Caleb Read online

  Jake’s attention shot to her, and she swallowed. He inhaled deeply, a slow grin spreading across his face.

  “Maybe we just walk out with that cute little thing,” he said to Caleb. “And I’ll forget about how you disrespected me.”

  She let out a strangled yelp. Now she regretted not leaving when she had the chance.

  “She’s not going anywhere,” Caleb said, his voice filled with dangerous promise.

  Sarah’s breath caught. She wasn’t sure if he was being protective or just pissed off. Either way, she was glad that someone was going to keep Jake away from her. Even her lust for bad boys had limits.

  Caleb casually cracked his knuckles. “I don’t like your attitude, Jake. I don’t give a shit about who you normally push around, but this place is mine. If you have some money, then I’ll give you some beer and some wings. Otherwise, get the hell out of Devil’s Den and go piss on someone else’s leg.”

  Jake let out a low growl.

  Sarah blinked, then heard Caleb also growl, along with the other men in the room. What the hell? She knew men in these circles liked to show off, but now they were growling at each other like animals. She regretted not bringing a piece of paper to take some notes. It looked like she was learning about some previously hidden aspects of biker and biker-adjacent culture.

  “Let me take him, Jake,” one of the bikers said. “Let me pound that smug face until he’s begging for forgiveness.”

  Jake grinned. “That would be entertaining.”

  “What, you too chickenshit to take me on yourself?” Caleb said. He spat on the ground. “Gotta say, I’m disappointed.”

  Jake sneered. “You need to prove that you’re not a waste of my time. Unless you’re too much of a pussy to take on my boy here.”

  Sarah watched, transfixed. The vague remaining idea of calling the police vanished, as she watched these two men challenge each other, no thoughts of consequences. It was almost like something from a different age.

  “Whatever.” Caleb hopped over the bar. He lifted his hand and gestured with his fingers for his opponent to come at him. “Show me what you got, big man. Don’t come crying when I knock you on your ass in front of your alpha.”

  Alpha? Sarah hadn’t heard that terminology used for outlaw bikers before. This little trip was already proving to be a treasure trove of information.

  Jake’s man rushed with a yell toward Caleb. The biker threw a fist, but Caleb blocked it with ease and then slammed his fist into the man’s face with a crunch. Sarah winced at the sight.

  The other man staggered back, but when he recovered, he grinned, like he was enjoying the whole thing. The man got in a jab to Caleb’s stomach, but he only grunted at the hit.

  Caleb smashed the other man across the face with a right hook, then followed the hit with a powerful blow from the left. He finished with a headbutt, the thud of which echoed in the bar.

  The other man stumbled back, his face bruised and battered.

  Sarah closed her eyes. A few thuds and a crunch later, she opened them up to find the man unconscious on the floor. She stared at the man for a moment, then blinked. If she hadn’t known better, she could have sworn that a cut on the side of the man’s face had already healed. A trick of the light?

  “That’s all your boy had?” Caleb said with a sneer. “Pathetic. Pick your trash up, and get the hell out of here.”

  Jake shook his head, glowering. “You think I’m afraid just because you got one more man here?”

  Sarah glanced around. She hadn’t even noticed, but Jake was right. Two other men stood behind the bar, stone-faced as they watched everything.

  With a groan, the man on the floor stood. He shook his head and backed up toward Jake. Despite the blood on his face, jacket, and shirt, most of the bruises, swelling, and cuts from his face had already vanished.

  She stared at him, trying to figure out what had just happened. There was no way he could have taken the hits she’d just witnessed and look so untouched.

  Jake shook his head. “We do this the hard way then, and someone might actually get hurt, you little bitch.”

  Caleb snorted. “I’m tired of hearing you talk, asshole. Show me what you got, then talk.”

  Several seconds passed before Sarah understood what she was even seeing. First, Jake and the two men around him had been standing there, scowling. Then, they blurred, stretched, and twisted, and suddenly there were three huge wolves standing in the bar, growling. No clothes, just fur.

