were in a big arena with dozens of people around us and we couldn’t do this,” she teased.

Drake gave her a mischievous grin. “Baby, I swear to you those are going to be some shocked people.”

She laughed all the way back out and onto the dance floor.

CHAPTER 8:

Angelina sat up, her shoulders gleaming above the crumpled and messy sheets. “Bikes,” she said. The thread of fear in her voice caught Drake’s attention.

“I heard them.”

Her breath hissed in, hard. “Your guys, I take it.”

He nodded. They had to show up eventually. I’ve been too busy with her and the band and I haven’t been riding, and they want to know why. He threw the sheets aside and slid out of bed. Angelina was already up and out, too, grabbing for the clothes she had worn the night before, which now lay on the floor.

He was not afraid, not for himself, but he knew that if Morgan smelled her, he would react and fast. Morgan didn’t have the senses that Drake had—and he had managed to overlook her shifter, but Drake couldn’t guarantee that Morgan or one of the older bears riding in the MC would do that, too.

Angelina didn’t have to be told that. He could see on her face that she was scared. “Stay here. I’m going outside, okay?”

She nodded, but he saw her gaze dart around the room, either looking for a weapon or a way out.

He strode out, his thoughts churning as he wrenched open the door and stepped outside into the early morning sunshine.

Morgan swung a leg off his bike and came storming up. “Where the fuck were you last night? I kept trying to call you.”

“At a gig, a big one. One that was important to me.”

Morgan’s eyes narrowed. “Hell’s breaking loose, Drake, and you better get your shit and ride right now, because we have tigers in the hood, and what’s more—we got a few wolves upsetting the whole apple cart, so to speak. It seems that Joaquin’s sure that one of ours has his mate, and is calling for war.”

Shit. Drake didn’t let his eyes drift to the house. “You’re kidding.”

“Fuck, no, I’m not. Magda’s calling for order or death, and she doesn’t care which.”

“Of course, she doesn’t. She’s been itching for war for years.” Goddammit. “Let me grab my keys.”

He headed back into the house and grabbed a jacket and his keys. He went into the bedroom. Angelina stood near the door, a baseball bat in her hands. He held up his hands. “Don’t swing, I’m unarmed.”

Angelina’s eyes flicked over his shoulders. There was distrust in every line on her pretty face and in every rigid angle of her body. “What’s going on?”

“I need you to get somewhere safe and let me know where you are.”

“What’s happening?”

She was not going to let him off the hook then. “I don’t have time to explain it, but we have tigers in the hood and…”

“Joaquin.”

No use in lying. “That, too. I have about three seconds before Morgan crashes into the house. I have to go. Let me know where you are; promise me you will. In fact, I want you to go to Pete’s. He’ll let you hang, and he won’t try anything crazy. He won’t even ask for a reason—he’s that kind of dude.”

She nodded. “Okay.”

Not quite a promise, and he knew it. He wanted to press, but time was running out. He turned to go then paused and swept her into a quick embrace, pressing his lips to hers before heading back out.

His thoughts tangled and ran too fast for him to make any order of them. He had to protect her and right now the best way he could do that was to ride, and to get her out of the house and out of the way.

Drake swung a leg over his boke. Everyone else was waiting. He hit the switch and the engine roared into life, the powerful motor purring and rumbling below his body. His hands found the handlebars, and he let the idle ratchet up a little higher.

Morgan led the way, Drake falling in right behind him.

Resentment gnawed at him. He had never wanted to be Alpha, and that was the honest truth. He did not resent Morgan for being Alpha either, but he damn sure resented being ordered around and never being able to live his own life without the constant reminder of loyalty to a pack he didn’t really want to be a part of. He also resented the fact that he was a rider in a club comprised of criminal activity that could, and likely would, one day result in a prison sentence for him.

There was no doubt in Drake’s mind that if shit went wrong, he would be called upon to take the fall for Morgan, because Morgan was Alpha and they were twins and that was what Magda would demand.

His life was not his own, would never be his own.

The air ran across his body, and he kept the bike tooling along at a high speed. Morgan was careless and wild on the back of a bike, just like he was careless and wild in every other way.

Morgan thrived on the criminal element of his life. He loved it and the pack. He loved being Alpha, but unlike Joaquin and Magda, he was not power hungry, or willing to do whatever it took to get and keep power, which was probably his best and saving grace.

They hit the end of the hood, riding hard along the narrow and crooked streets. The houses, all middle-income and ranch style on that end, lay huddled under the splashes of sunlight and shade from the tall palm trees dotting the yards.

Morgan lifted a hand. Drake looked forward, and his senses lit up. There, sitting at an outside table at a little café, was a man they both knew all too well. The bikes turned and Drake leaned over his handlebars as he goosed the bike up higher, racing along behind Morgan as Morgan waved a hand again, telling the others to split off and go to the right, a move that would cut off the man if he tried to run and make sure that if he had anyone at his back, they would know it. Plus, that would give Morgan and Drake the ability to speak with the tiger shifter in private, a boon.

Drake and Morgan coasted to a halt near the curb. The man stood and walked toward them, a smile on his wrinkled face.

Drake said, “Patel, you’re in the wrong hood.”

“I knew you would scent me, and I am not running, now am I?”

Morgan cut off his bike. Drake did the same. They’d have to keep shouting otherwise, and this was not a conversation they wanted anyone else to hear. The rest of the café patrons were far enough from the actual curb and traffic was heavy enough to cover their words, as long as they spoke softly.

Drake eyed Patel, who was old now, a wizened man with weathered skin and dark eyes.

“What do you want and how dare you come into our territory?” Morgan asked.

“I was looking for something.” Patel lifted a hand and for a second long and sharp claws showed at the ends of his fingers. “Your mother is too busy trying to take over the world to see what is happening in her own backyard, so I came to see for myself.”

Drake’s body tightened. He shot Morgan a look. He wanted to tell Patel to talk, but Morgan was Alpha so that had to come from him. Drake’s toes tapped at the asphalt impatiently while he waited for Morgan to speak.

Finally he did. “What’re you talking about, Patel?”

The old Nepali tiger shifter lifted his chin. “The muties are rising. All over LA, they’re starting to get a little angry. They’re being accused, and there’s talk of burning out mutie hideouts.”

Shit. Patel had to be kidding! Who the hell was threatening to do that? Drake looked at Morgan again, trying to read his face. Morgan was not privy to all of Magda’s shady political stunts, but it was not exactly a well-kept secret that Joaquin and Magda were in business, if not in bed, together.

Morgan asked, “Who’d burn out the mutie hideouts and why?”

Patel rolled his head on his shoulders, a cunning look on his wrinkled face. “So, you really don’t know? I’ll tell you then. Joaquin swears his mate got taken by a bear mutie. It sounds to me like he’s picked a fight, and now we’re all in it, whether we want to be or not.”

Tension tightened up Drake’s shoulders. “Why’s this your reason to come here again? I mean, if he caught the scent of a bear mutie, what does that have to do with us? We have no muties in our ranks and if Joaquin picks a fight, how is it ours?”

