Taming the Alphas: Part Four: Paranormal Werewolf Shifter Romance
Copyright © 2015 by Kate Kent
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Published by: Lil Black Dress Press
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I gasped as I peered out from behind the cabinet. My beautiful Todd was sitting in his office chair, a light glimmer of sweat on his brow. His hands gripped the corner of his office desk tightly. Jerry stood directly behind him, cocking a gun towards his head. Though Jerry’s face was pale, his hand remained steady. Dave was directly in front of the pair snarling, his smoky grey, salt and pepper fur bristling with anger.
“Dave, don’t....” Todd said, his voice low and raw with emotion.
“Dave? What the hell!” Jerry shouted. “I thought this monster in front of me was Beverly. Dave’s a shifter too? Where is Beverly? Where is that skank ho?”
I could see from Dave’s wolf that he was ready to pounce on Jerry. Shaking, I could feel my knees starting to buckle. A wereman has incredible strength and power, with the ability to fight off multiple men, but he is no match for a gun. If Dave were to leap at Jerry, I knew for sure he would be shot. If Todd tried to protect me, he might be looking at a bullet too. The thought that one or both of the two men I loved could be hurt at any moment was horrifying.
“I know she has got to be hiding back here somewhere. Oh, Beverlyyy,” Jerry sang, keeping the gun focused on Todd, “come out, come out wherever you are!” his voice rang out. “Get the fuck out here bitch, or your werewolf man’s gonna get it!” he growled, low and guttural. “This one…” he shook the gun towards Todd, “…or this one,” he pointed menacingly at Dave.
He’d left me no choice … there was only one thing I could do. Trembling, I stepped out from my hiding place behind the cabinet. “Jerry, please put the gun down. Let’s talk this out.”
Jerry glanced over at me, a delighted smirk splayed across his face. “Speaking of the whore, it’s so nice of you to finally join us, Beverly.”
Dave hissed. He cocked his tail and bared his fangs, snapping his incisors.
“She’s not a whore!” Todd exclaimed, “She has more class in her little pinky than you have in your entire body.”
Jerry waved the gun in the air and for a moment I thought he was going to crack it down onto Todd’s head. “Man, I’d like to fuck you up. But fortunately for you, there’s a bounty on your head if you are delivered in good condition.”
“A bounty?” I cleared my throat. “What are you talking about?”
“Don’t ask any questions,” Jerry snapped. “Dave, change back to your man, or your lady and her friend will get a bullet—bounty or not!”
Dave snarled but he could see he was in no position to argue so he quickly transitioned back into his man. Bones snapping and crunching, fur enveloped into skin, his body collapsed into itself. He quickly yanked on his jeans and shirt. In seconds, Dave stood before Jerry in his man, trying to contain his anger.
“You’re quite the ugly monster wolf, Dave,” Jerry said nastily. “Thank God my dad warned me about you shifter types and prepared me for this moment.”
Dave shook his head, glints of darkness flashing across his steely gray eyes.
Yeah, dad said you people in your wolf would shock the hell out of any man, so we practiced. He had me work with some nasty attack dogs to get a feel for what running into a vicious animal would be like. But damn…” Jerry wiped his forehead with his sleeve, “it was still a shock seeing you like … like that.”
I looked at Jerry again. The guy was just pure evil. There was something about his jawline and the way he spoke, and what he said about his dad that struck a chord with me. Suddenly it clicked, and I had a clear suspicion of who he was related to.
“Who is your dad?” I asked.
“Jerry … Jerry Mars. He owns the Orange Tap bar in Frederick. You may have seen him. He’s been on the news a lot lately, supporting the werewolf protestors. And,” Jerry added proudly, “he won’t allow none of your kind in his bar.”
I knew it! He had the same jawline, an identical nasty grin … why hadn’t I seen the connection earlier?
“So, you’re Jerry Jr.?” Todd asked. “I guess I just didn’t put two and two together.”
Jerry nodded. “Yup, and proud of it! My dad’s a hard-working, honest man, and neither of us like this werewolf bullshit.”
I could sense the tension in Dave’s body and I knew he could go ballistic at any minute. I tried hard to think of something to say to diffuse Dave’s anger, change Jerry’s mind about whatever he had planned for us, and figure a way we could get out of this mess.
“So, what do you want with us?” Dave asked tersely.
“It’s not what I want. It’s what the boss—Calvin Peet wants.”
