Cursed, p.1
Cursed, page 1
Cursed
Nightwind Pack, Book 3
Laurann Dohner
Kele Moon
Copyright © 2021 by Laurann Dohner and Kele Moon
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Editor: Kelli Collins
Cover Artist: Dar Albert
Ebook ISBN: 978-1-7342109-2-7
Paperback ISBN: 978-1-7342109-3-4
This e-book is a work of fiction. While reference might be made to actual historical events or existing locations, the names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
1
Shawna Paltner never thought she’d return to Hollow Mountain.
She’d fled sixteen years before and swore to herself that she would never come back.
Never say never.
She climbed out of the Jeep slowly and reached behind the seat. It only took her moments to prepare herself. She released the safeties of all four weapons and shoved each one back into the holsters strapped to her body. Next, she removed her loose trench coat from the Jeep, put it on, and pulled out her long red ponytail so it hung down her back.
Shawna slammed the driver’s-side door before she could change her mind and hightail it out of there. She wasn’t the sweet, naive girl she once was. Not that she’d ever been, really. Life had thrown her a pile full of bullshit since the start, but these days she gave it back tenfold. She slipped on her sunglasses last, and then observed the bar with apprehension.
The Barn.
The bar had been around for as long as she could remember. Her parents, the ones who’d adopted her after her birth parents had died in a car accident, had frequented this place.
It was a local hangout for werewolves.
She knew things in Hollow Mountain didn’t change much. Time had brought in new homes and more people, but it was still werewolf territory.
Rosa and Henry Markum had taken her in when she was nine years old. They had two teenage boys, but no daughters. Ralph and Morgan had been thirteen and fourteen years old, respectively, when Shawna came to live with them. She had instant hero worship for her new older brothers, and they looked after her. She adored both boys, but she knew within the first week that her adoptive family was different. Two teenage werewolves were an impossible secret to keep from the human child living in their home. They weren’t old enough to hide it like their parents did.
Maybe it had been her young age, but she’d taken the existence of shifters as a reality easily. So much so, she had actually fallen in love with a werewolf in her teens…but she refused to let her mind focus on that.
That girl who’d fallen in love with the tall, blond wolf with beautiful blue eyes and an easy laugh had died a lifetime ago. She’d perished in a small corner of the vast woods that surrounded Hollow Mountain one summer afternoon at the young and tender age of fifteen.
Shawna took a deep breath and blew it out. Then she rolled her shoulders and marched toward the bar. She called home rarely, since they all agreed it was safer, but four days before she’d talked to her adopted parents for the first time in over a year.
That’s when she’d learned about Ralph.
Pain stabbed through her as she remembered her adoptive mother telling her, through tears, that he’d been dead and buried for a long nine months. Ralph had been her family. She’d loved him as if they’d been blood. His life had been wrongly taken and she was about to be avenged.
She pushed open the door to the bar and stopped inside as it swung shut behind her. Shawna’s vision adjusted to the dim room easily with her specially tinted sunglasses to help her see in darker places. The lightened lenses had reflective capabilities with mirrored interiors. They were expensive, but worth every penny. Her gaze slowly roamed the bar from left to right.
The inside of the bar hadn’t changed much, with the pool tables sitting deep in the back. A dance floor area was dead center along the back wall and the long, curved bar sat to the left. Tables filled the space between on all sides. She knew the place would be packed on a Friday night. The sun hadn’t gone down yet, so it wasn’t standing room only, but the seats were filled.
She ticked off a headcount of men. There were at least forty-six of them in the room. She searched out women next, only finding twelve. Some things never changed. The men outnumbered the women by far.
She scanned the room once more and spotted her target. He was from the same pack that her adoptive family used to belong to, but he’d been a teenager the last time she’d seen him. It didn’t matter. He still looked like the same thick, dumb werewolf, only taller and buffer.
