by Vivian Wood
“It’s alright,” she assured both men. She shot Wyatt a sharp glance, then gave the smith a smile. “Go do whatever you need to do.”
Wyatt gave her a long look, examining her head to toe. Lucy felt insubstantial under the weight of his gaze, transparent and exposed. His expression was odd, out of place on a complete stranger. He might feel responsible for her after last night’s rescue, but Wyatt looked at her as if he knew her, as if she was his.
A lightbulb flickered to life in her brain. She’d seen that look before, on her would-be date, Kurt. He’d looked at her like that, too, like possession of Lucy was obvious, an afterthought. Wyatt and Kurt were the only two male werebears that Lucy had interacted with in the last few years, outside her family; maybe all male Berserkers behaved this way, and Lucy just hadn’t noticed.
“I hope you’re not putting yourself out too much, coming out to do this,” Lucy told Wyatt, waving a hand at the locksmith. “I’m sure you have better things to do.”
Wyatt’s expression was unreadable. He shrugged and shook his head.
“Not really. I’ll be shadowing you for a while, I think,” he replied.
Lucy’s jaw dropped.
“Excuse me?” she squeaked.
Wyatt arched a brow, crossing his arms.
“Until the danger has passed.”
“I’m sorry, but like I said before, you don’t even know that I’m in danger. And if I was, I don’t think that’s your problem. If you think I’m in trouble, I should probably go to the police,” Lucy said, crossing her arms and squaring her shoulders to mirror his stance.
“If it makes you feel better, file a police report,” Wyatt said, implacable. “That doesn’t change anything for me. I’m going to tail you anyway.”
“Why?” Lucy demanded to know. “Is someone paying you? My father, maybe?”
“No,” he denied.
“Then why do you care? You seem so certain that something bad is going to happen to me, that I’m in danger. There must be a reason. What do you know?”
Wyatt’s jaw tensed, a muscle ticking. That killer blue gaze burned into hers, but Lucy didn’t back down. No way did some guy just show up one day and start calling all the shots, no matter how handsome he might be.
“I can’t explain it. I just know,” he said at last.
Lucy’s chin came up, defiance filling her chest.
“That’s it. As soon as the locks are changed, I want you off my lawn.”
Wyatt’s brows shot up, but he didn’t rise to the bait.
“Fine. You have my phone number if you need me. That’s my car,” he said, pointing to an expensive-looking black SUV across the street. “I’ll be around until further notice.”
He turned on his heel and stalked to his car, climbing into the driver’s seat. His anger was steely, but his determination was just as clear. Between Wyatt and Kurt, Lucy was starting to think that she just attracted the wrong kind of guys, intense and broody and way over-the-top.
“Sorry to interrupt,” the locksmith said, appearing at Lucy’s side.
Lucy gave him a grateful smile.
“No problem,” she rushed to tell the man.
“I’m all done here. I did notice that you have a couple of loose window locks near the back door,” the smith said, jerking a thumb over his shoulder. “If you’re worried about safety, you might wanna get some better hardware installed.”
“I’ll take care of it,” Wyatt cut in. Pulling out his wallet and producing a wad of bills, he thrust the money at the locksmith. “Keys?”
The locksmith looked between Wyatt and Lucy, thrusting his hand out between them, keys in his open palm. Lucy growled and snatched them from the man, glaring at Wyatt the whole time. Wyatt’s lips twitched, but he made no move to protest.
“Thank you,” Lucy said to the smith, who tipped his hat and left without a backward glance.
“I’ll have new window hardware installed tonight if I can,” Wyatt said, looking thoughtful. “Tomorrow, at the latest. Maybe I should just get you a whole security system.”
“Thank you, but that’s not for you to do,” Lucy snapped, growing irritated with his assumption that he could just show up and take charge of her house and life. “And I want to know how much you paid him so I can pay you back.”
Wyatt actually had the nerve to roll his eyes at her demand.
“Not happening.”
Lucy huffed, turning to grab her purse from the hall table. Using her new keys, she locked the front door and started to the driveway, only to pull up short again. She’d forgotten that her car was still at the hospital.
