Big Bad Bite (7 page)

Adam turned his body to lean back against the
wall and faced her. “How can you never have had a pack, Jenna?
That’s essentially unheard of.”

Taking a deep breath, she thought of how to
word her answer without giving away information she wasn’t ready to
give yet. Perhaps it was best to start off by asking Adam a
question first. “Tell me Adam, is it true that the wolf breed is
prejudiced towards those who aren’t pure wolf? Do they actually
kill you if you’re part human or whatever?”

Adam rubbed his hand across his jaw. “I won’t
lie, it used to be that dire. There are those that still feel a
hybrid, that’s what we call those who aren’t pureblooded, shouldn’t
be allowed to live. But the majority of that consensus died years
ago when our numbers started to dwindle. Not to mention the small
matter of a revolution between the wolf packs over that very
reason. A lot of wolves died in those fights, and since then a lot
of the packs have new Alphas like myself. The younger generations
of Alphas feel that hybrids should be welcomed into the packs. But
that’s a lot of history and politics best discussed another time
perhaps. Why do you ask?”

Mulling the information over, Jenna tried to
make sense of it all. Her whole life Mama said that she had to stay
hidden because she was what Adam called a hybrid. But he just said
that they now accepted hybrids like her with open arms in the
packs. Maybe Mama didn’t know? Or could she have lied? Shaking her
head, she knew that wasn’t the case. Perhaps Mama wouldn’t know
about changes among the packs, but her Uncle Owen would have. So
there had to be more to it. Uncle Owen had always said that her
father had enemies that would kill her. Perhaps there was more to
that threat?

“Jenna?”

“Hold on to your boxers and be patient, I was
lost in thought. To answer your question, I have never had a pack
because my mother was told to hide me. My father died before
knowing that she was even pregnant and my Mama was told that if his
pack found out, they would kill me. So she’s hidden me all of these
years to keep me safe. That’s why I have no pack. Why is it that
whether I belong to a Pack or not so important?”

The waitress arrived before Adam could
answer, bringing their plates and coffees. After she left their
table, Jenna looked up to see a smug looking Kent glancing at an
almost nervous Adam. He turned back to face her while scrubbing a
hand over his face again. After what seemed like some internal
debate, he finally shrugged his shoulders. “It’s important because
a wolf’s mentality is healthier if they have a pack. We’re not
meant to live alone, Jenna. And those of us that do eventually fall
into a type of madness because of it. It’s hard to explain, but
haven’t you ever felt as if something was missing while you ran or
hunt? Felt like there was just something off about being
alone?”

Dropping her head a little, she thought his
words over. She hated to admit it, but he was right. That sense of
loneliness that plagued her whenever she was a wolf. As if sensing
her thoughts, he placed a gentle hand on her shoulder, “You don’t
have to be alone anymore Jenna. You’re welcome to join my
pack.”

“I’m not leaving Wilmington, sorry.”

“Well, lucky for you, I am Alpha of North
Carolina. I’m not asking you to move. What I am offering is pack
protection and benefits. You could come out to our land when you
want to hunt or run to be surrounded by our kind. Get to learn our
culture some. Does that sound so terrible?”

“I don’t know. I have to think about it.”

Dropping his hand from her shoulder, he
continued. “I understand, Jenna. I do. What if we took it slowly?
You can meet some of the pack first.” She started to object but he
held his hand up to stop her. “Just hear me out first. There’s a
club here in Wilmington,” His smile turned down right devious. “A
club that caters to our kind only called Pier Six. I’ll ask my best
friend and my sister to meet us there. What do you say?”

Unsure, she looked from Adam to Kent and then
back to Adam. “Give me a minute to think while we eat. Our food’s
getting cold anyway.” As the three of them sat in silence eating
their meal, her brain categorized the pros and cons. Going to a
place like this would unquestionably be blowing the whole secret
lifestyle out of the water. On the other hand, hadn’t part of her
already decided she was tired of that kind of life anyways? Never
letting anyone near. Keeping everyone at arm’s length. Not that she
was ready to let her guard down totally, but it would be gratifying
if, for once, she was able to hang out with people and not have to
worry about keeping every secret she had at bay.

