Running From the Vampire Into the Arms of the Wolf: by E A Price

stand missing an opportunity to piss company off.”
    She groaned.  “Wolf.”
    “Witch.”
    “Asshole.”
    “Bitch.”
    “Dick head.” 
    “Cow.”
    Melody stopped to take a bit of pizza and a swig of soda, Hans took advantage and did the same.  She found herself not getting even remotely angry, her tired body was heating up for an entirely different reason.  She needed to pace herself or she might work herself up so much that she orgasmed right then and there.  Hans would probably love that .
    “Jock strap.”   She bit out.
    Hans chuckled heartily, the sound was so unexpected a number of customers turned round and openly gaped at him. 
    She cocked an eyebrow.  “People are staring at you.”
    He gave the staring customers a hard look before turning back to Melody.  “They’ve probably never heard me laugh.”
    “Wow, so a laugh from you is a bit of a mythical creature huh?  Like a fairy or a unicorn?”
    He scowled.  “Or something other than you find on the cover of a 12 year old girl’s diary.”
    She snorted and almost choked on the soda she had been sipping.   “Asshole.”
    “You already said that.”
    “It’s doubly true.”
    He smirked.  “You just ran out of insults.”
    “Ha!  I can go all night.”
    “ Me too sugar.”  He winked and leered at her.
    She blushed furiously and he laughed again.  It was starting to freak the customers out.
    She regained a little of her composure.  “So you say, you were looking decidedly peaky at 3am this morning.”
    Hans grunted.  “You could always put me to the test.  Tonight?”  He looked at her suspiciously.  “Unless you have other plans...”
    She placed a hand on her heart.  “Oh me oh my! Let me check my unicorn diary.”
    Hans bellowed with laughter.  Some of the customers decided to leave before he did something really crazy.
    Alec the pack Beta and Acksel came into the restaurant.  Spying Hans, Acksel came over to the booth.
    “Hey guys” he said a look of surprise on his face at finding them sitting together and actually laughing.  Perhaps it was hysterical laughter .
    Mel ody returned his greeting with a smile, Hans glowered at his younger brother.  Alec nodded at them both coolly.
    Melody and Hans were bunched round one side of the circular booth.  Acksel and Alec slid in, much to Hans’ displeasure Acksel was sitting close to Melody.
    Alec looked at Melody for a few moments.  “A woman was killed last night.”  Again he paused looking at Melody.   Acksel’s smile was immediately replaced with a grim expression, he was suddenly all business.  “Her throat was ripped out.”
    “ Oh shit!”  Melody put her hands over her mouth.  Not Him, please not Him.  
    Hans watched her reaction with some concern.  Under the table Hans put a hand on her thigh and rubbed gently.  She was grateful for the comforting feel of his body next to her.  She reached down one hand and covered his.  They intertwined their fingers slightly.
    Acksel put a hand on her shoulder but she tensed slightly and shifted a little closer to Hans so he dropped it.  He watched his brother closely, who in turn was eyeing him guardedly.  Acksel had smelt Melody’s arousal when he arrived and had hopefully thought it might be for him, but for once he was the one stood on the sidelines while his brother got the girl. Well well well...
    Alec continued.  “It was a woman from Alexandria, she was visiting a friend.  We don’t know what happened yet.”
    “Do you know what ... I mean who could have done it?  I mean could it have been a shifter, or a vampire...?”  She shivered a little in fear.  Hans kept his face blank but squeezed her thigh a little tighter.
    Alec narrowed his eyes at the little witch.   He recalled she’d had shown the same fear of vampires when Iris Bennett, another witch, had disappeared.  A little fear of vampires in general was not a bad thing but he did wonder about it...  “We can’t really say for sure