Her Perilous Wolf - Julie Steimle (types of ebook readers TXT) 📗

guy was one of those we encountered on our trip to China. How in touch are you with Sun Wu Kong?”

Looking grieved, Rick shrugged. “A little. Chen is the one who keeps in regular contact. He’s his ancestor after all.”

“Wang Ruyi mentioned Sun Wu Kong,” Audry said, looking to Rick then Michael. “Who is that?”

“The Monkey King,” Rick said with an apologetic chuckle. “The guy is not fiction. He’s a Chinese elf whose life had apparently impressed a local man who then memorialized him in a Buddhist story. These days he pretends to be a Buddhist monk, but he has descendants among the human population—people like Tommy here.”

Tommy perked up.

“You need to call him, and Chen,” Michael said. He then looked to Audry. “Who was in your team who dealt with the demons?”

Audry stared, thinking. “Uh… my friend Juma and… others. What are you intending to do?”

Almost growling, Michael said, “I’m intending to go to Africa and end this. These are local and Chinese poachers, right?”

Audry nodded, wondering if this was going to bring Juma trouble or help.

“If you give me the contact information of those who have been dealing with this, we can help them rid them of the demons at least.” Michael gazed at her in earnest. “It’s what we do.”

Audry looked to Rick. “Should I?”

Rick shrugged. “Well, it would end some poaching. I think the hard part will be convincing your friends in Africa that Michael and the rest of the Seven aren’t a threat. They’re all white.”

Audry rolled her eyes. The problem was, he was right. Some people were unable to look beyond race. Maybe if Bobo went with them. She couldn’t go. Not anymore.

“Back to topic,” Selena said, gesturing to Vicky who had been watching the entire exchange in a daze. “To sum up: demons are real, Rick is a werewolf, and Vicky, if you want to date Michael, you need to understand that he is one of a bunch of dangerous people who fight against what people consider to be monsters, and all of it is supposed to be a secret. Are you up to keeping the secret?”

Vicky looked to her brother and then to Audry. “You have been keeping this secret this whole time?”

Audry and Vincent shrugged.

“We found out about it at the end of summer,” Vincent explained. “On accident. And I don’t know everything.”

“So… not that long,” Vicky murmured. But she looked to Audry, peeking to Rick. “What’s happening here, now?”

Audry sighed, scooting in close to her cousin. “What’s happening here is that I…” She shook her head. “When I first found out the truth, Rick offered to keep away from me so I could be safe.”

Vicky peeked to Rick who nodded.

“But I realized while I was out in the world that I don’t want to stay away from him,” Audry said, then peeked to him. “He’s my wolf, and I love him.”

Vicky’s eyes widened on her. She then looked to Vincent who shrugged with a ‘what are we to do?’ expression. Gazing to Audry again, Vicky whispered, “Are you sure? I mean, absolutely, positively sure?”

Audry looked to Rick, then took his hand, nodding. “Absolutely.”

“Even though it is insanely dangerous?” Rick murmured, voicing also what Vicky was thinking.

“You are not a threat to me,” Audry said, leaning near him.

He kissed her on the cheek. “I wasn’t meaning me.”

“Then who were you meaning?” Vicky asked, peeking also to the others, as clearly a werewolf was a threat, though they did not seem to feel it.

“The SRA,” Michael said, downcast.

She looked to him. “But didn’t you tell me you were part of that organization?”

“You told her that?” Rick stared, astounded.

Michael shrugged. “I didn’t say what they did.”

“And what do they do?” Vicky asked, growing irked. “You said it was government related.”

“Key word is ‘related’,” Rick murmured. He looked Vicky directly in the eye. “The SRA is short for the Supernatural Regulator’s Association. And they hunt people like me.”

“Monsters,” Vicky murmured.

“I’m a monster,” Selena cut in, quickly drawing Vicky’s eye. “According to the SRA.”

Vicky drew in a breath, standing up in objection.

“Monster is a slur used to label supernaturally connected beings,” Tommy said, putting an arm around Selena. “And I’m SRA too.”

Vicky looked to Vincent for help and come clear understanding what was going on. “And you went to them to…” She peeked to Rick.

“To find out the truth,” Vincent replied. With a nod to Rick, he added, “Because I knew Michael was Rick’s friend, but I also knew most SRA are hostile, if not dangerous. I double-checked with my friend Stewart McGivens, who has had encounters with them.”

Rick’s eyes tracked to him in alarm, mouthing, ‘You talked to Stewart?’

Vincent nodded. Nodding back, Rick was impressed that Vincent had done as he had suggested.

“They’re unscrupulous,” Audry muttered, shuddering. She leaned nearer to Rick.

Rick put his arms around her, holding her close. “It’s ok. You’re safe with me now.”

She nodded, but shuddered still. What they had done to her was fresh in her memory. The rescue had momentarily put it out, but now she recalled her hellish night with haunting clarity. The only thing she was grateful for was that they had only used her as bait. The man who had put his hand into her shirt for whatever intention did not continue along that vein once he got burnt by the bullet, and she had remained unmolested for the rest of the night.

“Safe with you?” Vicky trembled, doubting it.

“The SRA kidnapped Audry yesterday,” Vincent explained to his sister. “And used her as bait to get to Rick.”

“Because Rick would never let me get hurt.” Audry leaned more into Rick, taking comfort in his strong arms and warm musky smell. She could hear his breathing and almost feel his heartbeat. It felt so natural. At home.

A visible shudder went through Vicky. She looked again to Michael who nodded with Tommy. Michael mouthed, ‘Not us. Others in our organization.’

