KEEPING YOU: Howlers Motorcycle Club 1: A Werewolf Shifter Paranormal Motorcycle Club Romance (8 page)

My body flushed hot and I looked at my feet. I didn’t know most of the wolves in the club very well—mostly just faces and names—and if Mike had been planning on speaking for me, he wouldn’t have asked.

“I will.” The voice that spoke was tired, but strong. I looked to a corner of the room and saw Matt rise from his chair with difficulty. “Her skill with medicines, fast thinking and courage saved my life. I wouldn’t be alive without her. She would be a strong member of the community and a good way to begin tying ourselves back into the world. I’d be proud to call her my sister and affirm her commitment to our brother.” He sat back down. My eyes misted with tears when they met his and he smiled.

Another man spoke about the strength of mated wolves and the power it would bring to their pack. Another said that he hadn’t known me long, but respected that I hadn’t told anyone about them during my time back at home. Once all who chose to speak had their say, Mike stood and walked over to me. He clasped my arms with his hands.

“Will you protect our secret with your life?”

“Yes.”

“Will you put your pack above all others?”

I thought of Sarah, then mentally shuffled her into my personal pack so that I could answer honestly. “Yes.”

“Will you aid your brothers and sisters in times of need?”

“Yes.”

“Then let’s call a vote.” Mike turned to the rest of the members. “Will Eleanor be allowed to wear Sam’s patch and the patch of the Howlers?”

It was unanimous. I was in.

Before I left the meeting room, each member gave me a gruff pat on the head, hug or smile. I felt warm, like my skin was glowing with a slight sunburn. They had all accepted me. I was one of them now.

Madison was waiting outside with some of the other women, prepared with coffee, hugs and a black leather jacket of my own. While we waited for the meeting to end so that we could all enjoy dinner together, they worked on attaching my patches. The moon with a single eye—the sign of the Howlers—stretched across the back, ringed with the words “Property of Sam.”

By the time the men came out of the back, we’d set up the dishes that everyone had prepared. Since the women of the pack had cooked, the prospects got the night off from their duties.

I was halfway through a piece of tender ranch chicken, laughing at something Matt said, when Sam stalked through the door. The ominous look on his face crumbled when he saw me sitting near his brothers, wearing his jacket. His eyes sharpened, focused first on the slim-cut leather that hugged my skin, then traveled up and down my body, taking in every curve and hollow.

“Congratulations,” he said. “I have something for you.” He pulled a jewelry box out of his pocket and handed it to me. I popped the velvet lid and saw the necklace inside. It was a small, delicate wolf’s head made of silver.

“It’s beautiful.”

“That way I’m always with you,” he said. He grabbed my chin and lifted my head for an achingly sweet kiss, not breaking contact until the other guys groaned.

“Matt, Mike, I need to talk to you.” Both men rose immediately and followed him out of the room without another word. Jimmy, one of the prospects, came over to talk to me about medical research, claiming a fascination with chemistry. While we talked, I couldn’t help but think of Sam’s expression when he came through the door and the speed with which he and the other men had left the room.

What’s going on?

After the festivities ended, Sam and I went for a walk in the woods. The trees grew so tall, like silent onlookers standing over the paths we trod. They created a canopy above us, but I could still steal glimpses of the velvet black sky and bright stars.

“I have something to tell you,” he said, stopping and taking my hand.

“What’s wrong? Are you changing your mind about us?” The fear had been there in the back of my head since he walked in looking less than happy.

“No.” The word was final. “Never. But you need to know where I went today.”

“Where?”

“I tracked the man who shot at you. His scent was strong at your home and easy enough to follow. Once I found him at his apartment, I asked him a few questions about why he was trying to kill you.”

“Who was he?”

“Just some lowlife named Ted. Piece of shit.” He snorted and shook his head. “Fucking idiot gave me the name of the man who hired him.”

“Ted?” I asked. “Thinning brown hair and red nose? Constantly sniffling.”

“Yes.”

“Oh god. He was one of my lab test subjects on an allergy medication Jeremy and I worked on two years ago. We had to kick him from the project for drug use. Is that why he’s trying to kill me?”

“That explains it.”

“Explains what? What is going on?”