Calvin Peet. I recognized that name. He was the multi-millionaire who owned a lot of property. He was supporting the WHO group. I remembered them talking at the coffee shop about how he was willing to supply their organization with money to finance trips, weapons, and whatever else they needed to fight us “monsters”.
“What could Cal Peet possibly want with us?” Todd asked.
“We’re not about to bite and turn him, if that’s what he wants,” I replied, thinking back to the crazy request made by the members of the WAG group.
Jerry started laughing maniacally. “I don’t know, I’ve never had that discussion with him. But I have a feeling he has something in mind other than being turned into one of you. What I do know for sure is that he is offering a bounty for you two,” he said, pointing at Todd and me. “I don’t think he knew about you,” he nodded towards Dave. “I got me three wolfies instead of two. I bet he’s gonna pay me extra. Cha-ching!” Jerry exclaimed happily, a wide grin spread across his face.
This guy was a nutbag … maybe I could distract him with conversation? If I could get his guard down there was a chance we could somehow wrestle the gun away from him. “So there was never a fight here tonight? This was all just a ruse to get us to come to the pizzeria?” I asked.
“Yeah, I told Todd there was a fight to get him in here. When he got here, I told him to call you, Beverly, and say something to get your ass in here too. But instead he called Dave and told you
both
not to come. Thankfully, you all ignored him and came in anyway,” Jerry smiled. “That’s a good thing—at least for me, anyways.”
Ugh, I felt queasy. I could just imagine Todd with a gun to his head minutes before we arrived, not knowing if he would be shot or not after defying Jerry’s orders.
Todd shook his head. “I’m sorry guys, I tried. I feel sick about this.”
Jerry snickered. “You all aren’t big bad wolves! You’re a bunch of touchy, feely pussies. How’s it feel to have two men at once Beverly? Pretty good, huh? Yeah, I bet you like those big cocks sticking it right up your juicy pussy and hot ass,” Jerry laughed, amused at his own jokes.
He narrowed his eyes. “Mmm, I bet if you like two cocks, you would like three,” he rubbed his crotch. “Are you woman enough for a real man’s dick? Can you handle a giant tool like mine? Maybe Mr. Peet will let me keep you to play with. I’ll show you what a real man feels like,” he motioned towards Dave and Todd. “You don’t need two boys, just one real man with a rock hard cock like me.”
“You sick fuck!” Todd blurted out.
“Oh, what do you know, Todd? You’re not even man enough to handle the woman by yourself. It takes two of you monsters. Once she’s had my big dick, she’ll understand what it really means to be fucked,” he leered at me suggestively. “So, what do you think Bev, can you handle a real man?”
I started to blurt out a response but Dave hushed me. I could see he was seething with anger, but he controlled his words.
“Jerry, enough talk,” Dave said as he directed his gaze towards him. “What exactly are you planning to do now?”
Before he had a chance to answer, a familiar female voice called out. “What the hell is going on Jerry?”
I caught Todd’s surprised face and Dave’s wide eyes before I turned to the door. I was frozen in shock. I couldn’t believe who was standing there!
.
“Margaret Redson! What…”
Margaret put her hand up towards me. “Just a minute, Beverly; Jerry, what the hell do you think you are doing?”
“He said there was a bounty on our heads,” Dave snapped. “He told Todd that a fight had broken out so that he would come to the restaurant on his night off.”
Jerry furrowed his brow. “You said to round up the monsters,” he pointed at Dave, “and look, I got us an extra one!”
Margaret shook her head. “Jerry, you were not hired to act as a bounty hunter. Your assignment was to invite Todd and Beverly to Calvin Peet’s Virginia estate. You could have done that on a night you were working with Todd. At no time were you told to use a gun or any other violent measures towards them.”
“He’s been watching too much crime TV,” Todd said, grimacing.
“But they got out of line…” Jerry whined.
“We got out of line?” Todd cocked his brow. “What the hell did we do? You just wanted a chance to act like a big man and wave that gun around.”
“Give me the gun now, Jerry,” Margaret demanded.
Jerry frowned as he handed over the gun. “You can have it, but I want it back.”
As Margaret took the gun, Todd’s body visibly slumped, some of the tension easing from his powerful shoulders. I moved over to his side and softly stroked his broad back. He’d been through the ringer tonight.
Margaret sighed. “You royally screwed this up. I am sure you scared the shit out of these three. What were you thinking?”
“I’ll still get paid, won’t I?”
Margaret smoothed a few strands of her auburn hair away from her forehead. “You’ll have to take that up with Cal,” she exhaled deeply. “Todd, Beverly, and of course you too Dave… I am truly sorry about this. Calvin Peet would love to meet with you at his estate in Virginia this weekend. Jerry here,” she said, motioning to him, “was supposed to issue that invitation. I apologize that he went about it the wrong way.”
