Shifters on Fire: A BBW Shifter Romance Boxed Set (43 page)

Chapter Three

Winifred

I blew out a breath, willing my body to cool down. I found him infuriating. At least I wanted to. But I couldn’t stop thinking about him all night. I had been past their table a couple of times. He had been drinking his “expensive wine” all night and never complained. I watched his face, but he seemed to enjoy the “vintage.” I giggled to myself. I’d told the bartender to give him the cheapest wine we had. The man had annoyed me. If he complained, I would just pull out my best bullshit excuses about how his got mixed up with someone else’s and apologize, but he never mentioned anything. Did he not know quality wine from swill and was just trying to impress me? No, probably not.

Tall, lithe men like him did not go after curvy women like me. I’d felt his regard on me earlier, eating me up like chocolate. I saw the desire flare in his eyes at my veiled comments. He was wondering what it was like to be with me, for sure. But he would never stoop so low as to go with the help. Damn he was fun to look at, though, and to mess with. I thought he would start stuttering when I hit him up with some of my lines.

I was glad when the night ended. My feet were sore, and the patrons had gotten a little too friendly. Dominic had called his girlfriend from the dance floor, and the group left together right before closing. Mazy had asked me to stay and help clean up. I didn’t mind, it meant overtime and I could try to get the scoop about her and Lucas. I had no plans to learn more about Quentin. Nope. Not even a little bit.

Okay, maybe a little bit.

Okay, maybe a lot.

I couldn’t get the curt man out of my head. His ice baby blues called to me. And for the first time since
him
I was interested in a man. Like
interested.

“Winnie, do you mind taking the trash out? Carl is still around if you want to go grab him to help you.” I squinted at the big black bag. It would be easier with his help. Carl, the giant bouncer who worked almost every single night, always offered to walk me home. A couple of other bouncers worked when he didn’t, but he was the constant. I liked him. I always declined his offer for an escort because I lived only a few blocks away.

I’d been happy to accept the job at Lucky because I didn’t have money to buy a car and the added expense of insurance, gas, and maintenance quite yet.  Close to home trumped most other considerations.

“No, I got it.”

I walked over to the daunting bag and started for the back door, the quickest way to the dumpster. Mazy’s back was turned to me, so she wouldn’t see me drag it and insist I get help. The small cramped hallway behind the door marked employees only led to Derek’s office and the employees’ bathroom and small break room. The black walls made the passage appear even smaller.

The bag scraped along the floor. Once I got to the back door the fun began. I released the bag. Opening the door, I held onto the edge while I searched for the rock we had used to prop it open. The automatically locking door could only be opened from inside, and I didn’t want to end up locked out in the back alley with the dumpster. Again.

The alley itself wasn’t too terrifying in daylight, but at night the dark brick building next to it seemed taller and more sinister. The chain link fencing blocking one end casted a freaky shadow in the moonlight. The bare bulb over the club exit gave the impression of a prison yard. The opening seemed even farther away than it did in the morning light. I hated it back here. At least few people besides employees of the buildings lining the alley ventured into the slime-ridden back area, making it relatively safe. Searching for the rock shouldn’t take long because the person who’d taken the trash out last usually left it close to the door. In this case, however, I couldn’t find it, even though I could see in the dark like it was day. I should just go inside and grab the bar kept in Derek’s office for this very purpose. I looked down the hallway toward the far end. I wanted to finish up. My feet ached tonight and my eyelids drooped.

Nope. I would find the rock.

A clank of a bottle rattled the still night air. My head shot up. Scuffling followed the noise. My heart jumped to my throat. Silence reigned again and I let out a small sigh of relief. Probably just some small animal, but the hairs on the back of my neck disagreed. Something felt off. Opening the door a little wider, I found the rock.