“Explains how Jeremy met him. Ellie, Jeremy hired that man to kill you.”

The shock was so great that I rocked back on my heels. Jeremy had been a terrible boyfriend and a good lab partner until he stole my project out from under me. It was impossible to think of him actually hiring someone to kill me. My hand went to my face and I winced at the contact with the bruise.

“Why?”

“We don’t know yet. Ted doesn’t even know. He did it for the money.”

“What am I going to do?”

“Nothing,” Sam said, holding me close so that the tears beginning to fall landed on his shirt. “There’s nothing you need to do other than let me take care of it.” I shook in his arms, devastated that someone I’d loved for years would choose to take my life. “But you deserve to know the whole story.”

“What’s worse than my ex hiring a man to shoot me?”

“Your car was rigged to blow on impact.”

My knees felt weak and I would have fallen if he hadn’t picked me up, holding me against his chest. “I’m so sorry, Ellie. I wish there was another answer.”

“How do you know?”

“We sent Matt to get the car the day after you came here. It was better than leaving it for the authorities to find. One of our Wrenches examined it and saw evidence of tampering, even with the damage.”

“Sam, why?”

“I don’t know, baby. I’m just thankful that whoever did the rig fucked it up and I got you out.” He hugged me close, his hand stroking my back over the patch on my jacket. “I’m going to keep you safe though. I already have a plan.”

Twelve

Sam

After Ellie was asleep, I went back to the clubhouse and keyed myself in to one of the private rooms.

“Took you long enough,” Matt said, resting against the wall.

“Things to do,” I replied, turning to the man sitting across the table from Mike. His face was a mess of bruises, cracked and bleeding in some places. Fingers had been pulled from their sockets, broken and twisted back in, causing massive swelling on both hands.

It was his own fault. He hadn’t wanted to talk at first.

“Are you ready to call him, Ted?” Mike asked.

“Why? You’re just going to kill me anyway.”

“Yes,” said Matt, baring his teeth. “We are.”

“But,” I said, hunkering down to look him straight in the eyes. The man had tried to kill my mate. Not even a small part of me wanted to spare him. “We can kill you fast. Or we can kill you very, very slow.” Ted shook and whimpered, but I had no pity for him.

He was a dead man.

“I’ll do it.” He coughed and more blood appeared on his lips. I’d been too rough with him. I handed him a throwaway mobile phone.

“Hey. Yeah, it’s Ted. No, man, she ran away. Knocked me down and made it to her car. I’ve been busy. Yeah. Yeah. Double or nothing now. I don’t care. I could always just call the police if you don’t want to give me my money. Nah, man, meet me out at Green Lake.” A pause. “It’s private. I don’t want to do this shit in the city.” Another pause, longer. “Fine. Midnight, on the sandy beach by the western side of the lake. Bring the money.” Ted hung up the phone. “I did it. He’s coming. Please, I—.”

He was dead before he could finish his sentence.

I had no regrets. Killing wasn’t something I liked to do, but sometimes it was necessary. I’d kill him and more to protect my Ellie. Every fucking man on the planet, if that’s what it takes.

No one challenges my mate and lives.

Thirteen

“It’s going to be a long day today,” Sam said. “Why don’t you and Madison go into town and do some shopping, maybe have some dinner?”

“That sounds fun, but I thought you didn’t want me to leave the compound.”

“Now that we know who’s behind it, there’s nothing to worry about.”

I smiled at him. He was lying next to me in bed, arms folded behind his head so that his muscles stood out in firm relief. I turned over on my stomach and kissed one arm near the crook of his elbow. “What will you do, though?”

“I have a club thing tonight,” he said.

“It’s hard to believe it’s been so long since we met,” I said. “Are you going to have to change before midnight tonight? Will my wolf be roaming the woods while I’m at the movies?”

“Yes,” he said, sliding closer to me. “I’m going to go into the woods with some of the guys and hunt before midnight. After, though, I’m all yours.” He placed smacking kisses over my face, carefully avoiding the bruised areas. Then, his expression growing serious, he lowered his mouth to mine for a long, sweet kiss.

