Rick's POV 

I woke up the next morning in the middle of a dream about Alexis. She was wearing those black, thigh-high boots and nothing else. Her vanilla cake scent enveloped me, and I was just about to draw her to me for a kiss, and more, when my alarm went off. 

It was Saturday, but thanks to the subject of my dream, I was already late for a client meeting. When Alexis texted me last night to confirm my availability, she mentioned something about the client's identity being a surprise. 

I don't like surprises. In my line of work, surprises can get you killed. I tried to explain that to her, but she just laughed at me. Witches can be cruel sometimes. I knew that better than anybody. I automatically ran my fingers along my scars. One stretched in a thin line across my neck, the other was thicker, centered right over my heart. Both were courtesy of my beautiful, insane ex-fiance Daphne. A witch in more ways than one. She was an astrophysicist, with long brunette hair and legs that went on forever. Daphne had a body to die for. 

The trouble was, I almost had. At her hands. 

Daphne, for all her charms - double entendre intended - had allowed her jealousy to run wild. I'd never been unfaithful during the five years we spent together, but that didn't stop her from trying to kill me. Twice. I shook my head, not wanting to remember the feeling of her dagger cutting into my flesh. I still had nightmares about the room she locked me in. The silver chains across my wrists. Her laughter. It was what caused me to break off our engagement and swear off witches forever. 

When was I going to learn? 

My phone started ringing, and I groaned aloud. It was Alexis, of course. I considered letting it go to voicemail, but since I was already going to be late that seemed like a bad idea. 

"I hope I didn't wake you, but I wanted to remind you that our client meeting is in ten minutes," she said smugly. I briefly imagined her as she had been in my dream; all alabaster skin and violet eyes half-lidded with desire. That woman was killing me. The combination of annoyance and sexual frustration was driving me to distraction. It didn't take a shrink to figure that one out. 

"I'll be right there," I croaked, looking around for my jeans. "I'm on my way." As I dressed I cast a hurried glance in the mirror. I looked okay. My black T-shirt and jeans weren't exactly high fashion, but I decided that they looked professional enough. Close enough for government work, as we used to say in the service. Daphne had never complained. At least, not about my sartorial choices. I sighed and splashed water on my face. It was going to be one of those days, I could feel it. 

***

"Rick, what are you doing here?" my Beta, Sam, asked me, brow furrowed in confusion. "When Alexis mentioned that she had a partner I had no idea that it was you!" 

As shocked as Sam was, I could have assured him that I was even more so. My Beta was asking Alexis for help with a supernatural problem that he had neglected to inform me about. In my mind, that was a problem. As his Alpha, I'd told him a million times that I needed to have as much information about our pack as possible. Especially when it involved potential threats to our people. 

"Sam, what's going on?" I asked in as level a tone as possible. "You never told me that you had a Supes issue. What happened?" Supes were the general term in our world for anything supernatural. A Supes issue could be anything from a wandering ghost to an angry warlock.  

"Um, surprise?" Alexis said, a look of dismay etched across her delicate features. "I thought you guys would be excited to see each other. Was I wrong about that?" Today she wore a purple dress that brought out the violet in her eyes and gave me a glimpse of her long, lovely legs. Her hair was in a high ponytail that made her look like a high school cheerleader. 

I absolutely adored high school cheerleaders. I found myself hardened in response, despite my frustration with Sam. 

I shook my head, trying to clear it. I didn't know how to explain pack politics to her. At least, not quickly enough to help her understand my reaction. As my Beta, if Sam has a problem, he should come to me immediately before he brings in outsiders. Although now he had come to me without realizing that he had. The whole thing was giving me a headache, and it was only nine in the morning. 

"It's my fault, Alexis," Sam volunteered sheepishly, a blush creeping over his fair complexion. Sam O'Connell had flaming red hair and was so pale he was virtually transparent. A fact accentuated by his black-on-black attire. I wondered idly if he was in our office due to being mistaken for a spirit, rather than having spotted something supernatural. It seemed plausible. 

"I should have come to Rick immediately. As my Alpha, he's the first person I'm supposed to contact if there's an issue in the pack. I was just embarrassed, but that's no excuse. I'm sorry, Rick. I shouldn't have let that get in the way of protocol." 

