Free Claiming The Alpha by Adriana Hunter Page B

that he smelled divine.”
    Lori snorted. “Yeah. Well, I’ll while we’re hashing out secrets and lies, let me share one of my own.”
    She leaned forward, stubbing out her cigarette, staring at Nikki through a haze of cigarette smoke. Lori held Nikki’s gaze for a moment and then she smiled.
    Nikki recoiled, pulling her legs up beneath her, scooting back into the corner of the couch. Lori had
    fangs, sharp canine teeth, top and bottom, extending up from the rest of her teeth. Long and white, and very wolf-like. She held up her hands, her fingernails curved and sharp claws.
    “Lori…I…why? How long?” Nikki’s heart resumed beating, very fast, the sound of blood rushing in
    her ears so loud she was sure Lori could hear her. And, judging by the evidence in front of her, Nikki was pretty sure Lori could hear her heart pounding away in her chest.
    Lori sat back, the nails and teeth slowly receding. “Seems like forever, but sometime after high school,
    after you moved out and got your own place.”
    “Who did this to you?” Nikki tried to breath, tried to let some of the tension out of her body. But her
    mind was racing in a million directions, her thoughts shattered like glass. This was someone she’d known
    since they were little. Someone she’d trusted, who knew her. And it turns out, was a complete stranger
    herself. Hell, Jax telling her he was a werewolf was nothing to hearing from her best friend that she was a lycanthrope.
    “Ryan did it.” Lori shrugged. “He was my dealer, for a long time. And then one day, I almost overdosed.
    Was seconds away from death, bright white light, the whole thing. And he changed right there and bit me…
    to save me, I guess. So here I am.”
    Every emotion she thought she could have coursed through Nikki. She felt pity for Lori, angry with
    Ryan, sad that she’d never known this, regret for not being there for her friend. But most of all she was just confused.
    “Save you? …But you’ve never…I’ve never seen you change.”
    “I don’t usually. And never in front of anyone. Sometimes I get restless and go out at night, but not
    often. I don’t have the need, anymore. But when I was using, it was harder. I couldn’t control myself…”
    She tilted her head, regarding Nikki. “You remember. You used to call me a hellion, tell me I was a loose cannon.”
    Nikki nodded. At the worst times when she was using, Lori had disappeared, sometimes for just a day
    or so, but sometimes longer. She’d never told Nikki where she’d gone or who’d she’d been with. Nikki
    assumed she’d just holed up somewhere with her dealer or some druggie friends and spent the time high. It broke her heart to imagine Lori, as a wolf, out on the street, doing whatever it was wolves did.
    “I got off the drugs because of this…it’s almost impossible to control this thing if you’re using. Ryan’s all fucked up now, in more ways than one. He was probably high today, if he started changing in front of
    you.”
    Nikki nodded, the image of Ryan coming back. “I think he was. He was talking about the sex for pay
    thing and…then he just went off, grabbing at me, pawing me…and I slapped him.”
    Lori winced. “Yeah, that’d set him off.”
    She got up, walking into the kitchen. “You want a beer? I think you could use one.”
    “Yeah. I guess. So…” Lori came back and handed her a cold bottle, sitting down on the couch. Nikki
    took a swallow, watching Lori.
    “So, Ryan’s a lycanthrope. He bit you, you’re one like him.”
    “Um-hum.” Lori took a drink from her beer. “Pretty cut and dried. Not much intricate detail. They bite,
    you’re one of them.”
    “And you knew Jax was a werewolf all along?” Nikki shook her head. “I can’t believe you kept that
    secret, that you didn’t tell me.”
    “Not my place to tell you. I didn’t want you to fall in love with him…I never wanted that. You know, I
    can’t decide those things for you.”
    “But you said he was