Wild Mate: BBW Bear Shifter Romance (6 page)

“
Hey, Raven Rose,
honey!”

“
Raven, where have you
been?”

“
Over here, Raven Rose!”

Levi shook his head hard. He
had to get a grip. This was her job, her livelihood. The girl on
stage was Raven Rose, the stripper. Not Rebecca Rose, his mate.

He should just step back, and
let her work the stage and earn the big bucks. This was no place for
a jealous bear. He was here as an Enforcer, and as her bodyguard.
She was working. So was he.

Rebecca's smile was frozen on
her face, and she was blinking rapidly. Her black eyes darted across
the bar, taking in all the strange faces. Levi took a step forward,
and their eyes clashed. He saw her gasp and miss a step in her
routine. She stumbled but righted herself instantly. Gulping,
Rebecca continued dancing stiffly, but her eyes never left Levi.

Her lips moved, and he saw his
name form soundlessly on her lips. He nodded and smiled
encouragingly at her, even though his claws were still itching to
shred those leering males to bits.
Go on, Rebecca, you're doing
great.

Rebecca tried to smile back
but her movements were jerky and she seemed to lose focus and
coordination. It was clear she had forgotten her steps, and the
audience began to jeer.

“
What the hell, Raven!”

“
Just take it off,
sweetheart.”

“
Forget the dance. Just
strip!”

“
Yeah! Show us some
boobs, babe!”

Rebecca's eyes grew wide as
she backed towards the pole. The jeers and taunts seemed to terrify
her, and she clapped both hands to her ears to try to block them out.

Levi instinctively pushed to
the front of the stage. Rebecca was hiccuping violently, trying not
to sob aloud. She tottered precariously on her high heels, trying to
get away from the crowd, but not daring to climb down the stage. She
stared at the hostile crowd, like they were a pack of ravenous
wolves. Pressing a hand to her mouth, she staggered to the edge of
the stage and tried to rush down the steps. She missed a step and
lost her footing. With a shriek, she came crashing down.

In a flash, Levi was before
her, breaking her fall. He caught her safely in his arms and
murmured, “Easy there. You're safe. I got you, Rebecca.”

She jerked around to face him.
“Raven,” she hissed. That was her name at the club.
Raven, not Rebecca.

He smiled grimly. “Yes,
ma'am. Let's go, Miss Raven Rose. Let's get you home.”

But before he could muscle his
way through the raucous, rowdy crowd, screams erupted near the back
of the club.

A man staggered towards the
bar, clutching the side of his neck. Blood seeped through his
fingers and his mouth was opening and closing in wordless terror.

“
H-help...” he
managed to stutter just before collapsing face down on the floor.

Levi released Rebecca, and was
crouching at the man's side in an instant. “Everyone move
back!” he ordered the crowd. “We have a man down at Club
Mate,” Levi spoke rapidly into his watch. “We need an
ambulance and more Enforcers at Club Mate now!”

He eased the man's bloodied
fingers away from his neck and examined the puncture wounds. “It
look like it's a vampire attack. I repeat, there's been a vampire
attack at Club Mate. One down,” Levi barked into his watch.

The man's eyes were staring at
Levi, and he suddenly grabbed Levi's arm. “No, not one,”
he gurgled, his eyes wide and wild. “They took my brother!”

Levi supported the man's head
and leaned in close to listen to his words. “Sir, you're
saying...”

“
They took Oliver! I
managed to escape, but they grabbed Oliver, and they...vanished!
Just like that. I saw...mist, and then...nothing!” The man's
breathing was labored.

“
How many? How many
vamps were there?” Levi asked quickly, trying to get as much
information from him as possible.

“
Two. One male, one
female. The female bit me, and I fought her like crazy. I managed
to get away, but when I turned back, I saw the two vamps holding
Oliver down. I rushed towards them, and they became...mist! Just
like that. And then they were gone,” he whispered, shaking his
head frantically. “And they took Oliver with them!”

