4. Lila
4
LILA
I sat in my car, parked across the road from the local bar. I had lost track of how long I sat in the driver’s seat, trying to decide if this tingling feeling was all in my head or if I was, in fact, being followed. Surely, they’d get tired of me sitting here and eventually approach me or leave.
The bar was quiet, but as the evening drew on, more and more patrons began entering. The group of officers from Weylin’s team that had been at my desk all afternoon piqued my interest as they pulled up in a black SUV and entered the bar. I wondered if they were staying at the motel down the road.
Finally, I left the car, quickly walking across the street, not slowing down until I’d entered the bar and placed my order. Before I could tap the machine to pay for my beer, a card came down, and I held my breath as Rodney paid for my drink.
“On me today, sweets,” he boasted.
I gave him a tight smile. “Thanks.”
“Oh, don’t worry ’bout it. I seen how you had such a hard day today. It’s not right how they came in like that, but I did warn you. I think we could’ve gotten along fine without them coming in.”
No, he didn’t. He thought the case was unsolvable. I took my beer and gave him a nod. “Thanks again for the drink,” I said, leaving before he could stop me. I found a booth at the far corner of the bar and relaxed, sipping on the cool alcohol.
I couldn’t stay away from home forever; I would have to be prepared in case they attacked. I’d never had a wolf shifter come into my territory before.
One whiff of my scent, and they usually avoided my place. Whether out of respect or that I just wasn’t worth a fight, I wasn’t sure, but I had never come face-to-face with anyone like Weylin.
I began sorting through all my options in my head. What if he was a friendly wolf? Maybe it would be a good thing to talk with him. But thinking back to our encounter, it had been anything but friendly. I’d been afraid of him, and my gut told me my fear was very much valid.
Though I gazed at the table where Weylin’s officers sat, they seemed to ignore my presence as much as they did the other locals. I was just getting comfortable, halfway through my beer, when the door opened.
It wasn’t the door opening that really caught my attention. It was the now familiar scent.
I tracked Weylin’s movements as he walked through the door, wearing an entirely different suit with no jacket. His blond hair was a mess; he was only now fixing it as he combed his fingers through it.
He smiled as he walked up to the female barkeep, sending a grin and wink her way that had her blushing fifty shades of pink.
Two men walked in after Weylin. The first was so tall, he ducked his head slightly when walking through the doorway, as if he was used to walking into doorframes.
His shoulders and body were so thick that, when he stood to full height, a few locals couldn’t help but stop and stare. Not Weylin’s officers, though. They avoided any kind of eye contact, staring down at the table or at the floor. I didn’t like the look of that.
From here, I could see the sharp angles of his face, the dark brown of his eyes, and the perfectly styled black hair atop his head; not a strand was out of place.
He had a five-o’clock shadow along his jaw, but it was clearly intentional. This man wore a crisp grey dress shirt tucked into pants that screamed money. He wasn't from here, he didn't have family from around here, and everything about his demeanor screamed trouble. If I thought Weylin had struck fear into me, that had been nothing compared to this guy.
Behind the big guy, another man stepped out and took a seat at the bar next to Weylin. His lips were pinched tight, his eyes narrowed as he scanned the crowd. He had black hair, like Big Guy, though his was longer. Tattoos curled around his neck, popping up above the collar of his shirt, and he was dressed to the nines, his clothes just as expensive as his friend’s.
I took another sip of my beer. Do I say hi? Do I run away? Do I ask if they were stalking me not long ago? Or maybe I just sit here and wait them out, since they didn’t seem to notice me.
Of course, that’s when Big Guy tilted his head to the side, his nostrils flaring before he turned in my direction. Tats was subtle when he sniffed the air, but I didn’t miss it. Weylin turned and stared directly at me before giving the other two a nod. The three of them grabbed their drinks and headed directly for me.
My eyes moved to my exit, but it was Friday night. Practically everyone in town was here. They would be alarmed if I suddenly ran out the door. I was safest staying here in this booth.
As soon as they approached my table, the wolf in me let out a low warning growl, completely instinctual and out of my control. Tats seemed surprised, Big Guy narrowed his eyes at me, Weylin grinned, but all three had stopped their approach.
