Secret Maneuvers (38 page)

The Alpha stands there coolly with an expressionless face, arms crossed over his massive chest. Shaggy hair blows in the wind as his eyes once again try to express assertiveness to her. Keeping Kent in her peripheral, she starts to assess what her chances are of ripping out of there on her own two feet and not getting caught.

“Jesus, Jenna! Calm down already! You had to pop up on her like that, Adam?”

So, the Alpha’s name is Adam? Well, Jenna’s mind is already thinking of the million ways she can tell the unwelcome, but undeniably hot, Adam, to go pound sand up Kent’s ass and then his own. Who cares if it isn’t anatomically possible? Adam’s eyes never move from her own, even as Kent yells at both of them. He is still trying to prove that he’s the big bad dominant shifter whom she should drop to her knees, beg for mercy, and offer her throat to in submission.

She hopes he isn’t holding his breath for that to happen. Instead, Jenna bares her teeth to him in a silent growl. Her mama hasn’t raised her to bow to anyone and she‘ll be damned if she starts with him. Seemingly intrigued by her response, Adam finally speaks with a deep baritone voice that is graveled, sounding just shy of him growling. “Yeah, Jenna, calm down and while you’re at it, why don’t you tell us what you are exactly?” He stands there, silently gauging her reaction. “I know you’re not a vampire because you were walking around in broad daylight earlier today. Your scent hints that you’re some kind of shifter, but that doesn’t quite make sense, either, because you apparently felt Kent here trying to skim your thoughts. So would you like to enlighten us? I have to admit, I’m extremely curious.” His molten amber eyes twinkle with a challenge like this is some well-played game he’s enjoying.

Jenna has to wonder if he will think it’s a game if she slams his head into the metal light post just a few yards away, then kicks him in the nuts while he’s down and out.

This is bad. Very, very bad. To be caught between two men who aren’t human is a nightmare scenario. Especially, since they are two different species of Others. It would have actually been much better for Jenna if it had been two shifters or two demons instead of this combination. The reason for that deduction is simple. If it had been two shifters, then all she would have to be on guard for are physical attacks. Such as a shifter’s abnormal strength and speed, or them changing into their animals. If she had been caught between two demons, it would have been the opposite. Instead of furry bodies or extraordinary strength, she would have been on the lookout for what their mental abilities are capable of.

Demons aren’t exactly what humans think they are. When someone says ‘demon,’ frightened little humans think about the twisted, maniacal things mentioned in Holy texts or beings glamorized in Hollywood movies. Well, that is only a fraction of the truth.

The beings that escaped from Hell are literal monsters that scare the bejesus out of just about anything. However, they can’t survive on the surface. The best they get is a twenty-four to seventy-two hour vacation of Biblically evil proportions before they start to disintegrate. You could say there’s something in their genetic makeup that can’t withstand the earth’s surface, but no one knows what it is that causes them to deteriorate away—and frankly, no one with a sane mind wants to know because everyone who enjoys living is better off if those things have to go back to Hell, for obvious reasons.

However, that isn’t to say that they don’t get away with some scary shit while they are top-side. They’re evil beings to the bottom of their shriveled up, black, little hearts, so you can guess what they do while they are out. They go on killing sprees. They cause mass riots, sow the seeds for mayhem, start outbreaks of disease, and chortle gleefully over senseless destruction. Then there are the ones who violate the humans. This isn’t a thing to worry about if you’re a shifter or a vampire because frankly, they can hold their own. They have enough claws, fangs, speed and strength to protect themselves. Puny little humans, though, especially the women, not so much.

On rare occasions these rapes result in pregnancies. If the fetus survives to birth, then the result is something altogether unexpected. The fetus has now gone through a significant evolutional change. What you have now is a child who looks perfectly human, but is something much more. They don’t gain any physical traits from their demonic daddies, just genetic ones. In fact, demonic DNA is like a virus. From the moment an embryo forms, the demon’s DNA starts to take over. Evolution is smart enough to leave one thing unchanged, though. The body.

In essence, what you have is a demon in a perfectly formed human body. So they walk like humans, talk like humans, eat like humans, and all their organs as well as their bodily functions are human. They even have souls like humans. The chance to be unlike their paternal contributors and live blameless lives filled with the good things. So not all demons inherit the urges for causing death and despair that their paternal units live for, but those genetics pass on one supremely notable thing. Their mental capabilities are off the charts. Every demon is different with varying ranges on abilities or strength in those abilities; however, all of their talents lie in the brain.

Like telekinesis that can range from the ability to make a spoon levitate a few inches to levitating a car a foot off the ground. Or, in a demon with high abilities, they could lift your house right off its foundation.

Jenna knows one of those demons.

That’s just talking telekinesis. That’s not talking telepathy, pyrokinesis, cryokinesis, levitation, teleportation or whatever the hell else they are able to do with their super brains, but back to her point: Kent is a demon. He might have just given himself away on having telekinesis, but she doesn’t know the kind of strength his ability comes to. He moved the ball on the pool table, but can he lift one of the cars in the parking lot?

So being between an Alpha shifter and a demon of unknown strength is beyond bad, bad news.

This is a fuck-up of epic proportions on her part.

