Things heat up for Detective Maria Selena as unknown enemies hit on her trail and try to follow her to her apartment. She finds a familiar face waiting for her with more warnings that she ignores. A case needs to be solved, and her lover’s request be damned. She catches up on some old friends and new enemies as she steers through the hidden world of sultry men and dangerous foes.
Ghoulish police officers, sewer chases, and cell inmates are what Maria need to face as she tries to find out the truth behind her hairy situation. Her leads drag her from one end of the city to the other in a race against time and her enemies. Each new clue brings more questions, and each new deal leads to more trouble. Her only hope is to trust herself and her new abilities to get her out of this mess before she finds herself neck-deep in someone’s mouth.
I walked over to my car and pulled my keys out of my pocket, but something made me pause before I inserted the key into the lock. It was the familiar smell of the river sewage, but it wasn't coming from me or my ride.
I inserted the key into the lock, but my eyes flickered to my right. The parking lot of the place was the usual rectangle with cars facing each other in rows separated by a lane wide enough for two cars to pass. My eyes fell on a particularly plain car among the line of cars that faced mine. It was a dark-blue four-door sedan. A guy sat in the driver's seat staring at his smart phone screen and casually glancing at the hospital. He wore dark glasses and a dark gray suit. His brown hair was cut short, and his hands were covered in thick black gloves.
Nothing too unusual, but my nose told me his tires had ran through the river muck recently. My eyes followed the scent and I noticed there was some dried mud in the treads.
Either he'd taken a strange joyride, or I had a problem on my hands.
I slipped into my car and started the engine. The guy didn't flinch. I backed out. That got his attention. He put down his cell phone and started his engine. I drove down the parking lot as he pulled out of his spot. I left the parking lot, and he was like a ten-second delay in time with my driving. He drove out and turned onto the same street and stopped at the same light to turn left. This guy was tailing me.
I had two options. The first was to pull over and see if he didn't want to talk. Judging by his face he didn't look like the kind of guy who wanted a heart-to-heart chat with who he was tailing. That left the second option: losing him. I had some experience doing that on a few of my wilder cases.
"All right, Mr. Sedan. Let's see how your car rolls," I muttered to myself.
My eyes flickered to the red light ahead of me. The green light on the opposing traffic ticked to yellow, then red. Mine turned green, and I stepped on the gas, but I didn't turn left. I swung the wheel and took a sharp right. Fortunately I didn't cut anybody off, but I did tick off my tailer. He was a little slow following me and through my rear view mirror I swear I saw him throw around a few words he didn't learn in kindergarten.
I sped down the road with my tailer in hot pursuit. Traffic was light which was both good and bad for me. I wouldn't be dying a horrible, fiery death rear-ending a Ford Pinto, but I couldn't lose him in the crowd. There was also the problem of other officers. I wasn't above being given a ticket for reckless driving, and I didn't think a judge would let me off because I was being tailed.
That meant I had to take the back roads and lose him in the alleys. I turned the wheel and bounced into an alley on my right. Alley cats and rats scattered ahead of me, and behind me my tailer screeched into the alley. His car kissed a few garbage cans on the way in and that gave me some breathing room.
The city blocks around the hospital were filled with towering office buildings with shiny windows, but the ground between them was a mess of dirty alleys. The roads were more like mud paths filled with obstacle courses made up of garbage cans, cardboard boxes, and hobos. I veered left and right to stay straight on the bumpy, uneven roads. Building side doors and screeching alley cats flashed by in dark blurs. The blue sedan was still in my rear view mirror, but it wasn't gaining.
I took a sharp left onto one of the major roads in the downtown district. It was a one-way street with traffic backed up for a block from the intersection. I saw flashing lights and guessed there was an accident at the light. There wouldn't be any way I could escape my tailer sitting in that mess, and I was lucky the alley came out at the tail-end of the lineup. I spun the wheel and performed a pretty good one-eighty against the traffic. It wasn't the right way on the street, but I wouldn't be on the street long. An entrance to another alley was half a block down. All I had to do was get there and get to the side streets, and I'd lose him.
I sped by the mouth of my former alley and passed by the tailer coming out. I gave him a wave and a smile, and he returned with a scowl. He spun his wheel and bumped out of the alley.
Bad move.
He was so focused on me he didn't see the oncoming traffic. A large white van slammed into his driver's side fender and door. It pushed him a few yards down the road and slammed his side into the rear of another car that waited in the long line. It caused a domino effect of rear-ending that ended five cars down. People in this city just didn't know how to give anybody any space. I'd hoped the guy would've stuck around to give the officers his name, but he jumped from his car and sped off down the nearest alley.
My damage there was done, so I swerved around oncoming traffic and slipped into the alley. Behind me I could hear yelling and swearing. Maybe they'd pick up the guy's name from the car, but something told me a guy that smartly dressed wasn't that stupid. The car was probably stolen, and his gloves wouldn't leave any fingerprints to match.
