Seth's Chance [Brac Pack 27] (4 page)

Chance walked into the police station with Chauncey trailing behind him.
“I don’t care what time of night it is. I want to see Sloane Brac now!” D slammed his fists into the counter, creating small indents under his hands. Chance knew that if he didn’t stop D, the humans would find out that he was more than just a pain in the ass.
There was a cadre of dark-suited policemen standing by D, all looking for an excuse to arrest him. This wasn’t Brac Village. Chance was sure that Maverick didn’t have the same pull with the chief here. If he didn’t get the little vamp out of here, D was going to jail. And come morning when the first rays of light appeared, the cat would be out of the bag.
The officer behind the desk looked tired, bored, and ready to haul D’s ass to the cells just to get him out of his hair. “Look, Mr. Constantinople, Sloane Brac is going in front of a judge for bond in the morning. If you—”
“No. I won’t go home and just wait around like a good little wife. By the way, does your
boss
know you talk to people like that?”
Oh shit.
Chance hurried to the counter when he saw the cop rise up out of his seat from behind the desk. The man’s face had turned to stone, and small veins were popping on the side of the man’s temple. D was five seconds away from being tossed in the slammer. Cops didn’t take being threatened lightly.
“D,” Chance said as he walked to the counter, “calm down.”
“You know this man?” the cop asked.
“He’s a friend.”
“Well, I suggest you get your friend out of here before he finds himself in cuffs.” The cop eyed Chance and then Chauncey, a disgusted look on his face.
“Oh, threatening me with the cuffs, are ya?” D said as he slammed his fists down once more. Tiny spider cracks formed on the counter under the palms on D’s hands. He might be a short shit, but vampires were pretty damn strong. Inhumanly strong. The cop didn’t need to wonder how D was cracking the counter.
“I’ve never seen you riled like this, D,” Chauncey said as he chuckled. “You’re a cute little thing when you’re mad.”
Chance threw his hand over D’s mouth when D bared his fangs at Chauncey. He’d never seen the vamp this riled up either. D was like a little spitfire. Unfortunately the little spitfire was about to become a crispy critter come morning if he managed to get himself locked up.
Vampires didn’t burn to ashes and then die, but damn if they didn’t blister like a son of a bitch. “Let’s go, D.”
“No, I’m not leaving my mate.”
“You keep using that word,” the cop said. “Explain what it means.”
Chance leaned into D, whispering so only the vamp could hear him. “If you go to jail, Sloane is going to watch his mate burn in the morning light. Do you want him to see that and feel helpless to do a damn thing about it?”
That took some of the wind out of D’s sail. He looked as if he hadn’t quite thought that far ahead. His face fell slightly as he looked from Chance to the cop behind the desk. The anger was still etched around D’s eyes, but his shoulders slumped. “Fine, I’ll wait until morning.”
Chance held his breath, praying the cop didn’t insist on them telling him what a mate was. The cop looked relieved that D was relenting. He took a seat back behind the desk and started ignoring them. The other officers stood by the counter, watching Chance and Chauncey march D from the station.
Chance shouted as D ran for the counter, yelling at the cops to give him his mate. Chauncey grabbed the little shit around his waist and hauled D from his feet, carrying him outside. Chance saw every last cop in the place with their hands resting on the butt of their guns.
“Keep him away from here or I’ll throw his ass in jail the next time I see him,” the cop behind the desk bellowed as Chance nodded. He could see the cop was itching to arrest D, and Chance wasn’t pushing the man.
“I’ll keep him away.” He walked outside, seeing D yelling at Chauncey as his twin kept an arm around D’s waist. Chance had never seen the small vampire so riled up before. D’s pale face was flushed, and he squirmed in Chauncey’s arms, trying his best to break free.
“What’s gotten into you?” Chance asked as he hid the smile. Chauncey, for once, was looking pretty damned pissed. He knew his twin saw the cops going for their guns just like he did.
D’s head snapped around as he glared at Chance. “He’s my mate. I want him home.”
Chance shook his head. “There’s more to it than that, D. Spill.”
The vampire finally slumped in Chauncey’s arms. When he looked up at Chance, his eyes were almost black. Not just the irises, but the entire orbs. Chance had never seen D’s eyes do that before. They looked like two black marbles as the man stared at him. “I haven’t fed this week. Sloane is the only one I feed off of now. No more bags of blood.”
Shit.
Even Chance knew that was a bad thing. A hungry vampire was a dangerous thing. Even with D’s short stature, he’d tear through both shifters if he didn’t eat. “Then we’re heading down to The Manacle.”