Relief released the pressure on my lungs and I snatched the rock, ready to be home in bed snuggled under the covers. And then the wind kicked up. The bottle that had rattled me earlier came rolling toward me. The wind pushed against the door and I lost my grip on it. The door slammed shut. My heart stopped for a second. The wind had stopped but the noise in the alley hadn’t died down. The scuffling returned along with quiet muttering. Then a sickening sound of flesh on flesh. I jumped. My skin crawled.

I kept still, afraid to catch the attention of the beater. I knew I should involve myself, but there were things in this world I couldn’t fight against. I didn’t stand for any type of bullying, but I knew when to run for help. This was one of those times. Unfortunately, the one way out of the alley was blocked by the scuffling pair. My mouth went dry when someone came stumbling backward from behind the dumpster.

“Dammit, Mac! Watch yourself.”

Mac, the man who had stumbled backward, shook his head, his lips peeled back in a snarl. My heart slammed against my ribs when I saw his teeth. His elongated canines overfilled his mouth. So unnatural.

“Now, you are going to get us our shipment. You were low this last quarter and the boss ain’t too happy.”

“Yeah, none too happy about it,” Mac muttered.

“So what’s you going to do?”

“Bring you more shifters.”

Someone sniffled, the sound stifled and irregular. While my heart pounded in my ears, I still heard everything. And the voice of the hidden man sounded familiar. I took one step closer, my curiosity getting the better of me.

“What kind of shifters?”

I didn’t know what they meant, but my stomach hollowed out. There was a sickening thump, followed by a low groan.

“Rare ones.”

When the raspy voice of another man spoke again it hit me.

Jimmy. The regular bartender most nights. Lucky didn’t employ many people,  preferring a small crew willing to work overtime when necessary. The pay wasn’t bad and even better with those extra hours.

Mac had resumed his position with his partner, and I could see their backs bulging out behind the dumpster. I was far enough from them I didn’t think they could hear me, although my superior hearing allowed me to understand their words. When my breathing became too erratic, I slipped my hand over my mouth and tried to calm myself. I had to get out of their line of view if they pulled away from Jimmy. I started toward the wall they were pressed against but I would be hidden by the dumpster. I could get out of this. And go to the police. Or something. But it sounded like they planned a kidnapping to me. Multiple kidnappings.

I lifted my foot, keeping my eyes in the direction of the men in case one of them moved. The tip of my foot caught a bottle.

The sound of the bottle rolling away was deafening. I didn’t breathe for a few seconds. My eyes had followed the movement of the bottle before I returned my gaze to the three men. Mac and the unnamed man watched me with varying expressions. Jimmy’s face had gone pale. He swallowed, his Adam’s apple bobbing with the movement. Mac seemed puzzled, as if he wasn’t sure if I was supposed to be there or not, but the man next to him looked excited.

“Shit.”

“Wells what do we have heres?” He was shorter than I expected but built like a rhino with big shoulders and a thick torso. His tapered waist made him all the more intimidating. His newsboy cap had caught my attention. Could he get anymore cliché?

“Well, Sammie, it seems like we gots a little mouse.”

Sammie’s eyes slanted over to Mac. His lips twisted and he brought up his hand and whacked Mac on the back of the head.

My gaze moved frantically between them.

Sammie returned his attention to me, and he licked his lips. A dirty feeling filled me again, but this time it was because his eyes promised cruelty and punishment.

I looked to Jimmy for some type of help. Behind the bar he always seemed like such an intimidating man, but standing next to these other two he appeared tiny, the skin around his eye a darkening purple. My head spun. I had to keep grounded to get out of this. I had to run.

My muscles ached with under use and the desire to get moving. The two men watched me. Sammie tipped his head back a little and pulled in air through his nose. When his nostrils flared, his eyes swirled with the same strange light I had seen in so many of the customers and workers here at Lucky.

“Oh, ain’t yous a rare one. You’re too rares to be killin’. Mac, grab her.”

My mouth opened with my protest on the tip of my tongue.