Shawna ignored the soft sniffing she heard around her. She saw heads popping up and turning her way. She clenched her teeth. Her fingers itched to reach inside her coat, but she kept her hands calmly at her sides. Her body was tense, but she outwardly hid that fact. She commanded her hammering heart to slow. She knew predatory wolves like the one she was hunting loved the smell of fear and female. They were sick that way. It turned most of them on.
Her target lifted his head fully and grinned.
Shawna wanted to wipe that smile off his face. She stopped about six feet from the table, keeping the heavy wood surface between her and her target. Weres had the ability to move inhumanly fast. They were amazingly strong too. She knew a lot about fighting shifters these days.
She smiled in earnest. Hell, she thought, this should be fun.
He’d never been her favorite werewolf, even before he killed her brother.
“Hello, Merl,” she drawled loudly. “How are you today?”
Merl’s grin faded. “Do I know you?”
She’d anticipated him not recognizing her, planned on it, actually. Everything from her body shape, to hair color, to her eyes were different than what he would remember.
“No, but I’ve heard things. I came a long way to say hi to you, baby.”
He blinked, looking unsure, but then he smirked again. Merl hefted up his large frame until he was on his feet. He looked and dressed like a biker, and it took genuine effort for Shawna not to roll her eyes. It seemed that a lot of the wannabe badass shifters thought the biker look was in. Her gaze flew over his leather jacket, the t-shirt that was tucked into a tight pair of jeans, and his black leather boots.
“Tell me what you heard.” His voice dropped into a soft growl. “Was I that good?”
She wanted to flinch, but she got in his face instead. “Not by a long shot. Actually, I heard you were about the worst damn lay a woman ever had. Kind of pathetic, to be frank with you, Merl. It was just sad and sorry to hear. You put all your kind to shame. I’d tuck that sorry excuse of a dick you have between your legs and go hide somewhere if I were you.” She drew out the word were, pronouncing it like ware, implying werewolf instead.
He snarled and showed teeth. His beefy hands clenched at his side and a low growl tore from his throat. “Who the fuck are you? That’s the stupidest thing anyone has ever said to me.”
Shawna saw movement and her gaze darted to the side for a fraction of a second. A few of the men had stood. They didn’t move for her though. If they did, she’d react. As a warning, she decided to say something to try to dissuade his pack mates from coming to his rescue.
“My fight isn’t with anyone but Merl here. Back off, please.”
The male bartender was frowning. “What’s going on?”
“Merl and I have something to settle,” Shawna said loudly, and moved her jacket, showing off her weapons. “I’d clear the bar if I were you. Emphasis on the were and who needs to be cleared.”
“Clear them out,” the bartender called out after a few stunned seconds. “Now. Move it!”
Yeah, it’s still a were bar.
She saw most people leaving, being ushered out by some of the other patrons, but half a dozen stayed. The whole time, she stood there staring at Merl, who never once stopped glaring back.
The bartender walked over to a table on the far side and grabbed a man whose head rested on his arm. The bartender said something softly to the drunk, and then ended up dragging him out with help from another werewolf. Shawna waited while they cleared out the last of the humans.
A man sitting at a table about ten feet from her inhaled. “You’re human.”
She inclined her head. “I sure am.”
“But you know about us.” It wasn’t a question. It was a statement. “You don’t want to mess with Merl there, honey. Did he promise to mate you and then take off? Merl is just like that. He’s always going after a piece of tail.”
A man behind her but far enough away to not worry about laughed. “I don’t smell pregnancy on her. Too bad. I’d love to see Merl taken down by a little redheaded mate.”
“Forget that,” another one laughed. “Don’t mate her. Leave her for the rest of us. She smells damn good. I’ll fight for a chance with her.”
The bartender hesitantly took a few steps toward Shawna. “Listen, little girl. You need to leave. This isn’t Disneyland, and we’re not some tour for you to be walking through. Merl is trouble. I’ll cover your back while you head out the way you came in.”
