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Knowing his keen wolf ears would hear her, she muttered at the door, “Let's pretend this never happened.”
Chapter 4 - Lance
Though he agreed with Kayla on pretending that their ‘date’ had never happened, he couldn't squash the urge to be sure she got home safely. He had always been a gentleman, always concerned for the safety of the fairer sex, even more so since the death of his last mate.
Besides that, she was his secretary, and he had a responsibility to her. Even if she was too humiliated to see that, he wasn't about to live with it on his conscience if he got to work the next morning to find something had happened.
Draining his whisky, he paid Eddie with a smile and a thanks and headed out of the bar.
The dark chill of the evening made Lance even more determined to be sure she got home safely. Raising his head, he sniffed the air for her scent and started to follow.
This isn't creepy,he told himself. She didn't even need to know he was there so long as he saw her safely to her door. If she wanted to be independent, he wasn't going to try and intervene, but he had to be certain she was safe. He was the reason she was out in the first place.
He had just turned a corner in the road when he heard something that made his blood run cold.
“Get away from me!”
He was just in time to see Kayla get dragged sideways into an alley halfway down the street.
Though he didn't see her attacker, the scent of cat shifter filled his nostrils.Damn lion shifters,he thought angrily. He could never understand why Dash let other shifters into Silverdale. They'd always been trouble.
But there was no time to debate that now. He charged down the street without so much as a blink, ready to tear off his clothes and shift if the need arose.
The sound of scuffling turned to fighting and Lance entered the alleyway to find that Kayla was giving as good as she got. Barefoot, her bag and shoes discarded on the cobblestones, she slashed at her attacker with elongated claws. Her teeth were bared in a ferocious growl, and Lance hesitated to intervene, wondering whether she truly had the situation under control.
But then his wolf won out. There was no way in hell he was going to stand by and let her handle this on her own.
Stepping swiftly forward, he grabbed the golden-haired lion shifter by the back of his neck and yanked him backwards just as he attempted to shove Kayla away.
“Ahh!” the she-wolf cried out as Lance slipped between her and her attacker, growling menacingly.
“You lions never could take no for an answer,” he snarled, shoving the man back again. Blazing amber eyes met his, and there was a madness he saw there that frightened him. He had seen that look before in the eyes of the man who had taken his Daisy.
Not this time!He splayed his hands at his sides, claws extended, prepared to lash at the lion shifter. “Think carefully before you take me on, boy.”
For a lion, the man was small—muscular, perhaps, but small nonetheless. And he was most definitely half Lance's age, nowhere near as strong or experienced. If he had any wits about him, he'd leave without even attempting anything further.
Lance allowed his wolf to graze the surface, knowing his eyes would spark a warning. His fangs protruded and he saw thefear in the other man's eyes as they went from amber to a dull brown.
“Good choice,” Lance half-growled, half-laughed. “Now leave.”
The lion shifter scurried away, though not before Lance lashed at his back, giving him a few claw marks to remember him by.
It wasn't until he was certain that he was gone that Lance turned to find Kayla on the ground, leaning against the wall of the building with her head in her hand.
“Kayla?” he exclaimed, dropping down in front of her. “Are you hurt?”
She turned two astonishing blue eyes upon him and said, “I bumped my head, but I think I'm okay.”
“Let me check,” Lance insisted, and before she could protest, he adjusted her head to get a good view of the back. He didn't see anything and so he sniffed deeply. There was no scent of blood.
“I told you, I'm fine,” Kayla reiterated, attempting to get up. All she managed to do was awkwardly bump her head on his shoulder and lean back against the wall again. There was no way she could get up with his great hulking form hanging over her.
“Here, let me help you,” Lance said, offering her his hand. When she took it, he braced himself, rising to his feet and bringing her with him.
It was only once they had straightened up that he realized his mistake. She was much too close, much too small and innocent standing before him, trapped between his body and the wall of the alley.
She may have been a werewolf, strong and agile and athletic, but still, she was petite with just the right amount of curves. And so, so beautiful.
