Watching Out For Fangs (The Cloverleah Pack Book 7)

Watching Out For Fangs

(Cloverleah Pack Book 7)

By Lisa Oliver

Watching Out For Fangs (Cloverleah Pack Book 7)

Copyright © Lisa Oliver, 2015

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Cover Design by Lisa Oliver

Images purchased through Dreamstime and Shutterstock.com 

First Edition October 2015

All rights reserved under the International and Pan-American Conventions.  No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including photocopying, recording or by any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the author, Lisa Oliver. 
[email protected]

No part of this book may be scanned, uploaded or distributed via the internet or any other means, electronic or print, without permission from Lisa Oliver.
Warning:
The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal.  Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.  Please purchase only authorized electronic or print editions and do not participate in or encourage the electronic piracy of copyrighted material.  Your support of the author’s rights and livelihood is appreciated.

Watching Out For Fangs is a work of fiction.  Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

The Author thanks the following for use of their business names/trademarks

Atkins Park Tavern – Atlanta

Atlanta Botanical Gardens

FBI - Federal Bureau of Investigations

Harley Softail Deluxe – Harley Davidson Motorcycles

The Rose Garden - Atlanta Botanical Gardens

Dedication

To all my lovely readers – I know I don’t always get the books out as fast as you would like, but I truly appreciate your patience and the excitement you share when I do finally get my story finished.

And to Janet – thank you for being a wonderful friend and helping me get over the bumps that occur in any story.

Chapter One

Josh roared up to the pack house, his Harley Softail Deluxe throbbing between his thighs like a vibrator on smack. Nothing felt as good as a solid bike between his legs and since coming to Cloverleah, Josh had spent more time on his bike than in his wolf form. There were hundreds of back roads around pack territory, and Josh planned to see every inch of the place, over time of course.

But there wasn’t any time for sightseeing today. Kane had called a full pack meeting and Josh worried about the anxious tone in his Alpha’s voice, evident when he got the call to come in. Sure there had been nothing but the threat of trouble since Josh had joined the pack - it was one of the reasons he’d applied to transfer from his previous position as enforcer at the San Antonio pack. The San Antonio pack barely ever had any problems, thanks to Damien’s presence, and Josh wanted a bit more spice in his life, so he made the move to Cloverleah.  Well spice, and the fact that the men at Cloverleah were all finding their mates pretty quickly. Josh wanted that too. But even a lust for danger and some hot, hard flesh to call his own, didn’t stop Josh from worrying about what might be bugging his handsome Alpha now. As a beta wolf he was hard wired to care about the pack and his Alpha, and an anxious Alpha was never a good sign for everyone else.

His long legs eating up the porch, Josh let himself into the house, not surprised to see the whole pack sprawled out in the large, comfortable living room. Wooden floors, big windows and equally large couches filed the room with warmth and a sense of home. Josh always felt welcome when he walked through the door.  As per normal the mated couples took up most of the seating space – their attempt at a relaxed state would have been convincing if it wasn’t for the hard edge of tension in the air. Something was going on.

Behind the couches, the six recently added enforcers were standing in a line – all with arms crossed and inscrutable expressions on their faces. They looked exactly like the solid wall of brute strength Josh knew they had proven to be. In any other situation such an overt display of strength and manhood would be a turn on for Josh, but he didn’t mess with pack mates, no matter how drool-worthy any of them might be. He knew from experience that was a recipe for disaster unless the man in question was a mate. Josh had already checked out that possibility, and neither the Reef brothers, nor the three men brought in by Diablo - Thomas, Ryan and Wesley - ticked the mate box.

Nodding his head to Kane, Josh plonked himself on the seat next to Tobias, a bit embarrassed he was the last to arrive. Like Josh, Tobias had recently moved to Cloverleah from San Antonio. In the past Josh had enjoyed a couple of sexually satisfying hookups with the man. But like Josh, Tobias was looking for his mate, and after a couple of decidedly fun attempts at making things work out between them, they decided they were better off as friends. Now both men had slipped into the easy camaraderie that came from knowing each other’s hot spots, but choosing not to tickle them.

