by Alisa Woods
Stefan was losing his fight, wrestled to the ground by the two thugs. Marco went to help, cracking his tranq gun against one of their heads and dropping him to the ground, but another thwick sound pulled his attention up. The girl’s wolf form was slumped in the first man’s arms, and he was hauling her toward the van.
Marco raised his long-barreled gun. “Drop the girl!”
The man ignored him, so Marco fired, getting a clean shot that dropped both the man and the girl-wolf to the ground next to the van. Marco crouched to go after her, avoiding the driver, who was still trying to get a shot at him. He reached her, snatching her up under one arm, then dropping the gun to give the kidnapper charging him from behind a face full of claws. He and the other man had abandoned the fight with Stefan, apparently to come to the aid of the first fallen kidnapper. Marco fought his way through them, hauling the girl away with him and reaching Stefan just as he struggled to his feet.
Marco handed the girl wolf's limp body over to his beta.
The men were hauling their fallen partner in through the open doors at the back of the van. It started to screech away, and the men slammed the door shut behind them. Marco pulled out his own gun and took aim, trying to shoot out the tire before they could make their escape. But they were gone too quickly around the corner. And he didn’t want to risk a wild shot, not in this neighborhood. There were too many shifters with little kids in the tenements surrounding him.
They were gone.
Fuck.
Stefan had laid the girl-wolf at his feet. Her fur coat was the same soft honey-brown as her hair. He knelt to check her for wounds and quickly found the dart lodged in her side. He plucked it out and tossed aside.
Ethan hurried over to them. “Is she okay?” His young face was scrunched up with worry—which nearly made Marco smile. Ethan would make a fine mate someday, more worried about the girl than scared for himself… even if Marco could see the boy’s hands shaking.
“I think she’ll be fine,” Marco said. “Just some kind of tranq dart. She’ll probably be out for a while, though. Do you know her?”
Ethan shook his head no.
Stefan frowned down at her. “Did you see her kick the shit out of those guys?”
Not only had Marco seen it, he had been fucking impressed. And, he had to admit, at least to himself, a lot turned on.
“Hell yeah,” Marco said, letting the approval seep out in his voice. The girl had selflessly tossed aside her groceries to go after some kid she didn’t even know to save him from being snatched. “If she hadn’t stalled those guys, I’m not sure we would’ve been able to stop them.” Marco tipped his head to the tumble of oranges and boxes of Ramen on the sidewalk. “Ethan, my man, how about you go pick up this nice lady’s groceries? She’s probably going want them when she wakes up.”
Ethan nodded his head rapidly and dashed off to start collecting up the spilled goods.
Then the girl suddenly shifted back to human. Marco stumbled up to standing and took a step back. Shifters didn’t shift when they were passed out. Whatever form they were in, they stayed until they woke up. He and Stefan both watched, mouths open, as she shifted back and forth a couple more times—wolf to human, human to wolf—finally settling on her human form.
Which was fucking hot, beautiful, and naked. In spite of being wiry and muscular, she was curvy in all the right places—and her slender, feminine strength had his wolf standing at full attention right away.
Then he realized he was ogling the naked body of a girl lying unconscious on the street. Not cool, Marco.
He glanced at Stefan, who had his eyebrows raised.
Marco snarled at him. “What are you drooling over? Go get her clothes.”
Stefan gave a snort. “I think you’re a little confused about who’s doing the drooling here.” But he trotted off to get her clothes, which had fallen where she had first shifted.
Ethan came running back with hands full of groceries in a plastic bag, then screeched to a halt with a blank expression and an open-mouthed stare for the girl’s naked body.
Marco scowled at him. “Turn your back, Ethan. Give the girl some privacy.”
Ethan jerked like he had been electrocuted and turned his back on the girl.
Marco had to fight to keep his snort of laughter inside.
Stefan returned with her clothes, still smirking. “You’re the alpha, so you’ve got first claim on, well, everything in this particular situation. But I’d be more than happy to take this duty off your hands.” He was talking about getting her dressed again. Which obviously had to happen, but like hell would he let Stefan do it.
Marco snatched the clothes out of his hands. “Shut up.”
Stefan snorted again and turned his back, looping his arm around Ethan’s still shaking shoulders. The kid was gripping the groceries like his life depended on it.
“Come on, kid,” Stefan said. “Let’s get you back to the shelter. Marco will bring the girl along… when he’s done drooling.” Stefan waggled an eyebrow at him over his shoulder.
Marco gave him a departing snarl for good measure.
As they walked off, he ran a hand over his face. He had to get this strange, beautiful girl dressed without being a complete pervert about it. He decided quicker was better, so he tugged her clothes on as fast as he could, not letting his hands linger and telling his wolf to shut the fuck up with his lustful whining. Then Marco scooped her up off the pavement, holding her thin, steel-strong body against his chest.
His wolf rumbled all kinds of approval at that.
Jesus. He hadn’t even spoken to the girl, and his wolf was ready to claim her.
