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“Hurry up and answer,” I said.
Stop wasting time. Just jab once and toss him outside. Easy.
“What’s wrong with you? You tell me to stab everyone lately.”
In a flash, Mr. Handsome grasped my knife-wielding hand and wrenched me forward in the time it took him to leap to his feet.
I cried out as I lurched forward, except his grip never loosened. He yanked me back around, and I crashed into his rock-hard chest.
My breaths expelled, but he already walked me backward at a brisk pace and pinned me to the wall on the other side of the window. Electricity ignited in the pit of my stomach.
I gasped and writhed under him, but he held on to me, and I might as well have been trapped between two boulders. Yet something roused within me—something thrilling and provoking. The way his eyes pierced into me left me curious to understand who exactly this man was. Why I found myself strangely attracted to him when any normal person would have thrown him out the window for trespassing in their home. But I couldn’t toss him to the gargoyle. Not when his fingers pressed into my arms, his body plastered against mine, and his breaths sped up.
“My name’s Reed.” He kept his voice low, as if afraid someone would hear him outside while he wrested the blade from my hand and tossed it to the floor.
I sizzled with heat at being so close to him, though it wasn’t as if I hadn’t been with a man. In the past few years, I’d explored the opposite sex, their manliness, how they stirred something raw within me, and I even dated one for a while. His name was Gage, and I still pined for him. He had been deliciously exciting, but it didn’t work out because I couldn’t tell him where I lived, or why I could only meet him at the night.
He’d once followed me home, and I freaked out. I’d screamed at him to never visit my place. I’d broken it off, terrified of what could have happened. Telling him about the gargoyle wasn’t an option because he’d confront the creature and end up dying.
But now with Reed towering over me and his body wedged up against mine, a spark within rallied forward, and I pushed aside my worries for a few moments. I couldn’t stop myself from wondering what it would be like to touchallhis muscles. My body trembled beneath him while my head screamed to get the hell out of there.
Can’t believe you’re thinking about this now.
“Someone is hunting my pride.” His words sliced through my desires, yet he wasn’t moving away. “And I took refuge in this tower, thinking the place was abandoned. I mean you no harm. Just a few moments longer to stay undetected is all I ask.”
My heartbeat raced as his words sunk in and made sense. I glanced up, noting the recent gash across his chin, another on his collarbone. My thoughts flew to the times I’d run away from the gargoyle and the few people who’d helped by giving me a ride on their carriage or feeding me. They were my heroes because they hadn’t pushed me away when I’d needed help. So how could I refuse to assist Reed?
He’s lying.
“Pride? As in lion shifter?”
He shook himself and right before me, his pupils morphed into vertical slit-shaped pupils, and a deep growl rumbled in his throat.
I stopped fighting and froze because fear chewed on my insides.
“You get it now, Princess.”
“Don’t call me that. But who’s chasing you? Poachers? A king or queen? Or maybe the priestess ruling over human Terra realm. I hear she’s nasty and hates shifters. What have you done to upset them?”
With a quick glance outside, he replied. “My pride members are vanishing, as are other shifters in Darkwoods. Someone is kidnapping them. No bodies are found; they just disappear. This morning I followed my sister’s screams in the forest, only to find a hooded figure dragging her away by a chain tied to her neck. Others attacked me, each wearing a black collar as if they were someone’s pet, and I only survived by running like a coward.” His voice fell and he looked away, enough for his hold to slacken.
I shoved him aside and moved to stand across the room, keeping my eyes on him. I felt for his plight. “So you hid in my tower to get away?”
He nodded, and only now that he stood in the sun’s full glow did I see the real extent of his wounds. The bleeding scratch on his ear and neck, the blood blotting his shirt and pants from cuts, as if someone had slashed him with dozens of knives. And my heart went out to him because I understood getting hunted, feeling defeated, beaten without pity.
“I had spotted a ginger cat scaling the tower using the vines that circle the building. It had freaky hair but not as long as yours now. I didn’t care. I only cared about surviving. So I followed the animal.”
What? “Gingernuts, you’ve been going out at night?” I stared down at him, wrapped in blonde locks, which weren’t as long as mine when they transferred to me, but enough for a little cat. He stopped rolling through my hair and meowed short and sharp. “You’ve so been busted.” This explained all the critters I’d found in the tower.
Reed kept staring outside and back to me.
I hated to see someone in fear for their life. “I have a friend who’s a beaver shifter and—”
He cocked an eyebrow. “A beaver shifter? Is that even a thing or are you making it up?”
I scoffed. “Are you being shifterist? Yes, it’s real. Anyway, she had someone hunting her down over a year ago for her fur.” She didn’t know where I lived either or about the gargoyle as I was too afraid to tell anyone. What if they wouldn’t believe me to stay away during the day? They might visit me and get killed.
Reed studied me, his eyes glazing over as the corners of his mouth twitched. Was he about to break into a smile while I told a serious story? “Keep going,” he offered.
