Dare the Wolf: A Bully Boys Novel of Paranormal Romance Read online

  Dare the Wolf

  A Bully Boys Novel

  Cassandra Moore

  Edited by

  Cynthia M. Jones

  Copyright © 2018 by Cassandra Moore

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  For every person who has found the strength to escape an abusive relationship, and for those still gathering the strength to do so.

  Contents

  1. Winky Smile

  2. Bullies

  3. Wolf’s Den

  4. No Good Deed

  5. Loyalties

  6. Heart of the Beast

  7. Where There’s Smoke

  8. Out of the Ashes

  9. The Bonds Tied by Secrets

  10. Wolfpack

  11. The Roadmap to the Happiest Ever After

  About the Author

  1

  Winky Smile

  The phone on the edge of the bathroom sink buzzed against the cheap porcelain. Anita rolled her eyes. Lou had a terrible habit of ducking into the restroom before she could, using his phone while he did his business, then evacuating the room fast when his “business” overwhelmed his sense of smell. His phone ended up on the edge of the sink every time while he frantically yanked toilet paper off the roll. Then he’d take off like a bat out of Hell to flee his own stench, phone forgotten in the rush.

  Every time, she’d go in after him to get ready for work, cussing at the smell. The doublewide had two bathrooms, but the other one hadn’t had a toilet since Lou had started the remodel three years ago. Just as well, since if she didn’t have to use the bathroom after him, he’d spend hours looking for his phone while he missed calls. So she told herself to keep her annoyance at the never-ending bathroom project, the one he’d promised would take two months, at bay. Sometimes, it even worked.

  Anita put her eyeliner pencil back in her cosmetics bag as the phone buzzed again. Only then did she realize, it wasn’t Lou’s phone at all. He had an old smartphone in a rugged, grease-smeared case, one that could take a little roughing up at the garage if he dropped it in an engine or pitched it on a tool bench. This one, a newer model of roughly the same size and shape, didn’t have a case. She’d gotten so used to seeing Lou’s phone on the sink, she hadn’t bothered to give it a good look when it buzzed.

  Has one of the guys from the shop been in here? Lou only had two employees at the garage, hired to do the more menial tasks so Lou could focus on the complicated work himself. She could run it by there on her way to work, since she’d heard his truck pull out at least a quarter hour ago. Home for lunch and a nice, leisurely afternoon shit, then out. I’m married to such a charmer.

  When she picked the phone up to put it in her pocket, it went off in her hand. The screen lit up. She couldn’t help but read it.

  “You coming by tonight, Louie baby? I’ll wear your favorite panties so you can take them off. ;)”

  Anita fixated on the winky smile. She didn’t know why. Not the “Louie baby”, even though Lou had never let her call him that. Never even in the first glow of the honeymoon period, when she’d thought he’d love her forever. She didn’t fixate on the mention of another woman’s panties, or the fact that Lou seemed to have a favorite pair. No, it was that damned, cheeky winky smile that held Anita’s attention.

  If she’d known whose face to punch, she would have smacked it right off the woman’s smug face. Anita thumbed through the phone’s contact list, but Winky Smile Woman was listed as “Bae” and the number wasn’t one Anita recognized. She thought about calling it. Seeing who answered. Then she’d have to hear the winky smile in the woman’s voice, and Anita would get angry all over again.

  She looked up to see her own face in the mirror. “What are you angry about?” she asked her reflection. “You aren’t actually surprised he’s cheating on you, are you? Tell me you’re not that stupid. A man like Lou, if he’s not getting it at home, he’s getting it from somewhere. And he sure as fuck hasn’t been getting it at home.”

  He never wanted sex, not for lack of trying on her part. After nights and weeks and months of his disinterested grunts when she tried to seduce him away from late night television and into the bedroom, she’d given up. He’d smile and flirt with any pair of female legs who wandered into the garage, but he hadn’t looked at his own wife with lust in his eyes for years. Outside the trailer, he was a rockstar with a golden reputation for keeping the town heroes rolling. Inside, he was Lou, who scratched his balls and couldn’t be bothered to fuck the willing wife waiting in his bed.