During the four-block walk to the shelter, he studied her face, trying to figure out how a gorgeous girl like her had wandered into his territory without his knowledge. Was she unmated? Had she been here long? Was he losing his grip on his pack? He should be more plugged into the happenings in his territory than that. This Wolf Hunter business had been distracting him hard.
One thing was certain—he wanted this girl in his pack. Very badly. She was a hell of a fighter, never mind how hot she was. Or how much his wolf was already trying to lay claim to her. Every male shifter in his pack would be after her, too, so it was a good thing he found her first. As alpha, according to tradition, he had first claim on any unmated female shifter in his territory—a right he mostly used to protect them from the lust-filled attentions of his pack members. At least until the female could make her choice about who she wanted to mate with. Marco didn’t believe in forced matings, not like the animal who ran the territory before he and Stefan took him out. But the traditions ran strong, and he used them to keep things civilized. His pack might live on the edges of society, but they didn’t need to act like savages.
This girl was safer under his protection, inside his territory, than anywhere else in the city. Although with the way she’d kicked that guy’s ass, he had a feeling she was used to taking care of herself.
Which only made his wolf sit up and pant even more.
He would have more than one question for this girl when she woke up.
Julia awoke with a start, sucking air into her lungs like she’d been drowning.
She was in a tiny room with a tiny cot, lying on a rough blanket… with a big-ass guy sitting across from her. He had more muscles than she’d seen on any man before.
Oh shit.
A glance around the room showed it was just her and him—no sign of the kid. She shouldn’t have interfered. It obviously didn’t work, in any event, just got them both captured.
What the hell was she thinking?
Short answer: she wasn’t. She simply reacted because kids being snatched off the street was fucked up.
The guy across from her was young-looking, in spite of being massively broad-shouldered and muscular. He’d been doing something on his phone when she’d jerked awake.
Now he slipped it into his pocket. “Hey, you’re awake.”
His plastic chair was pr
etty rickety-looking. She’d probably only get one chance at this.
Julia launched herself at him, full force—leaping off the cot and straight-leg kicking him full in the stomach. He huffed as the air went out of him, and his chair skittered back and banged against the wall. Julia fell to the ground, knocked off balance by the kick, but she was prepared. She shoved herself to her feet as she scrambled for the door.
If she could just make it out—
He grabbed her from behind right at the door. She whirled on him, curling her fist and landing a jab to his face. His head whipped to the side. She tried to bring her knee up to catch him in the crotch, but he was ready for that. He sidestepped the blow and pulled her close with those massive arms. She struggled in his hold, but she couldn’t get loose—holy crap, this guy was strong.
He wasn’t wearing the mask any longer, and the tactical gear was gone, but she was sure he planned to hurt her—thugs who kidnapped kids were probably rapists, too. Her struggle gained energy with her desperation to be free, but she was getting nowhere—then he closed his hands over her arms, pinned them to her sides, and wrestled her back down onto the cot. His bulky body did the rest, weighing her down and making her struggle almost pointless.
Fuck.
He had a little bit of a smirk on his face. “You don’t have to fight me.”
If he thought this was going down without a fight, he was sorely mistaken.
Then her beast surged up, probably reacting to that feeling of being trapped, the same way it had before, outside the van, when he tranq’d her with whatever knocked her out. It came up wild and hard—like it had when she’d lost control completely and ruined her life. That incident sent her into the spiral that landed her here. She tried to stop it from happening again because, even though this guy was probably going to rape her, she didn’t know if she could handle having another bloody corpse on her hands. Literally. She wasn’t sure her mental state could take it. Like it might tip her over the edge, and she would just revert to beast and never come back.
She sucked air through her teeth, trying to calm her body, to keep the wolf inside, but it was no use—the fear and panic surged, driving her wolf to the surface. She shifted right under the man, her claws and fangs coming out and ripping right through his thin t-shirt, going for the soft flesh that was exposed at his throat.
“Shit,” he hissed, still trying to hold her. Then he shifted too.
What the… he was a shifter? Holy Christ. Her panic ramped up even more. She clawed and bit and scratched, but in less than a second, he had her pinned, his fangs tight around her throat.
She froze, terrified.
I’m not going to hurt you, a voice said inside her head.
She jerked with surprise. Holy shit. Was he getting inside her head too? Her heart jack-hammered in her chest.
Shift back to human, and I’ll let you go, the voice said.
There was a command under the words, a tone that traveled through her, and somehow her wolf responded to it—like an order from him was one she didn’t want to disobey. It was that command, more than any desire on her part, that made her shift back to human underneath him.
He backed off, shifting human as he went, leaving her lying naked and alone on the cot. He turned his back on her quickly—but not before she noticed he had a raging hard-on. Which he seemed to be trying to cover up. She didn’t understand any of it, not least why her wolf was safely receding back into the depths of her being simply because he told it to.
The man kept his back turned as he reached for his clothes. “Get dressed,” he said, hoarsely. “I’m not going to hurt you.”
She hesitated, adrenaline still sweeping waves through her body, but then she scrambled to gather up her clothes, which were lying on the bed next to her, left over from the shift. She held them against her body, covering her nakedness and scooting to the far end of the cot, as far from him as she could get. She wasn’t sure whether to put them on or make a break for the door while he had his back turned.