“I don’t like crimson anymore,” D protested.
“It’s the best you have right now, Dudley,” Chance snapped. “If you hadn’t acted like an ass in there, then maybe you could have gotten a visit and fed.”
“No,” D shook his head, his dark eyes pleading with Chance. “I waited for them to let me see Sloane. The cop behind the desk made me sit there and wait. Right before you came in he told me visiting hours were over and I’d have to come back tomorrow. He tricked me, Chance. That cop lied to me on purpose.”
“Regardless, D, you’ve just blown any chance to go in there and see him now.”
“He banned me?” D asked in astonishment.
Chance nodded.
D began to struggle all over again. Chauncey was just as big and hulking as Chance was, but damn if his brother wasn’t having a hard time holding D. “I’ll kick his ass!”
“If you break free from my arms, D, I’ll tie your ass to the hood and use you as an ornament,” Chauncey threatened. “Try me.”
“Let’s get him to The Manacle where he can feed.” Chance opened the passenger’s door, watching Chauncey practically shove D into the truck. “I have rope if you need it.” He chuckled.
“I’ll just sit on him.” Chauncey winked. “Now aren’t you glad I brought my ass here?”
“That I am.” Chance grinned.
“No more having fun without me then,” Chauncey complained. “Just because I’m mated doesn’t mean I’ve had my balls clipped.”
Chance laughed as he climbed into the driver’s side. “Could have fooled me, honey bunny.”
Chauncey growled.
Honey bunny
was the endearment Chauncey used for his mate, Curtis. Chance thought it a hoot. All the Lakeland men found it humorous to see Chauncey go down that road to blissful mating.
Too bad Chance’s mating road was paved with potholes and spikes. Seth had kicked him out, and Chance wasn’t sure now that he didn’t deserve it. Just because the neighbor was over, didn’t mean he had to act like a total barbarian.
“Are you going to behave, D?” Chauncey asked as the vampire scooted into the truck.
“Yes,” D answered with a pout.
Chance drove them to the club. He noticed that Bryce and Abe weren’t in line anymore. After seeing the outfit Abe was wearing, Chance wasn’t too sure about Christian’s promise that the fey wouldn’t be snacked on. It had looked like Abe had come here for more than just partying. But, that wasn’t Chance’s problem. If Abe liked it, Chance loved it.
“Back again?” Harley, the door bouncer, asked as Chauncey and Chance escorted D inside.
“Briefly,” Chance answered. Shifters and vamps, for the most part, got along. But as Chance thought earlier, survival was the key. They were on the vampires’ ground now. If D acted an ass, Chance was going to beat the man into unconsciousness.
“Go to the bar and get a damn crimson,” Chance said as he looked around. He saw the Santiago brothers talking with one of the bouncers. Even though Chance had been leery the few times he and Chauncey had come here back in the day, he had learned who was who. It was the smart thing to do.
“You got him?” Chance asked his twin. Chauncey gave him a look that said Chance was asking a very dumb question. Chance grinned and stepped outside, pulling his phone free from its clip. He needed to apologize to his mate.
Dialing the number, Chance leaned against his truck, waiting to hear Seth’s voice on the other side of the phone. Seth’s voice had the ability to make Chance tingle all over. He could wrap himself in Seth’s voice and feel the warmth every time he heard it.
“Hello?”
“Did I wake you?”
There was silence on the other end. Chance chewed at his bottom lip, wondering if his mate was just going to hang up the phone. He had acted like a numbskull earlier.
“You there?” Chance asked after the silence had stretched on for too long.
“I’m here. It’s late, Chance.”
“I know. I just wanted to call and apologize for being such a male earlier.”
“A male?” Seth asked, light teasing in his voice.
Chance grinned as he pushed the toe of his boot into the blacktop. If Chauncey saw the blush creeping up Chance’s face right now, he’d tease Chance until the cows came home. Thank god his brother was inside tending to D. Chance had teased Chauncey enough about Curtis that he had plenty coming to him when it came to Seth. He didn’t want to give his brother any ammo to work with.
“Yeah, a barbaric male. I’m sorry, Seth.”
He heard a sigh on the other end, light and full of acceptance. “It’s fine, Chance. But you have to promise me not to act that way anymore.”
Chance couldn’t promise that. Seeing another man in his mate’s apartment damn near made Chance shift and eat the bastard. Even thinking about it now had his possessiveness screaming to come out and play. Chance tempered his feelings and nodded. “I can promise to try. I like you, Seth. A hell of a lot. I don’t want to lose you, even as a friend.” Although Chance planned on being more, so much more.
