Page 38 of Claimed By the Guardian

No way to answer that, not when every cell of her body flushed with heat as she abruptly became hyperaware of Hank’s presence at her side. While she suffered a hot flash of embarrassment, Alyssa was all business as she grabbed Hank’s arm.

“Don’t forget to check in. We need you slept and recovered ASAP.”

He gave her a clipped nod.

Then she flicked his bare chest with her finger. “And get a shirt on. You look like a cover model prancing around like that.”

“My shirt is covered in blood,” he growled. “I don’t have?—”

Alyssa spoke up, her voice pitched to the room. “Anybody got a spare shirt?”

Every single one of the shifters—wolves included—raised their hand.

“Someone loan one to Fabio here, will you?” Then she gave them a jaunty wave before following Simon and Detective Kennedy out the door.

CHAPTER 13

Once Cecilia had gotten the okay to leave, there was no way Hank could hold her back. She barely gave him enough time to get a shirt on before she was at the door impatiently tapping her foot. She did manage to hug Mother good-bye and promised to return soon with some tea that she thought the woman would like. But beyond that, she was all too happy to leave.

He couldn’t really blame her. Even he felt overloaded by the events of the past twelve hours, and he hadn’t just discovered shifters.

Still, he was cautious as he escorted her to his car. He opened the front door for her and she eagerly hopped inside. He climbed into the driver’s seat quickly, his borrowed shirt pulling too tightly against his neck.

“Okay if we swing by my place first so I can get a change of clothes?”

She glanced at him, her expression wistful. “Personally, I enjoyed the Fabio look, but yeah. It’s fine.”

She already had her nose back in her phone. Every free moment she had was spent scribbling notes on the nearest pad of paper or staring at a screen of numbers. When she gasped, he immediately tensed, scanning the environment for threats. Nothing appeared, but they were still in wolf territory. The looting wouldn’t be a problem. It was over a mile away. Unless things had changed, which they were prone to do.

“What is it?”

She looked up from her phone, her expression tight. “It’s nothing really.”

He turned to look at her. She was lying and frankly, she wasn’t even trying to hide it.

“Is it work? Are they worried about your abduction?” He forced himself to say that last word because it was exactly what he’d done. No sense in trying to run from it.

“What?” She frowned at him like she’d forgotten, but then she shook her head. “Actually, it’s rather depressing that no one noticed I was gone. Not a one.”

Ouch. “That’s not a problem with shifters. We’re pretty protective of our own. We like knowing where everyone is and that they’re safe.”

“I bet your teenagers love that.”

“Um, yeah,” he agreed catching her sarcastic tone. “That’s number two on the teenager hate list.”

She turned to him. “Number two? What’s number one?”

“Body hair. Especially with the girls. That’s a biggie.”

She snorted. “I’ll bet.”

He stayed quiet while he backed out of Mother’s driveway and headed toward the freeway. The road was eerily thin of traffic. Though some of the city tried to keep on with life as normal, most of it was either hunkered down and sick or outside and creating havoc. None of that required the freeway.

Meanwhile, she didn’t go back to her phone, so he knew there was something really bothering her.

“If it isn’t work?—”

“It’s nothing. I forgot a phone call, is all.”