She gave him a dark smile. “Thanks, but I don’t need your help leaving here.”
<
She moved quickly and dropped her trench coat, going for her weapons. She reached for her .45 Winchester Magnum in the shoulder harness under her breast with her left hand as she slipped her right down to grab the other semi-automatic from a belt around her waist. She cleared the holsters and turned slightly, aiming one gun at Merl, and the other at the man behind her.
“I wouldn’t do that,” she warned loudly.
She heard a few sharp intakes of breaths around the room. The bartender backed up slowly. He softly cursed. “What in the hell?”
“Rambitch.” Someone whistled. “Four guns. I’m impressed.”
She smiled tightly. “Actually, six. I also have five throwing knives strapped…somewhere.”
Another werewolf in the corner table took a deep breath. “What the fuck did you do now, Merl? The woman is loaded for bear.”
“Never bear,” Shawna said. “I’m loaded for wolf.” She cocked her head at Merl. “You’re going to look nice stuffed on my mantel, Merl. Want to be a good boy and change for me so you’ll look even prettier in fur up there?”
A man at a corner table slowly stood up.
Shawna cut her gaze to him, really paying attention to his face—and felt a jolt when she recognized this particular werewolf. He’d been a teenage pup the last time she’d seen him, a nice one, but he was more than full grown now…and she hated that she couldn’t trust him.
“Don’t do it.” Shawn adjusted the gun from Merl to a spot between them, knowing her old friend wouldn’t recognize her any more than Merl did. “Sit your cute ass down, Wolfy, and mind your own business. I don’t want you to get hurt.”
He didn’t sit, instead, he slowly raised his hands, palms out. “You know bullets are just going to piss a shifter off if you shoot him, don’t you? It’ll only be more dangerous for you.”
“Silver-wrapped casings. They’ll blow through his body and the silver will make it harder for him to heal. I guess I should also mention I’m an excellent shot. I don’t miss. A few well-aimed bullets will solve all his problems—permanently.”
“I’m Jason,” he introduced himself, though she already knew who he was. It was the next part that surprised her. “I’m an enforcer for the Nightwind pack. If Merl has somehow offended you, why don’t we go before our alpha? He’ll hear you out. I’ll personally assure you that no one will harm you if you just put your guns down.”
She shook her head, her stomach lurching at the thought of the once-kind teen being an enforcer now. They were the quickest, hardest, meanest wolves of the pack, handpicked by an alpha to do their dirty work. Jason seemed the same, straightforward and honest, but that was the thing about shifters—they could change.
“No thanks. I’m familiar with your alpha, and I’d love to put a bullet in him too. Not to be cliché, but the only way you’re getting my guns from me is if you take them from my cold, dead hands.” She paused. “Good luck with that.”
In her reflective glasses, Shawna saw the man behind her move, taking a step toward her as if to attack.
On instinct, she lowered her gun and shot him in the thigh without fully taking her gaze off Jason. The sound was loud and her would-be attacker howled, crashing to the floor.
Every man left in the place, seven of them with the exception of the one holding his bleeding thigh, was on their feet now.
“Woman,” Jason growled, sounding shocked she dared pull the trigger. “I won’t tell you again. Put down your weapons and I won’t harm you. I’ll take you before our alpha and you can explain your issues with Merl to him. That’s how we do things here.”
“I don’t even know this crazy human,” Merl assured him.
She flashed her gaze toward Merl. “Two words for you. Ralph Markum.”
She watched as Merl paled and cast a concerned look toward Jason.
“Ralph Markum?” Jason frowned. “He isn’t here anymore. He moved away a long time ago. No one’s heard from him in years.”
“He’s dead,” she said softly. “Merl killed him nine months ago over in Reddly.”
Jason turned to Merl with a snarl. “That better not be true, and you definitely better not make shit up, because I’ll know. You were never good at hiding that scared scent of lies.”
