knees. My palms burned, but I could have cared less. I needed to get to Liam. Finding my feet, I started forward.
Liam gasped as if suddenly coming to, and his head shot up in my direction. 'Charlotte, get back! Run. Get out of here now.'
He shook and trembled. A set of razor sharp claws began to push through the tips of his fingers. I blocked it out, seeing the blood covering his shirt.
'No, I won't leave you,' I said.
'Just go...please.'
Arms wrapped around me and I screamed. The hot metal butt of a gun painfully pressed into my neck.
'Get away from me you freak, or she's dies,' the gunman said.
Everything in me dropped as ice flushed through my body. My lower lip trembled. 'I'm sorry,' I mouthed to Liam as tears fell down my cheeks.
Liam groaned, holding his stomach. The claws extended further as he rolled to his side, staggering to his feet. The skin around his face and shoulders rippled and stretched.
'What are you?' the man asked. The gun burned against my skin, hot from the prior shot.
Liam lifted his half human gaze to the man with a low reverberating snarl. Sweat broke across his brow. 'You're going to die.'
Liam moved so fast, I didn't even see him. All I felt was the impact of his body, knocking me to the ground. The gun skittered across the pavement and I turned my head to see the man had fallen too. Liam lifted him by the neck of his shirt and threw him into the gas tank. It cracked and the stench of gasoline filled the air.
The man moaned and rolled to his side. Liam started towards him and the man raised his hands defensively. 'Don't hurt me. Please,' he said. 'I didn't mean it. I wasn't going to hurt her. I didn't mean it.'
'Liam, let him go,' a voice said from behind me.
I turned to see the station attendant standing in the doorway to shop. I had to blink twice. How did he...? I thought he got shot.
Liam tilted his head to the side, as if listening, but didn't stop. Stepping closer, he exposed his elongated teeth and slowly licked his lips. The claws at his side opened and closed. I swallowed hard. He was really going to kill him. I couldn't believe this.
'I called the cops,' the attendant said, his voice calm. He reminded me of one of those trained professionals who talked people out of jumping off buildings. 'They're on their way. They'll be here any minute now. Everyone's safe. He doesn't have the gun anymore.'
I got up off the ground, but my body wouldn't stop shaking. I took a few brave steps toward Liam and gently placed my fingers on the back of his shoulder. His skin rippled under my touch. 'Liam, please,' I whispered. 'I want to go home.'
Liam gasped at my touch. His arms dropped from the gunman and his skin tightened and firmed under my fingers. The sharp claws that had erupted under his nails, slid back, retracting, along with his extended teeth and jowls.
When he turned to look at me, his features were normal, but his eyes were wide. 'Charlotte,' he whispered. 'How did you...do that?'
'What do you mean?' I asked. 'What'd I do?'
The gunman scrambled to his feet.
'Hold it.' The attendant grabbed the gun and aimed it at the man.
'Look, I don't want anything to do with you freaks, okay?'
'You'll wait right there,' he said. 'Liam, you better move it on out of here. The cops are on their way. I'll take care of everything.'
He did know Liam? He obviously knew about his little secret too since he just witnessed what I had, and didn't seem remotely freaked. Liam nodded and looped his arm around the small of my back. I felt numb as he escorted me back to the car.
He opened the door and helped me inside. I didn't look at him when he sat down behind the wheel. I couldn't. I heard him turn the key, bringing the mustang to life, and we tore out of the small parking lot.
We drove in silence, neither of us braving words for several miles. The trees passed the window at a blinding rate, and I realized the speedometer had hit sixty.
'Liam, the speed limit is forty.'
'I know,' he said, his gaze fixed on the road. The car slowed a few notches.
'Liam?' I didn't turn in his direction, but from my peripheral line of vision, I saw him stiffen. White rose from his knuckles as he clenched the steering wheel.
'Yes?' he asked.
He sounded in pain and then reality dawned on me.
'Oh, my God, Liam, you're shot!'
The front of his shirt was pasted with blood. I quickly unfastened my seat belt and leaned over.
'What are you doing?' he asked. He wrapped his arm down around his mid-section, and shrank away from me, closer to the door.
'Let me see your wound.' I tried to slip my fingers under where he held his sticky torn shirt, but he pushed my hand away.
'No,' he said. 'Get back in your seat, Charlotte.'
'Stop the car.' I reached over and grabbed the wheel.
'What are you doing? You're going to get yourself killed.' He dropped the arm holding his midsection and wrestled my fingers off the wheel. We swerved and I heard the tires hit the gravel on the side of road. I gave up and gripped my seat. He steadied the wheel as we bumped back onto the road. 'Are you okay?'
'Am I okay?' I asked. 'You need to be in a hospital, Liam. You were just shot in the stomach. You shouldn't even be driving. Frankly, I don't even know how you're sitting there.'
'I'm fine,' he said. He didn't look at me.
'Don't give me that. Look at your shirt. There's blood everywhere.' My voice cracked. This was too much. I lunged for the lower edge, and pulled it up before he could stop me.
'What are you doing?' He tugged it down and his chest heaved.
I stared in shock. There wasn't anything there.
'I...I don't understand,' I said. 'You were shot. I saw it. There's blood.'
'I told you I was fine.'
'I don't understand.'
'It's the shifting,' he said. 'I don't really get it either to be honest with you, but it started after I became human for the first time. I think it has something to do with the body being able to reform itself into the different shapes. I heal very quickly.'
I didn't know what to say. My mind raced to catch up with reality but couldn't find it. 'Are you saying you can't die?' I asked, bewildered.
He shook his head. 'No, I can die. You cut off my head, it won't come back.' He smirked and I glared at him. Nothing about this was amusing.
'Not funny,' I said.
'I'm glad you care,' he said with a small grin.
I frowned. How he twisted this back to some kind of flirty banter was beyond me. We could have been killed. He almost ripped that man's throat out!
He seemed to pick up on my mood and focused on the road. 'I shouldn't be telling you all of this,' he said.
'What do you mean?'
'It's dangerous.'
'Dangerous?' I asked. 'Did you forget that I just had a gun to my head? I was almost killed ten minutes ago.'
'Of course I haven't forgotten that,' Liam said. 'You don't know what that did to me.'
'What?' I asked.
'I almost lost you, Charlotte.' His voice broke. 'I was going to kill that man.' He started to tremble and his