“Run, Winnie! Run!” Jimmy warned as he jumped Sammie. Mac stared at them and I ducked my head and started for the entrance of the alley. My lungs already burned with fatigue, but a jolt of adrenaline and cold fear shot me forward. My feet slammed against the pavement.

Just keep running. You will be safe. Just keep going.

Chapter Four

Quentin

I had no idea why I’d come to this dive of a bar again. Their wine selection was appalling. I enjoyed a woody bourbon every once in a while but preferred to save them for special occasions. She hadn’t been here the night before and yet I came again. Trying to catch a glimpse of the woman who thought she could trick me with the cheap wine and her sassy mouth. Someone should wash it out with soap. Or…

I cleared my throat, hating my body’s reaction to the thought of her. She was what I liked in my women curvy with soft features but I wasn’t interested in a fling with her. And all I did was flings. Didn’t matter. I hadn’t come here for her.

I headed to Dominic’s usual booth and waited. Mazy approached to take my order. Something bothered my animal and he wouldn’t leave me be until I got to the bottom of it. His anxiety started to make me twitchy and I would do anything to ease him at this point. His tail flicked as the thought passed through our head. He and I always had been on such great terms until her.

What made her different?

“Usual?” Mazy seemed distracted tonight. She had always made small talk and always asked about Lucas, less than subtle about her interest in him. I didn’t care about their relationship. They could do as they pleased.

Mazy was a beautiful, exotic shifter with dull red hair. Her eyes, in the dim bar lighting, looked almost red, too. She was tall, agile, and a dangerous shifter in her own right and always came to work impeccably dressed. Never a strand of hair out of place. It was one of the reasons I could tolerate her presence. People who took little care in their appearance bothered me. Sort of like Winnie with her soft, frizzy curls.

Tonight, Mazy wore her hair in a hasty ponytail, small strands sticking up everywhere. Her wrinkled skirt hung askew, her sketchy makeup doing little to cover the dark circles under her eyes.

I had to ask. “What’s going on with you?”

I didn’t take a personal interest in others. Another rule of mine. It kept things easier, neater. If I hadn’t taken a personal interest in Dominic all those years ago, I wouldn’t be here.

Dominic and I had met when our jobs crossed paths. It was rare for mercenaries to team up, but we had. After some time, Lucas joined our team. We had stopped doing group missions a year or two back. Each for our own reasons, but it had been time for us to split anyway. Dominic had always been a little too full of himself anyway, and I feared he would have gotten us killed.

She blew out a breath. “Jimmy flew the coop, Winifred decided to stop coming to work, and now I have to wait on her tables, watch mine, and try to teach the backup bartender how to make rum and Coke. Rum and fucking Coke.”

“Winifred?” Her given name, finally. I didn’t know the woman but she didn’t seem like the type to me that would walk out on her job. Her disappearance baffled me, but so did my interest in her whereabouts.

“Yes, Winnie. She was always here before her shift started, staying after. I can’t believe she would do this to me. Maybe her crazy ex swept through town. All I know is I told her to call me if she ever had trouble. And she hasn’t, so I assume she is all good. And I’m left with the mess.” Mazy walked away without taking my order. I could have called her back, but I became distracted.

My animal pressed up against me, his fur prickling my skin. I wouldn’t shift publically even if this was a shifter bar. Humans still got in, and I had control over my animal. He had reacted to the word “ex-boyfriend.” I had reacted, too. Winifred might talk smart but she never once crossed the line. She was respectful even to the man who grabbed her ass. My animal growled in response to the thought.

He was already peeved with the idea of our mate.
Wait. What?
She wasn’t my mate. I would have known by her scent. Though I could barely catch a whiff of it through all the competing smells in the bar. And my vision was better than the sense of smell.

