Page 6 of Claimed By the Guardian

Cecilia’s gaze shot to him. He wasn’t looking at her but at the road as he abruptly spun the car around in a hard U-turn. She saw his hand grip the steering wheel and his jaw clenched in his large, square face. It was the side with the scar on it, and she watched the jagged edge of it pulse under the sporadic streetlights.

“Fine. Then bar the door.” Pause. “With a table! Anything. Hell, get everything! I’m coming.”

And he was coming. He ran straight through the stop sign and back up onto the freeway. Before he’d been going a respectable sixty miles per hour, heading toward seventy. Now he blew past that and she watched in horror as he topped eighty. She was sure he’d have gone faster, but he was already taking the off ramp. She was up now and braced against the car door so she could read the signs.

She wasn’t a native of the city, but even she knew this was not a good area. And yet, he was torpedoing down the streets like it was safe. Or perhaps like he was the baddest person around. And then he started talking. It took her a moment to realize he was speaking to her because his tone was so casual. And even then, she had to replay his words in her head just to make sure she’d heard him correctly.

“So you’re going to get that demonstration differently, Dr. Lu. I’ve got a situation here, and it’s dangerous. We’re going to Mother’s house. Not my mother, but a woman who takes in shifter strays. We all look out for her because being a shifter kid is hard, and she’s been there for us no matter the breed.” He sighed. “I know you don’t believe any of this, but one of her kids is in trouble and I’m going to help. I’ll undo your restraints, but I promise you, if you run, you’ll find a whole lot worse trouble outside.”

Cecilia nodded and tried to smile with genuine warmth. It probably came out more like humor-the-crazy-person because he rolled his eyes. Weird that, given he was speeding down the street straight through red lights and everything.

“I’m not crazy. This is real.”

“I believe you,” she lied.

“And it’s dangerous.”

“Right.” Her gaze cut to the apocalyptic neighborhood. “Dangerous.”

“Yeah. And it has werewolves, too.”

Of course, it did. Which is why she resolved to run as far and as fast as she could the second he stopped the car.

CHAPTER 3

Hank glared at the woman zip-tied in his backseat. She didn’t believe him. And she was planning to run the minute he parked.

Damn it, why had Simon ordered him to do this? No non-shifter doctor would listen. She might as well have pulled her white lab coat right over her eyes. She’d labeled him a lunatic the minute he’d mentioned shifters, which was apparently even worse than kidnapper because at least she’d been willing to talk when he was just a criminal. After the screaming, that is. Damn, what a set of lungs she had.

Didn’t matter. Mother was having a crisis and he was two blocks away.

“Don’t fight me on this, Cecilia. It’s too dangerous.” He used her first name to see if that made a difference. He’d gone with “Dr. Lu” when he was trying to be deferential. Educated people tended to like that, but he could already tell she wasn’t susceptible to flattery. So he was trying to be friendly.

No go. She just smiled that false smile and was clearly counting the seconds until she could run. Which meant he had two seconds to come up with a new plan because he was arriving at Mother’s right now.

He pulled into the driveway, slamming the car to a stop. They were in werewolf territory and who knew how many of the dogs had drunk the tainted water. Simon had put out the word as soon as he could, but bears and dogs in Detroit did not get along. Hadn’t for generations. Knowing these wolves, they probably liked the aggression rush the tainted tap gave to full-blooded shifters.

He glanced at the night sky. Nearly a full moon. Just what they needed...not. Though the wolves claimed they didn’t react to the phase of the moon, Mother had called bullshit on that years ago. And she lived in the thick of it, so she would know.

He hit the send button on his phone. No words in the text but Mother would know he was outside and pull open her door. Which meant it was time to run. But first, he popped open the big blade on his Swiss army knife.

He heard Cecilia gasp and he shot her a hard look. “Extend your feet to the door. Be ready to run.”

Her eyes widened and once again, he regretted the fear he’d put on her face. Damn it, he was not a man to terrorize innocent scientists. He popped open his car door, took a deep whiff of Detroit air as it mixed with wet dog, and rushed to her door.

She was ready; her legs were extended and she had a fixed smile on her face. He could feel her tension in the air and see the twitch of her gaze as she looked past him to where she meant to run. It would be a bad choice. There wasn’t a cop around for miles and plenty of regular human trouble she could get into on the way. Even worse, he smelled werewolf thick in the air. Damn it, they were too close.

He grabbed her ankles and slit the plastic in one quick move. Then he grabbed her by the waist and helped her scramble out of the car. The minute her feet touched pavement, she took off.

Or at least she tried. He still had a hand around her waist and when she surged forward, it was just the momentum he needed to throw her over his shoulder. She screamed and kicked as he moved—double time—to Mother’s front door, all the while keeping his eye out for werewolves. Given the way she was wailing, she was going to attract the whole damn pack.

He hit the front porch and Mother swung open the door. Her eyes were huge in her weathered face, but she stepped out of the way while he barreled through. Then she slammed and bolted the door with a speed one wouldn’t expect given her age.

“Help! Help!”

“Shut up, you damn fool!” Mother snapped as Hank set Cecilia down on her feet. He wasn’t too gentle about it because she’d just nailed him in the center of his sternum. Her knees buckled enough that she tumbled backward onto the couch. She was going to leap up again but he kept a hand in the center of her chest. And—damn it—he was human enough to feel the soft mounds of her breasts. It was a damn shame that this was the first time he’d touched a woman’s breasts in nearly two years, but he also felt the way her pulse beat like a frightened rabbit. She took a deep breath, obviously prepared to scream again, but he shoved her hard enough to cut it off.

“Stop it or I’ll gag you,” he said.