Seth gave a light laugh that made Chance feel as though he could conquer the world tonight. It was light, breathy, and made his cock hard as nails. He wanted to drive back to Seth’s and fuck the man into the wall.
“I’ll see you tomorrow, Chance.” Seth hung up, leaving Chance grinning like a fool. Thank goodness he hadn’t blown it with Seth. It would make mating that man extremely hard if Seth was mad at him. Chance slid his phone back onto the clip, deciding he needed to tell Seth what was going on. He just prayed Seth didn’t kick him out permanently when he found out Chance was a damn bear shifter.
“You shouldn’t go in there,” a stranger said as she walked closer.
Chance had been so busy on his phone that he hadn’t even smelled her presence. As a shifter, he could use his nose to scent if the person was human or preternatural. He could even smell someone in the close vicinity. Being in the city made it harder, considering the overpopulation, but with her standing so closely, he should have smelled her coming.
“Why not?” he asked out of curiosity. She was definitely human.
“Bad things happen in there. You would be used for fodder.”
Chance inwardly chuckled at that idea. Him, as food? Highly doubtful. “Thanks, ma’am, but I think I can manage.”
She cocked her head sideways, staring at Chance’s mouth. He was pretty sure she was looking for fangs. Chance didn’t realize how tall the woman was until she stopped right next to him. She was heavily endowed in the chest, dark, auburn hair that hit her shoulders in small ringlets of wavy curls, and her eyes were a deep blue in the overhead light of the parking lot.
Chance noticed that she wasn’t dressed for a club like The Manacle, either. She had on faded jeans that almost looked white, a long-sleeved shirt that was too plain, untucked and hanging loosely around her waist. She had tennis shoes on that looked like they had seen better days.
“You shouldn’t go in there,” she repeated a little more strongly. Chance was getting a very bad feeling. Her eyes kept darting toward the club and then back to Chance. His heart began to pound in his chest as he looked over to where Harley was standing at the door, waving two more humans inside.
“Why?” he asked as he looked back toward here. He had a feeling it was more than just because she thought he would make a good snack. A light smile upturned her full lips, her eyes narrowing slightly as she gazed over at the vampire club.
“Because,” she said and then the entire parking lot shook as the wall of the club exploded, sending brick and mortar Chance’s way. He dropped to his knees, shielding his head as he heard people screaming, sounds so agonizing that Chance knew he would be haunted by them for a very long time.
“Chauncey!” Chance screamed as he grabbed the woman, hauling her along with him. She fought like crazy, scratching at Chance’s arms, twisting her own arm to free herself.
“They’re dead, they’re all dead.” She laughed as she dug her feet into the pavement. Chance’s claws unsheathed as he swung around, slicing her arm and shoulder. She shrieked as Chance bent her arm until she was down on her knees.
“If my brothers are dead, I will slowly cut you into pieces so small, you’ll never be identifiable. If they are dead, I’ll kill you so slowly that you’ll feel every damn cut.”
“Fuck you. They are walking corpses. They’re abominations. They deserve to die!”
“And the humans you killed? What about them?”
“There are no innocents inside,” she said and then spat at Chance. “If they went inside the club to allow those things to feed on them, they deserve to burn in hell as well!”
Chance yanked her to her feet as he headed toward the club. He closed his eyes briefly as he saw a few human bodies lying on the ground. Never in his life had he seen such carnage. Not like this. Never like this.
Harley was helping to get the people out who hadn’t died in the explosion. Chance shoved the woman toward the vampire. “Don’t let her go. She’s a part of this.”
Fuck her.
If the woman wanted to take lives, Chance had no qualms about handing her over to the vampires. He pushed past the frantic people, searching for Chauncey and Bryce. He coughed as the smoke filled his lungs, but Chance wasn’t going to leave his family behind. He had to find them.
It was pure chaos. Everyone was running for the exit, panic on their faces. Chance noticed the vampires disseminating at an alarming rate, getting the wounded or dead vampires out of the club. Chance knew that all traces of vampires had to be gone by the time the fire truck showed up, but there was no way Harley was going to be able to scrub everyone’s mind if they witnessed vampires disappearing right in front of them.
At this point, Chance didn’t give a shit. He just wanted his brothers. Chance spotted Sutton, one of the bouncers, directing everyone toward the exit. “Have you seen Chauncey or Bryce?”