  The ghost of the woman she’d once been looked back at her from the mirror. Too young for marriage. A wild child with dreams of her own, but too much rebellion in her heart to chase them down. She’d bolted from her abusive parents, followed a hot-blooded man across the desert, given him everything she could, and what did she have to show for it?

  A dead-end job in a tiny bedroom town. A doublewide with a dysfunctional bathroom. A winky smile smirking at her from a cheap phone screen.

  “Are you going to take this without a fight?” she asked her reflection. “Stand by your man? Be glad he’d keep you around at all? What has he done to earn that? Girl, your marriage has been over for years. Put the fucking thing out of its misery.”

  She met her own eyes in the mirror and spoke the words she’d kept locked behind her teeth for longer than she’d realized. “Leave him. Get a divorce. Go your own way.”

  And just like that, she was free. Free from a weight she’d pretended didn’t exhaust her. The weight of a man who didn’t love her and wouldn’t respect her. The corpse of a marriage she’d already mourned in her heart.

  Anger lingered, but she could use that. Even if she should have gotten out of this marriage a long time ago, she didn’t know what she would do next. First things first. You can’t stay here tonight. Get out of the house so you can think. Deal with it tomorrow. She grabbed her make-up bag and strode out of the bathroom. It didn’t take long to pitch a few days’ worth of clothes into a backpack. She’d gotten paid last week, so there’d be enough for a short motel stay while she sorted out her options.

  Though people would talk if she stayed at a motel. That tiny spark of change would set the tinder of small town gossips ablaze. Everyone loved Lou. Why would his wife stay in a motel, instead of at home with her husband? Let them talk. There’ll be a whole lot more gossiping when news of the divorce gets around. Lou Calderon, upstanding mechanic to Coyote Trail’s knights in black leather, cheating on his wife. That’ll put a dent in his perfect reputation.

  Calderon Auto Repair serviced cars, but the motorcycles it worked on got most of the attention. The local biker heroes, the Bully Boys, brought their rides here exclusively, a fact in which Lou took a hefty amount of pride. In other circumstances, Anita would have, too, except he’d traded on his friendship with the Bully alpha wolf to net the business. When the head of the gang said his pack would take their bikes to Calderon Auto, they did it.

  Anita parked her battered-to-hell pickup off to the side of the main parking lot. The Arizona sun beat down on her as she crossed the packed earth to Lou’s favored service bay. She spotted him from the door, kneeling next to a motorcycle even she could see was more form than function. Girlfriend bike. Has to be. Or boyfriend, I guess. Though the boyfriends of the women in the Bullies tended not to ride. Their fragile egos couldn’t handle the competition with the real deal
. Boys.

  One of the mechanics caught sight of her. “Hey, Lou! Your wife’s here!”

  Lou looked up. Years ago, she’d found him adorable, with his grease-stained face and his do-rag to keep his hair back. Today, she wondered what she’d ever seen in him. “Hey, ‘Nita! Didn’t expect to see you until tonight!”

  I’ll bet you didn’t. “Hey, Lou. Got a minute?”

  “Not really, babe. This thing’s gonna take me all day, and after-”

  “Make time.” She pulled the phone out of her pocket and held it up for him to see.

  He went pale under the grease. “Sure. Let’s go in the office.”

  “Nope.” Instead, she turned around to walk back to her truck. He could follow her and talk outside, under the sun, on neutral ground.

  And in public view, a little voice whispered at the back of her mind, but she brushed it aside. Lou had never threatened her. But Lou had a temper, and she’d never pushed him that hard, either.

  The ground crunched behind her as Lou trotted to catch up. “Anita, wait. I can explain.” His hand wrapped over her shoulder.

