“Where’s the meeting?”
“At the Lunar Eclipse.”
Garrick sighed. He hated loud rave nightclubs, especially ones where the clientele was made up of werewolves, wannabe werewolves, and wannabe vampires. He hated the latter the most. They were obnoxious, pretentious, and stupid. Everyone knew vampires didn’t exist.
“Do I have time to shower and change?”
Tommy grinned.“Of course. Wouldn’t want to go in there, smelling like ... like an animal, now would you?” He laughed.
Chapter Two
The Lunar Eclipse was a traveling nightclub. One night it had been in the gym of a high school, another night in the basement of a church. The pastor was one of Fisher’s pack members. This night, it was in an abandoned warehouse along the wharf.The Blue Bay pack’s wharf.Garrick’s wharf.
A long black car pulled up to the side of the warehouse and parked in the shadows. Garrick and Tommy got out of the back seat, along with two other pack members, Smith and Puck. Smith was Garrick’s oldest pack member and Puck his biggest. He’d been an NHL hockey player. His nose had been broken three times, and to prove it, he had no front teeth. But he was also one of Garrick’s favorites. Big, dumb, and lovable made for loyal pack followers.
The moment they got out of the car, a menagerie of smells hit Garrick in full force. Sweat, old beer, the sweet odor of pot, and something familiar yet elusive floated through the air. His nostrils flared in response to the heady mixture.
Tommy noticed his reaction. “What’s wrong?”
“I don’t know.” Garrick raised his head and sniffed the air again. Underneath all the other odors was a tangy spice that sent shivers down his spine. He shook his head, trying to dislodge the smell from his overly sensitive nose.
“Do you smell something wrong?” Tommy joked.
Smith cuffed him across the head. “We all smell something, you dumb ass.”
Tommy grinned and rubbed his head. “Hey, all I smell is female. That’s all I care about.”
“We’re not here to pick up bitches, Tommy.” Garrick unzipped his leather jacket and smoothed out a crease in his cotton pants. “I need you on guard and on the lookout for anything out of the ordinary.”
“Hey, don’t worry, mate. I’ve always got your back.”
Garrick glanced over his shoulder at his second and smirked. “You better have.”
Tommy looked over at Puck. “You liked my joke, didn’t you?”
“Nope.”Puck smiled, trying hard not to laugh.
Tommy smacked him in the arm.“Liar.”
With Garrick in the lead, they crossed the street and approached the door to the club. A large black man dressed in black leather guarded the door. He barely fit in the doorway, and his glistening bald head skimmed the bottom of the frame.
His hand moved down into the opening of his jacket as they approached. There was no doubt in Garrick’s mind that he had a gun in a shoulder holster under the jacket.
“We’re expected,” Garrick announced as he looked up at the guy, unwavering in his stance and stare.
He didn’t cower from anyone. Although the bouncer was bigger than he was, he knew he could take him out with a quick, efficient blow.
The guard dropped his gaze and nodded, opening the door for them.“Of course, Mr. Blackthorn. Go right in.”
“Thank you.” Garrick nodded back as he passed through the door into a narrow hallway that led to a long metal staircase.
Garrick looked around as they ascended and noticed the small cameras mounted on the ceiling. He imagined Fisher anxiously watching his monitors as they entered. The man was ambitious and cunning, but lacked backbone. Ever since Garrick had taken control of the Blue Bay pack, Fisher hadbeen wanting to make an alliance, to meld the packs together into one. In addition, Garrick knew whom Fisher thought should lead, and it wasn’t Garrick.
At the top of the stairs, a voluptuous, raven-haired woman wearing a micro-miniskirt and a tiny tank top met them. She smiled, and her full ruby lips spread into a feral grin as Garrick neared.
“Good evening, Mr. Blackthorn. My name isMalina , and I will be your escort. Fisher is very pleased you have come.” She wrapped her hand around his arm and led him along the side of a thin metal walkway that wound its way around a very large and open room. The room was packed with people, and though the music was loud, you could still talk above it. Garrick thought it made sense to keep the music from deafening everyone, since most of the clientele could hear a fart ten miles away.
As they made their way around the packed dance floor, the hair on Garrick’s arms rose. A familiar smell and feeling brushed against him like a cat to its owner. His nose twitched again. He felt a sneeze building in his nostrils from the clingy, spicy odor.
Grinning,Malina glanced up at him and noticed his twitching nose. “I am available, if you like. Fisher will offer me to you, as a sign of good faith.”
He looked down at her, gazing at the ample br**sts that bounced freely under her tank top, and the long curve of her muscular legs. At another time, he would have taken her up on the offer, but tonight, he did not feel the desire to take her. She was his usual taste, but for some reason, he wanted something different.