His ability to make me melt hadn’t changed since the first day we met. I kissed him back, sliding my tongue between his lips and sighing when he moved on top of me, pressing me into the mattress. One of his hands slid down to cup my breast, teasing my nipple to aching fullness.

“I love you,” I said quietly against his neck. He pulled back to look at my face.

“I love you, too.” His lips descended and pressed against the hollow of my neck. He sighed as he inhaled my scent. “I’ll miss you today.”

“We’ll be together soon enough,” I said. “Though I’m not sure I can survive another night with your Neanderthal self.”

“He’s looking forward to it,” Sam said. He stood up and walked to the window, looking out. “Mike is waiting for me. I’d rather stay here with you and finish what we started, but… I have to go.”

“Tonight,” I replied, my eyes filled with promise.

“Tonight.” He pulled on pants and a t-shirt, then left the room. I crossed my arms under my head and fell back into dreams.

Madison and I were both exhausted after a long day of shopping in the city. We’d purchased sexy new lingerie, cute sundresses, new swimsuits and a divan that she’d fallen in love with. Since we couldn’t have furniture delivered directly to the compound, she made arrangements to bring Mike to pick it up the next day. “It’ll look great next to my fireplace,” she said.

On the way home, I asked her what time the guys usually came back from the woods on the night before the full moon. “It really depends on how deep into the preserve they go,” she explained. “Sometimes as soon as they change back at midnight, they’re home. Other times it takes longer.”

“It’s weird, though,” she said. “I’m surprised they encouraged us to go out tonight.”

“Why?”

“Mike usually asks that I don’t on the nights he’s going to shift. He worries that I’ll be in trouble and he won’t be able to find out until it’s too late.” She laughed, immune to the idea that there was anything her husband couldn’t protect her from.

Put that way, it did strike me as odd. Sam was as overprotective as Mike and there was a man trying to kill me, even if they knew who he was. Yet he’d sent me out into the city. Unprotected.

“Shit,” I said, sitting back in my seat hard. “They’re planning something.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Because they wanted us out of the way.”

She stepped harder on the gas and headed for the compound.

“They aren’t here.”

“Of course not,” she reminded me. “They’re transforming tonight. Let me see if Mike sent any texts to Sam.” She walked to a desk in their office and rifled through several drawers. Not finding anything, she drew back. “They’re not changing tonight. They’re fighting the shift.”

“How do you know?”

“Mike took his phone. Nowhere to hold it when they change. Why would they resist?” She shook her head, her face paling. “I should go to the clinic and see if they took suppressant.”

“Is it hard to not shift without it?”

She nodded gravely and my worry increased tenfold. “How can we find them?”

Madison’s eyes lit up. “I actually have an idea.”

She explained that security apps on Mike’s phone could pinpoint his location. She powered on her laptop, pulled up the browser and typed in a password on a site that connected with his phone. Then she ran a security check to find out where he was. She moved aside so that I could see the location on the monitor.

“They’re at Green Lake,” I said. “Maybe they are just shifting and hunting.”

“Not with his phone,” she said.

“Then we need to get out there. Find out what’s going on and why they lied to us.” I could handle being in the dark, but lying wasn’t something I was willing to live with.

“I can’t go,” she said, looking away.

“Why?”

“The wolves won’t attack you because you’re mated to one of their pack members. Mike loves me more than anything, but I’m not mated to him. If I so much as breathe wrong, he will attack, and so will his pack mates. I’m sorry.” A wave of sorrow washed over me. I could see how strongly she wished that she and Mike were mated.

“I’ll go.” I rose from my crouch and hugged her, then made for the door. “I just need to go home first and find hiking boots.”

When I jogged across the compound, I looked back and saw her standing in the door, silently watching me go.

Once I was geared up, I hit the woods. Green Lake was only a two mile hike, but it was after 11pm and I knew that whatever they were doing wouldn’t last much longer. Sam had promised to be home with me early.

Coming over the rise, I saw two men at the edge of the lake. Mike and Sam. They were both still clad in jeans, t-shirts and their leather jackets.

I snuck closer to the edge of the lake, wondering how they’d react if they heard me. The wind whipping through the trees helped conceal the sound of me moving over the dead leaves and rocks.