“Did the little wolf just growl at us?” Weylin asked.
My eyes darted around, wondering who, if anyone, had heard his comment. The music was loud enough, and laughter around even louder, that I was confident no one heard anything. Even if they had I doubt they would suspect I was a human that could turn into a wolf by will.
“Enough, Weylin,” Big Guy said, fixing his sleeves and throwing on an indifferent look. “It would be wise, young wolf, to inform your pack alpha of a formal request for a meeting of the packs.” He dropped his hands and looked up at me, his stare meaning to be intimidating, but something about his tone ruffled my fur the wrong way.
I did exactly what my wolf wanted me to do. I ignored him, taking a sip of my drink.
Big Guy took a step forward, but Tats shot his hand out, stopping him. “Kage,” he whispered in warning before slyly looking around.
Big Guy—er, Kage—took a deep breath. “What is your name?”
Ignore. Ignore them until they move on.
Weylin burst out laughing. “This is Lila Evans. Local homicide detective.”
A muscle ticked in Kage’s jaw, and I fought back a smile. I was winning. My wolf puffed her chest out within me. I just had to hold it together. The three men looked amongst themselves, seeming dumbfounded.
Tats sighed. “Surely, we can call a meeting without getting councils involved. We come on good terms.”
I took another sip of my beer; my gut told me he was lying. Tats tilted his head once more and took a sniff before a smirk threatened the corner of his mouth. He looked every bit the predator my instincts told me he was.
“You have no pack,” he said, seeming to just now come to the conclusion.
Kage’s eyebrows rose, checking in with his friends before turning to me, taking me in with new eyes. Bloodthirsty eyes. Shit , my wolf mumbled.
Weylin chuckled. “I guess this will be easier than we expected.”
I sighed, setting my beer down.
“For a lone wolf, you have a lot of attitude,” Kage said.
“If I sit down, will you bite?” Weylin asked.
“I don’t want you guys here. I want you to get your stuff together now and leave my town,” I admitted. “Also, give me my case back,” I tacked on.
Weylin sat down next to me. “I’ll take my chances. Who knows? I may even enjoy a little nip.”
Kage looked both annoyed and intrigued. “Lone wolves don’t have territory.”
“I do, in case you missed my markings.” Perhaps I had been doing the whole marking of the territory thing wrong. Honestly, I was going off fan fiction and smutty novels with the whole shifter customs thing.
“As amusing as it was, it’s child’s play. You have no mentor, do you? What is your bloodline?”
“Do you always bluntly ask about another person's ancestry on the first meeting?” I turned to face Weylin, ready to shove him if I had to. “Move, I’m going home.” I didn’t want to isolate myself, but the way they freely talked about the shifter world while humans were in earshot had me second-guessing if they would shift in the bar or not. If I couldn’t keep myself safe, the least I could do was keep this town safe.
Weylin didn’t move. “Come on, little wolf, it will be easier if you just play nice.”
“Lila?” Rodney walked up to the table, but Tats intercepted him, getting to his feet.
“Lila is fine. Go have another beer.” There was an enticing melody to his voice.
Rodney nodded. “Lila is fine,” he repeated robotically. “I think I’ll have another beer.” He turned from the table and walked back to the bar.
“What did you do?” I gasped, watching Rodney walk away as if under a trance.
Tats sat back down. “It’s not her.” He spoke to Kage as if I wasn’t even here. “No way she got the jump on those alphas. She acts like a human that has never seen a shifter in her life.”
Maybe because I haven't.
“We’ll handle her and report back. This area will be claimed before Marcus can move in here.”
To say I was confused was putting it mildly, but I held back from saying anything. I needed to figure out what was going on here.
Weylin groaned. “Just a little fun first?”
“No. We’ll finish up here and head back to the office,” Kage ordered. Everyone got up, except for me. “Out,” Kage growled, waving his hand to the back entrance of the bar.
I frowned. “No.” Why the fuck would I do that?