  Sarah yelped and rushed around the bar only to spot two more wolves there. Her heart kicked up even more, and she ran into the corner, pulling a contact Taser out of her pocket. Would it even work on wolves?

  She surveyed the area and counted.

  No matter how ridiculous it seemed, she spotted seven wolves standing in the bar, all unnaturally huge, easily hundreds of pounds, with much longer claws than she’d seen on wolves, at least the ones in the zoo.

  A brown-coated wolf stood where Caleb had just a moment before, growling, his hackles up.

  “Caleb,” Sarah whispered.

  It didn’t make any sense, but she knew that the wolf was Caleb. All the men in the room had turned into wolves. Her glance shot to her drink. Had she been drugged?

  Maybe, but everything seemed so real. The only thing out of place were all the huge, furry killing machines growling at each other.

  Two more men appeared from the back hallway. They blurred, and wolves replaced them.

  Caleb, at least the wolf she presumed was him, let out a loud growl. He snapped at the air. Jake snapped back.

  The other Devil’s Den wolves padded forward, positioning themselves for a strike.

  The three wolves near the entrance blurred and twisted until three bikers stood there again. Despite her thundering heart and broken mind, Sarah couldn’t help but notice they had their clothes from before.

  “This ain’t over, Caleb,” Jake said. He offered an evil grin. “We’ll be back.”

  The other wolves shifted back into human form. Again, the clothes that had disappeared before reappeared in their human form.

  “It’ll end the same,” Caleb said, his voice low. “Now like I said, get the hell out of my bar.”

  Jake shrugged. “This shit was boring anyway.” The True Sons all backed up slowly before hitting the door. They filed out, Jake the last one. He offered a middle finger on his way out.

  Sarah had come to learn about bikers. Instead, she’d discovered something far more important. There was only one word to describe what she’d just seen.

  Werewolves.

  Chapter Five

  Caleb rubbed the back of his neck. He didn’t care about rumbling with the True Sons, but he’d prefer not to do it in his own bar. It’s not like the damn biker wolves would pay for the damage. It wasn’t like the pack had tons of money, and insurance would only go so far.

  Not everybody could be a rich dragon who had decades to collect cash.

  He considered challenging the True Sons to fight somewhere else. Somewhere nice, far away, and abandoned. He just doubted things would end that easily. After how easily he took down Jake’s man, he wasn’t all that impressed, but he had no idea if that was one of the tougher guys in the pack or not.

  Caleb looked over at Sarah and shook his head in disgust. Given how strong her Blooded scent was, she knew exactly what she was doing when she walked in. So why hadn’t she left when things got tense?

  Even an asshole like Jake wouldn’t try and kill or maim a Blooded, but a room full of brawling werewolves was still an accident waiting to happen.

  The harsh truth was that Werewolf blood grew thinner with each generation. If they were actually better organized, they could probably do something about it, but brawling packs didn’t exactly look to the long-term future. The end result was that every Blooded, regardless of purity, was important. She had to know that.

  Maybe Sarah got off on being around danger. He’d run into more than a few Blooded women who l
iked to see wolves fight. He’d also seen them get hurt more than a few times because they were stupid. A pointless waste. He growled at the thought.

  Something felt off about that explanation as he stared at Sarah. The woman stood in the corner still, nibbling on her lip and rubbing her wrists. She didn’t seem like a woman who was excited to see alphas square off. She seemed more like a woman who was scared by what she’d just witnessed. He’d even seen her pull out a Taser and place it back in her purse.

  Good. He could work with that to knock some sense into her. A little sensible fear never hurt anyone.

  Caleb pointed at Sarah. “You’re coming with me.” She blinked and gave him a quick nod. He then turned to his beta. “Malcolm, if the cops show up, you handle it.”

  The other man nodded. “Sure thing, Caleb.”

  He stomped toward the back, and then halted when he realized Sarah wasn’t following him. He looked over his shoulder with a frown. “I said you’re coming with me.”

