by Cecilia Lane
She tried to be a good person. She recycled. The rules of the road were followed when she was behind the wheel, no matter how easy it was to go ten over the speed limit when she was running late or roll through the stupidly placed stop sign near her favorite coffee shop.
How the hell did she keep getting wrapped up with shifter trouble? Had she hurt kittens in a previous life? Tripped a priest? Clearly, she’d done immense harm to call for the repeated attempts on her life.
Curling up on her side, she let the day’s loss and terror finally wash over the carefully erected walls of control. Her entire body shook as sobs worked out of her middle.
She wanted a do-over. Not just on the day, but on her entire life. Born anywhere but a tiny, backwater town in Oklahoma, first kiss given to anyone besides the monster she’d thought she’d loved and whose family wanted to murder her in return, live in any reality without those animals lurking under a person’s skin.
Scars and death threats were her reality instead.
Even after her sobs abated, Lilah didn’t move. She stared straight ahead, empty inside, until her lids grew heavy and she slid into a fitful sleep.
Sometime later, she jerked awake. She stayed still, body stiff with fright, unsure of what had prompted her sudden trip back to consciousness. She quickly cataloged what she heard around her—the hum of her fridge, the faint chatter of a neighbor's television—then opened her eyes and pinpointed a red robe hanging from the edge of her dresser and the bluish-grey of her walls. Identifying sights and sounds slowed her runaway mind on the fast track to a panic attack.
She was alone in her apartment. Safe. Nothing was out of the ordinary.
Lilah froze at the soft groan of metal.
One second bled into the next. Her heart thundered against her chest. She didn’t dare move or breathe. She willed the rapid beat to stillness.
Nothing else made a sound. No monsters jumped out of the dark with the flash of fangs and claws ready to find their homes in her flesh.
She let out a long breath and fell back against the bed. The metal railing on her balcony sometimes shifted with the wind. That was all.
No wind rustled the leaves of the trees growing next to her window.
She jumped again when her phone buzzed on her nightstand. Lilah slowly sat up and reached for the device. “H-hello?”
“Lilah McKenna?” the deep voice on the line asked.
“Who is this?”
“Seth Foster. Jaime asked me to come check on you.”
Security. Right. She should have known. She pushed to her feet and made her way into her living room. “I’m…” she trailed off. Another creak pulled her attention to the sliding glass door leading to her balcony.
“Lilah?” Seth asked.
She took cautious steps toward the sliders and pulled back the curtain. She squinted into the darkness, but couldn’t see anything beyond the puddle of light spilling from the inside. Slowly, hands shaking, she reached for the switch to turn on the porch light.
And screamed.
On the other side of the glass, a man stood with a sinister grin on his face.
Lilah jumped back as he crashed through the door. Glass ripped at him, but he didn’t seem to notice or care. Murder was on his mind and in the bright, glowing eyes he directed her way.
Chapter 5
“Lilah?” Seth asked.
He scrubbed a hand down his face at her silence. Fuck, he hoped she wouldn’t be one of those troublesome assignments. He wanted to keep her safe, not fight her at every turn.
At least her apartment wasn’t the fancy, princess-needs-a-doorman type. The complex wasn’t anything special. Quiet, which was a bonus. Not many cars parked in the spaces reserved for residents. Two other buildings of the same size flanked his assignment’s in that particular loop of the complex. How anyone could tell one building apart from another or handle the cramped quarters was beyond him, but whatever. Not his life. He was there to do a job, then get back to Bearden.
Or not.
He grimaced at his reflection in the rearview mirror, then let off a frustrated growl. He still looked like death warmed over. Not exactly the most confident of looks to bring to a job. “Lilah?” he asked more forcefully.
A scream and the crash of glass was his only answer.
Seth jumped out of his truck and sprinted for her building. Taking the stairs two at a time, he hurtled toward Lilah’s door. More crashes and whimpers met his ears as his hand closed around the knob. Locked. Fuck. No one inside was setting aside the fight for their lives to let him in, so he slammed a shoulder against the door. The second busted the locks. The third staggered him into the fray.
