Big Bad Bite (15 page)

Kent scratched his chin. “Where is his
territory? I’ve heard the name but never had a reason to pay
attention.”

“Germany.”

“You mean the entire country is his
territory?”

Uncle Owen smirked, “Don’t be too impressed.
The country of Germany is only slightly smaller than the state of
Montana.”

Kent rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah, I
can see your point, but don’t you have two Alphas with packs in the
state of Montana?”

“Yes I do. I never said Corvus’ territory
wasn’t impressive. I was just implying that it shouldn’t be
exaggerated because it had the title of ‘country’ and not ‘state’.
It’s not as if he’s Pack Master of Europe. He’s a strong Alpha from
what I’ve heard about him. His Pack is known to be a bit snobby
about but also known to be merciless. So, in short, he’s nobody to
piss off if we can avoid it, but he’s also not somebody I’m worried
about personally. I’ll have to get in contact with Pack Master
Moreau for more information, and possibly permission for a
visit.”

“Would the name Moreau happen to be in a
coincidence ?”

Uncle Owen shook his head, “No, it’s very
much on purpose. No coincidence about it. Before he became Pack
Master, Leroy Moreau went by another name. His birth name was
Francois Antoine. The problem he found with keeping that name
though was that it was made well known when he killed The Beast of
Gevaudan in 1765. This beast had been credited for two hundred and
ten attacks, one hundred and thirteen deaths, and a number of
injuries in the Margeride Mountains. The locals claimed that it was
a wolf and that most of the victims killed were also eaten by the
beast. The second reason keeping his birth name was a problem was
because when he wasn’t recognized by humans for being the killer of
the beast, then he was recognized by
Others
as being the son
of the beast.”

“The Beast of Gevaudan was Francois Antoine’s
wolf shifter father who had gone mad. Antoine killed him when it
became obvious that there was no way to bring his father back from
the depths of insanity. He then became Alpha of his father’s pack
and moved them for safety reasons, to the other side of France so
they wouldn’t be recognized by anyone from the events around
Gevaudan. When they settled, he changed his name to keep anonymity.
As you know Kent, and you will learn Jenna, as
Others
we
often have to change our names and move locations to keep our
secrets. We can’t live in the same area, never aging and have the
locals not pick up on it. Not unless you live in one of those rare
secluded
Other
cities, that is. So when Antoine felt the
need to change his identity around the beginning of the 1900’s,
after the release of the now extremely famous book by H.G. Wells,
he chose Leroy Moreau. He told me that it was because he was the
King of Animals. Leroy means King, and well, you get the reason for
Moreau. He’s managed to hold onto that name since, and I don’t
think he has any plans to change it.”

No one spoke again for a while. The silence
was heavy with individual contemplation, and even though Jenna was
young for being
Other
, she could guess why the story would
weigh on everyone’s minds. Being
Other
meant living a kind
of longevity that humans could never grasp. Your average human
lives sixty to eighty years. Your average shifter, demon, or born
vampire ages as humans would up until their second puberty hits,
which for
Others
was about the human equivalent of
twenty-five. It was also considered an
Other’s
sexual
puberty. The start of when their bodies could produce children.
When that phase hit,
Others
no longer aged. Instead, they
became immortal.

There were remarkably few things that caused
the death of an immortal. A violent death such as a beheading would
kill any of them. On the other hand, piercing their heart was just
as brutally effective. Besides those reasons, the majority of the
Other
species had heightened abilities to help keep them
alive. They all had an ability to heal faster than humans and
certain immunities that kept them from catching any disease.
Shifters had advanced senses for smells, but all
Other
species had extraordinary strength and speed, keener hearing and
sharper eyesight to some degree over their fragile human
counterparts.

