Chapter 5 Monster #2
“Where the hell did he find that thing? A DeLorean back to 1984?”
“Right?”
Monster whipped out his switchblade and walked over to where the man slept and stabbed the bed, then waited.
A few minutes later, Cliff started to thrash and curse.
“Son of a—”
When he managed to sit up, Monster grabbed him and held his now wet blade to the man’s throat.
“Hey there, buddy.” Ghoul spoke with an over-the-top, sugary-sweet tone. “How you been?”
As he approached, he raised his hand. Monster moved his knife right before Ghoul slapped him like a bitch.
“Fuck,” Cliff cursed. “I told you I need more time, Ghoul. Breaking into my home at night isn’t going to change that.” The man spoke in a definitive but disrespectful tone.
Bulldog took two strides to close the distance, coming into Cliff’s personal space. He gave Monster a nod, and he brought his knife back around, nicking Cliff’s ear on purpose.
The man hissed in pain, but the attention was squarely on Bulldog. “First, asshole, adjust the attitude, or you and I will have a bigger problem than you can handle.”
He nodded at Monster again, and he brought his knife higher, separating the lobe from his cheek.
“Fu—”
“Shush.” Bulldog grabbed his chin. “Second. You’ll give us half of what you owe us now, and the rest within forty-eight hours, or Monster here will take the ear as compensation, and you’ll still have just two days to get our dough. Your choice, Cliff. Half now or the ear now.”
“Okay,” the man spat, none too happy. “I have twenty in my safe I can give you tonight, along with a family heirloom. I can get the rest, but your … associate … needs to give me some space.”
Bulldog inclined his head, and Monster stepped back.
“Do you mind?” he sneered at Bulldog. The man’s disrespect rubbed Monster the wrong way. Apparently, Ghoul didn’t care for it either. He stepped forward and open-handedly slapped Cliff.
“Show some respect to our Vice President, madam.” Ghoul said haughtily, and neither brother could fully contain the laughter at the way Ghoul was handling it.
“What?” He turned toward Monster as Cliff rubbed his cheek. “He’s dressed like a chick in his red jammies and look—he even pissed himself like a scared little pussy. So, I wanted to show her the proper respect. Lead by example and all that shit.”
Ghoul turned back to Cliff when he spat angrily, “I didn’t piss myself, as you well know.” Everyone’s eyes drifted toward the still leaking waterbed.
“Someone else pissed your pants? Whatever you say, princess, let’s go. Where’s the safe?” Ghoul took him by the arm and led him downstairs where Cliff indicated.
Monster thought he caught Carys’s scent. Shaking his head, he scolded himself for letting his mind wander back to her.
Cliff fumbled with the combination.
“Come on, Cliff. We haven’t got all day. You can only stall for so long.”
“I’m not stalling. I’m wet and … I need to get steady.”
Cliff reached for the cart next to the still unopened safe and grabbed a decanter. Removing the stopper, he upended it. Monster cut his eyes to his Veep with an are we really letting this guy punk us look.
Bulldog lifted a hand to stay Monster.
“What’s the holdup, Cliff?”
“Just nerves. I mean, when have I ever done the club wrong? So, I got a little behind. It happens, but instead of treating me with the respect I’ve always extended to you, you come into my home like animals in the middle of the night.
Leaving me wet and scared, and you expect me to be able to open my safe without a few hiccups? ”
Cliff drank some more, plopping down in his office chair.
“Awe, does the princess need a change of clothes? How about we make her some soup and braid her hair?”
Ghoul paced, then turned to his Veep. “Let me have his ear or a finger. I bet he’ll remember the number really fast.”
“You always had it out for me, haven’t you, Ghoul?” Cliff stood and pointed his finger. “It’s like dogs and cats. You see me and you start hissing and scratching.”
Monster didn’t care for his chosen analogy. A little too close to home. He inhaled deeply. No shifter smell detected. Maybe it was just a coincidence.
“Enough, Cliff,” Bulldog roared. “Open the safe now, or it’s all due tonight and Ghoul gets an ear and a finger.”
“Please, by all means, stay seated,” Ghoul teased.
“Fine.” Cliff slammed the decanter down and stood. He spun the dial back and forth. After a few seconds, he pulled the door open. “Take it. Take it all.” Cliff walked back to his desk. Grabbing the decanter and heading toward the office door as Bulldog took the contents.
Monster grabbed his arm as he went to pass. “We’ll be back in two days, Cliff, for the balance. Don’t make us chase you down, because you won’t like what happens when we catch you.”