“They kidnapped you?” Selena gasped loud, smacking a hand to her forehead. “Oh no. Are you ok?”

“I am now,” Audry said again, leaning only slightly from Rick to nod at her.

“But they were going to kill her anyway,” Rick said, pulling Audry closer. “After…” He stopped, not desiring to imagine it.

Vincent nodded, looking to Vicky then Michael and Tommy. “But I trust Michael.”

“So do I,” Rick declared with a nod. Yet looking to Vicky, he added, “But we’d rather not see you get hurt.”

Michael lowered his head. “I understand.”

Shivers went through Vicky. She looked to Michael. Then she looked to Audry and Rick. Vicky stepped next to Michael. “You trust him, even though he is part of an organization that is set on killing you for being a monster?”

Rick nodded with a chuckle, loosening his hold on Audry. “I’ve known Michael most of my life—long before I even knew I was a werewolf.”

Vicky peeked with confusion to Michael for an explanation.

“I didn’t transform until I was thirteen,” Rick explained. “It freaked me and my mother out. She didn’t know what Dad was either.”

Vicky’s jaw dropped. She was about to ask about his father when he continued.

“Werewolves are born, not made. It is not as Hollywood makes it seem. A bite is just a bite. And though my bite is toxic, it is also treatable.”

She slowly nodded. Her eyes tracked to Selena in deep thought. It took a bit, but she finally said to her, “So, your ability to talk people into doing things is supernatural.”

Selena nodded. There was no point in pretending it wasn’t.

Then Vicky looked to Vincent. “And that vampire, Troy—”

“His situation is different,” Rick said, sure Vincent only knew the bare minimum. “He was born normal. A New Yorker, even. His life was hijacked. He doesn’t want to be a vampire—so he is not doing what vampires do. But he is still infected.”

“And he wants to help others,” Michael added earnestly. “He is trying to find a cure.”

Rick sighed with a heavy eye roll. “I wish there were one.”

Several of them looked to him. The Bruchenhaus cousins got the impression that despite Michael being in the SRA, Rick was the expert on Troy and vampirism.

“You don’t think there is?” Tommy asked.

Rick shook his head. “I will believe that he can heal the bite. I am sure of that. But ending his condition, it’s not going to happen. He’s already passed through death. The only cure is to accept death.”

“You mean die.” Tommy stared, a swell of pity washing through him.

Sadly, Rick nodded. “And I think he knows it. This is why he is seeking only a cure for the bite. That is fixable.”

“And what if…?” Vicky looked from Rick to Audry, her eyes full of more questions.

“What if what?” Audry asked, getting the impression this was personal question.

Coloring, Vicky said in a private voice, “What if you two have children? Would they be werewolves?”

Blushing, Rick peeked to Audry. Yet he nodded. “Yes.”

Audry stared into space. Somehow she knew that was the answer, but now so openly spoken, it was real. Her and him, marrying, having kids. And her kids would be… puppies? Wolf cubs? She had already endured dog references to her being his ‘mate’ and a female dog in the crudest terms to insult her.

Vincent eyed her, wordlessly asking if she really wanted that. Now was the time to cut bait otherwise.

“And what about that rumor that you got a woman pregnant?” Vicky demanded more sternly, passing from that frame of thought into this one which apparently bothered her more.

Rick replied slowly, “Audry knows about it.”

Nodding, Audry sighed, her mind going to that super-slut southern she-wolf. But then she peeked at him. “Whatever did happen to Daisy?”

He shrugged, cheeks coloring. “She went back to her pack.”

“Pack?” Vicky murmured, taking that in. Her mind was already adding it up.

“And I am worried she might come after you,” Rick added, looking to Audry. “She is an extremely jealous wolf.”

“I can keep away she-wolf,” Selena replied smugly.

He nodded with a smirk at her. “I know.”

“But did she have your baby?” Vicky asked, giving up on the wolf part of the conversation.

Rick shook his head. “No. She had miscarried in her fourth month. But yeah, I would have been a father. I’m ashamed of what I did. And I had intended to take responsibility and marry her… up until the miscarriage.”

That weighed heavily in the air for Vicky, but it made Audry secretly smirk. Her last ex was the exact opposite. Hogan left women after he had impregnated them. He did not care for any of those women he had seduced. He would not be a father to his offspring.

“Well, considering you were under the influence of the full moon,” Tommy murmured aloud, breaking Audry’s thoughts, “and they were manipulating you with some kind of, uh—”

“Pheromone enhancer,” Audry automatically interjected, her mind on Daisy and the balm. She knew how powerful it was. She had seen it in action.

They all looked to her. But Rick squeezed her hand, knowing what she had endured already in regards to that. Having once put on the balm herself, she had nearly got raped by her ex—him so madly driven by it.

“I met her,” Audry said to Vicky with a firm nod. “I know how she manipulated him.”

“You think she manipulated him?” Vicky asked, making doubly sure.

Nodding in earnest, Audry chuckled. “Oh yeah. I mean, the way she dressed—”

“A woman’s clothing is not reason to—”

“Come on.” Selena cut her off. “Don’t pretend we don’t know the way we dress affects men. If we didn’t, we’d wear sweat pants and messy tee shirts all the time. We would not pay an arm and a leg for flimsy but sexy clothing.”

The men blushed, their minds going to that. Vincent was having the hardest time, as two of the women there were related to him.

“Daisy also threw herself at him a lot,” Audry added, remembering the incident in the alleyway she had accidentally spied on. “She was aiming to get pregnant.”

Rick averted his eyes, coloring.

“And though that does not discount his behavior,” Audry added, with a peek