“
Sir, calm down,”
Levi tried to reassure him. “More Enforcers are on the way.
We will track down these rogue vamps and get your brother back.
Meanwhile, you need to get to the hospital. You've lost a lot of
blood. Can you tell me your name, sir?” Levi tried to calm
him down by getting him to answer simple, straightforward questions.

“
Oscar,” the man
wheezed. “Oscar Woods. Oliver is my twin.
Please...please...you've got to save him!”

Levi turned when he felt a
hand on his shoulder. Jeanette leaned in to speak to him in a low,
urgent tone, “Mia and Zymfer have arrived. They're the first
to respond. They're outside with Scott.”

The crowd parted as paramedics
rushed into the bar. Oscar Woods was carried out on a stretcher into
a waiting ambulance and sped off to the New Moon City hospital.

Jeanette was already
interviewing the customers at Club Mate, trying to find out if anyone
had witnessed the vampire attack.

But no one saw anything. Or
if they did, they weren't talking.

Jett had arrived with two
senior vampire Enforcers. The vampire Enforcers immediately went to
the back of the club where the attack had taken place to try to get a
sense of where the rogue vamps might have misted to.

Jett and Levi followed the
vamps to the back of the club, to a narrow passageway leading to the
backdoor. There was blood on the walls, and Levi could smell the
acrid scent of fear in the air.

He could scent the vampires,
and from their scent, he suspected that these two vampires were newly
turned. They had been human not too long ago. Levi's suspicion was
confirmed by the vampire Enforcers.

“
It took two of them to
mist just one weakened human,” Faye White informed Jett. Faye
was a petite vampire with snow white hair and ruby red eyes. “These
two are new vamps. They haven't quite mastered their ability to
mist. Yet they are out hunting on their own.” She cocked her
head and squinted at the blood spatters on the wall. “New
vampires are the most hungry and the most vicious.” She shook
her head. “They are needlessly violent and cruel, too eager to
try out their new abilities and fit in with the older vamps. I'm
afraid that Oliver Woods is as good as...”

Jett snarled. “Oliver
Woods is alive.”

Faye exchanged a look with
Evan Barnes, the other vamp Enforcer. “Don't get your hopes
up,” Faye muttered.

“
Oliver Woods is alive,
but those two rogue vamps are as good as dead,” Jett snapped.
“Can you track them?”

Evan and Faye nodded. “Yes,
they left traces. As Faye said, new vamps aren't very good at
misting,” Evan answered.

“
Track them down. Take
Scott and Mia with you,” Jett ordered.

“
Yes sir!”

Levi pushed through the mayhem
and located Scott and Mia at the entrance to Club Mate. When he
motioned them in, they left Jeanette and Zymfer at the entrance and
followed Levi to the back of the club. Jeanette and Zymfer had their
hands full keeping curious onlookers from jostling into the club and
creating more chaos and confusion.

“
Jett wants you to track
the two rogue vamps. Evan and Faye will mist you,” Levi told
them.

Once Jett saw Scott and Mia,
he nodded at the two vampire Enforcers. Faye and Evan immediately
shimmered into fine mist and wound themselves around Scott and Mia.
Scott managed to give them the thumbs up before he was completely
enveloped in a column of dense mist.

The mist rose and raced across
the crowd and out of the club. In a blink, Faye and Evan had misted
Scott and Mia away, across the city in pursuit of the rogue vamps.

Levi was about to crouch
beside Jett to examine the blood stains more closely when Jett turned
to snap at him, “What are you doing?”

“
I'm doing my job.”

“
Your job is to protect
Miss Rose,” Jett replied tersely. “Where is she?”

“
She...” Levi
spun round and inhaled sharply, trying to decipher her scent from the
press of blood, sweat and panic all around him. “She's not
here. She's gone.”

“
Then why are you still
here?” Jett asked with impatience and irritation.