This is why her family has never, up until the time she moved to Wilmington, let her out of their sight.

Barely controlling the urge to claw his eyes out, she spits out through her clenched teeth, “None of your damn business! That’s what I am! I’m not bothering anyone and I just want to be left alone. So take my advice and do just that. Leave. Me. ALONE!”

The tremors in her body increase. The ends of her fingertips ache with the pressure of the claws underneath her skin, threatening to release at any moment. Jenna’s beast is hovering at the surface, begging to be free. Raking its claws on the insides of her skin, demanding to get out and defend itself.

Anyone who thinks she is dangerous as a human won’t know what hit them if they catch the animal raging on a bad day. If she isn’t careful, her canines will start to elongate and sharpen at any minute. Glancing back and forth between Kent and the douche bag named Adam, Jenna knows she’ll never get to her bike. Her only chance is to turn around, run as fast as she can till she’s out of sight, and then let her beast loose to race to freedom. She just needs one teeny tiny distraction to get their attention off of her for a few seconds while she makes a break for it.

Looking back and forth between the two men, she casts her eyes around the parking lot looking for her fix-it-all shot. The problem is she doesn’t see much in the way that can help. She can’t just lift a car. That is way too much information for them to have on her. Not to mention, risking that a passerby will see the event, do something stupid like stop and take pictures, and then spread the pictures on the internet. There is nothing close enough to drop on them. Hell this parking lot is devoid of essentially everything except vehicles from the street to its entrance. There isn’t even any trash lying around! Shifting her right foot back into her crouch, she hears the faint sounds of dirt grating and crunching beneath her boot soles. That was it! Locking her mind onto the dirt particles surrounding both of the men, she shoves her own telekinetic psychic powers out from her hands slightly, so that a dense dust cloud puffs up around them from their feet to their faces.

Spinning on her heel, she rushes off in the opposite direction to freedom. Letting speed jolt through her body, she flings herself as fast as she can get her legs to move down the street. Kent’s shouts behind her, along with the Alpha’s snarls, traveling closer in her direction, force Jenna to pump her legs faster. When she’s safely in the dark between residential houses and out of sight she shifts as she throws herself over the fence and into the neighboring backyard, letting her beast take over. Her arms and legs shorten, while a subtle pain thrums throughout her entire body as her jaw starts to lengthen out into her muzzle. Landing on four paws, instead of her human two, she shakes off the tatters of clothing and pushes herself quickly through the residential yards as fast as her agile legs will take her. The powerful light of the moon caresses the fur on her back as she races for her life. Letting her instincts take over, Jenna moves through silent streets towards the new house she is renting across town with no sounds of pursuit coming from behind her. Avoiding traffic isn’t all that hard since it’s so late at night, but it does slow down some of her progress as she attempts to stick to shadows while heading towards home at the edge of the city

Jenna’s beast is growling at the knowledge that they had almost been caught. Angrier still that she plans to shift back as soon as they reach the house so that she can throw some new clothes on and hop in her truck to head home to her mama’s. Her beast wants to run free to hunt. Taste fresh blood in her mouth as she devours a meal of rabbit or squirrel.

Well her furry little ass can just get over it. They have bigger problems to solve.

Luckily, Jenna is supposed to have the next forty-eight hours off anyways. So a trip home to her mama will give her some much needed space to figure out what she needs to do next and the state-protected forest behind her house for a good hunt. As she crosses the space to the backyard of her place, she lets her beast sit and indulge in the moon’s light for a moment. She at least deserves this for saving their asses tonight. Hell, who is she kidding? Jenna needs the quiet comfort of nature, too. The wind blows gently across her fur, caressing her body and offering a small sense of calm. Raising her head to the sky, she lets a heartbreaking howl rip through the night air.

In that moment, Jenna has to be the loneliest half-wolf shifter on the planet.

About the Author

Jessie Lane is the writing team of Crystal Leo and Melissa Pahl. The two sisters-in-law share a passionate love of naughty romance, cliff hanging suspense, and out-of-this-world characters that demand your attention, or threaten to slap you around until you do pay attention to them. Because really, it is ALL about the characters. (They're kind of megalomaniacs - but don't tell them that we said that.)

Their first YA novel, The Burning Star, was released in May 2012. Big Bad Bite is their second novel, but their first adult paranormal romance, and was released in January 2013. Their third book, Secret Maneuvers, releases on June 15, 2013, and will be the start of a new adult contemporary romance series (Ex Ops Series). They are now working on their next three novels, Walk On The Striped Side (Big Bad Bite Series #2), Stripping Her Defenses (Ex Ops Series #2), and The Frozen Star (YA Star Series #2).

With these projects underway, they are looking forward to showing the rest of the world their crazy stories, heroes and heroines that often plague their minds until written, and hope you will join them on their journey!

For more information on Jessie Lane:

http://www.jessielanebooks.com

http://www.goodreads.com/jessielane

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Follow us on Twitter: @JessieLaneBooks

Books by Jessie Lane:

The Star Series:

The Burning Star

The Frozen Star (coming soon)

Big Bad Bite Series:

Big Bad Bite

Walk On The Striped Side (coming soon)

Ex Ops Series:

Secret Maneuvers

Stripping Her Defenses (coming soon)