Alpha's Last Fight: A Paranormal Shapeshifter BBW Romance (22 page)

“What?”

“You’re pissed because I chose her over you. This is what this is all about.”

I regretted it before I even said it. It was one of those things I’d never be able to take back and whatever came next, I knew things would never be the same between me and Gina again.

Her slap hit me like a truck and sent me reeling. I didn’t feel like getting up. I just sat on the floor where I landed.

“If you think that’s what this is about, then you’re even dumber than I thought you were. She was good for you. How many times do I have to say this? What’s good for you is good for the pack. I was your friend, Hutch. And I liked being your friend, but I
love
this pack. This was never about you, and it was never about her. It’s about this pack. About our family.”

“What do you want, Gina?”

“I need to look at the books. I need to figure out where the money is going. Why we can’t make payments.”

“No.”

“I stood by you. I stood by you when you challenged Quinn. I stood by you when you hauled our asses halfway across the state chasing your stupid dream. I’ve been at your side when you’ve won, and I’ve been at your side when you’ve got your ass beat. I’ve been obedient. I’ve been loyal. I’ve been a friend when you needed a friend. A lover when you needed a lover, and yeah, even a pain in the ass when you needed a pain in the ass. I’ve stood by you for five years while every single person in this pack has given their all to make your dream a reality.”

Her eyes sparked with a furious passion as she spoke.

“And now that dream is falling apart and I need to know why. We all do. We’re on your side, Hutch. We’ll do anything for you. But you have to let us. I need to see the books. Maybe talk to the people we owe. Change the terms of the loan. Buy us a little time.”

It was a pretty speech. I felt for Gina, I really did, but I couldn’t help myself. I started laughing.

“What’s so fucking funny?”

“There is no loan, Gina.”

“What do you mean?”

“There’s no loan. There never was. There’s no loan. There’s no books. There’s no repayments.”

“I don’t understand.”

“There’s just a deal. I was just a kid and they promised me so much more than what we had and I made a deal. It was a really bad deal.”

“I don’t understand. This is our place. That was the dream. That’s what we’ve been working for all these years. Stop fucking around, Hutch.”

“What we’ve been working towards is surviving. The dream just helped make it easier to keep on going. We don’t own shit. They own everything, including us.”

I’ve broken a lot of hearts in my life. I’ve told a lot of lies and I’ve hurt a lot of people. But I don’t think I’ve ever hurt anyone as badly as Gina was hurting right now. I’d pulled the rug out from under her entire life.

“Let me tell you something, Hutch.”

“When have I ever been able to stop you from talking?”

It was meant to be a joke, but the look on her face was so serious that I shut up. When she spoke, her voice was distant and far away. Like she was a memory of someone else.

“I think I was about ten when my father first invited my uncle and his buddies over to take turns fucking me. I fought, even shifted, but there were a lot of them and they weren’t afraid to use their fists. The weird thing is, he didn’t do it for money and he never joined in. I never found out why he did it. I think he just wanted everyone to have fun. He was that kind of person. He just got a kick out of being the guy everyone liked.

“When everyone else was in high school, I was a prisoner in my own home. I don’t know what the end-game was. Probably would have killed me eventually if I hadn’t killed him first. To be honest, I don’t think he ever thought that far ahead.

“You know what the difference is between you and him?”

I didn’t dare even try to answer that one. I knew Gina had had a rough childhood. But she’d never talked about it before. I couldn’t meet her eyes. I looked around the trailer. I looked at the floor. Anywhere but her eyes.

“Hey! I’m talking to you, asshole. You know the difference between you and that piece of shit? He never lied to me and told me things were going to get better. At least with him I knew where I stood.”

I was stunned. Not just in response to Gina’s revelation, but the fact that she was comparing me to scum like that. I wanted to tell her I was sorry, but couldn’t. Sorry wouldn’t cut it. I just let her go and said nothing.

Alone again, I closed my eyes and leaned back against my bed.

At this rate, I wouldn’t last another week. The pack wouldn’t last another month. Something had to give. I stood up and started looking for my boots. This wasn’t me. I wasn’t the sort to wallow in self-pity. I was a leader. I was a fighter. Something had to give. And it sure as fuck wasn’t going to be me.

