cat. Logan changed into a black wolf. Clytie blinked, doubting her eyesight, but the animals still fought two feet away. If she had anywhere to go she’d run screaming, instead she tried to make herself as small possible against the rear tire.
Eli and Logan were werewolves or shape shifters or whatever they called themselves and they were fighting other shifters to protect her. Once she made that jump, it wasn’t so far to the realization that she had just moved in with three more of them. That she had fallen in love with one. It was hard to wrap her brain around, but many things about Demon now made sense. The growling, the sniffing, she placed her hand over the mark on her shoulder, the biting. So intent on her brain numbing thoughts Clytie missed the shifter coming over the car until he landed on her.
When Logan in wolf form finally looked around, he was bloody and bruised but still standing. He saw Eli’s jaguar form in the same abused shape, and all the attacking wolves that could still walk had long since run off. He shifted back to two legs and watched Eli do the same. They turned to get Clytie, wondering what the hell they were going to say. But Clytie was gone and from the marks on the ground, she had not walked away on her own two feet. He shifted back to his wolf needing the superior senses. He caught Clyties scent and with a bark at Eli headed into the forest surrounding the compound.
Eli cursed his missing cell phone. He hated wasting the valuable time to search but they were going to need backup. He finally found it in the scraps of his jacket. He didn’t breathe easier until he got a dial out.
“Demon. They attacked outside the gates with a goddamn rocket launcher. They took Clytie.” The roar was unmistakable.
“Report.” Mac must have picked up the phone.
Eli pulled open the trunk as he made his report. Inside they kept a wide range of weapons, none of which were useful right here and now. Instead, he pulled out the blanket and used it to collect wolf parts off the street. As soon as he passed on his report and cleared out the road he dropped the phone into the battered trunk with the grisly remains and slammed it closed. He changed back to jaguar grateful his quick healing had already closed the worst of his wounds. He sprang after Logan on four feet.
They followed the scent until it was lost among the city smells of the busy highway then they headed back to the compound to wait for Demon and the rest.
Clytie woke up in the pitch dark. Her head pounding and her arm stung. She touched angry claw marks but no gushing blood when she examined it by feel. Her dress was ripped to hell and back, she had lost her pretty shoes and she smelled bad. So much for agonizing over what to wear for the show, she should have just gone with the jeans. She rooted around for her purse, but all she found was the mattress she was sitting on and concrete. She remembered the crash and the fighting. She took a second to pray Eli and Logan had made it, then concentrated all her good wishes on herself. She remembered something falling from above and pain. She had no way of knowing how long she had been knocked out so she might very well be in Siberia for all she knew.
She was trying really hard not to panic when a door opened and an overhead light flipped on. She covered her eyes against the sudden glare. The pounding in her head got worse, even as the pounding of her heart surpassed it. When she could see more than spots, she saw a small room with concrete floors. Besides the naked twin mattress, the only other thing in the room was a high window too small for her to fit through.
“Do you like it?” The man spoke from the open door drawing her eyes. She had never seen him before. “We weren’t expecting guests but when I saw you I had to get to know you.” He was shorter than Demon, but then who wasn't. He had a hard body crammed into tight black jeans and t-shirt. Black hair cut close around the face of a fallen angel. He had movie star good looks with perfectly symmetrical bone structure and ice blue eyes. No matter the rest of the package, it was the eyes that told the story. After one look, Clytie was wishing she was back in the woods with the werewolves.
“Very minimalistic.” She did her best to fake bravado, but was sure her shaking knees would give her away.
He laughed, a harsh sound, more a bark than anything else. He moved into the room and squatted down at the edge of the mattress. Clytie didn’t realize she’d backed up until she hit the wall.
“Who marked you?” He asked, reaching for her neck. Clytie stood up nearly flying to get away from his hand. She ran for the open door hoping to get out before he could reach her, instead another man filled the opening, and she had to stop her flight mid run. The man now behind her laughed again as he stood up and sauntered toward her. “What’s your hurry darlin’? We were just getting to know each other.” Clytie moved until she had her back against the wall again, closer to the door with both men in her sights.
“Why did you bring me here?”
“You keep bad company girlie.” The new man at the door growled out. He was an older man, grizzled and tough. He reminded her of beef jerky.
“Well... I appreciate you looking out for me. If you call me a cab I will be more careful in the future.” Worth a try.
The old guy growled, the young one laughed, she really hated his laugh, but neither sound was encouraging.
“What’s your name darlin’?”
“If I tell you my name will you tell me who you are and why I’m here?”
“Aah, where are my manners? I’m Clancy. The old man is Red and you’re here because we rescued you.”
“You are what we call an innocent bystander. We weren’t expecting to find such a sweet thing in with such bad company. We figure you couldn’t know what kind of riff raff you were associating with so we brought you here.”
“Bunch of mongrels and outlaws.” The old man growled out spitting to the side. Like even saying it was dirty.
“Who exactly are you referring to?”
“Listen to that, would ya? Talks like a real lady. We are ‘exactly referring’ to the gun toting bastards in the limo with you.”
“Eli and Logan?”
The old man spit again.
“You saved me from Eli and Logan?”
The young one laughed again. “Exactly.”
Whatever game they were playing she was willing to go along to a point. As long as they were talking, they weren’t acting. If they wanted to convince themselves she had not been on the same team as the men they’d attacked she would play along. Anything that got her out of this room and away from mister tight pants was worth a shot. “Well then if I can use your phone I’ll call a cab and take myself home. I certainly appreciate the warning. I’ll be more careful in the future about who I hire as bodyguards.”
“Bodyguards? That would explain it except for one thing.” He moved so fast she felt his breath on her neck before she realized he had moved. He grabbed her arm to hold her when she would have pulled away. He pushed her hair away from her neck trailed his hand over the bite Demon had placed there. “You’re marked darlin’. Now what we need to know is who you belong to.”
He pressed her close against the walls and she felt his excitement bearing down on her belly. His smell surrounded her and though he possessed a primal scent that reminded her of Demon in a small way, she just found it pungent and unpleasant. She wanted away from this man in the worst way. “I don’t belong to anyone.”
He sniffed her neck directly over the bite. “But you do. A wolf at that. Who you been lettin’ nibble on your sweet parts darlin’?”
She tried again to move away from him but he pushed her tighter against the wall, his fingers leaving painful marks on her skin. “You’re hurting me.”
“Not yet.” He tightened his grip until she worried he would crush the bones in her arm. She couldn’t hold back a yelp of pain and he laughed against her shoulder digging his hips into her stomach. It hurt and in case she had any illusions left about what he planned, his free hand went to the hem of her skirt and started to lift it.
Her eyes filling with tears of pain and fear Clytie head butted him in the nose. It hurt her, but not as much
