Lycan Alpha Claim (#1): (BBW Shifter Romance) (Brief-Bites Novelette) by Tamara Rose Blodgett Read Free Book Online

razor on
this.” He lifts his shoulders. “The most simple answer is usually
correct.”
    I huff and feel my face redden. “I'm not a
dumb ass.”
    He nods. “Let me just say the words. This
creature would've had to be inside your home, right?”
    Of course . “Yes.
How did a wolf get in my house? And
better yet—why—and no damage?” I shake my head at the lack of sense
the entire thing makes.
    “ No.” His light brown eyes
meet mine. “Wolf- like .”
    “ What?” My jubilant mood at
seeing Arden disintegrates, the ice cream beginning a slow reverse
churn in my stomach.
    “ If that tooth is indicative
of size, and I assume it is, this is a nearly seven-foot creature,
which has wolf characteristics.”
    I'm holding my breath.
    Arden continues, “And the other
characteristics are canine. So no. Not really wolf.”
    My breath releases in a rush.
    “ What is it?”
    “ We know that vamps exist now
so it got me thinking—”
    I cover my mouth with both hands, guessing
through my fingers, “Lycanthrope.”
    The word pounds the silence inside my house
to dust.

13
    Talyn
     
    “ Say something,
Talyn.”
    I feel like a fish chucked out on a sand
spit. Gasping and squirming.
    I open my mouth to reply and the doorbell
rings.
    Arden and I jump at the same time. I give a
nervous laugh, and he bounces to his feet. “Let me get that.”
    I stand as well. “Don't play protector.
You're a lab geek, not a super-hero.”
    Arden gives me a crooked smile. “Let a guy
pretend, Talyn.”
    Someone on the other side of the solid wood
door pounds with a fist. A women's voice yells, “Final
Enforcement.”
    Oh good . “I'm expecting
them,” I explain to Arden as I rush to the door.
    I swing it open and blink.
    A tiny woman stands in front of me, picking
her nail with an illegal switch blade.
    I swallow hard. “Identification,
please.”
    She turns to face me, and
flicks her flashing badge with a finger. Narah Adrienne,
age twenty-four, One citation—Exonerated, 2022, vampire hybrid,
Level 10 proficient.
    I feel my eyes widen, and back up a step.
The whole vampire thing still gives me pause.
    Adrienne moves in, giving a small shiver as
she crosses my threshold. “Seen enough?” Her voice is as tart as a
lemon.
    I nod, remember who the hell I am, and
straighten my spine.
    “ I'm Enforcer Adrienne,
assigned to case number,” she recites in a bored voice,
“1001.”
    “ Nice to meet you,” I manage.
“I'm Doctor Talyn Phisher.”
    “ I know,” she says, sharp eyes
taking in my home. She spots Arden, narrowing her golden-green gaze
on him.
    Arden had backed up when he read Adrienne's
badge. Her body is a deadly weapon. Not her weapons.
    Her.
    “ Who are you ?” she shoots at him, her voice like a
club.
    “ Arden,” he replies quietly.
“Who are you to the client,” she rephrases, walking around me and
going straight for him.
    He retreats.
    A ghost of a smile rides her lips.
    “ He's my friend. He was here
for a visit. Can we get down to the brass tacks, Enforcer
Adrienne?”
    She spins. It's so fast a movement I can't
track it. More like a blur. “Brass tacks, huh?”
    I'm unnerved and determined not to show it.
I nod. “I think there's something stalking me.”
    Adrienne flips long corn rows of platinum
hair over her shoulder. Her inked body is lithe, sensuously
muscled. Not from artificial time in the gym, like what I do just
so I'm not a complete flab monster—but from her daily job.
    “ Something?” she asks, but not
like she's really listening. Her catlike eyes flash to mine like
twin suns washed by emerald. “Tell me.”
    I blink. Seems like I've been doing a lot of
that lately.
    I recount everything. The blue eyes
appearing. The creep from the gym, the stranger who I believe to be
the mysterious blue-eyed man appearing—and beating the hell out of
Jamie Duncan. When I finish with the way Cochran dealt with
everything, Adrienne gives a low chuckle.
    I frown. Cochran wasn't even vaguely
amusing.
    Her