***

When he opened his front door and saw me standing on his porch, Walter Hopkins literally pissed himself. Not a complete loss of bladder control. Not something most people would have noticed. But I could smell it on him. Urine and fear. Behind that, something else. A hint of defiance. I sensed Mr. Hopkins was a man who would die protecting his family if it came to it. I respected that.

“I’m not here to hurt you, Walter… or them. I brought back your wallet.”

“I… uh… thanks.”

I pulled it back as he reached for it. “But first I need a favor. I need a name.”

He frowned and stepped out of the house, closing the door behind him.

“I can’t do that.”

I sighed and looked over his front lawn. It was covered with children’s toys. It needed mowing. But it had been a hot, wet summer. If he mowed it today, it would probably need mowing tomorrow as well. Better off just letting it grow.

I was tired and I ached all over and I didn’t want to hurt this man. But I needed a name.

“We got kids too, you know?”

“I’ve… yes, I’ve seen them.”

“We do it for them, just like you do it for yours. I don’t hold it against you, man. I get it. We do what we can, right?”

“Sure, I guess.”

“I’m hurting, Walter. I’m hurting and pretty soon we’ll be done. And if I’m done, they’re done too. I need a name.”

“Everything OK out here honey?” Mrs. Hopkins might have been pretty once. But she looked tired. Tired and all used up. A chubby little snot-nose girl clung to her leg.

“It’s OK. Take Jenny back inside, I’ll be there in a minute. Look,” he turned back to me, “I can’t give you a name. I don’t have a name. I have a number.”

“For the guy in charge?”

“Not even close. This thing is big. The guy in charge probably doesn’t know either of us exists. But it should put you in touch with someone who knows more than me. Maybe they can help you.”

It would have to do. I took the number and headed back to my bike.

“Mr. Hutch.”

“Just Hutch.”

“Never come to my house again, OK?”

I took a last look around. The overgrown lawn, the faded paint, a pale husk of a wife and a kid with too many toys and nowhere to put them. Yeah, not much chance of that. I made a mental vow to myself. If I ever end up living like this, put a bullet in me.

***

The number led to another number and that number got me a meeting. I wasn’t a fan of this kind cloak and dagger bullshit, but they insisted it be out of town. A tired old diner on the tired old road that cut through the forest behind the interstate. When I pulled up, there was a single car in the parking lot. A big silver sedan. European, a BMW. The sort of car you’d expect a diplomat to drive. Not the sort of thing you saw very often in a dying town like this.

The man who met me inside looked familiar. Average build, smartly dressed. I wasn’t too good with faces, but scents are something else.

Fear, hate, a hint of desperation, but something familiar.

“I know you.”

“We’ve met. Once.”

I glanced down. The cane.

“Holy shit. You were there with Nat. You know her?”

He smirked, “She was my date. Until you swooped in with your… your—”

“Look, I’m sorry man. You should have said something. I didn’t know you were… well you.”

His face darkened and I could see flecks of spittle on his lips as he spoke, “I shouldn’t need to say anything. She was there with me! She was mine!”

He punctuated each sentence by emphatically banging his metal tipped cane on the linoleum floor of the diner with enough force to make cutlery rattle in the booth next to us. On any other day, I’d welcome his anger. I do conflict better than I do negotiation. But I needed his help. And I could sense he needed something from me.

“Sure buddy, she was yours. But you left her there and all I did was give her a ride home.”

“That’s not what I’ve been hearing.”

I tried to fend him off with a
what-are-you-gonna-do
shrug, but he wasn’t interested. Instead he just waited for me to make the next move.

“Soooo, that Natalie, yeah. She’s something else.”

“You could say that. We’ve known each other a long time.”

“Yeah,” I sensed him relax slightly, he liked talking about her, “so you ever tap that?”

He looked torn. I wasn’t particularly good at getting inside people’s heads. It’s a skill I’d never really mastered. But this guy, Tommy, that was his name. But Tommy, he was like an open book. He wanted to impress me.

“I guess so. I was her first.”

