Free Summer of the Beast by Trinity Blacio Page B

were no scars on his body. No human could tell what he was, only that he was large, standing over eight feet tall and built like a tank.
    Turning from the window, Frank grabbed his key card and wallet and slipped them into his pocket and stared at the woman in his bed. What was her name? Bridget? He cleared his throat. “I have to leave now. There's breakfast over there. Help yourself before you leave.” Frank grinned as she nodded, still in a state of heightened pleasure. It wasn't often he could find a woman who could take his sexual appetite and size, but most vampires and werewolves could. He'd been afraid to touch a human female because his size was usually too much for them.
    Not worried about the woman in his bed, Frank stepped out into the hallway. Cruse, Theodore, and Dana were all leaning against the wall, waiting for him. They straightened and grinned.
    “I take it Alex is still out of it this morning?” Cruse chuckled as they made their way to the elevator.
    He laughed. “That was her name? I thought it was Bethany.” Frank slapped his beta on his shoulder. “So what's the word? Does the king know I'm here?” he asked his inner pack. Each one of them had been with him for more than a hundred years, both wolf and vampire, after he had given each one the choice to join him. They were all deadly, after years of fighting.
    Theodore nodded and stepped in behind him. “He doesn't know who is challenging him, but the challenge is to take place on the fifth at midnight. It always amazes me how the wolves we've come across ignore us because of the vampire blood. Stupid.” He shook his head. “Never underestimate your enemy. That's the first thing you learn when growing up in the pack.”
    Frank glanced at Theodore. “That's true, but the vampires and the wolves have been at peace for more than fifty years. I don't think either side wants to break that truce after the last war. Too many were lost on both sides.”
    The elevator door opened and Frank scanned the lobby, stepping out. Four of his pack stood guard and nodded to him.
    “ What does Christopher think of you taking over as king of the wolves?” Cruse asked when they stepped out into the morning light. One good thing about being part wolf was they could walk in the sun.
    “He accepts it, and he knows I want nothing to do with vampire crap. Their ruling clan is worse than the wolves’. Let Christopher deal with that shit.” Frank snorted and pushed through the crowds that had already lined the streets for the Fourth.
    Frank stopped and lifted his head. The scent of fear and something sweeter drifted to him. “Do you smell it?”
    “There, two hundred feet to your left,” Dana said.
    He turned as the blur of blue hair dashed into the subway tunnel, followed closely by two vampires and two wolves. “Why the hell would wolves and vampires be chasing that female?” Frank moved with the speed of the wolf, following the threat to the female.
    “And why the hell is her scent driving us into a frenzy?” Dana growled next to him as all four of them made their way into the tunnels.
    * * * *
     
    Whitnee Rae ran, her sides hurting along with her shoulder where that prick Alfred Grant had bitten her last night. All she had wanted was a one-night stand and wouldn't you know, her friends would single out a nutcase for her. She was so going to kill Marci and Allie.
    She ducked into the subway tunnel, hoping to catch one as it was taking off, but the guards Alfred had left at his rented penthouse now scanned the passengers that boarded the train. What I want to know is how he knew about my magic.
    Alfred had said something about smelling the magic on her and that he could use her magic in the upcoming challenge to his advantage. Like she was going to help the bastard after he bit her, explaining he needed to make her like him, a wolf. Whitnee had laughed so hard when he said he was a wolf that the first slap had shocked her, but the growl and his shift to a