Patel’s face showed impatience. “Joaquin knows the muties are dying to start a war. They are just looking for a reason. His mate being snatched by a mutie seems like a damn good reason to start a war with them, and he has already started to push at them. He’s sticking a sword into a hornet’s nest.”

She’s not his mate. She never made that promise, her father did. Drake blanked that thought out of his mind before his anger could show on his face.

Morgan frowned. “How so, and why is any of this your, or our, problem? We don’t suffer muties; we set them out as soon as they are born, just like we all do.”

Patel’s eyes swept across the twin brothers, a spark of rage in those dark orbs. “I don’t know where the girl is, and I would not care, except for the fact that Joaquin’s using her running off with what he swears is a bear mutie as an excuse to try to wage war.

“We all know that there’s a lot of muties with something against me and mine. We were the ones who outlawed their being in the packs originally, and we were the ones who ordered all muties be sent away at adulthood—left without a pack. Then we were the ones who decreed that the muties should be sent to fosters when they were children to avoid the heartache caused by sending them off later.

“The muties have a score to settle with the tigers. We know this. We watch them. Joaquin’s pushing at them will end in war, and when it does, the hatred the muties have for mine will result in bloodshed. Maybe enough bloodshed that Joaquin can swoop in and take over; he might have the numbers to quell the muties, and indebt us in doing so.”

Drake’s mind staggered at the possibilities. Patel was right. Joaquin was the only Alpha with a pack large enough to hold off the muties, who outnumbered the shifters to a large degree.

His blood ran cold as he considered all the angles. That’s his reason on the top of it all, but the truth is he wants the tiger’s hood for its assets, and Magda also wants that territory for the same reason so she won’t ally herself with the tigers if the muties break loose. Joaquin has enough numbers to back them off from East LA, but once the blood goes to spilling, the muties won’t stop. They hate us, and always have, and if they can’t get at Joaquin, they really will go after their first enemy, and the bears will be next.

“You don’t let in dope or crime,” Morgan said softly. “There’s not enough money in your territory for it to be attractive. Besides, if the muties come after the shifters—and that’s a fight that’s been brewing for decades—you know we will have no choice but to band together. Joaquin knows it, too.”

Patel’s eyes glittered dangerously. “But would he? Would Magda allow you to band with me and mine? Or would she and Joaquin just watch my territory burn before they stepped in? I think it’s the latter. You can adore your mother all you like, but I see her game plan. She wants legit businesses and we have them. If she controlled that, and the drug trade and whatever else you are into, she would have a good way to launder money and everything else.”

Morgan snarled, “Watch your tongue, old man, or you might just lose it.”

Drake’s hand met Morgan’s arm. “Chill out,” Drake said softly. “He’s speaking the truth and you know it. Magda’s desperate for legit businesses she can stash money into. I don’t know if she wants yours, Patel, but I’m willing to concede that but nothing else, so watch your tongue. I may have little love for Magda, but Morgan’s my brother and Alpha. I’ll back him up even if he chooses to kill you right here on the sidewalk.”

He would, too. He would have to.

The expression on Morgan’s face didn’t change. “Is the girl with a mutie?”

“I don’t know if she is with a bear or not.” Patel’s smile was thinly bladed as a knife edge. “But I’m quite sure there may be some truth to her having run off with… someone. If she did, she deserves to be brought to justice for breaking the laws that govern us all. No shifter may mate outside its species.”

Drake’s blood ran cold as Patel’s eyes met his. The old man seemed to be talking directly to him. Was he? Did Patel know about him and Angelina? The old bastard was a slick fucker, always sticking his nose into business best left be. Curiosity and cats and all that.

Patel went on, “What I do know is she isn’t planning on going back.”

“You think not?” Morgan’s body shifted slightly, his weight going to the balls of his feet. Drake dropped his hand. Morgan was listening now, and not so tense. Thank God. Drake wanted to hear whatever Patel had to say next.

Patel snorted. “I know she isn’t. The non-shifting wolf—it’s gone. The girl was apparently fond of it, as it was a litter mate. Again, I don’t know if there is any truth to the bear thing, mutie or otherwise, but I tend to believe it’s just a cause to come into my grounds.

“If Joaquin isn’t satisfied. If the girl’s not returned, and the muties are prodded into war that effects my territory, I’ll bring full war to you, Morgan, and all of yours—humans and shifters alike. That’s a promise.”

Morgan looked at Drake. “That’s only fair, but you have no proof that the girl’s with a mutie. You also have no proof that Magda and Joaquin are plotting to take your territory. Besides, Magda wouldn’t grant permission for Joaquin to take over your territory even if you did have to wage war with the muties and even if that war left your kind on the run and your hood open for that.”

Patel’s teeth showed sharp and pointed. “She does not have the power to grant permission, you mean. Remember that. Magda has no permission or power to run things in my territory, but she would absolutely turn her head and pretend she did not see Joaquin breaking the territory pacts if it gave her something she wanted. If she could manage to take over my ground after a war, she would set one in motion. Magda’s not the only problem right now though, and I came here to not only tell you what I see Joaquin and Magda attempting, but to tell you we all have a bigger problem at hand.”

Drake broke in, “The muties.”

Patel nodded. “It’s going to be a war. They hate us, and they hate humans. We’re all things they hate and they outnumber us. We need to band together right now, not fight, at least not until we solve this problem.”

Morgan said, “I’ll send you an answer on that. For now, I want you out of my territory. Don’t breach it again, Patel, not unless you’re given permission to do so.”

Goddammit. Morgan’s smarting and letting it show. He’s Alpha in name only and everyone knows that Magda still pulls all the strings. It’s eating at his pride, and Patel just cut his pride, too. This won’t stay chill unless Patel gets out of here.

Patel headed for the small compact car he had parked along the curb. He drove off. The bikes came roaring back down the road.

“You better get that girl out of your house, Drake. Like yesterday,” Morgan said under his breath.

What? Drake’s eyes jerked to Morgan’s.

Morgan gave him a weary smile. “You smell like wolf. Do you think Patel didn’t notice? For all his talk, he will switch sides in a heartbeat and you know it. Trusting him’s like trusting a busted engine to get you down the road.”

He did smell like Angelina. He’d been careless. His heart sank as he realized that. He might have just given her location up, especially if Patel decided to run to Joaquin and tell him in a bid to buy time.

Where did she go? Is she okay? Is she going to call me or just run?

The last thought made his heart crack. He could not stand the idea that she might not, that she might decide to cut her losses and just keep going.

She had to contact him. She had to. He needed her in his life and in the band—and in his bed and heart.

Shaken at the emotions spiraling all through him, Drake swung a leg over his bike then paused. “You think there’s any truth to the muties rising?”

Morgan sighed. “God, that’s one thing I hope to never see, but for real? Yeah, if it was serious enough for him to come here to talk about it, then I think it’s a real issue.”

Morgan’s eyes met Drake’s squarely. Drake could not tell what Morgan was thinking.

“You do know he isn’t wrong about Magda, or Joaquin, or them wanting his territory,” Drake said.

