Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Heat Of The Moment

I felt twitchy as I steered my bike through the small streets of LaPlace, Louisiana. I couldn't sit around and endure another wolf shooting questions at me on the compound. I needed to get out to clear my head. The rumble of the Harley soothed my nerves while I tried to avoid the almost full moon shining down on me, bathing my body with its curse.

I hated it. But I'd accepted it. I'd never told another living soul how much I loathed it. As far as everyone knew, I was a proud wolf, born from a strong pack of strapping ones.

As I turned the corner, headed for Wetland Watchers Park to let the waters of Lake Pontchartrain calm me, I was greeted by the exact opposite: Absolute chaos.

It took me a full thirty seconds to realize what I was looking at. Fists were flying, necks were being snapped, and worst of all, vampires were using super speed so they were a mere blur. But with my keen eyesight I could make out most of what was going on. The only problem was, I didn't know what the non-vampires were. In my experience, could be humans, wolves, witches… who knew?

"For fuck's sake," I groaned, killing the Harley's engine and shoving my keys in my pocket. Then, I took out my cell and called Trigger, my second-in-command.

"Yeah," he answered.

"Grab a cager and get down to Wetland. Bring at least three dudes. And some weapons."

"You got it." I heard him start to walk fast. "What's going on?"

"Full-on brawl. Vamps and others. I don't recognize anyone," I replied.

"On it."

He ended the call and I pocketed the phone, then dismounted from the bike. Folding my arms across my cut, I just watched, since I literally didn't have a dog in this fight, but I itched to join in. The craving for violence living inside of me never quite died down, and my wolf was growling and clawing to get out and brawl. To join in the melee and do some damage to them. To tear something apart and howl in delight. He didn't care who. I took a deep breath and quieted him. He would be out soon enough.

I watched as one vamp grabbed a man by his shirt, swung him as if he was a ragdoll, and threw him into the lake. The man immediately got out of the water and stalked, dripping wet, to the vampire who threw him. The vamp had his back turned to the water, and the wet man rushed up and put him in a bear hug, soaking the vamp. They both suddenly lit up with electric pulses, illuminating both their bodies. They shook violently, screamed in unison, and then dropped to the ground, unconscious.

Warlock. Got it.

I checked out the bikes parked near me. I didn't recognize any, but that didn't mean much. Squinting, I saw there were no Nighthawks—the vampire MC we normally tolerated—so I decided I had another call to make.

I pulled out my cell and dialed Viper, the Nighthawks' president.

"Yeah, Psycho?" he answered.

"You should get down to Wetland Watchers Park. Big-ass brawl going on."

I watched as two women tussled on the ground. The female vampire tried to bite the other female, but she screamed something in Latin, and the vampire fell back, gripping her head as if her brain was about to explode.

"Why do I care?" he asked.

"Vamps and witches are going at it… and from my vantage point, the vamps are getting their asses handed to them," I replied.

"Fuck," he groaned, and hung up.

A few minutes later, I heard a truck approach and turned to see my guys in our cager. They spilled out carrying knives and pistols. Trigger gripped his new crossbow pistol he liked to play with.

"The fuck?" Trigger muttered, coming up to me.

"Right?" I shook my head.

Menace came to stand on my other side and asked, "What should we do, boss?"

I stared into his dual-colored eyes and the scar on his face, and then back at the fight. "I don't see any wolves. Just vamps and witches. I've called Viper. I assume he's on his way."

We all jumped when a large bolt of what I could only describe as lightning shot out from a male's hands and sent a vampire on his ass, clutching his smoking chest. The other vamp who'd been electrocuted was now getting up. The wet warlock who'd done it was still lying prone and unmoving.

Would he recover from that, or was it suicide by vamp?

A while later, I heard another vehicle approach and turned to see the vampires rumble up on their bikes. Viper, Phoenix, and that big fucker Shadow killed their engines and darted right into the scuffle. My intention was to holler at him and let him know the witches were taking down every vamp in sight, but I guessed he would learn that the hard—

We watched as Phoenix got knocked on his ass by an old warlock who created some kind of electrical whip and strung it around Phoenix's ankles, bringing him down. Phoenix didn't stall though; he conjured up a fireball in his fist and threw it straight at the warlock. He fell backward into the water, fortunately extinguishing the flames that had lit his shirt on fire.

We heard a loud, commanding whistle and everyone stopped fighting immediately.

"What the fuck is going on here?" Viper yelled. "Vamps! Here, now."

Unbelievably, they obeyed, limping to Viper's side, bloodied and bruised. But we all knew they'd heal quickly.

My men and I stepped forward, standing close by but not exactly next to the vampires so we could hear what was going on.

"Someone better start talking," Viper said, narrowing his hazel eyes at the group.

The witches stood huddled in a small group. One was bent over the warlock on the ground, who was still unmoving.

That's a bad day right there…

"Viper, sir. We were here by the water minding our own business, and this bitch"—the young male pointed at the witch who had given the female vamp a brain sting—"came up to us and started to demand for us to tell them where their friend was. We had no idea what the hell she was talking about."

