Chapter 1
Los Lobos Locos were known as the wildest gang in town. Probably even the state if CJ were to take a guess. He smirked as he took in the sea of grey bandannas, white tanks, and khaki pants in front of him.
More like wild pups.
"Getting a tattoo don't make you a wolf," a short bald guy in the middle of the crowd yelled. They were in an abandoned warehouse that CJ now knew was their primary hangout. The smell of sweat and cigarettes filled the air as the crazy wolves formed a semi-circle around him, their eyes judging him as if he were fresh meat ready to be eaten.
CJ stifled a yawn and looked down at the wolf tattoo on his forearm. He felt a heavy arm cross over his shoulders. Johnny, a man he had befriended weeks ago whispered in his ear, "Don't let them rile you up CJ. They're just testing you.I told you, you'll do great with us."
CJ shrugged out of Johnny's embrace, "I didn't join you to be laughed at."
"Hey!" Johnny shouted to the crowd. "As the leader here, what I say goes. CJ is our newest member. Accept him!"
Jeers from the crowd boomeranged towards him but Johnny took a step forward, his massive chest pushed out as if daring someone to disagree with him, "You have something to say, step forward cabrónes."
"Hector's right. Getting a tattoo don't make you a wolf. Just 'cause he's your friend don't mean he gets to skip initiation," a dark man they called Chencho said loudly from the front of the crowd.
Johnny threw his head back and laughed, "Chencho, you getting brave all of a sudden? You think that's why he's joining? Don't let the light skin fool 'ya. This cabrón saved my life. When the Reds jumped me, he was the one that had my back."
Chencho's fists tightened, "Are you saying we don't have your back?"
"Not that day you didn't. So stop acting like a puto," Johnny walked up to Chencho, his chin jutting out. "As the leader I get to say who joins. Unless you think you can take me down. You want to be leader, Chencho? You think you can take me?"
A murmuring of whispers floated around them. No one had been able to beat Johnny in years. He was the most vicious wolf of the gang which is why the other members had been so surprised by his sudden desire to have a new member join. Especially a member with the name CJ.
"It's not that, Johnny," Chencho continued. "But CJ ain't even a wolf's name. He sounds like someone that went to private school or something."
"So are you challenging me?" Johnny asked again, ignoring Chencho's insult.
Chencho looked at his fellow members that weren't making eye contact with him. It was a sign that none of them would back him up if he did challenge Johnny. There was no way he'd beat him alone. He shook his head, "No, but I think we need to see how tough he is. He needs to go through initiation."
Johnny crossed his arms and sighed, "You all agree with this cabrón?"
"Sí!" Hector yelled.
"I don't mind doing an initiation," CJ stepped forward to stand a foot behind Johnny. "What is it?"
"You have to kill someone," Chencho sneered. "In cold blood."
"Is that all?" CJ asked, sounding bored.
"With witnesses," Chencho tossed in, his confidence growing as the crowd behind him agreed. "You think you can do that?"
"So it can be anyone? As long as I kill that person in front of witnesses?" CJ asked, pulling out a utility knife from his back pocket.
Chencho licked his lips as CJ stared at him, "Yeah. We need to know what you're made of. We don't want a Chihuahua joining the wolves, do we?"
"You think I'm a Chihuahua?" CJ tossed the knife from one hand to the other, "I assure you that I'm not."
"The way you talk doesn't even sound like a wolf," Hector shouted.
"With a name like CJ, what do you expect?" Chencho taunted. "Maybe we can give him a nickname."
"After I kill someone, I'm in? Is that right?" CJ asked, ignoring the insults.
"Yes," both Johnny and Chencho answered at the same time.
"Fine, then let's get this over with," CJ took a step forward, staring at Chencho who immediately backed up, causing Johnny once again to throw back his head and laugh.
CJ didn't take his eyes of Chencho as he pulled down Johnny's hair and slit his throat. He tossed the knife down and grabbed the gun that was in the leader's waistband before aiming it at Chencho who was frozen in place.
CJ tossed aside Johnny's dead body and grinned, "This makes me the leader now, right?"
The crowd was still trying to process Johnny's demise. No one had ever seen someone move that quickly before.
"Rules are rules," Hector said, his voice rough with emotion as he stared at Johnny's bleeding corpse.
CJ's eyes stayed focused on Chencho, "You didn't like my name, right?"
Chencho opened his mouth but words wouldn't come out.
"You wanted to give me a nickname? That's fine with me but I get to pick it."
"Wh-what did you want?" Chencho whispered, still not believing that Johnny was gone.
"If you don't want to call me CJ, that's okay. You can call me...death."
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Detective Jax Michaels was grinning like a fool. At least that's what his partner, Detective Robert Montoya, told him. He had just set up his first official date with his girlfriend, Dani Deleon. It had been a month since they both agreed to start dating. Unfortunately, it had been a bittersweet day for him as he had also received a note from his missing brother, Carter. It had been years since the two had seen one another and over the past few weeks Jax had been focused on locating him. Luckily for him, Dani was understanding. She encouraged him to find Carter as he had been an unofficial suspect in the murder of Jax's former fiancee, Vivian.
"I never thought I'd see the day that Jax Michaels was officially whipped," Roberto grinned pulling out his cell phone and snapping a picture.
