Southern Shifters: Bite Me (A Bad Boy Shifter Romance) (Kindle Worlds Novella) (3 page)

"You could've just stayed in exile." She folds her arms tightly across her chest. "If you weren't there to fulfill the contract...nobody could blame her."

"And she could've run away, too," I point out. "But she didn't. How is that my fault?"

Delilah's jaw clenches. "Maybe it wasn't so easy for her."

Ah, shit. If this is really a love triangle situation, I'm giving up right now and heading for Mexico. There's no way I can compete with Delilah. Her eyes, her scent, the sound of her voice...

If I can't get my animal urges under control, this love triangle's about to get a lot more complicated.

"And you think it would've been easy for me?" I shoot back.

"Damn sight easier," she replies. "Who would miss
you
?"

All of the suppressed anger, bitterness and lust boil up into a white-hot rage. I jump up from my seat, slamming my fist down on the bar. But before I have a chance to growl out a response, the bartender appears out of nowhere.

He's got a fistful of my shirt before I realize what's happening. I've never been in a fight with another Were - I'm not that stupid. Delilah's scent has totally wrecked my common sense.

"Watch yourself, kid." His snarl is the most menacing goddamn thing I've seen in my life. I think I could take this guy, just barely, but only riding on pure adrenaline.

But I can't. Obviously, being in neutral territory, he's not some kind of influential clan leader or something. But I don't exactly need to start out my stay in Deals Gap by beating the shit out of the guy with all the booze.

"Sorry," I grit out. "Forgot myself for a second."

He stares me down, his eyes boring holes right through me. Whatever he sees there, it makes him loosen his grip and step back.

"Don't let it happen again," he grunts, before disappearing.
 

It's deathly quiet in the bar again. I look down at my half-empty beer, wondering how the hell I'm going to survive the rest of this night without either fucking or fighting. Or both.

"This isn't going to be easy on either me or Livvy," I hear myself say. Delilah's sitting her very still, hugging herself, not looking at me. "But she needs your support right now. I know she doesn't like me, I know
you
don't like me, but..."

Somehow, when I started that sentence, I thought I'd have a good way to end it. But nothing's coming to me.

Delilah glances at her phone, like it's set off some silent signal. "Shit," she mutters.

I have a feeling, whatever it is, I'm not gonna like it either. But I don't ask.

Sighing sharply, she taps out a response while glaring at the screen.

"We can't go," she says, at last. She's still not making eye contact. "Not tonight. Kane can't promise us safe passage. The wolves are out. They're not happy about any of this, and he won't be able to finish negotiations until tomorrow at the earliest."

I let out a groan before I can stop myself. Scrubbing my hands across my face, I try to take in this new information. The wolves from Douglas Mountain insist on going through with it, the wolves from Deals Gap are thirsty for blood if we do...how the hell can I keep up?

"I'm willing to risk it." I reach for my jacket. "With or without you. Just point it out to me on the map, I'll head out on my own if you're too scared."

"I'm not
scared
." She turns her glare on me. "I'm cautious. And you should be too. The wolves won't hesitate to tear us apart if they're so inclined."

"They have to catch me first," I reply, shrugging into my jacket.
 

"Don't be an idiot." Delilah stands up, eyes flashing. "You're going to lead them right to your future wife."

"Like they don't know where she is already?" I've got absolutely no intention of doing that - I'll lose 'em easy enough - but of course Delilah's not going to believe that. "I don't negotiate with terrorists. I'm not waiting out this whole night in a muggy bar with..."
 

It almost comes spilling out of my mouth.
A female in heat.
She must know how she's affecting me, but she's not showing it. Good. The closer I play this to my chest, the better.

"You don't have to." She relaxes slightly, but only slightly. "I've got blankets and pillows in my truck. We can sleep out there. It'll be more comfortable."

Am I really that brain-addled, or is she blowing hot and cold worse than a broken heat pump? A second ago she looked ready to kill me, now she's proposing we snuggle up in bed together.
 

This is nuts. I'm nuts. One of us definitely is.