Morgan sighed. “You know what, Drake? You been away too long. We ride, and you ride with us today and tonight. Then you talk to me about that question you just asked.”

 

CHAPTER 9:

Angelina parked her car away from the usual entrance into the park. The lot was on the cliff’s side where the most serious hikers went so the lot was higher up, and it was far less visible. It was also deserted.

At least I only took a few things into his house and hiding the car was brilliant, and now—bonus—I have all my stuff with me.

Even the guitar, which was now in the case Pete had given her a few nights ago, when he had realized that she didn’t have one for the instrument.

She had a tent, a bunch of food and water, and other supplies. She needed time, and she needed to think. The car was not likely to get her caught. Even if someone scented her out at Drake’s, they were highly unlikely to be able to follow the scent of her car, unless they just happened to come to the trails in the sprawling and vast park.

The trails were steep, and she was tired. The equipment was heavy, and she had to make two trips to get it all where she wanted it.

She’d tossed her phone out earlier. Joaquin was no dummy, and why he had not already tracked the phone was anyone’s guess, but she knew if he had not thought of it yet, he would soon.

She had a new burner phone and the only number in it was Drake’s. The campsite she had picked out was off the beaten track, it was high on a small mesa, and she could see the city from there. Tears ran down her face as she gazed down at the teeming metropolis below.

How can I miss him so much when I barely know him? How can I want his so much when he is a bear and I am a wolf? How can I be so heartbroken over him when I didn’t even know that I love him?

I love him.

Oh.

My.

God.

She did love him. There was no rhyme or reason to it, but she loved him. She loved the way he rode that bike and the way he played guitar. She loved the way he was capable of putting all his emotions into a song and those same emotions from her when she sang those songs that he wrote.

She loved him.

Hoping to ease her heart, Angelina stood and began to walk, looking for Mario.

**

She didn’t find Mario that night or the next day. She sat at her little camp, drinking a bottle of water and staring at her cell phone. The sun was high, so she was in the tent, hoping to avoid the worst of the heat and the scorpions running around on the washed-out trails.

Where was Drake? Was he okay? Had he been found out? Had he forgotten all about her?

A low whine caught her ear and she listened, a smile lifting her mouth and her mood as she recognized Mario’s tone and smell.

She climbed out of the tent and stood, looking down at Mario. “Hey, you. How’s your mate?”

He lifted his head, and she followed the thrust of his snout. The she-wolf was nearby. She was standing fully on her foot, so she was healing. Mario barked once, and the she-wolf turned, heading down the steep ravine, obviously on the hunt for food.

Angelina said, “I got some food if you want it.”

Mario looked away, a clear no. Even through the heavy hiking shoes the heat of the ground was apparent. Angelina shifted her weight. “I’m scared, Mario.”

His eyes came back to hers and before she could stop herself, she poured out the whole story, of Drake and the band and how much she loved it and him, how she wanted to be his mate even though he was a bear and how lonely she was without him. How impossible it all seemed, and how frightened she was that Joaquin would run unchecked if she did not do something and soon, but how afraid she felt at the thought of standing against him.

Angelina collapsed into the small camp chair, staring at the remnants of the fire. “I don’t know what to do.”

Mario whined. She looked over at him, her mouth opening to speak. Instead, her jaw hung loose and slack and her eyes widened until her eyes were in real danger of bulging right out of her face.

“You…” she said, her voice choked and strangled. “You… you can shift.”

Mario grabbed a bush and held it in front of his crotch. Her eyes fastened on his face. He was handsome, swarthy and sharp-featured. Tall and broad, too. “Why? I mean how? I… what the literal fuck?”

“I chose.” His words were slurry and badly formed. It was obvious talking was not easy for him. “Long time ago. I remember. You don’t. I saw him kill our mother. She was like…” He made a sound, a short little howl followed by a click in his throat. His mate’s name, she realized.

Angelina grabbed the first thought that came into her head. “We knew Mom was wild and he had to escape the zoo. He couldn’t take her with him—and if he had, she wouldn’t have survived out here. She couldn’t shift.”

“Killed her.”

He’s confused. Or he doesn’t know what words he’s using. “No. Mario, that’s not the right word.”

“Yes.” He nodded. “I know. I saw. He wanted pups, not her.”

No. He had to be wrong! “Mario…”

“Saw it. Knew he did it because of us. Shifters.”

No. No Dad would never… Her throat went tight. “Mario, why don’t you shift? I mean, why… why choose…”

“Better for me. Like better. I’m wolf. Not human.”

He was human. Tears sent crystallized rainbows dancing into the field of her vision.

“You want bear, choose. You want no… Joaquin’s…” Mario’s brow wrinkled. “Nobody cares what they say when I’m near. They don’t think I understand. I hear, and understand. Sam’s with the muties. He’s going to try to take the pack from Joaquin with muties. Joaquin’s with bears and…”

“Stop. Wait. What? Muties?”

“I go now. Have to. She’s mine, abut only wolf mine,” Mario said.

Angelina heard a rattle of rock nearby. The she-wolf Mario had mated to was returning.

“Mario, are you sure about Sam?”

“If you had kids, he would kill them for Alpha spot. Says muties make him Alpha.”

Your pack. Not ours. “Sam’s betraying Joaquin?”

“Joaquin wants war. Says it will end tigers and bears but not wolves. Says many muties die. Then easier to take over. But Sam’s playing both sides. He’s weak, weaker even than Joaquin. Wanted to be Alpha. Sam said Dad made sure he’d never be. Pissed off.” He touched her shoulder lightly. “Goodbye. Don’t come here again. Too dangerous. The mate wants… not like us. Not… she sees food and weakness now when you come.”

The she-wolf wants to kill and eat me! And after I saved her paw too, the ungrateful bitch!

She whispered, “Don’t go.”

“I did already. I chose. You choose. Be… you.”

Then he shifted and raced away from the campsite. Angelina heard the yips of greeting between him and his mate. She collapsed, putting her head in her hands. What was happening? Mario could shift?

Could—and chose not to.

Because he didn’t want that life. He wanted a different life. He wanted a wild life, one he got to live the way he chose. He’d always been prone to vanishing and skulking through the neighborhood and she knew now that what he had really been doing, for years, was searching for a place he could be—and for a mate that would accept him.

The she-wolf obviously knew he was different. What was more, she was older, past the age of bearing litters. So, he would not have to worry about that, and she was an exile, too, for her strangely colored coat and her smaller size. They were both outsiders who had made something special.

Like what she could have with Drake, if she just decided to.

Chose to.

Angelina stood and reached for her phone again, her fingers hitting the screen.

 

CHAPTER 10:

Where is she? Drake stopped on the trail. Sweat ran down his face in rivulets and he checked the time on his phone, groaning when he saw that the signal was gone again.

He’d thought she would come up here but maybe he had been wrong, or he was in the wrong spot.

Or maybe she’s gone, totally. Maybe she ran to New York or somewhere else, somewhere she can sing and just live and be free.

