Accidentally Wolf (2 page)

“
I
’
m glad you like Ms. Penar.
”
He glanced impatiently at his
gold and very expensive-looking
watch. Right, because I
’
m sure he had some hot date waiting for him at home. Well, maybe if he bought her for the evening.
He wasn
’
t a bad looking guy
with his tall stature, broad shoulders, and strong jaw
, but he was slimy in a way that had nothing to do with his appearance. And his eyes were the coldest, most soulless things I
’
d ever seen.

“
Boys, a lady doesn
’
t like to be crowded,
”
I admonished
Bernard
’
s men
,
who
had
closed in on me. I waited until they backed off before
walking
the rest of the distance to the weapons. Oh yeah, we had hit the
mother
lode
.

It was scary the amount of weaponry he had. Normally gun smuggling of this magnitude would have fallen to ATF or maybe even Homeland Security depending on
whether
the guns originated from another country or not. But
,
since Bernard
might be
organized crime
,
it fell under our purview. Besides, we had no clue
to
the extent of his inventory when we
’
d started the investigation.

There was everything from rocket launchers to armor piercing rounds to fully automatic weapons. Scary shit.

I collected myself for the fight ahead before giving the signal.
“
Yes, this is everything I wanted.
”

Even before the last words crossed my lips, the two entrances were busted
down
and SWAT poured
in
. In a flash
,
I pulled out my hidden Berretta
PX4 Storm
and was on Bernard before he could even realize what was happening.

“
You bitch,
”
he spat at me as I disarmed him.
“
You fucking bitch.
”

“
Sticks and stones, Bernard
.
”
I
rolled
my eyes. Criminals weren
’
t known for their inventive insults. After I secured him, I started over to Frank to start giving orders. Less than five feet away, I saw Bernard break the cuffs. His hands had shifted into claws
.
W
e had no intelligence that
any of
the
m
were
l
ycanthropes. I screamed,
“
S
hifters
.
”

Frank turned to look at me as Bernard
reached
to tear out his throat. I leapt to knock Frank down,
feeling razor sharp
claws tearing into my shoulder and back. Before we even hit the ground
,
I was
unloading my clip
into the man
’
s chest.
When I saw that he wasn
’
t going down after three bullets, I switched to head shots and it took the other fourteen rounds. I hadn
’
t wanted to kill Bernard, but protecting my team came first.

I was obviously in shock because
,
after landing on Frank,
I tried to get back up
but couldn
’
t
.
I was stunned as to why my body didn
’
t seem to work. Frank gently slid out from underneath me before yelling for
the
para
medic
s
.

“
God, Sera,
”
Frank cried out
.
“
D
on
’
t you die on me, Sera. What the fuck were you thinking?
”

“
I couldn
’
t let him tear out your throat,
”
I answered
,
trying to shrug him off me.
“
I
’
m fine, let me up.
”

“
You
a
re not fine
!
”
Frank
bellowed
, his
dark
eyes wide.
“
Your entire back is shredded. Just stay still goddam
m
it! Help
’
s coming, just hold on.
”

“
Frank, you
’
re being a drama queen again,
”
I started to reply, but then the pain hit me.
Sometimes adrenaline wore off at the wrong time and shock didn
’
t cover it.
“
Okay, I take that back, maybe you
’
re not.
”

“
No, I
’
m not, Sera,
”
he
whispered
before shouting more orders to the men around us. I tried to pay attention, just to make sure they were the orders I wanted. After a few moments, I didn
’
t seem to care anymore. Darkness started to swarm me,
cutting out the dim lighting of the warehouse,
even as I felt myself be
ing
lifted and laid down on something soft. The last thing I heard was Frank shouting my name.

****

The sun must have come up because suddenly the room was too bright for sleep. I
groaned and
tried to roll over, but
the
sharp pain
radiating
through my back made me hiss and freeze. That
got
me wide-awake. Opening my eyes, I looked around the room. It took a few moments
for it
to sink in where I was
.
A
hospital. I found the call button
by my right hand
without having to move much.

