The Alpha's Choice: A Paranormal Werewolf Romance (Roadside Angels Motorcycle Club Book 3) (4 page)

“Oh my God!  Lex, what the hell happened to you?” 

She covered her open mouth with a trembling hand, reaching for him with the other, passing it lightly over the wounds and bruises on his skin.  He allowed her examination, letting her walk around him so she could see everything.  The wounds on his thighs and his groin were hidden by his sweat pants, for which he was grateful.

“Jesus!  Where did you go?  Who did this to you?  Why were you fighting?  Is that the business you had to finish?”

Her voice was full of accusation, anger, fear, and worry all at once.  Lex wished he could hold her, but he was still hurting, and he sensed that she wasn’t ready to be comforted.  First, she wanted answers.  He would try to give them to her.

“I went for a run, Tamara,” he said.  “I needed to...settle down.”

He wondered if she would understand what he meant, and thought she might by the way she looked sharply at him when he stopped speaking.

“Settle down?  You fell asleep...”  Her voice trailed off as she recalled they were not alone.  “I thought you were settled for the night.”

“I wasn’t.  When I’m pumped like this, a run helps.”  He walked over to the bench next to the office door and sat down.  His legs were still weak from the running and fighting.

“Why didn’t you wake me, Lex?”  She sounded confused, and angry again.

“That…”  He looked helplessly at Bear, who quirked a brow.  “That wouldn’t have helped, honey.”

He felt her gaze sharpen on his face again, and then he saw understanding dawn.  She blushed, and dropped her eyes.  “I’m sorry, Lex,” she whispered, and he couldn’t help but reach for her, despite the pain, and pull her down to sit next to him.  He draped an arm over her shoulder and said, “You’ve nothing to apologize for.  This isn’t your fault, okay?”  He pulled her face up with a finger under her chin until she was looking him in the eye again.  “Okay?”

She nodded, licking her lips, and that was enough to distract him for a minute.  Then, he answered her questions.  “Lancaster and his goons were looking for me.  I didn’t want them to end up here, because they’d know from your scent who you are to me.  I couldn’t let that happen.”  He paused, sighing heavily.  Even that hurt.  “There were three of them, and one of me, till Bear showed up.  He saved my butt, Tamara.”

Tammie turned and walked over to Bear, who stood quietly by the barn door.  “Thank you, Patrick.  I’m not ready to lose my mate just yet, so I appreciate your saving his bacon for me.”  She tilted her head to look up at him and added, her face aflame with embarrassment, “And I’m sorry for yelling at you earlier.”

She didn’t notice the look that passed between Lex and Bear at her use of the word “mate.”  It was a big step because it meant she was accepting him in his role as her life partner.  Lex’s weary beast calmed completely.  This was what it had needed...to hear her claim him, to hear her say he was hers.  The mating ritual could be completed now.  But Lex knew it would still not be safe to do so till Lancaster was dealt with.  They would have to wait.

“Let’s go back inside,” she said, turning back to him and reaching for him.  “I’ll make you something to help you sleep, so you can get some rest.”  She turned an assessing eye on Bear and said, “You look like you could do with some rest yourself, Patrick.  I may only be human, but I’m not stupid.  You’ve got fight mode written all over you, too, despite the shampoo scent.”  He chuckled, and she shook her head at him in resignation.  “Help me with Lex, please.  I just know he’s being all macho when he can hardly stand.”

Lex grinned.  Miss Sassy was back—and teasing him.  He knew she needed to lighten the mood because what had happened was so serious and because she was frightened but refused to show it.  He let her drape one of his arms over her shoulder, and with Bear’s help, they got back to the house without further mishap.  He hoped, as he sat at the kitchen table, that she wasn’t going to offer him hot chocolate again. 

“Ever had mulled wine?” she asked, dispelling his fear.

“No.  Is it any good?”

“You’ll sleep like a baby and wake up rearing to go...well, almost,” she answered, smiling.

