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Yeah, I’d lied to the sexy vampire. I hadn’t ever spent a shift alone. It was too late to head up to Wolfe Point, and I didn’t want him hanging around my apartment, as I still wasn’t comfortable around him when I was the wolf-girl. I didn’t like to lie, but I hoped he would trust me to be alone. This would be the first full moon on my own—hence the whole mix-up as to when the damn thing would be at its highest. I had that shit set in my phone, but to be honest, I mostly relied on Aden to keep me straight on it. It was clear I needed to stop doing that. Knowing when the first day of the full moon would be was not rocket science, but the Internet was at my disposal and I had no excuse for not using it.
Today was day two, and I knew I’d be fighting the fever and turning hairy here within a matter of minutes. After our sexy tryst in the water, we’d gone back to the tent to put our clothes back on. Kellan decided we needed to torch it, but I was hesitant. I couldn’t imagine starting a forest fire; having it be my fault that any part of the park’s beauty or the wildlife had been destroyed. Plus, I knew a couple packs used this area for their shifts. I had convinced Kellan to just remove any evidence we’d been there. We then took down the foil and blankets from the windows, and after wiping every surface of any fingerprints, we put their clothes and ashes inside. Kellan found the gun Alexander had dropped and wiped it clean of prints. He skillfully chucked it into Sprague Lake before we headed back to the city so I could transform in peace—whatever that meant.
As I sat in front my laptop, searching Linden’s name, my mind drifted back to earlier. Kellan and I hadn’t talked about sleeping together, but really—had we needed to? Not really. We’d had a wicked sexy chemistry between us since the day we met, so us finally hooking up had been sort of inevitable. Did I regret it? No. There was something deliciously devious about the vampire, which contrasted his calm and sweet, that made me unable to resist him.
It seemed that he was completely into me, too. We were such an odd mixture, though. Weren’t vampires and werewolves supposed to be mortal enemies? Ever since I found out what I was, I had been told that vampires were not to be trusted. That they hated wolves and would kill us without thought. That we should avoid them. That they were mentally unstable and slightly insane from living such long lives. But the ones I’d met and befriended did not seem that way at all. Maybe it was because of what I had become after Alexander’s bite that I perhaps tolerated and even found companionship with vampires. Whatever the reason, I refused to put one species into a box and be close-minded about it.
There was one vampire, however, I hated with everything inside me. Truth was, the fact that he was a vampire didn’t really have anything to do with the hate. Had he been wolf, witch, elf, or even human, I would still seethe over and loathe him for what he’d done to my brother. I looked down at my Dagestan dagger, which lay on the table next to me. The overhead light reflected off of it, and I ran a finger over my brother’s name engraved there.
That brought my thoughts back to Kellan. The vision I’d had of him meeting with Linden was forever burned into my brain. I couldn’t shake the feeling that he could lead me to him. That being said, I had to be very careful in the way I broached the subject. In fact, I knew I probably wouldn’t be able to talk to him about it at all. I would have to find a way to get him to take me to Linden by making him think it was his idea.
I got up from the table and closed the laptop. I carefully put it into its case and slid it into my cabinet where I kept my cups. I knew how angry I could get while the wolf-woman, and I didn’t want to accidentally destroy it in a rage. I quietly walked toward the bank of windows that made up the western wall of my sixth-floor apartment and looked out at the city.
I thought back on the events of earlier and a small smile found my lips as I remembered the crunching sound of Alexander’s head as I’d removed it from his body. With a small shudder, I closed my eyes and saw the look of terror on his face as he realized his second life was about to end. I’d had no mercy for him, though. I had been so very done. I opened my eyes and looked out at the glittering lights of Downtown Denver, the Rocky Mountains silhouetted behind them. I was glad I’d ridded the world of one more menace. It was unfortunate his son had had to pay the price of having vampire parents, and the look of terror on his lifeless face before I’d buried him would haunt my dreams and nightmares for the rest of my days.
The shrill ring of my cell phone caused me to jump in the silence of my apartment. I walked to my dining room table and saw my brother’s face on the screen.
“What’s up?”
“What the hell are you, Ayla?” came Aden’s frantic voice.
I rolled my eyes at his irrational wolf ire, and replied, “At my apartment.”
“What?” he practically screeched, and I pulled the phone from my ear. And then I decided to just put him on speakerphone.
“Calm down, brother dearest. I’m fine.”
“Were you fine last night? Where did you spend your shift?” he asked, expelling a deep breath. It was what he did when he was trying to calm himself.
I remember seeing a dozen missed calls from him last night, but hadn’t bothered calling him back because I knew I would get the third degree for forgetting. Just like I was getting now. I closed my eyes and steeled myself for a tongue-lashing from him. “I was at the Rocky Mountain National Park.”
I heard him gasp. “What? Who did you shift with? The Rophen pack? I’m really confused right now, Ayla.”
I furrowed my brow, and tried to decipher what he was talking about. I made my way to my dresser and began rummaging through it for a pair of too-big shorts. “Who?”
“Ayla, the Rophen pack is dangerous. You need to stay out of that area.”
I huffed, which caused a rouge piece of hair that had escaped my ponytail to fly up. “Aden, I was with Kellan. We were tracking down Alexander.”
“What the fuck! Get your ass to Wolfe Point now. We need to talk about this.”
I noticed my hands were starting to tremble, and I shook my head. “Brother, I’m already burning up with fever. There’s no way I have time.” I started to pant and tried to remain calm. “Besides, you know I can’t be around him right now.”
“I hate that you two broke up, just for the record,” Aden scolded.
