Authors: J.C. Daniels
It was something she wouldn’t be able to do. I knew that. TJ was a mean, smart bitch, but the wolf in her was weak and if she wanted to face down the monster who had hurt her, she’d have to be a dominant. A leopard couldn’t change its spots and a wolf couldn’t go from beta to alpha. It just didn’t happen.
But I could kill that son of a bitch for her.
Well, as long as I had some back-up with me…and I knew just the right people for the job.
I gathered up the weapons I needed. Justin had already re-keyed the spells that protected the darker weapons I owned. Death was back in his place. He had other names, but Death was the one he answered to. He didn’t care what the legends called him; he didn’t care what history called him. He cared about death, blood and chaos…and even now, I could hear him whispering to me. The power of his magic was too strong and until I had a better grip on myself, he was off limits.
He’d almost gotten too deeply inside me. It was fear, I suspected, that let him root so deeply within me.
He hadn’t even been the equalizing force, really. Not with Pandora. It had been a gun. A modern weapon to kill an ancient. Maybe I needed to start showing those modern weapons a bit more respect. And it was time to start trusting myself more, as well.
On my way out the door, I grabbed my phone and dialed a number.
Goliath’s voice was a deep, bass rumble and just hearing him made me smile.
I’d been wanting to do this for a long, long time.
* * * *
The next call I made was to Justin. I needed to restock on my ammo and he had the best suppliers around. Plus, I wanted to see if he was interested in joining Goliath and me on our little road trip.
He absolutely did. We made our plans. We were heading out in the morning. Goliath would get a few more wolves lined up to take with us and I’d make another call or two.
Goliath was also going to need to figure out what to tell TJ. He had to disappear for a day or two. She couldn’t know. Not yet.
We’d tell her…after.
I had one stop to make before heading to Wolf Haven.
This time, I didn’t even need to distract myself as I drove to the Lair.
Parking my battered car into my spot in front of the Lair, I climbed out. Silence fell as I drew near, but it didn’t last long.
No massive tiger came running out to greet me.
He’d have to stay in one form or the other for a few days, Ella had said. And rest. He needed a lot of rest.
But I wasn’t here to see Doyle.
I wasn’t even here to see Damon.
Which was good…he wasn’t on the grounds. He would have met me and I wasn’t ready to see him. Not yet.
A few people glanced at me. One or two even half-smiled as I made my way to Damon’s quarters.
That familiar scent wrapped around me as I slid inside.
I lingered by the bed after I’d left my message. Because I missed it so much, I caught one of his pillows, lifted it to my face, breathed it in. I was tempted to steal away with it, but I had at least some pride.
Forcing myself to put the pillow down, I moved away from the bed and headed to the door. Once there, I paused and looked back, my vision narrowing in on the note I’d pinned to his headboard with one of my daggers.
Subtle. That was me.
The message itself was simple, but he’d get the point.
Keep waiting. I’m getting closer
.
For the first time in what seemed like a long, long time, the scars and shadows weren’t choking me…and I had a job to do. I turned around and walked away.
About J.C. Daniels
J.C. Daniels is the pen name of author Shiloh Walker. Shiloh/J.C has been writing since she was a kid. She fell in love with vampires with the book Bunnicula and has worked her way up to the more…ah…serious works of fiction. She loves reading and writing just about every kind of romance. Once upon a time she worked as a nurse, but now she writes full time and lives with her family in the Midwest. She writes urban fantasy and erotic under the pen name J.C. Daniels and romantic suspense and contemporary romance as Shiloh Walker.
Read more about Shiloh & J.C. at
www.shilohwalker.com
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