"What are you doing?" Jax asked, trying to cover his face so that Roberto couldn't take his picture.
"Stop acting like a girl. I'm sending this to Gladys. I told her about you and Dani. She wants to meet her," Roberto said as he forwarded the picture.
"Your wife wants to meet Panda Eyes?" Jax groaned.
"Panda Eyes?" Roberto shook his head in disgust. "You're still calling her that? What kind of nickname is that?"
"She likes it," Jax muttered defensively.
"Did she say that?"
"Well she never said she hated it," Jax corrected himself. "At least I don't remember her saying she hated it."
"Oh partner, you're so lucky you have me to give you advice."
Jax scoffed at Roberto's statement.
"I'm serious. My wife Gladys adores me and do you want to know why?"
"Not really."
"Because I'm what women would call a romantic," Roberto grinned. "The ladies love that kind of crap."
Jax exhaled a deep breath before responding, "Roberto, you do remember that this isn't my first rodeo, right? Unlike you, I've dated more than one woman since when was it again? High school? College? I don't need advice. I know what women like."
"Alright. If you know everything, Tell me. What do women like?"
Jax grinned, "Me."
Roberto made a sound of disgust, "I bet Dani wants to be called something cute like Sugar Lips not Panda Eyes."
"Roberto, if Dani ever wants to be called Sugar Lips I'll be the first to let you know so we can call one of those people that do exorcisms."
"Exorcisms? Why?"
"Because the only reason Dani would ever like the name Sugar Lips is if something evil took over her body."
Roberto muttered some profanities at Jax who just chuckled.
"Damn, it must be easy for homicide these days," a female voice taunted.
Jax and Roberto looked up to see Officer Gina Goldfisck shaking her head at both of them.
"What was that Goldfish?" Roberto asked, purposely mispronouncing her name.
"Goldfisck," she corrected him. "While you two are cracking jokes, us officers are having to deal with all the crap Los Lobos Locos are doing around this city."
Roberto rolled his eyes, "Don't you have anything else better to do than bug us?"
Gina raised her eyebrows, "Bug you? Since when is telling you that we found a body bugging you?" She stole a glance at Jax who appeared to be taking a call.
"He's got a girlfriend so dream on Goldfish," Roberto scowled.
"Wha-what?" Gina's cheeks blushed. "I didn't ask if he...if he," she looked at Jax who still wasn't paying attention. She frowned, "I just thought I'd give you a heads up on the body that was radioed in." She left before Roberto could respond.
"Why are you always so rude to her?" Jax asked without looking up. He had just disconnected his call.
"Because she's rude!" Roberto pointed a finger to her retreating figure. "She's just pissed because she didn't make homicide two years ago. Every time she comes here it's to be insulting."
"She isn't insulting."
"Not to you. She wants to jump your bones. Why do you always act like you're not paying attention to the way she stares at you. It's creepy."
"She's not creepy," Jax dismissed his partner's comments. "Well it looks like we have a Jane Doe on Everest Street. She was found in a dumpster by a homeless guy."
Twenty minutes later, they were approached by a member of forensics who was holding up two face masks, "You're going to want these."
"Is it that bad?" Roberto asked. He turned to Jax, "How long has she been out here?"
The forensics member shook his head, "It's not her. It's the dumpster...and the witness."
"Garbage juice," Jax shuddered. "It's the smell from Hell."
Jax opted not to wear the mask and slowly approached the body. She was dressed in a purple tank and denim leggings. He took in her blonde hair, dainty mouth, and upturned nose, "Son of a bitch."
"What is it?" Roberto asked.
"I know her," Jax turned away from the corpse.
"You know our Jane Doe?"
"She's not a Jane Doe," Jax said. "Her name is Malorie Tyson."
"Malorie Tyson?" Roberto repeated. "How did you know her?"
Jax felt sick to his stomach. He hadn't seen Malorie in years and now she was dead.
"How did you know her?" Roberto asked again.
Jax glanced back at the poor young woman. She had been choked to death and discarded behind a dumpster like unwanted trash. He looked at his partner and sighed, "I dated her."
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8/7/16 IMPORTANT: I've changed things around in this story so if you're re-reading this and it seems different, that's why. Please do not post spoilers or ask questions that refer to the older version. Just accept that things are different. I did this to improve the flow of the story and to fill in plot holes. Pretty please and thank you. :)
A/N: OMG Did you see the cover surviving_dreams made me??? Is it not AMAZING??? I love the idea of having a Dani and Jax cover. If my other two covers in the series matched it, I would probably use it as the primary cover. For those of you that have been wanting to make a cover for Dream Hunter, don't be shy. Send me your Dani and Jax art ASAP so I can share it!!!
ALSO: If you have Twitter...be sure to follow me (SheHopes101) and tweet me that you're a dream series reader. I'll be sure to follow you back.
Next chapter will include Dani and Jax's first date!!! Can you guess where it will be?
A) An Italian restaurant
B) McDonalds
C) The Topless Mermaids (Bonus Points if you know where that's from)
D) At a Crime Scene
Thank you for reading! Be sure to vote, comment, and share. It's the only way to help me help other readers find this story.
-Sandra ❤
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