CHAPTER 5
"You're a real prick, you know that?" shot out Adie as she stomped back into the house.
Despite how mad she clearly was, Hoxson couldn't help but let his eyes linger on her full, round ass while she stormed off, and how it jiggled in just the right way.
"You wanted it just as bad as I did," said Hoxson, grabbing his clothes and heading back into the house, his now flaccid cock swinging heavily back and forth between his legs.
Adie stopped in place and turned on her heels.
"So what if I did?" she said. "I knew you and I had a history, and I guess that part of me knew what might have happened if I brought you home with me."
"No one made you do it," Hoxson said.
"What was I supposed to do, just let your unconscious ass lay there on the barroom floor? And you're lucky that the staff was there to even help get your heavy self into my car."
"Thank heaven for small miracles," said Hoxson, putting his hands on his hips.
His eyes drifted down to Adie's gorgeous breasts, and a sensual smirk appeared on his face. Part of him wanted to give her another go right then and there.
The shocked expression that formed on Adie's face, however, followed by one of her arms covering her breasts and the other her pussy, made it clear that she didn't feel the same way.
"Does this mean we're still on for the plan?" asked Hoxson.
He knew that it probably wasn't the best time to ask, but he needed to know either way.
"First you fuck me, then you ask me for favors," said Adie as she stormed into her bedroom.
"Pretty sure I asked you for the favor before I fucked you," said Hoxson.
Adie's eyes narrowed into cutting little slivers, the green barely visible. Hoxson knew he was playing with fire here, and unless he wanted a vicious little fox ripping his ankle open, he'd better play it safe.
"We just let shit get the better of us," he said, calling out to Adie as she put on clothes in her bedroom. "We have a history, and we're totally attracted to each other. No sense in getting mad about it. And no sense in getting upset over spilled milk. Or spill-"
Hoxson was very close to making a joke that he knew would've had Adie shifted and on top of him and digging her razor-sharp little teeth into his face. He bit his tongue and waited for Adie to speak.
She stepped out of her bedroom wearing no pants and a skimpy white t-shirt.
"What?" she asked.
"If you don't want me to take you into that bedroom and give you another fucking, then you're wearing the wrong outfit."
Adie squealed and stomped her foot before storming back into the bedroom.
And as she changed, Hoxson caught the scent of something strange on the wind. The house's windows were open, and whatever was outside was drifting in. He furrowed his brown and concentrated on it. Dragons didn't have as developed scents of smell as wolves, for example, but they could still pick up the scent of nearby shifters.
"You smell that?" asked Hoxson, his face crinkling.
"Smell what?"
Hoxson walked toward one of the open windows of the living room and stuck his head out. He took another whiff, and sure enough, the scent was even stronger.
"Come here," he said.
Adie came out of the bedroom, this time wearing a very unflattering pair of sleeping pants and an oversized t-shirt from a local gym.
"What are you talking about?" she asked, stepping up to his side.
Now that Adie was nearby, Hoxson could smell her sent good and strong. But the other one was still there.
"What smell?"
I knew what it was.
"There are shifters around here."
Adie gave Hoxson an incredulous look.
"Well, sure," she said. "You know this is a shifter town."
"But you're out in the middle of fuckin' nowhere," he said. "You get shifters just running through the woods around your place?"
"I guess not," she said. "But why would there be shifters in the woods? What would they be doing here?"
"That's exactly what I want to know."
Hoxson took one more look out the window, scanning the surrounding woods for any sign of shifters. He took another sniff, this time detecting the musky scent of bear on the wind. His stomach tightened, and he couldn't shake the sense of danger that crept up his spine.
"I need you to stay put," he said. "Shut all the windows and lock all the doors."
"Why?" asked Adie. "What's going on?"
"Just do what I say."
With that, Hoxson climbed out the window and made a slow circle around the house. The evening sun was making its final dip behind the tree line, and stars were beginning to twinkle in the sky above. He turned around and watched as Adie shut the window behind him, her slim figure darting here and there, shutting the other windows and locking the doors as he'd asked.
Hoxson's inner dragon bristled at the potential of danger, and he trotted off to the tree line, the shadows of the trees falling all around him.
"Who's there?" he called out. "You'd better fucking show yourself."
He knew now that there was someone – or many "someones". He considered shifting right then and there, rising up into the sky, and taking a look around for any sign of invaders. But he didn't want to scare off anyone nearby. If there were shifters in the woods, he wanted to know who they were.
Then, after a few more long moments, the trees off in the distance rustled. Hoxson watched the shifting branches, making sure that it was just the wind. Then, when a branch cracked, he knew he'd found what he was looking for.
"You there!" he called out, his voice booming through the woods. "Get your ass over here!"
Of course, the person in the woods did the opposite, taking off into a run, away from Hoxson, the branches shaking wildly as he darted off. Hoxson burst into a full sprint, cutting down the distance between him and the other person as fast as he could. Hoxson's legs pumped underneath him as he ran, his inner dragon now begging to be set free to cover the woods in flame, taking care of the situation one way or another.
"Stop running, you fuck!" shouted Hoxson.
A claw then shot in front of Hoxson's face. He slammed into it at full speed, the impact knocking him off his feet. He fell ass-over-teakettle, landing hard onto the forest floor.
"What the fuck?" he shouted out.
Taking a look up, he was presented with the imposing figure of a bear, standing on its hind legs, and glaring down at him with coal-black eyes.
"Who the fuck are you?" asked Hoxson.
But the bear wasn't in the mood to talk. The beast roared and swiped down at Hoxson, who rolled out of the way in barely enough time to avoid the killing swipe.
