Fangs of Vengeance Read online

  Table of Contents

  Book 1 of the Fang and Flame Series

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Epilogue

  Fangs of Vengeance

  Book 1 of the Fang and Flame Series

  Fangs of Vengeance

  Book 1 of the Fang and Flame Series

  Dedication

  Super Special Awesome and Amazing Thanks

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Epilogue

  Dedication

  This book is dedicated to the person who introduced me to the wonderful world of books.

  Thanks Mom.

  Super Special Awesome and Amazing Thanks

  A lot of people helped this first-time writer and he’s going to do his very best to make sure they get their due. First, thank you Julie Nichols for the drop-dead gorgeous and amazing cover art. If you want to check out her art, she can be found at www.julienicholls.com. Next, for my beta-readers who helped with clearing up a few things and actually returning my calls. Then there’s all my Facebook friends who helped as well.

  First, there’s the best group of nerds and geeks ever at the Two True Freaks network. (www.twotruefreaks.com) Next, comes Quinn Dallas and the Lusty Realms of Fantasy on Facebook and Mark McQuillen and Mara Reitsman of the amazing fantasy space opera: Legends. You can find them at Pages of Insanity on Facebook

  Now, the most important thanks go out to YOU, the reader. Thank you so much for giving this little story of mine a chance. I hope you enjoy the adventure that awaits, the surprises and twists, the bad puns and references, and the occasional “wow” moments. You are super special awesome and amazing! Thank you so very much and enjoy!

  Prologue

  Derrick’s Falls is a mid-sized town of roughly twenty thousand inhabitants located in central Illinois. The town could easily have come from the early years of the Atomic age; possessing a bustling Main Street full of stores that have been passed down through generations thrived. The town had been carefully laid out to maximize the natural beauty of the surrounding forests. People would move in and out of course; but the population never grew or shrank. It was the kind of place that most would describe as the stereotypical Small Town, USA. Ignored by most of their fellow Americans when hard-earned vacation were planned; yet that was acceptable with the citizens of Derrick’s Falls. The town really didn’t have anything special to attract tourism or industry. Well, unless the fact that one out of every hundred citizens was a werewolf counted.

  Werewolves aren’t nearly as scary as the movies would lead you to believe---for the most part anyway. They work, share a beer with their buddies on Sundays during the big football game, raise their families, drive their kids to Little League practice, all the million and one things a “normal” family would do. They just have a few extra challenges from time to time; not just because of the full moon. For example, they have to make sure that they have plenty of high protein foods available in the pantry to help support their extremely high metabolism, especially following a day of shifting back and forth from wolf to man. They have to make sure that they have plenty of extra clothes on hand in case of an errant claw rip or emergency shift. Needless to say, the butchers, tailors, and secondhand shops did extremely well for themselves. Every once in awhile, there’d be a story in the local paper about a wolf being seen running through the local park or down a busy neighborhood street. Yet Animal Control never ever seemed to find them when they were called in. Eventually, they just stopped coming. The town had gotten used to the unusualness of apparently having a large wolf pack living nearby. However, since no one ever got hurt, with only the occasional cow or sheep went missing from the local farms, Derrick’s Falls had adopted a “live and let live” policy. Now, if they knew the truth….well, they would never have a problem with tourism ever again.

  For the two hundred wolves living in and around Derrick’s Falls, they were just like any other neighbors. Most liked each other, there were a few screw ups and ne’er-do-wells, and the occasional feud. Most wolves would couple with other wolves usually. However, some added the occasional “normal” human into the mix. That produced a whole new set of challenges of their own. It was a very rare human indeed who could swear not only to protect the secrets of the pack but be able to handle finding the shower drain clogged with way more hair than normal; or having enough raw meat in the fridge to feed a football team.

  Our story focuses on one family of werewolves. It was made up only of an older man who was in his mid one hundreds, though his driver’s license said he was only in his latex sixties named Richard Ford, and a young man who was approaching his twenty-fourth birthday that winter named Steven Thomas Harper. This is the story of a young werewolf and the woman he loved.

  Chapter 1

  “Come on you little brat! Get in there!” A loud male voice cried out into the empty kitchen. The source of his frustration was a small cabinet that was just a hair too wide for the space he had just spent the better part of the morning preparing for the cabinet’s new home.

  I can’t shave anymore off this thing without completely ruining it. These cheap boards the customer made me buy just won’t cut it. Which I had told them that---in painstaking detail.Repeatedly. Did it matter? Oh no! The cheapskate just wouldn’t want to spend an extra ten bucks to have it done right. I mean what do I know? I’ve only been doing this since my freshman year and my first shop class. Grunting with effort and shoving with all his might, the stubborn cabinet refused to budge a millimeter. That’s it! The gloves are now officially OFF! Taking a quick look around and confirming that he was still the only person in the entire efficiency apartment, he set the cabinet down on the floor and began unbuttoning his shirt. Removing most of his clothing and shoes, the man gave out a soft growl and in an instant became a seven foot tall upright wolf with the body of a linebacker balanced on two wide paws. Picking up the cabin
et while being extremely careful of his claws scratching the finish, the now transformed werewolf began pushing the cabinet back into the slot. There was a slight groaning of wood and a sharp crack! as the cabinet slid all the way into the hole. Returning to his human form, Steve Harper, one of the best contractors in town, carefully examined the cabinet and shelving for any structural damage. Finding none, he put his clothing back on and wiped some sweat off his brow with the rag e kept in the back pocket of his jeans.

