Beauty and the Brute [Werescape III] (3 page)

"Who could forget all those good-citizen men running everywhere in their birthday suits, soft parts jigging, while all those naked whores chased after the chickens? It was raining feathers on that burning house of ill repute."

Nero bellowed really hard.

Damn. I didn't want to draw a crowd. Even down here in the twists and turns of enormous labyrinth of Yale's basement.

"I thought you'd moved up north. Taken up with one of The Wild clans?” Nero wheezed out a final laugh.

"I came south to check on my cousin last spring. I wound up at Boston. Long story. Too late in the year to head northwest. So, I'll set out after winter."

Nero nodded. “Well, all the better for everyone down here. We could use a little help.

There's a lot of tension between New York and New Pittsburgh."

The same old news. People needed to move around more. Keep ahead of trouble.

"Hey,” he patted my shoulder. “Can you watch this corridor while I grab a bite to eat?"

Hell. Like I wanted to pull guard duty when it wasn't my turn. Catch a few winks while you're at it. But down here, I avoided the crowds. “Sure."

"Thanks.” Nero disappeared almost instantly.

"Don't take too long.” So I lurk in the warlord's crotch of underground corridors and rooms, leaving the Normals to themselves upstairs.

Something scraped a scuffle of a noise.

Down the corridor through the doorway.

Wolf lunged into my eyes and scanned the darkness with his infrared vision.

Nothing moved. Even beyond the dome of yellow illumination from the light cast by a hurricane lamp mounted on the wall halfway down the passageway.

A red-orange heat form slammed from one side of the corridor into the opposing wall and fell into a lump at the wall's unyielding base.

A slim person. Weak. Probably running from someone. Night vision wasn't good for more than basic information. Must change vision. I blinked my human vision back into play.

The shadowy person shoved up onto hands and knees.

Too slim. The long braid hanging from his shoulders tattled on him. He was a her. Rising with leverage from a palm pressed against the wall.

Something metallic clattered on the floor.

She slowly leaned down, as if pained or confused, and reached for the object.

I stood behind her before she straightened and squared her shoulders.

"Who's chasing you?” I asked.

Wolf leapt back into my eyes. Protect.

The Gods-be-damned dog had a problem tonight.

She whirled to face me, her face a smear or orange and red heat.

Her heart raced.

Too fast. A flutter to Wolf's hearing. Some bastard Normal was after her. The morons had no respect for females. “Who's chasing you?"

"You're him,” she whispered as if someone was nearby.

The way she emphasized him meant I wasn't the one chasing her. Rather someone she knew about. What? I blinked to my night vision and studied her pinched brow.

The beauty.

Beauty stared back, absolutely horrified.

Protect, Wolf snarled.

Wolf didn't seem to mind she insulted me. “What do you mean?” I kept my voice low.

"The Guardian who hates Normals.” She took a step rearward. “I'm sorry. I didn't mean to disturb you.” She threw up a palm as if she could hide behind the small thing.

"You didn't.” But why would a Normal fear any Shifter being paid to safeguard this event?

Something happened here. Something. Wrong.

Help her, Wolf snarled.

Growled. Demanded to be released. Why? “Something's wrong. You will tell me what it is.

Only then will I release you."

"You weren't sent to find me?” She dared another step away from me.

What was she hiding? I grabbed her slim wrist.

Frail in comparison to any male's.

She yanked her arm.

Futilely. “I don't want to hurt you.” Or her warm skin. Soft skin.

Play, Wolf hummed.

Not good. Not for a Normal. But her small body had a wealth of strength. And a small backpack. “Where are you going?"

The strength in her body buckled. Her mask shifting from fear into panic. Her eyes rimming with tears. “Please. If you don't release me...” her words vanished as if she feared speaking them. Her mask grew serious in the faded light. “Yale plans to give me to the aliens."

Ludicrous. “What? I'm not going to hurt you.” She wasn't the type of woman a man dreamed of hurting. Who could with his inner Wolf in a tizzy? “That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. Why would he give you away when he can get rid of that spoiled daughter of his?"

