Leader of the Pack

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This book is for sale to ADULT AUDIENCES ONLY. It contains substantial sexually explicit scenes and graphic language which may be considered offensive by some readers. Please store your files where they cannot be accessed by minors.

All sexually active characters in this work are 18 years of age or older.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are solely the product of the author’s imagination and/or are used fictitiously, though reference may be made to actual historical events or existing locations. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

Cover Design: Leighann Phoenix

Leader of the Pack © 2008 Leighann Phoenix

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Leader of the Pack

To the brave, belong all things.

-Celtic Creed

Chapter 1

As is a tale, so is life: not how long it is, but how good it is, is what matters.

-Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Smoke thickened as the night wore on. Aislinn moved from one person to the next along the crowded bar, filling drink orders. She took the job a month ago, when she arrived in town. Her scummy boss, Derrick, was more than happy to hire her. He recently lost a bar tender, and Aislinn was above average in appearance, even if she didn’t think so. When Aislinn applied to the job Derrick didn’t even asked if she could mix drinks. He figured he could teach that. She wasn’t a super model, but she was attractive in a strange way, and she was better than moving Kelly up. The patrons liked her where they could reach her.

Aislinn hated the place. She learned relatively quickly to keep space between herself and Derrick, the ass. He tended to grab her and make lewd comments. He even attacked her once, but she managed to get away. Unfortunately, she needed the job. She needed the money. That was the only reason she kept working after that. One would think that after she decked him he would stay out of her way, but Derrick just kept trying. Aislinn thanked the stars that currently he was at the far end of the bar talking with some regulars. With Luke tending bar between them, that was about the right distance tonight.

The other people she worked with were mostly nice. Kelly was really the only bitch and that was because Aislinn got the job Kelly wanted. In this place, the best spot to be was behind the bar. Then the only person who could grab you was Derrick. Anywhere else and you were fair game for all the jerks who came in the place. Kelly thought that she did her time and deserved the bartender job. When Derrick gave it to Aislinn, he made Kelly a permanent enemy for her.

Aislinn approached the new guy who sat down at the bar near the wall. He was impressive. His presence caused most of the other patrons to make more than enough room for him, resulting in an unnatural amount of space at that end of the bar. Aislinn was perfectly happy to have a short lull in the number of people she had to deal with.

The man was pretty big, even sitting on the stool. He had black hair, brown-black eyes, and tanned skin. He looked hard muscled even under the black leather duster he was wearing. But the strangest thing was this ageless appearance to him. At first look she might have said he was in his late twenties/early thirties. Then, at second glance, he looked almost 100. Whether that was normal for him or because he just had the worst day of his life was up for grabs. “What can I get you?”

The guy looked up at her as if he only just realized that he was in a bar. Aislinn waited and when he didn’t respond she asked again. “What can I get you?”

Cullen stared appraisingly at the girl speaking to him. She had an odd scent. It was hard to make out between the rancid smell of the bar, the smoke from the people around him soaking into everything, and some awful perfume she seemed to have bathed in. But there was something to it that caught his attention. She was attractive, but she wasn’t remarkable in any way. She had brown hair, blue eyes, pale skin, and medium build. She wasn’t his type.
I would probably break her
; he thought and grinned at himself. Besides she wasn’t what he was here for. The last thing he wanted was a woman tonight. No matter how intriguing her scent was.

“If you’re not ready to order I can come back in a couple,” Aislinn offered at his silence and the annoyed, confused look on his face as he stared at her.

“Guinness.”

Aislinn nodded, poured the beer and placed it in front of him. No sooner had she waited on the next person but he was pushing his glass toward her again. She gave him another. Then another. At first she was concerned. He didn’t look very friendly and adding drunk to not very friendly usually didn’t end well. But he kept to himself, paid for each glass as he indicated his need for a refill, and didn’t do anything to bother her or anyone else. He just stared at his glass and drank. Something about him that she couldn’t quite put her finger on kept everyone else away.

Aislinn really wasn’t sure what kept drawing her attention back to him. His smell, for one thing, disturbed her. Since she had escaped her previous life, her sense of smell seemed more pronounced, sharper. After everything she’d been through to this point she kept her own council. That included not telling anyone that she could determine who she was talking to even with her eyes closed if she’d ever met the person before. Smells bothered her very easily. When she got out into the big wide world, she started layering on perfumes to mask the smells around her. But tonight his smell was getting through her defenses. He smelled foul or dead. At least that was the only way she could describe it. She didn’t know what could possibly make that odor. Every time the air shifted she nearly flinched at the awful reek that overpowered even the rancid beer in this place.
God why did I decide bartending was a good idea
, she thought to herself.

Cullen was still sitting there drinking as the place was getting ready to close. He watched the girl who had been serving him all night walked up to him as she cleared the bar. “Hey, buddy, do you need me to call you a cab or something?”

“Cullen,” he said before he knew that he had said it.

“What?” Aislinn stopped what she was doing and started reaching for a phone. “Is there someone I can call for you,” she reiterated.

“My name. Cullen. Not ‘buddy’. And no, I don’t need a ride. I’ll walk.” He started to get up only to realize that he drank more than he originally thought.
It’s been a long time since I managed to get drunk,
he thought with a measure of amusement.
Well that’s what I came here to do wasn’t it?
He sat back down on the bar stool.

Aislinn sighed and looked over at one of the other girls. Nikki just shrugged. “Alright, Cullen,” she said haltingly. “Look, we’re closing. You’re too drunk to move. You’ve got to have a friend somewhere who’ll come get you.”

