Werewolves of Chicago: Howard: The Underdog Read online

  Or at least get my number.

  “Shit! Did he come back here just to see me?”

  I slump down on the barstool.

  17

  Howard

  As we left the club, me with my tail between my legs, Xavier and Draik had a good run at me. I’m used to that sort of thing, but this time it stung.

  She really told me off. There was nothing to do but leave. I wasn’t able to even get her name. It’s not like I could have told her I can’t stop thinking about her, that when I see her I want to back her up against the coats and do things I’ve never done with anyone before. That she smells like honey and sapphires. Fuck. What am I gonna do?

  “Don’t worry, War,” Xavier teases me, ribbing me with his elbow. “War? Really?”

  Draik’s laugh vanishes as he adamantly defends his choice. “You can’t be what we are and have a name like fucking Howard. And War is right there in the name! Plus he’s always at war with himself!” Then he starts cracking up.

  “Har har,” I mumble, dejected and essentially shuffling my feet to the car. “Now what? Get her flowers? I’ll look like an idiot.”

  “You’re not used to that yet?” Draik asks with mock innocence.

  I can’t help but smile at that. They are fucking with me because they like me. It’s a big difference over how my old pack did it, so I decide to stop sulking. Leaning against the front of a building, I look at them with complete sobriety. “Help. I don’t know how to get her to go out with me.”

  Xavier and Draik face me and exchange a look like they know something I don’t. Or maybe I’m imagining that. I’m in a bad fucking mood.

  Xavier cocks his chin. “Why don’t we go get something to eat. You worked up an appetite.”

  After that training, I sure as hell have. “Yeah. Starved.”

  “Great. We’ll grab some grub then come back here after closing.”

  Draik points at me with a warning. “But you don’t give flowers to a girl like that. She’s edgy. Check the hair. Not every lady goes the distance in creative expression like that.” Xavier throws him a look, but Draik ignores him. “So you’re gonna have to do something special. Like bring her a bottle of bourbon.”

  A grin breaks out as I start laughing. “Who knows if she even drinks? You’re nuts. I’m not bringing her whiskey.”

  Draik throws up his hands like he has no use for me anymore. “Just trying to help.” He starts for the car. “What are we in the mood for? Burgers?”

  “YES!”

  18

  Alisa

  There are three coats left but only two people inside the club. They’re making out in a corner near the dance floor while our staff cleans up. Someone forgot theirs. Happens at least once a shift. I’m tapping my feet wishing they’d take their foreplay home. My eBook and also my imaginary world have long ago been abandoned. Right now I just want to go home because I’m haunted by my earlier fuck-up.

  I can’t get Mophead—War—out of my head.

  “This has to be the longest, most fucked-up night of my career.”

  “Checking coats is your lifetime profession?”

  Hopeful, I glance over to the entrance but the deep baritone voice doesn’t belong to the handsome man I shunned. Walking toward me is a striking guy with small hazel eyes, brown hair and just as many muscles as the three who left earlier. But upon closer inspection this one looks more sinewy, less meat on him and he has tiny, intriguing scars on his arms, neck and face. He’s smiling at me, so I return the favor, happy only for the distraction.

  “Uh…no. Definitely not my career. No.”

  He’s amused at my dry delivery and he leans on the counter that separates me from the outside world. “I like the blue hair. Didn’t expect that. What’s your name?”

  Expect it?

  “Alisa. Yours?”

  “Tahl.”

  I nod, thinking it’s an interesting name, but keeping that to myself. “You picking up?” I motion to the three coats behind me. “I was wondering who’d left the other coat behind. This’ll be a first, all of them claimed.”

  “I just got here.” His eyes have something in them that is starting to give me the heebie jeebies. Jerking his chin toward the lonely jackets, he adds, “Those aren’t mine.”

  “Ah, well, it’s a dream.” We stare at each other, my discomfort growing. “I have to get back to work.”

  He huffs a laugh. “You haven’t done anything for the last ten minutes.”

  After a long pause, I mutter, “How do you know that? You weren’t here.”

  “I was just guessing.” His smile widens on a wink.

