Sevin: Mythical Ink Series (Book 2): Paranormal Shifter Romance Read online

  That had been the start of the physical aggression since his younger years when he’d lived with the pack. Tracking and chasing had been the extent of their harassment until he’d turned it up a notch. He’d often wondered if his sire had put an end to his death warrant now he was no longer his problem.

  The stand-off had resulted in a black eye and some bruised ribs for Sevin. Micah had not walked away completely unscathed. The purebred had underestimated the strength of the half-breed and had taken more than a few solid hits to the head and abdomen before nosy pedestrians had come along and interfered.

  Surprisingly, Micah had kept the fight fair, ordering his cohorts to stand down, keeping it one-on-one. Now that the purebred had sampled what his enemy was made of, he most likely wouldn’t be so honorable the next go around. He had numbers on his side and would use whatever he had in his arsenal before risking a loss.

  The fight had proved to be more than trading of fists between two old enemies, it had been the catalyst to his sire’s demise.

  Word had traveled fast after Micah had challenged and taken the title of pack leader from Sevin’s sire just a day after the fight he had nearly lost to Sevin. Upon the death of that male, for the first time in his life, Sevin felt like his sire had a hand in keeping him safe even if it was from a distance.

  Now that Micah was the leader, there was no one to stand in the way of his will. With the fresh taste of blood on his lips and the knowledge an opponent existed with the likelihood of beating him, Micah had turned his full attention on Sevin, aggressing on him more openly whenever the pack would catch up to him in the city, putting Sevin’s evasive skills to the test to keep them ignorant of his apartment’s location.

  By taking a stand, that fight had proved he was no longer a trifle to practice the tracking skills of the group, but a worthy opponent of inferior breeding who needed to be taken out.

  Guilt over being the reason for his sire’s death mixed with confusion over the male’s actions had created a bitter concoction that couldn’t be sorted. Why the order from his sire to rid him of the pack all those years ago followed by an order to let him live? Had his sire been afraid of the Otherworldlies who had taken him in? Or had it been a case of conscience that had changed the male’s mind? He would never know now that the answers had died along with his sire.

  Faced with Micah’s single-minded determination to rid Sevin of this earth, he’d had to remain diligent while away from the safety of his dads.

  It was ridiculous the amount of time the twenty-seven-year-old alpha to a wolf-shifter pack spent focusing on a childhood enemy who had no intention of challenging him for his place at the head of the pack. The male was still playing the juvenile role of a high school bully instead of seeing to the needs of the wolf-shifters in his charge.

  Sevin was no fool to think even if he challenged Micah and won the alpha seat, anyone in the pack would accept him, being a half-breed, as their leader. It was preposterous.

  A quick glance over his shoulder and Sevin took a hard left into the next alley. He had gained a couple of blocks by darting through the narrow spaces between buildings, but he needed to shift into wolf form if he was going to lose them completely.

  His harsh curse was lost on a brisk wind that shot through the alley as he peeled off his jacket. Taking a moment to stash the leather outerwear between two dumpsters, he was assaulted by the heavy stench of refuse choking the air. He was destined for a trip to the dry cleaners after he came back to retrieve his favorite coat.

  Pulling his shirt off next, he tossed it on top and went for the laces on his Converse. Sevin’s sensitive ears perked-up as he caught multiple sets of shoes hitting pavement drawing near. There was no time to remove his shoes here.

  Half-dressed, he bolted for the end of the alley, emerging onto a narrow, one-way street. The asphalt—cracked and rippled from neglect and lined with litter—didn’t appear to be a path widely traveled.

  Unbuckling his belt and unfastening his loose jeans, he hooked his thumbs inside the waistband ready to shuck everything he was wearing from the waist down just as soon as he found the opportunity.

  Passing two more alleys, he started to cut to the right, only to run into two of the pack that had broken off from the rest.

  Fuck!

  He had three at his back and two on his right. He didn’t need to look over his shoulder to verify what his acute hearing told him.