She fished her phone out of her purse, thumbing through her contacts until she found the phone number for Checker Cab, her usual taxi company.
“Just get in the car, will you?” Wyatt said, reaching out and covering her phone with a massive hand.
“No, thanks. I don’t want anything from you.” She hit dial, then squawked when Wyatt plucked the phone from her fingers and disconnected the call.
“No cabs until this is over. It’s not safe. Let me take you to your car, and then you can go back to ignoring me,” he insisted. “Save yourself waiting half an hour and just let me give you a ride.”
Lucy grabbed her phone with a scowl. She knew he was right about the wait, and she did have a lot to do today…
“Fine,” she gritted out. “Let’s just get it over with.”
Wyatt’s eyebrows drifted up, his lips twitching again.
“Not the response I usually get from women,” he said, a dimple forming in his cheek.
“I doubt I’m anything like the women you usually meet,” Lucy retorted, the words out of her mouth before she’d thought them through.
“No doubt about that,” Wyatt agreed, his smile turning to a wolfish grin. He held out a hand, ushering her toward his vehicle.
Lucy just sighed and trudged to his SUV, willing the next twenty minutes to pass at hyper speed. Wyatt was somehow already under her skin, and she didn’t like it one bit.
Luckily, her wish seemed to come true. Wyatt didn’t say a word on the way to the hospital. In fact, he barely even looked her way. He locked up after a minute, seeming stiff and tense, his eyes darting between the road and the rearview mirror.
“Is something wrong?” Lucy asked, growing nervous.
Wyatt just shook his head and turned onto a side street, taking a long and circuitous route that had Lucy scratching her head. If they were being followed, she certainly couldn’t tell. The car was too quiet, and Lucy couldn’t stop herself from giving Wyatt a thorough perusal.
He really was just too handsome to be real. Like some kind of model for motorcycle jackets had jumped off a magazine page and walked right into Lucy’s life. Lucy reached up and ran a hand over her hair, wishing that she’d bothered to style it a little, maybe put on some makeup or nicer clothes…
What the hell am I doing? Wyatt is not my date, he’s some guy that feels sorry for me because he saw me get attacked last night. This isn’t attraction for him, it’s pity. Get a grip! Lucy scolded herself. It seemed as though her self-imposed celibacy had gone on for too long, and now she was drooling over any handsome man who looked her way.
For God’s sake, she didn’t even like Wyatt. Well, that wasn’t exactly true. She didn’t know him well enough to decide that, but from what she’d seen he was an overbearing, nosy pain in the butt.
Her libido needed to simmer down, and fast. Maybe she’d go out later, try to find a quick hookup that would ease some of her sudden interest in all things tall, dark, and brawny.
By the time Wyatt pulled up behind her car, Lucy was nearly as keyed up as he was.
“Um, thanks,” Lucy said, looking at Wyatt one last time as she opened the passenger door, ready to climb out.
Wyatt just nodded, meeting her eyes only briefly. Lucy suddenly wondered if her cranky attitude earlier had offended him. Though she’d wanted him to back off, she hadn’t meant to seem ungrateful.
&n
bsp; “Listen, Wyatt—” she said, thinking she should either thank him or apologize for her rudeness.
“It’s not a problem,” he said, his eyes on the rearview mirror once more. “Don’t worry. I’ll see you soon.”
Frowning, Lucy slid from the SUV and closed the door, hurrying to get into her own car. Wyatt pulled away, giving her room to back up and pull out of the parking lot, but he followed at a discreet distance.
Lucy’s brow hunched as she watched him tail her to the dry cleaner’s. He parked a block away and waited, not greeting her or even looking her way as she crossed the street in front of his car.
The same was true at Starbucks, when she stopped to get a fancy latte. And then at De-Lish, the bakery she favored. And then the grocery store… and Target… and the car wash…
When she came out of the car wash and found Wyatt parked in the corner of the parking lot, she pulled her car up right next to hers and rolled down her passenger window, gesturing for him to roll his window down.
“What are you doing?” Wyatt asked, giving her a harsh look.
“I was about to ask you the same thing,” Lucy said. “You don’t need to follow me all over town.”
