His Perfect Wolf (Mystic Wolves Book 2) (11 page)

At close to one in the
morning the streets were still packed with people. It was easy to get lost in
the crowd as she walked down the road, letting the humid air fill her lungs.
Her boots, which looked great, were definitely not made for wal
king long distance. She noticed a tattoo shop across the
busy street. Several artists were busy with clients, from what she could tell.
An overwhelming urge had her crossing the road without looking either way. She
heard horns blaring, but couldn’t seem to
make her
feet stop moving.
The goddess of
the moon symbol on the window calling to her.

“
You looking
to get a tattoo?”

Alaina jumped at the
deep voice next to her. She looked up at the man with long blond dread locks.
He wasn’t much taller than her, with
tattoos covering
both arms and every other available inch of skin she could see. “I think so.”

He shook his head.
“No. When you know you want one you come see me. Don’t think so, know so. Ink
is permanent, not a temporary thing. My name’s Chris, and this i
s my shop, here’s my card. When you’re ready, give me a
call. I’ll be gentle.”

She looked down at his
card with the flying pig on the front as his logo and back up at him. “Thank
you, Chris. I definitely want one. I’m just not sure what I want, yet.
Flying
Pig?”

Chris laughed. “When
pigs fly was something I was told one too many times when I was growing up. I
thought it was fitting.” He indicated his shop. “You all alone,
chica
?” he asked.

For some reason Alaina
didn’t sense any reason to fear Chris. He was
definitely a good guy.
“Sort of.
I caught my…friend with another woman.
Not, like with her, but… it sounds stupid now, but at the time it didn’t look
stupid. You know what I mean?”

Nodding, Chris led her
into his shop. “The green-eyed monster popped up an
d
bit you is what you’re saying.”

One of the tattoo
artists raised her head. “That bitch. She pops up every now and then just to
torment me. I cunt punch her and she leaves me alone.”

“Damn, Angela, you are
one mean bitch.” Chris looked over the art Angela
was
putting on the back of her client.

Angela held up her
tattoo gun. “You got that right, Chris. Girl, you let me know who I need to
hurt and I will.”

Alaina laughed. The
woman named Angela couldn’t weigh more than a hundred and twenty pounds soaking
wet
, but she looked like she meant business with her
tattoo gun in hand. The guy lying on the table turned his head toward Angela
and whispered something too low for Alaina to hear, but it made Angela blush,
and then the woman bent back over and started worki
ng
on him again.

“You want to look
through some books of tattoos?” Chris indicated the stack of albums. “My old
lady is in the office and we can give you a ride home when we close or you can
crash at our place if you need somewhere to stay.” The sound of a
ll the needles stopping at once was almost deafening.

“Oh, that’s really
generous of you.” Alaina began, but stopped when a gorgeous redhead walked out
of the backroom looking like she was about ready to pop out a baby any minute.

“Did I just hear you
offe
r to take in another stray, my love?” The redhead
walked up and tugged on one of Chris’s dreadlocks.

The only sound in the
shop was the song
Savages
by Theory of a
Deadman
and Alice Cooper.

“Hi, my name is
Shelley, Chris’s wife.” She rested her hand on her
stomach.

Alaina smiled at the
fiery redhead.
“Nice to meet you,
Shelley.
My name’s
Alaina,
and I swear I am not poaching. I was in
a daze and your hubby offered advice, and a lift. I think I overreacted when I
saw my…fling…with his arm around another woma
n. Maybe
I had one too many Long Island Iced Teas.”

“Girl, those things
kick my ass. How many did you have?” Angela asked looking up again.

“Maybe
four or five.
I can’t remember.”

Chris looked down at
his heavily pregnant wife. “Either they were very weak
or you are an alcoholic,” Chris announced.

“What? How do you come
to that conclusion?” Alaina asked.

Shelley smiled.
“Because, after two of them, I’m on top of the bar dancing. On the fourth, I’m
on the floor snoozing.”

“Where’d you come
from? Shelley and
I’ll walk you back. You can clear
up the misunderstanding with your old man.” Chris grabbed his leather coat from
behind the high counter where a state of the art computer sat.

“Chaps down the
street.”

“Do you think your guy
went to another bar looking for
you?” Shelley asked.

“I doubt it. He and
his brother own the club. I’m sure he hasn’t even noticed I’m gone.”

Again the silence,
except for the sound of the music playing in the background was a little
disconcerting.

“You’re with Niall.
Niall Malik?”
Chris asked, his eyes going wide.

Alaina nodded, unsure
if that was a good thing or bad by the way everyone in the shop was acting.

“Holy
fuck, woman.
You left his club without telling him?”

Alaina turned to see
one of the artists at the back who’d been
working on
a woman stand up. Alaina realized he smelled like wolf, he had the same woodsy
scent as the rest of Niall and his pack, meaning he was friend instead of foe.

“Jory, watch your
tone, boy,” Chris chastised the young man.

“Sorry, Chris, I’m
finishe
d with this tattoo. I’ll walk her back to
Chaps and make sure my cousin knows she’s okay.”