“Bring it on, honey,” he encouraged her and watched her go about preparing the drink, after asking where things were.  He would drink her offering and try to get some sleep.  By morning, he’d be fully healed, and though he’d be sore, he’d be strong enough to have her again.  He couldn’t wait.

CHAPTER FOUR

“Life is not a matter of holding good cards, but sometimes, playing a poor hand well.”

~ Jack London

“Is there something else you haven’t told me, Lex?” Tammie asked next morning when she woke and found him coming out of the bathroom, a towel around his waist.  His skin was smooth and hard, and completely without blemish.  There was nothing to indicate that only a few hours earlier, he had been ripped and torn up, with gaping wounds that she had had to struggle not to gag at the sight of.  He looked like he had the morning before, tousled and sexy.  And that was all.

He smiled at her and went to get underwear from a drawer in his armoire.  “Something like what?” he asked, though she was sure he knew what she meant. 

She was discovering that her mate enjoyed riling her up, but this morning she refused to rise to the bait.  Instead, she said simply, “You’re a supernatural creature, no?”  She watched him pull his boxers up his strong thighs and rolled her eyes at his continued silence.  “You seem to have forgotten to mention that you can heal yourself of potentially fatal injuries.”

“They weren’t potentially fatal, Tamara,” he said, ignoring the rest of her remark. 

She slid out of bed, wrapping her nude body in the sheet, and marched over to where he stood.  The smell of his cologne hit her mid-stride, and she fought to ignore the instant heat that suffused her body from her cheeks to her toes.  She was not in the mood to be derailed by lust just now.  She had to know the answer to her questions.  She needed to know everything.

“Are you immortal as well, Lex?  I need to know these things.  Here I am mated to someone who can heal himself, and he conveniently forgets to tell me.  I’m only human, Lex.  I don’t live forever, and I can’t heal myself.  What kind of chance do we have for a happy ever after if I’m the weak link?”

Although she tried to keep the fear out of her voice, she knew she hadn’t succeeded when he pulled her into his arms in a comforting hold and rested his cheek on her hair.  “Tamara, please trust me when I say that we will have a happy ever after.  A very long one.”  He stroked her hair, making her feel secure, even though he hadn’t yet provided any satisfactory answers to her questions.  “Yes, shifters heal rapidly.  The only time we can’t do that so well is when the injuries are life-threatening.  And how we know they are is that we can’t shift back to our human forms without almost killing ourselves.  Sometimes we can’t, and then we remain in our beast forms till we’re whole enough to shift back.  And we’re most vulnerable then, both to other shifters and to humans.”

“And are you immortal?”  She had to know because she had to begin to prepare herself to leave him when it was her time.

“Tamara, you won’t die and leave me alone, honey.  It doesn’t work like that.”

She knew he could feel her trembling, but she couldn’t stop the shakes.  She didn’t want to think about such morbid things as her own mortality in the arms of the sexiest man alive, but the sight of his healed body had shaken her completely.  She had not even thought of the implications of his being a different species from her. 

“I am not immortal.  No shifter is.  But I am long-lived, as are all shifters.  And when we mate, we produce a hormone which, when shared with our mates, makes them long-lived also.”

Tammie raised her face to his, her eyes still full of questions and worry. “And how exactly do you share those hormones with me?”

Lex smiled, a slow, suggestive, seductive smile, and kissed her.  “I’ve been sharing them with you since our first kiss.”  He chuckled at the startled look on her face.  “And every time we kiss, every time we make love, I’m sharing them with you,
chérie
.”

“But I’m not going to transform into a shewolf?”  She was perfectly serious. 

Lex laughed softly.  “No, baby, you will always be what you were born.  Shifters can’t change others unless the gene for shifting already exists in the host body.”  He paused, wondering how a simple question about his ability to heal had suddenly become a mini lesson on what shifters could and couldn’t do to other species.  “Like I told you before, I would have known if you were a shifter.  I would also know if you have the gene to make changing you possible.”