Dave wrinkled his brow. “Margaret, what the hell is going on? You work for Homeland Security! How are you mixed up with Calvin Peet?”
Margaret shrugged her shoulders. “Do you know what it’s like day after day going to the same old mind numbing, boring job? When I signed on to work for the government I wanted to serve my country and do something worthwhile. But the jobs I was assigned to boiled down to pencil pushing. I just couldn’t stand it. And I couldn’t quit—I’d lose all my benefits and my pension!”
“You should feel grateful you have a job,” Dave replied tersely.
Margaret ignored him, pushing ahead. “I begged and begged for a juicy assignment. Finally, after years of working for the government plugging away doing complete bullshit, I was assigned something worthwhile.”
I looked at her quizzically.
“I got the job of helping you werewolves assimilate into society; I worked my ass off in preparation for your release. But, then I heard through the grapevine that Richard Dawes was planning to replace me with a co-worker. Not for any real reason—just because they were friends. They were going to take over all the hard work I’d done and get all the credit and glory. I was going to get shoved back in my little cubicle again, doing the same old grunt work. Right around that time, one of Calvin Peet’s people approached me about working for him.”
“He hired you to spy?” Todd asked.
Margaret wrinkled her nose. “No, well, I mean ... He hired me to share what I learned at work with him—information about the two of you,” she pointed at Todd and me, “and some of the other werewolves, like Lisa and Shelby.”
“What about me?” Dave asked.
“I … I haven’t told him about you.”
That was odd. She had talked to Cal about those of us who had been bitten and turned into werewolves when we were working as camp counselors. We were the ones the public suspected were shifters. But she hadn’t told Cal about Dave, who was born into the clan. Apparently, the public knew nothing about him or any of the other werewolves who were shifters by birth.
“Sounds like you are spying to me,” Todd said.
“I guess you could look at it that way. But it was for the good of the country. I mean, he wants to help you all, which the government doesn’t seem to be doing. So I joined his team…”
“Help us? He wants to help us? I don’t think so,” I gave Margaret an icy stare. “I overheard members of the WHO discussing him one day. They said he was supplying money to finance trips to the capitol to stage protests, pay for ammunition and more! How is that helping us?”
Margaret brushed it off. “He would never supply them with ammunition or any money that would be used to hurt you. He just pretended to go along with them so he would know more about what their plans were. He would donate some cash now and then for food or travel expenses, but never for guns or other ammunition.”
I shook my head in disbelief.
“Cal is a creative thinker,” Margaret said. “He is trying to think of ways to help your kind so you can be of benefit to our nation while also enriching yourselves. He just wants to help you.”
“Help us my ass.” I rolled my eyes. “Sounds like he wants to get richer at our expense.”
“Well, I am not going to lie. It takes a lot of money to support Cal’s lifestyle. So naturally, he wants this to be a profitable venture for everyone—including himself. But mainly, he wants to help you all. He likes to help others.”
Todd cocked an eyebrow. “That sounds like bullshit to me.”
Dave breathed an exasperated sigh. “Yeah, this is a load of crap.”
“You might think he wants to help us, but what if he doesn’t? And if you get caught spying for him, you risk prison and you might lose your pension! How would you feel if you lost your pension after all those years of work?” I asked.
Margaret gave me a sarcastic look. “Ha! It’s unlikely they would send me to prison.”
“Unfortunately, there are government employees that collect a pension even though they are negligent. A pension financed by the American taxpayer,” Dave replied.
“That sucks man,” Todd said.
“So you were never kidnapped?” I asked. I thought back to when Shelby and Lisa recounted being attacked and almost kidnapped along with Margaret.
“No, it was set up to look like the three of us were being kidnapped. Of course, I knew all along what was happening. We just hadn’t counted on Lisa and Shelby turning into their wolves. What a sight that was. It was exciting to watch them transition in the van.”
“You enjoyed watching them transition? You were excited?” I said angrily, shaking my head. “Those girls were scared out of their minds. This is just sick.”
“Oh come on, we weren’t going to hurt the girls. We just wanted to talk to them.”
My jaw was tightening, and I could barely stand to look at her. She truly had no clue how frightened Lisa and Shelby had been; and how concerned we all had been for their safety when we thought they had been kidnapped.
