Page 4 of Dodging Bullets

Lance handed us each a beer bottle. “Don’t drink anything on tap unless you want to get salmonella,” he murmured quietly. I had no intention of drinking anything, the beer was a prop. “The fuckwad arrived about ten minutes ago. He’s up there at the bar, downing tequila.”

Snorting, Max rubbed a finger through the condensation rings on the scarred Formica table top. “And I thought this might be a challenge,” he said softly. Louder, he announced, “I’m going to get some shots. You boys want one?” He sounded like a jovial college Chad, and didn’t seem even a little perturbed when we both shook our heads. He bounded up to the bar, like he had no troubles in the world. I knew it wasn’t true; you didn’t do the things he’d done without some darkness, but you wouldn’t see it on his face.

We let Max work while I held my beer as if I was going to put this pisswater to my lips. For a little while, Lance and I talked about the nothing things: guys from the VA, the weather, baseball. Then we talked about his Omega, and that fucking bird, all the while drinking as little of the beer in my hand as I could.

Out of the corner of my eye, I watched the front door, and Max. He’d sidled right up to Joseph Powell, the shitstain who was working with some reality TV host to peddle animals forfucked-up reasons. I couldn’t imagine the balls it took to have your face flashed all over some TV show, rescuing the very creatures you were sending out to be tortured.

I fucking hated people.

What felt like hours later, Joseph Powell was stumbling down the hall towards the men’s bathrooms, and Max gave me the signal.Go time.

“I’ll go around the back,” I told Lance, who nodded.

“I’ll get the car.”

I followed him out the front door, then took a sharp left down the piss alleyway. I didn’t have to wait long for Max to push Joseph Powell out the door. The guy was drunk as fuck, but not so drunk that one look at me didn’t make him want to add to the layer of piss already coating the concrete.

“Who the fuck are you guys?”

Lance arrived with the car, slowing just enough that Max could wrench open the door and I could shove the asshole in. Max hopped in the front next to Lance, as I climbed in after Shitstain McGee.

“Where are you taking me? You’re going to regret this! Do you know who my boss is? I’ll have youarrested,” he shouted. I tuned him out, trying to pick up what Max was saying up front. I couldn’t hear jack shit over the sound of Joseph Powell’s whiny voice, though. “Seriously, man, just pull over and let me out, and we’ll forget this ever happened. Or my Pack will hear about this. They’re rich. They’re connected. I can make your lifemiserable.”

I knew that Joseph Powell didn’t have a Pack, let alone a powerful one. He wasn’t done, though, and went about immediately contradicting himself.

“I don’t have any money, and no one will pay a ransom. You guys have the wrong guy.”

Fuck, I hatedstupidpeople.

“Do we?” I asked in a low voice, the one that promised violence and probably death.

“I mean it—I won’t say anything…”

Oh, for fuck’s sake.This guy was so tedious.

Without warning, I wrapped my arm around his throat, putting him in a sleeper hold as he slapped against my forearm. He stood no chance of shaking me off, and soon enough, he was quiet and still. I pushed his unconscious body from mine, his head smacking the window a little harder than I intended.

Lance raised an eyebrow in the rearview mirror, and Max huffed. Crossing my arms over my chest, I frowned. “What? He was annoying.”

Max pinched the bridge of his nose, but didn’t disagree. Lance lifted his chin at an intersection in front of us. “Doesn’t matter. We’re almost there.”

Fucking finally.

Three

Paloma

Sound was muffled down here. There was no warmth. No sunlight. Just a small room with a bed and a table. I hid beneath my veil, like a child would hide under its blankets. Like the intricate fabric walls hid me from the horror of the fact I was trapped down here.

The brand at the base of my throat was red and crusted, and I thought it might be infected, but I had no poultice to put on it and no voice to ask for it, even if I would. I’d woken up down here what seemed like forever ago, and other than another strange, weaselly-looking guy—who said his name was Joseph—coming to give me food once a day, I hadn’t seen anyone. The stubble on my head was starting to grow in, so it had to have been at least a week, maybe even two.

I could hear the sounds of animals faintly, and I often wondered if I was inside a zoo. Just another creature in an enclosure. I’d never seen a zoo, but I’d read about them. They were from the before.

I was beginning to wonder if there evenwasa before, or whether my whole life had been a lie. I’d seen the vehicle. Been inside it. They weren’t meant to exist anymore. I’d been taken bystrangers.They weren’t meant to exist either.

They were almost like a dream now, or maybe a nightmare. I hadn’t seen any of those Alphas since they’d taken me. Perhaps they’d never existed, and it was just Joseph. Somehow, I found that reassuring. Joseph was undesignated, I thought. He couldn’t compel me to do things.

The sounds of the animals increased, and I frowned. They were especially loud today. Howls echoed around the space; I wondered if they were wolves. I pulled the veil closer to my body and curled up on the bed. It was cold tonight, and wherever I was, I was below ground, because the walls were solid and the cold damp came up from the ground. The only time I could be warm was if I rolled myself up in my blanket and lay in the middle of the mattress.

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