While I waited
,
I maneuvered enough to be able to face the door.
It was painful, both sharp and dull at the same time in different areas. A few deep breaths and I was able to roll over anyways.

Then
I started looking
more
close
ly
at my surroundings. Why were there iron bars on the windows and door? The
walls of the
room
were white as was the tile
,
and it
was also incredibly barren for a normal hospital room.
There wasn
’
t even a tray for food or a chair for guests. Not that I had any
,
but most rooms had one.

Then it hit me
like a ton of bricks
.
T
his wasn
’
t a normal hospital. I was in a
paranormal
hospital. Oh
hell
no.

When paranormals had come out to the general public, even if it hadn
’
t been by choice, the government scrambled to set up designated places for non-humans.
P
aranormal hospital
s
, some schools, and any place humans would be nervous interacting with supernatural beings
were a few of the most prevalent examples
. It
was somewhat
shady to me at times,
separating them as if there was an agenda,
but it seemed to help most people accept there was more out there than they had ever known if they still felt safe in the places they needed to.

I started panicking then,
my chest tightening with anxiety. I
had
worked in law enforcement all my adult life and
I knew with crystal clear certainty,
after the
shifter
hospital came safe houses.

That
’
s where they threw new
ly turned
vampires and
shape
shifters
of all kinds
until they learned to control themselves.
T
hey could be quite dangerous when they first learned to shift
or control the need for blood
. It wasn
’
t that it was ever intentional
,
but
,
when a person experiences mind numbing pain
,
the natural tendency
i
s to lash out. And
,
when those limbs suddenly had claws, it led to massive injuries for anyone around.

There was no
f
ucking
way I was going to one of those places
!
It took me a while, but I was finally able to sit up and unhook myself from the IV they had in m
y forearm
. Just as I was trying to get out of the bed, the door opened.
I glanced over, feeling somewhat guilty that I
’
d been caught trying to escape. Somewhat…
not really though.

“
Thomas, get your ass back in bed,
”
Brian Havers, my boss
,
barked at me
as he came closer.
“
You
’
re in no condition to go anywhere.
”
He was using his best
in deep shit
look and his full
six
-
six
height to try an intimidate me. Havers was forgetting one thing… Nothing scared me worse than
the possibility of
getting thrown in a shifter safe house.

“
Fine, take me to a human hospital and I
’
ll rest
,
”
I
snapped
,
getting pissed.
I was in the hospital bed
with
no one around when I woke up. I shouldn
’
t be in trouble for anything.
“
Why am I at a
paranormal
hospital?
”

“
Thomas, what do you remember?
”
He winced and
looked at me,
his
light green
eyes
shedding their normal intensity and
becoming
soft
and sympathetic
.
T
hat
only
brought back the anxiety instead of
the
comfort I
’
m sure he had been going for.

“
We were at the Bernard bust
.
”
The events came rushing back to me.
“
They ended up being shifters. One went to tear out Agent Frank
’
s throat and I pushed him out of the way.
”

“
Yeah, you probably saved his life,
”
Brian sighed as he sat on the edge of my bed.
“
And got your back clawed up in the process. Claws from a
l
ycanthrope that had shifted.
”

“
What are you saying, Brian? Just spit it out
.
Y
ou know I find foreplay tedious,
”
I snapped. But just like that it hit me
.
“
Y
ou think I
’
ve been infected, don
’
t you?
”

“
Sera, what day is it?
”

“
How the fuck should I know?
”
What did that have to do with anything? For
god
’
s sake! He was talking about my life maybe being ruined and he wanted me to check the date?

“
It
’
s only the next day,
”
Brian said softly.
Didn
’
t that just cool off my annoyance
?
“
You were transported to a human hospital but when they saw how fast you were healing… Well, the
y
transferred you here.
”