Filed to story: Luna Lovette and Alpha Kodak Story
Fear wafted from the human, and it was clear that his snigger was forced. “You’re no threat against all of us.”
“There may be strength in numbers, but not against a shifter protecting his female. That has a way of amplifying a man’s strength. I’d tear apart anyone who tried to hurt her. And she’s not exactly an easy target-you should be aware of that before you think of cowardly targeting her rather than me.”
In spite of the situation, Shaya found herself smiling. He had never once disregarded her strength and her capability of taking care of herself, had never once treated her as anything but his equal. Even now, while she was in clear danger, he wasn’t treating her like a damsel in distress.
“Well, well, well, look what we have here.”
At the sound of Derren’s voice, Shaya’s head whipped to the right, and her brows rose in surprise. There he was, slightly outside the circle, smiling in amusement…and recording the whole thing with his smartphone.
“Eleven humans boxing in and intimidating a shifter and his girlfriend-two people who had been minding their own business. Not just humans, but human extremists.” Derren shook his head in reprimand. “What will the world think when they see this on YouTube, I wonder.”
Three things suddenly happened at once: One of the humans lunged at Derren, making a grab for the cell phone. Nick snatched Shaya’s hand and pulled her to the ground, yelling “Down!” as two bullets whizzed past. And the humans all scrambled away into the dark night. All but one, Shaya quickly realized, as she saw that Derren was not only still in possession of his phone, but he also had an extremist by the scruff of his neck.
Derren tipped his head at the human. “I’m thinking he can answer some questions for us.”
Shaya didn’t enjoy seeing anyone in pain, she really, really didn’t. But as she watched with Lovette and Kodak as Nick and Derren circled the human tied to a chair in her spare bedroom, she didn’t feel in the least bit disturbed to know he would soon be in bad shape.
For one thing, the guy-Lee-Roy was his name, according to his driver’s license-was pure evil. He’d spent the past half hour boasting about how many shifters he’d beaten up in his time and about how easy it was breaking into the salon and how much fun he’d had smashing it up. Then there was the little detail that he kept calling her a slut and condemning to hell any “spawn of the devil” she was impregnated with. And why would he be so bold? He was convinced that Nick wouldn’t hurt him for fear of repercussions. Also, he was too crazy to be smart enough to be scared.
“It’s a shame Dante’s not here,” said Lovette. The Beta’s skills as an interrogator were well known. “He could have this guy singing like a canary in no time.”
“We don’t need Dante,” Kodak told her. “A male whose mate has been threatened is a force like no other. That son of a bitch over there would have happily hurt Shaya. Nick will easily have him talking. And he won’t let him live long, either.”
As Derren studied the gun he held in his hand that he’d found in Lee-Roy’s pocket, the human smiled evilly. “If you’re thinking that watching you play with it will make me nervous, you’re wrong. You won’t kill me.”
Nick cocked his head at him. “Why would we use your gun when we have these?” The human jerked in surprise as Nick’s claws shot out. He barely refrained from slitting the man’s throat right then and there. The need for information was the only thing that had kept the human alive to that point.
Still, Lee-Roy shook his head, repeating, “You won’t kill me.”
Nick crouched in front of him. “I noticed the ring on your finger. Do you love your wife, Lee-Roy?”
The human’s eyes bulged. “If you hurt her-“
“That thing you’re feeling right there, that clump of emotion…Nothing comes close to it, does it? Fear, fury, and desperation all tangled together. That’s exactly what I felt when you and your friends threatened to hurt Shaya.” Nick’s face hardened, and his voice turned guttural. “So don’t think for one minute that your life means anything to me. I’ll cut your throat without a care in the fucking world, believe me.”
Lee-Roy gulped audibly. “The others will know I’m missing, and they’ll know you have me. They’ll come for me.”
Derren smiled, amused. “You really think so? I wouldn’t be too sure of that. At this moment in time, you and your friends are all very famous. Yes, that’s right. The little video of what happened earlier is on YouTube as we speak. No shifter is going to like that. Every one of your friends now has a big, fat target on their back. They’ll do the smart thing and go into hiding from shifters and the police. If your friends can’t contact you, they’ll assume it’s because you’re hiding just as they are.”
Lee-Roy was silent for a moment, but then he snickered. “My wife won’t accept that I’m gone.”
Derren tsk ed. “Not if she receives some text messages from your cell phone to say that you’ll be hiding for a while. She’s part of your group, isn’t she? She’s hardly going to go to the police and announce that you’re missing in case they link you with the incident on YouTube. In other words, Lee-Roy, it would be quite simple for you to disappear.”
“And considering my mate was shot at,” rumbled Nick, “I’d like nothing more than for you to disappear.” In fact, Nick was looking forward to it. He knew he wouldn’t regret it either.
Looking slightly nervous, Lee-Roy said, “It wasn’t me who shot at her.”
Nick snorted and got to his feet, beginning to once more circle the human. “Had you been the male who shot at Shaya, you’d be nothing more than a bad smell right now. Trust me on that. I’m curious: Were you planning to attack us before you shot us, or had the plan been to just take us out with a bullet all along?”
“Logan told us to take the guns in case you went too wild or we were disturbed.”
“And he wanted you to shoot Shaya too, right?”
“Our order was to shoot her if you didn’t react.” He jumped at Nick’s growl.
“Tell us about the game preserve,” ordered Nick.
Eyes wide, Lee-Roy gawked. After a moment, he finally spoke. “I don’t know what you’re-“
“Don’t play with me, Lee-Roy,” growled Nick. “I really don’t know how much longer I can stay calm. Answer me.”
“I don’t know where it is-we’re blindfolded the whole way there.” He sounded smug that he didn’t have the answer.
“So you’ve been there?” Derren’s question dripped with anger.
Lee-Roy smiled at Derren. “You really shouldn’t knock something until you’ve tried it. It’s surprisingly addictive. The shifters are drugged at first-something that stops them from shifting for a little while. Then they’re dumped in the middle of nowhere. When they wake up and are finally on the move, a group of us begin to hunt. Slowly at first, not letting them know we’re there. Then we amp it up. Guns, knives, whips, sledgehammers-you name it, we use it. They always beg in the end.”
New Book: Veiled Desires of the Alpha King Novel
Dayson was the alpha of the largest pack in North America. Powerful figures from other packs sought to offer gorgeous girls as potential mates for Dayson. He steadfastly rejected these advances, he was not a pawn to be manipulated. But eventually there came a mysterious girl he could hardly say No. Who was she?