Page 96 of Blood of Vengeance

With the rumble of engines practically chasing me down the street, I headed to the coffee shop on the corner. Zella still hadn’t been feeling well so I figured she needed a pick-me-up, and I needed caffeine as sleep had simply not been happening.

“Good morning,” I said with a smile to the woman at the counter. “Can I get one large iced cold brew with a splash of almond milk and one large iced coffee with cream and two pumps of vanilla, please?”

“Coming right up.”

I paid the woman who sat at a register then moved down past the bakery case, looking at and drooling over the pastries and treats but not adding any to my order. Zella was on a strict no-sugar, no-gluten diet, which meant I was as well for moral support. I missed gluten, but not nearly as much as I missed my friend being able to move without wincing.

The familiar rumble of motorcycles interrupted my browsing, and I scowled as I looked outside. Three bikes sat parked out front—not the source of the noise, but there, nonetheless. Each one had a man in black leather astride, and they all seemed to be chatting. I could easily picture them as Flinch and Cutter and Rush, hanging out on their bikes. In a different situation, they could have been out there waiting for me. Ready to help me take care of Zella. In a different situation, I could have been thrilled to see them instead of irritated.

I needed to get the Hellions off my mind.

“Ooh, someone doesn’t like motorcycles.” A tall, ridiculously beautiful blond woman smiled my way, her gaze stabbing right through me. “Or is it just men you’re not partial to?”

I looked out the window once more before turning to refocus on the woman, hoping the barista would be done with my drinks quickly so I could just go home. “The noise has been getting to me.”

“Of the bikes? I can see that. It has seemed awfully busy with motorcycles in the city lately.” She stepped around me as the barista called out a drink—Americano, sweet—but turned back and gave me a smile once she had her coffee. “You should feel safe when you hear the sound, though. Especially in the city.”

Something in her expression sent ice down my spine. There was a quality to it I couldn’t place. An animalistic edge that was both familiar and completely out of place.

“I don’t know,” I said, keeping my chin up but definitely feeling like a rabbit in the face of a lion. “My dad was a biker. I know enough not to believe that line wholeheartedly.”

“Clubs without women tend to become a little wild, or so I’m told.” The woman nodded once, glancing over my shoulder before pinning me in place with her steely blue gaze once more. Looking even more predator-like as she leaned in closer. “I’m Kaija, and if you ever need anything at all, find a biker with a Feral Breed patch. They’ll know how to reach me.”

With that, she strode out of the building, hips swinging right along with her long blond hair. She slipped into place behind one of the men on the bikes, a huge, dark-haired man with sunglasses on. All three men and Kaija looked my way, staring longer than was probably appropriate before starting their engines and rolling out of their spots. As the man with Kaija wrapped around him turned my way at the last minute, he pulled the sunglasses off his face, his light eyes locking on mine. And in that moment, I knew. I felt it. They were wolf shifters. I didn’t know how or why or what group they were with, but I had no doubt. They were shifters.

And I suddenly missed Flinch even more than before.

Coffees acquired, I headed home, my mind firmly on the shifters in Arizona. Even the sound of motorcycles in the distance didn’t irritate me as much as they had before meeting Kaija. Now, they made me sad.

“I should not be missing the desert,” I said to myself before opening the door to our apartment. I didn’t call out to Zella just in case, which was a good thing. I found her lying sideways on her mattress, sound asleep. I grabbed a blanket from the end of her bed and laid it over her gently, hoping she could get a good nap. Zella hadn’t been doing great since we’d been home. She’d restarted some physical therapy to help with a new pain situation and was trying a new medication, but the autoimmune fatigue had been higher than usual. She had been struggling to make it through each day and often found herself confused or distracted when she should have been wide awake. She’d even extended her FMLA leave at work to give herself time to work through the flare without needing to deal with her job. I worried so much for her but was constantly at a loss as to what I could do to help, other than work to help cover her part of the bills.

Distracted and so very tired, I poured Zella’s iced coffee into an insulated tumbler so the ice wouldn’t melt, set it on her nightstand, and closed the bedroom door behind me so the woman could rest. I decided to do something similar and moved to my room, sitting up on my bed and taking a sip of my own coffee as I pulled out my phone. I had a question about today that needed to be answered, and only one man could give me what I wanted.

I met a Feral Breed MC member named Kaija today. A woman. Did you send her to me?

His reply came faster than I had expected. A simple one-word message.

No.

Did you ask that club to watch me or something?

Yes.

His simple responses made my blood boil, and yet I couldn’t blame him. I had been refusing his calls and keeping him at arm’s length since I’d gotten home. A little taste of my own medicine was likely exactly what I deserved.

You realize how overbearing it is to have an MC following me around?

You realize how dangerous that city is?

I wanted to throw my phone across the room, but I didn’t. I took a deep breath, and I tried really hard to be an adult who communicated.

This is the problem. You refuse to respect me as an independent person. I’ve lived in this city on my own for a long time. I’m fine without protection.

My phone stayed silent, no reply from Flinch. I waited a good three minutes with the phone in my hand, almost hoping for an alert. A message. Something.

I got nothing.

At least not until the screen lit up with an incoming video call.

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