Night runner, p.1
Night Runner, page 1
night runner
URBAN JUNGLE
BOOK 2
SK PRINCE
© 2023, SK Prince
All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system without the prior written permission of the publisher.
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Editor: Jennifer Jones, Bookends Editing
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, organizations, places, events, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
No part of this work may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission of the publisher.
SK Prince
PO Box 873403
Wasilla, AK 99687
USA
contents
About this Book
1. Maury
2. Maury
3. Maury
4. Anthony
5. Maury
6. Maury
7. Maury
8. Maury
9. Anthony
10. Maury
11. Maury
12. Maury
13. Anthony
14. Maury
15. Maury
16. Anthony
17. Maury
18. Anthony
19. Maury
20. Maury
21. Maury
22. Anthony
What’s Next?
Sneak Peek
Meet the Author
about this book
I’d pretty much given up on family. Raised in the foster system, I’ve always been on my own and thought it would be that way forever.
But now I have a new cat shifter pride, I’ve been reunited with the father who never knew I existed, and I have a new love -- my Alpha, Anthony Holder.
Anthony is my fated mate, and I’m drawn to him like I’ve never been to another person. Our bond is hot and irresistible, and for the first time I see a future no longer marred by loneliness and solitude.
But the rogue shifter who bit me is still out there, and he’s bent on vengeance against the Alpha, and everyone in the pride. If we don’t track him down before he strikes again, more innocents could be at risk, and that bright future could drift away before it even begins.
Not to mention, an even bigger threat lurks on the horizon . . .
CHAPTER ONE
maury
Early August
New Port Orleans, Louisiana
Ty Winter.
My father was Ty Winter, the tracker for the whole damn Lafourche Magnolia pride. And he had been in the alpha’s living room, pretty as he pleased, after trying to save both of us from Darius McCullough, before taking off after the beast they all knew.
My life had gone from crazy to crazier. My pulse still raced in my ear. Darius, the murdering rogue shifter from the bayou, had attacked us, and Ty practically blew apart every theory I had about what a douche bag deadbeat my sperm-donor father had to be since he had never shown up in my life in any measurable way. After Anthony introduced us to one another, Ty had gone after our attacker.
Anthony Holder, my black panther shifter lover, grimaced as he tried to come up with some way to excuse how he broke the news to Ty. Anthony’s dark hair fell over his forehead, and his muscles rippled as he tried to make his way across his apartment. I’d never know how much I appreciated older men… until I had one.
His amber eyes flashed, and he wore only blood, leftover from the attack we’d barely fended off—some belonged to him and some belonged to Darius.
I shook my head. Had we fended off the attack or had Darius bolted for some other reason, some other purpose? I wasn’t sure, but Darius wasn’t here now, and Anthony had introduced me to my father. My. Freaking. Father.
That whole truth fractured the room we had been in, even now I couldn’t stop thinking about the man who had given me shifter genetics, the whole reason I hadn’t died in the bayou when Darius, the rogue shifter, attacked me. Earlier, Ty had jumped between Darius and me, protecting me from the brunt of Darius’s flying kick. Ty wasn’t the selfish asshole I had expected, but I had to find out the rest of the truth about him, and Ty wasn’t here to ask, so I turned to Anthony.
“Did you know?” I demanded. “Have you known the whole time?”
“Know what?”
“That he’s my father. Is that why I’m here?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Is he why you brought me here?” A boulder lodged in my throat as I tried to sort through a rush of feelings. Why was it so important to me that I wasn’t here because of who my dad was to the pride? It had something to do with Anthony. I wanted to be here because Anthony wanted me here.
Anthony quirked an eyebrow, and pain tightened his mouth. “No, hell, no. Not until you said something about ‘Ty’ being on your birth certificate. Then it wasn’t hard to put the pieces together.” He dropped a large hand on my forearm. “But he has nothing to do with why you’re here.” His hand slid away, and he glanced at his palm before rolling his shoulders, obviously in pain.
I stroked my own jaw, wincing at a sore spot after the fight. So many things I could say, but none of them made any sense. Instead, I hurried out of the living space, scooped the first aid from the medicine cabinet in his bathroom, and rushed back into the living room where the alpha of the cat shifter pride waited, injured and healing more slowly than he should be. The delay of his healing troubled me, but I didn’t know who to ask about it without sounding like I was worrying needlessly.
There was a hell of a lot of shit going on right now: meeting my dad, patching up my lover, trying to figure out what Darius had planned. A few weeks ago, I’d been surviving by my wits in the bayou, hating my life as a cat shifter, avoiding shifting into a cat at all costs.
Life changed in a hurry and didn’t ask if I was ready.
The door slammed open, and I bumped against Anthony as I followed him into the living room. I whirled to face whatever the new threat was and braced, expecting a fist to the face. “Holy shit!” I shrieked.
