“Alexia? Speak to me.”
“I’m… what did you ask?”
“You were about to tell me your address so I can help you with your problem.” Before I could reject his offer he said, “I think it’s time the both of us come clean. I’m a Shifter, Alexia, and I know you’re one too. I don’t know what pack you belong to, but whatever trouble you may be in, my people can help. I’m a Packmaster. I got strong connections, money… whatever you need.”
And that was an attractive offer. More help.
“Did you hear about a mother and daughter gone missing?”
“Yes.”
“That’s my mother. We found my sister, but my mom’s still missing.”
He covered the receiver and I heard muffled conversation. “Tell me where you are. I got thirty men I can put on this right away.”
Lorenzo swung by in his monster black truck with the skull and crossbones on the back window and took charge of the situation. He was already on the phone with his pack, relaying information and barking out orders.
No pun intended.
He helped me into his truck and I felt like I was on a carnival ride due to being so high up. After a trip to my mom’s house, he shut me up in the back bedroom while he shifted into his wolf to sniff things out. That was around the time I started to notice a restless feeling stirring within me. Something so primal it felt innate.
Thirty minutes later, I locked up the house and we sat inside his truck.
“Nothing?” I asked.
“I picked up a scent,” he said, leaning his head back and sliding the key into the ignition. “Not the alpha who pissed all over the yard, but the one who took your mother.”
“Can you tell the difference between a Shifter and human? There were other men in and around the house.”
“Give me a little credit, will you? I picked up two Shifters and one human, aside from the feminine fragrance of your family. There’s also another Breed scent outside, but it’s faded. I think they were there before it happened.”
He slipped on a pair of shades and hooked his right hand over the steering wheel. The air from the open window blew some of his long black hair around. Lorenzo didn’t just look Native American, I was almost certain he was. His name didn’t match up, but then I didn’t know much about Shifters. I also knew a girl in school named Julie who was Cherokee.
Lorenzo pulled into the Dairy Queen parking lot and told me to wait in the truck. A light breeze blew in through the open windows and I watched a young teenage girl standing outside, chatting on her cell phone. How strange it felt to now be on the outside looking in, knowing that in this seemingly ordinary world, people like myself existed who weren’t human. When Lorenzo emerged, he came out with two vanilla cones. This had been the hottest June on record, and sitting quietly in his truck while eating ice cream really hit the spot.
“You got a pack?” he asked, licking off a drop of vanilla from his hand. He had devoured his cone in less than five bites.
“Kind of,” I said, dipping my tongue in the soft ice cream.
He wadded up the paper that had been wrapped around the bottom of his cone. “Kind of doesn’t sound like
“I don’t know if there’s some official ceremony, but someone has taken me under his protection.”
“Hmm,” Lorenzo murmured thoughtfully, sending a text message. He finally tossed the phone down and crowded my space, leaning over with his face close to mine. “Nashoba?”
“Umm, I don’t understand.”
Lorenzo never removed his dark eyes from mine as his tongue came out and licked a dollop of ice cream from my cone. His hands never touched me, but watching the animalistic look on his face felt intimate and magnetic.
He flicked his hot eyes to my mouth and asked, “Wolf?”
I nodded.
“I knew it. Only wolves refer to their family as packs.”
Something Austin had never gone into detail about. “What other kinds of animals are there?”
A smile spread across his face. “Panthers, birds, deer, bears—you name it. Tell me why you don’t know this?”
“Long story.”
He took my chin with his fingertips and stared at my mouth for an uncomfortably long time. “Good. I like long stories. Makes for a long date.” His finger grazed my cheekbone and Lorenzo analyzed my face. He pulled my straight hair around and smoothed his fingers down it before sitting back on his side of the truck. “Your mother is human?”
I kept staring at the little swirl on my ice cream that he’d made with his tongue. “Even longer story.”
“Tell me where you’re staying,” he said. “I’ll take you there.”
“What about my mom?”
“That’s what I want to work on,” he said, starting up the engine. “You mated?”
I bit the inside of my cheek. “No.”
He threw the truck into reverse and kicked up a cloud of dust. I tossed the rest of my cone out of the window and just as we hit the main road, a motorcycle pulled up beside us. It was a classic beauty with a long black seat, and the silver chrome gleamed in the sunlight as if it had never known a speck of dust. It didn’t look like those big bikes I’d seen, and “Triumph” was written on the side. We slowed at the light and while Lorenzo was fooling with the radio, the rider lifted the face on his helmet.
“Shit,” I whispered.
It was Reno, and by the look on his face, he wasn’t surprised to see me. Nor was he happy.
When we finally reached Austin’s secluded house, Lorenzo skidded to a halt. “Your friend isn’t very subtle,” he said, tilting the rearview mirror.
Reno sped around us on his Bonneville and parked beside a large truck.
“Is Cole here?”
“No,” I said, scratching my cheek. “Thanks for helping out.”
Maizy came bounding through the front door and Reno quickly corralled her back inside.
Lorenzo lit up a smoke and stared at the house, taking a few drags before he spoke. “You could be living a lot better than this.”
“It’s temporary until I find my mom.”
He nodded. “Temporary’s good. Real good. You should go back home in less than three days.” Lorenzo took another draw of his smoke and I unbuckled my belt.
“Why three?”
Then his hot eyes flicked over to mine and made a long journey all the way down to my lap. I knew it had to do with that
I used the side step to get out of the truck and almost tumbled on my ass. Lorenzo stayed in the truck until I made it inside and then he sped off with a few intentionally loud engine revs.
Reno cornered me in the front entrance, gripping his keys tightly. His brows were low, but they weren’t dark, and he looked like the kind of guy who could star in his own action movie. A tiny scar on his lip caught my attention, but not for long when his eyes narrowed. “We got a camera hooked up outside your apartment, remember?”
I shrugged. “I don’t really care if you have an issue with this. Lorenzo’s going to help.”
“That’s not how it works,” he said gruffly, hanging his keys on a nail above the letter
I kicked off my shoes and, in Naya fashion, put my hands on my hips. “Then