He looked up at her and grinned with wry amusement. “Yeah,” he said, “a whole
pack
.”

Normally a guy who said something like that and looked at her that way would have scared the crap out of her. But there was just something about the smelly guy that told her he wasn’t a threat to her. If there was one thing she learned over the years since she started running it was reading people. That was half the reason Derrick didn’t really bother her. She had known what he was the minute she took the job. So, obviously it was her own fault she had to put up with him. Aislinn picked up the phone. “Give me a number.”

Cullen rattled off a number and she dialed. It rang twice and then a gruff, sleepy voice picked up. “Hello?”

“Yeah hi, sorry to wake you,” Aislinn said.

“Yeah, who is this?” the voice said.

“Um, I tend bar. Do you know some guy named Cullen?”

A shocked, “Huh?” came from the sleepy voice. Cullen was watching Aislinn with amusement. His eyes sparkled a bit and he had a grin that reminded her of a kid playing a great joke on someone. He was taking note of everything about her. For a human she was either quite impressive or very stupid. There wasn’t another person in this bar who had been willing to be within two feet of him, but the girl didn’t seem bothered at all by his appearance or mood. He got the feeling that there really wasn’t anything he could have said or done to have made her afraid of him. More than any of that, she was able to make eye contact with him and stare him down. It had been a long time since anyone had enough balls for that.

Aislinn growled her annoyance at the situation. “Look, I’m sorry I woke you up, buddy. But there’s this guy in my bar and we’re closing. He’s too drunk to leave on his own. He says his name is Cullen and he gave me this number when I asked him if he wanted me to call someone for him. Can you come get him or not?”

Keith rubbed his face. He thought he was having a crazy dream. He looked at the cell phone and then put it back to his ear. “Cullen?”

“Yes, Cullen.” The female voice at the other end of the line was sounding more agitated by the minute. “Are you coming to get him,” she insisted.

“Yeah fine. Where is he?”

“The bar’s called the Blood Pit. It’s on the corner of Elm and Oak. Do you know it?”

“No,” he said. “But I’ll find it.” Then there was a click.

Aislinn stared at the phone. Cullen chuckled. “He hung up?”

“Yeah, but he said he was coming.” Aislinn went back to cleaning up.

Cullen reveled in the feeling of the spinning room. As he waited he watched the girl move about. The drinking had done precisely what he wanted. It drowned out the look, smell, and feel of Jenna, that bitch he wasn’t interested in being mated to. He was trying to figure out what that scent was on the girl when one of the other girls walked up to her. That annoyed him to no end. Now there were two obnoxious smelling perfumes in addition to the rest of the odors in this room covering up the girl’s scent.

“Ais, I’ve gotta go.” She lowered her voice and looked over at Cullen uncertainly then back at Aislinn. But Cullen’s ears were better than most and he heard every word she said. “I want to wait for you but Jeremy’s outside already and he’s being impatient. I don’t know who to be more concerned about. Derrick or this guy you’re looking after. It’s not real bright of you.”

Aislinn looked back toward the offices then over at Cullen. “I know. Maybe I can talk Derrick into watching him ‘til his friend gets here.”

“Fat chance on that. How’s he gonna stalk you if he’s gotta stick around here for some guy. Nope, he’ll say that you didn’t just kick him out so this guy’s your problem. Then when he’s gone and you don’t have me around to give you a ride home, Derrick offers you a ride and guess how he’ll expect you pay for it. Not to mention, the jerk’s been drinking tonight. He’s checked his brain at the door.”

“It’s okay Renee. I’ll be fine. I’ve taken care of myself for this long.” Cullen noted the tired, lonely sound in her voice.

Renee looked at Cullen again, just as some big football type poked his head in the doorway. “Renee,” he yelled. “Are you coming or what?”

“Yeah,” she answered sheepishly. “I’ve really gotta go,” she said in that abused, manipulated, will-answer-to-any-jerk-that-pretends-he-cares-about-her way. She hugged Aislinn. “Be safe,” Cullen heard her whisper.

“You too,” Aislinn said knowingly. Renee blushed and then hurried away. As she reached the door the guy grabbed her by the arm and led her out.

Cullen held himself back. She was just another human in an abusive relationship and it wasn’t any of his business. He growled under his breath and tried to stand up anyway. Suddenly the room began spinning again and he sat back down on the stool with a grin and a chuckle.

“Aislinn!” The voice that called the girl’s name was slurred and angry sounding. Cullen looked up to see the girl hurry to some greasy looking guy who was standing in a doorway on the back wall. He tried to get her back into the office but the girl was smart enough to not let him draw her in. “Haven’t you gotten rid of that guy yet?” His tone was annoyed and drunk. “He’s got a friend coming to get him. If you want to go I’ll lock up behind me.”

“And leave you here in my place?” He grinned luridly at her. “The only guy you get to stay here alone with is me.” He tried to grab her, but she stepped back and he missed. That earned her a glare.

“You know that I don’t work that way, Derrick. You wanna fire me go ahead. I don’t play touchy feely with random fuck-offs.”

Cullen grinned again. She was amusing. Her tone was assertive and she seemed to be in control, so he let her protect herself. It was nice to see that some people could. Cullen missed the end of their conversation to his swimming brain and his own thoughts. The guy disappeared back into his office and Aislinn was walking toward him when he looked up.