Instead of a new attacker, Laura Vo, my roommate, darted into the room, her violet eyes flashing. “Maury! What happened?”
Kobie Woodard hurried in behind her, and he held up his phone with no trace of his normal goofball behavior. “Got Ty’s message. He said he was going after the attacker and to get our asses over here. What the fuck is going on?”
A naked Anthony groaned as he dropped on the couch and landed on a small cover spread on the middle cushion. The leather creaked lightly beneath his weight. He was still completely bare from shifting from big cat to human, and red gashes still striped his bare chest.
“That Rogue nearly killed us. Ty called him Darius,” I said. When my voice cracked, I raised the first aid kit and gave her a weak smile. “We’re not dead yet though.”
Blue-eyed Kobie crossed to the couch without another glance at me.
But Laura caught me in a hug. “I’m glad you’re both okay.”
I gestured to Anthony on the couch. “‘Okay’ might be a stretch.”
“Okay enough to get better,” she said, stepping back but keeping one of her arms around my shoulder. She tucked her dark hair behind her ear. Her expression returned to her normally stoic self. “That’s okay enough for me.”
“Does this happen a lot?” I whispered.
“Which part?”
“Getting attacked.”
“You mean getting attacked in the most fortified building in the alpha’s personal apartment?”
I kicked at the floor. “Yeah.”
She shook her head. “Never in my memory.”
“Good to know.” But it wasn’t good to know. It was terrifying. I showed up and all fucking hell breaks loose. Anthony would be sure to throw me out of the pride. How could he want me here? We’d barely survived.
We’d been attacked during the thunderstorm now receding out over the bayou, both of us naked after our first night of making love together—my first night ever. It had been incredible and unique and everything I could have hoped for… right up until the intruder.
I glanced down at the thought, surprised I was still naked and hadn’t realized it. How had I not noticed the draft or all my skin hanging out? It had to have been the shock or the adrenaline, or maybe I was getting used to being a shifter.
Laura nodded toward me. “Shifting practice?”
My cheeks heated. “Not exactly.”
She nodded once, keeping her expression blank. “Glad to see you two getting to know each other.”
My lips pinched. Instead of basking in the aftermath of lovemaking, we’d been startled by the break-in, and Anthony leapt from the bed to defend us, and I dropped down behind the bed. Until I’d tried to help and gotten slammed into the wall.
My chin quivered, and my eyes flooded. Then I wiped the angry tears from my cheeks as I opened the small box. “I have to take care of Anthony.”
She dropped her arm.
Laura was the closest thing I had to a best friend, but I didn’t want to tell her my mind had completely blanked, and I’d done nothing but cower behind the bed while Anthony tried to save us from whoever the hell had broken in. When I worked up the cou rage to help, I managed to get myself knocked out. How could I tell her all that?
I crouched down next to Anthony and dabbed at the wounds puckering on his chest, chewing the hell out of my bottom lip to keep from apologizing over and over. Dried blood flaked off his skin and landed on his thighs like a smattering of glaring red freckles. Anthony brushed them away and his movement inadvertently gouged my finger into one of the lacerations in his chest. He hissed in pain, and I winced when I felt the sting as if I’d gouged my own chest. Whatever happened between us had been more than love-making, and the pain was more than sympathy pains.
“You okay?” Kobie asked me.
“Fine,” I said.
He didn’t look like he believed me.
“I’m so sorry,” I whispered to Anthony. “I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
Anthony opened his mouth to answer, but he didn’t get anything out before Laura put her hands on her hips.
“So, how did you get rid of him?” Laura interjected.
Anthony shrugged. “I don’t know. He was beating me and Ty both. He was so fucking strong. We survived because he left, not because we beat him. Who the hell is this guy?”
Laura frowned and scanned the apartment. “Ty was here? Where is he now?”
I shrugged, not wanting to bring up the dad thing. “He went after Darius.”
“Alone?”
Anthony shrugged. “Fucking hell, Kobie. How could I let him catch us like that? Unaware and unprepared. Now Ty’s gone after him,” he muttered. “How? Darius could have beat me, how is it he’s not shown up before now? He could have challenged me to be the pride alpha, and he would have won. It doesn’t make any sense. He wasn’t that strong when we kicked him out Lafourche Magnolia.”
“We had no way to know this was going to happen,” Kobie said. “You can’t anticipate what never enters your mind. Our enemies don’t even come here. They’ve never attacked this building or your apartment. How would we know a powerful shifter would attack you?”
“But how did he get past our guards? Those two are the best guards in the pride. They don’t miss anything.” He tried to stand up. “Shit. Can you send somebody to check on them?”
Kobie nodded, put his phone to his ear, and walked several steps away, speaking softly. “Yeah, can you send somebody to check on…”
Laura put her hands on her hips. “Maybe the thunderstorm kept him hidden. Between the wind, the lightning, and the thunder… It could have covered a lot.”
