Matthias (Southern Werewolf Enforcers Book 1), page 1
Matthias
Copyright Ⓒ 2022 by Heather MacKinnon
Cover and interior design: Blurbs and Baubles
Editing: Karen Sanders Editing
Proofreading: Blurbs and Baubles
All rights reserved. This book may not be reproduced in any form, in whole or in part, without written permission from the author.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, actual events, or organizations is entirely coincidental.
Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Epilogue
Wesley
Also By
About the Author
Chapter One
Matthias
“You know, pouring an energy drink into a rocks glass doesn’t make you look like a big boy.”
I shot my annoying best friend a dirty look and set the Red Bull can aside. “I’m not trying to look like a big boy, dickhead. I’m trying to chug this, and it’s easier in a glass.”
Huxley rolled his eyes and swiped the empty can from next to me, eyeing it like it had offended him. “I don’t understand why you can’t just have a drink with us. It’s one night.”
“It’s a Tuesday night. I have homework due in the morning.”
Huxley blew out a deep breath and crushed the can in his hand. “I also don’t get why you’re insisting on this human school crap.”
“Ssh,” I hissed as I scanned the crowd around us. “Would you keep your fucking voice down?”
Hux rolled his eyes. “Humans don’t come to this bar.”
“They could,” I spat back, already regretting coming out tonight.
“What are you going to school for?” Luke–I mean, Lucas–asked.
He’d adopted the name change after the uprising we dealt with almost two years ago in the Charlotte pack. Guess he was looking to reinvent himself. Maybe put some distance between him and the wolves who’d tried to overthrow their alpha.
Spoiler alert: it hadn’t gone well for them.
Those assholes were shipped halfway across the country for their treason, and most of us felt like they got off easy. Death is usually the punishment for mutiny, but I wasn’t all that surprised Bea hadn’t gone that route. The McCoys were too compassionate for that.
“It’s just a software engineering certification course I’m taking at the community college.” Lucas still looked confused, so I chuckled and added. “I’m learning how to build websites and apps and shit.”
His eyes cleared. “Like Candy Crush?”
I laughed again. “Yeah, something like that.”
“But you already know how to build websites and apps and shit,” Hux piped up from his side of the table.
“Yes, but computers and their language are constantly changing. And this is the first formal training I’ve ever had.”
“Wow, so you learned that shit yourself?” Lucas asked.
I shrugged. “Yeah. I taught myself most of it, but there’s always something new to learn,” I said, shooting Hux a look that said drop it.
But, unsurprisingly, he didn’t.
“Okay, but you’re already an enforcer. You’re practically the beta of this pack. Why the fuck do you need to make websites and apps and shit?”
I rolled my eyes to the ceiling and wondered if it was too early to call it a night. Letting out a deep breath, I opened my mouth to argue with Hux some more, when another voice pierced through the packed bar.
“Play some Taylor Swift! I wanna dance!”
Every eye in the place swung to the far side of the bar, but I’d already been looking at her. I’d seen her an hour ago when she’d first walked in. I’d snuck looks at her the whole time, watching as she slammed shot after shot and got drunker and drunker.
“Mack, sit your ass down,” the man she’d come in with snarled as she climbed onto the bar top.
Someone obliged her, and as soon as she heard the opening notes of a popular Taylor Swift song, her hips started moving. “Woo!” she yelled as she somehow sidestepped glasses, and bottles, and bowls of peanuts. “Turn it up!”
Her golden-brown hair swung wildly as she twisted and turned on the bar top. Her cowboy boots thunked the wood hard as the patrons scurried out of her way.
“Mackenna!” the man yelled. “Get your ass down here!”
She ignored him again as she reached for another woman’s hands and pulled her up to join her. With an arm around the woman’s shoulders, she sang and gyrated to the upbeat lyrics as the man got increasingly angry.
My hands fisted tightly as I watched him storm over to the two women and grab Mack’s hand. I was already standing when he yanked hard, and she went flying off the bar, just barely landing on her feet.
“Matthias,” Huxley muttered as he put a restraining hand on my shoulder. “Sit down, bro.”
I shook my head but couldn’t tear my eyes off the couple just a few feet away now.
“Let me go, Owen,” Mack yelled as she thrashed in his arms.
Huxley’s hand on me didn’t mean shit as I started to move. My feet were carrying me toward her, ready to tear this asshole’s arms off his goddamn body.
The closer I got to them, the more this buzzing feeling grew. It started the second she’d walked in. It was just a slight vibration at first, but now my entire body was quaking. It almost felt like I was about to shift, but my wolf wasn’t even close to the surface.
“I said, let me go,” Mack said again as she ripped her arm out of Owen’s hold.
The bastard let go at the last second so she exerted more energy than necessary and almost fell as a result.
