Night Critters (Collection) (9 page)
Read Night Critters (Collection) Online
Authors: Lena Austin
At the last moment Corbin mastered his temper. “I don't give a fuck! I am going to marry the girl I love, and if you don't like it you can just die and stay out of my life.” Corbin turned and grabbed Roni's hand and pulled her to the door. He turned back to his father. “Don't bother coming to the uniting ceremony. I won't stand for it."
Roni looked back over her shoulder just before Corbin pulled her out of sight.
Duke had a calculating smile on his face. He raised his glass and his lips moved.
Had she heard his whisper right? “Let the games begin?"
Roni sat behind a tree in her lupine form and smiled to herself. She sat downwind and out of sight. The Chase was always the best part of a Uniting. She'd make it difficult for Corbin to catch her, at least at first. The point was to be caught eventually, after all.
Corbin struggled to find her location. He sniffed in the right direction and looked around. The chase before the uniting ceremony proved that a united couple would be able to find each other no matter what.
Roni stood up to move to another tree. A branch broke beneath her paw. She didn't wait for Corbin's howl of triumph. She exploded out of her hiding spot and ran for a stream to wet her paws so he'd lose her trail.
He ran around in front of Roni to cut her off, but came to a sudden halt. He spun around into a defensive posture. Roni almost ran into his backside before she scrabbled to a stop. She looked up over his tail.
A black wolf and Corbin growled softly to one another. The strange wolf made no other threatening moves, but his presence at a uniting was at best impolite.
Then the black fur registered in Roni's brain. Silently, in the way of her mother's breed, she took off around Corbin and sank her teeth into the foreleg of the wolf. Huskies for centuries had used their lightning speed to break the legs of their opponents using that fighting trick, and Roni employed it now with no regret. The sickening crunch echoed through the forest.
The new wolf howled in pain and shifted back to human. It was Duke.
Corbin and Roni shifted simultaneously. Corbin stood protectively in front of her to hide her naked body. “Don't you dare come here causing trouble,” Roni barked over Corbin's shoulder.
"This ceremony, from what I'm hearing, should not be taking place. You don't have an Alpha Male overseeing it.” Duke rubbed his arm gingerly.
"My father is here to oversee the ceremony. As far as I'm concerned, Alpha Male is a title to be earned, not achieved through lies and deceit. Mutt.” Roni snarled the last word.
"My kind of bitch. A bark as sharp as her bite.” Duke smiled. “I would love to oversee the ceremony if you would have me."
Roni stared at him in confusion. “Huh?"
Corbin took a step forward. “This was all a test, wasn't it?"
"Yes, son. I needed to know that you were the Alpha Male I knew you could be, and I needed to know that you had found the Alpha Bitch I always thought you deserved.” Duke turned his attention to Roni. “Welcome to the Thornburn pack."
Corbin, his head high, shook Duke's uninjured hand. “It would be an honor, Father, for you to oversee the ceremony if Roni's father will step aside. If not, you'll have to share with Eduardo Engelmann."
Duke licked his lips and smiled. “Eduardo and I may be rivals for territory now, but in college we were roommates. He married the sexiest...” Duke cleared his throat. “How is Katriena these days?"
Roni snorted. “Mom's fine. She's waiting with Dad. You can go wait with them at the clubhouse.” Deliberately she permitted herself to begin shifting to canine. “I don't like being deceived, and you have a lot of trust to regain, but I appreciate the welcome.” She turned, her tail sashaying behind her. She looked over her shoulder at Corbin, wagged her tail. “Don't we have a chase to finish?” She took off into the woods with a howl.
"Excuse me, Father. I have a bitch to catch.” Corbin shifted and, with a howl, ran after her.
"We now pronounce you wolf and mate.” Eduardo and Duke shut the huge tome on the stand between them and shook hands with one another.
The roar of approval and applause from both packs and their guests shook the rafters of the warehouse-sized clubhouse.
Roni and Corbin, now dressed in white, led the procession to the reception hall for the celebration. The full moon clearly lit their way on the short walk through the trees in the midst of the Engelmann Pack lands.
Behind them, Eduardo and Duke talked about their old college days and acted like a pair of college kids on spring break. Katriena, Ana, and Jon tagged along behind, content to be out of the order of precedence.