  All right. Time to clean up this mess. Then I need to get on to that leaky faucet at Mrs. Miller’s place. This is the fifth time this month I’ve had to repair the same faucet. I keep offering to replace it for her but she always says it’s not a big deal. I think she just wants a little company so I never press too hard. It’s been rough on her since Mr. Miller passed away last year. Considering how much he helped me with my schoolwork, I owe him one and I’m happy to repay the debt by helping her. That shouldn’t take me more than ten minutes followed by another twenty of chatting and then I’ll be free for the rest of the day. Becca will kill me if I’m late to her parent’s place. We’ve only been planning this wedding for the last six months and tomorrow’s the big day. Sure it may be a cliche’ of guy marrying the girl next door but I don’t care. She’s one of a kind and I’m damn lucky to have her. Finishing clearing his workspace and putting his tools back in their place, Steve pulled out his cellphone. First, he called his client to let them know the job was finished. They could drop his payment off with his grandfather at the local hardware store since Steve would be out of town on his honeymoon for the next couple of weeks.

  Packing up his truck, he dialed another number; and, this time a sultry female voice answered. “Hey baby. How’s your day going?”

  “Oh you know,” the voice answered sweetly. “The usual. Pretty quiet day today without much excitement. You still on track for the rehearsal tonight at my parents’?”

  He could almost see the slight glare she was no doubt slinging his way over the phone. Steve wasn’t always the most reliable at keeping his appointments. At least his fiancé had an excuse being an EMT and Paramedic-in-training. Granted, Steve loved his work. Often ending up completely absorbed in a project; but saving lives was a bit more important than nailing two pieces of wood together after all. “Yep. Just finished at the Trevor’s place. I’m off to Mrs. Miller’s for that faucet. Then it’s a quick shower and change and I’ll be right over. Should be there in an hour and half. Plenty of time Red.”

  “It better be,” she replied sternly. “Also, don’t eat anything at Mrs. Miller’s either! You’ll spoil your dinner and Mom would---well---you know.” Steve’s head nodded in silent agreement. “I should be there about the same time you get there then. See you in a bit then. I love you.”

  “I love you too Red.” Hanging up the phone and shoving it back into his pants’ pocket, Steve got into his old blue pickup and started up the engine. Listening to the rumble of the V6 the two of them had worked so hard to restore, Steve leaned back in the seat and thought, Yeah. I am the luckiest guy on the planet. Just another twenty-four hours and a whole new life begins. He put the car into gear and drove down the block.

  ***

  “Great. I’m going to have to hose out the bus just to get all the sugar you just spewed out of it you know,” a deep male voice came from the driver’s side of the ambulance. “I am a diabetic.”

  “Hey Carl,” Becca Samantha Daniels, EMT for St. Christopher’s Hospital, replied and held her phone out to him. “You’ve got a call from a Mr. Kettle. He’s apparently calling you black.”

  “Glad to know his eyesight is working all right,” The middle-aged senior Paramedic and Becca’s trainer replied. “Now if he started calling me white, then I’d have to worry about him.”

  “Glad we’re in agreement then. Otherwise, I’d have to call Marcy and let her know that her man isn’t as sweet as he appears to be. That it’s all been an act for her.”

  “Oh no,” he exclaimed taking one hand off the steering wheel and placing it over his heart dramatically. “You have found out my secret plan. Truly, you are unrivaled in the entire country for your brilliance. Whatever will I do now? How can I possibly go on now that my soul has been laid bare at your feet?”

  “You buy the next round of coffee and I’ll call it even,” Becca replied with her trademark smirk fixed firmly in place with her emerald eyes shining.

  Smiling, he replied, “Deal.” Both knew that it was already Carl’s turn for the coffee but, they also knew that they had to play out their little drama to its finish. Life as an emergency service worker was mostly made up of boredom with only a little bit of gut-wrenching terror thrown in to keep things lively. The downside was that little bit could last a very long time, sometimes even a lifetime. There was a very good reason St. Christopher’s made it mandatory for regular psych evals after a particularly nasty call. It wouldn’t do for the life savers to freeze up from a prior event and risk losing the current one. Becca knew that and so far she’d been lucky. The worst she’d seen was a drunk who decided to play chicken with an oak tree and the tree didn’t blink. The poor man hadn’t been wearing his seatbelt and was immediately ejected from the vehicle. They finally found his head about sixty feet from his body. Carl had seen worse and earned his spurs in the time he spent at Chicago’s Metro Hospital. He moved into town to spend his golden years in a bit less stressful environment with his wife was only too happy to agree. He’d been assigned to Becca a little over a year ago and saw that she had promise. He knew she could handle herself when the crap hit the fan but no one was looking forward to when he would be proved right.