A hawk soared overhead, its distinctive cry drawing his attention. The few days of freedom that they’d had, the too few days and nights of music and love, had reinforced his knowledge that he wanted more than just to be left out of the politics of the pack; he wanted a life beyond the pack.

But there was the rub. Being with Angelina meant he would have to get involved with those politics. Being with her meant defending her and not just from Joaquin, but from both their kinds. Morgan didn’t seem to care one way or another—but Magda would and unfortunately Morgan had yet to find his real footing.

He’s going to have to kill her one day. Or I am going to have to, just to set him free of her influence. The hell of it is that Morgan’s not a coward—he just can’t seem to shake her off. Magda’s always been good at making people feel like she is frail and afraid and then using their wanting to protect her against them.

He headed back the way he had come, his mind still wrestling with all the information. If he wanted to be with Angelina, and he did, then he was going to have to figure out a way to do it. That might mean leaving LA, striking out for a place where they weren’t known.

But anywhere they went, shifters would know them, and know they were unalike. Anywhere they went, they would have to fight to survive. There were plenty of places in LA not held by the shifters but many of them were held by other kinds: vamps and fey and so on. There was only one territory where no others were—and that was Beverly Hills, which had too many wards and other shit in place for a shifter to go unnoticed.

A scorpion scuttled over one of his boots. Drake shook it off, sending it flying off into the shifting sand. Goddammit! Where was Angelina and how long was he going to keep going around and around on these damn trails in the hopes of finding her?

He’d spent the last few days and nights taking care of business with his club. That meant running drugs and overseeing a few shipments headed out to East LA and to Joaquin, who was as angry as Patel had claimed, and still insisting that it was a mutie he had scented that day.

Magda had championed a war with the muties, much to Morgan’s dismay. Drake wanted to believe that Morgan would stand against slaughter but he also knew that if Morgan did he would be fighting off not just Magda and the humans at her beck and call but his own pack—and Joaquin’s.

I can’t do that to him.

No, he couldn’t. He also couldn’t stand the idea of Angelina going back to Joaquin. Or being without her.

He should leave it alone. On her own, she stood a chance.

She could get somewhere she could blend in and not be noticed. He knew there were smaller cities, like Austin, with crazy good music scenes. Angelina belonged somewhere like that, in a place where she could have a life that was solely hers and nobody else’s. If she went alone, a lone shifter with no allegiances and posing no threat, she’d be accepted if not tolerated.

His phone rang. He didn’t recognize the number, and he was tempted to ignore it. He decided at the last minute to answer and as soon as he did, his heart swelled with both joy and worry.

“Drake?” Angelina said softly.

“I’m here.” He stopped and stood there, his eyes closing and his heart filling. “No matter what, I’m here.”

CHAPTER 11:

Drake ditched the bike in a parking garage on the fringes of Hollywood. Angelina parked in a space not far from his and they stood there, looking at each other. Her face was wan and pale, and dirty, too. He had hugged her earlier but he did again. Her whole body shook as she leaned into him and whispered, “Drake, I’m scared.”

“I know.” Me, too. I’m scared I’m going to get you killed. “We have to move and fast. There’s muties around, and… and we need to avoid them as long as possible.”

“Why?”

He didn’t want to tell her just yet. She was shocked and scared and at the end of her strength, too. Being alone in the mountains had hit her hard, and he had a feeling there was more to it than even that.

“I just don’t want anyone who might think to tell Joaquin where you are to spot us.” He gave her what he hoped was a reassuring smile and took her hand. The only thing she took out of the car was the guitar, which he carried, and a small bag of clothes.

She tucked the keys into her pocket and they set off, walking down the sidewalk hastily. There was a sprawling motel not far and Drake said, “That’s where we are headed. It’s not fancy, but I think it might be clean. No promises, though.”

She chuckled. “I don’t really care right now. I just want some food, a shower and a bed.”

He wanted a bed, too, with her in it. His steps quickened, and they stepped into a musty and faded lobby where he paid cash and didn’t have to tender an ID, a good thing, but not a good sign.

The room was equally musty. The curtains had moth holes and the comforter and carpet smelled like stale cigarette smoke. The bathroom was reasonably clean however and as much as he wanted to join her in there, Drake had a feeling Angelina needed a minute alone. He called for pizza and sat down on the bed, his teeth worrying his bottom lip.

He’d left his phone on his bike, in a saddlebag. Safer that way. It also cut him off from any communication with anyone who might be able to help them.

Not that he had any idea of who might be willing to aid him in running away with a wolf shifter, and one promised to the Alpha of the pack.

Angelina came out of the bathroom and all of his thoughts vanished like dust. She held a towel, thin and threadbare, up over her breasts, but it did nothing to hide her lush and gorgeous body.

Her thick black hair hung in a wet sheet. Little beads of water ran off the strands, forming little wet trails that slid down the pert slope of her breasts and fired up his lust to an unimaginable height.

“Come here,” he said, and she came, dropping the towel as she did so. The sight of her tits, with the nipples already hardened and thrusting upward, the gleam of her skin, and the smile on her face as she sauntered into the bed, nearly did him in.

He undressed so fast he nearly tore his shirt and then he moved on top of her. His hands roamed her body and his tongue followed. He needed her too much to be slow or subtle. It had taken a toll on him, being separated from her, and he wanted her so badly he could scarcely breathe.

Her skin was smooth and tight, and he let his mouth find the flesh between her legs, his tongue going into her body to taste the fluids gathered there at the entrance to her snug sheath. Her fingers grabbed at his hair, and he let her hold on as he licked her clit, not bothering to go slow, driving her to an orgasm as fast as he could, because he knew the minute he started to fuck her he was going to erupt. His cock, swollen and throbbing, was ready and he wanted to be inside her tight depths more than he had ever wanted anything in his entire life.

Salty-sweet fluids spilled over his tongue, coated his chin. Drake moved upward and entered her all in one long smooth motion. His ass clenched as he plunged into her and withdrew, too eager to wait. The feel of her pussy pulsing around him as she rode the aftershocks of her orgasm was a pleasurable thing all in itself and he stayed inside her for a moment, grinding his hips hard before pulling out and entering her again.

Her legs wrapped around his waist, holding him there as his hips jerked and bucked and his breath got faster and faster still. His cock pounded, and he could feel his balls tightening and creeping upward as he got closer to coming.

His eyes closed. Her body writhed under his. His cock filled her wet and slippery passage and he withdrew, knowing that the next thrust would be the last one, the one that would send him over the edge.

It was. He came so hard his body shuddered and jerked. His hands gripped her shoulders tightly and she whimpered, a quick exclamation of pain that made him loosen that hold as his seed, thick and hot, poured out of his cock and splashed into her walls.

Angelina murmured, “Did you hear something?”

He did then. A tap on the door. He groaned out, “I think it’s the pizza. Fuck it. I’m staying right here.”

Angelina rolled him off her body and said, “Uh uh. Go get the food!”

 

CHAPTER 12:

Still glowing from the lovemaking, Angelina reclined on the pillows, a slice of sausage and mushroom pizza in one hand. The gooey melted cheese and thick crust was delicious, much better than the rough meals she had been making do with.

