Secret Worlds (528 page)

“Fuck!” Ted yelled, managing to buck me off his back.

Staggering back against the edge of the table, I flashed him a wide smile, wiping blood from my mouth. I wasn’t sure if it was his or mine until I saw red seeping between his fingers where they were clamped over his neck.

“You fucking bitch. You bit me!” he snarled, his expression looking even more murderous than before.

Panic shone bright in his eyes as he no doubt wondered if he’d been infected. He was far more likely to be struck by lightning than to contract lycanthropy from a bite, but I wasn’t going to share that little nugget of information with him.

Let him worry it over for a while. Hell, it would serve the racist bastard right if he
did
get infected.

“You tried to strangle my…Holbrook, you tool!” I fired back.

Removing his hand from his neck, Ted curled it into a bloody fist and bared his teeth in a snarl as he took a step towards me. “You’re going to pay for that.”

Sensing that a serious ass whooping was heading my way I forced my body to relax, standing at the ready with my knees bent and shoulders loose. Beside me, Holbrook was leaning against the edge of the table fighting to draw breath, and I didn’t think that Ted would wait for him to recover before he took a swing at either of us. His eyes burned with righteous fury, his venomous hatred fueled by the belief that he was right, and God was on his side.

In my opinion, there is little in this world that is more dangerous and unpredictable than a religious zealot with a penchant for violence. A nuclear warhead ranks above people like Ted and Max, but just barely. Until the last few days, I’d never been face to face with such unbridled hatred. Even Samson, in all his psychosis fueled anger, hadn’t exuded the kind of raw rage that bubbled inside of Ted.

The wolf sensed the loathing radiating off him from where she hovered just beneath the surface, almost close enough to burst free. She knew exactly how dangerous he was, and she wasn’t prepared to let the close-minded bastard take us, or Holbrook, down.

Not yet, not yet,
I chanted, trying to hold her back. I wasn’t sure if I could go fully wolf yet, the wolfsbane lingering in my body making the link between us too tenuous, but I wasn’t willing to risk my life on it. The last thing I needed was a silver bullet in the brainpan, and that would be precisely what I got if I lost control in a public place.

Seeing as I didn’t feel like adding possible death by firing squad to my plans for the day, I wrestled the wolf back under control and tried to put some distance between me and my new buddy. Thankfully, Holbrook had regained his balance by that point, and once again took up a position between me and Ted.

“Big mistake, asshole,” Holbrook growled, the fury in his voice catching me off guard.

Blood exploded from Ted’s nose in a scarlet spray, splattering the surrounding tables and carpet, before I even realized that Holbrook had lifted his hand to throw a punch. From the look of Ted’s wide eyes and the blood streaming over his mouth, he hadn’t seen the blow coming either. His moment of shock, however, was short-lived, and as Holbrook cocked his arm for another blow, Ted was on him, the two men tangled together in a blur of wildly punching fists and grunts.

Distracted by the sight of Holbrook and Ted throwing punches at each other, I didn’t see Max regain his feet, or the fist that swung at my ribs. Pain exploded in my chest, ripping the breath out of my lungs in a strangled shout. Dark motes danced on the edges of my vision as I drew in a ragged breath, my ribs screaming with the effort of breathing. Rounding on my attacker, I found him already driving another fist towards me, this one aimed at my face, and was too slow to react. Stars burst in my vision as he struck me on the chin, the force of the blow snapping my jaws shut, and I thanked god that I didn’t bite off half my tongue.

Blindly, I swung at him, and smiled viciously when I was rewarded with a pained grunt. Blinking away the dancing spots in my eyes, I side stepped my way towards the nearby service station, keeping my eyes locked on Max. Wiping blood from the fresh split in his lip, he tracked my movements without missing a beat, his bloody teeth bared in a soundless growl. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that the situation was going to escalate quickly if I didn’t get things under control. I could only hope that Holbrook was faring better than I was.

Letting out a bellow of rage, Max came at me like an enraged bull who’d just gotten kicked in the balls. Ducking below his swinging meat hook of an arm, I snatched up the closest thing I could find, hefting a half empty coffee pot which I swung at his face. The coffee pot shattered upon impact, raining hot coffee and broken glass down around us. Max let out a roar of pain, falling to his knees as the coffee splashed across his face and shoulders.