Then I heard it. A car was making its way carefully down the slope on the road where I’d first met Sam’s wolf. The headlights cut across the lake, then the car pulled to a stop in the lower lot that bordered the beach and the engine shut off. In the light of the almost-full moon above, I could see the driver clearly for the first time.

It was Jeremy.

He walked to the edge of the lake and stood still, looking out over the water. His face seemed frozen in thought, but his stance was edgy. The water lapped quietly at the shore and the trees shivered in the breeze, bowing down. Mike and Sam moved from their position under the boughs of a pine into the light no more than ten feet from Jeremy.

“Who are you?” Jeremy startled, turning to look at the men. He said something else, but the words were lost on the breeze. I edged as close as I dared, then stopped.

“Ted sent us,” Sam said. I was so close now that I could see the glint of his eyes, the firmness of his mouth as he stared at the man who’d tried to kill me. Jeremy’s death was in his eyes.

“Why? Did he hire you to finish the job?”
Stop talking, Jeremy
. I had no love for the man, but I didn’t want Sam to kill on my behalf. Sam’s eyes charged at the cavalier discussion of my fate.

“No,” he said. At the clipped word, more men emerged from the trees, ringing Sam, Mike and Jeremy. “We aren’t here to finish the job.” He spat each word from his mouth as if it were poison on his tongue.

“Did you hire Ted to kill Eleanor?” Mike finally spoke.

“What?” A spear of instinct pierced Jeremy, finally making him realize that he was not among friends. “No. I’d never kill anyone.”

“Ted said differently,” Sam growled. “Before I snapped his neck.” My eyes widened and I clapped a hand over my mouth.

“Why?”

“You hired him to kill my woman.” Sam took a step closer to Jeremy, who tried to retreat. I edged nearer to the circle.

“You signed his death warrant,” said Mike calmly, studying Jeremy dispassionately.

“I loved Eleanor. I’d never—.” Jeremy fell to the ground when Sam punched him, his mouth erupting with bright red blood that covered his lips and chin, staining his pristine shirt.

“Why?” Sam snapped.

“Why what?” Jeremy’s words came out garbled.

“We’re going to kill you. You tried to kill my woman and failed. You’ve been given the death sentence.” Jeremy started to sob. “Tell us why and you won’t feel any pain.”

“I didn’t try to kill her.”

“If you lie again, I’m going to make it last for days.” This from Mike, who I’d always thought was more rational. The words were low, a promise.

Jeremy heard them and understood. “She was going to get a grant I needed. I was next on the list. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” His word dissolved into sobs and my blood ran cold. He had tried to have me killed. Knowing it was true wasn’t the same as hearing it from his lips.

“Stand up,” said Sam. “Stand up and die like a man.” One of the Howlers moved forward and hauled Jeremy to his feet. “If you can get past me, you can live.” Jeremy took in Sam’s strong arms and muscular chest, then squared his shoulders to fight, desperate to stay alive.

Sam suddenly hunched forward, his body collapsing before the assembly. Jeremy’s eyes bugged out of his head—the way mine must have the first time I saw a pack member make his change—and he fell again, moving over the sand like a crab. A dark stain spread across the crotch of his pants when he looked up to find himself face to face with a wolf. No, something larger, more ferocious than a normal wolf, one whose lips were peeled back to bare his fangs to his prey.

“No,” I screamed, and emerged from the woods. The wolf looked over at me, then back at Jeremy. Mike stepped back and grabbed me, keeping my eyes away from Sam, who growled at the sobbing man.

“What are you doing here?”

“He can’t kill him. Not for me. I don’t want him to kill for me.”

“You don’t have a choice. We’re a pack and we protect our mates.” His voice was firm, and I knew then that I wouldn’t win the argument. I looked into Mike’s eyes and put steel in my spine. If Sam was going to kill for me, I was going to watch.

“Then let me see.” I heard a scream and the sound of teeth tearing flesh, wrenched away from Mike to look. Sam had Jeremy’s throat in his mouth.

The ragged flesh around his fangs was welling with blood. Jeremy’s eyes rolled in his head as his dying body tried desperately to pull away but failed. His gaze met mine and his eyes widened. I made sure that mine showed no pity for him, just watched as the light drained from his eyes while he held my stare.