The bear then lunged in and slammed its paws down right where Hoxson was only moments before, the impact thudding through the dirt all the way through Hoxson's bones. Moments later, Hoxson was back on his feet, his eyes narrowed hard at the bear.
"I'm gonna ask you one last time, then I'm not gonna be so nice about it," he said. "Tell me who the fuck you are, and who you're working for. And hell, tell me why the fuck you're here too."
The bear let out a fearsome roar.
"Fine," said Hoxson. "I guess if you want me to kick your ass instead, we can do it that way too."
Hoxson balled his hands into tight fists. The bear went in for another lunge, but Hoxson was too quick for him. Hoxson jumped out of the way, the bear colliding into a tree behind the both of them.
To shift or not to shift, he considered, feeling his beast beg to come out, to have the chance to carve this bear up with his razor-sharp talons. Or maybe cook him alive where he stood.
But Hoxson wanted information, and he knew he wasn't going to get any from a corpse. He had to play this one smart, to overpower the bear and get him to talk. However, before he could make a move, he heard more rusting behind him.
No fucking way, he thought.
Then, he realized that, yes, he had lost track of the first shifter that he'd been chasing through the woods. And now he was back. A bear was in front of Hoxson, and behind him.
"Two against one?" he asked. "Can't you bears handle a fair fight?"
Before he could make another smart-ass comment, the bears rushed in for the kill.
Hoxson realized that there was no way he was getting out of this mess without shifting. He leaped out of the way of the approaching bears, the two beasts stumbling as they reached the spot where Hoxson stood only a moment ago. Once Hoxson was clear of the bears, he closed his eyes and began to shift. Moments later, he stood before the bears in his ten-foot-tall dragon form, his silver scales the same shade as the moonlight now pouring in through the trees.
"Come on, you hairy fuckers," he said, his voice deep and booming, a small jet of fire shooting from his nostrils. "You want to play? Let's play."
Hoxson stood tall, his golden eyes shifting from bear to bear as he waited for one of them to make the first move. He knew that the bears would hardly be a match for him, and all it would take was one well-placed swipe of his claw to take either of them out. Maybe both.
The bears shared a look at that seemed to say that they were both unsure of what to do next. But then, before any more time could pass, the bear on the right moved in hard toward Hoxson's flank. The bear on the left let out a wail, as if warning the incoming bear.
Hoxsen flapped his wings, the gust of air staggering both of the bears. Then, he carved through the air with one of his claws, hoping to knock the right-most bear off his feet. The bear juked his large, furry body out of the way at the last moment, but Hoxson's claw hit where he wanted. Hoxson's claw thudded against the bear and knocked the beast backward.
The right-most bear stumbled back to his feet, and Hoxson hoped his move would be enough to get him to surrender. But before Hoxson could do anything else, the two bears turned their bulky bodies around and took off in the opposite direction, smashing through the branches in front of them as they fled the scene.
"Get back here, you fucking cowards!" called out Hoxson, as he buffeted his wings and raised a handful of feet into the air.
He titled his body forward and prepared to rush through the air and catch up with the fleeing bears. But before he could move an inch forward, a shrill scream cut through the air.
It was Adie.
Hoxson whipped his head around and turned his attention back to the house. He couldn't spot what was going on from this distance; all he could make out were the lights through the side windows. But he wasn't about to wait around and see what he could spot. Rising above the forest canopy, branches breaking all around him, Hoxson tore through the air back to the house. Another scream sounded, and he felt his heart pound in his chest.
He soon landed on the front lawn of the house and scanned the area for signs of trouble.
He found them right away.
A crash sounded through the house, followed by another shriek. Hoxson didn't feel up to smashing in through the roof, so he shifted back into his human form and rushed in through the front door. Inside, he found Adie huddled in the corner, a biker in human form looming over her.
"Hey, asshole!" shouted Hoxson. "You want her, you gotta go through me."
"You!" shouted the biker. "You've made a goddamn big mistake coming to this town."
A tinge of anxiety ran through Hoxson's spine as he realized that he'd been marked. The bears in the woods had only likely gotten a clear sight of him in human form, but this biker now had him dead to rights. If he was able to make it back to whoever he worked for with a description, then Hoxson could kiss his recon op goodbye.
"And you've made a goddamn big mistake threatening her."
The man growled, his eyes shifting into bear form as he started toward Hoxson. With a sudden leap, he cut the distance between the two of them and flew straight at Hoxson.
The fight was quick and brutal. The biker had the upper hand at first, but Hoxson soon overpowered him. After some struggling, Hoxson managed to lift the nearby coffee table and bring it down hard on the biker's back. The wood shattered to pieces and just before the biker was poised to bring down his fists hard, Hoxson managed to grab a stray piece of wood and shove the broken end deep into the biker's chest. He let out a gasp of air and collapsed at Hoxson's side.
It was over.
"You okay?" asked Hoxson as he stood over Adie, reaching down and lifting her up.
"I…think so," she said, clearly shaken by what had just happened.
"Is he…" asked Adie, looking down at the body of the biker.
"He is," said Hoxson, "and there were more in the woods. And that means we gotta get the hell out of here as fast as possible."
"Are you serious?" asked Adie, her eyes going wide with fear. "And go where?"
"I got a place downtown," said Hoxson. "We can stay there."
"Leave?" asked Adie. "We don't have any idea what the hell is going on!"
"We have enough of an idea," said Hoxson. "Whoever sent these assholes got word that some new shifter was in town and wanted to find out just who he was. And that means someone in this town, someone who's got these bikers on their payroll, is keeping a close eye on things. So, I've gotta keep a low profile, and you've gotta stay with me so I can keep you safe."
"B-"
"No ‘buts'," said Hoxson. "I'm keeping you safe, and that's all there is to it. Now, time to go."