“How?”  A simple question, but one full of confused emotions.

“I would smell it on you once we bonded.”  He inhaled her scent as he spoke, loving the way she filled him up with peace.

She stared unblinkingly into his eyes again and asked, “And are we bonded?”

“Not completely, no.  We can’t complete the mating ritual until I can be sure you will be safe.”  He squeezed her to him, taking comfort from the soft curves she pressed up against him, and then he let her go with a long sigh.  “I have to go into town, but I’d rather you stayed here with Bear.  I have to put a stop to this, and it means I have to meet with Lancaster.”  He turned her chin up, asking seriously, “Will you promise me to stay put till I get back?”

“Where will you go?  To the chief’s office?”  She answered his request with her own question. 

“Yes.  I’ll call Lancaster from there.”  He stroked his thumb over her lips.  “Don’t worry, honey.  I’ll come back to you.”

“You’d better!” she said and tiptoed up to kiss his lips.  Her mouth was trembling, and the tender, innocent kiss sent his blood racing again.  “I’m going to take a shower.  Are you at least going to have breakfast first?”

“I’d love to, but I can’t, honey.  The sooner I get on this, the sooner I can end this trouble, and the sooner we can be together without fear.” 

He reached for her again and hauled her face up into his kiss, a long, slow inspection of her lips and tongue that left them both moaning before he pulled away from her again.  “You’re lethal!” he exclaimed, laughing.  “I’ll see you later, baby.”

Lex left her and went to Bear, who was making breakfast for the guests.  His friend raised a brow when he appeared and asked, “Where are you off to now?”

“I figured I’d make the call and whatever arrangements to meet Lancaster in the chief’s office.  Kill two birds with one stone, you know.  This way, he can know where I’m going,” Lex answered.  “Watch out for Tamara and Ginny, please, Bear.  They’re precious cargo.” 

Bear sketched him a quick salute.  “Sure thing, boss.”

As he walked out to his truck, he heard Jeff and Ginny coming towards the kitchen.  They were in good hands.  He sat in the truck and dialed the only number he had for Lancaster.  No answer, just a voice message asking him to leave a detailed message and a number.  He hung up and drove to the police station.  Dave was already there, which wasn’t surprising.  But there was also what looked like a contingent of citizens gathered just outside, and his gut churned at the thought that he would have to walk through what he could tell was a pretty hostile crowd. The good citizens of Rojo Arroyo were riled up and ready to rumble, and he was in their sights.  Thank God he hadn’t come in on his motorcycle!  He’d probably have had to dazzle them to get by.  As it was, he was being shoved around as he tried to find a path through what would rapidly become a mob if Dave didn’t get a handle on things soon. 

Once inside, Dave told him the people want Jeff to be tried immediately.  “They are quickly becoming the modern equivalent of a lynch mob,” he said, “and as there was no prisoner to hang, they would just as soon go for the next best thing, which in this case happens to be you, Lex.  Somebody got them all riled up about the Angels, and they have it in their heads that you all are the ones behind all the killing.  They’re out for blood.”

Lex sighed.  More and more he was coming to realize that his time in this town was at an end.  No matter what happened, no matter what story they read in the papers, there would always be suspicion leveled against him and his club.  It was really time to move on.  Maybe that wasn’t such a bad thing, now that he had a mate.  He wondered if she would share what she knew with the new editor of the local paper before she left.  Journalists were such funny creatures. 

“I’m going to set up a meeting with Lancaster, Dave.  Hear what he wants.  Maybe I can still settle things before I go back.”

The chief eyed him speculatively.  “So, it’s time to go, eh?  The pretty little journalist wouldn’t have anything to do with that by any chance, would she?”  He had a sly grin on his face as he spoke, which made Lex wonder if perhaps he had underestimated the man sitting across from him.