I wanted to be angry with him, but the guy was already so ashamed of himself that it seemed I didn't have to do much of anything. He was punishing himself for me. Besides, I was curious - what could be so awful that he wasn't comfortable sharing it with me? Sam and I had been friends since we were in preschool together. 

Never mind that I'd gotten kicked out of preschool for being, as the principal said, "defiant". The point was, we'd known each other a long time. 

"It's ok Sam," I assured him with a sigh. "Whatever it is, it must be pretty bad if you didn't want to talk about it. Since you're here, let's see what we can do." I could never remain angry at Sam for long. I sometimes teased him and gave him a hard time, but I loved the guy like a brother. He was a good person through and through, and when it came down to it, there wasn't anything I wouldn't do for him. 

***

Alexis's POV 

Of course Rick was the Alpha of his pack. Once I thought about it, I couldn't imagine Rick answering to anybody but himself. The witch hierarchy is so different from pack politics that it never even entered my mind. I was studying to be a Supreme Witch, but that didn't mean much in terms of politics. Being a Supreme Witch didn't automatically make you a ruler.

We had three Supremes in our coven who had zero interest in leadership positions. Our governing legal body was composed of a council of Supreme Witches, but that was only part of the criteria. One could be a Supreme Witch without being a member of the council, but could not be a member of the council without being a Supreme Witch. When all was said and done, it was more of a democratic process than anything else. 

But in the shifter world, the Alpha's rule was law. If witches were a democracy, then shifters were more of an autocracy by comparison. Sam had taken a huge risk in coming to me without informing Rick, since Rick was pretty much the only one Sam had to answer to in the first place. I felt terrible that I had accidentally outed him, even though I had outed him to my own partner. 

It was complicated. I was thankful, and surprised, that Rick had accepted Sam's apology. Rick seemed to have a soft spot for the guy, and I could already see why. Sam struck me as a decent person who tried hard to do the right thing. 

"There's this creature in the woods behind our house," Sam began with a shudder. "My daughter told me that she saw it last week, but I thought it was just her imagination. She's five, and once she swore that she saw a unicorn. So sometimes it's hard to tell. Then two days ago, I was chopping wood out back and I saw it too. I don't know what it was, but it was bad. Really bad." 

A creature in the woods that gave off bad vibes could be any number of things. I was going to need him to be more specific. 

"What did it look like?" I asked him, putting on my glasses and taking out a pen. "Tell me what you saw exactly." 

"You're going to think I'm crazy," Sam replied hesitantly, "I mean, if I hadn't seen it myself, I would never have believed it. It was small, about the size of a toddler. It had eight legs, like an overgrown spider. And its body was black. The way it skittered along the edge of the property freaked me out. I dropped my ax, ran, and called you immediately." 

I knew exactly what it was, and I also knew that Sam wasn't crazy. The only thing I didn't know was how to explain what it was without scaring him so badly that he never slept again. 

"What you're describing is a spider stalker," I told him gently, trying to soften the blow. "You're right, it is evil. And you need to get rid of it immediately. But the good news is, we're going to help you. It's going to be ok." 

"How bad is it?" Rick asked me gravely, emerald eyes blazing. "I mean, if this thing is on pack lands, are we all in danger?"

I was afraid he was going to ask me that. 

"It's bad, very bad," I told him, trying and failing not to shudder. "It's evil, and it could hurt you, or even kill you. Its bite is ten times more deadly than that of a king cobra. You need to let your pack know what's happening, and we need to get there immediately. And perhaps most importantly, you need to let your people know absolutely no shifting is allowed until this thing is dead. If it stings you while you're in your wolf form, magic can't save you. Nobody knows why, but it's true." 

I risked a glance at Rick to assess how he was taking the news. An evil creature that was particularly dangerous to shifters was not an ideal situation. I should have known he would react like the soldier he had once been.

"Then we don't have time to waste," he replied grimly. "Alexis, you're going to be the first witch allowed in our compound in quite a while. Let's kill this thing now, today, before anyone gets hurt."