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Shivering, she pulled on her sweatshirt. There was a bloodstain on the arm, but there wasn’t anything she could do about it. It wasn’t as if she had a lot of choices. She hated to leave the comfortable house. It was a haven. Sharing a space, even temporarily, with someone she cared about was different from living alone.
Shoving aside the disappointment, she stowed her belongings in her bags. It had been twenty-four hours since she’d checked her email. She took out her phone and turned it on, her thumb hovering over the email app. It was strange to be so out of touch. She always promptly returned queries from clients or potential ones, excited about the possibilities.
For the first time in her adult life, it was difficult to generate any enthusiasm for her work. Kinda hard when there were werewolves stalking you. A woman needed priorities. And staying alive was at the top of the list. She turned off her phone and tossed it back into the bag before heading for the kitchen.
Devlin was seated at the table, a mug of coffee in front of him and another by what she consideredherchair. Unlike her, he had his phone in hand.
“Any news?” She slipped into her seat.
“No.” He turned off the device and tucked it in his pocket.
They’d been thrown together in a life-and-death situation, but there was so much about him that was a mystery. “What do you do? For a living? Do you get paid for—” She waved her hand in the air. “What you do?”
“If you’re asking if the packs pay me to handle their rogue problem, then yes.”
She was having coffee and chatting with a paid assassin. When it boiled right down to it, that’s what he was. Or maybe he was more comparable to the Special Forces soldier in the military who took out threats to the nation. They got paid. A man had to have cash to live.
“Does that bother you?” His inquiry was almost casual. His eyes told a different tale. They were icy and hard. The passionate lover was nowhere to be found. He was all business. She suppressed a shiver.
“This is far outside the realm of my reality.” She gripped her mug until her knuckles turned white. “I’m glad as hell we’re both still alive but sorry you had to kill a man—or werewolf. You know what I mean.” There hadn’t been a whole lot of time, but she’d given their situation some thought while she’d been in the shower, more as an exercise to take her mind off Devlin and sex. But it had led to some solid insights. “There are three of you, right? Lone wolves?”
He nodded, tapping his fingers against the top of the table. His hands were large, the nails cut short. They were hard and strong, capable of killing a man. Or making sweet love to a woman.
Get your mind off sex and back on the problem.
“If there is a mage behind our meeting and Pietro’s attack or even this.” She pointed at her eyes. “I can’t wrap my head around how such a thing could be possible. And if there are more like Pietro hunting me, or us, wouldn’t it make sense for us to band together with the others, the gray and black wolves?” Accepting the reality of the paranormal was twisting her brain in knots. She’d seen it, felt it, but it was like living in a movie where she didn’t have a script or know the ending. She was no heroine, only a regular woman trying to stay alive.
“We’ve never met in person.”
“Wait. What? Why not?” If they were like Devlin, the three together would be a formidable team.
“There aren’t supposed to be three of us.”
“Do you think one of them is behind this?”
“I spoke with the gray wolf—Kade Alvarez. He confirmed the rumors I’ve heard. I’d like to trust him, but…” He shrugged his broad shoulders. “I can’t take the chance.”
If she wasn’t in the picture he might take the risk. She had no idea where that certainty came from, but she accepted it as truth. Like it or not, she hindered his ability to act.
“Where does that leave us?” Without help, they were screwed. Lifting her mug, she downed the coffee like medicine, draining the entire thing in one swallow. A shot of whiskey might have settled her jitters, but she couldn’t afford to be impaired in any way. As a human, she was already at a disadvantage.
Devlin tilted his head slightly to one side, as if listening to something only he could hear. Swearing, he shot out of his chair and tackled her to the floor. The back of his hand cradled her skull, cushioning it from a brutal blow that might have cracked it wide open. Glass shattered, raining in through the window, much of it striking where she’d been sitting a heartbeat ago.
Releasing her, he rolled to his feet. His lips curled back in a snarl, exposing huge fangs. A brown wolf soared through the opening. He’d barely landed when he pushed off with strong hind legs and leaped at Devlin.
Zoe scrambled away on her hands and feet until her back hit the wall. She needed a weapon—the broom. She grabbed the makeshift weapon, glad she’d left it close at hand. She wasn’t going to face another wolf unarmed. Using the wall for support, she pulled herself to her feet. Heart pounding in her ears, she watched for a chance to help. It quickly became apparent it wasn’t necessary.
The wolf slammed into Devlin, the brutal impact seemingly having no effect. Claws raked his arms and chest, ripping flesh and drawing blood. She shoved her hand against her mouth to keep from screaming and distracting him.
He drove the heel of his hand sharply under the wolf’s jaw, keeping the beast’s sharp fangs away from his face. There was no panic. Devlin was in complete control. In a show of brute strength, he spun his opponent around, positioned his hands on the tops and sides of the wolf’s head, and twisted.
The loudsnapmade her cringe. Her heart was racing a mile a minute, and she was close to hyperventilating. A minute before they’d been talking. Now they’d been attacked, and a dead wolf lay on the floor inches away.
Devlin stood among the carnage—the calm center amid the shards of glass and splintered wooden chairs. He canted his head to one side. Intensity poured off him like a wave, battering her. Before her eyes, the nasty gashes on his arms closed, leaving nothing but bloodstains behind.
The broomstick clattered to the floor. “How?” She swallowed the lump in her throat. “How did he find us?”
He pinned her with his glowing eyes. “I was wondering the same thing.”
