The Falcon Ridge Series Book 3 If Looks Could Kill

(Chapter song ‘Kickstart My Heart’ by Motley Crue)

LUKE

Did anyone get the license plate?

Everything fucking hurts.

I crack an eye and shield it with my arm as light hits my throbbing head. It's dawn and the streets rolled up hours ago.

Apparently, a bleeding man in the street doesn't even warrant a stick poke, never mind a fucking ambulance.

A pain filled groan leaves my throat as I roll into a sit.

I pat myself down looking for wallet and keys then touch the side of my face.

"Ahh..." I wince as my shattered cheek delves out a huge spike of pain to my pounding head.

I can't see out of one eye and I know I'm covered in blood. I also feel like I have at least three bruised ribs.

The icing on the cake, a wicked hangover. I barely remember how I got here. The only thing I clearly remember is green eyes.

I roll over onto my knees and slowly stand, groaning the whole way.

The sun is cresting the tops of the four-story buildings in the downtown core. It’s rays burn my eye. I lift my hand to shield my face and step out onto the sidewalk to look for my bike. A few cars back, I see it. I walked right by it.

Holding my ribs, I stumble to it thinking, this is the last time I'm being a Good Samaritan.

As I get to my bike and pull out my keys, I look up to the alley.

I chew my cheek and my mind wonders what if it was someone other than me? What if it wasn’t even a dude? I couldn’t care less if it was me. I can chalk it up to lesson learned, but the growing concern I have in my gut is what if it was a woman or a kid laying there all night in the street. It’s clear these people couldn’t give a damn about their Alpha son. Why give a damn about a kid?

I carefully lift my leg over the seat while still holding my ribs. I start the engine and my brain explodes. I grind my teeth as I rev the throttle and push off. I need to get home and pass out properly. I also need to get those green eyes out of my brain.

Twenty minutes and three upchucks later, I practically crawl into the pack house or at least, I wanted to.

I walk into the foyer and carefully shrug off my jacket. I reach for the hook to hang it up, miss and my jacket hits the floor. I look down at it, wave it off and stumble to the common room.

"Holy shit! What the fuck happened to you?" Bobby says as he steps down the stairs just off the front door.

I wince at his words, kick off my boots and head for the kitchen.

Bobby is hot on my ass as I limp through the dining room.

“Luke?”

I wince again because his voice feels like a knife being shoved into my ear.

When hit the kitchen, I beeline it to the fridge. I rummage through the freezers as the staff, cooking breakfast, look at me with judging eyes. The smells in here make my stomach flip and I try to not empty it for a forth time.

“Luke!” Bobby says as he stands at the side of the fridge.

I pull out a bag of peas and throw it on my swollen eye. I close the freezer door and lean on it as I glare at the staff. "What are you looking at?" I growl.

They quickly avert their eyes and go back to cooking.

I rub my sore ribs as I close my eye and absorb the cool feeling from the frozen bag.

In the dark of my eyes, I run the night through my head. Everything after saying fuck you to my friends and finding the fight in the alley is a complete blank except those damn eyes. I’ve never seen green eyes like that. They were dark like emeralds and so fucking hot. I don’t get it.

Bobby stands in front of me. "Luke, what the fuck?"

I place a hand on his chest, push him back and continue to ignore him. I head back to the common room, sink into a couch and hang my head on the back. I take a deep, cleansing breath as I close my eye and beg for my healing to work faster.

"Dude?"

My prayers are interrupted by Bobby's insistence on being a nosy fuck and he's getting frustrating now.

I groan without opening my eye. "What, Bobby."

I feel his weight sit down beside me. "What happened?"

I open my good eye a little and sneer at him. "I went flower picking. What the fuck does it look like?"

He looks me over. "It looks like you got your ass kicked."

"Who got their ass kicked?”

I groan more as I hear Gavin approach from behind the couch.

“Damn, bro. What the hell?" I open my eye to see him cringe at the sight of me. He crosses his arms and gives me a once over. "Please tell me the other guy looked worse."

I raise my head and take the bag off my swollen eye. "I don't remember. I had a fist in my face the whole time."