He seemed to sense her hesitation, half-turning to look at her out of the corner of his eye. “Put your clothes on, so I can turn around.” That command tone again. Then he finished getting dressed by slipping his shredded t-shirt over his head and covering up the broad, well-muscled expanse of his back. If he was going to rape her, it didn’t make much sense for him to get dressed.
She hastily started slipping her clothes back on. “You can’t keep me here.” She tried to sound a whole lot tougher than she felt.
“I’m not holding you prisoner.” He snuck another glance at her, then looked away.
She wasn’t finished dressing. “Where’s the kid? What did you do with him?” She slipped her t-shirt over her head, finally fully dressed.
He turned to face her. “The kid’s name is Ethan. And he’s outside doing his homework.” His eyes were raking over her, checking her out, but his words confused her—who kidnaps a kid and then makes him do his homework?
“I don’t understand what’s going on here.” She crossed her arms over her chest and tucked her legs up, just in case that examining gaze made him decide to attack her again. Although, to be fair, she was the one who had attacked first.
“What’s going on here is that you tried to rescue Ethan from being kidnapped,” he said, still looking her over. “That was a pretty brave thing to do. And it didn’t seem right to let the bad guys haul you off, once they knocked you out.”
She narrowed her eyes. “So, you’re not the…” Her brain was a little fuzzy on the fight. There were so many of them and so much happening. She vaguely remembered someone else rushing up to the scene, but she was too busy fighting for her life to really know. “You’re not the guy who was trying to kidnap the kid?”
The guy shook his head. “I’m the guy who stopped it from happening.” That little bit of the smirk was back. “With your help.”
He was young like her, maybe twenty-one, with a fresh-faced look, in spite of all the muscles. His dark blue eyes blazed as he swept a look over her again, only this time her wolf wasn’t afraid—his gaze wasn’t hostile. Curious and questioning, maybe. Definitely interested, but restrained. His tall and dark sexiness was undeniable… especially now that he wasn’t attacking her, and apparently, had rescued her from the people who were.
“My name’s Marco Wilding. What yours?”
She hesitated, but what harm could it do at this point? “Julia.” She left off the last name, hoping he wouldn’t push.
He gave a nod of approval that, inexplicably, made her face heat. Her wolf was responding to him… stirring up and getting agitated, but not in a negative way. Which was completely strange—so far, her wolf only came out when she was completely freaked. Then it took over and turned her into a beast wildly out of control.
The guy, Marco, gave her a small smile. “You’re under the protection of my pack now. If those guys come back, we’ll do everything we can to keep them from snatching you, like they tried to do with Ethan. But maybe you can tell me what you’re doing in my territory in the first place?” He wiped a trail of blood from the corner of his mouth, looked at the smear on the back of his hand, and shook his head. The smile grew.
That smile—plus the fact that his shredded t-shirt didn’t cover all those muscles he had underneath—perked up her wolf’s attention even more. And made her belly clench, low and deep. What the hell? Was she lusting after a guy who had just sort-of-maybe attacked her?
Only he hadn’t, not really.
She must have stumbled onto one of the shifter gangs. She really should’ve been more careful, for Christ’s sake. It wasn’t like she didn’t know this area was controlled by one gang or another.
In her defense, she’d been pretty well preoccupied with other things.
“I didn’t know this was your territory.” She scooted to the edge of the bed, still keeping her distance from him, but slowly standing up. “I’ll just be on my way now…” She made a move for the door.
He sli
d over to block her path.
Okay… “I thought you said I wasn’t a prisoner.” She lifted her chin in defiance.
He seemed to be fighting a smile. “You’re not. And I pity anyone who tries to hold you where you don’t want to stay.” Then his face got serious again. “Look, if you don’t want to tell me why you’re in my territory, that’s fine. Shifters land here all the time for all sorts of reasons, and I really don’t need to know the details. What I need to know is, are you staying? Or are you just passing through?”
She frowned. The truth was, she didn’t know what she was doing. “I… I lost my job. I’ve been kind of… living on the streets for a while.” That was close enough to the truth. “I’m just laying low. You know, trying to keep off the radar of local law enforcement.” Would he make her explain? Or worse, turn her in? Somehow, she felt like this guy could peer into her and see a lot more than she was saying out loud.
He lifted an eyebrow. “Cops and shifters generally aren’t friends.”
She nodded, waiting for more. But he wasn’t pressing it. “Good to know.”
He frowned and looked her over again, like he was checking her out or maybe trying to figure her out. And holy crap, her body responded to that blue-eyed gaze. Especially when he bit his lip. With the thoroughly masculine way he was looking at her, and the restrained want in his eyes… was the room just heating up by ten degrees, or what? Why was she having this kind of response to a man she didn’t even know? Even normal guys—nice guys, guys she had actually dated and liked—didn’t bring up this kind of instant, flaming-hot lust. Was she just so tired and worn out and freaked out by being on the run that her system was completely whacked?
