Vengeance (Night Roamers) Book Three (15 page)

I cried as he grazed my nipple with his teeth
, drawing more blood.

“
Well, not
so
perfect. I prefer more heat.”

“Go to hell then!”

He snorted. “Good one. I think you’re going to enjoy this. I’m a real animal in bed,” he laughed at his own joke. “And you know what they say, once you go Lycan…” he said, tearing off my shorts. “You never go back. In fact, you never go anywhere. You just… die.”

Before I could respond, my shorts
were gone and his body was convulsing on top of me. I watched in horror as his face contorted grotesquely while his body erupted with coarse fur.

“No!” I screamed,
beating his chest frantically. “Somebody help me!”

He opened his mouth and roared
into my face so loud, I blacked out.

Max

Rena was frustrated. After trying to search for Max for the last hour, she found herself in a place she never wanted to be – lost and alone in the desert without her cell phone or a flashlight. An image of her on a reality show describing how she’d barely survived all night in the Mojave made her cringe. Not only would it be humiliating, but she’d never hear the end of it from her coworkers. She’d be a laughing stock of the entire LVMPD.

“Idiot,” she mumbled, chastising herself again
for the twentieth time. She should have turned heel and ran back to her car after seeing that wolf-like creature. But not her, she was as stupid as the women in those “B” movies. The ones who were eventually caught and murdered savagely by deranged lunatics.

Max, when I see you again, I’m going to kick your ass
, she thought angrily.
Who in the hell went wandering in the desert in the middle of the night without clothing?
 

And now, she was
far away from her vehicle and probably lost, when she could have been home enjoying a cold beer and the leftover chicken Lo Mein from the night before. Her mouth watered just thinking about the cool beer sliding down her throat. One thing was for certain; there was no way in hell she was going to survive drinking her own urine or forcing down any creepy crawlies. She’d rather die than try to swallow something that lived in the dirt or under a rock. The thought of feeling a bug fluttering in the back of her throat made her stomach roll.  

“Dammit, Max,” she
hollered, kicking a mound of sand with the tip of her shoe. “Where in the hell did you go?”

The truth was, she wasn’t even sure if what she’d seen was real or if it had been the result of too
much coffee and lack of sleep. The thought of Max taking off all of his clothes, and then turning into some kind of werewolf had been her initial thought, but now that sounded so ludicrous, she was ashamed to call herself a member of law enforcement. She needed to quit worrying about her partner, and get her ass home before she ended up really lost.

She stopped walking and did a three-sixty, trying to figure out
exactly where she was. Like an idiot, she’d started walking without paying much attention to where she was headed. Now there was only darkness, and a large expanse of desert that looked the same in every angle. As she tried to gauge where she was, several howls in the distance sent a chill down her spine.

Wolves?

As far as she knew, coyotes were the
largest canine predators in the Mojave.

“You lost?”

Shocked, she whipped her head around and found herself staring at two young men moving towards her in the darkness.

She lowered the gun, her hand
trembling. “Oh, my God, you scared the hell out of me!” 

The dark
-haired guy, who was stunningly attractive, stepped closer and smiled. “Sorry. We weren’t expecting you either.”

She smirked.
“I bet. Have you seen a man running around out here? He, um, he has light brown hair, a goatee, tall with broad shoulders?”

Naked.

“No,” replied the other one, staring at her warily. He had dark unruly hair, a five o’clock shadow, and a deeply troubled look in his silvery blue eyes. “Is that why you’re out here, looking for this guy?”

She paused. “
Maybe. What about you two?”

“Duncan and I are
also trying to locate a friend,” replied the other one with the disarming smile. He stepped closer until they were face-to-face. “Have you seen
anything
unusual out here tonight?”

She
chuckled. “Besides you two?”

His eyes burned into hers and she felt her stomach flutter.
“Yes, besides us.”

What the hell was that about?
God, she was a pathetic loser. Getting worked up over some guy who was probably fifteen years her junior.

“Not really,” she replied. “I’m looking for a good friend. I think he might be out here somewhere.”

Duncan stepped forward. “We’re looking for someone, too. A girl, her name is Nikki. S
hort, brunette, around eighteen?”

“Sorry, I haven’t seen anyone but you
two and,” she decided to warn them, “this strange wolf-like creature running around.”

The two men looked at each other and then turned back to her.

“Which way did it go?” asked Duncan.

“I thought it went that
way,” she replied, waving her gun north. “But to be honest, I think I’m lost.”

“In the desert. That’s not good,” replied the other man. He stuck out his hand. “I’m Ethan, by the way.”

When their fingers touched, she imagined them on other areas of her body, and shivered. “Rena,” she answered breathlessly. “My name is Rena.”

His icy-blue eyes
glittered in the moonlight. “Nice to meet you, Rena.”

Duncan cleared his throat loudly. “I think it’s time we got back to looking for Nikki.”

Ethan nodded and backed away. “Yes, of course.”

“I’ll help you look for her, if you’d like,” she said.

Ethan’s lips tilted up. “You want to join us?”

“
Her disappearance definitely trumps my partner’s.”

“
I don’t think that’s a good idea,” replied Duncan. “It’s not safe.”

Ethan’s
teeth grazed his lower lip. “It is pretty dangerous out here. He’s right. You should go back to where you came from.”