That pissed me off, but I didn’t have the energy for a retort, so I continued my original line of thought. “Aden, I told you last week I was going to brave out this shift by myself. I’m tired of the way you, Ryder, and especially that ass Sam look at me when I turn into a freak. I can control myself here. There’s nobody to kill here. Maybe I’ll destroy a knick-knack or two, but I think it’s best if I ride it out alone. I’ll be okay.”
“Goddammit, Ayla. I am going to worry the whole time I’m here.”
“I’ll call Evan and Karina if I can’t handle it, okay?”
I heard him exhale in what I hoped was relief. “Okay. Promise?”
I exhaled as the fever was hitting me. I slid out of my short and panties. “I promise. Now, I’d better go. I need to get ready for the shift.”
“Wait. Did you find Alexander the Asshole?” he asked.
I grinned, set the phone down on my dresser, and pulled my shirt off over my head. “Yes, and he’s soooo dead.”
“Oh, shit. I need to hear about this. You sure he’s dead?”
I removed my bra and put on Ryder’s XL Colorado U tee. “Yes, because I removed his head myself. And you will hear all about it, big brother. I have lots of tell you. Tacos on Tuesday?”
“It’s a date.”
“Love you, Aid.”
“You too, sis.”
I hit the red button on my phone and stalked to my sofa. I popped the TV on with the remote a split second before the fever took over. I dropped to my knees and tucked my head into my chest so I could try to control my screams and growls as I transformed.
The first sensation I felt was discomfort—on the side of my head. Blinking open my eyes slowly, I was assaulted with annoyingly bright sunlight streaming in through the massive windows.
“Ohhh...” I moaned.
I pulled my head up off the floor and saw that I had fallen asleep, apparently using the remote control as a pillow. I tossed the hard, plastic device onto the sofa, and sat up. I could feel the bumps and ridges of the remote’s buttons embedded into the side of my cheek and temple.
“Really, St. John? The couch is like five inches away,” I groaned to myself as I stood and rubbed my face and head. I stalked toward the kitchen for some coffee. A glance at the microwave clock showed it was 2:58 p.m. I took a step toward the coffeepot when a searing pain in my foot stopped me dead.
“Owww!” I cried, looking down to find a gigantic mess all over the floor. “What in the...”
Broken and shattered plates, glasses, and even some shiny silver forks and spoons—which were now grossly misshapen and resembled something from a horror movie—were strewn all over the kitchen floor.
A pounding on my front door had my head whipping up. I glanced down at my foot to see it was bleeding, but not gushing. I grabbed a dishtowel, wiped the blood away, and hobbled to the door. A glance through the peephole showed the building’s security guard, Tim. I could probably guess what this was about.
I disengaged the locks and slogged open the door. “What’s up, Timbo?”
He quirked an eyebrow at the nickname and put on his most professional face. Before smoothing down his black uniform shirt, he said, “Is everything all right here, Miss St. John? We received three noise ordinance complaints last night, all coming from your unit. We stopped by, but nobody answered the door.”
Thank God for that.
I waved a dismissive hand and tried to act aloof. “It was nothing. My brother and I got a little wild playing some Halo.”
He furrowed his brow and ran a hand along the top of his very bald, shiny head. He tried to look around me, but I had the door open only wide enough for my body. “Uh, okay, but please keep in mind that this is the second complaint we’ve received in as many months.”
Remembering the wicked fight between Kellan and Ryder, I suppressed a cringe and put on a flirty grin. With a wink, I said, “Duly noted. Have a good day, Timbo!”
I closed the door before he could respond, because I could feel the pain in my foot had not subsided and, in fact, was getting worse. I figured there was something lodged in there, and I needed to get it out before the skin healed over and I was faced with doing surgery on myself.
I hobbled over to the dining room table and sat in a chair. I lifted my right foot onto my left knee. With my excellent eyesight, I could see a small shard of beige ceramic lodged into my heel. I cursed under my breath and vowed to replace everything with plastic dinnerware like I was five years old again.
My fancy nails were pretty, but no help in getting it out, as they were too thick. I groaned, realizing I’d have to gimp to my tiny bathroom and dig through a disastrous drawer full of makeup and medicines to find my tweezers.
I have got to get more organized...
Once I reached the bathroom, I was thankful the tweezers were in my makeup bag. I sat on the toilet, removed the offensive plate shard, and tossed it into the trash. I felt instant relief as my skin began to knit back together and heal. I tossed the tweezers onto the countertop and walked gingerly back out into the apartment. This flat was just one big studio, with the tiny kitchen near the front door and my Murphy bed set into the far wall on the other side. My little dresser and vanity with a chair were set against the wall adjacent to the bed.
I let out a breath when I surveyed the damage to my kitchen. Along with the shards of sharp and dangerous kitchenware on the floor, the whole area was covered with food wrappers and various colored liquids. The microwave door was open, as was the oven door, and most of the cabinet doors were wide open. I saw scratch marks on the inside of each cabinet door that hadn’t been there before, and I shuddered. I breathed a sigh of relief that my laptop was still in its place. I stood there and tried hard to remember what had caused such a rage. Closing my eyes, I took a deep, cleansing breath and willed myself to recall the events from the night before.
Once the pain in my foot had gone, I was able to concentrate, and then bits and pieces of the night began to come back to me.
Hungry... so hungry. Me, rummaging through cabinets and everything else for food.
I popped my eyes open. Well, that explained the food, juice, soda, and water that was on the floor and countertops.
Memories of my anger and rage came back to me in flashes as I pictured in my mind’s eye myself getting angry at God and the world, and breaking plates, saucers, and cups.
I shook my head at my foolishness. Why did I think I could survive a full moon on my own? Kellan and Aden had been right, and I was just a silly little wolf.
With a heavy sigh, I reached behind the door and grabbed the broom and dustpan. I was fairly sure I’d be cleaning up this mess until the sun went down.