Page 9 of Softer Than Stone (Fangs & Felons)

CHRIS

The scent of burnt earth and incense filled my nostrils. It wasn’t one I’d smelt before. I tapped my comms, grateful I hadn’t returned home at all so I still had all of my tactical gear. “Copy, Kent. Over.”

“Kent here. Over. A scan of the area doesn’t show any movement. But there are three blind spots in the two-block radius of Kurranba. Over.”

“Copy that. How far out are Shaw and Michaels? Over.” Michaels had been my first call as soon as I’d overheard the first words of Waru’s phone call. Michaels had already been with his boyfriend, Shaw, making the request quicker. He’d then reached out to Kent and Lucas.

“ETA three minutes. Looks like the security rep for the alarm system is stuck in traffic. Figures since their reputation is for shit. Over.”

The muscle in my jaw ticked. Thank fuck I’d been with Waru. If I hadn’t been and he’d come himself, beating the response unit…. I cracked my neck, continuing to walk around the building, scenting and looking for signs of disturbance as I did so.

A glint of metal caught my attention in the window in the alleyway. “Found something. Over.”

“Copy.”

A closer look revealed the broken lock. The window wasn’t smashed, and beyond the slightly crooked steel lock, everything looked intact. “Sign of breach in third right window in alleyway. Over.”

“Michaels checking in. One minute out. Over.”

I settled at the sound of Michaels’s voice. With three of us on the scene, one of us could stay with?—

A thud, a smash, a yell.

Waru.

Fuck.

I charged around the building, shouting into comms, “Eyes on Waru. Now.”

“Fuck.” Kent sounded pissed, but it was the screech of tyres as the car accelerated that shot fury through my veins. Taillights were already fifteen metres away, glass on the ground next to where Waru’s car should be parked.

“Stay on him, Kent,” I ordered, voice tight. “I’m going to shift.” There was no way I could keep pace on two feet. Four paws and I could give the car a good run for its money.

I willed the shift to come. No slow, deliberate change this time—I needed speed and raw power. The sharp sting of pain ripped through me as my body contorted. Bones realigned with a grinding sound. Muscles stretched and swelled. Fur erupted across my skin like wildfire.

The last remnants of my tactical gear shredded and fell away, leaving me stripped of everything human—including the comms earpiece that had been my lifeline to the team.

I couldn’t call out to Kent now. Couldn’t coordinate. It was just me, my instincts, and the drive to get Waru back.

My hands became massive paws, claws sinking into the asphalt. My arms and legs thickened, the change barrelling through me faster than ever before. A low growl tore from my throat, and my senses exploded with clarity. The world tilted as I dropped to all fours, now towering in my lion form.

The scent of Waru still lingered faintly in the air, tainted by fear and that burnt earth and incense I couldn’t place. My nostrils flared as I inhaled deeply, locking onto the trail. My ears twitched, picking up the hum of the engine carrying him away.

Shit. No time to think.

I sprang forwards, muscles bunching and releasing in perfect coordination.

The world blurred as I bolted towards the scent, my paws striking the pavement in a steady rhythm.

I stuck to the shadows as best I could—a hard task when you’re a lion the size of a small car—but I’d trained for this.

Years of tactical manoeuvres came rushing back, overriding every primal urge to roar and charge blindly.

Up ahead, the taillights swerved into an alley. My breath hitched as I poured on more speed, adrenaline surging.

I crouched low, ears swivelling as I tuned into the hum of the car engine fading in the distance. The scent of burnt earth and incense still clung to the air, mixed with Waru’s fear—a smell that cut through me like a blade.

Each step landed with a soft tap on the pavement, creating a steady cadence as I pressed on, eating the distance between me and the bastard who’d taken him.

The taillights swerved sharply, disappearing behind a cluster of dilapidated buildings. I slowed, ears twitching as I approached. The unmistakable scent of Waru and the… I scented the air… vampire filled my nostrils, leading me to a grimy workshop tucked at the end of a dark alley.

A growl rumbled in my chest as I crept closer, claws scraping against the ground. Waru’s voice filtered through the night, muffled but frantic.

“Please! You’ve got the wrong person—I don’t know you!”

The sound sent a surge of rage through me. My tail flicked, muscles coiling as I crouched at the edge of the alley.

Through the workshop’s cracked windows, I caught glimpses of movement. A tall figure—the vampire—dragged Waru roughly towards a table, shoving him down into a chair. Waru fought back, his jaw set with defiance even as fear poured off him in waves.