His eyes immediately locked on the woman he’d been assigned to protect. With hands around her throat, he was doing a shit job of keeping her breathing.
Seth crossed the space between him and Lilah’s attacker. He grabbed the fucker’s shoulder and spun him around. The sound of Lilah’s ragged breaths let him know she still lived as he blasted the asshole across the chin. “Run,” he growled.
He threw another punch at the bastard before he could clear the shock of the first. Something stroked against his mind. Sweet scents pressed in at him, a thin thread underneath the baked earth scent of the shifter just now raising his fists to fight back. Seth lifted a lip in a snarl. Lion. Of course. Who the fuck else would attack the witness to a mass escape orchestrated by the biggest asshole of them all?
But she was his charge, not beating the guy bloody. And she was already out the door.
Seth swung two more punches, catching the lion on the sides. He kept him moving, stumbling, back the way he’d entered the apartment. One final blow caught the side of the lion’s head and snapped him around to fall limply to the ground.
He didn’t wait around to see if the guy moved. Seth raced out the front door and to the railing. One quick scan of the parking lot put Lilah back on his radar. She moved between cars, not once looking over her shoulder. Panic reeked in the scent trail she left behind. Agony laced through him. He didn’t want to see her freeze like a deer caught in the headlights if a car barreled toward her.
Or a stalking big cat.
Seth jumped over the railing and bolted after her. He caught her halfway across the parking lot. Another sharp scream pierced the night when he grabbed her shoulders and forced her to a stop.
That barely-there brush of sensation roared to the front of his mind.
Seth nearly lost his grip on the wiggling woman in his shock, then pulled her close and covered her scream with his hand. Never, ever, had the sensation been so strong. Not when he fought, never when he brought a woman to bed, not even in his dreams. His gums ached with the press of fangs that had never descended; his entire body tensed and throbbed with a primal need to strip her down one item of clothing at a time and lap at the inches of skin he revealed until finally, she begged him to take her hard and fast while screaming his name.
Holy hell, she smelled good. Mangoes, he thought, or something similarly citrusy, with a softer brush of lavender. He wanted to bury his nose in her hair and draw that strangely bold and soothing combination deep into his lungs.
She struggled to free herself, which only ground her harder into his frame. Seth swallowed back a groan as heat shot down his spine and straight to his cock. Fur brushed against his mind, pressing, urging, driving him to wrap her close and feel her skin slide against his own.
What the hell?
He shook his head clear of whatever delirium tried to snare him. “You’re safe,” he told her. “I’m not the one they sent after you. You remember talking to me on the phone, right?”
Still breathing hard, she nodded.
Seth peeled his hand away from her and spun her back out in front of him. Fuck, she was gorgeous. She reminded him of dirty teenage fantasies of getting with a sexy librarian. Her modest skirt and blouse didn’t hide the ample curves of her delicious figure. Her mousy brown hair was mostly twisted up, with pieces falling out o
f her bun from what had transpired inside.
A growl leaked out of his throat and he shook himself. She was a job, not a date. He scanned down the rest of her body, ready to head back upstairs and kick the shit out of the lion all over again when he came to her legs. Her knees were torn up like she’d taken a bad fall.
“Your eyes—” She gasped and tried to back away.
Seth’s brows collided in confusion. “What about them?”
“They changed.” Her chest rose and fell in harsh pants. Terror filled her scent. “You’re one of them. Let me go! You’re one of them!”
Shit.
Seth tightened his grip on Lilah and passed a glance over the surrounding buildings. More than one sliver of light cast down on the parking lot. Struggling woman, big man, he didn’t want to stick around for whatever cavalry the Good Samaritans sent after him, nor did he want to let the lions catch up. He sure as fuck intended to have a frank conversation with Jaime for leaving the woman unprotected until his arrival.