  She nodded and hurried after him. They walked through the back hallway, first past the bathrooms, then a small stairway, and then all the way to the back door that led to the small parking lot where he kept the garbage cans and his truck.

  “What’s… going on?” Sarah asked. “I mean, where are you taking me?”

  “I was planning to take you home. I wanted to talk to you on the way.” Caleb looked back at the bar, his shoulders tensing. “Shit. Did you drive here?” So many little things to worry about.

  Sarah shook her head, some of her black hair settling over her eyes. She brushed the strands back with her hand. “Lyft. I didn’t know how much I might drink.” She shrugged. “Maybe you don’t find that very hardcore, but I don’t normally drink a lot.”

  Caleb snorted. “My apartment’s above the bar, so it’s easy for me to get drunk and then go pass out.” Some of the tension left him. “Anyway, if you don’t have a car that makes things easier.” He lifted his key fob and unlocked the doors to his red Ford F150. “Get in. We’re going for a little drive.”

  Sarah bit her lip and hesitated. “Why do we need to go right now?”

  Caleb furrowed his brow. Why was she being so resistant? “Like I said because I need to take you home.”

  “But why right away?”

  He groaned. “I’d rather not have you around if the police show up. They’ll ask questions, and you might slip up. Just because you’re Blooded doesn’t mean I know anything else about you.”

  Sarah’s face scrunched up in confusion for a moment. “And you promise you won’t hurt me?” She rubbed her arms. “I keep having this feeling like this is the part in the horror movie where I get in the truck, and I’m never heard from again.”

  Caleb stared at her before shaking his head. He chuckled. “No wolf worth being called a wolf would kill a Blooded. And, hell, even wolves that aren’t worth being called wolf would do that.”

  Sarah tilted her head, staring at him for a moment as if trying to figure something out, then nodded slowly. “Okay, then.” She hopped into the passenger seat.

  Caleb stepped into the truck. “Where do you live? You said Tempe, right?”

  She rattled off her address and the cross streets.

  “That’s just down the street from the university,” Caleb said. “I don’t get out that way much, but I’ve visited some friends out there. Nice city, but a little too artsy and folksy for my taste.”

  Sarah blushed. “I’m a sociology grad student at the university.”

  Caleb arched a brow. “Not really my thing, but I’m sure you find it interesting. Whatever the hell that means.”

  The truck’s engine roared to life, and he pulled out onto the street.

  Now that they sat together in a small, enclosed space, her Blooded scent enticed him even more. His cock grew distractingly hard. Maybe if he’d gotten laid lately it wouldn’t be so intense, but he’d been more focused on getting Devil’s Den up and running than bedding a woman.

  His gaze drifted over her body, lingering on the cleavage only barely concealed by the mesh and the top underneath. He liked the size of her breasts. Not too large, not too small. A good handful.

  He pulled his attention back to the road. He wasn’t about to have a major accident because he couldn’t stop looking at Sarah.

  Still, she’d shown up to a bar filled with werewolves dressed like that, so she was probably looking for a little fun, but no matter how hard he was, he needed to concentrate on the situation at hand. He wanted Blooded to visit Devil’s Den, but he also didn’t want them to be stupid about it.

  After a few intersections, Caleb cleared his throat. “Why the hell did you stick around?”

  “What?” Sarah said, blinking those oh-so-innocent-looking blue eyes.

  Caleb kept his eyes on the road while he drove. “Someone as strong Blooded as you should have known the score. If things got rough, you could have gotten hurt. It’s not like we were having that fight in the field. You know how wolves can get.”

  Sarah let out a long sigh. “It sounded like that was the first time the True Sons have come in.”

  “Yeah.” He shrugged. “We were warned that they might stop by, but it’s been a couple of months since we got the warning.”

  “Do you think they’ll come back?”

  “You know wolves. We’re all stubborn. I think Jake’s gonna need a lot more sense pounded into him before he gives up.”

  “Wait,” she said. “You have a truck.”

  “Yeah, and… ?”

  “You don’t have a motorcycle?” She sounded disappointed.

