Dwyer, Dixie Lynn - SWAT Team Two and Miss Robin Hood [The Men of Five-0 #2] (Siren Publishing LoveXtreme Forever) (9 page)

“Chu, get real, will ya. Don’t you think about getting old and settling down somewhere with a house, kids, and a normal life?”

“You’re fucking twenty-two years old, Melissa. You shouldn’t be worried about getting old. You should be planning your next love-fest or sex partner and living it up.”

She chuckled at his carefree description.

“I’ve got kids to take care of and bills to pay.”

His smile disappeared, and he covered her hand again, giving her a sympathetic smile.

* * * *

“Chu, bring the ladies outside for us. Get them some drinks,” Bret stated, calling to Chu.

“Melissa, can I get another drink?” Chico asked as he leaned against the bar. He watched her make the martini, and she wondered if he thought she would poison him. He wasn’t worth going to jail for. Bret was a different story.

Speak of the shithead, he walked behind her and placed his hands on her hips.

“She makes a mean martini, doesn’t she, Chico?” Bret asked as Chico sipped from the glass. He never took his eyes off of her.

Again, Bret sniffed her neck and pressed his body against her back.

“Who have you been hanging out with tonight, Mel?” he asked, and she knew that tone. He wanted names, and he wouldn’t ask twice.

“No one in particular.”

His arm came around her waist, and he pulled her off balance to the side. She had to hold on to his arm or she would fall.

He raised his eyebrows.

She wondered if he could smell men’s cologne on her. Were the brothers wearing cologne?

“Dating anyone, Melissa?” Chico asked.

She shook her head.

“The place is filled with cops tonight. She brushed up against some—”

“We have business to discuss. Mel’s my business, not yours. Let’s get this over with, so I can be done with you,” Bret stated, and Melissa wondered what the hell was happening. Bret cut Chico off, and now he acted like he hated the man.

Carlos joined them, and they began to talk about some drugs being delivered to a safe house in Queens and about some deliveries to parties this weekend. One house in New Jersey had its own cocaine and methamphetamine manufacturing lab in the basement.

They talked about a couple of guys who could deliver some drugs to a guy named Vito on the east side of Brooklyn and about money for some hit needing to be picked up tomorrow night. When they said one hundred and fifty grand, her heart nearly pounded from her chest.

They were so confident that they didn’t need a bunch of trained people on these deliveries. They figured they weren’t being watched and that no one would suspect anything. Especially if they sent in some skull heads to do the job. When Carlos mentioned Lester Crowe, she nearly laughed out loud. That crackhead didn’t know his left from his right. But she had to remind herself that she wasn’t going to do another hit. She had plenty of money. Her aunt and the kids were fine, and she could slowly wean herself out of this life and into a better, more legit lifestyle.

* * * *

By three o’clock in the morning, Chu, Carlos, and Chico were leaving, giving her kisses good-bye. Carlos slipped a tight roll of hundred-dollar bills the size of a thick cigarette into her cleavage. He gave one breast a little squeeze then nibbled her neck. When she looked at him as Chico gently nudged him forward, she noticed his eyes looked as if they were glowing. She blinked a couple of times, and Chu said something drawing their attention toward him.

Chico slid an arm around her waist and whispered in her ear.

“Be careful, sweetheart, and watch out for wolves.” He gave her ass a tap then pulled her hand to his lips and kissed the top of it. Then he placed a brass bill clip filled with bills into her hand. The top bill was a fifty, but she was certain the others were larger.

She swallowed hard, said thank you, and began to clean up the bar. As she walked around the room cleaning up their mess, she placed the glasses in the sink to clean behind the bar then went back around the room, fluffing pillows and dusting off the tables.

She heard someone come back in, but she thought it was Charlie.

“I’m almost finished. What a long night,” she stated then felt an arm go around her waist and Bret’s chin on her shoulder. He was an inch shy of six feet tall, but he towered over her five-foot-five-inch frame. She tensed immediately and prayed he wasn’t drunk.

“Let go of me, Bret. The party’s over.”

She attempted to wiggle out of his embrace.

“I think the party’s just begun, Mel. And besides, I won the bet.”

“What bet? What the hell are you talking about?” she demanded to know as she twisted out of his embrace.

“One of us was going to take you home tonight and fuck you. I won.”

“You’re out of your mind, Bret. Just get your shit and go.”

She attempted to walk past him, but he grabbed her wrist and pulled her back against him. The pain radiated up her arm, causing her to lower nearly to her knees.

“I didn’t know you were into wolves, Mel. We’re gonna have a fucking incredible time tonight.”

“Wolves? What the hell are you saying? I think you’re drunk.”

He twisted harder, and she felt the skin pinch. She would surely have a bruise.

“Don’t play games with me. I can smell the Valdamar wolves all over your neck. Their saliva is on your skin.”

“Who are the Valdamar wolves, and what in god’s name do you mean that their saliva is on my neck—”

The smack came out of nowhere, knocking against her jaw and neck. She fell to the floor, holding her face where he hit her.

Frantically, she scooted on her hands backwards as he moved closer. That’s when she saw his eyes glowing. He was some kind of freak.

“Get away from me!” she screamed in fear for her life. What was he?

“You take me for a fool, Mel. You know that my kind exists, and you sit here flaunting an enemy’s scent in my face? In front of clients of mine? I should rip your fucking jugular out.”

He reached down and pulled her up and against him. He kissed her brutally hard, shoving his tongue into her mouth, causing her to gag. She pounded her fists against his chest, not even hearing the door swing open and both Charlie and Spike coming to her rescue.