I couldn’t hear Kent or the others, but I didn’t need them to tell me what to do. The lion in me demanded action.

The vampire turned, pulling out a blade that glinted under the harsh fluorescent lights. Waru flinched but didn’t look away. My claws flexed, scraping the concrete surrounding the workshop as I fought the urge to roar and charge blindly.

I couldn’t storm in like a reckless beast. I had to be smart. Silent.

The door stood ajar, the vampire’s arrogance leaving him careless. My size meant brute force would work, but subtlety might buy me the few seconds I needed to take him down without putting Waru at risk.

I crept closer, each step precise, my paws silent against the ground. My heart thundered, every instinct screaming to protect the man I’d barely had time to know but already couldn’t imagine losing.

The scent of Waru’s fear sharpened, and my growl slipped free before I could stop it.

The vampire froze, head snapping towards the door. “What the hell was that?”

Dammit. So much for subtlety.

With a snarl, I surged forwards, hitting the steel door at full speed. It buckled inwards with a deafening crash, sending the vampire staggering back.

The room erupted into chaos.

Waru’s eyes widened as he caught sight of me, his lips parting in shock. “Chris?”

The vampire recovered quickly, snarling as he drew the blade and lunged towards me.

Big mistake.

I roared, the sound shaking the walls, and launched myself at him. My claws found flesh, raking across his chest as my massive body slammed into him. The blade clattered to the ground as he crumpled under my weight.

But I didn’t stop there. Not until I was sure he wasn’t getting back up.

Waru’s voice broke through the haze of fury, trembling but strong. “Chris, stop! You’ve got him!”

I turned, panting, my massive frame heaving with adrenaline. Waru stood frozen, his eyes locked on me, wide but full of something I couldn’t quite place.

Relief. Or I hoped like hell that was what it was.

I stepped closer, lowering my head as my tail flicked behind me. Waru reached out hesitantly, his hand trembling as it brushed against my mane.

“Holy shit,” he whispered, his voice cracking. “You came for me.”

His touch grounded me, pulling me back from the brink. My instincts wanted to keep going, to rip and tear until the threat was nothing but shreds—but Waru’s hand on my fur reminded me why I was here.

I huffed softly, nudging his chest with my nose. He exhaled shakily, his fingers curling into my mane.

“Thank you,” he murmured.

I rumbled in response, my gaze flicking towards the crumpled vampire on the floor. He wasn’t dead—not yet, and unfortunately not ever. The need to follow the law stilled my hand. But taking him into custody to discover why he’d gone after Waru in the first place was my priority.

The sound of Michaels’s car engine cut through the air. I exhaled. They’d take care of the vampire. I suspected we had another sixty seconds until he was conscious. All that mattered was getting Waru out of here.

Safe.

“What do you mean it’s unrelated?” Confusion rippled through me. I didn’t believe in coincidences, especially ones that smelt like bullshit.

“I don’t buy it.” Michaels shook his head.

Frustration slammed into me. “But you just said?—”

“I recounted what the vampire said and am reiterating that, for whatever fucked reason or hard-core history said vampire has, he’s not breaking.”

Jaw clenching, I stared through the two-way mirror at the smug-looking vampire. He’d fully healed, but his shirt was ripped, and blood covered his face and chest. It didn’t give me any satisfaction.

Turner, the vampire, a name that checked out in the system, had no priors. He also lived within five blocks of Waru’s restaurant. His story, which he appeared determined to stick to, was he was a stalker, infatuated by Waru and his killer cooking skills.

The whole thing was ludicrous. Not that Waru wasn’t hot or skilled enough to warrant catching a stalker’s attention, which sounded all levels of dodgy that I even thought that, but still, Turner was a lying liar who lied.

And that right there—my eloquence—pretty much summed up how fucking pissed off I was.

Waru had been shaken up but remained remarkably together.

He’d let Michaels interview him as I sat by his side, holding his hand.

Thankfully Michaels had shown a rare moment of keeping his mouth shut and hadn’t commented on the way I clung to Waru, because I was absolutely the man who hadn’t wanted to let him go, let alone have him out of my sight.

The latter was probably why tension vibrated through my limbs.

Shaw had taken Waru to get a hot chocolate, while I was left here thinking about everything Waru had told us had been said.

Which had been jack shit. Beyond Turner smashing the window and giving him one hard punch that still made me clench my teeth, the vampire hadn’t said anything beyond professing his adoration of Waru’s lemon myrtle cheesecake.