Drake was also eating, but in between bites, he was strumming chords on her guitar and singing snatches of songs to her.

Angelina finished her slice and asked, “Drake, what happens next?”

He set the guitar down. His eyes were troubled. “I don’t know. Honestly, I should let you go. I mean, you deserve a chance to be the great singer you are, but if you stay with me…”

He let the sentence dwindle off. He didn’t have to say the rest.

“I made up my mind, up there in the hills. I want you, Drake, and well…” She paused. “You know shifters have babies faster?”

He nodded. “Yeah, biologically speaking, sure. Why?”

“Because we’re having one.”

His mouth dropped open. “What?”

Well, at least he didn’t run as soon as the words were out. “I’m pregnant.”

Drake dropped the pizza. It hit the sheets, leaving a stain. Not that she figured that would matter that much. The sheets were pretty dingy anyway.

“You… you… I thought two different species… I… you see, I couldn’t… You know, that is why I was not named Alpha.”

“I know. I don’t know what happened.” Oh no. Was he doubting he was the father? It was possible. How could she blame him if he did? They were different and there had never been a child born of two species of shifter, as far as she knew. It was supposed to be genetically impossible and he had been denied the Alpha spot for his inability to produce kids.

“Wait. How did they know you couldn’t?” she asked.

He gave her a wary glance. “It’s not like I was a virgin when I met you.”

“I know that. But did you try to have kids?”

He shrugged. “Well, in my pack, monogamy isn’t exactly a thing. I mean, I had a few who were in heat and they never got pregnant so, well, it was just assumed.”

“But Morgan could have kids?”

Drake’s face darkened. “He had a mate he wanted to be with for life, but she died.”

“Oh.” There was something there, and she did not want to know what it was. It was personal and it was none of her business until he decided, if he decided, to make it her business.

Drake burst into laughter. “I guess I proved them all wrong, didn’t I?”

I’m going to have a heart attack. I am. Does this mean he’s okay with this?

Am I okay with this?

Drake paused. “Angelina, you do know we can’t… I mean, how will we know what it will shift as?”

She lifted her shoulders and dropped them. “I don’t know,” she admitted. Her chest gave off a powerful ache. “What if it’s something that is both wolf and bear? Is that even possible?”

“I guess we’ll see.”

“That sounds pretty nonchalant.”

He shrugged. “I guess. I just don’t know what to say to that one. I’ve never heard of it happening. If it has, nobody’s talking about it.”

He had a point. That didn’t halt the worry growing in her being. “I’m afraid that something will… that our child will be something they try to kill. They exile muties, you know. They send mutie kids away as soon as they know for sure they can’t shift at will, and I don’t know where they’d send a child like ours, but I know one thing.” Her hand curled protectively around her belly. Her fingertips grazed the still flat flesh there and her eyes lifted to his. “They’ll take my child over my dead body.”

Drake’s eyes glowed. His face wore an intent expression. “Our dead bodies,” he corrected her. “No way am I letting them take our child.”

Her breath caught and held. He meant it. They were in this together, and he would stand with her and for their baby. Her voice was husky as she said, “Maybe we better run. I don’t know where. There has to be somewhere we could go.”

“I thought that, too, at first, but we can’t now. You have to know that, Angelina. We can’t run forever, and we can’t hide forever.”

No, they couldn’t. Their child would be something so different he or she would be bound to draw attention unless they hid that baby away from everyone and even if they succeeded in hiding the child from shifters, humans would sense the difference, just like some humans sensed the difference in her, and Drake.

“Then what do we do?”

His teeth gnawed at his bottom lip. “I didn’t want to talk about this tonight, but we have to. Joaquin’s started a war with the muties. He claims you are with a bear mutie and now the muties, outraged and being accused and having the wolf pack riding through their territory, are rebelling.”

Oh, my God! Her mouth hung open. Stunned and infuriated, and very frightened now, she said, “He thought you were a mutie?”

Drake shook his head. “No. I don’t believe that he did. Patel…”

“The tiger?”

“The same. He came into bear territory. He thinks Joaquin is deliberately stirring the pot so we have to fight the muties. Then, when the smoke clears, all the territory belonging to the tigers would be up for grabs.”

“The tigers were the ones who created mutie laws.” Angelina’s brow furrowed. “And they have the smallest pack. Their numbers have dwindled over the years—from what I hear, they barely have four or five dozen shifters in their ranks now.”

“That’s about right. Wolves, on the other hand, number in the hundreds in your pack alone and there’s wolf packs all over LA. There’s been peace for the most part, and all that, and if they had to band together for a common enemy, that would only reinforce their one-ness.”

“Joaquin has the biggest and strongest pack. The other packs are small, a dozen or so here and there. If they all banded together under Joaquin, he’d run the largest shifter pack in the city.” A vertical slash appeared between her eyes. “What about the bears?”

“We number in the hundreds, and we have an army of humans—criminals and psychopaths, for the most part. If they don’t know about the shifter thing, they will, and what’s more, they won’t care. Not if there’s blood, money, and territory up for grabs.”

“The tigers’ territory.”

“Exactly. It’s the one territory that’s run on legit money, and Magda wants it so she can launder the very large amounts of money we bring in. She’s using Joaquin, grooming him for this, if you want the truth.”

Her breath hissed in and out of her lungs. “She’ll kill him.”

“I’m sure.” Drake laid a hand on her shoulder. “She’s likely already got a replacement for him all lined up, too. Probably a wolf with ambition and not a lot of power, one she can manipulate.”

She had to tell him about Mario. She took a deep breath yet again. “My brother, Mario…”

“The non-shifter.”

A small laugh escaped her mouth. “That’s what we always thought. He can shift. He did shift when he came to see me up there. He told me that Sam’s working with the muties.”

“Then he’s Magda’s pigeon. She’s playing on both sides. She’s likely sent him in there to make a deal of some kind.”

Confusion surfaced. She leaned closer to him. The point of one of her shoulders met his, bringing warmth to her body, but it was not enough to dispel the chill creeping across her. “Why would she do that?”

“Because the muties are an army. If she controls them, she could control everything. The entire city.”

Her shoulder slumped. “She’s going to get Sam killed.”

“I know.”

“Why?” She got out of bed. “What is it about power that some have to have it? Would do anything for it?”

“I don’t know, but I only see one way for this to play out, Angelina. I want a life with you. I want our child safe, if not totally accepted. There’s only one way to do that.”

“I don’t understand.”

“I can’t kill Morgan. I can’t. First of all, he may be the strongest ally that we have, not just against the muties either, but against Magda.”

Okay. I get that. I just don’t get the rest of what he is trying to say here. “You’re going to have to break it down to me, Drake.”

He’d set the guitar aside earlier and now he clambered out of the bed carefully so as not to harm the delicate instrument. “There’s only one way to put an end to this that I can see. We have to take over Joaquin’s pack.”

Shock rippled through her. She swayed on her feet. “You can’t kill him, Drake. That would mean war.”