  “Oh. Right.” An uncomfortable chuckle escapes my lips. “Okay, well, I don’t feel like talking anymore, so—”

  “—So I guess you don’t want to come over to my place and fuck, then.”

  My jaw drops. I shut it, hard. “I think you should leave.”

  He laughs under his breath, and turns on his heel. “Your loss…Alisa.”

  At hearing my name coming from him, spikey goosebumps shoot under my skin. I shiver and throw a glance to the heavier coat hanging behind me, wishing I could put it on. It’s suddenly very cold. I consider waiting for the make-out couple to come out and decide, “Fuck it. They can get their own coats.”

  Dumping the tip jar’s generous contents into my purse, I promise myself to figure out what I really want to do with my life, as quickly as possible. What I don’t want is to be approached by skeezie men in dark places anymore. This is not a way to make a living. Not for me.

  As soon as I make it to the front door, I realize that he just left, and I really don’t want to run into that guy unprotected. So I wait. My ballet-style flats tap the cement floor this time with my adrenaline pumping. I hate men who make me feel this way. Absolutely fucking hate them. I bet this is how deer feel in the forest when they sense a predator. After a few impatient minutes, I tell myself aloud, “I’m sure he’s gone. There are a ton of bars around here. He’s gotta keep that search up.” Blinking toward the floor I add, “Just in case, I’m going out the back door.”

  Jumping back behind the counter, I grab their coats and walk into the bar, straight up to the couple making out so loudly I hear slurping. “Here.” I lay their coats on the table and mumble, “Free of charge.” They don’t even see me.

  Giving a wave to Greta and Austin behind the bar, I head for the back door. Louie bars my way. “No pooping tonight?”

  “Give it a rest Louie,” I mutter and push past him. “I just hand-delivered the sloppy kissers their coats.”

  Having nothing else to say and needing all the power he can find, he calls after me, “Be on time tomorrow!” He’s a small man. Not in height. In spirit.

  “I was on time today!” I call back, raising my hand in a wave. “Goodnight Louie!”

  “But you weren’t last Monday!” he shouts. Ignoring this, I crash through the door into the back alley. Best not to get him on my bad side. I’ve been fired enough.

  Lynnie would kill me.

  I cross my arms against the chilly night. It takes several annoyed steps for me to let my irritation with Louie go. I realize that it’s after four in the morning and there is no one around. No one. I don’t think I’ve ever felt the city so silent and eerie since we moved here. Behind stores, clubs and restaurants, the buildings always look sketchy. They never put any effort into how the back of a place looks. The pothole covered, darkly lit parking lots don’t help the nervous feeling creeping into my blood. The familiar scent of Lake Michigan wafts through the air and I inhale deeply to calm my racing heart.

  Am I being watched?

  I stop walking and turn to slowly look behind me. Several old spotlights indicate no one is there, and that I’m alone. But I don’t feel like I am. Walking faster, I become positive someone is watching me right now. I break into a run. The solo echo of my ballet-style flats hitting the concrete makes me more scared. I sound panicked. God, just get me home. Help me get home!

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nbsp; From the cutout entrance to a restaurant I’ve never been in jumps the man with the scars. I scream. He grabs me around the waist and covers my mouth with his hand. “Shhhhhh!” My screams won’t stop, muffled by his rough skin. He lifts me off the ground with one arm like I weigh nothing. I kick at him with all my might, but he just laughs a horrible little laugh.

  I bite his hand. HARD.

  He gives a deep yelp and throws me to the ground, staring at his palm. “Fucking bitch!” he mutters, coming for me. I’m trying to push my dress’s hem down. On the fall it travelled to an unfortunate height. He eyes my exposed panties and I scoot backwards, crab-like on the asphalt, tears running down my cheeks.

  “Don’t!” I flip around on my stomach and try to get up to run, but he’s on me.

  “What did he see in you,” he rasps as he shoves my head down onto the pavement, and pulls my dress up from behind.