The longer life span and advanced abilities
would probably seem like a dream come true until some reached their
breaking points. A stark fact of their preternatural lives was that
it was unbelievably violent. From what Jenna understood, it was
entirely commonplace to see many of your loved ones die in extreme
circumstances. One could imagine what seeing things like that, in
addition to living hundreds, or thousands, of years could do to
one’s mind.
Others
who lost their grip on reality and
flipped their psychotic switch were unfortunately much more
commonplace than any of them would like to think about. The fact
that Pack Master Moreau would give himself such a grim reminder of
not only the loss of his father but the fact that he had been the
one to put him out of his misery, was both surprising and sad.

Jenna didn’t do sad very well, so she decided
it was time for a change of topics.

Tapping her fingertip against the coffee
table, she analyzed her Uncle’s face. Warm green eyes so utterly
different from her chilling ice blue ones, a straight regal nose,
and sharp, prominent cheekbones stood out over the two day old
black stubble that graced his strong, square jaw. She bet that jaw
was about to start grinding so hard, that by the time she was done
with her demand, it would be a miracle if he still had teeth in his
head.

“If you go to see Corvus, I’m going with
you.”

The muscles in his jaw flexed harshly while
an atrocious noise subtly buzzed the air in a steady rhythm as the
bottom half of his face moved from side to side, causing that
grating sound to continue. With the strength that emanated from the
simple action, it was a miracle that the earnest scraping of tooth
against tooth hadn’t resulted in pulverizing his teeth into nothing
but bloody, gummy stumps.

Did somebody mention dentures?

Logan and Kent sat deathly still while Jenna
continued to look at her Uncle, determination plain to see on her
face. Finally, she watched as he sucked a lungful of air through
his nose and then exhaled it slowly.

His eyes narrowed dangerously and Jenna had
the distinct impression that if she had been anyone other than his
niece, then she’d have found herself on her back and bloody. “You,
little girl, are rather determined to blow to hell all of your
family’s hard work at trying to keep you safe. Is there a
particular reason behind this or do you just have a suicide wish
you’re trying to fulfill?”

“No suicide wish, Uncle. Two reasons: First,
because these guys came to what I now consider my territory and
caused massive problems that could have ended in a rather blatant
demonstration of the existence of
Others
. I feel it’s only
right that I be there to follow through on this situation.
Secondly, it’s time you started teaching me more about our world.
You’ve hidden me for almost twenty-four years. Doing that may have
saved my life from perceived threats because I’m a hybrid, and I
appreciate all of those hard efforts on my behalf, but it’s also
been a hindrance to me. I am, for all intents and purposes, blind
about
Other
species and how to survive among them. I think
it’s time for you and Mama to fix that. I figured it was best to
start with you.”

He pursed his lips as if considering her
argument, tilting his head marginally to the side. Now that she had
the opportunity to interact with other shifters, Jenna was quickly
finding it vastly amusing how much of their animal natures could be
seen even in their human forms. The head tilt very much reminded
her of how a canine would tilt its head to the side while studying
something. Of course, now probably be a good time to chuckle at how
cute she thought the similarity was. He also would not find it
particularly amusing to know that mentally she was picturing him as
an adorable little puppy, instead of the fierce beast that he was
in reality.

“You, my defiant little niece, make a solid
argument. One I happen to agree with now that you’ve decided to
splash your picture around on newspapers. If I need to go see
Corvus, then you shall come with me. For now, let’s move onto other
things. As your partner so eloquently pointed out earlier, I don’t
know where to search to gather information on unknown
Others
who might have come into Wilmington recently. Where do we go to
find out that kind of information discreetly?”

The smile that spread across Kent’s face was
smug. “I know just the person to go see.”

Chapter Eight

Jenna watched her partner out of the corner of her eye as they
raced down Highway 40, heading towards the town of Rocky Point in
Kent’s ridiculously flashy yellow BMW. The two-seater roadster had
more gadgets than she could even name, or figure out what to do
with. Not to mention that earlier, when she let him talk her into
riding with him, the man practically orgasmed in childish man-glee
at her wide eyed surprise when he retracted the hardtop roof into
the trunk and ordered her to braid her hair if she wanted to avoid
a rat’s nest for when they reached their destination. Since she was
guessing that Kent made the same puny public servant pay that she
did, her imagination was running wild with suspicions on his
ability to afford such a pricey car. Never one to be shy, she
decided to ferret out what she could. The rush of wind whipping
around them in the convertible made it impossible to say anything
aloud, so she gently poked at him telepathically to let him know
she wanted to talk.

