The man screwed up his face in disbelief but soon shook it off.
“I can give you a ride. There hasn’t been anyone in for over an hour anyway.” He shrugged and headed toward the door.
I followed close behind him until he flipped a closed sign and locked the door behind us.
“My car is on the side,” he mumbled as he dug in his pocket to pull out his car keys.
Glancing back the way I’d come from; I saw a white cat a second before it disappeared behind the trees.
“Thanks again,” I said to John – the sixty-year-old, father of six, and grandfather to eighteen – who had given me the lift from the gas station.
“Just be careful who you spend your time with, young lady. There are some bad sorts around this town.” John glanced out the front window at the town around my shop.
“I will,” I promised.
I watched him drive off as my mind was forced to focus back on my problem. The garage was everything I had. All of my money was sunk into it and I didn’t see a way for me to leave town. But how could I stay knowing there was a group of bikers who could become animals.
It was crazy. All of those things from movies and books. And I found myself living it.
Were they like the horror movies? Or, were they like the romance novels my mother loved to read? Should I be afraid for my life?
Oh, fuck! I’d slept with Roark. Holy God in Heaven! Had he changed me somehow? Did he use some sort of animal magnetism to get me to sleep with him? I wasn’t a prude but it usually took a bit more for me to take a man to bed. Roark and I had fallen into bed like we’d die unless we came together.
“Oh, fuck!” I cursed and looked down at my stomach as my hand moved to rest over my lower belly.
We didn’t use protection. Could I be pregnant?
Normally, I would have been on the pill but my prescription had run out and I hadn’t had a chance to find a local doctor to prescribe them for me. And with how hot I’d been for him, it never dawned on me to be worried.
Do animals carry diseases? I wondered as the thought of Roark taking me bareback flashed into my head.
Oh, hell, if I was pregnant, would I have kittens?
Distracted by the mess my life had become I didn’t stop to look around the garage until I was in the office and tripped over something on the floor. When I lifted my eyes, what I found had me immediately turning for the door.
I immediately ran into a hard chest. A scream burst from my chest as thoughts of large cats coming to kill me flashed in my mind.
The slap to my face knocked me to the ground. Throwing out my arms I caught myself and turned my head up to glare at the man.
A dark-skinned man, who made a chill run down my spine, stood there with a leering grin on his face. He was wearing tactical pants and a black t-shirt with combat boots. None of the bikers dressed like this.
“Wrap it up, gentlemen. Our girl has finally arrived home,” he yelled.
Another man, this one white, walked in and looked at me before turning his gaze to the other man.
“How much were we supposed to damage?” he asked.
“All of it,” my original attacker replied.
“Who the fuck do you think you are?” I demanded with false bravado.
Reaching down, the first guy grabbed me by my shirt and pulled me to my feet. He pushed his hideous face into mine.
“I’m the man delivering a message – leave town. Accept the offer.” His hand came up and slapped me again as he released my shirt.
“All of it,” the second man yelled into the main garage area.
I heard loud crashes in the garage bays and cringed at the expensive diagnostic tools they were probably destroying.
“Stop it,” I screamed before my brain could stop me. I struggled to my hands and knees and began to crawl toward my desk.
I should have expected what came next but I hadn’t – a foot came crashing into my ribs and I was tossed a few feet before I landed hard on the cement floor. A whimper was the only sound able to make it past my lips.
“I wouldn’t call the cops, if I was you, bitch.” The white man stood over me with a look that said he wanted to kill me. “You’re too soft with them,” he snapped at the black guy.
My chest was on fire from the kick. The searing pain embolizing me and causing tears to slide down my cheeks. I must have blacked out because the next thing I knew there was only silence.
The passing of time was only obvious because of the darkening sky outside of the large shop window. I cried silent tears as I lay there, unable to move or think.
Fear filled me. Who would help me? I wondered.
Roark’s strong face appeared in my mind. The motorcycle club president had only ever shown me that he would take care of me. He had offered to help me when my shipments were missing. Then he’d had Banshee watch me while he dealt with Dick Billingsworth – the asshole responsible for my current situation.
Then, when we crashed, he didn’t think to protect himself from the crash or discovery… he had shifted and protected me from being hurt. Hell, Roark didn’t even stop me when I ran off. He’d followed at a distance and made sure that I arrived at the gas station.
Oh, hell. I might not know who or