His eyes were steady. “I know I can’t.”

Her! He meant she had to kill Joaquin! Distrust raised its ugly head. How did she know that this, any of this, was not some elaborate plot cooked up by the bear pack? How did she know she could trust Drake?

Her heart spoke then. She did trust him. She did. She trusted him and she loved him and the child growing in her belly would need the protection only an Alpha could give. Morgan, as Alpha of the bear pack, could give that on Drake’s side, which was why Drake could not kill him—that and the pack would never accept Drake, even if their theory that he could not bear children had just been proven wrong.

I just said I would kill for my child. I meant that. Now I have to actually do it. There are no other options. She nodded her head. “That won’t solve the issue with the muties though. If they’re already spoiling for a fight, they will come anyway.”

“Magda has them whipped up with this. I don’t have any doubt she told Joaquin to say it was a mutie. I also have no doubt that she might have an idea, a damn good one, that it was me.”

Pain lanced through her. Drake was a pawn in a game his mother was playing, and he knew it. He was a powerful man and a powerful shifter and… and maybe Magda had deliberately set him aside for just that reason. Morgan was likely easier for her to control, and it would have been easy enough to level an accusation of sterility onto Drake and displace him.

She asked, “When?”

“I’d say tomorrow. We both need rest, and we need a plan. We need help, too.”

“Is there anyone we can trust?”

His face showed how conflicted he was. There were shadows in his eyes and his lips compressed into flat lines. “I want to say yes, but I think the best thing to say is that there might be a few who want the same things we want, and hope they are willing to work with us on that goal.”

“I’m with you,” she said softly. “No matter how this pans out.”

Drake swept her back into his arms. The steady thud of his heartbeat rang out in her ear. “And I’m with you.”

 

CHAPTER 13:

Morgan gawked at the two of them and at Patel and the woman with him. Drake studied Morgan’s face; seeing the strain on it caused an ache in his gut but there was not much he could do about it just then.

“You want our approval to battle your Alpha?” the woman asked.

Angelina nodded. “You know it’s an old law. It was redacted because of the infighting in the packs but… but we need to use it now.”

The woman, a beautiful creature with honey-colored skin and dark eyes and hair, leaned forward. Her scarlet dress floated around her slender body, giving her the impression of fragility but Angelina was not fooled. Aya was one of the most powerful shifters in LA, and maybe even the country. She was tiger, and it showed in the lithe and supple way she moved and her restlessness as she prowled along the room. “We’d be putting ourselves at risk for that. We will already bear the brunt of the muties wrath, and now you want us to bear the brunt of the wolf pack’s wrath as well.”

“My daughter is correct in that. We’d be opening ourselves to more retribution. You,” Patel pointed a finger at Morgan, “can afford it. Magda may even forgive you for it, since she can always deny she had any part in any of this, but us? We’d be overridden, and we have no guarantees that either pack, wolf or bear, would stand with us.”

Morgan shook his head. “I don’t want to believe that Magda had any part of this but… I can see it. I know what she is, and I also know she can’t be allowed to continue. That’s a matter for another day. You have my word there will be no retribution from my pack.”

Drake held his breath. The meaning of those words was clear enough. Morgan would have to either kill or depose their mother. There was no other way and the tension in Morgan’s face and body told Drake just how seriously he took what he had just said—and how much it hurt him to say so.

“I will kill him,” Angelina vowed. “Joaquin’s no fighter. He’s Alpha by blood and heritage, but he’s weak. He’s a bully. He will fight but only those he thinks are too weak to fight back. He won’t live, that I can attest to.”

Aya glared at her. “If you fail?”

“Then I will kill him.” Drake knew the words would bring shock. “I’m not asking for forgiveness in that either. With Joaquin dead, I’ll be the target for the wolves. I know that, but the only way Angelina’s going to fail is if Joaquin kills her, which I won’t let happen. Either way, he will die.”

“We can’t protect you if you kill him,“ Morgan pointed out. “Even if she lives and he dies, if you are the one who kills him, she may not become Alpha. Heritage aside, a battle like the one you are asking for means the Alpha’s place is up for grabs. Any wolf who’d challenge would be right there. You might have the bloodiest battle of all time on your hands, and you both stand a good chance of dying anyway.”

“The wolves who are against Joaquin would settle up, I think.” Angelina paused. “Not all the pack wanted to see things go in that direction. They were forced to it for the most part, because we follow our Alpha. There’s only one other who’d challenge and I plan to deal with him, too.”

Drake knew now was the time to press the point. The muties were gathering and making no secret of it if Patel was to be believed. Given the very real fear the old man was showing at that moment, Drake did believe him.

Magda had to be stopped. He had a baby and a woman to protect, and he would do whatever it took.

Patel said, “Aya, you will be the one to lead the tiger pack. This has to be your decision now.”

Drake looked at Aya and then at Morgan. Morgan stared at Aya, his eyes clinging to her stunning face with what could only be described as a real longing.

Drake blinked. I’ll be a sonofabitch. No wonder he shrugged off me and Angelina so easily! He’s hot for Aya, even if he would never admit it, not even to himself.

Aya lowered her head. Her dark hair swung forward like curtains, obscuring her face. Long moments passed. Sweat broke out on Drake’s skin.

Aya lifted her head. “The law of battle is allowed, in this instance. We shall call it into law now, and here.”

Drake’s body loosened. His muscles ached from the tautness he had been holding them with. Angelina stepped forward. Her hand came out. Morgan stepped forward as well.

Their hands met. Drake watched. Once upon a time, he had truly resented being displaced as Alpha. It had hurt, and he had never admitted that before. Seeing three people standing in the center of the room: bear, wolf, and tiger, all agreeing to an unholy pact, he understood something right then.

This was the way it was supposed to be. He had never been meant to be Alpha, because sometimes nature decided and sometimes fate took over. This was fate. This was right.

 

CHAPTER 14:

Wind stroked along Angelina’s face. Under her fingers, Drake’s belly, tight with muscles, was hard and comforting. Strong vibrations rolled through her body as Drake guided the motorcycle along the streets, its single headlight picking out shapes and illuminating them.

Her body moved with his easily as he guided the bike along. That rhythm, riding with him, was as natural as making love to him.

Her thighs tightened, clinging to him in a reaction to that thought and the erotic sensations coming from the vibrating bike and the nearness of his body.

When this is done, we’ll be free. That is what I have to remember and cling to. When this is over, I’ll hold the power of Alpha and I can decree us acceptable as a couple. We can play our music and raise our child.

But first I have to kill Joaquin.

Her fingers gripped him more tightly as the bike slid to a halt at the house. The other packs would not interfere, that was the law. They’d stand to one side and let it happen and accept whoever won as the wolf pack Alpha, but they would never go so far as to help.

Drake had been formally exiled, placed outside his pack. It had to be that way, but as he climbed off the bike and held out a hand to her, Angelina found herself wondering if he was really okay with that. It had to be that way, for obvious reasons, but that meant he was never going to be able to call himself part of the bear pack again.

How would I feel if that were me?

