SWNOVELS Alpha’s Secret: Chapter 9
Grizz
The intel Declan gave me earlier leads me to an abandoned truck stop a few miles out of town. I buzz around on my motorcycle until I’m sure no one’s around, then park to sniff things out. Again, there’s nothing here but snatches of fur and the occasional feather. Someone’s moving shifters in and out of here for sure. The question is: why? Did Frangelico’s vampires all get a taste for shifter blood?
I kick around but don’t find much more. Just a crumpled piece of paper advertising a midnight auction with ‘fresh merchandise’. There’s no address, but a picture—of the old theater building I just left.
Coincidence? I think not.
I pocket the flyer. The sun’s still pretty high in the sky, but won’t be for long. I need to call Jordy. I won’t be back before dark—I have another errand to run. It’s been a few days, and I’ve found enough to report to the vampire king. Not enough for him to pronounce a sentence, but he’ll want to know about the secret vampire club, the auctions, the blood on the green room floor. He’ll be pissed if he finds it out another way.
A coyote trots by, its yellow eyes flash at me, but it doesn’t seem too nervous around me.
Overhead a hawk circles, shrieking.
Cold sweat breaks out on the back of my neck. Something tells me to get out of here.
I slow jog to my bike. Once I’m on the highway back into town, my bear relaxes.
Until I pass a familiar national park sign. I got so consumed by the hunt, I went deep into wolf territory. Not usually a problem, except I ain’t exactly the wolves’ favorite person right now.
Sure enough, when I motor by a gas station, two bikes come alive and turn onto the road after me.
As soon as I get back into a decent service area, my phone goes berserk, vibrating like it’s trying to dig a hole and escape my jean pocket. It’s annoying until I remember the only one who knows this burner number is Declan. My body goes cold. Jordy.
I pull over and yank it out. “Is Jordy all right?” I snarl.
“Grizz? Is that you?” Parker asks.
“No, it’s the fucking pope,” I bite out. My vision blurs and I have to loosen my hold on the phone before I crush it in my grip. “Where’s Jordy?”
“She’s right here,” Parker says quickly. “She’s all right.”
“Put her on.” I can’t think straight until my bear knows she’s safe.
“Grizz?” Her voice greets me, breathy and worried. “Is everything okay?”
My body unclenches. “Fine. What’s going on? Why do you sound scared? Did they hurt you?” I shake, ending on a roar.
“No, Grizz.” I relax as she sounds relieved. “I’m fine, really. The guys are great. I’m just worried about you.”
“Me? I’m fine. Nothing’s wrong.” I lie. The two bikes have stopped behind me.
“Declan says Augustine will be mad at you for taking me. He’ll hurt you.”
“It’s okay, Kit. No one’s gonna hurt me.” Damn those Stooges for scaring her.
Behind me, the two bikers haven’t moved. Their orders must be to scout and report back. I wave at them.
“Come back soon,” Jordy says.
“Soon, Kit. I got one more stop, but it’ll be after dark, okay? Be good.”
“I will. You want me to put Parker back on?”
“Yeah.” I wait until Parker says my name and order, “Take Jordy to the movies. Watch two in a row and buy her anything she wants. I’ll pay you back.” I hang up on him before he can agree.
Behind me, a distant roaring is getting closer. I turn on my bike but it’s too late. A bunch of motorcycles tear up the road behind me. In seconds my bike is surrounded. I’m hemmed in, three riders deep. They’ve all got their knuckles tattooed with the phases of the moon. Wolves.
I reach in my jacket for my flask before I remember it’s empty.
On either side of me, the riders draw aside their leather vests, showing guns.
“Bring a gun to a claw fight?” I scoff. “Not fair.”
“All’s fair in war,” the biker mutters back.
“This war?” I ask.
In front of me, Trey turns bright eyes on me. “It’s whatever you want it to be, grizzly. Our alpha wants you to come in for a little chat. We can do this easy or do it the hard way. It’s up to you.”
I rebalance my bike. Shifters all around three deep. Twelve, at least. Better odds than the cat pack, but these guys aren’t a bunch of pussies.
“Well?” Trey demands.
“What’s it gonna be?”
I look left and right, calculating.
“Oh please,” the biker to my right mutters. “Please choose the hard way.”
Fucking wolves. Always spoiling for a fight, especially when they’re in a pack. I could take them, I know I could, especially if I had the juice. But I’m all out.
“I guess I have time for a chat,” I tell Trey. I wanted to talk to Garrett, anyway.
The big wolf nods. “All right then. Ride out.”