  She ducked her shoulder and turned to brush his grip aside. “Can you. Let me guess. This is someone else’s phone. That mysteriously appeared on our bathroom sink.”

  At least he knew better than to try that. “No, babe, it’s mine. I got it ‘cause I wanted a separate business line.”

  “Business. That’s one way to put it.” She pushed the power button, then keyed in the same four-number sequence he used for all his passwords. His penchant for convenience over security did him in again. “Because the phone went off when I was in the bathroom. When I picked it up, it had this message on it. ‘You coming by tonight, Louie baby? I’ll wear your favorite panties so you can take them off.’ It’s got a little winky smile next to it, so maybe it’s a joke.”

  His hand closed on her shoulder again. “Anita-”

  This time, she physically smacked it away. “Maybe the rest of the messages will tell us more. You sent this one. ‘You were so fucking tight last night, bae. Can’t wait to be in you again.’ Hmm, no winky smile. That sounds pretty serious.”

  He managed to turn her around to face him when she reached the truck. “Babe, look, I’m sorry. I’ve got no excuse, all right?”

  “No excuse. Here I thought you could explain.” She tossed the phone through the open window of her truck. It bounced off the seat and onto the floor. “How long, Lou? How long have you been fucking her?”

  “Six months.” An exaggerated and fake expression of anguished remorse crossed his face. She wondered if she even remembered what his sincere face looked like. “Let’s talk about this, okay?”

  “There’s nothing to talk about. We’re done.”

  Now, he did look sincere. Outright worried. “What, you’re saying you want a divorce?”

  “That’s exactly what I’m saying. I should have said it years ago.”

  “Come on, we can work through this! I made a mistake. Fucked up big time.” He took her hands in his. “A man has needs, and mine grabbed me by the balls. I was weak.”

  “Oh, Lou.” She sighed and pulled her hands away. “A woman has needs, too. Like her husband to be honest with her. Maybe even to fuck her once in a while, instead of finding some piece of ass on the side. And when her husband does bother to sleep with her, she might like to come. This marriage ended a long time ago. Tell your side chick you don’t have to hide her tonight. I won’t be home.”

  She reached for the door handle. He leaned against the door so she couldn’t open it. “Where will you go, huh? Tell me that. So I know you’ll be safe. I fucked up, but I still care, Anita. You’re my wife.”

  “Not for much longer.” She caught his gaze. “Hand off the door. I’m leaving.”

  “Not yet. Not until you tell me you’re going somewhere safe.” He didn’t look away. “It’s dangerous out there. You know that. A couple of the guys said the Ferals were a few miles out last night. Not far away. Just tell me where you’ll be. I’m an asshole, but I give a shit.”

  Years of marriage made it hard to refuse the request, no matter how hot her anger burned. “Maybe to Linda’s. Maybe to a hotel. I’ll be safe. I’ll come get my stuff sometime soon.”

  “Don’t hurry. It’ll be there.” He paused another moment, then removed his hand from the door. “So will I. Anita… I’m sorry, okay?”

  The door creaked as she jerked it open. “So am I. Mostly, I’m sorry I wasted so damn much of my life on you.”

  She didn’t look at him as she slammed the truck door. All she could see in the rearview mirror was a cloud of dirt as she pulled away. She blamed the dust for her teary eyes.

  2

  Bullies

  The Hungry Howler had a handful of patrons when she arrived for her shift. In a couple hours, the after-work rush would hit, and the favored bar and grill would fill up. Thirsty folk would come in for a cold beer to wash down the heat of the summer day and a burger to fill their bellies. Although Coyote Trail had several pubs to choose from, the Hungry Howler got the wolf’s share of the business.

  It got the wolves, too. The first of them wandered through the doors a couple hours after Anita tied her server’s apron on. He wore jeans that loved every curve of his ass, and a T-shirt that hugged his muscled chest beneath the black leather vest. Tousled hair crowned him, a few locks veiling a pair of intense green eyes. No mistaking him for human, not with the hungry lupine gaze he swept over the barroom. A couple of the servers hurried up to greet him with the nervous energy of women who weren’t sure if they could handle a werewolf, but God, would they love to try.