She took his hand and slid to the ground. The wolves stood silent, waiting. Joaquin would be inside. The neighborhood hung shrouded with dark and silence. From a few blocks away came a drift of music and the muted sounds of traffic. The other wolves would be out, keeping any humans who might decide to stroll past away from the streets held by the shifters. There’d be blood tonight and an entire neighborhood hung in the balance, even if the humans out there did not know it.

She moved along the sidewalk and into the yard. Drake followed silently. She heard a few warning growls and a small yip, but otherwise the wolves were silent.

Her hand met the door. The knob, slick and oily, turned in her sweating palm. The large main room was filled with wolves. The smell, musky and rank, of so many shifters in one space hit her nose. Her feet halted. Her head turned slowly as she sought out familiar faces, hoping to find an ally.

“You do know you’ve just fucked up?” Joaquin said aggressively as he approached. “Nobody challenges me and lives.”

Now that it was here, she was afraid. Of course, she was. Her head lifted higher, her chin pointing upward. “I was granted permission to battle you for Alpha. I have the right, because of birth, and because of what you have done to this territory.”

Joaquin’s lips twisted in a sneer, but he didn’t draw any closer. “I brought money in here. Look around you. You think people like living poor? You think we, as wolves, don’t deserve better?”

There were murmurs from the gathered wolves.

Joaquin continued, “And you bring a bear in here?”

“He’s exiled, and my mate.”

The disapproval was real. The cries of shock and horror and anger beat at her ears. Drake stood at her back, one hand on her shoulder, giving her strength.

She stepped forward, crowding Joaquin’s space, but he didn’t move. “What do you think we deserve, Joaquin? To bow down to the muties or to Magda? She’s used you. You’ve pissed off the humans here; most of them are grumbling whether you hear it or not. We have always taken care of them and in return, they took care of us. Now we destroy their homes and their safety with drugs and crime and rule them with money they can’t ever see or spend because you take it all—and put it right in Magda’s pockets. Do you think the humans of this territory are really going to keep helping us like that? When they are afraid and they don’t like us or this hood?”

More whispers and a few grumbles. Joaquin’s face went slick with sweat. “I have nothing but business with Magda.”

“She’s set you at war with the muties. You knew damn well Drake was no mutie. Magda’s been working you. Now all the shifters are going to have to fight the muties. The tigers will die, you know that. The muties will go after them first and then what? You get to unite the wolf packs and ride to the rescue. As Alpha of all. Is that what she promised you?”

Joaquin went pale. “How dare you?”

“How dare you send your pack, and all the packs, into war just so you can take power?”

She watched his face as he changed. He was too angry to think, and to angry to try to deny it. It’s true. It’s all true. That’s exactly what’s happening and I know it now, and so do they. Any that might have stood with him are not going to now.

Joaquin’s face contorted. He shifted, fast. She ran, shifting as she went. Her muscles gathered and her teeth burst from her gums, her muzzle opening wide as she jumped onto Joaquin’s back, her teeth sinking deep in the fur at the back of his neck.

Joaquin shook hard, and Angelina flew sideways. The air opened around her and then her back hit a wall, hard enough that all the breath left her lungs. Plaster sifted down, the rainy stuff sucking up into her nose and down her lungs as she fought for a long breath.

Coughing, sneezing, and in pain, she fought to stay in wolf form. Her body revolted. Her fur receded, leaving her flesh naked and bare, exposed. The air conditioner’s blast struck her, chilling her to the bone.

I have to win. I can’t lose. My child’s life, my life and Drake’s life are all at risk. Not only ours but all the lives of those the muties will kill for his grab at power. He’ll turn LA into a cesspool, him and Magda, and I can’t let that happen. That’s not what we stand for.

Joaquin stalked her, his stinking fur standing on end. Angelina let him come, her body moving in slow and steady paces as she circled him as well. Blood dripped from Joaquin’s muzzle; she was not sure whose it was—his or hers. There was pain in her body but she could not pinpoint the source and she couldn’t focus on that now.

None of the wolves moved to interfere. Their silence was profound. Her paws slid on the cool tile. Joaquin’s teeth flashed, his muzzle lifting to reveal his fangs. Those deadly sharp fangs that could tear her throat or soft belly out if she was not careful.

Joaquin lunged. She leaped out of the way, and his jaws snapped down on empty air. Angelina took advantage of that, sinking her teeth into his flank and yanking hard. Skin tore and veins ruptured, spilling blood down his side as he yanked away.

They rolled, their bodies thudding and teeth meeting flesh. Angelina’s claws sank deep into his belly but not deep enough. They separated.

More wolves filled the room. They stared at the battle going on and then they shifted, going human.

Drake!

He would have to fend for himself if they came at him. He could fend for himself. She had to worry about herself right then, and the precious cargo in her belly.

Joaquin clawed her. Her teeth met his muzzle, tore a chunk of flesh away. Pain slid through her nerve endings. She yelped as he tore a long strip of her flesh from her right side, just above the ribs. It didn’t stop her; she snapped her jaws down on his front leg, snarling and shaking her head as she tried her best to rip that leg right off.

His paw tore across her scalp. Long burning trails erupted on her head and she dropped his paw and backed away, dizzy and sick from the taste of blood in her mouth.

He came at her again.

Exhaustion and adrenaline flooded through her body, sending her heart beat into overdrive and making her body take on a fine trembling quiver.

Joaquin leaped high. Angelina made herself wait even though the urge to leap was strong. As he stretched out, flying toward her, Angelina dropped and slid forward, flipping over. Her claws tore his belly, ripping open his flesh and breaking ribs, piercing organs.

Joaquin hit the floor with a long scream. He shifted, cycling back and forth as agony took over.

Drake stepped forward. The other wolves did, too.

Angelina shifted. Naked, bloody, and sick, she staggered toward Drake. He opened his arms and she fell into them.

Sam shouted, “I claim the right to Alpha as a son of the second of the pack!”

“You coward,” Drake snarled, his body heading toward shift. He kept it back but his hands were paws now and the claws at the end were wickedly sharp. “You could have fought Joaquin for it, but you stood aside. Hell, I didn’t even see you here in the room until just now. Where were you hiding?”

Angelina peered at Sam. Her heart broke. She could feel it literally snapping in half right in her chest. “You cannot claim. There’s a new Alpha and the battle was for one. The law won’t allow you to fight me, but if you want to…”

“You won’t battle her. Not for Alpha. You will fight me, and for your very life.” Drake’s smile was grim, and Sam saw death written in Drake’s eyes. He backed away.

“I have the right of birth,” Sam yelled.

“You have no right,” Drake said softly.

“How dare you tell me what I have the right to, bear?”

“I’m an exile from my pack. I’m her mate. I stand with her and if you come at her I will kill you, no matter what your relationship is. You chose not to lay claim before and you don’t get to lay it now. The tigers rescinded the law but once. Fight her for it now and you fight outside the law, a law every shifter pack agreed to. If you chose to break the law, I have the right to enforce it, and I will, make no mistake.”

Joaquin screamed again. Blood bubbled out of his belly. Sam looked away and down. The others looked at everything but Joaquin.