They pulled Bret off of her, and Spike pulled him up. Bret’s eyes glowed, and his teeth looked larger, as if he were some kind of animal. Melissa held on to Charlie.

“Calm the fuck down, Bret. Get out of here now!” Charlie yelled.

“I’m not done with her,” Bret stated as Spike took him out of the room.

Charlie tried to calm her down.

“Oh my god, Charlie, he’s not human. He’s crazy, and his eyes…his eyes.” Charlie pulled her into his arms and held her against his chest.

“It’s going to be okay, Mel.”

“How can you be so calm? He nearly killed me.”

“We got to you in time. Just try to stay clear of him, Mel.”

“You don’t have to tell me twice. Besides, you’re the one who booked me for this party,” she stated sarcastically. Her heart rate was beginning to calm as Charlie released his hold on her.

“There are people out there who have the ability to change, Mel. There are some good, and there are some bad.”

“Change? What do you mean change their eyes when they’re angry?”

“Wolves. Now it’s too much to get into right now. You’re safe, and Bret’s out of here.”

Melissa looked around the room. “What about this mess? What if he comes after me again?”

“I’ll take care of it. Why don’t you head home, and we’ll talk about this tomorrow.”

Chapter 6

“What the fuck kind of party goes on until three o’clock in the fucking morning?” Jake asked as they stared at the clock in the SUV that they parked next to Melissa’s car.

By four o’clock they were ready to storm the place when suddenly Melissa emerged with both Spike and Charlie walking her to her car.

Immediately upon seeing them exit the SUV, Melissa cuddled closer to Charlie.

Jake had a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach.

“What’s going on?”

“Yeah, what happened?” Frankie asked, moving next to Melissa, filled with just as much concern as his brothers.

“We had a little situation. It’s under control,” Charlie stated.

“What the fuck kind of situation? She looks scared out of her mind,” Logan asked as he looked Melissa over, noticing her ripped shirt. Immediately his eyes glowed, and Melissa cried out, “You, too!” and then turned against Charlie’s chest.

Charlie explained what had gone down.

“That piece of shit is a dead man,” Sunny added.

“I just want to go home. Please just leave me alone and let me go home,” Melissa cried.

“Give me her keys,” Logan demanded, and Charlie handed them over.

“I’ll drive her,” he told Charlie then began to help her to the car.

She stood still and stared at him as if he could hurt her.

“I swear I won’t hurt you. My brothers and I would never cause you harm.”

She looked to Charlie for reassurance, and he pulled her into another embrace.

“You will be safest with the Valdamar brothers.”

“Valdamar?”

Sunny walked her to the passenger side and helped her get into the car. Then he walked over to the SUV along with his brothers and prepared to follow them home.

* * * *

“Why would Bret go after her?” Frankie asked as they followed Logan.

“He smelled us on her and assumed we were intimate,” Vince suggested.

“Could be, or he has a thing for her and knew we were interested as well,” Jake added.

“We can’t let him near her. He’s such a fucking slimeball,” Frankie replied.

“Charlie may be right and Bret was just jealous. He said that Bret and Melissa went out a couple of times,” Jake stated.

“I don’t even want to think that he fucked her,” Frankie replied.

“She’s ours now, so it doesn’t matter who she was with. We have to make her understand about our culture and why we’re here to help the humans,” Sunny added very seriously.

“Maybe Logan will make some progress with her during the car ride,” Jake stated.

* * * *

Melissa felt as if she was having some sort of weird out-of-body experience. She had seen strange things. Perhaps this was some crazy nightmare she would wake up from soon. Then she thought about the entire night. The Valdamar brothers showed up out of nowhere and made her feel horny and ready to jump into an orgy with them. She stripped on stage to help out Lilly, and now she’s some celebrity with the men at the club. Then Bret reserves the private room and requests her for this whole meeting with Carlos and Chico, and it turns out he’s a wolf as well as a man. Their eyes had changed color when they spoke to her and when Carlos handed her the money. Come to think of it, so did Chu’s, and he was the one warning her about men being animals and things not being as they may appear. Did she just enter the Twilight Zone?

As the information processed in her head, she looked at Logan. The man was the perfect specimen of male, and he also looked aggressive. Not like he could shift into some kind of four-legged beast, but intimidating in a way she wasn’t used to seeing.

“What are you?” she whispered as she turned her body toward him and pressed her back against the door.

“I’m not going to lie to you, Melissa.”

She snorted in disbelief, and he actually gave her an annoyed expression. Her gut told her this guy was important and no one ever questioned him. Tough shit! She was asking every fucking question she wanted, and he was going to give her a straight answer.

“We’re shifters.”

“And that means what?”

“It means that we can shift into wolves whenever we need to.”

“How does it work?”

“It’s something we were born into. A family gene passed down from generation to generation. Wolf packs are not uncommon. It’s just that we all keep our abilities hidden from humans.”

“Because we’d want to destroy you?” she asked, even though it was meant as a statement.

“You couldn’t if you tried,” he replied confidently, and again she got the chills from the fierceness and truth of his tone.

She couldn’t help but think about Bret and the way his eyes changed and how he grabbed her. She must have flinched when she closed her eyes because suddenly she felt Logan’s hand take her hand and gently pull her closer to him.

She was scared, but her instincts told her she didn’t have to be with Logan.

“Did he hurt you?” he asked. His voice sounded weird.

She nodded but kept her distance as she looked at her wrist.

Logan released her hand and softly lifted her jacket sleeve up to see her other wrist.

“Does it hurt?”

“I’ll be fine,” she whispered, but the tears rolled down her cheek, and she couldn’t wipe them away fast enough.

Thank God they arrived at her apartment complex.