Chapter One
In a post-apocalyptic Birmingham, humans are recovering from what they think were riots and long-term power outages, but the shapeshifters and vampires know they are recovering from an all-out battle between the forces of good and evil.
Parts of the city were demolished in the fighting.
Humans and supernaturals alike lost loved ones and friends, but life must go on.
Dementor
I spent months wondering why I’d lived when so many of my brothers had died.
In part, it’s because when I shift into my animal form, grizzly bears have hands, and I dug my way out from under the building after the explosion. But that can’t explain all of it. I was standing right beside three wolves who were all killed before they could change. They could’ve easily followed me out in wolf form, but they suffered too much head damage in the initial detonation. Why didn’t I?
Frost survived because his owl form didn’t need much room in that little pocket of air he found himself in, but I still have to point out that he was alive to change.
The club had been mostly wolves before the battle, but in the aftermath, out of six surviving members we had two bears, a hawk, an owl, and two wolves.
Some days, it seemed a waste it’d been me that survived. I’d been a bouncer at Blaze, the club’s titty bar for years. I’d thought I could step up and manage the place, but fuck if I hadn’t been wrong about that. Bobcat had only been in the building a handful of times, and the bastard came to town, walked right in, and took charge. Made it look easy.
But the day I first laid eyes on Ember, I knew I’d needed to live long enough to have her in my life.
Until she walked into the room, I’d convinced myself I was just one of the soldiers who lived, and that being a bear instead of a wolf had given me an advantage. No way had life spared me because I had something important to do.
And then she walked into the Drake Security safehouse and I was mesmerized. Her scent. Her grace. Her voice. Before I’d even seen her face, I was fascinated with her. The world stood still.
She greeted Mac as if she knew him, nodded to Tess, and finally turned to me — and didn’t look at me with even a tiny bit of horror. She gave me a genuine smile and introduced herself.
“Well, hello, and my aren’t you big? I’m Ember.”
Everyone at the very least micro-grimaces when they see me. Some are obvious about it. I’m used to it and only react when people mean to be rude. People are alarmed by my face, so I give them a pass if they try to cover up their initial reaction — and most do.
Supposedly, no one’s face is exactly symmetrical, but mine is visibly off. No reason, it’s just who I am. Thankfully, I’m a great big grizzly bear so I was never really bullied about it. I got kicked out of a couple of schools, but no one messed with me more than once.
But the point is, Ember didn’t react. She smiled, and it was genuine.
I didn’t even realize I wasn’t answering until Mac filled in for me. “That’s Dementor, and this is Tess. Thanks for letting us use the house. Aaron gave us the address and codes to get in, and said you knew to expect us.”
“Yep. That’s the deal. I get to live here for free, but I’m a safehouse every once in a while. Make yourselves at home. I keep a lot of meat in the freezer — feel free to eat whatever looks good. I’m about to make a huge batch of cookies, and I’ll triple the recipe. Will that be enough? I need to load up on carbs, so I’ll eat a few dozen by myself.”
I finally found my voice and somehow managed to speak without sounding like an idiot. “I’ll help with the baking, and I’d love some cookies.”
She put her hands on her hips and looked up at me. “You like all kinds of cookies? I mean, what if I’m about to make spinach and garlic cookies?”
“So long as it isn’t healthy, I should like it, but I can’t imagine you’re about to make spinach cookies, or oatmeal cookies.” But for her, I’d try one.
“Oh no. Homemade chocolate chip cookies today.” She looked around and back to me. “Are you the muscle or the friend?”
Ah, she was asking if I was here with Tess. No, she was important to one of my brothers, which made her important to me.
I crossed my arms and looked down at the adorable, tiny woman. “How do you know I’m not the one who needs a safehouse?”
She shook her head and looked to Mac, who told her. “Aaron wanted someone to shadow you while we’re here.” He put his hand up, as if to hold off an argument before it happened. “We all know you can take care of yourself, but Dementor will have your six.”
She looked at me and shrugged. “My team will think something’s up if you show up with me and we haven’t fucked. Cookies first, though.”
She walked out of the room, and I looked to Mac, hoping for some kind of explanation. I’d assumed she worked for Drake Security, but that first sentence told me she didn’t. Aaron Drake’s people are at the top of their profession and they don’t say things like that.
“She does the roller derby thing,” Mac said in explanation. “She’s part of the Birmingham Hellcats. I’m going to do a perimeter check. Talk to Ember about her capabilities. She’s going to UAB. Criminal Justice. Aaron plans to hire her when she graduates.”
It seemed for every question answered, I had three more. I didn’t even try not to stare at her adorable little ass while I followed her into the kitchen. She was some kind of bird, but I couldn’t put a finger on her scent beyond that. Waterfowl, maybe? Still, she wasn’t human, and I wasn’t aware of a supernatural roller derby league. I knew the human one had started again soon after civilization started putting itself back together, but only because Blaze had been half empty on the derby’s opening weekend. It seems the same men who like to watch almost-naked women dance also like to watch fully-clothed women battling it out on roller skates.
“You’re taking a chance, aren’t you? Competing in public sports with humans?”
She shrugged and put an armful of ingredients on the island. “Swans can’t just change at will. There’s no danger of me getting injured and turning into a swan in front of humans. I have the Concilio’s permission, but only because Aaron helped me get it.”
Well, that answered one question, but as before, now I had more. “How do you change?” I was guessing she knew Aaron Drake — the owner of Drake Security — through his wife, the Swan Queen.
“We have to orgasm with a dick in us. Not something that frequently happens by accident.”
“So, you change when you have sex? Does it have to be with another swan? I’m guessing sex with humans is out of the question.” Well, maybe not. “Unless they already know about you, anyway.”
She chuckled. “We have to mean to change. It’s possible to have orgasms without shifting into a big white bird. Doesn’t have to be another supernatural, but we pull power from the person so it’s best if he isn’t a human.” A pause while she measured sugar and flour, and she continued. “What’s your story? I don’t sense a connection with you and the attorney chick. Not a direct one, anyway.”