Vice (Fireborn Wolves Book 1) (6 page)

T
he wolves arrived
in shifts and Laina guided them in discreet units to the forest behind Monty’s. Not the forest the humans could see, but one that could only be accessed through the door in the back of Monty’s office, enchanted and otherwise inaccessible. If anything, the space was safer than Rivergate Manor, aside from the fact that an ogre with suspected tendencies toward organized crime guarded the door.

“How have you been?” Cameron asked as he helped her set up the tent that would serve as their mess hall for the next three days. It was possible for the pack to appear human and go about their business during the day, but they rarely did. The preference was to stay together, a three-day wolfapalooza, a family reunion.

“As well as can be expected,” Laina said. “Monty is about as agreeable as… well, an ogre.”

He shook his head. “Thanks for doing this. I still can’t believe your older brother offered you up like a sacrificial lamb.”

“Speaking of my brother, where is everyone’s favorite alpha?” she asked dryly.

“You don’t know? He left when the rest of us scattered to the wind. Said he was going to track down Jonah and end this before anyone else got hurt.” Cameron shrugged. “It’s my job to know where everyone is, yet Silas didn’t tell me where he was going. I thought he’d tell you.”

Laina frowned. As much as her brother could be a pain in the ass, she loved the man. Where was he? The alpha never missed a shift on purpose. She retrieved her phone from her back pocket, the one Silas had given her in case of an emergency, and texted him. A few seconds later, the device chimed as his response came through.

I’m fine. Won’t be there. You can handle it without me.

She showed it to Cameron.

“Hmm. Spoken like a true leader.” He stroked back his black hair, longer now that they neared the shift, as was his facial hair. “Shall we grab a burger before the main event?”

Before she could say yes, Monty bellowed her name from the pub door, the ogre’s eyes sweeping the woods until he locked onto her. “Laina, you’d better get in here. We’ve got trouble.”

She broke into a jog. “What is it? Has something happened to Jason?” As she broke through the enchantment that hid the forest beyond, the trees and flowers faded away and were replaced with the illusion of a dark alley, complete with potholed lane and city dumpster. Monty motioned her inside, then slammed the door on Cameron’s face.

“Hey—”

“Fucking Kyle Kingsley is standing in my bar holding a fairy box and asking for
Anna
.” The malice in his voice was as real as his foul breath.

Feeling lightheaded, she strode from the back room and into the bar proper. She came up short at the sight of the man her wolf had pined for since their last encounter. Kyle Kingsley.

His eyes widened in recognition. He knew who she was—who she
really
was. Mouth pressed into a straight line, he shook his head. “I’m not sure what this is.” He held the fairy box between his fingers. “But rats seem to love it.” He tossed the box at her.

Catching it in one hand, she noticed the lid was closed. That explained why Kyle could see it but not who found and closed it. Those were not things a human could do. She forced her expression to convey total ignorance. “Why are you giving this to me?”

“Who the hell are you? The paperwork you gave Wesley said Anita Woody but you told Nickie your name was Anna.” He pointed a finger at her. “But I know you from before. You’re—”

Monty coughed, cutting him off. “I think you’ve got the wrong girl. This one was here workin’ last night. Wasn’t she, boys?” Jeff and the other regulars chimed in affirmatively, no doubt hoping to be rewarded for the lie with a free beer.

“Really? My security cameras disagree.” Kyle’s hazel eyes narrowed. He pulled himself up to his full height, which almost rivaled Monty’s. “I get it, Monty. You’re worried I’m going to move in on your business. But this is a felony.” He pointed at the box. “And if you think this shit is going to work, you don’t know me.”

“Lots a girls got her colorin’. I think you’re confused.”

“Coloring, yes. Bruise the size of a man’s fist across her jaw, no. This is the one.”

“Aww, fuck you, Kyle. You’re barking up the wrong tree. I had nothin’ to do with this. If the girl’s in your video, take it up with the girl.”

