CHAPTER 4: Secrets and Stares

Betty's POV

Colt was standing there as calm as a Sunday morning and behind him were two hulking wolves with fur the color of shadow and eyes that burned like hellfire. Wolves! Giant, no-way-in-hell-are-those-real wolves!!

Every instinct screamed RUN and so I spun on my heel with blind panic fueling my legs and bolted for the tree line.

One of the wolves was suddenly right there, blocking my path! It didn't snarl and it didn't lunge.. it just stood there like a living breathing wall of nope with its glowing eyes pinning me in place.

“Betty! Stop!” Colt’s voice was firm, cutting through the roar of blood in my ears. “It’s okay! Just… just stay still.”

Okay? Nothing about this was okay! I was about to become a chew toy for Cerberus’s cousins!

Then, the bigger wolf with the intense alpha-as-fuck stare started to… change. Its form flowed with bones cracking and re-knitting with a series of sickening wet pops. Fur receded into skin, the muzzle flattened and the powerful haunches straightened into long muscular legs.

In the span of three seconds, where a monster wolf had been now stood Damon.. completely and utterly annoyingly… naked. And… whoa. I mean, full-frontal, ‘well, hello there,’ zero-percent-body-fat whoa!

My jaw went slack and my brain already on the fritz just blue-screened.

Before I could even process that, the second wolf went through the same horrifyingly beautiful transformation and a few more of those gut-churning crunches and Blaze was standing there, glowering at me with those same pissed-off eyes also buck-ass naked.. and equally infuriatingly well-equipped.

The three of them... Colt in his jeans, Damon and Blaze in their birthday suits... stood watching me.

My eyes darted from one set of abs to another, to places I definitely should not be looking at given the circumstances. The sheer, insane absurdity of it all hit me like a freight train.

My heart wasn’t just beating loudly anymore.. it was a kick-drum solo at a metal concert, pounding against my ribs, echoing in my skull.

The edges of my vision started to go dark, narrowing into a tunnel and the last thing I saw was Colt taking a step toward me with a look of concern on his face… then the world just… switched off.

***

Travis

Sunlight stabbed through the filthy bedroom window, right into my damn eyeballs and I groaned, throwing an arm over my face.

My head was pounding from too much whiskey and too much Lana which was not a bad combo, all things considered.

For almost three years this house had been filled with the irritatingly cheerful sound of Betty puttering around. Making coffee, humming some dumb pop song and asking me a million pointless questions.

“Travis, did you see my book?”

“Travis, what do you want for dinner?”

“Travis, are you even listening to me?”

Now? Nothing. It’d been two days since she’d walked in on me and Lana.. two days since she’d pulled her little disappearing act.

I sat up, scratching my chest. Maybe something did happen to her. I mean, let’s be real... Betty’s a moron.. a weak clueless human moron. She could’ve tripped and fallen into a ditch for all I know. Lived with a damn werewolf for three years and never had a clue. She probably thought my monthly “camping trips” were just me needing some alone time. Pathetic.

The bedroom door creaked open and Lana slipped back in, already dressed.

“You’re awake.”

“No shit. Get back over here,” I grumbled, nodding toward the bed. “We’re not done.”

She rolled her eyes but a smirk played on her beautiful lips.

“You’re insatiable. Last night was… wow. The best yet.”

“Damn right it was.” I reached for her but she sidestepped me with a laugh.

“I gotta go, Trav. Seriously. If someone sees me leaving your house… people will talk. ‘He’s fucking his stepsister,’ they’ll say. It’s gross.”

I waved a hand, dismissing her.

“Let ‘em talk. I’m ready for anyone and anything. Who’s gonna say shit to my face? Huh? Nobody, that’s who.”

She just shook her head but she came closer with a wicked glint in her eye.

“I gotta go. But I can give you a little something to remember me by.”

She dropped to her knees in front of me. Well, okay then. Maybe her leaving wasn’t so bad. 

A few minutes later, after a very thorough and very sloppy goodbye blowjoe, she was gone and I was feeling a whole lot better about the day.

I pulled on my jeans, boots and my cut... the leather vest with the Iron Claw Bikers emblem on the back. I headed out to my bike with the engine roaring to life under me like a comforting growl.

The clubhouse was mostly empty with just Kaleb, one of our sergeants-at-arms, polishing a glass behind the bar like he was getting paid for it.

“Where is everyone?” I asked, slapping the bartop.

Kaleb didn’t even flinch.

“Ain’t seen ‘em.” He replied.

“Ain’t seen who?”

“Damon. Colt. Blaze.” He put the glass down and finally looked at me. “They didn’t check in last night. Or this morning. That’s not like them.”

He was right. It wasn’t. Those three lived and breathed for this club. They’d never put anything before the Iron Claw. But lately… they’d been distant. Absent. Whispering in corners and skipping out early and it was starting to piss me off.

“That’s it?” I snapped. “They just ghosted?”

Kaleb just shrugged.

“That’s all I got, Man.”

My friends were MIA? Something was up.. something that smelled wrong.

I stormed out, kicking my bike back to life. If they weren’t at the clubhouse, they were at their place... the cottage the three of them shared. I knew it well.

I rolled up to their place with the bike rumbling to a stop. The place looked dead and quiet.. too quiet for three grown bikers. I marched up to the front door and tried the knob but it was locked.

What the hell? We don’t lock doors around here.

A muffled sound came from inside, drawing my attention. My senses are better than a human’s.. a lot better so I focused, tuning out the wind in the trees and the distant traffic.

There it was.. a voice.. and then another. I knew those voices.

Creeping around the side of the house, I ducked under a window. The curtain was drawn but there was a tiny gap so I leaned in, pressing my eye to the glass and my fucking heart just… stopped! Dropped right out of my chest and onto the dirt at my feet!

I stared with my brain refusing to process what my eyes were seeing. The horror of it was so complete and so absolute I couldn’t even breathe.

No. No, no, no, no…