  Hanging a left was a bad choice, but the only option available.

  It was a smart move on Micah’s part to split up his pack to cut off Sevin’s options and funnel him toward an area they frequented.

  His lungs began to burn from the cold, the chilly night air turning his cheeks red as his legs pumped out one city block after another. The familiar cityscape of Midtown quickly gave way to the unfamiliar territory of Lower Manhattan. His neighborhood now at his back, fear coursed through his veins.

  The flapping of tarps from multiple windows of a three-story structure under major renovation was like hands waving him toward a destination. Gunning for the safe haven where he could hide and finish stripping out of his clothes, Sevin paused only long enough to dive roll through a gaping hole where a window used to be.

  Landing hard, he hadn’t counted on the construction debris littering the ground. Rolling over the mess, the flesh on his back suffered scrapes and scratches that made him wish for the leather jacket he had left back in that alley.

  Kicking free of his boots, he dropped his pants and boxers, peeling his socks off as he went. Buck-assed-naked, he wheeled around toward a noise at his back as he shifted. Half expecting it to be Micah or one of his cronies, he was shocked to meet the eyes of a vagrant.

  Too late to stop his change now, the human backed up and hit the wall, cursed, then took a long swig from his paper sack while keeping his bloodshot eyes locked on Sevin.

  He was in no real danger of being found out. Who was gonna believe an intoxicated homeless guy?

  Running through to the opposite side of the warehouse in wolf form, he found a door left ajar, probably the way the homeless man had entered. Pushing his muzzle out through the crack, he pulled in a lungful of night air.

  The other shifters were close. His heightened sense of smell picking up their scents they were still in their human forms.

  Good.

  He now had the advantage. No way could they catch him as a wolf if they were going to have to run on two legs. By the time they shed their clothes to shift, he would be way out ahead of them. Planning to double back, he would reach Lu’s first.

  The angel was going to roast his ass for leaving his apartment when he promised to remain indoors. He would gladly take the verbal lashing if he could just make it there.

  His heart hammered as he nudged the door the rest of the way open. Bolting in the opposite direction as the scent coming off his enemies, adrenaline was the fuel his canine body needed to gain the distance between himself and his unwanted followers.

  Keeping to the alleys as he headed back toward Midtown, he avoided as many humans as he could. A huge silver wolf running through the streets of New York City was about as obvious as a turd in a punch bowl. Having animal control alerted to his presence was a situation to be avoided.

  In his haste, he bypassed the street where he needed to turn. Another opportunity presented itself as he came upon E. Broadway. Nowhere near as inconspicuous as a side alley, hopefully, much like crossing a stream of water, his scent would get lost in the profusion of smells of a bustling street.

  Brushing past the population of pedestrians littering the sidewalk, he’d barely made the crosswalk sign in time before the light allowed for the cars to cross. Gasps and squeals followed in his wake as he made it to the other side and ducked into the first alley he came to.

  Hauling ass through Seward Park, he would take a shortcut to Lu’s as the wind was not in his favor, blowing his scent southwest and directly into Lower Manhattan.

  His breath sounded harsh to his own ears. His muscles felt as if he had been running for days, maybe years, but no matter how the chilly night air burned his lungs or the seesawing of the air passing in and out that rubbed his throat raw, he wasn’t going to slow for anything until he was stepping through Lu’s front door.

  Bearing down on his next street crossing, Sevin honed in on all the traffic going by at the typical city crawl. The crosswalk sign on Grand Street was displaying the hand, so he’d have to weave his way between the bumpers, turning himself into his own personal Frogger game which sucked since he had never been very good at video games.

  His only other option wasn’t up for debate. Shifting back into human form and streaking across the wide thoroughfare wouldn’t be nearly as exposing as Times Square, but the traffic on Grand getting a gander at his lily-white ass would cause more of an uproar than if he stayed in his furry form. Being cited with indecent exposure wasn’t something he wanted to happen… again.

