Escaping Death

Solana

I wasn’t thrilled when Ace threatened me the way he did, saying he was going to deliver me back home like some rabid animal, and despite my snarling and loathsome stares over the last week, he hasn’t seen fit to make good on that threat.

In fact, outside of breakfast I haven’t seen him at all since that night seven days ago. And neither of us have slept in his room since then either. I couldn’t stand being surrounded by his scent. I couldn’t stand wanting him.

From how strong his scent was in the living room I could tell he’s been taking up residence on the couch. I, on the other hand, have been picking a bed at random every night. And every night new hands pull me close against their owner’s chest. Every night different lips are drawn to my skin, planting kisses on my cheeks, neck, and shoulders when they think I’m asleep. Every night I’ve felt Eli, Dean, or Tate inhale my scent and relax into sleep behind me.

Before the sun rose each morning I’d slip out of their warm beds and work on repairing the back deck — anything to avoid seeing Hunter and Ace prowling through the house. In a small way it made me feel like I was back in Shadowmoon, back home, working to rebuild and repair with my own hands. A labor of love.

But this isn’t love, this is just my need to be doing something at all times. Progressing. Moving. Sitting still will get you killed, settling down and being content will get you killed.

By the fourth day I had rebuilt the deck plus an extension and new wrap around benches. Despite the new cushions and cozy lounge area, I chose to watch the sunrise every morning from the roof. Hunter used to say that sunrises were more precious than sunsets because so many fewer people are ever awake to witness them.

Now I watch them in the hopes that the sun’s bleaching rays will absolve me of the dark deeds done in the night.

This past week has been less eventful than the first few days of being here. Every morning the guys trickle out and Hunter stays behind. I know Ace is doing it on purpose. He knows I want nothing to do with Hunter and I’ll go out of my way not to interact with him, so who better than Hunter to babysit me?

Today is different, though. It’s well past time for them to leave and go wherever the fuck they go, but all five of them are sitting around the coffee table deep in discussion.

Ace sits in a weathered leather armchair across from another more modern one occupied by Tate, who’s sitting hunched over looking through something on his computer. Eli and Dean sit on the couch while Hunter sits on the armrest, mindlessly twirling a knife, with his feet on the couch cushion next to Eli.

It’s useless for me to hide, Tate can see right through my veil and Ace can smell me from across the street, but I do it anyway. I press myself against the kitchen wall where I can easily see and hear the guys.

“Can we afford to move up our timeline?” Ace asks.

“We’re ready to go, but the girls we were using to get in aren’t available tonight.” Tate is the one who responds.

“I’m not missing this window over a couple of strippers.” Ace barks.

“Exotic dancers,” Tate corrects him but his devious smirk reveals that he’s just trying to provoke Ace.

After a few quiet beats Dean speaks up, “what if I brought her.”

“Her who?” Hunter asks, genuinely confused.

“The only her in this house. Solana.”

I can practically hear Ace’s teeth grinding down on one another, like the very mention of my name is acid to his senses.

“Pussy is the price of admission. Once I’m in she can stealth out and you can bring her back here. Five minutes. In and out.” Dean says confidently.

“I mean, that’s not a horrible idea.” Eli says supportively.

“And it would mean fewer loose ends,” Tate piles on.

Ace gives a resigned sigh before calling out to me. “Solana, stop hiding and come in here,” he commands me from his domestic throne.

I don’t need to pretend like I didn’t listen to every word, so instead I ask, “what’s the job?”

“That doesn’t concern you. We need you to look the part to get us in, and then you’ll walk straight back out.” Ace says with a calm exterior, but beneath the surface I know he’s boiling.

“I don’t think you’re in a position to dictate terms. I’m the one helping you out. So tell me the job or find some other pussy.”

Ace doesn’t back down from my stare, he’s willing to wait me out like I’ve seen him do countless times before. But surprisingly it’s Hunter that ends our stalemate.

“A warrior named Mitch. Rumor has it that he’s been forcing human girls to take his knot, causing them to bleed out.”

I’m so stunned by what he’s said I forget that I’m not on speaking terms with him. “How is that possible?”

I catch the eyebrow Ace lifts at Hunter before he responds, “supposedly his family is descended from a bloodline that is more beast than human, so he’s retained some of the more…wild features.”

An involuntary shiver runs through me at the thought, pebbling my nipples and leaving an ache deep in my belly. My wolf is salivating at the thought of experiencing such primal pleasure. I’ve always felt she overcompensates in a bid to outdo my dragon side, but I need her to get her thirst under control before Ace tears us to shreds over it.

***

For tonight to be successful I need to make sure that I not only look like I work there, but also that absolutely no one will recognize me — not even Death.

Eli drives us up to the front door of the club, where I shed the knee length coat I borrowed to wear over my clothes — or lack thereof.

Eli catcalls me from the front seat when he catches sight of what I’m wearing. “Fuck me, Sunshine. Did Ace get a look at you before we left?”

My devious smirk answers for me and he just shakes his head at me in amusement. I hide most of my tattoos, leaving some for good measure. I don’t want to look too innocent. I shake the brown from my hair replacing it with a deep, rich red — the color of temptation — and stain my eyes with a matching red-brown shade.