Shadow looked at the witch. "Who are you missing?"

Shadow's wife was a witch, that much I remembered, but other than her red hair, I knew nothing about her.

"Leann. She went missing. Told her coven that if she ever went missing, it was because of vampires," the young witch replied.

"We don't know no Leann," Viper replied. "Who's in charge?"

The older warlock stepped forward. "Me."

"Name?" Viper asked.

I knew that warlock. I'd had dealings with him before. He was a cranky fucker but I didn't tussle with him.

"Galled," I replied for him.

All heads turned toward me.

"You know who I am, right?" I asked, stepping closer to the group.

The warlock nodded.

I pointed at Viper. "And you know who he is?"

"Not really. Head of the vamps' motorcycle gang. That's it."

"We're not a gang," Viper said on a sigh.

I bit back a smile. It really did get old reminding people of that. "Well, then you know that if you have a supe problem, you go to him for vamps, and me for wolves. Right?"

"Yeah, Psycho," he replied, spitting out my name like a curse.

"You'd do good to remember that," Viper said. "Now how did the fight start, children?"

The young male vamp who answered earlier said, "I told the bitch we didn't know where her friend was. She kept pushing so I bared my fangs and told them all to scram. She hit me with a lightning bolt thing and… all hell broke loose." He absently rubbed his chest.

Bad day indeed…

"Well, it's over now. I'll ask my wife if she knows Leann, and I'll be in touch if so," Shadow replied, glaring at Galled.

"And if not?" Galled asked, folding his arms across the chest of his jacket, the tips of his gray beard touching the tops of his hands.

"When you don't hear anything, that's your fuckin' answer," Shadow replied. Then, he literally disappeared from sight.

"What the fuck?" Trigger asked, and I hadn't realized he'd been standing next to me.

"Right?" I replied. "Freaky as hell."

"We got a cager. Need us to take anyone?" I asked Viper, pointing at our Humvee once the witches seemed like they were dispersing and heading out of the park.

He shook his head. "Nah, we're good." He put his hand out to shake. "Thanks for the call."

I nodded and shook it. "I trust you'd do the same if it were wolves."

"Absolutely," he replied.

We parted ways and I looked at my guys. "Thanks for showing up."

"It wasn't very fun," Trigger drawled, almost pouting.

I chuckled and ran my fingertips down my beard. "Sorry you didn't get to use your new toy." I jutted my chin at his crossbow pistol.

He lifted a shoulder. "It's all good. I've been beating up one of the live oaks practicing my aim."

"Of course you have," I replied, shaking my head. "Head back to the compound. I'll be back later. Gotta take care of something."

"You got it," Trigger replied.

After he, Menace, and the two prospects left, I sat down on a rock by the water and rested my forearms on the knees of my jeans. This was what I came here for before the speedbump of the park brawl.

That wasn't my first rodeo, though. The supes loved to get into it late at night. Of course the vampires had no choice, as they fried in the sun, but they always seemed to be in the shit. I could remember not too long ago getting a call about some wolves in the French Quarter. Demon and I arrived to find three young teen wolves, still in human form, being threatened by a couple of rogue vamps. I hated turning, but it was times like that I wished I could turn on will, and not just at the full moon. I had to threaten to call Viper, and after Demon and I growled at them a few more times, they eventually split. Those boys were now adults and two of my prospects in the Bayou Wolves.

Demon…

I exhaled sadly when I thought about my former second-in-command. He had also been one of our tech guys. His death was a hard blow to the club as well as myself. He'd been with me for six years, and a good, old-fashioned motorcycle versus semi accident on the I-10 had taken his life last year. My guys took it hard so I'd been trying to stay strong for them. But it was times like this that I needed to be alone.

I turned my face up to the sky to see an almost-full moon taunting me for what was going to come. That was one of the major obstacles we faced. Us wolves—we all turned at the same time, so when one or some of us got into trouble, we couldn't send reinforcements out to help, as we were all basically incapacitated for several hours each night of the full moon. It was why I didn't allow my human club members to leave the compound during those nights. They had to hold down the fort for us, so to speak.

Occasionally, we'd hear about rogue wolves getting themselves into trouble while turned, and on more than a few occasions, we'd have one dropped off on our doorstep by one of the Nighthawks. Usually at the recommendation of Venom, since he, too, was a wolf, stuck in a cage at their clubhouse while a prospect or someone would drop off the rouge.

I'd been shocked to hear the Nighthawks had taken in a wolf a few years ago, but he was apparently a good friend of Phoenix's—the fire-wielding vamp—and they'd let him in. So far, he was working out, but if he didn't, I would recruit him immediately, especially with his vast knowledge about vampires and their habits. He knew he always had a place here, too.

But… how he tolerated the stench of living with them was something I'd never understand.

In the meantime, I'd been strongly considering letting more humans into our club, but they'd have to be very open-minded. They came in handy when wolves were in trouble during a full moon.

I looked down at my watch to see I'd been sitting here an hour. I stood and headed back to my bike to get home.