Looking up to Kent, “Hey, did you mean it
when you said you would talk to the Captain?”

“Yeah, Jenna. If you’d like I can talk to him
when we go back on shift Monday. Ask him to partner us up for
warrant services.”

“I’d like that then, Kent. Thanks.” Turning
back to look at Adam she made her next leap of faith. “I’ll go
tonight. No promises after that though.” Grabbing a napkin and the
pen the waitress left them, Jenna scribbled her number on it and
slid towards him. “That’s my cell phone number. Call me later with
the when’s and where’s of meeting up. Now, if you’ll excuse me
boys, I’ve got a house to finish unpacking.”

Throwing a twenty on the table, she got up
and left before either had a chance to say anything. Hopefully she
wasn’t walking away from just making what could be possibly be
deemed the biggest mistake of her life.

Maybe it would be the leap of faith that led
to her greatest reward.

Chapter Four

Later that evening, Jenna stood staring at her living room. It was
really coming along. Just a few boxes left and it’d be completely
unpacked. Glancing at the clock on the microwave, she realized it
was time to start getting ready to go to Pier Six. Adam had called
earlier to set a rendezvous time with him at a gas station a few
streets over from her house so that she could follow him to the
club. After taking a quick shower and blow drying her hair, she
flipped through the clothes in her closet trying to decide what to
wear. She wasn’t the kind of girl to analyze an outfit seven ways
from Sunday, it was more likely that she would just snag whatever
was clean and lying around her room, shake the wrinkles out of it,
and call it a successful mission. She grabbed a pair of tight, low
rise jeans and a black halter top out of her closet and threw them
on the bed. Next, she pulled out a pair of knee high black leather
boots with a three-inch heel. They’d pull over the jeans perfectly
for a sexy look.

Wait.

Who was she trying to dress sexy for? Adam?
The thought of perhaps making him drool a bit did seem like fun.
Her inner wolf growled in agreeance at that thought. Taunting him
could be playing with fire, but she couldn’t help but think that he
could end up being such a delicious burn. Adam didn’t come across
as a match being struck, before quickly fizzing out. No, he would
be more like a raging wild fire, consuming everything in his path.
Her wolf was yipping at her eagerly at the thought of what Adam
could consume on them. For a shifter hybrid who was still a virgin,
Jenna was quickly figuring out that if you waved a sexy shifter in
front of her, well then apparently her wolf turned slutty rather
quickly. She was seriously going to have to sit down and explain to
her that they couldn’t just go lift tail for anyone. Especially, a
potentially dangerous anyone. No matter how good he looked. Or
smelled. Or made her want to throw him up against the closest wall
and bite him. Hard.

Digging through her underwear drawer, she
found a delicate lace set that was only a shade off from the husky
pale blue of her eyes. After getting dressed and putting on some
mascara, then lip gloss, she headed out the door. Checking her
pockets to make sure she had her ID, badge, and some cash before
getting onto her bike and driving towards the gas station. Minutes
later, pulling into the parking lot, she spotted Adam already
waiting. Giving a chin lift, he pulled out in front of her on his
bike leading the way to the club, glancing backwards every few
minutes to make sure she was still behind him. Obsessively
observant predator.

Go figure.

It’d be too much to ask for her to meet an
Alpha shifter who was either; one – of a different shifter species,
and ultimately not likely to be interested in her. Two – had senses
that were barely heightened to that above a human’s, so that it
would be easy for her to lose him if needed. Or three – had the
intelligence of a dish sponge, so in other words, he would be easy
to confuse or diffuse if she felt it necessary.

Nope. Her luck was apparently of the shitty
variety lately. So not only did Adam seem interested in her for
whatever the hell the reason, but he was also intelligent and had
top of the line shifter senses. From what she absorbed from Uncle
Owen’s long ago lessons, top of the line shifter senses were way
more advanced than the superhero spidey sense Peter Parker had. So
all-in-all, Jenna figured she was suffering from the worst case of
unreal-shittiest-luck-in-the-entire-universe type luck. Luck so
pathetic, that if she was dumb enough to hit up a casino right
about now, she wouldn’t hit the jackpot. No sir, she’d walk away
owing the casino so much money off of one play from a penny slot
machine that they would demand her first born child as down
payment.