I reached my apartment at about five. The sun hadn't started setting yet when I unlocked my door and stepped inside. A Shadow stood by the curtained window that opened to the alley. I had a visitor.
"Isn't it early for you to be bothering me?" I commented as I slammed shut the door.
The man stepped from the shadows of the curtains. There wasn't any sign of his wine or wine glass, and he glared at me. "I told you not to look for me."
I tossed my car keys and wallet on the table beside the front door. "I guess I didn't hear you."
"You're playing a dangerous game here. One you don't understand," he warned me.
I walked over to the couch and leaned against the back so I faced my uninvited guest. "Then why don't you enlighten me?" I suggested.
"That would put you in greater danger. I've already risked your safety too much by coming here tonight," he replied.
I crossed my arms over my chest. "Then why come?"
His eyes swept over me. The heat in their depths excited my body, and I felt a warmth spread over me. I tried to shove it down, but it bounced back with twice the strength as before. He moved so he stood in front of me. His hands grasped my shoulders and he pulled me against him.
"Your scent drives me here. It risks both our lives for a chance to smell you, to touch you," he whispered.
My heart beat loudly in my chest and I felt my face flush with warmth. I tried to keep a grip on to my detective persona. My voice quivered, but the words got out of my parted lips. "I-I don't understand. What scent? Why me?" I questioned him.
"Because I claimed you, and you are mine," he growled.
I shuddered at the tension in his words. His voice was more animal than human. He longed to take me, to make me his, and I lusted for the same. He leaned forward and caught my lips in a searing kiss. His hands pawed at my shirt, my pants. Each of them were cut through by his nails and dropped to the floor in shreds. I wrapped my arms around him and moaned into the kiss. His fingers danced across my bare skin. Only my underwear and bra remained. My bare flesh pressed against him. He was hot to the touch, we both were.
I broke from the kiss and gasped for air. "How?" I moaned. How could he do this to me? How could he break my will and get my permission to take me with the passion of a lover?
"Mine," he growled.
That was the only explanation he gave, and the only one he needed. His lips pressed a hot trail down my neck to my heaving breasts. They swelled and strained against my flimsy bra. Their pert nipples pushed out from the cups and begged for attention. He cut through the straps and the bra slid down my stomach to rest on my bent arms.
My lover's hot gaze swept over my nakedness. I leaned back to give him a better view. He growled and pressed me closer. His warm lips nipped at my sensitive mounds and teased my nipples. His hands brushed against my smooth buttocks and pulled off my underwear. He massaged my rear and ground his hips into mine. I gasped as the size of his need pressed hard against my hot center. He picked me up off the floor and I instinctively wrapped my legs around him.
My lover moved us to the closest wall where he pressed me between the rough sheet rock and his hard, tense muscles. He tore off his shirt and pants and stood naked in front of me. His pulsing member teased my entrance for only a moment before he plunged himself inside me.
His penetration filled me both physically and mentally. He stretched my walls and soaked himself in my warm juices. I leaned my head back and reveled in the feeling of our completeness. I was nothing without him inside me, filling me with his lust for my body. His hands and mouth worshiped my body. Nothing was untouched. My most intimate places were teased and stroked. We were covered in sweat before his first push inside me.
I grasped his shoulders and sank deep into the sensual feel of him pulling in and out of me. Each penetration was a step towards a feral bliss, a carnal desire that lay deep inside us. It rose to the surface now and demanded satisfaction. Our sweat-soaked bodies pressed and tensed. We ground our hips against each other in this wonderful dance of lust and the primitive need to procreate.
I felt my muscles shift and expand. My fingers lengthened into sharp claws. Fur sprouted from my warm flesh. None of it mattered. There was only him inside me, pleasuring me to limits I could never have imagined.
"Fill me," I pleaded.
He grunted and thrust harder. His harsh breathing echoed in my ear. The sound of my groans filled the apartment. I clutched onto him and felt his rippling muscles burst with a thick coat of fur. His deep breathing changed to violent growls. The ends of his ears grew long and pointed. His manhood swelled inside me.
Our lovemaking turned to a rut. I clutched to him as he penetrated me again and again. Each time brought with it greater bliss, but also a greater appetite for the pleasure. I squirmed and screamed my joy.
"Yes! Yes! Yes!" I yelled. "More! Oh god, more!"
He grunted and thrust harder into me. My muscles quivered with my coming orgasm. I leaned my head back and reveled in the feel of that beautiful pleasure as it washed over me. He jerked into me and froze as he spilled into me.
I was exhausted. It wasn't easy losing a tailing car and getting my mind and body fucked like never before. I slumped against his shoulder and sighed. My heavy eyes closed and I basked in the warmth of our sweat-soaked bodies.
"Sleep," he whispered.
And damn it, I did.