“You’re not parked far from here, are you?” asked Duncan.

“Probably, like I said, I’m sort of lost. Don’t worry about me, though, I’m in law enforcement,” she replied, raising her revolver. “And I have this.”

Before anyone could reply, a chorus of howls erupted around them.

Ethan turned to Duncan. “Yep, they’re definitely here. Let’s get to higher ground and figure out what to do next.”

“What about
her?”

Ethan shrugged
. “She said she has a gun.”

“Yeah, but…”

“You know, it might not be a bad idea to have a quick snack before we face those things,” he replied, motioning towards Rena.

Rena
’s eyebrows shot up. “Excuse me?”

“Or not,” said Ethan, his eyes narrowing as he stared into the darkness. “Since there isn’t time.”

“Asshole,” said Duncan as Ethan shot up into the sky without a second glance.

“Where in the hell
did he just go?” cried Rena, looking up at the stars.

More wolf howls
echoed in the darkness, this time much closer.

“Rena, you have to trust me,” said Duncan, advancing towards her.

She turned to him. “What do you mean?”

Two
Lycans landed next to them with loud thuds.

“Oh
, my God!” gasped Rena, raising her gun towards the menacing wolf-like creatures. Before she could fire off a shot, one of them launched at her, but was intercepted by Duncan. They rolled to the ground in a flurry of bites and punches. Remembering the other animal, she quickly turned and aimed her gun at it.

“Stay
back!” she choked.

The growling
beast bared it fangs even further and then crouched, as if ready to spring.

Shaking, s
he fired two shots, hitting it both times in the chest, without effect.

It snarled and charged towards her.

“No!” she screamed, turning to flee. As she took her first few steps, Rena pictured the creature landing on her back, its claws ripping at her flesh, its fangs sinking into the back of her head. Instead, mercifully, there was a loud yelp of pain from the animal.

Startled, s
he turned around and noticed a third creature had joined the party. Instead of going after her or Duncan, however, it was actually attacking the one that’d been chasing her.

Her eyes widened. “Max?”

“Rena, watch out!” hollered Duncan, who was underneath the other creature, trying to hold back its jaws with his bare hands.

She turned around and
squealed in terror as two more of the creatures moved warily towards her in the darkness. These two were walking on their hind legs, and stood well over seven feet tall.

Shaking violently
, she held out her gun and fired at them, hitting one of the creatures in the face, the other in the stomach.

Miraculously, the one shot in the face dropped to the ground.

She raised her gun again and pulled the trigger, but the chamber was empty.

“Ohmygod, no!”
she screamed, trying to run as the creature leaped towards her. It landed on her back, bringing them both down. Closing her eyes, she waited for the pain, knowing it would be bad. Instead, the creature’s weight was lifted from her body.

She flipped over and got up, noticing
that the third wolf creature was attacking the one that had been on her back. The fact that it was helping her made her wonder again.

Max?

“You okay?” asked Duncan, suddenly beside her, his face scratched and bleeding.

She nodded vehemently. “Yes, I um…
why is that one helping us?”

Duncan turned to stare at the two creatures still locked in battle, growling and nipping at each other. “I think I have an idea.”

Before she could answer, her attacker yelped loudly, and then took off running.

The other one turned to stare at them, its yellowish-orange eyes glowing
brightly in the darkness.

“Maximus?” hollered Duncan.

Rena’s stared at Duncan in shock. “Maximus?”

He nodded. “He’s a
Lycan. On our side.”

She turned towards the
Lycan and her lip began to tremble. “Max? Is it, is it really you?”

The
Lycan limped towards them slowly, obviously in pain. As it got closer, they could see patches of missing fur and teeth marks on its torso.

Frightened, Rena took a step back.

The creature stopped and stared at her sadly.

“I don’t understand what’s happening around here
,” she said, her voice hoarse. “With you, Max, and the other guy who disappeared into the sky. I… is this a dream?”

Duncan sighed. “No, I wish it was. Believe me.”

Her eyes filled with tears. She closed them and shook her head. “This is too much. I can’t… I need…”

“Rena.”

Her eyes flew back open. “Max? Oh, my God, it’s really true?”

Now in his human form, Maximus stood up and covered his naked pelvis
in shame. “It is. I’m sorry.”

Her ey
es narrowed at the deep bloody lacerations on his chest. “You’re hurt, Max. You need to go to the E.R.”

“I’ll be fine,” he replied
. “I’ve been through much worse.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” she asked
, touching his arm.

“Would you have believed me?”

She laughed bitterly. “Of course not.”

He sighed
and looked at Duncan. “Take her out of here while I look for your friend.”

Duncan nodded towards him. “You’
re hurt.”

“
I’ll be fine. I know where they’ve taken her. Fly Rena back to her car while I rest for a few minutes. You guys are quick, I know that.”

Rena turned to Duncan. “
What does he mean by that, you guys?”

“The less you know the better,” replied Max. “Believe me.”

“I’ll take her back to her vehicle. Wait for me before you leave.”

He nodded. “Where’d the other guy go?”

Duncan frowned. “Not sure. He bows out when things get too nasty.”

“Somehow, that doesn’t surprise me. There’s something I don’t trust about
him. Something in his eyes.”

“Tell me about it,” replied Duncan. He turned to Rena. “Ready?”