I let out a bewildered laugh. "Are you goddamn kidding me, Delilah?"

She gives me a totally innocent look. She's surprisingly good at it. "What do you mean? I thought you didn't want to sleep in the bar."

"I'm not sleeping here at all," I tell her. "Did you think I was bluffing? I'll take on the whole damn wolf clan. I don't care. They need to know I'm not gonna just roll over and..."

Delilah rolls her eyes at me. "They'll make you into cougar kebabs in about five seconds flat. Think this through for a second, you know I'm right."

Is she?

I have no way to be sure. But with my head addled by her scent, it's probably best if I don't make any life-threatening decisions right now.

Well, shit. I'm about to spend the night fighting the urge to lick her all over. Not exactly how I wanted to spend my last night as a single man.

I follow her outside.

"I don't think this is a good idea," I hear myself say, even as she spreads out the blanket in the bed of the truck.

"Why not?"
 

Really?

"You know, the..." I make a series of vague gestures between us. "I mean, you - and me..."

Wow, smooth.

"Are you insinuating that I can't control myself?" she demands.

I shake my head.

"Well, I sure hope you're not implying anything else." Her hand briefly taps on the little leather holster at her hip. "Because I've got a very sharp knife that will teach you self-control pretty goddamn quick."

How did I not notice that knife before?

More importantly, why does a cougar carry a knife?

"Of course I'm not..." I shake my head. "I just meant, it might not be the most comfortable thing. For either of us."

"I've slept in my truck a million times," she replies, breezily. "It's plenty comfortable."

Okay, now she's just fucking with me.

But I don't see any better options, so I bed down next to a cougar in heat.
 

It's definitely more comfortable than it looks. This little nest of hers is very nice. I could almost sleep peacefully here, if I didn't have a throbbing hard-on.

"I didn't mean to give you such a hard time," is the first thing she says to me when we're lying next to each other.

I snort.
 

"This whole situation, it just..." she sighs heavily. "It just sucks. You know?"

I turn my head to look at her. "You weren't serious, talking about the cure...were you?"

Her smile softens. "No. Not really. That was..."

"A test," I finish for her. "Well. I hope I passed."

Delilah laughs. "Yeah, I think you did."

"I mean." I stare up at the stars, trying to pick out the constellations I remember. "I'm not saying there's nothing I miss about just being human. But...this is who I am, now. The cat's not just a part of me, it's who I am. All the time, even when I'm like this."

"I know what you mean." She nods. "Livvy and I...we both grew up outside, with human 'parents.' I guess that's why we get along so well. It's hard to understand unless you've done it." She glances at me. "What do you miss most?"

Of course, this is still a test. I'd be stupid not to realize that.
 

"Just the simplicity, I guess." I'm not going to talk about the people who raised me - that's a can of worms I don't need to open right now.

"I miss my cat," she says, simply. "Weres don't really keep pets. Which...makes sense, I guess. Lots of them freak out. Which is understandable. But my cat, Mr. Midnight...he always liked me. I guess maybe because we got him when he was a kitten. He never knew there was anything strange about me. He was my best friend. But one day, he slipped out and ran away."

She pauses for so long, I'm starting to think that's the end of the story.

"I found him the next day." Delilah's voice cracks a little. "In the middle of the road. He must've..."

She sniffles, and all I want to do is slide over and fold her into my arms. But I know how that's gonna end.
 

"He looked so peaceful," she says, at last, letting out a long breath. "Just like he was asleep. The breeze ruffling his fur. I buried him far out in the woods, almost a mile from my house." A pause. "The house where I was living back then. It was never
my
house, and I guess that's maybe why I didn't want him there. Didn't feel right. The woods always seemed more like home."

Another long silence, when all I can hear is the crickets singing.

"I still go there sometimes," she confesses, at last. "It's not that far away. When I need to go someplace quiet...just think. I know it's stupid. He was just a cat."

I resist the urge to reach for her hand. "Funny thing for somebody like us to say."

She chuckles a little. "Yeah. I guess it is. He wasn't 'just' anything. He was my best friend."