Almost the truth. Almost, but not quite. There was something that wasn’t quite adding up. Her first. The cane. Nat’s hang-up about… oh… ohhhh.
Holy shit!

“Holy shit! She did that? She did that to you. You were her first and she did that to you. Oh… oh man that’s just.”

“Don’t you dare fucking laugh at me!”

“I’m not… man, I promise. That’s just… you got balls, man. You were her first? You do still have balls right? I mean she didn’t?”

“No she didn’t. What are you on about?”

“Wait there.”

I hopped the counter. I had no idea where the staff was. Apparently this place was self-service for the duration of our meeting. Fortunately they had a six-pack in the fridge. I bought back a bottle for each of us and popped the caps with my key ring.

I pushed one towards him and raised my own. “To you, Tommy. The man that tried to tame the virgin beast. Damn.”

He looked confused but there was a hint of pride beneath it all. He was enjoying the attention.

“Thanks, I guess, but you’re going to have to explain what this is all—”

“Look, bitches… uh lady werewolves, shifter girls, whatever you want to call them. The first time can be pretty traumatic. Especially if they’re living away from a pack and not prepared for it. I’ve met Nat’s dad. He’s like you. I guess her Mom was a wolf.”

“Yeah, I mean there were always rumors. She got in some trouble and had to leave town in a hurry. I think she ended up in jail or something, Nat didn’t talk much about her.”

“So right, she’s got no one. She’s not prepared for this. So you get her alone in your room?”

“Hotel, prom night.”

“Sweet. Right, the prom. Classic. You get her alone and you got her hand up her dress and… wait. Did she have those big…” I mimed Nat’s sizable rack, “y’know… back in high school?”

Tommy grinned, “Yeah. Yeah, she did.”

I raised my beer and we touched bottles. Whatever our differences, and wherever this ended up. We shared the same taste in women. I could see it in his eyes when we talked about her. For now this made us brothers, not rivals. And that’s how I wanted it.

“Nice. And she’s obviously really into you. She’s digging you and it’s getting hot up in there.”

“Something like that.”

Hesitation and some discomfort as he leaned a little more heavily on his cane. That wasn’t how it went down? Something he wasn’t telling me.

“OK, well she’s had no training. If she has shifted, it hasn’t been often, and it’s scared the hell out of her. So she starts getting excited, agitated and that beast is there inside her. It is her. She gets excited. It gets excited. Except she has no idea how to control it and boom!” I bring my beer down on the counter hard enough to make him jump. “There’s no way you’re going to be able to handle that. You still got your balls? Count yourself lucky?”

He considered this for a minute as he picked at the label on his bottle. He was wary of me. That this camaraderie was some kind of trap.

“But you could have handled her right? An animal for an animal. I just wasn’t up to the job?”

I turned and tugged down the back of my jeans, giving him a good look at the jagged scars that ran from the small of my back down to my thigh.

“Jesus…”

“Yeah. I would have died if they hadn’t come to pull her off me. I was in so much pain, I couldn’t think, couldn’t fight back. They couldn’t take me to the hospital; they took me to a friendly vet. Friendly, but real shitty at needlework. I had to spend a week lying on my stomach. If I sneezed, the stitches would pop and I’d be bleeding again.”

“Jesus… who was she?”

“Skinny little thing. Met her at the mall. She’d grown up all religious and civilized and was into the whole bad boy thing. Definitely not worth this. Now Nat on the other hand...”

We’d both finished our beers and it seemed to be a good moment to go grab another. When I returned, Tommy had slipped into a booth.
OK. Time for business.

***

“You’re trying to kill us. You’re bleeding us dry. Why?”

“It’s not me. I don’t own your… establishment. I’ve just been managing it for the last year or so for the people that do. To show them I’m loyal. They’ve made me promises. They’ve got plans. It’s time to act on those plans and we need to distance ourselves from certain activities and shut down certain revenue streams.”

“The fights?”

“The fights. You were an amazing investment, but now it’s almost time to part ways and before we do…”

He left it hanging to see if I could figure it out for myself. “Before you do, you want to wring as much money out of us as possible? Christ. Fucking ghouls. You’re killing us. We’re people.”