“Okay, now we are all here, I can begin,” Kane started strongly, no trace of his earlier anxiety in his stern voice. “We’ve had a formal request from the Atlanta Coven. Not the pack, the coven. They want to send a delegation to speak with myself, Shawn, Jax and our Fae. They stress the matter is urgent and are already on their way here, hoping for a positive response.”

Josh wasn’t the only one who growled. The Atlanta Coven had paired up with a pack in the same area, working together in an effort to kidnap Dean, the Cloverleah Omega and the pack’s two new Fae members – Aelfric and Fafnir who were mated to Jax and now considered full pack members as well. The last time the two groups had met up, a lot of blood had been spilt and the offending side killed when they wouldn’t leave. All except for one vampire who had eventually been sent home. That had clearly been a mistake – leaving one alive, that is.

“We have no reason to deal with vampires. They’re as sneaky as shit and can’t be trusted. Just tell them to fuck off.”

Unsurprisingly it was Jax who spoke up first. Josh glanced across at the massive wolf shifter, who had his two ethereal mates tucked against his chest.  Having trained with Jax for weeks, Josh was only too aware of how ruthless the man could be. The half wolf, half Fae shifter was aware of more ways of killing a man than anyone else Josh knew, with the exception of Anton, Troy’s mate. Both Anton and Jax had been Black Op soldiers before becoming part of the pack.

“I can understand how you all feel, especially you Jax, but they have called it a mercy mission and beg us to grant them leave to enter our territory,” Shawn said in a softer tone. The Alpha Mate had a kind heart and in his role as Shifter Guardian he was often the peacemaker of the group. “The vampires want to discuss the curse that Fafnir placed on the vampire who came to fight us. They have promised to end all hostilities between us, withdraw their complaint about our pack from the Shifter Council and to leave us in peace, if we agree to meet with them.”

“How do we know this delegation is peaceful? They weren’t before when they were trying to kill our pack members in Atlanta, or when they came onto our land,” Matthew snarled.

As one of the biggest Alpha wolves in the room, Matthew held onto his mate Dean as though his sheer existence would be enough to keep the precious Omega safe. Given how much trouble Dean and Matthew went through when they first met, Josh couldn’t blame the bigger man for his attitude, knowing that if anyone could keep Dean safe, it was Matthew. The only wolf shifter Josh knew of, bigger than Matthew, was Damien and apparently Matthew was almost as old as the legendary Alpha.

“They’ve said they come in peace,” Dean spoke up. “We can’t ignore them if it is a mercy mission as they claim. We have sheer brute strength, Shawn’s magic, the Fae and my power too. Surely it won’t do us any harm to at least hear what the vampires have to say.”

Dean’s Omega power was totally unique in the shifter world – he could calm the most violent of beings. Josh had been amazed to learn that Dean’s abilities weren’t restricted to wolf shifters, or even other shifters. Dean could calm
any
situation, if he chose to, with damn near thought alone. While Josh thought that was a handy skill to have, he didn’t mind getting his hands dirty in a fight once in a while. But if Matthew had his way no one would be fighting, calming down or anything else, because the vampires would be refused entry.

“Little One, did you forget that the Atlanta Coven petitioned for you to be given to the Atlanta pack in retribution for the death of the Alpha there? Jax is right. They can’t be trusted.”

“I know that,” but from the way Dean tilted up his chin at his big mate, Josh knew the Omega wasn’t going to let the situation go. “Surely they wouldn’t have asked to come here, unless it was really important. Maybe the vampire Fafnir put the curse on is dying or something – maybe he’s allergic to Fae magic.”

“No offence Dean, but it serves him right if he was,” Fafnir said strongly. “The man tried to suck my mate dry during the repayment of a blood debt. That’s dishonorable in anyone’s language. I’m wasn’t about to let the bastard get away with anything like that and it would take the Fates themselves to make me change my mind and even then I would fight about it.”

“I understand how you feel,” Kane said quickly, the authority still evident in his voice. “We all understand about protecting mates. But Fafnir, are you absolutely sure the curse you put on the bloodsucker wouldn’t kill the man, or cause him any discomfort?”