Somehow, it's both the saddest and sweetest thing I've ever heard.

It's the smell that wakes me up.

For a minute I'm disoriented, with no memory of falling asleep. But I must have. Not for long - the night's still just as dark as ever.

But something's changed. It's not quiet anymore. And we're not alone.

I sit up slowly, head pounding. What the hell's
wrong
with me?

A quiet snarl answers that question. Sort of.

I reach out to shake Delilah awake, but she's already sitting up beside me.
 

"Well, well, well." The voice comes from the darkness, and it's not one I've heard before. Definitely not the bartender.
 

"What have we here?" says another.

"A couple of pussies, smells like." Yet another voice. How many of them
are
there? My eyes are still adjusting to the darkness.

Suddenly, the whole area's flooded with light. Dean, the bartender, stands in the middle of the beam.

Not two feet away from us, surrounding the back of the truck, there are five thugs that reek of
wolf
.

"So!" One of them, the tallest and angriest-looking, takes a step closer to us. "If this whole thing doesn't go through, it might start a war with some place called Douglas Mountain. Of course we don't want that."

"Of course," one of the others agrees, licking his lips. His fangs are just starting to poke out.

"What the hell do you want?" Delilah hisses. I can feel the tension, smell her scent growing stronger and stronger as her body gets ready for a fight.

The werewolves laugh.

"Nothing at all," their leader says. "I guess you're planning on setting up your happy home out here in the neutral zone, huh? We're about to be neighbors."

I square my shoulders. "Is that a threat?"
 

Delilah slides down from the bed of the truck, landing squarely in front of the leader. I've got the insane urge to grab her and pull her back, out of harm's way.

But she doesn't need protecting. If we have to fight, we'll fight side-by-side.

And suddenly, things start to happen very quickly. The circle of werewolves tightens, and my fangs start to poke out of my gums. My fingers ache as my claws start to break free.

"You don't want to do this." It's the first thing Dean's said since he turned on the light.

The werewolves don't bother looking, but I can see he's got a rifle in his hand.
 

"You'd better step back there, little girl." The leader snarls at Delilah. "Or I'll huff, and I'll puff, and I'll..."

With a furious cry, Delilah leaps toward him. In an instant he's half-shifted, claws tearing across her body. She twists and falls back at the last moment, so they only graze her shoulder.

BANG.

The wolf closest to Dean lets out a bloodcurdling howl, crumpling to the ground in obvious, searing pain.

"What the hell did you do?" The leader whirls on Dean, clearing half the distance between them in a single leap. But he stops there, staring down the barrel of the rifle. "What the hell is in that?"

The downed wolf is still shrieking.

"It's exactly what you think it is." Dean smiles grimly. "Take one step closer, and you'll get one too."

Delilah doesn't even seem to have noticed her injury. "Silver bullets?" She stares at Dean. "What the hell are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking I want to stay alive," he grunts. "Turns out, they come in pretty handy."

Shit. I always thought that was just a myth.

Suddenly, there's a flurry of movement. One of the other wolves is taking advantage of the distraction, and before my brain can catch up to what's happening, the ground's gone from under my feet. I land heavily on my spine, with a snarling wolf on my chest.

From the sounds of it, the same exact thing is happening to Delilah.
 

There's the distinct thump of Dean throwing his rifle aside, then he's rushing towards us.

"Livvy," he shouts. "LIVVY!"

Instinctively, my head snaps around, looking for someone else. Because of course, the girl on the ground next to me, pinned down under a werewolf - that's not Livvy.

She can't be.

Oh, goddamn it, I've been so stupid.

Another ungodly howl, and then a few moments later, the wolf on top of me leaps away and starts a mad dash into the forest. I sit up, dazed, and stare at the girl I've been calling Delilah.

She's glaring at Dean.

"What the
fuck
?" she demands.
 

He spits on the ground. "I saved your life," he says. "That's
what the fuck
. I can't keep track of your cockamamie schemes. Anyway, the kid deserves to know who he's sleeping with."