Laina whirled on Monty, her eyes flaring with anger. Did he just throw her under the bus?
Bastard!

“Don’t look at me like that. It’s you who’s fucked up. Fucked up big time by the looks of it.” Monty placed both hands on the bar and stared at her expectantly.

Laina turned back to Kyle, her wolf growling and snapping inside her head over Monty’s betrayal. At least the anger was doing a good job of fighting back her lust and her fear. How could this happen? Especially now, with the shift happening in a matter of hours. What if he had her arrested? Becoming a wolf in a prison cell would be disastrous.

“Can I talk to you privately, in the back room?” She pointed a trembling hand toward the storage area. It was all she could do to maintain her composure.

He nodded and followed her inside, allowing the door to squeal to a close behind them in the same tone as a coffin lid. She faced him in the narrow aisle between the cases of alcohol, a bare bulb shedding a harsh circle of light above their heads.

“You came here instead of going to the police,” she said. “Thank you.”

“Don’t overthink it. I’m sure Monty knew this when he forced you to do what you did, but it isn’t in Hunt Club’s best interests to call attention to a rat problem in the kitchen, even if it was sabotage. If I file a police report, this will be all over the news. Although, I will do it if I have to.”

“You don’t have to.”

She waited patiently as he stared her down. Why offer information you didn’t have to give? Information that might incriminate her?

“Why did you blow off our date?”

Surprised, Laina spread her hands. “I thought Becca explained.”

“She implied you were dead! I think her exact words were ‘Due to a personal tragedy, the animal hospital is closing indefinitely and details can only be released to immediate family members.’ What the fuck happened? Why is a veterinarian from New Hampshire slinging beer in a hole-in-the-wall in rural Wisconsin? What are you doing here, Laina, besides trying to sabotage my club?”

“Shhh.” She brought her finger to her lips. “No one can know who I am.”

“Explain.”

Her thoughts darted, searching for some shred of truth she could share with him, although why it pained her to lie was beyond her comprehension. “I can’t go into details,” she said slowly, “but it was a domestic violence situation. I’m in hiding.”

“Husband or boyfriend?” His voice broke as he asked the question.

“Neither. A relative. An enemy of my family. It’s a long and twisted story. He’s very powerful, and my survival depends on concealing my identity. I did what I did to your club because Monty would have thrown me out if I didn’t. I’m sorry. I’ll do whatever you want to make it up to you.”

She’d stepped in closer, without even meaning to. Her lids drooping low as she breathed in his scent. Her wolf had forgotten all anger and fear and was panting, tongue out in his direction. Oh how she wanted his hands on her body, his mouth on hers. He was so close now, she could feel his heat, smell the cedar and pine scent that seemed to follow him everywhere. Had he moved that last inch, or had she?

“Are you suggesting that you have something to offer me that would make up for your attempt to disrupt my business operations?” His breath brushed her face, and she looked up at him through her lashes.

Wolf whimpering, a vivid fantasy played out in Laina’s head. She’d drop to her knees, unzip his pants, and take him between her lips, showing him exactly what she had to offer. With all the willpower left in her, she forced herself back a step. Her knees turned to liquid, and her bottom lowered onto a crate of vodka.

“Hey, are you okay?” Kyle asked, suddenly concerned.

She shook her head but didn’t elaborate. “Kyle, I’m sorry. I think you know this wasn’t my idea, despite what Monty says. He knows my secret and blackmailed me into it. I don’t know what to say to you, but I beg you not to get the Sable Creek PD involved. I’ll do anything. Anything you want. But please keep my secret.”

He nodded. Relief flooded her body. Tension she didn’t even know she was holding eased and she blew out a deep breath.

“I won’t tell anyone,” he said softly, “on one condition.”

“What?” she asked. “Money?”

He made a face as though she’d insulted him. “No, I don’t want your money.”

“Sex?” she asked.
Please let it be sex
.