His eyes lit up, a smirk teasing his lips but not quite. He enjoyed the challenge. “Get out, or else this town will be on the morning news, headlining a massacre.”
Damn it. I slid out of the booth, walking as slowly as I could with Kage directly behind me. I’d say he was breathing down my neck, but he likely had a bird's eye view of the top of my head.
I racked my brain, sifting through all the books and stories I had read about shifters, trying to figure out how I could possibly get out of this.
There was only one exit out of the alley, I would likely be cornered. I had confidence in my abilities as a wolf but I never shifted in town before. It was something I had always avoided.
Stepping outside into the evening air, I quickly spun around, putting my back to the wall. The three of them stared at me like I was prey, their eyes glowing.
I held up my hand. “Parley.”
Tats raised his eyebrow. “Parley?”
I cleared my throat, trying to fake my confidence when, inside, I was falling apart. I hoped someone would take care of Max. “Yes, shifter code. Like a code of honor. Parley, where we come together and settle a dispute.” Despite my bravado, I didn’t know if it was a thing. I doubted it. I had watched it in a movie about pirates but I didn’t see why it couldn’t be applied to this situation.
Kage stepped forward, forcing me to back up. “Are you challenging me?”
“No, yes, but no.” Wait. “Aren’t you challenging me?”
“For what? You have no pack, and you have no means to defend yourself. You have no land. You have nothing. What could I possibly gain in a challenge with some thing as weak as you? Your blood is dry.”
What did that even mean? “So, now what?” I asked. “You have me cornered, you won’t accept my request, you don’t see me as a worthy challenge.”
Kage crossed his arms, and Tats stepped up. “You have two choices. The first option is you leave, find another empty territory, and carry on being an unregistered lone wolf until the council finds you.”
Unregistered? Did that mean other wolves were registered? I could feel my hands shake at the fear of danger, but I held them tight, my claws slowly elongating out of defense. My wolf wanted to run, but I had a feeling these three would enjoy the chase.
I remained emotionless on the outside, watching Tats, waiting for him to state my second choice. It seemed to take longer than seconds as he assessed my demeanor and lack of reaction. The slightest smirk twitched his lips before he composed himself.
“Your second option is to stay and conform to the pack.”
“Wait, what?” Weylin turned to Kage. “I thought it was going to be a—”
“Wey,” Kage warned before turning his attention to Tats. “The problem needs to be eradicated.”
The problem. Hmm. They didn’t have the authority to kick me off my territory. I mean, if there was actually something that required me to be registered, that meant there were governing bodies. Someone higher up than them. They were banking on me leaving town under the threat. I looked to Tats but couldn’t stop the gentle smile and slight relief. He pinched his lips together, knowing I’d figured it out.
“Well, now we have to kill her,” he snapped at Weylin.
My smile disappeared. “Wait, what?” I copied Weylin’s earlier tone. I stepped back as three large men stalked towards me.
“Hopefully, she doesn’t have many ties to take care of,” Kage said.
Yep, time to shift now. I stretched my hands out, but Tats was already staring at my claws, as he grabbed hold of my arm. The moment his hand touched my skin, my shift halted. Burning heat spread from his touch through my arm, slithering across my shoulders, a shiver traveling down my spine as I gasped. It was like fireworks going off inside my heart, both breathtaking and exhilarating at the same time.
My stare met his and that was the first time I noticed the redness of his eyes. A low, menacing growl vibrated through his chest, his grasp tightening around my arm before he pulled me towards him.
“Stop!” I yelled, throwing my other arm up to defend myself. I didn’t have to, though. He positioned himself in front of me, between his friends.
“Rainor—”
“She’s my mate.” He spat the word, as if it disgusted him, cutting off Kage’s warning.
“If you shift, he will kill her,” Weylin seemed slightly worried. Was this not what they had planned in the first place?
“Leave,” Rainor snapped, though his voice was disconnected.
Weylin stepped forward, but Kage threw his arm out. “Go.” His voice was calm, despite the situation. “The beast will take care of her for us.”
Weylin glanced at me, back to Kage, and nodded. “Sorry, little wolf,” he said. He actually seemed like he meant it. “We would’ve made it painless.”