Corbin proudly stood next to Roni on the dais and held her as if he'd never let go. The guests filed by, one by one. The rest danced and ate.
Jon and Ana raced up first. Jon pulled aside the collar of his shirt to show Corbin and Roni his bite. “Whew, am I glad I awakened—er, arose?—in time."
Ana smiled indulgently at her new husband. “Rose, darling. Just rose or risen.” She leaned toward Roni and winked. “He didn't even get sick at his first goblet of blood."
Jon sniffed and pretended to be offended. “As if I would. I'm a surgeon. I never get sick at the sight of blood. What took me so long was convincing my oh-so-stubborn love that turning me solved everything. We'll just adopt if we get the urge to hear ‘Whyyy?’ a million times and want our stuff destroyed."
Ana playfully slapped him on the arm. “Who neglected to tell me he wanted a literal eternity in my arms, hmm? C'mon, feather brain, let's boogie!"
"Boogie? Is that a particular set of steps, like the Electric Slide you taught me last week?” Jon swung Ana out on the dance floor with his elegant white wings tucked close to his body.
Katriena mounted the dais, looking elegant and cool in gray silk. She accepted as her due Eduardo and Duke's howls and whistles. She hugged both Corbin and Roni. “When do I get grandpups to spoil, hmm?"
All Roni did was smile. “Sooner than you think, Mom. I had my implants removed the week after Corbin revealed who he was to you."
Katriena tilted her head in Roni's direction. “Any offspring you have are going to be a pack of trouble. I can't wait."
Duke and Eduardo stood over the box bed, grinning as proudly as if they'd fathered the litter squirming on the padding themselves.
Eduardo nudged his old friend and bounced on his toes. “Those are some great-looking puppies. My daughter did very well for her first litter."
Duke looked at Eduardo sideways and folded his arms across his chest. “You mean cubs, and my son provided the seed."
Roni sighed inwardly. Werewolves called their young “cubs” to differentiate from the weredog “pups.” Once again, the ugly prejudices could arise to bite them all over nothing. She jiggled the baby in her arms and he rewarded her with a burp.
"They are puppies,” Eduardo corrected, his large brown eyes twinkling.
"Cubs.” Duke stared him down, his lips twitching with humor.
"Would you two stop it?” Katriena hissed from her position comfortably curled up in the oversized chair and returned to her knitting of the sixth blanket.
Both pack leaders bowed in unison. “Yes, our beloved Alpha Bitch."
Jon and Ana laughed and applauded from their position at the music keyboard, where they took turns playing winter holiday music for the assembled grandparents.
Corbin silently squeezed Roni's shoulders. “I'll get them some punch.” He sauntered off to the kitchen, whistling in time to the music Ana picked out on the keyboard.
Eduardo leaned down and straightened the fur on one of the smaller Chihuahua blends. He laughed when the feisty little fellow bit his finger.
"How about we just call them grandcubs?” Duke suggested and nuzzled a black lab blend.
Eduardo looked at Duke and smiled. “Done."
Roni tried not to laugh at their antics from her makeshift throne on the couch. She was exhausted but she was not going to deny the grandparents their bragging rights.
Eduardo looked at his daughter and pointed to the infant in her arms. “Roni, honey, why hasn't that one shifted?” Eduardo looked concerned.
"This is Luciano. We'll nickname him Lucky. It seems he is unable to shift.” Roni tickled the chin of her son, and was rewarded with a baby sigh and smile.
Duke shook his head sadly. “Oh, no. We have a Faux Paws. I know the pain of being different. He's got a life of hell ahead of him."
Jon turned from the keyboard and winked. “Only if he doesn't find a guardian angel."
Lena Austin & Tuesday Richards
Lucky Thornburn, a Faux Paws, or shifter-born who can't shift, meets a half-angel named Charm. Charm doesn't need or want his chivalry, but she's literally trouble on the wing. She wants to renovate an old house into a home for foster children just like Charm needed as a child before she was adopted. Lucky's cold-hearted brother wants the same property for a shopping mall, so Lucky joins in Charm's renovation project in defiance of his brother.
Once Lucky experiences Charm's, well, charms, they become a team anyone would be a fool to mess with. But JR isn't going to give up so easily. And Charm? Well, Charm's not going to give up at all. And Lucky's coming right along with her, because he's discovered something with the sexy Nephylum he never thought he'd find—which just might be enough to sway his nemesis of a brother.