“I prevented him from being able to feed from Fae or shifters. I don’t see it as a hardship to make the man live on human blood, or to find some other paranormal to feed from. Gods, he can steal his food from the blood bank if he has to, I don’t care. There is nothing else in that curse that could hurt him.” 

Josh loved the fact that the Fae were a feisty pair. They may have been brought up in banquet halls where fine dining and polite gossip were the order of the day, but their Sidhe spirit was as bloodthirsty as any vengeful wolf shifter. Fafnir and Aelfric were good men to have in the pack and they certainly had Jax wrapped around their pretty fingers.

“Meeting with them would help get the Council off our backs, and it’s not as though a handful of vampires can take us out, not with the safeguards we have in place, and our new enforcers. We don’t have to agree with anything they might have to say.” Griff piped up. Josh looked across at Kane’s cousin and could see a thoughtful look on the handsome goateed face. Griff was the epitome of a bad boy, all strong muscles, long hair and an abundance of tattoos. He also had a good heart and he adored his cat shifter mate, Diablo –both men being hellishly smart and having ties with the FBI was a bonus.

“We could use their visit to highlight the fact that we take our security seriously and that we’re not to be messed with.” Diablo took up where Griff left off. “Have them meet us outside, rather than letting them in the house. Arm the enforcers and have them patrolling the driveway as though that was common practice. Give them some inane password that lets them think they can get through our wards in some verbal way for a specified time. Put up some phony cameras that can be seen to divert them from the one they can’t. If they are here for any other purposes than to talk about the curse, then they’ll be coming to check us out.  Let’s deflect them and use the visit to our advantage.”

Josh could see that both Anton and Jax were keen on the idea – strategy appealed to both men. Griff positively beamed at his mate. Kane and Shawn were talking to Adair, the oldest Reef brother and the leader of the enforcers, who also seemed to think the idea had some merit. Josh felt a tingle of excitement at the thought of possibly resolving the Atlanta threat at least.

“Think any of the visiting vampires would be good looking?” Tobias whispered.  Josh flashed a quick grin at his friend. Tobias was a tall, dark, slim built wolf who kept a lot of how he felt off his face, but Josh knew the guy was always thinking with his dick. He might be looking for his mate, same as Josh, but he didn’t have a problem with getting up close and personal in his attempts at finding his fate – with anyone.

“Why should it bother you? They’re not coming for a sleepover,” he whispered back.

Tobias snorted. “I don’t want to sleep with anyone. I like my bed just the way it is thank you very much, with just me in it. But I wouldn’t say no to a blow job or a quick fuck if any of the vamps were cute and inclined to bend over for me.”

“Apparently all vampires are gorgeous looking, just like the Fae.”

Josh laughed quietly at the interest that flared in his friend’s eyes before looking back at the others in the room.  He was probably the only one who knew Tobias had already enjoyed a play session with Connor and Fergus, two of the Fae guards that stayed at the back of Jax’s property. Knowing Tobias like he did, Josh figured his friend had probably sampled some fun with a couple of the new enforcers as well.  Tobias didn’t seem to have a type – a cock and the ability to be persuaded to find a dark corner seemed to be the only things the randy shifter required. Josh stifled a sigh. He wasn’t like Tobias and he genuinely did want to find his own mate, but sex was sex and wolf shifters liked to enjoy it – a lot.  Josh was no exception.

But even though it had been a while since he’d felt anything other than his own hand manipulating his dick he wasn’t sure how he felt about letting a vampire get close to him. The only time he’d ever seen a vampire was when he was killing one of the ones that had come onto pack land. Josh felt decidedly iffy about letting anything with sharp teeth, a penchant for sucking blood and poisonous claws get anywhere near him or his bits. Maybe after the vampire visit he’d get a night off and head up to Claudes and find himself someone warm and cuddly to spend a night with. Or tall and hard…or big and muscly even. Josh wasn’t overly fussy either, but he would prefer any hookup be a shifter at least.  Other paranormals were just too…unpredictable.

Putting the thoughts of sex, mates or anything non-security related to the back of his head, Josh focused on the meeting. Now that it seemed the pack had decided to allow the visit from the vampires, only the logistics of how it would happen, and what the pack was comfortable with revealing needed to be worked through.