Page 45 of Feral Attraction
The bouncer grunted, clasping both hands to his stomach.Con knocked him to the floor with a jab to his chin.
The crowd gasped when light flashed from Tark, and he shifted to his wolf form.Covered with dark gray fur, he pulled back his lips and snarled.
Con wasted no time.He shifted, his wolf bigger than his opponent and bulkier.
Both crouched, circling.They leaped into the air, crashing into each other, snarling, teeth snapping, and legs pawing.
While Con and Tark fought, police stormed into The Gin Room, covering all doors, slowly letting out those they vetted.They saved some as witnesses.Others required a shove out the door, since the fight between two shifters was more interesting.
Tark’s wolf was tiring, one leg injured, blood dripping from a wound on it.
Con had explained to Rey about his father, who had turned feral and drawn other wolves into a small, vicious group.After other Firebrands put him down, Con hunted the others, killing them as pack law demanded.One got away.That wolf was Tark.No wonder Con had recognized the scent.
When Rey checked out Tark’s license to be on Earth, she realized he had used a fake name.
The shifters continued to fight, Tark flagging but still in a savage frenzy.Con charged, his mouth wide as his canines sank into the feral wolf’s neck.When blood spewed from the wound, he shook Tark and flung him against the wall.
He slid to the floor, his eyes closed, head lolling to the side.
Con turned his back on Tark, distracted when a patron shifted into a mountain lion.
Worgan withdrew a sawed-off from behind the bar and pointed it at him.“I’d think twice about that decision.”
The cat resumed his human-like form and raced toward an exit, naked but alive.
While Con’s attention was on the retreating mountain lion, Rey watched the serial killer rise.Despite his deadly injury, he shook it off and staggered forward to attack.She glanced around the bar, grabbing the only weapon she could find—a bar stool.She slammed it over Tark’s head.
Once he crashed to the floor, a sudden light shot from his fur, and Tark shifted, blood seeping onto his bare chest from neck and head wounds.
Con swiveled toward Tark while the feral shifter clasped his savaged throat.He was as good as dead.
Standing over the struggling body, Con panted and growled, seeming unwilling or unable to shift.Finally, he trembled, his fur ruffling as he changed to two legs.His gaze pinged from Rey to the broken stool to Tark.After growling at her, he squatted beside the dying killer.“Why?You’d escaped.I never found you.”
With blood bubbling from his neck wound, Tark laughed.“I like flesh.”Pale and struggling for breath, he gurgled, “I ...I liked their scent.It called to me.”
“That’s it?That’s your excuse?Why Mommy?”
“She could ID me.”
Rey had already checked at the Tooth and Claw Pub.Tark had been working there as a bouncer when George and Mommy came in.He’d been interested enough to sit at their table and chat for a while until his break was over.Better pay or the lure of George as a victim probably brought him to New York City.
Inhaling, Tark grabbed Con’s arm with his free hand.“You could be me.Your father...”
Con shook off the feral wolf’s hold.As the guy’s chin dropped to his chest, his eyes glazed over.He was dead.Justice had been served.Rey’s case-solve record remained excellent, but instead of being happy, Con seemed on edge.
And Tark’s reason for killing?He fucking liked how his to-be victims smelled.Irrational.Real serial killer stuff.Insane, but apparently, a feral wolf’s logic was nonexistent.She’d ask Con about it later.
Police still held patrons at the exits while some conducted on-site interviews.Others on the force stood against the walls, armed and alert for Tark supporters.
A naked Con rose and strutted toward the rear exit, his steps slowing as he turned at the door.Rey followed him with her eyes, his sad, far-away eyes.When he fixed on her, she smiled, but he spun around and continued on his way.
She didn’t want to read more into his gaze than was there.He was going to the car to get a change of clothes.She chatted with the captain, shook hands with squad leaders, and accepted many congratulations.By the time the science geeks arrived to snap photos and gather evidence, she scanned the room for Con.She didn’t see him.Nodding at pats on the back, she left to find him.
He wasn’t behind the establishment or in the car.Out front, she pushed her way through crowds of people—some police, some onlookers.She took another pass through The Gin Room, where Simon, Doofus Two, was interviewing Worgan.Con was nowhere to be found.
When realization struck, her hand slammed to her mouth as she struggled to suck back her tears.Her heart pounded against her ribs.She couldn’t breathe.
Con was gone.For good.