The two men backed out of the alley, all the while keeping their eyes trained on Rainor as he fought his own shift. “I kinda liked her,” I heard Weylin say to Kage as they walked away.
I had never seen another wolf shift before. I knew the process, obviously, but to see another body go through the transformation was new. Rainor looked as if he was struggling, though. His muscles twitched and jumped, a crack of a bone here or there, and it didn’t take me long to understand what was happening.
I could run—I should run—but I had a feeling Kage and Weylin weren’t far away. Plus, that warmth that had spread through me, those fireworks in my heart, lingered and throbbed the closer I got to Rainor. My wolf whimpered each time I stepped away from him. My back hit the wall. I didn't want to leave him while he struggled so much.
“Why are you fighting it?” I asked.
“He’ll kill you,” Rainor grunted out. I could see in his face that he didn’t like losing control. In the span of seconds, he went from planning my murder to now protecting me from himself. He screamed, nearly a battle cry, as he fell to his knees.
I couldn’t take it anymore. “Change,” I said.
Rainor’s body spasmed, his eyes going wide, his glasses sliding down his face.
“Change,” I demanded, more force in my voice.
The black hair growing along his body, the thickening and crunch of his chest, the ripping of his shirt as it made way for the large wolf that now stood before me was intriguing to watch, and though I knew I should run away, I couldn’t.
Rainor was a large, snarling mess of crazy. The redness in his eyes was a thing of nightmares as the color became more vibrant, bolder. The hackles on his neck and back stood on end, paws braced on the ground, claws extended… He was still fighting his raw, feral wolf.
My wolf begged to change, but not so she could run. She felt the need to comfort him, and as much as it went against every alarm bell in my mind, I trusted my wolf. I wasn’t sure if I could communicate with Rainor in wolf form, though, so I remained in human form.
“Stop fighting him,” I said, taking a step forward.
The wolf’s legs trembled as Rainor forced him to take a step back. He snapped at the air, his teeth almost as long as my fingers, spit dripping from them in rage.
I had a death wish, but inside, my wolf had me convinced Rainor was hurting his wolf, and she didn’t like that. I got down on my knees, face close enough to the white pearls of death that I could feel the wolf’s hot breath on my face.
“Stop. Fighting. Him,” I ordered.
The release was instant. The wolf flew at me, pinning me to the ground as he began rubbing his face into mine. My chest rumbled with purrs, my wolf giving her approval at the marking that was taking place.
I sighed, letting the impossibly large wolf do his thing. “Just don’t piss on me.” There was no moving him. Stretching out over my body, he was longer than my human form. Once he seemed satisfied, he laid his head on my chest.
Perhaps he was my ticket out. The other two men seemed afraid of this wolf. I ran my fingers through his fur, scratching behind his ear.
“I want to get off the ground now,” I said to him.
Rainor raised his head at me before shifting off my body and standing at my side. His lips remained pulled back in a snarl, as if they were permanently set that way, his eyes promising all kinds of crazy as his hackles continued to stand on end. I sat up, glancing towards the end of the alley before looking back at him.
“I don’t know a lot about this world. I take it, since you're my mate, you can’t hurt me?” He raised his lips further, baring his teeth. Okay. “You can hurt me?”
Rainor closed his lips and stared at me.
“But you’re choosing not to.” He continued staring. “Thanks, I appreciate that. I want to go home. Will they kill me?”
He snarled as he took a few steps down the alley. I stood up, walking over to the back door of the bar, wasting no time as I slipped back into the building and weaved my way in and out of the crowd.
“Hey, Lila!” Rodney called out.
I ignored him, pushing the limits of what was considered normal human speed. I grabbed the handle of the door, and the moment I stepped outside, I was gone, running down the street. There was chaos behind me, snarls and deep, manly shouts, but I didn’t look back. I just prayed Rainor’s wolf still had control and was distracting the others.
I turned down a back road, making sure no one was around before quickly shifting into wolf form. I wanted to run right home, but I had a feeling they would find me. I wasn’t sure how advanced their tracking was. Instead, I took off into the woods.