Her head wagged, her eyes glistening with another deluge of panic. “I don't know. I

overheard them. He told his brother and Glover that I was the girl, part of his placation plan.

Please, let me go.” She gently tugged her arm again. “Please."

Help. Wolf clawed my ribs for freedom.

Would it matter if I freed her? Would she even reach the barbed wire barrier by sunrise and find a way through the tangled bramble? And if I didn't let her go, Wolf would claim her.

Probably mark her. The ass had never behaved like this before. Besides, what kind of Normal passed something like her onto the aliens? Yale is betraying his own kind on the brink of extinction. Beauty deserved a chance. “If you're lucky enough to make it to the barricade by sunrise, where will you go?"

Why did I ask? Damned wolf.

"I can hide in the forest,” she blurted.

Not good enough. “Guardians will be sent to find you if what you say is true of Yale's intentions."

"I don't plan on lingering nearby. Please!"

She was destined for death one way or the other.

Protect. Wolf growled.

Damned beast. But this wisp of beauty had been given the ultimate death sentence by her

Lord. For what? It made little sense. Other than the shit was hitting the fan. The Lord had to cough up some type of payment to keep the extraterrestrials appeased. And this meant his prized charge. A woman being betrayed by her own kind. The scum-sucking Normals. “Listen carefully.” I pulled her close until our noses almost touched. Until I could smell the metallic tinge of salt flowing beneath what had to be the softest skin known to humans.

Wolf whimpered.

Hell, she had to leave before Wolf forced me to shift. Before I succumbed to the promise of her blood. Before Wolf bit her. But she had to know what to expect first. How to survive. “Do not attempt to crawl through the barbed wire until sunrise. Or the Bounders will dine upon your flesh."

She nodded, her heart easing into a steady patter.

So she realized I would release her. “And I will be sent with the others at sunrise to bring you back. If I catch you, I will have to return you to Yale. No questions asked."

Her heart hitched. “I understand. I will try to prevent that from happening."

Mark, Wolf whined.

Gods-damn it. She was trouble. “Hurry.” I shoved her wrist down the dark corridor, the looming route to her unknowable future she seemed determined to follow.

Brutus, the scourge of the Guardians, released me. Was letting me go. I stared into his unreadable eyes, the poker-face of his but steps away, Yale and Titus grumbled about when trying to decide how to get the best of Lord Drake and New York. But nothing but darkness swirled in the Shifter's dark orbs.

They flicked golden with the dancing lamplight.

Rather, his Shifter senses were heightened so he could focus with each of his senses.

"Hurry. Nero returns.” He turned his back to me.

Not a word from my gut.

Nor a spark of a chill.

This hater of Normals was releasing me.

"Thank you,” I whispered and bolted.

About thirty minutes before sunrise, the mansion vibrated with tension as Brutus waited with the Guardians near the manor's front entrance, outside, in the saddle, trying to appear innocent. Rested and fed, Trance fidgeted with the gathering search party. Not because the other stallions challenged him. Probably because he could feel the need I had to get down to the Gods-be-damned warehouse I'd tracked Beauty's trail to last night and reach her before anyone else. Including Titus. The Guardian's shame of losing his charge kept him scanning the buildings and roads.

But Beauty had escaped. Beaten them all. My fault. Yes. But she'd done it.

Hurry. Wolf growled.

Trance shifted his footing with a light step.

Almost shying at nothing the others could detect. Sensing my inner Wolf's drive for dominance. I tugged the reins enough to warn the stallion to calm down.

The door burst open. Yale stormed out in hunting garb.

Camouflage. His face almost blood red.

He pointed at Titus. “Come with me.” He turned to the rest of us. “The man who brings me

Lady Lorelei, unharmed, will be wed to Lady June tomorrow."

Shit. What a bargain. Not good for Beauty.

The crowd shimmied with motion.

Why in the hell would anyone want her? All the same Lorelei was screwed. If any Shifter didn't want June, one of his relatives or friends did. I had to hurry, inconspicuously. Find the little escapee. Yale's wild card.

"Bring my mount,” Yale shouted.