“Is nobody going to stand with me against a bear?” Sam asked.

Silence.

Torn between loyalty to a brother who had shown her none and duty, Angelina made a decision. “Sam, you can live. I will let you—but you are not my family, not anymore. You proved that when you did not stand for me against him when he wanted to kill me. For that reason, I am exiling you. Because you interfered when he was choking me to death, I am letting you live.”

Sam gawked at her. His face, under its olive color, was white. “You can’t exile me. I won’t go. I won’t let you stand as Alpha, and not with a bear at your side.”

Sam shifted. Angelina’s body tensed. Don’t make me kill you, she begged silently. Please. I don’t want this but I will. You are going to give me no choice and I will kill you.

Sam shifted back. His eyes went to the rest of the pack, all standing silent now. “You’re going to accept a woman as Alpha, one with a bear mate?”

The wolves all nodded. Then a chorus of yeses broke out. Gratitude and hope flooded through Angelina. There were good people here, ones who wanted things to go back to the way they had been once, and she had their support now.

Angelina lifted her head. “I know who here fought back as best they could and who believed in what Joaquin offered. It’s your choice, but understand this now, I will kill anyone I have to in order to keep this hood from going back downhill. I will put it right, back to what it was before Joaquin made his bargain with Magda. If that is not for you, you can choose to walk right now. Go with Sam and make your own territory somewhere else if that’s how you want it.”

Drake added, “You should all know she’s telling the truth. The bear territory’s being overrun by muties, and Magda has zero control over them. It’s anarchy over there, and the tigers are fighting them, too. So far, this territory has held, but they’re coming for it. If you set up your own territory, if you choose exile, you’re choosing to be unprotected from the muties.”

Sam smiled, and it wasn’t a pleasant smile. “I have protection from them.”

“How can you be so blind?” Angelina asked. “They used you to try to get an in here and once you’re exiled, you’d be smart to get as far from here as possible. They don’t need you now, and they will kill you. You’re irrelevant. I did you a favor, exiling you. You have a chance. Go anywhere, but go, and stay far from the muties and from Magda, because if you don’t, you’re dead.”

It was true. Sam wouldn’t see that though. His arrogance wouldn’t let him see that, and Angelina knew it as she studied his face. He was too intent on doing what he had wanted to do from the first. He was too intent on trying to grab power, and that greedy need was going to be the death of him.

Sam asked, “Who’s with me?”

Nobody moved. Sam stared at their faces and one by one, the wolves turned away from him. Tears stung the back of Angelina’s eyelids. Her father was dead. Mario was gone, and Sam was also gone from her.

She was Alpha, and she was all alone with no family.

No, that was wrong.

Her eyes went to Drake.

He was her family now.

It shouldn’t be, but it was.

He was a bear, and she was a wolf and that was against the laws—but the laws were tumbling all over the shifting world. Since she was in charge of her pack, she got to make the rules. The first new law she would make was that they could mate as they choose and all the old arrangements would be null and void.

No female shifted should be forced to mate with a wolf she didn’t want simply because her parents made a promise that would benefit them in some way.

The second law she would create would say that no shifter was bound to the old law that said shifters could only mate with their own kind—and while she might never be able to change the minds of those who were outside her pack, in her pack, that law would hold and she would accept whatever species of shifter mated with her pack mates and members.

How could she not?

In her belly was a creature none had ever known, a shifter with a bear for a father and a wolf for a mother.

Trepidation set in. There’d be those who tried to kill her child, or children. There’d be questions of heritage and ability to lead. There was a massive war looming with the muties and a child such as hers would be all the fuel they needed—especially as the muties had been mating outside the law for a long time now with no success in birthing children who were capable of shifting at all.

What if my child cannot shift either? What if our shifter abilities somehow negate each other and they are simply human? They’d have no protection at all and where would that leave them?

“Fuck you,” Sam snarled. “If you ever want to apologize, you can do it from your knees and before the whole mutie army, which I will be riding near the head of. I can promise you that.”

He turned and stormed off. Drake lifted an eyebrow. Angelina turned to the wolves gathered there. “Make sure he takes nothing but what he needs, and that he gets past the territory lines. All those not gathered here now must be told that he’s he is a traitor. Make sure they also know that I have given him exile over death.”

They nodded. The room emptied.

Drake stood there, his magnificent body nude and shimmering. The stickiness of the blood coating her body hit her senses, and so did the rich coppery smell. The tangy, old copper scent made her throat clutch and acid float up over her teeth.

Drake caught her in his arms and held her. “You need a shower.”

“I do.”

Her voice held all her pain, and his finger tipped her head back. He stared into her eyes, his raking her face carefully. “Let’s get you in the shower.” His eyes went to Joaquin. “I’ll handle that.”

Angelina looked over. Joaquin lay there, shriveled and dead. His form had stopped in wolf and his fur was matted with clotted blood. She sighed. “Thanks. At least… say a few words, okay?”

“Sure.” He rested his hands on her shoulders, looking down into her eyes. “You do know what this means?”

“What?”

“I’m like the Alpha’s mate now.” He grinned at her.

She tried to laugh but everything hurt. She leaned into his body and closed her eyes. “I love you.”

“I love you more.” His arms pulled her in closer. His hands rested on the small of her back. ”It’s going to be all right. I swear to you it will.”

“As long as you’re with me, how could it not be?”

He kissed her, hard. His lower body pressed into her, bringing the feel of his member to her lower belly. That hard thrusting flesh ignited her passion. That she could want him even after the things that had just transpired didn’t surprise her at all.

She whispered, “You know what we’re facing, don’t you?”

“I do, but there’s nothing I can’t or won’t face with you, Angelina. You’re my mate for life, for as long as we live, and I intend to make sure we live for a very long time. I won’t let you go, and I won’t let you down. If anyone wants to come for you or our child, they’re going to have to come through me to do it.”

“I love you.” Salty tears ran into her mouth but they were tears of happiness. “I love you so very much.”

His thick cock stiffened yet again, prodding against her soft belly. Angelina backed away and took his hand. “Everything else can wait,” she said softly. “I need you now.”

Drake threw his head back and laughed. “I’ll follow you to the shower.”

Angelina’s smile was impish. “I have a better idea. I’ll race you to it.”

His eyes went dark with desire. “You have a five-second head start, but if I catch you…”

Angelina ran, knowing he would catch her, and knowing she wanted nothing more.

 

Goldie & the Two Bears

Chapter One

“I’m done with men. I just have no luck with them at all,” Goldie Dawson confided to her friend Greta over drinks at The Pavilion, a local watering hole that they frequented.

“You’re just a bit jaded for now. You’ll come around,” Greta laughed, sipping her martini and eyeing a hunky guy at a table across the room. No matter where they went, Greta was always on the lookout for someone to fill her bed. She never wanted them to hang around, never seemed to need them for more than getting laid. It was a trait that Goldie envied in some ways.

“No. I don’t think so. Maybe I’ll just become a lesbian or perhaps a nun,” she said dryly.