  Finding a break in the traffic, he lunged out into the street. Horns honked, a squeal of tires, and a few gasps from pedestrians later, he made it to the other side. Sticking to the alleys and narrow passages between buildings, he was relieved to see Delancey Street up ahead, but not relieved to see the traffic he was going to have to fight to get across.

  He could do this.

  Hunkering down, he stuck close to the exterior of a building nearest to the crosswalk, trying to make himself look smaller like a stray dog lost in the city. The traffic light was going to switch to red soon, stopping the endless flow of motorists, and that’s when he would make his move.

  Glancing back, he sighted Micah and his minions running toward him down Norfolk. How the fuck they had already caught up to him was anybody’s guess.

  So much for waiting on the damn light
, he was going to have to go now to gain some ground between them. It was imperative he made it to the angel. If they caught up to him, he was as good as dead.

  Turning back to face the onslaught of cars whizzing by, he faced possible death by vehicle but a certain death if those purebreds caught up to him. Decision made—he’d rather take his chances against the traffic than against five pure-blooded wolf-shifters hell-bent on having his ass for dinner.

  Making the bold move, he rushed out into the street the moment a slight lull presented itself. The stiff breeze off a car that zoomed past ruffled the fur on his hindquarters, just missing him by an inch.

  Stuck in between lanes, he had to pause. Horns blowing, his legs shook beneath him as cars passed in front and in back of him, his fur whipping around and pulling in all directions from the wake of the passing vehicles.

  Holding his breath, he bolted across the remaining lane and into the median. Swallowing his heart, he looked back to see the purebreds hauling ass across the crosswalk toward him.

  Facing front, traffic heading in the opposite direction was a steady stream with not much chance of an opening to cross. As soon as the next car passed, Sevin darted across all three lanes. His hind legs barely clearing the pavement before a delivery truck swooshed by.

  Fuck!

  He’d bought himself some distance, but not enough to make it to safety. He needed to get out of the area fast.

  Running in the opposite direction from Lu’s, he hightailed it down Norfolk on the opposite side, hoping to lose them when he crossed Rivington.

  He made it about a block before Micah surprised him by popping out between two buildings, forcing him to turn left on Rivington and follow the street. The male was alone, so his pack of assholes must have split up.

  Bursting out between two buildings, another of the pack fell in line behind the leader, then another. It was easier for him in wolf form to weave in and out of the pedestrians than it was for the males following behind him on two legs.

  Crossing Essex Street, a narrow alley was his next turn. The brick of the walls brushed both sides of his coat as he raced between the two buildings.

  Right or Left?

  The decision was made for him as the remaining two came at him from opposite directions. Barreling down on him, he had no choice but to hang a right that dumped him out onto Orchard Street which he darted across and into another alley that landed him on Allen Street.

  Hanging a left, he was now headed south and back toward Delancey and its eight lanes of death.

  Fuck! He didn’t want to have to cross that bullshit again.

  Hanging tight to the storefronts on Allen, Sevin all but rolled his eyes at the streams of traffic he could see up ahead. He was going to have to cross somewhere, and neither Allen nor Delancey was going to be a party.

  The wind shifted direction, the delicious scents from the Starbucks on the corner overpowering the scents of the males behind him.

  Chancing a glance back, Micah was gaining. A couple of long strides and he would be able to reach out and grab him. No time to wait for traffic lights and walk signs to tell him all was safe to cross.

  Head down and legs pumping faster, Sevin crossed several lanes of oncoming traffic and into the wide median on Allen. Not waiting a moment to make sure the coast was clear, he kept going, ready to take on the next lanes of traffic going in the opposite direction.

  He nearly made it across.

  Just as his front paws touched the sidewalk, a sedan turning onto the street brushed his hind quarter, sending him into a spin.

  Yelping, the sudden hit disoriented him, turning him in the opposite direction. Panic boggled his common sense and sense of direction. Like a frightened squirrel, he turned and ran in the wrong direction, going back the way he had just come, catching the purebreds by surprise as he was now barreling toward them.