Taking advantage of his temporarily blinded state, I kicked out with as much strength as I could muster, the toe of my boot catching him on the side of his face. For a moment I thought he was going to get up and keep coming at me, and then I saw his eyes roll back until only the whites were showing. He slumped sideways, falling in a limp pile amidst spilled coffee and shards of glass. I was grateful for the fact that he was still breathing simply because it meant I wasn’t likely to end up in jail. Self-defense or not, juries still tended to side with mundanes in the case of a supe-on-mundane killing.

Letting the handle of the broken coffee pot slip from my trembling fingers, I sagged as exhaustion swept over me. The last of my adrenaline was quickly fading away, leaving me shaky, sweaty, and in serious need of a nap. Looking up, I was relieved to see Holbrook pinning Ted to the floor with a knee in his back. Pulling a couple of zip ties from his jacket, he secured Ted’s hands behind his back, and then levered himself up to his feet with a pained sigh to similarly bind Max’s hands. Ted ranted and snarled, filling the air with his venomous diatribe, but thankfully his buddy was still out cold.

“The cops are already on their way. I don’t want any trouble!” a balding, middle-aged man I assumed was the manager called out from where he had hunkered down behind a table, his fat sausage fingers clasping the edge in a death grip.

“Great,” I huffed, easing myself back down into the booth, mindful of the new bruises blooming on my ribs and face.

Righting my overturned glass, I slurped the remains of my milkshake and waited for the cavalry to arrive.

“What was that you were saying about restraint?” Holbrook asked, smirking as he slid into the seat opposite me, dabbing at his swollen lip with a napkin.

“Shut up,” I grumbled, slurping my milkshake.

***

By the time the cops arrived, our young server had regained consciousness and was seated at a nearby table with an ice pack pressed against the side of his head while the hostess flitted around him dotingly. Apparently acting like a hero, however unsuccessfully, had made him quite attractive. Judging by his bewildered expression, he found her sudden attentiveness rather odd, too. I, on the other hand, was receiving no such admiration for my heroics.

Regardless of my charming smiles, the rest of the staff were giving me a wide berth leaving me feeling a little stung by their reaction. After all, Ted and Max were the whackos, and Holbrook and I were the ones who’d laid them out. Unfortunately, that didn’t seem to carry any weight, and rather than receiving praise all I got was suspicious sidelong glances and whispered suppositions.

Collins and Hill had decided to grace us with their presence, giving Holbrook some nonsense about not realizing anything was amiss until it was already over. I wasn’t sure that I believed them, but I also couldn’t think of a reason why they’d let a fellow agent get his ass kicked by a couple of racist nut jobs. Reigning in his anger in an impressive display of self-control, Holbrook had sent them back outside to stand guard. I might have enjoyed watching them shivering in the wind just a little too much.

The first officer through the door was tall, thin, and looked young enough to still be wet behind the ears; his partner, who followed a few seconds later, was another story. He looked like he’d stepped off of one of the pages of the beefcake calendar my college roommate had bought me as a gag gift one year for my birthday. The standard issue dark blue shirt strained against the muscles of his chest and shoulders, emphasizing the flat plain of his abs. His dark auburn hair was combed back from a lightly bronzed face except for a single lock that curled against his forehead, á la Superman.

The younger officer went over to the server and his adoring fans to take their statements, while Officer Beefcake strode over to Holbrook and me.

“Afternoon folks. I’m Officer Easton. What appears to be the problem?” he asked, eyeing the two men sprawled on the floor, groaning, while I sucked up the dregs of my milkshake, innocently tapping my foot.

Holbrook already had his badge out and at the ready. “Afternoon, Officer. I’m Special Agent Holbrook and this is Ms. Cray. I’m not sure of the names of these two gentlemen, but it seems that we had a little bit of a misunderstanding.”

The officer’s eyebrows rose in recognition at the mention of my name, but didn’t comment on it. Rather, all he said was, “I see.” Officer Easton’s expression turned sour when his bright blue eyes settled on me. It looked like I’d earned myself another fan.

“S’up?” I greeted, nodding.