The ruins of the front door banged open and the lion shifter stumbled against the frame. Bright eyes met his, but that was the only movement from the fucker.
Seth frowned. The back of his neck itched. The air prickled around him, like a storm ready to break. He didn’t know what the asshole intended, but he wasn’t waiting around to find out.
“Let’s go,” he ordered. He released Lilah’s shoulders only to grab hold of her upper arm and hustle her toward his truck.
She tried to pull away again. “Let me go!” she said in a strangled voice.
“And trust you aren’t going to do a runner? Not fuckin’ likely.” The gnawing sense of awareness in the back of his head couldn’t stand the idea of her disappearing on him.
“When the choice is between death at the hands of one shifter or another, I feel better on my own,” she snapped, still vainly trying to free herself from his grasp.
Seth narrowed his eyes. The waves of anger and stress rolling off her jangled his nerves. “Good thing I’m not a shifter,” he snapped and forced her inside the cab.
Not a shifter.
Lilah folded her arms over her chest and dug her nails into her skin to keep from screaming. The only thing that kept her from jumping out the door as soon as his back was turned was Jaime. She’d said the man would call to let her know he’d arrived. He hadn’t busted through her front door just to say hello. He’d followed the procedure laid out by someone she trusted and jumped right into action.
But she still saw his eyes change. That... that... not-shifter, not-man had a flash of gold when his eyes were dark before. She wasn’t crazy.
Lilah dug her nails in deeper. Not crazy. Not then, not now.
Seth whipped open the door and slid behind the wheel. Seconds later, he kicked over the engine and steered them onto the road.
Silence sat between them for long, tense minutes. Lilah watched the mirror almost as much as her supposed savior, possible abductor. He was taller than her by at least a foot, maybe a few inches more without her typical heels. Lean, too, but not the starvation diet kind—the man was packed with muscle. His arms bulged and rippled with the turns of the steering wheel that reminded her all too much how easily he’d been able to subdue her.
His cheeks were covered in day-old scruff that she couldn’t tell was intentional or from a hasty departure from the bridge he lived under. Dark hair, dark eyes, dark... bruises. Lilah blinked at the last and reconsidered some of his straight-backed stiffness. Maybe he’d fought harder than she wanted to give him credit for.
That gave her pause. Protective, dutiful, willing to jump into action without hesitation. Plus, he was devastatingly broody. She could easily imagine some woman throwing her hand against her forehead and collapsing into his awaiting arms, overcome with emotion at being saved by such a strong, sexy man.
Not her, though. Not after she’d watched his eyes change.
“Doesn’t look like we’re being followed,” he said finally.
Even so, he stayed tense and alert. Every few seconds, he flicked his eyes to the rearview mirror. Maybe he wanted to put her at ease so she wouldn’t question when he made a sudden pit-stop to get rid of her body.
“Where are you taking me?” she asked primly as they pulled onto the highway. If she knew that much, she could keep watch on the road for bad turns.
Seth slashed a look before turning his not-glowing eyes back on the road. "Safe house," he grunted. "You know, for your safety."
“Like I’ll ever be safe again,” she groused. “How do I know you aren’t going to hand me over to them?”
His lips pressed to a thin line. “If I wanted to do that, why would I bother saving you?”
“Mind games, I suppose. I don’t know what your kind get up to for fun.”
“Not my kind.” He snapped his mouth closed, then opened it to say something that didn’t reach the tip of his tongue. He shook his head and tightened his grip on the steering wheel. “You should get some rest,” he said softly. “We have a long night ahead of us.”
Lilah eyed him from under her lashes. Yeah, not happening. She trusted him enough not to jump from the moving vehicle, but not much more. Keeping an eye on the road felt like a necessary step to her survival.
She wasn’t sure if she’d ever sleep again, truth be told. Not after two attacks in one day. She felt as wired as if she’d slammed back a six-pack of pure espresso. Every instinct screamed at her to run, but she was stuck in the truck of a man she didn’t know and who could probably kill her with his pinky finger.