Bobby leans on his knees. "Were you mugged?"

I had to think about this because one, I'm not clear on the details and two, I don't know if I really want these guys to know them. "Yeah, something like that."

I put the bag back on my eye. I'm filthy, I need a shower and get my broken ass some sleep.

Whoever that was, kicked my ass good. Not that it was hard. I had a whole liquor store in my gut, but I didn’t fail to notice the fighting skills were at least matched with mine when I’m sober.

Obviously, they were holding back. I know I would, but my drunken state didn’t stop them from punishing me into the pavement. The question is why? I know I tried to stop something and it pissed this person off.

All I know is, if it wasn't for those eyes, I probably wouldn't have been so willing to take the hits that I did.

"Luke, you should see the doc. You don't look so good." Gavin advises.

I throw the bag on the coffee table and stand, absorbing the pain as I do. "Nope, I just need a shower and sleep. Good night." I brace myself on Bobby’s head, push off him and step over his legs.

I cross the floor to the stairs and think how great it will feel to just lay the fuck down.

Once in my room, I close the door and limp to my bathroom. I turn the shower on and carefully take off my t shirt.

The right side of my ribs are black and blue. "Fuck me." I wince as I touch them.

I turn to the mirror and inspect my blood covered face. My eye is black, cheek swollen and blood is dried all over my cheeks, lips and chin.

I step into the shower and lean my hands on the wall allowing the falling stream of cool water to fall down my shoulders and back.

I’ve been running hot since it happened and the water is doing little to cool me down. Most likely because I want to hunt the fucker down and give back the change their owed.

I don’t like being humiliated and having a Unit soldier on the ground passed out is one hell of a humiliation.

I watch as my blood flows down the drain. I hang my pounding head in the water as the glowing green eyes stare at me in the black of my closed eyes. I wanted to forget them, but the more I think on it, the more I want to find them.

California can wait.

After I'm clean and patched up, I crawl into bed, flop on my stomach, let out a massive sigh and pass out.

****

I'm sure you're well aware by now, that the best thing about being a shifter, is the healing. In most cases, it fucking rocks to be a wolf.

When I came to, my ribs still hurt, but the bruising was yellow now. My cheek will take another day, but at least it's not squishy and I can see out my eye.

I rub at my bedhead as I pull the sheet off, swing my feet to the floor and stand. I give my back a bit of stretch, but it’s still tender.

After doing my business and brushing the gross out of my mouth, I leave and stumble down the stairs.

The guys are all sitting around, watching TV as I approach the couches.

Gavin raises a brow as I step in front of the couch he and Evan are sitting on. "You look a bit better."

"I feel better." I agree as I sit between them, cross my feet on the coffee table and take Evan's water from him.

"Hey." He complains, holding his hand out.

I throw him a scowl and his brow raises.

"Uh, ok." He sits back and puts his feet on the edge of the table.

I down half of it and drop it to catch my breath. “Fuck, that’s good.” I choke and wipe my mouth with the back of my hand.

"You ready to go to California?" Evan asks.

I shake my head and roll my eyes to him. "Not going. Not now."

"You were so ready to go. What changed?" Bobby says from an arm chair. He has an arm draped over the back and he crosses a leg.

I sit up, slamming my bottle on the table. I eye them all with an arched brow. "I'll you what's changed. I saw some poor bastard getting his ass kicked and no one did a damn thing.”

I feel my anger build as I point to my chest. “Then when I do something, I get my ass kicked until I fucking black out and not one fucking person in this damn town even bothered to call the fucking hospital.”

I snarl my lip as I relive my embarrassment. “I was left in the middle of the fucking street all night. I can't go. Not now." I pick up my bottle and sit back.

Gavin raises a brow to me. “Basically, you got hurt and now you want to do something.”

I glare at him. “No, asshole. One day, it could be you, Lucy or some little kid laying in the fucking alley. This has to stop. People need to start fighting back against this shit.”

"No one wants to end up like you or dead. You landing in the street? Just another day, man." Bobby shakes his head and shrugs.

"Today, I'll be changing that." I grit before taking another swig of water.