Page 5 of Bodyguard Wolf Shifter
The fight with those two men didn't last very long but it did curb one of my appetites. The other had grown stronger when I laid my eyes on her. A sexual longing burned within me. Nobody could know that I wanted to be with her.
She was a politician first but underneath, she was still a hot-blooded woman in desperate need of satisfaction. The woman was lonely, but she didn't go around and advertise she was looking for a lover.
"You've been up to something behind our backs. Whatever you are doing is best for the clan. We know that but we don't like being left in the dark," Luke announced from where he was at the sink washing up the dishes.
He was never one to leave the dishes until later. It was one of his endearing quirks. The man was meticulous about everything including his appearance. It looked like he had walked off the pages of a GQ magazine.
There wasn't a blonde hair out of place.
The exposed ceiling with ductwork wasn't a decorative statement. We lived in squalor in an abandoned warehouse on the outskirts of Los Angeles. We had to scare away some of the local homeless population.
The place was relatively in good shape. Leftover machinery from an old textile plant took up some of the space. We had made it habitable. There were still strange noises at night in the walls but whatever it was didn't dare come out. It must've sensed what we were and didn't want to tangle with us.
"I feel like a prisoner. You go out and we stay here sheltered from the real world." He then looked down at the documents. "These papers are masterful forgeries. I'll try to talk to Smith. He can be rather stubborn. You know that better than anybody," Luke mentioned with his back toward me.
The jagged scar on his shoulder was something he never talked about. The blood on his hands would forever stain his soul. He didn't like fighting and was quite vocal about being a pacifist.
He called her wounds badges of honor.
They had pushed him too far and he retaliated. The man was a surgeon on the battlefield. A switch had gone off and he turned primal. He looked almost inhuman when he decimated the ranks of the opposition. He killed with impunity and lived with their ghosts after the dust settled.
He was quite proficient in martial arts but also deadly in his own right when it came to wielding a blade. The sight of him flaying one of his victims was hard to witness.
"It costs almost $10,000 for each identification. Selling drugs isn't the answer. A reliable source confirms the police are aware of the new substance on the street. A detective Samuel Coleman is heading up the task force. They call it Element X," I said.
The worst thing I could do was let them in on my little secret. It was better for everybody to work behind the scenes. Luke didn't understand the need for secrecy when we were supposed to have each other's backs. What he failed to realize was that I was making inroads into a future where we would no longer have to fear outsiders.
I flashed back to the green grass and tall trees. That was what I was working toward. A safe place for all of our kind to grow up living off the land and depending on one another.
The property was isolated and very hard to reach.
Some people would feel cut off from civilization but that was exactly what we wanted.
The war was over but the tentative peace accord was fragile. It wouldn't take very much to light the fuse. Nobody wanted to go down that road again. Concessions had been made but not before soldiers fighting the good fight never came home again.
One of them was my father.
That was a bitter pill to swallow. My mother had already died. It left me with the responsibility of picking up the mantle of leadership in his name. Most respected me but others feared the past was destined to repeat itself.
"We have others coming by the end of the week. This place isn't going to be enough to hold them. We promised to deliver the documents. We have barely scratched the surface. Smith is the only game in town. I've been searching for other alternatives," Luke announced while shuffling cards.
"We will make room for them. It's all a work in progress. Every step is in the right direction." I punched the wall in frustration.
Letting off a little bit of steam was a good idea. Screaming wasn't going to do me any good. Luke was just telling me the truth.
Only a good friend would do that at the risk of alienating me. He liked to think we were partners, but I ultimately had the final say in any decision.
"I've been thinking of a way to go legit. I don't want to say anything until I iron out the details. You're not the only one that can keep secrets," he said with his eyes narrowed.
"The big difference is that I'm the leader of the pack and not you. Our supplier for the drugs is getting suspicious. They haven't come out and said it directly, but they did intimate they want a bigger percentage of the profits. We can't keep going this way." I stepped up to the table with my hands firmly planted to get their undivided attention.
Jasper and Lincoln shared a knowing look. There was no telling what they were up to.
I grimaced behind their backs. I must've twisted the wrong way when I dispatched those two men attacking Sarah. Three years was a long time without hurting someone. It was fun to hone my skills in a more constructive way than punching a bag.
I had a couple of loose ends to tie up. There was only so much money could do.
A makeshift gym was set up in one of the rooms to keep us from getting rusty. Having a routine gave us the discipline we were vastly lacking. Hunting was one thing, but we couldn't always rely on the animal to get the blood pumping.