Hence, the reason she couldn’t seem to move
her eyes off of the very delectable backside encased in
mouthwatering denim that fit just right, sitting astride that damn
Harley motorcycle in front of her. The backside that belonged to
the seemingly intelligent, super shifter, overly interested,
pain-in-her-ass Alpha Wolf that was built like a small tank with
masses of rippling muscles, but looked ridiculously hot with hair
that still resembled a pissed off red porcupine on top of his
head.

See. Shitty luck.

Saturday night was a busy time in Wilmington,
so it took a while to reach their destination. Catcalls and
whistles from college age boys stuck with them through traffic
until they finally ended up at the older abandoned district by the
waterfront. It was dark, with just two street lamps in the parking
lot and the neon sign flashing from the front of the club. Even
though the rest of the street looked like it hadn’t seen any
activity in at least twenty years, the parking lot was packed with
vehicles and bass coming from inside the club could be heard. Of
course, hearing music from somewhere inside a building when your
hearing was six times better than the average human was a normal
day for her.

Two figures stood in the parking lot where
Adam pulled his bike to. Pulling in next to him, Jenna parked and
stood next to her bike as Adam greeted the two figures. The man was
tall like Adam, probably about six foot two, packed with muscle
easily seen through his thin, short sleeve cotton t-shirt and low
slung jeans. Instead of Adam’s pale skin though, he had a healthy
tan that complemented his sable brown hair. Sharp cheekbones and
light green eyes topped off the impressive package. However, it was
his sharp, assessing glare that got to her.

It said, ‘Beware. My teeth are bigger than
yours, and I bite harder’.

It made her want to chop off his cracker
jacks, hang them around his neck like a sadistic necklace and say
back, ‘Big boy, you’re the prey’.

The woman next to him was no doubt Adam’s
sister. She didn’t have quite the same auburn hair as her brother;
it was more of a flaming red with dark auburn highlights that fell
just below her shoulders. But she did have the same creamy, pale
skin, except on her it looked fantastically flawless, as if someone
had covered her body in the freshest, sweetest milk that could be
found, just to tempt those of the opposite sex to lean in and take
a lick. Set in all of that creamy skin were two chocolate brown
eyes. It seemed as though Adam’s unusual wolf amber eyes were not a
dominant trait of the family gene pool. His sister was small framed
but stood several inches over Jenna. The inches gained from the
fuck-me shoes she was wearing didn’t count. Standing in front of
the three of them, she felt like the midget who walked into the big
and tall convention on accident.

Great.

Both of them stared at Jenna as she stood
there holding her helmet. The sister’s face looked open and
friendly, while the man beside her was making no effort to hide the
fact that he was checking Jenna out from head to toe. That look
alone reminded her of something Kent would do. In other words, he
was probably a horny hound dog best kept at a distance by
threatening him with a trip to the vet’s office for a little snip
snip.

Adam growled at his friend. “Jenna, this is
my sister Amy and my best friend Clay. Clay is also the Beta, or
second in command of our pack.” Waving his hand back towards her,
he said, “Guys this is Jenna. She’s going to hang out and get to
know us a bit. She might have some questions about pack life, and
you have my permission to answer whatever she asks.”

Amy stepped forward holding her hand out.
Grasping it lightly they shook, “Nice to meet you, Jenna. It would
be fun to have a new girl around. Wanna go inside and get some
drinks?”

“Sure.” Amy walked forward and Jenna fell
into step next to her as she led the way inside the club. She
stopped to flash her I.D. to the girl at the front counter, but was
dragged away by Amy before she could complete the task. At the last
second before clearing the door, she grabbed Jenna’s helmet and
tossed it to the girl behind the counter, not even staying to watch
as the poor employee had to twist like a rubber doll in order to
catch it.

Dance music poured into Jenna, covering her
senses with a fast hypnotic pulse. Moving through the club, she
followed Amy as they skirted the crowds; finding an empty table in
the back, near the bar. As soon as the four of them stopped at the
table, a waitress came over and asked for their drink orders.
Before she could answer though, Amy ordered beers for everyone.