  New kid in town Jake Ballard could have had any woman he wanted. He could have had them twice over when he joined the Bully Boys, both for his looks and his pack affiliation. As far as anyone could tell, the enigmatic biker hadn’t even noticed. Anita had known him since the first day he’d set foot in the Hungry Howler, called him a friend since that very same day, and she’d never once seen him with a member of the female species.

  Anita saw him ask the eager servers a short question. One’s lips pursed into a pout, and she pointed towards the part of the restaurant Anita took care of tonight. Then Jake brushed past them with a perfunctory smile, and headed for a small table along the wall. Both servers huffed back to the drink station after he made his choice. He hadn’t sat in their sections, or offered them more than politeness. Shot down again.

  A smirk fought its way toward Anita’s lips, one she told herself stemmed from an overactive case of schadenfreude for the other servers. They’d made obnoxious, hungry eyes at Jake since the first time his booted foot had crossed the threshold of the bar, and it annoyed Anita on his behalf. Every refusal made her smile.

  Besides, if it were schadenfreude that brought out her smirk, she wouldn’t have to admit to pleasure when he chose her section. Or excitement at the prospect of exchanging words. Or the chance to get a better look at his all-too-handsome form.

  Anita had the bartender pull a cold pint of dark lager to take over. “Evening, Jake.”

  “Hey, Anita.” He chuckled as she set the beer down. “Am I that predictable?”

  “Only in your poison of choice. Was I wrong?”

  “Never.” He flashed a toothy smile. “How’s it going?”

  She tried to keep the smile on her lips. “I’ve had better days, but I’ve had worse, too.”

  It didn’t work. His brow furrowed. “You okay?”

  “I will be.”

  Wolves didn’t know how to back down from a chase. “Something up with Lou?”

  The sigh escaped before she could stop it. “In a manner of speaking. I can’t talk about it right now, okay, Jake? I’m on the clock, and I’m not ready for this to get around the bar yet.”

  Jake’s keen gaze didn’t leave her. “Later,” he said. She knew he hadn’t let the topic go, just delayed running his conversational prey down. “You can tell me later.”

  “You don’t have to li
sten to my bitching,” she said, for all she wanted to plop down with a beer of her own and pour her heart out to someone.

  “Hey.” He reached out to catch her hand. Warm fingers wrapped around her palm. “Who listened to me when I came into town, huh? Who introduced me to my pack? Without you, I’d still be a lone wolf. I don’t have to do a damn thing I don’t want to. Say you’ll talk to me later.”

  No one had given her such fierce attention in an age. He had a way of focusing that made the world fall away until she had no choice but to return it. “I’ll talk to you later. I promise.”

  With another smile, he dropped her hand and leaned back in his chair. “Then I’ll be here when you’re off shift. Tonight’s my night off. Think I’ll grab a bite and play a few rounds of pool.”

  “Bacon-double and sweet potato fries?”

  “You know me so well.”

  She left him to his beer. Raynelle and Felicia, the other servers, trailed after Anita like obnoxious ducklings. “Anita! What is up with you and Jake?” Raynelle asked in a low undertone. “He wouldn’t say more than ‘hi’ to us!”

  “Nothing is ‘up’ with us,” Anita answered, as she scribbled the order on a ticket for the kitchen. “We were talking. Friends do that.”

  “But he held your hand! I couldn’t even get him to give me a hug on my birthday last week!”

  Anita glanced at her. “That’s because predators know other predators. The two of you aren’t real subtle about being on the prowl.”

  Felicia giggled. “True, but is that so bad? It’s not like he’s got a girlfriend.”

  “I expect he would, if he wanted one.” Anita snorted. “You listen to me if you think you want a piece of that. Keep chasing, and he’ll keep running. That’s a man who chooses you, not the other way around.”