“Umm,” I said, “I overheard a member of the WHO group say she had a good friend that worked for Homeland Security who told her werewolves were real. A member of another organization, the WAG, said the same. Was that friend you?”
“It was,” Margaret responded proudly. “Cal asked me to do some detective work. He wanted to know the reaction to the rumors that werewolves existed, and how they felt about the government covering it up. I did some digging and found a small group of students at the University who were vehemently opposed to assimilating werewolves into society.”
“The WHO group?” I asked, referring to the Werewolf Haters Organization.
“Exactly,” Margaret said, scratching her cheek with a long, red fingernail.
“The group wasn’t very organized, they were just starting out. I made it so that I would ‘accidently’ meet Karen, one of the members, and then I became friendly with her. Despite our age difference we became good friends.”
“How did you meet her?” I guessed that Margaret was in her forties. I had to wonder how someone Margaret’s age could become good friends with a college age student.
“Well, Cal’s company arranged for her to “win” a scholarship. We told her that her name had been randomly selected from all freshmen by a benefactor who wished to remain anonymous. But in order to keep the money, she had to meet with me twice a week to discuss her goals and such.”
“And she believed it?”
“She really opened up to me. A lot of freshmen need someone to talk to. Leaving home for the first time … this is all new to most of them. Of course, the possibility that she could renew the scholarship for another year was very helpful too... I also fed her ideas that she could use for the WHO group.”
“Why would you do that?”
“Cal Peet told me to. Like I said, he wanted to learn as much about you as possible so that he could help you, which would benefit everyone. We just gave a little money to them and a few ideas … we just wanted to see what the group was thinking.”
“Fuck, Margaret! You can’t be sure Cal wants to help us.” Dave said. “If Cal hadn’t given them any money they probably would have disbanded by now. That group is just trouble for us.”
“Let me guess,” Todd said, shaking his head, “Cal is funding the WAG group too?”
“Oh yes,” Margaret replied, “after the WHO group became stronger, the WAG group was started. When I reported this to Cal, naturally he wanted to keep track of what they were doing. We offered several members scholarships. Again, we told them they were randomly selected by an unknown benefactor and that to keep the scholarship they had to have meetings with me. I became friends with them. We also pay for their meetings so we can get a good feel for what is going on…”
“So that explains where they get the money to rent banquet rooms and have gourmet meals at their meetings,” Todd mused.
Margaret nodded.
“Aimee, Lina, and Arturo are on scholarships paid for by Cal Peet. Their group is supported by Cal Peet,” I thought aloud, “and I bet they have no idea he supports the WHO group also.”
“Neither group knows he supports the other. It’s not their business. He just wants to know what everyone is doing and where their heads are.”
“Margaret, how can you be so clueless?” Dave asked bitterly. “Cal is a businessman, one with a ruthless reputation. Believe me, he has an agenda.”
“I think he just wants to help,” Margaret said, “that’s what he told me.”
“How could you belie…” Dave shook his head. “Never mind … what does he want now?”
“Cal would like to invite you to his estate for the weekend. That’s what he paid Jerry to do—invite you for the weekend.” She gave Jerry a sour look as he pouted in the corner. “Cal will arrange to have you picked up by his driver. You will be wined, dined, and enjoy his luxurious home for several nights. He wants to show you what he can do for you.”
Todd shook his head. “Man, I would love to go to Cal’s place and see what this is all about, but with Jerry fired,” he glanced over at Jerry who met his gaze with a scowl, “I just don’t know who I would get to run Slice of the Pie. By the way Jerry, in case you didn’t hear, you’re fired.”
“It sucks working here anyway,” Jerry muttered.
“And don’t be looking for a reference,” Todd added.
Dave snorted. “Todd, you’re killing me man. We should be calling the police and have them deal with this jerk. But I guess if they start digging it would make life even harder for us. Best we can do is go home and sleep on this.”
“So what should I tell Cal?” Margaret asked expectantly. All of a sudden, there was a loud knock on the door.
“Hey, Todd, can I go now? Everyone is gone and I cleaned all the tables,” Jenna was standing in the doorway. She started picking at her nails. “Well, can I?”
Dave looked at me. “Beverly, let’s go. Todd, you ready?”
Todd stood up. “Yeah, I’ve had it for the night. Jenna, kick these people out of here,” he motioned towards Jerry and Margaret. “And lock up please,” he added, tossing her the keys to the pizzeria.
Margaret stared at us in disbelief. “But what do I tell Cal Peet?” she asked, frustrated.
As Todd, Dave and I started to leave, Dave sneered. “Tell him to go fuck himself!”