Free VEX: Valley Enforcers, #1 by Abi Walters

with crimson stains making her look like she was wearing a bunch of McDonalds wrappers smeared with ketchup. The band t-shirt she wore was black and the stains didn’t show as much but there was still a discoloration. The hospital offered to give her a pair of scrubs to wear but she vehemently denied their advances. She didn’t say no when I told her I’d give her some of my clothes to wear, though. I kept my smile to myself as I navigated the back roads leading up the mountain.
    I wasn’t taking her to the main entrance to the reserve. My cabin was miles away from the heart of the Stoneclaw property where the central hub lay, so there was no need for me to expose the main artery to her. Instead I was taking her in through one of the back drives. They were in place for the clan members who had homes spread throughout the wilderness.
    “You can’t let anyone know about this road,” I prompted.
    Her voice was soft, but still somehow accusatory, “I can’t believe you still don’t trust me. What do you think I’m going to do, Vex? Type in the coordinates to your home on Google Maps and print it out and use it as wallpaper in my non-existent dining room?”
    “You did plaster the town with flyers for your supernatural society and asked people about the existence of shifters.”
    “That was before. Didn’t you just tell me that a lot can change in a week?” She crossed her arms and looked over at me with a scowl.
    “I didn’t mean it like that,” I sighed, though we both know I did. I was ashamed that there was a sliver of my conscious that jumped to those conclusions and doubted her. I tried to give her a little more information to gain some of her trust back. “Do you remember that call I got about a work emergency? We found cameras on clan property. Things have been hectic and we’re tightening security even more. I just wanted to reiterate how important it is to keep this secret.”
    “You’re not going to deny being a shifter anymore? And what do you mean clan property? What happened with the cameras?” She was a firecracker with her questions.
    “I’ll tell you everything when the timing is right, Acacia.”
    “Right. I’m pretty sure my mom said that to me when I asked her about masturbation when I was in the sixth grade. I still haven’t gotten an answer from her, by the way.”
    A choke lodged itself in the back of my throat at the mere mention of Acacia touching herself. I told myself that I was going to be a gentleman around her. All I wanted to do was kiss her. Well, I wanted to do more than kiss her. But her arm was sutured and I got a glimpse at the gnarly bruise that covered her side when she was struggling to change into her clothes. She was wounded. She needed to heal, not to be pushed against a wall and devoured like the world was ending.
    “I promise. I don’t go back on my promises. If my brother Hakeem were here he could back me up on this. We made a blood pact when we were practically in diapers and I still honor that promise. Right now I can tell you that my clan owns a substantial chunk of property out here that is guarded by a group called Enforcers. That’s my job title. We also teach basic fighting lessons, go to meetings with our Alpha, and act as a protection barrier if there is a breech or security issue.”
    “So you’re like the Secret Service?”
    “Will you like me more if I say yes?”
    “I like you plenty as is.”
    She said it with a ‘matter of fact’ tone that made both of us go quiet in our seats. My feelings for Acacia went way beyond liking her, as I had confessed earlier in the hospital, but I couldn’t tell her. I had barely hugged her. There was no way I could sit her down with some hot coco and tell her she was my soulmate and if she wanted to I’d take her to the courthouse and make her mine as soon as the sun came up. I knew she liked me. I could see it in her eyes and smell the musk that mixed with her citrusy scent when she was aroused. But