A shiver worked down her spine, and she slashed another surreptitious glance at her guardian. Taking a chance on her own had to be better than putting her life in a shifter’s hands. No one needed to know where she went. Hell, she’d even dye her hair and do a quick shopping trip for clothes not in her typical wardrobe. Not that she had much of a wardrobe anymore. Or cash. ID. Phone. Wallet.
Fuck.
The night dragged on even as the trees along the highway passed in a blur. Lilah sat ramrod straight, splitting her attention between the road and sidelong looks at the man behind the wheel. The air seemed to thicken inside the truck with every passing second, growing heavier, until she couldn’t sit still. Her leg began to bounce, and she drummed her fingers against her arms.
“They aren’t going to stop, are they?” she asked, surprising herself almost as much as the stranger charged with her safety.
He glanced at her once, then longer a second time. His jaw set in a grim line and he reached for her leg.
The touch was a gentlemanly squeeze of support, lasting only a fraction of a second. His fingers brushed right above her knee and never strayed higher on her thigh. Heat spiraled up her spine, and a shiver worked down, exploding into a sense of ease as they met.
“I won’t let them get to you,” he swore.
Shockingly, she wanted to believe him.
Lilah slumped against her seat once he pulled his hand away. With it, the air cleared and her doubts about life, the universe, and her continued future resurfaced. She smoothed a hand down her skirt before she put another question into the air. “What are you, anyway?”
Seth tilted his head to look at her, then back to the road. “I told you,” he said, throat bobbing with a swallow, “I’m not a shifter.”
Right. And she wasn’t human, living on a little planet called Earth. “I saw your eyes change.”
“A trick of the light,” he muttered, brows shooting together. He shook his head and frowned, but didn’t say anything else.
Fine. She could stare off into the night just as easily with answers as without.
Chapter 6
“Where are we?”
Lilah studied the nondescript house as Seth eased the truck up a driveway and under a carport at the back. The place could have fit into any suburban neighborhood... or some serial killer’s version of the perfect disguise. Nothing about the house’s shape, size, or the freaking siding stood out from the others along the
cul-de-sac. Even the lawn and shrubs were exceptionally bland.
"Safe house," Seth grunted. He opened his door, but stopped when her hand went to the handle on her side. "Stay here until I check it out."
Lilah drummed her fingers against the door as soon as he shut her inside. The care he put into his job was... acceptable. She’d rather not be forced into hiding in the first place, but it soothed her that he took the role seemingly seriously.
The lack of control, on the other hand, drove her up the wall. She didn’t want to be bossed around by some grunting barbarian. She liked order and routine. Those made sense to her and gave her a roadmap for the day. They were a comfort she relied on when work turned hectic or the nightmares of being overpowered returned.
Reality, she mused. Not a nightmare. The past had caught up to her for an encore.
The barbarian in question returned a moment later. He came around to her side of the truck and ripped open the door. “We’re clear. You can come inside now.”
Lilah didn’t move. “Was this the plan all along? Cart me away where no one will hear me scream?”
Seth rolled his eyes upward and let off an annoyed sigh. “Would you like me to take you back to the apartment where they already found you?”
“No, but I’d really like to know what the plan is instead of putting all my trust into your hands.”
“You don’t need to trust me. You just need to listen so you have a chance of staying alive.” He held up his hand to ward off her next barrage of questions. “We’re stopping here for a few hours because I need to sleep even if you’re hopped up on anxiety, then we’ll leave in the morning. Where, I’m not sure yet. Wolfden, maybe, or another enclave.”
“An enclave?” Lilah’s eyes widened. “You can’t be serious. You want to stick me with more shifters after shifters have me on the run? What harebrained idea is that?”
Seth didn’t answer. He simply reached across her and unsnapped her seatbelt. That arm hooked around her middle and dragged her out of the truck.