  “Oh God, please. Please don’t do this,” comes out as strangled cries. You hear about this act happening to other women, and you think, how awful. But when you’re the one being raped there are no thoughts except prayers. Then it all goes quiet and a part of you dies to numb away the horror. Everything slows painfully down. I hear his breathing, methodically loud. I smell his cologne as if someone shoved it in my nose. I hear a night bird in the distance knowing that I will never love their sweet song again.

  My panties are torn off and my legs are kicking of their own volition. I hear the distinct sound of a zipper. I squeeze my eyes shut and then I am released, his weight off me in an instant. Confusion overcomes me. As though drenched in sludge I rise up leaning on my hands to pull at my dress until I am covered, looking behind me to see what happened. There facing my attacker are three guys I’d never expect to see. War stands with authority in the middle, legs spread, shoulders tight and fists ready. On either side of him again are his friends, glaring from under their brows. They all look murderous. My attacker is hunched over like a werewolf would be if I were watching a horror movie. War hunches in exactly the same way and snarls through gritted teeth, “Tahl, you never learn.”

  I gasp words against a lump in my throat, raw from screaming. Nothing comes out. A fight is about to happen but it’s three to one so I know how it will end. Tucking my legs under me for modesty, I feel how scraped up my knees are but I don’t look down. I have to know what’s going to happen. My chest feels tight. I let out a choked cry as right before my very eyes, War and Tahl reshape into wolves—real wolves! Shaking fingers rise to my open lips.

  With fangs bared and shards of forgotten clothes scattered around them, they lunge for each other. My eyes flit to Blondie. Staring right at me he holds an index finger to his mouth. “Shhhh….”

  19

  Howard

  It took forever for four o’clock to roll around. We had to go to Declans Irish Pub after grabbing burgers to pass the time. As we headed back to Spybar a drunk-driving accident got us stuck in dead-stopped traffic. The exploding horns of impatient drivers exacerbated my own growing irritation. They epitomized my inner voice telling me time was running out, an alarm more and more real by the second. I couldn’t wait to see her again. And I don’t mean that in the way everyone says it so often that it’s now lost the real thrust of its meaning. I really couldn’t wait. Broken glass was in my blood stream. I couldn’t sit still. Xavier and Draik kept telling me, “Calm the fuck down!”

  “I’m trying! I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”

  They stared grimly at the glowing unmoving taillights ahead, back to back as far as the eye could see. And the blaring horns kept driving me absolutely out of my head.

  “I’m gonna run over there!” I growled. But I was in the backseat. To get out the front, you have to move the passenger seat forward. Draik was in it like a prison guard protecting the gate to the free world. He turned around with danger in his pale brown eyes.

  “If you think you’re going to climb over me to get out of this car, I’d like to see you try that.”

  I gritted my teeth and stole a glance at the window next to me. It was too small to climb through.

  Draik muttered to Xavier, “He’s thinking of breaking the glass to get out.”

  “Motherfucker,” Xavier mumbled to himself. He pounded on his own horn for the first time, shouting, “COME ON! MOVE IT!”

  I started to pant. “What’s wrong with me. I feel like…like…” I shut my mouth and stared at my hands. The nails were growing sharper. “I have to get to her. I have to.” Draik reached over the back of the seat, half his body hanging over it. “I HAVE TO!” I shouted in his face.

  He grabbed me by the shirt collar and forced me to be still. “Howard. Hear me. You will not shift. You are losing control of your wolf. Get it under wraps now or you will expose us. You see that car next to us?” He squashed my face into the window. “They have cameras on their phones. They have been looking over here trying to get our attention for fifteen minutes.” He offered a smile to the carload of four inebriated, cute girls. They waved and started laughing to each other. Pulling me back, he went on his low volume, “You want to scare the living daylights out of those nice ladies?” The idea was unacceptable. I shook my head. He released me, pointed and warned, “I’m not fucking around. Put your leash on or I will do it for you.”

  I swallowed and glanced back to my hands. My nails were still sharp. I focused all my energy on containing the urge to fly to her, and repeated silently to myself what he’d just told me about scaring those girls. Exposing our secret—that was against wolf-law for reasons of survival of our entire kind. FOCUS! I glanced to the car beside us and offered a curt nod to the smiling, red-haired driver. She was cute just like he said, but I didn’t care.