The door of Enrique's bar slammed open, and the icy blast of winter heralded the entrance of the only customer Lucky had seen that afternoon. He gave her a friendly welcoming smile and continued to polish the glass in his hand. He was insanely glad someone had braved the icy chill to warm themselves at the bar.
From the top of her deep purple hair to the bottom of her laced platform boots the girl was all old-fashioned Goth Revival from the early twenty-first century. She unfolded the weird red and orange cloak she wore to reveal it was her wings. She had to be one of the oddest looking Nephylum Lucky had ever seen. Normally Nephylum were airy creatures with white wings, but hers were the color of fire. Peridot green eyes scanned the room and fell on Lucky. The Nephylum folded her wings back with a snap and marched over. She dropped a huge tote bag at her feet, slammed her fist on the bar and winced. “Give me a whiskey neat and a bag of ice for my hand."
Lucky studied her frowning face for a long moment. This had to be one of the less common Michael Nephylum, so named for the famous Archangel. Rumor Control had it Michael Nephs were much feistier than the gentle Gabriel Nephylum he was used to. Still, rules were rules, and he had to check to see if she was legal. “ID, please. You don't look old enough to drink."
She put her wrist ident badge into the reader. Impatiently, she waited while Lucky looked over her profile on the screen. “Satisfied?"
He looked up and smiled. Lucky hit the button to wipe the screen and nodded his head. “Yes, Charmaine. Thank you."
The girl scowled and straightened her shoulders. “It's Charm. Only my parents call me Charmaine."
Lucky slid the whiskey in front of her and leaned on the dark mahogany top. “My apologies, Charm. Is there anything else I can get for you?"
Charm picked up the glass and downed the Kentucky whiskey in one shot. Impressively, she didn't even cough like most Nephs when they drank alcohol. She slammed the glass back on the bar. “Another whiskey and the ice for my hand."
Lucky looked down and winced in sympathy at the petite hand with its swollen, red knuckles. She'd have bruises by morning. “May I ask what happened?” He put some ice in a bar towel and handed it to her.
She put the towel on her knuckles and winced. “Just some testosterone junkie outside who wouldn't take a repeated ‘no’ for an answer. So I gave him an answer he would understand."
The door to the bar slammed open, and the town bully stomped in. His whiny scum of a sidekick slunk in behind him.
Lucky rolled his eyes to the ceiling, but smiled affably. To keep his hands busy, he returned to polishing glasses with a clean towel. “Hello, Kent.” He could tell by the red spot on the side of Kent's face that he was the “testosterone junkie” who'd accosted Charm. Just like the big jerk, hitting on anything with tits and a pulse.
Kent and Lucky had known each other since they were pups in preschool, and Kent always made it a point to remind Lucky of his inability to shift. Needless to say, they'd never gotten along.
Kent's brown eyes screamed anger—fists balled up, jaw muscles twitching while he clenched his teeth. Kent's sidekick, Josh, tagged along after him. “You Nephylum bitch. You will regret ever laying your hands on me."
Charm lazily looked up. Her wings had been fading to a soft black, but fire colors licked at the edges as if they'd burst into flame at any moment. She studied her drink and drawled her words with languid contempt. “I didn't lay my hands on you, I laid my fist on you. Don't tell me you want more.” She pushed away from the bar and stood up to him.
Lucky had to admire the way the little shrimp defied the town bully without even knowing who or what he was. These Michael Nephylum definitely were firebrands. Apparently they were as temperamental as the element they were rumored to control.
Kent looked down at her and then back to Lucky. His cheek had started to swell up in competition with his large ego and puffed out chest. “You gonna come out here and protect the Nephylum slut, Faux Paws?"
Lucky's spine stiffened and he dropped the towel. His eyebrows drew together and his fists clenched. He resisted the urge to jump over the bar and show Kent how to act like a gentlebeing once and for all. Lucky really didn't want to ruin the hand-crafted woodwork he'd finished that morning for his brother's bar. Because he knew doing so would piss Kent off more, Lucky made a show of studying Kent's rapidly swelling face. “It seems the lady can take care of herself."
Kent smiled, his canines sharp and glistening. His contempt for Lucky was clear. “Coward. Just like a Faux Paws."