“I told you, I’m going to be tailing you until the danger has passed.”
“And that’s… when? Whenever you decide?” Lucy accused.
“Yes,” he said simply.
Lucy groaned and rolled up her window, pulling out of the parking lot with a screech of tires. She decided to make things interesting for him, taking a lot of sudden turns and back streets as she went.
To her surprise, she lost Wyatt in a handful of minutes. It suddenly occurred to Lucy that he didn’t quite sound like a local… Wyatt might not be from Seattle. He might not even live here, for all she knew.
Game ruined and errands complete, she headed home. The second she turned onto her street, she found Wyatt’s SUV parked across the street and down a few houses, waiting.
Rather than look to see just how much she’d managed to irritate her mysterious new acquaintance, Lucy pulled into the driveway, grabbing her bags and hurrying inside. She noticed a large box waiting on the doorstep as she went in, so after she dropped her bags in the living room she went back to grab it, finding it surprisingly heavy.
Inside the box, she discovered a stack of security locks for her windows, plus a box of wood screws and a nice cordless drill. A gift from Wyatt, no doubt. It made her wonder again just what he knew, or thought he knew, that made him so damned worried about her livelihood.
“What have I got myself into?” she wondered aloud.
108
Six
At eight p.m. that night, Lucy was staring in the mirror, wondering if she was losing her mind. Her afternoon had been restless, boring somehow. She’d already changed the window locks, watched some Netflix, done a little cleaning, and made herself a nice, if lonely, dinner.
By six, she was texting Lexie, trying to make plans to go out.
We need to go out. I need to get drunk, she texted her best friend.
R U sure? Lexie texted back. That u didn’t get abducted by aliens?
Haha. I’m serious, Lucy shot back.
k. Let’s go to Ms. Mae’s. 8ish?
It’s a date, Lucy replied. Pick me up?
Always, Lexie answered.
Lucy couldn’t help but chuckle. Lexie was as human as they came, but she adored paranormal men of any type. Three or four weeks into med school, drunk as a skunk, Lucy had confessed her dual nature to Lexie, expecting her new friend to laugh or scoff. Instead, Lexie had been thrilled, demanding introductions to werebears, werewolves, and even vampires.
And thus, going to Ms. Mae’s to find supernaturally hunky men had become the norm.
Now Lucy stood in front of the mirror, wondering if she actually had the balls to wear this outfit out of the house. She’d donned a short, strapless, curve-hugging dress in bright crimson, matching it with silver heels and a silver beaded clutch. After adding dangly earrings, a matching necklace, and shiny crimson lipstick, Lucy felt… well, a little risqué. It was certainly a change from the bland blue hospital scrubs she usually wore morning, noon, and night.
Before she could lose her nerve, Lucy heard a horn honk outside her house. A smile tugged at her lips. She hustled out the front door, locking everything up tight. When she turned and walked down the driveway, she found Lexie waiting in a sleek white Mercedes convertible. The top was down, pop music blaring from the sound system, and Lexie was sitting in the driver’s seat looking like the cat that ate the cream.
“Whaaaaaaaaat the hell, Lex, whose is this?” Lucy squealed as she reached the car.
Lexie threw her arms up, dramatic as always.
“Guess who got an early end-of-residency gift from Mom and Dad?” Lexie crowed, her face flushed with pleasure.
“Holy crap!” Lucy said, running her hand over the creamy leather of the passenger’s seat.
“Don’t just stand there, dummy. Get in!” Lexie cried.
The second that Lucy was in the car, Lexie revved the engine and took off, speeding toward downtown.
“This is the nicest car I’ve ever been in,” Lucy marveled, checking out the fancy navigation system.
“Don’t touch,” Lexie asked, swatting at Lucy’s exploring hand. “I haven’t figured out how any of it works yet.”
“I thought you were on the outs with your parents because they wanted you to move home for your fellowship,” Lucy said, eyeing her friend.
Lexie went quiet, turning the music up a little louder. Lucy reached out and turned the music off altogether, knowing that her friend had a secret in need of telling.
“Spill,” Lucy demanded.
“My father pulled some strings and got me a spot at Rush,” Lexie admitted.