“It wasn’t here,” Merl huffed in a grudging confession. “And it’s nobody’s business.”
“You killed an ex-pack member? Why in the hell didn’t you say something?” Jason’s voice took on a low, animalistic growl. “I liked Ralph.”
“Tell them why you killed him, Merl. Tell them how you attacked that girl in Reddly—the human you raped—and when Ralph tried to step in and help her, tell your enforcer how you killed him. Go ahead and explain that one, asshole.” Shawna clenched her teeth and kept staring at Merl, but spoke to the enforcer as she whispered, “He killed Ralph for being a decent wolf who tried to protect a human. Did I mention she wasn’t even twenty-one? She was walking home from college, not a care in the world…until Merl showed up. Now I get to watch him die for it.”
“Can you prove this?” Jason still sounded more wolf than human.
“I sure can,” she assured him. “Call anyone in Reddly. Talk to Ralph’s folks. The girl escaped because Ralph didn’t die easy. It took asshole over here a little time to fight him. She made it to safety and told the police what Ralph said to her attacker. Ralph called him by name. He told him to go back home and stay out of Reddly or he’d call the alpha. The police are looking for a man named Merl. Check that out.
“I heard the story through the grapevine and I knew who the hell did it. The girl even gave a description. I showed her a picture of his driver’s license. She identified Merl instantly from a photo lineup of twelve men. No doubt in her traumatized head that I’m staring at the right asshole.”
Merl just growled at her, like there were no human words vile enough for what he thought of her.
Jason just stared at him in shock. “What have you done, Merl?”
Merl huffed, and changed his tune, his voice becoming slightly whinny, “That’s not all of what happened, she’s got the facts wrong.”
“Lying sack of shit,” Shawna spat. “You killed Ralph. That’s all I need to know. It’s just a little extra pleasure for me that I get to take out a rapist in the name of revenge. Those are always my favorite.”
“What are you?” Merl snarled. “Ralph’s human piece of ass? You think you’re avenging some lost love? Since you know so much about wolves, you do realize if he gave a shit about you, he would have mated you.”
“I know how much he loved me.” Shawna’s voice cracked when she said it. “And now I’m going to show you how much I love him.”
She opened fire.
The first bullet struck Merl in the face. The bloody destruction would’ve killed a human, but she walked forward as he went down and fired in all the major points, head, heart, stomach, and groin.
Determined to do the job right, she emptied the rest of the magazine into his chest. He wasn’t going to heal up from that. Once the mag was empty, Shawna glared at Merl’s bloody body with the ringing of gunfire still vibrating in her ears.
It never felt as satisfying as she thought it should, but this time, at least she did right by Ralph. He’d been a good brother. She owed him this.
Two of the shifters behind Shawna lunged toward her. She fired the gun in her left hand. At the same time, she dropped the empty one in her right, before she went for the sawed-off shotgun strapped to her back. She shot both her would-be attackers in the legs with buckshot, knowing wounds like that would be easily survivable for shifters. It was only when vital organs were taken out repeatedly that silver bullets worked. These injuries wouldn’t cause any lasting damage, but they still went down screaming and cursing.
She turned so her back was to the wall and watched the men left standing. Jason hadn’t moved. The pack enforcer had just stood there and watched her kill Merl and maim his defenders, which was a very un-enforcer-like thing for Jason to do.
That was something.
“Okay.” She swiped her tongue over her bottom lip. “Now, I’m ready to leave. I’d like all of you boys to walk,” she glanced at the three on the floor, “or crawl toward the pool tables. I apologize for leaving a mess at your door. I usually clean up my own kills, but he was your mess to begin with.” Her gaze went to Jason. “Call Reddly before you decide to do your alpha’s bidding like these fools and hunt me down for taking out a pack mate. Merl was guilty as hell. I want to believe you have a sense of right and wrong. He killed someone I loved, and now it’s an even slate.”