  “No. I told you earlier. My friends and me don’t ride.” Caleb barked out a laugh. “And it’s hard to carry things on a bike. I’m not a biker, Sarah, even if I’ve known more than my fair share.”

  “Are the True Sons typical, you’d say?”

  He spared a glance Sarah’s way. Her voice had become detached, almost clinical. He wondered if the encounter had riled her more than he suspected.

  “Typical of what?”

  “Werewolves.”

  “Huh?”

  “Are most bikers werewolves? Is that why you chose to try and push a more biker-bar vibe?”

  “Uh, no. Come on. If most bikers were…”

  Shit. No, it couldn’t be.

  “What?” Sarah said. “Oh. While I’m thinking of it, how did you hit that guy so many times without him even showing any injuries? I know I saw them, but then it was like that all just healed. I mean the blood was even still there. Was that because you didn’t use silver?”

  Oh shit.

  Caleb’s fingers tightened around the steering wheel. His heart thundered. This was bad. Very bad.

  He’d assumed that a Blooded with such a pureblooded scent had to be in the know, but her questions made it seem like she didn’t know anything about werewolves.

  It wasn’t unknown. Plenty of weaker Blooded managed to skate by without ever running into shifters and learning the truth. Many lineages had been lost through the years, but someone who smelled like Sarah? It was almost unheard of.

  He had to be sure.

  “Do you know what it means to be Blooded?” Caleb asked quietly.

  “Is that what you’re called after like your first kill or something?” Sarah frowned and shook her head. “No, no. That doesn’t make sense. You said I was Blooded. So what is it, then?”

  Caleb yanked the wheel to the right, pulling the truck into an empty parking lot outside some abandoned warehouses.

  “What’s going on?” Sarah said, a faint tremor in her voice.

  Caleb growled and turned the engine off. “I was a dumbass, and now I have to figure out how to solve a big problem.”

  Chapter Six

  “Problem?” Sarah said. She rubbed her palms in her lap. He’d said he was taking her home, and now they’d pulled into an abandoned parking lot.

  “It’s not exactly like we want everyone knowing about werewolves,” Caleb said, his eyes filled with irrita
tion.

  “I… yeah, I can imagine.”

  “I thought you knew, but you’ve never seen a wolf before tonight, have you?” He stared at her, his face impassive.

  Sarah opened her mouth to spit out a lie. If he already thought she had, maybe she could bluff her way through. Instead, she closed her mouth and shook her head.

  The only thing that kept her from trying to run off screaming in terror was a vague belief that she might just be dreaming. Men didn’t just turn into wolves and back into men. If only everything else wasn’t so clear and lucid, she might have believed she was drugged.

  If what she saw was real, though, then she might be a loose end that needed to be cleaned up, and she’d tipped Caleb off.

  Sarah swallowed. Her lip quivered. He was probably thinking about how to kill her and hide her body.

  “Please don’t kill me,” she said. “I won’t tell anyone. I promise.” A hysterical laugh escaped her mouth. “Like anyone would even believe me. Werewolves fighting in a bar? I mean… that’s crazy, right? You see, you have nothing to worry about.”

  Caleb watched her, frowning.

  She squeezed her eyes shut as tears began to leak out. “I… oh God.”

  “Yeah, I don’t think I’ll have anything to worry about,” Caleb said softly. “Who are you, and why did you come to the bar?”

  Her heart kicked into overdrive. His statement sounded more than a little ominous.

  “Sarah Lindsey. I’m just a normal woman. I wasn’t lying about being a sociology graduate student.” She opened her eyes and wiped her tears. “I… came to the bar just to find some informants for my grad school thesis on outlaw bikers. I’m not a cop, or a werewolf hunter.” She sniffled. “Is that even a thing?”

  “Yeah, there’s some hunters out there, but most people just think they are nut jobs.” Caleb snorted. “Most are, really. Just because you’re right about something doesn’t mean you’re not crazy. And hunters don’t tend to last long. We’re very tough, and very good at fighting. Hell, you’ve seen it.”