“No,” he said curtly. “I would never extort sex from you or anyone else. While I am certain sex with you would be quite pleasant, if we partake in that particular activity, I want it to be because you enthusiastically desire it and not because you’re scared I’ll send you to prison or have you murdered.”

She hung her head and forced her wolf, still trying desperately to show her enthusiasm for sex, down deeper into her psyche. “Then what can I give you?”

“I need you to train my dog.”

“Milo?”

“Yes, Milo. He’s not adjusting well to the change in ownership. He’s made quite a mess of the place. I need you to come and stay with me for a while. Figure out what’s wrong with him and teach me what to do.”

“You want me…wait, you want me to
live
with you while I train your dog… full-time? Monty will never allow it. I have a job here.”

“Oh, Monty will allow it or Monty will need a lawyer. I’ll talk to him.” He pointed a thumb over his shoulder.

She swallowed. Even now, one look from the man made her squirm. How would she survive sleeping in the same house with him?

“Yes or no, Laina. Considering what you did, I don’t think I’m asking too much here.”

For a moment, she flipped the idea over in her brain. “I have an obligation to fulfill to my brother who is hiding here with me. Is three days from now soon enough?”

He nodded and offered her his hand. “It’s a deal.”

As she shook on it, he hoisted her from the crate so that her body weight fell flush against his chest. Her lips parted. Her eyes met his.

“I was disappointed we never had that date,” he murmured.

“Me too.”

* * *

“
I
’m not
comfortable with this.” Monty clenched his fists. “Who’s going to take care of this place while you’re playing with Pretty Boy’s dog?”

“Do you want me to tell him no? I only offered because he threatened to get the police involved. If you’d rather handle this in the courts, I can stay,” Laina said smugly.

Monty’s fish mouth bent in an exaggerated frown so pronounced it looked like an upside-down “U.” “That Bastard. Go. Do what he tells you to do. But Jason better pick up the slack around here, or it’ll cost you both.”

Jason pulled her aside. “Are you sure about this?”

“What other choice do I have?”

He nodded. “I’ll take care of things here. Although, I wish it was me staying at Hunt Club. I could keep those ladies busy.” Jason smirked.

She rolled her eyes and returned to Cameron, who was more than a little peeved about being locked in an ogre’s enchanted forest. After accepting a supportive hug from her best friend, she told him everything, even about Kyle being her vice.

“Do you know what you’re getting yourself into, Laina?” He extracted his phone from his pocket and typed “Kyle Kingsley” into the Internet search bar, then handed her the results.

She thought she might be sick. Kyle in a tux with a woman on each arm. A shirtless Kyle in the park with his head on the lap of one woman and another rubbing his feet, while yet another ate sushi off his abs. Kyle, naked in bed, the photograph taken through a woman’s cheetah-painted legs as she straddled his hips. There were hundreds of photos, each more scandalous than the next.

“I’ve never had a vice,” Cameron said. “I can’t imagine what you’re going through. But by the goddess, Laina, be careful. This guy makes your brother look like a prude.”

T
hree days later
, Laina could almost forget she’d promised to live with Kyle Kingsley. Waking up after a night of being a wolf was a lot like waking up after a night of heavy drinking. Flashes of color, sounds, and scents came back to her as she blinked her eyes up at the clear blue sky. Leaves crinkled in her hair. Dirt coated her naked skin. But it was the stretched-out, used-up, mild ache of her muscles she liked best. The closest you could get as a human was the day after skiing or running a marathon. The compensating rush of endorphins created a sublime state of being. She was elated… and hungry.

A rustle and groan next to her signaled Cameron’s waking. His manhood flopped against his hip as he rolled over and stretched. She giggled and averted her eyes. A few yards away, Jason was unfolding next to Lucile, the latter’s curly gray hair matted with sweat. Even at sixty-five she was as fast and strong as any of them. A living legend. Her sixteen-year-old granddaughter, Amanda, was already awake and desperately searching for her clothes in the tent near the door to Monty’s. This was her first group shift. Time for Laina to be a proper princess.