Mazy came back and took my dinner order. I couldn’t even enjoy my steak, though, because my animal wouldn’t stop pacing. I tried to keep my constant growl low enough others wouldn’t notice it, but I started to slip on my control. When others began to give my table a wide berth, I suspected they noted my eyes glowing with the shift. My muscles tensed and my blood filled with adrenaline. I wanted to get up and move. I needed to get up and move. Getting up from the booth, I scanned the bar. Mazy had gone missing, so I headed for the door marked Employees Only.

I didn’t have to go far before I reached the manager’s door. Mazy’s voice carried to my ears.

“Derek, I’m worried. She just disappeared. She didn’t even finish taking the trash out.”

“People are entitled to disappear, Mazy.” The male, Derek, sounded exhausted like he’d had this conversation with Mazy a couple of times.

“You’re not listening to me though! She was scared of her ex.”

“How do you know?”

“I got her a little drunk one night. She told me about him…he sounds dangerous. What if he came for her?”

I’d had enough of this. So had my beast.

I wrapped my hand around the doorknob. The metal whined in my grip.

“All right, fine,” Derek said. “Tonight, after closing, we will go to the address she gave me. If she isn’t there, then you have to drop this, Mazy. I don’t see caring this much about what happened to Jimmy.”

“That’s different and you know it,” Mazy argued. My beast was proud of her for sticking up for Winifred and fighting to protect her. I eased my hand from the doorknob. Unsure they would allow me to join their little mission, I would follow them at close range. I had to change though. I was not going to get blood on my new Brioni Vanquish suit.

I made a quick stop at home and changed into my black Pierre Balmain jeans and a black V-neck shirt then returned to wait outside Lucky’s. Dominic and Lucas liked to joke about my style sense, but they dressed like rednecks. I choose to look good. My parents had raised me to be the best I could be and I would do them proud.

After all, I had an image to uphold. I was a rare breed, a pristine breed.

Mazy emerged from the building, bundled up in her jacket. I wondered how much Dominic knew about what was happening at his club. Probably not much; he was busy with his mate. They still hadn’t finished their last minute details. Lucas had disappeared as well, claiming he would be back in time for the wedding. Well, he’d better be, because I believed he was the best man. It didn’t bother me because those two were close. They understood one another in a way I could never understand.

Derek stepped outside and he and Mazy started down the block. Neither one got into a car. Winifred must live in this neighborhood. How unsettling. The area surrounding Lucky was a wreck, the buildings were old and falling apart, the streets filled with grime and trash.

The area smelled rank. Police sirens sounded about every five minutes at night. The walk didn’t take long, but had she walked to work? Alone? At night, on these streets?

This wasn’t a proper place for a woman like her to be living. If she still lived here. Unless she took off with her bastard of an ex-boyfriend. A growl rumbled from my chest. What in the world was with my beast?

Derek approached an apartment building and paused by the tenant list. He buzzed but there was no answer. I listened closer and heard him buzz a different number and give them some fake story about losing his key. The other tenant believed him and the door clicked open.

Winifred lived with complete imbeciles. Mazy and Derek entered the building. Quietly, I made my way across the street and managed to grab the door before it shut. I might have cheated a little and used my shifter strength to propel my legs a little faster than I should have. Something about Winifred had caught my animal’s attention and he would not be ignored.

Derek and Mazy were out of sight before I made it inside. I realized why. The building had been built like a maze. The hallways were identical but separated by fire doors that could confuse humans. I had the scents of the two shifters I had been following all night to lead me. When I found them standing by a door on the second floor, I waited out of sight.

I was just confirming Winifred’s safety. That I didn’t care about anything else. This wasn’t a job. I sought peace of mind for my beast. He apparently cared for this Winifred.

Mazy knocked on the door and called Winifred’s name. No answer. I listened closer. I could hear her in there, and both Derek and Mazy could as well. I heard no others with her. I turned and headed out of the building, satisfied.

Inside, my solitary, strong beast cried out for me to go back to her. I didn’t trust myself around the woman. She was safe and decided to blow off work. I would go back to my penthouse and forget about the woman. She meant nothing to me.

Certainly, she was not my mate.