Yale threw a leg over the saddle, shot Titus a warning glare, and rode out with Glover and the

Shifter.

We were free to go.

To just dash for the warehouse would be foolish. I had to be clever. Plot. And hope nobody else had found her scent trail. The Shifter's nose was the most powerful weapon on the planet.

[Back to Table of Contents]

deep tangle of barbed wire put up a good battle. But I brought a leather jacket and had the sense to start long before sunrise, snipping the twisted wire, shoving back the loose ends, trying to literally bite my way through the thick tangle of manmade steel. The gap I'd cleared away spread as wide as the wall was thick. More because I had to fight the loose ends to get them to stay put when tucking them securely back into the fence.

The tree line just beyond the barrier stood as a testament to all who looked upon it as a historical record, a reminder of the last time the aliens incinerated every living thing in a five-mile radius from where the spaceship hovered overhead and beamed one of its orange rays down at the locals. That was during the planet's initial invasion. I could only guess at the sight. Imagine what people did, watching, then realizing every living plant and animal vaporized where the ground turned orange. The aliens conquered Earth's largest cities that way. Then the harvesting began. Whatever they did with the people they took was still a mystery. But enough people remained to move back into the empty cities and take up

residence. Before the aliens began making demands. Forcing city dwellers to live inside these damned wire fences like livestock.

Like me. What did they plan for me?

I had to get free.

I had to escape.

Time ticked forward until my stinging muscles went numb, and I couldn't feel the hand holding the wire cutters. But I finally pierced the last piece of rusting metal and bent it out of the way. I dropped the snips and ran for the tree line. Trees meant cover. Even though the

Guardians could sniff me out. I had a chance in the forest.

Grass whispered against my blue jeans.

God, was that someone shouting? Run. Just run. I stretched my stride.

"Lorelei!"

Who saw me? I'm dead. Dead. I can't be. Not yet. I shoved another hiking boot forward.

"Wait,” a man shouted.

Not Yale. Nor Titus. Not even Glover. I glanced over my shoulder.

Brutus. Enormous. Driving his large black horse straight at me.

Dead. I'm so dead. I turned back to the trees.

The pounding rhythm of horse hooves grew louder and louder.

The sound of a final march. My demise. He said he'd take me back if he caught me. This couldn't be happening. How many more steps did I need to reach the dark tree trunks? Would the effort matter? Brutus was coming. I couldn't outrun him. I'd face him. Beg. I stopped.

Waiting. For those last few thoughts a free woman could have.

Panting those moments away.

Did he realize how I felt? Why would he? He hated Normals. He killed them any chance he could. Maybe he'd kill me. Hopefully. I turned to face his horse's knifing legs.

His indecipherable mask took no pity on me as I stood there like a blade of grass, waiting for whatever he had planned. He pulled back on his reins, the muscles in his bare arms bulging with the strength a person needed to force a well-fed stallion to halt.

And the horse obeyed, sliding to a stop.

"I'm surprised you made such good time,” he said.

An insult? Now? Why did he toy with me like the cat that cornered the mouse? “Please, just kill me. Please, don't take me back."

He walked his horse the three steps to stand beside me and then circled me.

Eyeing me over. Once. Assessing me with his obscure expression. Was he angry? Annoyed?

Contemplating the easiest way to end my life?

His horse stopped again, two steps away, between the opening I'd cut into the barricade and the forest.

An unearthly chill tickled my skin.

Something unfolded again. No more. Not something totally unnerving.

The chill didn't care, seeping beneath my skin and into my bones.

More than my capture or death happened here.

Something far worse. Why do I want to run?

"Why are you afraid of me?” he asked gently.

What a stupid question. “You warned me you'd take me back if you caught me."

He just stared.

What game did he play? He had to play it with most people. Normals. The man was gorgeous.

Powerful. Renowned for his Guardian abilities. I'd heard many of the townswomen speak of nothing but mounting him. For what? A last romp before he ripped their heads off? And here he just toyed with me. And I needed to run. Now. Enough of this insanity. I pivoted and started walking.