An angry growl worked its way up my throat as Huxley caught up to me again. “This is not your fight, Matthias. Leave it alone.”
I ignored him again, ready to tear a chunk out of Owen’s worthless hide when Mack beat me to it.
“Go to hell,” she snarled before spinning around and stomping through the bar.
In the next instant, she was gone, taking the buzzing with her, and leaving the place in this heavy silence. It didn’t last long, though, as someone changed the song on the stereo and people started talking again.
But I still stared at the front door, willing her to walk back in.
“Let’s go, Captain America. No one needs saving today.”
I rolled my eyes and shrugged out of his hold as I walked back toward our table. “Fuck that. I’m more like Iron Man.”
Hux scoffed. “You don’t have the swagger to be Iron Man. You’re more like… the Hulk. Big and dumb.”
I shoved his shoulder and he lost his balance, falling into a heap in his seat. “Fuck you. I’m Iron Man,” I muttered as I sat down at the table too.
Huxley glared daggers at me as he sat up straight and grabbed his moonshine.
“Guess Mack’s back in town,” Lucas muttered as he took a sip of his own drink.
My heart thumped hard as I turned to him. “You know her?”
I don’t know why I’d thought she was some random werewolf who’d wandered into this bar. Maybe because I’d lived in Charlotte for almost two years and knew just about every person in this pack, at least by sight. But I’d never seen Mack before, and I knew I wouldn’t forget someone like her.
“Yeah,” Lucas said with a chuckle. “Everyone knows Mack.”
The anger that had just settled to a simmer spiked again. “What does that mean?” I asked, my voice dark.
Lucas’s eyes widened as he shrugged. “Just that everyone knows Mack. She was homecoming queen four times. She was voted most popular. Almost every guy my age had their first wet dream about her.”
That anger in my system erupted into a blinding rage as I gripped the edge of the table, the wood groaning beneath my fingertips. “You wanna say that again?”
Lucas’s eyes got even rounder as he threw up his hands. “Hey, I’m just telling you what I’ve heard.”
“I get it,” Hux commented, seemingly oblivious to how close to the edge I was. “She’s hot.”
And just like that, all the fire in my body went out, and I slumped in my chair. The fight was officially over, and it hadn’t even started yet.
Huxley Davenport hardly ever bothered to notice a woman because they all noticed him first. He exuded this energy you couldn’t ignore, and women flocked to it. He’d have her number by the end of the night.
Or he would have if she hadn’t stormed out already.
“Yeah,” I finally said, my voice strained. “She was pretty.”
Pretty stunning.
Pretty captivating.
Pretty
I could have watched her hips sway on that bar all damn night and never gotten bored.
Thankfully, my phone rang at that moment because my pants were getting uncomfortably tight, and I didn’t want to hear it from Huxley if he noticed I had a boner.
It was then that reason returned, and I winced.
You have a girlfriend, asshole.
Evey’s sweet face floated into my head, and I felt even worse. She’d been a good friend of mine for years, and one lonely night we’d decided to give it a try between us. I think we were both hoping that if we crossed that line, something would bloom between us, but it didn’t.
We’d been dating for six months and hadn’t even slept together yet. Every time I touched her, it felt… wrong somehow. I didn’t know how to get past that, but I knew she deserved better than me panting after some girl in a bar.
I shook my head and pulled out my cell, frowning at the caller before answering. “Hey, Bea. What’s up?”
“The fucking Mendoza twins got into a fight over the last cinnamon roll, and now they both have two broken legs. I know you were supposed to have the night off, but could you cover the front guard station?”
I sighed as I pulled out my wallet and grabbed a credit card to pay my bill. “I thought you were ripping that fucking gate out.”
Bea sighed, and in that one sound, I heard the weight of everything she carried on her shoulders and instantly regretted my words. “Yeah, it’s on the list.”
She had enough on her plate without having to deal with my bitching. But still. “I have homework due,” I said even as I walked over to the bar and gave someone my card.
“You can do it there. You know how it dies down after two.”
I sighed, knowing she was right, and I would have said yes anyway. “Okay. I can be there in twenty.”
“You’re the best. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
She didn’t wait for a response before hanging up, but that was okay because I didn’t have one. Truth was, I was sick of this place, and I might as well go make some overtime since I’d be up all night anyway.
“Sucker,” Hux muttered as I made it back to the table.
I shrugged. “Better than hanging out with you all night.” He narrowed his eyes at me, but I ignored him. “See you later, Lucas.”
“See you later, Lucas,” Huxley parroted in a sing-song voice.
“Get a life, Huxley,” I said before turning away.
“Eat a dick,” he responded, but I kept walking.
We could do that shit all night if no one put a stop to it.