  After signing off and parking at the local coffee shop, Mocha-Me-Crazy, the two went inside, ordered their coffees and sat down at a corner booth to take a few minutes to relax.

  “So tomorrow’s the big day. Scared kid?”

  “Nope. Not at all,” Becca replied taking a sip.

  “Bullshit,” Carl laughed. “Anyone who says they’re not nervous about taking the plunge is either lying or stupid and I know you aren’t stupid.”

  A slight blush appeared on Becca’s cheeks. She hated when she blushed. It always stood out on her fair complexion almost as bright as a stop light. Taking another sip to settle herself, she set the cup down and looked her friend straight in the eye. “Okay. Okay. You got me. Steve and I have been planning this thing so long that I’m looking forward to it finally being over but I still feel like the Timberwolves’ Marching Band is giving a sold out performance in my stomach.”

  “Yeah, that sounds about right.”

  “Don’t get me wrong bucko. I love Steve with all my heart; and, I can’t wait to start our life together. But I’m also scared senseless at the thought of knowing that from now on things are going to be different. That I won’t be waking up alone anymore. That there’s going to be dirty clothes strewn all over the place and weird quirks that will drive each of us nuts until we settle into a groove. Sometimes it just seems so overwhelming you know?”

  “I do indeed Becca. It took me and Marcy a long time to get used to each other. I still shudder at buying her that iron for our first anniversary. She said she really needed a new one so I bought her the best one available. I’m still amazed at just how strong her pitching arm is.” He chuckled. “Word of advice you may want to give your man is: don’t buy an iron as an anniversary gift. Never ends well. In all seriousness Becca, you’re going to be fine. I’ve known the two of you for a while and even a blind man can tell you’re made for each other. There’s going to be fights, screaming, and times when you just can’t believe how incredibly stupid Steve can be. To offset that will be love, forgiveness, a feeling that you just really can’t describe but know it’s there. One that you’ll treasure forever.” His face then lit with a boyish grin, “Also the make-up sex is out of this world.”

  Becca choked on her coffee and her slight blush turned into one as deep as the color of her shoulder-length hair. Thank God I go
t this iced or I’d be needing a burn unit right about now.

  Chuckling, Carl leaned back in his chair and drank his coffee. Knowing he’d pushed the right button, his grin was was splitting his face in two. This was a rather touchy subject with his partner. It wasn’t that she was a prude or anything when it came to sex. Between her medical training, along with those cheesy romance novels she read during their meal breaks, he knew that she was well versed in the topic. However, there is a world of difference between knowing how the mechanics of something worked and actually doing it. As a result, Carl loved teasing her on that little fact. His smile still plastered all over his face, Carl leaned in and spoke in a low tone so only she could hear. “Look Becca, I know you know about it but if you need some advice, I know Marcy or your mother would be happy to help explain the ways of things. Believe me, it’s scary for everyone the first time out and there’s a million things running through your head. So if you want to talk about it before the big night, I know they’d make sure you’d be ok.”

  Draining her cup dry in a couple large swallows, Becca put the cup down; leaning in as well. “I appreciate the offer Carl. I really do. It’s not easy to talk about this stuff for me and if I went to my mother…” she paused as a shudder ran through her. “Well, there’s somethings I never want to hear about that my mom and dad did; or still do in all honesty. There’s just so much out there to do that I don’t even know where Steve and I would begin.” She rubbed the cup between her hands. “Sometimes, I regret that we decided to wait and have our first time be on our wedding night. We spent a long time discussing the pros and cons of it. I am glad we had that talk and agreed to wait. But…”

  Carl nodded his head. “But…”

  “I’m still worried that it won’t be good for him. That I’d screw something up and he would absolutely hate it,” she said so quietly Carl almost didn’t hear her.

  Carl resisted the urge to throw his head back and laugh like a madman. He could see the pain in those emerald eyes of hers while her shoulders trembled slightly. To him and Marcy, Becca was more than just a trainee and partner. She had become an adopted daughter, the child they could never have. He would be damned before he hurt her. “Becca. Listen to me okay,” his serious tone soft. “You’re overthinking this. Let me be one-hundred percent honest about this. You are going to screw up. A lot.” Becca’s head twitched in shock and her eyes widened to the width of saucers. “But guess what? So is he. That’s part of the fun Becca. Finding out what each other likes and dislikes. Laughing at the mistakes you make and trying again. All those movies and books and whatnot out there? Pure fiction. Don’t worry about what’s expected and that it’ll be a mind-altering experience every time. Just live in the moment with the man you love. He’ll be just as nervous as you are and probably even more scared of screwing something up.”