“Thanks for the offer, but I’ll pass tonight.”
“Suit yourself.”
She led them around the room to an upper guest area that had been thrown together with a few good sofas, a table, and a slew of werewolves lazing about. Fisher sat in the middle, among his pack. Two voluptuous women sat on either side of him, with their hands resting eagerly in his leather-clad lap.
He smiled as they neared, his perfect white teeth flashing at them. “Garrick. Good to see you, man.”
Garrick nodded to Fisher, eyeing the other men surrounding him. Two large men stood behind the sofa, and two others flanked Fisher.
Untangling himself from the women, Fisher shooed them away. They pouted but left, climbing down the metal stairs and disappearing in the throng ofclubgoers . Fisher motioned toward the vacant chair.
“Please sit.” He snapped his fingers at one of the two men behind him. “Get our guests some drinks.”
Garrick sat down on the offered chair, Tommy and Smith stood on either side, and Puck leaned on the railing, ready for trouble.
“What do you want?”
Fisher put a cigarette in his mouth and lit it. As he blew the smoke up, he gestured to Garrick. “I want what you want, man. Peace between our packs.”
“There is peace, or haven’t you noticed that no one has been gunned down in nineteen months?”
Fisher chuckled. “True.Corin was an egotistical bore. He ran the pack like his own personal war machine.” He ran a hand through his long blond hair. “But what I speak of is eternal peace, a union of our two packs. One pack, one law.”
Garrick sat back in the chair and casually spread his legs. It was meant as a gesture of boredom, an insult. “And who will lead this pack?”
Fisher grinned around his cigarette and leaned forward. “Well, it would be obvious, I thought. I’ve been alpha of my pack for many years, Garrick. You’ve only recently acquired yours. If it’s a matter of experience, then I think there is no question who should lead.”
Garrick nodded as if considering Fisher’s words. He glanced up at Tommy and shrugged his shoulders.
“Of course, you would become my second-in-command. You’ve proven yourself a fierce fighter, a cunning negotiator as a regulator and the Keeper of Secrets. Your talents would not go to waste, I assure you.”
Garrick gazed at Fisher and nodded. “Sounds like a real good offer, Fisher, but why would I agree to be second, when I’m already first?”
Leaning back on the sofa, Fisher smirked. “I have many things to offer, Garrick. We have an abundance of women in the pack -- something I hear is dwindling in yours. One day, you might want to find your mate, make babies, live eternally ... and all that shit. I could help you with that ambition.”
Garrick didn’t like the way the conversation was going. Fisher had too much information on the status of his pack, and evidently someone was bitching. The familiar odor floated to his nose again; this time it was stronger, more compelling. He flinched, shook his head, and glanced toward the metal ladder.
A tall, lithe, gorgeous woman stood at the top of the steps. She didn’t look at Garrick as she passed his chair. Fisher held out his hand to her, and she took it, allowing him to bring her down to his lap. He ran his hand up and down her back and smiled.
“You see, I have lots to offer a man like you.”
Garrick nearly swallowed his tongue as he eyed her. She was still the most beautiful creature he had ever seen. Her body was svelte and toned, and her skin glowed as if it had been kissed by the sun.
Completely different from before, her auburn hair was short and spiky, accentuating a perfectly tanned, angular face.
He remembered her eyes the most. Emerald green ... and flashing like polished gems. She was just as he remembered her.
“Hello, Garrick.” Her voice, cool and cultured, sent tremors up and down his body.
“Hello, Olivia.”
Chapter Three
Olivia had known the moment Garrick stepped into the club. She’d felt him as he ascended the steep metal stairs and rounded the room on the walkway. She didn’t have to look up to know he was there.
She could feel his heat rubbing up against her, and the sultry way he smelled -- like fresh-cut grass in the heat of the summer -- sent delicious shivers down her spine. Always she felt his presence, like a tingling over her skin and a heated ball of lava in her belly.
She watched him now, and it took more strength than she’d expected to keep from jumping over to him and nestling into his lap. His hair was a little longer, wilder even, but just as sexy as before. His clothes still fit snugly over his powerful frame, but the bulge under his jeans caused her eyebrows to lift. Maybe he was feeling her, too. Maybe he still remembered what they felt like when together.
The last time she’d seen him, he was standing beside his back porch, covered in blood, with a dead man at his feet. He’d yelled at her then. Told her to go and never come back, even though he’d known she would need him. And when the full moon had finally arrived, he had not been there to comfort her. He’d abandoned her at a time when she’d needed him the most.