I made my way through the bar, but it wasn’t easy. The place was packed with werewolves, and I was a big ass dude. I easily stood a head above everyone in there and was almost twice as wide. That made being an enforcer easy but maneuvering between chairs and overheated bodies was a pain in the ass.
Finally making it through the door, I pulled in deep breaths of the September air and tried to let it clear my head. Problem was, I think I’d had too many Red Bulls because my whole body was buzzing with energy. I shook out my hands and turned toward where I’d parked my truck when I heard it.
Just a sniffle at first, but then came the retching sounds and the splash of liquid before the stench of vomit hit my nose. I turned away from the person getting sick in the alley but didn’t leave.
Maybe Hux was right, and I did have a Captain America complex because it just didn’t feel right to leave them there like that.
With a sigh, I turned back toward the alley and stepped into its shadows. The stench of garbage and bodily fluids was strong, but beneath it all was this sweet scent. Almost like apples. I followed that behind a dumpster and found her there.
Mack was lying in a heap on the ground, her caramel-colored hair covered in vomit and her clothes streaked with dirt. I hurried to her side and knelt next to her. Mack’s back was rising and falling with deep breaths like she was asleep, but her heart was still beating steadily, so at least I knew she was alive.
I rolled her over and took a minute to assess the damage. Mack’s skin was pale, almost green, but there was no denying how beautiful she was. Even with her make-up streaked across her face and covered in grime, she was fucking stunning.
Like I’d called her name, Mack’s eyes snapped open and met mine. Even in the dark, I could see the different shades of gray, blue, and green. They were so striking I felt all the air rush from my lungs. Time stopped meaning anything as I memorized each individual hue. I was trying to figure out why the trembling stopped the moment I touched her when she spoke.
“It’s you.”
My gaze darted from her pink lips back up to her hazel eyes. I thought if I looked at where those words came from I’d be able to understand them, but I still had no idea what she was talking about.
“Huh?” I said like the idiot I was.
Mack smiled, and my heart slammed into the back of my throat. “I saw you earlier,” she said, her words still slurred. “You were drinking the Red Bull and sitting with Luke Schmidt, right?”
The pounding in my esophagus threatened to choke me as I tried to swallow past the lump. Finally, I cleared my throat and said, “Yeah. That was me.” It was then I realized I was still holding her, and I extracted myself. Every inch of distance I put between us was harder than the last. “He goes by Lucas now,” I added, like an even bigger idiot.
“What are you doing back here?” she asked, thankfully ignoring me.
“I heard someone getting sick.”
“And you thought you’d just come back here to investigate?” she asked, her pink lips curling with the beginnings of a smile.
I shrugged. “Yeah, I guess.”
“And what if I had been a big, ugly man instead?”
My eyes scanned her curvy body without my permission, and I shook my head. “Why would that matter?”
She raised an incredulous brow. “So, you’d help me, even if I wasn’t a pretty girl? You’d help me if I was some old guy?”
I frowned at her and nodded my head slowly. “Yes?”
Mack watched me for a long time before she smiled again, and every organ in my body seized. “I believe you.”
I couldn’t help the answering grin that spread across my face. “Thanks?”
She laughed, and the sound bounced off the brick walls, filling the dark alley with so much light it was hard to remember where we really were.
Without thinking, I grabbed her hand and pulled her to her feet. Mack’s skin was so smooth beneath my rough fingers I never wanted to let go, but I had to. I let her slip away and took a single step back. I needed that space to clear my head, or I’d never get an intelligent sentence out.
“My name’s Matthias.”
She smiled again. “I’m Mack.”
“I know.”
She raised her brow again just as another voice pierced our personal bubble. “Mack!”
Her eyes went wide as she stared at me. “Oh, shit.”
Chapter Two
Mack
“That’s Owen,” I whispered as I yanked Matthias into the shadows with me. “Hide!”
He scoffed, but his big hands squeezed my biceps, and I stopped breathing for a moment. “I don’t hide,” he said, his deep voice rumbling through the limited space between us.
“Mack! I know you’re fucking back there. Don’t make me come lookin’ for you!”
Matthias’s whole body froze for one second before he let me go and started moving. I grabbed his thick arm and held on as best I could, but it was like trying to stop a glacier.
“No,” I whispered anyway as I tried to dig the heels of my boots into the pavement. “You can’t reason with him when he’s like this.”
“That’s okay,” Matthias said at a normal volume. “I’m not in the mood to reason either.” With gentle but firm hands, Matthias removed my fingers from around his arm and placed them at my sides. “You might want to stay back here,” he said, softer than before, his dark eyes boring into mine for one long second before he turned away again.
“Mack!” Owen screamed, and I flinched. I’d only seen him this angry a handful of times and it never ended well.
“Can I help you?” Matthias’s deep voice boomed through the alley. It had a ring of authority to it that made my belly clench, but now was not the time to perv on my savior.