Anthony shook his head. “It shouldn’t have. We’re better than that.”
“But the intruder knew it would help cover his break-in.” This came from Kobie who had since finished his phone call.
Laura crossed her arms. “Who was it? You said Darius. Who’s that?”
“The rogue,” Anthony snapped. “The asshole that’s been out there biting and turning and murdering as many people as possible.”
Laura’s eyebrows slammed into her hairline, and Kobie turned toward her, then leaned toward her, almost as though he meant to touch her, but he didn’t. “So, the rogue came here?”
Ty stalked back into the apartment, his face a dark mask of frustration. “Darius got away. I lost his scent again.” He shook his head and pushed his hand through his reddish hair. “I’ve never seen anybody run like that.”
“Darius… What’s his last name?”
“Darius McCullough,” Ty said.
“Darius McCullough?” Laura echoed. “I recognize that name.”
“Yes, Darius had an attitude from the first day I became the alpha. Darius is the only one we’ve ever thrown out, and he’s been pissed ever since. I had no idea he’d come back to Louisiana,” Anthony answered. “Before today, we didn’t know for sure who he was, but we have to make a plan to go after him. He’s breaking pride law.”
I cringed. Go after him? Fuck that. I barely managed to keep my mouth closed, but I didn’t think going after him was the right choice. Maybe the others would talk some sense into him.
“We’re not in any shape to beat him without a plan, not without being able to smell him,” Ty agreed. “Today was our one chance to catch him alone. Now, we might not beat him even with a plan. We must wait until we have more information.”
Anthony frowned at the master tracker, his expression a warning to anybody who might disagree with him. “We have no choice. We must take care of the rogue, one way or another, and his intrusion proves we can’t wait anymore.”
Ty glared at Anthony. “Respectfully, alpha, you haven’t been out there. You haven’t seen the tracks or the numbers of shifters living in the bayou. I’m not even sure I know how many there are. We can only guess. Our best option is to send more of us to try to gather reconnaissance.”
“Are you saying he already has an army?”
Ty shook his head. “Whatever he has amassed, we’re not ready. His attack tonight only proved it.”
Kobie sniffed and searched his pockets, probably for his allergy meds. “But how many does he have? We have to have a general idea.”
“Could be hundreds. I didn’t recognize any of the cats I spotted while I was tracking Darius and I scented quite a few but also didn’t recognize them. But who knows if that’s real or not? Darius figured out how to mask his smell, maybe they all did, too.”
Anthony flinched as though Ty struck him. “You can’t be serious.”
“He’s been free to bite for multiple years, and we have no way of knowing how many he’s successfully turned. How many dead bodies have been reported?”
“I don’t know the total, but it’s enough to get the local authorities interested in our pride.”
Laura turned to me as the others continued conversing. “You’re being awfully quiet.”
My shrug was the only answer I had for her. I still didn’t want to tell her Ty was probably my dad and likely the source of my cat shifter genetics. How did I share that bombshell in the middle of cleaning up from the attack? Instead, I got dressed in pants and a shirt before making my way back into the room.
The last twenty-four hours had been mind-blowing. I glanced at Anthony. Mind-blowing in so many ways. The gashes were still visible in his skin.
She touched my shoulder. “What’s wrong?”
I shook my head, but she quirked an eyebrow. “Maury, I know you better than that. We’ve been roommates for over a week now.”
“Anthony isn’t healing quickly. Shouldn’t he be healing faster?”
Laura frowned at me and then turned to Anthony, considering him. “Maybe. Depends on how bad the injuries were. Did he shift after he got injured?”
“Several times.”
At that, Laura laid her hand on Anthony’s forehead. “You feeling okay, Anthony? Did the rogue have any kind of knife or anything?”
He knocked her hand away. “No. Why?”
She met my gaze. “No reason.”
I didn’t add anything else, glad for the reprieve from her scrutiny. But Ty took up his own sadder version of Laura’s scrutiny of me, so I fled by marching into the kitchen area, deciding to grab drinks for everybody. Kobie, Laura, and Anthony continued discussing options.
Ty trailed after me. “Do you know where I can get a water?”
“Sure.” I took a bottle out of the fridge and handed it to him.
He gave me a small smile. “I’m not usually here except for pride events. Water is usually pretty obvious at events.”
I studied him a moment. “Did you know about me? Like when my mom was pregnant or anything?” I blurted it all out. Though it hadn’t been what I’d been about to say at all. I’d meant to say something inane about the recent thunderstorm.
Ty shook his head, and moisture suddenly swam in his eyes. “Believe me when I say I didn’t know anything about you at all, Maury. I didn’t know you existed, or I’d have been in your life. I would have taught you about what it meant to be a cat shifter, and I’d made sure you knew about the pride. I’m sorry I wasn’t there.” He kept his voice low through all of it, which I was glad for since I wasn’t ready to discuss it with Laura.