She stood and joined Amanda at the pile. “It gets easier,” she said to the girl. “You’re new to this, and I’m sure the nudity is distracting, but you’ll get used to it. Well, during the full moon. At other times it will be just as awkward.” Laina grinned at her.

Amanda pulled a Carlton City High School T-shirt over her head, her Fireborn tattoo disappearing beneath the sleeve.

“Your tattoo seems to have healed properly,” Laina said. The pack high priestess, or
Preotka
, administered the tattoos using a claw of the original Fireborn ancestor, called the primary. After a werewolf’s first shift, which usually occurred in private with immediate family only, the tattooing ceremony was held to initiate the youngling into the pack. It was a ceremony most wolves considered as important as their mating or a birth.

“I can’t believe how much I like shifting,” Amanda said. “Last night… I can remember chasing an opossum through the woods. I was so fast. And the way the air huffed down my throat.” Her fingers stroked her neck, her eyes misting over. “Will it always be like that?”

Laina, who had pulled her own shirt on in an effort to set the girl at ease, smiled warmly. “Yes. It will always be like this. It’s important to be safe. Never shift alone. Stay away from humans. Plan ahead for a safe place to run. Try not to let it affect your employment. But once you’ve done those things, enjoy. For three nights, you’re totally free.”

The girl gave her a quick, awkward hug. “Thank you, Laina. I’m so glad it was you here today. No offense, but Silas scares me.”

Laina squeezed her shoulders. “Silas scares us all. Now, come on. As the newbie, it is tradition that you help fire up the mess hall. I’m ready for breakfast.”

* * *

T
he picketers
from Eternal Light Ministries were out in full force when Laina arrived at Hunt Club that afternoon. She honked her horn and revved her engine and they reluctantly parted to let her through to the gatehouse. This time, Taneesha recognized her and directed her to the main house rather than the service entrance.

From the front, Hunt Club Mansion was even more beautiful than what she’d seen from the service entrance, with gorgeous stone masonry and multiple towers that made her feel like she was driving up to Cinderella’s castle. An adult version that is. The female valet who offered to park her car was wearing hip boots, a bustier, and a tail.

“This is Neverland,” she said under her breath, cocking an eyebrow. “The place where men never grow up. Wrong on so many levels.”

The door opened before she had a chance to knock. “Welcome to the King’s Lair,” an elderly woman in formal maid’s attire said. Her half smile suggested the greeting was tongue in cheek, or else she personally couldn’t take it seriously. The woman didn’t fit the Hunt Club mold with her gray hair and bifocals. Laina liked her immediately.

She was about to introduce herself when Kyle jogged into the spacious foyer. If anything, he’d gotten better looking since the day he’d walked into the animal hospital. The jeans he wore hugged his hips and skimmed softly over his lower body, bending and stretching in all the right places. His shirt was black, collared, and rolled past his elbows. Gorgeous and easy, as if he climbed out of bed looking like the goddess’s gift to women.

Laina fumbled with her purse and bag, pretending to be immune.

“Thanks for coming, La—”

“Anna,” she corrected him.

He nodded and reached for her. For a moment, her stomach fluttered as she anticipated his touch. What was he doing? But he simply pulled her bag from her shoulder, his warm fingers brushing the skin near the scoop neck of her T-shirt, and transferred it to his shoulder.

“Your room is this way.” For some reason, she was surprised when he took it upon himself to carry her bag, what with the housekeeper standing right beside them. Although she had to admit he had consistently behaved like a gentleman toward her, the feminist in her could not reconcile this gentlemanly behavior with his business. Hunt Club was a brand that reduced women to club décor. She warned herself not to fall for his charms.