“
You rang, sugar lumpkins?”

She growled at the atrocious nickname.
“If
you value keeping all of your favorite body parts working, you
won’t ever call me that again.”

The side of his lips tipped up in amusement,
“Whatever you say, my snarly sexpot.”

She chose to ignore that quip.
“Is this
really your car?”

He caressed the steering wheel in the same
manner that Jenna imagined a lover would their partner’s body.
Adoringly,
as if it was the most cherished thing he
possessed in life. She snorted at the idea that he’d probably
popped a hard-on while said caressing was being done. She certainly
didn’t need that mental picture.

“
Yeah. Isn’t she a beaut? I just bought
her a couple of months ago.”

“
How does a police officer afford a car
like this?”

“
You ready to tell me all of your secrets,
Annie Oakley?”

A pointed silence filled the car. It felt
like there should be a neon sign flashing ‘awkward’ over her
head.

“
That’s what I thought. When you’re ready
to spill your guts darlin’, then I’ll tell you some of mine. Till
then, feel free to just bask in all the glory that is me, and I’ll
pretend that you didn’t just try to insult me by questioning my
integrity because I drive a car you think I shouldn’t be able to
afford.”

Well, now she just felt like shit. As much as
her suspicious mind didn’t want to admit it, she’d just acted like
a judgmental bitch. Accomplishing nothing but inserting her foot so
far in her mouth that her tonsils could taste the rubber from the
sole of her shoe, while simultaneously pissing off her partner. And
the demon had every right to be miffed at her. She didn’t know him.
For all she knew he could be hundreds, or thousands of years old,
and financially secure through investments like the Corvus Pack.
Not to mention that this probably wasn’t the best way to cement a
relationship with her new partner, someone who she was going to
have trust implicitly to watch her back in potentially dangerous
situations in the future. A trust, that she was going to have to
form quickly as the potential for those dangerous situations were
more than likely on the immediate horizon. She concentrated on the
feeling of her braid flying around her neck as the car continued to
zip down the Highway to a destination that Kent had refused to give
her an address for. Stating that he knew what he was doing and she
just needed to trust him, whoever they needed to talk to would be
there. She’d done a genuinely superb job displaying her ability to
trust so far, hadn’t she?

“
Ok, so that wasn’t the most tactful thing
for me to ask about. Or how to go about it. I’ll try harder to have
a little more faith in you from now on.”

She saw his eyebrow ratchet up his forehead.
“Is that piddly little statement supposed to assuage my trounced
upon feelings, darlin’? Make me feel all better?”

“
What would make you feel better,
Kent?”

He took his eyes off the road to look at her
and smirk,
“A blowjob?”

She rolled her eyes.
“Do you take anything
in life seriously?”

“
Not if I can help it. Point in case would
be; the only time I use the word seriously is to compliment a
woman. Such as, you have a seriously nice ass, Jenna. And I would
seriously like to see it naked and gyrating about two inches from
my face. Other than those kind of references, then the word
serious, and all of its derivatives, are struck from my vocabulary.
It’s a life principal for me.”

“
You’re a hopeless pervert, Kent.”

“
Ah, that’s where you’re wrong, pretty
girl. I’m a hopeful pervert.”

He decelerated long enough to make an abrupt
turn off the highway onto a paved two-lane road before flooring the
gas pedal again. It made her wolf nervous and agitated to be in a
car that was flying down the road at close to 130mph, and not be in
control of that vehicle. Kent was oblivious to the fact that her
body was starting to tremble from the efforts of holding back a
shift. Thankfully, he was also in the dark that she had practically
crushed whatever part of the chair frame that her left hand was
holding onto while her right hand tightened the grip she had on the
door’s handle until that too broke off.