Chapter 6
Addison couldn’t wait to call it a night. She was exhausted both physically and mentally. Delphine’s visit had only agitated things, and she was more than curious where Myles and his brothers were. When she’d asked Riley about it, Riley had shrugged it off and said the boys needed a night off.
Addison walked out the back with a bag of trash. She opened the dumpster and threw it in. After she dusted off her hands, she looked up at the sky, but she couldn’t see the moon from where she was.
She turned to go back inside when a man stepped out of the shadows. Addison took a look at the door, but the narrow alley prevented her from having enough room to go around him and reach the door. If anything happened, no one inside would hear her scream with the music blaring.
Addison glanced over her shoulder to the wooden fence that locked her in. She didn’t think she could climb it fast enough or open the locked gate quick enough to get away.
She took in the man. He was on the short side and thin-framed, but there was something about him that made her wary, something that made her think he was much stronger than he looked.
“Here’s the morsel I’ve been looking for,” he said with a smile.
His skin looked pale in the light flooding the alley. His eyes were in shadow, but she knew they were trained on her as he began to move toward her. Addison backed up, her heart pounding in fear.
The man smoothed his hand over his slicked back, dark brown hair. “You’re all that’s being talked about.” He licked his lips. “I’m famished.”
“I can get you some food,” she hurried to say.
Apparently he thought that was funny because he laughed. “Take a look at my clothes, sweetheart. Do I look as if I can’t afford whatever it is I want?”
“You said you were hungry.”
“Oh, I am.” He peeled back his lips and his eyeteeth lengthened.
Addison had her second shock of the night, and it brought her up short, halting her retreat. Surely it was some trick of the light.
Minka had said there were vampires.
Oh, God. She was going to die from a vampire bite. The terror that consumed her locked her limbs so she couldn’t move for a moment. Addison stumbled backwards against the fence, a scream welling in her throat.
Then a flash of dark fur sped from over her head.
She yelped as something large and furry landed in front of her, a low, menacing growl emanating from it.
The vampire took a step back and hissed.
Addison wanted to think it was a dog, but there was no denying that she was looking at a wolf – a very large, very scary wolf.
Its body was low to the ground as it snapped its jaws at the vampire and issued another growl. For a second, Addison thought the vampire would leave, and then she realized the wolf had no intention of letting it go anywhere.
She plastered herself against the fence, praying the wolf didn’t see her. Addison’s hand shook as she tried to open the gate to her right. The jiggle of the metal caused the vampire’s gaze to shift to her.
Her breath locked in her chest. Then the wolf turned its head to her and she saw into yellow eyes that seemed to glow from within.
She was taken aback by the fierce beauty of the wolf.
The next second, the wolf surprised both her and the vampire when it launched itself at the man and locked its powerful jaws around the vamp’s neck.
The yells from the vampire were drowned out by the growling of the wolf.
Addison screamed and focused on getting the gate open because she knew she was getting a first hand look at a werewolf. It took her a moment to realize it was suddenly as quiet as death around her except for the thump of the music from within the bar.
She closed her eyes, both of her hands still on the gate latch that refused to open. Addison slowly turned her head and looked over her shoulder.
The wolf was off to the side, standing over the dead body of the vampire that was turning gray and crumbling before her eyes. She lifted her gaze to the wolf and took a good look at its chocolate brown fur. It wasn’t just more muscular than a normal wolf, but taller, as well.
It was no longer growling. It simply stared at her as if it were waiting on something.
“Thank you,” she whispered.
From its position, it leapt over the fence with nary a sound. Addison gulped back a yelp of surprise and then hurried around the dust of the vampire as fast as she could before rushing into the kitchen.
All Addison wanted to do was get the night over with so she could try and sleep. Perhaps then she could forget all that she’d witnessed.
When she walked back into the front of the bar to finish cleaning off the tables, Riley stopped her by grabbing both of her hands. “You’re shaking,” Riley said. “What happened?”
Addison wasn’t sure if she could tell Riley about what had happened. She didn’t want anyone thinking she belonged in a loony bin.
“Addison, please,” Riley urged.
“There was a man out back.”
Riley frowned and glanced at the kitchen. She released Addison and strode to the back. Addison followed her outside. With one look, Riley walked to the last bit of ashes from the vampire. She knelt down and touched something on the ground.
Her gaze lifted and locked on Addison. “By the paleness of your face, I’m gathering you saw this?”
Addison nodded.
Riley sighed and got to her feet. “What happened?”
The acceptance on her face sent Addison’s head spinning. She wrapped her arms around her middle. “You accept this as if you’ve known. You’re not shocked there is a pile of ash there, and you know what it is.”
“I could’ve lied to you, pretended I didn’t see anything and waited until you left to get a better look. But I didn’t. I do know about vampires, demons, witches-”
“Werewolves?” Addison asked.
Riley hesitated for a heartbeat. “Yes.”
“That’s what got the vampire.”
Riley jerked her thumb over her shoulder to the fence. “I saw the fresh claw marks.”