I follow them to their pack’s headquarters, a nightclub on Congress Street called Eclipse. It’s not open to the public yet, which means the wolves can use it as their clubhouse. I park my bike with the rest of them and follow Trey inside. As my eyes adjust to the dimmer light, some wolf fuck takes a swing at me, knocking me in the ribs.
“What the hell?” I bark. I expected a meet with their pack leader, Garrett, not a fucking ambush.
Another wolf swings at me, and then another.
I punch back, defending myself, jogging in a loose circle.
They’re not serious about hurting me. I can tell because the attacks are slow, measured. One by one. It feels more like sport fighting. Roughing me up.
Fine. They can rough me up if that’s what they need to do. Piss all over me to measure the lengths of our dicks.
I catch the whiff of a scent that makes my hackles rise but I can’t see where it’s coming from because I’m too busy defending myself.
“He doesn’t look that big to me.” The stomp of heavy boots on the floor makes me turn toward the scent.
Bear.
A huge dark-haired man clomps toward me—bigger than me with a full on mountain man beard. My bear bristles because his eyes are animal-bright. Like he’s having a hard time keeping his animal under control. Like he’s half feral.
I catch a couple more fists to the ribs.
“Enough.” Garrett’s growl comes from the front door. He eyes the other bear warily and gives a single nod. “Caleb.”
“Garrett.” The bear appears equally wary.
“This is pack business.”
Caleb shrugs. “I wasn’t asking to be involved.” He gives me one more look and leaves through the same door he came in.
“They brought that crazy bear in special for you, Grizz.”
I stare after the strange bear. “The fuck?” I don’t have a clue what he’s talking about.
Garrett tips his head. “That’s who you’re fighting Friday night.”
Of course it is.
I shrug. “He got his rabies shots?”
Garrett folds his arms over his chest. “What’s going on, Grizz?”
I match his pose. “I got no beef with wolves.”
“You’re working for the leeches. You infiltrated our pack as their spy. I definitely have a beef with you.”
I stay calm, but keep my muscles loose, ready for an attack. The wolves are itching for a fight, but I know Garrett’s a reasonable guy. And I haven’t taken any steps against his pack, no matter what he thinks. “Not a spy. I never spied. I worked for both of you—that’s it.”
“What does Frangelico have on you, Grizz? What’s the big secret you’re keeping?”
I shake my head. “No secret.” It’s a lie, but my secret doesn’t concern them.
“What dirty work are you doing for the vampire king right now?”
I keep my face impassive. “You already know. Looking into the shifter disappearances.”
“And?”
I shrug. “I have a few leads.”
Garrett crosses his arms. “Which are?”
Fuck. I don’t want to share my intel with them. They will only get in my way. Still, I’m not gonna walk out of here without my body torn to pieces if I don’t give him something.
“I found the site of a shifter slave auction. I don’t know who’s behind it, yet.”
“What’s your angle?”
“That’s not relevant.”
Garrett fists my shirt and shoves me back against the closest high top table. He’s not my alpha, but I don’t fight back. Not when he’s got his entire pack here to back him up. If he needs to show a little force in front of his blood-thirsty guys, I get it. I know the wolf dynamic. “I don’t like your secrets, Grizz,” Garrett growls in a low voice. “I don’t like you playing both sides. And I sure as hell don’t like not knowing what you’re up to.”
“I’m finding the vampire responsible for the shifter slave market. And when I do, I’m gonna take care of him.”
Garrett must see the gleam of true resolve in my eye, because he studies me for a moment, then lets me go. “I want to know when you find him.”
“Not to be a dick, but I don’t work for you any more. Your wolves fired me,” I remind him. His boy Trey, the owner of Fight Club, flipped out on me a few months ago when he found out I was working for the leeches too.
Garrett punches me in the stomach. “If you want to fucking show your face around this town, you deliver when I ask you for something. Understand?”
I grunt, partly because he knocked the wind out of me and I don’t want to show it.
“What’s that?”
“Fine.”
“Good.” Garrett steps back, as if to let me pass. “I expect the same reports you’re giving Frangelico, if not better.”
His wolves press in on me from all sides, eager to get their punches in, too.
“Fine,” I repeat, not because I’m scared of Garrett or his pack, but because I need to get back to Jordy, make sure she’s all right. I don’t have time for a pissing contest with these guys.
“Let him go,” Garrett mutters and the wolves part to let me through. A couple more throw punches as I pass, but I let them fall and walk out, shaking my head.
From the back I hear the feral roar of the vicious bear.
I don’t know what the hell his story is, but I’m not afraid to fight him. If he can’t keep his animal in control, he’ll be easy to best.