Cliff leaned in, and it seemed like he was smelling Monster. A sinister smile split his face. “Catch me?” Cliff spoke low. “Why, it seems I’m not the one in a trap.”
The arrogant bastard continued his journey through the door, speaking back as he walked away. “Lock up when you’re done, gentlemen.”
“Does that fucker have a split personality or what?” Bulldog asked.
“Yeah, either of you get a bad vibe from him?” Monster was shaken by the night but especially by the shift in Cliff’s entire demeanor.
They continued the discussion as they made their way back to the car.
“Something about his choice of words had Dash clawing at me.”
“I didn’t like it either, but perhaps we’re reading into it. I didn’t smell anything on him. You?” Monster asked his Veep.
“Nothing, but maybe a deeper dive into him couldn’t hurt. We’ll see what Kansas thinks. Maybe he can come for the final payment. He can smell shifters better than any of us. If he knows something, that means he has to know one and that scent should be around.”
“Either way,” Monster added as they parked the car at the clubhouse. “I think we need to vote to nix him permanently, no matter what. His disrespect won’t magically go away. The more we deal with him, the cockier he’ll get. We can’t let it slide. We get paid, and we ban him.”
Monster was still trying to puzzle out what Cliff meant with his trap comment. He would bring it up in church when they discussed banning Cliff.
“Hey, that car outside the gate is gone. Wasn’t that your girl’s, Monster?” Ghoul asked.
He’d been so far in his head he hadn’t noticed.
“Fuck.”
Eating up the distance to his room, he threw open the door to confirm the truth—she was gone.
Ulf howled in rage, as did Monster. “She’s left me.” The silver felt ineffective as Ulf raged inside him, begging to be let out.
“Oh shit.” He heard Ghoul behind him. “He’s in partial. How in the hell is he in a partial shift with the silver on?”
“I don’t fucking know, but we have to talk him down because if Ulf takes over like this, we may never get him back. Especially if he breaks through silver to do it.”
“Hey, Arden. Listen. You need to talk to Ulf. You need to calm him down. If not—”
Bulldog interrupted, “Here, look. She didn’t leave you, Monster.
She left a note explaining everything.” The rage cleared enough for Monster to realize his vice was waving a piece of paper in his face.
His vice had sprouted fur and was on the verge of shifting himself.
Ready to defend himself and stop Ulf if he broke free.
With considerable strength and concentration, Monster pulled Ulf back.
Calm, so I can read the note.
He breathed a great sigh of relief when he succeeded. All the credit wasn’t his, but Ulf’s too. He gave over to Monster since he couldn’t read without Monster’s eyes.
Ulf whined. She left us.
She didn’t leave us. She left a note.
After a few deep breaths, Monster nodded. “Thanks brothers, I’m good. Well, not good. I need some answers, but I’m in control and Ulf is … compliant.”
Bulldog held the letter to his nose and inhaled deeply. The look on his face was disturbing.
“What is it?” Monster asked nervously. Why would a note Carys wrote put that look on his face?
“I’ve smelled that scent somewhere else.” He handed it to Monster. “But that will keep. We’ll see you in church tomorrow.”
Each brother clapped him on the back as they left his room.
Monster sat at the foot of his bed to read the letter.
Monster,
I waited as long as possible. I have an early morning commitment that cannot be moved.
Otherwise, I’d still be here, waiting for you and the multiple orgasms you promised me. I will take a rain check on those.
BTW, the cuff is two simple buckles, not a bank vault. Anyone with a free hand and two brain cells could figure it out. If you want to keep a lady here without the possibility of escape in the future, cuff both my hands.
XOXOXO
Carys
PS I’d love to cook you dinner and reverse our roles as discussed.
Call me if you ever want to see your hoodie again.
The calm that washed over him was all-encompassing. A feeling he’d never felt before.
“I think she’s the one, Ulf. Do you feel it?” he whispered in awe.
I’m not sure, Arden, but I want to see her, smell her, taste her, more than I want to run free in the forest with you awake.
Ulf’s words touched Monster in a way that was inexplicable. His wolf was coherent and at peace for the first time since he’d emerged too early, and under silver no less.
Monster fingered the cuff at his wrist, releasing the latch and letting it fall to the floor.
Instantly Ulf was right there with him, completely. Colors were crisper, scents were sharper, and Carys’s unique one of tangerine and vanilla invaded every cell of his body.
She may not be their mate, but she would be his ol’ lady.