Addison dropped her head into her hands. “I can’t believe I’m standing out here talking about werewolves and vampires. I’ve lived in New Orleans all my life. All of those rumors were just to keep the tourists coming.”
“How I wish that were true.” Riley came to stand beside her. “You’re freaked out, but not nearly as much as I would’ve expected.”
Addison dropped her hands and looked up. “This has been a really weird day. I was approached earlier by a fortune teller who said she saw a vision of me being chased by a werewolf.”
“What?” Riley exploded. “Did she say werewolf?”
“She said wolf, but she said she was confused because she knew the wolves around the Quarter and said that they protected people.” As Addison learned first hand that evening. “But she warned me that I was in danger.”
Riley grunted and crossed her arms over her chest as her frown deepened. “That’s obvious by Delphine’s visit tonight. Someone is taking an interest in you, Addison, and it’s cause for concern.”
“Really?” she asked sarcastically.
Riley’s face broke into a smile. “I think this calls for a drink. Only Marcus is left. Come inside and tell me in detail what happened out here.”
Myles watched Addison and Riley walk back into the kitchen through a slat in the fence. By the way Riley glanced over her shoulder, she must have guessed he was still out there.
He was glad he’d listened to his instincts and remained behind.
Not even killing the vamp cooled the fury that raced through him.
The vampire should never have gotten that close to the bar, and he wouldn’t have, had Myles not been led on a merry chase through the Quarter after another group of vamps.
It wasn’t unusual for the Quarter to be a hotbed of activity on a full moon, but he realized now that he’d been led away on purpose. The vamp had been after Addison.
But why? And what did the vampire mean when he’d said that everyone was talking about Addison?
More disturbing was the mention of Delphine’s name, despite Riley whispering it. In wolf form, he could hear everything – even the frantic beating of Addison’s heart.
Knowing Riley would keep Addison safe inside, Myles made another round of the area. He and his brothers certainly had their hands full tonight, and the longer it took for him to return to Addison, the more frustrated he became.
It wasn’t until the first rays of sun lightened the sky that he was able to follow Addison and Riley’s scent, though Addison’s was stronger for him.
He loped along the streets, staying hidden until he came to Rue Parc Fontaine.
He peered down the street and saw Riley sitting on the hood of a bright green Jeep.
She spotted him and slid off the car with a grin. “Am I glad to see you,” she said when he trotted up. “You saved her, didn’t you?”
Myles stopped beside her and looked up to the second floor where he could smell Addison.
“She’s safe,” Riley said as she patted his back.
That could only comfort him so much, especially knowing that she was still in danger. A witch from the Quarter had told her she’d had a vision of Addison being chased by a wolf. That disturbed him.
“I figured you’d come,” Riley continued as she bent down and reached into a bag set on the ground, then straightened with something in her hand. “So I grabbed some clothes. You can’t be seen like that, cuz.”
Myles took the jeans in his mouth and moved off to a secluded spot.
He dropped the jeans and let the transformation back into his human body begin.
It was always easier to revert back into human form than to shift into a wolf.
He gritted his teeth as bones, tendons, and muscles returned to their true form.
Myles was panting, sweat covering his body when he pushed up on his hands and looked around to make sure no one had seen him. Then he stood and pulled on the jeans before walking barefoot back to Riley.
She smiled brightly, holding out a red shirt and a pair of brown leather flip-flops. “We can’t have you walking around barefoot. You don’t know what you could step on. And the shirt is a necessity. If women caught sight of you, you’d never make it back to the bar.”
He chuckled and put on the shirt. As he slid his feet in the shoes, he cut his eyes to Riley. “Let’s get back to the bar.”
“I suppose you have questions?”
Myles waited for her to get the bag before he started walking. “Yep. I won’t be the only one.”
“I knew you were out there,” Riley grumbled.
“Was Delphine really there?”
Riley nodded. “I heard about her from Ava, but I wasn’t expecting to feel the evil of Delphine so strongly. It was like she was the center of it all.”
Myles put his arm around Riley and pulled her against him. “You shouldn’t have had to face her alone the first time. Shit. Your brothers are going to have my head.”
“She knew who I was without even knowing my name,” Riley said and rested her head on his shoulders.
They walked the rest of the way to the bar in silence. Riley was tough. She had to be as a Chiasson, but she had been doing things herself for so long that she desperately wanted someone to take some of the load off her shoulders. She just didn’t comprehend that yet.
Myles walked them through the back of the building. As soon as they entered the kitchen, she pulled away, pushed her shoulders back and lifted her chin. Whether she knew it or not, she acted as she if she were going into battle, and in some ways she was – the battle for herself.
He stopped when he entered the front of the bar and spotted Court, Solomon, and Kane sitting with Marcus.
Marcus was the only other person at the bar who knew what they truly were, and only because it had been Solomon who saved his life ten years earlier when a demon tried to possess Marcus as a teenager.
Marcus ran a hand over his bald head and met Myles’s gaze. “Delphine was here for Addison.”