When they’d reached the end of the hall, he placed her bags down on a four-poster bed in a room as big as the apartment she was staying in above Monty’s.

“I’m right across the hall. I’ve been keeping Milo in my room, but now that you’re here, maybe you can get him out more.”

“Surely, you don’t keep him in there all the time,” she said incredulously, the animal lover in her perking to attention.

“I take him out in the morning and before I go to bed, but it’s the best place for him while I’m working.”

She cringed and shook her head. So he treated his pets even worse than he treated his women. “Big dogs need exercise and socialization. He’s not a toy you can put away. No wonder he’s having behavioral problems. You’re using him like he’s disposable.”

Pulling back as if she’d struck him, he collected himself. “Look, I don’t think he’s a toy to be put away.” His tone was calm and gentle, completely unlike hers. “The dog doesn’t listen to anyone. It drools all over the house, chews up anything it can get its mouth on, and scares the staff. I lead a very busy life and Milo’s coming here was unexpected. I’m trying my best to accommodate him.” He spread his hands. “That’s why you’re here. You’re going to teach me how to do this, right?”

She sighed. Many new owners were completely unprepared to care for a dog like Milo. It wasn’t fair for her to load all her judgments about Kyle’s lifestyle onto his treatment of his dog.

“Maybe you should introduce us again. The last time he saw me, he was sick. Better he associates me with a more positive experience.”

He gestured toward the door. “Come on.” Across the hall, Kyle showed her into a room even larger than the first with a curved wall of windows overlooking miles of forest, a natural IMAX of the great outdoors, the inner lair of the fairy-tale castle. A king-sized bed the size of a small island stood against one wall of the room, but as Laina entered, she couldn’t miss Milo. The mastiff had destroyed what appeared to have been a couch at the far end of an attached sitting room, his guilt-ridden face turning up to hers from the center of a cloud of shredded stuffing.

“Milo!” Kyle dug his fingers into his hair. “Another one?”

“Another—” She darted a glance at Kyle and back at Milo. “Has he done this before?”

“Twice.”

A giggle bubbled up Laina’s throat and she pressed two fingers over her lips to suppress it.

“Oh yes, laugh at my pain. I see how you are.” A ghost of a smile drifted through his expression.

“How long has he been in here by himself?”

Kyle groaned. “An hour.”

“Oh.” The giggle was back, erupting from deep within her chest. She gave up and allowed the laugh to come full force.

Mouth gaping and hands on his hips, Kyle waited until she was finished, looking positively traumatized by her behavior. “Can you help me, or not?”

She straightened to her full height and strode directly toward Milo, who immediately assumed a submissive position, head down, tail between his legs. “Oh, he knows what he did. Look how he’s reacting. He’s practically crawling into the floor. That’s a good thing. That gives us something to work with.”

“If he knows, why did he do it?”

She shrugged. “He’s showing you he’s stressed, Kyle. Dogs are pack animals. They don’t celebrate when you leave the house with Netflix and ice cream. He doesn’t know you. He doesn’t trust you’re coming back. He’s bred to be a working dog, but he has nothing to do all day. He needs exercise and playtime. Social interaction. He needs to be with his pack.”

Kyle scratched the stubble on his jaw and stared at Milo with a look of frustration. “I can’t get another dog.”

“Not another dog.
You
, Kyle. You need to be his pack.” She stroked Milo’s head while Kyle digested that nugget. “Dogs soothe anxiety by chewing. I sense he’s coping with something more than loneliness and lack of exercise. Was Milo always nervous like this? What happened to his last owner?”

“As far as I know, Milo was a great dog. His owner died unexpectedly and I offered to take Milo when no one else in the family could. I wasn’t prepared to have a dog, but I thought he deserved better than the pound.” Kyle sighed.

Something in his voice caused Laina’s heart to sink. “How did you know his last owner?”

Kyle slipped his hands into his back pockets, trading his polished exterior for one bordering on exhaustion. “He was my father.”