Cousin was a loose
term shifters used to humans when referring to pack members.

“Shelly and I’ll walk
with you if it’s all the same. We need to stretch our legs. Rig
ht, Shell?”

“Oh, most definitely,”
Shelley agreed.

The young wolf cleaned
up the woman he’d been working on, gave her instructions on how to take care of
her tattoo, and then rang her up on the register. Within moments they all
walked out the front door. A
ngela offered to come
along and put the hurt on anyone, but Alaina turned her offer down. If she was
going to be in town for any length of time, she knew she and Angela would’ve
been good friends. Now, she had to head back to Chaps and hope her absence wen
t unnoticed.

She and Shelley walked
out first with Jory and Chris a few steps behind them. Alaina laughed at a
story Shelley told her about Chris, and his obsession with tattooing a goat
with six breasts on a client. “He’s never going to find anyone drunk
enough to let him tattoo that on their body,” Alaina
giggled.

“Girl, I have tried
telling him that. But does he listen?” Shelley shook her head.

“How far along are
you?” Alaina asked, looking at the obviously very large belly.

Shelley gasped. “What
are you
talking about? I’m not
preggo
.”

Alaina sucked in a
breath.

“Oh, God, I’m kidding.
You should see your face. I’m seven months along.” Shelley was laughing so hard
she had tears in her eyes.

“That was so mean.
Funny, but mean.”
Alaina bumped her hip.

They b
oth stopped in their tracks when three men walked out of
one of the bars.

The largest one
blocked her path. “I knew I smelled trash in that first club we stopped at.
Didn’t I tell you boys I smelled used goods?”

Alaina pushed Shelley
behind her. “Excuse us
.” She tried to walk around the
three men.

“You don’t know who I
am? Do you, Alaina?” Rickard asked.

Shaking her head,
Alaina looked over her shoulder to see where Chris and Jory were. Chris had
caught up with them, but Jory was nowhere to be seen. A sligh
t shake of his head let Alaina know Jory had gone for help.

“If you go with us
quietly, we’ll let your friends here live. Make a scene and we’ll kill the
freak and gut his whore while you watch she and the child bleed out, and then
we’ll still take you. Th
e choice is yours.”

“Why are you doing
this? Who are you?” Alaina asked.

The leader grabbed her
by the throat and brought her up to his level. “You wish to play stupid as well
as be a whore?”

Alaina grappled with
the hand around her throat. She had no idea
who he
was or what he was talking about. Whatever reason she had been running must’ve
had something to do with the man standing in front of her.

She couldn’t get air
into her lungs, saw stars flashing in the distance and wished she hadn’t left
Niall becau
se of her jealousy. Wished he was there to
save her again. Goddess, she wished she had done so many things, but most of
all she really just wanted the man to stop.

Heat traveled up from
her toes to her stomach. She could feel it racing through her system l
ike a golden beacon, soothing her throat.

“What the fuck.” The
man holding her dropped her like a hot stone.

Gasping, Alaina turned
to Chris and Shelley. “Go, run.” She raised her hand. A golden orb enclosed the
couple and propelled them backward. The last
of her
strength was sapped from her, but she couldn’t have lived if something had
happened to Chris, Shelley and their beautiful unborn little girl.

“That was stupid, but
Roger said you weren’t very bright. By the way,
mate
, my name is Rickard.”

Alaina
looked up when she heard her stepfather’s name. The man
looking down at her with such hate knew her stepdad. Memories flooded her of
the last time she’d seen her mother. Finding out the man she’d thought was her
father but wasn’t, actually was a blessing.
It had
explained so much while she’d been growing up. When he’d walked in and informed
her that he’d planned to give her to another in his pack. Not because he
worried for her safety, but because he’d always doubted she was his. She’d run.
Now looking at R
ickard she would rather die than
become his mate. Her time with Niall showed her that being with a man, or wolf,
could be beautiful. If that man or wolf, would actually love her, she didn’t
think she’d ever leave his side. However, she didn’t think Rickard
had the ability to feel anything except hate and the need
to hurt others.

“I’m not your mate,
Rickard. Roger is not my dad and he has no authority over me.” It hurt to say
the words from the damage to her throat.

“Hmmm, have you no
love for your mother. A
lthough she’s a little older
than I usually go for, I think your dad promised us all a go at her if you
didn’t comply. Ain’t that right, boys?” Rickard squatted down to eye level.
“So, what’s it going to be,
mate
? You coming with us, or are we going
back t
o take out our frustration on your poor old
mama?”

“You’re a sick
bastard,” Alaina spat.

Rickard backhanded
her, making Alaina fall backward, her arm flying out to stop her head from
hitting the sidewalk. She couldn’t prevent the scream of pain from the ag
ony of being hit by him. Panting, she saw a pool of blood
from her mouth forming on the concrete. Damn, she wasn’t sure she could handle
too many more of his punches, and wondered if people passing by would stop to
help and end up getting hurt.

Alaina
tried to get up, knowing it was the only thing she could do
or her mom would suffer much worse.