“In Chicago?!?” Lucy asked, her heart tripping.
Lexie shrugged.
“It’s a really good opportunity. I know I said we should both stay at Mount Mercy, but…”
“Your parents made it worth your while,” Lucy said, comprehending. “What else did they give you?”
“A house,” Lexie said, wrinkling her nose. “And a lot of money. I can go for a specialty in neonatal surgery now, if I want. And I think I do want.”
Lexie slid Lucy a searching look, and Lucy relented.
“Lexie, I’m so proud of you. That’s the most adult decision you’ve ever made,” Lucy said, reaching over and giving Lexie’s arm an affectionate squeeze. Lexie looked utterly relieved.
“Funny you say that, because I’m all done being an adult today. The rest of the night will be nothing but juvenile behavior and bad decisions. I think tequila will be involved,” Lexie said with a giggle.
“Oh god,” Lucy said, rolling her eyes.
Lexie parked a couple of blocks from Ms. Mae’s. The place was a hazy, smoke-filled lair, featuring a chipped wood bar that snaked around three of the walls, tons of pool tables, and a densely-packed crowd of shifters, vamps, another other miscellaneous supernatural types. It was shady in the extreme, but the drinks were cheap and the clientele were mostly hot and single, so it was Lexie and Lucy’s go-to bar on the rare days they had off together.
“Oh gawd,” Lexie whispered as they handed over their IDs to the muscular bouncer and then stepped inside. “That hot Spanish werewolf is here again. This is my chance to hit that before I move.”
Lucy sighed as Lexie dragged her over to the bar and straight into a pack of brawny, animated werewolves. Lexie was an expert flirt, and within minutes, several rounds of shots were lined up for the whole group. Lucy took a shot of tequila, wincing and wiping at her eyes. Then she turned her attention to the men, thinking that one of them might do nicely for a bit of flirting and fun. She needed to let loose a little, relax and dance. Maybe even bring someone home, get her mind off of a certain bossy, dark-haired, handsome stranger.
“Would you rather a glass of wine?”
Lucy looked up to find a massive, redheaded man l
ooking down at her. He was handsome, in that brutal, rugby-player sort of way. He glanced at her two remaining tequila shots, raising a brow.
“No, but I could use some company,” Lucy said, feeling bold. She handed him one of the shots, then raised it high. Her new friend did the same, and they slammed the shots.
“Derek,” he said, offering her a big hand to shake.
“Lucy,” she said, licking the tequila off her lips.
They shook hands, and Lucy suddenly had the feeling that her night was about to get very, very interesting.
109
Seven
Wyatt stood at the bar in the far corner of the dive bar, watching Lucy and her modelesque friend drink and laugh with a bunch of burly werewolves. After catching a glimpse of Lucy, dressed to the nines in a dress that made Wyatt's mouth go dry, he had no choice but to follow her. He'd white-knuckled the whole drive on his bike, following at a discreet distance and hoping that Lucy's friend wouldn't wreck the car on the way. Judging only by the woman's driving, she was an absolute maniac.
Now he skulked in the shadows, frowning at every flirty woman who sidled up to him, trying to score a free drink... or something more. Apparently this place was some kind of pickup bar, because Wyatt had been approached by a dozen people, men and women alike. Mostly shifters of some kind, but a couple of vampires too. No surprise there, since vamps were notoriously omni-sexual, and always hungry. Sex, blood, booze... didn't matter, as long as they were filling the void with something.
Wyatt sipped his Bulleit bourbon, wishing to hell that Lucy wasn't mingling with these people. She was sweet, innocent in her own way, and yet here she was, flirting with some redheaded hulk who kept putting shot glasses filled with amber liquid in Lucy's hand. Lucy held her own, but he could see that she was flushed, that she was relaxed and laughing easily. Basically, she was halfway to drunk.
He made it almost two full hours before Lucy spotted him. There was an electric moment, a current in the air, hair on his arms and neck rising in alarm. When Wyatt glanced over, trying to appear casual despite his heart hammering in his chest, he found himself locked into Lucy's steel gray gaze. Her expression was unfathomable, some mixture of confusion and anger, but something else, too.