  Xavier used more subtle means. “Howard, can you hear me?” It struck me as an odd question, but was intensely valid. It was hard to hear anything but the roar in my veins. I nodded. “This isn’t the only night you have to see her. You know where she works, right?” I nodded again. “I know where she lives.”

  My eyebrows shot up.

  “HOW THE FUCK DO YOU KNOW WHERE SHE LIVES?”

  The car went silent. I sat back, shocked at myself.

  Xavier inhaled restraint—no one yells at him like that—and looked over his shoulder at me. “You know where she lives, too. We were there when the deputies talked to us. Remember that?”

  “Of course I remember it,” I say, but the sound is a snarl and my eyes dart to my hands again to see my nails have turned into outright claws.

  “You’d found her. You’d tracked her to the right address. You did good. You can do it again. So tell your wolf this isn’t the end.”

  The cars began to move. “Thank God,” Draik grumbled.

  Xavier held my look long enough for me to confess what I didn’t want to believe. “It’s not that. Xavier, it feels like something’s wrong. Like I have to…”

  When my growled voice catches in my throat, he demands, “What? Howard, don’t shift! What are you feeling!?”

  “I think she’s in trouble.” My hands feel funny and I look down to see the nail beds becoming normal again. My wolf wanted me to know the truth, and now that I’ve realized what that is, he could rest. He was connected to spiritual things I had no clue even existed until then. He knew the girl with the blue hair and I are connected somehow and that she needs me.

  I was surprised they didn’t laugh at me when I said that. They did the opposite. Both got quiet and stared at the road as it began to clear out. The drunk girls next to us honked to get our attention. None of us looked. Though I was no longer going to shift, I still felt the grating unease that would not abate. “Dammit, Go!” After we cleared the intersection Xavier disregarded speed limit signs. But as we neared the club, it only got worse. My head started moving to the left and right like a clock ticking, biding my time until they parked that fucking car.

  “Anywhere! Park anywhere!” I snarled. Xavier turned left well before the club. “Where are you going?!!”

>   “To the back alley, Howard. If there’s trouble, we have to be smart and discreet.”

  I leaned forward to stare out the windshield. My eyes narrowed. All of us saw it at the same time. In the shadows ahead between lights of two separate buildings were the red glowing outlines of struggling life forms. I leaned deeper in and growled, “Tahl!”

  20

  Howard

  With the car abandoned, we ran. She was struggling and losing. He had her panties off and my wolf roared inside my soul so loudly my whole body hurt. Tahl is the strongest of my old pack. Xavier is the fastest of ours and he made it to them before I did, reaching down and grabbing Tahl by his jacket and throwing him onto the ground.

  That’s where we are now. For the first time I know what it feels like to be a team, because I do not mind that he grabbed Tahl first. I only care that she is safe. Tahl’s cock is still in his pants, though they are unzipped, we got here in time.

  Tahl is up off the ground in a heartbeat. Xavier stands back and lets me do what I have to do. With my new, chosen pack at my sides I face my childhood friend, the one who chose the dark side. Who I loved like family, but will never love again.

  “Tahl, you never learn,” I snarl.

  He sneers at me and says so lowly only we can hear him, “She tastes like cotton candy and pain. Yummy.”

  Xavier mutters to Draik, “Here we go.”

  And before I know what’s happening, I’ve shifted. Tahl must have known I would because in the same instant his glowing grey eyes are looking at me from behind a face of fur. We go at each other. It is my first fight. I don’t judge or watch myself. I let my wolf lead. He knows the way, and now…I trust him.

  As we bite and lash out and circle each other, coming back for round after round, Xavier flashes from building to building and knocks out the security cameras. Draik goes to help my blue-haired girl. A door to her club is forced closed when someone tries to use it to get to their car. My packmates cover all bases, while I make an old friend pay. It is violent and merciless. With fur and blood in my teeth, I stare down at his shattered, whimpering beast. I paw at the ground and pace, making sure he’s not faking.