  Using his unexpected change of trajectory to his benefit, he could have plowed through the bunch like bowling pins had the next car that turned not embedded its grill into his side, flipping him into the air. Rolling across the hood and the top of the car, he dropped hard onto the street.

  Lying like road kill on the asphalt, Sevin watched as the pack of purebreds stopped and stared, doing nothing to help him. A small smile etched on Micah’s face, just before he turned to run away with the others.

  Blackness closed up around him as people began to surround him.

  Janie made a notation in her patient’s chart. Still resting in recovery from an emergency cholecystectomy, the woman had been shocked to learn her chest pain was being caused by her gallbladder, not her heart.

  The surgery was successful, the little smile on Janie’s face was testament to that. Flipping to the next page, she tucked an errant strand of brown hair behind her ear.

  Her shift had run longer than usual, the time for her to clock out had already passed hours ago. She’d volunteered to help cover part of a shift for a co-worker who had called in with the flu.

  A giggle from behind her perked up her ears, her smile falling away as she remained focused on the chart she held in her hands. Jennifer was working the night shift, and evidently, so was David. Theirs was a relationship in the early stages and was as nauseating as it was hurtful to watch.

  Janie had developed a serious crush on the tall, dark, and handsome male nurse, along with just about every other woman working at Lenox Hill Hospital. Despite her efforts to gain his attention, he had gravitated toward the beautiful Jennifer and away from her.

  Plain Janie—that’s what she’d been known as throughout her high school years.

  She desperately wanted to hate Jennifer for her flawless face and body but couldn’t muster up enough hard feelings to make it stick. The jealous-worthy girl had always been nothing but nice to her, and it wasn’t her fault she’d won the genetic lottery. It wasn’t like she flaunted what she was blessed with or treated Janie as if she were as lackluster as she felt.

  Jennifer was as lovely on the inside as she was on the outside. Her shiny, blonde hair was always smoothed back from her perfect face and coiffed into a perfect bun on top of her head. Sparkling blue eyes adorned with long, thick lashes always looked at Janie with kindness. She was the perfect height, not too tall and not too short with a perfect figure, perfect boobs, and she somehow managed to make scrubs look like an evening gown. Jennifer was... perfect.

  As for her? Her naturally wavy hair refused to stay put, so her bun was always a damn mess, especially after retwisting the knot dozens of times throughout her shift to make it behave. By the end of the day, it just looked like a wadded-up mess stuck to the back of her head, always with one lone sprig that went rogue, sticking straight out from the frizzy nest like a sea oat flapping in an ocean breeze. A boring shade of brown with no enthusiasm whatsoever to shimmer any highlights, of any kind, under the fluorescent hospital lights. With dull, brown eyes to match, they were just as plain as her name.

  Although she had been told on occasion she was cute—never beautiful and most definitely not gorgeous. But her lack of attractiveness to the opposite sex had its advantage—since she hadn’t been focused on boys and dating, she had directed her energy toward a career in nursing.

  About the only thing she had on Jennifer was two more years of schooling. Jennifer was a registered nurse, but Janie had pushed herself further to earn a Master’s degree and her place as a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist.

  Lenox Hill was the first and only hospital she had ever practiced her trade. Growing roots in the familiar, she loathed changing locations whether it was jobs or homes. Once she was settled in somewhere, she liked to stay put. Sameness was a comfort she relished which made the job she applied for and accepted all the more surprising.

  Apprehensive at first to work in Emergency, she had grown to thrive on the adrenaline rush that came with the unexpected. From car accidents to open heart surgery, she loved the fast-paced dynamics of it all. She supposed it made up for her uneventful personal life. Always working, she never took vacation and rarely needed a sick day in the time she had been employed there.

  Aside from her average appearance, that summed up exactly why someone like David wouldn’t be interested in boring old her—always the same, forever unchanging in her dullness, not known for spontaneity.