Holbrook looked at me with the expression of frustrated parents the world over and said, “Behave” in warning. Baring my teeth in a facsimile of a smile, I batted my eyelashes at him and Officer Beefcake and then proceeded to ignore them as Holbrook explained what had happened.

Every once in a while, one of them would ask me a question, but for the most part Holbrook and the gorgeous, but surly, officer ignored me. That was just fine and dandy with me. I let my mind drift as I drummed my fingers on the edge of the table, sinking down into my happy place, where psychotic ex-boyfriends, crazed FBI agents, or anti-werewolf whackos didn’t exist.

Eventually Officer Beefcake cleared us to leave, but not without giving me a sour look that let me know we wouldn’t become pen pals anytime soon.

Fine with me. Bet he has terrible penmanship anyway.

Pulling on my jacket and scarf, I watched Holbrook drop a few bills on the table. As he passed the wide-eyed hostess by the door he inclined his head and said, “Sorry about the mess, Ma’am.”

“Sure. No problem,” she murmured, shrinking back a step as I passed.

The wolf, being a bit of a sadistic bitch, was sorely tempted to bare our teeth at her, but I managed to restrain myself, following Holbrook outside into the parking lot instead.

Point for team Riley.

“Can’t take you anywhere, huh?” he asked with a quirk of his lips, digging his keys out of his pocket.

Shrugging noncommittally I stopped beside the SUV and watched the cop car begin to pull out of the parking lot, my new friends handcuffed in the back. Ted’s gaze bored into me with the ferocity of the truly vicious and dangerous. Plastering a saccharine smile on my face I wiggled my fingers at him in a farewell wave. I couldn’t make out his words, but the murderous look on his face needed no translation.

“What can I say? I make friends wherever I go.”

SHOUP’S APARTMENT BUILDING was a non-descript, six story building in the nearby Glendale neighborhood, and I wondered if she and Johnson had ever met at the Denny’s we’d just left behind. Had they planned his attack on me while sipping coffee in one of those vinyl booths? Had they talked about slicing me open over a piece of pie? The number of people who wanted to see me hurt, or worse, was piling up fast, leaving me feeling adrift as if the world had shifted on its axis and no one had bothered to tell me.

I was halted by Holbrook’s hand on my arm as I reached for the door handle of the SUV. Turning in my seat to face him, I found myself struck by the concern in his eyes. In the close quarters inside the vehicle, I couldn’t escape the smell of him, the hot air billowing out of the vents seeming to intensify the aroma of warm molasses. I wanted to reach across the center console and crush his lips beneath mine, my fear making me crave the brush of his fingers against my skin, tugging at the zipper of my jeans, sliding into…

Disrupting the fantasy that had flared up in my mind like wildfire, he asked, “What are you doing?”

“Umm…getting out of the car?”

“I don’t think so. Stay here.”

“Are we really going to argue about this again?” I asked with a sigh. “How about I save us some time and explain how the conversation will go, and then we go nail Johnson?”

Crossing his arms over his chest, the fabric of his suit jacket straining against his shoulders, he looked menacing, and delicious. “And just how does this conversation go?”

“You argue that I’m just a civilian and that I should wait here—”

“Which you are, and you should.”

“—and then I explain how I can sniff out whether anyone is in the apartment, and if Johnson has been there. We’ll bicker back and forth for a few minutes before you eventually give in and let me tag along, by which time Johnson has already spotted us and escaped out the back.”

“Is that so?” he asked, the corners of his mouth twitching with the beginnings of a smile. “You some kind of tactical genius now?”

“Yep.”

“And if I handcuff you to the steering wheel?”

“I’ll just rip it off and come after you,” I replied, shrugging. I wasn’t sure if I actually had the strength to rip the steering wheel off, but he didn’t know that, and as his shoulders began to slump in resignation I fought to keep the triumphant grin off my face.

“All right. Follow my lead, stay behind me, and don’t do anything stupid.”

“Yes, Sir,” I said, throwing him a mock salute.

Pulling my hat down over my ears to protect them from the cold, I eased down to the pavement, once again telling Loki to stay put, and hurried along behind Holbrook. Collins and Hill were already waiting beside the building’s front entrance, and made no attempt to hide their surprise at seeing me standing there while Holbrook explained the plan to enter the building.