Before Eli can drive off and stop me from getting out I jump out and slam the door shut as he shouts for me to behave.

Dean and Tate’s mouths pop open like trout when they see me. I’m wearing the black stilettos Eli bought me and a strapless mini dress made entirely of black fishnet over the strappiest black bra and panties that I got from Tate.

“Ace is going to ignite when he sees her,” Dean mutters to his brother, thinking I can’t hear him.

“He’s not the only one,” Tate’s whispered words drip with lust, “at this rate I’d happily accept any punishment for breaking his orders not to touch her.”

The bouncers outside of the club usher us inside immediately while a chorus of complaints sounds from the hundred people standing in line to get in.

Once inside, Tate shadows himself immediately leaving me and Dean in the club on our own.

“Is this where you’re supposed to tell me to leave and go home with Ace?” I ask Dean bitterly, though it’s not his fault he’s tasked with sending me off.

“I’m sure Ace can forgive one drink,” he holds out his arm, waiting for me to loop mine through his before we make our way to the bar.

I down five shots while he nurses his drink, eyeing me from over the edge of his glass.

“Has Tate found your mark?” I ask, trying to draw his focus away from me and towards where my eyes track around the club.

“He’ll be in the club’s only soundproof room. His brother is the owner and turns a blind eye to what happens there.”

I know he feels my embers burning, I know he catches the way I grip the glass too tight, draining it’s contents down my throat and slamming the empty glass against the bar.

“You know… you’re the only person that I haven’t been able to read.” He studies my face like I’m suddenly going to start giving myself away. “But you don’t seem very surprised by that fact.”

I shake my head, “I’ve learned how to keep my thoughts to myself.”

“That must take an extraordinary amount of effort, hiding behind your wall, lying to everyone, even yourself.”

“I’m not hiding.” I snap. “My body and my mind are my own and I’ll do what I must to keep it that way.”

His eyes soften, but the pity that grows in them is misplaced.

“Don’t look at me like that, it’s not what you think.”

“Then tell me, give me something real.”

I scoff out a laugh, “you want real? When my mom was pregnant with my twin siblings she was held captive for five months by some rapist freak who could dreamwalk and invade people’s minds in order to fulfill whatever sick fantasy he desired. So fucking forgive me for keeping my shit to myself.”

Dean looks at me like he’s been sucker punched and the wind knocked out of him. “Sol… I didn’t —”

“It’s Shae,” I correct him. He should know better than to call me by my true name in public. “And don’t worry about it.” I shadow myself and walk away, putting enough club-goers between him and me that he won’t be able to recognize me in the crowd.

I’m tired of sitting around, I’m tired of living by someone else’s rules and commands. I’ve been on my own for years and I’ve never been caught. I need something to do, I need to hunt. Lucky for me, there’s a man here with a big target on his back.

Fuck what Ace says. I’m going after this guy myself. As far as I can tell it’s a win-win situation; I satisfy my blood lust and their job gets done. And maybe, just maybe, once Ace sees I’m not the delicate flower he thinks I am, he’ll let go of the leash he has on me.

Clubs like this one are constantly turning over employees, there’s fresh blood every week if not every night. I just need to act the part and the girls here will lead me exactly where I need to go.

I walk behind the corner bar hidden in the dark and grab a bottle of top shelf liquor and place it in the middle of a tray with several shot glasses.

“Hey,” I say to the bartender nearest me, “I don’t want to look like a complete ditz on my first day. I need to bring this to Mitch but they didn’t tell me where to go.”

The bartender scans me from head to toe, his pupils expand into a black abyss as he gets lower. His tongue flicks out to play with his lip ring before he finally answers me, “Mitch has his own private room. Take a left at the office and it’s the room at the end of that hall.”

“Thanks, you’re a lifesaver,” I coo at him beneath fluttering eyelashes. My eyes roll and my face hardens as soon as I turn my back to him. With the tray of liquor and glasses in hand, I head towards the room as the bartender instructed.

The office rests in a nook just around the corner from the bathrooms, but turning left leads me down a dark hallway with black walls lit by red LEDs.

Dean said that Mitch would be in a room that’s soundproof, but I credit my alpha blood when I pick up on muted screams and cries of agony. The smell of blood perfumes the air, getting more potent as I get closer to the door.

Two guards stand outside the door. The indifference they wear breaks down as they take in my appearance appreciatively.

“Special delivery for Mitch,” I breathe.

Their tongues lash out and sweep across their bottom lips, “the drinks? Or you?”

A large, broad, mountain of a man rips the door open from inside. He pulls sweat pants over his blood stained legs providing me a glimpse at the swollen bulb at the base of his dick. So this is Mitch.

“Clean this up and — mm, what do we have here?” His bark softens into a purr when he takes note of me standing before his guards as if I was offering up more than the drinks in my hand.

“Where would you like it, Sir?” I ask him in reference to the tray of drinks but we both know he’s focused on consuming what’s between my legs rather than what’s in the bottle.

His chest rumbles with a throaty, animalistic growl that would bring humans and weaker wolves to their knees. My wolf naturally resists his call, her alpha heritage too strong to be tamed by anyone other than her mate.

Her bratty defiance must please Mitch because a slow smile exposing his sharp, jagged teeth lifts from the corners of his mouth. “Inside. You’re mine now.”