Instead of answering the last question, he shrugged and said, “I need to tend to things back home.  So yeah, it’s time.”

Just then, his phone rang, and pulling it out, he saw that it was Lancaster.  Putting a finger up to silence the chief, he answered it.  “Cole.”

“It’s time for you to leave, Cole.  All you’ve done since you’ve been here is cause trouble for the good people of Rojo Arroyo—not to mention me and my pals.  And since you can’t seem to keep people from dying around here, it seems I’m gonna have to help you out.”

Lex heard the sneer in the rogue’s voice, but he also heard the madness creeping in.  He remained silent, knowing Lancaster was baiting him, hoping to get a rise out of him.  He was barely out of puberty and cocky, as all young shifters were.  And the madness that was stalking his mind even now would only get worse, feeding that overconfidence.  Lex knew better than to give his adversary any reason to escalate things any further.  It was time to take it home.

“As I see it, you have two choices,” he was saying.  “You can stay here trying to defend these stupid humans, and they’ll just suffer the consequences of your bad decisions and inability to help them, or you can get the hell out of Dodge and fight your own battles with others like you who can teach you the error of your ways.  And if you leave, I have no reason to stay, so your precious humans will live out the rest of their short, unhappy lives in the usual misery they think is normal.”

Still, Lex held his peace.  So far, Lancaster had said nothing he hadn’t already heard or didn’t already know.  He knew that his silence would rouse the rogue’s anger against him, and he might slip and say something to give Lex a better idea of who was behind the scheme to roust him from hiding.

“You got nothing to say, wolf?  You think you can ignore me and not pay for it?”  The rogue’s voice was rising.  “You think I care whether you live or die?  I could have killed you any number of times over these past four years, but you’re gold to some who want you to die where they can see to it personally.  But if you bait me or give me any more trouble, I’ll take my losses and snuff you now!”

The disrespect in his voice angered Lex’s wolf, who stirred, snapping and snarling.  Lex kept all emotion out of his voice as he said, “If you’re trying to scare me or make me mad, you’ll have to try harder, boy.”  He let the insult seep in before continuing, cutting off the rogue’s angry reply.  “I’m still waiting to hear what it is you want.  If you have nothing but hot air to spend, I’m out.  I have better things to do with my day.”

The rogue laughed, a nasty sound, and said, “You mean like screwing that hot little lady from out of town?  What I wouldn’t do for a piece of that ass!  At least you’ve got good taste, mongrel!”

At his mention of Tammie, Lex stood up, almost knocking over the chair, and moved the phone away from his mouth to muffle the growl that he couldn’t control.  He should have figured that Lancaster would know about her, and he prayed that all the rogue knew was what he thought, that she was just a fling that Lex was fucking while she was in town.  If he knew more, there was no telling what else he would cook up. Lex didn’t know how he would function if the rogue got anywhere near his mate.  Taking another deep breath to calm his raging wolf, he said, “You think she would ever have anything to do with a feral stray like you?  She’s got better taste than that, rogue!”  A pause to let the fresh insults he knew would find their mark sink in, and then he went on, “Now, what is it you want?  If you can’t say now, if you need permission from your master to bark, get off my damned phone!”

Lex prayed he hadn’t over-played his hand with the rogue.  If he had, all hell would break loose.  If he hadn’t, he would know who was behind the scheme.  The growl on the other end of the line told him he was about to get an earful.

“You think you’re better than me, half-breed?  You think you’re a fucking prince?  You’re nothing but a mongrel.  The scum of the Earth.  Shifter trash.  And you’re gonna find that out sooner or later.  It’s up to you.  You have till midnight to decide what you’ll do.  If you’re still in town then, don’t blame me for the fires you’ll cause.  This town will burn to the fucking ground around your ears.  And they’ll blame you for every dead man, woman, and child.  You’ll have a price on your head.  And when the Prime Council exterminates you, the survivors will thank them for the favor.”