“
I...” At the
corner of his eye, Levi saw more Enforcers arriving. Among them were
Bryn, the fast-talking, fast-rising young Enforcer, and Charlotte
Cole, the PAC Alpha's mate and a competent Enforcer in her own right.

Clearly, Jett had everything
under control here. And the Head Enforcer had made it clear that he
wasn't needed here.

Jett jerked his head towards
the backdoor.
Go
.

Levi nodded and exited Club
Mate quickly and quietly. He sniffed the air, isolating Rebecca's
scent immediately. Following her scent, he turned the corner and
sprinted down the street. She hadn't gone far. He could still catch
up with her.

He gave himself a big mental
kick. How could he have let her walk home alone?

A million things could happen
to her on her way home. There were rogue vamps about. Phin Lester
was still out there. There were muggers, rapists, kidnappers,
rogues, the city was teeming with criminals and filth!

Levi cursed himself. A crime
had been committed at Club Mate, and he had left Rebecca's side and
thrown himself headlong into the investigation. Old habits die hard.
He had been an Enforcer for more than a decade, but he had only
recently just found his mate. His top priority had always been his
job, his work, his duty. But now, he had to shift his priorities and
his perspective.

He still had to protect the
civilian population of New Moon City, but there was one civilian, one
human woman whose life was tied to his, whose heart and soul called
to him but whose mind couldn't remember him.

How could he have left her
side, left her in the midst of all that confusion and danger?

Levi ran faster, his anger
spiking. He was angry at the rogues, at that monster Phin Lester,
but most of all, at himself.

Finally, he saw her walking
briskly just up the street. “Rebecca!”

She froze, then whirled round.

When he caught up with her, he
saw that her eyes were wide and panicked. “W-why are you
following me?” she stammered.

Levi was dumbfounded for a
moment. “I'm your protector,” he blurted out at last.
“I mean...I'm your bodyguard. I have to watch you, all the
time.” Levi winced. That didn't sound right. In fact, from
the expression on her face, he was sure that it sounded downright
creepy to her.

I have to watch you, all
the time.
That was exactly what perverts and stalkers did.

Rebecca shook her head and
backed away.

“
Leave me alone.
Please...just leave me alone!”

She turned and ran, and Levi
gave chase. He caught her by the elbow, and she uttered a shriek and
wrenched her arm away.

“
Don't touch me!”

He let go immediately.
“I...I'm sorry...”

“
I don't need a
bodyguard,” she stuttered, wrapping her arms around herself.
“I don't need anybody. I just need to be alone. I'll be fine.
I think you're a nice guy, but I don't know you. And it frightens
me to have someone following me.” Her voice dropped to a
whisper. “I hear your footsteps, and I keep looking over my
shoulder. I...I know it's you, but...I see
him
.” She
swallowed painfully, and continued in a whisper, “Tonight's my
first night back at the club, and I blew it. I totally blew it.”
She swiped at her nose and straightened up.

“
I was doing okay,
until...” She sniffed hard and glared at him.
Until I saw
you.

She narrowed her eyes at him.
“I need this job. So please...stop following me. Please!”

She walked backwards, staring
at him to make sure he didn't follow her. Levi remained standing
where he was, watching her back angrily away from him. Her eyes were
full of hurt and humiliation.

When he still didn't move
after she had put about ten paces between them, she spun on her heel
and ran.

Rebecca wrapped her jacket
tighter around herself and resisted the urge to look back. She was
out of breath, but she kept walking as fast as she could, her heels
clicking angrily on the pavement. What a disaster. She had
forgotten her moves, let her nerves get the better of her and made a
damn fool of herself.

She wanted to scream.
Everything had gone wrong. Her body just didn't listen to her.
Instead, her limbs had become all wobbly and uncoordinated, her feet
tripping over each other. Even her mind had decided to shut down and
just forget all the dance steps. Even that big, beefcake Enforcer
who looked like such a gentleman didn't listen to her.